Tag: telecommuting

Five Trends That Could Affect Your Small Business by 2020

If you are an entrepreneur looking for a sure-fire business idea, manufacturing crystal balls would be a good one. Everyone wants to know what is going to happen in the future. Unfortunately, few people have a consistent knack for accuracy. Still, by carefully reviewing recent events, it’s possible to glean some ideas about what may be coming tomorrow, even without a crystal ball. Here are five trends on the horizon that may impact your business down the road, if you aren’t already feeling some effects today:

Harnessing Big Data for Small Business

Big Data is nothing new. It’s been a buzzword for a decade now and many large corporations have successfully used large amounts of data to gain insight into their customers’ wants, needs and buying patterns. So why is it here? Because soon small businesses will affordably have access to Big Data’s power themselves to learn about their potential markets and how to better reach and exploit them, just like their big business brethren.

However, the real challenge of Big Data once you gain access to it is to manage this tidal wave of information and interpret it in a way that is meaningful to your business rather than be inundated by it. Without a solid understanding of what the data points represent, it’s easy to be overwhelmed. One trend sure to follow is the emergence of highly-focused specialists that can help apply Big Data to small businesses and assist them in mining the numbers so they can make informed decisions. Small businesses that can do this will have a significant advantage over those that can’t.

Small Business Has Its Computing in the Cloud

Just like small business will gain greater access to Big Data, so will it make greater use of cloud computing, another technology once limited to big business. Currently, only a small percentage of small businesses, those with less than 100 employees will be able to take advantage of this revolutionary concept. But in the next two to five years, this number will grow to the point that a majority of small businesses will enjoy its advantages.

Cloud computing helps businesses of all sizes reduce the costs of IT and makes it more efficient. As more and more small businesses adopt cloud computing, they will be able to take advantage of economies of scale, giving even the smallest of firms the IT power of the largest corporations for a fraction of the price it once took to maintain a computing department. Cloud computing will also help smaller businesses better access and exploit Big Data, that will transform their companies by putting a world of information at their fingertips.

Getting More Done With Less, and From Remote Locations

With the Internet, Skype, cloud computing and Big Data, a small business can literally operate anywhere… and everywhere… at the same time. For small business employers, this means they will now be able to increasingly hire the best and brightest workers, often regardless of their physical location. And for many small business workers, such as those in the back office, they can literally perform their function from anywhere, be it from home a few miles from the office, or even from across the country.

This will help small businesses reduce the cost of maintaining a physical location. Some small businesses may learn they don’t even need a physical location. Others, such as in manufacturing, will always need a physical building to perform their duties. But for those engaged in marketing, accounting, payroll, etc., these roles can be performed at any location via telecommuting.

Technology will also allow for more flexible scheduling, an item rated high on the list of desirability by incoming Millennials and Gen Z workers who, if they have to come into an office, would prefer to have greater control over their work-life balances. Offering telecommuting and flexible schedules will make a small business more competitive and attractive in this era of low unemployment.

Finally, as it has in the past, improving technology will boost employee productivity, enabling small businesses to not need as many workers because those they already have can get more done with greater efficiency.

New Skills Needed for the New Workplace

Thanks to all the rapid technological changes taking place, workers need to constantly update their existing skills and acquire new ones to stay relevant in the job market. In an earlier article, we examined the revolution taking place in manufacturing. Where once workers simply needed a high school diploma to get a good, high-paying factory job, today a high school diploma won’t even merit a call back on an application. As a result, the nation’s high schools and colleges are radically altering their vocational education programs to help students meet the increasingly more technical requirements of 21st Century employers. Businesses themselves are getting into the act, partnering with education to help steer courses and students.

Leaner, Flatter Management Structures

Technology will not only continue to allow companies to get more done with fewer workers, it will also allow them to flatten the organizational chart. Big Data and other innovations have helped businesses make more informed decisions. These innovations have also allowed them to make faster, more far-reaching decisions. This eliminates the need for many layers of management.

One major key to business success is getting to market before your competitors. The deeper the organizational chart, the slower a business moves. With a flatter, shallower org chart consisting of less management, decisions can be made quicker, with less deliberation. This makes a business nimbler and better able to respond to change in the marketplace. A company with a flat org chart can come up with innovations, devise new products and make adjustments with greater speed.

October 11, 2018
Smartphones – Not Just for Making Calls or Playing Candy Crush; They’re a Powerful Small Business Tool

Powerful Small Business Tool

As a citizen of the late 2010s, you’re very likely already well aware of how smartphones have radically altered personal lives. These handy, almost ubiquitous devices literally put the entire world at your fingertips from anywhere you can get a signal. With technology once found only in a Dick Tracy comic strip, you’re practically never out of touch.

However, while tens of millions of Americans have revolutionized their daily activities thanks to smartphones, their utility as a business solution has lagged behind. Which is unfortunate, because a modern smartphone, believe it or not, has all the functionality and power you need to successfully operate almost any enterprise – project management, meetings/event planning, travel bookings, expense management, customer service – the list is almost endless.

Today we’ll take a closer look at ways you, as a small business owner, can put your smartphone to better use in your everyday work life. Now, we certainly don’t want you to turn into one of these hapless people, so addicted to their smartphones they become completely oblivious to their surroundings. But there are several strategies you can employ to make your smartphone as productive for your business as it is during your free time.

Any business can make efficient use of a smartphone in its operations. However, some are more suited than others. These include social media marketing, consulting, event planning, e-commerce, personal shopping and podcasting, among others. Even if you are engaged in another field, there are many ways you can run a business with a smartphone.

