Recruiting Software Is Helpful in Recruiting Candidates

An industrialist, who critically wants to make it large in life, must do something realistically and obtain the most recent trends in the process of employment. The human resource recruiting software is proficient, useful and very easy to employ.

To recruit employees for an organization can be very extensive and exhausting work. There are numerous recruitment software solutions that provide a smaller amount of work and additional pay offs. An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application, which handles the electronic handling of employment needs. The most important function of an ATS is to supply an essential location and database for an organization's employment efforts.

Human Resource Software

The human resource software is very beneficial that helps you to a great extent in generating a brand name image of any company and still, if any interviewee doesn't manage to grasp a job, then he will take a good judgment about it.

When any organization uses Human resource software, then hiring manager can improve the excellence of decision making, because this software gives consistent and updated information. There are many different functions in this software, which handles the employee's personal information. This information is basically the employee's name, address, annual income, total leaves and total holidays.

If any organization determines to go for this software, then it should have the capability to develop that output, reduce labor cost and also develop the superiority of your decision making. Hiring managers use the software for automating and reforming the process. Basically an applicant tracking software (ats) is to generate an integrate resume database, which is helpful in precise job searching, short listing of candidates and categorization of candidates as per skills, job profile, roles and area of experience.

The Human resource recruiting software is an excellent tool that not only saves your valuable time, but also helps you in hiring quality people.

Recruiting Software Is Helpful in Recruiting Candidates

Biometric Face Recognition Time Attendance: Company Expenses Reduced

Management is the backbone of any company. No company can survive for long with a weak management. If the employees of the company are the gems on a crown, management is the diamond studded at the center. Cost management is an important part of it. Profit can be maximized by reducing the overall expenses of the company but quality of the products should not be compromised. Biometric time attendance can be used to achieve this goal.

A face recognition time attendance system can be used to record the details of the employees. This is a modern technology that eliminates the need of many HR personnel. Corporate houses, offices, schools, hospitals and other such places have a large human presence. Their attendance and time spent on the premises need to be tracked. Leaves need to be calculated. Appointing individuals to manage the details of all the employees will prove uneconomical. This software will cut down the costs without affecting quality.

Human Resource Software

Biometric time attendance with face recognition may assist a company in handling its finances in the following ways:

* Gives more time to increase productivity: A biometric time attendance system enables attendance keeping, payroll calculation and other related work to be automated. It saves the time of the employer. He can concentrate on increasing productivity and leave the paper-work at the helm of the application. Time is money; saving time is saving money for a company! Besides, the work carried out by a machine has fewer errors than human beings. Using a face recognition time attendance will produce quicker and accurate results.

* Less hassles faced than employees: Hiring employees to look after this work may prove cumbersome as compared to a gadget. Employees need to be remunerated at regular intervals. They may require leave for sickness, events, festivals and other such occasions. A face recognition time attendance system is free from such trouble. It need not be remunerated for its work at regular intervals. Confidential data is more secured with the application than with an employee.

* Face recognition over fingerprint and access cards: This software can also be combined with access cards and finger print readers. However, a company may find the so-called expensive technology reasonable and inexpensive in the long run. Access cards need to be replaced at regular intervals. Cost of printing access cards is high. Unlike fingerprint readers and other biometric time attendance, face recognition is based on 'No Touch' technology. This makes them less prone to physical damage.

* One-time investment: This application is a one-time investment. All it needs is a web camera, the face recognition time attendance software and a unit! The biometric time attendance does not require regular maintenance charges. Installation charges need to be paid only at the initial stages. The software needs to be installed, and the rest of the task will be done automatically.

Biometric time attendance combined with a face recognition device is a clear cut method for cost cutting in a company. Any company can progress, only if it manages its resources in an efficient manner. It facilitates production by cutting back on unnecessary expenses.

Biometric Face Recognition Time Attendance: Company Expenses Reduced

Business Process and Outsourcing

Outsourcing is not a temporary solution but a strategic orientation of many enterprises at present and in the future. It helps reduce expense, improve core capabilities and product quality, reduce risk etc.

Business Process

Human Resource Software

Based on values created by the enterprise, we can see 2 parallel processes: Business Process and Support Process.

Business process starts from accessing market and customer to required values, investigating, researching approaches and organizing production, distribution, logistics and serving. This process directly creates added values o customers and market. Support process is responsible for active support in the areas of human resources, finance, information, relationship and institution.

In business process, enterprise can have some options:

- Cover all steps (from marketing to serving) without outsourcing

- Initially, cover some steps (and outsourcing some other steps), gradually cover all steps. Outsourcing is just temporary.

- From the beginning, implement some steps and the rest are outsourced to other companies. Outsourcing is long-term development strategy.

- Initially implement all steps. After a while, move from facilities management to outsourcing. Outsourcing is long-term development strategy. The enterprise goes towards partnership to bring about the highest added value to customers and marketplace.

Common trend of the world
In the beginning of 1990s, management model of enterprises was built towards "swiftness and flexibility" which originated in the US, expanded to Europe and Japan at late 1995 and early 1998 respectively. To do this, outsourcing process was implemented by outsourcing entire production out of the enterprise and keeping key steps including research & development, design and marketing.

With the constant change in models and features of products in IT or fashion, enterprises cannot cover all steps from research to production and distribution. Therefore, production management is outsourced to other companies. Different from subcontracting in the past, enterprise now takes charge of production in the framework of "Co-subtracting". It means that enterprise must possess high core capacity level and skills in production.

On the other hand, expense for finishing a task is various and there are large differences between developed and developing countries, especially in labour costs. In such labour-consuming areas as garment, software etc. outsourcing is cost-reducing strategy that many enterprises adopt. And in order to ensure the quality, enterprise usually send its staff to outsourcing partner's office to monitor. More sustainably, when the long-term relationship is established, enterprise can support human management and training approaches, etc. as well as share difficulties and advantages.

Enterprises in developed countries only focus on market accessing and customer to learn more about required values, investigate, research the solutions, distribution and logistics; in terms of production, they use outsourcing service to take the advantages of low labour cost.

The real benefits from outsourcing.

According to survey results conducted by some international market research organizations, 85% of leaders of largest companies in the world, which are specialized in information and electronics, plan to move production based to outsourced destination. IT sector is always in the lead of providing outsourcing services and currently more than 2/3 enterprises in the world use IT outsourcing services. In fashion sector, the percentage of enterprises using outsourcing services is very high. However, in other sectors, the trend of outsourcing entire project is not attracted by enterprises. The reasons to adopt partial outsourcing (usually production) are as follow:

Firstly, transferring production base management (including facilities and manpower) to another enterprise would turn fixed cost into variable cost. If the enterprise outsources production base management from the beginning, it can minimize fixed cost, creating its real motivation and flexibility. When sales situation is not so good in the marketplace, outsourcing is the policy for enterprise to share risks.

Secondly, the partner who adopts "co-contracting" for the enterprise might also provide this service to other enterprises. Therefore, cost and price will be lower because of economy of scale development.

Thirdly, the partner who provides outsourcing service has to be specialised in that area, thus the quality is ensured as required, and the enterprise that uses outsourcing service does not have to spend money on training staff.

Fourthly, the enterprise that uses outsourcing service can save time and money to concentrate on improving and expanding core capabilities as well as its specialized skills in research, design and brand promotion.

In conclusion, outsourcing is a policy that enterprise should prioritize. It makes enterprise more swiftly and flexible, helps turn fixed cost into variable cost to minimize cost and risk. In the trend of globalization, enterprise development strategy must consider competition and partnership to know how to bring highest added value to customers (in that scenario, direct customers will be companies that replace production base management with using outsourcing services), facilitating sustainable development of the enterprise.

Business Process and Outsourcing

Applicant Tracking For Hiring Managers

Congratulations! You've just been hired as a human resources hiring manager. Or even better, you're already working in that position. It's a good paycheck, and you like your line of work. Now the real question you need to ask is if you are performing up to expectations? Can you take your job to the next level and prove how truly invaluable you are? Of course you can and the way to accomplish that is through efficiency. That is where a thorough applicant tracking software program can come into play.

Utilizing applicant software means you'll be able to provide your employer with the most comprehensive and up to date listing of past, current and future staff members, with the end goal of attracting better talent to the company.

Human Resource Software

An Applicant tracking solution is essentially a complete database of all the potential employees who have applied for any job within your company. The end goal of applicant tracking software is to attract the most qualified talent to your company. Typically, the application process will begin with a resume. As you're well aware, the first wave of new resumes will probably be sent to you via email.

