Optimize decision making in your business in 5 steps

Decisions, decisions and more decisions! Every day managers face the challenge of making decisions that can dramatically change the course of a business. Making the right decision is a complicated task because we don’t always have the data we need to make a conscious decision. At a time when data is growing in numbers in organizations, it is very difficult to extract useful insights that help us choose the best course. In today’s article, we’ll see how you can optimize decision making in your business in 5 steps!

Correctly identify the problem that needs solving

Decision making, in most situations, aims to solve a business problem. Thus, for the best decision to be made it is necessary to identify its origin and list all possible solutions. This step seems basic but it is one of the most important and one of the most underrated. In-depth analysis of the situation will give us the data we need to know which path to choose. An improper decision can compromise business continuity.

Accept that there is not just one right answer

The choice that seems to be the ideal today may not be the most appropriate tomorrow. When it comes to deciding in business there is not just one right answer and decisions have to be made with the current business context in mind. The manager should place all possible answers on the table and analyze the pros and cons, taking into account that there may be more than one right answer for the same situation. And we advise that the decision be taken as a team, as this will involve your employees and this increases people’s motivation.

Use real-time monitoring software

It is very important to have a real-time business monitoring system that allows you to set business alerts to be alerted whenever an important situation requires immediate intervention. Multipeers is a BAM system that allows you to set business alerts that warn you whenever a situation requires your attention. This way you will always be aware of your business events and will be able to decide in good time. Many decisions are made based on reports that are a few days late, which causes the company to take reactive rather than proactive action. With Multipeers you will always be able to stay ahead of the competition and make the best decisions for the business.

Make future thinking

Most managers favor decisions that seem to bring greater returns in the short term, eventually forgetting the long term. Making short-term decisions means that the business can be compromised in the future. All decisions must be made after the impact analysis they will have in the short and long term. A decision that is useful at present but which in the future may pose serious problems should be avoided.

Do not postpone inadmissible decisions

We tend to postpone difficult decisions even though we know that sooner or later we will have to act. If you already know what decision you are going to make and the consequences it will have for your business, it is not worth delaying anymore. Business needs dynamism and it is through decisions that it evolves. With the right tools, you can make business-beneficial decisions.

5 Practical Tips for Better Time Management

Time is limited and you need to know how to use it to the best of your ability. Managers face the daily challenge of managing their day by prioritizing tasks, delegating roles and making decisions in few time. In an age where business data is multiplying daily, managing time is critical to achieving good results. In today’s article, we present 5 practical tips for better time management!

Set realistic goals

If you don’t know where you are going, any path will do. It is very important to set goals and work as a team to achieve them. Objectives must be measurable and realistic, otherwise they will only contribute to demotivate employees. If you commit to doing many more tasks than are humanly possible in X hours, you will not be able to complete your day on time and will become unmotivated.

Track real-time KPIs

Key performance indicators are very important for more assertive and thoughtful decision making. They act as a thermometer that tell us the degree of results obtained in certain areas. Through BAM software such as Multipeers, it is possible to analyze KPI compliance in real time. The life of your business happens now, so it is essential to follow every second what happens to your business! Only then can you be one step ahead of the competition. And making decisions quickly and with all the data “on the table” will help you save time solving bad decisions in the future!

Delegate Tasks

There are professionals who have great difficulty delegating tasks because they fear that the end result will not be as good as if it had been done by themselves. Wanting to do everything yourself is a big mistake because there will be something that will be less well done. It is essential that you have complete confidence in your team so that you can delegate tasks of quiet conscience.

Learn to say no

Saying yes to all requests and always being available to others can become a serious problem. Block some time a day so as not to be interrupted, especially if you have more delicate and difficult tasks to perform. This way you will be more focused and at the end of the day you will feel the difference in the results achieved.

Define deadlines

Parkinson’s law tells us that the ability to concentrate will be greater the less time available to perform a task. It is not advisable for the deadline to be too close to the date you submit a job, but it is crucial that you can meet the deadline you have set for yourself.

