Archive for December, 2009
Numbers say more than words especially if we are considering business world and profit figures as a proof of being a successful business. GE’s numbers in the last two decades have been on the highest level since the foundation of the company. Jack Welch has been in charge of the company’s operations during all this time. Under his leadership GE has undergone numerous transformations that made it number in the field of their operations today. Welch is renowned as one of the best managers of the century for not only meeting the forecasted figures but for changing the minds of his employees and being the greatest inspiration for them.
His famous “hardware” reduction and remodeling took place almost immediately after he stepped into his CEO office. Taking into consideration economics’ recession and drastic restructuring of the company Welch met strong criticism of his politics, but GE’s future was the ultimate goal for his actions. The company was delayered and destaffed greatly. These were the first important steps on the path of accumulating potential and its distribution in the right direction. Instead of having seven layers in the company with hundreds of divisions and sectors with even more managers, Welch rebuilt GE So that there were only three layers underneath so that it was possible to directly communicate with each division and know each top manager. All of that was done for better control, free flowing communication and higher level of responsibility of everyone in the company.
The “software” component change was taking place after GE dramatic structural innovations. Welch knew that without inner understanding of every employee of the importance of maintaining productivity levels, there would be no change. “Work-outs” and “Best practices” were the first performance boosters implemented by Welch in late 80’s. The real difference was seen in a few years when productivity increased first by 2% and than by 4%. By integrating the efforts of employees on all levels and considering their suggestions, GE was able to reach such amazing results, especially taking into account the amount of money it saved-thus earned. “Best practices” was continuing to fight for higher productivity levels, as it brought the understanding that they needed better processes planning and better customer satisfaction, they also needed to develop friendly relationships with their suppliers. Those actions combined together led to higher productivity and realization of doing certain things wrong, which in turn made possible to make them right in the future.
It becomes clear that Welch had a new vision was his company by firstly implementing drastic changes in the skeleton on the firm and than the organs of the “body” were undergoing changes. Those changes were aimed at giving people tasks that would integrate knowledge and experience and desire of self-development. The combination of such techniques made GE one of the strongest companies in the world, one of the best employers. The power of being a great place to work at led GE to actually being number one, the task that Welch was pursuing since he became the CEO.
Integrate diversity, the so called “boundaryless” company was another challenge that Welch sought to overcome. The company’s employees did not have to look for advice or new technologies outside GE, it all was available in their own company. With this newly adopted system, the players of the team learned quickly from each other and cooperated successfully among each other. An integration model was developed on the basis of the hundreds of post-acquisition reviews in order to guide manager in any part of the company, who are responsible for integrating a newly acquired operation. Those activities could range from taking control of the account to realigning the organization.
Stretch programs- there was a unique way to set high goals and employees were inspired to be as good as it is possible or even better to achieve them. Managers were not responsible for those goals but those who got it done were greatly appreciated and awarded accordingly. This was the way Welch saw an open and trusting environment in the company which guaranteed as practice have proven to be the best performance accelerator and creativity source. The results of this system did not make the management wait too long. People with no boundaries to the excellence started aiming at the highest possible level of performance and let their imagination free. The differences in numbers were not about a few hundredth, but about whole numbers of 10 inventory turns, which seemed impossible till the system. The success of this newly originated system laid in “no-punish-failure”, where people were not afraid of being fired because of unachieved goals. Rather is was stated that they should be aiming at what they see as their best and thus they were driven by their own ambitions to get to the desired number but not work a sixty hour week for the sake of having this number written on their time sheets. Because this idea found such a great implementation in real business it is definitely a brilliant way to make people take interest in their work and perform on a better level.
Another great discovery in the business world of GE were service businesses that took GE’s view of what they do to a new level. No more they were just manufacturers of high quality equipment, they were the follow up services that took care of any difficulty a customer might face in the course of using their product. Multi-billion investments into services business equipment for monitoring Aircraft Engines while in flight or medical diagnosis in real time, led the company to having two thirds of their business in services rather than in manufacturing. This goal was a far fetched Welch’s dream and finally it came true in the late 90’s. With the integration of this new business line, GE made their customers almost fully dependable on them. This was a perfect strategic move, which gave the company much more power as their services were needed as much as their products and combined together they were the core of success. Value-added benefits that customers received from GE’s services were of great importance and provided both companies with strong partnership ties, on several levels. It not only caused profits for both parties but generated trusting and reliable conditions for cooperation.
