adictoaloshombres: Management

Showing posts with label Management. Show all posts

Corporate Identity Management

Keywords:

corporate identity, business management, business competition

Article Body:

Competition is great in the market world today and in order to get your business noticed, you will need good corporate identity management. You need to bring together all of the good qualities of your company as well as emphasizing what a great benefit your company will be to those who use your services. Good corporate identity management will do just that if handled properly. It will give your business a clear positioning towards your customers and prospective customers as well as your staff, suppliers, authorities, and even your competition. By making your business easily recognizable to those who want what your selling, corporate identity management will also play a key role in the development and maintenance of your business, and keep it running like a well oiled machine. In today's world, we are all bombarded with information, every waking minute. Globalization increases competition, products are interchangeable, and new products come to the market at an ever faster rate. Every business is competing for our attention. Selection of a supplier is not solely based on price or availability anymore; customers have the luxury to choose suppliers they can identify with. That is why your company will need an edge of some kind so that when people decide they need the service that you're offering, either your logo, or a witty saying, will automatically pop into the consumers head, in turn, they will seek you out. However, your business image is not the only thing that will get you noticed. How the press and advertisers perceive your company will rub off on the public also, so you will always need to stay consistent and make a good impression.

Consistency is very important in the business world today, unless you want to loose your business before it even gets off the ground, you can't say one thing then completely do another. In order to ensure consistency in communication, you may need to ask for help from someone who know what their doing when it comes to corporate identity management. There are many good organizations that can help you do just that. They can take your company and create something that will be distributed all over, no matter what you're selling. Another important aspect is that your staff needs to be able to identity with your company's corporate identity so they feel comfortable with it. From your company's reception area, to telephone manners, the design of all printed materials and Web sites, to public relations, every aspect of a business has to breathe its Corporate Identity to be believable and distinguishable. Only then will your business have the chance of being taken seriously in the market, and ultimately to succeed. The primary idea behind a corporate identity program is everything your business does, own, and service it provides, should project a clear idea of what you and your business goals are. A good corporate identity management system works well and keeps the important things on tract.

Finding The Right Expense Management Solution For Your Company

Keywords:

expense management solution,ems,expense management

Article Body:

In recent times, initiatives such as the Sarbannes Oxley Act in the US have dramatically raised the profile of compliance within the corporate world. As a key element of any corporate compliance policy, expense management has shared some of the limelight. As a result, an Expense Management Solution (EMS) is now critical to any business concerned with corporate compliance. But what is an Expense Management Solution (EMS)? Does your company need one? And where do you find a good one? Just as importantly, how do you successfully implement and integrate an Expense Management Solution (EMS) into your corporate environment. This article sheds some light on these issues.

What is an Expense Management Solution (EMS)?

The term “expense management solution” has been used to describe quite different commercial products and services. In the context of this article, an expense management solution is defined as a technology based system that processes:

(i) transaction records received from a credit card issuer (detailing employee use of corporate credit cards0; and

(ii) cash reimbursement claims originated by an employee.

In practice the target application is Travel and Entertainment expenditure. A robust Expense Management Solution (EMS) will also support procurement (pCard) activities as part of a broader strategy of effectively managing lower value, high volume business-to-business transactions.

The three core steps of any expense management process are:

1. the acceptance/input of validated source data;
2. the application of predetermined rules of handling expense records; and
3. the posting of transactions to a corporate repository such as an ERP system.

What is the purpose of an Expense Management Solution (EMS)?

The objectives of an expense management solution implementation should include the following:

1. to automate the preparation, submission, approval, and auditing of travel & entertainment claims, thus improving the productivity of account holders and reducing the time and cost of accounts staff;

2. to support the implementation of a standardized best practice method of managing high volume expenses through the use of corporate credit cards; and

3. to increase the transparency and enhance the governance of financial transactions conducted on behalf of the enterprise.

Sources of Expense Management Solutions

Australian and international organizations now have access to a range of quality expense management solutions which are well suited to driving down administration cost whilst meeting corporate compliance requirements. There are essentially three sources of “expense management solutions”:

1. ERP systems;
2. systems offered by card issuers; and
3. best-of-breed solutions.

Each will have their own merits and will suit organizations in different circumstances.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems

ERP sourced expense management has the attraction of being fully integrated within the financial suite of software, therefore offering a standard look and feel to all users of the ERP. With ERP sourced expense management functionality, the ERP supplies the core software, and the enterprise needs to customize and configure the system to reflect its own structures and rules regarding the management of staff expenses. If you're considering the option of using their ERP for expense management, you need to be conscious of a number of factors, including:

• the actual functionality available within their specific installed ERP system;
• the backlog of work on the ERP system accumulated for the IT department; and
• the deployment time and the cost of the project (which will usually be substantial).
License costs can be an issue if an enterprise if your company has not paid a license fee that will cover all card account holders and cash claimants.

Card Issuer Systems

Some card issuers promote “expense management” solutions which can range from a computer generated report through to an online system with some embedded workflow concepts. The attraction of card issuer expense management solutions is that they are offered as part of a card deal, sometimes (apparently) for free. If you're considering a card issuer expense management solution, you need to know:

• will you be 'locked in' to the card issuer?; and
• will you be able to configure the expense management solution to adequately reflect internal requirements?

Best-of-Breed Solutions

Best-of-breed expense management solutions from specialist providers can be relatively seamlessly interfaced to an organization's internal systems such as HR and ERP, but will not present a common look and feel to the ERP system. You would usually choose a best-of-breed expense management solution if you want:

1. your company to be independent of a particular card issuer;
2. to achieve a fast implementation; and/or
3. to configure the solution to its own unique rules and policies of expense administration.

Best-of-breed expense management solutions are typically deployed as either an ASP (Application Service Provider) or self hosted solution. Although exceptions are common, small to medium enterprises tend to appreciate the lower up-front cost of an ASP expense management solution, and larger enterprises are attracted to the control available through a self-hosted expense management solution. ASP expense management solutions are typically paid for on a per statement per month basis, and self-hosted expense management solutions have a range of options available from up-front license fees to monthly license rentals.

Overcoming the Cultural Resistance to Expense Management Solutions

Some Finance Directors still have an aversion to corporate credit cards. It's not uncommon to hear a finance director say “if I give everyone a card, they'll spend us broke!”