5 Technology Tips for Improving People Management in Your Business

People management is critical to the success of a company. When this management is well done, professionals are more motivated and committed to the overall objectives of the organization, which brings numerous benefits to the overall results. People management must go beyond operational practices and strategic thinking needs to be put into it, implementing new practices in the daily life of human resources. In today’s article, we present 5 technology tips for improving people management in your business!

Real-time resources management

Software that enables real-time business analysis such as Multipeers is very important for human resource management. With true, up-to-date knowledge of team availability, it’s easier to troubleshoot issues, rearrange work teams, and ensure business productivity. It is also possible to always be aware of the performance of each employee, which allows to solve any demotivation problems, for example.

Implement telecommuting

Increasingly, employees value perks beyond salary. Today, thanks to technology, it is possible to work from anywhere in the World, no longer being required to be in the office all week. Implementing one day a week of teleworking will motivate your team and in the long run you will feel the difference by increasing the productivity of each employee.

Optimize meetings (and do them only when needed!)

Meetings are often longer than what was needed, which causes a lot of time to be lost, increasing the demotivation level in the teams. There is software that allows you to plan meetings so that they don’t last longer than necessary. Similarly, meetings can be held through Skype and other similar programs, which eliminates the need for everyone to be physically present. Meetings should only be scheduled when strictly necessary, as the “waste of time” makes employees feel unmotivated and misled!

Use cloud services

Cloud storage is already seen as a competitive strategy that meets the needs of small, medium and large businesses. Companies like Google and Microsoft provide servers where files are stored the same way they are stored on a computer or mobile device. Files are stored miles away, but over the Internet, through a login and password, you can log into your account and access all your files. This facilitates document sharing by all team members, making collaboration between everyone simpler and more organized.

Invest in internal communication

Internal communication is often overlooked, but it is one of the most important areas in a company because it deals with an organization’s main audience: its human resources. It is important that there is fluidity in message transmission as well as transparency in the work environment. It is essential to implement business management channels and/or applications that facilitate communication between various departments, such as creating Whatsapp groups or creating an internal newsletter.

What is the impact of technology on business management?

Technology is part of our daily lives, both in personal and professional life. We can no longer live without access to the Internet and without a mobile phone, so technology is increasingly playing a prominent role in our routine. In companies this is also true, as in many areas virtually all work revolves around the network. Technology has a significant impact on organizations, enabling them to improve processes and achieve better results. In today’s article, we will see how technology impacts business management!

Cost reduction

More efficient resource management significantly reduces costs. The use of technology is a great ally of good management. For example, software such as Multipeers allows you to follow in real time everything that goes on in the company, giving a global and updated view on each expense and each gain. This way, you can make immediate and conscious decisions that will benefit the business. This continuous monitoring allows us to guide the company’s investments, avoiding unnecessary losses. Also the use of cloud solutions allows to reduce equipment maintenance costs.

Better communication with stakeholders

Technology has a strong impact on the relationship with the various audiences with which the company communicates. Today, in addition to conventional means of communication such as telephone and email, companies can and should communicate with their audiences through social networks and Whatsapp. Using chatbots enables faster response to customers and this is a great competitive advantage in today’s business world as consumers are increasingly demanding to meet their needs.

Greater control over operations and processes

Automating a company’s procurement processes through technology ensures that all actions taken comply with established standards. All actions made related to purchases must be introduced in digital environment so that you can consult your history whenever there is a need to know what happened with a particular purchase. By 2020, RPA is expected to have an increasing presence in companies, allowing them to automate such processes and eliminate red tape and the likelihood of making mistakes.

Optimization of work meetings

Meetings are often longer than what was needed, which wastes a lot of time. Fortunately, there is software that allows you to plan meetings so that they do not last longer than strictly necessary. Similarly, meetings can be held via Skype and other similar programs, which eliminates the need for everyone to be physically present, reducing travel expenses.

