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Starting up a business and smoothly operating it requires a lot of attention and dedication. You have to figure out many things, such as where to procure raw materials from, the cost of production, waste management, marketing, and a long list of other things.

Whether you plan to manufacture a product or offer a service to the market, the business aspects mentioned above are essential to cater to. Your marketing plans must be sound, and your business must have a competitive edge over other players existing in the same niche. But above all, and arguably the most important thing for any business is maintaining a steady cash flow.

Earning revenue is a vital goal for any business, and every business person wants to reap the benefits of profitability sooner than later. However, startups often struggle with their cash flow for multiple reasons. They do not know how to increase their profits or cut down on unnecessary business expenses. Poor financial management and decision-making inevitably lead to the business suffering heavy losses.

Cash flow management plays a significant role in keeping a startup afloat. Following are some of the best tips to help you out and keep the cash flowing as smooth as water:

1. Calculate the break-even point

Knowing your break-even point is a must! Your break-even point will not directly impact the cash flow. However, it will provide you with a roadmap to allocate funds in the right place. It will help you increase your income and identify business areas that do not require an investment. You will have a clear vision about your goals and objectives that you need to achieve, helping you invest accordingly.

Your break-even point is where your total business income meets the cost of goods/services you sell. Knowing this point will help you precisely identify how much you need to sell to generate a profit. This information will help you determine how much cash you need to keep your business running.

1. Manage the finances properly

Regardless of the volume of your profits, keeping an eye on cash flow management is something you cannot ignore. Your profit and break-even point will determine the criteria to set goals and milestones. However, it would be best to operate the business while keeping your cash-flow and spending in mind. If a company is making profits while not keeping a check on cost leakages in other business operations, your earnings will decrease rapidly. Here’s where skilled management comes into play.

Managing business finances can be a complex matter, and often entrepreneurs underestimate the stakes. It would be a wise idea to hire a seasoned accountant or financial expert to do the job. However, if your startup does not enjoy that sort of financial liberty, consider investing in and up skilling yourself to understand the role if not fully take it upon yourself. Many virtual universities offer smart choices, such as an online masters in accounting no gmat that are handy in getting just the right amount of knowledge to prevent your ship from sinking due to poor cash flow management.

1. Maintain a cash reserve

Without a cash reserve, things can get pretty dry, pretty fast. No one can guarantee whether your business will always see a positive side and keep on growing or not. Many times shortfalls arise even when you have planned everything out to perfection. Take a look at the current pandemic, for instance. Numerous businesses shut down worldwide because people suddenly stopped buying products and services from them. Did anyone ever foresee such a thing? No!

In such an instance, your cash reserves come in handy. Maintaining a cash reserve will help you through times of economic crunch. It will give you a temporary financial cushion and enable you to keep your focus on your business objectives and milestones.

1. Collect receivables

Many businesses operate on credit terms – good credit terms, to be more precise. However, you can’t let people take advantage of a cordial business relationship. You need to set a policy for your creditors, determining a particular payment cycle that works for both of you.

Your receivables constitute a significant chunk of your cash flow. Collecting them on time will help maintain the cash flow, as pending receivables are a barrier to your business growth. A smart way to go about it is entrusting a responsible employee to manage their timely collection.

1. Offer discounts

In continuation with the pointer mentioned above, you can always offer your creditors exciting discounts to make the payment cycle more manageable. This way, they are bound to pay up early. We all love a concession; therefore, your creditors will prefer to pay up before the due date to benefit from the discount. For instance, you can offer a 5% discount if they agree to pay on a cash basis right at the spot.

1. Extend payables

Similarly, you must try to extend the time to pay off loans and other payables. The effective way to go about this is to set up a policy when entering a contract. If possible, try to pay up within 60 or 90 days. This will allow you to manage your funds and allocate them properly. It will also enable you to maintain healthier cash reserves for day-to-day business operations.

However, never default on your payables. No one likes doing business with a crook!

1. Smart hiring and spending

Hiring is a significant business cost and one that can have a drastic impact on your cash flow. Every month, you will draw money from your cash reserves to pay salaries, and if you’ve made poor hiring decisions, that money is effectively going to waste. As a pro tip, invest in hiring human resources smartly.

As a startup with limited resources, you should only hire an employee if you really need one. Smart hiring also entails hiring people who can multitask till your business grows to a point where there is plenty of cash and lots of work to do.

1. Get smart with tech

You cannot survive in the market if you do not utilize modern technology and incorporate it within your business operations. This also includes incorporating relevant Fin-tech to manage your cash flows, accounting processes, and tax compliances efficiently. Recording your data onto spreadsheets and cloud storage will allow you to manage your business most proficiently. Human errors can be costly, especially in the early stages of a business. Imagine the dent in your cash flow if one of your employees fails to keep a proper record of paper receipts and eventually misplaces them. Disastrous, we say!

