Business Telephone Answering Service

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Business Telephone Answering Service is like having a virtual receptionist answering queries and calls 24 hours a day 365 days a year! You could be forgiven in thinking that such a telephone answering service would be costly? But you would be wrong, in fact, such telephone services are very cost effective and are less than hiring an employee to provide a similar function! These factors make it easy to understand why so many companies opt for such companies call services and why they are increasing remarkably by employing such telephone answering services. The same is true when it comes to the productivity of the company or business.

Why the need for a telephone answering service aimed at business? Necessary due to overflowing responses from customers around the clock and a very difficult task in the operation represented trying to satisfy customer requests via telephone within all their hectic schedules. Hiring a company to receive calls on your behalf in other words reduce the warranty growing and growing business!

Hosted PBX phone systems are pressed into service as part of a telephone company service. A large number of signs decorate praise PBX phone system. These features include virtual receptionist, call screening, auto attendant, music on hold, caller ID, voicemail, fax to email and the like.

Greeting of the guest is taken care of by the auto attendant features and guest would be sent to voicemail feature if their calls are not selected despite many rings. All these features certainly strengthen the building of the customer base is going to help the cause of the company in the long term. With such great features it is fair to say that such a service is a must for any small business.

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Source by Matt Money

How to virtualize Red Hat and CentOS Linux physical server into VMware vSphere ESX Servers

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Converting Red Hat and CentOS Linux physical server into VMware vSphere ESX servers is not an easy task as compare MS Windows. It is even more difficult is that you are an older version of Red Hat, such as 7.2 or Linux boxes with RAID.

I had successfully converted several unit of Red Hat 7.2. and software-attack Linux box for recent years. The process for P2V Migration requires some extra efforts and challenging career. You may face all sorts of issues for P2V migration, such as Kernel Panic or even worst is the Linux OS can not be booted up because no virtual hard disk is found.

Hot Cloning used VMware tools to use for the conversion project:

  • VMware ESXi 4.0.0 or ESX 4.0.0
  • VMware Converter Standalone 4.0.1

From experience this is the best tool to be using the P2V migration. I faced a lot of issue with ESX 4.1.x and a force to be reduced for the migration process. Worst case hot cloning is not working then the only methodological cold cloning process used Clonzilla will help you in most Linux Disto cloning. Let’s assume that you would perform the transfer completed without error. The next challenge is to get Red Hat or CentOS Linux to boot.

  1. You need to choose the right Disk Controller either BusLogic Parallel or LSI Logic Parallel VMware Image mode. This is an important process, otherwise Linux will never find real hardisk your.
  2. Boot from System Rescue and chroot to your / mnt / sysimage.
  3. Add the disk controller in /etc/modules.conf and remove any RAID configuration.
  4. Wages core and put grub
  5. Edit / etc / fstab and /etc/grub.conf to change all hda the SDA so that it can be attached properly when the system boots
  6. When the system boots properly, run Kudzu re-initialization
  7. install VMware tools

steps above all necessary steps to transfer physical servers to VMware vSphere ESX servers. There are however a lot of numbers and additional settings need to be made.

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Source by James Edward Lee

Telecommunications Recruitment, The landscape has changed

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I remember the Good Ole days back in the mid 90’s when Telecom was booming! Job orders were strong and candidates were climbing over each other. I was fortunate to be assigned to the Telecommunications recruiter with one of the largest staffing companies in the world of college.

Telecom was not the sexiest division and line of business for human resources recruiter and sales manager back then and I can not say much has changed. In many ways this is good! One of the best ways to become successful in humans is to carve out a niche. Learn about the industry and part subgroups within. Become an authority figure.

I dipped my toe in the IT staffing market for several years, and as much as I tried to enjoy this moment I could not find the passion. Undoubtedly, IT Recruitment is a lucrative business model and plenty of recruiters and sales managers have been remarkably successful! It just was not for me. The competition was fierce, the opportunity seemed saturated, and offer our services was one of many.

Oh Telecom, I just can not stop you!

When I jumped back into Telecommunications recruitment, I realized landscape and technology has changed dramatically. You see, back in the Hay Day, I was PBX king! If my clients had SL1 Meridian Technician or Engineer NEC 2400, I was the go-to-guy of them.

The terms common back then follows:
-Switch Technician
-Cable Puller
takkanumályklaborðinu System Technician
-Central Office Technician
-OSP Engineer
– NOC Engineer / Manager

While some of these terms and techniques still exists, it is no longer a demand nor a trick of the day.

