Continue reading »]]> Virtual Financial Accounting Services V/s DIY Accounting Software

Some confusion and lack of clarity prevails about the role and benefits of virtual financial accounting services, and how it can be more beneficial or make life simpler for SMBs as compared to do-it-yourself accounting software.

First of all it is important to remember that unlike DIY accounting software, virtual accounting is carried out by real, professional controllers/bookkeepers, who are qualified and QuickBooks certified. You do not have computers handling your finances and accounts, nor do you have to track them online yourself.

Virtual financial controllers such as those provided by outsourced financial accounting service providers, such as Accelcia Controllership Services carry out these very crucial business financial accounting services with utmost professionalism, confidentiality and accuracy.

If you have struggled with online do-it-yourself accounting software in the past, you are not alone.

Many new businesses who try to self-manage their financial accounting using these internet based do-it-yourself accounting systems, find them to be confusing, complicated and lacking the human intelligence that is required for understanding complex numbers and financial heads. In such a case one might not wish to continue further with any such online accounting systems.

However, it is important to remember that although both conduct financial accounting online; virtual financial accounting services are NOT the same as do-it-yourself accounting software.

Virtual financial accounting services have many advantages over do-it-yourself accounting software.  In this case “virtual” simple means that although your financial controller works from a different location or region as you, you are in constant communication with him/her via phone, email or instant messenger. You will find that your virtual controller is always available and easy to get in touch with, maybe even more so than other in-house employees.

Virtual accounting services also means that all your accounting and bookkeeping files become paperless and are maintained as well as transferred in completely digital format. Apart from being “green” or environment friendly, there is an added security benefit from being digital.  The fact that these accounting files are remote/ cloud hosted on Accelcia’s secure servers reduces the chances for any unwanted leaking. Another big advantage of using virtual financial accounting services, such as those provided by Accelcia Controllership Services is portability and accessibility. You can easily access your books and accounts online from anywhere- using a laptop, computer or even a smartphone.

Continue reading »]]> Internet Marketing ? A Cost Cutting Business Process

With purse strings of businesses being tightened the world over, the demand for effective marketing and advertising has never been higher! This phenomenon has also given rise to plenty of performance based internet marketing companies that have sprung up from every corner of the globe. Most of these companies are doing extremely well for themselves. You might wonder how? The reason is simple. Internet marketing is the most cost effective way of promoting your business.

Size does not matter – appeal to the same number of people

The best part of performance based internet marketing is the fact it does not really matter if you are an age old company or you are relatively new in the market. The only thing that separates you from the giants is how good your marketing campaign is. No other method of marketing can give you such a wide reach as far as audiences are concerned.

Cost effective, free of any kind of hassles and fast

The biggest advantage of internet marketing is the fact that it costs a fraction of what advertising and marketing costs in the real world.

Added to this is the fact that its benefits greatly outweigh that of any traditional means of advertising. Take for example, performance based email marketing. Not only is this method relatively cheap but it can also reach a wide range of audience from all over the world within a matter of a couple of minutes. The best part of it is the fact that is involves no hassle. All that is need is a catchy email and mass mailing software!

Keep content fresh for longer and rely on no one but yourself

Another great advantage with performance based marketing over the internet is the fact that you do not need to constantly change and create new content for your online campaigns as these last longer as opposed to traditional methods.

You will also save a lot on aspects like hiring sales staff etc. When you opt for internet marketing, you become self-sufficient as you need to rely only on yourself and your internet marketing company

Continue reading »]]> Financial Technology

Technology and the worthwhile stock markets are available to buy & sell stocks online. This refers that the stock broker is additional or fewer absent and leaving the investor to find the way in the stock trading procedure. The people are more and more hunting for the best possible online trading options. The various reasons behinds that are its immediate actions and high income run. By using these technologies we can have option of home jobs, this makes Trading Technology Jobs a practical option for huge amount of money. In addition to that the costs incurred for hiring these required services also considerably eliminated. Only the right stock trade platform would help to provide it in an effective way. There are a lot of companies for trading options along with some additional facilities offering accounts for trade in stocks.

Although all companies are equipped with matching objective but they are differ from each other significantly. The first and most important point to consider best online trading company is the status of company.

