However, cloud database software separates itself from traditional databases in the way it accesses data remotely over the internet, increases scalability and flexibility, offers reliable and guaranteed uptime, and improves security. Additionally, there are cost savings from not having to maintain an IT facility and eliminating IT infrastructure.

How is cloud database software used?

Any business application that stores, tracks, retrieves, reports, or analyzes data can reside in a cloud database with improved responsiveness and security. A user will need a user interface (UI) like a web browser or front-end application with the right level of permissions to access the data. Financial data, human resource personnel data, or business proprietary information can safely reside in the cloud.

Specialized project management software is explicitly used for managing a project, with many options, including multiple cloud-based project management solutions. Project stakeholders are not confined to their desktops, and stakeholders can now manage their projects from anywhere with an internet connection.

Why is a database used in project management?

Besides improved security and remote access from anywhere, cloud databases have attributes that align with how crucial business data is stored. For example, project management data can be a task, material resources, workforce requirements, and a milestone scheduled. All are stored logically related to the overall project.

Additionally, cloud databases facilitate separate tables for tasks, material resources, and workforce all connected by a primary key that can be cross-referenced to help determine the status of a project.

Cloud project management software allows businesses to create and manage projects across distributed teams and locations. Many project management software vendors recognize the advantages of cloud-based project management software. To remain competitive, vendors need to differentiate themselves from the competition with their own cloud-based project management software.

This means that when comparing different cloud-based project management solutions, you’ll need to look at the differentiating features, pros and cons, and best use case for each reviewed solution to determine which is best for meeting your business’s project goals.

Comparison chart for cloud-based project management software

Vendor	Customizable Templates	Business Process Automation	Mobile Access	Milestone Tracking	Third Party Integration
Asana
Clarizen
Kintone
Liquid Planner
Microsoft Project
Smartsheets
Wrike
Zoho Projects

Asana

Asana focuses on task and task management, allowing users to see each task and how it is associated with the overall schedule. Asana allows teams to view their progress with its workflow views easily.

The tasks are mobile and can be moved between sections with specific notification information telling team members when it must be done. A key differentiator of Asana is its ability to integrate with other business applications like Salesforce, Slack, and Office 365.

Best For: Asana is best for businesses that focus heavily on task management and integrates well with popular business applications.

Customer Reviews: Asana is complimented for being a well-organized application that allows users to accomplish an assigned task routinely. Two customers like the ability to collaborate with peers on tasks and keep track of the progress of tasks associated with a project. In addition, Asana is continually updating its features and functions, and one commented positively on how the updates make a difference.

On the other hand, Asana often sends too many alerts, which makes it difficult to catch important notifications. Additionally, one customer stated that Asana lacks database building and customization options available in comparable products, and another mentioned a lack of an undo button as another pain point.

Clarizen

Clarizen is designed for enterprise project management offices (EPMOs), project management offices (PMOs), and project support offices (PSOs). It allows EPMOs, PMOs, and PSOs to have oversight and visibility across multiple teams, automated workflows, and risk management.

Clarizen focuses on work that directly impacts milestones, critical paths, and final delivery dates. Key differentiators of Clarizen are an enhanced built-in collaboration feature with a presence awareness and chat features for project team members. Clarizen also offers a resource management feature that manages the demand life cycle for incoming projects to ensure all required resources are available to complete the tasks on time.

Best For: Clarizen is best used by large organizations that need complex work breakdown structures and strong customization options.

Customer reviews: Meaningful updates are regularly delivered, making the application more effective in supporting multiple projects. And adding notes and comments to tasks and projects helps increase the quality of the projects. In addition, Clarizen allows teams to manage various projects and provide enough detail and insight to make business decisions.

One user notes Clarizen features as being overwhelming to a team during implementation. Support is commented on as being slow, and the same customer mentioned a bug that keeps resetting the column width that had not been corrected. Another drawback mentioned is that there is no desktop application available for Clarizen.

Kintone

Kintone is unique because it requires no programming skills to build a useful business application. Kintone advertises a customizable workplace platform that can create solutions by functions. Kintone’s built-in functions can support projects with workflow management, track project status and accountability, and enable faster planning with project management application templates.

In addition, Kintone’s database application builder allows businesses to track and share tasks using its collaboration functionality. Kintone can be deployed on the cloud or as a web-based solution.

Best For: Kintone supports multiple businesses with its robust application template library. Many industry-specific businesses use Kintone, and this product is ideal for companies that don’t have a strong IT department.

Customer Reviews: Kintone does not require programming knowledge and is easy to customize. Another positive comment stated how easy it is to set up process management and assign roles. In addition, Kintone does not need users to be tech-savvy, and the plug-in with modular programming adds to its attractiveness for non-programmers.

The mobile version is not as user-friendly as the desktop version, and the search feature is rigid and not as robust as other search options in similar applications. Moreover, integration with other programs is not refined, and the ability to reverse a step in the process management system is not available. Another negative comment stated that there is a lack of user documentation.

LiquidPlanner

LiquidPlanner’s software differentiator feature is its predictive planning technology that can help a business forecast project outcomes and address any problems before they impact a project.

The reporting is a key differentiating feature that is customizable and can be incorporated with the service’s analytics engine to generate detailed reports. The other key feature of Liquidplanner is time tracking that integrates with billing and pay rates.

Best For: LiquidPlanner can be used by any size organization, and it’s best suited for businesses that want automatic creation or a project schedule and resources and analytical insight into their projects to help remove uncertainty.

Customer Reviews: LiquidPlanner received compliments on how easy the product is to use. The collaboration feature allows team members to interact easily with other members based on project roles. Additionally, the ability of LiquidPlanner to dynamically update workloads and plans based on circumstances changing is rated positively in several customer reviews. The reporting tools allow for customization and easily meet project members’ needs.

The user interface is commented on as being confusing. A noted drawback of LiquidPlanner is the lack of an interactive Gantt chart. Another customer stated the lack of flexibility to look at projects and tasks together and thinks the application is too siloed. In addition, LiquidPlanner did not integrate well with the customer relationship management application for one company.

Microsoft Project Online

Microsoft Project Online integrates well with its sister product Office 365 and the other associated cloud services. In addition, Microsoft has added several automated features that automate scheduling based on user-configured settings.

The key differentiator feature of this product is the enhanced Gantt chart project tracking timeline, which can help track relationships and dependencies visually. Another key feature of Microsoft’s Project Online is forecasting and testing different scenarios to determine how a project will be impacted.

Best For: This product is best suited for organizations already heavily invested in using Microsoft’s tools.

Customer Reviews: As expected, the Microsoft project online was commented on as integrating very well with other Microsoft products. The product is complimented for its project planning, managing, and tracking project progress throughout its life cycle.