Wireless …

I’m learning quickly Wireless is here and now. I feel like a 24 year old again gone out of business. I’m learning a tremendous amount about the wireless industry, development, skill sets, and technology. It is incredibly exciting to be back.

Nowadays, the number of wireless communications lingo one must experience these few terms:
-DAS
-Small Cell
-Backhaul
-LTE
-A UMTS

Everything I read and learn in conversation with the wireless industry experts suggest growth and dollar signs over the next 5+ years. It is exciting to be part of the reconstruction of the kind within the industry consists of real people. The best relationships were always mine developed within the telecom vertical.

Telecom, you can talk about us, but you can not talk without us!

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Source by Russell Liebowitz

Phone Systems for Small Business – 8 criteria for assessing the IP Phone System

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ShoreTel CEO, John Combs, presented the keynote address recently at IT Expo West, providing a very appropriate advice to IT managers and others buy voice over IP (VoIP) phone system. He used MAC iPhone and analogy to show how new technology can quickly dominate the industry. In the case of VOIP business phone systems, IP technology is poised to rule the same time the existing analog (TDM) systems.

VOIP telephone system can greatly enhance the user Adapted room, which leads to increased productivity in the organization. IP telephone system enables collaboration and cover aspects of unified messaging technology. The VOIP telephone system typically involves features such as teleconferencing, unified messaging (voicemail to email), web collaboration, mobile integration (mobile phones), with (to find employees quickly), instant messaging, video conferencing and business process integration (customer relationship management sales, accounting, etc.).

What differentiates one vendor’s small business phone system from another? Mr. Combs suggests aa very structured selection process when choosing Office Phone System with VoIP for business. He proposed eight evaluation criteria to be used by the evaluation team make the selection of new VOIP phone system company

  1. usability. There will be on-site demonstration including the precise mechanism to distribute. It is often good to have two or more vendors display side by side, or on the other hand to be installed prototypes of two separate office of the company and the system time and location to find out which one was the best.
  2. Reliability. What is the expected failure rate, based on the actual level of use Bell Core / Telecordia standards? Mr. Combs pointed out that academic failure rate is not enough trust for applying the new system. You do not want the “guinea pig” for the vendor prototype or beta testing.
  3. Availability. Make sure understand the impact of downtime on the company based on the intended installation. Counting points of failure are there in the settings seller?
  4. flexibility. What are the costs that you have to double the proposed settings?
  5. Architecture. What methodology was used to design the system? Was considered good or technology patched together from disparate systems and contradictory architecture?
  6. Total Cost of Ownership. Most of the time upfront costs (hardware, network and implementation) are only 20% of the total system cost over the lifetime of the system. Day-to-day costs (training, move / add / change, system management, network and utilities) may amount to 80% of the system lifetime. What’s with the system under consideration?
  7. Vendor Financial Status. Make sure the seller has a solid balance sheet, or be prepared for support issues should they encounter financial difficulties.
  8. Vendor references. The team should contact industry colleagues to obtain information pertaining to the vendors listed Did they make a wise decision with this seller? Do they know of other references? How do actual costs together vendor programs? Is it easy for IT staff to support? What about the “raving fans?”

The evaluation to upgrade small business phone systems, usually option is VOIP business phone systems. A careful assessment of each vendor offerings and especially the presence of “raving fans” for any VOIP business phone systems are important to get all the benefits of VOIP for business.

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Source by Jim C Green

Career Prospects for virtual assistants

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government career prospects predictions are not developed yet for the Virtual Assistance industry, whether it is because it is a relatively new area or because the task done Vas are as diverse as Vas itself remains to be seen. One has to examine similar areas and skill sets to see how Vas will go in the coming years. By looking at these same areas, you can see that the growth outlook for Virtual Assistance is above average. The question of “Will this still work be around in 20 years?” Can be answered by looking at the service of the specific VA has to offer and close to the “traditional” economic sectors.

The important thing to remember, though, is to keep current with technology and software, which can develop your business. If you know only outdated technology, then you and your business are outdated and customers may go elsewhere for services. Keep adding to your service and learn everything you can about your niche market and what they need now.

With many companies restructuring and downsizing (get rid of middle management), companies are utilizing more and more secretaries and administrative support staff to take over the duties . If you offer administrative support to VA, and market yourself as an off-site solution for these companies downsizing, your “job” looks really good. One thing to note, though, is that you will have competition from on-site staff for these positions.