Use of online ranking position will be helpful in describing its fame and authority. It is must to inquire about the company to trade your stocks and items; this job can get done from many resources like employees of that company. The best possible access and low cost of Trading Technology Jobs of stock trade company offers much traffic. Remember that online trading is a cheaper method as this is helpful to eliminate commission costs of different stock brokers. Different trading companies try to make money from this available online business. The best possible method to get positive effect is by using interest rates, this is generated on the behalf of account balance. However, it is very important to make a note of these Trading Technology Jobs and online trade firms that well-known trade names may have advanced fee costs than their counterpart. Depending upon various navigation tools online supply trading can be simple and composite. This depends upon traders in every field. These technology jobs are offered with many software and programs along with various sites.

Sometimes these are much difficult to use due to that complexity it makes the choice less effective. So the choice of best online trades will permit you to utilize their website much effectively in an uncomplicated and efficient way. Unless you are with no confidence about these online internet technologies, always avoid the trade platform that are besides difficult to use. Business elevations can be accessible with the help of all trading companies but successful results are available with few of them only.  So the choice of every trading company should be with much alert because a single carelessness can make one’s fool. Proper visit can give us results as per requirements. Trading technology jobs are accessed to sell our product in an effective way with all positive results. By using these technologies we can have selection of various jobs, this makes Trading Technology Jobs a practical choice for enormous amount of money.

Continue reading »]]> Balanced Scorecard Software Tools

Hundreds of software is now available on the scorecard for measuring performance management. Fully automated cards are used in many organizations for collecting the data associated with performance. The score card typically has number of measuring tools combining the financial and non-financial perspectives and through which reports are collected.

The process of collecting data from all the employees is a tedious task owing to the procedural problems. You cannot expect all the staff to return the data fully completed on the stipulated date and time. It involves labor problem and time for getting all the work done apart from discharging office duties. The software helps in getting the right information at the right time. The process of automation adds systematic approach and discipline for implementing the balanced scorecard system. The software effectively helps in transforming the corporate data into knowledge and information thus aiding to measure the performance score systematically.

In other words, automation gives you the quick access to performance measurement and in taking quick decision for improving the situation.

Some tools of software aims in measuring certain aspects of the scorecard like business intelligence, data warehousing but also have separate functional modules for measuring performance management. Quick-score Performance Information System is the ideal tool for measuring the performance which is developed by Spider Strategies and is marketed by the Balanced Scorecard Institute. Apart from Quick score various options are available to the customer. Number of companies is engaged in developing the software for measuring performance.

In large scale company or complex organization multiple balanced scorecards are to be prepared and implemented. And there should be complete co-ordination and dexterity of results since one type of results will rely on the information collected at different level. In such cases, it becomes practically impossible to synchronize the results by using single card reports. Automated software helps the department in getting the accurate measurements of the performance by using number of systematic plans and designs. The software tool simply balances the production and the distribution of the reports. Nowadays, lot of software is available for measuring communication metrics, personal metrics, sales metrics, HR metrics, education metrics, marketing metrics and finance metrics and more.

Continue reading »]]> A new Selection Process of Right HelpDesk Software

The figure of 25% and 80% indicates the rate of software which fails to implement sucessfully. However, the large difference can not say much for itself.

If you only include cases where the support software system fails to ever go live and is entirely abandoned, the failure is probably only 25% or lower, but if you include major cost overruns, production delays, failure to meet expectations and soaring post-production costs, the failure rate may actually be higher than 80%.

Choosing the wrong vendor is the single biggest reason for such failures, and also the easiest to avoid. In this white paper, we recommend a detailed process for picking the right support software company to ensure a successful implementation. To do so, we contrast the standard approach taken by most companies with a recommended enhanced approach throughout each step of the evaluation process.

The Safety in Numbers Method

Rather than performing a thorough comparison of support software, some companies make a quick, seemingly safe decision: they pick a vendor with the largest market share.

Naturally, there are solid reasons for choosing a well-established vendor as opposed to a new start-up. Yet, going this route can introduce several risk factors. First, their market share may have been gained a long time ago with technology that is now outdated and a company with declining market share is inherently unstable. Second, market share is often achieved success by focusing on typical customers. If your company does not fit that profile, you might need to look elsewhere. Second, extensive marketing, rather than a superior product, might be the reason behind the dominance of such vendors. Finally, expect market leaders to charge a price premium simply because of their popularity.

