Hot desking is a hot trend in
business today. Yet few understand what it involves much less why it is
becoming popular beyond the fact that it has become routine at Silicon Valley
companies. Let’s learn what hot desking is before listing the advantages and
disadvantages. We’ll also share a few observations about how to make hot
desking work for your team.

An Introduction to Hot Desking

Hot desking means people choose the desk they want on a daily basis instead of
having an assigned desk or cubicle. Because different people may use the same
desk over the course of a week or even the same day, this is why hot desking is
sometimes called desk sharing. Hot desking started around the same time as the
open office plan, but hot desking may or may not occur in an open office.

The Advantages of Hot Desking

Hot desking has a number of advantages. It may reduce the number of desks you
need to have available, if you have a number of people who work at home or
travel periodically. Desk sharing dramatically reduces overhead costs if you
have people on different shifts sharing desks instead of having their own,
dedicated workstations.

For creative types, the ability to
choose where they work and who they sit with can be a plus. For example, they
might be able to take a workstation with advanced computers for a design
project one day and a basic day the next. And they may appreciate the autonomy,
too.

Hot desking may result in more
organic interactions with a variety of people, since your team members aren’t
always sitting next to the same people. However, not everyone wants to have to
worry about where they’re going to
sit or set everything up at the start of the day. And hot desking isn’t
practical in all cases. You may want your IT staff sitting near the server
room, not a couch in the break room.

Hot desking often results in
cleaner workspaces. Since staff cannot leave personal items in the cubicle,
they aren’t able to pile it up with junk. This also makes it easier for
custodial staff to clean it at the end of each day.

The Disadvantages of Hot Desking

Your permanent office staff may not like hot desking, since it interferes in
their productivity. They shouldn’t have to find and fight for workspace. You
also risk breaking up teams, since people aren’t always able to sit together.
Give those assigned to an office a permanent desk, especially if they have a
lot of tools and equipment in their office. Set aside hot-desks for
freelancers, contractors, road-warriors and work-at-home staff that only come
into the office once in a while.

Observations about Hot Desking

Not every person or job function is highly mobile. Recognize when your company can and should have dedicated offices for personnel. Serviced office providers like Halkin can provide a mixture of dedicated offices and workspaces perfect for hotdesking professionals.

If someone’s job means they can
work anywhere, anytime, consider letting them work from home more often.
However, you may want to talk to staff comfortable with hot desking about IT
security concerns. For example, your business is at greater risk of malware
infection and hacking if they’re routinely accessing the corporate network from
coffee shops or personal computers.

You may need to implement a
workspace booking solution to maximize the use of in-demand workstations,
whether they have the best views or most advanced computers.

Hot desking can be combined with
managed office space rentals. For example, you might work from home the vast
majority of the time but pay to use an office when meeting with clients.

To be a
successful business owner, you need a good idea, a market with a demand, and
know how to execute. You also need to have a set of basic skills if you want to
be able to succeed. This is especially true if you have a few employees working
with you.

However, many business owners have a vague idea of what it means to run a business, and find out that they’re limited much later on, especially when it comes to technology. But with the right set of practical skills, you’ll not only be able to run a tighter ship, but also have a much more hands on approach without having to constantly depend on outside workers. Here are some essential tech skills all small business owners should have.

Basic Computer Literacy

The very
first thing that you will need is basic computer literacy. You might be old
fashioned, but without this, you’ll be lost. No matter what field you’re in,
you will need to have at least a basic understanding of how computers work.

Not only
will you be able to protect your business better, but you’ll also be able to
use the power of the internet to advertise your business more efficiently, and
for less money. You won’t need to spend thousands of dollars working with a
digital marketing agency or IT consultants. Not to mention that you’ll have
little understanding of what they’re doing if you don’t have a formation and
could get taken advantage of.

This is
why you should consider at least completing an ECDL course before you get
started. If you’re already running a business, know that you can get your ECDL course online through services like findcourses.co.uk.
They will connect you with a variety of training providers close to you. If you
prefer to take the class in a traditional setting, they can also help you find
those too.

The ECDL
will give you a formation in things such as spreadsheets, word processing and
online marketing among other things. These are all skills that will allow you
to run a better business, and could give you a serious return on investment
when considering the help you won’t have to hire.

Basic HTML Skills

This is another very important tech skill that all business owners should master. HTML is the language used to build websites, but it has various other applications too. While it can be intimidating at first glance, HTML becomes much simpler once you learn the basics (or learn how to use WYSIWYG Editor like TinyMCE).

When you know
HTML, you’ll be able to modify aspects of your website, like images,
navigation, and design. You could also learn how to build your website
yourself. It’s easy to start with a CMS like WordPress, for instance, and learn
how to modify themes yourself. Knowing this skill alone could save you
thousands of dollars on a website. And if you decide to have your website built
by a professional, you’ll be able to do some maintenance and troubleshooting
without having to keep them on a retainer.

