Froodee

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Telecommuting as solution to absenteeism and non-productivity

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In this day and age, an employee’s productivity may not necessarily be equated with how long he or she spends at the office or workplace. In fact, given rising travel costs, traffic congestion and the availability of high-speed data communications, one would wonder if it’s worth the trouble of having to spend a good part of the day traversing distances just to go to work. Furthermore, the decline in actual productivity after a certain number of work hours have been reached has to be taken into consideration.

Enter telecommuting. A buzzword in the business community since the dawn of the Information Age, this concept is pretty much still a very viable solution to any company’s problems with unproductive or sickly staff. The widespread availability of broadband Internet connections at residences and wireless Internet hotspots in cafes and commercial establishments enables employers and managers to be in closer touch with their staff from virtually anywhere.

Company formation and business solutions experts recommend that employers look into telecommuting as a possible solution to absenteeism and performance problems with employees.

It is likely that employees would be happier to carry on with their daily tasks if allowed more flexible schedules, and if they can work close to their families and communities. Businesses may experience a faster turnover of work if employees are allowed to work at the comfort of their home, using outputs as a gauge of productivity instead of time spent at the workplace. Instead of having to be absent, why not have your employees work at home?

Christmas shoppers flock to online stores

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The lackluster high street sales looks like it is being offset to some degree by a surge in online activity by Christmas shoppers.

According to latest figures released by the research group IMRG , it showed that online shopping hit a 22-month peak in November and, for the first time, topping £2 billion in a single month. The figures also showed the growing popularity of e-commerce. The numbers were a full 50 per cent higher than the same period last year.

Company formation and business solutions experts have expressed that they welcome these figures saying that it proves that e-commerce is really maturing and that it shows the viability of setting up an online business.

Small businesses warned about new scam

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Business Buzz, a business network based in Scotland, has recently issued a warning to business owners to be more aware about the new “phishing” scam that has been targeting small businesses.

“Phishing” is a term that refers to gaining access to sensitive details such as passwords and bank account details. This practice has been happening more frequently ever since the advent of online banking.

The latest phishing scam usually involves an email entitled “Photo approval”. The email would allegedly come from a publication that would claim to have been sent a photograph of the recipient and that they would like to use the photo in a future article. A supposed copy of the said photo is attached to the email but if the recipient clicks on it the attachment will release a virus that would allow the sender of the email to access the passwords and other vital information that is stored inside the computer.

Company formation and business solutions experts have urged business owners to take precautions in order to protect their businesses from this kind of scam:

Refrain from clicking on links that are embedded in emails. Be naturally suspicious even if the email comes from a well known company.

Don’t open attachments if the email itself looks dubious. Don’t open attachments from sources that you don’t know to reduce your risk of exposure.

Use a spam filter. Try to use an anti-spam software to help sort out possibly fraudulent email.

Make sure that the definition files for your anti-virus application is up to date. When you have up to date definition files your PC has a better chance of catching any virus in case you or any person unwittingly opens a suspect email.

Government to probe cheque clearing

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The amount of time it takes for cheques to clear could possibly be shortened following a declaration that the Office of Fair Trading
(OFT) will investigate to find out the demand for cutting the three-day process.

The probe will involve banks, building societies, consumer group and trade groups with the aim to determine whether there is a clamor and significant benefits for businesses and individuals if the cheque clearance time is hastened.

Although paper-based payments has been steadily declining in recent years, cheque payments still remain a popular mode of payment by and from small businesses for the transaction of goods and services.

The UK payments association APACS has confirmed the lowered cheque volumes because of the increased use of plastic cards, direct debits and e-payments. But the association also said that cheques still remain popular among the enterprise sector for paying suppliers. Consumers also still use their cheque books to pay for one in six regular bills.

All over Europe, the growing acceptance of debit cards followed by credit cards has further decreased the market share of cheque payments. The drop has been most notable in Germany where only one per cent of the population prefer cashless payments.

France and the UK have remained dominant issuers but both countries have been suffering from marked declines. The Netherlands, Spain and Portugal are also experiencing a slump in paper payments.

Company formation and business solutions experts hope that with the OFT’s investigation any changes in the system will only benefit the country’s entrepreneurs and businessmen.

small businesses branch out online, spurs 2005 internet growth

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It looks like the internet bubble that burst at the turn of the century, where a record number of internet start-ups went belly-up, is well and truly behind us.

According to new findings, small business that have decided to branch out online have been instrumental in making 2005 the strongest year ever for posting internet growth.

Based on the findings of Netcraft, a Bath-based internet services company, there were at present 74,409,971 websites being hosted worldwide. This is 2.68 million more than figures recorded in September.

For 2005, a total of 17.5 million sites were added to the World Wide Web. This marks the strongest year for internet growth ever posted and surpasses the previous year-round high of 16 million, which was posted in the year 2000, at the height of the dot-com boom.

The report said that the significant increase in web sites can be directly related to small businesses finally realising how the internet (and creating a website) can bring positive benefits to their businesses and drive revenue growth. Blogging has also played a big part in pushing businesses into developing new websites.

But Netcraft also cited the negative side of this increase in website generation growth. They said that spammers can also be partly blamed because of their modus operandi of buying new domain names in order to manipulate search engines. These spammers also purchase websites that are no longer in use but are still attracting significant traffic.

Company formation and business solutions experts said that small businesses should learn to harness the powers of the internet to their benefit and use it to drive positive business growth.