The Risks of the New Kid on the Block

There are solid reasons for choosing a well established vendor, instead of a brand new startup that is dependent on further rounds of funding from the VC to stay in business: A well established vendor is less likely to go out of business, the software has had time to settle down and is less likely to be buggy and the vendor has had time to sort out its support/maintenance and upgrade processes.

In summary, unless you really need some brand new technology that is only available from a startup, you probably want to compare HelpDesk vendors that have been around for a while and focus on product quality/applicability and company profitability/debt levels rather than just market share.

Now, let us examine how each step of the selection process is typically executed and can be improved upon.

Step 0: Write Down the Business Objectives and Define the HelpDesk ROI

Buying, implementing and training your staff on the effective use of a new system is a time-consuming an expensive process. Do not start it until you have a clear idea of the business objectives and what processes you want to improve.

Write them down and discuss with stake-holders, such as the VP of Support. Solicit their input on the value of objectives that are not directly quantifiable. For example, if the VP says that halving the turn-around time for support requests will so improve custom satisfaction that it will increase sales by 10%, that is a metric that you can build into your ROI analysis.

The key is to base your HelpDesk ROI calculations on hard numbers, or the estimates of senior executives, not on your own beliefs. The support software may help to:

- Reduce costs and the time required to execute a process
– Ensure that nothing drops through the cracks
– Automate processes such as support follow-up and emails
– Eliminate data duplication and reduce the time necessary to find information
– Keep stake holders up to date with automated reports
– Provide customers with 24/7 access to submit/update issues and track status
– Provide a full audit trail for regulatory or internal compliance
– Gain insight into staff productivity and bottlenecks
– Integrate processes that span multiple departments
– Help turn support into a profit center through integrated sales processes

Once you have decided what processes are most critical, how they should work and the value attached to their improvement, you are ready to put together an RFP that describes what business processes your need the system to support.

Your goal is to choose a system that can fully implement the business processes that you have identified as most critical at a reasonable cost. Every vendor claims that their system will increase sales, reduce costs, etc, so it is only by nailing down the details that you will find their limitations.

For example, rather than saying “The HelpDesk system must assign tickets automatically”, you might specify “When a request arrives, it must be assigned to the support team for that issue or time-zone automatically; the rep should receive an immediate notification email with a link to view/edit the issue; this email and link should be accessible from their smart-phone; if the rep does not update the record within 2 working hours, it should be re-assigned to their manager…”

Step 1: Create and Send Out RFPs

Many companies send out long RFPs with qualitative rather than quantitative questions to an extensive list of vendors. There are two problems with this approach. One, asking such general questions omits critical data, such as specific time-lines, functionality, and limitations. Two, lengthy RFPs are time-consuming for both you and vendors. All of your effort will be for naught if you do not get equally detailed responses, and the truth is that many companies simply will not take the time to respond. Those vendors that do fill out such RFPs are often desperate for business or will charge hefty prices to make up for such time expenditures.

The solution is for companies to first send out a mini-RFP, which most vendors will complete. Figure out exactly what you want and take the time to describe it in detail. This document should ask your top 10-20 questions, be available in document and online format, and take 20 minutes or less to complete. Although the exact questions would depend on your needs, they should include:

Can you implement all of the business processes that are described?

How much will it cost over the next couple of years? (The vendor may need clarification before providing firm prices, but should be able to provide a rough estimate here.)

How long and how many consulting hours will it take to implement?

Can you try the system before committing to a purchase?

What kind of expertise is needed to maintain/change the system?

Eliminate HelpDesk vendors that do not respond in a reasonable amount of time and based on the responses you receive from the remainder, narrow down the vendor list to three to five. Tell these companies that they have made the short list and send them complete follow-up RFPs. Since these vendors will know that they have about a 25% shot of earning your business, they will likely respond.

Make sure that the questions in this follow-up RFP are probing and quantitative. For example, instead of just stating, “The system must allow the creation of custom tables,” ask questions such as the example below. As you will see, the exact answers can make a huge difference in terms of timing and cost.