However, the benefits of an Expense Management Solution are apparent as soon as the Finance Director considers the difficulties of controlling the expenditure behavior of thousands of employees using a manual system of reimbursements which is largely based around a set of uncoordinated spreadsheets. Basic activities such as enforcing travel policies, calculating tax implications, reconciling, posting to a chart of accounts at a detailed level and auditing, are so difficult as to be more honored in the breach than the observance...

Viewed from a different perspective, a company with revenues of $700m $50m in EBITDA, and $20m in annual employee business expenses, can make a dramatic impact on its bottom line using an expense management solution without increasing revenue. If automation reduces these expenses by only five per cent in the first year, the savings alone have the same impact on the bottom line as $14m in new revenue. It isn’t surprising that the return on investment of an expense management project is often achieved within its first 12 months of operation.

Expense Management Solutions also play a vital role in Fraud Control. “Fraud” in this context takes many guises, not all of which are the sort that land perpetrators in court. Information taken from our own customer experience and from publications of the USA Association of Certified Fraud Examiners identify the top four categories of fraud:

1. Mischaracterized expenses
2. Overstated (exaggerated) payments
3. Fictitious expenses
4. Multiple reimbursements

Research in the USA has pointed to as much as 1% of company revenues being lost to employee expense mismanagement. Expense Management Systems will not, in their own right, eliminate this but they are a vital tool in creating an environment that drives down the level of mismanagement.

Conclusion

Over the past 18 months, our company has observed a change in motivation for expense management projects. Whereas formerly expense management solutions were an exercise solely in the reduction of administration costs, now governance is equally a driver to implement technology based controls around high volume expenditure. The Sarbannes Oxley (SOX) act in the USA has captured the attention of any enterprise active in the USA. However, inside or outside the USA, the senior executives must warrant that their company has implemented adequate financial controls that prevent fraud and give a true and correct record of the enterprise’s financial activities. As a result, the Corporate Travel Manager who pitches a proposal on expense management to the senior executive team currently finds a willing audience.

Event Management, Body Language And Qualified Release

Keywords:

online booking, event managment,booking mananger, booking, registration

Article Body:

Stuart Burns was having a bad day. Not only had he arrived late for the seminar because of the server problem at work last night, he was finding it difficult to concentrate because of the stream of text messages coming in to his cell phone. He couldn't bring himself to turn it off just in case something catastrophic was happening back at base so he set it to mute and tried to keep an eye on it while he listened to the presenters. Now the effects of his disturbed sleep were catching up on him and his extreme body language shouted that he was in the wrong place.

Audiences suffering from information overload will give very clear signals that they are ready for a break. Their eyes start to glaze over, they slump in their seats and when you ask them questions, it is as though you are rousing them from a deep sleep. Bladders may be straining, nicotine and caffeine cravings may be kicking in and vibrating text messages are surreptitiously being viewed. It's time to declare an unofficial break! If you push on regardless you may lose your audience completely.

This situation can often happen on hot, humid days when the air-conditioning is underperforming or in windowless rooms where the lack of outside views can have a profound psychological effect on your delegates.

A ten minute unscheduled break in these circumstances can make the difference between success and failure for your event.

Manage the coffee and meal breaks rigidly as a few 5 or 10 minute overruns can soon lose you half an hour from the program.

Managing early departures

It is a fairly frequent occurrence that a proportion of your audience will be unable to stay for the entire event. This is understandable in these times of full schedules and instant communication. The more polite amongst them will forewarn you of this and tender their apologies. Some will make a dash for the door with their heads down and others will mumble an excuse as they walk sideways past the presenter towards the exit.

If you have prior warning, try and sit your early leavers close to the exit even if they have been sitting elsewhere during the event. That way, when they have to take their leave, they can do it with minimum fuss and interruption.

Whichever exit routine your early leavers use, make sure that they have an opportunity to give you some instant feedback before they leave and take the time to thank them for however much time they have been able to spend with you. Their early exit is unlikely to be an insult to your organizational or presentational skills. More likely they have a plane or train to catch, so treat them respectfully.

Stuart was so relieved when one of the seminar administrators approached him during a coffee break to ask if there was a problem. She listened and, promising to book him on the next seminar, helped him organize a taxi.

Doing Business In The Future - Business Process Management

Keywords:

business process outsourcing,business process reengineering,business process improvement,business process consulting,business process modeling,business process management tool

Article Body:

Business Process Management (BPM) is a set of activities performed by organizations to improve or streamline their business processes. Since software tools are usually used to aid these activities, these software tools are referred to as Business Process Management Systems.

- Business Process Management Systems

Business Process Management has been in place for some time now. Due to the introduction of software tools, however, there has been renewed interest in the body of knowledge pertaining to BPM. These software tools make design and implementation of Business Process Management easier, cheaper, and more efficient. There are three categories of Business Process Mmanagement activities - design, execution and monitoring.

1. Design

Designing BPM involves capturing the existing processes in a business environment. These processes must be modeled in a way that they can be simulated and tested. Modeling these processes usually involves graphical representation methods that document the processes and stores this data in repositories.

2. Execution

Traditionally, to implement automation in a business organization, developers would have to be contracted to develop applications that automate certain processes. Unfortunately, the scope of these projects was often too narrow. The result of which is that the automation is not well integrated into the business environment since the automation only deals with a particular department or function. BPMS champions a method that pushes for the development of applications that encompass the entire business process. It aims to fully automate the business environment only stopping to query the user when human intervention is absoultely necessary.

3. Process monitoring

Process monitoring involves observing and taking note of the performance of the individual processes so that evaluation and intervention become more straightforward for the business organization. From the information gleaned from here, the business organization’s leaders can make further decisions on the direction the business process takes. The data from this activity can be used to generate different kinds of statistics that are necessary when having to make critical decisions. Business Process Management is an iterative process.

4. The Future

Although BPM strives to automate the mechanical processes of a business, there has been interest in developing BPMs that move into the territory of human judgment. Some of the processes involved in a business environment are not included in the automation because some sort of human decision is needed. With the growing complexity of information systems - especially studies into decision support systems and artificial intelligence - some human decision-making processes can actually be automated. This is the future goal of BPM, to futher automate previously unautomatable processes.

- The Business Process Management Ideals

In 1920, Frederick Taylor outlined three waves of business ideals in managing processes. These waves represented the ways of thinking business process engineers had.

