Imperatives of skill development

Human resources are significant for the growth and development of SMEs and they should be managed well. It is extremely important to provide good training to employees. Every company has its own standards and so training employees is inevitable.  To save time and money, companies often tend to compromise on training of workers. It’s time to take this routine practice through a test.

Get the Industry In
Institutes are busy training people according to academia. It is time the industry steps in to tell the academia what they really require. Industries are now coming together with private universities to see how they can come together to develop a talented workforce that is employable. This has been a challenge so far and the attempts being made are few and far between.
 

Training on the Job
All leading companies train their workers because it is the single-most effective tool that has no substitute. Recruitment of the workers for white and blue collared ones is especially important and companies need to ensure that they are absorbed aptly into the company. Recruitment should be taken seriously and skilled HR capabilities should be employed to ensure right people are employed. 

Remunerating Well
People should be paid well and in accordance with their ability and skills. This not only ensures that they do a good job, it also means people stay with the company for a longer time. Of course, it is important to ensure that the person being recruited has a nice reputation and a good past record. Standards of recruitment should be high and competitive individuals should be given the right opportunities.    

What’s the Big Difference?
Say a company has sources technologically advanced machinery, but if the workers are not skilled and trained properly then the machinery would lie unproductive. So training of the employees is a must. They should go through training to hone their skills and to improve their performance. 

Human resources are the most powerful investment for any company. The workers should be managed intelligently and work should be assigned as per their capabilities. They should be encouraged to perform well for better productivity for the company and greater success for the person. Dedicated and hard working employees should be rewarded and they should be promoted with time. The training method should be interactive so that the employees can share their problems with the head. 

Unskilled workers are the biggest hurdle for the growth of a company. Therefore, they should be trained to generate more output and to meet their targets in a minimum time. The skilled work force tends to be more efficient and thus contributes in a big way to the advantage of the firm. Good workers add to the reputation of the company. It should be kept in mind that the employees who are given a healthy working environment are your biggest assets. 

Intelligent management of human resources is the key to success. A team of experienced and new workers should be engaged so that the freshers can learn. The leader should have a positive attitude to inspire workers to perform better and to the best of their ability. Adequate channelizing of resources makes it possible to reduce wastage and to raise turnover. So, skill development is crucial for the success of SMEs and a must-do for a productive tomorrow.

Channelizing Human Resources in SMEs

If you manage your own SME, it is a must to manage your human capital well. This is meant not only to enhance productivity of the employees but also of all your other resources. Setting up the right hierarchy and organizing for better productivity are the keys.

So you appoint managers and team leaders to ensure management of employees. Employees need to grow with the organization. The thrust should be on a result-oriented approach for a strategic and comprehensive utilization of resources. 

Realize Their Potential
 

It is crucial for a leader to realize the potential of employees because it is essential to keep in mind their ability before assigning any work to them. If you make the wrong person work on a task that is not commensurate with his ability and interest then it would lead to lesser output. It is important to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of employees to generate better results. For the success of an organization, it is also significant to delegate responsibilities with a lot of thought. You should monitor the performance of the workers in a particular area and decide the future course of action. This would lead to a proper utilization of resources and result in higher turnover for the company. You should also encourage employees to do better as this would inculcate a positive working environment. A simple word of encouragement will instill them with enthusiasm and make them work even harder. This kind of motivation can really work wonders for the growth of a company. If you make an employee work in his field of interest then he would work with more commitment and dedication.

Maintain Friendly Relations
 

The relationship between employees and their leader should be friendly. A leader should keep interacting with the workers to be aware of their problems and difficulties. It is possible to channelize human resources in the best possible manner only if the workers are satisfied. Maintaining good relations with the employees help to make the working environment healthy. It is important to respect the employees’ decisions and be supportive. Allow them to take up challenges – this would polish their skills and help in their growth. There should be no communication gap between the employees and the employer. In the workplace, teamwork is always effective and reaps rich results in the long run. Proper channeling of resources makes the company prosper. You can tap the hidden potential of the each employee by proper management.  
 

