Top tips to make your P60 Printing hassle free this year!

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Groan I hear all PayRoll Managers say!  P60 time is looming fast for all Pay Roll Departments.

But fear not because help is at hand!

P60s don’t have to be a cumbersome task that has to be managed internally.

Outsourcing this onerous task can free up the Pay Team department’s valuable time. 

How?

Simply outsourcing the process to an experienced outsource provider!

By taking your P60 datafile we remove the pressure to generate and distribute p60′s ahead of the annual deadline.

Once printed, we collate the p60s using our verification mailcare system ensuring that individual forms are checked and inserted accurately prior to despatch.

Outsourcing P60s; P45s; P11d’s can all be outsourced whilst you continue to manage and maintain the payroll printing internally.

Managing the processing and printing of P60s takes the responsibility away from you and places it firmly and squarely on the shoulders of the company fulfilling your P60s.

How does the process work then?

From the outset, we discuss with you your requirements, the layout and specific timescales and agree a time and date for you to send us a datafile.

In the first instance we receive a test file from you for us to evaluate. Upon agreed specification; proofs are created for you to sign off and approve. When you are ready and on the prescribed day, you forward a P60 datafile; which is proofed, signed off by you the customer and then the P60s are printed and despatched following our pre-agreed timescales.

I’ve never done this before, who will help me and what about security?

No need to be concerned! Our expert specialists will guide and keep you informed every step of the way. All data files are managed in a secure ISO27001 accredited facility with C&CCC (Cheque & Credit CCClearing Company) compliance.

Using a secure method of transmission (SFTP) a full audit trail is generated for each file and all the relevant and important steps are put in place to ensure compliance and data integrity.

I have data from different systems, how will you manage it?

We regularly receive data files from different I.T. systems or software even data files sent from multiple locations. As long as we are aware of this at the start of the project this can be integrated into the implementation process and managed appropriately.

How will you get the P60′s out to our employees?

You tell us what you want. We can either post them out or have the documents boxed and securely returned to a Head Office address. Or, we can post out and optimise the best postage discounts available; post to multi-branch locations for internal distribution.

But we print our payslips pressure seal?

Again no problem you can have either format. If your employees are use to receiving pressure seal type payslips then we can send the same format for your P60s. Alternatively, if you prefer your P60s to be A4 and then inserted into envelopes we can manage that as well.

How do I know I can rely on Digital Print Management’s expertise?

Quite frankly you don’t and we can quite understand that you might be taking a big step into the unknown.

We understand the concerns and issues associated with outsourcing any project that is why we specialise in solely OUTSOURCING.

We are committed to ensuring that our customers get the right solutions; you might say that it is a passion of ours making sure the customer gets what they want!

To make it easier; we’ve written a few articles for you to browse which should help make outsourcing and selecting the right print partner easier!

There’s a selection on our blog, but we think these two will help! Why Outsource?  Top Tips to Consider before you Outsource?

Whatever your reasons for outsourcing; Digital Print Management will take away the hassle! So call us now for an impartial discussion.

We focus on payroll so you can focus on business!

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Filed Under: Document Management, Managing Print Costs, Outsourcing, Payroll Processing Tagged With: , , ,

What’s the difference – Managed Print Services v Print Management Services

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Managed Print Services vs Print Management Services?

When two seemingly similar sounding service offerings actually mean completely different business models?

Although they sound the same and are often used in the same context; they are in fact very different from each other!

Here’s how?

Print Management Services

Let me start by describing what print management is! Back in June 2011, I wrote about print management services and the benefits it can bestow on an enterprise or company; a more detailed understanding of it is here!

Optimising print management enables a business or enterprise to “control” costs through an external service provider for all their document and print needs; this can be anything from a business card, USB stick, offset printing, wide format, apparel and promotional gifts to printed leaflets and magazines.

The benefits of working with a print management partner enables you to make gains financially as your print spend is centralised with one main supplier and their ability to locate and provide the print resources you lack in house such as buying power, print expertise, skill and cost budgeting.

Most businesses have no idea what they are spending on print; in fact many businesses view print as a necessary evil rather than an essential tool in their business kit and certainly one that can benefit from being outsourced to an external party!

Print management is about managing the purchasing; it really is a mixed print bag of stock control, logistics, distribution, storage, procurement of printed matter designed to deliver cost savings, time savings and controlled spending whilst providing a managed print solution.

