hy is every fortune 500 company marketing itself as Green?
Going green is no longer just a fashionable cause or even simply a political movement. Going green is a call to action for any business that wants to compete in the global marketplace today.
Customers demand an environmental awareness and at the same time they expect the best value. Now that the world is at their fingertips customers will not budge on either of these issues. Tough economic times just drive home the point that waste is not welcome in people’s day-to-day microeconomics.
We are a small company. Why is going green something we even need to be concerned with?
In order for small and medium companies to survive in this demanding new business environment you must adapt to the market place. In short, you must employ large company tactics to reducing your overhead, increasing your productivity, and eliminate your dependency on paper and ink products. It is the business equivalent of dressing for the job you want.
Defining areas of improvement
In small companies, people often overlook the complexity of business and things end up happening to them rather than them making things happen. For example, they may focus all their efforts on sales until they land a new big costumer and then scramble all hands on deck to fill their order while sales take a back seat.
The customer-facing activities or the Front Office seems to always be out of sink with the behind-the-scenes stuff knows as the Back Office.
Once you realize what is happening to you as a business, you can document it. The most amazing thing happens once you white board your processes. The things that are in need of improvement almost jump out at you.
Making your move
Now you can picture your business running more efficiently, making you more money, and producing happy customers that refer you to more customers. The next step is to put a system in place that makes this picture a reality.
Successful companies take the next step and implement an Online Management System designed to take advantage of technology to automate key processes in their business.
Available features for a Custom WA Solutions Online Management System
Front Office Features
Back Office Features
Tracking Leads
Resource Planning
Placing Orders
Inventory Control
Organizing Product Offerings
Asset Tracking
Tracking Customer Support
Time Reporting (clocking in and out)
Tracking Warranty Claims
Supply Chain Tracking
Once you choose which of these activities apply to your business, WA Solutions will build a custom Online Management System that will fit your business. Having a central system means everyone involved is always aware of what needs to be done without printing or manual processes.
Reporting results and continuous improvement
As a company owner, you will have access to real time reporting which will give you a bird’s eye view of how your business is running and where your problem areas are. The sooner you know you have a problem the sooner you can fix it and stay profitable. Customers have little patience for mistakes that do not get resolved quickly.
By: John Ruggieri
Posts Tagged ‘Money’
Online Management Systems, Make Your Business More Profitable, and Get on the Green Band Wagon
November 22nd, 2009Outsourcing Your Managed Hosting: What Should You Consider?
October 11th, 2009It is true that many companies fall into a trap when they decide to try to manage their own hosting. They may try to use employees already on staff and find that these employees are spending all of their time with the managed hosting instead of their regular duties. Then again, the business may have to hire additional employees. This means that more wages have to be paid. So here we have two situations that shows work being sacrificed in one area and the business having to pay out more money to pay the new salaries. How can this be avoided?
This is the point where the business may consider outsourcing their managed hosting. This is where you can make sure your employees are doing the job that they are hired to do and the company you are outsourcing to may not be quite as expensive as having to hire one or more full-time employees to manage your hosting.
Here are some things to consider:
Consider the fact that by outsourcing your managed hosting, the outsource supplier is the one who will be carrying the risks. This means that they are going to do all that they can to make sure everything stays up and running and that everything is secure.
Your company does not have to fit the bill for equipment costs if you run servers on your own property. You are using the servers of the IT Company that you hire to take care of your managed hosting. This is another area in which you can save money.
Your company can stay up on the most up-to-date technology. The company you have outsourced to relies on staying up with the latest technology, which means that your business will follow in that respect.
Since environmental issues are taking shape this day and age, many IT companies are employing practices that are more favorable to the environment.
Know that they will do all they can to keep everything up and running. If you have ever noticed, the press covers huge outages and that can hurt a reputation. Most of all, it can hurt the IT Company’s reputation if the problem is traced back to them. Chances are they are managing the managed hosting of more than one company and that can cause a huge problem. These IT Companies employ methods that will keep them up and running even if the world around them is not.
As you can see, there are some things to consider when outsourcing your managed hosting. Smaller businesses may have to evaluate these items more thoroughly because outsourcing may be a big price to pay for them. Larger businesses, on the other hand, may have never imagined that they would fully outsource their managed hosting and other IT operations. However, the more affordable and practical it becomes, the more businesses are outsourcing such operations so that they can keep their minds on the task at hand and not worry about the technical aspect of it. That is why there are so many businesses that are finding success. They rely on the security of an IT outsource company to take care of their websites and other technical aspects so that they can focus on wooing their customers and keeping the money coming in faster than ever.
In the end, you end up with an efficient company that is at the top of their game. At that point, outsourcing their managed hosting may seem like a drop in the bucket compared to what it used to be. That makes looking at outsourced managed hosting something to consider.
By: Amy Nutt
