REPOST: 5 Tips to Supporting a Connected Workforce

With the pervasive effect of technology today, experts from Asure Software advises that companies utilize this in order to maximize employee mobility. Read more tips from this article featured on Mobile Enterprise.

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Managers and business leaders who still rely on spreadsheets, forms and manual process (despite the pervasive use of smartphones, tablets, laptops etc.) may need help to realize how to enhance workforce agility, productivity and engagement—while optimizing their organization's workforce spend and improving profits. Asure Software offers 5 tips to better mobility.

"Progressive organizations are seeing many strategic operational advantages, even imperatives, to leverage technologies in new and better ways for enhanced workforce agility and productivity, while enabling managers and business leaders to track employees more effectively, protect profit loss related to time fraud, and accurately plan and manage staffing," said Steven Rodriguez, Asure Software COO, who outlined these tips:

1. Automate processes: Timecards, paper timesheets submitted to supervisors in-person or via fax, work schedules posted on bulletin boards, PTO forms left in a manager’s in-box—these are all things of the past. Today's user-friendly TLM systems consolidate these processes online, eliminating issues with illegible entries, lost or misplaced forms, data re-entry errors and duplication of efforts, and the risk of manual errors that can occur in this process, and help organizations manage regulatory compliance requirements that are prone to costly errors. And, all data is processed and reported in real-time, eliminating delays and guesswork.

2. Leverage employees’ personal technologies: Most workers are highly connected to technology 24x7 via their own mobile devices, meaning nearly all are "agile workers" to varying degrees. Enabling them to access work systems via their own familiar technologies helps to enhance their engagement and work satisfaction. Organizations can leverage employees' connectivity and help to make their lives easier and more efficient by enabling them to conduct self-service tasks online, such as checking PTO balances, submitting schedule availability or timesheets, searching and signing up for extra shifts, etc. at their convenience.

3. Move to the cloud: Cloud-based TLM solutions free employees from the office walls and work, enabling them to access scheduling systems at their convenience with their own technologies. Using the Cloud also ensures that all employees throughout the organization, regardless of their location, are using the same technology—a key benefit for organization whose employees are increasingly mobile and global. For HR and payroll managers, the Cloud's benefits also include assurance that technology is always current and less reliance on over-stretched corporate IT staff.

4. Explore emerging biometric and geolocation technologies: TLM mobile apps make it convenient and fast for mobile workers and those whose work involves time off-site to log their time and location by enabling their mobile devices to function as a timeclock fueled by selfies. Facial recognition and geolocation technologies combine to quickly verify the user’s identity and location, enabling supervisors to ensure the right people are in the right place at the right time, and helping the organization to prevent time fraud—which can account for up to five percent of payroll costs.

5. Optimize Scheduling: TLM scheduling systems now offer many useful functionalities that spreadsheets can’t even touch, empowering employees to better track and manage their schedules. For instance, employees who want to pick up extra hours can go online to look for open shifts and bid on them. Supervisors have visual dashboards to quickly check availabilities, as well as robust data to optimize staffing and reallocate staff, as needed. If they have shift spot to fill quickly they can push out notices to employees who are eligible to cover.

"Traditional paper-based and manual time and labor tools are cumbersome, error-prone and do not provide the conveniences, efficiencies and flexibilities that workers have come to expect with today's technologies," said Rodriguez. "Most workers have and use their own technologies to plan and organize their lives, and they appreciate and quickly adapt to solutions that enable them to use their own familiar technologies."


The Bertrand Management Group provides extensive seminars and training modules for efficient workflow organization and employee motivation. Subscribe to this blog for more related articles and reports on the latest business trends.

On staying small: Why growing your business might not be worth it

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If you’re a business owner, you may have dreamt of turning your fledgling business into something more—a consumer electronics giant, like Apple, or a leader in Internet services and products, like Google. However, building a business from scratch and growing it into a multibillion-dollar corporation may not be worth it.

NationalJournal.com mentions that out of all the small business owners surveyed across the United States, only 24 percent said that they want to grow their businesses to become “as large as possible” even though President Obama has been pushing for a bill that could potentially cut taxes on smaller businesses to encourage growth and increased hiring of workers, which in turn could revitalize the US job market.

Image Source: smallbusiness.chron.com

Why? Investopedia.com lists a few possible reasons why many small business owners do not want to expand their business:

• They’ll incur less stress.

• The risks of hurting the business remain little.

• They won’t have an increase in workload.

• They won’t have to deal with problems regarding hiring people.

• They’ll have time for things that really matter (i.e., spending time with family and friends).

The bottom line is that although expanding your business might be a good idea, business growth does not just depend on having a dream and setting some goals. It requires sacrifices that you must be willing to make for results that may or may not be worth the effort.

Image Source: blog.michiganadvantage.org

Bertrand Management Group is a California-based consulting firm that specializes in the development of business coaching skills and business strategies. Visit this Facebook page for more information on expanding a business.

REPOST: Full stack business development

What are the qualities of a full stack business developer? Learn more from this Forbes.com article.

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In the language of technology, a “Full Stack Developer” is someone who understands how to code every level of a computer: from the fundamentals of server processes to backend programming to database architecture and front-end design. They’re among the most valued members of an organization, able to translate between the layers of a system. A Full Stack Developer can be your best resource whether you’re planning for top-notch performance, diagnosing a tricky situation that’s eluded your best specialists, or are just quickly hacking your way to an MVP.

Allow me to introduce the idea of a similar unicorn: the “Full Stack Business Development” person. A Full Stack BD understands the complexities and interactions between every layer of long-term value:

The Customer Layer: a Full Stack BD knows that customer development is just as important as partnership development. They understand what motivates, what upsets, what delights your current and prospective customers.

The Product Layer: a Full Stack BD knows how to identify and solve the needs unearthed in the Customer Layer. They inform the products and services that create value for customers and help advance their own organization’s pursuit of long-term value.

The Strategy Layer: a Full Stack BD knows how look before they leap, to evaluate the best paths to long-term value. They are comfortable directing attention back towards internal resources like product development or marketing, but can also lead the charge in selling the idea of partnership when the best path leads outside the company walls.

The Human Layer: a Full Stack BD knows how to reach and connect with people, to communicate the value of an idea to an individual and to an organization. They know how to establish a bond based and build relationships that provide back in equal proportion to everyone involved.

The Relationship Layer: a Full Stack BD knows how to keep the balance between what’s given and what’s received, when to tow the company line and when to advocate on behalf of another. They know how keep value flowing, so that it’s sustainable and worth the effort.

The path to becoming good at Business Development can be start from a background sales, or marketing, or finance, or partnerships, or accounting, or liberal arts, or law. But becoming great at it requires the full stack.

Bertrand Management Group offers a variety of services that fit the every need of its clients. Follow this Twitter page or visit this site to get more links on business development.