Why You Must Embrace Green Home Technologies?

Lucia Patterson

22 March 2016

Small Business

Did you know? Buildings in India account for…

33% greenhouse emissions
38% energy consumption
30% landfill waste
12% water consumption

And, every year, built-up areas in the country grow by 10% with a whopping 700% increase in energy consumption!

It’s time to re-evaluate our priorities,

It’s time to give back to nature,

And for our children, it’s time to ensure that our homes do not destroy the world.

India has been a fascinating growth story. Our story of growth is also about stress on the environment and natural resources. Fragile ecosystems and endangered species are struggling amidst the fast-expanding concrete. However, there is a silver lining in every cloud. Staying true to the traditional ethos of living in harmony with nature, Indian real estate is welcoming new technologies and innovative architecture to ensure a sustainable future. New-age financial solutions and subsidies are likely to encourage the adoption of green technologies in the construction sector.

Your contribution, however small, is significant in creating an eco-friendly living space. Going green is an important milestone for your family where you create a positive environment for growth. It saves you lots of money as you pass down the lessons of conservation to the next generation and add to their inheritance. Green constructions and architecture are the flavors of our times and builders are incorporating environment-friendly and energy-efficient features like LED lights, waste management plants, urban forestry, natural ventilation, thermos bricks and many other design elements for your conservation and well-being.

Why do you need a green home?

Money, money, money

A green building creates many financial benefits for owners and tenants. Natural materials are compatible with the environment, while solar energy, proper ventilation, rainwater harvesting, water recycling, waste management, and foliage help to cut energy consumption and save large amounts of money for you. Tenants are clearly attracted to buildings which offer a reduction in everyday costs.

Environmentally safe with GRIHA

It feels great doing your bit to safeguard the environment. Buildings are responsible for one-third of greenhouse emissions and that portion can be reduced by 35%. Demand for high-quality, eco-friendly and energy-efficient real estate is growing across India. It applies to both, residential and commercial spaces. And with our urban air becoming a pollution hazard, it is imperative that as an Indian, you seek green alternatives to safeguard health, environment, and productivity. You can choose environment-friendly homes as per GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) rating. It evaluates how your home stands against accepted benchmarks of green buildings.

Better innovation

As an investor, you gain a higher yield from green buildings. The practice also spurs design and material innovation, which is important for our nation. The “green wave” has brought forth new technologies, understanding of ancient practices and ample research interest. Green buildings are using traditional material and recycling old materials to reduce our carbon footprint. Reduce, reuse and recycle: that’s the mantra sustaining your green home.

A great start-up culture

Grassroots awareness will drive greater adoption of green technologies. Rural artisans, cottage industries, and agriculture have felt a positive impact of the green drive. A new culture of entrepreneurs providing new solutions to builders is enriching the green economy.

Green buildings in India are becoming a part of the culture. You should be thrilled to know our country was ranked #3 on a list of 10 countries by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) for LEED outside the US. India today boasts of 1 billion square feet of green building area. With over 200 million square feet of commercial space and 45 million square feet of construction coming up, you can say without a doubt: The sky is our limit!

Apoorva Bharadwaj is a freelance blog writer. She has written blog posts largely catering to the real estate industry. Throughout these many years of her career as a blogger, she has kept up with changing trends in the real estate industry. She has written many blog posts on why the real estate prices are skyrocketing in major metros, how to choose the right real estate agents, about new apartments in metros, etc. At present, her latest blog work is on Jain Height’s new eco-friendly homes, luxury condominium projects for sale in Bangalore and about the right time to invest in an apartment.

Lucia Patterson

Lucia Patterson is the woman behind TheLegalGuides, a blog solely focused on legal guides, tips, and advice. Lucia loves essay writing and blogs at EssayWritingGuides from her college days.

