Small Business Tips and Ideas

Improving Safety in the Workplace: Drone Inspections

The versatility of drones is immense when it comes to accessing areas that were impossible or difficult to access before. The professional drone pilots that work with top drone companies and the military are nothing short of incredible. There are even drone racing leagues that can be viewed on various channels online and on television.

Drones have grown in personal usage popularity although there are some unfortunate amateurs that break their drones on the first flight. The ability to capture a beautiful view without putting yourself in peril has taken videography and photography to the next level. Commercial usage of drones is growing due to the incredible amount of ground that can be covered. Surveying an area has now become far more accurate and rapid due to drone imaging technology.

Imaging is a huge aspect of drone usage but so is the inspection of assets such as transmission and distribution lines, bridges or other areas of infrastructure. Accidental falls from heights are the main cause of death in construction workers. Doing a final inspection from a height can lead insurance costs for a business owner to skyrocket. Drone inspection helps mitigate risk which makes a worksite far safer. Inspecting a road is a perfect example as an inattentive driver can lead to the deaths of workers.

Pipelines can take hundreds of hours to inspect manually while presenting danger. The last thing anyone wants is chemicals to injure you or impact your health long-term. The fact that thermal imaging can be done on the pipeline makes it easier to find cracks or holes. Not to mention that these need to be scaled and can be quite slippery for an individual to traverse.

Adopting a comprehensive drone program as part of safety inspections has proven very effective for many industries. The number one benefit is that safety is improved when compared to more traditional methods. Additionally a drone inspection can be carried out quicker, and if the inspection is of an industrial plant then production does not have to be stopped for as long. The ability to inspect an industrial plant without stopping production pays for the drone inspection in itself. Today’s world is all about productivity and the bottom line which has led a number of industries to investigate the usage of drones.

Drones can also be used to assess natural disaster damage, which tends to be easier, quicker, and safer than teams on the ground. Drones can provide real-time footage for rescue teams, and help find people in distress. Infrastructure inspection during this time can be lifesaving as a downed electrical line can be deadly. The last thing anyone wants is more lives ruined after a natural disaster as the recovery process is already difficult enough.

Saving Money in the Process

Safety is most important in the workplace only to be followed by profit margins. Drone usage for inspections and a number of other areas can save time and money. Staying on schedule for a project is far easier when drones are being used to inspect an asset, rather than every measure that would need to be in place to physically scale and inspect a structure.

Solar farms are something that need to be inspected to ensure they are working efficiently and no panels are overheating. Doing this through thermal imaging can help make solar power more efficient. The ability to repair a panel that is not working at full capacity will help maximize the ROI on the panel. Improving clean energy is just the beginning as efficiency has always been a concern of critics of natural energy.

Drones are a part of the future that we need to get used to in a variety of areas. With Amazon testing out drone delivery, it could only be a matter of time before we see drones daily if we do not already. Drones improve the safety of a number of inspections and will continue to be adopted internationally. Finding a top company to assist with an inspection with licensed drone pilots, which is required for commercial use is imperative. FlyGuys can assist with your drone inspection needs and can provide a top drone pilot for your project/inspection.

How Time Clock Software Can Help You Eliminate Time Theft

To most hourly shift workers, padding their paychecks with a few extra minutes of company time doesn’t seem too unethical. In fact, a survey conducted by the American Payroll Association reported that nearly 75 percent of businesses suffer from time theft—or employees receiving pay for time not spent actually working.

Whether they’re clocking in early (or clocking out late), scrolling through social media while on the clock, taking frequent breaks without clocking out, or having a coworker clock in for them without actually being there (buddy punching), 43 percent of hourly employees confess to having committed time theft before. Though it might only be a few minutes every shift, this “stolen” time adds up to an estimated $400 billion lost annually.

You might be thinking that time theft is just an inevitable part of running a business—but that isn’t necessarily true. Fortunately, protecting your company from time theft is as easy as making one small change: Upgrading to an online time tracking system.

The Basics of Time Clock Software

So, what is time clock software? To business traditionalists, it might seem complex (and maybe slightly intimidating)—yet, this innovative online tool is really quite straight forward. Time clock software is a web-based system through which employees can clock in and out using any internet-connected device.

Using time clock software — Time clock software is compatible with desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, which means no more paper time cards—and no more timesheet stress!

Setting it up is quick and easy, and it doesn’t require any new equipment or outside installation. When you create an account for your company, you add your employees to the system, and they’re given a username and password. To clock in and out, they just enter their login information, similar to if they were logging in to an email or other online account.

Features of Time Clock Software that Prevent Time Theft

Because it functions using cloud technology, time clock software possesses an array of different features to maximize efficiency, security, and convenience. These features are designed to ensure that you have complete control over how, when, and where your employees are clocking in.

