Tag: management

by James Adam

Project Management Skills with These Certifications


Business

So you have gained relevant experience and heading towards a managerial role. Initially, you may think that you will be spared of the minute technical details in your day-to-day work. However, a greater responsibility is awaiting when you step into the world of project management. You will not only be responsible for the smooth progress of the project and keeping the stakeholders happy, but you will also handle the tricky task of getting the work done from a variety of subordinates. Project managers need to have excellent people skills to deal with team members of diverse backgrounds.

Right when you want to embark on a project manager role, you will require proven skills to convince the business leaders that you are capable of a management role. Fortunately, there are some industry-recognized certifications that can help you validate your project management skills for professional growth. You may have heard of the Project Management Professional or PMP certification, a highly acknowledged credential available in this field. There are some other credible certifications, apart from PMP, that will place you ahead of your peers for a project manager opportunity.

This article introduces you to those project management certifications, and you can choose the one that best suits your career needs.

Top Project Management Certifications to Pursue

When it is predicted that nearly 2.2 million new project-related roles will be needed to fill by organizations, it makes sense to add a project management certificate to your resume and make the most of the opportunities to come. Unveiled here are the top choices when it comes to selecting the best project management certification.

PMP Certification

The most popular name in the field of project management, the PMP certification, is offered by the prestigious Project Management Institute (PMI). This credential validates project leadership experience and skills in any way of working. Project leaders across industrial sectors can supercharge their careers with PMP and assist their company in finding the right people they need to work smarter and perform efficiently. It tells the employers that you have what it takes to bring a project to successful completion. By including predictive, agile, and hybrid approaches, the credential helps you develop people, process, and business environment skills.

PMP certification holders around 25% higher salary than their non-certified peers. Moreover, there are over 1,000,000 professionals worldwide who have achieved this certification and earned universally recognized knowledge. Loads of career benefits are associated with adding a PMP certification to your skillset, and people even take an online PMP course to prepare for its exam.

PRINCE2 Foundation Certification

PRINCE2 or ‘Projects in Controlled Environments’ certification is both process and project-focused credential maintained by AXELOS. The Foundation Level certification is designed to confirm that an individual understands the PRINCE2 method well enough to work in a project management team effectively within an environment supporting PRINCE2. This credential has high demand in countries like the UK, Australia, and Europe.

The PRINCE2 body of knowledge equips certification holders with the tools and techniques to analyze a project from different angles, ensuring its viability before it is initiated. After you have achieved the Foundation Level certification, you can also upgrade to the PRINCE2 Practitioner Level certification.

Associate in Project Management

Administered by the Global Association for Quality Management (GAQM), the Associate in Project Management or APM certification familiarizes you with the most common terms and current thinking about projects. Being an entry-level certification, obtaining it will validate your commitment to project management excellence.

As the certification is ideal for beginners in project management, there are no experience requirements to appear for its exam. GAQM’s certifications are unique because they focus on a broad knowledge base, clear direction, assurance of quality deliverables, effective resource allocation, and improved communication. The APM exam consists of 50 multiple-choice questions, and the passing score is 70% (correctly answer 35 out of 50 questions).

Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)

The CAPM certification is another credential designed by PMI to enhance your effectiveness and credibility working with project teams. If you wish to manage larger projects and gain more responsibilities or simply add project management skills to your current role, then CAPM is suitable for you. The three hours CAPM exam consisting of 150 questions is a precursor to the PMP certification.

CAPM indicates knowledge of the principles and terminologies used within A Guide to the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) Sixth Edition, which outlines the commonly recognized best practices in project management.

CompTIA Project+

This certification is designed for both IT and non-IT professionals who want to learn the basic concepts of successfully managing small to medium-sized projects. It is more versatile than other certifications as it covers crucial project management concepts beyond the scope of only one methodology or framework. On achieving this credential, an individual will be able to manage the project lifecycle effectively, manage stakeholders and resources, maintain project documentation, and ensure proper communication.

This certification is intended for project managers, business analysts, directors, team leaders, and project team members. The associated exam PK0-004 is a 90 minutes test consisting of multiple-choice/multiple response and drag and drop type questions.

We have done our part in introducing you to some of the most popular project management certifications available out there. Now it’s your turn to decide which certification you want to pursue and start preparing for it.


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by Incredible Planet Staff

Top 5 Mobile apps for Logistics Management


Business

With each day, businesses are continually evolving; they are getter bigger and better. Thus, to keep up with the growing market competition and be on the top of the customer’s mind, it is essential to make processes smooth and cost-effective. Today, with the tech generation entering the workplace, technology has found a prominent place in the professional arena, the indulgence of a mobile application to monitor and operate businesses is the new in thing, and to a greater extent, this new mobile technology has helped companies achieve operational excellence.

Talking about logistics management which is known to be a complex task, the role of mobile applications in this field has been quite significant. The mobile logistics management apps have a plethora of benefits –

  • They allow Data to be stored and accessed in real-time
  • They are easy to manage and makes the logistics process fast and smooth
  • They allow people to work remotely and reduce human dependencies
  • They bring more accuracy and transparency into the entire system
  • They help in tracking inventory and shipments digitally.
  • They create a paperless, faceless automated process.

Now that you know the advantages of using a mobile application for managing logistics let’s look at the top 5 logistics management app.

  1. Inventory Optimization Mobile app.

The Inventory management software helps in eliminating excess or obsolete stocks from the warehouse and ensures that the stocks in demand are readily available. With the help of ERP tools, inventory managers can get a detailed report on the stock available, the demand pattern, and the process cost. Based on these reports, they can make the required changes. Further, the app enables businesses to automate their procurements and bring more realistic forecasting.

  1. Warehouse Software

The Warehouse software is yet another popular application that allows retailers, warehouse managers to manage the warehouse effectively. The apps host features like entry data, packing data, shipping details, and delivery receipts. Further, some apps also come with the scanning feature that makes warehouse management easier. The best part of this app is that all details once streamline, update automatically.