You'll want to find an applicant program that can upload those resumes and convert them to a database that will be easy for you to access. Keep in mind that these resumes could come in many forms such as a Word DOC, PDF, text file or anything else. You'll want to make sure that the applicant tracking software you are using can upload all of those types of files into one easy to read system. And that access is extremely important. Naturally, your applicant tracking system should provide all the pertinent information of a prospective employee such as phone numbers, email addresses, previous work history and any letters of recommendation. These are the basic elements of the applicant tracking database but you can customize your system to take full advantage of it.

For instance, you should be able to build a set of key word search commands into your applicant tracking system such as "management, support, maintenance, IT," etc. This will allow you to find the applicant with the specific qualifications for the position without searching through every file in your database. You should also be able to flag certain applicants who might not have been awarded a job on a particular hiring cycle but they are certainly someone you want to stay in contact with for future reference.

You can further expand your categories by breaking down applicants in terms of years of experience, training or certifications. Speaking of certifications, a large component of many company's business could mean having work through government contracts. This in turn means it will fall to the recruiter to provide the stringent compliance restrictions when it comes to hiring procedures. With a strong applicant tracking system, you should be able to instantly provide compliance reports for the EEOC, OFCCP. This is going to save a lot of time in administrative duties.

The bottom line is that by using a powerful applicant tracking software program you'll be able to instantly tell your boss, "I've got the perfect employee for you!" And doesn't that make you the perfect employee?

Applicant Tracking For Hiring Managers

How HR Consulting Can Help Your Bottom Line

The job of finding, recruiting and keeping quality employees is a daunting task. Even with the economic situation in such a dire condition, finding quality employees with the specific skills you need for your business has not gotten any easier. Although it is supposedly an employers market, the pressure on the legion of unemployed makes it all that much more difficult to find the truly qualified. With people nearly desperate to find work, they hire polished recruiters to help them in the search for employment, and the desire for work leads to an embellishment of nearly all skills. Hiring the wrong individual can lead to a plethora of problems, so investing in HR Consulting may pay real bottom line dividends in the long run.

Just as recruiters know what an employer is looking for, and make a career out of tailoring resumes to job descriptions so that even sophisticated resume screening software will pick their client, an expert in human relations is knowledgeable in those same areas. They can identify which candidates are likely to truly possess the skills you require for your business. This initial step reduces the pool of candidates without taking any of your precious time.

Human Resource Software

The interview process, much feared by the employee, is no picnic for the employer either. The same human emotions that affect the potential employee afflict the employer in these awkward interview events. A trained consultant will have the detached professional approach that releases the employer from this uncomfortable task, and probably makes the event less stressful to the candidate who may become an employee. Both sides gain from this approach to the employment process.

Employers are also not all created equal in the ability to interview a potential employee. It requires considerable time and energy to sit down and define what exactly it is one is looking for in a job candidate. A good consultant is an expert at job descriptions and capturing performance expectations. The human resources consultant also has a much greater perspective on how and where to advertise for job candidates.

The internet has rapidly become the marketplace for employment. Individual job candidates create websites or pages to publicize their capabilities and post portfolios and samples of their work in addition to their resumes, which allows employers a greater understanding of the individuals capabilities and potential. There are significant down sides to this, however.

The internet will allow anyone to post almost anything anonymously, so there is no quality control, no check to ensure truthfulness in what is posted. It is also a herculean task to spend the time and energy to find candidates on the web, even after they have responded to a carefully crafted job description, leaving the employer with no solid basis for evaluation and therefore requiring the same interview and evaluation process as before, only with a much greater pool of possible employees.

Using a consulting relieves one from all of this, as a trained professional is social network savvy and can handle the challenges of separating the wheat from the chaff. By targeting your job description listing to search engine optimized sites and serious job bulletin boards, combined with contacts in the employee pool sources like universities and technical college certification programs; they are much better equipped to search in the areas where your skill sets are fomented.

With a little effort on the employers part not to select the employee, but to find a reliable, well qualified HR Consulting firm, the process of identifying and then selecting employees becomes a much simpler task. In addition, the amount of time, energy and money expended in the search for a quality job candidate becomes a definable resource expense that allows for greater stability in the bottom line.

How HR Consulting Can Help Your Bottom Line

Employee Scheduling Software Makes Employee Attendance Problems a Thing of the Past!

If employee attendance has been a constant thorn in your side when compiling employee's schedules now there is no excuse since employee scheduling has taken on a brand new appearance. What use to be a nightmare for most managers has now become far less of a chore thanks to innovative advances in technology.

First off, scheduling software makes it possible, for you as manager, to store all of your records in one very convenient location. This is essential especially considering the heavy regulatory requirements with respect to proper human resource management. Also, a nice feature of having employee scheduling records and pertinent data in one handy spot is that past employee schedules can easily be retrieved-just in case a question should come up as to sufficiency of employee hours or precise days the employee worked during weeks prior.

Human Resource Software

Another innovation with respect to employee scheduling software is that it allows the manager to assemble a schedule well into the future. This means, you can put together employee's schedules, weeks and months in advance if absolutely essential. Further, if an employee wishes time off he or she can request it early and it will already be shown on the schedule. In this way, you can plan accordingly for adequate coverage.

How about your part-timers? These individuals generally have very flexible hours, however, can present a scheduling dilemma for most managers if not handled properly. Many of these persons like to trade with other employees as far as days assigned or may call in at the last minute. You needn't panic anymore on their account due to the fact the automated solution can easily allow for a schedule modification with respect to the trade; and/or provide you with a substitution list/database where employee names are stored in case of call-ins or last minute absences.

Employee scheduling software provides the manager and employee alike online scheduling. This feature makes it possible for your employees to have the convenience of checking their weekly or monthly schedule whenever it is most convenient. Should there be any changes to the schedule, the modifications are automatically updated and accessible to everybody on a twenty-four, seven day per week basis; once again, completely over the Internet.

Now there is no reason for an employee to wail he or she has lost his schedule unless of course the employee manages to lose his or her Internet connection. Still the Internet is available in all types of locales: even public facilities. In this light, there is little use for an an employee to complain they aren't properly informed with regard to the week's schedule. The online feature makes absenteism not as much of an issue; and subsequently improves business operational efficiency.

Employee Scheduling Software Makes Employee Attendance Problems a Thing of the Past!

Biometric Time Attendance - An Effective Way to Manage Your Employees

It is useful at shops, schools, offices, organizations, companies and libraries no matter how small or big it is. Biometric time attendance has wide range of applications ranging from visitor management, access control system, biometric door locks, finger print readers and face recognition systems.

Biometrics are devices that identify people by one or more physical characteristics. This process is automatic, and could involve a fingerprint scan, eye scan, hand scan, or even voice recognition. The most commonly used biometric attendance is Fingerprint Scan. Each time the employee clocks in or out, the biometric time and attendance software verifies that the newly scanned fingerprint matches the fingerprint on file with that employee's ID number. If there is a match, the punch is recorded. The most popularly used biometric time management systems are Fingerprint Time Management, Fingerprint RF ID Time Management, RF ID Smart Card Time Management, Fingerprint Mifare Time Measurement, Fingerprint RF ID Time Attendance, and Web Base Fingerprint Attendance.

Human Resource Software

Biometric attendance used to track each and every person coming to your place is actually who he claims to be or not with its time and other details. When an employee enrolls in a Fingerprint-based biometric time and attendance system for the first time, the software records a template of the employee's fingerprint and associates that template with the employee's ID number. This template measures the relationship between various points in the fingerprint. Many schools use Biometric Attendance to track their student's attendance. The Biggest advantage of Biometric Attendance over manual tracking is better security.

According to HR department the employee management is the most difficult task to deal with. Employee time attendance management software called AXKON Door Access Control System acts as an RF ID based system which can monitor, access, track and control machines. So it is possible to regulate the HR operations of all your organization branches under one umbrella using Biometric time attendance System. Reports from any branch shall be checked at any time without the help of a third person.

Biometric time attendance for your variety human resource management needs, varies such as bioCLASS Reader/Enroller, Fingerprint terminal, Bio Stamp - Fingerprint Reader, Bio smart, Fingerprint T&A and access control, Smart Finger, Two Door Access Controller, iCLASS R10 Reader 6100 and more. Time attendance systems are designed to assist organizations to effectively manage the working hours of employees.

