Published on: 25 October 2018
Last Updated on: 26 October 2018
Building your office space can be a tricky project if you’re starting. Moving to a business district means that you’ll be near other companies. You need to develop your image while at the same time making sure that you’re on par with how your neighbours present themselves. Taking a close look at their office spaces can give you a good idea of how to layout a workspace. What they emphasise and develop are necessities when it comes to having an office.
Reception area:
Keeping a reception area is not just for face value. The first impression is lasting after all, and the same thing can be said when it comes to businesses. A reception area would enable you to have a consistent log of your workers, guests, and clients. The essentials for your reception area are soft chairs, preferably a long sofa, and a coffee table with magazines with subjects of interest to your industry or essential items such as calling cards ready for onlookers to take.
Conference room:
A conference room is a necessity, especially if you’ll be dealing with business partners. With technological advancements making interconnectivity more accessible, it’s no longer an uncommon event to have a meeting in a conference room with multiple business shareholders. Working in a collaborative setup means that it won’t just be enough for you to represent yourself as the face of the company, you would also need to give your staff the chance to pitch in and give their opinions on business operations. Along with a conference table and seats, having a projector screen or a TV display stand to hold a mobile television screen can be a simple and practical solution in creating a conference room.
Work area:
Your work area depends on your brand as a company. Sometimes the most optimal workspaces are quiet to allow your staff to concentrate on dealing with clients through the phone if necessary. Other work practices involve allowing your employees to listen to music that they are into to improve their performance. Whichever the case, the ambience that you want to establish in a workspace should provide them with a personal space to have as their own. Having an area to themselves can be quickly done through panels built as cubicles so that they can concentrate on individual tasks. An alternative is having shared desks between staff members so that it’s easier for them to ask questions and give opinions on their assignments.
Lounge area:
Though your workspace needs a business-vibe to be efficient, you also need to give them avenues to relax. A kitchen area for eating pre-made snacks or a shared fridge where they can keep their drinks is a great way to make them feel at home even when in the workplace. A lounge doesn’t need to be too fancy, a couple of sofas and a TV could work well. Giving your workers a chance to sit down and chat about work without working at their stations can help build individual motivation and company camaraderie.
Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.
You’re here because you’re searching for that hidden weapon. The one secret that will give you a definitive edge over other companies in your line of work.
Behold the RSS feed reader. It’s not flashy. It can, in fact, be a little bit confusing, if you only have memories of them in the early 00s.
But it’s true. An RSS feed reader can make all the difference for your business.
What is an RSS feed reader?
Or maybe you’re not familiar with RSS. Here’s a crash course.
RSS is a protocol, which was developed early in the Internet’s youth as a way for users to have an easy way to access numerous sites simultaneously. Basically, every website and blog would have an RSS feed embedded in their code, which can then be accessed by an RSS feed reader.
Add any feed to your reader and then receive its content as soon as it’s posted. It’s that simple and was the chief way to stay connected and on top of development during the blogging craze.
Is it going to help my business grow?
Yes.
RSS readers have grown by leaps and bounds from where they started. For one, they now support all types of media files and formats, ranging from YouTube to podcasts. You’re able to cast your net wide – excellent for performing monitoring and research.
Not to mention how RSS feed readers have added tools, filters, and integrations that now place them firmly in the category of productivity tools. Depending on which RSS feed reader you have, you are in the perfect position to streamline your company’s journey to success.
How to use it for business?
a. Monitor your brand
To many, monitoring public opinion regarding their brand begins by opening their social media for a quick scroll down mentions and DMs. Maybe retweet something funny. That’s it. Smaller companies are particularly guilty of thinking ‘we’re small, so nobody’s really talking about us.’
It’s a fact many customers share their impressions of a business without tagging the businesses in their discussions unless it’s a direct complaint. Follow the breadcrumbs no matter how infrequent or small they are through RSS. Here’s what you can achieve with Inoreader as your RSS reader:
Create Google Alerts for important branded keywords and migrate them to Inoreader. This way you get the benefit of Alerts without the ineffective mail delivery.