  1. Fleet Management

Apart from tracking vehicles and finding the best route, the fleet management software improves the overall performance of the fleets. Additionally, these apps can serve as a friend to the driver who is driving on the road. He can use the app to navigate, update status, and keep the management informed about any mishaps on a real-time basis. For instance, if the delivery of goods is delayed due to road congestion, the app will automatically update the status on the dashboard and suggest updated delivery time.

  1. Asset Tracking

The asset tracking app is beneficial to both the company and the customers. While the logistics managers can view the status of asset delivery, the customer can also use this feature to understand and get a real-time picture of his/her parcel delivery status. Further, the customer will get notifications on the delivery date and time, which allows him to collect the parcel from the delivery address comfortably.

  1. Proof of Delivery

The electronic proof of delivery app ensures that the package reaches its end-point as per the order details. Through this app, the delivery person can register the evidence of the distribution in the form of ID proofs or signatures, to ensure that customer conflicts are minimized. Further, the app records the real-time delivery of items to maintain accuracy and transparency.

The Final Word:

If your company wants to spread globally and make significant global impressions in the World market, then it is imperative to adapt to the recent technologies and automate processes. The human resources can be used to bring innovation or expand your business, while the software can take care of all the logistics and Data related tasks.

by James Adam

Why Risk Management Is Important


Business

In finance, risk refers to the amount of uncertainty and/or potential financial loss that comes with making an investment decision. It’s this threat that drives our emotions and determines where we put our capital. It holds millions of people back from making huge returns but it also turns average investors into millionaires every day. So how do we manage and limit risk? How do we control our emotions, practice logical thinking, and not let fear get in the way? How do we leverage this uncertainty to make smart decisions? The answer lies in understanding the different kinds of risk and how to minimize their impact. 

Risks Coming from the Business

When the Board of Directors of a business cannot fully assess and respond to the risks associated with their company, your money is not going to be safe. To find the best stocks that offer the greatest potential, do your homework and find out everything you need to know about the business and people you’re investing in. Some starting points for research are:

  • Earnings growth
  • Stability
  • Strength in the marketplace
  • Price-to-earnings ratio
  • Debt-to-equity ratio
  • Dividends

Market Risk

This refers to the possibility of stocks declining in value due to economic developments that affect the market. Under this umbrella, you’ll have to think about three different categories of risk:

  • Equity – the probability of receiving a return above or below the expected return.
  • Interest rate – signifies the possibility that the value of a fixed-income investment will decline as a result of unpredicted fluctuations in interest rates. 
  • Currency – the prospect that currency devaluation will negatively affect the value of one’s assets. 

How to Minimize This Uncertainty

In order to minimize uncertainty, you can implement the following routines into your portfolio:

  • Asset allocation – this refers to the way you weight the investments in your portfolio. Asset allocation is often described as the number one factor that affects success rates so take some time to understand what it means and how you can implement it.
  • Diversification – this is the process of choosing an assortment of investments within each asset class. Diversifying will minimize your risk and reduce the impact that swings in a particular market place could have on your overall portfolio.
  • Dollar-cost averaging – refers to situations where investors apply a specific dollar amount toward the purchase of stocks, bonds and/or mutual funds. Following this method will help reduce the negative impacts that market fluctuations can have on your assets.
  • Set your threshold – determining what level of risk you’re comfortable taking is important. Think about the capital you have, your age, personal circumstances (kids, marriage), and take your knowledge and experience into account too. Knowing when you’re reaching that threshold is even more important so check your portfolio regularly.
  • Avoid temptation – It’s easy to follow the herd when investing as nobody wants to miss out on the next big opportunity. Nobody wants to be the last one to sell in a bearish market and nobody wants to miss out on buying stock when it’s available at such a good price. Yet, nobody wants to lose all of their funds based on the bad decisions that others make.
by James Adam

A Definitive Guide to Construction Waste Management


Business

Construction is a job that makes visions tangible. You start with an idea, put it to planning with diagrams and permits, and finally make it real with the construction process.

However, your work isn’t done when the project is. You still have to put together a plan for getting rid of any waste.

So how can you handle your construction waste management?

Here are some of the tips that you should put to use.

Create a Construction Waste Management Plan

Put some planning into your construction waste management the same way that you plan out the construction itself. This means hashing out each detail piece by piece.

You’ll want to make contingencies for any equipment that you need. Making a grab lorry hire will help you get even your heaviest materials from point A to point B without an issue. This also reduces the strain, labor, and injury risk that you put on your workforce.

Figure out how much manpower you require and how much this will cost you. Allocate enough money in your budget to handle your waste management with no problem.

Many companies are even beginning to use software and artificial intelligence (AI) to hash out the best plan possible for their waste management.

Invest in a Dumpster Rental

Renting a dumpster is one of the best steps that you can take for any waste management project. You can rent dumpsters as large as 20 or 30 feet.

These dumpsters are tough and easily transported in trailers or trucks. A dumpster rental company will bring it to your site so you don’t have to do any of the heavy lifting. Renting it, instead of buying it will also keep your budget low.

Recycle Your Scrap Materials

Construction sites create several scrap materials that can be recycled rather than sent to the landfill. Some of the best recyclable materials you will consider include aluminum, steel, PVC, and copper.

Set up an arrangement with a scrap recycling company that can make pickups for you whenever you need it.

Manage Safety and Health During Construction Cleanups

Finally, do everything that you can to keep everyone safe while you’re handling your construction waste management. Hire personnel that is trained to quickly and conveniently unload your waste so that you put your entire staff at risk for injury.

Partition off your work site when you’re getting rid of items so that you’re able to keep bystanders and trespassers away.

Keep Your Construction Site in Tip Top Shape

Use the points in this article to manage your construction waste management to the fullest. As long as you have a plan and some professionals that can assist you, the construction cleanup doesn’t have to be painful.

Treat this work with the seriousness it deserves, and remain diligent with your plan.

We’ve got you covered whenever you’re looking to run the most successful construction business possible. We can also help you out with a variety of other topics.

