Elements of business management
Recruitment
The recruitment industry has almost wholly moved to the internet, and even where newspapers and other publications have extensive job listings, they are typically accessible online. Online recruitment resources can save time by allowing you to quickly find and review potential hires’ CVs, and may also help you find, and sift out, better candidates from a wider pool. Where you want to find out more about a potential employee you can also ‘Google’ them in a fraction of a second. Rejection notes can be sent by email rather than the post, again saving time. These web- and download-intensive activities will benefit from the speed of broadband.
Finances
Managing finances is a significant activity for any company. Online banking over the internet is offered in some form by most banks. Typically it allows reviewing of balances and transactions, and setting up and canceling standing orders, saving time and hassle, and giving you a ‘realtime’ view of your accounts. You can also easily move funds - perhaps money put aside for tax or VAT payments - into a higher interest account. You can typically enter payment information for your suppliers, which allows payments to be made without the hassle of writing and posting a cheque or setting up a BACS payment. Many online banking services allow you to print or download statements in a number of popular file formats that can be imported into many accounting packages, speeding up the process of entering transactions.
Online banking should be cheaper than traditional banking (particularly as statements sent by post may be avoided and you are likely to make fewer call centre enquiries) but to date UK banks have regarded it as a perk for business customers rather than a cost-saving alternative. Online banking typically involves a lot of internet access as you move from screen to screen. The fast and always-on aspects of broadband will help you do your banking tasks at any time.
Accounting and payroll
All accountants now use software packages for audits and tax returns, and if you can supply them information in compatible formats, you should be able to reduce your audit and accounting fees. If you frequently send data to your accountant, and your files are large, broadband will reduce the time it takes and the hassle involved.
If you do your own payroll, you will need to get periodic National Insurance and tax code updates. Some payroll packages will check online for updates every time you launch them. If you choose to outsource payroll to a third party, you will need to regularly send them payroll and other information so they can calculate and produce payslips. In either case you will benefit from broadband being always-on.
Human resources
Payroll is traditionally considered to be the domain of human resources (and payroll functions have not tended to be part of accounting packages), and human resources, or HR, is associated with large organisations. However many organisations now offer HR-type functions, essentially outsourced over the internet. Beyond payroll these functions might include healthcare and pension management, managing appraisals, skills certificates renewal reminders, and logging of holiday allowance. Good HR service can motivate employees, and help them focus on their work. For any outsourced function, particularly those employees will want to access regularly, you will need broadband to allow it to be constantly available.
Official filing
The UK government is pushing hard to provide electronic filing of VAT returns (www.hmce.gov.uk), tax returns (www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk), and returns to Companies House (www.companieshouse.gov.uk). While companies that employ an accountant are unlikely to file tax returns directly, and none of these types of returns are made frequently, they represent just one element of businesses’ interaction with government, which includes learning about relevant legislation and regulation, health and safety issues, stakeholder pensions, import and export requirements, and much more. (This information is co-ordinated through the Small Business Services, www.sbs.gov.uk, which also runs the Business Link service.) As interaction with government increases you will benefit from broadband being fast and always-on. Broadband cannot cut through red tape, but it can help you keep on top of it.
Logistics
Many day-to-day business tasks can be facilitated by broadband, including ordering everything from stationery to computer supplies, calculating and buying postage to booking couriers and tracking packages, competitor analysis to researching patents, auditing phone bills to configuring mobile phone packages. Many of these tasks can be done more quickly online, and you may be able to co-ordinate and plan purchasing more effectively using online tools. The more you use the internet for everyday business tasks, the more you will appreciate broadband being fast and always-on.
Online training
Training is important in many businesses, and is an important motivator for employees. Training with an online component can reduce the time employees need to be out of the office. Effective online training tools need to be delivered in an appropriate interactive environment, and these are often created in Flash, resulting in large files to download. Time-based media are also valuable for training, and require large downloads or a continuous high-bandwidth connection. Broadband will be beneficial in all these scenarios.
Networking your business
In the past, where a business that operated over multiple sites wanted to connect them up, it typically used ISDN, KiloStream connections, or leased lines to link its factories and warehouses, shops and back-offices. In many cases broadband can replace them with an always-on and high-bandwidth connection, often at lower cost.
Broadband can be used between sites to provide Voice over IP (VoIP), ‘telephone’ calls. While VoIP is difficult to use for general telephony, it is now becoming practical for intra-organisational calls. It can offer considerable cost savings in comparison to using public telephone networks and it often easier to use, for instance when logging calls and routing conversations, or setting up conference calls. As it runs over your data network, VoIP removes the cost of cabling any new offices separately for telephony.