Apart from high productivity, correct strategic politics and necessary employee satisfaction there is another essential factor in the core of every successful business. Product quality is blood of the company and if it is not clean, company cannot function properly. In 1995 the company’s survey showed that most employees were dissatisfied with the product quality they were making. When products and services were analyzed it turned out that GE was operating at a rate of ten thousand times the Six Sigma quality level. It meant a lot of money being lost and a lot of productivity as well. GE invested huge amount of money into educating its managers which was not optional as Welch wanted to have only the best people he could get. As a result in two years, GE’s performance was greater than expected. For instance their repair shops were operating three times faster than the shops of their immediate rivals. Also medical equipment showed tenfold increase in the products’ life the fact that in turn provided strong customer trust and loyalty toward GE products. The returns on the investment were well over the expected amount and meant that the investment was a very successful one.
Welch as a leader of a big multi-business company desired to see only highly professional people working in it. This was the goal of another project that also became a success. The new model of the company requited only those with highest standards and big dreams for the future. A player of the team which could not match the requirements of the “4E’s” was let free. The essence of GE was to take a lot from their employees but also to give a lot. Welch believed that such people ought to be paid well, loved and respected. They need to feel that they are the most recourse of the company, they need to be constantly educated and challenged. Jack Welch was such an employee himself and wanted to see the same attitude toward work and company from his team. Such philosophy was the secret of a huge success story called Jack Welch. His innovations and reforms were dramatic at times, but always proved to be the right thing. He took each of his business entities as a separate most important one and gave it the most attention, thus the GE empire is going to grow and develop in the future, in case of GE being guided by such leaders as Jack Welch.
Jeff Stats
http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/managing-the-multiline-business-corporate-leadership-125905.html
Efficiency is the life blood of any business, since the more efficient a business is the more of its income will be profit. Considering how much work is involved in running a successful catering business, it can be difficult to keep the business running efficiently at all times, resulting in loss of profit, which is not good in a slump economy. By choosing fully-featured catering software for your business, however, you can drastically increase your efficiency while at the same time cutting costs that result from over-ordering and overstaffing. Best of all, the software can help you to avoid costly mistakes by keeping all of the information for your events in one convenient location.
One of the most noticeable things that catering software can do to make your business more efficient, is to simplify menu creation for upcoming events easily. Normally you might spend hours or even days coming up with a menu for an event, only to have it rejected by the customer who hired you or have them request a number of revisions to it. The catering software that you use can reduce this time drastically, letting you create several different menu configurations in a matter of minutes. This will give you the ability to offer alternate menus for your customers to choose from, even though the entire process took significantly less time than it would appear. Allowing you to create professional catering menus on the fly. If the customer’s still request revisions, they can be made in under a minute with ease.
Catering software can also simplify the ordering process for inventory and ingredients as well! The software will generate requisition lists based on the number of servings that you will need, letting you see exactly how much of each ingredient you will require for the event. This can be adjusted based on the items that you have in stock, while the rest can be ordered as close to the required amount as possible to reduce wasted ingredients. Packing lists can also be generated to show you exactly what equipment you will need to help prevent return trips to pick up something that was forgotten.
Software add-ons can allow you to be as efficient as possible with your staffing needs as well, ensuring that you have enough employees to work your event; while making sure that you aren’t wasting labor by having the event overstaffed.
All of the event information will be saved within the software, giving you reminders based on the time until the event to make sure that you have everything done when you need it. The software’s built-in calendar will help you to avoid event conflicts while also providing you with daily to-do lists to keep every scheduled event on track. Email and correspondence templates can be automatically filled in with event information to make contacting clients easier, and optional integration into software such as QuickBooks and Outlook can make invoicing and customer recordkeeping significantly easier as well. Once you start using catering software to help improve your businesses efficiency, you’ll wonder how you were ever able to keep your business running without it.
Gen Wright
http://www.articlesbase.com/computer-forensics-articles/make-your-catering-business-more-efficient-with-the-right-software-745314.html
I am fresh graduate of Computer Science and want to become a Business Process Analyst. What skills do I need and what experience I should look out to gain ? Are there any certfications which can help me in this endevour. I have a only fade idea of what a Business Process Analyst does i.e. of mapping business porcesses and analyzing which need improvement or how they can integrated into a software. Is is this right ? Advice from experienced people or those who are already or trying to be in the same field will be highly appreciated.