The activity and task fulfillment tracking also received positive reviews. The tutorial videos in the software that helps users learn the application is commented on as being highly productive, and one customer said that the development of Microsoft Project with cloud storage capabilities set it apart from similar project management cloud-based applications.

However, the Microsoft Project Online software is expensive, and additional licenses are needed to use Office Suite products. Microsoft Project Online also has a deep learning curve that can be intimidating to new users.

Moreover, customization is poor, according to one customer, and Microsoft Project Online does not integrate well with other project management software. Microsoft Project Online operates best on a Windows computer. And simple typing errors with dates or days of activities can cause havoc in the application if not caught before processing.

Smartsheet

Smartsheet is designed to work on mobile devices and computers while providing remote access from anywhere using a mobile platform. Smartsheet uses a cloud computing platform that allows teams to see real-time updates to make quick decisions.

This project management application is a cloud-based work execution platform that empowers businesses to plan, track, automate, and report on current projects.

Smartsheet’s differentiating features are the mobile application scanning feature for tracking items and the application’s ability to integrate with other popular applications that businesses use in their project planning.

Best For: Smartsheet is used mostly by small businesses but can be used by any sized organization. In addition, Smartsheet caters to companies that use mobile applications frequently.

Customer Reviews: Smartsheet is complimented for its easy creation of forms and workflows. Automation and collaboration are considered the most useful features by several customers. Smartsheet also continually puts in the effort to improve its functions and features, and customers appreciate added changes.

One the other hand, Smartsheet does not indicate when mathematical errors are part of a report, and it has caused double-checking of completed work, which can be time-consuming. In addition, the term project is not always used, making it difficult to group sheets together that belong to the same project.

Wrike

Workflow management is one of Wrike’s strongest features that allow teams to set up different workflow task items in a template designed explicitly for client engagement. Collaboration is a standout feature with easy comment buttons that let collaborators comment and read project details.

A key differentiator of Wrike is how it uses its folders. The folders allow for drag-and-drop functionality to create, add, and share project information.

Best For: Wrike can be used by businesses of all sizes looking for a software-as-a-service (SaaS) workflow and project management platform.

Customer Reviews: As advertised, Wrike is complimented for its quick file-sharing options that promote communication. The workflow management and planning received positive reviews from multiple customers. Wrike also promotes proficiency in different departments, allowing work to be finished quickly without delays, and the customization feature received high praise from numerous customers.

But, Wrike is expensive, and it’s not easy to learn all of the application’s capabilities. According to one customer, some of the features are not useful —  for example, the blueprint functionality is useless when all that is required is a project or task duplication. In addition, the application can be slow, which makes it challenging to manage workflows, and according to one customer, there is no way to set task priorities.

Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects is known for its task management and collaboration capabilities across multiple industries. Project management tasks can be configured in various ways.

A key differentiator of Zoho projects is its service-level agreement (SLA) automation feature that can track and monitor project status to ensure the project meets the established SLA agreed upon with the customer. Another differentiator feature is the business intelligence and data analytics software that allows users to create intuitive dashboards.

Best For: Zoho projects is known for its task management and collaboration capabilities across multiple industries and can be used by businesses of all sizes.

Customer Reviews: Customers like the simple and easy-to-use interface. Users can create personalized designs for each project. And one positive comment called out the ability to create workflow automation that triggers event-based activity, which allows for standardization of processes. Customers also like the ability to share a project with outside entities, improving collaboration between vendors and project participants.

Although, one comment stated that, when large tasks are assigned, the interface can seem overwhelming with the amount of information on the dashboard. The client-user setup feature is also confusing for one customer, and another claims it is the least user-friendly software they have ever used. Moreover, the customer support team is reported to be unresponsive and not efficient in meeting customer needs.

Selecting a cloud-based project management solution

Project management software should include certain features in every vendor’s software solution. These typical features are:

• Collaboration Tools: An ability to communicate with team members from anywhere
• Task Management: Assigning tasks and subtasks that are tracked and managed as part of a larger project
• Time Tracking: Keeps track of the time it takes to complete tasks assigned to a project
• Scheduling: Used to schedule and track task and project delivery due dates.

Other expected features like a Gantt chart are used to plan and schedule project task deadlines and the associated resources needed to complete the tasks. With these expected features in all vendor’s solutions, CIOs and IT directors will need to look at the differentiating features to determine the best cloud-based project management software to purchase.

In considering a project management software solution, decision-makers must thoroughly understand their business environment and the differentiating feature(s) needed to meet a business’s complete project management requirements.

The post Best Cloud Database Software for Project Management appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Let’s imagine a scenario where the entire content development team has to take some copywriting lessons so that both copywriters and content writers work in cohesion and boost the company’s reach.

To make the process of learning more rewarding, you announce that a cash bonus will be paid for the 10 employees who finish the training program first.

Now that you have made this commitment, how do you track if they are working towards getting the reward, or quickly see who is performing better? Do you maintain a spreadsheet and have employees track their progress? That may be an easy alternative, but it’s likely not the best one.

LMS integration is your answer. By integrating the coursework and tracking of your learning management system with your other mission-critical systems, you can track your employees’ progress, monitor their performance, and communicate with team members all along the way. This brings in accuracy and tracks employee performance without wasting the billable hours of the company. A win-win situation.

When conducting even a cursory examination of potential LMS platforms, synchronization should always be prioritized. Choosing an LMS that lacks the adaptability to integrate smoothly with other business software applications can leave users dissatisfied with the overall experience and in search of a better platform.

Why Are LMS Integrations Necessary?

LMS integrations allow your chosen learning management system to communicate with all the other enterprise applications that your company uses to run its operations.

If your LMS does not connect with your CRM, big data, eCommerce, and other operating systems, you missing multiple opportunities to streamline daily operations and enhance productivity. LMS integrations allow user data to be shared seamlessly between platforms and can give team leaders valuable insights into employee and customer behavior, enhance the functioning of your training programs and marketing initiatives, and save countless hours on administrative work.

When used correctly, LMS integrations will save you time and assist you in making informed business decisions. Let’s look at how some typical LMS integrations can help your business.

API Integration

An API (application programming interface) connects third-party implementations to your LMS for sharing and synchronization of information.

You’ve probably interacted with API dozens of times. Netflix uses APIs to deliver content, travel booking platforms use APIs to offer the best bargains to customers, and financial firms use APIs to accept payments, verify account information, and much more.

You’ve already implemented API implementation if you’ve connected Google Analytics to your LMS. Analytics, for example, provides you with an arithmetic key that you can enter into your LMS. This enables developers to engage with your data whilst still allowing you to use the platform. API integration offers multiple advantage including:

Saving your company’s billable hours: Records or statistics can be drawn from the LMS to third-party software and vice versa. Thus, it eliminates the need to physically create, upgrade, and remove data.