Google Analytics

If you’re
going to learn HTML and build websites, you also have to be able to monitor
their performance and activity. This is why it’s essential that you understand
Google Analytics and always work on improving your material.

Google
Analytics is very straightforward and allows you to monitor things such as the
number of unique visits, enter and exit pages, and how long visitors are
staying on your website. But one of the most valuable things you’ll learn is
something called the bounce rate.

The
bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that come in and come out of your
website without visiting any other pages. Bounce rates could give you a clear
idea that there’s something wrong with your website. But furthermore, sites
with high bounce rates are viewed unfavourably by search engines, which will
hurt your visibility on them.

Search Engine Optimisation

Speaking
of search engines, search engine optimisation, or SEO for short, is one of the
most valuable skills that you could learn. SEO is the science of increasing
your visibility on search engines. But it’s also about knowing how to avoid
mistakes that could end up hurting your website.

SEO is
not about “tricking” search engines. It’s more about how to apply best
practices in order to organically move up the search results for specific
terms. SEO can be a great way to build tons of organic traffic, and when you
know SEO, you don’t have to constantly pump money into it. And even if you
don’t intend to do your SEO campaigns yourself, it will allow you to better
understand what SEO agencies are doing when you hire them.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most efficient
and powerful marketing tools that you can use. It’s laser targeted,
cost-effective, scalable, and quantifiable. You could use it to build a loyalty
program and inform clients about special deals. You can also use it to gain a
following online, and inform people about product launches. And, if you have
basic skills, email marketing is pretty simple. This is one of the best skills
that you can have if you don’t want to overspend on advertising and want to get
the most bang for your buck.

Social Media

Social
media is another tool you’ll need to master if you want to be able to build
your brand. It plays a central role in a lot of people’s lives, and is much
more powerful than traditional media in many cases.

When you
understand how social media works, you’ll be able to build a connection between
your brand and large audience. You can also learn how to use viral marketing
techniques and how to use hashtags. Social media is one of the most cost
effective marketing methods that you can find so it’s well worth investing in.

Payment Processing

This is
one of the most important things that you can learn if you want to not only be
able to process online payments, but offline payments as well. There are tons
of apps that allow you to accept mobile payments nowadays without the need for
an expensive merchant account.

Understanding
how payment processing works is also important if you’re trying to add things
like a shopping cart to your website. But more importantly, understanding it
will also allow you to guard yourself against attacks, and make sure that your
clients’ payment information remains secure at all times.

IT Security

This is
another crucial skill that all business owners should have. You can always hire
a consultant, or use a managed solution, but without a basic knowledge of how
IT security works, you’ll always be vulnerable.

With an
in depth knowledge of IT, you’ll be able to identify attacks quickly, find
leaks in your organisation, and be able to implement the right solutions to
prevent malicious attacks from inside or out. Not only that, but you’ll be able
to set up a clear IT security policy in your organisation, and make sure that
everyone follows through.

Conclusion

These are
only some of the tech skills that will help you as a business owner. However,
these could make a big difference on how dependent you’ll be on subcontractors,
and will allow you to have a clearer understanding of the tech aspects of your
business.

Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) is a legal binding between debtors and his creditors that offers a debt solution and protects the debtor from a legal binding. If you have unsecured debts like payday loans, personal loans, credit cards, and other outstanding bills, you should consider getting debt help. IVA is the best debt relief solution that offers protection from the creditors. Creditors cannot take any action against you after you enter an IVA. IVA is an agreement according to which you make your repayments based on your financial situation and income. The remaining debt can also be written off when you can’t manage to pay more. Here are some reasons why you should enter an Individual Voluntary Agreement.

• No Legal Action Against You:

Most
creditors tend to take legal actions against the debtors when they aren’t
making repayments. An IVA protects you from legal actions. You are legally
protected and exempted from the legal actions once you sign an IVA. That means
you will be off the hook, and you will not receive any warnings. Your creditors
give up their rights to take legal actions against you. 

• Your
  Assets Will be Safe:

When you get IVA help and advice, your assets are also protected. This means you don’t have to liquidate your assets and valuables to pay off your debt. Moreover, no one will force you or threaten you to sell off your assets to make your debt repayments. This agreement ensures that you make manageable repayments through your income, and you don’t have to lose your home equity, properties, and other belongings for settling debts. 