This is what I do. My suggestion is to find the are where you can become smart on the business process. Unfortunately, at this time, employers are looking for people that have worked in the area and can ‘cross train’ into process analysis.
The high level of what a BPA does is: taking a process and breaking it down into the piece parts. That is, finer detail until you have defined a single task for a single person/group. Then, you rebuild those tasks into a flowchart and see where you can improve the process. You MUST have good skills of listening. Some of the best information I’ve gotten have been in casual conversations with experts in their area. You will be doing a LOT of writing, explaining the process to others.
Not all BPA will result in software creation. Maybe a company has bought another company and there are 2 groups that do the same sort of thing. How do you ’synthesize’ these groups? Which ‘way’ of doing it is best? See what I mean?
Write if you want for more info. good luck.
The question refers to an example if there were four employees that each had two assistants. Two of the employees usually have nothing to do because their assistants do all their work. The other two employees usually have to work over time, one of them have an assistant that works 15 hours and the other employee does not have an assistant. With that said, how does that affect impact, morale, and business? Also if you would be kind as to give a few ideas as how to fix this problem, that would be nice. I thank you.
Production is the basis of morale.
Fire the 2 employees who do nothing.
Re-Assign their assistants to the other employees so there is no overtime paid.
I just bought my first laptop and I want to know what I should do about it’s battery. It can last 2 hours and I was wondering what I should do when it starts dying on me. I also would like to know of any tips to prevent it from dying out.
If I was to buy a lithium battery say from newegg.. would it work in my laptop?
My System Details
PROCESSORAMD AthlonTM 64 X2 Dual-Core processor TK-57 (1.9GHz/256KB)edit
OPERATING SYSTEMGenuine Windows Vista® Home Basic, Service Pack 1edit
PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARENo Pre-installed Productivity Softwareedit
Dell Recommends
Microsoft Office Basic Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook PREINSTALLED!
Upgrade to Microsoft® Office Basic 2007 (Word, Excel, Outlook) [add $149]
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Mail-in service takes up to two weeks. Upgrade to Next Business Day On-site Service.
Upgrade to 1 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 1 Year NBD On-Site Service [add $19]
LCD PANEL15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD Anti-Glare Displayedit
MEMORY2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHZ, 2 Dimmedit
HARD DRIVE160GB 5400RPM Hard Driveedit
OPTICAL DRIVE8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+R write capability, Cyberlink Power DVDedit
VIDEO CARDATI Radeon® Xpress 1150 256MB HyperMemory™ (integrated)edit
WI-FI WIRELESS CARDDell Wireless 1395 802.11g Wi-Fi Internal Cardedit
Service
BATTERIES6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Batteryedit
SECURITY McAfee Total Protection for Small Business, 30-day subscriptionedit
ADOBE SOFTWAREAdobe® Acrobat® Readeredit
ONLINE BUSINESS GROWTH TOOLS Free Microsoft Office Live Small Businessedit
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DELL DATASAFE™ ONLINE BACKUP No Online Data Back Up Installededit
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ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
SOUND OPTIONIntegrated Audio
LabelsWindows Vista™ Basic
you can’t just go and buy ANY battery … (well I suppose you can … but that’s just stupid) it has to be one that FITS your laptop … and they come in different "cell" sizes … the more cells the longer the charge lasts … you bought a fairly basic laptop … 2hrs battery life is about average
i’m thinking of buying an hp laptop and i was wondering if 1.3 GHZ and 3 cache is alot and if i wanna use microsoft word, powerpoint, and excel what kind of productivity software should i get, microsoft works 9.0 ,
Corel Home Office, Microsoft (R) Basic 2007, microsoft (R) Office Home and student, Microsoft (R) Office Small Business 2007, or Microsoft (R) Office Professional 2007?
Hello!
I suggest you to try free office suite, which is not worse than MS office.
It is Open Office. It also contain Word, Excel and Power Point and the difference in GUI is not critical, I mean they look familiar.
Here is the link to the official site:
http://www.openoffice.org/
here is the download link:
http://download.openoffice.org/index.html
When profits go down, the first area in which a small business may want to save money is its help desk. This type of frugality has its costs, however, in the form of long call backlogs, angry customers, and eventually even lower profits. A better option would be to improve the efficiency of the help desk in order to ensure even better service at a lower cost. One of the best ways to accomplish this task is by purchasing help desk software to streamline operations.