Simple reporting: When third-party apps are incorporated with the API, detailed information can be gathered and reports can be generated automatically.

eCommerce Integration

eCommerce API integration is critical if your company deals with a large volume of online learners or is considering doing so. The ability to market, sell and deliver your training programs will be a major challenge without eCommerce assimilation.

The following are some of the advantages of eCommerce integration:

• Email Marketing: By incorporating a tool like MailChimp, you can manage contact details, create advanced advertising campaigns, and obtain insights from your marketing initiatives.
• Tax and price rules: Apply different tax and price rules for an independent or particular set of consumers based on buying quantity, destination, and other factors.
• Automation: Simplify and automate processes such as account creation, course enrollment, and course accomplishment.
• Buyer-friendly Interface: You have roughly 10 seconds to capture the attention of the customer. A well-designed and simple-to-use store can enhance the user experience and increase the probability that a visit to your online platform will result in a lead becoming a customer.
• Secure Payments: Your customers will appreciate the ability to complete transfers without leaving your website.

Integration of Single Sign-On (SSO)

We are sure you have been asked to log into a website using your Facebook or Gmail details. Haven’t you? If so, you’ve probably seen the benefits of SSO assimilation and verification.

It’s extremely simple and easy to operate. So much so that you probably don’t hesitate when asked to use the login details of one account to access an entirely unconnected website.

However, SSO support in your LMS rewards not only you but also your clients and all members of your company. It simplifies access to online learning, CRM, predictive analysis, video calls, and other services.

There are multiple advantages to integration of your LMS with SSO:

• Employees and students benefit from a streamlined work process throughout all web platforms by using a single login and password.
• When users reuse passwords across various platforms, security flaws are far more likely to happen. This risk is reduced by SSO technology.
• IT departments can predict fewer calls from unhappy employees who have been “locked out” of their accounts.

These are just a few of the ways that LMS integration helps your business. While connecting your LMS and other key systems streamlines employee learning by eliminating speedbumps between systems, you get the added ability to capture real-time data about your customers and employees at the same time.

The post How LMS Integration Can Streamline Your Operations and Increases Productivity appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Hybrid and remote work models have dominated work styles over the last few years, and employees now have higher expectations of the digital employee experience (DEX). DEX is no longer a perk — it’s a must-have for anyone hoping to retain and attract talent.

In addition to an excellent digital employee experience, companies must provide sophisticated, holistic IT solutions for their employees if they expect to meet expectations, fulfill HR (human resources) requirements, and reach productivity goals.

IT Strategies to Improve Employee Retention

IT is no longer relegated to the background but is at the forefront of every hybrid and remote employee’s work experience. Enhanced digital workspaces require innovative IT solutions to meet everyday business needs. Excellent IT solutions and strategies will only improve the employee’s digital experience.

When technology is outdated or insufficient, employees suffer. Insufficient tech causes an emotional strain on employees, hindering their productivity and making it unnecessarily difficult to simply do their jobs.

Lakeside Software’s recent Digital Workplace Productivity Report revealed that employees are really only working at 60% capacity due to IT disruptions and are losing almost one hour (54 minutes) of work time each day due to tech challenges. This costs companies millions of dollars in productivity annually.

The research also shows that 40% of tech issues go unreported, with employees attempting to troubleshoot the problems themselves. This places an undue burden upon employees, who shouldn’t have to spend precious work time fulfilling a job description that isn’t their own.

According to the study, companies willing to take action will retain the reported 14% of staff choosing to quit due to inadequate technology performance. This same tech makes employees 22% more productive on average.

Proactive tech and IT initiatives are imperative to any company looking to succeed in the modern digital age. But unfortunately, less than half of employees surveyed said they felt like their organization supported a strong digital culture that supported and enabled them to use the best technology infrastructure available.

In addition, there seems to be a disconnect between what IT executives think they are providing and what employees are experiencing. Nearly nine out of 10 IT executives surveyed said their firms provided what employees needed to work productively. However, more than one in five employees disagreed. This number rose to one in three in professional services, manufacturing, and insurance.

This striking disconnect between IT executives’ perceptions and their lived experiences greatly impacts business and employees’ perceptions of how workplace leaders support them. This is especially interesting as the research indicates that executives and employees agree that digital tools are essential factors in contributing to staff productivity. However, it still seems that they don’t see eye-to-eye on what’s being provided.

The direct business impacts of lagging IT initiatives cannot be denied. The future of work relies on successful IT initiatives and infrastructure. Business leaders must be proactive about IT efforts to keep up with the competition regarding ROI and talent acquisition and retention.

Proactive IT initiatives save time and money and decrease employees’ workplace frustrations. This means happier, more productive employees, which reduces turnover rates. High-performing tech is essential and creates an environment in which employees want to be a part.

Don’t Leave the Digital Employee Experience Behind

More than half of the employees surveyed stated the importance of DEX in their everyday work experience and said it should be a top priority for executives when making decisions for their business. Simply put, optimizing the employee’s digital experience is imperative to a healthy, happy work environment.

Optimizing DEX means investing in equipment that works, training that makes a difference, and proactive IT initiatives that resolve issues before they become huge hindrances. Businesses are still in the dark about how much a lack of DEX initiatives can cost them.

The research shows that 36% of employees have considered leaving their jobs due to a poor DEX. Since 91% of the American workforce now prefers hybrid and remote workstyles, we can only expect this trend to become the norm on a global scale. Any company that is not prioritizing DEX initiatives now will face considerable challenges in the future. Digital workspaces have never been more critical.

Advanced IT and DEX within your company are no longer bonuses but essentials to the everyday workforce. Companies seeking long-term success must adapt their tech stack and business strategies to match the necessity of these initiatives or risk being left behind as their competitors sweep up the best candidates — or worse, lose their current employees to these same competitors.

About the Author

Jason Coari, VP of product marketing & strategy at Lakeside Software is a B2B SaaS go-to-market executive with 20+ years of progressive international experience in the technology industry, orchestrating cross-functional collaboration across international borders. Coari has been recognized in the top 1% of SGI employees as a distinguished ‘Agent of Change.’

The post The ‘New’ Employee Experience: How IT and Technology Can Help appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

As COVID-19 swept across the world, bringing government mandates and national lockdowns with it, traditional office life was disrupted—and, while remote working blossoms even as the world returns to normal, perhaps irreversibly so.

Remote work is now about six times more prevalent than it was before COVID-19, and more and more office workers are expressing their preference for complete or partial remote work and changing jobs accordingly.

But, that doesn’t mean your business needs to work any less effectively or efficiently than it did pre-pandemic. Taken properly, the growing demand for a remote work culture shouldn’t be seen as a collective ransom demand headache from your workforce. In fact, it’s a mutually beneficial secret weapon that can unlock a new chapter for your organization and its employees.

