Management Archives - Page 2 of 3

How Can SharePoint Help in Business Management?

Microsoft SharePoint is a web application platform that has been created by Microsoft for the purpose of document and content management. It has been created for managing heaps of data, and comes with huge flexibility as well as support for various add-ons. With every SharePoint version, you can find enhanced features and capabilities that can help in easier management of business operations. Read on and find out how SharePoint can aid in business management.

Complete management
According to SharePoint consultants, this web application platform works as an Intranet that allows workers to perform a wide range of functions, including document management, collaborating on new ideas or projects etc. You can also use it as a portal for posting key metrics and performance indicators. It can also be used for workflow applications.

Workflow Improvement
Microsoft SharePoint can also assist in the improvement of workflow. The cloud solutions of SharePoint can deal with almost any type of business workflow. It can be integrated very well with Microsoft Office stack and Outlook. Other than this, SharePoint can also be natively integrated with an SQL server, which makes data more purposeful for workers.

Collaboration in the workplace
The use of SharePoint can also promote greater collaboration within the workplace. Traditionally, any task is executed individually and then transferred to the employee who is next in line. However, with the help of SharePoint, all that you have to do is uploading on the SharePoint server the procedure manual. On a single platform, a document can be edited by different individuals.

Easy customization
You can also easily customize SharePoint, and eliminate the traditional email attachments, files and folders. You can easily store files on the website of SharePoint, and also restrict or grant access to other users to see a file. You will not need to worry about the business phone directory getting public either. Whenever anyone needs the directory, you can just send a mail containing the link that would take the recipient to the SharePoint server.

Security
It will be assuring for you to know that every individual SharePoint team website can be set up on the server of SharePoint. In case you want your management team website to have all the information related to management stored in a proper way, you will need to be in charge of the management in order to get access to the website. Not being in the management team will not let you even know about its existence. Only the management team members will be able to see that specific website while others will be incapable to view the same. In this sense, SharePoint websites are extremely secure.

Support services
Every company has the need to maintain its information, documents, data and records in a proper way. Microsoft SharePoint support services can be very useful in these situations. These are especially helpful for companies without any document management system or formal automated workflow. Various small and mid-sized organizations lack a business automation system. SharePoint can benefit such companies, and if your business is similar, you will get obvious advantages.

Getting Started With CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

It amazes me how many businesses or midsize company sales or service departments that do not take full advantage of modern CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Either they are using an ancient version with limited capability or they still rely on paper based processes. Some have invested heaps of money in a full ERP solution with supply chain, finance and human resource automation, but have never integrated a front-end sales and marketing solution.

The competition in the marketplace in general and from Microsoft and SalesForce in particular have made entry level CRM possible for all size businesses and departments. With all players focused on cloud based solutions and each offering their own set of integration options, there are many ways to spend very little money to get started, making it possible to invest and build on your solution as results are gained. Gone are the days of a twelve to twenty four month implementation plan before results can be gained.

CRM is intended to be a full life-cycle solution for managing customers from marketing to after sales support. The below is a sample sales solution that can broadly be implemented within five days and cost you less than $10,000. This give you a foundation to build onto. If you select a cloud based solution, you only pay on-going license fees based on usage and have no upfront hardware costs.

The functionality below are some of the areas you can consider implementing for under $10,000. Costs are kept in check by “time-boxing” the solution. The idea is to offer a time based solution that involves the key stakeholders to get a solution going within a week.

Sales Automation:

Account, contact, opportunity and activities
Basic workflow
Customisation of Objects and Fields
Data mapping, transformation, migration and data validation
Notes and Attachments
Lead Management, Routing and Assignments
E-mail templates and tracking
Analytics, reports and dashboards
Product catalogue
End user training

Note there are many areas not included in the above, such as territory management, full life-cycle management, contract management, customer portals, Service dashboards, etc., but the above is more than enough to improve your business and establish a foundation for the future.

The five days roughly include:

Day 1: Initiation and Analysis including a design workshop

Day 2 & 3: Configuration and Review – prototyping a solution based on design workshop for immediate feedback, allowing time for minor changes.

