4 Effective Ways To Make Your Office More Eco-Friendly

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Eco-friendly office|4 Effective Ways To Make Your Office More Eco-FriendlyIn 2022, there is frankly no way you can feasibly run a successful business, regardless of the industry in which your company works in, without paying due attention to the carbon footprint and the environmentally friendly nature of your core business processes.

Not only do you have a moral obligation to do all you can to reduce the amount of product waste and energy your office space uses, but also more and more customers and other businesses are choosing to only work with and alongside companies who are shown to be eco-friendly.

With this in mind, continue reading to learn of 4 effective ways to make your office considerably more environmentally friendly.

1. Recycle

One of the simplest yet most effective ways to become an eco-friendlier workplace is to remove every single individual garbage bin in the office and instead create a central station with recycling-specific trash cans which separate different types of waste products.

This way, you can easily arrange for your recycling to be collected quickly and efficiently, as it is all in one place and already organized ahead of arriving at your local recycling center.

2. Use Sustainable Materials

When your office is being redesigned, or a new structure is being created within the space, it is incredibly important to ensure that only sustainable materials and metals are used.

An eco-friendly Aluminum Composite Panel, for example, has a myriad of different uses and can be custom-made to your exact specifications, such as from Multipanel UK. Aluminum is often referred to as ‘the green metal’, as the material can be recycled again and again without compromising the quality and strength of the product.
Additionally, aluminum is entirely fire-resistant yet is effective in acting as a thermal conductor, making it the perfect metal for use in a variety of different office settings.

3. Go Entirely Paperless

Just as at home, when you receive a seemingly endless volume of advertisements, leaflets and takeaway menus printed on high-quality paper, there is also an excess of paper usage in an office environment, and in both locations, most paper ultimately ends up in the trash.

Instead, make a business decision to move forward with an entirely paperless system, even if this means having your in-house, or else outsourced, IT specialist to design extra information spaces and functions on your office intranet.

4. Switch To Renewable Energy Sources

Not only would the switch to entirely renewable energy sources make a huge difference to your company’s overall carbon footprint, but it will also make for a much more sustainable and environmentally-friendly workplace.

Additionally, it is highly likely that at the moment, devices, electronics, white goods, computers and other technologies are being left on overnight in the office, even if this is absolutely not your intention. The best way to counteract this moving forward is to designate one or two ‘green champion’ employees whose role it is to ensure that everything is turned off at the mains, or at the very least, in standby mode.

How To Maintain Business Relevance In A Changing Market

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Business Relevance|How To Maintain Business Relevance In A Changing MarketBeing a business owner has its perks. For starters, you get to help your clients with innovative solutions while building wealth. Moreover, you have the freedom to determine how you work and what strategies will best suit your business. Despite these perks, you can quickly be left behind if your business isn’t relevant in a rapidly changing market. Statistics reveal that 42% of businesses fail because their products and services aren’t needed on the market. How can you thrive and stay ahead of your competition? Here are some smart strategies to help you out.

1. Practice regular communication with your customers

Your customers are instrumental to your business success, and communicating with them can ensure your business relevance. Irrespective of how innovative you imagine your products or services, your business would die out if your customers aren’t keen on them. According to the Harvard Business Review, businesses can’t keep their products on the market due to various reasons. While some products don’t have a market, others need customer education but fail to do so. Moreover, an Idea For Leaders survey revealed that customers would reject a product to stay in control. That said, it makes sense to involve them in your processes to ensure their loyalty.

The key is to think with them to create innovations for their current problems. Therefore, you’ll find it helpful to organize meetings with your clients to determine what products and services they need. Likewise, leverage the public forums on your social media platforms to ask questions. Emails and texts are also effective, but ensure that you send personalized messages to increase engagement. You can also utilize electronic surveys for the best results.

2. Improve your products and services

Competition is an integral part of entrepreneurship, and improving your products and services will ensure that your business stays ahead. Moreover, you can easily meet your consumers’ changing needs to avoid losing your customers’ patronage. A product and service improvement operation is in order if you experience low product demands and sales, increased production costs, and changes in regulations and laws. A 280 group survey indicates that 21% of products don’t meet customers’ needs. A Neilsen research also revealed that 63% of clients appreciated that manufacturers introduced innovative products.

Therefore, you want to consider this option if you haven’t already. Although product improvement may seem daunting, you can achieve it with the right steps. You can begin by identifying and fixing your pain points. Fortunately, you can retrieve the necessary information by creating client surveys and listening to your sales team. You can also source inspiration from your competitors, so keep this in mind.