Remote Work Opportunities Improve Hiring Pool and Retention

As demand for remote working cultures grows, answering the call can be a powerful boost to recruitment and growth efforts.

Businesses are finding hiring difficulties at their worst for 15 years, but remote work cultures can be an instant remedy for the problem of sourcing new talent.

Consider that if your business operates entirely from a physical site like an office, you’re restricting your hiring pool to about a 30-mile radius. This is all very well if your business sits in or near a large city, with thousands of suitable candidates on your doorstep who can reasonably and comfortably travel the distance 10 times a week.

But exactly by being in such an area, you’re automatically facing inflated operating costs and competition from dozens of other employers, and the perfect candidate with exactly the experience you’re looking for might be viewing your job listing, shaking their head, and moving on to a listing closer to home.

A remote working culture explodes your hiring pool radius to the size you want it to be: national, international, or transcontinental. In turn, you can take the pick of the best candidates for your company—not the best candidates within 30 miles.

What about retention? Consider the myriad benefits enjoyed by employees operating within a remote culture, as this infographic from the World Economic Forum illustrates.

Any business empowering its employees with the benefits of remote work, from skipping the commute to enjoying flexible autonomy, will naturally see a jump in morale and a fall in attrition. In fact, Global Workplace Analytics found 72% of remote employers agreeing that they saw a high level of impact on retention.

What does all this mean together? By offering remote opportunities, you’ll gain access to the world’s best talent for your role, who have a higher chance of staying in the role as well as greater loyalty and happiness once they’re hired. What business wouldn’t want that?

Evolving Remote Cultures

On top of that, the traditional criticisms of remote work—lonely, atomized, disruptive to a cohesive company culture—can be easily overcome with dedication and conscious effort.

When embracing remote work, it’s important to understand how a remote culture should be built and maintained. Some initiatives you may want to consider include:

• Emphasis on asynchronous work to knit teams across time zones
• Mechanisms for non-work chat as much as business talk, with Slack channels for gardening, football, cooking, pets, and more
• Meeting-free Focus Fridays and frequent wellness sessions
• Taking time to discuss personal lives on calls as well as work

Remote cultures are no longer something businesses scramble to piece together to cope with respiratory viruses; they are now viable alternatives to the office and, done properly, can connect workers and teams just as effectively.

Greater Efficiency

“Efficiency” is a difficult word to pin down. At its worst, it’s overused management speak that means next to nothing. But, it’s difficult to use another word when discussing the operational benefits of a remote culture and its ability to improve on traditional physical business models.

Not only do employees ditch the hours of time each week previously spent on soul-sucking commutes by car or train, they tend to work more productively, effectively, and—yes—efficiently once they get to work than they would in an office environment.

Being undistracted and focused in their own personal space can have considerable effects for day-to-day work, as the time sinks of office small talk and watercooler trips are plugged.

And since most communication is consciously scheduled and diarised in a remote culture, employees can prepare beforehand to get the maximum value from every interaction, making meetings tight, focused, and rewarding when they do happen.

The financial benefits of this approach have been investigated in detail since the pandemic began.

Consider the compounded financial costs of:

• Office real estate and upkeep costs
• Lost time from superfluous face-to-face interactions that slow task completion
• Sick days from those who are stressed, taking time to attend to personal affairs they couldn’t normally, and hit simultaneously by an office bug.

In contrast, Stanford professor Nicholas Bloom found remote workers less likely to fall ill and less likely to start work late, while the inevitable errands and non-work tasks of life don’t disrupt the working day as they would if you have to leave an office. The costs of a physical office, meanwhile, can be jettisoned entirely.

Naturally, this effect won’t apply to all your workforce in the same way, but while Bloom found just under half of employees estimating their efficiency was “about the same” at home as in an office, about 40% felt they were more efficient, and just 15% felt they were less.

On balance, a remote culture rids your business of wasted time, effort, and cost and sets up your workforce for more focused and profitable work.

Whether, and how, your business unlocks and applies these benefits is up to you.

Alex Pavlović is content marketing manager at Qualio, a leading provider of eQMS software to the life science industry. Pavlović has worked in the quality and compliance space for five years. Connect with Pavlović on LinkedIn.

The post Why Remote Working Culture is Your New Secret Weapon appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Traditional processes in an ever-decreasing healthcare workforce

Now that the Baby Boomer generation is reaching the age of retirement, many professionals are phasing out of the workforce, especially in the healthcare industry. This is bad timing overall, as the need for healthcare services is at an all-time high as we deal with the COVID-19 pandemic fallouts of the last few years.

A study conducted by Mercer projected a shortage of almost 100 thousand technicians and more than 124 thousand nurses by the year 2025. Hundreds of thousands of additional healthcare professionals will need to enter the industry each year to even come close to plugging the gap.

Healthcare systems worldwide are notoriously over-leveraged and under-served—a reality that we can no longer ignore. Part of this comes from a lack of efficiencies within the industry. While medical treatments may be cutting-edge and use the newest technologies, oftentimes, the operations within hospitals are anything but.

Most facilities utilize traditional processes, which are manual, repetitive, and time-consuming. Organizing papers, logging which members completed specific compliance courses, and searching through old materials to determine what needs to be modernized is annoying and a massive waste of time for administrators.

Any facility with any number of employees understands the laborious task of manually tracking and organizing papers as well as coordinating everyone’s schedules for compliance training sessions.

As such, the healthcare industry must leverage technology and automation to ease onboarding, training, and working efficiencies in order to make medical care accessible to the masses.

Automation eliminates administrative burdens and streamlines efficiency 

Trading in antiquated systems for digital automation will eliminate the burden of tedious manual data entry, streamline administrative work, and lighten the load for medical professionals and staff. Innovative health technology is bringing a range of benefits to millions of people around the world, from telehealth services to artificial intelligence (AI), and self-service options, and automation will only add to this trajectory.

In 2020, 90% of hospitals and health systems implemented an AI and automation strategy, up from 53% in 2019. With rising pressures to cut costs, increase efficiency, and facilitate a better patient experience, automating processes is the first step in supporting medical staff, so they can reach these goals.

Automation technology also brings with it an abundance of benefits, such as helping patients receive access to better treatment more quickly. As long as healthcare professionals feel confident in the technology chosen to help them upskill, gain additional credentials, and stay compliant, they can focus their efforts on more specialist requirements, making the future of health much more advanced.

Consider automation software solutions

Taking days to track down documents and send reminders to staff about training is not a productive way for administrators and industry leaders to spend their time.

Automation solutions enable healthcare leaders to outsource and offload their most time-consuming work to professionals who know how to optimize organization and support medical staff, so they can get more done. Moreover, automation solutions can help relieve administrative burdens and enable healthcare staff to refocus their energy on serving patients.

Moving forward with automation in healthcare

Every facility has its own set of challenges, but one thing remains clear. Improving the business and execution of the healthcare industry needs to be a priority to meet today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.

