Category: Blog

Accessing a commercial solar system in Sydney is a great way of becoming a brand that is synonymous with energy efficiency. Not only will the operation save money in the long-term, but the environmental footprint will be diminished to ensure that the company can truly stand proud to be a contributor to lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

 

For all that being said on the grand macro scale, there are smaller micro considerations that affect the bottom line of an organisation seeking to maximise their processes and cut down on the energy bill where possible.

 

In that spirit, we will outline the key steps that will be required to transition from a regulation energy source to solar panels that are suited for a commercial setting.

 

From Hornsby in the North to Abbotsford in the Inner West to Liverpool in the South-West, the ability to access a commercial solar system in Sydney should be universal regardless of the supplier.

Find Your Supplier or Brand

 

Conduct a wide-ranging search of all potential operators who specialise in the commercial solar system in Sydney field. Speak with peers and colleagues that have undertaken a similar process as well as business connections and associates that have an established network and relationship with a supplier.

 

Run an analysis on strengths and weaknesses of various suppliers that incorporates their consumer rating and past history. Then open up a dialogue with these suppliers to tap into their pricing structure, installation process and capacity to undertake maintenance and upgrading. Once you feel settled on the right choice, the next step can proceed.

Make The Investment

 

There will be flexibility for a business or organisation to opt into a commercial solar system in Sydney, regardless of the brand. From accessing the system outright to buy in one hit or to diversify the plan towards a zero interest or low interest pay structure, there will be options to make.

 

This is something to consider with the accounting department and those managing the books to ensure that an investment of this scale does not hamper other projects in the short to medium term of the enterprise. Small businesses will likely opt to lengthen the deal to minimise the initial cost whilst others will be happy to pay in full to minimise the total cost.

Install The System

 

From a 1.5kW to a 3kW commercial solar system in Sydney, the number of panels and platform that has been decided upon has to be placed on location. There will be a design phase that follows through on what the engineers have mapped out via an illustrative schematic, followed by the physical installation as the project manager oversees the integration. The time to see this through will vary depending on what profile the panels are, ranging from half a day to a full day for businesses within the city.

Tap Into The Nearest Grid

 

No commercial solar system in Sydney will be complete without having access to a grid – the energy source that will make use of the panels and provide power to the office or company block. A representative from the provider will be present to follow through on the prior checks and ensure that the grid connection functions correctly.

Approved and Integrated

 

After each one of these steps is undertaken to install the commercial solar system in Sydney, the last stage is to approve and switch on. It might take some time to transition when it comes to the energy bill, a scenario that depends upon the length of the bill itself. This will ultimately put your business onto the grid and the long-term costs will be managed in a much more efficient manner than before.

Summary

 

The size of your business and the space for the commercial solar system in Sydney will be a decisive factor. The time spent on the installation will also be prevalent on the surrounding operations that have undertaken this process in the recent past, leaving teams to continue their efforts without further plans and studies required. However you go about sourcing your commercial solar system in Sydney, you will see these steps administered as your brand makes the transition.

If your business makes and receives a large volume of phone calls then interruptions are not only annoying but are actually having a negative effect on your bottom line. Interruptions are counterproductive and make you feel like you weren’t able to accomplish as much as you could have.

If you want to reduce the amount of interruptions your employees experience while they’re on phone calls, consider investing in a Microsoft Teams busy light system. This equipment links with your existing Microsoft Teams software so it doesn’t require any additional training or set-up.

Naturally, you care about your business and making sure that inefficient interruptions are kept to the absolute minimum. Minimising workplace interruptions is a crucial element of maximising your productivity, and in turn, your profitability.

We all know that headsets are an awesome tool for salespeople, call centre workers, administrators and anyone else that needs to make and answer business related calls. The only problem with headsets is that there’s no way to know if someone is actively using it to listen to a phone call or is just wearing it.

This leads to lots of awkward office moments where one employee interrupts another while they’re on a phone call, potentially ruining a sale. This is because, while it’s easy to tell if someone is use a landline or mobile phone, the hands-free nature of a headset means it’s hard to tell when it’s being used.

