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The link between spy gadgets and spy movies is obvious. Some say it first emerged with James Bond to reassure us that we really were winning the Cold War.  And those gadgets were indeed ludicrous: bulletproof pyjamas, a cigarette lighter that doubled as a .22-calibre gun, a lipstick that could record conversations or release poisonous gas.  They were clearly theatrical and were like nothing you would expect to find or would even make sense in real life.   But now, many companies are being forced to look at some of the less fanciful spy gadgets, especially those associated with covert surveillance, in a very real life application.

Employers need to be on red alert as the economic downturn forces many workers to find extra cash dishonestly. The prospect of “spying” on your staff and employees is never a pleasant thing. But the unpleasant reality is that the economic crisis is fuelling crime. 31 police forces across England and Wales reported a dramatic rise in acquisitive crimes during the last four months of 2008. 5,572 more cases of acquisitive crime took place during those months than the previous year.

Recent figures showed that employee fraud cost UK companies more than £77m in the first half of 2008 – up from just £10m in the same period the previous year. Spiralling personal debt fuelled by mortgage, food and fuel price hikes is making workers desperate. Companies throughout the UK are beginning to realise the importance of getting to grips with the fraudulent activity of their staff.
Some form of business fraud is currently being committed by an estimated 1 in 5 staff according to recent figures, so employers need hard, incontrovertible proof, if they are to tackle the problem.  Spy gadgets can assist in this task by closely monitoring employee activities utilising specialist covert cameras and recording equipment or vehicle tracking equipment if you’re dealing with suspected fraud in a mobile sales force for example.   By sending out a clear message to employees that fraud in the workplace is unacceptable the employer will be able to control the situation and probably reduce operating costs.

Top management, as well as their employees, is frequently told that the customer is always right. Hence, managers are frequently concentrated on attending to the demands of their clientele. While this may be sound advice for a company simply desiring to reap monetary rewards, this continuously puts employees second in line for the attention of top management.

A organization looking to become successful in today’s business world needs to realize that employees are integral cogs in any business. This is specifically where corporate recognition awards come into play. These awards make your employees feel valued and, hence, they become motivated to put in more effort in their work. This article proposes that you can make use of corporate recognition awards to show your employees that you appreciate them just as much as your patrons.

Employees want to feel valued. Upon completion of a long-drawn-out and challenging project or sealing a big business deal, your employees would be very thankful if they were given some kind of acknowledgement. Speeches can be one means of showing appreciation for the amount of effort they put in, but something more permanent would be more effective.

Corporate awards are physical symbols that relat a forceful message not merely to the recipient but to your other employees as well. As discussed at business awards, these corporate recognition awards are indications that great efforts will not go unrecognized. Thus, expect your entire workforce to be inspired in hopes of receiving recognition for their work as well.    

Plaques, trophies, and medals can all be suitable choices for your corporate awards. The engravings on these awards are of singular importance, especially as the central objective of handing out corporate awards is to acknowledge a particular undertaking.

More out of the ordinary awards will be valued too. You might want to give gift certificates, wristwatches, or tickets to a local event. No matter what form your corporate recognition awards take, what matters is that you give your employees the exact same amount of attention as your clients. Your staff may play different roles, but both your customers and your work force have a valuable impact on the success of your company.

One of the ways to improve business profits is to practice great money management. Most companies and businesses tend to ignore their everyday expenditure, causing them to lose sizeable amount of money. These are called the ‘not critical’ aspects of the business, or certain things that can be substituted with cheaper and just as productive methods. There are entire companies that are dedicated to this, called damage control.

The downfall of many business is due to their lack of control on their spendings including nonessential expenditures on employees and basic infrastructure. You need to investigate every aspect of your business and how your money is being spent. Sit down with your partners and your employees and bring out the accounting sheets, tracking every dollar down. You would be shocked and surprised at the sheer amount of money that you would be saving. Some business have found that they were over spending in excess of $30, 000 a year – money that could have been used to increase the effectiveness of the management process or simply to develop the business further.

Another way to improve business profits is to diversify. Business models that unvaries and lacks foresight will not make room for more profits because their options are limited and they dodge any innovation. Diversity, try new projects and even venture into riskier areas of the market. But with that comes a risk. It requires you to have great money management and at the same time you need to anticipate any possible peril. Taking risks have been the mantra of the most successful, look at Microsoft, or Apple or Virgin Airlines, Google etc. They have been carrying the flag of taking risks from the first time they have started and they have diversified into every aspect of the market.  Think small scale and apply it to your business. That is where growth comes from and that is where your increase profit comes from – from different revenue streams that will allow you to maximise your assets and get great returns from all avenues.