If you offer more specialized services and administrative support, you have different options of continuing career. Here are two examples:

If you are offering Public Relations (PR) service, job outlook is rosy. With so many different types of institutions – such as businesses, nonprofits, universities, hospitals and more – looking for media experts and PR professionals to do more than just “to tell their story.” Creativity, initiative, good judgment and the ability to communicate effectively are some of the skills necessary to succeed in this job. There is lots of competition in this role, but employment / contract PR professionals is expected to grow faster than average, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

If you offer Desktop Publishing Services, phone job outlook is also great. Many companies are starting to outsource this service, instead of having in-house staff. With experience and / or degree in graphic design or related field, desktop publishers a variety of organizations to market themselves. Vas offer an affordable alternative to hiring a graphic design company.

Whether you specialize in desktop publishing and graphic design or public relations or other specialty niche, it is clear that Virtual Assistance is catching on and VAS that are out there are not going anywhere. With more and more employers and companies looking to outsource projects to reverse the offsite personnel to meet these needs, the view of the use of “virtual” employees is changing. It is no longer as common to hear objections like “How do I know you will really work?” the proposed use VA to someone who has never before. Many have heard of the vas now or know someone who uses theirs. In most cases, when someone has the VA team, they do not return to in-house staff to fulfill the obligations.

To check out the job outlook similar field ‘, visit Occupational Outlook Handbook (2006-07 edition) put out by the US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics in bls.gov.

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Source by India Jordan

7 steps to implement the new telephone system

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Business telephone systems are generally important to the pulse of any company. Companies must go through the process of purchasing and change from one phone to another system on average between 5 and 7 years. Whether a company is to upgrade old digital system, set Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) enabled system or application Hosted PBX or Virtual PBX Hosted by VoIP Providers, transition is usually painful. This need not be the case, however. Here are some steps that will minimize the disruption of changing the communication system

1. Do not wait until the last minute to decide on Phone System. Phone system vendors will agree to almost any installation time to make the sale. However, the less time they are given, the installation will sloppier. Planning proper installation takes time which is not always under the control of the seller or Hosted VoIP provider. Small system requires a minimum of three weeks to prepare. Larger systems require more time and some may require several months. If phone service is switched from one carrier to another, the time for porting numbers should be factored into the equation. Carriers should be able to estimate the time it takes to port that can be as much as 60 days.

2. Identify all telephone lines and what they Do. This should have been done before the decision on your system. If it has not been done, do it immediately. Use your phone bills or call the Local Exchange Carrier (Lec) identification of lines and numbers. If there is still some uncertainty about some of the lines and circuits, call them. Eliminate any that are not used and make sure the new system or Hosted PBX service accommodates all needs.

3. Know Installation Program New Phone circuits. Will the new directions to be ready in time for the installation of new telephone system? Each type of track phone requires different hardware components inside the telephone system. If there is a possibility of a new cycle will not be ready, then talk to the new telephone system seller how old lanes will be handled by the new system.

4. Have all individual and departmental needs Been Met? Hopefully the new phone system vendor helped review all individual and departmental needs to make sure the new phone system or Hosted PBX services could see them. Examine each department to ensure their needs are known. Plan how individuals and departments will use every phone system, or virtual PBX features.

5. Know who will get each type of call. If different types of phones were purchased, determine in advance the profile within the company will receive each type of phone. Make sure that the phone will carry out the functions used by each person or department.

6. Make sure the network is ready for VoIP telephone. If a new phone system includes VoIP telephone with IP enabled telephone system or Hosted PBX services from Hosted VoIP provider, check the computer network to make sure it is ready to deal with VoIP traffic. Is data cable to all parts of the phone? Not remote VoIP users outside the office have access to broadband Internet? How will VoIP phones remote user connect back to IP enabled telephone system? It will be exposed to the Internet? Connected through a private network, VPN or session border controller? Is phone seller know this answer?

7. Have conducting meetings with the seller ‘s Project Manager. Implementation meeting will ensure that everyone is on the same page. Dates should be set for the installation of the meeting. Know how long the transition will occur. Will take place on a weekday, after hours or on the weekend? How will the calls get answered in transition? In addition, the answers to steps 2 to 6 should be discussed.

Telephone system transitions can be exciting and painful at the same time. While following these 7 steps will not guarantee a perfect installation, it will reduce the chances nasty surprise.

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Source by James Waldrop

How to Maintain Your Business Phone System

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Business phone system is a critical component of business communications and faulty telephone system may seriously impair all aspects of business. Some extraordinary advances have occurred in the field of telephone communication and today have VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone systems, hosted PBXs, online fax services etc.

Most companies are able to stay and live and thrive in business because of the Internet and advanced telephone features and facilities today. It is natural that every business, regardless of its size and scale of operations, want to utilize the latest Business Phone System with all its attendant features.