View all posts

KF Documentary: Tips For Small Business To Learn From KFC’s Brand Turnaround

It wasn’t that long ago that reports about KFC’s sales falling were drawing a rather dismal picture for the brand. And yet today, it’s standing strong as ever, proudly taking the title of the second most popular fast-food chain on the planet. Today in this KFC documentary, we will look into the strategies KFC used to regain its position. The turnaround this brand managed to accomplish in a handful of years is rather miraculous in the world of business, and many can learn from its example. Some of the techniques used by KFC in its road back to the top can be adapted for small businesses that are working their way up their own niches. KFC Documentary: Brand Revival After KFC fall to the ground and fail to satisfy their customers with their product in 2013, they decided to connect with the customers on the emotional levels and started marketing business once again. This time they took the help of the digital platform to reach out wider bandwidth of audiences. 1. Make Advertisements Branded And Fun Ads are annoying, and people skip them, right? Well, KFC managed to create a series of ads that people were really looking forward to watching. Each was an entertaining clip featuring ‘Colonel Sanders’ in some new interesting role. Colonel, the founder and greatest asset of KFC, is the embodiment of the brand today. On the contrary, the company is immortalizing him by turning him from a real-life showman and marketing genius into a fictional hero who has his own fan club. There are even books about his rise to the brand icon role now. A small business will not be able to launch a multimillion campaign with fancy ads, but you can create a character that will give a personality to your brand. Choose something or someone that your target audience will be able to relate to. Your goal is to make your marketing seem less like self-promotion and more like a friend or idol offering advice. 2. Make Your Customer Feedback Count One thing that KFC has always been focused on was delivering a top-quality customer experience. One of the main methods the brand uses to achieve that is directly asking for feedback and actually using it. All you need to do in order to share your opinion and be heard is to fill up the KFC survey. Have you ever done this yourself? Did it help improve the service or address any issue you had? Did you feel like you can contribute to the betterment of your favorite fast-food restaurant by taking that survey? Considering how smoothly the KFC customer service runs, the answers to those questions are most likely ‘yes’. And that is what a small business owner should learn from KFC. You need to establish a way for your customers to provide feedback (a customer satisfaction survey is a good start). Then, you need to pay attention to that feedback and follow up on it immediately. Today you can find or develop specialized solutions that will process this information to make this easier. That’s why the survey format is optimal for small companies that cannot hire a full-time call center service. KFC Documentary: Final Thoughts Of course, there was more to KFC’s triumph, like leveraging humor as well as extensive work in local market research and launching dozens of localized projects, like traditional menu changes. However, as a small business owner, you need to start with things that can bring tangible results right away. Read Also: Basic Small Business Tips for Noobs Who Want to Start a Venture in 2020 Cost-Effective Custom Mobile Accessories Packaging for your Small Business How To Empower Your Small Business through Digital Marketing? How To Sell A Small Business Without A Broker

What Does Business Law State about Monitoring Employees?

Occasionally, we come across many individuals that are conflicted about the role monitoring applications have to play in the day to day office routines and activities. The most common question asked deals with the boundaries and limits that are “bendable” with the installment of monitoring applications. And the answer is simple; monitoring applications and software programs are legal and frequently advised to be installed in any firm or company. Here is why. Legal but… Monitoring or spy applications are legal in any court of law across the world. However, there are some regulations that need to be upheld by the employers’ side before installing monitoring software around the company premises. These guidelines include: Informing Employees Beforehand When it comes to employee monitoring applications, every court of law strictly states that the employees should be clearly notified about being monitored. The best way to accomplish this is via policies and guidelines that should be always kept on display within office premises. These guidelines should clearly explain every element of the employee monitoring intervention put forth by the company. Moreover, even when the firm decides to take on new employees, they should adjust a clause in the contract which makes it mandatory for every person being hired to sign a nondisclosure stating that they are alright with being monitored on company-related matters. Only Limited to Company Owned Gadgets Monitoring software programs tend to give employers an unwarranted power over the employees. And to protect the employee's interests, legal guidelines regarding monitoring apps clearly state that the spying should be only limited to company-owned gadgets. This means that every information coming in and going out through the company-owned gadgets are company property. The guidelines placed around the office premises should also clearly pinpoint this clause so that it poses as a reminder at all times. Furthermore, it is also recommended that the employers get their employees to sign a nondisclosure agreement that clearly states that all information on the company owned gadgets is company property. This means it can be used by the company in court if need be as well. Using Reliable Technological Sources When another’s a source of income and image in the business world is on the line, it is always best to be careful and use reliable technological sources and software programs rather than the usual cheap ones. The expensive yet well-reputed ones can be easily programmed and altered according to the specific needs of the company, hence always used for easy access and usage. Balancing is key Putting so many restrictions and highlighting many stingy clauses regarding monitoring applications like TheOneSpy mobile spy software around the office can definitely scare an employee and hence hinder their overall productivity. This is primarily due to the lack of rapport that should be there between the employee and employer to help increase profits as employee motivation grows. Therefore, it is always recommended by experts to use a system that is similar to a token economy where the employees are given some leeway and flexibility in some areas while at the same time restricted in some too. For example, allowing them access to specific social media sites during a few designated hours of the day. Never Resort to Open Slander It is never healthy to insult or accuse an employee openly among their peers. And with monitoring applications installed, there will be many times that the system may show you red flags which in reality are nothing but some mishap with the coding of the monitoring application itself. Therefore, rather than losing your cool and openly slandering a perfectly loyal employee, it is always best to take them aside or discreetly conduct a further investigation either with their knowledge of it or without it. This is because an employee can otherwise sue you for slandering their image followed by wrongful termination which would prove bad for your company’s image. The law about monitoring applications is specifically made to protect both the employees as well as the employers in case of any mishap or misunderstanding between the two parties. While it may look like the employers have all the power with monitoring applications installed, but in reality, analysis has shown that monitoring applications have been found to be more useful to employees. For example, if an employee faces discrimination at the hands of another employee or employer, they can use the backup made by monitoring applications to highlight the wrongful act in court.