Biometric Time Attendance - An Effective Way to Manage Your Employees

Understanding Asset Management Software

Asset management software is an increasingly popular tool used by a wide range of industries. To understand the basics of generic digital asset management, however, it is helpful to look at a few key situations where it is commonly used.

Best Business Practices

Human Resource Software

Asset management is already an essential part of business. To run a business successfully, one must keep track of the company's incomes and expenses, which comprise far more than financial data. The raw materials used to create goods, the equipment that perform industrial and commercial processes and the human resources that do the work are all business assets that have to be accounted for consistently. Without monitoring these essential components, companies cannot accurately track their financial progress or make improvements to their internal processes. This is especially true of service industry companies.

Firms that deal with consumer accommodations and well-being on a regular basis consume an immense amount of material supplies. Hotels, restaurants and even medical facilities need to know how much stock they have left over each week or each month so that reorders are placed well before demand makes doing so a necessity. Asset management tools help by monitoring the general location of all items and removing things from the record once they have been used. As these software packages are built to run on modern computer systems, their records databases remain conveniently accessible from anywhere the network administrator sees fit.

How Does an Asset Management Program Keep Track of Individual Items?

Asset management benefits from modern digital convenience. Radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking chips, bar codes and other easily implementable identifiers make it simple to scan items on a case-by-case basis. For the distribution warehouses and supply chain services that assist large firms in day-to-day operations, RFID and bar-code-aided tracking that automatically update the appropriate databases are essential. Without these tools, losses increase and time-sensitive jobs take far longer than they should.

These methods do not just apply to consumables and other small items. Schools and libraries use tagging to keep track of textbooks, industrial factories maintain accurate accounts of all their portable equipment and countless businesses maintain a firm hold on their transient furniture. Catering services, one of the biggest users of such software, maintain updated records so that they can transition from one job to the next without having to replace missing items.

Possessions are not the only thing asset management software keeps in order. Space is important, too. Dining establishments and hotels that have a regular influx of new customers use software programs to avoid double-booking, as do many firms in the travel industry. Because asset software usually includes customizable graphic displays, it becomes easier to gain a clear understanding of usage and performance and its relation to consumer activity and internal equipment usage.

Understanding Asset Management Software

Discover Profits Through Activity Based Costing

As businesses grow and expand, the business owner needs to know further details about the sources of revenue, costs and profit. Many people believe the 80/20 rule can apply. For instance, 80% of their profit is coming from 20% of their products or services. That may be correct but there is a more definitive method to discover the exact source of the business profits. This method allows the business owner to identify what product and services are the true profit generators.

This method is called activity based costing or ABC. Note: Activity Based Costing is a management reporting and decision making tool, it is not appropriate for accounting records as it allocates most of the company's overheads, not just those overheads that are supporting the direct production or service delivery. It removes the assigning of an "overhead percentage" or overhead lump sum to the business to obtain a profit number.

Human Resource Software

Let's take an example of a computer hardware company. This company sells computer hardware but also has a services division. The services division will host client servers as well as provide software as a service or cloud computing. Our company is a medium size business and it does not have separate management teams overlooking each area of the business. The human resources such as technicians and sales people work in both the hardware and services business.

In a standard model of accounting all revenue will be recorded and the cost of sales would be removed and we calculate a profit or loss. Revenue and product margins will be visible but some of the important costs slip into a general cost of sales account, or are hidden elsewhere within the accounting statements of the company.

It should be noted that because ABC allocates different overheads and different costs than standard accounting methods, the margins we can see from ABC are usually significantly different, and prove to be a better tool for making management decisions.

If we recast the business accounting numbers into an activity based costing report we could find deeper meaning or the "behavior of our costs" in the numbers.

For instance:

How much of our overhead costs are allocated to service the customers, whether they place an additional order or not? This could be the sales force maintaining existing relationships and the cost of acquiring new clients. What are the indirect costs required to manage the production/delivery of what the customer is buying? This could be the production area overheads such as supervisors, rent, and depreciation of front line equipment, delivery vehicles and so forth. Are there indirect costs associated with merely receiving an order from a customer? There may be a need to schedule with production to ensure the order can be satisfied, to buy any materials and supplies to satisfy the order, the production line may need to be modified to accommodate the order.

Once we understand the behaviors of the costs then the "true" overhead costs required to deliver the product or service to a customer are revealed to the business owner.

The result can be quite astonishing. Perhaps the business owner will find that the 15% product margins on the computer hardware sales are being eaten up by the free installation costs. The software as a service provides the business with 60% profit margins, 20% of the sales revenue and 80% of the overall profit. This kind of information allows the business owner to market their product differently. Emphasis on converting hardware customers to software as a service clients with 15 days free trials will allow the hardware to be a loss or break even leader into the client. The hardware business is now known to be the lead generator for the software as a service business. Or the business owner may find that the 15% margins on hardware sales are not enough to support the service and administrative costs. The owner now has information that can be used to transform the business from a hardware supplier to software provider. Another software as a service offering can be provided as the basic infrastructure is in place and the expansion of services can result is higher margins and better cash flow.

Activity Based Costing is a powerful decision making tool for the business owner. It can be the difference between the business breaking through or breaking down.

Discover Profits Through Activity Based Costing

Recruitment Companies' Procedure

Recruitment Companies

Recruitment in general is a procedure whereby a company that requires staff hires the services of another company to select appropriate employees based their skills and attributes. Many smaller companies rely on filling vacancies by recruiting friends or contacts of existing employees of the company. Or they may advertise in the local media, such as newspapers and magazines.

Human Resource Software

For larger companies, this is not always practical, as it may not be possible to fill large numbers of positions through contacts of existing employees and in-house advertising. In this case, medium to large sized businesses will enlist the help of a local or national recruitment agency, often working alongside their own personnel or human resources department.

For a modern recruitment agency, whether it be a more traditional recruitment business with premises in the local high street or the local town, recruitment software is now something of a necessity.

Recruitment Procedure

The typical recruitment company procedure will begin by discussing the vacancy or vacancies with the client. Nailing down accurate information about the vacancy to be filled is the first step in successfully filling that position. Following on from this, the recruitment company may pursue a number of avenues to fulfill the role, including, as mentioned before, local or national newspapers, magazines, websites, and as is becoming more common these days, posting the vacancy on the recruitment company's own website.

From the candidates' applications and CV's, the recruitment company will run through their own selection process. A candidate's aptitude for a particular role will be graded depending upon the skills required for that role, whether that be typing speed, or knowledge of particular applications or programs such as Microsoft Office. Certain positions may require in-depth psychometric testing, along with personality tests, and maths, language and reasoning tests.

Filling the Vacancy

The candidate may then be required to attend an interview with the client for further assessment, and assuming the recruitment procedure was sound, a reasonable percentage of potential candidates should be offered positions with the client.

Recruitment Companies' Procedure

Employee Performance Appraisal Management System: An Overview

Career progression of a professional owes much to the outcomes of his or her performance appraisal by the human resource officials of his or her organization. Performance appraisal provides them with feedback that deals with their performance category, quality, and several other contributions to their organizations. Managers, peers, subordinates, and customers analyze the performances and the core values of the employees and also their behavioral practices against a number of attributes or objectives. They use scalar or numerical rating system for evaluating performance. Performance ratings are given to an employee in terms of quality, quantity, time and cost.

In fact, employee performance measurement is a critical task based on review and calculation. Their recent contributions to their companies, their successes and failures, and personal strengths and weaknesses are reviewed by the human resource management officials and as per the outcomes of the review, they decide if the employees should be promoted or they require further training to better suit them with their positions. The most interesting thing is that the review task is definitely monitored by the HR officials, but the task of performance appraisal is done by human resource management software.

Human Resource Software

However, seniors officials, colleagues as well as company associates are tasked to supervise and measure performances of employees of an organization. Even, the concerned employees are also encouraged to self-assess their performances. This process is popularly known as 360-degree appraisal management system. A quality and scrupulous performance appraisal benefits both the company and its employees equally. Should both of them cooperate with each other in this regard; they will be able to promote mutual understanding of their individual needs, business goals and parameters of acceptable performance.

In contrast to these days, employee performance evaluation was performed manually till a few years ago. It has now become web-based with allowing the HR management of a company to perform the assessment task faster and conveniently. Also, the results the online system generates are seamless. With using this valuable system, human resource department of a company can make their decisions and produce flawless the feedback about their employees. There are several purposes and benefits that a user of a performance appraisal system can gain.

