Small Business Blog

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For organizations to carry on, particularly throughout challenging economic times, they need to set themselves a step above their competitors. Innovation, consequently, becomes a essential component of their being successful. Innovation requires both a strategic perspective for businesses, as well as creating conditions that are typically achieved by means of internal modifications and enhancements. This can be accomplished through the process entitled Business Analysis.

Business Analysis can be defined as an investigation into the operations of an enterprise aimed at understanding every aspect of how the enterprise is functioning including its processes, people and performance, as well as its goals and objectives.

Business analysis is the crucial first step in the software consulting process because it identifies enterprise needs and helps build the solutions required to meet these needs.

Although, technically, business analysis is distinct from financial analysis, project management, quality assurance, organizational development, testing, training and documentation development, it is a given that all these functions take place.

It is imperative that organizations ascertain the mood and the conditions for starting or consolidating a business venture. If you do not understand how the business works, what makes it successful, what the challenges are, and where it is headed, it is most likely headed in the wrong direction.

Over time, best practices have been developed which contain a series of well-defined steps. The BABOK—Business Analysis Book of Knowledge has been created by the International Institute of Business Analysis to collect and consolidate the experience of hundreds of practitioners.

The first step is to gain a basic understanding of the business and then proceed to the final design, deployment and validation of whatever solution best meets the organization’s needs most effectively. The following is the list of steps in the business analysis process:

 * Understanding the business
 * Competitor Analysis
 * Market Analysis
 * Defining Project Scope and Objectives
 * Requirements Gathering
 * Requirements Analysis and Documentation
 * Communicating Requirements
 * Designing the Solution
 * Implementation and Testing the Solution

The accomplishment of an effective business analysis project is a challenging project. It will most often include a combination of modelling, systemic thinking, innovating, communicating root cause analysis, persuasion and several other analytical skills. It is something which involves considerable interaction with other team members as well as substantial client interface, so team work and good interpersonal skills are important.

While Business analysis is not an exact science, it’s still a wiser alternate than rushing into a new business strategy or decision without thinking ahead. By understanding how the business works, what makes it successful, what the challenges are, and where it are headed, opportunities to succeed and prosper are truly enhanced.

Thanks for reviewing this article, I hope you found the information useful and to of great use.

Why is getting your business listed in the 411 directory such an important part of the business credit building process?

Does it really matter whether or not your company is in the White Pages or registered with Directory Assistance?

Absolutely!

As a matter of fact you can expect to have a much more difficult time getting approved for business credit without one.

The reason is when applying for credit with a supplier or creditor one of the very first things checked to verify the legitimacy of your company is whether or not you have a 411 business listing.

A non listed business will automatically trigger a red flag with most creditors and result in a denial of credit. So in order to avoid getting turned down you should first verify whether or not your company is listed prior to applying for credit.

Another key factor for getting a 411 listing is in driving customer sales for your business. Have you ever called Directory Assistance to locate a company and wound up at a dead end because it wasn’t listed?

Don’t let this happen to you!

Now that you know the importance of getting listed in the 411 directory let’s cover what it takes to make it happen.

You’ve probably heard that in order to get a 411 business listing you had to have a dedicated business phone line. Services like Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and cell phones didn’t work.

But that was the past.

Luckily times have changed and with more and more businesses using cell phones and VOIP as their primary source of communication it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Today, you can add cell phone numbers or VOIP phone numbers to your local directory assistance for minimal costs and in some cases free.

Here are three ways to get a 411 Business Listing:

Verizon Business – There are four main Verizon offices with each servicing several states. You will need to call and say that you want to get a “foreign listing”.

You will need to provide them your name, company name and business phone number. The cost varies in every state so if you’re located in California it costs a set up fee and .25 per month.

Each office will be able to direct you to the appropriate office that services your state.

For California call 1-800-722-0577, West Virginia 1-800-431-5477, Virginia 1-877-483-1396 and New York 1-800-509-6685.

*you do not have to be a Verizon customer to use its “foreign listing” service.

Verizon Wireless Listings – You can now get your business cell phone number listed in the 411 and the print directories no matter which wireless carrier you use. There is a monthly fee for this service and you can also choose which Verizon print directories you want your number to appear on.

List Yourself – This is a free 411 listing service and once you submit your business information it offers several options for you to validate your business phone number. Once your number is validated then your information is sent to the directory assistance databases used by all of the major carriers.

Keep in mind that because this is a free service it may take you several attempts to get your number successfully submitted and listed.

