What are Some of the Best Company Cars in 2020?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Company Car| What are Some of the Best Company Cars in 2020?Looking for a company car in 2020? This is not a decision that should be made lightly and you will want to find a vehicle which fits in perfectly with your operation and helps your business to succeed. A good company car will be practical, comfortable, economical and safe, but you also need to think about how much you are able to spend so here are a few of the best company cars available right now in different price brackets.

£15,000 and Under

For those working on a tight budget, there are still a handful of excellent options to consider. One is the Skoda Fabia supermini which is a great all-rounder and much more affordable than other models in this class. It has a good amount of interior space for a car of this size along with low running costs so it is well-suited to those in a city. The Kia Cerato and Hyundai i10 is also worth looking at as a similarly priced option and a car that was widely considered to be the best city car a few years ago.

£20,000 and Under

Those looking to spend no more than £20,000 cannot go wrong with the Honda Civic. The Civic boasts sporty and stylish good looks on the outside to go with a comfortable and spacious interior, plus there are a range of engines to choose from including economical options which means that it ticks all of the boxes and your employees are sure to enjoy getting behind the wheel without breaking the bank.

£30,000 and Under

If you are looking to splash a little more on your company car then either the BMW 1-Series or 3-Series are your best options under £30,000. BMW are the kings when it comes to company cars with both of these models featuring the trademark sleek stylish, luxurious interior and excellent driving performances.

£40,000 and Under

If you are willing to spend a little more, the BMW 5-Series is a step up and certainly a car that will paint your company in a positive light. This is a car which shows you mean business with head-turning good looks, agility, comfort and heaps of technology to provide a fantastic experience behind the wheel. For those that are able to spend, this is certainly a great asset for your company but you should always take out a Gap insurance policy for financial protection in case the vehicle were to be written off.

Picking a new company car is challenging but the above are all excellent options for different price brackets.

Are Consumers Putting Pressure on Businesses to Go Green

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Green Business|Are Consumers Putting Pressure on Businesses to Go GreenConsumer behaviours always change and it is the consumer which has the ability to enact change as businesses always need to find ways to appeal to their target demographic. In recent times, one of the biggest consumer changes has people becoming much more environmentally-aware which is understandable when you watch the news and see the impact around the world.

Consumers Becoming More Selective

Modern day consumers are becoming increasingly eco-conscious with scientists encouraging both businesses and individuals to make positive changes in their life to protect the environment. More and more people are now becoming selective when it comes to the businesses that they use and people will favour those that have green credentials so companies are now under pressure not only by new regulations and scientists but also modern-day consumers.

Sustainable Packaging

This is evident with a recent study by Trivium Packaging, which discovered that 74% of consumers would be willing to pay more for sustainable packaging. More than two out of three stated that environmentally-friendly, recyclable packaging was important which is not surprising when you see the attention that supermarkets and other stores get for plastic packaging. The report stated that these findings present “ a real opportunity to impact purchasing decisions by offering environmentally friendly options for their consumers” and it is certainly something that businesses need to think about.

In a time where people consume a huge amount and get items shipped through online shopping, sustainable packaging has become incredibly important and a way for businesses to improve their green credentials. It is important to use recycled materials and to use reliable and eco-friendly couriers when it comes to shipments so that you can satisfy today’s eco-aware consumers, otherwise you could fall behind the competition as well as continue to harm the planet.

Positive Change

Harmful packaging is quickly becoming a thing of the past which is positive to see and evidence that consumers can make a difference when they are selective of the brands that they use. While packaging is a major topic when it comes to environmental-impact, it is not the only one and consumers may start to shun businesses for other reasons soon too and favour those that are green.

Other Areas

This means that businesses need to think about ways that they can protect the environment not only from a social responsibility standpoint but also so that they can continue to attract their target customer. This might include remote working, increasing recycling and using renewable energy to reduce their impact.

It is fantastic to see that so many businesses are changing to sustainable packaging and shows that consumers have the power to make changes, but there is still a lot of work to be done and big changes to make in the coming years.

Cleaning During The Pandemic: What Is The New Normal In Cleaning Your Business Spaces?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Cleaning your Business|Cleaning During The Pandemic: What Is The New Normal In Cleaning Your Business Spaces?As much as we like to think that our offices are clean, many are not. Some are just so dirty that they can cause sickness and disease, which is dangerous as the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 is still rampant. So, how do business owners keep up with the new normal, given the safety and health protocols in place by the government?

Learn what’s the new normal in cleaning business spaces by reading below.

What Is The New Normal?