3. Engage your employees

Your employees represent your brand, and their performance can keep your business thriving or destroy it. Therefore, it becomes imperative to prioritize and engage them in your business processes. Employee engagement comes with many benefits for your business. A Gallup survey revealed that businesses with highly engaged employees recorded 41% lower absenteeism cases. Likewise, engaged employees are likelier to offer better customer services, increasing customer loyalty, and sales. Moreover, high employee turnover rates can hurt your business’s credibility, and engaging your staff will keep them interested in working with you.

To get started, ensure that they are acquainted with your company’s values. Also, getting to know them better is a great way to build a good relationship with them, so keep this in mind. As a tip, ask them about their families and other important details to make them feel valued. It’s also important to create an enabling work environment and provide the right work tools to boost productivity. For instance, you’ll find it essential to get tools from quality brands like The Trimmer Store if you are in the cannabis industry. Likewise, appreciate their hard work and create career growth and development opportunities.

4. Invest in the right technology

While technology is an integral part of daily life, it’s become more important for maintaining business relevance. Leveraging tech in various business tasks ensures accuracy, so keep this in mind. For instance, using automated tools to conduct business research will help you access the needed information to promote business growth. Moreover, you can utilize AI to improve customer service, predict business trends and promote collaboration among teams. As many workers embrace remote working, technology makes it easier for them to communicate with other workers and enhance their efficiency. That said, you want to invest in technology if you haven’t already.

Using the wrong tech tools can be more harmful than beneficial despite their benefits. Therefore, ensure that your chosen tech options suit your business’s needs and improve your existing business processes. Also, invest in easy-to-use options to avoid time waste and complications. Tech tools used by other industry players are good options to consider, so keep this in mind.

5 Simple Ways You Can Improve Your Operational Efficiency Right Now

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Operational Efficiency|5 Simple Ways You Can Improve Your Operational Efficiency Right NowYou’ve heard this popular phrase more times than you can count: time is money. Of course, time isn’t literally money – but it’s pretty close.

Many managers throw money into marketing when trying to increase profits. While marketing is undoubtedly an essential part of a successful business, if you’re overlooking operational efficiency, you’re going to miss out on a portion of the returns that come from a great marketing campaign.

To improve your operational efficiency, consider these five simple tips that you can implement today.

Improve and increase your analytics tracking

First thing’s first: if you don’t know where your operational efficiency is lacking, you can’t fix it. To improve efficiency, you’ll first need to make sure you’re able to see your data and analytics in real-time.

This means that if you’re still using Excel spreadsheets to track data, it’s time to make an upgrade. There are many different types of analytics software on the market today, including SAS Business Analytics (SAS BA) and Tableau Big Data Analytics.

Take some time to research your options, and invest in a software program that fits your company’s needs and goals.

Increase automation

If your IT and administrative staff are filling their time with tasks that could easily be automated, you’re wasting both their potential and your company’s operational efficiency potential.

Any task that has a repetitive nature can easily be automated. Using your data analytics, pinpoint tasks that are taking up a lot of your employees’ time and automate these. Automation will allow your staff to spend more time on the non-repetitive tasks, which is where they really shine.

Emphasize training

Poorly managed companies don’t just hurt their employees; they hurt themselves too. If you’re not putting your employees first, your business will never flourish as much as it could.

One important way to put your employees first is to make sure they receive substantial training. Don’t just do the bare minimum; make sure they don’t just know how to complete their job duties, but they have the tools they need to excel at them.

Proper training also prevents workplace injuries, thereby keeping your employees at work.

Use load boards

If your business regularly ships supplies or products, you may be able to increase operational efficiency by using a load board. Load boards are similar to a job board in that they are a resource for both shippers looking for carriers, as well as carriers looking for loads.

Load boards are mutually beneficial, as they help shippers quickly find a carrier without spending time calling and emailing. Additionally, carriers benefit by maximizing their earnings by filling their trucks to the maximum load.

Improve cross-department communication

Though your department may be communicating effectively top-down and vice versa, if there are communication issues between departments, your operational efficiency is being sacrificed.

Improving your communication software doesn’t have to be costly; it just has to work for your company’s unique needs. Set up a meeting with departmental heads and come up with a strategy to improve communication between yourselves.

This will save all departments substantial time, which at the end of the day is what operational efficiency is all about.

How to Choose the Right Proxy Server for Canada

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Proxy Server for Canada|How to Choose the Right Proxy Server for CanadaThere may be a situation when you need to check a certain site to see how it looks in Canada. Maybe it’s because in your country it’s banned, and any other location will do. Maybe you specifically need a Canadian mock location to see how the Canadians see a certain page. If you cannot visit Canada in person, you may use a proxy. This is how to choose the right one among popular Canada proxy servers for your activity.