There are a variety of help desk software packages on the market. Among the most popular are Support Wizard, Parature, and FootPrints. Help desk software can assist the small business owner in comprehensive, adaptable problem resolution including generating and tracking tickets, responding to requests, and automating communications using outlets such as through calls or email. Help desk software is particularly useful for small businesses in which key personnel often travel, because it can allow access to the help desk over the Internet.
In case you think it’s too expensive, consider the costs to the customer of a software-less help desk:
o Time wasted deciding where to go for help.
o Time wasted on hold for customer support personnel.
o Time wasted reading through dense product manuals.
o Time wasted through poor procedures and practices.
Ultimately time wasted for the customer will result in dissatisfied customers and poor business performance. Direct costs to your business may include:
o Lower employee productivity when staff is called away to assist.
o Duplicated support efforts.
Nevertheless, be prudent when considering the purchase of help desk software, because not all packages are appropriate for small businesses. Some packages include hidden charges such as frequent updates, so it would be a good idea to find out what updates are expected and how frequent they occur. Nevertheless, think carefully before going to the other extreme and using free help desk software available on the Internet – these packages usually have serious limitations and are appropriate only for very small operations. Nevertheless, small businesses should choose software with a relatively small number of features. Keep it simple because it’s unlikely a small business will need every feature of a complex product, so why pay for it?
Fred Jones
http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/help-desk-software-for-small-businesses-121380.html
When it comes to outsourcing custom software development services the main question which comes to our mind is that of trust. We always understand that you may have apprehensions about doing business across the globe. This is why we have designed our processes in a way to give you a great outsourcing experience.
How can these services be successfully carried?
1. The way the solutions we designed for your company are completely in accordance with your business objectives.
2. Complete transparency is maintained in the business.
3. We make sure that the processes we follow increases efficiency of the whole project.
Legal considerations
Contract of the services: a services contract should be signed detailing about the responsibilities which are to be carried by both the parties.
Non Disclosure Agreement: it is always good to ensure confidentiality in the work so a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) should be signed. Moreover the project details should be provided to those members who are working on the project.
The services which can be provided in custom software development are:
Workflow Automation Software: this helps you organize your work and so your files become organized and then you can automate your business processes easily. This also means that you don’t have to struggle among the files of the paperwork so it will increase your productivity, efficiency and speed.
Offshore Telecom Software Services: this service includes the development of telecom software solutions, their testing, their implementation and their maintenance. Depending on the requirements they can be turn-key solutions which are for fixed requirements and time and material solutions or more dynamic requirements.
Offshore Health Software Services: good medical management software or good practice management software reduces the errors in billing and coding and also file claims and readjudication thereby reducing claim denials.
Outsourcing custom development services is actually an E-commerce solution which helps in catering to the needs of the business that to halfway across the globe.
Roberto Luongo
http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/outsourcing-custom-software-development-services-the-nitty-gritties-689184.html
You have enough work demanding your attention you do not have the time to search out the top software programs for real estate agents. We recognize that there never seems to be enough hours in a day to finish the work of a successful real estate agent.
Properly and efficiently maintaining accurate client records is the decisive measure of how much success you will have as a real estate agent, and because of its importance to the success of real estate business, you have to find the way to accomplish this important work even if you find the need to outsource CRM (Customer Relations Management) to a virtual assistant. But even if you outsource the work of CRM, you will want to make sure they are using the top CRM software..
Because you are busy enough as it is, we have researched and found the 5 top rated CRM software to help you or your assistant to manage your clientel records simply and cost effectively. We encourage you to visit the links provided for more in depth information about these CRM software that can reduce the load of proficient CRM, enabling you to focus on other obligations.
Rainmaker for efficient CRM and for gleaning valuable information contained in CRM files to supercharge your productivity and profit making potential. Learn more about how Rainmaker can help you will all of your client data management with the following link to further rainmaker information.
Top Producer has innovative solutions for Realtors needing superior CRM capabilities to increase revenues and results. For a deeper understanding of what Top Producer could do for you see the information provided on their webpage.
ACT software is for the professional realtor itching for even greater success. Gain instant access to CRM records for quick tracking and plotting of your next marketing campaign or sales approach. Find out more this software designed to make the deskwork less cumbersome and more profitable.