While employees could always take off their headsets between calls, this is inconvenient and actually defeats the purpose of them using a headset in the first place. The whole point of having your team using headsets is to cut down on wasted time between calls and allow them to use their hands while talking to clients or business partners.

A Microsoft Teams busy light indicator system allows your colleagues to instantly understand whether or not you’re available to talk. Similar to a street traffic light, a Microsoft Teams busy light activates when you make or receive a call, letting others around you know when it’s ok to solicit you with their request.

Let’s take a brief look at some of the key benefits of using a Microsoft Teams busy light system in your office.

1: Boost productivity

The biggest and best benefit of a Microsoft Teams busy light system is that it ensures that your co-workers don’t interrupt you or each other while in a call or occupied with some other important task. The highest quality Microsoft Teams busy light system will have multiple colour settings that allow you to easily communicate to others that you are either on a call, busy on a specific task or are available to talk.

It can be incredibly frustrating to be interrupted by a co-worker who is in their own little world and fails to comprehend what you’re trying to do. These interruptions not only jeopardise important business calls but also affect your workflow and motivation throughout the rest of the work day.

When you invest in a Microsoft Teams busy light indicator, you are able to remove the potential of these annoying interruptions by letting your colleagues now, subtly, that you are too busy to be distracted.

2: Maintain close focus on the task at hand

Another major benefit of using a Microsoft Teams busy light indicator is that it gives you peace of mind knowing that you won’t (or at least shouldn’t) be interrupted by your co-workers. This means you can really dedicate yourself fully to the phone call without checking over your shoulder to make sure no wide-eye intern is approaching you with an urgent question.

3: Enhance phone service

A Microsoft Teams busy light indicator is also an investment in your client service outcomes. No interruptions means your clients are getting 100% attention from your employees and this can only lead to higher rates of client satisfaction.

“Will we Uber it?”, a line uttered around the country, thousands of times over any given weekend. In just a few short years Uber has worked its way into the public lexicon in much the same way that Kleenex took the name for tissue in the US, and google took the phrase “internet search” out of the public consciousness before it even got a chance to get there in the first place. Set up in 2009, this popular ridesharing company has taken over the world, or more specifically, taxi drivers worlds, around the planet, operating in over 600 cities and now offering UberEats, a food delivery service. It has faced resistance from numerous governments in Europe, including Germany, France and Ireland, while in South-East Asia they have agreed to remove themselves from the market and offer all remaining market share to Grab, a similar concept created in Singapore. But still they rule the world.

The past 6 months have seen 2 competitors announce themselves in the Australian market, Taxify and Ola, an Indian company already well established in their domestic market. Taxify launched around December 2017 offered cheaper fares, based on the lower commission they take from drivers, discounts to sign up and crucially at the time, no drivers! Christmas came along, a busy period for transport and a time when everyone would want to save money anywhere they can. Taxify promised and unfortunately, couldn’t deliver, literally. Services did improve in the new year and they continued to offer lower fares but just as they were gaining a stranglehold in the market, the newest kid in the playground came with money lining its pockets.

Ola, founded in 2011, have had to deal with Uber moving in on their market in 2013 and now 5 years later, they are returning the favour. With over 125 million users in India, it’s obvious they know what they’re doing and along with a heavy investment in marketing they are bringing their expertise to Australia. It’s very early days in their Australian adventure but having offered free rides and then 50% and 30% fares, they have aggressively undertaken Uber’s share as well as pushing Taxify further down the pecking order.

Nothing has been decided yet in this war, for that we’ll wait and see but maybe in a few months, when you’re heading out the door on another ill-advised work drinks, you’ll turn to that co-worker you never talk to and say “Will we Ola it?”

The first day of college, we’ve all been through it. We meet new people, and it’s time, time to sell yourself. But you’re not selling yourself, you’re just being yourself or at least who you want to be. You say all the right things at the right times and for the next few weeks you continue to do the same. You make your own judgment on how others have sold themselves too and either keep making friendship transactions with them or you get rid, leave them sit at the other side of the lecture hall, they’ll be fine, they know how it works. You put in the sales pitch countless times over the previous few weeks and now you have your band of brothers with whom you’ll go through university with. This can take weeks or sometimes only days but it all starts with the initial conversation, or in business speak the cold call.