Make us your guide when you want to learn more about business, real estate and so much more.

contact management
by James Adam

How to Tell a Winning Business Process Management System


Technology

A business process management (BPM) system is a software that enables the automation of the entire processes involved in the daily activities of many companies. These processes cut across modeling, designing, management, and maintenance of both business data and personnel across different departments and geographical locations.

It is simply the application of digital technology in the ways of doing business to achieve optimum efficiency and achieve goals and objectives. Using a BPM software for your business sets you on the path of surviving the highly-competitive and technologically-advanced business space.

You can find any bpm software company offering business products with different features, payment systems, and deployment systems.

This post will highlight the features that a typical BPM system should have.

Our list of features includes:

1.    Visual Process Diagramming

This basically describes the process flow diagram. It ranks among the top considerations for choosing any BPM software. It is divided into four distinct categories such as modeling tools, data collection through UI forms, visual interface for business activity, and a visual interface for business steps.

The fourth category is considered the best because it has a user-friendly interface.

2.    Good Administrator Features

The highest selling BPM software companies are those that have developed systems that are easy to edit by an in-house administrator without necessarily relying on an external consultant.

3.    A Drag and Drop System

This form enables the user to capture, process, and edit data. It can be configured to suit the experience level of the user, whether novice or expert.

4.    Mobile Support

BPM systems also have mobile support interfaces for iOS and Android. Users are currently going for software on the go that they can access from anywhere without necessarily having to be in a physical office space.

5.    Easy Integration with Already Existing Systems

They typically can communicate and interact with other software and products applied by the business. Integration of business data is at the core of what a BPM system should do. Automatic transfer of data is made possible through API integration technology, REST APIs, and webhooks.

6.    Role-based Access Control

This important feature is used to protect sensitive information contained in forms and fields. Access code tracking can be programmed for hidden, read-only, or freely editable content.

  1. Reporting System

This feature differentiates a BPM system from a simple workflow tool. The best BPM software has process statistics and metrics that are ready to use. This is done through chart creators with a variety of graphs.

8.    KPI Measurement and Real-time Monitoring

This feature describes how the key performance indicators (KPIs) are combined for effective monitoring and reporting.

9.    Lastly, Single Sign-on (SSO)

Most enterprise-level companies make this feature mandatory for any of their new software. One user can reach various platforms with the same login credentials. This makes access easy and also allows for easy user tracking.

contact management
by James Adam

The system of electronic guest management is basically having record of everyone who enter your building


Technology

A visitor management system is the way toward following everybody who enters your structure, office or site. It could be a guest, a client, a conveyance individual, an occupation candidate or a temporary worker. Basically, any individual who is certifiably not an ordinary full-time representative is classed as a guest. At the point when a guest arrives, they record their name, their identity there to see, and the time they arrive. The secretary normally then tells the host that their guest is holding up in the gathering. Sooner or later, that sign-in sheet escapes, destroyed, lost and another sheet is created. 

  • A bustling gathering can be a difficult situation in this day and age and monitoring guests is never again a direct errand. While it may be conceivable to discover this data, it is an additional outstanding burden to experience records and organizers to check, or to experience exceed expectations spreadsheets and survey data, and this information is regularly required for reviews. Upholding the need to get full data turns into significantly progressively troublesome in this case, and this can likewise turn into a security issue where individuals can stroll in unannounced. 
  • These situations are regular in workplaces worldwide and feature the requirement for some sort of visitor management framework. To battle these issues, an ever increasing number of individuals have begun to look towards electronic guest the board frameworks as a way to be progressively proficient, yet in addition for consistence, security, anticipating a positive corporate picture and revealing. Some data or reports may be required by guests before they come to site. There is likewise a need to make guests mindful of site methods, potential dangers and well being and security prerequisites. This would all be able to be effectively overseen utilizing an electronic guest the executive’s framework. 
  • One of the significant advantages of an electronic guest the executives framework is the capacity to realize who is nearby, who is normal and when, what sort of guest they are, their identity visiting, where are they visiting and their character. The majority of this data can be made accessible quickly and is fundamental data for your security group just as aiding the occasion of any crisis on location. Moving far from paper-based guest logs and sign-in sheets to an electronic framework can enable your organization to depict an expert and current picture. Paper-based guest books don’t give you a productive review trail for example, what number of guests went to site, where and who they visited. While this should be possible physically by returning over guest logs, it tends to be very tedious. Basic and brisk announcing can be handled utilizing electronic guest the board frameworks. 
  • However the electronic visitor management system can be helpful in guarantying the smooth preparing of guests upon landing and till the time they leave. The software of visitor management system is readily considered to be simple however it the visitor management software is required to be updated after regular intervals.
by James Adam

Top 4 Stock and Inventory Management Software for Pharmacy


Technology

Running a pharmacy becomes a lot easy if you have the correct pharmacy inventory management software. Not only you can quickly check if a particular medicine is available in your stock or not, but also get notified when you are running out of stock of some important products.

There are many powerful feature-rich easy to use paid as well as free pharmacy software solutions in the market. Some of them provide just basic services whereas some are advanced can handle every aspect of a pharma. Some of the best inventory management software for pharmacy are mentioned here.

Best stock management software for pharmacy

Best stock management software for pharmacy

Marg ERP9+

Marg ERP9+ is considered the most popular inventory management software for pharmacy. Users can keep track of the credit limit option of every customer and set a credit limit as well. The sales of medicines can be maintained by using the feature “Strike high sale management”, which helps in keeping track of the medicines that are nearing expiry date and also updating the new stock. The audit and billing feature helps in doing the audit of the whole sales process. There is a notification alert system that gives an instant alert on email or SMS. Users can use the “Stock clearance management” function to keep track of the medicines that should be sold immediately. By using the “Collaborative Commerce” feature users can upload or download any invoice and also can eradicate the mismatch happened.