Managed Print Services

Often abbreviated to MPS; also known as Enterprise Printing Services; Managed Document Services; MPS refers to the active deployment of a centralised management of a fleet or group of hard copy output devices such as photocopiers, digital devices, laser printers, scanners etc. In effect it enables the Company, School, University to take control of their printed output from any or all of these devices.

Thus controlling what gets printed on what device; MPS affords the ability to manage and control the cost of the output by providing secure, restrictive, re-directional access to printing devices by setting up company wide rules for output consistently, automatically resulting in responsible printing and minimising waste paper and ink toner. In other words, it is a simple solution designed to keep track of all output from connected printers and copiers; by accounting for and recovering costs, ensuring convenience but without sacrificing security.

So what are the benefits of both?

This can be difficult to quantify.

For example a University would make substantial savings having a managed print service and a print management service provider.

With many staff and students accessing potentially thousands of devices on a network tight control of what gets printed and where is warranted. Equally a print management service takes away the headache of how to go about printing the Student HandBook or Prospectus as the PM company will have the knowledge and access to the best trade supplier thus ensuring the University gets the job done at the best price.

Both services are in effect managed centrally; with MPS enabling an organisation to control their print budget and PMS (no pun intended) although externalised; also managed centrally albeit printing is off sited but with control over monetary spend provided by the PM company who as part of the service provision will seek to manage your print costs.

Which service is better for me?

No hard and fast rule really. A School, University and a Law Practice could benefit from a combination of both services. A business who has a spend of say £50k p.a. on print might well benefit from a PM service as they lack the time and skill to source printed items and may well be running a number of desktop printers and maybe 1-2 copiers.

Compare this say to a University or a big city based Law Firm where personnel print either from a desk top or remotely; where there is no real control over what gets printed and where it gets printed i.e. a document printed in colour when black and white will suffice. Then a MPS will give them better control over costs.

Where print is ordered on a “when we need it basis” and is managed by different personnel then its highly likely a PM service will save the firm time and money!

Both services can work in tandem or independently of each other! Both services have the potential to drive a business’ print costs down substantially making the management of print less fraught and time consuming!

By requesting a print audit we will be able to establish what service will benefit your organisation.

So call us now for a free impartial discussion and we will show you how to save money on your print!

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Filed Under: Document Management, Featured Posts, Managing Print Costs, Outsourcing, Print Management Tagged With: , ,

10 Reasons To Be Cheerful… One Woman’s View

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What kind of year has it been for you then?

In August I wrote about How’s Business for you?

As if we needed reminding!

We’re constantly fed how bad the current climate is; that’s economic too you and me!

The BBC news earlier this week reported on how 2012 is going to be an even tougher year with a projected rise in unemployment!

For goodness sakes… when is the media going to let up and start talking business, the economy, up a little bit and how about reporting good news just for once!

This will be my last blog for 2011 and I’d like to share how good this year has been for me personally, warts an’ all!!

Believe you me I had quite a few of those days like my lady opposite when I thought the best thing I could do would be to jack it all in and walk away. Like the day on holiday in August when our lovely, precious 8 year old was almost stolen from us. The response we got was overwhelming; people do care.

This time of the year one can be reflective; I for one never believe anyone who says they don’t look back.

The pain of the learning and growing process is to LEARN from what has gone before so we might take with us in to the future!

But like Hilary Devey aka Dragons Den said in her biographical documentary last night on BBC2 “I am tough and resilient and I am not going let anything beat me” Umm…

I was ill recently leading up to Christmas nothing like a mega dose of woman flu to make you shut down totally. A colleague of mine visited me at home (bless); our usual pre-christmas analysis of all that was good and bad this year.

Here’s a quick precis of that conversation:

Steve:- “I’ll be so glad when this year is over”

Me:- “Steve you say that every year”

Steve:- “Yea, I know”

Me:- “What was bad about it?”

Steve:- ” The usual crap but worse because of the euro crisis”

Me:- “What do you mean by the usual crap Steve… Like  Customers changing their minds; reneging on promised orders; people forgetting to do things; stress and palpitations; wondering if all our hard work is in vain?” But that is life Steve pure and simple. I’ve met so many people this year who’ve bigged it up and said how fab this year has been for them when you know damn well it’s the opposite.”

So here’s why I think 2011 has been a good year!