Summing up

We have seen that many startups fail to operate, and there are many reasons for that. However, the most common cause is not managing your cash flow properly. You cannot ignore cash flow management when it comes to operating a business smoothly. Incorporating these tips will ensure that your pockets are never run dry of cash when you need it the most.

 

Working with top-tier organizations is always a thing you look out for. Landing on one of the biggest corporate clients, you must be one cloud nine, right. The dream you saw when you just started has now come true. Oh, it has to be a huge success. Your online accounting software is going to reflect higher income this month. But wait; don’t get moved by the idea that a corporate client is all you need to boost your business’s reach or success.

There could be issues too. To begin with, you cannot expect to send invoices and get paid online every now and then, or after every task. Meaning that they have bigger milestones, they use Online Billing Software for Enterprises and their payment terms vary drastically as compared to what it would have been earlier. To add to this, such organizations have specific requirements which if not done would add more to the timeline, delaying the payment.

Research conducted by Fundbox states that top-tier organizations take the longest time to pay small-scale business organizations. Even when the organizations agree on some terms, they still clear dues after a long period of time. So how do you ensure that you are paid and on a timely basis? Can Online Billing Software for Enterprises help you in this?

Well, you don’t have to search the web for answers to send invoices and get paid online. This article is designed to help you understand how and what to do to get your invoices cleared on time and how Online Accounting Software can help you in this.

Tips to make sure your client pay invoices on time

Ensure all the paperwork is done

You have shared your proposal with the client and a step has been taken from the other end too with them accepting the same. So, all set to start your work? Wait, need not be so quick and fast. Wait and be diligent. You need to make sure that all of the paperwork has been done. That is to say, go ahead and first check whether all of the financial and the contractual work has been done or not.

If not done, stop and first start with the process. Review each and every document. Only after you have read all the documents and are totally convinced should you sign the document and then return it to the concerned person.

In case they have agreed to clear the amount as direct deposit, make sure you go ahead and ask them to share the form. Do not wait until it’s time to raise an invoice. After the documents are verified and processed, ask them to share the purchase order number as this is necessary when creating an invoice.

Find Out Who You Will Invoice

The next thing to know is who should you send the invoice to. Meaning that whether you need to send the same to the accounts department or the person you are in contact with on an everyday basis.

Often, it so happens that bills are delayed solely because they did not land on the right door. It is important that they are sent to the correct desk to avoid any delay in payment.

But when should you ask them about the same? Should you wait for the time when you need to raise the invoice or just after you have signed the contract?

To be honest, it is best to learn about the person as easily as possible. Once you have the details, you can then save the information and keep a record of the same. Also, confirm the entity you are billing to as large organizations have multiple business units and not all are the headquarters.

 

Keep Tabs on the Billing Requirements

Not just the documentation or the person but you should also be aware of how to raise the invoice or what details must be present in the invoice. As stated earlier, organizations are particular about everything and even a single detail missed would lead to a delay in the billing.

Even though it appears to be the standard invoice, it isn’t. It is more like a professional bill to be created in a specific manner to avoid rejection.

So what do you need to add to the invoice? The billing address and the terms that you both have agreed on, there are a few more that are must in the invoice:

• Clearly specify your PO number
• The name of the project.
• The project code, if any.
• The total number of hours you have worked
• The per-hour rate
• Details on the total work done.
• The tax rate applicable to the invoice.

You can also consider using online accounting software to keep track of all.

Keep Your Invoices Simple

Make sure that the invoice created has all of the mentioned details but in a clear and crisp manner. You can use a good Online Billing Software for Enterprises for this, instead of sending an ambiguous invoice to your client.

What we mean to say is that the invoice must not be something that is hard to understand or process. You must take into consideration the fact that these people are extremely busy and have tons of documents to process every day.

If you present the invoice in a manner that is hard to understand, they might just neglect it and move ahead. It’s best to limit fuss or add multiple colors. At best, stick to a white and black background.

Know, how They Prefer to Pay

There are multiple ways of making payments. When it comes to top corporate clients, you can expect payments through apps or even direct deposit. Before you raise the invoice, go ahead and ask them what mode they prefer.

This will help you set up the same so that the payment can be received without any delay.

In your invoice, you must add the details as per their preferred method. Most Online Accounting Software would allow you to add such information.

Conclusion

In the end, we recommend using online billing software for enterprises or an invoicing tool as they are custom-fit templates for industry types. This makes it easier for you to understand the requirements and raise your invoice on time and in the desired format. Another thing to note is that these apps have notifications and reminders to update the parties on dues and unclear bills. Either way, it helps you get the bills cleared on time.

