How can mobility positively impact your business?

With all the buzz of mobility in the workplace, and the phenomenon of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), many employers and businesses are left scratching their heads and wondering how it will impact their workplace. While they might be feeling they haven’t caught up with the technology yet, employees are one step ahead. More and more staff are bringing their devices into the workplace and finding their own ways of increasing productivity to better utilise their time.  

A Cisco-commissioned study by Forrester Consulting gives a very good analysis into the Expanding role of Mobility in the Workplace.  The study showed immense productivity benefits in: increased employee responsiveness and decision-making speed (76%), and faster internal issue resolution (59%); increased worker productivity (47%) as well as a marked improvement in Customer issue resolution (46%) and improved customer satisfaction (43%).

The Expanding role of Mobility in the Workplace study concluded that mobility initiatives are a key component to overall strategic initiatives, and that businesses should prepare to support employee owned smartphone and tablet devices and broaden the range of mobile applications and services deployed to employees.

So it may be time to stop wondering, and actively start investigating how mobility is going to be used in your workplace.  The first place to start is to look at your employees, what they do and how they do it. You could begin by assessing:

1. How are employees spending their time while in the office?  Are they always at their desk or are they away from their desks for extended periods?
2. When out of the office, how much time do they spend away?  How do they use this time?
3. What type of work are they doing and what type of tools are they using to do it?
4. What tools are available to employees when out of the office?

Just by going through these exercises on a department by department basis, you may find that it is viable to consider giving staff more access to mobile applications and collaboration.  By doing this, not only will you keep your employees happy, but you will receive productivity and customer satisfaction benefits as a result.

There are an enormous range of mobility options for businesses and organisations of all sizes.  CPS Technology Group represents all the top vendors who are leaders in the mobility field. To help you understand the technology and make the right decisions, we can consult with you to determine the best applications and services that suit your particular needs.  

If you would like to receive a copy of the study, you can download it here. And if you would like to know more about how CPS can help you harness the power of mobility in the workplace, please use our contact points here. 

Why do I need a social media presence?

Are you among those who remember when email came out?  I was working for IBM at the time, and we used it for internal purposes, but we soon came to the realisation that if we had someone’s email address, we could type a message and send it to them… and they’d get it straight away!  How amazing that was to us at the time.  But as early adopters of email technology, we had no idea what impact it would have in business over the next couple of decades. 

Social media is a bit like that.  There were the early adopters, people who were amazed at who they could follow and tweet and how they could chat with each other quickly.  Then a few businesses joined the party, realising they could communicate with their customers and promote their products.  Now, mainstream businesses are joining in and beginning to plan social media strategies.  

For those who are still reluctant and wondering what they could possibly get out of it, consider it a dialogue with customers and prospects where you can informally ask questions or talk about what matters to your business.  You can let customers know about staff training, events, or marketplace intelligence, and provide the type of information that is not usually available through other channels.  You can’t easily update your website daily, but you can post comments freely throughout the day on facebook, linked in or twitter.

What about detractors?  There is a fear that people may use your social media pages to badmouth your company.  However, wouldn’t you want to know if people were disgruntled with your business?  And who?  The transparency provided by social media gives you an opportunity to do something about it. 

So, here are 3 good reasons for having a social media presence:

1. Customer service.  You can put in a very cheap customer service solution without great investment in time or money.
2. Transparency.  Keep track of what people are saying about you, which gives you an opportunity to address issues that you may not have even known you had.
3. Advertising.  It’s simple to create a presence and simple to maintain.  You can easily invite customers to follow you and run promotions or release new products.

In larger companies, the question is not whether to use social media, but how to keep track of all the comments posted.  

The good news is that social media can now be integrated with multimedia contact centre systems to capture, manage and deliver social media questions and complaints to the appropriate point managers or customer service staff.  This type of integration ensures your customers know they are being heard, and more importantly, demonstrates their importance by being given timely answers. 

Season's Greetings

Growth on a shoestring

Finding ways to increase growth whilst reducing overheads can be a complex challenge for heavy industry leaders. Traditional methods of solving this challenge by opening the wallet and investing in plant and materials is being replaced by a focused technology approach. Technology innovations specifically designed to address this concern have been created by leading vendors.The innovations address the growth concern, the concern for optimisation of limited plant space and the need to get products/services to the market more quickly.

Growth without investing in additional plant and materials is a viable option for 21st century businesses who adapt simple new technology ideas. Exploring new markets, increasing production levels and becoming truly global are just a few benefits of adopting new technology.

Below are 3 brief ideas to help your business grow without the expense.

• Hot desk – The typical office cube for 1 employee (10m2) costs at least $3,000 to set up excluding LAN cabling and communal areas. Leading companies share desk space and telephones without losing any accessibility.

• Exploring new markets – Locals like to do business with locals, how do you set up a new “office” without physically leasing or purchasing a new property. We can help you set up a “local” office anywhere in the world with the same access to technology they would get in HQ.

• More products, less time – companies pour 1,000’s of hours of productive time out the window by being chained to a fixed desk location. Enable your employees by providing them with the tools to work anywhere and on any device.

CPSTG is a leading total solutions provider, trusted by 1,000’s of Australia’s leading businesses. A CPSTG consultant would be happy to have a free confidential chat with your business to explore how we’ve helped others and how we could help you.

Outsourcing

Focusing the concentration on primary production, growth and marketing has seen many companies outsourcing functions they previously managed themselves, including maintenance, computer and payroll functions.