  1. My family, my husband and my precious boys are alive and kicking
  2. Digital Print Management has been in business for 10 years; financially sound and with a strong balance sheet! Phew
  3. New clients picked up this year! May not have been the budgeted number we had hoped but 2012 looks good for development (one turned out to be a time waster and has been monumentally struck off Digital Print Management’s list forever)
  4. My 12 year old winning the 4 x 100m at the Alexander Stadium on the 4th July; a day never to be forgotten
  5. My then 7 year old starting big School in September
  6. Embracing social media head on and learning so much from my followers and the people I follow which proves you are never too old to learn
  7. Really getting deep into networking and meeting some incredible people
  8. Fortunate enough to meet gifted and talented people who influence my life daily I am confident you know who you are!
  9. Still loving what I do after twenty years even though the last three have been tough physically, emotionally and mentally
  10. Fortunate and privileged to still be in a position where I control what I do, when I do it and for whom!

So in my book that’s a pretty damn good year!

One thing I know to be true: “That which doesn’t kill us makes us even stronger!”

(F.Nietzche- German Philosopher)

Wishing You all a Very Happy 2012!! Here’s to bigger and better things and to being Happy!!

What successes have you had in 2011?

What’s kept you positive when all around us seems to be doom and gloom?

Do tell!!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

How Managing Your Print Saves You Money?

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How To Automate Print In Your Company?

Most companies have the option to insource or outsource their document printing and manage document flow thereby managing print costs.

Print management software helps companies gain control and management of their printing to reduce costs, increase document security and enable sustainability programs. By automatically enforcing printing rules, authenticating users and identifying and allocating document costs.

I’ve preached the benefits that can be had by outsourcing documents and demonstrated effective ways where organisations can save money. But, what if an organisation can’t or simply wont outsource these business processes due to system limitations or compliance to a specific process and or system?

Like every story there are always two sides.

What can a company do to ensure its paper flow is…

kept flowing?

Implementing a strategic print management software application can ensure you automatically control and manage how print flows through your organisation satisfying three primary objectives:

  • improve productivity
  • maximise time
  • reduce paper

Using a print management application with effective print controls automates and optimises the way print moves around a building. Setting specific print controls and denying users printing from certain open applications such as email and automatically re-routing that task to the most cost effective printer such as a mono printer rather than an ink guzzling colour cartridge printer can help drive down the print costs for a company.

Industry analysts estimate that over 44% of printing is unncessary. We print things more than once, instead of selecting the pages we print which might only be one page we end up hitting the “print all” button.

Wasted paper, consumables, escalating electricity bills are the hidden costs behind unnecessary printing therefore opting for print management software helps companies regain control and management of their printing to reduce costs and increase productivity. 

By measuring, monitoring and managing print activity, print management software provides a way for companies to gain a clearer picture of a company’s printing needs and then enables the effective deployment of equipment to meet those needs without spending capital on printing technologies that are either inappropriate for the tasks required or are so costly that the ROI will take years.

The deployment of print management software tools within an organisation helps employees become more aware of their printing habits, provides tools to enforce print policies by re-routing print jobs to cheaper printers, reduce print/copy costs, improve document security on the network and eliminate waste and inefficiencies within an enterprise.

So what exactly does a Managed Print Service provide?

  • A MPS (Managed Print service) tracks print, copy and scan activity company wide
  • Allocate document costs to a department or office
  • Set and enforce print/copy quotas to prevent paper waste
  • Makes printing easy and convenient and more secure
  • Re-direct print jobs to more cost effective devices
  • Reporting functionality which enables a company to keep print costs down

Deploying a cost effective print managed service can save a company money if implemented in the right way.

Is your Company slowly being deluged by paper then call us to discuss your requirements.

In the first instance we will do a print audit of your organisation free of charge.

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Thanks for reading.

Filed Under: Document Management, Managing Print Costs, Outsourcing, Print Management Tagged With: , , ,

Why Cheques are still good for Business?

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Last year 1.1 billion cheques were issued, 620 million were personal cheques and 493 million were made out by businesses.

Back in June I wrote about the cessation of the cheque guarantee scheme and the U-turn the Payments Council had taken in relation to cheques. It was genuinely feared that cheques would be phased out by 2018 and be replaced with??

That was the biggest connundrum with what exactly?

Last week I was delighted to hear and read that the Payments Council is now reviewing the re-introduction of the cheque guarantee scheme this is where cheques to the value of £50.00 and £100.00 were honoured by the Bank.