 

Car accidents vary in the extent of the damage but they all tend to have a lasting effect on your life. It can lead to injuries, financial harm, pain, suffering, and more. Now, what if the incident involved a company vehicle? Are the laws any different from other accidents? To answer this and more, we have compiled a quick guide covering everything you need to know about accidents involving company vehicles.

When is a company liable for a car accident?

A car accident involving company vehicles can get complicated very fast. Whether or not the company will take liability for the accident is conditional. For starters, if the person driving the car got into a crash within the employment scope (when on-job duties during working hours), the company is liable. According to the legal doctrine, ‘vicarious liability’ an employer is held responsible for the employee’s actions as long as the employee acts within the employment scope. However, if an employee gets involved in an accident during business hours while running personal errands, the company might not be liable for any injuries and property damage.

The company might also fail to take liability if an employee gets involved in a car accident while commuting to or from work. In cases where a company’s car gets involved in an accident while being driven by a non-employee, but under the company’s authorization, then the company might also take liability.

What if the vehicle was driven by an independent contractor?

Let us take an instance where a trucking company provides a truck that it does not own to a trucker. Then in an unfortunate situation and it gets involved in a crash. Well, the owner of the car will often be held liable for any injuries and losses. In such a scenario, the trucking company exercised no control over the vehicle. In other words, the owner is seen to be responsible for things like inspecting and doing truck maintenance, depending on the nature of the accident.

Car Accident Involving a Company Vehicle: Steps to Take

It is imperative to take the right steps at an accident scene involving a company vehicle to avoid compromising your health and any subsequent compensation claims.

Check the Extent of Injuries and Damage

The first step is to ensure that everyone on board is fine. If anyone needs urgent medical attention, call in the paramedics. A medical check-up is still important even in cases of a minor accident. Depending on the nature of the incident, you can look at the extent of damage to the vehicle. Do not move it; wait for the police to arrive at the scene of the incident.

Contact the Police

Even if you get involved in a minor accident with a company vehicle, you must contact the police. The police will comb the scene and compile a report about the incident. The police report is very crucial when seeking legal action or compensation. It is thus important to ensure that you also have a copy of the police report.

Gather Facts

The stress and tension of getting involved in a car accident make it hard for victims to gather facts. It can be overwhelming but if you can, get the names, phone numbers, and addresses of the driver and anyone else involved in the accident. Write down the vehicle’s identification number, license plate number, and model. Moreover, gather more details from the driver; enquire if they were on-job during the accident occurrence. Ask about their employer and whether or not the vehicle belongs to the employer.

Collect as much evidence as possible from the car accident scene. Take photos of vehicles involved in the accident as well as the surrounding areas. If there are witnesses around, get their contact details and ask them to give their statements to the police.

Seek Legal Help

An accident claim impacts the business directly and quite often, the company and the insurer will want to avoid taking responsibility. The party’s insurance company will deny a claim or provide the least settlement amount possible. Whichever your situation is, we advise that you seek legal assistance from top car accident lawyers to protect your legal rights. Top auto accident attorneys understand the complexity of laws covering company vehicles and the nature of personal injury cases. They will help prove any fault and handle any dishonest insurance agents that might want to deny you what you deserve.

Beware of Mistakes that Might Hurt Your Case

You should avoid making any mistakes that will affect your case. For example, the other party may trigger conversations to compel you to accept liability, agree that you were at fault, or handle things without police and insurance. This is one mistake you should avoid after a car accident. Your major focus should be ensuring you are safe and gathering as much evidence as possible at the accident scene. Only discuss the incident with your lawyer, the authorities, insurance agent, or medical professionals.

Wrap up

If you or your loved one get involved in a car accident involving a company vehicle, then taking the right steps is paramount to protecting your rights. It is advisable that you first seek medical help to take care of your health even if you feel fine. Also, gather as much evidence as you can and seek legal assistance from a top auto accident lawyer.

Workplaces and collaborations are evolving with the ever-changing technology. There is a massive growth in remote digital workplaces as employees shift a model where they can work from anywhere. As a business owner or manager, it is time to adjust to changes if you are to attract and retain talents. It is the best time to devise strategies to engage your employee and boost collaborations in-office or in a distributed workplace. Well, we have compiled this guide covering enterprise collaboration in a digital workplace to help you make the transition.

Establish if Your Company is Ready for Enterprise Collaboration

Before you decide on implementing enterprise collaboration, establish if your company is ready for the change. For starters, look into the culture of your business, the attitude and behaviour of your employees.