There are many other ways to obtain a 411 business listing that do not require monthly fees or trial and error but it’s important to get listed no matter what option you decide.

It will not only legitimize your company but also help potential customers find you. Don’t let a non listing cost you business credit and potential sales for your company.

This report presents a comprehensive picture of the contribution of small enterprises in Ireland. The report contains data on the contribution of small businesses in industry, services and construction, as well as statistics on the labor, the knowledge-based economy and workforce. It also includes international comparisons.

In the report, a small business is defined as an enterprise which employs fewer than 50 people. Statistics on medium (50-249 persons) and large enterprises (250 or more people) are included for comparison.

Highlights of the report are:

Industry: Production and employment dominated by medium and large enterprises

* In 2005, four of the five industrial companies (81%) were small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. This company employs 50,000 people, slightly more than one fifth of total industrial employment. * The larger companies (50 or more persons) employed 181,100 people in 2005 and generated 93% of the total turnover in the industry. * The vast majority of small industrial firms were Irish owned (95%). Nearly 42% of larger companies are foreign-owned.

Services: More than 380,000 employees of small businesses in the service sector

* In the service sector, almost all companies (98%) were small. There were 82,100 small businesses, employing over 380,000 people in the service sector in 2005. That was more than half of total employment in this sector. * Small businesses account for nearly half (49%) of total turnover in the services sector, and generates a turnover of nearly ? 81.6bn in 2005. * Nearly half of small businesses in the service sector are the property of the family (47%). The vast majority of these family businesses employed fewer than 10 people.

Construction: Small businesses occupied two thirds of all people who work in construction

* According to the Quarterly National Household Survey, there were 253,200 employed in construction in the fourth quarter of 2005. Of these, 211,000 have indicated that they worked in small businesses (fewer than 50 employees), while 24,500 have indicated that they worked in large enterprises (50 or more employees). A further 17,600 not specify the number of employees to their jobs.

* Among the 253,200 people employed in the construction industry, more than 65% worked for very small concerns employing less tha ten people.

Salaries and wages: 54% of private sector employees in small firms earned between ? 10 – ? 20 per hour in 2006

* The average hourly wage in small businesses were ? 15.22 in 2006 compared to ? 19.38 in companies with 50 or more workers in 2006.

* The average annual salary for employees in a small business amounted to ? 32,453 in 2006. The average wage in large enterprises was ? 44,794 per year.

Knowledge-based economy: the larger companies have shown higher levels of e-government activities

* Small businesses generally not more modern information and communication technology than larger companies.

* Almost all companies with 10 or more employees were connected to the Internet that two-thirds of businesses with fewer than 10 employees to use the Internet.

Size of work: almost 56% of employment in small workplaces

* In all areas, 56% of jobs in workplaces where fewer than 50 persons were employed in the second quarter of 2007. A total of 1175800 people worked in small workplaces. Of these, 839,300 were employees, 216,600 are self-employed and 107,900 are self-employed with employees. These figures include agriculture and the public sector and the economy.

* Among the 316,300 non-Irish nationals in employment in the second quarter of 2007, less than half (47%) worked in small workplaces.

EU comparison, the value added in small construction firms in Ireland was three times the EU average in 2005

* Almost three-quarters of production in Ireland turnover was generated by large companies, while the EU average was 60%.

* In 2005, Ireland is recorded but the gross value added per employee of ? 51,600 in the distribution of services. The EU average was ? 33,000 per employee. * The gross value added per employee in the construction industry in Ireland was significantly higher than the EU average for all types of employment dimension.

Everyone agrees on a broad level that small businesses are vital to the American economy. However, most people would be surprised to know just how important. The United States Small Business Administration keeps records and statistics on small business in the United States and some of their findings are surprising.

First, the typical perception of a small business as a mom and pop operation with just a few, if any, employees is not the entire picture. The Small Business Administration defines a small business as an independently business with less than 500 employees. There are an estimated 23 million businesses in the United States that meet that classification. In some smaller towns in the United States, these businesses represent a major source of employment.

In fact, small businesses as defined by the Small Business Administration represent 99.7 percent of all the employers in the country and employ half of all private sector employees. More than 45% of the private sector payroll is generated by small business. Over the last decade small businesses have accounted for 60 to 80% of all new jobs created on an annual basis.

Although a large percentage of small businesses are in the retail and service sectors, small businesses are rapidly making gains in the technology sector. 41% of high tech workers like engineers, scientists and computer programmers are employed by small businesses. Employees at small businesses produce 13 to 14 times more patents than those employed by larger companies.