Rx30 Pharmacy System

All the pharmacy management activities can be done through this software like, including prescription dispensing, fully automated refills and reminders, workflow management, medication therapy management. Rx30 can serve for a requirement of operating nearly 1500 prescription a day. It provides an independent pharmacy solution by providing services-Prescription Filling, Nursing Home services, Consulting a doctor, Receive details of payment from the patients. Data of patients can be managed from anywhere. Rx30 is partnered with SMP (Script Management Partners), which provides automated immunization reporting services to state and local Immunization Information Systems (IIS) registries.

ScriptPro

This software is enabled with a unique feature called ‘Robotic prescription dispensing system’ which can fill nearly 150 prescriptions a day. There is no need for extra staff to cover the peak times.

Another feature of this software is the “SP Central Workflow System”, which uses the barcode scanning system. This feature helps the user in displaying electronic images of the required drug. The third-party management system (TPMS) is Scriptpro’s best feature in handling back office and any third party contract management and performance monitoring, which helps pharmacy’s to automate processing data pertaining to carriers that transact business with them. SIM (Scriptpro inventory management) helps in inventory management.

Liberty Software

This software is built on Microsoft’s newest technology platform. The user interface is very user-friendly which helps new users operate the software without any training.

The workflow of the pharmacy can be customized according to the needs by using the RPH Check, Count Que, Final Product Check features. Patients can be alerted automatically about the refilling of drugs by sending reminders through text and email. In the billing process, Liberty helps by using compounding tool set and generates automated bills.

Inventory management is made easy by using the Inventory control feature with an easy to use “Want Book” support for multiple vendors, and places orders automatically to the wholesalers.

Files of any particular patients can be browsed according to the need of drugs, doctors, prescriptions and other records.

All of the software mentioned above are cost-efficient and highly reliable with many useful features. Moreover, you can customize the according to your needs.

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by Incredible Planet Staff

Blooming Business – How to Effectively Manage a Growing Team


Business

Every successful business owner dreams of hitting it big and being a superstar company. What happens when that dream comes true? If you are doing well, the growth of your team will occur to keep up with all the new clients and projects.

To keep up with this new and hopefully, never-ending growth, you need to expand and integrate technology into your business. This includes going digital including accounting and payroll software as well as using cloud services to backup all of your invoices, projects, and other required and critical business needs. In addition, you need to know how to take care of all the new people you are hiring to assist in your successful business.

Continue reading to learn what steps you can take to effectively manage a growing team and move towards your business goals.

Communication Is Essential

One, if not the most vital, way to efficiently manage your new team is to communicate with them. Lack of communication is the downfall of a would-be thriving team. Your employees need leadership and they need solid deadlines to be able to be effective in the portion of the business to which they are assigned.

If you are not communicating your thoughts, ideas, requests, and other essential information to them, they will struggle with productivity and efficiency, which brings the whole company down. Make sure you are sending emails and having meetings. If you have too many people or they are distributed, use a chat platform that will allow everyone the ability to stay up to date on each other’s progress.

Delegate To A Growth Manager

Another excellent way to manage your growing team is to hire a growth manager. It is crucial that there is someone who can assess the growth of the team to make sure it is functioning appropriately and the team and company are ready for the changes that the team will bring. This person will be a lifesaver, as it will take a large amount of work from you so you can focus on other aspects of the company. By delegating to a growth manager, you will have an effective team with few growing pains!

Organize Into Smaller Groups

Another important way to strategize and become effective with your team growth is to organize into smaller groups based on job duties or areas of the company. This way you can have group meetings with each department instead of the entire new team, which would be very overwhelming for all involved. This way, each employee has a driven task based on their knowledge and can bring the best content or product to the table.

Know Your Employees And Their Strengths (And Weaknesses)

The last imperative way to effectively manage your growing team is to know your employees. Each employee brings a different strength to the table and you want to hone in on that strength. You need to be sure to assess and evaluate each new team members strengths and weaknesses before placing them into the appropriate area.

You want consistent results from your team and the best way to do this is to know each and every team member. Know who works well together and who does not. Do not let the growth of the team excuse you from knowing who your key players are. If you consistently evaluate each team member, you will have outstanding results even with a growing team.

Why Do You Need To Manage The Team?

Any leader knows that a great business went through growing pains to get where they are today. To minimise the effect of growth on your company, you want to be able to manage your team to receive consistent results effectively. To do this, communication is essential. You also will want to delegate to a recently hired growth manager as well as know your employees, that way you can organise them into smaller groups that you can meet with and keep on top of. If you follow these suggestions, your company and team will be a hot success!

by Incredible Planet Staff

5 HR and Recruitment Training Courses to Elevate Your Career


Business

Are you satisfied with where you are now in your career? Do you want to improve your skills? Would you like to gain more knowledge in your field?

Then it is time for you to look into training courses that will elevate your career in the human resources (HR) and recruitment arena.

Keeping the Jar Full

You cannot pour from an empty cup. When you want to be able to train your sights on the best candidates and recruit the best people for the right jobs, you yourself must be equipped with excellent skills and know-how.

To keep you updated with the latest trends and the most up-to-date knowledge in recruitment and HR, seek out relevant HR training courses in Dubai.

Continuous education is a crucial tool for you to advance in your chosen career. Professional development programs aimed to equip you with the necessary information about HR and recruitment practices will help you to always be head and shoulders above, among the best in the world.

Here are some training courses that you can consider getting so you can keep on rolling with the world’s cream of the crop:

1. Master’s Certificate in Human Resource Management

If you want to earn practical skills in and update insights in all of the key areas of HR, have strong belief in practical, competency-based, and real-world learning experiences, and prefer a shorter and less complex way of verifying your knowledge, then this course is for you.

This intermediate course focuses on strategic workforce planning and HR development. It will help you understand HR’s role in the organisation especially in outlining a comprehensive and detailed approach to designing and implementing, and maintaining an effective strategic workforce plan as well as an efficient HRD strategy that is aligned with career and leadership management.

HR professionals who lack formal academic qualifications, those considering transferring to an HR role, or seeking qualification from SHRM can also benefit from this module.

2. Best Practice Recruitment

To avoid costly recruitment mistakes as well as attract and create high performance people to be part of in achieving a company’s goals, you will need to learn the rules of attraction.

