Maximizing Productivity with Remote Teams

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Working remotely is now becoming a necessity. The global health emergency we have all experienced over the past few months has expedited the transition to virtual teams across all types of organisations who have until now been reluctant to commit to such a radical change. It has now become a critical factor for business continuity in addition to the already known benefits of accessing the best talent wherever they might live and increasing flexibility and productivity for colleagues.

That said, managing projects using remote teams brings its own set of challenges on top of an already difficult task. There is an extra dimension to the standard procedures for making assignments, managing resources, tracking progress and updating stakeholders when they may be in different countries and time zones.

Virtual project management is the process of managing projects via remote or virtual teams. When teams are distributed across different time zones, they still need to get assigned tasks and that work must be monitored and tracked to make sure it stays on schedule. As more teams work from home, virtual project management has become more defined.

Not having physical contact with your team creates new obstacles that project managers must overcome.  The good news is that project management tools have for some time been moving from analog to digital, and with that transition increasing efficiencies and productivity. So, the move to virtual project management is not the great leap it might at first appear.

As organisations become more accustomed to working with teams who are not co-located, they’ve also warmed to the idea of virtual project managers. This has been facilitated by technology advances that have made it easier to manage remote workers. The development of a virtual office has made the transition to virtual project management that much smoother.

The generational change of workers is also at play in the rise of virtual project management. New workers are entering the workforce, but older workers who are able to adapt are staying in with the help of virtual teams. This creates an even more productive team, one that is energized by youthful enthusiasm and new ideas, but anchored by the experience and skills of older team members.

The acceptance of virtual teams has now reached a tipping point but that’s not to say that we are in unchartered territory. Many organisations globally have been early adopters of the virtual cool-aid and there is a wealth of expertise and experience available to organisations now making the journey. iEngageIT’s project managers have been managing virtual teams and delivering virtual projects successfully for over 25 years and offer the benefits of that experience to any organisation whether  just making the transition now, or planning to extend their existing capability.

Selling on Amazon worldwide marketplace- Are you missing out?

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While I completely understand and support the view that it’s important for every product business to build and maintain their own retail website, SMEs simply can’t ignore the potential of the staggering number of customers that can find their product on AmazoN

Rethink strategy

Having worked closely with SMEs for past few years, I’ve observed a very similar pattern. Most businesses spend considerable amount of time setting up their e-commerce platforms and perfecting SEO. They also need to invest on various paid campaigns to increase the traffic to their E-Commerce websites. All this much before they sell their first item of product.

Creating a product is tough on it’s own then why should businesses not take advantage of the worldwide marketplace with infrastructure to support you in building your brand on international stage?

Amazon offers a ready-made platform to start selling while you build brand awareness and improve Brand recognition.

For a business starting up or introducing a brand-new product into the market, it’s important to have a mix of different strategies. Amazon also adds quick revenue stream while you build your own ecommerce platform and brand.

Sharing below some details of why businesses can’t ignore Amazon worldwide marketplace

  • It is single most recognised ecommerce platform in the world much ahead of its nearest competitor eBay.
  • It offers various seller setups. Seller can also have a dedicated Amazon store.
  • There are various order fulfilment options available to Amazon sellers.
  • You can protect your brand by registering into Amazon brand registry.
  • Almost nine in ten (86%) Brits are Amazon shoppers. More importantly, four out of ten Brits are now Amazon Prime members. (Mintel research).
  • Amazon prime offers enhanced experience of fulfilment to customers improving repeat orders and loyalty.
  • A staggering 63% of 16-24s and 52% of 25-34s in UK have access to prime fulfilment premium service. (Mintel research)
  • 64% of households in USA subscribe to Amazon Prime fulfilment.
  • Over 100 million users use Amazon Prime globally.
  • Amazon’s algorithm lets customers see a list of recommended products when on the site, and your product could catch the attention of a customer when they’re not even looking for you.

 

This doesn’t mean that SMEs should not invest in their own platform, but it wouldn’t be wise to ignore the benefits of a global platform specially while starting up.

If you need help with setting up your Amazon shop, please contact our team and they’ll be able to hand hold you through the process to make it stress free experience for you. We can get you setup and selling within a week. We also offer peace of mind by managing your Amazon store so all you need to do is innovate and improve your product further or in fact add onto your product portfolio while we manage the everyday hassles to keep selling