Micromanaging’s definition is “to control every part, however small, of an enterprise or activity”. Micromanaging has a stigma associated with it. Most employees hear micromanage and they think of their boss hovering over them and telling them how to do their job. However, this article discusses how micromanaging can be a useful and even a necessary component of an organization’s operations.

First, the negative stigmas associated with micromanaging, which are generally related to employee management. An example would be an employee has been hired because they have the skills necessary for a specific job. A manager feels he has more experience than the employee begins to constantly tell the employee how to do the job. In extreme cases, managers can even take over the employee’s job and ignore manager role. Micromanaging in this form makes the employee feel as if the manager has little faith in their knowledge, skills, and abilities. The reason micromanaging people is so negative is because employees lose motivation. Micromanaging people, in the long run, stops two employees from doing their job, reducing overall productivity.

However, there is a positive side of micromanaging. If you look back at the definition, micromanaging simply means to have control over the company. If a company is not controlled, then it will most likely fail. However, what needs to be highly controlled is not how the employees do the work, but overall operations. Managers need to be constantly looking at the revenues and costs of their sector and making sure they are doing everything possible to control them. For example, it does not matter how talented salespeople handle their leads (Calling many times a week or once a month), as long as the salespeople are keeping their costs down, are making good revenue for the company, and their clients are happy. A company should particularly micromanage costs since they are one of the biggest potential threats to any company’s success. Costs need to be analyzed thoroughly in order to make sure the company is receiving the best bottom line possible.

In conclusion, operational functions should be micromanaged while employees should be given a relative amount of freedom in how to do their jobs successfully. Employees will respond better and want to do more work for a company they feel trusts and respects their ability to do the job. Constantly monitoring the operational functions of the company will ensure that, when there is a problem, the problem will be seen and corrected faster than with a company that loosely manages its operations.

I find it very intriguing, more often than not, managers will “buy” speculated cost savings that they have ample experience showing them they do not turn into real savings while at the same time they will reject speculated earnings.

In supply chain this phenomena is very vivid: companies invest time, effort and money in saving costs – uniting batches, full truck load, inventory reduction and many more initiatives are taken to save cost, focusing primarily on “cost per unit”. Cost per unit saved, in many of the cases does not turn into real savings.

On the other hand, initiatives that can improve availability and increase sales, are rejected with the claim that “it is not certain that the positive effects will materialize”.

Although there is a very high certainty that the cost savings will not materialize, and high probability that the increase in sales will, the common choice is to go for the cost savings.

It will be great to hear your thoughts about why?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey,

I believe the argument should not be either or, but should but a nice blend/mix of both. You cannot turn a blind eye to cost savings, to focus attention on sales growth. Nor should you only look at cost reductions, without having a plan to use those cost savings to increase distribution, sales, productivity, efficiency, etc.

That stated, cost savings increase the bottom line profitability of a Company NOW. There is no waiting, wondering, or hoping the investment made towards increasing sales was a correct choice. And even when the sales initiative has been made, you still need to go back and make sure you cut unnecessary costs from the new model…hence to be as profitable as possible.

Remember…find efficiencies, reduce costs, increase margin, & apply profits to good uses.

Do you remember when making a difference meant everything to you in your job, career, business? No…not just going through the motions because you are experienced and feel you can predict what would happen prior to it occurring. A time when you were concerned with every line item of profitability. Do you remember those days?

Were those days recent? Were they so long ago it’s hard to remember? Ever wish it was that way again? Did you ever feel back then, that you operated as if you had nothing to lose? Yet, every penny was precious no matter what the risk?Why does a “nothing to lose” state of mind work? Well, the answer is because it’s only when we’ve lost something that we can truly gain something better.

Excepting Complacency.

Have you ever said, “that just the way it is”, or “there’s nothing we can do about it”? Have you ever wondered why your people haven’t found the things you feel aren’t right about your operations or what could be improved?

Bigger question is…” If you could do something about it….would you?” Would you seek outside assistance? Would you look for a better way?

And if you did…would you feel you are doing an disservice or stepping on the toes of those in your company who you feel did not meet their responsibility of seeking workplace improvements?  You think they “should be doing” , or that “you hope they are doing” something (like you did when you cared about every penny and every nickel of profitability).

Goodbye Illusion: Hello Truth

What about the truth? Can you…or do you want to “handle the truth”? And do you feel something or someone wiser than your team could assist you in working “behind-the-scenes” to unveil your illusions and therefore help you improve? It may seem jarring to you, but really, it is quite gentle (gentler than you can ever imagine). So are we fearing the truth?