Gaining insights from among the world’s most experienced recruitment and training experts, you will also be able to comprehend the critical recruitment steps to ensure a uniform and professional process.

You will also utilize a 360-degree approach to efficient recruitment, save time and money by learning from the best practices employed by global experts, and have a simulated exercise on interviewing and assessing properly. There are many agencies out there, but the best usually offer virtual human resources approaches.

3. Talent Management: The Key to Organisational Success

Finding the key to organisational success lies in finding the right talent.

Gain valuable insight into the world of talent management by building a business case, developing a succession planning model, and investing in performance management courses to nurture high performing team members, among other topics rich in creating, executing, and maintaining HR strategies.

HR specialists up to senior HR executives can considerably enhance their set of skills in not only transactional HR but also, more importantly, in well-planned and tactical approaches in the field.

4. Certificate in Resource Management, Recruitment and Talent Planning

If you are involved in the recruitment, selection, and sourcing of talent in your organisation, then you must enrol in this course.

Understand the factors that affect organisational processes like resourcing, recruitment, and talent management as well as the importance of effective inductions and transition to onboarding. Learn how to use social media and other strategies to attract top talent.

After taking the course, you will then be able to identify proper resourcing and recruitment methods as well as be able to efficiently carry out interviews that will lead you to the right people for specific roles.

If you are involved in the recruitment, selection, and sourcing of talent in your organisation, then you must enroll in this course. One easy way to qualify is to get an HR certification online if you don’t wish to go through the traditional schooling scheme.

 

5. Certificate in HR Administration

Would you like to deliver top-notch services to your HR team and the whole organisation, create and execute effective HR procedures and administrative systems, and provide administrative support with regard to employee matters? How about gaining a comprehensive understanding of human resources management and its different functions, activities, and processes?

If so, enrolling in this certificate course will allow you to effectively learn about all employment processes including recruitment, selection, training, and other related areas. It will also improve your interpersonal communication skills that are crucial in successfully navigating difficult situations.

The Path to Success

With years of experience in training recruitment consultants in the UAE and other HR practitioners in the region, companies that offer these training courses have already amassed skills and know-how that you can take advantage of.

You will also benefit from specialist insights on topics that cover compensation and benefits, employee engagement, HR policies, labour law, succession planning, talent management to interviewing and performance appraisal.

These quality courses conducted by industry experts arm you with practical HR and recruitment skills. Leading training providers who partner with professional organisations such as the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Association for Talent Development (ATD) can significantly increase your chances in charting a path to success in the fields of HR and recruitment. 

AUTHOR BIO

With over 20 years of experience in B2B marketing, Annick Nuyens first worked in the hospitality service industry and then moved to the knowledge industry. She currently works for Informa in the Dubai office, where she oversees marketing for public and in-house training courses, conferences, exhibitions and managed events across the Middle East and Africa.

by Incredible Planet Staff

Top 3 Benefits of Hiring An Online Reputation Management Agency


Business

Online Reputation Management (ORM) has become increasingly important today for not only businesses, but professionals as well. As the term indicates, ORM involves managing the reputation of a business or an individual by assessing, managing and controlling negative reviews and negative publicity for executives, celebrities, politicians, professionals, and corporates and other businesses.

Here are 3 reasons why you want to consider outsourcing your business’s reputation management to professionals who have the expertise and experience to deal with online negativity.

ORM is time-consuming

While managing your business’s reputation may seem like an easy task in its early stages, a growing and expanding business requires dedicated personnel going over negative reviews and comments posted online every single day. While you may be willing and able to bear this added burden on your resources, it does not mean that your online reputation is actually being managed as it should.

Only googling negative feedbacks and reviews is not enough. It takes an entire team to generate positive content and employ other proven tools that will place your business back on the A-list. Additionally, ORM experts know how to handle each different type of negative publicity, from discouraging customer reviews and onslaughts from competition to conflict management and controversial issues that harm your public standing.

Online reputation affects revenue

It is well known that an individual or business’s reputation travels ahead of them. This has never been more true than in today’s digitized world, where anyone and everyone can post an online negative review about your products or services, free for the world to read and share.

Whether you are a professional, such as a doctor or a lawyer, the top executive of a blue chip company, or a public figure, your online reputation directly impacts your business and your revenues.

Do note that ORM is not only about dealing efficiently with negative press or poor customer feedback. Effective ORM strategies are employed during the good times—when all is going well and you want to boost the public image of your enterprise and win customer loyalty. Many successful businesses and individuals have ORM consultants, such as Brightpast.com, working in the background all year round, enhancing their public perception through positive content and reputation-building strategies.

If you’re serious about improving your business’s profitability, make reputation management an integral part of your marketing activities.

Conflict management needs expertise

Conflicts can arise with customers, ex-employees, present staff, rights organizations, competitors, suppliers—the list is endless. A key job of an ORM specialist is to manage conflicts in real-time, as soon as they occur.

With a reputation management team to fall back upon when everything you built seems to be drowning in negativity, you can take a deep breath and rest assured that you have seasoned professionals working on the problem.

To sum up, outsourcing the tremendous job of burying past bad reputation under the good word of present to a topnotch ORM agency is the way to go if you’d rather use your valuable time and resources for other important tasks.

by James Grills

7 Benefits of Project Management Software


Technology

Thousands of companies across the globe deal with a lot of streams that people required. In case, if you are not a one from this field, but still want to make better business through your stream, then considering online project management software is the best way. One should know that the project management software is the software which is used for planning the project in the best way, resources allocation and more.

With the help of Project Management software, the users can manage the budget, controlling the costs, quality management and more. When it comes to communication between the project’s stakeholders, thus the project management software is using for the collaboration at any time.  There is also agile portfolio management to consider, as this can offer decentralized control and increased transparency. At the same time, therefore the project management software is used in various ways.

The primary usage of the software is to assist the tracking as well as planning of resources, project components, and stakeholders. If you are looking for online project management software, then you can find it for free. On the other side, you can also check out the demo version to check before a clinch.

