Tag: Guide

A Compaq Guide About Business Setup in Dubai

Dubai is the one of the fastest growing business hub with the state of the art facilities available for local and international business. Dubai is an integral part of business world and is leading with innovation. Dubai is politically stable and has strong economic culture and government of Dubai offer friendly business regulations which attracts the investors from around the world. This article will provide you a Compaq guide regarding business setup in Dubai. Before you start your business in a unbeaten economy like Dubai first you need to under the culture of it. Dubai being an international city is a multi-cultural city, people from all around the world are present in Dubai. After familiarizing yourself with the cultural you must learn about the rules and regulations and kind of the business you can start.

Legal structure of business setup in Dubai is according to UAE Federal Law No. 8 of 1984, and after the amendment in Federal Law No. 13 of 1988 – the Commercial Companies Law, and its by-laws regulate the function of foreign business in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In wide terms the requirements of these regulations are: The Federal Law requires a total local equity of not less than 51% in any commercial business and describes seven categories of business organizations which can be established in the UAE. This regulation explains the requirements in terms of shareholders, directors, minimum capital requirements and business incorporation processes. This law further lays down the requirements of governing conversion, merger and dissolution of companies and businesses.

In Dubai, you are given plenty of opportunities; you get benefits of best economy based on strong administrative foundations. Authorities of Dubai have divided the city in different economic jurisdictions. You can start different types of businesses in Dubai bases on type of business and location; types are divided in three main categories which are Mainland, Free Zones and Offshore. Another thing to remember is that Dubai welcomes foreign investment but there are rules and regulations that must be followed. In order for you to enter in Dubai, UAE you need to have sponsor, a sponsor will take your responsibility. Importance of a sponsor can be determined by the fact that for any purpose if it is business or you are just visiting you must have a sponsor. When it comes to start a business in Dubai you are require having a sponsor, any kind of business needs a sponsor or service agent. In mainland a local resident or a of United Arab Emirates based company act as a sponsor, for professional service you need service agent as sponsor and for setting up a free zone business you also need a sponsor, in this case free zone acts as your sponsor.

Business setup in Dubai mainland requires you to have a valid license issued by the administrative authority. The name of the authority is Dubai Economic Development (DED); it is a government agency responsible for issuing the business licenses. Renewal of the license, cancellation and up-gradation are also handled by Dubai Economic Development (DED). To ease the investors Dubai Economic Development (DED) operates for different localities, thought scrutiny process of the application is strict but department ensures the quick application processing. In Dubai mainland, Dubai Economic Development (DED) issues four types of licenses, commercial, professional service, Branch office and industrial license.

To setup your business in Dubai mainland under commercial license you are by law mandated to have the help from local UAE resident which is also called local sponsor. Local sponsor is by law hold the 51% shares of your business and you will hold only 49% of shares. However you are given full administrative rights. You can draw contracts with local sponsor and allocate a yearly fee for being a sponsor. Local sponsor sometimes work as silent partners. Local sponsor can be an individual or it can be a UAE based company or group.

However, if you are setting up a business which involve professional services you don’t need to have a local sponsor, in that case you only need a service agent. Service agent works on your behalf and helps you deal with the local administrative authorities to start your business. You are allowed to hold 100% of your professional business and service agent will only be paid once for the service he offered.

Free zones are special economic zones in Dubai which are specially designed to attract the foreign investment. Free zone based business are fully owned by the investor and there are plenty of options to choose with. Every free zone in Dubai has a governing authority or free zone authority. For business setup in Dubai you would need deal with the free zone authority. You may be asked by the authority to provide different legal documents before you finally give the go ahead in form of license by that authority.

Free zone offers different attractive options for foreign investors such as you are given 100% of ownership of your business. There are many options free of tax you can avail like no personal income tax, corporate tax exemptions. There are different types of business setup options in Dubai free zones like you can start of your business enterprise as a limited liability company or service provider organizations, there are different licensing options. Business setups in free zones are allowed to perform international trades. When time comes you can easily wind your business. There is less paper work involved when it comes to end your business from a free zone.

Offshore is another type of business setup offered in Dubai and has been very famous. Offshore means a business entity setup outside of the resident country in an offshore jurisdiction. Dubai offshore jurisdiction provides number of benefits to your business in terms of asset protection, tax optimization and business expansion. Businesses setup in Dubai offshore jurisdiction must abide the offshore companies rules and regulations and is not allowed to trade inside the offshore jurisdiction.