With Smartphones

First, a smartphone can help you better manage your time. You can manage your daily calendar, make appointments, schedule meetings, compose and update to-do lists, or track time for billing purposes. Now, of course, your computer can do those things as well. But a smartphone gives you the ability to perform these tasks anywhere at any time, whether you are at the office, in a meeting, at lunch, waiting at an appointment, etc. You are no longer tethered to a computer… it is tethered to you.

Your smartphone can perform another important task once relegated to the computer. With a mobile device, you can create, update and manage documents from virtually anywhere at your convenience. Cloud storage means you are no longer limited by memory capacity, or by device either. You can work on a document from your work computer during business hours, save it to Google Drive, update it using your smartphone while waiting on a client appointment, and then finish it that night using your tablet. Mobility and versatility can combine to greatly increase your productivity.

Meetings are often a huge time waster, sapping valuable time and productivity. For one thing, it’s a lot of work to gather all the needed personnel on one spot at a convenient time. With your smartphone, you can “virtually” attend a meeting instead from a remote location using Skype or similar app. This allows you and your staff the freedom to be in two places at the same time and eliminates expensive travel or lost productivity.

A smartphone is a great way to manage your company’s finances. The most popular accounting and financial software systems can be utilized via smartphone, giving you instant access to up-to-date corporate information. This can help you make smarter, more informed decisions no matter your location. A smartphone also has the capability to function as your credit card for purchases, or to accept credit card payments from customers.

Finally, vendors now offer apps that enable you to handle customer service on the go via your smartphone. We’re not just referring to making or receiving customer service calls (although a smartphone is ideal for that as well). These apps let you track progress of customer issues, answer questions and measure satisfaction at the end of the process. Again, as with all of the previous uses above, monitoring customer service via a smartphone enables you to accomplish this mission critical task from anywhere, at any time, at your convenience, enhancing personal mobility, productivity and versatility.

So, when examining the potential advantages and benefits of using a smartphone to run a small business, the question isn’t if it is practical or productive – it’s why didn’t you start utilizing this almost magical tool earlier.

March 20, 2018
Can Telecommuting Work for Small Business

Telecommuting – allowing employees to work all or at least a portion of their week from home – isn’t a new idea. However, it’s a growing trend that offers small businesses and workers alike many mutually beneficial advantages, but can cause several problems as well.

A History of Telecommuting

Interestingly enough, working from home was the norm until the Industrial Revolution. The farmer worked his fields. The cobbler lived behind or above his shop, as did the merchant, the tailor and the miller. Only with the advent of the modern factory did workers actually “go” to work somewhere other than where they lived.

Telecommuting as we know it today – letting large groups of people work regularly from home rather than the office – took off in the 1990s after the passage of the Clean Air Act. Employers say it was a way to comply with the act – to give workers extra flexibility and to save money on expensive office space.

In the 2010s, many companies of all sizes utilized telecommuting in at least some form. Both employer and employee have reported many benefits from adopting the practice, but it has caused enough problems and concerns that some firms have actually cut back on its use. If your small business is thinking about allowing employees to telecommute.

Here Are A Few Key Advantages And Disadvantages You Should Consider Before Doing So.

Advantages

Increased productivity – Studies have shown worker productivity frequently increases when employees are allowed to telecommute. Workers report fewer interruptions during the workday, enabling them to accomplish more tasks in less time than at the office, where frequent, lengthy and often unnecessary meetings disrupt the workflow.

Greater flexibility and attendance – Linked with productivity, workers have greater flexibility in their workdays. While, at first, small business owners may wonder how this helps them, they quickly realize employees can better take care of personal tasks (such as cable TV repairs or car repairs) that interrupt their work and cause them to miss days. While working from home they are less likely to call in sick because of an ill child or spouse, as they can now more easily take care of them while continuing to work.

Lower costs – Obviously workers save commuting costs as well as wardrobe expenses, but businesses also see monetary savings as well in terms of having to rent less office space and lower utility bills.

Disadvantages

Work/Life distractions – Let’s face it, not everyone is cut out for telecommuting. It takes discipline to concentrate on work when it’s a sunny day outside. While in an office, the worker is stuck at a desk. However, at home, with no one watching over them, some people may not be able to resist the temptation to go sit by the pool when they should be focusing on the important tasks at hand. If your small business is considering adopting telecommuting, one key question to ask is, “Can this employee handle the distractions?”

Lack of supervision – Tied into the distractions aspect comes supervision. As some workers may not be cut out for telecommuting, some managers or small business owners may not be as well. Telecommuting requires a minimalist “hands-off” management style that gives employees greater reign over what they do and when they do it. It requires confidence and trust from the manager that the telecommuting employee can work with minimal supervision and complete the assigned tasks on a deadline. “Hands-on” managers and owners will have trouble with telecommuting because the employee will be out of sight.

If you’re considering allowing telecommuting, in addition to asking if the employee can handle working from home, you need to ask yourself if you and your managers can deal with it as well.

Dependence on technology – When employees work from home, you will no longer be able to walk to a person’s desk and ask how a project is coming along. You can’t call a meeting at a moment’s notice and have everyone walk into the conference room. You will now be dependent on technology – phones, internet, email, etc. – to contact your employees and to get projects and updates from them – and they from you.

If you’re considering allowing telecommuting, you need to have a system in place to enable quick and efficient communications so that you can reach your employees when you need to and they can reach you when necessary.

Will Telecommuting Work for You? Only You Can Answer That

Many companies have seen great success after adopting telecommuting. Others have been disappointed in the results and have stopped the practice. Each situation is, of course, unique. Whether telecommuting will work for your small business is only something you can decide. As with any business decision, it’s one that should be made with careful consideration as to the advantages and disadvantages both to you and to your employees.

June 24, 2015