May 2020, Twitter, Facebook, and Square announced that their staff members would be working from home. With Twitter announcing that their staff will have the “work from home forever option.”
So many people expected the announcement, but no one anticipated the “forever option.” Although remote work has been going on for some years now, the outbreak of the novel coronavirus has forced a lot of companies to go remote for the safety of their staff and their host communities. Companies are no longer asking the question, do we go remote? But a lot are asking the question of how do we optimize productivity as our workforce goes remote.
Remote Work
Remote work is a working arrangement that allows professionals to work outside of a traditional office environment. When people work remotely, they do not assemble in a workspace to work. They work from different locations while work is virtually monitored and task virtually assigned. The idea is that job does not have to be done from a single place for it to be successful.
This is becoming the new norm globally, and more companies will join this trend as the year unfolds. But as more companies roll out plans to work remotely, it has consequences for both the staff and the organization. Companies that adopted this policy are already facing specific problems that come from working remotely.
In this blog post, these problems will be analyzed and solutions as to the question given.
Remote working has been great for getting us through lock-down but truly creative work needs the magic of face to face interaction, not endless Zoom calls. Without the serendipity and chemistry of real-world encounters, the world will be a far less creative place. — Rohan Silva, CEO, Second Home
Challenges of working remotely
The first challenge remote teams face is the problem of project management. In physical workspaces, work is coordinated by the HR and team leads. But in situations where team members cannot be constantly checked, keeping an eye on team members will always be tedious. And when this happens, it can affect the outcome of projects.
Indeed, remote work will usher in the birth of companies with a global workforce on a large scale who will have to be coordinated from a point. This is very challenging. A lot of companies are already experiencing this problem of working from different locations and time zones. Coordinating a team of people on a different part of the planet is one of the challenges of remote work.
Lastly, while companies will have to figure out how to deal with project management and time zone challenges, another challenge that will be faced by these companies will be overcoming distractions on the part of their staff.
A lot of people who work remotely will work from home. And they will always have to focus on work and house chores. Most staff will even be faced with the issue of caring for children and loved ones. These distractions are capable of reducing productivity on the part of the team.
These are a few challenges that companies that work remotely or have chosen to work remotely will face. But the good news is: these problems are not without solutions.
Ways to overcome some of the challenges
Here are things companies can do to solve the challenges attached to working remotely.
For project management, there are software that can be used by project managers to assign and track the progress of tasks. Tools such as monday.com, Trello and Asana are very cool tools remote project managers can use to solve this problem.
Working remotely gives businesses the freedom to hire talent around the world. But these talents don’t work from the same time zone, which can put teams out of synchronization. To solve this problem, companies can set up a working schedule for workers. This will allow team members at the same time zones to work at the same time. This can be done with tools like an integrated calendar. This tool helps you pull everyone’s schedule into a single place and help remote work managers schedule tasks and meetings according to availability. Slack is also a cool tool team can use to solve this problem.
Lastly, in overcoming distractions, team members can solve this problem by scheduling their day. But if they have kids that can be a distraction while working, team members can focus on working at cafes or workspaces.
In a proper cost-benefit analysis, the benefit of remote work dramatically outweighs the cost. And it will be in the highest interest of companies to adopt this policy as it will cut operating costs and bring the best talents on board. Although challenges exist like every other human endeavor, if these teams implement the solutions listed, remote work gains will be innumerable for teams.
In light of the current pandemic and economic climate in the world, businesses are looking for ways to maximize growth, improve sales and stay competitive.
Ezone Enterprise Resource Planning System is a tool for planning and managing all of the resources of your business.Ezone ERP system is critical for achieving continuous improvement for your business.
Ezone manages your business effectively by minimizing the use of your resources and maximizing the profit you earn, i.e. cutting costs and still expanding the business at the same time.
Most companies use different software systems for different functions in different departments. Inventory, Sales, keeping track of deliveries, employee records is also different as well.
It becomes a difficulty when departments need to collaborate to compile and share data accurately and timely.
Ezone ERP system was created after extensive research on how to make workflow processes easier in the organisation and for staff and to help integrate all departments on a single system to enhance productivity.
Functions of Ezone ERP
1. Ezone creates a common language for greater employee productivity:-
Ezone centralizes access to data in one common database, It will improve the way information is shared and managed. We have created a way to simplify the ways you share and understand important information.
