pThe current recession is hitting companies all around the world, so managing your a href=http://www.realassetmgt.co.uk/ target=_blankfixed assets UK/a and pulling the most money from them is being more vital than ever. The majority of companies with lots of assets are finding how effectively managing your assets to a competitive edge over other companies as the need to get the most out of your assets is becoming more important./pp/ppThis requirement for more efficient a href=http://www.realassetmgt.co.uk/asset_tracking.php target=_blankasset tracking UK/a has resulted in many companies choosing to buy into real time asset tracking to get the latets data.!–more– By knowing the latest information about your assets, you can make informed decisions to avoid making poor deals. It has also led to more companies using asset management services like reliability centered maintenance (RCM) or condition based maintenance (CBM)./pp/ppRCM is a way of assessing your assets and trying to ensure that equipment failure that could damage the business does not happen. RCM looks at what and how the item is used within the company. It then looks at how a failure of that equipment occurs and how it effects the business. Finally, it finds ways to avoid the equipment failing./pp/ppThe Aberdeen Group conducted a study called Asset Performance Management: Driving Excellence Though a Reliability Approach in Real Time. The study looked at companies and ranked them based on 3 different factors, overall equipment effectiveness, unscheduled asset downtime, and complete and on time shipments. The study found that the best companies managed a 89% equipment effectiveness, 97% complete and on time shipments, and finally only 2% unscheduled asset downtime./pp/ppThe study also found that the top performing companies are more likely to use a range of techniques to ensure that they can retrieve the best possible data about their assets. There were a number of technologies that were popular within the best performing companies. It was found that many companies would invest in more advanced managing techniques like remote monitoring./pp/ppThese different technologies help companies to keep active information regarding their assets for their employees. This now means that informed decisions can be made based on the information retrieved about their assets. It also allows the companies to see how the impact that their assets have on their company earnings./pp/ppThe worldwide need for asset tracking has resulted in a number of companies offering different types of a href=http://www.realassetmgt.co.uk/asset_accounting.php target=_blankasset accounting UK/a software to help you manage the data that you obtained from your company assets./p
August, 2009:
Tracking Your Assets Has Never Been Easier with RFID
pThe past 10 years has seen the development of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) rocket, making it easier for all companies to track and manage their a href=http://www.realassetmgt.co.uk/ target=_blankfixed assets UK/a. However, RFID is still not completly optimised for use. Currently the technology is too expensive and is only really used at the manufacturer level or on more expensive products.!–more– The best and most ideal use of RFID tech would be for tracking items off shop shelves./pp/ppRFID is a form of tracking, very similar to barcodes. A barcode is a visible tagging system, used to store product information, and is then read by a scanner tool. An RFID tag is a type of chip thats attached to the asset and store data about the item, this tag is then activated and read by an RFID reader device. The reader uses radio waves to activate the chip which then sends the data about the item./pp/ppHowever, a href=http://www.realassetmgt.co.uk/asset_tracking.php target=_blankasset tracking UK/a hasnt really reached this sort of level, however a large number of industries in the US have already started using the technology. New passports, public transport, museums and libraries are just some of the many services that use RFID technology. A large number of the users are government run./pp/ppAlthough many companies havent invested in RFID, they understand why its so important. In recent years the important of tracking all your company assets has become ever more important. However, the majority of companies will find auditing timely and costly. Many also find that after auditing, they have missed some of their assets./pp/ppImplementing RFID tagging chips to your items, you are able to remotely track hundreds of your assets all at the same time. This helps you to manage your assets more simply./pp/ppJust one company that is using RFID tech is Unilever. They have taken over 20,000 items on their production line and added the RFID tags. The tagging system allows Unilever to audit their items from a remote location, whereas if they had to do this manually, it would result in shutting down the production line./pp/ppThis is just one example of where RFID can help your business save money. There is a huge amount of examples out there. Another example is in the fire service, they can track equipment to save vital time. It also helps to make sure that any vehicles being sent out on an emergency are equipped with the correct tools./pp/ppUnfortunately, RFID tracking comes at a hige price. Generally the advanced tags cost around $50, definately not making it cheap to track your companies assets. Hopefully as the development fees for the tags comes down, so will the costs to buy the tags. Once more industries adopt this method of asset tracking, a href=http://www.realassetmgt.co.uk/asset_accounting/fixed_asset_management.php target=_blankfixed asset register UK/a programs will become more widely used./p
Why you need an Answering Service
