Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

Powerpoint Design is ideal for Image and Audio

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September 8th, 2021

Many university students have to give Powerpoint presentations as part of their courses. This component tends to be highly beneficial: placed in the shoes of the teacher as someone who must deliver content and ideas to one’s classmates, the student has to judiciously digest the required reading, ensuring a sufficient understanding of the material in order that he or she might present it favourably. Innovation is key: a student who shows initiative will benefit from the exercise. The aim is to begin with independent learning and to progress through the sharing of ideas and the discussions they engender. Altogether powerpoint design must be taken seriously at university. These are really just another form of sales presentations, albeit for a different audience.

Luckily, the young graduate has time to redress his or her failings. But the job market is tough, and clients are not easily engaged by those who cannot raise their enthusiasm through a medium with the potential to truly appeal. Powerpoint is a fantastic programme when it comes to presenting alluring images and even short excerpts of film. In fact, though many people rush to disparage Powerpoint, the more savvy technophiles know that it’s a very flexible tool, and one that is before its time when we think of what a very imagery-obsessed world we now occupy. Of course, Powerpoint can also be used for the presentation of text, but often it is recommended to distribute text via printed hand-outs. Certainly, a mixture of images and oral presentation will keep your audience awake: they will have to pay attention or risk losing the information. And if you say something noteworthy your audience can jot it down, which is much more environmentally friendly than assuming everyone wants a paper copy of all the material presented.

Powerpoint presentations really shouldn’t induce yawns. Everyone has attended uninspiring seminars and seen badly-constructed slide shows, but smart powerpoint design counts for a lot. Putting a halt to this will make for clients who will enthusiastically embrace sales presentations and endorse the projects and products. That’s the same whether the market is a lecture hall full of students or a room full of sales reps. Powerpoint can be used to engage and inspire, or else to switch off and send to sleep – and the line can be a fine one.

Please visit https://www.eyefulpresentations.co.uk/ for further info

Business, Sales

Shops to rent in North London: a unique demographic

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February 11th, 2021

Shops to rent in North London have a different demographic than other areas of the capital, and when it comes to finding a rental property or a shop for sale in London, the location will always be key. Commercial property London is currently enjoying rather different circumstances to most of the rest of the country, thanks to a number of factors. (Within this, the different parts of the property market are also subject to different fortunes.) When looking at the country as a whole, the picture can be a bit misleading, but the headline figures hide a complexity that isn’t immediately apparent. The same is true of wider economic data; different regions may be in recession or growth, and different areas the property market – itself a catch-all term – will be doing different things.

North London is – very generally – considered as the area north of the Thames, though some of this is often also designated as Central London. Despite this imprecision of definition, it’s well worth thinking about how a shop to rent in North London might differ in its environs from one in the centre. For starters, the population density is very much higher in the central area. However, this is largely due to business and commuters. This means two things: one is simply that the night-time population will be a lot lower than the daytime population. If you are looking for a shop for sale in London then the nature of the business will influence where to buy it. If evenings and night-time will be a key time for trading, this is a factor to include. The other thing to bear in mind is the traffic and congestion that is a feature of central London; areas further away, whilst busy by the rest of the country’s standards, are comparatively quiet in this respect.

Finally, when researching a shop for sale in London, the rateable value could be the deciding factor. Shops in the centre will be subject to significantly higher tax than shops to rent in North London – and their value will be correspondingly higher, too. Commercial property London is not all of a piece, and the distribution of prices is striking by any standard. The nature of your purpose will make a difference – landlords will not necessarily have the same priorities as shopkeepers if they want to maximise their investment.

