04Sep

Streamline Attendance Management with Indigo Mobile

Are you tired of the hassles that come with managing employee attendance? The days of grappling with paper schedules and navigating complex systems are over. Say hello to the revamped Indigo Mobile app – the ultimate solution for hassle-free attendance tracking. Our revamped app simplifies clocking in and out, provides easy access to your shift calendar, seamlessly manages multiple job accounts, captures employee locations, and even allows for offline clocking records to be auto-uploaded. Here’s how Indigo Mobile is transforming the way businesses handle attendance.

 

<h4>Effortless Clocking In and Out</h4>

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Managing attendance shouldn’t be a headache. Indigo Mobile simplifies the process, allowing employees to clock in and out effortlessly with just a few taps on their smartphones. Say goodbye to outdated punch cards and manual consolidation of excel sheets. Our user-friendly app ensures accurate timekeeping while integrating seamlessly with the Indigo Suite. The app is easy to navigate, making attendance tracking stress-free and efficient.

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<h4>Access your Schedule anytime, anywhere!</h4>

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Break free from the constraints of traditional scheduling. Indigo Mobile lets your team access their schedule on the go. Whether you’re at home or out on the go, we’re helping you stay organised by accessing your shift schedule directly from your smartphone. This feature is a game-changer for employees with different job roles or those working across multiple locations.

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<h4>Seamlessly Manage Multiple Job Accounts</h4>

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Accessing multiple job accounts for different companies has never been smoother. Indigo Mobile’s interface and real-time updates empower your team to effortlessly access multiple responsibilities, depending on the one they’re scheduled to be working on, whether part-time or full-time.

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<h4>Location Capture</h4>

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Enhance transparency and accountability with the built-in location capture. Indigo Mobile’s GPS technology tracks employee locations during clock-ins and clock-outs, aiding accurate timekeeping. This data not only ensures compliance but also offers insights for optimisation. As a manager, you can review patterns and make data-driven decisions to streamline operations and improve productivity. With the new map view, managers can also see who clocked in or out from which location.

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<h4>Offline Clocking Record Updates</h4>

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Bid farewell to connectivity worries with Offline Clocking Record Uploads. We’re helping your team stay punctual even in low-reception zones. When you record a clocking whilst offline, the app will automatically upload it when connectivity is restored, taking away the stress about missing clocking records due to network issues.

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In conclusion, Indigo Mobile’s user-friendly interface, real-time updates, and innovative features ensure accurate and efficient attendance management. Are you ready to say goodbye to paper-based struggles and complex systems? Make the change today and experience the simplicity and organisation Indigo Mobile brings to your workforce.

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02Jun

Reduce Local Infrastructure. Hello Hassle-Free Cloud Hosting

Reduce Local Infrastructure. Hello Hassle-Free Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is an online service that allows users to access software applications and store data on remote servers instead of using a local infrastructure. Many of our clients are switching to hosting our applications in the cloud as we collectively adapt to the increasing digital and remote age. This is why at Shireburn we are now offering cloud-hosting services for the Shireburn Financial Manager (SFM), Shireburn Inventory Management System (SIMS) and Shireburn Freight System (SFS). In this blogpost we will be discussing several benefits that this offering could provide to companies like yours.

Buying and maintaining hardware is costly and a headache that can be avoided. 

One of the main benefits of cloud-hosted applications is that there is no need for local infrastructure. When a company uses local infrastructure, they need to have physical servers and other hardware on-premises to store their data and run their applications. This means that the company needs to purchase, install, configure, and maintain all the hardware and software required to keep their systems running. Additionally, local infrastructure can take up valuable office space, and it can be expensive to upgrade or replace equipment as needed. 

Tired of continuously investing money to keep your infrastructure up to date? By using Shireburn’s cloud-hosting services for SFM, SIMS, and SFS, you don’t need to worry about any of this. We will provide you with a fully managed service including hosting your server at secure data centres, backup of your data, and a secure connection to the Shireburn applications.

Access anytime, anywhere! 

Are you struggling to ensure that your team can easily access SFM, SIMS, or SFS, even when working from home? Many of our clients need their workers to access systems remotely, whether because they have multiple office locations, or have remote workers. The need for remote access is only becoming bigger and can help you empower your workforce to work more flexibly, increasing productivity and collaboration.

No more security and maintenance hassles! 

Partner with us to host your applications on the cloud while you focus on growing your business. You will have the benefit of one point of reference to support your business systems while we take care of hosting and backing up your data, updating antivirus software, and keeping your servers secure. Our servers are protected by multiple layers of security, including firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and 24/7 monitoring. Additionally, our antivirus software in place offers enhanced protection against malware and other cyber threats.  