How long does it take to create a custom table and what expertise is required to do so?

The truth is that creating a fully functional custom table can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few months. If the latter is the case, this can cost tens of thousands of dollars in consulting fees. Unless you ask explicit questions, the vendor will not provide such details.

Do custom tables behave exactly like native tables?

Probe even deeper with questions such as: Can you create links between custom tables and native tables? Can you search and create reports and business rules on fields in custom tables?

Can custom tables pose any obstacles to system upgrades?

The additional effort involved in upgrading a system with custom tables can range from “no impact” to exporting and re-importing all data, redoing the entire custom table from scratch, and praying that nothing goes wrong.

If you are unsure which probing, quantitative questions to ask to compare HelpDesk software systems, contact the vendors. Say to them: “I am pleased that you support feature X. What should I ask your competitors? I am trying to determine how fully the vendors that I am considering support this feature and whether there are any limitations or additional costs associated with its implementation.” What they tell you will expose weaknesses among their competitors and, possibly, themselves.

Step 2: Ask for Demos

At this stage, most companies go one of two routes for a HelpDesk demo. The first is to attend a “standard” demo that allows the sales person to display the parts of his system that he wants you to see and allows him to mask the weaknesses by simply not showing them. The problem with this kind of demo is that it does not tell you whether or not the system is capable of actually meeting your precise needs, and if so, how much effort it will take.

The second route is to ask vendors for a demo of your complete desired solution. However, most vendors are not going to invest man-weeks in customizing a system to comply with such a request, so unless your requirements are simple, they will instead insist upon leading you through a standard demo.

Designing and implementing the full set of requirements and maintaining/enhancing the initial installation to reflect experience and address changing needs can easily exceed the cost of the software. Therefore it is critical to find out both how easily the software can be configured and how much help you can expect from the vendor when it comes to process and automation design. So what can you do to learn these things in a demo?

The solution is to twofold:

1) Give the vendors a limited amount of time to prepare a custom demo illustrating just one business process of your choice. Choose the process and requirements that are either the most critical for you or that you believe are the most unique to your organization. If a vendor can map these process, they will likely be able to manage the more standard ones. Limit the time to prepare the demo to something between one and five days, to see how quickly the product can be tailored to your needs. You may extend this deadline, but be aware that if it takes the vendor a week to meet your needs pre-sale, it will probably take at least that long after they have your money.

2) During the second half of the demo, ask them to modify the system to implement some other requirement. Warn them in advance that you will be asking them to configure the system during the demo. That way, they can have technical resources at hand. However, do not give them sufficient information so as they can prepare everything in advance.

If they fail to meet your stated requirements during the first half of the demo, you can skip the second half. Although this may sound brutal, it is completely fair: after all, you will be betting your reputation and, quite possibly, your company’s future on making the right choice.

An important benefit of using this process is that you will be able to tell, from the kinds of questions you are asked before the demo about your process and requirements, how easy it will be to work with the vendor. Do they exhibit a ready understanding of your needs and grasp what you are trying to accomplish? Do they ask questions that help you to formulate your process more precisely and make it more efficient? In other words, are they experts at process automation and design? Or are they just going to sell you a software package and leave you to your own devices?

During the demo, assess whether your staff could make such changes without their help. You can also measure the honest of the vendor. For example, assume your HelpDesk RFP asked two vendors how long it would take to create a custom table and one responded “five minutes,” but struggled to complete the task in 20 minutes. The second responded “30 minutes,” but finished in 25 minutes. You might consider the second vendor a more honest potential partner, or you might at least adjust the first vendor’s other RFP responses based on their tendency towards optimism.

Step 3: Get references

Ask for at least one reference from the vendor’s other customers and talk to them privately, without the vendor’s sales or PR staff on the call. If the vendor insists on setting up and joining the call, treat it as a very strong danger signal.

Tell the vendor that you are still looking at a couple of alternatives (even if they are actually way ahead in the evaluation). There are two reasons for this: You retain your leverage during the final price negotiation and the customer is more likely to provide honest feedback if the vendor has no way of knowing why they are not chosen. Even so, be aware that glowing references cannot always be trusted, any more than such references about a job candidate are a guarantee of their future performance. They are just one part of your due-diligence.

