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Moving at the Pace of Business
As the pace
of business has changed, the work force is becoming more mobile.
To stay in touch, workers are using a variety of tools like office
phone extensions, direct dial numbers, cell phones, e-mails, instant
messaging among other tools. The challenge is that many of these
devices are not unified and instead of simplifying, this makes
communication even more challenging. These days, organizations
are facing the issue of reaching employees reliably and quickly.
We at Evron have been helping the mobile work force stay in touch
with their IT applications and data from anywhere and using any
device. However, for a number of years our clients have been asking
us to help simplify the communication side. Mobility is becoming
a fact of life these days, with integrating various communication
tools Unified Communication (UC) can become a primary tool for
people who are travelling or need to work off premises.
UC should not be confused with simply Voice over IP (VoIP). It
is essentially a communications platform that allows a user to
integrate all their traditional business tools - phone, email,
instant messaging, video and even virtual whiteboards - together
for real-time functionality. This gives a business owner immense
opportunities to deliver information faster to clients and colleagues.
Cost savings are not only from improved productivity, but also
from simpler infrastructure. Unlike standard phones, UC phones
can work with standard computer cabling. There is no need to add
separate phone drops and Jacks.
Most importantly, however, is how UC acts as an extension of mobility
for your workers and enables offices to "go remote"
if one so desires. Unlike in the past, where a client may have
called into the office looking to speak to someone but found they
were unavailable, UC integrates all the functions of a traditional
office into a single platform for far easier access to people,
even on the go.
An example of this includes voicemail. Say you're a client wishing
to speak to someone about a project status, but that individual
is out of the office. With UC's Extension
mobility feature, a person has the ability to answer calls even
when working off-site, or if because of any reasons they cannot
pick up the call, a copy of a voice mail, just like their e-mail,
can automatically be delivered to their Blackberry or Smartphone.
There is no need to call the office constantly to check urgent
messages.
Evron is focusing
on UC as a priority, given how important mobility and speed has
become to businesses. We've been making efforts to use our roster
of technologies to make UC a value-added proposition for our client
base, using hardware and network management tools that will ensure
enhanced productivity for your workers.
We believe that UC is the way of the future when it comes to mobility
in business. If you would like to find out more about this exciting
new opportunity, please call to arrange for a free consultation.
- Amit (Sunny) Sahni, CCNA, CCEA, MCSE, VSP.
- Vice-President of Technical Services at Evron Computer Systems
Corp.
Accountant's
Corner
Keeping the Cash Flow Coming
Last month's article looked at leasing, and the importance
of your access to credit. This month we continue with the preservation
of capital, because as we all know -- cash is king!
Within
the next year as weaker companies fall away, there will be opportunities
for well-led, financially prepared enterprises to step into the
breech and acquire vacant market share.
The
question is: how does one finance daily cash flow without dipping
into cash reserves?
Here
are a few strategies to maximize working capital cash flow:
Fine
wine is the only inventory that I know of that appreciates with
age. If you deal in anything else, your inventory's value
will decline. If you have old inventory, move it. Don't fret over
what it could be worth, or will be worth, or should be worth.
It is worth what you can get for it, that's all. With the cash
realized from the sale of inventory, you will be able to purchase
product that will move and produce margin. In addition, the old
inventory will cease to take up valuable space and the time you
waste trying to move it. The same decision applies to other surplus
assets. If you can convert them to cash, do it.
Speed
up your internal systems. The quicker you get the invoices
to you customer, the sooner the clock starts ticking. If you use
a real time posting system, make sure staff complete transactions.
If you use a batch processing system, and post transactions weekly,
start posting daily or twice a day. If you mail invoices, review
the e-mailing of invoices option. The invoices are received immediately,
and you even save the time and the cost of postage.
Keep
your receivables in check. Getting more business from customers
is wonderful, but not if they are dealing with you because they
are cut off everywhere else. Your competitors are just as busy
as you are. They don't have the time, may not wish to, or may
not be capable of sharing timely receivable information with you.
You may have to rely on your own data to make decisions. The traditional,
aging Accounts Receivable report just doesn't cut it any more.
You need a greater amount of information, you need it daily, and
in most cases, you need it right now. To get a report in a few
days puts you behind the speed of business. If you need new reports
created for you, the cost of creating them will be justified the
first time that you avoid a bad debt.
Limit
your accounts payable liability. It is imperative in these
times that you have accurate and timely inventory reporting. The
difference between gut reaction guessing, and accurate reporting,
is the same as the difference between thriving in the future or
fading. The old rule that 20 percent of your inventory items are
responsible for 80 percent of your sales still holds, and has
been proven time and time again. You must know what your key items
are at all times. Last years annual reports are not good enough.
You need the trends as quickly as they occur. Once you know your
key numbers, those 20 percent should always be in stock. Items
that are close, and are inexpensive, should be stocked in small
quantities. Customers will purchase slow moving items from your
competitors or others who are willing to drop their margins. By
definition anyone who mistakenly has many slow moving items in
stock will (in times of little sales) give a customer a terrific
deal on them. To stock a slow moving item indefinatly only to
sell it at low margin sometime in the future is simply not good
business.
If your supplier is sure that you should stock slow moving items
because as a distributor you "have to have them," then
test his conviction by proposing a consignment deal. If he agrees,
then accept the items as consignment goods. If he declines, then
he never had the confidence in the first place. In any event,
if you are not getting the turns from your inventory don't stock
them. Save your cash for items that will speed up the flow --
not slow it down.
Your
system is putting you at a competitive disadvantage if you are
not immediately informed about the following:
* Stagnant inventory and fixed assets;
* The status of sales orders, and invoices;
* Who is paying, who is slowing down, combined with the most recent
ordering fluctuations;
* Your inventory turns, suggested stock levels, and re-order points.
If your resources planning system cannot provide you with the
critical information that you are relying on to bring your business
to the next level, then a review of that system is most certainly
in order.
On behalf of myself, my family, and all the staff that I am privileged
to work with at Evron, I would like to wish you a happy holiday
season.
-
Irwin Pinsky, B.Comm., CGA
Irwin Pinsky is the manager of our small business division and our
BusinessVision practice. Irwin's experience includes that of a
public practitioner focused on emerging companies, as well as
financial controllership.
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