• Your
  Credit Score Will Get Better:

Filing
bankruptcy is a terrible decision as it affects your reputation, and your
inability to pay off debt becomes public knowledge. With an IVA, your difficult
financial situation is best kept between you and your family as it helps you
avoid bankruptcy. Bankruptcy also leaves a lasting mark on your financial
reputation. Also, IVA recovers your poor credit rating at a faster pace and is
certainly a better option than going bankrupt. Thus, IVA is the best way to
avoid bankruptcy. 

• Protects
  Your Future:

When an
IVA is signed, you are sure that you have to deal with debt only for a fixed
time period. This is an agreement in which your creditors agree on a certain
time period to settle the debt, meaning that you won’t be struggling to pay off
your debt for the rest of your life. In most cases, an IVA lasts around five
years. IVA is a legal obligation that binds you and your creditors to it. So,
you don’t have to worry about your creditors changing their minds later. They
cannot ask you for additional installments once they sign an IVR. 

• Freeze
  the Interest Rates:

Almost
all forms of debt involve interest that makes it even more difficult for the
debtors to repay all the outstanding debt. Therefore, you should consider
entering an IVA as it freezes the interest owed on your unsecured debt so that
you don’t have to deal with a huge buildup of interest. Massive interest rates
are a huge financial burden, and an IVA can help you a lot in this respect.
This means all your repayments will be going toward paying off the actual debt
rather than the interest. 

Thus,
if you are in debt, seek the IVR help and advice as you cannot set up this
agreement yourself. An IVA helps you pay off your debt with a single monthly
payment that is set considering your current financial situation. 

What Are Fulfilment Centres?

Fulfilment centres are a storage and distribution hub. They will receive orders and ship them to customers. Fulfilment centres may serve a single business or accept orders for a variety of firms.

Why Are Fulfillment Centres Important?

Don’t take time and energy away from your retail staff to fill online orders. Don’t waste valuable space in expensive retail stores trying to pack and ship online orders. That’s one of the benefits of fulfilment centres. They can be set up in much cheaper warehouse and industrial space and take advantage of excellent transportation access to ship more packages at a lower cost.

Ecommerce fulfilment centres have all of these advantages along with economies of scale. Mail distribution companies or third party logistics (3PL services) have a single massive warehouse or grouping of them. They have dedicated, trained staff. And they can take advantage of bulk shipping discounts when shipping orders to your customers. That pays off when you’re shipping heavy items or multiple items as part of a single order. This makes third party ecommerce fulfilment far cheaper than trying to set up your own fulfilment center in a warehouse.

Furthermore, ecommerce fulfilment centres allow small businesses to offer the same level of service as larger firms when they start selling online. You get a cost-effective mailing solution that eliminates the stress of trying to fill orders that come in 24×7. You don’t have to find people to pack orders over weekends or holidays. The fulfilment centre does all of it.

How do you work with an ecommerce fulfilment centre? All you need to do is connect your ecommerce ordering system to their inventory management system so that they have the information they need to fill the order and send them the inventory they’ll ship to customers.

What are the biggest benefits of fulfilment centres?

• Custom management information and reporting

• Professional inventory management

• High speed tracking of orders from receipt to deliver

• Cost-effective 24×7 warehouse and shipping labor

• Dramatic savings on shipping costs

The best ecommerce fulfillment centres have dedicated account managers to help you when you have questions or run into problems, whether they’re shipping a few dozen or several hundred orders a week.

What is the ecommerce fulfilment process?

A third party logistics or 3PL service will become an extension of your business. The process of integrating them into your business can be summarised as:

1.  Store and fulfilment integration

This is the process of integrating IT systems so that your website receives orders and passes information on to the fulfilment centre. The data should include the name, address and other pertinent information to track the shipment.

2.  Inventory management

Too many small business owners think that shipping the first batch of product to the fulfilment center is the last thing they need to do. In reality, you want there to be enough orders that you have to regularly restock the fulfilment center. The fulfilment center should send you requests for inventory with enough time to ensure that they don’t run out and your customers don’t abandon purchases because the item isn’t in stock.

Fulfilment centres should also check inventory regularly, correcting inventory when items are lost, damaged or expired.

3.  Order fulfilment

The most important job fulfilment centres have is fulfilling orders. The IT system integration means the fulfilment center is alerted when an order comes in. They should pack and ship orders correctly, quickly and securely. It doesn’t matter if they do it fast if there are items missing or if product is damaged in transit.

4. Returns processing

Every business is going to encounter problems, and customers will make mistakes. The customer may realize they ordered the wrong item or more than they expected. The fulfilment centre might have shipped the wrong item. This is why you need to choose a 3PL vendor who can effectively handle returns, while properly crediting the customer’s account and the inventory management system.

Are you looking for an ecommerce fulfilment centre?

The Delivery Group has three core principles: people, partnership and performance.

This allows us to provide a fast, flawless and cost-effective solution for your ecommerce business. Contact ourteam today.