Wave 1. Processes Set In Stone

They are secured in business policy manuals. The manual is the basis of the process, and the organization has to abide by it.

Wave 2. Processes Changed Once In A While

Using a one-time activity, changes can be made. This means that the business would have to build their processes around a fixed system since change can only come once in a while, and at a great cost.

Wave 3. Processes On-The-Fly

The primary consideration in such systems is flexibility to change. Businesses that adhere to this goal create business environments that can adapt to its changing needs. This setup also allows the business to constantly fine tune its operations. This wave is not about business-process reengineering. It is about maintaining an environment that is constantly on its toes, ready to adapt to the circumstance, and maximize its strengths while downplaying its weaknesses.

Change is the only constant, they say. In this modern day and age, this could not be truer. The survival of a business could very well rely on its ability to constantly tweak its processes according to the whims of change. With the growing body of knowledge concerning Business Process Management, the path towards a sustainable market advantage based on a streamlined, flexible business organization can only get clearer.

Crisis Management

Keywords:

crisis management, crisis planning, reputation, company, business, planning

Article Body:

The Internet may have opened worlds for businesses and consumers, but it has also created a public relations nightmare for businesses. Forums, opinion Web sites, blogs, and anything that is publishable can smear a company's name in moments.

Remember, "Yours Is a Very Bad Hotel" presentation that described one customer's bad experience with a hotel chain? Hotels are run by humans. Humans make mistakes. It's how you handle the mistakes that can make the difference in customer service. Since the hotel's employees didn't try to help the customer overcome a bad situation, the customer lashed back and bloggers blogged it.

If the hotel is on top of its game, it would unleash its crisis management (also known as reputation management) team to salvage its reputation while it can. It's possible for a company to overcome bad PR and come out ahead as in the case of PG&E (California's Pacific Gas and Electric company).

Another strategy is to use Internet monitoring to monitor online articles regarding a company's activities to prepare for negative publicity. Some go further and monitor chat rooms, newsgroups, and online discussion forums.

It's like the story of the town gossip who spread false stories about its people. One day, he felt terrible and went to the chaplain [Rabbi, pastor, priest, or other &mdash take your pick] to ask for forgiveness. The chaplain said,"I will forgive you, but you must do something first."

"Take a feather pillow, cut it open, and scatter the feathers to the winds." The man thought this was a strange request, but it was a simple enough task, and he did it gladly. When he returned to tell the chaplain that he had done it, the chaplain said, "Now, go and gather the feathers. Because you can no more make amends for the damage your words have done than you can recollect the feathers."

The same can happen to a company without a crisis management plan in place. It's possible to survive the crisis and thrive as PG&E did. Don't expect Worldcom to pull out of its Enron-like mess. Fraud is not excusable. And Martha Stewart? She has hired a public relations strategist firm in an effort to do damage control. It'll be worth watching to see what happens in her case and how the PR firm attempts to save her reputation. Did you know there is a recall on one of her products? Adds fuel to the fire, doesn't it?

Feedback Management

Speaking is easy, but listening can be very hard. Make sure that people understand you by using effective feedback methods. With proper feedback you can make sure that your message is coming through clear.

Keywords:

enterprise feedback management, survey, survey software, online surveys

Article Body:

Conversations can be a tricky business. Sometimes, decoding what is said with what is meant is difficult at best. However, communication is a necessary tool in todays world. And it’s not only speaking that can be difficult, but trying to interpret body language, and other language barriers are just a few of the obstacles barring effective communication. It’s often been the case were one party completely miscommunicates to another due to a misunderstanding between parties.

Most people learn to talk when they are relatively young. Gaining in verbal capacity as the get older and engage in conversation with more and more people throughout their lives. And while most people will spend their time constantly speaking, some never really learn to listen, which is the king of effective communication. It may seem strange to hear such a thing as this, but it’s true. Even though it may not sound true to the individual who just spent the last couple moments listening to some co-worker blather on about his fantasy football picks, but it is.

Without proper listening, speech communication would just be a lot of annoying sounds. Unfortunately, most of the time we spend listening, really is just the process of physically absorbing the annoying squawks and squeaks that come out of someone.

The problem with listening is that it’s so hard. It’s even harder to Listening actively. What’s required to listen actively is more difficult to learn than it was to learn to speak when we were young. It’s not something that can be absorbed through simply interacting with other humans. Active listening requires the receiver in the conversation to seek out among the speakers words and try to understand what the speaker is really saying. To fish through the emotion, defensiveness, cultural differences and jargon.

If it’s so hard to listen than it must be extremely hard to get some one to pay attention to what your saying

One of the most important elements of communication is creating effective feedback. Whether by picking up on non verbal cues or audible ones feedback is important. Knowing that your message is being understood correctly is vital. Feedback when done by the sender, allows the speaker a chance to make sure that the listener understands what is trying to be communicated. Someways to use feed back is through closed ended questions like "do you understand what I’m saying?" or " did that make sense?" Another effective tactic is using an open ended question and through this method the listener will hopefully summarize the message you have been trying to impart and in turn expose any misunderstandings between the two of you. Using a question like "what do you think about what I’ve just told you?" or "what are your feelings on the subject?" are both effective examples of using a open ended question in order to obtain clarification between the sender and the receiver.

In the business world feedback is even more crucial. Feedback from your employees, your clients, and customers plays an important role in creating and maintaining a business or institution. Making sure that they understand what your trying to say whether it’s through management or advertising. It’s important to know that, not only is your message getting through, but that it’s being interpreted correctly.

Once you’ve gained an understanding of how your information is being perceived and interpreted. You’ll know how to proceed, cutting of those things feedback has shown to be ineffective and replacing it with solutions known to produce the results you want.

Make sure that people understand what you are trying to say. Whether in marketing, management, or just everyday conversations. Through feedback, communication can be an effective tool in the world of business and everywhere else.

Change Management: Getting It Right

Keywords:

Change control tips

Article Body:

Change management is something many companies may face throughout their existence. Whether something simple or a complete change, various things can be done to allow for a successful change. Management of the change effectively will allow for the best overall final product but it really just is not that simple. But, there are ways to get effective change management in such a way as to contribute to the betterment of the company.