To sum up, after making decision with the kind of business you are willing to start in Dubai you need to deal with the concerned authority. The best way is to hire a professional help. You will be able to find number of consulting firms who are willing to help you deal with the paper work and the authorities. You will be asked by regulating authorities to provide different documents and submit paper work.

Here are few steps you may follow, first of all do research and decide the type of business you are willing to embark, choose jurisdiction and follow through. It is recommended to get the help from a professional when it comes to business setup in Dubai. Ready your paper work for the licensing and get a guide on licensing terms and conditions as there are certain activities you are allowed and certain activities you are not allowed to perform. There are license you can choose which allows multiple business activities.

Students Guide To Making Money To Pay Student Fees Without Student Loan Consolidation

Student loans are a major factor in making students get in debt, just to have a good education. Student debt consolidation can make the problem worse, as you keep adding debts. Another alternative is to use your own initiative by bootstrapping and making your own business to pay for your tuition fees.

So, you want to leave the student loan consolidation, and find alternatives to pay for your tuition fees. Paying your student tuition fees without the need of student loan consolidation is possible, when you take a look at what is available to you. As you are reading this likely online, then I will focus on online methods, as the internet is a great place to start a project which can pay your student tuition fees, your student loan, and hopefully provide you a long term nest egg.

Now you may be thinking that starting your own business would be a costly venture marked with loads of risk. You are absolutely right, if you want a McDonald’s franchise, but what we are looking for is something small that has potential to grow, depending on how much time you invest into this.

Even with only a few hundred dollars, you could soon be on your way to not needing a student loan consolidation loan; you could even start with no money! Now, you may be wondering how is it possible to not get a student loan consolidation loan and be able to pay your student tuition fees.

First we need to take stock of your abilities, and here is where an important key will come in. Consider what you are good at, maybe it is a subject you are studying, maybe it is your passion or your hobby.

The areas we will focus on are eBay, Affiliate Marketing, and Freelancing. All these options are easy to get into, and with consistent effort, can bring you many rewards. Let us begin by looking at an example – a student who likes to DJ. In this example this person could sell on eBay DJ products, music or many other items. As an affiliate marketer you could do the same thing, but with your own web site, and with freelancing, you could make music or mix music for people who need music made.

You may be wondering what is all of these different options, you may have heard of eBay or you may not, you may have heard of affiliate marketing or you may have not. I will cover these so you can get a firm grip of how important they can be to pay student tuition fees, and also cut out the need to get a student loan consolidation program in effect.

eBay to cut out getting student loan consolidation loans:

eBay is an online auction platform. Each day millions of dollars worth of products are sold all across the world through eBay’s auction platform. The best way to cut out the need to get a student loan consolidation just to fund your new venture, is to look at old things you no longer need. You could sell old things you do not need, then you could find wholesalers or suppliers selling what you want to sell. You make a mark up (your profit – costs), and continue to do, and increase profits (part of which can be used to mitigate the need of student loan consolidation loans).

Affiliate Marketing to cut out getting student loan consolidation loans:

Affiliate marketing is similar to selling on eBay, the only difference, is that you are promoting a product which someone else sells and delivers, and pays you commission. This makes starting this project very easily to cut out the need for extra student loans or student loan consolidation loans. Though be aware that you will need to learn about online marketing and find the right formula that works for you.

Freelancing to cut out getting student loan consolidation loans:

Freelancing is pretty easy to get started in. For one, you do not need to have money in most cases to get started. If you have an experience or are studying a subject, you may have knowledge and skills which others would be willing to pay you for your time. eLance and other websites allow you to put up your details, and bid for jobs. These jobs can easily be worked around your busy student life schedule! It can also be a great way to earn money, some people even find that it pays a full times salary, depending on how much time you put in.

There are many ways to get started to earn money, and reduce the need for student loan consolidation loans. So many students today get into debts which could take over a decade to pay back. By taking your own initiative, and with calculated risk, you could easily get into a position that gives yourself a life long enjoyable career. Debt into wealth!

Insurance Companies Listings and Ratings Guide For Insurance Agents & Brokers

Here is the newest, revised version of the best insurance companies listings. These are compiled in a top 100 ratings guide format. The listings are in alphabetical order helping insurance agents & brokers locate an insurer. Find out how your opinion compares. How can you possibly rate an insurance company? I will mention briefly the various ways, show you the method I is used for this article, and why.