Incidentally, you should entirely discount web-based references that are posted by “current customers” in response to on-line requests for vendor recommendations. These are almost all posted for the vendors themselves. Customer case studies at the HelpDesk vendor’s web site should be viewed with caution, but are at least they are honest about what they represent and may be trusted roughly in proportion to the amount of hard quantitative information that they contain. “We went live in two months” means something. “The implementation was really fast” doesn’t.

Step 4: Negotiating the Price

At this stage in the process, do not be blind-sided by “discounts.” You might perceive that you are getting a better value if you purchase a 0,000 solution for ,000 rather than a ,000 solution for ,000. However, keep in mind that you will be locked into a pricey solution and the vendor will have full leverage, likely charging you full price for implementation services, support, upgrades, and additional licenses. Surely, the vendor will have a strategy for recouping the 5,000 “discount” with interest.

Still, you should not necessarily buy the least expensive product, but rather the product that will fully satisfy your requirements at a reasonable price. After all, software that does not satisfy your needs will be very expensive in the long term. Either it will fail to support your business or you will need to invest in custom software development and maintenance.

When negotiating pricing, avoid the following common traps.

1. Bait and Switch

Some vendors offer cheap or free entry-level packages that lack the functionality for successful long-term use. Their goal is to get you trained and committed to their system before you discover the bad news and have to pay to upgrade. You can avoid this trap by working down from their most expensive offerings and asking yourself at which point you will have what you need. After all, it is much easier to ask, “May I need functionality X in the future?” than “Can I think of functionality I may need that is not covered by this low cost option?”

2. Nickel and Dime

In a variant of the above, some vendors sell packages, then nickel and dime their customers for all extras. For example, “Software as a Service vendors may include so little disk space with their base offering that they know their customers will outgrow it within a few months and pay for additional space. You can avoid this trap by asking vendors to write down ALL “optional” extras and that they will not charge extra for any functionality not on this list.

3. Implementation Costs

In a practice that seems to have been learned from the construction industry, some vendors will lowball the estimate for implementation costs and then double or triple the actual cost during the course of the work. With each price-hike, they may say, “We are 80 or 90% of the way there, but there were ‘unexpected’ difficulties.” You can avoid this trap by initially detailing your requirements, asking for fixed price quotes and making sure that the system is easy to configure by your own staff

4. Maintenance Costs

Similarly to the above, some HelpDesk vendors will lowball the initial implementation, knowing that you will need to pay for changes later on. The standard metric in the software industry is that initial development accounts for around 20% of the cost, while bug fixing, support, and maintenance make up the remaining 80%. You can avoid this trap by ensuring that your team can customize the system themselves. If a vendors system is easy to configure, their consulting fees will probably be more reasonable; after all, they will realize that you are not at their mercy and could always do the work yourself.

In general, try to get a package or discount that will cover additional licenses and upgrades for at least the first year. Look at the list price and assume that once the discount period elapses, it will be close to what you will be paying. Then, finalize your detailed specification of the desired system and ask for a fixed price bid on the implementation itself. You may not get it. Still, it can make for an illuminating conversation when the vendor who estimated a two-week completion in their RFP response will not commit to a two-month completion on a fixed price basis.

Vendor List

The following is a list of leading HelpDesk vendors to which you may want to send the preliminary RFP. This is not an exhaustive list and additional vendors may be found at this site and sites such as helpdesks.com, comparecrm.com, support-software.org

Be aware that almost all sites that prominently list or praise particular vendors are being paid by that vendor for such placement.

Right Now Technologies
SalesForce
EnterpriseWizard
SugarCRM
Microsoft
Siebel
Conclusion

There are four steps to finding the right vendor:

Figure out what you want and take the time to describe it in detail. You will have to do this eventually in any case and it will save you from making an expensive mistake if you do it up front.

Find a set of potential vendors and send a brief version of your RFP.

Narrow down the list of potential vendors and ask the remaining 3 to 5 vendors detailed quantitative questions in the full RFP. If you do not know how to quantify, ask the other vendors for their suggestions.

Get a demo of your desired process from the remaining contenders shortly after your provide the full RFP and ask them to make modifications during the demo. Ask yourself whether you would be able to make such changes without their help. Request a fixed price implementation and negotiate pricing for additional seats in advance.