pThe integral role played by the telephone as a business communication tool accounts for the growing importance of answering service businesses. All businesses, whether a physicians private practice, a small construction company, or a conglomerate, rely on the telephone as one of the fastest and most reliable communication tool in their businesses.br / br / If your business has a busy schedule and you have a telephone – Then what you need is an answering service.!–more– Maybe you dont already know, but an answering service can be a real lifesaver from a small business perspective. A lot of small businesses dont have the time to accept calls during business hours when theyre busy on jobs – Yet these calls are very important to a business! They cannot afford an office; much less a secretary, but they certainly need those phone calls. Unless they can find a reliable and affordable answering service, they will probably have to do without (or ask people to call them only after 7 PM) or use an answering machine (which has a whole set of disadvantages). br / br / Yes, you indeed can use an answering machine but the fact is that people really do not like to talk to machines, if they are unable to reach a human voice easily, they will go somewhere else its a lost business opportunity.br / br / Luckily, people have noticed the problem and solutions have been made – Contracting people out to answer the phones. The personal touch you can offer by contracting Customer Support representatives is the difference between keeping a Client or not. Hiring a professional answering service business assures that you can take messages, deliver specific messages to callers, provide basic information, clarify the intent of calls and even arrange meetings with customers. br / br / Its always in the best interest of small companies to hire an answering service provider to work for the company during the extended business workday, say from 8.00 AM to 8.00 PM or may be even for the rest of the day if your business needs it. Now it doesnt costs an arm or a leg to hire an answering service. Generally, in a competitive market you can get it for as cheap as $30-$50 per month on the lowest slab! Now you need to go and hire someone to provide Call Center Services so that you wont lose anymore customers!/pp/ppa href=http://www.ramshyam.com target=_blankCall Center Services/a/p
Seven Ways to Make Your Customers Feel Important
pEveryone has Customers. Even if you work in an internal staff department in a large firm, you have Customers. These are the people you provide work and produce to.!–more– And second, dont be put off by the term Customer. Maybe you call them Clients, Students, Patients, or (heaven forbid!) Users. If one of those words works better for you, read that word every time you read Customer.br /br /We can read lots of books and articles about Customer Service strategies and how to build processes that will serve Customers more successfully. All of these things are valuable, but if we put all of our focus on processes, systems, strategies and procedures we may lose track of something very important.br /br /Customers are people first.br /br /Your customers arent just numbers on your system – They are people that want to feel important. It a universal truth – we all want that feeling, and will gravitate towards those that make us feel that way.br /br /Hint: Having Customers gravitate towards you is a very good thing.br /br /Here are seven ways that you as an individual, regardless of any corporate policies or systems, can make Customers feel more important, written from the Customers perspective:br /br /Please use my name – I know that I probably have a Customer number that I might need to give to you. But I also know that once you put that number in the system, you know my name. Use it. If I give you my credit card, you know my name too. Please use my name.br /br /I want to be a part of the in crowd – I love to be invited into Frequent Flyer clubs and other clubs which give me discounts and special services. If you have this kind of club, invite me to join. If you havent yet created one, you really should think about starting one.br /br /Ask me for my advice – Since I am a person, I do have an opinion so if you care about the answer, Ill give you the advice. Opinion cards may be OK, but I would love to be asked personally. If you give me the chance to tell you what I think on a personal level, Ill reward you with more business. I dont often get asked for my opinion and it feels good. You might even get a good business idea because of me!br /br /Acknowledge me – I know that youre busy – I can see the queue. I even understand that your system might be down, or that you have five people in the phone queue. Ive been there, I work too. But when I go to visit you, at least acknowledge that Im there and show appreciation that I am there. A smile and a hello, or a Well be with you shortly will go a long way. Acknowledge me and Ill understand. Ignore me, and well, how do you feel when youve been ignored?br /br /Surprise me – It would be great to receive something extra with my order. A special discount just because or a free sample of dessert. It doesnt have to be a big thing, and it doesnt have to be every time. If you get a good surprise, do you want to share it with others? Me too. br /br /Apologize – I hate it when people try to prove they were right, or dont mention that fact that the order is three days late, or the surcharge cant be removed, or the item is out of stock. But again, I know things do happen. When theres a problem, a simple apology would be great. Heres the funniest thing. When you make a mistake, and then apologize (perhaps even including a surprise of some sort) Ill love you more than ever. Apologies and good service recoveries are so rare that you can take my dissatisfaction and turn it into loyalty, if you will do this right.br /br /Listen – Most all of the other things Ive told you require you to listen. I can tell when you are really listening to me and that makes me feel very good because true listening is rare, sometimes even at home. You need to listen to my concerns. Listen to my ideas. Listen to my order, so we dont have any misunderstandings. When you actually listen to me, it feels much better.br /br /All business men can do most of these things everyday. When we do we will make our work more enjoyable, easier, and quite likely will begin creating legions of loyal Customers immediately.br /br /And before you go, read these seven things again, with the voice of one of your Customers in your head, as a reminder of how you can make each of your Customers feel more important./pp/ppa href=http://www.ramshyam.com target=_blankCall Center Services/a/p