According to research, it has been found that two cultural challenges tend to make enterprise collaboration difficult; When the executives lack commitment and if the norms and values of a workplace make adopting change difficult. As a leader, ensure enterprise collaboration is effective by showing commitment. You should also trust your employees and provide the necessary resources to spur the shift. Your workplace norms and values should be supple enough to accommodate the change.

Again, consider your employee’s attitude and behaviour towards change. If the employees are open to learning and adapting new practices, your company is ready for enterprise collaboration.

Set Clear Goals

Enterprise collaboration is doomed to fail if your business lacks direction in its processes and projects. It is also bound to fail if there is poor work management! As a rule of thumb, have a proper reason for why you need to implement enterprise collaboration. For example, which specific gap is it meant to close? Look at the benefits that it is impacting your employees and your business.

You can then set goals and have a solid plan on how your company will carry its processes and work. Encourage everyone to stick to the goals and the procedures. Moreover, ensure that everyone involved in the enterprise collaboration is held accountable to boost discipline and trust.

Invest in the Right Collaboration Tools

Your enterprise will need to invest in the right technological tools to enhance collaboration, especially in a remote workplace. Use tools that facilitate top draw and quick conversation in your team. Make it easy for them to share knowledge, information files, and resources.

Remember, cybercrime is on the rise and it is growing to one of the biggest liabilities in a business. In this regard, invest in a secure file sharing tool for enterprises to help your team collaborate while protecting your data. The right collaboration tools should make work easier, albeit while maintaining data privacy and confidentiality. The beauty is that there are many digital workplace collaboration tools to help you, from project management software, to-do-list apps, video conference tools, instant messaging apps and more.

Train your Team

The idea of enterprise collaboration will not make sense to your employees unless you educate them. With knowledge of enterprise collaboration, your team will trust the process. They will focus on work other than spend time questioning the reason for the initiative. Let them be conversant with what enterprise collaboration is, why you are implementing digital collaboration, and its importance to the company.

Elaborate how enterprise collaboration will ease their work, save time and increase productivity. Let the employees know that the collaboration will benefit them. This will impart a positive attitude towards the new change. Moreover, make sure that the employees are competent in using the collaborative tools by training them on the required technical expertise.

Evaluate your Enterprise Collaboration Strategy

You will need to evaluate your enterprise collaboration strategy from time to time to ensure that it is meeting your goals. For example, if your goal for setting up enterprise collaboration was to boost effective communication among your remote employees or say to increase productivity, you need to measure the ROIs. Find out if the communication gap has been closed or if there is an increase in productivity.

If the enterprise collaboration strategy you have put in place is not yielding any success, it means that you will have to go back to the drawing board and restrategize. If it is working, don’t stop at that. Keep making improvements!

Final word

As a business owner or leader, it is now best to consider enterprise collaboration for your company. It will boost productivity in your company as employees can share ideas, knowledge and team up in projects regardless of their physical location. We hope this guide will help lay the foundations for your success in enterprise collaboration.

The management of a workforce is a structure or foundation used in companies to heighten staff productivity. Work requirements are laid out for employees, and schedules are created to provide support and a guideline to ensure the completion of work tasks in a stipulated time frame. Managing your team or workforce increases work performance in an organized, structured way. Management of this nature is important because using these processes and systems gives organizations knowledge of precisely how many employees will be required to complete a particular task within a stipulated time and serves to keep an account of the performance of employees on tasks.

It also helps to ensure efficiency, which is key to keeping any business afloat and thriving. Having this in place will prevent a company from hiring too many workers to do a project that requires fewer workers and vice versa. It also ensures the task or project is completed effectively and promptly. There are certain business tricks to keep in mind to ensure that workforce management is done well.

Maintain Effective, Open Communication

Communication is a vital component of any business, and its importance is often overlooked and underestimated. Communication becomes effective when issues and problems are brought forward immediately. This can only be achieved by being open and approachable. Once open communication is evident, issues will be smoothed out a lot easier. Employees will feel confident to bring your attention to anything that is cause for concern.

Imagine giving a task to an employee, and they are facing a challenge but choose to try to figure it out on their own instead of bringing it to your attention. Or, imagine clear communication about a task does not take place. In the end, there is a high possibility this task will not be completed well, which could mean a decrease in profit for your company which could easily be avoided.

Incorporate Technology

Work team management is a complex structure to manage, especially because it allows you to schedule many things and keep track of a lot that takes place in your company. Recognizing this, many companies incorporate tools and software, which help keep you organized while collecting valid information about what is happening in your company. For example, Workforce Management Software Australia, a management solution loved by employees. It assists in performance management, payroll management, and policies, tracking, among other things. Using advanced technology will keep you in high demand in the industry.