The Small Business Administration also offers some interesting observations on small business survival. Two-thirds of small businesses survive for at least two years declining to 44% after four years. Most of the factors that support a small business surviving are well known, such as access to capital and owner’s education level. However, a lesser known factor in small business survival is that the business is large enough to have employees.

Similarly, barriers to starting a small business include lack of access to start-up capital and lack of education. However, the number one barrier to small business start up and a primary concern of existing small business owners is access to private health insurance. Individual health insurance for sole proprietors is much more expensive than receiving coverage through an employer. If a small business owner is able to offer health insurance to its employees, the administrative and premium costs are often much higher than those for larger businesses.

Are you an employer? Do you have more than two people working in your organization? Then as a mandatory law you must provide health insurance to your employees. Apart from mandatory requirement health insurance for your employees can be a plus point in attracting new high quality talents and also retaining the existing ones. 

You can gain the confidence of your employees by providing them with the benefits of small business health insurance. This type of health insurance helps both you and your employees. The main benefit of this small business health insurance is apart from proving medical care for you and your employees, it also help in spreading the financial risk among all the members by reducing the premiums and giving more extensive coverage. 

One of the other major advantages of this small business health insurance is tax saving. Whatever you are paying as a premium for your employee is 100% Tax deductible. Also the amount paid by your employee from his / her payroll attracts Tax advantage.

Usually the companies which opt for small business health insurance contribute 25% or 50% of the employee’s individual premium. The percentage may vary from place to place as per the local laws. If the employee wishes to cover his or her family which may include spouse and dependents, then the company may even pay some part of that premium. But it is not mandatory.

Once you decide on a scheme for your small business health insurance then the actual planning work starts. This planning includes collecting all the vital statistics of your employees who want to get insured and the type of coverage you are looking for. The employee details should also include the details of the dependents they want to include. 

Then you have to call an agency which is involved in this insurance business. You can call as many agents as you want and choose the best one. Then process of quotation starts. Once you give all the details of your employees to that agency they will prepare an estimate of the premium you need to pay. The accuracy of quotation purely depends on the accuracy of your data. 

You can check that there are many websites which provides premium calculator. With the help of this you can estimate the amount you may need to pay as premium. Some of the websites provide you with the calculator with which you can calculate both individual and group quotes. 

The task of having a small business health insurance can be completed by appointing an insurance agent who can take care of all the regulatory formalities. This you can make it as one of your Human Resource policies. A good health insurance policy can help in retaining the quality talents. You can consider increasing the insurance coverage as you grow in your business. 

When you consult an insurance professional and decide on the best scheme will help you reduce your liability concerns and also helps your employees to get benefits, which may include regular physical exams and surgeries. The insurance professional analyses risk factors to estimate potential claims  

Are you near the intersection of your vocation? If you are thinking about making a career modification and are intimidated about what is ahead of us, this is a collection of career change quotations that will inspire you, as well as keep your spirits lifted.

Harold Whitman has said, “Don’t question yourself about what the world desires; ask yourself exactly what causes you come alive,then go outside and do just that. Because whatever the world is people who really come alive.” Be assured that you may have made the correct choice. If you cant stand your job, leave it without fear. The problems you will experience staying at a job you are no happy with is worse than leaving the job.

Another of great career change quotations is from Hellen Keller. Ms Keller said that “Often we look longingly at the door that has recently closed, that we cant see those that have opened.” If you recently lost your employmen for a reason that you were not prepared for, look on the lighter side. You will now guided to looking for a job you can truly love. You will accomplish your goals, if you can stay happy about what you are working on.

One other interesting saying among other career change quotations is one from Zig Ziglar: “Some companies say that stresses in the home will cause loss of productivity in the work place” and they are right.Recent research indicates that having a lot of stress at work will cause stress in your home. Actually, they work together. “Before you can make stress at home, you should change you employment. It is not worth the trouble to stay at that job if you bring home stress.’

Now lets talk about Walter Chrysler has done to add to the career change quotations today. “I am sorry about the person who is not truly excited about his job. He will not only never truly be happy there, but he won’t achieve anything great.” If you assume you aren’t doing good at your job, then the real reason of can be that you don’t like your work. You could have other reasons but realistically, the reason is you really hate your place of business, whether it be the company, the associates , or the title you possess.

There are lots of othergreat career change quotations that can be found on the internet to finish this up, but here is a great quotation from the great Paul Clitheroe. “For a great many individuals a job is much more than income – it is one of the more important pieces of who we want to be.” So a career change of any kind is the most confusing experiences you will face in all of your life.”