Day 4: Data Migration

Day 5: Training and Wrap-up

We are not promising a perfect solution, but instead a usable software that allows room to maximum staff efficiency in rolling out a foundational improvement to managing your client life-cycle.

Give your local technology partner a ring for more information.

Small Business Management Consulting – The Importance of Consulting

In the recent years, the small business industry has seen a massive boom. Many individuals saw their stars rise while some of them saw their stars plummet. It is true that initiating and running a small business is easier but there are a number of essentials that need to be focused on. People who fail in the small business industry are the ones who try and overlook the most important factors. It can give them a sneak peek of the quintessence factors of not only running a business but also being successful in it.

What exactly is small business management consulting?

Due to the nature of business, organization of projects can become a daunting task. Often entrepreneurs face such situations in which their clients are left disappointed. It is extremely important for the business owner to opt for management consulting services in order to be aware of the managerial aspects that are important for running a successful business. A small business management consulting firm can provide the business owner with strategies, tactics and the best practices of the industry. Also, one of the most significant issues discussed by consulting firms is of adapting to a Change. A Change is terminology is any change in consumer demands, the environment or a change within the organization such as hiring and firing employees and so on.

There are three major aspects of every business that are taken into consideration by firms to design an overall strategy for the business. Trends, changes and consumer demands are the three factors. Working on all these three factors, a consulting firm designs an overall organizational and operational strategy for the business to follow.

Who should opt for a business management consulting service?

Generally, any business whether it is a mid-sized one or a small one must go through the consultation process in order to know the areas that need to be focused on and why. They might not look as important initially but in the longer run, these minor factors make it impossible for the business to succeed. Every entrepreneur wants their business to succeed so a little professional help can go a long ways.

Using a service to help you manage or grow your business is sometimes hard to do. In many cases people are protective of this companies and they let pride get in the way. Those who take the leap of faith and decide to get professional help are those who are ready to take the steps towards success.

Role of MIS in Business Management

Despite the vast improvements in information technology, computers (on which modern IT is based) cannot as yet take over business management. However, business information systems have transformed the effectiveness, power and efficiency of management.

In an earlier article on business management software, we looked at surface aspects of how modern management information systems help businesses. We saw how computers sped up and improved the quality of operations. We also mentioned the existence of broad categories of business software – office suites, functional software such as accounting and inventory, and industry software such as retail management software. In this article, we seek to look more analytically at the role of information management systems.

Decision Support, Problem Analysis and Overall Control

Business managers often need to make decisions that can affect the business’ fortunes one way or other. For example, a company with sales outlets or distributors spread over a wide geographic area might want to optimize the logistical operations of delivering merchandise to the outlets. The best solution might be affected by numerous factors such as demand patterns, availability of merchandise, distances involved and the option of using external carriers (who can find two way loads and might prove a lesser cost option over long distances) instead of own vehicles.

While it might be possible to use complex mathematical formulas by hand to compute the best solution, computers transform the whole process into a routine task of feeding certain information as input and obtaining suggestions for best solutions as output. The task can typically be done in a few minutes (instead of hours or even days) and it becomes possible to examine several alternatives before deciding upon one that seems most realistic.

Identifying problems and analyzing the factors that cause them also has been transformed by modern computer information systems. In a typical MIS environment, standard reports are generated in a routine manner comparing actual performance against original estimates. The software that generates the report can be instructed to highlight exceptions, i.e. significant variations between original estimates and actual performance. Managers will thus become aware of problem areas in the daily course of their work simply by looking at the reports they receive, without having to do detailed data collection and computations themselves.

Identifying the factors responsible for the problem can also be routinized to some extent by using such tools as variance analysis. Variance analysis is an element of standard costing system that splits deviations from estimates (or standards) into causative factors such as increase in price of materials used, excessive usage of materials, unexpected machine downtimes, etc. With such a detailed report, managers can delve deeper into the problem factor, such as why there was excessive usage of materials.

Control is also exercised through variance analysis. Budgets are prepared for all business operations by concerned managers working in a coordinated fashion. For example, estimated sales volumes will determine the levels of production; production levels will determine raw material purchases; and so on. With good information system management, it then becomes possible to generate timely reports comparing actual sales, production, raw material deliveries, etc against estimated levels.