Common Purposes of Using an Appraisal System: An appraisal system generates feedback about employees of a user company. On the basis of feedback, HR department of that company can make right decision about the concerned employees also whether they deserve promotion, or require further training. So, while different career factors of an employee depend upon the system-generated feedback, the user company should inform their employees why and how the system is going to be used well in advance, so that employees should also be aware of the pros and cons of the system and its evaluating procedures. Here is a lit of purposes why such system is important for a company.

1. To provide suggestions or feedback about employee performance
2. To point out factors that recommend further training
3. To keep the employees informed about required parameters to win organizational rewards
4. To help make decisions about salary progression, bonuses, promotions, etc. about employees
5. To help the user company to diagnose faults and to amend them accordingly
6. To bridge the gap, if any, between employers and employees
7. To help employees improve themselves through counseling, coaching and orientation sessions
8. To measure if the core values are being followed by the employees
9. To identify if the employees are focused on the set behavioral parameters

The ultimate goal of using performance appraisal system is to move the business forward. So, if a user company can ensure that evaluation of its customer service can help it to reach to its target, then it should consider using the system for the evaluation of performances of all those employees associated with the customer service of the company. Upon considering the results as generated by the system, the company can make decisions about the salary increment, promotions, or giving other benefits to the employees.

So, it is very crucial to decide who is to be evaluated, how they will be evaluated, and what strategic objectives are to be given importance. And, as per the decision, a company should consider which kind of performance appraisal system will be used for. They should go for the one which suits them better. Here are examples of some methods used for evaluating performances of the professionals of a company.

Question & Answer Based Method: Senior officials are asked to answer to some typical questions about their junior colleagues. The answers are, however, purely subjective and evaluated by the system and the system generates feedback accordingly.

Graphic Based Method: As per the increase and decrease of performances of employees, the graphic chart of the system goes up and down with definite and varying marks and standards. This is a popular method for assessing performances of employees.

Peer Vote Based Method: The peers are asked to vote for their colleagues and give views about them as to whether their colleagues are following performance benchmarks of their company.

Objective Based Method: With using an assessment system, a user company can closely monitor the performances of its employees. The system oversees the performances of the employees and generates unbiased or objective results. On retrieving the results from the system, the management of the user company can make appropriate decisions about their employees.

If a company uses such system, it can either customize the application as per its requirements, or else can combine elements of all these methods to optimize the utilities of the system. However, whatever the kind of assessment tools is being used by a company, its employees should be made known about its way of monitoring, so that they can perform or at least try to perform to meet the set-benchmarks of their organizations.

Employee Performance Appraisal Management System: An Overview

Automation Is Not a Four-Letter Word

In recent years the purpose of automation has shifted from increasing productivity and reducing costs, to broader issues, such as increasing quality and flexibility...Wikipedia

Automation for the service-based business may seem contrary to the mission of your company, to directly and humanly serve the needs of your client in a way that significantly impacts his or her life.

Human Resource Software

We're all too familiar with the automated response answering systems that either prohibit one from talking to a person, or bury access to a live person so far into the key punch system that you can't find it, or worse, hit the wrong key and have to start over again. Gone are the days when simply pressing "0" to get an operator worked.

When I talk about automation I'm not talking about that. I am, however, talking about utilizing smart, simple systems to automate certain aspects of running your business and serving your customers in such a way that the customer is consistently and effectively served, and you - and others on your team - are free from continuously getting stuck in the repeating, mundane activities of doing what needs to be done.

"When you take the time to design your lead generation, nurturing, and conversion processes like the big guys, and then hook the system together with the right moving parts, you can compete with any size organization." ~ John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing

Following is my short list of the types of tasks and projects that you can automate without losing sight of your customer.

Routine follow-up email after product sales. Routine email communications for programs you lead. On-line scheduling that puts making and changing appointments in the hands of your customers, yet works within your availability. Appointment reminders Invoice preparation and payment receipt for recurring orders and services Answering the phone and getting messages Response to email inquiries (some of them) Forms and documents to on-board new clients Anything that's "plug-n-play," allowing you to fill in blanks and create wonderful looking documents

Here are just a few tools that are out there for your different needs:

Swift Page: to create marketing plans that automate outreach to your prospects.

GotVMail: a virtual phone system for entrepreneurs; starts at .95 a month

AmazingMail: Web-based system to design, print, and mail postcards, direct mail pieces, announcements, invitations, and more.

AWeber: to automate your email marketing. Integrate your newsletter, customer and prospect database follow-up campaigns all in one service.

HourTown: Online scheduling software for small business owners. (I'm looking at this one now.)

AssistU.com: need a Virtual Assistant? Ask around or start here and fill out an RFP.

Automation is liberating, but it's not sexy. It often comes with a learning curve. If you're one of those business owners that is still doing just about everything yourself, you're probably not going to have enough time to learn how to use something that can help you get routine tasks done more quickly, easily, and without you at the keyboard or answering the phone. Heck, you probably won't have the time to research it either. Wouldn't this be another reason to add someone to your team to do these kinds of things for you?

Automation Is Not a Four-Letter Word

Telecommuting Policy Development - Top Ten Tips

Telecommuting offers a lot of benefits to both the employer and employees. For the company, the set up means a more cost-effective way of operating business functions because less energy is consumed for the performance of daily tasks. There is also little need to manage a huge workspace when most of the workers are accomplishing their assigned tasks from outside the office. For employees, working from home allows them to save from the expenses incurred commuting to and from the office. It also gives them an opportunity to spend more time with their families, as in the case of WAHM (work at home mom), and reduce work-related stress.

Developing a work-at-home policy: A guide for HR managers

Human Resource Software

Managing telecommuting programs is different from supervising actual workers in person. To maximize the benefit of telecommuting, it's important for supervisors to learn how to work with remote teams from a virtual office.
Before anything else, however, you need to devise a policy that covers flexible work options and managing virtual workers. Such concepts as maintaining workplace flexibility and wage and hour laws must be taken into consideration.

Here are top ten tips in developing a telecommuting policy.

Identify your business needs. It's important to list how having people work from outside the office would benefit your business, and assess if the benefits outweigh the consequences. Your policy needs to sufficiently address the expectations of your company as far as work output and human resources are concerned. Identify who can telecommute. Understand that not everyone in your company can and should be allowed to work from home. Managing telecommuting arrangements means overseeing to the productivity of people who are not within shouting distance so you wouldn't be able check on the quality of their output until the work is actually submitted to you. As such, developing a telecommuting policy needs to include creating requirements for those who want to telecommute. For instance, you need teleworkers who are organized, exhibit strong problem solving abilities, and have excellent communication skills, among other skill sets. Your policy should constitute a clear criterion for determining who can work from home so you can easily defend your decisions later on. Beyond the individual's skill sets, you must also look into which positions in your organization lend themselves to telecommuting. Some positions will not be affected at all if the worker becomes a teleworker; others may be impossible to fill with a remote worker. Implement guidelines for dependent care. While working from home does have the added benefit of being able to spend more time with one's family, it should not be taken as an alternative to making arrangements for dependent care. Work productivity will be compromised if the teleworker has to attend to the children while drafting documents for the virtual office. Formalize agreements on equipment Your policies should also consider the types of equipment that a telecommuter would need to be able to work efficiently out of the office. The agreement has to stipulate who will provide the equipment for the worker. Some companies provide computers and allowances for internet services to their remote teams while there are those who don't. In the latter case, flexible work options are usually provided as alternatives to working in the office. Employees still have the choice to show up and finish their work in the conventional workspace provided for them. Ensure employee safety. It's also important to make sure that your agreement clarifies who is responsible for employee safety when the worker is accomplishing his tasks from home. You can hold your workers accountable for maintaining the safety of their home workplace. In addition, you can provide a clause that allows you, the employer, to inspect the home workspace to make sure that it follows the guidelines stipulated in the agreement. Ensure confidentiality. Company information is another consideration when managing virtual workers. Business data may be compromised since workers are accessing them from outside the office. As such, it's important to stipulate in the agreement ownership of information and company documents in case the employee leaves your company. This should be clearly spelled out and confidentiality of work information should also be underlined. Make sure that technology is available. If you're going to hire virtual employees, you need to also include a technology checklist of what you require the applicant to have to qualify as a telecommuter. Technology is important when maintaining a virtual workspace, so new hires should have devices such as a dedicated phone line for business, three-way calling systems, high-speed internet access and fax machine among others. Wage and hour laws If unprepared, a human resource manager may be forced to face a minefield of issues on wage and hour laws. You need to navigate this carefully in order to avoid liability. Record and track all hours worked by employees who telecommute. You may consider installing timekeeping software for the equipment / computers given to employees, as punching the usual timeclock is not possible. Determine a system of properly compensating telecommuting workers for all hours worked, plus overtime (if they are not exempt). The biggest problem here is how to compensate telecommuting employees who sit idly, waiting for instructions. Keep in mind that telecommuters may be considered "on call" 24/7. Make sure that it is clear to the employees whether they "engaged to be waiting" (as in firemen, for whom the waiting time is working time) or "waiting to be engaged" (which means they can do what they like as long as they are available by email, cell, etc.) Quality metrics To gauge the effectiveness of a telecommuting program, you need to devise certain metrics for quality of service. It's important for you to make sure that your employees are still performing according to your expectations. Just like in any work situation, quality, quantity, cost-effectiveness, and timeliness ate the four main measures to review. Once you have established performance measures, you need to establish a feedback system, which helps maintain good performance. Additionally, telecommuting employees need a channel with which to keep their managers informed about their work progress. Communication Finally, one important detail that you need to consider when developing a telecommuting policy is communication. The policies should include information on how often you expect your workers to check their e-mails, for instance, so they're kept updated. Communication should never be one-way; thus, you also need to establish and follow guidelines on how employees can reach their supervisors - who may also be telecommuting.