Set Realistic Goals

Every company has goals, and these should be communicated to employees. In addition to this, allow employees to set their own goals, stating what they want to achieve and how they intend to achieve their goal while they work with you. Allowing them to do this introduces accountability and awareness of these goals helps track performance, ensuring they maintain a particular standard.

Do Research and Evaluation

It is important to ensure your data can be trusted in terms of accuracy. This makes research critical and enables you to identify any weaknesses or issues in your businesses and correct them. Workforce management plays an essential role in this. Doing so will keep your business growing and thriving as you continually assess your performance, what is being done wrong, what can be improved, and the best ways to improve and surmount these issues and challenges.

Training

Training is always essential and ideal to ensure your employees are performing at the required standard. Through research and assessment as mentioned above, maybe you would have discovered individual employees that would be better suited in another area or supervise and support other employees in an area they are significant experience in. Training then becomes essential. It ensures that all employees are qualified to work in their relevant fields and so should be able to deliver quality work.

Integrate Time and Labour with Payroll

When it is time to administer pay, it might be an extensive task to ensure that your employee’s time is accurately represented according to the wages and any other benefits or deductions or additions that may apply. Incorporating things related to efficiency management in terms of labour in the payroll system automatically generates this information, them being interlinked. It saves time and makes pay distribution exact and accurate.

Keeping Human Resources and Monitoring Performance

Turnover (the rate at which employees leave) in business is inevitable. However, finding solutions to mitigate is definitely possible. Using a program that tracks applications, you can effectively locate new and qualified applicants and monitor the performance of your current employees.

Effective workforce management is necessary to have a successful business and remain competitive in the business industry. Following these tips can transform the way you operate your business and determine the quality of your employees. Effective teamwork management will make your business profitable and one to be reckoned with.

 

There is no doubt that technological advances are changing the way people shop. It has been going on for decades now and the pace at which technology is changing how consumers buy is, if anything, gathering pace.

Anyone that is serious about growing their business needs to be aware of what is going on in their marketplace. Understanding which technologies are having an impact is the first step to being able to adjust how you sell to take advantage of that technology. Or, if necessary, to circumvent it.

Technology that nudges consumers in a certain direction

Top of the list is recommendation engines – they are everywhere you look online. All of the big retailers use them. Perhaps the most obvious example is Amazon’s “Customers who bought this item also bought..” prompt. It is a highly effective way to encourage people to think about what else they might need, to get more out of the item that they have just bought. For example, to buy polish and shoe trees for their smart, new leather footwear. Retailers could potentially take advantage of that recommendation engine, by stocking those “also bought” products themselves. Recommendation engines tell the consumers that they need to keep on buying, even if it is something they hadn’t considered they wanted.

The expectations of consumers have risen

Customers expect to be able to go online and answer all of the questions they have about your product or service. If you do not anticipate and answer those questions, then the chances are they will look at and buy from a competitor instead. They want to be sure about what they are buying. Retailers need to be very slick with their marketing and provide customers with the information they need. If they use affiliates they have to produce and distribute effective and comprehensive marketing materials to them.

People respond positively when you provide human contact

Interestingly all of this technology and the ability to buy remotely, has led to consumers appreciating the human touch more. Customers want to be able to click on a chatbox and ask a question about the product or service they are looking at buying, to then receive a live response from another person about any queries. For example, if they are struggling to work out which washing machine part they need to buy and they can speak to someone who can guide them on the matter, that is very reassuring.

People still want one on one service. But, you have to be careful about how you provide it. You do not want to be distracting your customers during the buying process. Or badgering them to do things like fill out surveys, or worse, provide a chat facility that is not staffed. There is nothing more frustrating than keying in a complex question and hitting send only to be asked for your email address. Most customers click away and go elsewhere. You have to provide the human touch in the right way. This article explains how to get the balance right.

Those retailers and service providers who are aware of emerging technologies and how they affect the way they sell are the ones that find it easiest to maintain their market share. If you are not yet tracking what is happening with retail technology now is the time to start doing so.

As a small business owner, you want to grow your venture on a budget. One way to do so is to use what is known as celebrity endorsements. According to a MarketWatch claim in Social Media Week, a single celebrity endorsement can increase your business sales by close to 4% instantly. It works like a charm! Of course, if the right celebrity is affiliated with your brand, people will have more trust and confidence in what you are selling.

But, as a small business owner, securing a celebrity endorsement may look like a long shot. Most small businesses tend to think of Hollywood and expensive when they think of celebrity endorsements. Well, that is not entirely true. This guide will tell you how to get a celebrity endorsement for small businesses.

What is your budget?