The reports will help managers to keep a watch on things and take corrective action quickly. For example, the production manager will become aware of falling sales (or rising sales) of particular products and can prepare to make adjustments in production schedules, and purchasing and inventory managers will become quickly aware of any mounting inventories of unused materials. MIS thus enhances the quality of communication all around and can significantly improve the effectiveness of operations control.

Effective MIS Involves Humans and Computers Working together

The major aspect to note is that MIS provides only the information; it is the responsibility of concerned managers to act on the information. It is the synergy between efficient, accurate and speedy equipment and humans with commonsense, intelligence and judgment that really gives power to MIS.

Five Time Saving Tips Using the Computer for Information Management

Everyone is looking for more time to do the things they want and need to do. One way o accomplish more time is to spend less time on tasks that could be done better and easier using another method. For instance, using a computer wisely can greatly reduce time spent looking for information or doing repetitive tasks. Almost everyone has access to a computer and most computers will have one or more time-saving applications available. Here are just a few ideas on how the computer can save time.

1. Use spreadsheets to make lists, build budgets, and track multiple items.

Spreadsheets have built-in functions to help make math easier without a calculator. If database functions are used too, the information stored in the spreadsheet can be viewed in multiple ways.

2. Use standardized forms and checklists for work and planning that is repetitive.

This saves time because some of the thinking is taken out of the process. Instead of trying to remember everything, the form or checklist acts as a prompt for the necessary information.

3. Use email instead of the phone to save time and increase accuracy.

Stating what is needed or giving the message in an email is faster than picking up the phone and playing phone tag or leaving an unplanned voice mail. It also provides an opportunity to spell check and review the text before it is sent to avoid possible confusion.

4. Use a contact management database for quick lookup of key information on people.

Contact management databases have address information, notes, and reminder capabilities for keeping up with customers, suppliers, and other key people. Most email or calendar tools have a built in mini-contact database called an address book, which allows saving of name and email ID. Many also include phone number, company, title, and areas where other data may be entered. Using a contact database reduces the time needed to create emails and prevents typos.

5. Use form letters in a word processing application to reduce time spent in developing similar communications.

By creating form letters time spent sending the same type of letters, memos, and emails can be greatly reduced. If the application has a merge utility, it may also be able to add names and other data into printed documents using a contact management database or data table. Also use the grammar and spell-checking on messages before copy/pasting into or sending to an email tool. For emails where a word processing application is not available, save the standard email in the “draft” folder, then just edit key information before clicking send.

If it is hard to find out what an application does, try using the “Help” feature which is usually on the top menu bar of the application. If computer training is necessary to feel comfortable about using the tools mentioned, then invest the time wisely by taking a course or reading a book. It may take some time, but beginning to explore the computer-based options for using time wisely may be the best option for improved time management in the future.

Next time before looking up information, check out that computer and see which of these few ideas are available. Then find more time to accomplish the desired and necessary things by spending less time on repetitive tasks that could be done better and easier using the computer. Remember; don’t let available time be lost whenever there is another method to try.

Organize Email System For Better Time Management

Too many business professionals waste valuable time constantly checking their emails. Sending emails may also take more of time than is necessary too. Practice email organization and time management to save time when working with email.

Keep in mind that every email does not have to be read when it comes in. For most people checking business email can be done three times during the day – when coming in at the beginning of shift, before or after lunch, and before leaving work for the day. However, people in a customer service or support job may need to check their email hourly, such as at the beginning of each hour rather than every minute of the day. The old time management rule for answering inquiries was within 24 hours, however with the technological advances today, by end of business day or each work shift may be a better practice.

If an email is not going to be answered on the same day that it is read, because it requires more thought time than can currently be given to it, use the reminder or tickler feature in email system indicating a deadline so the reply requirement is not forgotten. If the email does not indicate a due date, ask for it or at least let the sender know when they might expect a well considered response. Also, it may take a little more time upfront when composing emails, but it can save time and confusion later if when sending business emails, professional email etiquette should be followed.