Small and mid-size business enterprises are obviously not in a position to hire technicians to maintain the telephone system in their office and strictly speaking, there is no need to permanently employ such workers. Today there are a host of VoIP service, online fax service providers, toll-free number service, hosted PBX service providers etc. In fact, you are not even required to buy any expensive hardware – much less maintain them.

In addition, most scalable telephone system it is not required to overbuy all the phone features and facilities now in one go. You can arrange with business services to provide only as feature phones and telephone facilities you need now and gradually upgrade them and your business grows.

Most telephone service providers are sensitive to business communication needs and will offer you only the features and facilities you require now and be prepared to expand the scope of their services as your business grows. In addition, where there are telephone companies galore, they will offer you effective support and competitive price.

Certain basic phone features and facilities are very important and not dispensable by even small businesses. Basic facilities required phone services are as placing calls on hold and the facility to transfer the call to another system if required by the caller. Most businesses will also need Internet Fax facilities and from marketing angle even toll-free number.

The loss of business may suffer if your business phone system fails or goes dead for several hours is unimaginable. This apart, clients and business associates will feel terribly annoyed if they are not able to access the phones and may as well turn to competitors. It is said the building is difficult, but reconstruction is doubly difficult. You will be hard put to restore your clients when you lose them to competitors.

It is therefore extremely important that you tie up with the right phone service provider that is reputed and reliable and offers you 24 x 7 uninterrupted Back Set support and competitive prices. You must confirm your track record and thoroughly satisfy you by your service provider. Most phone service providers are aware of the criticism of their roles and will fully support you to prevent business loss.

It is also important that the ISP provider is equally efficient and most of the business phone system today works in tandem with high speed Internet connection.

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Source by A. James

How Does a PBX System Connect to the world?

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PBX systems are the heart of any successful business. Communication is an important factor in building customer relationships and conducting day-to-day business. Without efficient work phone system, business could lose revenue as well as customer confidence.

Phone systems are designed to handle the call volume that exceeds what one would normally see at home. Since many calls are coming in at the same time, the phone system is necessary to route these calls to the appropriate party where the customer does not hear a busy signal. This is done by using paths or multiple phone lines that are connected to your system. Based on call volumes, these “phone lines” can either be an ISDN line, or may be a series of single lines. Selection of the circuit is largely dependent on the expected call volumes and budget business owner.

In the case of smaller companies, using many individual lines might make more sense. While some may be surprised to find that the cost of a single ISDN circuit could be cheaper than constantly adding phone lines to keep up with demand. This is where the projected growth in mind when ordering circuits or phone lines. This is especially true in cases where rapid growth is expected.

Please refer to the circuit, ISDN is a type of “telephone line” which has 24 channels with one channel taken for data such as rings. The remaining 23 channels can carry one call each simultaneously. This solution would work better than the 23 individual phone lines to accommodate incoming and outgoing calls. These paths can be set up in the PBX system to allow incoming or outgoing calls or a combination of both. In addition, depending on the operator used, they can be specified for either local or long distance. In most cases, they will be put up for Least Cost Routing. You might be able to send both local and long distance calls in the same circuit, but it might not be cost-effective to do so.

ISDN T1, or cycle, are suitable for larger companies with high expected call volume. These paths are generally in call center environments that have more technology to route calls to agents. For companies that have a very high call volume, a DS3 is often used consisting of 28 T1 or individual circuit. This allows for a greater amount of call volume and could be more cost effective solution than ordering 28 individual T1. The cost of a DS3 depending on the distance from business location to the end of the carrier network. This is why it is a good idea to shop around when considering purchasing a DS3 for communications. This way you can choose the carrier that has the shortest distance to minimize costs.

Another solution that is rapidly growing in popularity because of its versatility and cost saving VoIP. Unlike the relationship described above, VoIP technology sent conversation with IP technology in much the same way that computers transfer data. Since both voice and data can reside on the same cycle, the need for the number of cycles can be minimized. Because VoIP converts conversation data packets, it is important that the voice data does not conflict with the normal transmission of data as seen when transferring files or sending emails. This is because the voice data must be received in the order it is sent. If the end of the conversation gets to the destination before the start, the conversation will not be understandable. In the case of data transmission, if there is a bottleneck, the network will simply begin sending data again once the bottleneck clears.

The conversations are real time, this will not work for voice traffic. This is why it is important to have the correct settings in place to ensure that the voice conversation has the highest priority. The number of calls that could run concurrently would largely depend on the size of the network, data cycle and how much other data would be sent on the same circuit. In addition, the network configuration plays a big role in the quality of sound during a call. VoIP is appropriate for large and small businesses because of its flexibility. Depending on the needs of the business, bandwidth can be moved up or down and allow business to exploit the network to route calls.