In short, hosting your SFM, SIMS and SFS applications on the cloud allows you to access the software and services you need, without the need for local infrastructure. This substantially helps companies reduce costs, increase flexibility, and focus on their core business functions, while leaving the technical details to us. 

If you already have a licence for SFM, SIMS or SFS, we can migrate these onto our cloud-hosted environment effortlessly. By switching over to cloud-hosted applications, companies can save money, increase productivity, and focus on their core business functions. 

Ready to say goodbye to local infrastructure?

18Apr

Taking confident decisions – driven by accurate and timely data

The pandemic can be seen as having brought about a substantial mindset shift in terms of dealing with our people. There has never been a more obvious focus on the welfare of our people. Almost overnight, companies had to grapple with the need to ensure the welfare of their staff coupled with the survival of their business. The speed with which decisions had to be taken coupled with the uncertainty and fear in the first few weeks of the outbreak of Covid-19 has forced us to reassess not only our people policies but also the management of our data and how this can be used as a decision making tool, especially in times when decisions were required quickly and surely.
I can recall the difficulties with needing up to date and real time information on staff movements, numbers and statistics when looking at shifting priorities during the pandemic. How many vulnerable staff did the company have? Where were they located? What shift system was impacted? How can my company be split into teams? These questions and more were the bread and butter of decision making for an extended period of time.
I was assured of one fact. My payroll information was intact, updated and reliable. That is where I had to start from. This was a good start yet having to clean the data, work it on excel, find my way through v-look up and other complicated formulae became daunting. I couldn’t get over the missing comma or the extra bracket. I was acutely aware of the urgent need to up to date information which I can analyse.
I have always believed that you are as good at your job as when you face a crisis. It is at these times that one requires accurate data and effective analysis. This is when people analytics comes into the picture. With one click the full picture emerges. One click and the red flags stare you in the face. One click and you can decide with full confidence that your data is accurate.
No more decisions in the dark. Reliable, accurate and easy to use. Decisions have never been easier and safer to take.

11Apr

The CEOs People Dilemma

How many times have you presented strategies that haven’t worked out as you intended? How many times have you made plans only to realise that you didn’t have the capacity to implement these plans? How many times have you turned to your people and felt frustrated at their lack of motivation, lack of drive or even lack of understanding? How many times have you heard yourself think ‘my people are not up to the task’ or wondered ‘how can I get my people to do this?’

Whichever industry you are in, whatever initiative you are driving and irrespective of how digitised you have become, ultimately your business will depend on the people. It makes sense therefore to take a closer look at your greatest investment and greatest competitive differentiator in the market. It is your people that define you and it is your people that will bring your business goals to light. Yet in reality, how much do we know about our people?

How often do you look at your wage bill on your P&L and wonder why it is increasing? How often do you wonder where this investment is going and what added value it is bringing to your business? Your wage bill is probably your biggest cost. It is also your biggest investment. Yet, how much do you actually know about this cost? How much data have you got in hand to analyse this cost?
The world of people analytics is a relatively old concept yet one that boggles the mind as to how to extract this data and analyse it properly. Beyond the excel formulas and brackets, inverted commas, pivot tables and v-look ups, there is a wealth of information to be explored and analysed. I have always wondered why it comes so naturally to finance driven people to understand a company just by looking at a P&L, yet struggle to explore the data behind their people costs.

In all honesty I do not blame CEOs for this oversight. People are often complicated and difficult to understand. One can be forgiven for thinking this area is best left undiscovered. Yet who wouldn’t want to be given a clear picture of their people in an objective and non-judgemental way? Numbers and dashboards don’t lie. They represent a picture. It’s the information that picture gives us that allows us to make informed decisions. Decisions that are not based on opinion or on gut feeling or even on a whim. Decisions that are taken on fact .

Just imagine what insight you can gain with data that can be extracted from your people analytics. Are your staff on the verge of burnout? Is there a toxic manager in your midst? Are your people abusing of sick leave? Is there a staff member at risk in your company? Are your staff engaged and, if not, why? What is my wage bill projection for the next few years? How sustainable are my teams in the current environment? The list of analytics is extensive. It’s a question of how to obtain this insight.

People data gives you the opportunity to dig beneath the surface of your largest line item – your people. Understanding what’s at play and what decisions are required to maximise this investment will ensure it adds the required value to your business. For, after all, our people are our major competitive advantage.

04Apr

Making HR More Credible

Human resource professionals work on the front-line in any company. When connecting with people in this way it is difficult not to pick up the subtle signs. The side glance from an employee on a corner desk. The silence from staff members when you ask for their opinion. The tension when you walk into an office. It’s the subtlety and subconscious nature of the signs that makes them so powerful.

