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Why London Businesses Should Think About Making the Switch to Green Cleaning

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Why London Businesses Should Think About Making the Switch to Green CleaningAs individuals, we know the importance of being as green as possible. Utilising reusable plastic bottles, avoiding fast fashion and making the investment into electric and hybrid cars. However, it is businesses that are the largest to have negative impacts on our environment and they need to know how and why to make the change.

While paperless offices and carpooling colleagues are becoming the norm, many do not know the importance of green cleaning in the workplace. London is home to thousands of businesses of every size and even if just a fraction made the switch to green commercial cleaning London services, it will be a fantastic start. If all made the switch, we would begin to witness a huge difference to our planet.

Now that keeping a workplace clean is more crucial than ever before, here is an assessment of the benefits of switching to green cleaning within a professional environment to the business, employees and visitors.

Green Cleaning Produces The Same Results

A common misconception is that green cleaning products just don’t work as well as chemical cleaners.

This is usually down to the lack of soap bubbles generated during lathering. In reality, phosphates are added to conventional cleaners to generate these bubbles to give the appearance of better results.

Green cleaning products can produce the same effects and commercial cleaning companies will provide their staff with full training on how to get the best outcome out of these products.

It is also a frequent error that people believe you need harsh chemicals to kill germs and bacteria. Many green cleaning products have been proven to kill the common cold and flu virus, leading to staff and visitors being protected against any bugs going around the office.

It Can Increase Employee Productivity

If helping the planet isn’t a concern of company directors, ensuring top productivity from their staff certainly is.

Chemical cleaners can reduce air quality in the workplace, especially in areas where air conditioning replaces open windows as toxic fumes circulate constantly.

In turn, this can reduce the performance of cognitive tasks among staff members.

It has been revealed that those who worked within a green office space performed these tasks at a rate of 61% higher than those who did not.

Within these green offices, when ventilation was doubled, the results increased to 100%. Making this small switch to a green cleaning supplier can make a massive difference in the work produced by colleagues.

Money-Saving

With an economic crisis just around the corner, it is imperative that cost-saving solutions are found in every area of the business.

Consumable products quickly add up and can be a large factor to the monthly invoices. Swapping paper hand towels for reusable, washable one is just one example.

While this initial cost may be more than their disposable counterpart, this will save costs in the budget which will eradicate the monthly delivery costs of these products.

During the pandemic, staff members are now requesting more cleaning products to use within their personal space, not wanting to wait until the end of each day for commercial cleaners to see their desks, phones and keyboards.

Businesses are under an obligation to provide these and it is generating significant costs. Green cleaning products don’t have to be purchased from a supplier, they can instead be created from common household ingredients. Despite the potentially large expenses, these ingredients will go a long way and will last far longer than the pre-made products.

Looks After Employee Health

Conventional cleaners can be detrimental to the everyday health of colleagues and Monoethanolamine is a chemical that is commonly used in many cleaning products.

If inhaled, this then causes inflammation of the lungs and brings on attacks and even be fatal. For this reason, this ingredient is regulated within schools and hospitals, but there is nothing in place for other workplaces.

Few cleaning products openly declare this on their packaging, which means that staff who are feeling the effects of this may not even know why.

Nowadays, there is no excuse for London businesses to not make the switch to green cleaning, it is cost-effective, protects the health of all those within the workspace and ensures employees are producing the best work possible, also leading to happy clients and potentially higher revenue.

Tips to Reduce Insurance Costs for Your Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article | Healthcare | InsuranceAs a business owner, you know that it’s important to protect the business that you have put so much into by having appropriate insurance coverage. However, even though you might appreciate the importance of having various types of insurance to protect your business, you might still be burdened by just how much it costs. Controlling insurance costs is possible in some ways, though, including by following these tips.

Choose the Right Insurance Company

One of the biggest things that will impact the insurance rates at your place of business is the insurance company that you choose. Taking your time to shop around and choose an insurance company that offers the right coverage but that also has affordable rates is very important, so if you haven’t done that lately, you might want to explore different options like Captive Insurance to see if there is a better insurance company out there.

Focus on Health and Wellness

If the health insurance rates that your company is paying are way too high, consider focusing on implementing a health and wellness program for your employees. This can help your employees live healthier and happier lives and may impact insurance costs for your business at the same time.

Focus on Protecting Your Property

You may be counting on your insurance company to protect your building, vehicles and other company property. It’s definitely good to have insurance coverage to protect these things, but taking steps to protect your own property as well can help with preventing theft or other problems and reducing insurance rates. For example, installing GPS systems in company vehicles and installing a security and surveillance system in your commercial building can both help.