CLP SUITE is on demand CRM software that enables you to track contacts, appointments, captures and then retrieves leads, reports, deadlines for projects and much more. Has a powerful autopilot technology for targeted drip email marketing campaigns that even offers SEO of your marketing campaigns prior to sending them out. There are 4 editions from which to choose from at affordable prices. Visit their website for more information
NetSuite CRM+ Provides every tool you need to convert contacts into sales and cash money. Unique 360 degree view of customer data to help in creating just the reports and sales campaigns you need for success is just one of the fantastic tools available with NetSuite CRM. For more details visit them here
NetAspects partnered with the technology of SalesAspects provides you with the tools you need for exceptional CRM for your real estate business. With everything organized at your fingertips, you can get on with the business of being a productive and successful real estate agent. Find out more about this exceptional online CRM software by following this link to the NetAspects website at
Sarah Reiter
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-business-articles/5-top-rated-crm-software-for-real-estate-agents-97251.html
Times are tough. We’re in a global recession. Unemployment in the U.S. now stands at 586,432. Do you have a plan for how your business is going to survive this recession? Have you considered boosting your productivity?
You know it’s important. Your business depends on it. But who has time to focus on boosting, yet alone doubling productivity?
In our current economic slump, increasing productivity is one of the most important things you can do to save your business from going under.
Boosting productivity will:
- Increase your profit,
- Improve you efficiency, and
- Ready your business to get back in the game quickly when the economy opens back up again.
Implement these six simple steps on a weekly basis and you’ll find yourself doubling your productivity in six weeks or less.
Six Weeks to Doubled Productivity
Week 1: Unless you mean it, eliminate the words, “I’ll get back to you on that”.
This may seem like a really simple task to do this week, but it’s not. Eliminating the words “I’ll get back to you on that,” takes guts.
Stop leaking productivity by eliminating any words or phrases that put something or someone off until later. Assume responsibility for what you will do in the present. You’ll be amazed at how quickly productivity will increase once you become responsible for your actions, integral with your words, and saying yes only to the things you know you will deliver.
Week 2: Don’t worry. Take action.
This week, eliminate worry from your thought pattern. Worry is one of the least productive things you can do when the economy is tough. Worry zaps energy, erodes confidence, and weakens resolve.
Instead of worrying about what may or may not happen in the future, take strong, confident, action-steps in the present. Focus on the things you can do today, in the now, that are in alignment with increasing productivity in your business today.
Week 3: Sleep long and eat well.
Again, another obvious thing to do, yet, so often overlooked during stressful economic times. If you’re like most people concerned about your business, chances are you’re not getting enough sleep. This week, avoid operating on a sleep deficit by getting the amount of sleep that is right for you. Do this one thing and you’ll be amazed at how much work you will get done this week. While you’re at it, start your day with a healthy breakfast and don’t skip lunch.
Week 4: Mono-task.
David Allen, author of, “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” says, that when it comes to increasing productivity, focus on the task-at-hand before going on to doing something else. For small business owners who are used to doing many things at once, focusing on one task at a time before moving on to the next may seem, at first, to be a slower way of doing things.
Many successful entrepreneurs practice mono-tasking because they know the toll that multi-tasking can have on productivity and efficiency. When it comes to the really important projects and tasks, they mono-task.
Week 5: Keep it simple this week.
This week, decide on three and only three things you will complete each day. Then, work on them, one-at-a-time, until you get them done. At the end of the day, if something is yet undone, put it first on your list tomorrow. If you get all 3 done by noon, add 3 more.
Put the most important tasks and projects first on your list. Don’t put them off until later, and avoid placing non-relevant ones before the important one. Tackling your highest priorities first thing in your day will greatly boost your productivity this week.
Week 6: Do those things first that other people need and are dependent upon you completing.
This week, review what’s on your plate and do those things first that either other people need for you to complete before they can begin work, or need you to finish so they can move on to other things on their list. By doing this, not only will you increase your productivity, you’ll also boost everyone’s productivity around you.
While it’s true that even thinking about how to boost your productivity during tough economic times seems like a burden, not doing so could mean failure for your business. If you’re a small business owner, stop hoping your business will make it through these touch economic times. Implement these six surefire weekly action steps to double your productivity and ready your business to get back in the game quickly when the economy opens back up again.
Susan L Reid
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/need-to-double-your-productivity-here-are-6-surefire-weekly-actions-you-can-take-now-750306.html