Although chip and pin is very much part and parcel of our everyday lives we still have the problem of writing personal cheques for things like school trips, book clubs, subscriptions or how we pay the plumber who’s come to change a tap fitting.

Cheques are an integral part of our businesses?

OK, We pay our suppliers via BACs but for a company that specialises in assisting companies and educational institutions by outsourcing cheques and payments; not suprisingly, cheques are still a large factor in their payment stream.

But what if making payments by cheque and electronic means is becoming… well a bit of pain..

Using an electronic & Cheque payment solution/Payments Bureau will save you time and money. A service that prints and personalises cheques including the signatory all in one pass to APACS and C&CCC (Cheque & Credit Clearing Company)

Printing and personalising cheques can be a costly exercise but also a security issue!

Using an end to end service affords flexible credit and cheque outsourcing and fulfilment that satisfies the following:-

  • outsourced cheque printing & mailing
  • outsourced credit printing & mailing
  • no minimum or maximum data quantity
  • no specific file format required
Using a Payment Bureau service gives flexibility to outsource regular and one off payments and can be used for:
  • Bacs
  • Faster Payments
  • Cheques
  • Direct Debit
  • Remittances
The automation of payments and collections can be administered without costly software. A payments bureau is ideal for combining cheque and electronic transactions from one secure payments file and in the event of your system failing ensures that all your important payments and collections are made on time.
So there is still a need for cheques and cheque printing!
For all your cheque and payment processing drop Digital Print Management a request to call and we can discuss the best and most cost effective solution for processing your payment!

 

Filed Under: Cheques and cheque printing, Managing Print Costs, Outsourcing Tagged With: , , , ,

How to make your invoices rock?

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After 20+ years being in the print and mailing services industry I am still amazed how invoices are under utilised for promotional advertising what we refer to as “transpromo” for every day business documents such as an invoice or statement.

With variable or personalised printing why not use the white space to drop a personalised message to the recipient?

You see, gone are the days when the invoice was simply a vehicle for chasing payment for goods and services sold.

But before I go into my rhetoric of how to make your invoices work better for you here are 10 things that should be on your invoice from fellow colleague and F.D Garry Mumford.

Surprisingly; we still see invoices that are missing this fundamental information!

Assuming you’ve ticked all the boxes:-

Here are some ways you can really make your invoices sing:

Are your logo and address details prominent? Why not jazz up your invoices so they stand out from the crowd after all if the credit team are chasing for payment one sure way to find your invoice in the pile is to use colour. Not black and white its a misnomer if you think it costs a lot more to have a colour logo it does not!

Marketing is no longer the sole preserve of the Marketing Department if you are sending an invoice for specific services or goods then hi-light what other products and services you provide; this can be done by adding a strategic personalised message so the recipient is made aware of your other services and if you target a specific product or service you could tie this in with a sales push to promote that given product.

You see gone are the days that an invoice is purely a vehicle used just for collecting money it is so much more than that!

I go into more detail here on ways to make your invoices rock more!

White space management – I am sighing here now because I see 3 lines of transactions and then a big white space – use it, say something even if it’s just to say A big Thank You for the business but mean it and don’t leave it on every invoice run because it then becomes valueless!

I just sent my first invoice to a new client of ours and made a point of asking our accounts team to drop in a”Thank You for choosing Digital Print Management as your payroll provider on your next copier paper order we will give you 5 reams free”; guess what, we took a call from the customer to say how much they appreciated us doing that, we got an order for copier paper. So, it does work!

Judicious use of colour – OK so I’ve covered this earlier BUT I’m also talking about hi-lighting areas of personalised text in colour to draw attention to this relevant bit of information. Research has shown that colour has tremendous power to add impact to communications boosting recall and influence. Pantone® and the the internationally recognised Pantone Color Institute® indicate that consumers are up to 78% more likely to remember a word, phrase printed in colour than in black and white!

When colour is combined with the written word it impacts readers with greater recall, recognition and attention – full colour variable/personalised documents enhanced customer loyalty and retention generating 34% faster response rates; a 48% increase in repeat orders and 32% increase in overall revenues!

Who said invoicing wasn’t a science?

Reverse of invoice – Not just for Terms and Conditions as these should have already been stated prior to the supply of goods and services. This part of the invoice is a great way to show how your customer can get in contact with you; or how to pay you by showing the methods of payment you accept as an organisation.