BY NUMBER OF AGENTS

This ratings guide listing method evaluates the insurer by the sheer number of insurance agents & brokers currently licensed and under contract. with carrier. I feel this evaluation to be worthless for a multitude of reasons. First of all there are a number of career health and life insurance agencies that have thousands of representatives. However, of these,up to 80% of the total agents are relatively new in attempting to establish credibility in the industry. Four years down the line only 6% of many an insurance company agency force will maintain enough production to stay career representatives.

Moreover, my findings uncover inaccuracy of this method due to licensing renewal process state insurance departments impose on the insurer. Most state departments of insurance send the renewal report forms on a yearly basis. There is a fee to be paid by each ins agent renewed. What makes it difficult is the variation of different paperwork procedures by individual states for removing non-active ins reps. The paperwork consists of costly, time consuming forms and procedures for the insurance company to make any changes. Renewing all the sales representatives is often cheaper, and thus the route the insurer frequently takes. This also gives the insurance company bragging rights to how many sales people write for them.

Personally I was shown in state insurance department records as licensed for 11 years after I wrote my last case.

INSURANCE CO FINANCIAL RANKING LISTINGS

There are four or five top independent firms that employ this insurer rating of a company based on a multitude of financial factors. A lot has to do with projecting the financial stability of the insurer. This is accomplished by closely dissecting past and present financial history. It covers how the insurer investments perform, and the rate of return. An insurance evaluation also takes in consideration the amount of cash on hand, and how much exists in reserves to pay present and future claims.

There is a consensus among life insurance association members into believing that the highest rated insurers are the best of the bunch. Yet association members make up less than 12% of the total producer base. The other insurance agents and brokers, (the majority), do not agree that these are always the best ones to use for their client’s needs. Logic tells you that a newer quality insurer does not have past history to start out top ranked. In my situation, clients bought what I presented them. Nearly half the time it was NOT the highest rated company by the rating firms. I however sold the client what their emotional needs demanded. Many past insurance companies with rankings in the best 100 later financially failed, and still frequently do in today’s world.

BY RANKING OF PREMIUMS COLLECTED

This is a very common type of insurance company listing & ranking to produce. Insurance companies are rated by total number of premiums they collected that year. It seems rather unfair to mix annuity premiums in with all dollars collected. Producers know it is easier to sell a $20,000 annuity than a $20,000 premium term insurance policy. The other fault I find with using total premiums collected is with who actually contributed a chunk of the premiums collected. With some companies an enormous amount of these premiums were not collected by the average sales person. A lot of institutional buyers directly bought hundreds of thousands of dollars of annuity premiums.

BY RATINGS IMPORTANT TO HEALTH & LIFE SELLERS

This is my way. As fair and balanced from an sales representative perspective as feasible. Premiums are collected from the 1,500,000 agents, trying to make a living by selling insurance policies in this industry. Often these sales are done one by one. Plus, of this 450,00 independent brokers, semi-independent agents and some career reps write, depending on which company, 50% to 100% of that insurance co business.

This rankings method is imposed because I find the insurance companies listing is intended to be a beneficial directory. One that independent brokers, semi-independent representatives, along with some career reps can turn to. This is a guide directory to other insurers that you may consider writing production for.

The insurance companies listing and ratings guide to the top 100 is purposely placed in alphabetical order instead of by premium or financial data. You may not agree completely with the listing, because we have left in some companies with a strong percentage of business sold in annuities, and investment products.

In the eyes of a typical health and life broker, this guide is of health and life insurance companies is about as accurate as possible.