There are many solutions when it comes to connect the PBX system to the world. Differences in cost and capacity, each solution has its benefits and drawbacks depending on customer need. It is also the deciding factor PBX itself. Knowing what is compatible with PBX as well as expected call volumes will go a long way in making the appropriate choice of communication to meet business needs.

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Source by Steve Mike Levy

Emerging Technologies in Supply Chain Management

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The Internet has enormous impact on the way people communicate, shop, and work. This technology has also made changes in the way companies do business in the 21st century. One of the areas of business that is likely to see tremendous change in the coming years, the supply-chain management. By harnessing the power of the Internet, supply chain management will continue to evolve in a way that allows companies to change the way they manage inventory, orders with suppliers, and communicate important information with each other.

While some of these technologies have been for many years or decades in the case of radio frequency identification tags, harnessing the Internet to this technology offers the potential to transform the supply-chain management. Improve supply-chain management also means improving inventory control and increase profitability.

In 2001, Nike lost revenue goal by a significant amount. The shortfall was explained in part by a failed supply chain automation project. “Some estimate that the new technology could strip out more than $ 30 billion in excess inventory” (Fonstad). The term E-Business – as opposed to e-commerce – can be used to describe the adoption of the Internet to speed up the objective of supply chain integration (Lee) Four new technologies and practices in e-business will have a dramatic impact on inventory management.

o Virtual marketplaces

o Radio Frequency Identification tags (RFID)

o Synchronized plan

o Supplier performance management

actual market PLACES

Metal Junction is real market held by the two largest steel producers India. Tata Steel and Sail Steel traded more than 5,000 tons of steel in March 2002. In March 2003, the tonnage had increased to 43,000 tonnes per month (Mills).

What is the real market and it has its applications to the industry? Virtual market has many names such as e-markets, net market places and electronic markets. These markets all have common characteristics.

o Reliance on the Internet

o buyers and sellers come together without an intermediary

o Neutrality (all buyers and sellers are treated the same)

o Information provided by vendors and products

in the most basic form, virtual market place brings together buyers and sellers today. At its highest level, a virtual market place gives the buyer and the supplier the opportunity to re-engineer sales administration processes, improve forecasting and scheduling, update Go-to-market approach, shortening the order-to-cash cycle, and extra customer (Steel24-7). Preferably, the actual market positions centered on a particular industry. Some prominent examples are steel, agricultural products, and automotive parts. In addition to providing information on manufacturers and general information about their products, the actual market can also offer product information, side-by-side comparison, technical papers and market.

Many challenges in setting up the e-market. Primary among these are defining the tools necessary to use the market, providing a safe environment, price, payment and fulfillment. For regulated markets, Internet protocol will be selected. The cost of technology to access and participate in the market may not be prohibitive. Privacy and security must be sufficient to ensure confidential business. Authentication and authorization of users from many institutions will be possible. Private communications must be guaranteed.

pricing policy can be set or bartered. A common example of bartering, or auction, is E-Bay for consumer goods. Payment methods can advance or arranged between buyer and seller. Finally, the fulfillment of orders must be ensured. As in the case of traditional marketplaces, failure to deliver in a timely manner will result in companies losing market share and ultimately can lead to failure (McKnight).

The final issue of concern in real markets, jurisdiction and applicable law. Virtual markets put their members in the international trading community. Since e-markets are a recent phenomenon, defining the legal system that is responsible for the settlement of disputes is an evolving process. Current rationale proposed jurisdiction in the locality in the market. In the virtual market, however, one must ask where the market actually exists. Although the FTC has tried to control the on-line business, the final ruling on jurisdiction to international locations E-market has not yet been made.

Radio Frequency Identification tags

In November 2003, Wal-Mart collected 120 Its Top Suppliers to announce that it would require radio frequency identification tags (RFID) on shipping pallets and cases of merchandise. Wal-Mart set the deadline of January 2005 for its top 100 suppliers. The remaining suppliers will were there in early 2006 to meet the requirements (Sliwa).