Of course you can optimise the benefits of multi-channel distribution by combining the benefits of e-billing and paper based solutions.

If you want to stop feeling like this:-

 

Then why not give Digital Print Management a call we provide free no obligation print audits which include looking at your document flow and invoice processes.

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Filed Under: Invoice Processing, Managing Print Costs, Outsourcing Tagged With: , , , ,

How To Manage The Process of Outsourcing Your Payroll?

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This article follows 10 Reasons to outsource your payroll

I’ve talked about the benefits that can be acheived by outsourcing payroll, invoice printing and processing here are a few reminders:-

  1. You know what your monthly fixed cost for the operation is
  2. Allows you to focus on the area of business you hope to succeed in
  3. Allow experts to manage the process
  4. Reduce the cost of internal errors
  5. Speed up the process
  6. Benefit from your providers’ technology without having to make the investment
  7. Flexibility you’re no longer reliant upon people to manage the process in-house
  8. Secure in the knowledge that any disaster that affects your organisation it’s still business as usual for your outsource provider

You’ve now taken the unprecedented decision to outsource your payroll function.

What happens next?

The next step is find a payroll provider that can faciltate your requirements?

Easy?

Not so, when you are unclear or uncertain as to what you are looking for and what you need to look out for!

Where do you start?

You only have to google payroll bureau and a whole host of names pop up from the small to the large service providers and that’s where it gets sticky because do you have the time to search, research, evaluate, tender, set up visits to establish creditability then make a decision. All told, the process might take you anything from 2-6 months and that is a conservative estimate.

Here are a few things to consider when outsourcing your payroll:-

 

  • Small (1-50), medium (50-150)or large (150+) employees on your payroll will help determine the type of bureau you select to work with.
  • Expertise – does the payroll provider have relevant industry expertise to manage your payroll efficiently?
  • Flexibility – can they offer solutions tailor made to fit with your requirements and not a box that comes pre-packed and one you need to fit in?
  • Technology – can they offer online pay slips; paper based slips or a combination of both? Can they manage multi-channel distribution?
  • Does their system offer the flexibility to integrate with yours?
  • What reporting functionality are you likely to get with each payroll run; ask for sample reports and payslips both on and offline so you get to see the quality of the output. If you have a need for both paper and online slips how are the paper slips being printed – pressure seal (without envelopes) or A4 folded and inserted into an envelope, look at the quality.
  • Find out if the cost of postage is included. There are a host of mailing discounts available via the Royal Mail and DSA (downstream access) which your payroll bureau should be able to offer.
  • One final thing – let your payroll team be instrumental in the project after all they will be the people managing some or all of the process going forward.

What type of payroll services will you need?

  • A fully managed payroll system
  • Bureau payroll
  • Hosted
  • BACS
  • Multi-national payroll
  • CIS

 How do you then manage the process?

Project management is paramount. Any business process that integrates with the payroll function needs to be considered such as HR and Finance. A pay calendar or schedule is imperative for the bureau to determine cut off times and when data will be made available to the bureau for processing, this must include BACS transmission dates, pay dates and the physical distribution of the pay slips. During the migration phase the payroll system will need to be tested to ensure data integrity, compliance and accuracy with the current system. This process is usually tested over a 2-3 month period where parallel runs will be done by the payroll bureau and measured for accuracy against the current system.

Feeling overwhelmed!

Digital Print Management can offer advice and consultation

We are independent of any manufacturer, I.T. solution provider and print supplier. As a solutions and print management specialist emphasis is understanding the customers requirements and not trying to sell them something which doesn’t cut the mustard in the long term.

Put simply we offer a free consultative, no obligation approach to helping customers who frankly are overwhelmed by the prospect of outsourcing their payroll; whether its the processing and printing or the complete function of a department.

We are here to help so please do call us or leave a message and one of our consultants will be in touch.

To keep up to date follow us on twitter or subscribe to our updates!

 

Filed Under: Outsourcing, Payroll Processing Tagged With: , , ,

12 Reasons to Outsource

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This is the second article featuring Reasons to Outsource.