Continue reading »]]> How to Simplify Financial Planning

According to experts, financial planning should consider monetary requirements in different phases of life. It should provide a holistic picture of the inflow and outflow of money. In addition, it should address risk appetite, emergency situations and long-term financial goals.

When it comes to the basics of financial planning, there are four major focus areas:

Investment planning:It involves developing strategies for asset allocation based on your risk appetite. Diversification of assets is a key constituent of financial planning to lower the risk factors to achieve your desired long term goals. To devise a systematic fund allocation strategy, one should work on developing an investment tracking system. There are many software available online that can help you keep track of your investments.

Tax planning:No one likes to give away a significant portion of his/her annual income as tax, when there are legal methods available to save taxes.

The government encourages individuals to leverage tax benefits available on several investment instruments. The first step towards tax planning is to identify the number of taxes that you are liable to pay. Some of the most common forms of taxes are income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax. Tax planning strategies involve the smart use of offshore bonds, Venture Capital Trusts, Enterprise Investment Schemes and Individual Savings Account (ISA).

Retirement planning:A financial plan that does not guarantee a secured future after the age of 60 is not worth investing in. By investing in retirement plans from an early age, it is possible to lead a financially-secured life in your old age. Retirement planning should answer two basic financial requirements – standard of living and medical emergencies. SIPP(Self-Invested Personal Pension) are highly popular retirement instruments in the UK. SIPP investment is a UK-government approved pension scheme that offers tax benefits on certain investment instruments.

Personal Insurance:Individual and family insurance policies are also a crucial part of financial planning. Insurance policies offer financial security against unforeseen circumstances. With a host of insurance schemes available in the market, buying the most suitable insurance is a daunting task. You can consult an expert to understand your insurance requirements in accordance with your financial plan. Some insurance policies also offer tax benefits.

Financial Planning versus Financial Advice

Hire an expert for financial planning may be a good idea. For a majority of the population, managing finance is a complex subject. Hiring a good financial planning service helps you to understand your requirements in a better way and allocate your funds according to long-term goals. However, one must understand that financial advice is only a subset of the larger picture. Based on your needs, you may have to customize the plan to fit your life and goals in a better way.

Look for a financial planner who offers comprehensive consultation on all major aspects of fund allocation. Hire a financial advisor who is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), UK. Some service providers have business arrangements with financial instrument providers, which makes the process of investment easy. Discuss your financial goals and devise a strategy that you can follow in the long term.

Continue reading »]]> Financial Market

Financial market in the economics is said to be mechanism which allows a person to sell and buy financial-securities (like bonds, stocks and shares), some other sort of fungible goods which possess value and commodities like precious stones or metals or agricultural products at very low and cut to cut cost of transaction as well as at the rates which reflect efficient hypothesis of market.

Both specialized-market where trading is done on only a single commodity as well as general-markets where trading is done on various commodities exist. Work of market is done through placing of many sellers and buyers in a single place, there by making easy for sellers and buyers in finding out each-other. Market economy is that economy relying primarily upon the interactions in between sellers and buyers for allocating resources in the contrast to command-economy / to non market-economy like gift-economy.

In the finance what is facilitated by the financial-market are stated below:

In capital-market, the capital’s raising.
In derivatives-market, the risk’s transfer.
In money-market, the liquidity’s transfer.
In currency-market, trading is done world wide or international-trade.
Used in communicating all those people are in need of capital with those people who are having enough of it and want to lend.

Typically, receipt is issued to a lender by the borrower promising for paying back borrowed capital.

Such receipt work as a security which can be sold or bought freely. The borrower has to pay compensations to the lender as in interest form or dividend form against the fund that is borrowed by him.

Financial market is of various types which are further having subtypes.

They are mentioned below:
Capital-market – It comprises of following subtypes:

Stock-markets – This market provides finance through shares issuance or common-stock issuance there by enabling subsequent market for fund.
Bond-market – This market provides finance through bonds issuance and there by enabling subsequent market for fund.