Please visit http://www.claridges-commercial.co.uk

Business

Presentation Consultancy and Sales Presentations – for Winning Presentations

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January 11th, 2021

Powerpoint presentations are an essential tool in the arsenal of most people delivering sales presentations to audiences of keen-eyed and sometimes cynical potential clients or superiors. Simply listening to a presentation, however thrilling the presenter’s vocal delivery, usually does not convince people who are regularly offered new ideas and suggestions. And in the fast-moving digital world, decision-makers expect new plans to be presented to them in an engaging way; every day, we see more news stories about attention spans getting shorter! Busy people need entertainment and visual stimulation in order to become as excited as possible about your plan or product. This is why good Powerpoint design can be almost as necessary as the idea itself when it comes to deciding people in favour of a product.

Which strategies should ambitious salespeople use when designing in Powerpoint? There are a few tricks of the trade that can change sales presentations from mediocre to thrilling.

Powerful Powerpoint presentations should embrace the age-old values of rhetoric proved to be convincing in Ancient Greece, and still working today. For example: famously, Apple visionary Steve Jobs loved to present things in threes. That’s the ‘triad’ system, which has been shown time and time again to be easier to remember than information presented in lists of two or four points. But don’t try to squeeze three key points onto a single slide – good presentations stay minimalist. Use one slide to announced you’ll be outlining three concepts or stages, then give each idea its own slide.

Of course, Powerpoint is a visual medium. Slides should contain as few words as possible. This is partly because people in a stressful sales meeting aren’t likely to want to read substantial chunks of text, and partly because the presenter shouldn’t have to read them out either. During sales presentations, the person speaking should try to engage eye contact at least once with everyone in the room, and should never turn their back. Turning around to read from your Powerpoint presentation sends a body language cue to the room that the presentation is over, and they will stop concentrating.

The images deployed should tell the story for you. Clear infographics, evocative pictures encouraging emotions like happiness or satisfaction, and memorable pictographs, are what stick in people’s minds long after specific statistics have disappeared.

Text-heavy, undirected Powerpoint design can damage the pitch for an idea which would otherwise be welcomed. On the other hand, high-impact presentations which use the art of storytelling, high-definition images and infographics, and interact with the presenter’s personality, are sure-fire winners.

Please visit https://www.eyefulpresentations.co.uk/

Business, Communication, Meetings

Avoid the Headache of Duplicate Payments using ground-breaking Accounts Payable Audit Software

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October 12th, 2019

In the past, it was possible (and even expected), for most businesses to process accounts by hand. The number of payments to be processed were relatively small and simple for one person to keep track of without much difficulty. However, nowadays working between companies and across countries and even continents is much more prevalent, and therefore most businesses find themselves dealing with multiple different suppliers, providers and customers. There is, these days, a much greater risk of duplicate payments, missed discounts and even outright fraud.

There is nothing worse, in this modern world, than attempting to use archaic software to process payments. Such software includes a dependence on staff remembering the details of payments as the databasing and processing systems set up to keep records have to be manually updated and recorded. This old-fashioned way of working can be avoided, however, by using accounts payable audit.

An accounts payable audit can effectively reduce the losses of thousands or even millions of dollars that come from missed invoices, over or under, or even duplicate payments, and forgotten rebates or VAT adjustments. Using an independent auditing service relieves the headache of worrying about these issues, allowing the accounts staff to get on with their day to day jobs without stress.

However, accounts payable audit can only go so far, and whilst they are an incredibly helpful tool for keeping on top of past mistakes, they still require action to be taken, credit notes to be requested etc, in order for the errors to be rectified. For bigger companies, there is a method to discourage any losses being generated in the first place.

This can be achieved using recovery audit software. This software enables directors of larger companies to keep up a continuous scrutiny of outgoing payments, by alerting accounts payable specialists to issues, as and when they occur.

These days, a company of any real size will be interacting on a day-to-day basis with tens, hundreds, and for larger companies, thousands of suppliers of products and services. These range from electricity, phone and heating suppliers, to contract caterers, handymen, courier services and plumbers – not to mention the specific suppliers a business utilises, from machinery for factories to food goods for shops and supermarkets, even including clothing suppliers for takeaway outlets, train companies etc. Recovery audit software can keep on top of all of these numerous payments, eliminating the risk of duplicate payments, undetected fraud and other error.