Telecommuting Policy Development - Top Ten Tips

Who's Got Your Employees?

When you think about your competitors, what goes on in your mind? Do you think about besting their advertising or prices? Do you think about that competitive analysis you did when trying to determine whether your business would be viable? Or do you think about your employees?

But your employees aren't your competition, you say? True. But the companies that used to employ them are ... they are your competition for skilled employees. Just because another company is not in your industry or niche doesn't mean they aren't your competitor for whatever talent is in your local job market.

Human Resource Software

As an employer and supervisor, you need to keep your mind open to the possibilities of cross-industry job skills. There is a lack of this type of thinking in most companies and it lessens your ability to recruit a well-rounded team. The best way to broaden your recruiting options is to give serious thought as to exactly which skills are needed for the job. Then ask yourself if those skills are only used in your particular industry or niche. The answer, if you're honest, is usually no.

If you're hiring a brain surgeon, then the market will be limited to a specific niche. However, if you're recruiting accounting, HR, clerical, or marketing positions, it's easier to see that the basic job skills can easily adapt to any industry. Electrical engineers, software engineers, and other technical positions can also adapt with a learning curve.

Learning about a new industry can make the initial few months of a new job a little harder but, if you've hired a good worker with strong skills, it's certainly an easy way to widen the circle of candidates for your open positions. Keep in mind that even you started out without knowing much about your industry and had to learn what you now know.

I'm not advising that you hire everyone from other industries. There is a lot to be said for having strong industry knowledge within your company. However, as long as that knowledge is available and shared, don't restrict yourself from hiring skilled employees in other industries.

Who's Got Your Employees?

Outsourcing Software Development - A Way to Custom Software Solutions

Outsourcing Software Development involves repositioning of software development activities by a company to third party service vendors or software firms that may be located in offshore destinations. It can save you time and money if you know what you need. Development is a specialized task that involves huge investments and a specialized workforce. Outsourcing the same could give the companies a chance to develop software at a lower rate, employ specialized labor at a cheaper cost, promote software research and save time. This is the reason why most companies decide to outsource their software development activities to offshore destinations, like India.

Whether you need a dynamic, database-driven website or a fully functioning e-commerce website, Outsourcing Software Development services in India have the creative talent and technical expertise to accommodate your company's web development needs. Any company can save about 40% of its expenses by outsourcing project overseas. There is no doubt that it is a most effective way to stretch your budget. Many organizations use Outsourcing their Software Development projects to India to reduce their costs.

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The traditional approach to outsourcing development projects typically follows a single strategy. You begin by negotiating a contract, which may be based on previously defined requirements or may include the effort of gathering, documenting and validating fresh requirements. The Outsourcing service then works to your requirements to develop the system. Regular communication helps resolve potential misunderstandings.

Advantages of Outsourcing Software Development:

Getting access to specialized labor at low rates Cutting human resource costs Cutting operational costs Reducing software project expenditure Ensuring proper project management Software research at lower rates Reducing training costs

The success of any outsourced project depends on many factors; Companies specially in US and Canada are looking to outsource their software development projects to India and Indian Companies are becoming a profitable choice for them. This is because they, being a mid sized and growing custom software development companies, understand their client's business process very well and can then convert it into IT solutions, thereby fulfilling the client's needs and requirements.

So for the software development companies, irrespective of whether they are in US, Canada or EU, willing to outsource their projects should try out Indian companies to know the quality and expertise they cherish. Because it is always better to try out before trusting.

Outsourcing Software Development - A Way to Custom Software Solutions

Modern Shifts and Strategies in Elearning Online

Virtual learning has more than evolved in one way. From its basic mode of teaching students through online means to its now more comprehensive, intricate and not mention expensive trainings for employees in various lines of work. The ever changing demographics and search for talents will always spark a battle between competitors of the same industries and so having an ace in the hole or a trick up their sleeves is nothing but essential for these companies.

However, in order for them to keep their edges sharp and their guns loaded, the power of identifying and coursing what trends, shifts and other upgrades in technology is available will become a valuable asset for any company. In the elearning industry some current shifts now include:

Human Resource Software

Content Control - it is important for any elearning online company who aims to more than just compete to know how to control and update their content. Interactivity is of course key to bridging the information to the users; however, if the content is poor it is reasonable to conclude that the result will be as well. One should not expect high quality performance from a learner if what was fed to him was not good enough from the beginning.

Content control can be associated with the software upgrades. The learning application should be able to carry and improve various tasks like quick editing, material change and flexibly assigning roles and duties to users that could be modified to the user's advantage. Other tasks could include the increase of multi lingual versions and make information in the content available in databases and frequently asked questions. Most of these tasks are directed to the management and is a clear sign that elearning has also become a management system in itself.

Evolution of Perspectives - elearning online is a constant development with the acquisition of data from the surroundings or a given material and so are its processes. If formerly, the use of learning systems were bound by paper and pen, now the quest of going beyond phones, videos, and radios is on in search for better and faster ideas in making online learning fast and marketable. Webcast was a product of such quests with some companies now using various solutions in presenting cost effective tools for Webcast. Another example of this is the use of blended learning wherein there is a mixture of both a conventional classroom type of education as well as an online one.

Human Resources Development - an offshoot on the growth of learning institutions, the human resources department will of course develop and improve in its own methods since the training is strictly reserved for qualified applicants and personnel. The human resources have become more and more in demand to the point that its role can be associated with the role of the manager. HR procedures will now unavoidably have management processes since it will dictate some of the organizational arrangements to be done with the talents. They will be the ones to identify which talent is suited best for what purpose and where will these talents be allocated to. Although not entirely a management process, the workforce plan will come to their hands since they will be the ones to know best on which talents to develop or reallocate.

Modern Shifts and Strategies in Elearning Online

Tips to Help Manage Your Business Effectively

Businesses are not easy to manage. In fact, setting up and running a business in itself is a big task, let alone managing it successfully. Many people get easily distressed and discouraged after suffering initial losses and leave their business plans and strategies for good. Some even totally change their career paths and instead try to get old style jobs where there is no opportunity to grow and excel in life.

If you are facing the same situation and thinking about abandoning your business plans, following tips might help you a great deal.

Human Resource Software

Plan a strategy

The best way to manage your business effectively is through an effective planning. You can easily do this by planning a defined strategy for business. You first need to etch out a great strategy that should focus on both the positive and negative outcomes of a potential business plan. The best way is to prepare for failure rather than success as most first ventures have limited chances of success.

The strategy should focus on disaster management after a failure and the ability to get out of financial mess. However, this does not mean that you should forget about success. The strategy should always be geared towards success, but with a significant attention towards possible failure. If you taste success in the first phase then it would certainly be a great achievement.

Gather resources

Even more important is the availability of monetary and human resources to carry out the business strategy. A business cannot run properly if it runs outs of finances at the very crucial stage. A budding businessman has to make sure that enough financial resources are available to sustain the first phase of business management.

The second, and more important factor, is the availability of good human resources. Most businesses do not care much about hiring good talent that can help the nascent business to get some success. This good human resource can either be a good working force at the lower level or a couple of good managers that know how to run a new business. Whatsoever maybe the case, a good human resource and a significant amount of money makes a business sustainable and profitable?