Or do you feel the crumbling of the illusion of your company’s efficiency will cause you too much pain? At LT~CRS we believe the truth never hurts. The truth only heals. In human nature, we are prone to want to hold on to things, but once there is nothing to hold on to, we can’t help but realize that the only thing we can truly hold on to is the truth. That’s why we hope you believe that somewhere in the Losing, there is a much greater Gaining.

So the question is, would you rather face the pain of breaking illusions and in the long receive amazing gains, or stay in the illusions and in the long run suffer?

www.limitlesstechnology.com

Using a contingency based~no risk model,  we specialize in reducing companies

telecom and technology monthly recurring expenses by removing inaccuracies, 

obtaining credits and negotiating better go forward contract rates.

BOTTOM LINE…We Improve BOTTOM LINES.

I fixed one of my outside sprinklers this past weekend. It wasn’t completely broken; in fact, it performed its main function okay. The timer went off, the water came out and the plants got wet. But apparently the PVC had become brittle and a significant leak began to occur draining resource in some areas and over watering where the leak was occurring– nothing major, we were probably losing 50 gallons of water 3 x per week.

The bad part was this must have gone on for many weeks,  because it wasn’t noticed until there was a hole blown through the earth.  So, once I noticed the issue, I had the sprinkler repaired by an expert so I was sure it would be done right. I asked him if there was a way he could have detected them sooner, and he defined a process and procedure on how they detect leaks and repair them before the customer like me received a giant bill. My expert also said why not all customers have them, it was good to check on e a year for a fee, or monthly fora smaller but more regular checking to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

After the repair, and my conversation with the repair company, I thought about what that leak meant to me. It was only about a little water, so it didn’t seem like much of an issue. Then I started to do the math: I was losing near 150 gallons of water per week. That was 600 gallons of water each month, or 7200 gallons a year!  Every day that I didn’t repair it, another 20 gallons of water lost. What a waste. And…It hadn’t dawned on me that the water I was losing meant money out of my pocket. (I get my water bill only once a quarter, so out of sight, out of mind). Then my water bill came: The utility devised a new rate based on the amount of water used. I was now paying for that leak in two separate places, and paying big over an $800 jump in my bill!!!

My sprinkler dilemma reminded me of how many organizations handle their telecom billing. For instance, most companies don’t notice their bills have changed and wonder why their bills are higher. The difference starts small and goes on in multiple areas of their business.

These charges are…Hidden in landline services, misunderstood on Internet rates, never noticed at the setup of the original billing, in 3rd party slamming and cramming charges,and many other areas.  And even when a “leak” on a bill is noticed, trying to work with the provider to get it removed is cumbersome and frustrating at best. (Not as nice as working with my professional irrigation company).

Yet…medium and large companies sometimes lose hundreds of dollars a day, thousands a week, $10’s of thousands a month and yes even $100’s of thousands of dollars per year with these billing errors!!!

Hopefully you won’t let your Company suffer these expensive and wasteful  “leaks” , and you will make sure you get an expert to help you ensure it won’t continue to cost you money that you’re not even aware of losing.

By Todd Larsen CEO Limitless Technology~CRS  April, 24th, 2013

Limitless Technology~CRS

Delivering expert results on: telecom auditing, telecom contract management, telecom expense management, and telecom billing optimization services.

www.limitlesstechnology.com

Hint for Saving Money on your DSL: “DSL” or Digital subscriber line: a technology that allows high-speed transmission of text, audio, and video, usually over standard telephone lines

Has your Business had to call your local phone service provider to add internet or DSL to your account?

Are you aware that DSL can run over a basic phone or fax line, and that many times they add not only the DSL service but an additional voice line for the DSL to run over?

This additional $30 to $45 dollar expense can be easily avoided by, always requesting that the DSL service be added to an existing line such as your fax or alarm line; both of which can co-exist on the same telephone line. Faxes and modems use voice frequencies and are thus unaffected by your DSL service (Note: a filter may need to be added in some situations). By doing this you have cut your line costs or overall DSL expense, sometimes as much as in half, without affecting any of your existing services.

For everything else, there’s Limitless Technology CRS

Every every package that needs to be delivered to a customer adds to your company’s bottom line. Especially expensive is the over night couriers (How many times have you needed to get something to a client after the post office has closed?). Your only option was to mail it with a custom and expensive delivery service. Well here are some tips from Limitless Technology CRS to help reduce these fees.