Please visit https://www.fiscaltec.com/ for more.

Business, Finance, Software

Duplicate Payments: A Source of Unexpected Costs

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January 20th, 2019

Most small and medium-sized firms deal with a wide range of customers, suppliers and employees. What this means is that many thousands of transactions could be processed every month, with money coming in and going out as invoices are paid and obligations met. Each one of those is a source of potential error, which is why an accounts payable audit can dig up some surprising results. There are more than a dozen different kinds of overpayment or mistaken payment than can happen, one of the most common of which are duplicate payments – put simply, when an invoice is paid twice. This, and other kinds of overpayment, can occur through accident or fraud. If an audit turns up a significant amount of expenditure due to these unnecessary payments – as it almost certainly will – then recovery audit software enables you to regain the lost money.

It is only natural that glitches will occur with such a complex and wide-ranging accounting system. Human error explains most of it: assuming that your payments are processed manually, your accounts team can easily process an invoice twice, or make other mistakes. This is almost unavoidable. Even if it could be addressed, you are not responsible for the invoices submitted by your suppliers. They may not be as scrupulous, and some may even be dishonest, realising that they can slip errors past your accounts department that work in their favour.

This may seem like an infrequent occurrence, but the fact is that the average SME could be processing thousands of payments or more every single month. Even if a small proportion of these are false, the result is cumulative and can be significant. Remember, turnover is not the same as profit. Some estimates suggest that between 0.1 and 0.5 percent of turnover is given up due to duplicate payments and other mistakes. If your company is already struggling then this could make all the difference between sinking and swimming. That’s where the accounts payable audit comes in, finding all of those instances in which overpayments have been made, this month and in the past. Then recovery audit software allows you to chase up those suppliers and other parties who have received more than their due from you. In most cases the explanation will simply be that it was a mistake. In a small minority, though, it could be down to fraud, in which case you may want to take legal action, or at least cease doing business with them.

Please visit http://www.fiscaltec.com/uk

Business

Accounts Payable Audit Software – who owes you what?

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June 21st, 2018

All businesses are prone to accounting mishaps and fraud. It’s a sad fact that accidents and errors happen, in accounts as in every other area of your business. It’s equally true that there will always be some people who aim to take advantage of any vulnerabilities they spot. Accounting is a complex business; invoices have many fields and if these are filled in or copied incorrectly then you could end up paying too much or claiming too little. Duplicate payments are another common problem – where an invoice is sent twice, either accidentally or intentionally. Unless you are specifically looking for them, these can slip under your radar all too easily. The result is that you pay money out where you shouldn’t, or you don’t claim money that is owed to you. That’s what an accounts payable audit is for. It tells you what the difference is between what’s in your accounts and what’s supposed to be there. Recovery audit software is designed to pinpoint where the problems are, rectify them and stop them happening again. Given the high number of errors in the accounting practices of the average SME, that can have quite a financial upside.

Some estimates suggest that as many as 0.1 percent of transactions might be spurious. Whilst that doesn’t sound like a lot, those errors soon multiply up. If your business relies on a large volume of small transactions, it could make a lot of difference – especially since turnover is not the same as profit. If you are just squeaking by, those accidental or fraudulent payments could mean the difference between your company staying afloat or failing.

Recovery audit software might seem like an unnecessary expense. However, given that an accounts payable audit can turn up tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of invoices yet to be paid for a small business, it should pay for itself the first time you use it. And remember, the longer you leave it the less chance there is of getting your money back. It doesn’t matter whether the problem is caused by duplicate payments or another of the dozen or so different errors that frequently occur. If the organisation that owes you money has gone bankrupt or ceased to exist in the meantime, you stand no hope of reclaiming what’s owed to you. Act now – it could mean a nice bonus.