Markets for commodity or commodity-market – This type of market facilitate commodity’s trading.
Money-market – Such form of market provide debt investment and financing for short period.
Derivatives-market – Such type of market provides the instrument used for managing financial-risk.
Future-markets – This type of market provides forward-contract of high standard for the trade of products. The trading is done for some date from future.
Insurance-market – This sort of market facilitates many risks’s redistribution.
Foreign-exchange-market – Such markets provides facility in trading foreign-exchange.

Continue reading »]]> Financial Markets

For some purposes, financial markets can be thought of as supermarkets for risk cash flows. Unlike regular supermarkets where you shop among prod­ucts on the shelves, financial supermarkets work as organized exchanges, where financial securities are bought and sold in continuous auctions. Most governments need to finance their deficits. To do so they issue government debt. The debt can be short term, in which case we call it a Treasury Bill, which will promise a given cash flow sometime within the next year. A treasury bill is the typical example of a risk free security, there is no uncertainty about the future payments. If government debt is long term, over a year, it is typically issued as government bonds, with annual payments of coupons and a repayment of the face value at the bond maturity. Since governments always print money there is no uncertainty about whether you get your money back when you hold a long term government bond.

But government bonds are still not as risk free as treasury bills. The reason is that there is always uncertainty about the future worth of a dollar (or pound, or mark) due to inflation.

A more risky security is corporate equity, or stocks. A corporate equity gives the owner the right to a dividend from the corporation. The dividend is a function of the profitability of the corporation. Since this profitability is quite variable for most companies, the cash flows from a stock will be risky. Historically, though, at least in the U.S, the return from holding equity has been on average much higher than the return from holding government debt. Some of the largest financial markets are markets in derivatives, se­curities whose payoff depend on the price of some other security, or even on the prices of real (as opposed to financial) goods.

Futures markets are markets where one can fix a price today for a future delivery of some good. Options markets are markets where one can fix a price today for a future contingent delivery of some good.  We usually make a distinction between the primary and the secondary market. The primary market is at the issue of a security.

Treasury secu­rities are often issued to the general public by an auction where anybody can send in bids. This is then the primary market for treasury securities. When a corporation issues equities for the first time, the Initial Public Offering, this is the primary market for equities.  When securities are traded after they have been issued (in the primary market), they are said to be traded in the secondary market. In terms of volume and value, the secondary market dwarfs the primary market.  Relative to the amounts being bought and sold in financial markets, the costs of transacting are small.. It is this that makes it justifiable for us to make an assumption of perfect capital markets, markets where it is costless to transact.

Continue reading »]]> Useful Software for Email Marketing

In email marketing it is important to have software to manage your emails. Sending messages manually can often be a tedious and time consuming process. There are different software’s available for you to suit your needs. It all depends on your type of business as to which is suitable for you.

The use of software in email marketing can depend upon your budget. There are some software’s that are readily available and relatively cheap for you to use. Meanwhile, there are also software’s that can handle your mail for you via dedicated servers. This software’s usually require you to pay monthly fees.

There are 2 kinds of software used for email marketing. The desktop software and the server side software. The article below discusses the difference between the two.

Desktop software

This software is for those businesses that are on a tight budget.  You can use the Outlook/Outlook Express programs to manage your emails.

However, in using these programs you have to process the subscribe and unsubscribe requests manually.

This program is only good in managing small lists. Imagine having to manually go thru hundreds if not thousands of subscribe and unsubscribe requests. It can become quite tiring after processing the hundredth request.

There is also another downside to this software. Sending it to many people using the CC: or the BCC: would mean that all your recipients would be able to see the email addresses of all the other recipients. Moreover, the replies and bounced mail would be sent to all the recipients of your list. This is one of the quickest ways to irritate subscribers. There is also a big chance that you would lose them because of this, which is a bad thing for email marketing.

Lastly, this program can also introduce computer viruses. Your consumers would not be so happy with you if you infect their computers. This is one way for you to lose their trust completely. They will never open an email from you again. The important thing to remember is to make sure your anti virus is always updated.

Server side software

This software manages your email via server. This is often used by large email marketing businesses. This software will manage every aspect of your email. It takes care of the tons of subscribe and unsubscribe requests. Furthermore, it even handles the delivery of your email to your list of subscribers. This is a valuable tool for an expanding email marketing business.

