The World Business

Archive for March, 2011

Just because your employer is protecting you with worker’s compensation cover, does not mean that you should disregard income protection insurance. There are many people out there who believe their worker’s compensation is more than enough. Income protection is something you must instigate yourself, and is beyond what you are covered for with worker’s compensation. A look at the issue.

Read the rest of this entry »

Commercial solar electricity is coming onstream rapidly, and it’s also making waves on a bottom line basis. Businesses, not surprisingly in these days of ridiculously high overheads, are determined to make savings, and solar is turning out to be the solution to a lot of cost issues. The fact is that ordinary running costs and just having the office open for business can cost a lot of money.

If you’re in business, you won’t need to be told that the real cost increases are showing up in paying for power from the grid, even at wholesale rates. Businesses that use a lot of space and have a lot of electronic systems like retailers often wind up on the wrong side of the balance sheet as a result.   Businesses can find themselves paying a lot for the privilege of just opening their doors every day. Solar power is undoing the damage to the bottom line and reducing overheads.

Solar power as a business investment

Solar power isn’t just fashionable. It’s a long term, get-things-right approach to power needs. Modern solar panels like the advanced monocrystalline panels are long-life, high value panels that only lose 0.5% of their efficiency (power yield for a panel) per year. These panels can generate a lot of power, 185 watts per panel, which is multiplied by the number of panels to provide a known output of energy per day. Depending on your needs, a suite of solar panels can take a large percentile strain off your power usage.

A quick, very basic example without the more complex formulae:

185w x 20 panels = 3700w x number of “sun hours” per day.

As you can see, that’s a lot of energy, and it can cover a lot of fundamental business functions, particularly basic office power, every day. The real savings are measurable over time, and they mount up, rapidly. One of the reasons solar power is now being installed in New York’s very cost-conscious public schools is the clear cost efficiency of replacing grid power with solar as much as possible.

The fact is that solar power is now on the radar as much among accountants as environmentalists. Business was understandably wary of taking on the cost of introducing new power systems when solar power first got started, but the cost benefits are now measurable with obvious advantages. The result has been that solar power is now the preferred option for power systems. Government rebates and incentives have added further value, increasing the benefits and reducing real costs.

Solar power on the job- Go anywhere, do anything

Solar is also good for standalone power systems. If you have operations in remote areas, where power grids are too far away for it to be economic to make a connection, solar can do a lot of the work for you, and reduce dependency on generators. Businesses find that solar power can provide a lot of flexibility for operational usages, particularly conserving power, generator fuel and batteries in tough environments where energy economics and having reliable backups are major issues.

Solar is the power of the future. Examine your business options, and you’ll find a lot of positives, and no negatives.

Many of us in small business have problems with how to use our computers well, and most of us would not even know who to talk to in the event of needing IT support. What does that mean anyway? How can I use this software? Which software will make my operations easier? After much consideration and experience working with small business I have come to understand, this problem starts from when small and personal computers were released. We were all told these computers were “for Home and Office use”. This has led to many people believing they could use the same computers and software to get their job done in the office, as they use for whatever reason at home. While actually the hardware can be used in both situations, this is a look at the different areas of general use, and shows how the idea of ‘Home and Office’ computing is very misleading and is the cause of many of our problems.

• Software. When you buy a computer from Apple, or one based on Windows, what do you normally get? You get Microsoft word, and a few other toys to play with. If you want to use this computer for your business, you need to go out and buy other software, but where do you go? You start looking for small commercial use programs, and most of them don’t match and have limited options. You need something to grow with your business, and because it is so important, you will need something professional. It is highly unlikely you will find a range of standard consumer packages that can handle your needs. You need a package that will grow with your business, have many integrated parts, and you will probably need some serious business support. Buying software yourself to do individual tasks is not an option. You just left the world of ‘home’ computing.
• Storage and Protection. For basic home computing we have a backup hard disk. Other than that you can buy online storage. Many commercial operators this. A perfect example is iDisk by Apple. This is basically just storage space. It is not designed to integrate with your software and store information. If something goes wrong, your backup hard disk fails, and they do, you are in big trouble. Again, we see home computing needs and business needs are very different. For business, you are looking for a managed solution, something that integrates your software and storage needs. It is better if your ‘computer’ is a terminal, and all your software needs are taken care of by a professional company, and actually stored somewhere else. Anyone, anywhere, can access this information as long as they can get online. If you are out at a meeting and you want to demonstrate something to a client, you do not need to be digging through your computer or asking your secretary to email you a file. We all know how cumbersome that is. Again, there are not too many standard or ‘home budgeting and management’ applications used around the home, that can be applied to business well. How would you even know which software is right to go and buy? Again, you need help with consultation.
• Security. Are you using Yahoo Messenger or MSN to chat with your colleagues? Do you realise these programs are like sending your information through the air on a banner? This kind of information can be picked up incredibly easy and used by anyone. How safe is your office from attack? How safe is your information stored on your computer? In reality, it probably isn’t. Security and online protection is a major issue in our modern world. Even the CEO of Trip Advisor, one of the world’s leading online travel and related companies has just issued a notice their customer data has been hacked. Protection is an absolute must. The best way you can have this form of protection, is with business software that is stored at a safe location. This online software will come with a range of tools to transfer and protect your information. If you need a chat client for your company, they can probably add that application too. And it will work with everything else you already have.

Unfortunately, most of us have been led to believe our home computer and our office computer could handle the same work. The hardware can, but everything that is so crucial for doing good, efficient and secure business, is generally not. That is what the PC makers neglected to specify. If you are in small business, because this is such a complicated issue, you have two options. You either hire your own IT person to manage your information, or seek professional business IT support, to outsource your needs. The second one is obviously highly recommended. There really is no such thing as a ‘Home and Office’ computer because of the range of diverse and integrated tasks that need to be managed securely. Home computing software just does not provide it.

It is getting very hard to run any form of small business without some form of software to help you get the job done. Unfortunately most of us don’t have the experience to know what software is right for us. Worse than that, we don’t even know what is available. Managing your company as it grows means you need to get the job done while you try and come to terms with changing structural needs in your company. Many small businesses cannot grow because they don’t have the tools, from simple accounting software, to complicated solutions with ERP software (Enterprise Resource Planning). Here is a look at some of the common mistakes we make when arranging our software needs for a growing small business.

Read the rest of this entry »