Automated systems for training, credentialing, and compliance can make the difference between finding a solution to the healthcare shortage with a modern, digital strategy or your organization buckling under the pressure. Digitizing and automating your processes will reduce busy work and enable physicians and hospitals to prepare ahead of time to maintain compliance and credentialing standards while flexing with the demands and census of their organization.

It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about a small clinic or a large hospital; the healthcare industry as a whole is overtasked, underprepared, and working with outdated administration tools that cause inefficiencies that translate into wasted time and money.

We all rely on healthcare services, some of us now more than ever. This is why now is the time to weave flexible technology into the fabric of these organizations to help improve HR processes and offload tedious administrative tasks.

About Steve Gallion

Steve Gallion is an experienced software as a service healthcare IT (SaaS HCIT) leader with a passion for people, technology, and outcomes. He currently serves as the CEO at MedTrainer.com. Gallion’s passion for people and eye for market opportunities have led him to build several companies over the past 15 years that have brought benefit to healthcare. Today, Gallion is directly responsible for the company vision and empowerment of the executive team to fulfill MedTrainer’s mission.

The post The Future of Healthcare Is Tech Automation appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

What’s Driving this Change?

When companies transitioned to remote work at the onset of the pandemic and then to work-from-anywhere as it continued, the significant burden of workplace functionality was placed entirely on IT departments. In fact, employees surveyed said they were operating at only 60% capacity due to limited workplace technologies.

Employees need better digital experiences and access to the right tools to effectively accomplish their work, and as they demand increased flexibility, the need for adequate technology will only increase. Employees report that they have lost productivity due to slow internet, and others did not have the technology or tools needed to support their home offices.

Most companies require some sort of communication system, a video conferencing application, and even project management platforms for employees to function in this environment, which presents further technological challenges.

The average organization uses 110 software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, and companies are constantly reevaluating their tech stacks to create better workplace environments. These changes put IT at the forefront of company operations and the digital user experience. As a result of an increasingly digital workforce, IT departments are more impactful and more essential than ever before.

Employee Experiences Are Digital

The modern employee experience cannot be separated from the digital employee experience. When technology does not work as it should, employees cannot function properly in their jobs, and when technological needs aren’t met, employees are forced to consider leaving their companies in search of a better experience.

The digital employee experience is crucial in the new reality of hybrid and remote work.

In fact 36% of employees report that they have considered leaving an employer due to poor digital experiences—and of those, 14% admitted they actually left. This represents a significant challenge in a competitive environment where nearly half of all employees globally are considering changing jobs.

McKinsey’s report on the Great Attrition highlighted why employees are leaving their companies in droves: They want better experiences. This got business leaders talking. Creating a positive employee experience is not a single-step process. It’s more akin to building a pyramid in which each element supports the next.

If companies want to boost retention, they need to create better employee experiences and meet all of their core foundational needs. A fully functioning, fast, usable digital experience is an employee’s most basic need in a digital work environment, no matter what that employee’s work environment is like.

O.C. Tanner’s 2021 Global Culture Survey found that when technology is integrated into workplace culture, employees are five times more engaged and companies are four times more likely to increase revenue. Even further, the same report found that 77% of employees believe advanced technology will improve their workplace experience.

These new values put IT departments in the spotlight. As a result, information technology teams must be recognized as critical components of employee effectiveness and the company’s overall success.

Digital Disruptions Cost Companies Significant Resources

In the same way that tech issues cause problems in the employee experience, they can also create a budget deficit. Digital disruptions are costly long term, as they directly impact IT operating costs. Some employees report losing almost one hour (54 minutes) per week due to IT downtime.

Just the cost of viewing and resolving IT tickets for a single employee runs into thousands of dollars per year. Extrapolate that cost across thousands of employees, while also adding the loss of productivity and effectiveness that comes from suboptimal device performance, and the impact is staggering.

IT departments must be equipped with the tools to not only manage these issues but prevent them. As such, IT management should involve investing in tools that check for system outages and report detailed insights regularly. From this data, IT personnel can determine what caused an outage and solve the problem as quickly as possible, reducing the overall impact the outage may have on employees.

Corporate Digital Acceleration Won’t Slow Down

Many organizations already depend on a vast number of digital tools to complete work each day, and data shows this number will only increase. CompTIA predicted a 104% global growth rate in the IT industry between 2018 and 2023. The industry will only expand further as more organizations embrace a work-from-anywhere business structure and move to equip their employees with the tools they need to succeed at their jobs, no matter the location.

The biggest difference between this next decade of digital transformation and the last one is that IT leaders will be more informed in how they make decisions. Corporate leaders need to understand the unique technological needs within their companies, so they can prepare for an even greater digital transformation.

This is where IT departments play a critical role. In preparing for the future digital workforce, leaders need data to gauge the digital needs of the company. When organizations are equipped with detailed insights into how employees interact with workplace technology, leaders can draw from that information to create better systems and processes. This information will help leaders choose the right tools to support their team members and, ultimately, boost company efficiency alongside employee satisfaction.

IT cannot continue as a back-office job. Digital acceleration moved IT to the top of company priorities, as all other departments rely on technology to function. Companies must respond to these changes by empowering IT personnel with the tools they need to sustain an increasingly digital workforce.

About the Author

Jason Coari is Vice President of Product Marketing & Strategy at Lakeside Software. He is an accomplished B2B SaaS go-to-market executive with 20+ years of progressive international experience in the technology industry. Coari has a track record of driving revenue growth through a rich understanding of the enterprise IT customer journey and holistic go-to-market strategies. 

The post Why IT Isn’t a Back-Office Job Anymore appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Now though, you have another issue to tackle. There are a lot of factors to pay attention to as the startup begins to grow, but one of the most critical is Human Resource Management. From developing a strategy to attracting and retaining the right talent, to ensuring all HR regulations are adhered to, HR management can become complicated.

Your HR department will determine:

• What pay is fair for new employees
• What communication strategies you can establish to ensure everyone is on the same page
• How to terminate employees who might not be working out

These are all decisions startup entrepreneurs should deal with sooner rather than later. While you may not need to hire a full HR team right away, read on for six things every startup needs to handle HR successfully.

Also read: Knowledge Management for SMB: How to Retain Expertise During Turnover

HR & Payroll Experts

A company in the early stages of development and operation might not need to hire a full-scale HR team. However, the best HR practices for startups require at least someone on the team to be knowledgeable in two primary areas: creating a healthy company culture and HR regulation and policy.

Hiring a part-time HR professional, or even looking at affordable consultants, can help with this. This individual can set the foundation for developing a cohesive culture and good, sound policy. They can also handle payroll, taking a time-consuming task off of your plate and handling all the intricacies that come along with it.