2. Improves Workflow Process:-
It creates a standardized operation process across your business. By giving all employees access to the information they need, when they need it, you will improve efficiency for a better operating environment.
3. Automation:-
When your processes are automated, you will improve the efficiency and quality by tracking and monitoring with Ezone and you will point out potential issues faster before they have a chance to impact on quality control.
4. Improved collaboration:-
Ezone improves the virtual communication across the business and can optimize business processes and dramatically improve responsiveness. Improving internal communication between apparently unrelated departments can have a positive impact on collaboration across the company.
5. Scalability:-
Ezone is quick to respond to change and can impact as a continuous business improvement tool. If you can access important information with ease, then you will be more effective in leveraging growth and development opportunities for your business.
Features
- Inventory
- Human resources
- Workflow Process Automation
- Accounting
- Customer Relationship Management
- Document Management System
- Learning Management System
Benefits
Ezone System manages your inventory,
giving you accurate records on the go of stock levels to help you in eradicating issues of over stocking or understanding products.
Ezone System manages your staff, their records, helps in recruitment, records staff progress to ascertain performance, and also keeps records of benefits like leave, pension e.t.c.
Ezone System enhances the workflow process in your organisation, by giving you accurate records of information and giving reports with ease, it simplifies the everyday business processes because when your work flows, you can concentrate on getting more done and focus on the things that matter. It allows your team to spend more time on the actual work itself and less time on the processes that support them.
Ezone System manages the company’s accounting and financial business processes and operations, including; accounts receivable, accounts payable, sales order processing, purchase order processing, inventory control and management, manufacturing, human resources, payroll processing and much more.
It monitors the business financials, and also tracks the tangible and intangible assets like human resources, and materials e.t.c that are not financials per se, but impact the company’s finances.
Ezone System enables your business to better manage customer interactions, provide support, and maintain relationships through reliable systems and processes with it’s customer relationship management functionality. It also integrates organizational processes across marketing, sales, and customer service with functionalities and features that can strategically serve key initiatives across departments.
Ezone System helps you to manage document processes in your organisation, by automating the retrieval of documents, contracts, sales records e.t.c. across the entire organisation.
The management of these processes and transactions digitally provides your organization with quantifiable ROI and a competitive advantage.
Ezone System manages the processes of creating, hosting, distributing and accessing training sessions, this could be used for staff on boarding, promotions or for training.
It enables you to build courses on different topics and publish these courses on a training portal, assign courses to employees or students and track course completion status and track trainee participation.
For more information on our product and its features kindly see website link below:-
www.ezoneapp.com
Interested in Ezone ERP System?
please contact us via:
www.optisoft.ng
Do you run a food delivery business that is doing well or not and you are wondering how to expand sales globally or within your community? Are you not quite sure about breaking into e-commerce because of security concerns, the duplicity of ideas, or simply a lack of understanding about that element of business?
If you are a food delivery vendor or thinking of starting one soon and wondering if that is where your clients are, there is never a better time to gain a better understanding.
The first question is, what is an “E-Commerce platform”?
This a platform that allows you to build an online store and run a business online. It gives you the tools to create and manage your site, including products and day-to-day operations helping you reach a wider audience for your growing or fast expanding business.
Why an “E-Commerce platform?
Building your business in a store only is like making your business a brick and mortar setup which is bound by location while the whole world is technically out there waiting to hear about what you can offer, even if you think your business needs to stay local due to your type ok delicacies, how are you bringing your business to a wider audience for an increase in profit.
More people are ordering food delicacies online because the Internet offers a smorgasbord of specialties to suit any taste and budget. Consumers can order food from their smartphones, call local vendors for deliveries, and find dishes that average supermarkets or restaurants just do not sell. As a food vendor, you are in a unique position to make a profit while building your brand by selling signature food items from your own eCommerce store.
Benefits
1. Superior customer experience
With brick-and-mortar stores, customers will feel frustrated to discover a single missing item they have forgotten to buy as it means a second time of driving, picking, and queueing. When purchasing online, they can edit an order before it has been dispatched. A possibility to reorder for customers to place orders faster.
Smart upselling is done when the system reminds customers of products from previous orders that they might have forgotten to include this time.
2. Competition
It is actually important that you learn about e-commerce as soon as you can because according to proven facts plenty of people will continue to shop online, and this market is still far growing especially ( mobile e-commerce) which has grown by 300% over the last few years.