Create keyword searches on social media, Twitter for instance, and subscribe to them via Inoreader, so you’re instantly updated when posts mention you.
Subscribe to important trade sites and set triggers to receive alerts whenever an article pops up that mentions your brand.
b. See what competitors do
The same principles as above apply here. Users can shift their attention easily to direct competitors in a heartbeat with minimal effort. You don’t have to change much in your monitoring approach, but it can also be wise to subscribe to your competitors’ newsletter, website, and social media.
The goal here is to monitor not just what’s said about your competitors, but also keep a close eye on every possible move they make. If you’re a considerably smaller fish in the pond, it’s smart to know when the market leaders are going to make an announcement, release a product or start a new campaign. That way you can time important marketing pushes on your part during the empty slots in their calendar.
Besides, your competitors are live case studies on the viability of campaigns and marketing ideas.
c. Follow influencers and bloggers
I mentioned trade publications above and the importance of checking for coverage of your brand, but there’s also another important category of sources you shouldn’t neglect. I’m talking about influencers and bloggers. These are the people that are somewhere between your target audience and industry systems.
They’re vehicles for promotion with varying degrees of influence. Some showcase what resonates with your ideal customers and others have economic power thanks to the size of their audience. Influencer marketing is still here for the time being and it’s a truly interesting phenomenon as it allows you to see firsthand what connects with your audience.
Influencers and bloggers thrive on their relatability to their followers. RSS feed readers are made for this exact purpose – follow blogs, newsletters, forums, and now a variety of media formats.
d. Discover new topics
RSS readers have made a sharp turn towards assisting their user base in finding relevant material, not just consuming it. After all, will you ever leave your RSS reader, when you keep on finding new and new feeds to explore? However, this functionality is not just created for leisure. It’s perfect for research purposes.
Inoreader has invested a lot into their discovery features. The very thing you encounter when you make your account is the discovery zone. You have several main branches of topics that further divide depending on how narrow your interests run. Each topic and subtopic is populated by the most subscribed-to RSS feeds in the reader’s database.
Furthermore, you have a lot more flexibility in how you explore suggestions thanks to the Sort by Magic feature, while the browser extension simplifies subscriptions to new RSS feeds and grants easy access to recent updates.
e. Learn more about your customers
Really, through the right blend of branded and non-branded keyword monitoring (we touched on both above), you arrive at a fuller, more fleshed-out profile of your ideal customer. You experience your customers in relation to your brand, which is essential in improving the ever-fragile brand-customer relationship. But more importantly, you get to experience them in their own environment. If you follow the current crop of successful influencers, then you know quite a lot.
Where do they hang out online? What’s important to them? How do they talk? What inspires them in their day-to-day life? What needs does your product meet? What motivates them to buy specifically from you? All these are questions you can answer. All from Inoreader’s dashboard.
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The advent of the internet has transformed how various organizational activities are conducted. In fact, many businesses incorporate IT into their business operations to keep up with the drastic changes caused by the Internet. However, to improve your business operations, you need to choose business IT solutions.
So, how does IT improve business operations? It helps to create different innovations that affect how business operations are conducted. For instance, the various IT processes help improve data storage, aid in broader and more efficient dissemination of information between multiple departments, and faster business operations processing.
Basically, a business with an efficient IT process provides better quality services and has high productivity levels. Moreover, due to the importance of IT in businesses’ smooth functioning, you must get the best services from your IT supplier.
To learn how to choose a good business IT solution, read on to the end of the article.
Factors To Consider Before You Choose Business IT Solutions
Several factors play a part in determining how efficient your IT supplier will be. Looking for better service from your IT supplier? Below is an outline of the significant factors:
1. Understand Your Needs
The IT needs of your businesses determine the type of IT supplier suited for it. There are different types of IT suppliers, each providing a broad range of hardware, software, and IT services. They include:
Manufacturers:These suppliers sell their products and offer essential IT services. Basically, such suppliers are helpful if you are confident that you only need someone to provide you with IT services and support.