It’s also very useful for bug reporting in software testing.

So, the people who all are seeking for project management software to use, it is essential for them to find some of the valid reasons. For your information, before pouring the amount on software gets to know about some of the benefits of your benefits.

Here we are going to discuss by sharing 7 benefits of Project Management Software.

Hope it will be useful for all the seekers before pouring their cash on it.

  1. Simple to use: If you demand more from employees for your work, then it is flexible to use without consuming more time. With the help of project management software, you can save more time than expected.

At the same time, it will also provide more FAQs to the users without any hassles. Here the available tutorials are simple by offering videos, screenshots and more.

  1. Reasonable price: When it comes to implementing project management software, it requires a lot to spend on it. In this case, you can spend just a few and subscribe to the software every month.

One must know that the software is also mainly running on all the computers more smoothly. It is the main reason where most of the seekers are looking for project management software.

  1. Support: If any technical malfunctions occur, then you can get access to IT support to troubleshoot without any hassles.

People with a medium business, it offers a lot. For your information, the vendor’s specialists match the expectations more than the technical persons that you hire.

  1. Full-time access: The major highlight of the online project management software is where the user can access all the time. You can also utilize the system on different operating systems as well as computers without any difficulties.

For your information, you must also be aware of the thing that some of the dealers offer you the mobile application to manage the projects with the help of Smartphone.

  1. Frequent update: When it comes to updating, it will happen frequently. It leads to maintain your records also and adequately supported of all the applications at any time.

If you found the file which is not able to open because its outdated. However, it is possible to update and open it further without any difficulties.

  1. Make collaboration efficiently: most of the time, when it comes to project management, it requires collaboration with other team’s members to complete. In this case, cloud solutions are considering being the best.

So, getting connected with all makes sense during the project management. Also, it allows the user to share the stuff and plans as per the convenience.

  1. Flexible: While subscribing to the packages, it demands a lot in some case for online project management software. However, you can find the way to save your money by just only using the respective features as per the project demands.

In case, if you feel more complicated, then you can subscribe to other features as well.

Conclusion

As per the sources, thus the online project management software is mainly filled with significant advantages. When it comes to project management software, we can expect the benefits for all the time. People would assume how the software supportive. Hope the mentioned benefits will meet your expectations.

by Incredible Planet Staff

Things to Consider Before Buying CMMS Software


Business

Selecting the right CMMS software for your establishment is not an easy task these days. Earlier, Maintenance management in an organization was not taken as a serious issue and was considered waste of money but as the time changed top management and decision maker of the organization started understanding the need and importance of maintenance and facility department.

Maintenance management basically deal with the maintenance of equipment, effective scheduling, recording, tracking of all the operations and activities that take place in an organization. It also ensures that company does not face any downtime from damaged equipment and facilitate cost control. Before the introduction of maintenance management software this task was performed manually by the maintenance department. However, today various maintenance software are available in market. CMMS is one of the maintenance solutions mostly adopted by various organizations for effective functioning of their business.

CMMS stands for Computerized Maintenance Management Software which provide assistance to the organizations in maintenance management by keeping record and effective scheduling of the all the maintenance activities with cost control.

As today various cloud CMMS software are available in market, it becomes a challenge for organizations to choose the best option among the various alternatives. It is quite challenging to select an ideal CMMS solution that fits the need of organization.

Here are some critical factors or parameters, which you can take into consideration before buying a new CMMS solution for your firm.

  • Form a team- Planning is an initial and crucial factor to be consider before making a decision. It is necessary to form a team of people from various departments of the organization to plan on the selection of suitable CMMS software. Opinion and insights of all the team members are valuable and organization must not ignore this fact because ultimately they are the one who are going to get affected by the new CMMS system.
  • Define your requirements- It means that you have to decide on the specifications and requirements you want in your new CMMS solution. Maintenance management is of various types’ viz. preventive maintenance, risk- based maintenance, reliability centered maintenance etc and depending on the needs and type of the organization and industry you are in, you have to decide what type of CMMS solution is needed. The selected software must be industry specific as CMMS software varies industry-wise.

Vendor- Selection of vendor must be done after an intense research like- track record, market image, reviews etc. Before making final selection of CMMS system you need to ask as much as questions you can ask regarding the CMMS software you are interested in. It is very important to interview vendor in order to get deep knowledge about the CMMS system.

Following are the questions that must be asked-

About the flexibility and scalability of the CMMS system offered- It means that how adaptive is the system and will it be able to accommodate with organization after expansion.

  • About demo- Always ask for a demonstration.
  • Ask how user-friendly CMMS system is? CMMS must be user-friendly so that every employee can easily learn it and save time. It must be easily accessible and should not be meant only for tech-savvy people.
  • Customer support
  • Software Updates
  • Ask about the vendor’s policies related to the post sale training support, implementation, account management and consultation.
  • Ask about the mobility of the CMMS system
  • Ask whether the CMMS system is Cloud based or Hosted Locally?

Price structure- Pricing is one of the crucial factors that can affect the buying decision of a CMMS system. Vendors must be asked about the setup cost, discounts, refund policy or any other additional charges. Organization must prefer those CMMS solution providers whose pricing policies are clear.

After considering all these factors, you can make a final selection of a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) for your business. Maintenance management is an integral part of an organization and it should not be ignored.

business 3034985 1920
by David Mackenzie

Why Building an Agile Hiring Strategy is a Must


Business

Do you remember the last time your organization lost top talent?

The consequences were huge: a lengthy recruitment period where competition from other companies for the best candidates was strong; frustration and disappointment within the organization; and the field of candidates wasn’t particularly strong and choices were limited.

Meanwhile, work output slowed and team members were overburdened perhaps leading to further team losses or even customer dissatisfaction. In turn, the financial implications of slower output, hiring and training costs were damaging.

These are problems that you will never go through when one of your prized employees leave if you have an agile hiring strategy in place. An agile hiring strategy is agile in name and by nature, which means you were able to prevent or combat these issues before they were able to cause any damage to your HR.