Broadband can be used to provide internet access to a wireless network using WiFi, giving flexibility to office workers with laptops, or warehouse employees with handheld devices to check back-office systems in real time. It also allows employees to connect to the office network from home or elsewhere - and do many or most of the things they would do if they were at their desk - or for workers to be home- rather than office-based, with the associated savings in overheads, reduced travel, and possible benefit in work/life balance.
Business management
Although it is associated with enterprise software, business management tools that give you a ‘dashboard’ for viewing your company’s performance are increasingly available to smaller organisations, often via ASPs. As externally hosted tools will require frequent posting of information, or access to information on your own company’s network, you will need broadband for always-on availability.
Tools and services
Finances
Most banks offer some online banking facilities, and almost all are now web-based and thus widely accessible.
Accounting and payroll
Sage Instant Accounting
www.sage.com
Intuit QuickBooks
www.intuit.com/products_services
MYOB Accounting Plus
www.myob.co.uk/products/plus
Great Plains
www.greatplains.com/uk/solutions
Access Accounts
www.access-accounts.comTAS Books
www.tasbooks.co.uk
Simply Books
www.simplybooks.net
Microsoft Money
www.microsoft.com/Money
MyBusiness
www.mybiz.co.uk
Official filing
Pegasus Opera II
www.pegasus.co.uk
Digita TaxSaver Deluxe
www.digita.com/taxcentral/home/taxsaver
Networking your business
BT Ignite Voice over IP
Allows for calls to be intelligently routed to an employee depending on their location. The service can also be combined with video-conferencing and document sharing.
www.bt.com/VoIP
Business management
PeopleSoft
www.peoplesoft.co.uk/corp/en/products/mid/index_intl.jsp
What you need
You will need broadband to speed access to online business management and accounting services, and (where appropriate) connect up your business sites to allow for efficient realtime management of your business.
Next steps
Where to go
For specific advice on which applications discussed might fit your business needs, or on finding and evaluating suppliers and products, you can contact your local, government-funded, Business Link service (www.businesslink.org). You might also review the UK Online for Business website (www.ukonlineforbusiness.gov.uk).
Look for recruitment services at:
uk.dir.yahoo.com/business_and_economy/business_to_business/corporate_services/human_resources/Recruiting_and_Placement/
Look for online banking services at:
uk.dir.yahoo.com/business_and_economy/finance_and_investment/banking/Internet_Banking/
Look for accounting software at:
uk.dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Financial_Services/Accounting/Software/
Look for payroll services at:
uk.dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Financial_Services/Accounting/Payroll/
Look for human resources services at:
uk.dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Corporate_Services/Human_Resources/
Look for business management software at:
uk.dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Computers/Software/Business_Applications
/Business_Management/
Learn on
Business Europe (www.businesseurope.com) has a number of articles worth reviewing (free registration required):
Benefit from online recruitment
Understand electronic HR systems
Use the internet for remote working
Watch out for...
Don’t lose the paper trail
You will still need records on paper if you are inspected by HM Customs and Excise or the Inland Revenue. Also if your accountant does not use the same accounting system as you, and there is no way for you to interchange data, you will need to present them with the appropriate printed reports from your accounting system. (Though of course any system you choose will be influenced by the system your accountant has.)
Paying attention
If you run in-house payroll you will need to keep up with relevant changes, including those relating to National Insurance, and tax code updates.
Walking away from computers
While most businesses are aware of the security issues around protecting their networks, often more mundane mistakes lead to security breaches. The more you are using online services for business management and accounting, the more you will need to make sure that you logout of those services when you have finished using them, to prevent access by unauthorised people within your company. Alternatively you could prevent access to your computer by activating a password-protected screen-saver when you leave your desk.
Home working reality check
While home working often suits both employer and employee, you should bear in mind that the office is not just a place for carrying out tasks. It is also a collaborative and social environment, which ultimately contributes to the quality of a business, though in ways that are often hard to quantify. People working from home may also need more explicit oversight and interaction to make up for their isolation from the organisational culture. Also, just because someone is working for home does not mean your responsibility for their working environment has ended. You may be required to carry out health and safety checks in their home office, maintain equipment you supply, and ensure that their working setup is ergonomically appropriate. (see the Health and Safety Executive leaflet on Home Working (www.hse.gov.uk/pubns).
Copyright Nico Macdonald/BT plc © 2003