Best Payroll Software for Startups

Payroll software is probably one of the first tools you’ll need to purchase as a startup. Employees don’t tend to stick around long if they’re not getting paid. You’ll want to choose payroll software with strong automation features to limit the amount of time you have to spend on payroll and reduce the chances of errors.

Many software tools either include or integrate with time clocks, allowing the software to pull employees’ hours directly and pay them according to the time they worked. Payroll software can not only save you time, but it can also keep you from making expensive payroll law violations.

Some of the top payroll tools include:

• Gusto
• QuickBooks
• Patriot

Also read: Gusto vs Quickbooks

A Recruitment Strategy

Recruitment can be one of the major HR challenges in startup companies. It’s hard to compete for top talent with established companies because you don’t have the same level of resources. While your salaries may not be as competitive, you can offset that by offering more flexibility and moving forward with candidates faster.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still pay a fair salary; it just means you don’t have to be at the top of the range.

As a startup, it’s probably best to target recent college graduates as they’ll be looking to build experience. You can likely even start them early as paid interns and then bring them on board as full employees when they graduate. This way, you get employees who already know the business and they’ll be able to gain useful experience before graduating.

Also read: How to Hire For the Future of Work

Best Recruiting Software for Startups

Recruiting software streamlines your hiring process by pushing job postings out to top job sites, so you only have to make them once. As a startup, your IT resources are probably limited, so you’ll need to choose cloud-based software.

You’ll also want recruiting software with artificial intelligence and automation features to reduce the amount of time you have to spend poring over resumes. With these tools, the system can parse resumes for you and automatically eliminate unqualified candidates. You also might want to look for tools that offer mobile accessibility, so you can review candidates on the go.

Here are some of the top recruiting platforms:

• Workable
• BambooHR
• Breezy HR

Also read: Best Practices for Writing the Perfect Job Descriptions

An Employee Handbook

This is another policy-driven element startups need to ensure everyone starts on the same page. Creating an employee handbook also causes management to think through questions hires will have about procedures and their place in the company.

Start by answering these questions:

• How much notice do employees need to give before asking for time off?
• How is overtime calculated and allocated?
• Is there a dress code?
• How will the company handle issues of harassment and discrimination?

All of this should be discussed in the employee handbook with the expectation that new hires will read through it and ask any questions they may have. Train managers on the correct answers to these questions.

Track Time and Duties Assigned

Startup entrepreneurs may not have the money to purchase an all-in-one HR management system to track time and compensation. That’s entirely okay in the beginning; there are a lot of free options for having employees track their time and duties completed.

Programs like Trello, Hubstaff, or even Google Sheets can be used to monitor time and tasks, and there are some well-priced employee engagement and performance management software options to help employees stay on track toward goals.

Look for cloud-based applications that allow others to view and edit content as needed. Project management tools are a great way to know if everyone is staying on task and track information to use with performance reviews. Understanding how employees are performing is key to any basic HR management strategy.

Best Time Tracking Software for Startups

Time tracking software is a must for startups that employ contractors to get work done. With these tools, you can ensure you’re only paying for the time the contractor spends actually working. It’s also a good idea to use this software for any employees you’re paying hourly.

With time clock software, employees can track their time online. This time is stored in a database, and the timesheets can then be exported into your payroll system, which is much simpler than making employees physically punch time cards and then trying to organize these come payday.

Startups should consider the following time tracking software:

• Mitrefinch
• Buddy Punch
• When I Work

Create a Strategy for Learning and Development

It may not be the primary priority in the beginning, but learning and development will be critical to any long-term growth and success for a startup. The more training workers receive and the more knowledge they gain, the better they can help the company move forward and promote their own development.

Leaders should work alongside HR professionals to develop a training and development program. This step can look like a monthly workshop where an expert is brought in to train workers on software or processes, purchasing stand-alone or subscription learning management software, or paying for workers to attend training or classes.

Continued education not only benefits the company, but it lets workers know from the beginning that leaders care about their professional development and career goals.

Best Learning Management Systems for Startups

A learning management system (LMS) makes it easier for you to train new employees and ensure they understand your business. You can create custom curricula and quizzes, host video and audio files, and use gamification to keep learners engaged, improving retention.

Even the most qualified candidates will need some training on your processes, and using an LMS ensures all new hires get the same training upfront. An LMS reduces the amount of time you have to spend training your employees hands-on and allows them to learn at their own pace. Some programs even offer a free tier for small teams.

Here are some of the best LMS solutions for startups:

• TalentLMS
• ProProfs
• Bridge

Also read: The Influence and Effectiveness of Gamification in eLearning

Protocol for Performance Reviews

Workers can only improve with feedback. Someone has to tell them what they are doing right and what they may need to work on. It may be hard to believe, but many companies do not engage in regular performance reviews. This impedes progress, so owners should make sure their startup does not follow in the same footsteps.

Get ahead of the game by working with the HR team (or employee) to develop standards for performance reviews. Plan to answer these questions:

• How often should they occur?
• What should managers be on the lookout for?
• Should it be 360, pulse surveys, quarterly reviews, or does another format work for the team?

The goal is to have a starting point for team leaders to begin to assess how their team is performing. Setting relevant benchmarks and goals is another crucial part, and leaders need to make it a priority. Also, it is critical for team leaders and managers to encourage workers to give feedback concerning the company and the performance of leadership.

Read next: TechnologyAdvice Buyer’s Guide to Social Collaboration Software

Best Performance Management Software for Startups

Performance management software allows you to set goals and expectations for your team and make sure they’re on the same page. Provide transparent evaluations and ensure you’re keeping the right employees.

Performance management software also helps you work with employees to map out their career trajectory, so they can see their growth opportunities within your company. As a startup, this will be helpful for you because you can plan how you want your business to grow.

Performance management tools also allow you to give bonuses based on performance rather than educated guesses, improving employee motivation.

Top performance management tools include:

• Cornerstone
• Engagedly
• ClearCompany

Do Startups Need HR?

In the hustle and bustle of keeping a startup afloat, owners cannot forget to support their most precious resource: the employees.

Sales cannot happen if customer service is lacking, partnerships are less likely if employees are not ready to facilitate them, and the company will not move forward if workers are not equipped to be innovative and creative.

A company’s forward motion is facilitated by a stellar HR team with an in-depth understanding of sound policy and regulations. HR policy not only helps employees manage their day-to-day administrative needs, but it can also expose them to sensitivity and harassment training and help them understand relevant laws.

Startup leaders cannot leave HR by the wayside as they strategically put the company in a position to grow. HR management gives startup owners the tools to take care of the company’s most vital resources.

Read next: Workplace Trends for Employers to Consider

Chanell Alexander is a writer for TechnologyAdvice. She is a freelance writer and digital marketing strategist. She has over seven years of experience in the nonprofit field, and enjoys blending innovative technology solutions with communications. When she is not writing, Chanell enjoys traveling, contributing to video game blogs, and embracing her inner foodie. See what else Chanell has been up to on her LinkedIn profile and Twitter page.