7 KPI’s That All Businesses Must Have

KPIs are fundamental elements for the proper functioning of a company. They allow us to understand where our goals are and guide us towards the company to achieve good results. Although each company has its own reality, there are KPIs common to all areas. In today’s article, we present the 7 KPIs that every business should have.

Number of proposals submitted

The number of proposals submitted is important to understand how many potential customers really expressed an interest in buying something from our company. The number of proposals submitted must always be based on the total number of contacts made.

ROI

ROI stands for return on investment and is the return on investment made. This value is the result acquired with the investment made. It is a very important KPI for maintaining the financial health of the company.

Market share

Market share means the participation of a company in its market. This value can be found through measurement of invoicing, number of customers, among others.

Cost per Lead

This is a value widely used in the digital world, which is increasingly gaining weight in the business world. Cost per lead is the sum of marketing action spend divided by the leads generated through these actions.

Application Performance

This is one of the most important IT metrics, and for this purpose it is necessary to make use of constant monitoring tools that evaluate the performance of applications from the end user perspective. More and more companies are entrusting the management of their IT assets to specialized companies that ensure security, high performance and permanent availability.

Avg. Offline Time

This KPI is used to analyze the average time that an IT device or infrastructure was not available. It is a metric known as mean down time (MDT). This metric tells us all the time that the service was not available, either because of minor problems, malfunctions, among others. This value is obtained by summing the time that the system was not available to divide by the number of occurrences in that period.

Average cost per employee

This indicator shows us how much, on average, each company employee costs us. It is obtained after summing all personnel expenses (salary, food allowance, holiday and Christmas allowances, state contributions, among other expenses) and dividing by the total number of employees of the company.

5 Tips to Set Good Performance Indicators for Your Business

Business performance indicators, or KPIs, are an essential tool to ensure that your business is moving in the right direction. Based on the indicators and the company’s performance, managers can make more informed decisions. In today’s article, we present 5 tips for setting good performance indicators for your business!

Simplify indicators

KPIs should be simple so that the entire team is able to understand them. If you get too complicated a KPI runs the risk of not being able to extract any useful information from your analysis because it will not be understandable by your team. And if the employees do not understand the indicator can be unmotivated, which harms the company’s performance.

Define able indicators to evaluate

For an indicator to be well defined, it is necessary to measure it simply or quickly, that is, it must always opt for quantitative and non-qualitative indicators. In the case of qualitative indicators, there is a high probability of a subjective evaluation. For example, instead of aiming to improve sales, set an indicator on the conversion rate to sales with a set value range. It will be easier to see if the goal of the indicator is being achieved.

Conduct thorough analysis before setting indicators

There is no miracle recipe with regard to indicators. There are indicators that fit one type of business, but that do not make any sense in other areas of activity. Defining indicators only to be defined will create harmful noise to employees’ performance and this will have a negative impact on the company’s final results.

Make this process dynamic

An indicator that yesterday was quite important and completely adequate to the reality of the company, today may have lost its relevance. Companies are living and dynamic organisms and as such changes must be monitored in all areas of the company. Evaluate at least every three months whether the indicators that have “assets” remain the most appropriate for your business.

Involve the whole team in the definition

It is much simpler to get people to collaborate if they are present when defining the indicators they should reach. The teams know their reality better than the top managers, so it is advisable to count on the collaboration of each team when defining the indicators of each department. In this way, each employee will feel involved in the process and, consequently, will be more motivated to achieve the desired goals!

Why should I adopt a real-time data analysis tool?

Real-time information is a necessity and an asset in organizations. With each passing day more data is generated and it becomes increasingly difficult to analyze the information in a correct way, reason why it is fundamental to facilitate the access to it. In many companies, decisions are still made based on reports with a few days, which makes the company reactive. In today’s business world, if a company wants to survive and succeed, it has to take a proactive stance. Therefore, adopting tools that allow the analysis of data in real time is a growing need. In today’s article, let’s see why your company should adopt a real-time data analysis tool!