Specialist suppliers:These IT professionals have expertise in a specific field, let’s say, management systems or customer relations.
Resellers:These mainly act as agents for hardware manufacturers. Nonetheless, some of them also offer software and a wide range of IT services and support.
System integrators:These IT professionals deliver an integrated working station by selecting appropriate hardware and software depending on your specific needs.
Consultants:These provide consultancy services tailored to meet the IT needs of your business. Consultants also sell services like IT setup and installation.
2. Determine Your Budget For Business IT Solutions
Your IT budget determines the quality of services you get from your supplier. Most IT suppliers provide different types of services, including cloud backup services, monitoring services, maintenance services, data backup and restoration, firewall services, cybersecurity services, and provision of firewalls.
The types of services your IT suppliers provide you will depend on your IT budgetary allocation. If your budget is low, you will likely afford only the essential IT services.
Conversely, if you have sufficient budgetary allocations, you’ll be able to afford vital IT services that will help improve your organizational efficiency and productivity.
3. Consolidate Your IT services With Business IT Solutions
Some organizations have in-house IT personnel. Such organizations mostly rely on the services of this personnel for most of their IT solutions. However, there are IT services that the in-house personnel cannot provide.
In such a case, the organization source for services of outside IT companies. While there is an option of getting these services from many companies, it is better to consolidate these services from a single supplier.
Doing this fosters good relations with the given supplier. It also aids in their quick execution of the IT services, given that they are familiar with your system. Other benefits of consolidating your IT services with one supplier include:
You will save moneyand reduce the need to make repeat procurements.
It gives you better bargaining power when negotiating for prices, given that you deal with one supplier repeatedly.
It minimizes the failure of critical business services.
4. Check The Track Record Of The Service Provider
There are numerous IT suppliers available. However, the quality of services they provide differs. As such, it is vital that you choose a company that offers the best IT services.
Here are some of the factors that determine an IT supplier’s efficiency: the ability to complete IT services in time, the availability of maintenance services, and the ability to provide high-quality services.
You can find such a company through referrals. Also, you must check their reviews on the internet or outrightly research on the internet. This way, you can determine how suitable the supplier is for your IT needs.
5. Check Whether They Can Maintain Good Relationship With You
Like the case with other suppliers, fostering good relationships with your IT supplier plays a massive part. For instance, it helps to determine the quality of services they will offer you. The following are some of the ways you can ensure this:
First, ensure that you pay for their services promptly. Prompt payment reduces the chances of any disagreements with the supplier, leading to them opting to stop working with you.
Likewise, make sure to offerthem reasonable prices for their services. When you pay your IT supplier affordable prices, there is a high probability that they will want to retain you as a client. Moreover, they will strive to provide top-notch services that ensure that your business grows.
When one business IT solutions supplier offers you services, they will understand your needs better. Hence, they will work to ensure your success.
6. Make Sure The Company Offers A Variety Of Business IT Solutions
Working with a single IT company helps you foster a good relationship with the supplier and cut your IT services costs. When you work with a single IT supplier, you reduce costs such as procurement costs.
Moreover, to learn about different types of business IT solutions, check the next section of the article.
7. The Company Must Have Experience Working With Similar Businesses
There are different types of IT suppliers. Generally, each of them has the expertise to provide solutions that are tailored to specific businesses.
Actually, you must work with a company that is averse to business IT solutions similar to yours. This way, you can ensure that you get the best services from proven industry professionals.
Essential Business IT Solutions You Must Know
Generally, an IT service provider offers the following business IT solutions:
1. Managed IT Services
Basically, Managed IT services include handling of remote servers and device and desktop management. These services will ensure that your system works smoothly.