1. Aetna 2. AIG Life Insurance Company** 3. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America 4. American Family Life Assurance Co of Columbus 5. American Fidelity Assurance Company 6. American General Life and Accident INS Co** 7. American General Life Insurance Co** 8. American Income 9. American Memorial 10. American National Life 11. Americo Financial Life And Annuity 12. Anthem Blue Cross 13 Aurora National Assurance 14 Aviva Life and Annuity Company 15. AXA Equitable 16.Bankers Life and Casualty Company 17. Banner 18. Beneficial Life 19. C.M. Life Ins 20. Colonial Life & Accident 21. Columbus Life 22. Conseco Life 23. Farmers New World 24. First-Penn Pacific 25.Forethought 26. General American 27. Genworth 28. Gerber 29. Great American 30. Great-West Life & Annuity 31. Guardian 32. Hartford Life and Accident Ins Company 33. Hartford 34. Homesteaders 35. Indianapolis Life 36. ING 37. Jackson National 38. John Hancock 39. John Hancock Life Insurance Company USA 40.. Kansas City Life 41.. Lafayette 42.. Liberty Life Assurance Co of Boston 43.. Liberty National 44.. Life Ins Company of North America 45. Life Ins Company of the Southwest 46. Life Investors Ins Co of America 47. Lincoln Benefit 48. Lincoln Heritage 49. Lincoln National 50. Massachusetts Mutual 51. Metropolitan 52. Midland National 53. Minnesota Life 54. Monumental Life 55. MONY – America 56. MONY – New York 57. National Guardian 58. National Life 59. New England Life 60. New York Life Ins and Annuity Corporation 61. New York Life 62. North American Co for Life & Health Ins. 63. Northwestern Mutual 64. Ohio National Life 65. OM Financial 66. Pacific Life 67. Penn Mutual 68. Phoenix Life Ins 69. Primerica 70. Principal 71. Protective 72. Provident Life and Accident 73. Pruco 74. Prudential – America 75. Reassure America 76. Reliance Standard 77. ReliaStar 78. Riversource 79. Security Life of Denver y 80. Standard 81. Stonebridge 82. Sun Life and Health 83. Sunset 84. Surety 85. Symetra 86. Transamerica 87. Transamerica Occidental 88. Trustmark 89. U.S. Financial 90. Union Central 91. Union Security 92. United Healthcare 93. United Ins Company of America 94. United Investors 95. United of Omaha 96. United States Life 97. Unum 98. West Coast 99. Western and Southern Life 100. Western Reserve Life Assurance Co of Ohio Note: Sagicor Life, Foresters, and Illinois Mutual should appear on the bottom 3 listings, replacing the companies listed above as #6, 2, and 7.

**AIG Life Insurance Company, American General Life, American General Life and Casualty Comments

This group of companies USED to be one the highest premium generating, and highest ranked insurance companies in the United States. Still, after two massive Federal Bailouts, the future is uncertain. Therefore, AIG Life is no longer deserving of being on this top 100 list guide.

GUIDE TO QUESTIONABLE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LISTINGS

The following insurance companies listings often could be included in different types of some top 100 Life ins company rankings IF you were evaluating premiums written. Sometimes the premiums consist of considerable amounts of annuity premiums. Also counted in would be insurers where a large portion of sales do not come from representatives and sales people. Instead it is written by security stock brokerage firms, and independent broker-dealers of variable investment contracts not governed by insurance departments. In other cases, products may be directly strictly toward teachers, the military, or credit unions. In a couple cases, there are companies with pending litigation. A representation of this mix of insurers is listed below:

1. Cuna Mutual 2. Genworth Life and Annuity 3. Harford Life and Annuity y 4. John Hancock Variable Life 5. Mayflower National 6. Metlife – Connecticut 7. Metlife Investors USA 8. MML Bay State 9. Nationwide 10. Nationwide Life & Annuity 11. NYLife of AZ 12. PHL Variable 13. Sun Life Assurance Co of Canada 14. Teachers Ins and Annuity Assoc of America 15. USAA 16. Shenandoah — financial difficulties

There is a grand total of over 600 Licensed Life/Health Companies “active” in every state of the United States. However, some are not currently writing new business. In addition, there are many active in only one or a few states, so you will find them missing from the top insurance company listings. Most states have a true actual listing count of 220 to 330 life and health home offices currently accepting new cases from licensed agents & brokers.

Advisor’s predition. If I choose from the provider listings above, Foresters would be my top pick as the next rising star. Its innovative niche products are starting to create a high demand. Also watch Genworth, its stock value has zoomed and the company is very adaptive to market opportunities.

Basic Guide For Foreign Buyers of Real Estate in the USA

As the Great Recessions is slowly but surely fading away with the hopes of eventual recovery showing up on the horizon, foreign buyers and investors starting to pursue opportunities in the US real estate market again. Even though stable recovery of the housing market is still “work in progress”, many foreigners recognize that American real estate is “On Sale”, plus the dollar is historically weak, so many buyers are trying to snatch the bargains in residential and commercial properties here. However, a foreign buyer investing in the US must take extra diligence to plan the acquisitions due to nuances in taxation laws, title holding rules, money transfer rules and many other factors. There are many aspects to consider, I’ll concentrate on some key points:

(1) DOCUMENT EVERYTHING: Before you transfer even a dollar here, make sure you can verify where the money came from. Any transfers over $10,000 into the US, including your all cash real estate buys, will be reported to the federal authorities, and when the Feds come asking questions, you need to make sure that you can prove legal sources of your cash. According to 2001 Patriot Act and the Money Laundering Control Act of 1986, escrow and title companies, brokers, banks must report to the federal authorities any large deposits and money transfers over $10,000. Make sure you have documentation backing up your sources of income, taxes paid overseas, bank account statements, investment account statements, in other words – the paper trail.