While outsourcing itself is nothing new, the depth and breadth of systems that are now available “in the cloud” has enabled businesses to re-examine their earlier model of employing technology experts and on-premise solutions.  There is simply no need, when many applications and services can be hosted off-site, and what that technology can do is exponentially increasing. 

In the early 90’s most businesses ran on-premise technology.  Over the last 10 years this has changed rapidly. Today over 50% of businesses utilise some form of hosted technology.  Shifting the focus from internal management to external management has several positive impacts. 

So what are the unique benefits?

· Flexibility – Organisations adopting hosted platforms typically have a lot more flexibility when it comes to adding or removing new users and increasing functionality. Aged technology models rely on engaging a 3^rd party to come to site and replace physical server parts or buy more equipment.

· Reduced overheads  - The more sophisticated technology gets, the more advanced the support systems must be.  Businesses have the choice to either hire multiple employees to manage the systems or outsource particular tasks to a managed ICT service provider. Outsourcing reduces overheads and enables businesses to engage the I.T. skill sets they need without having to keep experts permanently on the payroll.

· Focus on core activities – The typical I.T. professional spends the majority of the day troubleshooting, upgrading and diagnosing then fixing basic desktop issues. Reassigning these duties to a managed I.T. provider allows the I.T. team to concentrate on enabling the business to better utilise technology.

Outsourcing can help your business reduce costs, streamline operations and enable business growth.

CPSTG is a leading total solutions provider, trusted by 1000’s of Australia’s leading businesses.  A CPSTG consultant would be happy to have a free confidential chat with your business to explore how we’ve helped others and discuss how we could help you.

6 good reasons to consider Managed Services

Many businesses today are using Managed Services for their I.T.  Why?

Because it’s a good investment that’s helped them increase their productivity and hence their revenue, as well as cutting down on spiraling I.T. support costs.

These days businesses are increasingly dependent on I.T., making it essential to have experts to handle the regular maintenance of I.T. infrastructure.  However, most small and medium businesses cannot afford to hire a qualified, full-time I.T. administrator.  Managed Services is the best solution, since it allows businesses to concentrate on what they do best - managing the core competencies of their business.

Why is Managed Services important for your business?

1. Cost Effectiveness

If you’re not an I.T. expert, you’ll need to hire consultants for basic I.T. maintenance - and this is usually too costly for small and medium-sized businesses.  The downtime during breakdowns of computers or outages will cost your business more money in the long run than outsourcing costs.

2. Budgeting – Fixed Monthly Cost

Managed Services offer a choice of service levels which may be priced on a per-month or per-device basis.  This subscription model gives you more predictability in expenses as opposed to the as-needed time and billing models used by break-fix I.T. consultants.

3. Outsourced and Controlled

Although Managed Services are outsourced, you do not surrender complete control of your I.T. infrastructure. You decide which aspects of your network the service provider will take care of and what you would prefer to handle.  You are also kept informed of everything that happens in the process and management of your systems.

4. Monitoring

Your system performance is maximised across the entire I.T. network through real -time proactive monitoring of desktops and servers.  Issues are detected and resolved  before they become bigger.

5. 24/7 IT support

With Managed Services, you get support whenever you need it.  You don’t have to wait in line for whatever system problems you need resolved.

6. Peace of Mind

Knowing that your I.T. system is in the hands of experts, you are assured that somebody is there to carry out proper maintenance of all your computer hardware and software.  You can also be confident that if you encounter any problems with your I.T., there are experts on hand, who will help you fix them immediately.

When you choose Managed Services, all of your I.T. operations are handled by a highly qualified and knowledgeable provider who assumes ongoing responsibility for monitoring, troubleshooting, and managing I.T. systems and functions on your behalf.  You select which systems are covered, and the Managed Services provider takes charge of the network equipment and applications.  These are specified in the terms of a service-level agreement (SLA) established to meet your company’s specific business needs.

To find out more, please click here.

The Technology Generation

The technology generation has a different mindset to baby boomers.  They have been raised with technology rather than the boomers who have had to adapt to it.

Offering the technology generation an out-dated technology backbone that doesn’t align to how they “connect” in the outside world inhibits their ability to be truly productive and forces them to re-learn out-dated technology systems.

There is a way to break free from this traditional model and here are just a few ideas to get you started.

· Provide your employees with the ability to connect to the office environment anywhere, anytime and on any device. This enables your employees to be working as highly effectively as if  they were at the office, whether they are in the back of a warehouse or on a beach in St Kilda.

· Enable access to the tools that they’re most comfortable with. The Electronic Generation is used to instant messaging, computer based phone applications and using a single device as a total communication tool.

· Technology is desirable... at least the technology generation think so. Attracting top talent is a challenge for many businesses.  Stand out from the crowd with your fresh approach to technology.

The ideas listed above are nothing new, they’ve been around for years however it is the uptake rate which has exploded in the last few years. Decrease in costs, cloud applications and employee demand is largely driving this trend, which shows no sign of slowing down.  Businesses need to begin thinking about how they can facilitate the change in workforce styles in productive ways.  Fortunately the same technology that the Technology Generation was raised on is adapting too and there are exciting new developments becoming available which helps to empower employees in a business context.

CPSTG is a leading total solutions provider, trusted by 1,000’s of Australia’s leading businesses.  A CPSTG consultant would be happy to have a free confidential chat with your business to explore how we’ve helped others and discuss how we could help you.