The other way, and this is for the start up companies, is to get a virtual office. Starting a business is essentially starting a risk, regardless of how well-thought you plan is. Therefore, before you start signing a lease for a physical office and ordering office equipments, why not go virtual and see how your plan works out. If your product or service has astounding success and the response is magnificent, then you can think about getting a base of operations. It is all about reducing the risks in your plan and cutting costs through avenues like a virtual office is a great way for you to test bed your ideas on the living market and see whether it will reap you the rewards you deserve.

One of the things I am obsessive about is losing my work. I have had hard disks die in the past and since then I have been attentive about backing up my data I  want and need to save. It helps that backing up has become simpler with massive hard drives and faster CD burners. Recently I have been looking for an off-site backup solution for one of my clients. We tried a “roll your own” method. It had a nasty habit of to just drop the connection before the backup was completed.

The next thing I did of course was to Google “cloud backup” and I looked into the numerous services that I found. I tried several and decided on OPENRSM CloudBackup. The interesting thing is that it has advanced features, works on Windows, MAC, and Linux, and has a scalable cost model.  The standard offering is 50GB of data storage for only $4.00/month.You will only pay extra fees if you go over 50GB of storage, no matter how many computers you have running OPENRSM CloudBackup.And since each Gig is only pennies, that’s pretty cool.

A lot of the online backup offerings were similar, the two things that make OPENRSM CloudBackup better was support for multiple systems and network drive. In my office I have my Windows machine and a Linux box. Using OPENRSM CloudBackup it can also able to backup all of those files remotely as well. Now I have a local backup of my files in case of hard drive failure on my desktop, and a remote online backup in case there is some other kind of catastrophe here at my house. After the first backup it’s as fast as lightning.

If you want to make sure your home files are safe or if you have a small business, like me, you’ll want to give online backup a whirl. I’ve been using it at home and the office for a while now and have been very happy with it. I hope I never have to use it to recover my files but it is good to know they’re safe in case something bad happens.

When you begin the process of implementing strategic partnerships for your business, consider what need to move your business to the next level. For instance, if you’ve developed a unique product or service, but lack a mass distribution system, what companies would have the necessary distribution channels to get your product or service into the hands of the masses? You may need to give up a bit of your revenue per sale, but when you weigh that against the time and money it would take to build your own distribution system, you will most likely decide that it is a small price to pay.

Protect Yourself and Your Ideas

Before you approach a large company about a strategic partnership, make sure you’ve thought things through and taken measures to protect yourself and your product with the necessary patents, trademarks, and non-disclosure agreements. This is an important and necessary step for you to take. There are many stories about unsuspecting entrepreneurs sharing their ideas or product prototypes with large corporations, only to see them on the market a few months later. Your attorney can help you draw up the necessary paperwork.

Research Pays Off

Make sure you research your potential strategic partner ahead of time. Find out all you can about the company. Study their products or services and determine if yours is a good addition or improvement to their current offerings. Ask people in the industry what they know about the company. A business with a reputation for treating strategic partners poorly is most likely one you’ll want to avoid. On the other hand, a business with a track record for treating their partners fairly can be a great find. You want to partner with a company that has an impressive reputation since you’re aligning your reputation with theirs.

Plan for Contingencies

Once you’ve decided to work together, think ahead to the “what ifs” of your agreement. What if things don’t work out as you planned? When you draw up your agreement, make sure that you have an “out” clause, just in case. Perhaps you’ll want to run a trial period to see how many units of your product your new partner can actually move, or how well they are able to fulfill orders. By putting a time-line or quantifying number in your contract, you can better gauge whether the partnership is working or not. If not, you can move on in your search for a new strategic partner.

Long-term Relations

When looking at a potential strategic partner, you should take into consideration your future product offerings. Look ahead to what you want to accomplish as a company. Before you form your strategic alliance, know where you want to go with your company. Envision the possibilities. Will your potential partner be able to help distribute other products into the marketplace? While you don’t need to lay all your cards on the table at first, look for the strongest partner so you can work towards developing a long-term working relationship once you’ve made it through an initial phase.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

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