Set Practical Goals
 

Giving the right direction to employees’ skills would undoubtedly increase the output. You must set practical goals for the employees and guide them whenever they need help so that they do not refrain from approaching you. This approach promotes employee retention, employee involvement and employee engagement. Discover the untapped potential of the employees and give them an opportunity to present their ideas. They should be involved in the decision making process which falls under employee empowerment. This enhances their confidence and self esteem driving them to take responsibility. A trained and efficient work force is really an asset for the organization and helps to achieve long term goals. A result oriented approach is always an effective medium for the success of a firm.

So let’s work out on human resources, the lifeline of every organization.

Host Your Teleconferences on the Cloud: SuperConference

Businesses are leveraging technology like never before. With the cloud coming into picture, Small and Medium businesses are leveraging the power of the cloud to bring down their operational costs, while achieving several business objectives.

Many small businesses smartly use technology to avoid over spending on travel and doing business either online or through conference calls. There are may voice based solutions which SMEs can use. Though if you want to keep a record of all the conversations with the time-stamps of each of your audience, it becomes a little challenging. SuperConference, a cloud based tele-conferencing solution helps you achieve just that.

What is SuperConference?
SuperConference is a tele conferencing solution hosted in the cloud. Essentially what SuperConference allows you to do  is to get a dedicated number where you and your audience can call in and join in a tele-conference. The best part about the tool is that it allows you to maintain a log of each of your tele-con, while also maintaining the time stamps of entry and exits of each of the participants in the telecon. You can also maintain and access the recorded version of your telecon for future use.

What are the various features/ advantages of SuperConference?

• You dont' require any extra hardware
• Free version available for 7 days
• Detailed logs of each conference are maintained which are searchable and downloadable

How do I sign-up for a free trial?

For a free trial all you need to do is to login on the home screen, while filling in your details which will show the following screen to you:

Once your account is configured, you get an Email from the support desk and you are ready to use the service.

How does it help my business?

For SMEs, SuperConference is a fantastic solution. It not only helps you do the basics of hosting successful telecons, but also maintain a log of all the calls made, while you can also access the recordings of the calls with the time stamps of the various participants. This helps you create and maintain a powerful record of the various tele-cons that you host as a business, which you can instantly provide as minutes of meeting as a downloadable sound file.

SuperConference also helps you reduce down your cost of hosting such tele-cons as there is no extra infrastructure required to host such calls.

Team IndiaMART Knowledge Services is committed to create new opportunities or SMEs to grow. To know more about how you can leverage the internet and new media technologies, drop in a comment to this post and our team of experts will be happy to help!

E-Commerce Technologies and ERP Solutions for Managing Logistics and Information Systems by SMEs

Supply Chain Management for Small and Medium Enterprises is a big challenge. Setting a process based flow and ensuring that it is followed from the Raw Material to the Finished Good, till it reaches the end customer, is a challenge which every enterprise faces. And as business dynamics evolve, one of the key element of every strong and established Supply Chain, which has come out is Information/ data. Availability of business critical information is very crucial to the success of every business process today.

Technology integration: Challenge for SMEs
Though SMEs have always been known for creating disruptive innovations and achieving operational success, as business scales up to the next level, technology plays a major part in the operational decision making process. technology intervention helps in streamlining the processes.

For SMEs, what hinders the use of technology apart from being educated about the availability of such tools is the cost of implementation. For an emerging enterprise to use and implement proprietary technology towards strengthening business processes and operations is a critical decision.

One important part of the chain is the logistics, which involves integration of information, transportation, inventory management, warehousing, material handling and packaging.

Online Solutions for enabling logistics management and Information Systems
There are many online solutions (tools and services) available for SMEs to explore.

• E-Commerce Technologies

Before we actually drive the benefits of E-commerce through this post, one of the critical developments which have been seen in the recent past with SMEs adopting this technology is that SMEs need to ramp up their operations. They need to be faster, more responsive and align their distribution to the demand being generated from the market.

What does E-commerce do?