Innovation

This is the third most important factor in running a business. Although many people do try to have enough monetary resources and human resource, they do not try to evoke business innovation in their business strategy. Just consider a business starting its operations in a field that is already saturated by hundreds or even thousands of competitors.

Innovation can be done in a number of ways. The best possible way of innovation in a business can be in the form of launching a new product that is different from the others available in the market. Additionally, you can make it unique by adding some extra features or offering discounts. Advertisements, if catchy and innovative, can also play a great role in helping a business attracting more customers.

Tips to Help Manage Your Business Effectively

Need Of Human Resource Management System Software

Human resource department of any organization is the heart of that organization. Human resource management system software is basically application software that is programmed to allow the employers to efficiently handle their employees for perfect allocation. This software has the database that saves the important details of employees including their salary, number of hours worked, their personal details etc.

One of the most effective ways to improve the workforce productivity is through superior resource management. In order to manage the entire business of an organization, effective planning is necessary. HR management plan helps in doing the same. An individual looking after this post should solely have the entire knowledge about the company, its turnover, the number of employees working in each department, requirements of clients etc.

Human Resource Software

In a big organization, it is really difficult to manually keep the entire analysis of exact demand and supply of human resources for future requirements. This can happen due to lack of visibility of workstations caused by complicated organizational structures and matrix management. HR management becomes more difficult if the organization operates from multiple sites. Here comes the immense need of specific software that will keep the record of personnel efficiently.

The human resource management system software effectively helps in reducing the tedious job of paper work related to administration details, compiling it into an extremely sophisticated and spontaneous management system. This software provides an excellent platform for the progress in business presentation, effectively minimizing the organization costs.

In the market, there are varieties of human resource software available today. This software comes in different modules, each module is identified to perform specific function. Those modules can be combined into the rest of the modules too, depending upon the requirements. While purchasing such software for your organization, budget is also of utmost importance.

Need Of Human Resource Management System Software

Payroll Department and Human Resources

The Payroll Department of Human Resources is a very important aspect of the department of human resources. Payroll tasks are in no way just for the human resource, it is up to all the other people who work by the establishment. Making note of in the amount of employees in the organization will determine the volume of labor will need to be included to payroll.

Payroll includes not only printing checks or handing out pay stubs; but also involves benefits, taxes, the insurance, worker's recompense and funds for the pension. It is an extremely complex and tiring task and will require specific bookkeeping training.

Human Resource Software

You will find that there is a lot of different software as well as program that will offer your staff training in payroll.

Payroll is normally a beginner level job in human resources. It'll frequently depends on the variation of business it is and in what manner they will operate. While showing the staff remember to show them accounting in addition to some payroll procedures. In fact, if the business is big enough, then there could be one human resource worker whose only job is payroll.

The one in authority of the payroll for human resources must contend with all the numbers and must also be able of dealing with associates who work by the organization. The worker who handles the payroll should be capable to talk the angry workers that are complaining about misunderstandings in hours and issues with their pay. Having the payroll workers on your staff gives individuals an easier way of get issues relayed and problems fixed quickly.

Another irreplaceable section of the main payroll worker of human resources is to be instructed to find the issue on the checks and fix them. In theory they should be able to matching up all of the numbers from the payroll check against the matching record books.

Payroll could become a lot more complicated for a human resource associate, so if there are a unmanageable number of deductions, badly recorded hours, or even an off site account firm that processes the checks and stubs, it is the sole liability of the human resource payroll department associates to fix and update, records prior to handing payroll off to the accountant. Efficiency is a in disposable aspect for the workers on payroll staff and disclosing details quickly to the accountant is worth a lot.

Payroll Department and Human Resources

A Simple Guide to Purchasing HRMS Tools and Packages

We presently live in an age where information technology has found its way to different aspects of our lives - may we be at home, in school, at work or even just spending some leisure time in the park. And indeed, the fusion of information technology with the everyday things that we do has proven to be valuable. The same is true when it comes to how information technology has changed the shape of and improve several business functions. Human resources is just one part of business that has benefited much from the introduction of information technology systems. It is no secret that human resources consumes a lot of time and effort, not to mention paperwork.

To help human resources people free themselves of the burden of tons and tons of paperwork, software development companies have started to introduce human resources management systems. HRMS tools are quite helpful because they take away the paperwork produced by different human resources functions - from job posting to recruiting to training and even benefits and compensation.

Human Resource Software

Several companies these days have started to implement a certain kind of HRMS and they all aim to make their human resources departments be more efficient and effective in answering the needs of the most valuable assets of every business: its people. There are several HRMS packages out there and it is quite possible for you to find one that would best meet your expectations.

So what are the factors that need to be considered in evaluating HRIS packages? One obvious answer is their features. It helps to review what a certain HR information system can offer before you start narrowing down your options. You will also need to check the different price plans. Finding the best HRIS for your organization does not involve purchasing the most expensive HRMS package in the planet. It simply needs to meet your expectations in terms of features and you have to see to it that it falls in a price range that is within your budget for the fiscal year.

These are only some of the things that you will need to consider in selecting a human resources management system for your business. You will also need to ask yourself whether you are planning to buy the HRMS itself or perhaps you simply want to join in the bandwagon. HRIS packages can come with a hefty price tag, so you better take caution in your actions.

A Simple Guide to Purchasing HRMS Tools and Packages

Have You Heard of ATS Applicant Tracking?

While most business people have heard of ATS applicant tracking, not all small business owners have heard specifically of what this type of targeted business technology can do to help them to grow their businesses. That is because in the early days of this type of technology, many small business owners tended to file this type of technology in the realm of big business with full out, dedicated human resources management departments. In today's world, businesses of all types and sizes are have become far more technology dependent and, today, small businesses especially can gain from the increased reach and efficiency that these type of technologies offer.

The globalization of the marketplace and the economy as a whole is a huge factor in this change of perspective. Thanks to information management and communication technologies, even small businesses can operate on a global level, with production operations scattered across the nations of the world, meeting the needs of a customer base that spans the globe. Applicant tracking systems and recruitment software allow businesses of all sizes to dip into a far broader pool of potential recruits than they were in the past, improving production and growing their businesses in ways that just weren't possible in the past.

Human Resource Software

Small businesses not of the size to merit a dedicated human resource department staff yet needing exactly that to take their business to the next level of success now have the option of using a more efficient option. The information management tasks that the leading applicant tracking systems can perform surpass that of even the most expertly staffed human resource management teams, simply because they can perform those tasks so much more quickly and on a much broader scale. With the usability that the recruiting software and applicant tracking systems of today are designed with, there's no need to be a computer expert. The average business owner that is reasonably familiar with basic computer operation will do just fine.

Cost used to be prohibitive for small business owners; another reason many never paid too much attention to how these types of systems and software options could help grow their businesses, and really haven't heard about what ATS applicant tracking has to offer them. That has changed dramatically. As the technology supporting recruiting software and application tracking software improved, it also become more affordable. The new cloud based systems and software as a service options have significantly reduced the upfront costs of utilizing these types of targeted business solutions, making them far more accessible to businesses of all sizes.

ATS applicant tracking is a smart way to recruit the most effective employees, helping to increase the overall success of your organization. This type of system can help facilitate information accessibility, an important element for small businesses operating across wide geographic areas. Staying in compliance with employment law becomes a much less complex process, and the efficiency gained with this type of system will reduce the time and costs associated with staffing. This cost-effective solution is a real benefit to all businesses, but most especially small businesses seeking to expand their reach and their success.

Have You Heard of ATS Applicant Tracking?

Payroll Software Has Added Teeth to HR Process

Payroll software has ensured zero error and time disbursement of salaries. Even it enables to execute the crucial steps associated with Wage-Protection-System like generating SIF. Appraisal-management-system has become more precise with the help of HR-management-system combined with Payroll module.

In today's jet age, companies always explore ways to enhance productivity, reduce functional cost and reduce error margin. Cutting-edge software packages have made their tasks easier. Payroll software is one of them that has ensured pace in daily HR activities. HRMS or Human Resource Management System is a comprehensive package that enables companies to catch with the fast-changing time. Payroll software is a powerful specimen of that tool. Through this automated tool, multiple tasks can be performed with only a few mouse clicks.

