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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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Clean and Green: Janitorial and Sanitation Solutions that Benefit Your Business

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May 2016

For some, spring cleaning is an opportunity to get rid of that box of VHS tapes that’s been cluttering up the garage since 1997. For enterprising businesses, spring cleaning is an opportunity to think about whether you’re getting the best results from your janitorial and sanitation (JanSan) supplies and services.

While going green is a catchphrase that business managers may associate with higher costs, that’s not necessarily the case for JanSan. The JanSan industry has been on the leading edge of producing sustainable products since 1993, when President Clinton signed an executive order mandating the use of environmentally preferable cleaning products in all federal facilities. Today, using green JanSan products can support business goals, such as lower costs, healthier employees, and customer retention. And even if these products don’t always meet your particular business needs, they open the door to a discussion about the effectiveness of your JanSan strategy.

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Safe and Secure: Best Business Practices in Online Security

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April 2016

In the wake of continued high-profile data breaches, safeguarding intellectual property, financial records, and consumers’ personal information has become more critical than ever. Although news headlines tend to highlight wide-scale attacks against large organizations—think J.P. Morgan Chase, Target, and Anthem—most attacks aren’t on such a grand scale. In fact, 77% of global cyber crime is targeted at small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Adding insult to injury, business disruptions average around $940,000 per breach, a cost that can devastate an SMB.

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Fill ‘er up: Meeting Your Business Fuel Needs

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March 2016

Like many Americans, you may think about fuel frequently. Gas prices are often a leading news story, and nearly every car commercial assures us of better gas mileage. However, most people are far less likely to think about fuel as a commodity business expense. For any business that uses delivery vans, repair trucks, passenger buses, on-site maintenance vehicles, or generators, having a safe, convenient, cost-effective fuel source is vital for daily operations.

Business owners and managers face a variety of fuel supply choices. But finding the optimal way to keep your business fueled up can lead to significant savings.

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Delivering the Goods: Managing Your Inbound and Outbound Shipping

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February 2016

Running a profitable business requires balancing a variety of priorities—from ordering inventory to client prospecting to sales conversions. With all of these complex processes to manage, shipping costs are likely the last thing on your mind. But in today’s on-demand economy, shipping can make or break your business. Unfortunately, many companies put little thought into their shipping strategy or avoid it altogether.

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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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