Are your contracts flexible enough for today’s needs?

There was a time when people would talk about contracts as being watertight; we still refer to boilerplate clauses, but think about the business arena today against where we were, say, three years ago.

In a fast changing world what business needs are contracts that reflect that need for flexibility so that what you need in 6 months time can be accommodated rather than you having to live with what you specified 6 months ago.

The probability is that you have contracts now that don’y reflect what you really need or, if you are a supplier, what you client needs. But how fo you break out of that loop?

A commercial consultancy specialises in helping both ends of the supply chain resolve problems such as this. If you are having problems, why not call us?

How are you on your carbon credits?

We have been asked by a number of businesses for help on determining their carbon footprint and on where to obtain carbon credits from.

Help is readlily available on the the web, and here is one place that you could start from: Click this link.

CIPS Swindon – Risk Management Seminar – 9th December 2011 – Swindon Steam Museum

We are pleased to support the CIPS Swindon event on Risk Management in the Supply Chain to be held at Swindon’s Steam Museum conference centre on 9th December. Admission is free and speakers are from the Bank of England, Ernst Young and Ark Continuity.

Click here for details of the event on Linkedin.

Making Meetings Count – Ten Top Tips

So you need a meeting? Grab some people, agree a time and place, maybe run off an agenda and away you go. Is that how it works for you? If it is then we would suggest that it isn’t working at all.

Here are our ten top tips for meaningful meetings:

1. Make sure that you really do need to have a meeting. Is the matter something that you can do without getting people around the table? If it is then don’t meet.
2. Think about how long you need for the meeting. What is on the agenda? Using good meeting management and etiquette how long will you need for each topic? Even if your meeting is a routine weekly or monthly meeting it is always worth varying the timing according to the agenda.
3. Who do you need there? Make sure people are available and will have time in advance to do pre work. You need people to be ready to contribute otherwise the outcome of the meeting will be flawed.
4. Once you have the date you need the space. Make sure that the room is adequate for the number of people that will be coming to be able to work and move around in comfort, especially if the meeting will last for more than a couple of hours. Comfortable people make better decisions.
5. Get any paperwork or pre work out to people well in advance so that they can have time to read it and think about what they will be discussing on the day. If questions are asked and any clarification is needed make sure that the responses are circulated to everyone.
6. If the meeting is a short one then you might be able to avoid providing refreshments, but for longer meetings, or those where people have travelled to get to you, do make sure that people have drinks and food available. Apart from being a common courtesy it is another way of making sure that people can concentrate on the matter in hand.
7. On the subject of concentrating on the matter in hand, we always recommend that mobile phones, laptops and any other form of distraction are turned off and put away for the duration. People are there to contribute to the meeting; nothing else should be allowed to get in the way.
8. There should only be one person running the meeting and they should ensure that everyone gets to contribute and that you don’t keep going round in circles on any point. Let people have their say and a healthy debate, then sum up and take a vote.
9. Once any decision is made, make sure that everyone understands what has been decided and who is going to do what by when. Always turn decisions into clear actions and get everyone present on board to deliver the desired outcome.
10. After the meeting make sure that a record of what was decided and who is doing what by when is circulated to all relevant people and that those action points are fed into any other meetings that need to be aware.

Cloud Computing – could it be right for you?

We’ve helped a number of clients buy software and data storage packages on the Cloud. It has a number of benefits that can provide a significant advantage but, like verything else in life and business, you need to think things through before making a committment.

You should always start with looking at how what you are proposing to do will support your business plan, and be brutally honest about this. In the case of Cloud based computing it is a business tool, so how are you going to use it? Will it be better for you that running the software or data storage on your own equipment? If you can’t use the tool once you’ve bought it, or it doesn’t do what you need it to do, then you have wasted time and money.

To use the Cloud you need to have reliable and fast broadband connection. Now you may have that at base, but what about on the road? If you are going to need to connect while you are out and about, can you use whatever it is that you are buying from internet hotspots or via your dongle/phone?

Our MD blogged about this recently, and here is a link to that post.

If you have any questions please feel free to get in touch.

Change of telephone number

We have a new number for the Newbury office: 01635 885 150

Disposal of Secure Waste

Confidential waste material can be a problem for any business. We generate so much of it; proposals for clients, client’s bank details, commercially sensitive material, the list goes on.

Having a shredder in the office is one way forward, but that just generates a lot of hampster bedding and they can be very noisy and create dust (which, in turn, gives you another headache. There are also things that you can’t shred.

Having a contract with a professional secure waste business makes a lot of sense for major companies, but can also be a boon to smaller business as well. Just bag it up and a nice man will come and take it away.

Well worth thinking about so, if you’d like some advice, call or email.

Back in the Automotive Logistics arena

We’ve been helping a client in the automotive parts supply sector, a favourite of the boss as he worked in it as a lad and still has a thing about the smell of car parts and racking.

more web site news

Having launched the new web site last evening we are working on a new site for some of our brands, and this is planned to go live later today.

Don’t forget to give us some feedback.

web site update

The latest version of our web site has gone live this evening. We will be adding some more features in the coming weeks, but please do feed back any comments on the new site, especially if there is something that you think we should include.