(2) FINANCE OR ALL-CASH? If you are planning to buy with all cash, it will give you many advantages as the “all cash” buyers might enjoy deeper discounts from motivated sellers in many areas. All cash buyers can close deals very fast, and some sellers prefer to deal with buyers like this. However, I recommend that you plan the acquisitions with a real estate investment adviser to see if buying with some type of financing will be financially more beneficial for your investment strategy because of leverage-enhanced ROI and distribution of risk among several properties.

If you’re looking to finance your real estate acquisition in the US, be prepared to encounter some tough times. Real Estate Financing is pretty tough for even Americans these days, but for foreigners it’s even tougher. There are only a handful of institutional lenders who will consider loans for foreign nationals, but they will all require a large downpayment (at least 30% or more) and verification of income from your country. If you have a work visa in the US, such as H or L, and have an established credit history in the US, you may be able to qualify for regular financing with as little as 3.5% down even though you are still considered a “foreign national”.

If you have established relationship with your bank in your own country or another foreign bank, you may consider obtaining financing from them and then bringing the loan proceeds into the US as “all cash” purchase, again just make sure to have documentation as to where the money came from.

Alternatively, there a many private lenders who will lend up to 65% of the asset value at 9-12% annually regardless of your immigration status, and if you are looking for a commercial property, you might be able to finance it easier too, because commercial lenders underwrite loans primarily on the merits and income of the property itself, rather than the borrower.

(3) CONTROL YOUR ASSETS: In the US you can hold title to the property in many different ways: as an individual, corporation (either domestic or foreign), Limited Liability Company, partnership, living trust, pension fund, or many other form of entity. Each of these forms has advantages and disadvantages, especially when it comes to taxation of the rental income received from your investment property, transfer of the property to related or unrelated parties, estate planning and many other situations. You need to decide BEFORE you buy a property in the US how you will own the property, spend some time with a knowledgeable international tax advisor to learn about your options.

Investing in real estate is a very hands-on enterprise. You must think through the details before you buy the first property. It’s very hard to operate a rental business when you don’t see what’s happening yourself. I’m working with many investors and have owned many rental properties, and can tell many horror stories about property management companies embezzling money from out of town investors, renting units for cash but reporting them vacant, overinflating repair bills, etc. How are you planning to control your investment physically while living in India or Russia and owning properties in the US?

(4) BEFORE YOU ENTER, PLAN YOUR EXIT. Are you planning to sell for profit? How long before you sell? Did you account for the future capital gain tax? Will you take the money out of the country? If you are planning to sell for profit but re-invest proceeds into another property, you need to become familiar with 1031 tax-deferred exchanges that allow you to trade and consolidate properties for years and decades without paying a dime of taxes until their final disposition. It’s a great tool for smart investors that can make you very rich, but again, you have to plan for this strategy in advance and consult with a knowledgeable person. Besides, when you are selling a property here as a foreign individual, you are subject to all kinds of withholdings regardless if you made any profit or not, including 10% withholding under FIRPTA just because you are a foreigner, 3 1/3% withholding in California because the property is non-owner occupied, etc. But, you can avoid some of these withholdings if you learn the rules and plan your title holding strategy in advance!

(5) VISA CONSIDERATIONS: Important misconception I see among many foreign buyers that I’d like to address here: don’t assume that owning real estate in the US will automatically entitle you to a US visa. You can own $10 million of properties in the US, but still be denied an entry visa. So, make sure to get your visa status cleared first and then come to the US to look at areas of interest and specific properties. DO NOT EVER BUY PROPERTIES SIGHT UNSEEN!!!

(6) WHY REAL ESTATE? Finally, ask yourself honestly: why are you investing in real estate in the US? Because of visa, passive income, future market appreciation, or because you are thinking of making it your future home? If visa and investment potential are your main decision factors, consider some alternatives that can provide you with similar ROI (return on Investment) and visa opportunities, such as EB-5 visas ($1 million dollar minimum), “Regional Centers” ($500,000 minimum), E-2 small investor visas ($200,000 investment), etc. Or you can combine several strategies, depending on your preferences and access to capital.