E-commerce in its basic sense, provides real time information for companies to reduce down cost related to logistics activities such as distributing, storing and retrieving. Having such updated information in hand every time enables the business to keep a strong check on order status, flow of goods and ensuring delivery through reliable distribution channels.

Eg: If you are a book seller with an offline local presence in one city and you want to grow your operations across the country. Launching your own online book-store could sure be one option, but tying up with an existing one to generate sales, while maintaining the inventory with yourself could help your business gain much needed brand recall and presence throughout the national markets. This also helps you understand the effects of E-commerce on your business and to strengthen your internal processes and systems.

What all do I need to invest into creating such a system internally?

All that you need to do as a business is ensure good Internet facilities in-house coupled with a staff which is trained and aligned to be operationally more swift, with the evolving business model. Hence essentially its a low cost and high return proposition for your business.

Enterprise Resource Planning: ERP is a software application which is modeled around, creating a smooth business management process flow, adding to the operational capability of a business. ERP affects a business across the business value chain. Putting simply, ERP amalgamates the various points of business information available into a more cohesive, readily available online resource, which is available on demand to business users across the various functions as: HR, Marketing, Finance, Administration etc.

Source: http://yehtechnologies.com/erp.jpg

Though ERP softwares have evolved overtime and there are large versions of the same available for large businesses. SMEs can use specialized ERP offerings which enable them to manage inventory control, order management, warehouse management, purchase orders and invoicing.

Pain points for the SME

For any emerging business automating smaller tasks which are repetitive in nature is a major challenge and a relief, once implemented properly.

Eg: invoicing: though for smaller businesses hiring a finance manager is a solution. Automating the invoicing process makes it more scalable and easier, while ensuring that the business raises an invoice always at the right time.

Similarly SMEs can look at either automating complete OR some part of the business functions by implementing smart ERP solutions.

But its a software: it will cost a lot?!

Now this is where education comes in handy. ERP is a software but burns no hole in your pocket. Compared to a proprietary software the free and open source ERP projects available for download online are a far cheaper and better option. All that you then require is the help of an Open Source evangelist who can help you install and customize the ERP according to your business processes.

Examples of Free ERP Tools, available online:

• Compiere
• Opentaps
• Jazz ERP
• Openbravo
• BlueERP

Many of these ERP solutions are robust and being Open Source, you can get them customized w.r.t your business processes.

Being operationally swift is one of the crucial most achievable for any SME and we are partners in adding to your knowledge of how your business can achieve it. IndiaMART Knowledge Services team of experts will be happy to help you grow.

Drop in a comment to know how?!

Technology to Manage Your Payroll On the Go

For Small and Medium Enterprises, setting powerful processes to strengthen their internal working mechanisms and methodologies is crucial.

For any SME or for that matter even bigger organisations, people are the crucial most element and managing people is a full time job and one of the high priority items on the HR leads's list. Related with people, one of the most time consuming activities which is repetitive in nature monthly is managing payroll. Yes, employee salaries are crucial as they are one of the key motivators for any human and hence managing it becomes crucial for the organisation.

I use a CRM application to manage my payroll, what next?
Good question! what next! The next is: payroll on your mobile device. Yes, with the recent iPhone and iPAD devices taking the markets by storm its payroll apps are emerging and users are at first hand experiencing the idea of managing payrolls on the go!

One of the recent examples of such an app is Automatic Data Processing's RUN, which was launched for the iPhone and iPod Touch and will soon arrive for the iPad. The first of such apps called, Sure Payroll and intuit online payroll have now targeted small business owners citing efficient and quick payroll handling, while on the move, right on their devices hence making payroll mobile!


But are these apps free?
The apps are free but at the back-end you may have to use their own online payroll management services, which is again a strategic decision your small business needs to see and look into, since these apps are fairly new in the market and also scalability is a thought.

What should I do?
For start-ups and other smaller businesses, we suggest payroll management on the go is an intelligent thing to do, as you don't have to actually invest time (while running your emerging enterprise) into payroll management exclusively on the computer anymore. You can take it as a task and manage your payroll on the go, even while you are traveling.