Standard Consulting Updating Businesses Now On ISO 9001 Changes

Whilst quality management system ISO 9001 is a set of International Standards recognized throughout the world, you could also describe it as a way of life or a mindset. Quality management is one of those things that just makes sense - in fact, much of it is exactly that, common sense! Practical, simple and very effective, it's a way of delivering the very best products and services to the customer - and implementing it really isn't rocket science! Whilst so much of this is commonsense, nonetheless, there is a set of policies, processes, and procedures needed to make it all happen. But this is a system that should be at the very heart of any organization. Whether you own a large company, a small business or you run a voluntary organization or charity, you have 'customers', and meeting their requirements should be your main goal. Well-oiled machine Standard Consulting in Brisbane sums it up perfectly when they describe ISO 9001 as a way of consolidating the many internal processes within an organization into one well-oiled machine. It leads us away from considering a business to be many different components running alongside each other, seeing it instead as a total commitment to quality as a whole. Standard Consulting's Quality Management System training packages help organizations of any size understand and adopt this concept, leading to improved performance, fewer complaints, more happy customers and a better bottom line. Crucially, it will also help organizations meet regulatory requirements and achieve ongoing improvement. Government tenders Quality Management System training helps businesses understand that their customers are not the only ones to consider. For example, a business chasing Government contracts and tenders is unlikely to make even the first cut without a QMS system in place. In our competitive world, where a tender might attracts hundreds of bids, Government departments need some sort of benchmark against which they can measure the applicants. Or perhaps you are an SMB wanting to join a major organization's supply chain. Again, it is unlikely you will be considered with a recognized system in place. Remember, that major company has to meet its own regulatory requirements and keep its customers happy, so it is crucial they work with like-minded organizations. In order to be effective, Quality Management System ISO 9001 must be embraced by everyone within an organization, from top to bottom. And decision-makers within the business need to consider it in the context of all future plans and policies. It also demands that all policies and procedures be documented, and constantly reviewed and updated, in much the same way the Standards themselves are revised and updated. Standard updates In fact, there has recently been a review, with the current version of the Standard being Quality Management System ISO 9001:2015. Three years in the making, this only goes to show how important and up-to-date these Standards are, formulated by professionals from throughout the world. Well over a million ISO 9001 certifications have been issued - a reassuring sign that businesses are really starting to take on board the importance of quality, in their goods, services and internal operations. ISO 9001 was revised to make it more in tune with how we do business these days - reflecting our global market better. Quality Assurance vs Quality Control As professionals such as Standard Consulting will tell you, it is far better to create a top-quality product in the first place - Quality Assurance - than to have to deal with returns and complaints later - Quality Control. It's a mistake to think that quality control is enough. As well as disappointing and potentially losing customers, producing faulty products that get returned is a complete waste of money for the organization. Better to get it the right first time, every time. There are, however, a few misconceptions about ISO 9001:2015, and these will be properly explained during quality management system training. For example, you'll hear some people say that the Standard is only for big organizations, or that it is only applicable to certain industries. That is not the case. Suitable for any business International Standards can be applied to any size organization, in any industry, and be just as relevant. The concept of quality products that are fit for purpose has nothing to do with the size of your business. In fact, we are seeing an increasing number of SMEs implementing these systems, because they can see how it saves them time and money and helps them secure a larger chunk of the market. Another myth is that it is only for manufacturing or retail businesses but again, this is untrue. Quality Management System ISO 9001 is used by hospitals, schools, churches, charities, police departments and more. To put it simply, every group or organization or business needs structure - and structure needs policies and procedures. Think about it - even families have structure, rules, processes, systems, and patterns. So it's fairly obvious you need the same processes and systems in business - but much bigger. To find out how your business would benefit, talk to Standard Consulting - experts in International Standards.

Why You Must Embrace Green Home Technologies?