2. Cloud Backup Services
The supplier should know how to store your data on the cloud to be available even when the server has a malfunction.
3. Monitoring Services
Try to keep an eye on the server’s net traffic, security, communication, and any other monitoring services that your system may need.
4. Data Backup and Restoration
The IT service provider must offer data backup with both external data centers and the cloud. You, therefore, won’t have to worry about losing your data in case of any unforeseen problems. Generally, such problems include malicious intrusions, natural occurrences, and hardware failure.
5. Firewall Services
Firewall services are vital in ensuring that your enterprise is insulated from cyber-attacks. Preferably, your IT supplier should have a hybrid network with additional control and network monitoring abilities outside of the normal rulesets.
6. Antivirus Protection
Your supplier should provide you with up-to-date antivirus to protect your IT systems from any malware that may lead to the loss of sensitive data.
7. Remote Services
Your It supplier should be flexible enough to provide you with IT services even from remote locations. This can be beneficial, especially if you are outsourcing services and there is an abrupt IT problem. Some of the services these IT professionals can solve remotely include software repair, IT support services, and software updates.
8. Mobile And Remote Networking
Your supplier should install mobile networking services in your system that enable your employees to work off-site using computers or mobile devices.
9. Data Analytics
Your supplier should install data analysis software or personally analyze the data to help your enterprise process information such that the data can produce usable information.
10. Networking Services
Networking encompasses activities that are geared towards ensuring your business has an efficient network. The supplier should build efficient network infrastructure, setting up devices like LAN, Reuters, Modems, optimization, security, and other factors essential in creating a seamless network.
11. Unified Communication
The supplier should provide you with software that unifies all communications in your enterprise in a single space, such as the UC software.
12. Communication Management
Efficient communication within the various departments is crucial to your business’s smooth flow. As such, your IT supplier should provide you with universal communication software that incorporates messaging from chat, voice calls, video calls, and email.
Basically, such a system will ensure that there is an efficient flow of information between the personnel from different departments. It can also aid in creating efficient communication with outside parties such as suppliers and creditors.
Choosing The Best Business IT Solutions: Way Forward
The recent increase in internet usage and technology demands that every business have an IT department to run smoothly. While there are several IT suppliers to choose from, knowing which supplier is best suited for your company is essential to ensuring that your business gets the best business IT solutions.
The first step to ensuring that you get the best IT services is choosing an IT provider that offers services that meet your needs. Some of the ways you can do this include ensuring that they charge affordable prices for their services, offer a wide range of services, are available whenever you need their services, and offer excellent IT services.
Getting such a company will ensure that your business’s operations run smoothly and that your productivity increases.
Do you have more information to offer about business IT solutions? Please share them in the comments section below.
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Financial planning is an essential aspect of any business, and for contractors, it's no different. In the construction industry, project viability relies heavily on careful financial management. This article will explore the principles of effective financial planning for contractors and how using a bid bond can demonstrate financial stability and attract clients.
The Importance Of Financial Planning For Construction Companies
The construction industry is highly competitive, and its dynamics and the economic scenario are changing continuously. Therefore, it is important to have a plan in place when it comes to navigating regulations, compliances, and even finances. This section mainly discusses the importance of financial planning for the construction companies.
1. Navigating The Landscape Of The Construction Industry
As mentioned above, the construction industry is rapidly changing. Every now and then, you have new rules, guidelines, compliances, and changes in technology. It is an important aspect of the entire industry. A personalized plan can help you pinpoint these changes and be prepared to face the challenges in the future.
2. Managing The Flow Of Cash
Cash flow management is another critical aspect of any business. The construction business is no exception. The irregular scheme of payments and also the out-of-plan expenditure can, indeed, disrupt the flow of cash. A personalized flow of finance in the construction industry can help you maintain quite a healthy cash flow. It helps manage the sudden need for finance and fix issues.