A basic RFID system has three components.

o Antenna

o Transceiver

o transponder (TAG)

The antenna activates the tag, reads and writes data to it. When the RFID tag moves past the reader, the information is sent to the host computer for processing. The most common RFID systems are passive and contain their own power supply of, the short range transmitter, operating at low frequencies, and low cost. Although RFID has been since recent technological changes in 1960 have reduced costs and allowed the technology to be used in more applications.

common everyday use of RFID is an automatic reading prepaid passes on toll roads. Benefits of RFID are many fold. For example, RFID is very fast, non-contact, does not require line of site, and can operate in various weather conditions. In the case mentioned above, the benefits of RFID will go to Wal-Mart, but the costs are the responsibility of the suppliers. Kara Romanov, an analyst with AMR Research, Inc., estimates the initial investment cost for a supplier who ships 50 million containers per year will run between $ 13 million and $ 23 million. These costs include RFID tags and related hardware and software (Sliwa).

Samsýn Technologies Richmond Hill, ON and Thing Magic, LLC Cambridge, MA are two leaders in the application of RFID for supply chain management. Sam-Sys is dedicated to an open systems environment that will not restrict RFID to one protocol or range of frequencies. This philosophy is based on the premise that many manufacturers and readers that will work seamlessly together (group exhibition).

Thing Magic was founded in 2000 by five MIT graduates. It has developed a low cost RFID system. Now, Thing Magic is developing and marketing protocol agile RFID tag readers (Thing Magic). In addition to Wal-Mart, Department of Defense (DOD) is a key player in RFID development and deployment. The Department of Defense has issued a new policy that requires all suppliers of embedded passive RFID chip in each individual product if possible, or otherwise deployed cases or pallets in January 2005. In February 2004, DOD hosted the summit for their suppliers discuss RFID plans (Broersma). To quote Colin Cobain Chief Technology Officer Tesco Stores: “The question is not will RFID change the way you do business question is will you be ready.” (Thing Magic).

synchronized ORGANISATION throughout the supply chain

“Synchronized planning, in the form of cooperation forecasting and replenishment, coordinated production, inventory and capacity plans, information integration, and the connections of the ERP system, is one of the most exciting developments in supply chain management in many sectors “(synchronous). Synchronized Planning involves basic steps (Lee).

o Information integration

o Planning synchronization

or Workflow coordination

o new business model

First, information integration requires information and transparency. It is the sharing of information between members of the supply chain. Information can be exchanged inventory levels, production schedules and shipment schedules. The benefits are better timing and reduction of the bullwhip effect. “The effect shows a lack of synchronization between supply chain members. Even a slight change in the sales of consumer ripple backward in the form of intensified fluctuations upstream, simulating the result of a flick of the bullwhip handle” (Chase 335).

Planning synchronization defines what to do with the information is shared. This may include co-planning and co-design. The benefits are lower costs and better service.

If planning synchronization, “what” is to have shared information, workflow coordination is the “how” it is done. Functions that can be coordinated purchasing, engineering and design changes and production planning. Benefits include early time to market, improve service performance and efficiency. Synchronized planning can lead to new business models. Not only can this new business models redefine workflow, they can lead to changes in the responsibilities of the various parts of the supply chain. A defining supply chain can work together to create new products and lead to expansion in new markets (Lee).

Compatible planning, however, can not be achieved without the tight connection of all companies in the supply chain. Channels of communication must be well defined and should monitor closely the performance of each entity in the chain. An integrated supply chain must hold members accountable for their part in the process. As product life cycles grow shorter and shorter, efficient synchronization of the supply chain grows in importance. To ensure that the supply chain is driven by consumer demand, and to reduce the bullwhip effect, synchronized planning is important (Lee).

SUPPLIER Performance Management

supply-chain different organizations will be tightly intertwined, it will be necessary to measure the performance of each member of the chain. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testified before Congress in February 2001 as companies were unable to see the decline of the last recession, over building supplies, despite strong supply chain automation (Fonstad). Even the use of the latest technology, it can not guarantee that the supply chain is operating efficiently.

One way to answer the question of how well the supply-chain is working to develop supplier scorecards. There are five steps in developing an effective scorecard (Golovin).

o Agree on what is important and how to measure it

o Use web based incident reports to communicate the problems they occur

o Participate in continuous supplier management

o Measure to prevent rather than react

o use web based software that all suppliers can take without making expensive investments in software and training

it is important that the buyer and seller agree on the beginning of what is important and how it is measured. This is important because once decided, a supplier will streamline its work designated criteria. If just in time delivery is a priority, the supplier may focus on these aspects to the detriment of other factors. In addition, a benchmark to measure supplier performance must be realistic and attainable.

Actual performance should then be continuously monitored against these criteria. Manufacturer and supplier should work together to develop standards that are consistent with industry performance and production. Using web based incident reporting is important to keep track of problems as they occur. Incident reports should not only be used to monitor the problem, but should be used to solve problems in real time. It is also important to measure the time it takes the supplier to correct the problem.