More successful decisions

A company that has all the condensed information in one place can make better and more assertive decisions. In addition, decisions are made in a timely manner, which favors the business. In a company where the information is spread by various software and databases, it is difficult to gather the data needed to decide in a short time. Using Multipeers, all information from the various data sources is on the same platform, which dramatically reduces the time for decision making.

Setting up business alerts

Business monitoring software such as Multipeers allows the definition of business alerts so that you are advised whenever a situation goes beyond your usual standard. Wherever you are, you will be notified by SMS or email about any changes to your previously set standards and you can act immediately, even before there are serious damages to the organization. This proves to be a huge competitive advantage because it enables immediate action and prevents negative consequences for the business.

Immediate identification of opportunities

With real-time analytics you can identify opportunities right at the moment they appear, allowing you to stay one step ahead of the competition. A change in demand for a product, for example, could lead you to launch a specific campaign, which will increase sales and improve overall results. This represents a major competitive advantage over the competition.

Lower probability of mistakes

The use of real-time data analysis systems reduces communication failures and speeds data consolidation, thereby reducing the likelihood of making business-critical errors. All company information will be condensed only in one place, which makes analytical processes more agile and efficient, making all processes more fluid and efficient.

Business Info Query Anywhere

Almost all real-time information management programs offer the possibility of being used on mobile devices. Therefore, it is possible to be in a meeting or a trip and have real and updated information about the state of the business. This is a very important advantage, since increasingly your business is where you are, so it is vital that you always have access to the most up-to-date information about your company!

The importance of information in the decision-making process

Difficult decisions are part of the daily life of managers. It is necessary to keep abreast of what is happening in the company to make the right decisions for the business. However, due to the increasing amount of data in companies, it is not always easy to decide consciously and objectively. In this article, we discuss the importance of information in the decision-making process.

Information is important to identify problems

In most situations, decision making aims to solve a problem. Thus, it is necessary to identify its origin and list all possible solutions. This step seems basic but is one of the most important because it will give us the data needed to know which path to choose. And there is not always up-to-date and organized information to make these decisions. The right information is essential so that managers can decide the best way.

Real-time information is a growing need

The day-to-day of a manager is quite busy and it is humanly impossible to keep up with all the situations that happen in the business. We live in an age when we are “bombarded” by data from all directions! It is very important to have a real-time business monitoring system as it allows you to set business alerts so that you are advised whenever any important situation requires immediate intervention. Multipeers is a BAM system that allows you to define business alerts that warn you whenever a situation requires your attention. In this way, you will always be aware of the events of your business and will be able to decide in good time. Many of the decisions are made based on reports a few days late, which makes the company have a reactive and non-proactive action. With Multipeers you can always be ahead of the competition, since you can have a single dashboard all the information generated by your company!

Have information from various data sources for an overview

Before making a decision, the manager must identify and analyze in detail all available alternatives. The same problem can have several solutions and the manager should rely on the help of his team to choose the best way forward. In this way, not only does the company win, everyone’s opinion will certainly be better than that of a single person, as employees will feel more motivated because they feel that they are an integral part of the process.

Information everywhere

Mobility is a growing trend and in many sectors is already a daily reality. Employees and managers must have access to the most important information about the business because only then will they be able to make effective and timely decisions. Cloud computing has facilitated labor mobility by enabling important business documents to be consulted anywhere and for effective decision making.

 

5 tips to improve your team’s performance with dashboards

Dashboards are increasingly important tools in the business world. A dashboard allows for a quick and efficient analysis of the state of the business, allowing a great saving of time and greater assertiveness in decision making. However, it is not always easy to create effective dashboards because the data is so numerous that it becomes difficult to turn it into information. In today’s article, we’ve given you 5 tips to improve your team’s performance with dashboards!

Select only relevant information

In this field, care must be taken not to have too “complete” a dashboard, that is, information that is not relevant to your decision making. This will only create visual noise and complicate your analysis. You should create an easy-to-read dashboard with only the data that really matters to you. If you can create a dashboard with current and useful information, it will be much easier to know what decisions to make.