Bottom line: your investing in real estate here should be a RESULT and the FINAL STEP of some serious planning path. Measure seven times, cut once, as we say in Russian. It’s much easier to avoid costly mistakes before you step into this market than waste time and money undoing mistakes made in the course of a rushed poorly planned real estate venture. Happy Investing!

The CEO’s Guide To Succession Planning – Managing Risk & Ensuring Business Continuity

Introduction

Once reserved for the upper echelons of senior management, and often viewed as replacement planning should catastrophe strike, today’s succession planning is being redefined. The discipline has broadened in both breadth and scope to become a central component of board-level strategy.

Succession planning focuses on managing risk and ensuring continuity across all levels of the organization – risk of untimely departures of critical personnel, risk of retirees taking their skills and knowledge with them and leaving nothing behind, and risk of losing high value employees to competitors. It does so by helping your business leaders to identify top performers within the organization, create dynamic “talent pools” of this critical talent that other leaders can leverage, and prepare and develop these high performing employees for future roles.

If this was easy, everyone would be doing it. The problem that exists today is that succession planning is barely automated, let alone optimized. This CEO guide provides five key tips for jump starting your succession planning efforts.

1. Automate and Reduce Costs

Today’s succession planning efforts are characterized by fragmented, inconsistent, paper-based processes. Indeed, 67% of companies are still primarily paper-based, according to a global survey conducted by SumTotal.

Conventionally, business and HR leaders will spend weeks or even months manually scouring different parts of the organization for information needed to build lists and pools of nominees and successors for specific job families or positions. The information required to generate the lists often includes self assessments, past performance appraisals (often paper-based), and 360 feedback. After a lengthy period of information gathering and aggregation followed by manual analysis (e.g., nine-box, gap analysis), the results are printed and collated into large three-ring binders for use in executive planning meetings. This time-consuming, inefficient, and costly process is still commonplace today.

To effectively transform succession planning from a manual, paper-based process to one that is systematic and technology-enabled, CEOs must focus on laying a solid foundation supported by strong executive leadership.

Program & Process Foundation

  • Establish dedicated management function (e.g., program management office) with CEO-sponsored executive leader or council (with senior representation from line-of-business, geography, and corporate HR)
  • Define core succession process along with key constituents and tasks at each step of the process; Clearly articulate touch points to other business processes (e.g., performance management, career development)
  • Understand implications of change with emphasis on managers & employees
  • Align program with broader business strategy
  • Determine initial scope (e.g., enterprise-wide, divisional)
  • Define processes independent of technology

Technology Foundation

  • Must support and enable key processes
  • Must integrate learning and development
  • Must link seamlessly to other business processes, especially performance management
  • Must be flexible and configurable to meet unique needs
  • Must centralize and consolidate key information and data
  • Must be easy for managers and employees to use

2. Drive Succession Planning Deeper into Your Organization

Many CEOs still view succession planning as replacement planning to designate successors in the event of a catastrophe befalling senior company leaders. Indeed, succession planning penetrates only the highest levels of the organizational hierarchy, according to survey data. Only 35% of companies currently focus their succession planning efforts on most critical roles within the organization.

Yet a most dramatic transformation is underway: 65% of the organizations surveyed plan to extend succession planning to all critical positions within the two years. Applying succession planning beyond the top layers of management is critical to retaining high performers across all levels of the organization and mitigating the risk of untimely departures of personnel in high-value positions.

The key to extending succession planning into the organization is to provide career development planning to employees. Indeed, fully 97% of business and HR leaders believe that a systematic career development process positively impacts employee retention and engagement. These leaders also believe that providing career advancement opportunities as well as dedicated development planning to employees are the two most important mechanisms for retaining high performers.

Retaining existing employees not only has the potential to minimize the effects of talent shortages, it also provides significant and tangible cost savings (since replacement costs range from 100%-150% of the salary for a departing employee).