Insurance rates can be a big burden for many companies. Don’t get rid of or reduce your insurance coverage because of these costs, though. Instead, look for ways that you can reduce your rates. You can start by trying the tips above, and your insurance agent might even have suggestions that can help, too.

Figuring Out the Best Way to Get Your Business Insured

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article | Figuring Out the Best Way to Get Your Business Insured

40 percent of businesses don’t reopen after a disaster. That’s the bad news.

The worst news? We’re in the middle of a disaster. The COVID-19 pandemic is taking the economy to the cleaners and leaving many small businesses on their death bed.

The good news? As a business owner, there are steps you can take to protect your business from foreseen and unforeseen disasters. One such step is to purchase adequate commercial insurance.

This sounds easy and straightforward, but it’s not. You must find out the best way to get your business insured; otherwise, you could end up underinsuring or even over-insuring your company.

Continue reading to learn how to go about insuring your business.

Identify and Assess Your Risks

Every business faces a wide range of risks.

Some risks affect all kinds of businesses regardless of their industry or niche, and others only affect certain types of businesses. For example, owners of medical practices face malpractice risk. Restaurants don’t face this kind of risk.

However, both businesses do face a fire risk. An electric fault can result in a fire that razes down the buildings that house both businesses.

As such, the first step to insuring your business adequately is to identify all the risks it faces. You can do this on your own or you can hire a risk assessment professional to help you.

If you’re hiring a professional, ensure they’ve got enough industry-specific experience. If you own a logging business, for example, an industry risk specialist is in a better position to identify logging insurance risks than a risk pro who specializes in the retail industry.

After identifying all your risks, assess their threat-level. Which risks pose a more imminent threat? Which ones are less likely to affect your business?

Next, what amount of damage is every risk likely to cause?

With a proper risk assessment, you’ll know the amount of coverage you need to protect your business.

Determine the Kind of Insurance Policies You Need

Wouldn’t it be awesome if insurance policies offered a blanket policy that covers all the risks your business faces?

Well, some large insurance companies offer customized policies, but it would rarely be a blanket policy. Also, there’s the general liability insurance policy that covers most of the risks your business faces, but it’s barely adequate on its own.

Yet, a common mistake small business owners make is purchasing general liability insurance and stopping there. Don’t make this mistake.

There are several other types of business insurance policies you should buy, depending on the nature of your business. Here are some of those policies:

Property Insurance

If you run a brick and mortar store and you own the building, purchase property insurance.

Your building faces a number of risks that can result in extensive damage. Fires and natural disasters, such as floods and windstorms, can destroy the building, forcing you to abandon it until repairs are made.

A property insurance cover will compensate you for the damage and other losses.

If you run a home-based business, you might want to add on to your homeowners’ insurance policy, so that it covers your commercial activities as well.

Business Interruption Insurance

You don’t need to look beyond the coronavirus to see how a disaster can disrupt your business operations.

During such times, business interruption insurance is your ally. Depending on the terms of coverage, the insurer should compensate you for the losses you make during the interruption period.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Do you have more than 3 employees?

In most states, that’s the requirement for purchasing workers’ compensation insurance. When an employee gets injured on the job, you won’t worry about compensating them for their medical expenses and other losses. Your workers’ comp provider will do that.

Cybersecurity Insurance

If your business has digitized some or all of its operations, it’s imperative to buy cybersecurity insurance.

43 percent of online attacks now target small businesses like yours, which means your risk level is high. A cybersecurity insurance policy will protect your business from the effects of an attack, including business interruption and data loss.

Other types of insurance you might need include product liability insurance and commercial vehicle insurance.

Find the Best Insurance Provider

You’ve probably heard horror stories of insurance companies that refuse to settle claims. If you don’t do your homework when looking for an insurance provider, you might end up telling such stories.

You want to work with a legitimate, reputable insurance company.

Read up online reviews about a specific insurance carrier before giving them your money. What are past and current clients saying about their service quality? Do they take forever to settle valid claims?

Also, you want to work with an insurance company that provides most, if not all, of the insurance policies your business needs. This way, you’ll be in a better position to negotiate for discounts when renewing your policies.

Consider Self-Insurance

Large corporations don’t typically purchase insurance from other companies. They self-insure, simply because they can afford to cover their risks from their deep wallets.

Self-insurance isn’t just for big companies, though. Even small businesses can develop a self-insurance plan, as long as you know how to go about it.

One effective way is to set up a captive insurance company. This is just like any other insurance firm, only that it is wholly owned by your parent business. You have complete control over its operations.

Get Your Business Insured the Right Way

Getting your business insured adequately can be a costly task, especially if you’re a small business running on a tight budget. However, it’s the right thing to do. Even a minor disaster can bring your business to its knees when you don’t have insurance.

With this guide, you now have the information you need to insure your business the right way.