Some will tell you cold calling is a dead art, picking up the phone and introducing yourself to someone who not only doesn’t know you, but doesn’t even know your call is coming. It’s a pointless, waste of time. You’re better off, going through existing contacts to talk to someone. Nobody likes cold calls, nobody likes receiving them so why do them at all?

Others will say it is an essential step in the sales process and one which can help grow your business. Done correctly it can do wonders, business relations must start somewhere and with one call you could be starting off a transaction that will make your company millions. Done poorly and the opposite happens, you’ve killed it, before it even had the chance to live. A lot of pressure to deal with.

According to some stats, cold callers should be making over 50 calls a day while it will take up to 10 attempts to talk to the person you want. Talk about a waste of time, a depressing way to spend your day, calling 50 numbers and only talking to 5 that are happy to. While being ignored by the rest or, even worse, talking to them and having to deal with their openly rude attitude towards you. Great work if you can find it.

So next time, you receive a cold call, spare a thought for the poor worker on the other end of the phone, take a second and humour him for at least a minute. After all, your friends did the same back in university when you were putting your unique brand of comedy and friendship forward.

Whether you are on the verge of starting a small enterprise or something with a bit more scale, it is worthwhile noting some important strategies that have marked successful endeavours in the past.

The reality is that there is no one-size-fits-all model that will be the cure to all of your ills. Circumstances, environment, profile and external factors will come into play throughout the process and it will be your capacity to learn and adapt to change that be a marker to a bright future.

 

Here we will examine the key steps to being in that position.

Simplify The Complex

From budgetary matters to revenue forecasting and marketing campaigns, there will be a lot to balance in a short space of time. For managers to achieve the best possible results, they require a plan that keeps the project on progress. In spite of daily and hourly distractions that threatens to derail the schedule, keep the objective simple and eliminate the details that will slow down the moving train.

Take On All Advice

If you are going to be running an SME, then this enterprise will likely live or die by your gut instinct. Yet no manager can ride a solo journey as the best strategy is to absorb all advice that comes across your desk. From close friends and allies to business associates, lawyers and peers in the industry, take notes of successes and failures whilst noting some common themes amongst both fields.

Be Modest With Projections

Unless you happen to strike gold early on and defy the odds, chances are you will incur setbacks and losses that can feel monumental at the time. To keep the enterprise in perspective, set modest projections to ensure that mistakes won’t be overly costly. This will accelerate improvement and build on efficiency.
Network

To secure those allies and business associates we spoke of, firstly you need to branch out and broadcast your core brand messaging. Enter local events, attend meetings, host events, engage in videos and podcasts, and get yourself out there. From media to real world interactions, the more face to face time you can garner with peers of the niche, the more capital you can bank on in the long-term.
Be a Positive Voice

Consumers need to know that you are an authority on a subject to provide true value. More than that, they like to hear a reaffirming voice and one that can guide them to a resolving a problem or sourcing an easy solution that they could not discover elsewhere. Craft a transparent social media presence, tap into an efficient customer service portal and always be looking to be a force for good for the customer.

The stuff of nightmares, the micro manager, the one who tells you what to do and how to do then wades in constantly to tell you what you’re doing wrong, what you should be doing and then waits by to make sure that’s exactly what you’re doing. It must be tiring being a micro-manager, not only worrying about their own responsibilities but also those of their subordinates. I’d imagine, it’s the equivalent of being a mother. Rooms aren’t cleaned properly, dishes aren’t put in the right space, etc etc. Imagine being a mother and a micro manager at work. A day full of micro managing, enough to drive anyone to early retirement, but not the micro-manager, they love it. They are in their element dishing out instruction after instruction, just in case you forgot who is in charge. Hint: it’s not you.

The obvious down side of micro management is the impact on confidence and morale, while it also said by taking away sense of responsibility, employees think less for themselves which leads to less idea sharing. So, how can we deal with a micro manager and this negative impact.