3. Long-Term Sustainability
A well-planned financial plan offers a roadmap for the long-term sustainability of the construction companies. They assist companies in setting attainable goals and targets. If you do not have a solid base of finances, you won’t be able to plan ahead in the future. One of the biggest challenges that business organizations face today is the long-term sustainability. As a business, you could only attain it if you have a steady supply of finances.
4. Managing The Risks
The construction industry is quite risky. There are financial liabilities, safety, legal and other issues. A personalized financial plan helps create the strategies. They help reduce the chances of financial setbacks and also the circumstances hitherto not experienced.
5. Reducing The Cost Of Borrowing
You all know that the construction industry is quite fund-intensive. You need to have a large sum of money. Under the circumstances, borrowing is the biggest way to handle it. But they have their interest associated with it, which is quite hefty at times. They may affect your budget and the prices of the products. Therefore, you must have the planning and a strong pedestal in place. But there is no alternative to a strong planning.
6. Increased Profitability
The be-all and end-all of business is earning profits. Managing the expenditure is quite a challenge; therefore, you must be highly prepared with a plan in mind. A well-crafted plan of finances considers the revenue streams of the company assets and the expenses. A business owner uses their plan to make the wisest of choices. They help boost the profits and then cut the costs.
7. Attracting The Investors
When you woo the investors for your projects, they look at some of the important things before investing. One of the core elements in good financial planning. If they understand that your finances are well managed and your organization is well in shape, it can drive them to invest in your vision. Therefore, you must invest in professionally prepared finance to ensure steady growth and stability in the long run.
The Core Aspects Of Financial Planning For The Contractors
In this section, we discuss some of the core aspects of financial planning that can help you stay ahead in this competitive landscape. As a stakeholder in the construction sector, you must have the planning in place.
Budgeting
The cornerstone of any financial plan is a well-structured budget. It’s essential to account for all expenses, including materials, labor, equipment, and overhead costs. By creating a detailed budget, you’ll be better equipped to estimate project costs accurately.
Cash Flow Management
Cash flow is the lifeblood of your contracting business. Timely invoicing and efficient collection of payments are critical. Moreover, having a cash reserve for unexpected expenses or delays is a wise strategy.
Using Bid Bonds To Show Financial Stability
One effective way to demonstrate financial stability to potential clients is by using bid bonds. A bid bond is a form of guarantee that you, as a contractor, provide to the project owner. It is a promise that if you're awarded the project, you will enter into a contract and provide performance and payment bonds as required. It assures project owners that you have the financial capacity to complete the project.
By including these bonds in your bids, you signal to clients that you are financially stable and capable of fulfilling the contract. This can set you apart from competitors and instill confidence in project owners.
Financial Planning For Contractors
Emergency Fund
As mentioned earlier, cash flow can be unpredictable. Having an emergency fund that covers at least three to six months' worth of expenses can provide a safety net during lean times or unexpected setbacks.
Diversify Your Client Base
Relying on a single client or type of project can be risky. Diversifying your client base and the types of projects you take on can help stabilize your income and reduce vulnerability to market fluctuations.
Regularly Review And Adjust Your Financial Plan
Financial planning is not a one-and-done task. It's essential to review and adjust your plan regularly, especially as your business grows and evolves.
Insurance Coverage
Consider various insurance options to protect your business against unforeseen events. Liability insurance, workers' compensation, and equipment insurance are just a few examples of coverage that can safeguard your financial stability.
Invest Wisely
Make informed investment choices for any surplus funds you may have. Consult with a financial advisor to develop an investment strategy that aligns with your long-term financial goals.
Conclusion
In conclusion, financial planning is a critical component of a contractor's success. It ensures project viability, stability, and, ultimately, the growth of your business. Remember to create a comprehensive budget, manage your cash flow efficiently, and explore various financial strategies to secure your financial future as a contractor. By following these principles, you can build a strong foundation for your contracting business and thrive in the competitive construction industry.
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