Change management is the management of change. In that, you will realize that there is potential for failure. It could go wrong. To keep this from happening though, there are systems that can be put into place to help throughout the process of change, no matter how large or small it may be. In many cases, you will find many individuals and organizations willing to help manage the change for you. It is important to make sure that these individuals have the company’s best intentions at heart. It should be more than just a job, but something that they believe in.

You can also find a wide range of computer software programs as well as applications that can be used to help with change management. Making it successful is the key and to do this. You will find that many opportunities are available. You can and should determine the best method for your needs based on the availability, the methods used as well as experience and relevance of anything that is used to make change management happen.

You will find a wide range of help when it comes to change management. There are resources that can help guide you through the process as well as much advice to allow you to make the right decisions. Effective change management starts at the beginning with planning and experience. For your company to benefit from change management, it helps to be as knowledgeable as possible about these factors.

Customer Relationship Management For A Higher Level Of Customer Service

Keywords:

customer relationship management,crm,crm software,crm solution,small business crm,online crm

Article Body:

For businesses large and small, their profitability and success depends upon customer retention, customer relationship enhancements and customer acquisition. This is often known as Customer Relationship Management or CRM. CRM is the managing of all business and interactions with customers. The main purpose of Customer Relationship Management is to allow businesses to better manage their customers through the introduction of reliable systems, processes and procedures for interacting with those customers. A good CRM program helps the business acquire customers and service the customers. Good CRM also helps retain good customers, and identify which customers can be given a higher level of service.

CRM is a complex mix of business processes, enterprise strategies and information technologies, which are used to study customers' needs and behaviors to help businesses develop more substantial relationships with them in order to get greater results.

In the late 90's, customer relationship management mainly consisted of just an index file, an answering machine and a telephone. Today, an advanced CRM system has evolved into an Excel spreadsheet and more. CRM systems normally consist of email and/or snail mail, marketing campaigns, contact manager programs, sales tracking program, and multi-media contact center or voice mail system.

A successful CRM strategy doesn't just mean simply installing and integrating a software package; it also involves a wider approach including modifying business processes based on the needs of customer, training of employees, adopting relevant IT systems and software, and IT services that allows firms to track their CRM strategies.

Good CRM software can help run an entire business by allowing companies to maintain all customer records in one centralized location that is accessible to the whole organization. Front line offices have systems that are set up to collect data from the customers for processing at the data warehouse where data is stored, orders are filled and tracked, and sales data analyzed.

One of the most common causes for customer relationship management system failure is poor data quality, which can be easily avoided. CRM systems are as useful as the information it provides. The old saying "garbage in, garbage out" can be applied to CRM data quality. To ensure good CRM data quality, be sure to input the data accurately; check data entries twice to minimize the possibility of duplication; if there is an error in the provided information or if the information is not complete, then re-establish contact with the customer to recheck the data. Customers generally do not get annoyed at this; instead it makes them more appreciative of the extra customer service.

Business Process Management

Keywords:

Business Process Management, Business Process Management Software, Business Process Management Systems, Business Process Management Solutions

Article Body:

Business process management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims. This basic definition needs to be expanded as manager’s carry out the managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. Management applies to any kind of organization. It applies to managers at all organizational levels. The aim of all managers is to create a surplus. Managing is concerned with productivity implying effectiveness and efficiency.

Many scholars and managers have found that the analysis of business process management is facilitated by a useful and clear organization of knowledge. In studying management, it is helpful to break it down into five managerial functions involving planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. The knowledge that underlies those functions is organized around these five functions.

Managers are charged with the responsibility of taking actions that will make it possible for individuals to make their best contributions to group objectives. Management applies to small and large organizations, to profit and not-for-profit enterprises, to manufacturing as well as service industries. The term enterprise refers to businesses, government agencies, hospitals, universities and other organizations. In business process management, all managers carry out managerial functions. However, the time spent for each function may differ. Top-level managers spend more time on planning and organizing than do lower level managers. Leading, on the other hand, takes a great deal of time for first-line supervisors. The difference in the amount of time spent on controlling varies only slightly for managers at various levels.

Business process management, like all other practices such as medicine, engineering or baseball, is an art. It is know-how. It is doing things in light of the realities of a situation. Yet managers can work better by using organized knowledge about management. It is this knowledge that constitutes a science. Thus, managing as practice is an art; the organized knowledge underlying the practice may be referred to as a science.

Database And Document Management Systems

Keywords:

Document Management Systems, Electronic Document Management Systems, Document Management System Software, Database And Document Management Systems

Article Body:

Different business organizations use different types of software to manage their documents. This software performs the function of creating, full text indexing, controlling the different versions of documents, retrieval, and so on.

The vital component of any document management software system is the inherent database management technology that classifies and tracks the documents created and stored. The database system locates and retrieves the requested document from the archives or from the documents under its control on the basis of query submitted to it.

The database management system prevents unauthorized persons from accessing the information. Only users with passwords have access to the entire database or a portion of it. Any addition made to the data is carried out without altering the existing database. The system is also designed to filter out duplicate copies of the records.

For all documents created and stored, the database system generates a host of information about the documents. This information is maintained separately from the document itself. The information includes the name of the author who has created the document, the date of creation, the last occasion on which it was accessed and the subsequent changes made to it. The system also maintains information on the main topics or subjects contained in the documents, as well as details of documents that are relevant to the document requested for.

The database system has to be reliable and must have a high level of operational efficiency in managing large volumes of text-based documents, images, sound and video. The database may be either centralized or distributed, depending upon the data management software system installed in an organization. A centralized database, which stores document profile information in a single database, offers quick and efficient searching but faces the risk of losing information in case of failure or corruption in the document profile repository. In a distributed data base system the information is dispersed and stored at various points based on the company’s network or on the disk structure. This minimizes the risk of losing all the information, in case of failure or corruption.

High Tech Management & Leadership

What makes a great manager or leader in a High Tech company? Is it great technical knowledge or skill? Or is it the ability to be affable and convince people to do what you want by the strength of likeability and personal relationships? Getting people to perform by fear of and grudging respect that comes from being in a position of power? People might answer this question in almost as many ways as there are people to ask.

Keywords:

high,tech,management,software,marketing,people,top down,hierarchy,CEO,leadership,subordinate

Article Body:

Copyright 2006 PJM Consulting

What makes a great manager or leader in a High Tech company? Is it great technical knowledge or skill? Or is it the ability to be affable and convince people to do what you want by the strength of likeability and personal relationships? Getting people to perform by fear of and grudging respect that comes from being in a position of power? People might answer this question in almost as many ways as there are people to ask.