Visit http://www.fiscaltec.com/us for more…

Business, Software

Bacs payments and the challenge of transaction reversibility

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March 16th, 2014

Bacs, or Bankers Automated Clearing Software, has been in use a long time. Essentially, though, bacs payments merely entail transferring money directly from one bank account into another. FPS or Faster Payments Service is exactly the same, but it generally occurs almost immediately, whereas Bacs takes up to three working days. Bacs software is therefore different to credit or debit card transactions, and has advantages and disadvantages in comparison.

Since bacs payments are made right from one bank account into another, they are effectively irreversible. With credit cards, the transaction can be cancelled and the cash returned to you if there is good reason (such as fraud, or the item you ordered turned out not to be as advertised, or never dispatched at all). With bacs, this is far harder. That is a good thing for stores, since you won’t have to worry about customers making uncalled for chargebacks if they change their minds. For buyers, though, it means transfers cannot be undone. In most cases, this will not be a problem because bacs tends to be used for paying suppliers and for your people’s wages, and so on. These are mostly predictable and are paid in arrears. However, if a mistake (such as a typo) is made, it is not a simple matter to get back the money. Without the goodwill of the recipient, it can be extremely time-consuming. If you are making monthly payments, it might simply be easier to change the next one rather than ask for the last one.

Bacs software can be connected into your accounting application to ensure that mistakes don’t routinely happen due to human error, but it’s impossible to eliminate them altogether. That bacs payments are made in their millions every day demonstrates that this need not be a major flaw for bacs, and that there’s no reason your organisation should not use it too. Indeed, the advantages far outweigh any minor problems that might arise from its use. Bacs is more secure, faster and easier than paying by cash or cheque. It’s also the standard, now – or, at least, FPS is – which means that if you’re still paying by more traditional methods then you will naturally find yourself at a competitive disadvantage. There is really no good reason to hold large amounts of cash on the premises or to use time-consuming and inefficient cheques when immediate and straightforward transfers are possible at minimal cost.

Please visit http://www.bottomline.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.bottomline.co.uk/

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Business

Document processing: spanning the gap

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January 9th, 2014

Document management is still a fairly little-known thing, but one that has the potential to transform the business place. In an age in which the paperless office is a rarely-achieved ideal, the suite of technologies known as document processing (and the accounts department special case, invoice processing) can actually make this a reality.

Document management systems are very effective collaboration tools. They allow groups to store, exchange, modify and keep track of documents. There are also facilities to track the changes made and record many versions of documents. This allows many people to work on the same project, saving it centrally without the need for many different versions or fragments that then have to be standardised and put together as a full product.

If you have paper documents, as most businesses do, then there is obviously a gap between that state of affairs and the truly online version to which you may aspire. Simply, it is tough to work across the two – sometimes having to deal with real letters, memos and documents and sometimes with virtual ones. This is where document processing comes in. It is a set of technologies that changes physical documents to their electronic equivalents. Some of the most basic (and therefore cheapest) of these technologies involve merely scanning-to-PDF: creating an image or other file out of a written document. However, at its most advanced it is possible to turn handwritten notes into editable files, like any other work document. These can then be placed into your document management system and treated like any other electronic document.

Document management and the document processing that makes bridging the void between ‘real’ and virtual possible are therefore extremely helpful technologies. Invoice processing applies this to your accounts department, allowing you to turn physical invoices into electronic ones. This is significant, since many suppliers and organisations will still submit paper invoices, and these can easily be treated differently to the ones you receive electronically. They can get forgotten or mislaid, with implications for your relationships with your suppliers and for your reputation. If you are aiming for a paperless office, whether for financial or environmental reasons, then this is an effective way to help bring that about. The solution you opt for will depend upon the nature of your organisation and its needs, as well as its budget, but the range of alternatives available means there is something for everyone.

