Things are not looking very good for global economy right now. On one hand there is an oil crisis which affects prices on most commodities and has vast repercussions on the industrial sector, on the other there is another crisis in Europe, the US most faithful friend, which affects deeply the American import/export sectors, slowing down growth and crippling the economy. All of this has two consequences: increasing the unemployment rate and decreasing confidence, making people cut on spending which further cripples the economy.
The latest Gallup index, which measured the confidence of the American people, shows that confidence went down by 9% in just two weeks. According to a Gallup survey, 70% said that the economy was getting worse and 47% said the economy was poor.
Another report, this time from the National Federation of Independent Business, found out that small business are refraining from hiring as a way to cut back on spending. In fact, this same report states that in May there were more business planning to decrease payrolls than increasing them.
This only shows that businesses are looking for ways to cut their spending and many still see laying off as one of the most effective ways to do this. In the face of the current situation, it is normal that businesses are worried about surviving than growing.
But what many businesses don’t realize is that there are other ways to curb spending and one of these ways is to restructure their practices and operations. As times are changing, so is technology. Practices that in the good old days could be done by physical presence are now possible to be done virtually, saving the costs and time that the physical practices required.
RHUB conferencing and remote support appliances can help restructure many business practices and virtualize operations, reducing business expenses. RHUB appliances have four applications: web conferencing, remote support, remote access and web seminar.
Web conferencing allows companies to meet in a virtual environment thus cutting on costs of travel, including gas, hotels, etc. It also saves time and allows people in different parts of the world to participate from their local offices. Web conferencing is perfect to discuss business practices, collaborate interactively in the same project, make sales presentations, etc.
Remote support allows companies to give remotely PC and Mac support to their clients. This saves the costs of the dislocation to the clients house to work directly on his computer and also saves the time of the travel.
Remote access allows workers to access their office computers from anywhere and anytime, meaning that they always have access to their work. With remote access function, employees can work directly from home and to solve any problem or question that might arise when they are not present, making them more productive.
Web seminar allows workers to attend a seminar to improve their working practices without leaving the comfort of their offices. This saves time and money on the travels and it also saves the costs of renting the required space for giving the seminars.
In an age where small businesses are fighting for their survival, virtualization of their business operations might be the key to their success. All that is required is a shift in the frame of mind of managers and CEOs and a small investment that in a short time will pay itself many times over.