3. Establish Dynamic Talent Pools to Improve Pipeline Visibility

Centralized talent pools provide CEOs with global visibility into their talent pipeline and overall organization bench strength. They provide a mechanism for ensuring that the organization’s future staffing plans are adequate, thereby reducing risk and ensuring continuity. To be truly effective, talent pools need to be dynamic in nature. For instance, if an employee is terminated, that person should be automatically removed from existing successor pools. Alternatively, if an employee closes a key skill or certification gap that had previously kept her from being considered as a successor, the pool should be updated appropriately. Talent pools that are inaccessible or not up-to-date are of little use to decision makers.

A key element of making talent pools accessible is in-depth searching for talent exploration. A talent pool is not much good if managers cannot easily view, track, update, and search for potential successors. Dynamic talent pools should take the guess work out of succession planning by aligning employee assessments, competencies, development plans, and learning programs. Proactive system monitoring ensures that as employees learn and grow, talent pools are dynamically updated to reflect the changes. It is this element in particular – supported by robust reporting and analytic capabilities – that helps CEOs make more objective staffing decisions and better plan for future staffing needs.

4. Promote Talent Mobility to Retain High Performers

Industry analyst firm Bersin & Associates defines talent mobility as “a dynamic internal process for moving talent from role to role – at the leadership, professional and operational levels.” The company further states that “the ability to move talent to where it is needed and by when it is needed will be essential for building an adaptable and enduring organization.”[1]

Talent mobility is:

  • A business strategy that facilitates organizational agility and flexibility
  • A mechanism for acquiring and retaining high performing and potential talent
  • A recruiting philosophy that favors internal sourcing over costly external hiring
  • A method for aligning organizational and individual needs through development
  • A proactive and ongoing approach to succession planning rather than a reactive approach

A systematic talent mobility strategy enables business leaders to more effectively acquire, align, develop, engage, and retain high performing talent by implementing a consistent, repeatable, and global process for talent rotation. Without a cohesive talent mobility strategy, CEOs face several risks:

  • Focus on costly external recruiting vs. internal sourcing
  • Wrong hires (cost can be 3-5x person’s salary)
  • Increased high performer churn
  • Reduced employee engagement
  • Reduced flexibility as business conditions change

CEOs should consider the following integrated processes – and a complete technology platform to support them – to promote and enable talent mobility:

  • Current workforce analysis:Includes detailed talent profiles, employee summaries, organization charts, competencies, and job profiles.
  • Talent needs assessment: Assess employees on key areas of leadership potential, job performance, and risk of leaving.
  • Future needs analysis:Development-centric succession planning to create and manage dynamic, fully-populated talent pools.

5. Integrate Succession Planning to Broader Business Processes

Succession planning is not a silo. It implicitly relies on other talent processes and data, especially assessments that provide a performance and competency baseline. Yet unlike a performance management process, which can be executed in a relatively self-contained fashion (assuming it has access to core employee data), the same is not true for succession planning.

Succession planning requires foundational data (e.g., competencies, job profiles, talent profiles, and employee records) and inputs (e.g., appraisals, feedback). Outputs include nominee pools, successor pools, development/learning plans, and reports. To facilitate the level of integration required to get succession planning right, a single, natively-integrated technology platform that centralizes key talent processes and information is required. With this single platform, the time to develop succession plans can easily be reduced from weeks or months to mere hours. The benefits can be significant: reduce costs, reallocate personnel from tactical activities to more strategic endeavors, and mitigate the risk of untimely departures of essential personnel.

Additionally, a single technology platform promotes the linkage of learning and career development to succession planning. By bridging these processes, nominees who are not ready for advancement can be assigned detailed development plans that guide them to improve the competencies and skills required for new job positions. Learning paths and specific courses can be established for employees to facilitate their career growth. By providing learning opportunities and development plans to employees, CEOs can take a more active role in promoting employee growth, retention, and engagement.

Finally, with a single system of record, reporting and analysis is vastly improved, since all relevant talent data resides within a single data structure. Strategic cross-functional metrics can be readily established (e.g., measure the impact of learning and development programs on performance). Reporting and analysis are key to the CEO’s success in managing employee resources and implementing strategies that support corporate objectives and initiatives.

Conclusion

Organizations can realize significant efficiency gains and cost savings by moving from a manual, paper-based succession process to one that is fully technology-enabled. The shift to a single technology platform facilitates extending succession planning deeper into the organization, since a well-architected solution seamlessly links succession to career development and learning. A complete platform improves senior management’s global visibility into the talent pipeline and bench strength, and promoting talent mobility to retain high performers becomes a viable engagement strategy. Succession planning, done correctly, is all about process and supporting technology integration. Without integration, succession planning becomes just another organizational silo.