I’ve had many influences in my career that have shaped my attitude toward management and leadership. I started my career in old-line, traditional, top-down industrial companies in the Midwest. Not knowing any better at the time, I thought that taking orders and doing what you’re told was the normal course of business. This doesn’t lead to much initiative or critical thinking, but I guess there wasn’t much asked for or expected of an entry-level employee in old-line companies. Speak when spoken to—do what you’re told, was the leadership style of the day.

It wasn’t until I moved into High Tech and went to work for Hewlett Packard that a whole new world was opened up to me. You actually care what I think? You want me to take the lead on that issue—and actually make a decision that will very likely be approved—if it’s deemed important enough to even be reviewed? What a revelation that was—the idea of treating employees like valued adults, with spare brainpower that might actually contribute to the company’s success. The HP way opened up my mind to the power of enabling people, and pushing decisions down as far as practical in the organization—where best knowledge about the particular situation often resides. To this day I’m in awe of the effect of a few basic principles at HP—respect for the individual, hire the best you can find in a methodical and comprehensive manner with cultural fit being a major factor, fire slowly, push decisions down in the organization, keep organizations small, and senior executives are “just people too”—no pedestals. People felt like they were working in a small company in which they were important owners because of these policies—and had incredibly loyalty as a result. Even though HP was already an $8B multi-national corporation. Like any company, the HP culture and leadership wasn't perfect, and some of the warts have likely contributed to the recent malaise the company has found itself in in recent years. But the simple policies above elevated HP to incredible success over some 60 years—it’s too bad this great company has strayed and lost its way a bit lately.

Another area that I believe is incredibly important in the management and leadership of software and high tech companies is work ethic. Our business moves too fast to sit still for very long. The top people in the company set the tone here. In my experience, if the top people aren’t obviously sweating to contribute, it is really apparent to the troops. When the CEO is taking home several hundred thousand dollars (or millions) and seems to be doing it by just enjoying the good life, it sends a very chilling message down the ladder—what is valued, what it takes to get ahead, and "get some for yourself" while you can. Not the best way to build a team-oriented, winning culture.

I was struck by a ride that I had from the airport in a taxi this week. The cabbie was an immigrant from Eritrea in east central Africa. His country has been war-torn and plagued by military coups and corruption. He came to the US with little more than the clothes on his back, with a wife and two small children. Spoke no English. He originally worked in a car wash, one of the lowest jobs in the US food chain. Learned English and Spanish at the same time, because he had too. Now he owns his own Cab, and has 4 kids. Still works hard—he picked me up at 11PM and had been working since 7AM that morning. But he doesn’t complain at all. He is appreciative that he was able to come here, and loves this country. His two daughters just got accepted to UCLA. It’s a classic American tale similar to many of our families that immigrated to this country over time. And you know what? To me, that taxi driver is a real leader. I’m sure that his children look up to him, and are appreciative that his hard work has paved the way to a better life for them. I’m certain that they are very loyal and will do whatever they can to gain his approval and fulfill his expectations for them. He has set a tremendous example for the people he is responsible for—one of selflessness, a gritty work ethic and never-say-die attitude. A strong Tech company CEO or senior executive can set a great example with much the same attitudes and qualities.

So to sum it up, what makes great leadership in High Tech? I think it’s someone with great intellectual capacity, but also great empathy for people as well. It’s someone with his ego in check enough to hire good people and let them create—with the ability to push the envelope and fail without getting fired. Someone who sets an example of hard work, intellectual honesty and tireless work ethic. A manager who realizes the power of giving credit to subordinates, rather that taking it for him or herself. One who realizes the short term profits are very important, but that people should not be treated as a simple expense like an office chair—if you want to have long term profits as well. Great leadership builds great companies for the long term. It’s very rare. If you know of one, I’d love to hear about him or her. Let me know what you think.

Do People Know Exactly What Event Management and Event Marketing Is

Event management starts well before the day of the event and requires much follow up work afterwards like requiring planning, marketing, invitee registration, confirmations and reminders must be very well thought out, and carried out, prior to your event. If all this is well done step by step, your event management company will be successful.

Keywords:

event,management,marketing,organizing,social,personal,national

Article Body:

The answer is No….As nowadays any Tom, Dick or Harry has an event management company without knowing the A B C of event management. Event Management is principles and practices associated with planning, managing and staging special events. There are a lot of important components like stage and logistic management, marketing, promotion, event evaluation and event reporting which lead to a successful event.

Now event management and event marketing are two sides of the same coin. Event management can’t go without event marketing, so any company or individual doing event management should think about marketing these events first.

Any event management or marketing company or individual has to ensure success for which they are working. The event management company will work closely with the person for whom they are doing event management for as an extension of his team, providing the focus needed to manage each complex element of the event management process, leaving him free to concentrate on his core responsibilities.

We can categorize events as national events, social events and personal events.

Social events: consists of award functions, fashion shows, musical shows etc.

Personal events: are marriage functions, birthday parties or any personal celebrations.

National events: like Republic Day and Independence Day, they are considered to be very important events.

Conducting an event is not an overnight job. These events required proper planning and depth. An expert event manager or organizer has to start the work of organizing event few months earlier. Firstly an expert planner will think of sponsors to conduct the shows. To be very clear, national and personal events do not need marketing, but for social events like award functions, fashion shows etc. proper sponsors, advertisement and of course marketing are required.

Initial step to organize any event is to divide it into different parts.

1- In first part there will be a team of skilled marketing people, who could find good sponsors for the show. Advertisement is also a basic need for the success of an event.

2- Secondly, a group of people works on the venue where the show is to be conducted. The venue, day date and time are equally important factors, as such the place where event is to be conducted should be suitable for the public and even the day and time when the event is going to take place.

3- In the third part the important thing is practice of the show. The other expert group of people works upon the costumes, type of sub events like singing, dancing etc. of the participants. They conduct rehearsal again and again for the success of the show.

4- Fourth part is the selling of tickets in the public and of course the planning of proper security services. It is very necessary to be able control the whole crowd.

Lastly, when all these important functions get clicked together, a successful grand event is organized. In short, to make any event successful the most important thing is planning, and the other step is to follow up accordingly to the plans i.e. e hard work and keen efforts.