Human Resource Software

HR managers perform crucial roles in ensuring utmost motivation level for the work force. Properly salary disbursement is a key to ensure better involvement of the employees. It has been often noticed that poor handling of the salary and other crucial monetary transactions leads to employee agitation in a covert way and unhealthy grapevine rumors. So, to ensure professional approach of the employees, higher authorities should act professionally themselves. Payroll software is a vital tool to ensure that.

Without comprehensive and tailor-made HR-management-system, companies will no doubt loss an edge in the cut-throat competition. Its significance is very much visible in the interview process or even the employee wise appraisal phase. Appraisal-management-system is a unique offering of HRMS that enables to execute all the necessary steps associated with the process.

Payroll software offers the HR manager to address all the latest requirement, WPS (Wage-Protection-System) has become a norm as per Government regulations in several Gulf regions. To take care of WPS-Dubai, payroll tool offers its service. Through it, SIF can be generated. So, payroll management tool has provided the HR wings with more teeth to perform tasks better. So, the employees have little reasons to show their dissents.

Payroll Software Has Added Teeth to HR Process

Telepresence Managed Services - Best Practices

THE ROLE OF MANAGED SERVICES FOR TELEPRESENCE

Over the last 12 months, there has been a dramatic increase in the attention that video has received in regards to inter and intra office communications. On a global scale, the introduction of telepresence is making a resounding impact and causing enterprises to change the way they communicate by incorporating video as an essential ingredient in their communications mix. And to that end, the role of the Managed Service provider in the video and telepresence space has become increasingly relevant. In many cases, it's the Managed Service that can play the key difference in the success or failure of telepresence in the organization.

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Understanding Telepresence

Before one can fully appreciate the role that a service provider plays as it relates to Telepresence, it's important to understand what telepresence actually represents. Telepresence is a term coined to describe a video communication solution, where the audio, visual and physical elements of a meeting room environment are designed in a way to create an immersive experience. In addition to identical or nearly identical furniture, monitors, cameras, speakers and video devices which are installed at offices in different locations, telepresence equipped locations use an IP network for connectivity. When a video meeting is initiated, the people on either side see and hear each other in a high quality, life size image which yields the appearance that they are actually sitting in the same room. Because of this arrangement of cameras, monitors and speakers, the technology becomes part of the room and the meeting participants become immersed in the experience, focusing on the agenda of the meeting, rather than on the technology that is driving it.

Is this just video conferencing under another name?

Yes and No - Telepresence is in fact a form of video conferencing. Beyond overall adoption challenges, video conferencing has been faced with other perceived barriers including: quality of the network, non-standard room environments, and lack of widely accessible expertise / support.

Network - When initially introduced video conferencing was invariably compared to the television and telephone - both of which took many years to be perfected but have now become synonymous with reliability and quality. In a similar fashion, traditional video conferencing has been slow to evolve into a fully reliable communications method due to the limited quality and capacity of network types (such as ISDN), ease of use issues and lack of reliability. Additionally, there was limited focus and expertise focused on addressing these issues that caused an inconsistent and poor experience to the users of the technologies.

Room Environments - Traditional video conferencing equipment was often purchased and placed in conference rooms with little or no regard to the quality of lighting, the audio or the placement of the camera for optimal coverage of meeting participants. With video systems in vulnerable positions and capable of being moved out of position, there was a high potential for a poor overall experience. In fact, users often complained they could not see or hear people at other sites with the cause being more related to poor lighting, acoustics, and room layout rather than the equipment or the network.

Support / Expertise - Traditional video conferencing also suffered from a lack of overall support and "ownership", having rarely received the appropriate level of attention that other "mission critical" applications were given. The result was a perceived difficulty in using video and even worse, many employees not even being made aware that video conferencing was a communication tool available to them.

Beginning in late 2000, the transition to IP and the creation of a new breed of service provider dedicated to supporting video communications yielded significant strides in improving the overall reliability, ease of use and performance. With these improvements, video conferencing adoption began to occur in many organizations. At the same time, with greater importance being placed on "green" methods and cost reduction efforts, video was on the verge of becoming a "mission critical" application.

A new era of Video Conferencing emerges: Telepresence

Originally marketed by a company called Telesuites, telepresence has in fact been available for a number of years. Telesuites gained early traction by building and managing "telepresence-type" rooms for several organizations around the world. That said, the term telepresence did not become prevalent until some big technology companies, including HP and Cisco recognized the potential and began marketing the concept globally. There was a common objective: join the emerging video communications market, but distance the "new generation" technologies from the negative connotations associated with the term video conferencing.

With its launch of Telepresence in 2006, Cisco and their CEO, John Chambers have become the driving force for global awareness of Telepresence and have yielded the video market world-wide attention and increased adoption. Since that time, all the leading Video Conferencing industry manufacturers have added to the accelerated adoption and awareness by launching Telepresence solutions of their own.

And telepresence is coming full-circle. Although Telepresence is regarded as a room, immersive experience and, in its original form, includes a complete "room" configuration, several manufacturers are moving toward single screen stand alone models that resemble traditional video conferencing systems.

These developments have driven a new expectation level that represents a significant change from the traditional video conferencing era such that high quality "Telepresence" immersive experiences have become the benchmark for quality and performance of video in the business community.

Markets projections driven by the Telepresence era

There are many conditions driving an increased demand for high quality video communications. Global Warming, rising fuel prices, an economic downturn and terrorism have all combined to create a "perfect storm" of demand for Telepresence. The different approaches by new and traditional providers to capitalize on this emerging market have added to the awareness and attention.

According to the IDC and Cisco, The worldwide revenue opportunity for telepresence is projected to be billion (U.S.) by 2011, with the largest portion of the revenue (.8 billion) driven by network and managed service revenues. Of the .8 billion, .5 billion will be attributed to managed services and .3 billion for network connectivity.

Telepresence is increasingly being sought as a collaboration tool between business partners and customers. Although the price tag of installing a telepresence room (ranging from 0k to as high as 0k) may seem to indicate that it is only designed for C level executives, in reality telepresence technology is designed to help any organization reduce costs and improve communications. In addition to playing an important role in addressing the issue of global warming and carbon footprint reduction, telepresence can help organizations save money on travel and can help to increase productivity.

A recent study by TRI, which included discussions with organizations who are using telepresence, identified the following business objectives behind telepresence:

- Greater operational efficiency,
- Optimization of global resources & competencies,
- Mitigate risk & promote secure business interactions,
- Raise quality of life, and
- Promote a homogeneous, robust culture.

Respondents to the study had the following to say about telepresence: "Telepresence provides significant communications benefits. It is a far more efficient approach to working."

"Telepresence provides a meeting across the seas as easy to set up as walking down the corridor to gather up colleagues."

"Telepresence is not just about saving money on international travel, it is about getting smarter at communication, strategy, and collaboration."

Clearly, telepresence has the ability to impact the bottom line of any organization in a positive way with both quantitative benefits and qualitative value. But how does it compare to video conferencing?

Telepresence offers great quality, yields a fantastic experience, and users love it...

So where's the "But?"

As with any new generation of technology there are few key barriers to consider:

1) Interoperability - many companies already have made a significant investment in "traditional" video conferencing equipment and need to leverage both the traditional and the Telepresence solutions.

2) Bandwidth - the great video quality and reliability comes at a high cost in terms of network bandwidth. Each room's set up uses 3 or more video codec's that require an average of 15MB of network bandwidth.

3) Investment - while the rooms are specially designed and integrated, they represent a considerable amount of equipment that must all function properly in order for the experience to be high quality and reliable.

4) Resources - the ability to establish multi-point (several rooms in one session) Telepresence calls requires additional investment and appropriately trained resources.

So when everything is operating and functioning properly, Telepresence offers a superior experience to the users. However, support of Telepresence rooms can be a daunting task and most organizations lack the expertise and available resources to dedicate to this effort. As a result, a new type of video managed services has emerged which is routinely offered along with Telepresence rooms called "VNOC" services.

VNOC stands for "Video or Virtual" Network Operations Center and is generally comprised of a suite of services tailored specifically for the unique requirements of Telepresence rooms.

VNOC services are a critical component of the telepresence experience because:

- The complete telepresence experience must consistently satisfy end users under the most demanding conditions.
- The adoption rate and overall productivity of a telepresence investment is directly related to user experience on a day-to-day basis.
- The benefits of a telepresence solution can only be fully realized by leveraging the expertise of a Telepresence VNOC Service Provider.
- The right service and support can make the link between telepresence and video conferencing appear seamless.
- Business to Business and the advent of public room rental using Telepresence technology is available without added investment or effort.