Right Proxies and How to Choose Them

The first question many of us ask when searching for a proxy: free or commercial? If you need to pretend to be a Canadian resident just once, you may be good with one of those free proxies or VPNs that offer their browser extensions and lots of ads. But if it’s a systematic part of your activity, you better choose a commercial service with defined terms and responsibilities. After all, you share your sensitive data with these services: your actual IP address and system data, the sites you visit, and so on.

There are other important details about proxies you should consider:

  • Legal aspects. If your relations are not regulated, it may be risky.
  • Connection speed.
  • Simultaneous connections. A number of them may be necessary for certain jobs, like logging in through multiple test accounts or checking the functioning of your website.
  • Data volumes they offer under various plans.
  • Uptime (which should be at least 99.99%)
  • Setup ease. Usually, you don’t need any extra software to use a proxy on your computer. You just receive the IP address, login and password you enter in your browser or in your network settings. Some providers, though, may offer it a different way.
  • Precise location selection. This is one of the aspects that matter in Canada for website managers and admins, and here is why.

What to Know About Canada When Choosing a Proxy

The main thing everybody knows about Canada is its bilingual status. Two languages are official in Canada, namely English and French. They are both widely spoken but spread unevenly: most French speakers dwell in the Quebec province.

If you are making a multilingual website, and you are concerned about displaying it in the right default language for potential viewers, you should not settle for just checking how it opens in Canada. You better check it from various Canada proxies, at least one in Montreal (or other location where French prevails) and one in Ottawa, Toronto, or any other English-speaking place. Catering to your clients this way will show your attitude.

This is one more reason to use commercial proxies. Free ones usually don’t let you adjust your location that precisely, only offering you to choose the country. With Canada, your business may require more.

The Conclusion

If you appreciate your privacy, security, time, and correctness of the results, a proxy is not a thing to save on. Especially if you run an ecommerce project that requires correct and precise feedback. Accessing sites under a Canadian disguise without the necessity to leave home or hire a Canadian resident is a great advantage provided by proxies. So if your business or everyday activity has something to do with this country, Canadian proxy will ease your life.

Why Aren’t Customers Entering Your Retail Store?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Retail Store|Why Aren't Customers Entering Your Retail Store?You invested a lot of money into a retail unit in a fantastic location. In fact, the heavy foot traffic that comes through this area is the main reason you moved your business there. Strangely, despite opening your doors a few weeks ago, you’re struggling to attract any passers-by to your retail store.

Some may stop outside, intrigued by the new store, but they rarely enter. Why is this the case? Why aren’t customers entering your retail store? A whole plethora of answers can follow this question, but we’ve narrowed it down to the most obvious ones:

Your storefront is unattractive

Nobody will enter a store if it looks really unattractive. The signage seems cheap, the shop windows are dirty, the paint is chipped, and you just generally don’t have a very inviting storefront.

It discourages people from paying you a visit, so you need to work on this right away. Start by investing in commercial cleaning services to get the front of your store looking shiny and clean. Then, work on improving your sign so it looks bold and professional. Finally, improve your window displays to encourage people to come inside. A better storefront will instantly boost the chances of seeing foot traffic in your store.

You have no online presence

That’s right, your online presence will heavily dictate your foot traffic.

How? Well, think about how most people start their journey as customers. They begin by searching for products online, which is when they are likely to find your store. Good local SEO means people can see that your shop exists and get directions to it via Google Maps. Thus, they travel down to pay you a visit and buy what they need.

You’re lacking foot traffic because you assume that everyone on the street is already interested in what you have to offer. This isn’t the case; your store might catch some people’s eyes, but most of your customers will start online and come down to see you.

You offer nothing unique

Your retail store is in a fantastic location, but the problem is that you’re surrounded by other retail stores all offering similar things. Even worse, some of these stores are big brands that have well-established reputations.

So, why would someone walk into your store when they could walk a few yards down the street and enter the one that they know they can trust?

To gain more foot traffic, you need to either set your store up in a location where it’ll be more unique or offer something that makes you stand out. What’s different about your store compared to similar ones? Do you sell a particular product that nobody else stocks? Have you got deals that they don’t? Work on making your store more unique, and this can help you gain more foot traffic.

This is why people aren’t entering your retail store. If you make some changes and things still don’t improve, you have to reassess whether or not a physical store is a good idea. Perhaps you’re destined to struggle for foot traffic as your business would operate much better as an online-only entity? Still, a lot of stores will see improvements after tackling the issues discussed above.