Employee Performance Management

Keywords:

Employee Performance Management, Manufacturing Performance Management, Marketing Performance Management, Performance Management

Article Body:

Fixation of compensation or wage rates for different categories of employees in a company is an important task of management. The employees are not only concerned with the wages received but also concerned with the level wages received by same level of employees in similar organizations. Hence wage structure may be considered very important. The relative wage-rules must be fixed carefully, because they have implications for promotion, transfer, seniority and other important personnel matters.

Wage plan should possess certain fundamental characteristics if the long term interests of the worker, management and the consumer are to be served. The wage plan must be linked with the productivity of the workers. Unless higher pay scales of workers are linked in some way to the productivity of workers, a wage plan will not be fair either to the management or to the consumers.

Basic wage for each job classification should be related to skill job requirements of job. Due consideration should be given to such factors as skill, length of time required in learning, versatility required and working conditions. In all fairness to management, the plan should usually result in a reduction of unit cost of manufacture, making possible lower prices and higher profits.

In all fairness to the consumers a share of higher efficiency should be passed on to them by way of lower price. This will be possible when there is reduction in cost due to higher efficiency. Thus the wage plan must ensure that all participate share the gains of higher productivity. The wage plan should include an incentive system for the efficient workers. The system should ensure higher pay to the workers who perform work at higher level of efficiency. The wage plan should guarantee minimum wage to protect the interest of workers against conditions over which they have no control.

Customer Relationship Management

Keywords:

csutomer, relationship, management, crm, marketing

Article Body:

Changing consumer attitudes are driving Customer Relationship Management. Fuelled by Internet induced expectations and an even increasing mood of self reliance among customers, companies have to compete in an environment where communication, buying processes, data management, delivery and service are all-important in the battle for longterm, profitable relationships.

Customers now require:

- Control over the buying process (information, comparison,
selection, easy to find, use and respond to)

- The best possible price (including delivery, and without
compromise to brand or product quality)

- The quickest, slickest delivery system (preferably free)

- All payment options (secure)

- Communications designed to suit the particular need
(computerised; complex; caring)

The above apply whatever the form of trading:

- Direct
- Traditional
- Retail
- E-commerce
- Wholesale
- Combination

These attitudes combined with the development of new technology and the growing convergence of a number of 'new - new' and 'emerging - new' communications and distribution technologies such as:

- 'Fixed link' telephony and telemarketing
- Internet and VOIP
- Mobile telephony, SMS etc.
- Digital TV, Cable, Satellite

is leading to an increasing focus on Customer Relationship Management by all types of organisations, as they realise that technological change allows them to re-organise the way that they manage customer relationships and make them more profitable.

Organisations are searching for something far more holistic, consistent and yet dynamic.

To achieve that and a sustainable competitive advantage in Customer Relationship Management means working with the management team, staff and suppliers of the company, where reasonable and cost effective using technology (e.g. intranet, extranet) to help to deliver the actions necessary to maximise performance.

One must:

- Define profitable market sectors and customers
- Understand customers needs and expectations
- Identify profitable product and service propositions
- Create effective, efficient, adaptable, cost effective
infrastructures

Customer Relationship Management is: the customer focussed management of the whole relationship with each customer, in order to measure, create and increase income and reduce costs for each customer and customer segment and thus to generate greater positive lifetime value across the portfolio.

Customer Relationship Management requires the organisation to know the answers to questions such as:

- Which of my customers are profitable or unprofitable?

- Do I know their lifetime value?

- Which of my products and services are they buying and not
buying?

- Have I measured customers' purchase behaviour patterns, their
loyalty/retention/repeat purchase and multiple product
purchases?

- What channel preferences do customers have?

- Who are my most profitable customers and what is their
ranking/grouping by risk, by product service grouping, by
profit, and by revenue?

- What strategies can I use to improve a customer's
profitability profile?

It also requires the organisation to deliver customer value. Customers must feel that
the organisation:

- ‘Understands what I want’
- ‘Communicates with me’
- ‘Provides me with added value’
- ‘Gives me reasons not to switch’
- ‘Treats me as an individual’

To achieve these answers Customer Relationship Management requires focus on both sides of the equation:

- Customer Communications Management
- Process Quality Management

and on three key delivery mechanisms, those of:

- Proposition
- Processes
- People

To be fully effective at Customer Relationship Management an organisation has to position the business unit or enterprise (proposition, processes and people) so that the customer is as the centre of their business. True Customer Relationship Management means that the business has streamlined customer management through the integration of all customer 'touch points', such as marketing, customer service and payment in such a way that true customer satisfaction and loyalty appear to occur effortlessly.

Customer Relationship Management is not a 'fad' it is a business philosophy that helps to increase revenue, reduce costs and to build and retain a loyal customer base.

Finding A Document Management Solution - In-House vs. Hosted Solutions

Keywords:

document,management,software,solutions,compare,in-house,hosted,scanning,services

Article Body:

Before we get started, some of you may be asking what is document management?

Document Management is the ability to manage all of your paper documents in an electronic format. Let's define "paper documents in electronic format".

Basically, there are two types of document management systems, either an in-house solution, or an outsourced hosted solution.

So,which one will best suit your needs? Good question. Most companies base their decision on available staff to maintain these systems, and the technical abilities of those staff members. Cost of a solution is also a deciding factor. While the cost of an in-house solution is higher up front, having the technical staff to support it, it typically pays off in the long run due to the calculated Return On Investment (ROI). The lower cost of a hosted solution is appealing to many companies because this solution puts the technical responsibilities on the solution provider. It's also beneficial in that most of these solutions are web-based. While some companies can truly benefit from the hosted solution, many can't due to confidentiality of the information contained within their organization.

Finding a solution to fit your company's needs can be a time consuming venture. We recommend you first determine what solution fits your organization best, then shop for a solution with the features best suited to your business needs.

How much office space can I save? Good question. It depends on the amount of paper files you have taking up your valuable office space.

In most offices, there are filing cabinets everywhere. We've become attached and dependant on our paper files. Since most companies are mandated to hold their records from 3 to 7 years, that adds up to an exhaustive amount of paper needed to be maintained and stored. Where do you store it? In your office? A records storage company? What are those costs? All these questions lead this topic in a new direction. Why are you keeping these records in paper format? Why not an electronic format?