3. Reducing Costs
E-commerce tends to carry far lower costs than brick-and-mortar setups, adding an online component to your existing business does not need to be a high-risk investment and in fact, in most cases would be a far better choice than opening another storefront if that’s something that you feel you could easily lose money on.
4. Multi-store Functionality
Enterprise eCommerce platforms feature multi-store functionality allowing businesses to create and manage multiple web stores via a single administration panel, you can have stores that can service different localities and locations.
5. Social Distancing
Selling such a vital asset as food, you must listen to customer demands even more carefully. For example, what we see now is an offline retail business feeling extremely vulnerable in the COVID pandemic. People avoid crowds, leave their houses much less, and, therefore, shop online whenever they can. In this situation, if you do not offer an online sales channel, you literally have your food retail business in danger.
6. Product Presentation
For informed purchasing decisions, customers will appreciate high-quality media and comprehensive product information (composition, ingredients e.t.c). Besides, they can go through product reviews and compare prices while online shopping. A possibility to diversify product descriptions can become one of the competitive advantages of e-commerce over brick-and-mortar businesses. An eCommerce platform allows creating custom sets of attributes for each product type so that customers get the fullest product information. For example, A dish like fried rice can have an attribute, The food it best pairs with. What is more, retailers can group related products and possibly offer a perk in the form of an overall price reduction.
7. Payment
Both payment and prepayment after the order have been placed online and payment upon delivery is available for online food retailers. While the process is clear with payment upon delivery (a courier can accept cash or a credit card), a prepayment option has some specifics for food eCommerce.
As far as a food order can contain products sold by weight, customers can quantify an exact order cost at the stage of order placement hence prepayment can be made.
8.Decreased overhead expense
With a number of similar expenditures for online and brick-and-mortar businesses (e.g.for a store), online food vendors save on the overhead costs associated with renting retail premises (the prices of which grow in proportion to a location’s convenience) and customer-facing staff. Instead, they can invest in eCommerce development and marketing with E-commerce.
9.Personalized customer experience
Online vendors can develop more personal communication with customers – even if this communication takes place online. By tracking and analyzing customer behavior, they get to know who their customers are and what engagement they expect.
Summary
Success in an online food business largely depends on what benefits vendors offer to customers to beat a possibility to hand-pick products. In short, their competitive advantage is customer experience where they can offer a personalized approach, a time-saving purchasing process, and convenient delivery options.
We design and implement effective food eCommerce solutions. Here are our knowledge and expertise one click away.
For further inquiries contact via,
Email: Info@optisoft.ng
Call or Whatsapp:+234 708 895 7111
Suite 808, 8th Floor, Madilas Mall, No 96/102, Broad Street, Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
An Information Technology (IT) expert, Mr Andrew Ughonu, on Monday said that business automation could help achieve the social distancing precaution to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Ughonu, Chief Executive Officer, Optisoft Technology, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos
NAN reports that one of the precautions listed by health and safety experts to curb the spread of the virus is social distancing.
Ughonu said that business automation did not necessarily implied lay-off of workers “but promotes accountability’’.
Business automation actually creates different jobs because new skills will be required but ultimately there is efficiency in high output. Technology is an enabler of business .This means any member of the management staff can from his desk get a full report on how the business is fairing. This process manages business flow from end to end, starting from staff clock-in, accounting management, sales and inventory management. It also include vendor management, project management, budget and expense monitoring, files and documents management,’’ he said.
According to him, this also helps business continuity as the current lockdown does not stop business from running functions like secured document signing while approvals can be done remotely which is also secured.
“Meetings can be done online without any physical presence. This also helps in following government rules on social distancing while learning can also be done remotely and online.
Business automation enhances businesses by means of accountability and does not encourage lay-off of workers. No matter the level of automation, you will still need humans to operate those things. The need for business automation is to enhance sales and productivity. It also makes one accountable.
“Business automation also brings convenience and security,’’ Ughonu said.
He explained that every business required a lot of effort to be managed efficiently. He added that several complex processes needed to get assimilated in their functions and integration of those processes led to the development of hitch-free operations.
According to him, business automation refers to new digital functionalities that can complete processes with ease. All you need to do as a business owner is acquire a complete Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution which will be integrated into Web applications or Mobile apps and it will help you in your daily transactions.
“Business Automation (BA), also known as business process automation or digital transformation is the technology-enabled automation of complex business processes,” Ughonu said.
The expert noted that keying into the idea of business automation could help save people from contracting the deadly coronavirus.