Keep reading our blog for more business tips and advice.

6 Reasons Why Your Organization Would Benefit From Using a Remote File Server

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | 6 Reasons Why Your Organization Would Benefit From Using a Remote File ServerKeeping your business organized can be a struggle, especially if you’re trying to take care of everything by yourself. Getting everything set up and ensuring that it all works properly is a hassle in and of itself.

But you can definitely make things easier for yourself with the use of a remote file server. So how do they work exactly and how can you benefit from one?

What is a Remote File Server?

A remote file server is a computer that someone can access from their own computer from anywhere else in the room or the building. That allows a person to have access to files that they may not have storage space for on their own computer.

With that said, here are the remote file server benefits you could experience when employing one in your business.

More Security and Backups

Instead of having to use your own computer to save your backups, you have a separate server where everything can be saved. You can also save and backup your files to another computer entirely, leaving you with more hard drive space.

That means less slow down and having to purchase another hard drive to transfer your files to. That’s more money in your pocket while still having access to all of your data. Having a separate server also means that your files are more secure, as only you (or anyone with the password) will be access the files.

Remote Access

Remote servers can be placed on their own VPN (Virtual Private Network) so that you can access it from just about anywhere, including your home or even on your phone while you’re away on vacation. You can grant access to your employees as well so that they can keep abreast of work and which projects need to be tended to.

File Centralization

No more having to search through hard drives to find what you’re looking for. With everything in one place, you can be more effective with work and get through projects much faster. Different permissions can be assigned to different employees as well so that only the right eyes are on the files you want.

Monitoring Employees

No one enjoys their boss peering over their shoulders to see if they’re working on what they should be. Through a remote file server, you can see exactly which employees are hitting which deadlines and what else needs to be worked on. No more having to rely on he said/she said arguments.

Data Recovery

Did you reformat your hard drive or have your computer hacked and lost everything? You won’t have to worry about losing all of your files with a remote server onhand. You can recover all of your data with a remote file server, as long as you’ve been backing up your files on a regular basis. You can avoid that horrible burden of having to start everything over from scratch.

User Control

User accounts and passwords are all controlled by your remote file server, which makes it very easy for new accounts to be created or to lock out/disable those who are no longer working for the company. This provides a safer working environment for all of your data.

Consider a remote file server for your business the next time you’re looking to upgrade. It’s definitely more beneficial than people give it credit for.

4 Ways To Lower Costs and Increase Your Business Revenue

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Businesses cost money to run. As the owner, you should be looking for ways to lower costs and save money as much as possible, without affecting your staff or production rates. There are many ways to lower your costs and the earlier you are in your business, the sooner you start saving money, the more you will have to re-invest in the future. So how can you lower costs efficiently and quickly? Here are 4 methods you can look into to help reduce the money your business is spending.

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | 4 Ways To Lower Costs and Increase Your Business RevenueLowering production costs

Have you ever considered the price of a zip tie? How many do you use when building your products? If you lowered the amount in each one, how much would this save in the long run over thousands of products? Small incremental savings like this are the key to reducing your production costs through your business’s lifetime. Lowering production costs doesn’t have to be as ruthless as lowering staff numbers but by finding ways to save small amounts that add up in the long run. Automation and time-saving techniques are easier to implement. If you need to, consider other suppliers of your products to lower your outsourcing and production costs further.

Free-licence software

Many software suites now use an expensive subscription service that adds up quickly when you start to add multiple users. However, there are other options available to you. As users became tired of paying for expensive software, well developed, managed, and most importantly free, software exploded onto the market with alternatives to almost every major software suite. As a smaller business, it is within your best interests to become accustomed to what free software is out there for you. Do keep in mind though that you must consider compatibility issues between different pieces of software. Don’t waste time forcing a square peg into a round hole, when the paid-for software will do the job.

Go digital

Newer businesses have the luxury of being able to perform almost all of their admin digitally in the modern-day, with paper or hard copies rarely being required. With widespread software or mobile apps designed to provide you with paperless, digital alternatives to paper forms and documents. Going digital means you can cut out almost all of your paper documents which removes unnecessary storage and the costs associated. Yes, at some point you are going to have to print something, but if this is rare, you also save money on expensive printer maintenance costs as you only need something small to suit your need.

Speaking to financial professionals

Speaking to tax and accounting professionals is a great way to learn about what options are available to you. You may be surprised to find out where you are overspending and what your actual liabilities are in certain areas of your business. For example, in some cases, you may be able to look into a tax segregation report to cut tax liabilities across your premises. To learn more about cost segregation click here. Financial advice can cost. But the money you can potentially save makes the initial outlay small in comparison. Good professionals are worth it so invest your money into them wisely.