Please visit http://www.bottomline.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.bottomline.co.uk/

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Archiving, Business

Community broadband keeps even the most remote communities in the loop

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April 15th, 2012

The internet is everywhere. These days, it’s an infrastructure requirement as basic as electricity or phonelines. ICT infrastructure now needs to set its sights beyond basic connectivity, however, and make sure that Next Generation Access is installed to ensure your area or business keeps up with the fast-paced technological world. community broadband provides a total solution that will keep you in the loop, speed up data transmission, and won’t cut you off.

Regardless of the type of situation you’re in – whether business park, small community or rural estate – enhanced connectivity will bring in huge benefits. These benefits are both economic and social. First and foremost, ICT services produce high profitability for business and science park operators. Revenue from these services is second only to rents when carefully installed. Implementation advice can be sought from expert providers, who will be able to draw up a commercial strategy customised to your business needs. Business objectives, investment and upgrades will all be taken into account to formulate the technological infrastructure most suitable to your organisation. Efficient IT services make sure your business runs smoothly and improves your professionalism.

These improvements extend to rural estates, where isolated residents and local businesses collaborate together to construct a sustainable infrastructure across the area. This tried and tested strategy offers a useful second source of income, a sound return on investment and upgrades the current ICT services. Look to advisers with know-how in this particular field of ICT services to access the best and most expedient package for your area. No rural location need be distant thanks to recent developments in community broadband. In remote rural areas, residents often feel that they cannot expect the level of connectivity enjoyed by those in urban areas, but this is not necessarily the case. Investing in internet access produces economic growth, and subsequently gives a boost to local industries. Being connected to the world not only helps business: local services such as health and education also benefit from the increase in easily available information.

Enhancing your ICT infrastructure should be made a priority for all, from far removed rural communities to multi-tenanted business properties. Socially and economically, the benefits are enormous. Investing in Next Generation Access broadband now will pay off in terms of competitive edge and future resilience to technological advances. For solutions of the highest technical quality, look for co-operative outsourcing of community broadband projects and keep in the game wherever you are. In these times it makes no sense not to invest in growing technologies. Don’t delay: get connected.

Please visit http://www.broadbandvantage.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.broadbandvantage.co.uk/

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Business, Communication, Internet

Bacs software decreases error

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November 27th, 2011

Bacs software has been around for a long time now, but it still has not been universally accepted by businesses. This is curious when you consider the many advantages of making bacs payments, rather than older and less reliable or secure ways. There is still some suspicion about trusting computers to do your work for you, and people tend to be warier than ever where their money is concerned. The maxim holds that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, but that weak link is normally down to human error. In practice, bacs is a speedy and reliable way of making payments to suppliers and receiving them from customers. It can save you time and money, and reduce the errors and risk associated with handling cash and paying third parties by other means.

Bacs stands for bankers automated clearing software. Essentially it is an electronic movement of funds from your account to another party’s account. This can take up to three days, but can often be almost instant. (There is another way, SWIFT, which is guaranteed same-day.) Even in the worst case scenario, then, bacs is as fast as paying in a cheque or cash. It has a number of advantages over and above that.

One of these is security. Making online payments means you do not have to have cash on the premises. It also decreases the scope for fraud, since you will no longer be sending out cheques. Consistency is another. The money leaves your account instantly, so you know how much is left, and you are not likely to be caused cash-flow problems by people delaying paying in cheques and then the money leaving your account at a bad time. And, once you have correctly entered a payee’s details once, they can be reused again. Paying the wrong person and having to get back the money shouldn’t be an issue.

Bacs software can be used to schedule payments, and in conjunction with accounting software can be used to take care of payroll issues – automating pay day and saving a massive amount of time and effort, as well as reducing the error inevitable in doing the job manually. bacs payments and receipts can also be combined with auditing software to further reduce error and duplicate payments, resulting in surprising savings for most businesses. In conclusion, there are numerous reasons to use bacs and none to ignore it.

Please visit http://www.bottomline.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.bottomline.co.uk/

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Business, Finance, Software