Top Human Resources Software Recommendations

The post Bare Bones HR: What Every Startup Needs appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Construction project management software keeps important details and tasks organized in one place, so every project can move forward on time and on budget. They also help team members and stakeholders collaborate and communicate along the way.

Before you make a purchase, sit down with your buying group and decide what, exactly, you’re looking for in a solution. What kinds of construction projects do you handle, and what construction project management software features would help your teams work more efficiently?

ALSO READ: 12 Signs You Need Construction Project Management Software

If you’re considering investing in construction management software, you should look for a tool that offers the following essential features:

1. Estimating

In most cases, an estimating tool is the number one feature sought by general contractors looking for construction management software. That makes sense, considering that operating within a budget is one of the most important success factors of construction projects. At the same time, you want to make money and stay profitable. Look for construction project management software that helps your construction managers deliver higher price bids and back them up with benchmarking and integrated scheduling. Gantt charts can also help you stay on budget with improved project planning. Some tools may even integrate with construction ERP software or construction accounting software, to provide more accurate estimates based on your outfit’s capabilities and timeline.

2. Project Information Modeling

Most projects in the construction industry are highly complex, involve numerous stakeholders, have hundreds of individual tasks, and span long periods of time. Over time, the data models and drawings associated with the project pile up. It’s important to have the ability to draw from this expanding repository of data at any point during the project lifecycle and find the insight you need. Some vendors may also refer to project information modeling as “design data management.” Look for construction project management software features that help you easily share models and business information between operations, finance, and leadership, with built-in analytics and reporting. You’ll also need a document management feature to keep reports and relevant information in one place.

3. Cost Management and Accounting

Nearly every construction project management software will offer basic budgeting and benchmarking capabilities. However, a more robust cost management solution will include estimating and forecasting to give you an overall picture of each project’s financials. When you can effectively track and manage these details, you minimize the chance of surprises. This is also a must-have feature if your construction company handles accounting in-house. Excel spreadsheets are great for tracking costs and payroll, but it’s not always easy to access important data from the field or share up-to-date files with other key decision-makers.

Most PM software for the construction industry includes accounting capabilities that let you track budgets, payroll, invoicing, and billing so you can see your cash flow at a glance, and the document management feature makes reports easy to access. Ideally, you’ll be able to select different forecast methods based on the type of item, using performance trends and goals stored in the same system.

4. Field Management

As job sites start to add up, it can be difficult for a project manager in the construction industry to oversee fieldwork at every location. Look for construction project management software that offers field management and execution features to help the contractor foreman create and communicate daily project plans, keep in touch with crew members, assign tasks, improve scheduling, and capture the results of the workday at the end of each shift. Some construction software can even help your construction business stay compliant by managing inspection forms and streamlining the process for equipment, safety, and quality inspections.

ALSO READ: How to Know if GPS Tracking is Right for Your Employees

5. Actionable Data Analytics

Most construction project management software will help you organize your workflow, keep track of client communications, and manage projects. But if you want the most bang for your buck, find construction software that contains a document management feature and will make it easy to review data in order to improve your processes. Some tools offer reporting features that will give you insight into your productivity and inventory management. You may be able to monitor resources and measure earned value by tracking processes on a cost and schedule basis. This can help you increase productivity, improve performance and scheduling, and enable strategic insight. If you have a labor shortage (a serious problem for most construction projects), you can spot it faster and take action immediately. 

Best construction management software with these features

While knowing which features you need from construction management software is half the battle, it’s not always easy to tell which tools have those features. To make your search easier, each of the following construction project management software solutions includes the features we’ve listed above.

• BuilderTrend
• CoConstruct
• Penta Construction Management Software
• Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate
• CMiC
• Zoho Projects
• Contractors Software Group
• Microsoft Project

Choosing project management construction software is difficult, especially when there are so many options on the market. Large and small businesses have different needs, and not every construction management tool will work for both. If you are searching for the best construction management software and you’re not sure these options are right for you, check out our Construction Software Product Selection Tool or contact one of our trusted Technology Advisors for free. After answering a few questions about your business, you’ll get a customized list of construction project management software recommendations.

Megan Pacella is a software writer specializing in project management, and sales. She has also written for USA Today, Bearings Guide, 10Best Nashville, and other publications.

The post Construction Management Software: 5 Features to Consider appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Managing expenses can be tricky for any business, especially when it comes to tracking technology tools and their associated monthly and yearly plans. IT department heads often have disparate systems for tracking expenses like phones, tablets, laptops, software, and staying on top of mobile data plans, requests for new or updated telecom equipment, as well as security and access for new and departing employees. Technology expense management (TEM) and IT finance management (ITFM) are often stratified across more than one system and overlooked in terms of efficiency and accuracy. 

According to a study by Gartner, any company with 500 or more employees that doesn’t effectively manage their mobile telecom expenses could be spending up to 30% more than necessary for voice and data services. The average cost per year per user for mobile voice, data, and messaging hovers around $840, according to the same study. On top of that, it’s estimated that 20% of telecommunication invoices are inaccurate and could result in overspending if not properly monitored.

Manual Data Collection Methods Lose Money

Imagine a large company trying to figure out where their IT spend is going and which departments, locations, and people are driving it. It may be hard to believe, but the majority of large companies are still doing this manually. They are exporting invoices for mobile devices from one piece of software, exporting fixed telecom invoices from another platform, cloud invoices from another, and so on. Then, they are trying to match up that invoice data with departments, locations, personnel, projects, and other information stored in their IT Service Management system or their ERP. 

It’s critical for IT teams to wrangle all that information in order to understand the big picture. Just the expense of additional employee hours involved in the manual work of tracking adds up substantially. You want your employees doing work that improves the company, like tracking down mislaid hardware or overseeing proper unified endpoint management — not performing data entry and tracking tasks. 

Smart TEM & ITFM Solutions Can Save Hundreds of Thousands

Comprehensive telecom expense management and IT financial management software platforms offered by companies like brightfin are the answer. Systems that automate and merge your IT Service Management data with your IT invoices allow enterprises to manage all facets of expenses, assets, and services in one place so that they can see where their money is going and make strategic adjustments. 