It’s certain: the wrong recruitment strategy can have serious consequences for a business of any size. Here’s why you need to introduce an agile hiring strategy that will eliminate many standard recruitment issues.

What is an Agile Hiring Strategy?

Agile businesses are responsive and reactive. This is because they pay close attention to their inner strengths and create a workforce where human intellect and employee mindset are incredibly highly valued. As a result, these businesses are quick to react to external changes within their industry such as new technologies or increased competition.

An agile organization knows its strengths and weaknesses because frequent internal analysis is key. Part of this is changing and adapting internal workflow processes as often as necessary so that the human element of the organization is adaptable, confident, and reactive.

Agile recruitment is responsible for creating this workforce. As such, it also needs to be agile by nature.

An agile hiring strategy may mean abandoning your organization’s traditional recruitment path, or funnel, your organization has typically used. It might be that an agile hiring strategy workflow looks more like this:

  • Paying attention to the who the ideal candidate will be particularly their behaviors and attributes.
  • Setting up alternative and multiple pathways to employment within your organization, including sourcing passive candidates.
  • Empowering your recruitment manager to make hiring decisions at whatever point they feel confident and comfortable doing so. This should not necessarily be at the end of a long and labored process.
  • Looking at alternative screening methods, beyond CVs, where candidates might be able to demonstrate the strengths you are looking for early on in the process.

Avoiding 4 Common Recruitment Issues with an Agile Hiring Strategy

An agile hiring strategy can help you easily avoid these classic recruitment problems:

  1. The Right Candidates are not Finding you

The way in which you cast your recruitment net may not be working for you. This means that there isn’t enough top talent approaching your organization. You may have vacancies for HR jobs in UAE, for instance; in this case limiting yourself to one rigid pathway will eliminate much of the vast pool of candidates who may otherwise be interested.

Solution:

Allow hiring managers to have a flexible route to finding the right employees and adapt the hiring process to suit them. This may mean multiple ways of locating the right talent but ultimately casts the net wider. It allows the right candidates to follow the path that best suits them.

  1. A Candidate Looks Great On CV but Performs Badly at Interviews

Interviewing candidates is time-consuming and costly. For this reason, it is frustrating when a candidate that turned in a great CV and looked so promising turns out to be not so great a fit for your role after all.

Solution:

Create a unique and powerful screening opportunity for candidates to demonstrate the skills you are looking for, alongside submitting their CV. For instance, a short video response if communication skills are key to the role, or an appropriate technical task.

  1. Great Candidate, Awful CV

You probably suspect that at some point, you’ve lost out on talent because their resume or application didn’t cut it. There are a number of valid reasons a great candidate can have a terrible CV, especially if they have not been actively seeking the role you are advertising.

Solution:

Attach greater weight to alternative screening opportunities to ensure this type of candidate is not ruled out instantly. An agile hiring strategy will allow hiring manager the opportunity to spot this type of candidate and develop a process that allows them to shine too.

  1. Top Talent is Lost to Competition

If your organization is confident that there is the right talent within a pool of candidates, why waste time continuing down the traditional hiring funnel. This time-consuming process means you risk losing them to a competing organization.

Solution:

Empower your hiring managers to extend offers as soon as they see fit.

In essence, an agile hiring strategy gives you the right tools to help you find the right employees more efficiently, and faster. In the current climate, this is essential if you are going to attract the top talent before they take up an offer elsewhere.

by James Miller

Business Storage And Small Inventory Management Tips


Business

Now that you have your low-risk, low-cost business idea, it is time for you to determine how best to manage it.  Although it might seem very daunting trying to create a small business inventory storage system, helpful advice from other business owners, intuitive apps and strategic organization can help you come up with a system that works for you.

Managing Your Inventory

Inventory management is a method for saving money by making sure that your products that are most in demand are exactly where you need them to be and that they are easy to locate and package.  It might seem kind of silly to be thinking about inventory when you are just getting started.  However, what beings as a small idea can definitely grow very unexpectedly and quickly. Since fulfilling orders quickly is critical for keeping your customers happy, one of the keys to your success could be to start out with a simple inventory system to use in your small business.  You can even use temporary storage buildings early on so that you don’t have to commit to more permanent solutions as you grow.

Applying The 80/20 Rule

You can apply the Pareto Principle, or 80/20 rule, to managing your inventory.  Basically, what the means is 80% of  your revenue will come from about 20% of your entire product line. So whether you are considering self storage, or other types of storage such as in a warehouse or locker, it is important to keep this ratio in mind.

Certain products will sell more often than others.  When you have those items nearby that can help you fill your orders efficiently and keep a close watch on your supply of product.  The key to determining which items to keep in stock is a trial-and-error process.  New business owners need to be flexible and utilize strategies that complement their personalities.

Identifying Bestsellers

When you first start a new business that it the perfect time to closely watch your sales and identify seasonality and buying trends.  There are numerous strategies that can be used for monitoring your top-selling items and managing your inventory.  It could be just something simple like placing a sticker on the shelf next to your fastest moving products.  Watching your bestsellers carefully can also help you focus on your top priorities and prevent you from having all of your capital tied up in inventory that isn’t moving.

Accurate Inventory Tracking

One thing that is critical to building up your brand is gaining your customer’s  trust.  One of the fastest ways to lose your customers trust is to provide them with inaccurate information on what is out of stock and what is available. In today’s e-commerce world it is very easy to make mistakes, especially when your products are stored in several different locations.  Fortunately, there is inventory management software available – especially those that have barcode scanning abilities – that will help you keep track of what products you have in stock.

The software definitely can make your processes much more efficient, but you still need to do quality checks and cycle counts on your inventory regularly, and a physical inventory at least once a year.

Practice Quality Control

 Having the world’s best inventory tracking will be worthless if you don’t get the right quality products in a timely manner to your customers.  Quality control and pre-package all of your products before you even list them.  Although a majority of customers these days are accustomed to instant shipping, if you jump the gun and rush your inventory out without good preparation it will tend to lead to really stressful moments.