Continuous supplier management, sometimes referred to as engineering supplier, has become more important as manufacturers outsource more of their operations. A 90-day review cycle can be ruinous when you are manufacturing innovative products. “New products usually have a few months of life” (Chase 337). A 90-day review cycle can come close to going over the competitive advantage of innovative products. Effective continuous supplier management to be based on certain periods and tolerance. This is then restricted to web based incident reports that make alarm call when products or delivery, are out of the agreed tolerances.

Effective supplier scorecard should be set up to prevent the problem in order to deal with them. The sooner you know there is a problem in lower cost of solving it and more likely to avoid it completely. Best performance measures not only the events after they have happened, they constantly monitor performance in real time. The use of automation is the key to making this happen. For example, a system that matches invoices with purchase orders will cover pricing errors before the check is cut and money is a manufacturer out the door. Utilizing a web-based software not only reduces the cost of the supplier to integrate with the manufacturer, it speeds up the integration. Web-based software also enables suppliers both large and small to participate in the supply chain.

The four items listed above depend on the ability of a manufacturer and supplier to participate in the planning, sourcing, quality control and delivery of goods. The internet makes all members of the supply chain to work and work together as a team. Finally, by making supplier performance web-based, suppliers are able to participate in their own performance improvement of (Golovin).

Resolution

Supply chain management is an interesting and complex subject. It goes to the core of new methods in business in the 21st century. The near universal availability of the Internet is enabling technology for a change in how supply-chain business is managed. The Internet also enables organizations to adopt new business and enter new markets. By harnessing the power of the Internet, supply chain management will continue to evolve the changes implemented today.

E-business has been a logical outgrowth of e-commerce. E-business adopts the power of the Internet to accelerate the growth of supply chain integration. While E-business has had a huge impact on supply chain management, it can also be adapted to both the front end and back end operations of companies (Lee). Improved inventory control and increased profits are two of the benefits of better supply chain management. As stated in the introduction, Nike miss 2001 earnings targets in part due to failed implementation of supply chain automation project. It has also been estimated that more than $ 30 billion dollars in excess inventory can be eliminated through improved supply chain management. These real savings can be brought directly to the bottom line.

Four new technologies and business practices that harness the power of the Internet, virtual market places, radio frequency identification tags, synchronized planning (RFID), and supplier performance. Virtual markets make buyers and sellers to come together 24/7 actually create a store that never closes. The additional advantages of virtual market are eliminated middlemen, access to product and vendor information and neutral market where all buyers and sellers are treated equally. Virtual markets provide both buyers and sellers the opportunity to re-engineer sales administration process.

As noted above, RFID has been since 1960, however, improvements in technology and RFID paring with the Internet has expanded this measurement method beyond the limited past their factories. Three factors RFID systems are antenna, a transceiver and transponder (TAG).

Compatible planning when applied across the supply chain consists of cooperation forecasting and replenishment, coordinated production, inventory and capacity planning, information integration, and direct links to ERP systems. The four key steps in synchronized planning, information integration, planning synchronization, workflow coordination and the opportunity to develop new business models. Key synchronize planning to use the Internet to share information. The benefits of concerted planning including better timing and reduction of the bullwhip effect. The bullwhip effect amplifies fluctuations upstream in the supply chain caused by the change in consumer sales. Synchronized planning also defines what to do with common information and how it will be done. As product life cycles grow shorter, efficient synchronization of supply-chain rewards companies that seize potential.

Supplier scorecards is a method to assess the members of the supply chain in the increasingly intertwined bodies. As Alan Greenspan noted in 2001, many companies were unable to see past the recession and continued over building an inventory despite having invested heavily in supply chain automation. This statement underlines the need to develop tools to monitor the performance of companies up and down the supply chain. Five steps to develop an effective scorecard is accepting what is important and how it will be measured, using a web-based incident reports, participation in continuous supplier management, measuring prevent problems and the use of web-based software. In rolling out these tools, it is important to both buyer and seller agree first on what is important and how it will be measured. Other steps flow from the first.

The Internet has had a tremendous impact on the personal and professional life businesspersons. On the business side, the Internet has brought new life to existing technology and offer companies the opportunity to participate in the world market. Harnessing the Internet company has made greater cooperation and exchange of information up and down the supply chain. The Internet has enabled firms to improve supply-chain by the way they manage inventory, place orders, and communicate important information with each other.