How does an integrated TEM and ITFM solution save you time and money? There are five ways:

1. IT Finance Management capabilities help save money by allowing users to access centralized data through automated processes. This provides a complete picture of IT services’ total cost and value, including allocations and chargebacks. This also includes:
   • Bill pay for self-funding IT bill payment on time (and avoiding late charges).
   • Procurement for new or replacement equipment enabled by a mobile ordering process with an approval engine, automation, and out-of-the-box workflows (avoiding delays and rushed shipments).
   • TEM services like negotiating wireless contracts, matching plans to usage, and watching for unused services (unused software alone costs U.S. companies billions in wasted funds).
2. Immediate data availability is essential. Once information is integrated with solutions like ServiceNow (such as HRIS or ERP), it is available immediately for review.
3. One central view where users can view all mobile, fixed, and cloud spend allows companies to get the whole picture at once rather than trying to combine different reports from carriers and platforms.
4. An automated workflow engine allows users to create custom actions based on business needs to become more efficient.
5. Security is already built-in. Well-developed TEM and ITFM systems are built for business, meaning security concerns are considered and set in place. ServiceNow, for instance, comes with the security tactics of a publicly-traded company. And no coding from scratch means that someone else has already figured out and implemented the security. 

Eliminating avoidable expenses is critical to maintaining profitability. Seemingly small costs, like an unused software license, an unaccounted-for tablet, or an incremental incorrect charge on an account, are compounded the larger the organization becomes. Worse, many companies don’t know how much these account for because they don’t have the insight or big picture view. 

Implementing a comprehensive platform that automates IT invoice management, Telecom Expense Management, and IT Financial Management is the key. Preventing unnecessary expenses results in a healthier bottom line for your company.

Mani Zarrehparvar, brightfin’s Chief Customer Officer, has over 20 years of experience in the technology and telecom space. He previously served as the CEO for Visage Mobile and held leadership positions at AT&T and Asurion. Mani received his bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State University and a master’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The post How Automated IT Management Platforms Save You Money appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

This tip is a timely reminder for business owners with different financial stress points, including business owners who wait for clients to pay their outstanding invoices while the creditor calls hourly.

If you are experiencing this stress, it’s time to consider another finance management strategy to ease cash flow. We recommend that you use invoice factoring to alleviate your financial stress. Read on to find out what it’s all about.

Why use Invoice factoring?

Most business collections are set to credit terms of 30 to 90 days, meaning that an invoice is posted to your customer at the point of transaction. The actual cash will only flow in at least a month or longer.  

You’re unlikely to be able to utilize that money for this period. The unaccountable cycle puts many small business owners in a constant cash crunch, making it hard to keep up with monthly expenses like payroll, utilities, or inventory. That prevents the business from investing in growth opportunities or maintaining day-to-day operations that keep everything on track.

Therefore, we recommend trying invoice factoring to ease the cash crunch. 

What is invoice factoring?

Invoice factoring is a financial product in which you sell your accounts receivable to a third-party factoring company in exchange for cash upfront.

Bank Business loans require complete applications where the bank qualifies your special status. This process takes some time. However, invoice factoring allows a factoring company to give you cash upfront in place of client payments. 

 Here are three parties involved in the transaction:

• The Seller (Business Owner)
• The Debtor (Business Debtor)The Factoring  (The factoring company or bank)
  

This is how the loops work.

1. The Seller completes a service or delivers a product, then sends an invoice to the Debtor.
2. The Seller submits another copy of that invoice with delivery order to the Factoring Company for funding (for example, on Day 1).
3. The Factoring Company advances between 80-90% ( as agreed between the seller and Factoring company) of the invoice value to the Seller, deposited into their business bank account.
4. The Debtor credit payment to the Factoring Company, which goes into a lockbox in the Seller’s name (for example, on Day 25).
5. The remaining 10-20% less factoring fee of the invoice value is released to the Seller, for example, on Day 26).
   

What is a factoring company? 

A factoring company provides invoice factoring services. This company can also be a bank that allows you to apply for a factoring account. The factoring company buys a business’s unpaid invoices at a discount.  

Once your client pays their invoice to the factoring company, you’ll get the rest of the money due to your business minus the factoring company’s fees.

This step allows small businesses to unlock the cash value of their invoices before they receive payment from customers. So the application is very straightforward.

Should you factor with a bank?

Invoice factoring is the same process. However, there are some differences whether you choose to work with a bank or a factoring company. Let’s take a look at them:

Independent factoring company

Independent factoring companies usually are for businesses that need to accelerate cash flow and may have been rejected by a bank.

However, an independent factoring company must borrow from a third party to fund your invoices. That can be risky as it increases costs for your business, reducing efficiency.

Bank factoring company

A bank factor provides the same flexibility and benefits as an independent factor and offers additional advantages.

• Easier transition to a bank loan , A bank factor works with many businesses that are considered outside the traditional credit box. Many of these businesses have been told “no” by a bank for a commercial loan, but they are still candidates for working with a bank that offers factor or accounts receivable financing. Businesses that work with a bank-owned factoring company may also have a better portfolio transitioning to a commercial loan at a later date.
• Greater security , Banks are more secure and provide a sense of financial stability. A bank offers a level of trust not found in independent alternative financing companies. Clients may feel better about interacting with a bank than an unfamiliar or unknown business entity.
• Competitive rates , In addition, since the bank has its funds, it can offer excellent business rates. Unlike many independent factoring companies with multiple funding sources, a bank is a direct source of funds and eliminates the broker.

Cash flow is the lifeblood of a business, and it can determine if the business grows. If you’re considering invoice factoring, it probably means you’re looking for a quick and reliable source of funding. Factoring can do just that: quickly turning your receivables into cash.

Factoring Application

The factoring company requires all these documents to qualify the business owner for a factoring account.

• A factoring application
• An accounts receivable aging report
• A copy of your Articles of Incorporation
• Invoices to factor
• Credit-worthy clients
• A business bank account
• A tax ID number
• A form of personal identification

Gather these documents and ensure they’re up to date before seeking out a factoring company for the easiest application and onboarding process.

Final considerations for invoice factoring 

Like any financial tool, there are always risk factors entailed. Business owners must do their homework before considering invoice factoring. Here are the elements they should consider.

1. Factoring can be a significant cash flow solution for all businesses and stages of growth. For example, many large construction companies employ factoring simply to reduce debt. The main contractor will delay their payment until the developer has semi-completed the project. The subcontractor needs factoring to keep their business afloat.
   
2. While factoring is more expensive than traditional loans, most companies factor into their prices to compensate for factoring costs.
   
3. Invoice factoring is often most suitable for businesses with poor credit. That’s because factoring companies only care about the creditworthiness of your customers (because they’re the ones paying the invoices), not you as a business.
   
4.  Every factoring company is different. Some will hide fees, float, and other added costs that make factoring unsustainably expensive and unpredictable. Find a reliable company that is 100% upfront with their fees.
   

Conclusion:

Invoice factoring can reduce the stress of funding for small business owners. With that out of the way, they can focus on more value-added transactions to grow their business in the direction they want, rather than worrying about inflows and outflows.

Top Human Resources Software Recommendations

The post Invoice Factoring Can Ease Your Cash Flow and Streamline Accounting appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.