People these days expect to get things faster and faster all the time, and so we try to do everything we can with our packaging and inventory.  That way, when you do get a sale, you will be prepared to box it up and ship it out.

contact management
by Lizia

Top 8 Benefits of Contact Management Software


Business

Contacts (which could be leads or customers) form the heart and soul of any business. The all-important goal of any business, regardless of size and industry, is to retain customers and keep cross-selling and up-selling while finding new ones. Finding new leads through lead generation helps you fill the top layer of the sales funnel and expand the business. Whether you like it or not, few customers eventually drift away from your business. Hence, it’s important to steadily acquire new leads and have a good chunk of old customer data in hand.

Relying on spreadsheets and emails to store your contact list could be the worst thing for a business to do. Why? Because it is an old school technique which is not a good fit for today’s dynamic business environment. Why spreadsheets are not an option for your business?

  • Spreadsheets involve manual entry of data – Businesses today need more efficient systems to create, capture, share and consume data in the most effective way
  • The data in spreadsheets is more siloed – Businesses need robust tools to manage data from various sources and put everything at one location, a centralized address book
  • Spreadsheets cannot analyze data or deliver information – A smart solution should analyze the data and produce information

So how do you keep the company contact information safe?

The solution for all the above issues is to have the contact data in a contact management software that allows automation, integration, and tracking. It gives a complete view of customer information, customer activity, contact details, communication history, social media activity, on a single page. Let’s look in detail at the benefits of contact management software for businesses.

  1. Pull and sync contacts across platforms

You can have a well-organized contacts book if the data is low. But as your business grows, so will the number of customers and keeping a track of hundreds of contacts across different platforms is not an easy task. Contact management system imports the contacts from email, mobiles, social media and also allows you to export them to other platforms easily. The idea is to cobble together your entire contact list and build a single source of information. Few contact management tools even allow you to scan the business cards and pull the data.

  1. Run a quick search for information

Contact management software (CMS) compiles complete information of all the contacts and provides an efficient way to pull it at any moment. It keeps you ever ready for those surprise calls from a customer or prospect, so you can easily sort and search their data. A contact’s email address on the search button can give a full record of when the last call or email interaction happened, what the interaction is all about, and what should be your next step. This is one way of searching for data.

Sometimes you need to make a more advanced search to filter and pull a categorized list of contacts for the next email campaign – even this is made pretty easy with CMS. And did you know that you can save these search results? You can absolutely do that, just define the search criteria, give a name and save. You can define the search based on different criteria – like the type of lead score, buyer persona, campaigns, touchpoints, prospect conversion actions etc. For instance, make a search for all of those contacts which belong to a particular industry, designation, location, and find your ideal profile and run a campaign exclusive for those contacts.

  1. Track the user behavior with analytics

The most interesting part of any business is to learn about their customers, what they do with your emails, which pages do they refer to the website, what part of your website pulls their attention. Wouldn’t that be great information to sketch your next move? Contact management software when integrated with CRM gives you the actionable insights into customer and prospect activity on the website, mobile app or email.

Analyze the customer’s interests, web patterns and get a full report along with real-time alerts. Web behaviors help you check the buying pulse of prospects which could impact directly on conversions. If a prospect has spent an hour or more on the product’s page, he might be in the awareness stage, so you can email product catalogs or comparison sheets his way. Analytics tell you which page a customer is interested in, time spent on each page, on which page they left the website, customer’s location. This allows you to target the right content to the right set of audience.

  1. Dwindle your emailing efforts

The traditional form of email is a thing of the past since emailing has changed over the last 20 years. The new technology of email has changed the way businesses run. Now you don’t have to panic in sending 1000 or more emails in a day – CMS does this for you with ease. Sending bulk emails through CMS is easy and quick, just prepare a list of contacts with email content and click ‘send’. CMS reduces the efforts and time involved in emailing. You can also clean the contact list (remove the email addresses) based on the bounced list of email addresses.

  1. Listen to the social interactions

In today’s world, if there is no ‘social’ element added, you are missing on lots of potential data for the business. CMS pulls the social interactions of every contact from LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus and puts the data in one place. These interactions guide you to what customers are saying about your products or services, gives you a chance to get involved in the conversations and respond to their questions. A deep insight into these conversations can also help you in enhancing the product features.

  1. Improve customer experience

When you have all the customers’ information, web analytics, purchase history, demography and more, you are well informed and prepared to respond to their queries. This helps in making better conversations now that you know your customers and their behavior. When you proactively address customer issues before them mentioning it, you win their trust.

The #1 complaint of every customer is that they are asked to repeat themselves each time they call. Not anymore. Every employee in the company can now carry a single voice because all the departments can access and update the information in the contact management software, which will apparently reduce repetition. As a matter of fact, you can foresee the issue and solve it proactively. Customers will surely be impressed with the efficiency and timely responses of your representatives, thus enhancing customer satisfaction.

  1. Prepare for sales meeting on-the-go

A mobile contact management system gives access to all the customer and prospect information so that you prepare for customer meetings on-the-go. You can now take sales calls more confidently as well as update the meeting information as soon as you complete it. As soon as you update the data, management can take the call on their next step, so you don’t miss the lead. This becomes crucial when you are out of town for the sales/ customer meetings which are in a different time zones than that of the management. This boosts the productivity and maximises sales.

  1. Increase the return on investment

When customers are satisfied with your service, when you see more conversions, when the leads move quickly down the sales funnel, when sales team close more deals, you know that you have made a better investment. Contact management system drives all these by building efficiency to every department of the organization. It’s good to have a system that eliminates the administrative tasks of the employees so they can invest time in more productive tasks.

Not just that, CMS improves upsell and cross-sell opportunities because you know the customers well. You can also gain new customers through the word-of-mouth of satisfied customers. Many companies have benefited from CMS to upsell and cross-sell their products to customers.

A customer relationship management solution has an integrated contact management software along with various other solutions for marketing, sales and customer support. You can check www.agilecrm.com for further information