OK, let's look at some statistics. But before we do that, let's set the standard office environment so we have a reference point to start from. Now for the breakdown:

A typical filing cabinet drawer holds about 3000 pages when full.
So a full 4 drawer cabinet holds about 12000 pages.

A lateral file drawer holds about twice or 50% more files.
So a full 2 drawer lateral cabinet holds about 12000 pages.

The Simple Math

Ok, now that we know what we have in the space of our filing cabinets, let's look at space on storage media.

A standard 8 1/2 x 11 page scanned at 200x200 DPI (dots per inch) is about 50k in size (average)
There is 1024k in 1 megabyte of space.
There are 700 megabytes of space on a CD.
There are 4,700 megabytes of space on a DVD.

Ok, here's the simple math.

1,024k (1 megabyte) divided by 50k (standard scanned document) = 20.48 documents per megabyte
700 megabytes (1 CD) x 20 (scanned images per megabyte) = 14,000 documents per CD
4,700 megabytes (1 DVD) x 20 (scanned images per megabyte) = 94,000 documents per DVD

So here are the facts.

1 CD = 1 filing cabinet full of paper documents (12,000 documents)
1 DVD = 7 filing cabinets full of paper documents (84,000 documents)

Once these documents are scanned and placed on a CD or DVD (write once only media) they become legal documents that can be archived and retrieved later in the event you would like to print, fax, or email them.

Fixed Versus Flexible Working Hours in Workforce Management

Flexible working hours have been found to lead to a happier workforce, and to far better customer service and share valuations. However, there is a fear that implementing flexible working hours is complicated and that it could lead to a flood of impossible demands from employees.

Keywords:

Time and Attendance, time, attendance, Employee Scheduling, Absence Management, Rostering, workforce management, workforce scheduling

Article Body:

Before we look at flexible working hours in more detail, let us take a brief look at the standard working hours.

Working Hours for Employees

Working hours for employees have changed dramatically over the last two centuries. Back in the nineteenth century when industrialization started in Europe, workers were compelled to work even 16 hours a day. In twenty-first century France, however, the government had fixed working hours at 35 hours a week.

Most industrialized countries have regulated the workweek by stipulating the maximum number of working hours per week, minimum daily rest periods, annual holidays and sickness pay. The standard is around 40 working hours per workweek, typically Monday through Friday. Paid vacations range from three to five weeks a year.

Long working hours can lead to stress-related health problems, less time for busy parents to attend to child-rearing, and less leisure to enjoy consumer products and services. Henry Ford introduced low working hours so that his employees would have the leisure to buy and enjoy the cars he produced.

Flexible Working Hours and its Impact

One major problem with fixed working hours is that employees find it difficult to balance the demands of their personal lives and work lives. Flexible working hours can lead to better work/life balance and result in a happier workforce.

Flexible working hours can come in different forms such as:

Part-time working that enables an employee to be free during business hours to attend to personal matters. For employers, it could mean engaging employees during peak workload hours, and reducing overall payroll costs

Flexi-time working where employees work extra time when needed by employers and bank the extra hours/days off for arranging their personal commitments

Annualized hours is an arrangement where times worked and times off are balanced across the year as a whole. Extra hours are worked during peak business seasons and less during lean seasons. Employers can retain experienced employees instead of hiring inexperienced casual or contract staff

Customized flexible working hours during special events to enable employees watch, say, world cup matches and yet meet their work time requirements

Studies have indicated that flexible working hours produce tangible benefits to employers in the forms of:

Reduced absenteeism and employee turnover

Lower recruitment costs as they can retain their existing staff

Higher staff morale leading to better work performance, customer service and even company stock performance

A survey even revealed that employees preferred flexible working hours to substantial additional pay.

Implementing Flexible Working Hours

Employers must know when they have peak workloads, needing more employees. This is not too difficult to assess with today's technologies like EPOS and computerized systems that can record transaction times.

Once the requirements are identified, flexible rostering software can generate rosters to fit the workload. This software would then help to optimize the rosters to meet:

Work contract requirements

Sociability factors, and

Employee work preferences to the extent possible

Where employee preferences cannot be met in full, the software would show the employees why this happened. This creates greater trust in the employees that their needs are being genuinely attended to.

Conclusion

The standard practice so far has been fixed working hours arranged in different shifts. This can lead of difficulties in balancing employees' personal and work life demands. Flexible working hours help better work/life balance and lead to a happier workforce. A happier workforce results in less absenteeism, better customer service and higher stock performance.

Can A Learning Management System Help Your Business?

Keywords:

learning management system

Article Body:

It is well known in today's time that knowledge is power and the more training your employee's receive, the better the employee, thus having a more successful company. Businesses today need to be constantly looking for a more efficient way to manage their business and it's a smart idea to invest in a learning management system that will help those within the business run a better business. The more knowledgeable the employee the stronger partnership between boss and employee, the better everything runs like a well oiled machine. Businesses are increasingly focusing on knowledge as an asset for survival in a competitive world. Good learning management systems are required if you want your business to be successful. A learning management system gives the stability for a businesses online learning environment by allowing the management, delivery and tracking of different types of learning for employees, stakeholders and customers. A strong learning management system should incorporate with other departments, such as human resources, accounting and e-commerce, so administrative and supervisory tasks can be streamlined and automated and the overall cost and impact of education can be tracked and evaluated. Choosing or having a learning management system designed specifically with your business prospects can be one of the best decisions you can make for you and your employees.

Many companies are starting to realize that by using a learning management system directly in software form, allows their employees to learn better business while they are on the job. This holds down the cost of online classes, or paying an instructor to come in and teach them. The developers of learning management system software are committed to continued learning, development, and knowledge. Knowledge and expertise are a powerful edge in today's harsh business climate. Usually, Learning Management Software isn't typically for companies with only a handful of employees. Most companies that implement learning management systems are medium-to-large-sized organizations with many users of the system with diverse learning and e-learning activities. However, smaller businesses are everywhere; the need to make learning management systems for smaller businesses is in great demand. The owners of small businesses realize that even though they are not huge companies, their employees can still learn valuable business techniques that will help their businesses. Learning management systems can be a powerful tool that will deliver the information needed and manage all training, education, and certification (if needed). Companies large and small must be able to distribute, manage, and assess, an educational program that can be integrated within their own systems in an efficient, and low-cost manner. In the future, the companies that stay in the know will be the ones that have the learning management systems software that keeps up with employee continuing education, development, and e-learning, and any other learning activities needed. Learning management systems will be the foundation of all learning within the company, and a company that continues to learn will continue to grow, and growing is what having a profitable business is what it's all about.