Create an analytic dashboard

This dashboard provides detailed information and is used to set trends against corporate goals. This panel allows you to perceive the results of internal actions as well as external public reactions to campaigns. A good example of this type of dashboard is Google Analytics.

Attention to day-to-day dashboard

This panel is used by the work teams and focuses on the processes that each team needs to perform its functions. The data contained in this panel are intended to identify critical points of the operation, helping to correct them. They also facilitate communication between all members of the same team. It is a dashboard that varies depending on the department of the company and the activities to be carried out each day.

Setting up business alerts

Managers are not always able to identify deviations from work routines in a timely manner, which compromises business productivity. The dashboard will aggregate the history of the company’s operations and can set defaults to detect deviations and anomalies in real time. By using Multipeers, the system is able to perceive that something is wrong and to alert you immediately so that you can act before it becomes a serious problem.

The analysis of data is very important

Analytical dashboard provides detailed information and is used to set trends against corporate goals. This panel allows you to perceive the results of internal actions as well as external public reactions to campaigns. A good example of this type of dashboard is Google Analytics.

[Guest Post] How to choose between local and cloud ERP system

The adoption of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system presents numerous benefits for a company, integrating the sectors and optimizing its management. Knowing all these benefits, you are eager to invest in an ERP system, but don’t you know which one is best? Choosing the right kind of ERP software for your company is rather a challenging task. At this time, it is very important to consider your needs and make the right choice. Among the many options available, one feature that may raise questions is the decision between a cloud or local cloud computing solution. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of each system to help you with this choice.

What is local or cloud ERP?

The basic difference between the local ERP system and an ERP in the cloud is very simple. A local ERP is installed on the company’s own servers and computers. In this case, the company is responsible for its management and maintenance. In the case of cloud ERP, the system is accessed over the Internet and paid on a subscription basis. The software itself is neither owned nor licensed by the end user, but is provided as a service. Cloud technology is a watershed in the ERP industry because it offers enterprise-class software at an affordable monthly price and greater flexibility. The type of ERP solution you choose will have a significant impact on your business. In the end, the functionality of the system is what determines which system you choose. Here are some considerations when choosing between a local or cloud-based ERP solution:

Costs

A local ERP typically involves larger investments to purchase and manage software and hardware, servers, and related facilities. This type of system also requires IT resources to keep the system running. The initial costs of the cloud system are usually much lower because there is no technical installation required. The cloud ERP provider hosts and supports, giving you all the IT assistance you need. Generally, these systems work for a prepaid subscription model.

Updates

Software updates for local solutions are not always straightforward. When it’s time to update your software, your IT staff may have to restore your custom settings and install a newer version of the database. This causes some companies to avoid updating their ERP software, rendering the technology obsolete. Cloud ERP solutions are automatically updated by the provider, so you’re always using the latest version. In the cloud, regular updates do not affect your customizations and integrations.

Safety

The security of the data in a local ERP depends on the procedures and equipment of the own organization, being it adopting protection tools in relation to virtual attacks and frauds in the system. You will also need storage for backups. In the case of cloud ERP, the system provider is responsible for security. These systems typically integrate recovery and backup services.

Accessibility

As mentioned earlier, cloud ERPs have an advantage over accessibility because they can be accessed at any time, on any device, as long as there is an internet connection. Although more laborious, you can configure remote access on local systems. This will require the installation of virtual private network (VPN) software on each device, seeking access to the ERP. If you have multiple offices or branch offices that require access to the on-premises ERP system, you may need to configure a secure WAN infrastructure.

Customization

The customization feature is easily available on a cloud system. You can choose the one that offers the best facilities and meets your needs and business requirements. You can also customize and integrate the local system, but this includes an additional cost, and requires rework in software development.

In conclusion, every business is unique and has its needs as well. Therefore, when choosing an ERP system, it is important to choose the right software, which offers less limitations, more security and at a lower cost. So it is good to look at all the above factors and make a smart decision when choosing the best ERP system for your company.