How

While an assigned username-and-password combination is the default method by which employees will clock in and out, there are other options that you can choose. These include an email address, facial recognition, or a QR code. The last two are probably the best ways to prevent buddy punching.

When

Features like punch limiting and automatic breaks turn the process of clocking in and out into a science, helping to standardize time spent on the clock by making shifts as exact as possible.

By creating your own punch rules, you can limit when employees can punch time—for instance how many minutes before or after a shift that they can clock in or out. You can also assign automatic break times to employees, enforcing their rights to breaks while also controlling when those breaks take place and how long they’ll last.

Where

Geofences and IP locks will guarantee that your employees are punching in and out from where they’re supposed to be.

A geofence is a radius within which your employee must be to clock in. You can assign geofences individually and include multiple geofences for a single employee. This is useful not only for obstructing fraudulent clock-ins but also for avoiding confusion at companies with multiple job sites. IP locks determine the IP address that your employee will be able to clock in and out under, so you don’t have to worry about employees punching time from outside company property.

Using geofences for an accurate punch in — If an employee attempts to punch in outside of their geofence, they’ll be sent a notification alerting them that they are not in their assigned location.

Additional Benefits

Again, because time clock software is an internet tool, it’s incredibly flexible and versatile—which means its capabilities go far beyond the standard punch clock. Streamline administrative tasks like scheduling and payroll with automated reports and calculations that take the headache out of time tracking.

Streamlining business operations — Keep your operation running smoothly by downloading, reviewing, and storing different types of reports for comprehensive, clean company files.

Overtime and Time-Off

Customize overtime calculations by making your own rules and choosing different types of overtime. Your online tracking system will calculate overtime automatically and produce reports for you to review. This will save on time spent crunching numbers and help you to avoid expensive mistakes on your payroll.

Likewise, you can design your own system for approving sick days, vacation time, and paid time-off, making scheduling easier for you and your employees.

Job Codes

Ever wonder how much time at your company is spent doing what? With time clock software, you can create separate codes for different jobs and projects so that you can see the division of your company’s overall time, as shown by each employee individually. And because multitasking is a necessity in business, employees are able to punch in and out of multiple jobs throughout a single shift.

Integrating Other Kinds of Software

With so many types of technology available in today’s world, it’s more than a little likely that your business uses more than one kind of software. For this reason, you can integrate other tools and applications into your online time tracking system to combine all of your moving parts.

Cut down on time-consuming paperwork and data transfer by interlinking your software tools to create one, hassle-free process.

Time to Take a Stand Against Time Theft

Most workers aren’t scheming to bankrupt the company when they commit time theft—some might not even realize that they’re even doing it. When you convert your time tracking system to an online software, you limit the risk of time theft (and the temptation to try it).

Get rewarded in more ways than one when you take a stand against time theft with time clock software.

Power Printing: Digital vs Analogue

Printing isn’t limited to paper. Circuit boards are not printed as well and the move to digital is ever faster. In Power generation, Automatic Voltage Regulators (AVR’s) the march to digital is continuing. Mecc Alte, the leading independent supplier of alternators are launching two new digital AVR’s to go with their C-type range. Used in various diesel generators, these devices help to keep the voltage stable.

Digital is a buzzword for better – people sell things on the back of them being digital. Digital cameras have largely eliminated the need for analogue versions as the technology has improve and the costs reduced.

With AVR’s the next leap is here – this one promises to be far superior to previous reincarnations and should deliver tangible benefits to end users, dealers and manufacturers. Diesel generators are used around the world and the AVR’s fitted to them have been around for a long time. The scale of the numbers in use has led to a flood of counterfeit products on the market. Counterfeit AVR’s, like other counterfeit goods fund crime and damage profits for the big multinationals that produce them. They can also damage your goods and cause death or fire.

Digital AVR’s then are to be praised, while this first generation will not be quite as integrated as the next, they will be much harder to copy and its unlikely this will happen in the short term. This will deliver benefits for the manufacturers. For consumers they promise to be more reactive and adjust the voltage faster, therefore giving a more stable stream even under heavy load.

For dealers this development will allow additional monitoring and logging – consumers are often notorious for the abuse of their equipment and this leads to unnecessary costs for dealers. These new AVR’s with their digital circuits will have better logging allowing for analysis of use cases. It will also lead to better system integration and this will bring additional benefits and results. Interfaces have been slow to be taken up in this utility market and new technologies are required to drive efficiency and gains.

Its certain that the march to digital in this field will continue – but it’s clearly for the benefit of all concerned, apart from the counterfeiters who will no doubt fight back in the future.

Can Print & Digital Marketing Methods Interact Together?

Digital platforms are the main go-to for many companies when it comes to planning their marketing strategies. But where does print advertising fit into the equation?

Contrary to the belief that print has had its day, recent research indicates that print still remains powerful and has found a way to align with digital methods. Hold that thought for now and carry on reading, to gather a balanced perspective on the subject.