Using a managed email marketing solution comes highly recommended. Even though you would have to pay the monthly fees, the benefits are worth it.  You would no longer have to spend a lot of time doing endless tasks like managing your emails.

Continue reading »]]> Suning Appliance Four Stages Quicken The Process

Set up 16 years of Suning Appliance, expanding business scale, quicken the process, the information process through four stages, namely, information service systems, sales and financial information, ERP information technology and business information.

2006 2 22 , CECA national Evaluation Centre’s “Top 500 Chinese Enterprises” Forum held in Beijing, Suning Appliance No. 45, a hundred enterprises in selected retailers only.

Start Information Project Suning Appliance stores from the air conditioning started, but the biggest bottleneck is the air conditioning sales service. In 1994, Suning customers to make the management of air conditioning, to establish the first set of DOS operating system based on a complete service management system, customers purchase air-conditioned delivery of information, installation information, maintenance records and other data stored in the database by the computer process management, build customer database system to achieve 100% customer return visit, the first in the air conditioning industry to establish a complete sales service management system.

1996, in order to meet the fast-growing demand for air conditioning business, Su Ning, the second generation of information engineering: information technology sales and financial system, set up shopping malls, logistics, warehouse, service centers, local area network system the use of information systems for stock management, distribution management, warehouse management and after-sales service management.

In 1996, Suning became the first retail computer billing to achieve commercial retail enterprises.

2000 Suning implementation of the third generation of information technology projects: a centralized ERP information management system. Subsidiaries, stores are not set up the server, through the ATM network directly connected with the headquarters, the sales network covering stores, warehouses, service centers and after-sales outlets, through the line directly connected with various subsidiaries, commodity code, all kinds of information, Accounts high degree of unity. In 2001, China-based B2B B2C electrical network and the Suning Appliance-based network has on-line operation. In 2003, Suning to implement centralized office automation systems, the achievement of the technology and electronic workflow.

2005 7, Suning start the fourth generation of information technology projects, SAP / ERP system successfully on the line in 2006, completely changing the operating mode of Suning, the tradition of simple, extensive, and strength of the business operation of a comprehensive upgrade to a modern, high-tech type of business.

Said Zhang Jindong, chairman of Suning Appliance, modern retail capital-intensive, technology-intensive, personnel-intensive industry, more and more obvious characteristics, level of trade barriers and increasing competition, while Suning information investment in technology and achievements as one of the core competitiveness Suning.

Establish an information technology platform 2006 4 11, Suning Appliance and the German company SAP, IBM announced the headquarters in Nanjing Suning, Suning Appliance SAP / ERP success on the line, Suning into an international-class information technology platform. IBM Business Consulting Services Business Group General Manager of Greater Alexander Fung expressed, SAP / ERP successful implementation of the on-line is only the first step Suning new journey.

Suning SAP / ERP, project took nine months to spend about 80 million yuan, setting a world’s largest retail SAP implementation, the shortest cycle of two records, leading in the domestic retail level.

Suning through SAP / ERP as the core of international information platform, a multi-media control system, including video surveillance, video communication, information gathering, command scheduling, intelligence, police and other functions, on the face and the national chain stores real-time image monitoring logistics center, headquarters and a large area remote monitoring center for real-time monitoring of multimedia chain, logistics, warehouse, sale outlets, and an important place for the operation of the national chain network, “leaving home” the full range of remote management, the National Suning 100 City customer service center, using the internal VOIP network and the call center into a centralized system combined with the distributed customer relationship management system, the establishment of 50 million customers spending database, the implementation of data-based marketing.

New on-line SAP / ERP systems to achieve full membership Suning sales and cross-regional, cross-platform information management. Suning to achieve simultaneous operation of more than 20,000 terminals per hour 100 000 document processing sales orders, coupled with the corresponding logistics, after sales, customer service system synchronization, 400 000 times per hour capacity, equivalent to 100 per second multiple transactions, and improve the management efficiency. SAP system is operational, changes in the supply of retail goods previously dispersed situation, formation of regional companies share the advantages of storage, the company reduced by 50% or more storage area, inventory reduced by 20% -50%, increased inventory turnover of 20% -60% rate. Enterprise reaction speed, commodity trading time, saving the upper and lower transaction costs.