According to Frost & Sullivan, telepresence revenues are expected to increase by nearly 850% within the next five years. This means that telepresence and video conferencing will no longer be optional communication methods, as they will be essential for organizations to be competitive and demonstrate improved productivity, efficiency, and to have the ability to communicate with other organization's video platforms on public or private networks.

In order for Telepresence to avoid the challenges and pitfalls of the past and achieve wide adoption, it will require that:

- Video technology from different manufacturers will need to successfully communicate with one another and interoperability must be achieved.
- The complexity of room scheduling and call launching calls must be overcome.
- The technology must be as reliable and consistent as using the telephone.
- Analysis and information about room usage and productivity must be readily available.
- The technology must be "always on" with help and support available as it is with typical help desk availability.
- Seamless communication with private or public environments must be achieved.

The FOUR FACTORS to Properly Evaluate VNOC Service Providers

There is more to a successful telepresence experience than just installing the room and equipment. Utilizing a VNOC Service Provider should not be considered optional or a luxury. Even if you do have the internal resources available, you should be sure that you have access to a team of specialists dedicated to keeping up with equipment and software changes and they should be trained and certified on all the various "standards-based" platforms for interoperability issues. Even more basic than that, is making sure you have a plan to address some of the simple, most common questions that always arise:

- How do you schedule a meeting? What if there are more than two sites involved in the call?
- How do you launch a call?
- Whom do you contact if there are problems?
- How are users trained?
- Do you have the infrastructure to maintain connectivity to the outside world?

When it comes time to make a decision on a provider, properly evaluating their capabilities is essential. The FOUR FACTORS to consider are as follows:

FACTOR 1 - EXPERIENCE & INFRASTRUCTURE

Ensure that your provider has specific experience in Telepresence and traditional video conferencing, as well as networking, scheduling, multi-point bridging. Your provider must also have a proper infrastructure to enable your environment to private and public environments in a secure fashion.

FACTOR 2 - FLEXIBILITY

Choose a VNOC partner who is not tied to any one particular manufacturer or Telepresence solution as your needs may change and different systems may be chosen for the differing conditional and environmental needs of your locations. It's critical that you retain flexibility so your company doesn't get locked into one technology.

FACTOR 3 - ROBUST AND REDUNDANT SUPPORT RESOURCES

Many organizations focus on the equipment and room aspects of telepresence, but the importance of maintaining a consistent experience worldwide should not be secondary. Your service provider should offer comprehensive support for telepresence facilities through concierge services, remote management, and connectivity on a global basis.

FACTOR 4 - INTEROPERABILITY CAPABILITIES

Pay careful consideration to the provider's ability to offer interoperability compatibility between and SD, HD or telepresence environments and provide both telepresence VNOC services, exchange services, public room access and network services:

What You Should Expect From Your VNOC Service Provider

Proactive Monitoring - 24/365 proactive monitoring of the conferencing equipment and connections should be included to ensure that all equipment is functional and operable on a minute-by-minute basis. A combination of advanced infrastructure technology and experienced personnel should be deployed at all times with escalation and notification procedures in place.

Scheduling and Management - a dedicated toll-free number, a concierge service, and web portal scheduling tools for the user communities should be included. Automation and advanced tools such as integrated outlook and lotus notes capabilities with its confirmation notifications provided to requesters and participants of meetings.

Call Launching and Monitoring - can be handled by an engineer, who manages the successful launch of the call and connection of all sites in the telepresence meeting, including point-to-point and multi-point calls. The VNOC should be able to digitally monitor connectivity levels during sessions and should always be available to ensure a high-quality experience, every time.

Help Desk Support - users should have a single point of technical support for telepresence solutions to ensure a high-quality, uninterrupted experience for every call. Your provider should be able to interface and coordinate with hardware vendors, network providers, and integrators to repair or replace any component parts, network degradation, or resolve room integration issues.

Performance Reporting - provides key metrics on a monthly basis to identify areas of success, as well as areas in need of improvement. The reporting should include the telepresence room, the network, and supporting service levels. Your reporting should be detailed, such that it includes network and room service levels and availability, number of conferences held, total hours of usage, mean time to respond and repair any technical issues, along with a root-cause analysis and corrective action plan, where applicable.

Training - required for ensuring the successful use and adoption of telepresence systems.

It is not only important for users to feel comfortable using the technology, but to also understand the value the technology brings to day-to-day business activities. Using telepresence systems helps improve communications, enhance productivity, and have access to subject matter experts when and where they are needed.

Interoperability Testing and Support - to ensure telepresence systems can connect with other video conferencing rooms and businesses outside of your private network. Make sure the VNOC service provider is experienced in evaluating and testing video communication equipment for reliability and interoperability across manufacturers and access to exchange services for communication with private and public environments in a secure fashion.

A Final Thought

The future for telepresence appears robust. Environmental and economic issues necessitate finding more effective ways to communicate, be more productive and creative, and telepresence is rapidly becoming a "mission critical" application in the communication mix.

While providing a superior experience, today's Telepresence technologies are complex and demanding on your network and human resources. Advancements in technology may very well reduce the complexity over time, but the technology should always be secondary to the reason for using it. It is important to address entire picture - the technology, the service and the support - to ensure success with video programs.

As with any communications tool, Telepresence is best supported when an experienced service provider hides the complexity and simply makes it work, allowing the users to leverage the experience as part of their everyday life.

We are embarking on a visual society that is endless. Whether it means communicating with business executives on the other side of the world on important tasks, providing complex guidance to surgeons in an operating room in a different state or country, or extending your most talented and specialized resources across borders to interact with your most valuable clients, the new era of video communications is here and is no longer just a "nice to have".

The final and most critical decision is to choose the right overall solution for your needs by partnering with the right service to ensure it works anywhere, anytime, for any application.

Telepresence Managed Services - Best Practices

Resource Transparency, Data Accuracy, Reporting Integrity

In the wake of the global financial crisis, one of the big reminders has been that we need honest and transparent information. Businesses need to become transparent with their shareholders, employees and stakeholders at large about what is happening in their business, and what the true costs and forecast of the company is looking like.

For proper transparency a company needs two things: Good data and honest people. However, the reality is, even when a company may have the best of intentions and has honest employees; they still manage to present inaccurate data and end up managing their information in a non transparent manner.

Human Resource Software

There are many organisations who are striving for transparent communication between employees, managers and senior management in terms of what work is being done and how much it's costing and profiting an organisation. Yet, one of the biggest downfalls, even for popular branded companies, is that the data they have on their costs and resources is poorly managed and analysed inefficiently.

This means that one thing that is very beneficial for all companies, regardless of their size, industry or function, is a good resource management software. The largest costs and sources of revenue for a company are dependent on their resources, hence it is critical to track and analyse how resources are employed and managed. All good resource management software should enable the input of accurate data, and should have ability to provide powerful reports that can be produced quickly and easily.

In terms of integrity of data that is input, resource management software should have:

• Customised formulas on the costs and revenues associated with your human and non human resources for your specific company.

• Applications to support the most up to date and real time information on what divisions and projects employees are booked onto, and the level of their utilisation.

• Integrated time management and time sheet application to track the actual hours worked.

• Access for all employees, managers and senior management, with different levels of access and portals for different types of users.

In terms of transparent and accurate reporting, resource management software should be able to:

• Produce a resource utilisation and resource availability report, broken down in terms of individuals, teams, locations and departments, where the utilisation can be analysed in terms days, weeks, months and quarters.

• Produce a capacity vs demand report that communicates the total available capacity of the companies resources, and the total amount of capacity required based on current and future projects and other non project work. Where comparing the reports simultaneously should allow managers to minimise resourcing gaps.

• Produce a planned vs actuals report, allowing a company to improve their forecasting and understand their costs and revenues.

• Enable a manager to analyse data in terms of skills, roles, teams and departments.

• Provide strong visuals in its reports, including a powerful graphical analysis of the data.

Hence, if your company is still using excel spreadsheets, word documents and emails, spending laborious hours producing inaccurate reports, when that time could be better spent elsewhere - make sure that you take the time and money to invest in some decent resource management software.

SAVIOM Resource Management Software is a powerful tool that provides accurate and informative reports at the click of a mouse. It's customisable and user friendly, means that it is easily integrated into the daily operations of the company, and can provide a whole new view to management that your company may not have had.

Resource Transparency, Data Accuracy, Reporting Integrity