Although it is true that there is no need to check to email as often, no one should not let their inbox get too full. A full inbox takes more time to clear out in the future. If an email requires a response, don’t keep people waiting too long for an answer. If it does not require a response, decide if there is a need to keep the email or trash it immediately. Always clean the inbox out at the end of each day at s set time. Also, if emptying the trash folder is not set up on an automatic timeframe, empty it out at the end of each day too.

When keeping emails for future reference, be sure to make folders for filing them. Having folders created for active projects or teams makes it easy to quickly retrieve important communications and forward them when necessary. It is also easy to quickly remove all those old emails when the project is complete or team is dissolved by deleting the folder. Some email tools allow sending emails from particular people directly to a folder to make checking project tasks during a designated time during the work day. Not only can folders be set-up and sending emails to them the sender information, filtering emails into specific folders based on a word in the subject line is also possible.

As a final time saving tip, when sending mass-emailing to a particular group or team of people on a regular basis, consider putting their email address together in a group ID to make completing the “To” field for outgoing messages quicker. So practice better email organization and improved time management working with email. Don’t be one of those business professionals who waste valuable time checking emails more often than necessary.

NOTES: For information on email etiquette, please see article titled “Encouraging Email Etiquette – Do’s and Don’ts.” For more details on group IDs, see article titled “Get Emails Out Faster Using Group Names as Addresses.”

Improved Time Management Includes Setting Three Priorities

Everyone is looking for ways to improve time management. Whether it is the management of an organization looking for business improvement or an individual looking for ways to better spend their time, time management is important to both. Better time management can be achieved if goals have been set and then all future work is prioritized based on how it moves the individual or organization towards meeting the goals.

Many time management priority methods exist. The most popular ones are the A, B, C method and number ranking according to order in which tasks should be done. Both methods encourage looking at things that move one closer to meeting important goals as the highest priority to set. Things not related to goals would be lower priority. Here is a description at the three priorities and how they relate to general time management practices.

High priority items (rank A or 1) are those tasks, projects, and appointments that yield the greatest results in accomplishing individual or organizational goals. For individuals, this could be related to goals of career advancement or small business growth and ties directly to promises made to customers or co-workers, or it could be unrelated to the job such as more family or leisure time goals and promises. For organizations, this would likely be related to increased profits, new business, key projects, and other strategic business items. High priority items should be the first work planned for each day and blocked into a time that falls within the individual’s peak performance period.
Medium priority items (rank B or 2) are those standard daily, weekly, or monthly tasks, projects, and appointments that are part of the work that must be done in order to maintain the status quo. For individuals, this would relate to getting their standard work done, and might mean going to scheduled family or outside group activities as expected. For organizations, this is every day business items like project meetings, cost reduction, as well as regular administrative, sales, and manufacturing work. Medium priority work is scheduled after or between high priority functions, because this work does not require high levels of concentration, it can be done during non-peak periods as long as it is completed on schedule.
Low priority items (rank C or 3) are those tasks, projects, and potential appointments that are nice-to-do, can be put off until another time, and will not directly affect goals or standard work practices. For individuals, this might mean learning a new skill or starting a new hobby that may seem like good ideas but are not directly related to most desirable personal goals. For organizations, this could be purging old files or evaluating existing work processes that currently run smoothly enough.

It does not matter if time management priority methods like A, B, C, numbering, or simply marking high, medium, low using a personalized coding or coloring method. It only matters that the practice has no more than three priorities used in moving closer to meeting important goals. More than three priority levels can bog the time manager in the process of prioritizing rather than doing valuable work.

Whether organization management or an individual looking for ways to better utilize their time, time management is important to both. Anyone looking for ways to improve time management, will benefit from establishing and following a priority setting method for completing work towards accomplishing goals.

Admin Professionals: Discover Hot Time Management Tips to Increase Productivity and Get More Done

The reality is: Increased workloads are here to stay. However, there’s powerful ways to manage your workload through calendar management and productivity tools so that administrative professionals and employees at all levels of an organization can take on new, expanded roles to achieve peak productivity.

It’s time to rethink the way you work. In recent years, businesses have been asking employees at all levels to take on new projects or roles, and basically do more work.