The first step is to set aside the amount of money you would want to spend. Every business branding and marketing should be done on a budget to avoid overspending. Keep in mind that how much you want to spend will determine who you can negotiate with. Today, social media influencers like Youtubers are also top celebrities who can endorse a brand compared to when celebrities were viewed as movie and TV stars. So, as long as you have a reasonable budget to pay for endorsement, you will strike a deal!
Tip: It doesn’t have to be expensive to work. Play your cards right and you will get your return on investments.

Pick the right celebrities

Picking the wrong celebrity for an endorsement will hurt your brand. We have seen a lot of celebrity endorsements gone bad in the past. The likes of John Terry and Umbro, Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Grill and many more. You should be wary of taking your brand down the route.

How do you identify a celebrity who is fit for your brand endorsement? Well, first you have to know who your target audience is and make sure that the celebrity that you pick will resonate well with them. This means that you find a celebrity who is likely to use the product you are selling and whose fans and followers have the same interests. Ensure that the celebrity you are picking is credible enough-their reputation should entice your target audience. They should trust them and view the endorsement as honest. It is also good to work with a celebrity who is passionate about your brand as it will be easier for them to promote a product.

Tip: Check on their track record as well. For example, look at their previous endorsements and their performance.

Work with an entertainment marketing agency

As a small business owner, choosing a celebrity who is fit to endorse and figuring out how they can present it to their audience can be difficult. Luckily, you can outsource the task to experts who can help. You can source exclusive entertainment marketing support to help deliver the ROIs you are looking for in your campaigns. A good partner will have the expertise to seek a celebrity endorsement you can trust and rely on to promote your brand. Remember, gone are the days when people used to sit down and listen to television adverts. Nowadays, when an advert pops out, viewers tend to switch channels or switch to ad-free services.

A good entertainment marketing agency will market your brand to the target audience organically using avenues or experiences they enjoy or are attached to emotionally.

Work with micro-influencers

Micro-influencers are celebrities who tend to have between 1000 and 10000 followers on their social media platforms. As a small business owner, it is better to use micro-influencer for brand promotion for a number of reasons. A micro-influencer may seem to have a small number of followers but, their followers are people that have a common interest and are hyper-engaged in a specific area. If the mini “celebrity” has followers that are interested in your product, a big percentage of the followers will tend to purchase your product or service.

A survey conducted by Experticity found that 82% of customers are likely to buy a product or service recommended to them by a micro-influencer compared to the big guns. In other words, micro-influencer marketing is more authentic. The study found that followers trust and are eager to try products and services from brands that micro-influencers endorse.

There is also the aspect of costs. You might not afford to seal an endorsement deal with high-profile celebrities and they are a good alternative. Micro-influencers are cheaper and with good ROIs.

Tip: Some micro-influencers may not even ask for money. You might only need to compensate them with free products or services to get a deal!

Wrapping up

Celebrity endorsements can help your small business in boosting the sales and growth of your business. For celebrity endorsement campaigns to be effective, you need to work with the right people and experts. Again, you can seek help from a good entertainment marketing agency to strike the right deals and execute successful campaigns.

 

When it comes to running a business successfully, it goes beyond making profits, consolidating relationships with your customers, and boosting your reputation. Aspects such as securing your business against car accident claims often take a backseat because these are uncommon circumstances. But such mishaps can be risky when they happen, particularly when a third-party injury is involved.

You can expect a lawsuit, which can result in massive settlements and loss of reputation more often than not. Things can get even more complicated if the employee driving the company car is injured as well because the workers’ compensation angle creeps in. It makes sense to have a plan for protecting your business from car accident claims, whether your employees drive for work purposes often or even do it once in a while. Here are some measures that can help.

Be aware of the possibilities

First things first, it is vital to be aware of the claims that your company may face if it allows employees to operate business vehicles. Typically, these claims could be of two types, depending on the fault and liability for the mishap. The first one comes under the legal doctrine of “respondeat superior”, whereby an employer is responsible for the negligence of the employee who causes an accident while driving in the scope of the employment.

The second type of claim arises when the mishap is caused directly by the employer’s negligence. It could happen due to lack of vehicle maintenance and negligent hiring of people authorized to ply their vehicles. If you are aware of these possibilities, it will be easier to steer clear of claims.

Have vehicle safety policies in place

Understanding the risks of claims is only half the work done, as you need to have a proactive approach to preventing them. Having a vehicle safety policy in place is essential to secure your business against impending lawsuits. It is vital to design the policy carefully so that you have every aspect covered, right from safety guidelines for employees to the procedure they need to follow for issue reporting and preventive maintenance.