When outsourcing you should consider the following:

  • The supplier takes responsibility for the process but YOU need to actively be involved with the management of the relationship. It’s important you take your time when making decisions governing working with a service provider.
  • Establishing a good working relationship is paramount to ensure longevity of the service; communication and regular review meetings throughout the set up process are essential.
  • The CEO or MD of the Company should nominate a “champion”; a person within the organisation to take control and run with the project through to its implementation.
  • It’s important that people within the business particularly within the area that is being evaluated for outsourcing have involvement with the project; they may have concerns over their jobs, so keep them informed.
  • If staff are being transferred to the outsourcing provider then you will need to consider employment legislation.
You are likely to get the best results when you are committed to staying with your service provider for several years because it pays to commit to building a good and long lasting relationship right from the outset.

Should I Outsource?

The obvious benefits of outsourcing are fiscal but they can also lead to a better strategy for your company by divesting yourself of non core activities or processes that have outgrown your business and by removing these non core activities can reap substantial benefits.

Consider the following:

  • Will outsourcing free up your business to focus on its strategy, irrespective of whether its selling widgets or providing services.
  • Is it going to improve the efficient running of an area of your business such as Payroll, Billing or I.T?
  • Will you gain a competitive advantage? You will be better positioned to a manage your costs, by freeing up capital and having a clear picture of your fixed costs.

How do you make outsourcing work for you?

Have a measurement process – there should be financial benefits but you might be outsourcing to improve a specific business function such as customer service, reducing errors in billing or decreasing the time taken to undertake your payroll.

  1. Know what you are getting into – these days you can outsource any area of your business e.g.Call Centre operations; I.T. Payroll & HR, Billing, Print, Finance Accounting.
  2. Do you really need to outsource? I’ve talked about this previously does outsourcing fit into your business plan – in other words do you have a function which has become a burden to the business and no longer fits in with your core business competencies?
  3. Selecting your service partner is also key in the successful migration of your business function; note I use the word partner rather than provider. If you are entering into a long relationship its not too dissimilar to a marriage you need to take into account the culture, the background and its track record in providing similar services to the one you are seeking to outsource.
  4. Ensure you have an SLA that is flexible but at the same time articulates how performance is measured, what the pricing plan is, does it offer the flexibility to manage changes in your finances or industry; what happens if you introduce a new product or service and you are affected by a worsening of the economy your contract should also have an exit clause.
  5. Have a clear exit strategy too and make sure your SLA contains a clause to that effect; in the unlikely event the relationship ends prematurely or your company needs to bring the outsourced function back in house due to economic changes in your marketplace.
  6. Managing the process – the work or department that is being outsourced requires a period of time to understand and adjust to the process; this may result in a change of roles for personnel, an increase in the time management spend in overseeing the migration. Are you prepared to spend the time managing the relationship?

  7. Would it be helpful to use an independent consultant someone who has knowledge of the process and will offer effective impartial advice and assist you in selecting the right outsource provider.

  8. What are the costs to your business if you choose not to outsource? Will your business be affected if you can’t afford to invest in the expertise or facilities required to drive your business forward?
  9. Weigh up the costs of administering the business function in house V outsourcing and this should include the costs of personnel and office space, consumables, equipment leased/hired etc
  10. What are your expectations? You need to be realistic and by having a good working relationship with your outsource partner you can set realistic and achievable deliverables right from the outset.
  11. On a final note, its always good to weigh the scales i.e. the FOR V AGAINST for outsourcing because when all is said and done its your business that will ultimately be affected by change and so outsourcing has to be a positive experience for both the Company outsourcing and the service provider delivering the solution or service.
  12. As independent advisors, Digital Print Management work with a variety of service providers and solution specialists to ensure that customers receive the best service at the right price. We are not tied to any one supplier and therefore we aim to understand the customers requirements before offering a solution or recommending a service.

So if you are unclear as to where to start or how to manage the process and need some advice we provide free, no obligation consultations. Just call or email us.

To keep up to date follow us on twitter and Facebook.

Filed Under: Document Management, Outsourcing Tagged With: , ,

Is Your daily Commute Killing You?

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Sounds a little extreme doesn’t it?

I’m not kidding. Too many hours travelling to and from your work place will eventually take its toll on you, your family and your work life!

I read this interesting piece from the BBC about commuters in the USA who are travelling farther due to changing economic conditions this piece talks about a legal assistant and how her working day starts at 3:30AM as she travels from the outskirts of Maryland into Washington D.C; a place I love and know reasonably well!

But this isn’t just a condition that US citizens find themselves up against, I suspect its the same in the UK.