1) Get a large carrier discount by assigning one shipping company to your account. There are two ways you can save money by assigning one company for your services. You can work with your shipping company for a lower service rate than their standard rate and use your loyalty to the shipping company as a bargaining tool. You can also ask for a volume discount on top of your discounted rate because you are running all your shipping through them, even if you don’t ship a million packages a day.

2)Reduce wrong address charges. Carriers usually have online tools that help resolve address errors. However, if you don’t use the applications, they will charge you for incorrect addresses.

3) Use standard boxes for all your orders. Unless you are shipping a motorcycle or an elephant, consider shipping large orders in several standard boxes as opposed to one non standard box. Trust me it will be less expensive (In this case, more is less).

These tips can greatly reduce your company’s shipping cost. Unfortunately, reducing telecom expenses is not as easy as reducing shipping costs. Telecom cost reduction requires constant attention to current rates and a careful investigation of past phone billings.

Call Limitless Technology CRS (866) 504 4050 or go to www.limitlesstechnology.com  to see how much you can save today.

Summary: This may end up being cheaper, flexible IT, but it won’t work for every business – let’s see why???

Here’s some reasons why:

1. It most likely won’t reduce your costs

IT directors worry that BYOD will cause IT costs to “become uncontrollable”,  because companies will lose the ability to cut expenses through bulk buying and national discounts, they can end up paying more for call and data plans, especially if employees can claim these as expenses.

2. Employess hate paying for business “stuff”

BYOD is attractive for employers because they can use it as a way to get staff to pay for the tools they need to do their jobs.

3. It makes it harder for the IT

Allowing employees use their own devices could rapidly turn into a headache. Becasue these deveices will be utilized to touch “company data” IT will be the first point of resolve in MANY cases.

Add to this new security measures to cope with the influx of consumer devices is another large costs which could incude:

• mobile data protection,
•  network access control and mobile device management,
• costs of configuring access privileges on an individual device basis.

4. Corporate issues – Lack of Uniformity

Allowing BYOD can inadvertently create an uneven playing field between employees. based on compensation one worker may be able to spend more money on a high-end device so they can get their work done quicker, this may lead to resentment – as  as other workers scramble to catch up.

If employees find themselves having to spend more of their own moneyto keep up with their colleagues – that’s could be afor morale (even if productivity rockets) detroyer.

5. Security problems

Security is one of the biggest issues with BYOD because allowing consumer devices onto corporate networks brings significant risks – unless managed correctly. And even bigger risks for employees who are dealing with sensitive personal or business info.

Strict and enforceable guidelines for employees, and that means staff have to be vigilant about security, whether they  are using their device for work or personal.

Because the IT has less control over the personal devices used by employees,  individuals will have to ensure their devices are patched, encrypted, and have up-to-date antivirus software running.

6. Data loss – BIG RISK

The risk that sensitive data could be placed on employees devices, and lost can be SIGNIFICANT. While there is plenty of mobile-device management software that can reduce the risk, employees may be reluctant to grant IT access and oversight to what is their own device (personla reasons). CIO’s and CTO’s must be careful to protect corporate data (by doing a remote wipe when someone leaves the organization) without running the risk of compromising the individual’s data too (by wiping all their personal photos at the same time).

7. Short-term gain with a possible long-term pain

The upside  is going out and getting a shiny new device to display too thers in the office. And it’s even better if a corporate BYOD policy means it’s subsidised, too, which is why BYOD has been so attractive to employees.

But in day-to-day life it may be different. The problem is…once staff have spent the money, they’re on their own, and IT – and the boss – won’t be pleased if their work performance suffers because they’ve chosen bad tools OR SOFTWARE INCOMPATIBILITIES.

8. It’s a licensing – and legal – DISASTER WATING TO HAPPEN

Switching to BYOD means you have to keep an eye on licensing too. Companies need to make sure enough licences are available, which can eat into expense control.

Under some licences, the software can only be installed on devices owned by the business, which is another complication. Some other legal issuesis it remain’s “cloudy” for who would be liable if a device used both in work and at home was also used for illegal downloading.

9. Consumer devices will hurt productivity!!!

There’s a reason why business devices are boring – they’re for business, not pleasure. Your decison may encourage employees to bring devices that are more suited to watching videos, playing games and keeping up to date with their digital social lives, if so…they will do exactly that!.

Take a minute or 10,000 to reaaly thinnk about what is best for productivity and efficiency before making a poor choice which will impact the company profits.