Contest Management and Mailings Database Management: A Marketing Plan For Winners

Keywords:

direct marketing support services, distribution logistics, database management, mailing list database management, marketing,

Article Body:

Contests can be an exciting part of a marketing campaign. But contest management and the attendant need for mailings database management must be considered before selecting a contest as part of any marketing campaign. If your marketing firm has engaged in contests before you already know this, but for those new to the process it seems important to at least go through some of the pitfalls, so you approach your contest fully informed.

What, you may ask, is contest management? Contests basically take care of themselves, right? No. And anyone who believes that is not only in for a world of trouble, but potential legal problems. For this reason, when creating a contest it is essential to create a project team which a specific project leader.

This project team will design the contest, operate the contest, and offer all the contest management support required during the contest period. Among the most important of contest management tools is a mailings database and its management. Almost all contests require the contest applicant to send you something. A form, a box top, the answer to a question, something. And the receipt of all this material must be tracked, so that it can be shown that the contest function according to its rules -- if questions are ever raised.

The project manager of you contest management team should appoint a single person to oversee the mailings database management. Like all records management activities this is uniquely important to ensure quality control. You may have the best data entry clerks on planet earth, but even they cannot do their job without a system. You mailings database management team and its leader will create this system, and ensure that it is efficiently and accurately administered.
It is probably best if you offer the mailings database management position to someone in your firm who is an expert in records management. This, for instance, might be a great chance to allow someone in research or even accounting to get a taste of the creative side of your business. Although running a contest is hard work, there is something inherently exciting about it. The promise of prizes. The randomness. The novelty. And because of these factors will believe you will have no problem attracting highly qualified people to the project in-house.

However, if you have no one in-house, we recommend selecting a contest specialist. Although there may be many people outside your firm who could handle contest management or mailings database management, it is always unwise to bring someone new into the equation who is not an expert in the task at hand. A new or temporary employee already has the problems of acclimating to your practices and procedures. In most firms, that can take days, even weeks. There is not need to complicate this process by forcing them to do "on the job" training.

Running a contest can be an exciting prospect. We highly recommend it. However, as we have laid out in this brief article, one needs to understand the importance of contest management and mailings database management. But, if you get this right, and we know you will, your client will be very happy. And so will those contest winners! And, by the way, make sure to send us an entry form!

Free Time Management Software

Don't play with papers or old style planners now there are numerous pieces of free time management software to organize your days.

Keywords:

time management, business tip, business time management

Article Body:

Today, there is a wonderful opportunity to get your business or personal life in order using free time management software. Searching the Internet today yields several different varieties of free time management software. Using free time management software you can schedule important events, manage key projects, and alert yourself through reminder messages when deadlines are coming up for completing tasks. It is a good idea to use some type of tool or process for managing time, and using free time management software can be an easy and convenient way to balance your priorities.

Free Time Management Software And Your Phone

There may be free time management software available for your cellular phone. By downloading and making use of this, you can bring your daily tasks with you no matter where you go. You benefit from this be being reminded of your remaining tasks for the day and having the ability to add new tasks to your schedule as you move about – no more forgetting update your calendar when you get back to your office. Portable tools such a cell phones with free time management software will help you keep on task all day long and will result in higher productivity.

Other benefits of free time management software are the ability to identify scheduling conflicts, and helping to organize and prioritize tasks when you see that there are too many items to be completed in a single day. Free time management software can also help to identify parts of your day where time may be wasted, showing time that could have been used for goal-centered activities, but was not. Future similar times can be filled with planned tasks that could not be accomplished before, perhaps freeing night-time up that was being used for playing catch-up so you can spend it as you see fit – slowing down to watch a sunset, or getting up to watch the sunrise can be done without feeling guilty for wasting time because everything else is taken care of.

Things To Remember When Selecting Free Time Management Software

Today, you can find almost anything available for free on the Internet. Free Time Management Software is available in the form of online-base tools. Many of these tools offer persuasive benefits, but you should be aware that web-based services could sometime become temporarily or permanently unavailable. This could result in partial or total loss of your valuable information. If you plan on using an online form of free time management software, you should take care to keep a backup of you information to protect yourself.

Effective Data Management

Mining data is one of the keys to running an effective business. Here’s a primer on effectively managing your business data to maximize the efficiency of your business.

Keywords:

data management, efficiency, growth, scalability, applications

Article Body:

Mining data is one of the keys to running an effective business. Here’s a primer on effectively managing your business data to maximize the efficiency of your business.

Effective data management plays an essential role for any growing business. Information technology has generated advanced tools for analyzing and managing data. Use of these tools can improve the performance of almost any operation. Steps made in capturing mass data electronically have developed the need for effective management strategies. Getting more and more data and transforming it into usable information is a major concern of today’s services and industries.

New technologies require new expertise, internal procedures and decision-making methods. Earlier companies were creating electronic databases, which were non-relational and difficult to use. Now with the use of highly sophisticated software and high-speed computers, businesses are reaping huge benefits from the computer/information revolution. Businesses are continuously making steps in managing data by using various tools to optimize information for sorting, searching and presentation in meaningful formats.

Many software programs and database applications are available on the market that enable companies to manipulate data in real time, capture knowledge for future use, ease the progress of operations to save time and costs and also to coordinate operations with partners.

The amount of data storage necessary and the duration it is kept online is growing swiftly, yet resources to manage data are limited. Data storage is a test to those companies wishing to maximize the value of their available data and also a huge task for storage professionals to manage and protect this data. Enterprises are struggling to bring together highly reliable platforms that can recognize where data is located in a company and whether it is utilized efficiently. Data management solutions must track, monitor and be vigilant of the conditions of your company data. It should also manage and distribute data efficiently. It should unify and simplify the administration of storage infrastructure.

Data is growing exponentially. Companies need maximum scalability, performance and production for data rigorous applications. They also need an easy to use, backup tool that provides transparency to where and how data and storage is utilized. Before choosing such and important process as data management, be sure to research your options and go with a solution that is flexible and scalable.