Over the last 20 years I regularly commuted to my place of work often 50-60+ miles in each direction; oftentimes on the road for some 3 hours assuming there was no Motorway chaos or accidents! Excluding the travelling I did to meet my customers and prospective clients in my role as a sales executive; one year I managed to accumulate 49,000 business miles; that’s a little under 1,000 a week phew! That was nothing in comparison to some of my work associates; some were travelling in excess of 60,000+ at one point we had a competition to see who could accumulate the most number of business miles; at the time I recall a well known oil company swapping road-miles for air-miles to use their fuel!

No wonder I was tired cranky and single I didn’t have time for relationships let a lone time to socialise, my butt started to become almost square for sitting in the car for so long. Often my only relaxation time was my daily run.

Get to the point?

I could never understand why companies wouldn’t allow you to work from home?

I worked so hard to prove and convince my sales bosses that this surely was a more cost effective and productive way of working. Don’t get me wrong my idea of working from home was 1-2 days a week; with a day at the office and 2 days out seeing customers because not everyone of our customers would want to see me every week. It seemed a workable solution it certainly offered a more productive and less tired sales consultant.

Sadly, I couldn’t understand why employers were so resistant! Surely proof of staying at home was PRODUCTIVITY = RESULTS = SALES = SAVINGS  for company with no more excessive fuel and mobile phone bills.

Many years later I set up Digital Print Management and my commute to our offices could be how ever long or short I wanted it to be.

Today, it happens to be a 15 mile commute to Bedford, which fits in with my Boys schooling, my home life and my personal life, all of which are reasonably well balanced. OK it’s a work in progress; like most women and men I battle with work tasks somehow outweighing hours in my hour bank!

Companies have changed their attitude to employees working from home and it appears to be a more accepted norm. I believe wherever possible your job role should allow flexibility and freedom to work from home and office surely this gives you breathing space!  Time to plan, be creative and most importantly 1-2 days a week where you can pick the kids up from School or be there to welcome them home!

If you’re utopia is this: 

Then you really need to think about what it is that makes you get up in the morning and drive xxx number of miles to your work place??

What do you think? Do you travel too much? Or; are you fortunate to have a job that enables you to have a mix of office/home life?

 

Filed Under: General Tagged With: , ,

10 Reasons to outsource your payroll?

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Outsourcing your payroll

There are a number of reasons why outsourcing your payroll can be a cost effective option for you.

Firstly, it affords the opportunity to drive down operational costs and remove inefficiences within the payroll department. A decision to outsource any business function is a result of various internal and organisational pressures such as the lack of skilled personnel suitable to handle the task and to keep control of costs.

In the current economic climate, Companies face increasing pressure to keep up to date with new technologies, legislation and organisational change; at the same time having to streamline some of their internal business functions and processes.

Why outsource payroll?

  • Cost – even before you consider outsourcing your payroll function you need to know what it is costing you to process in-house. How many hours are spent engaged in payroll activities? This must include the cost of labour, technology, office space, stationery, printing and postage. The more manual the process the more people that are required to maintain and administer the function.
  • Productivity – payroll management is a time consuming activity by outsourcing this function employees can focus on productive activities focussed on the business. The more you automate the process the less people involved in the pay roll cycle.
  • Accuracy – Payroll mistakes can result in angry and worried employees. A good payroll bureau is far less likely to make errors because it is their job to provide accurate payslips.
  • Reliable service – Outsourcing to a bureau won’t be impacted by staff illness and holidays therefore the output speed and quality will be constant. Neither will you have to spend time helping new employees learn your payroll system.
  • Speed – payroll bureau are designed to speed up the process of payroll printing and distribution as specialists they have technical resources enabling them to process payroll quickly and cope with on going changes within an organisation such as seasonal or temporary workers without having to upgrade systems.
  • Expertise – a payroll bureau will have the expertise to provide the services you need irrespective of industry sector.
  • Accountability – it becomes the payroll service providers responsibility to ensure your payslips are accurate, comply with HMRC and tax regulations and are distributed on time.
  • Technology – a payroll provider will keep up to date with new technologies and software ensuring that you don’t need to make additional investment in-house; as they invest so you benefit from increased efficiencies.
  • Flexibility – by being able to meet your needs overtime as requirements change and your business expands.
  • Security – working with a carefully selected payroll provider frees you from worry associated with possible abuse of the payroll function by employees and if it’s on time and accurate!

COMING NEXT:

How to manage the process of outsourcing your payroll function?

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Filed Under: Payroll Processing Tagged With: , , ,
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