Communicating the policy to employees is equally vital, while you should also inform them that the company has a zero-tolerance approach to non-adherence. Encouraging employees to follow safe driving practices can make a difference. Consider vetting them carefully before you allow them to ply business vehicles. Regular training sessions and incentives for safe driving are some good measures.

Establish an accident reporting procedure

Apart from having a safety policy, a proper accident reporting procedure should also be a part of your claim prevention plan. If a mishap occurs, drivers must immediately report it to their managers so that you can go ahead and get legal counsel. A reporting procedure also gets you a step ahead with planning your defense.

Looking from the victim’s perspective, they have a better probability of securing a higher settlement value when a business is involved. If you are injured in such an accident, you will hire an attorney to get the compensation you deserve for your injuries and damage. For a business that fails to take the claim seriously, it is easy to land in deep trouble because compensation value can run in millions.

Get adequate insurance cover

Proactive and preventive measures are the best approach to steer clear of car accident claims, but you cannot avoid them completely. Even the best drivers make mistakes, and even the best policies can go wrong. Accidents can happen anytime, so it is vital to be financially ready to pay up for your employee’s negligence. Since lawsuits and settlements can cost a fortune, having adequate insurance cover keeps your business in a safe place.

If an accident occurs, the insurance company will have you covered as long as you have invested in the right kind of policy. While you should study the options carefully when taking cover for your company, reviewing your auto insurance policy periodically can help you ensure that you have enough to protect your business in case of an unfortunate event. Talking to an expert helps because they can guide you about the right choice.

Having a proper strategy to prevent and address car accident claims gives your business peace of mind. No company would want to be punished for the negligent actions of its employees, but it is likely to happen more often than not. It makes sense to be prepared for dealing with such situations, even as you cannot avoid them completely. These measures can help your business to stay one step ahead with the prevention and resolution of such claims.

Technological advancements have been working tremendously well in pushing consumer demands for mobile devices. The advent of modern technology swears to provide endless opportunities for users. This fact holds good for the general public- who’s regularly looking out to bring about changes to their everyday lives- all thanks to mobile phones, tablets, and other devices.

This upsurge in technology is aiding the organizations to be adaptable to the cultural and technological changes. Yet, little did we know that devices and personal phones would work wonders in working remotely. But, cloud computing has made that possible. A recent study shows that 42% of organizations now consider themselves mobile. Not alone this, but the Bring Your Own Device trend is rising and will continue to increase in the future as well.

The BYOD trend might sound interesting, and the policies good for work flexibility and employees, yet turning a blind eye to associated data and security risks shouldn’t be the case. You can never be too sure if your personal computers are as secure as the company-provided devices. Tech giants say this because the personal devices lack updated security features, not have antivirus software or programs that detect malware. The security vulnerabilities may leave your business at risk.

Can’t decide how to make a smooth transition into the BYOD policy? Well, the experts recommend having MDM (Mobile device management) as a solution. Attain the joy of high-tech spirit by taking a close look at the benefits of having an MDM solution for yourself:

• Users and Device Remote Management:

One of the best benefits of MDM is the remote management of workmen and their devices. MDM has the capability of guaranteeing that the health and security of every device connected to the network are up-to-date. Remotely disabling unauthorized applications and users is possible, which in turn increases security. One must ensure following procedural protocols to the best levels for ensuring that your business is safe and IT support services have been managing it well.

• BYOD and IT Support:

Now that the organizations have been readily allowing the employees to use their own devices at work, the benefits of using the same have been moral. Businesses are now turning a keen eye towards mobile device management software solutions for catering to their device needs. The employees feel greater satisfaction with using products that the employees are most familiar with. Also, it works wonders in saving costs and enhancing productivity.

• Control over device updates:

The most common way of catering to software updates is by putting them off until the very last moment. Employees while working with BYOD often jeopardize the security of the entire network system. Hackers exercise benefits over the security loopholes. The insufficient patching and system updating paves a path towards gaining access to the confidential information. The MDM, on the other side, helps in controlling updates and applying to the system changes across multifaceted devices employing few clicks.

• Cost Savings:

The stress of buying a new device and replacing mobile devices over minor issues eliminates the management of devices. MDM is a wise and just option because the cost involved in buying a new device is way higher than managing an existing one.

• Regulatory Compliances:

One of the most common practices of many professionals is the importance of adhering to regulatory standards. This compliance needs the inclusion of legislation that works well in preventing the entry of an unauthorized device- the one that could deceive or compromise the security as a threat to the business enterprise. Leave alone the security; the reporting capabilities of MDM must be in a manner that confirms the network integrity. Thus, MDM by your side enhances protection while correlating to the legal requirements of the organization.