The reality is: Increased workloads are here to stay. If your job has turned into a “stretch job,” you may be wondering if there’s a better way to get more done in less time, relieve stress and avoid taking work home at night. And while you can’t create more hours in the day, you can learn how to use your time to the best advantage.

Here are few ways employees can work reasonable hours, prioritize tasks, track productivity, organize their calendars and use tech tools and software to manage projects efficiently.

–Manage projects, not time. Match the task with the person. Give snappy introductions. Cluster related projects. And make ‘just in time’ decisions.

–Managing interruptions. Don’t allow your open door policy to be abused. Let people know when you really can’t be interrupted. Discourage upward delegation. Encourage workers to make decisions for themselves. Put a curb on venting time. Arrange your office strategically. Stand up when an unannounced visitor enters. Learn to dismiss irrelevant interruptions. Use silence as a weapon.

–Master Delegation. Learn what to delegate versus give to yourself such as: Routine and repetitive jobs. Jobs requiring special expertise. Pet projects. Crises. Policy making. Personnel matters. Symbolic acts.

–Embrace technology. Simplify with apps: Getting the right apps can help you get lots of things done without ever needing to open the computer. Apps can make it much easier than navigating websites. Digital archiving: The Internet is great for keeping track of content and capturing ideas. Sites like Del.icio.us let you bookmark websites to come back to later. Having a digital archive can save you time when you need to go back and find something later.

How Top Performers Employ Their Time

Most people think the key to being productive is working flat-out 100% of the time. Not so. A recent study on highly productive people indicate a few techniques to help virtually anyone increase their productivity:

-Vary the pace. For unfamiliar new activities, they slow down and work methodically until they’ve learned what they need to know. Yet, in activities in which they’re already experts, they work quickly-sometimes, with blinding speed.

-Orient themselves toward garnering big returns, fast. When possible, their goal is to seek the biggest advantage in the least amount of time.

-Eschew monolithic project management. When handling complex projects, they multitask by letting different implementation teams handle different parts of the project.

-Take frequent breaks to rest and recharge. That might be why top execs haven’t abandoned lunches.

-Accelerate different parts of big projects, whenever possible. Example: If the research they conducted last year gives them a leg up on a big project currently on their plate, they plug it in.

Employees need to work smarter while embracing technology to speed tasks. The payoff is more efficiency, less stress, improved performance and career wisdom – which ultimately helps you, your boss, your staff, and your organization’s bottom line.

Understanding the Supply Chain Management in This Corporate World

Profitable business is every entrepreneur’s ticket to real success. The entrepreneur’s career ladder always begins with an idea and then followed by selling that idea to the market. There is no shortcut to entrepreneurship. It is a continuous process. Every aspiring entrepreneur must learn, execute and study more the market that he wants to deal with. Selling products and services is business yet an entrepreneur has to exert more efforts in order to win and achieve the stability, profitability and dominance among competitors. The world of business is very challenging much more when business these days are beginning to welcome the modern marketing methods and systems of improving sales. Almost every company has its corporate office other than their main factory. Usually located on high rise buildings in major cities of every country, these offices aim to observe best practices on the Supply Chain Management (SCM) and as well as establish excellent Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

What’s Happening Inside the Corporate World?

We all know the rules of business. From the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) going down to the lowest rank employee in terms of job role, the primary goal of every company or corporation is to deliver products and services that will give satisfaction to the customers to the highest level. Work, jobs, projects, issues, problems, delays and brain storming sessions are in between these two business operation end points. Oftentimes, we observe from the top news on TV, the internet, the newspapers and the media press conferences that business critics, economists and market analysts are discussing the latest moves of the company CEO and top executives. One company acquires this company. Two companies merge together. Sometimes, it’s the bad news; a company files for bankruptcy. This is becoming a routine in the world of business or technically, the corporate world. Not all companies succeed. The competition is always there and it is always a challenge for every company to deliver their best moves in order to win the customers.