The new normal is not new to the human race anymore. With crises arising ever since humans existed, they’ve brought drastic changes to the overall routine, economy, lifestyle, and even culture and traditions worldwide.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the new normal means significant changes in how people communicate, work, and even clean business spaces. It involves implementing stricter safety and health protocols such as social distancing or maintaining at least a distance of six feet away from other people to avoid transmitting the virus.

Cleaning During The Pandemic

Now that you know the meaning of the new normal, it’s time to know the things you should know when cleaning your business spaces during the new normal.

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Cleaning your Business|Cleaning During The Pandemic: What Is The New Normal In Cleaning Your Business Spaces?1.Wash Hands And Wear Gloves Before Cleaning

Many people don’t think about this, but there are plenty of germs and bacteria on their hands when they’re doing their work. When it comes to office & commercial cleaning, wearing gloves and face masks is now highly recommended. This is now the art of the new normal when cleaning business spaces.

When wearing safety gloves, it’s important to remember that they’re meant to protect the wearer against exposure to chemicals or toxins in the environment. Gloves should be worn while touching liquids in the same way as if they were on the part of the body. It’s important to make sure that you don’t accidentally inhale them because the liquid can get trapped in your mouth, which can cause serious illnesses.

2. Disinfect Your Business Spaces

Disinfecting is not all about putting chemicals onto surfaces. You need to understand that the more times you can remove germs from your office, the better off you’ll be because the more likely you are to prevent an outbreak.

To make sure that you and your employees are safe, learning how to disinfect offices is a good thing to do. If you want to try something else, there’s always the option of hiring a professional to disinfect your office.

Here are some disinfection tips you can try:

  • Disinfect the office using a steam cleaner: If you want to know how to disinfect offices, there are several different methods. One thing that you can try is a steam cleaner.
  • Use bleach: Another great method that’ll help you learn how to disinfect offices is through bleach, which is easy to use and affordable. Many people like bleach because it can kill any viruses that come into contact with it.
  • Use hydrogen peroxide and vinegar: There are other ways to learn how to disinfect offices. One of these is by using hydrogen peroxide and vinegar. These are both great because they’re both easy to use and inexpensive.

3. Keep Everything Clean and Sanitized

The key to effectively disinfect your office during this pandemic is to keep everything clean and remove different things that may cause germs to spread. For instance, if you have many surfaces in your office that are hard and flat, make sure that you wear gloves when you wipe them down.

Make sure that you sanitize things around the restroom and the kitchen counter, too. Again, don’t forget to sanitize your handkerchiefs and towels as well.

4. Maintain Social Distancing

Even during commercial cleaning, cleaners are advised to maintain social distancing. Because of the nature of the novel coronavirus, keeping a safe distance will help isolate the virus and prevent the disease to spread.

5. Frequent Scheduled Cleaning

As you probably noticed, cleaning is now more frequently done than ever, which is now an essential aspect of the new normal.

Every room, cubicle, corner, and space used in the business establishment must be disinfected before and after use. The government has mandated routine cleaning in compliance with the quarantine and health protocols.

Conclusion

Be sure that you change your office surfaces frequently and clean them thoroughly. Keep things clean and sanitized at all times as well. And, if you really can’t avoid germs, then it’s always a good idea to take steps to prevent them from spreading from your desktops, toilets, kitchen surfaces, and other places around your office.

Learning how to disinfect offices is a great thing to do because it’ll keep you and your employees safe from the outbreak.

Top Tips For Growing Your Franchise

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Franchise|Top Tips For Growing Your FranchiseWhether you’re an aspiring, emerging, or well-established franchisor, these simple tips on how to build and grow your concept still apply and always will. For development experts who know it all, it’s always a good idea to review the basics.

Franchising your company is a good way to earn more revenue, grow your brand, and take on exciting new opportunities. People often assume their franchise’s growth will come naturally, but businesses don’t grow on their own. You need to be willing to put in the work to make sure your franchise grows.