1. Humour them – Easier said than done, but don’t feed the beast. Listen to everything and take it on board but remember to think for yourself. You have been hired to do a job because of your expertise so stay true to them.
2. Tell them – Unlikely to ever happen, taking this route is a sure way to confrontation and things ending badly. We know from every Disney film ever, nobody likes this ending so best advice is to stay clear. If you must though, be gentle and in the nicest way possible, tell your superior you hate working for them and would rather be unemployed.
3. Run away – The easiest and best option. Don’t stay and listen to this rubbish. Who wants to work with someone who openly doesn’t trust them to get the job done? Apply for a transfer, start a mutiny, resign from the company. Anything to get far away from this manager and back to normality where normal people trust normal people to do normal jobs.

Whether it’s your mum or your manager, not many like to be micro-managed so in the words of the Beastie Boys, “Stand up for your right to work” or something like that.

A relatively new concept, co-working, is exactly what it sounds like, working with others. Workspace floors are filled with desks, much like a student library, with access to power and internet. There are usually meeting rooms, phone booths and sometimes private offices too. As well as this, most co-working spaces, the largest being the American brand, WeWork, offer a community too complete with over-enthusiastic hipster community manager, happy to organise yoga on a Tuesday, networking events on a Thursday and drinking games on a Friday. Not only will you be getting out of your house, you’ll be sitting in a room brimming with productivity and free coffee and tea.

According to Officevibe, by the year 2020, 40% of the workforce will be freelancers, temps or independent contractors while the number of co-workers will rise to 3.8 million people worldwide by the same year. Let’s look at the advantages below.

1. Having a place to go, that isn’t the sitting room/home office/kitchen (delete as applicable) – Spoken from experience sometimes there is nothing more depressing than getting up, leaving your bedroom, walking to the kitchen and starting your work. You won’t see anyone, so no point showering. According to the same study, after joining a co-working environment, 60% of workers are more relaxed at home. Home becomes a work free zone.
2. Meeting and interacting with people – Whether you’re an extrovert or introvert, sometimes seeing and being around others can be the difference between a good and bad day. Sitting beside someone pounding away at their keyboard can be the much-needed motivation you need to start doing the same.
3. Networking – Whether sitting in a room with 10 others or 100 others you are bound to find someone who can help you with your business, it could be marketing, I.T, HR, anything really and after just a couple of innocuous conversations beside the water cooler about your job and what you need, you may find yourself with a newly formed marketing, I.T, and HR department without even trying. How good is that?

For those slaving at home surrounded by house work and cooking utensils, co-working could be the break-away from monotony that you need. It may just reinvigorate you and your business but just be wary of one thing, everyone eats lunch at the same time, so bring forks!

It’s coming up to 12.30, you’ve stepped away from your desk only once this morning and your stomach is rumbling, thinking about that Chinese dish you’re going to devour at lunch. But that report you said you’d finish by the end of the day is staring back at you from your computer screens. “Stay, complete me”, it’s saying.

But you leave, no work is going to make you stay. Lunch is bought and now the big choice, where are you going to eat it? You try to fight all urge, but 5 minutes later you find yourself back at your desk, with a fork in one hand, typing one key at a time with the other, and a mouth full of beef and black bean sauce while your phone balances in the space between your ear and raised shoulder, making you look especially weird today. This isn’t how lunch was intended to be had. Go outside, enjoy your moments of freedom and don’t come back until you must.

Up to 80% of workers are said to eat lunch at their desk but just how much productivity can be gained by staying there? Studies have shown that by staying at your desk, you will not only get less done, but you will also be more likely to gain excess weight and increase stress. In other words, your work will suffer and so will your health, a trade-off that shouldn’t be considered.

Going for a lunch can be fun. It can give you the chance to get some exercise, catch up on all the exciting Instagram stories of your friends sitting at their desks, or who knows, it may even give you the chance to make some new connections in your workplace by chatting to someone from I.T who you have never seen before. Most of us work in the city, go and explore it, who knows what you might see, or who you might see, that celebrity in town for a gig, or a friend you haven’t seen in years. The possibilities are endless.

So next time, you get the usual from the Chinese counter, step out of default mode and do something new, not only will you feel better for it but you’ll be working you’ll be 100x more likely to see Beyoncé strolling down the street.