Digital methods are favoured by many businesses

Many campaigns today are lost without digital. With more consumers than ever before spending time on the internet, businesses would be foolish not to get involved with online marketing.

Search engine marketing is one area of advertising that companies are becoming more involved with. As the name suggests, this side of digital marketing focuses on driving a business’ site to the top of the search results around relevant target phrases — from corporate keywords like ‘personalised travel mugs’ to more fashion-focused targets like ‘dresses’. As a result, this can increase brand exposure and site traffic while improving sales figures.

Social media marketing is another area of business activity that wasn’t popular a few years back. From paid adverts to viral campaigns, the digital world has opened up many doors for small and medium companies in particular — exposing themselves to an audience that may not have known they existed and in turn, generating mass interest.

The digital world has made room for businesses to begin analysing their audience, allowing them to gain a greater insight to their general behaviour and spending patterns. From tracking analytics, whether this is across social media platforms or the main website, marketing managers are able to identify key areas of interest and create campaigns around this to drive sales.

There are many methods businesses can follow to hook an online audience and stay ahead of their competitors. Through a combination of search engine and social media marketing, many brands are beginning to run competitions and deals that are only exclusive to an online following. These low-cost campaigns will benefit from extensive reach.

Print strategies still hold credibility

Although more businesses are beginning to take their focuses online, they shouldn’t neglect the power of print and the opportunities that can come off the back of it. Print very much has a place in modern advertising as it can offer a personal touch unlike no other and generally has a longer life cycle which is always beneficial for the exposure of your brand. Take printed leaflets for example, once they have been posted through the door, whoever picks them up will have to acknowledge your materials!

As well as estate agent board advertising, business merchandise has not taken a backseat since the sprout in popularity of online promotions. Brand image has never been more important for businesses and shouldn’t be ignored — as a result, more companies are making investments in personalised products that represent what they stand for. Whether this is to help them externally, with the likes of outdoor banners, or internally for your office with the likes of customised calendars.

Although printed goods can often be higher in price, they can drive exceptional ROI to your campaign and create a memorable experience for the receiver which should be a core focus for your print campaign. This can be achieved through eye-catching designs and a choice of luxury materials which will lead to a meaningful engagement.

Print and digital: a new-found alignment

Although online and offline advertising are two entirely separate entities, they can work well together, and some brands are already utilising such methods.

Take QR codes for example, more businesses are trying to audiences in the real world to their online solutions. As QR codes are unique and can entice people to be more inquisitive, they can drive immense traffic to online campaigns when printed on banners. Through this method of advertising, marketing departments can track success and gather data on users when they’re interacting with the code. With the data collected from campaigns like this, businesses can record contact information (such as email addresses) if users decide they want to opt-in.

When looking closer to news publications, many of them still offer printed versions of their product — blurring the line between print and digital. With an understanding of the influence they have online, they’ve been able to merge two channels together and to distribute stories to a wider audience.

Near field communication is another area that should be further looked into when it comes to the relationship between online and offline platforms. Essentially, near field communication is a type of technology that has the ability to connect two smart devices — often with the help of a print medium. For example, a section of a poster can be tapped with a mobile phone which will then take the user to the ecommerce site for a specific product.

Digital companies employing print… surprising but true

Online hospitality marketplace, Airbnb has made huge waves in the way that we now book our holidays. Predominantly a digital business with its own website and downloadable app, the company decided to launch its own magazine for registered hosts (those who advertise their property) which is around 18,000 people.

This magazine included personal stories of hosts and their accommodation, encouraging interaction with the digital business through print. Although the magazine production has been put on hold since, it’s a good example of how an online business can promote its services elsewhere.

Remember those iconic Coca Cola bottles that had labels with your name on? The printed labels for the Share A Coke campaign allowed the drink manufacturer to become more personal with its customers and as a result, buyers then shared their bottles on social media which made it an integrated campaign.

As we can see, digital and print both play huge parts in the marketing of a business. But often, they can be most successful when they’re brought together.

Sources:

https://www.jeffbullas.com/mixed-marketing-create-joined-print-and-digital-campaigns/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/heres-what-happened-to-pineapple-airbnbs-one-off-print-magazine-1449684006

Take a Journey Through The Savings Initiatives Over Time

In today’s modern world, many of us have our finances organised with share ISA accounts and pension pots but have you ever thought about where these came from, or how each savings initiative has changed over the years?

Online investment company, True Potential Investor, has taken a step through time with this question in mind. Did you know… that the first known building society formed for groups of individuals who were looking to help each other to buy property? Or that the Bank of England was founded towards the end of the 17^th century to fund the war effort against France? How about that the Amsterdam Stock Exchange was believed to be the world’s first stock market?

Browse through the infographic below and discover even more fascinating facts…