Repeat Customers: Driving Growth For the SME

We all know the importance and value of repeat customers for our businesses. More-so it is crucial for Small and Medium Enterprises to get repeat customers. In times, when global economies are going through major shifts and businesses are feeling the ecosystem evolving rapidly, it is important for every business/ entrepreneur to understand how to retain and build repeat customers.

Cost of customer acquisition: Repeat Customers Cost Less
To start with, we understand that getting a repeat customer is far less costly as compared to the investment done by the business for acquiring a new set of customer(s). There are many studies which have been done which prove the fact the above fact.
There are many business expenses which are related to customer acquisition: marketing, advertising, sales team etc.

Your business in times as competitive as today has to move fast and be on the look-out at all times, everytime, as each customer is being tracked by parallel and in many cases, similar set of services, which could be provided by your competitors globally and competitive prices as well and similar or at times better standards.

Source: http://static.searchengineguide.com/images/sudden-exposure-dsem.jpg

You sell by Word of Mouth
Its is given fact and almost all of us will believe, that repeat customers are walking advertisements for the business. Logic says that if a customer is coming back to your business, he/ she must have liked your set of services. Also, as business is more based on relationship, for SME's, a happy and satisfied customer, will majorly at all times, talk about your brand.

A referral from a trusted source, as we all know, works far more stronger and is a sure-shot way of developing business.

In the recent times Social Networks like LinkedIn and facebook have proven how powerful influencers can drive business for your emerging organization. There are fans following trusted brands, individuals alike which is dominating the board-room discussions in every emerging enterprise.

So how do you build repeat customers?
Though there is no magic wand/ mantra which you can speak of and customers will come running to you/ your business, but as in business, you can certainly follow the steps below and strategically work towards acquiring repeat business:

• Hire the right people

Your employees are your first customers. They are one of the most powerful sales engine for your organisation. Your business must ensure that demeanor and interaction with clients is focused towards cementing existing relationships and bring back business to the organisation.

Customers while interacting with your brand, actually do business with your brand ambassadors, your employees. Hence a powerfully enabled and empowered employee can do more good to your business.

• Your products/ services speak for themselves: be consistent, have a solid delivery

Large organisations as we see them today, did not grow as a chance or strike of luck! They grew to their size with sheer competence, ensuring that whatever they deliver is to the best of their abilities and that they are competitive enough as per industry standards, such that their customers get the best.

Being consistent is a lesson we learn early in life, while we are studying. As we expect even our national teams to perform consistently on the field, similarly we must maintain solid processes internally, which ensure quality at all costs and maintain consistency at all times.

Go to any McDonald's in a city and you will see the same products being sold over the counter, with the same speed and agility and pretty much the same taste. This ensures the customer that what he is going to get is value for his money and hence he walks in without a doubt.

You must set solid process oriented working methodologies in your growing enterprise, which ensure that your business creates ensured quality at all times.

• Know Your Customer - Well!

Learn this art from the banks. When you open a banking account, you fill a KYC form (know your customer). This is to ensure that the bank as an institution knows you well enough. Having such information creates a close relationship based on mutual trust which the client has with the banking institution.

But for SME's building a whole team of people with a KYC process seems an ardent task. Such business challenges can easily be tackled by innovative CRM (customer relationship management) software, available in the market. Smaller businesses can look at the Microsoft Office 2010 Standard and Professional Plus versions, which include Outlook with Business Contact Manager (BCM).

• Make them your best critiques: Co-create

Your customers could be your best critiques. They are at the receiving end of your set of services/ products/ solutions and hence you must always ensure that you take solid feedback from your customers on how are they experiencing your business proposition.

Co-creating with your customers, will ensure a solid relationship which will provide mutual respect and growth. Your customers grow close to you and your business, this way and it obviously helps!!

• Shake hands: go do it

Though it seems more and more profitable for any business operation today to leverage technology like video conferencing and mobile phones etc. Making a physical contact with your customers always creates an equation which is far different from anything else. Once an understanding is set, you can hence leverage the power of technology to touch base, while also helping your customer reduce cost and optimize business operations.

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