Works Cited

Broersma, Matthew. “Defense Department drafts RFID Policy.” CNET News. 24 October 2003, 5 December 2003

Chase, Richard B., Nicholas J. Aquilano, and F. Robert Jacobs. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage. 9. Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill / Irwin, 2001.

Fonstad, Jennifer. “From the ground floor: How to manage inventory on Demand.” Red Herring. 31 May 2001, 5 December 2003

Golovin, Jonathan. “Five Keys to a Successful Supplier Scorecard.” Vigilance, Inc., 5 December 2003

Lee, Hau L., and Seungjin whang. “E-Business and Supply Chain Integration.” Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum. November 2001. 22 November 2003.

McKnight, W. Lee, Diana aniuta and Ozlem Uzuner. Virtual Markets in Wireless Grids: Peering Policy barriers. TPRC 30. Research Conference on communication, information and Internet Policy in October 2002. Vienna, VA :. Telecommunications Policy Research Conference.

“Mills Warm to Online.” Steel Business Briefing. 1 July 2003. 03. November 22 group exhibition. 4 December 2003.

Sliwa, Carol. “Wal-Mart Suppliers Shoulder Burden difficult RFID effort.” Computerworld. November 10, 2003: 1+. Steel24-7. 22 November 2003.

“Synchronous Planning Across the supply chain.” Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum. 27 January 1999. 22 November 2003.

Thing Magic. 4 December 2003.

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Source by Edward Fadden

The benefits of landline and a mobile CLI Masking

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Telephony business can be a complicated matter. Whether you are a multi national company or a sole trader, phone system (mobile or landline) needs to be tailored to your needs so that you can maximize the business potential and that customers can have the best possible user experience when they contact you. To achieve this is no mean feat, but fortunately there are many advanced new development in the telecommunications industry that make this more favor now than it ever was in the past.

One such development is the ability to create a virtual landline numbers that transfer benefits directly to your mobile. This has been a godsend for many sole traders or small businesses. Take this scenario:

Sean runs a small electrical business in Birmingham. He is often on the road and has a small team of admin staff working for him and he also outsources electrical contractors in different parts of the West Midlands. When Sean gets a call on his landline business from a potential customer call is transferred directly to his mobile phone so that he can answer the call. If Sean is at work and he knows he can not answer the call, he can arrange for the transfer back to landlines where hopefully someone admin his team will pick up. This way Sean did not miss any important business calls.

Sean is also looking to grow his business, but he can not afford to set up different offices. Instead he arranges to have a real local landline number set up as a pass through to his mobile phone. For example, one of the electrical contactors his is based in Kidderminster so Sean arranges for a virtual local landlines for Kidderminster to install. Through ads that speak in the local Kidderminster area Sean can take calls from customers local to this area of ​​his mobile phone, and to Kidderminster-based electrical contractor him to go and see them. By doing this, the customer feels they are dealing with someone local and Sean can increase business footprint across the West Midlands without having to move or set up new offices. Sean can grow his business and create the perception of a larger company simply by obtaining actual land line numbers.

One of the trends that allow this to occur is called CLI mask. CLI stands for Caller Line Identification and mask is a way of hiding your number or show the site number. For example, a company that is based just outside London, let’s say read, might want to target customers based in London. By hiding their number a London number, customers will think they are in contact with the London-based company. This will possibly raise the profile of the company by customers and promote business in more prestigious light.

Similarly, as in the example described above, CLI mask can be used to display local number for customers when in fact you are based elsewhere. It is well documented that customers are more likely to pick up the phone when they see that it is a local number that is calling. In addition, customers prefer also to call business landline rather than a mobile phone because it creates the impression that the company is stable and well established and that they are not dealing with fly-by-night operation.

Here is a list of the features and benefits of landline to mobile phones and CLI mask

1. Transport landline calls to mobile means you can pick up any important business calls and do not miss any revenue potential.

2. You can respond to customer needs wherever you are or whatever you might be doing.

3. You can arrange for your existing landline number to be transferred to your mobile.

4. Flexibility transfer calls back to colleagues when you are not in a position to answer.

5. You can organize virtual landline to be transferred to the mobile phone based on a different geographical area you want to target.

6. Customers like buzz landline because it creates the impression that you are a stable company and they also want to alarm local number

7. Customers are more likely to take a call when it comes from a local number.

8. You can advertise your business in different areas without having to set up new offices

9. You can create the impression that you are a larger company with a prestigious location.

The landline to mobile and CLI mask technology is changing the face of telephony for businesses throughout the UK and, with a few strategic thinking, it can be used to grow small businesses in ways that historically would have never been possible . This can only be good.

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Source by Claire Cameron