The Truth About Supply Chain Management

When it comes to the supply chain in business, there are three key performance indicators that dictate the game of winning and losing. They are the cost of products and services, the cycle time in delivering these products and services to the customers, and the quality that if delivered with excellence will make every customer happy. Supply Chain Management (SCM) is defined by Wikipedia as “the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the provision of product and service packages required by the end customer in a supply chain”. The meaning is clear; it has something to do with managing the customer’s needs. That is actually the purpose of entrepreneurship. The entire corporate world is battling for clients. And if we establish that link of one business operation to the other inside a company, there is no reason to say that they are not interconnected. Therefore, the failure of one process could mean the breakage of the chain and absolutely the failure to supply to the customers what they need at the right cost, at the fastest lead time and the highest quality.

SCM is About Winning the Market

We can relate SCM to the Law of Supply and Demand. The price of any commodity is dependent on the quantity produced and the quantity demanded. When a certain price becomes fixed on a given time, the competition among suppliers becomes stiffer because customers have the option to choose on where to buy the products or services that they want. The SCM is very much dependent on this law; reason why corporate executives always want their SCM team to be more sensitive to the movement in the market. Whenever there is a need for adjustment, it will be dealt with accordingly and timely until a final winning decision is made. This is why many companies and corporations invest a lot on acquiring best talents on SCM. Business analyst, financial consultant, and SCM specialist; their role is to help the company survive the competition and in whatever business way, win the market.

Excellent Supplier Relationship will Improve Profitability

One effective way of winning the market is to strengthen the company’s supplier relationship. In fact, this is always the starting point of every company’s SCM operation. From acquisition of raw materials, consumable items, new machines, or even services that will help deliver products and services to the customers, supplier will do it all for the company being their customer. If your suppliers are showing poor scores on these three key performance indicators, then it will surely affect your entire operation. Therefore, it should be your SCM’s goal of ensuring that suppliers are in line with your main business objective – profitability for success.

Boost the Productivity Within Your Business by Using Customer Relationship Management Software

The software is a company device designed to allow you to automate and organise your sales, marketing and customer services. This is undoubtedly an integrated system in which you are allowed to enter customer details once, which in turn is available to all your departments and sales team. As a built-in software system you are able to effectively keep track of buying habits, and analyse the available information to action into your service plans and marketing strategies.

Running an analysis of your information usually provide excellent leads and give you the information you need for existing clients. In the past this tends to take months even years to examine, gather and analyse – nowadays CRM software will do everything for you, even when you sleep!

Small business normally has to outsource its marketing. With CRM software it is possible to save lots of time and money by integrating with social networking websites, blogs and the Internet in general. Let technology do all of the time consuming work for you by producing pertinent information in accordance with your demographics and necessities. More people these days as well as other small companies are investigating online. Companies along with their services or products are mentioned openly and freely and this negative or positive feedback is available. Being in front of your competitors by ‘crowd sourcing’, you’ll be able to use products and techniques that speak instantly to your ideal audience.

When researching for a software vendor or product, you ought to have a clear strategy of what sort of implementation you need and more importantly what your budget allows. For a small company, the price of installing new hardware to support your extra software may be prohibitive. Many vendors are providing a subscription service with Web-based tools, or as is now known as ‘cloud computing’. This service is accessed by using a secure Internet connection. Alternatively, buying pre-designed CRM software and installing on your current network is another financially viable option. You might need the flexibility of starting with your system being hosted off-site and then as your business evolves, bring it on site.

Sustaining an expanding enterprise from small to medium can be tough. What used to be manageable by a few people can turn out to be progressively fragmented as your business evolves. The software may help you handle these concerns by streamlining and automating details. In the past, difficulties and service delivery problems were kept in-house. These days, with information freely available on the Internet and social media websites, one slip in any department could be global news within a few minutes. Creating as well as preserving brand loyalty is a philosophical shift for small business.

If you have assessed your small company needs correctly, you should be able to measure the return on investment (ROI) of your CRM software. On the other hand, all tools have their purpose, if not used properly, the results can be confusing.

Used properly, you will detect significant time and money savings after operating your small business on CRM software. The general purpose is to keep current clients whilst looking for new revenue streams as well as being able to assess customer relationships in real time, which is essential in business development strategies. By implementing CRM software into your business you will obtain the competitive edge in your industry and climb to the next level more quickly.