  1. Have a teacher’s mindset. There are lots of reasons that people decide to start and grow a franchise. Whatever your origins reason, remember that you need to be a teacher above everything else. You must be willing to teach others how to run a business so they can copy your model for success and use it to create a duplicate of your business that is just as successful. Without this mindset, you won’t do well.
  2. Start by perfecting your business model. The first thing that you need to do to grow a franchise is to work on perfecting your business model. Your business model needs to be clear-cut, successful, and easy to follow and share with others. Franchise management software can help to keep this consistent. The stronger your plan is, the better your organization will be able to run.
  3. Let things happen naturally. Don’t force growth. Let it happen naturally. The success of the establishments that you have should convince others to open a franchise. If you push it, then you’re putting new franchises at risk of failure, which will damage your name and reputation.
  4. Foster franchise relationships. For the organization to grow as a whole, the individual francises need to be successful. Create a culture of positive franchisee relations. Individual franchises need to be able to operate independently but rely on one another for help and advice.
  5. Build strong brand identity. If you want to grow your franchise, your brand identity needs to be strong. It should be recognizable throughout your industry. The stronger your brand identity is, and the easier it is to recognize, the better off your franchise will be.
  6. Create a balance between local and national. You could have a national franchise, with location all over the country, but there still needs to be a balance between your national name and the local establishment. This means that each establishment should stay in touch with the community it is based in, do local marketing, attend community events, and act as though it is a normal small business. You can’t just rely on national marketing for the whole franchise.
  7. Put strong franchise owners in your establishments. A franchise is only as good as the individual establishments, so it’s essential that you put strong franchise owners in place in each one. You will need to take the time to make sure that the right people are running each of your establishments.

4 Pitfalls Of Digital Transformation

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Digital Transformation|4 Pitfalls Of Digital TransformationWhether you enhance your digital presence or tweak your website, there’s a good chance that you’re transforming your processes for the sake of the internet. Online is so essential that you can’t afford to miss out, with everything from marketing to lead generation and communication receiving a boost. Even costs drop when companies invest in digital transformation practises.

Adapting to the digital world isn’t an afterthought since the failure to react could leave you in a tricky position. However, with all the benefits that digital transformation offers, it’s tempting to assume there are zero side-effects. This isn’t true. As with any investment, you must be aware of the pitfalls beforehand. Otherwise, nasty surprises may pop-up out of the blue.

The concern is that you don’t want to fall behind. Still, it’s smarter to be safe than sorry. In this post, we’ll walk you through the four biggest consequences of digital transformation and how to avoid them.

Improved Customer Experience

On the face of it, this only seems to be a good thing. As technology enhances the user experience, you can encourage more people to buy goods and services, boosting your conversion and click-through rates. Although this is true, and several companies have taken advantage, an improved UX sets a precedent.

Today, consumers expect a certain level of service, and if they don’t receive it, they’ll bounce to a competitor. As a result, you get one chance to make a positive first impression. If you don’t, your market share may begin to shrink. 92% of leaders are already developing advanced strategies, which highlights the need to keep up with the latest developments.

One way to do this is to enroll in college courses. Poetically, you can do it online to reduce the impact on your routine and save money. Attending seminars and networking events is a must as this is where you can make contacts and increase your knowledge base.

Raises Data Collection Processes

Again, collecting data doesn’t appear to have a dark side. If anything, you should hoard as much information as you can because it contains the answers to the questions that will stop the business from failing. As big data has proved, the right info will reveal the actionable insights that you can implement in real-time to improve the UX and raise awareness of the brand.

But, as you will see with organizations regardless of the size, collecting data is a contentious issue. Firstly, customers are wary of the practices after the Cambridge Analytica scandal that is alleged to have affected the 2016 election. Also, creating a data culture encourages you to collect information for the sake of it.

Once this happens, you take unnecessary risks. Why? It’s because lengthy registration forms turn-off shoppers to the point where they’ll abandon their baskets. Nothing is worth a lost sale, especially data you won’t use.

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Digital Transformation|4 Pitfalls Of Digital TransformationDigital Transformation Is Time-consuming

You’ve got to spend a lot of time digitizing records to complete the process. Of course, it’s massively time-consuming and only adds to your workload. Aside from the imbalance between your job and your life, you must consider how the extra responsibility impacts your focus and concentration levels.

As the boss, it’s essential to take care of the most important jobs. However, if you’re too busy overseeing the switch to digital, you may easily miss crucial meetings and deadlines. The answer is to outsource the role to a third-party since managed IT services are reliable and have many more resources.

Therefore, outsourcers not only use their expertise to improve the standard, but they cut money and time wastage by concentrating on a single job. Hiring one is a no-brainer. The trick is to work out which business or individual is the most suitable for your specifications.

Virtual Collaboration

Communicating effectively is something that managers attempt to iron out regularly. After all, when you and your team interact positively, there are fewer mistakes. Plus, everyone understands their job and what’s expected of them daily. Digital communication is varied, and that’s the potential pitfall.

With too many channels to choose from, it’s common for employees to miss vital notifications as they can’t check all their accounts every five minutes. And, which one people prefer is a personal decision as they may find an email more professional, whereas a text message is instant.

You must set policies that outline the platform workers should use during business hours. That way, sharing essential data and collaborating healthily will be the norm, not the exception that proves the rule.

Your business needs to go digital, yet are you ready for the potential consequences?