Endnotes

[1]Lamoureux, Kim. “Talent Mobility: A New Standard of Endurance.” Bersin & Associates, November 30, 2009.

Small Business Insurance Cost Guide: What You Need to Know About Insurance Coverage and Premiums

One of the biggest concerns many small businesses have is the cost of insurance. It is something you absolutely need, but how much of it can you really afford? As with any type of insurance, there are a number of factors that go into the evaluation of small business insurance cost. Approximately half of small businesses in the US pay around $400 – $600 annually for general liability insurance. However, you could still end up paying less or more a year, depending on the number of employees and the type of industry you’re involved in.

High-risk industries like construction are going to be stuck with higher premiums, while low-risk industries get the lower rates. There are usually ways to save – especially if you choose a good commercial insurance provider. Just use search tools on the internet to obtain quotes. Also, companies with a physical, brick-and-mortar store or facility open to the public are more at risk than professionals who work from a home office.

Businesses with physical locations open to the public are usually have to pay more money for insurance just in case someone is ever injured on the property. There are also things like theft, falling objects, vandalism, fire, and weather damage to worry about.

What Does Small Business Insurance Cost Include?

Even if you do operate from home, this doesn’t mean that you are completely invulnerable to lawsuits. There is always the possibility of being accused of things like plagiarism, copyright infringement, slander, and so forth. If you have any vehicle that is used for business, even if it’s your own, you’ll need insurance for that as well. Do you have employees that you send to perform errands? What if they become injured on the job? Or accidentally cause damage to a client’s equipment? Keep all of these factors in mind when evaluating small business insurance cost.

Some insurance companies for businesses and professionals simplify things by offering custom insurance plans for each industry. You can choose a policy that is already tailored for a small business in your industry, with the exact kind of coverage you need.

There are pro-active things you can do to help reduce the cost of small business insurance:

• Invest in security products.

• Develop a safety training program for employees

• Compile a list of rules for posting on social media and make sure your employees understand the rules.

• Reduce potential hazards on property

• Create a checklist for procedures relevant to your industry and company.

Where should you begin your search for small business insurance cost? Definitely start with Hiscox Business Insurance. There are custom plans in every type of industry possible. It’s easy to find the ideal solution and save money with this organization.

Beginner’s Guide To Making Money Online With Internet Marketing

While it is true that it is not easy to experience online success, there are a variety of methods available for making money on the Internet. In order to be successful in making money online, one needs to acquire a handful of skills. Often, making money online is all about using ideas that are already working for others by expanding on them. For this reason, research is the key to success for beginners who are looking to earn money online. The following methods outlined below are all legitimate online sources of income that have proven to be successful for thousands of people.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is perhaps the most lucrative online business for beginners. An affiliate marketer helps merchants find buyers by referring them to the merchant’s products via a website. The affiliate earns a commission and referral programs are available from a wide range of e-commerce sites, including Amazon and Google. Beginners can use affiliate networks sites, which represent businesses that provide affiliate programs. This is a good option for beginners to make money online because there is no need for investing any money.

Blogging

Blogs started out as personal diaries, but soon they evolved to actual web sites. Bloggers can monetize their sites by placing referral links for specific affiliate programs. Starting a blog is free and they are a convenient way to establish an online presence quickly. The only downside is that it takes commitment to run a money-making blog, because bloggers need to write new content regularly in order to keep visitors coming back.

Online Auctions

Many people are making money with online auctions, either by selling stuff they do not need any more or by establishing proper online stores. Selling through online auctions means that there is no need to own an actual store. Many of the big sellers on websites such as eBay run their businesses from a small home office. For being successful with online auctions, you need to know your niche perfectly and study your competitors. Make sure you can compete against other sellers in your same market before setting up your store. A very lucrative way of making money with online auctions is to buy products in bulk at wholesale prices from China or India and sell them for profit.

Product Creation

Making money from product creation means selling information in the form of instructional e-books or recordings. Ranging from weight-loss secrets to relationships advice, these products can be delivered on DVDs or through downloads. In order for a product to be successful, the information should not be available from any other accessible research materials. This is a good method for making money online for those who are talented writers and have an in-depth knowledge of a given topic. Products created for online distribution are easy to deliver and there are very little initial costs involved.

Overall it is widely acknowledged that starting a business online, especially in the current economic climate is the cheapest and most cost effective route to take over ‘brick and mortar’ businesses.

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