B&I Blog

This author has written 10 articles

Due Diligence: Conducting Employee Background Checks

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July 2016

Employees are often a business’s most valuable investment. While identifying, screening, onboarding, and training new employees take extensive resources, it’s in every business’s best interest to get the process right to hire good people. Hiring the wrong person not only costs time and money, it can have larger legal and reputational implications.

Given the importance of making a good hiring choice, many businesses choose to conduct background checks on job candidates. While background checks may be standard practice for many larger organizations, small businesses have much to gain, since a single employee issue may have a large impact. Regardless of size, businesses should understand both the benefits and limitations of employee background checks so that they can choose the service that will help them screen for the best applicants.

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Pushing Paper: Finding the Right Solution for Printing

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June 2016

In today’s competitive market, controlling overall costs is a business priority. But finding new ways to drive down costs without impacting business productivity can be a challenge.

One cost center that businesses may overlook is printing. Printing is often decentralized, leaving departments to make their own decisions about hardware, maintenance, supplies, and use. However, studies indicate that managing your printing fleet holistically can save you upwards of 30% on printing costs. And the savings increase considerably when the scope of work includes automating paper-intensive workflows.

Incorporating Managed Print Services

Managed print services (MPS), which are provided by external parties, optimize print infrastructure and document output. With an MPS strategy in place, your equipment aligns with your business goals, and your day-to-day printing becomes predictable, with minimal disruption.

According to research and advisory firm Gartner, office printing consumes 1%¬¬–3% of a company’s annual revenue. With MPS, you can streamline your print operations while reducing print and copy expenses. Additionally, MPS can simplify invoice processes to make it easier to manage costs and facilitate budget planning.

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In Working Order: Maintenance Investments Pay Big Returns

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January 2016

Nearly all businesses—from corporate offices to manufacturing plants to retail outlets—occupy physical spaces that require regular upkeep to meet the needs of daily operations. Maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO), therefore, is vital for business success. Problems like a leaky roof or broken air conditioning can restrict your ability to do business for hours or days and can cost thousands of dollars to replace.

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Home Away from Home: Creating a Better Workplace Environment

It’s not unusual for employees to spend more of their waking hours at their workplace than at home. Companies, therefore, are placing employee well-being at the heart of business strategy and designing their interiors to be work-friendly. The goal: to create a work environment that’s both more comfortable for employees and more conducive to productivity.
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The Most Wonderful Time: Managing Your Year-End Spend

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November 2015

As we approach the end of the year, both business owners and cost center managers face an age-old question: to spend or not to spend? More specifically, businesses are now deciding how and where to focus end-of-year spending. Many of those decisions will be influenced by three factors:

  1. Business owners may want to lower annual profit to reduce this year’s tax bill.
  2. Cost center managers may want to spend remaining budget in a way that’s consistent with business goals.
  3. Both owners and managers may want to reward and motivate employees.

Looking at each of these factors can help owners and managers determine the year-end spending approach that’s right for them.

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Building Brand Ambassadors: Tips for Keeping Employees Engaged

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October 2015

Businesses often focus their branding efforts on such activities as advertising campaigns and media placements. Yet one of the most powerful brand assets every company has is its people. Regardless of your organization’s size or industry, building a strong brand requires that employees feel connected to the business and understand their role as brand ambassadors.

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Paid In Full: How Payment Solutions Benefit Your Business

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September 2015

Every business needs to make and receive payments in order to operate. A child’s lemonade stand on a neighborhood street corner may only need a shoe box and a few dollars in change to be open for business. Most companies, however, need far more sophisticated tools to manage payments effectively, for sales and purchases alike.

In today’s economy, customers (both consumer and B2B) expect the businesses they purchase from to accept a method of payment that’s convenient for them. These methods can include credit cards, debit cards, online, mobile, electronic checks, and more. While necessary to bring in revenue, these systems create costs for merchants. In addition to the investment in technology and systems, these forms of payment carry transactional and fixed fees that may be as high as 5 percent per transaction.

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Stay Connected: Finding the Right Telecom Service

For businesses large and small, telecommunication services are vital in order to remain competitive. Without the proper telecom solution, companies risk losing the ability to communicate with customers, sales teams, franchises, and vendors―any of which could prove crippling when dealing with slim margins or in a service or e-commerce industry.
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Fusion’s Cloud Solutions Agreement Extended to Innovatix Business and Industry

Fusion (NASDAQ:FSNN) announced today that it has extended its agreement for the distribution of Cloud Solutions with Innovatix Business and Industry, the newest class of trade serviced by group purchasing organization (GPO) Innovatix, LLC, the nation's largest GPO serving the non-acute care and now non-healthcare marketplaces. The agreement also extends to Essensa Ventures, LLC, Innovatix’s sister GPO that represents members in the hospitality, recreation, and catering industries.
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Innovatix Launches New GPO Offering/Website for Business and Industry

With the launch of a new website, bi.innovatix.com, group purchasing organization Innovatix officially opened its latest procurement offering, which is curated for business and industry customers—legal, financial, professional services firms, and independent retailers. The new website provides a detailed overview of Innovatix’s capabilities, as well as extensive product and savings information.
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