• Control over Applications:

MDM is an exemplary security practice that works well in blocking or restricting unauthorized applications. This control is inclusive of validity checks, authorization, input controls, forensic controls, identification amongst many other features. Thus, mobile device management helps in saving the system from unexpected crashes, and data losses.

• Reduction in needs:

The needs of the employees and organization change. This reduction is a result of MDM- all thanks to the wholeness of the MDM package.

Final Walkaways:

Managing mobile devices is vital for team members and the organization. This solution holds good, especially for the organization that wishes to ensure identity success and management of access while also considering optimizing the functionality and security of a mobile device.

Now that a business is longing to achieve success, vital identification of the solution is essential. The solution you decide upon must be the one that adheres to the mission and vision of your business and also swears to protect your goals. Consider application distribution, enforcement, tracking and inventory, and data encryption as vital goals. Inculcate these principles and watch your business going a long way in achieving success and business sustainability.

Where there’s business, employees, and clients, there needs to be some sort of tracking. Keeping an eye on the time, expenses, resources, productivity, etc. is essential to ensure an organization’s overall productivity.

Online time tracking and billing software can help you track all your business metrics from one place. Let’s look at seven reasons why your business should use time tracking software.

1. To Track Your Employees’ Time

As humans, we have this natural tendency to wait time. We might focus for an hour or two, but eventually, we end up scrolling our Instagram feeds. Your employees aren’t any different. No matter how hard-working they are, there’ll come a time when they’ll start concentrating on less urgent or unimportant things.

By implementing time tracking software, you can discover how your employees are spending their time. A few minutes of “refreshment break” a couple of times a day is fine. But anything more than that means you need to help them get their priorities right.

 

2. Bill Clients Accurately

Clients can be difficult. If the project took more hours than what you initially expected, you’d need to bill your clients for those extra hours. But clients won’t be easily satisfied, and they’ll need some proof and justification. Here’s where time tracking software for employees can help.

When you implement a time tracking system, each minute of work your employees do is recorded. Hence, you can present enough proof to your clients about the extra time and effort you’ve put in to get the work done.

3. All-In-One Billing Interface

Billable time is not the only factor that determines the final invoice amount. What about the expenses you’d incurred? What about other parameters that dictate the final invoice amount?

A time and expense tracking software solution eliminates this confusion. It integrates all variables, such as time, expenses, and projects. Moreover, the software comes with built-in invoice generation capabilities, so you don’t need to write invoices manually. You can enter the credentials in the template and generate a professional-looking template within seconds.

4. Eliminate Micro-Managing

Micro-managing has two drawbacks. First, employees detest it. They hate it if someone keeps buzzing around them looking at their computer screens. Second, it’s time-consuming for the manager to visit each employee’s desk and check in on them.

With time tracking software for employees, you can avoid micromanaging. Many of these software solutions come with screenshot capabilities. You can take a random screenshot of an employee’s screen to see what they’re doing.

This way, you can track your employees’ progress without physically going to their desk. Also, you can keep an eye on what your employees are doing without actually making them uncomfortable.

5. Avoid Billing Confusion

One of the primary reasons to implement an online billing and invoicing software solution is to ensure billing accuracy. Inaccurate invoices are one of the main causes of unpaid invoices or delayed payments. With a billing solution in place, you can avoid any inconsistencies and miscalculations.

The importance of creating accurate invoices goes beyond getting paid on time. Even a minor mistake in the numbers can ruin your reputation and force your clients to steer clear of your services.

Since manual billing and invoicing is often prone to errors, the risk of billing confusion is high. When you use time tracking software, you automate the entire process, eliminating the risk of human error.

6. Get Paid Faster

A survey from Intuit showed that about 70% of small business owners suffer from late payments, resulting in cash flow and payroll problems. While several reasons can cause late payments, inconsistent billing operations are the most common.

Businesses that use traditional invoicing methods are less likely to get paid on time. It’s because manual invoices are full of inconsistencies and errors.

By implementing an online billing software solution, you can send accurate invoices and get paid on time. Having built-in payment capabilities will be an added advantage, as you’ll be able to offer online payment capabilities to your clients.

7. Increase Work Productivity

Time tracking software helps you determine how they’re spending their time and how productive they are throughout the day. Employees also realize that they’re constantly monitored. Hence, they tend to work harder and stay productive throughout the day.

On the other hand, managers don’t need to spend time checking on each employee. They can focus on more productive tasks that add real value to the organization.

Wrapping Up

A lot goes on in an organization every day. Thus, there needs to be a system that helps you track and oversee various aspects of your business. Here’s where time tracking software becomes critical. And now, with remote work becoming the new normal, the need for time and expense tracking has become more important than ever.