Ask any HR Manager doing the rounds and they will tell you. They feel it in the air. They recognise that something is wrong. Their gut can pick out the red flags. This is a common feeling in HR. One’s gut is often a litmus test. It’s an indication that something is not quite right. It raises the red flags. Yet one is often left with a dilemma. How can one base a discussion or, even more so, a decision on a gut feeling? How will this be received? Then again, how can one overlook this uneasy feeling that something is up? Isn’t that what HR is there for? Protecting the staff. Offering a safe space. Listening and working on ensuring a positive culture across any organisation.

Most HR front-liners will have felt the frustration this creates. How to prove what I am feeling? What do I have to do to be believed and when I am believed how to proceed?

HR is never easy. It poses difficult challenges and calls for tough decisions. Not everyone is comfortable taking tough decisions. In fact, most are not. Even when the red flag is flapping in our face we will find many doubters who will disagree with us. Each case has its own peculiarities yet each situation will have its own way of wearing you down. It challenges our credibility and tests our resilience. Many cases often result in a lose-lose situation which will lead to a clear erosion of trust in the organisation’s ability to create a safe culture for those that work within it.

I have struggled with this question often enough in my career and have understood that my word is often not enough to bring a point forward. After the tsunami of emotions that hits you when staff members come to you with a challenging issue have subsided, the next question is often what to do with the information. How to package it and how to take it up with one’s superiors.

Over time I have recognised that I needed something else to build my arguments. A tool that goes beyond wisdom and experience, although that helps. A tool that speaks the same language as to the finance people and CEOs. Numbers could be my solution. But where on earth should I begin? My relationship with numbers is abysmal – I am a people person. How can I use them to be credible?

After much thought and a sincere effort to drag myself out of my comfort zone, I decided to dabble with People analytics. Oh wow – the world of analytics. I was hooked. Daunted yet intrigued. No more drama, no more emotional conversations, just numbers and dashboards which told a story.

My gut was correct. The engagement scores made sense. The leave history and trends added up and the attrition rate and sick leave rate pointed me in the same direction. By cross-analysing I was able to build a case to start the process of investigating a particular department. This time, I was confronted by a very different reality. I didn’t feel like I was up on the stand defending my gut. I didn’t need to get emotional. The numbers and insights spoke for themselves. I was simply the messenger. Almost instantly I was able to bring an argument forward without fear of being ignored or challenged. Who would have thought that numbers would actually make all the difference? They not only gave me credibility but gave me the safety to bring my case forward. I was speaking the same language now and I was being listened to.

28Mar

Why HR can be a risky business and how to mitigate those risks?

Human resources is about people. In reality, it’s a business we all understand. The formula is relatively simple – happy people leads to happy customers which leads to better profits. Simple to understand, yet as most HR leaders will tell you, very difficult to implement. The reason – well, we are dealing with people and people are complex and situations arising from people are often even more complex. Nothing is straight forward when dealing with people.

 

As an HR practitioner I often found myself in situations where my experience and dealings with the people I worked with raised a number of red flags. Most HR people are able to point out with relative accuracy who they feel is a flight risk or which teams are at risk from a bad manager or which members of staff are less engaged than others. The challenge in these situations is empirical proof and can often lead to a credibility crisis.

 

Credibility and trust are the cornerstones of any HR department. The role of HR is to ensure the wellbeing of their people and cultivate a safe working environment as only in such a work environment can people thrive. In most cases, practitioners are able to use their wisdom and experience to manage situations before they reach a crisis point. There are cases however, especially when the members of staff involved are perceived to be influential due to their position, earning potential or tenure within the company, when things can become quite complicated. As with any people situation, it’s never clear cut.

 

I have often wished I was working in finance where numbers would guide my arguments. Numbers never lie and are universally understood. There is a clear black and white with numbers and arguments based on them gain instant credibility. It’s very clear cut. With people one often inhabits the grey zone and questions such as credibility, objectivity and bias hang over every situation like a dark cloud. This often leads to anxiety inducing situations that even the most seasoned HR professionals find challenging. In many cases it can prejudice HR to take a hands-off approach to any situation that in any way challenges the status quo or presents a dilemma.

 

This is when analytics and statistics can help build a case – free from bias and prejudice. Numbers can offer a representation of what is going on in a clear and demonstrable way. Attrition rates on particular departments is a red flag and will strongly indicate that there is something not quite right with particular managers. Engagement surveys will clearly point out the red flags that need to be addressed. Vacation leave and sick leave analytics will immediately raise the red flags in terms of abuse, burn out and stress which directly impacts the engagement of staff and performance of the company.

 

Analytics can sometimes be quite daunting. HR professionals are used to dealing with words not numbers. Yet a good set of analytics can not only boost the credibility of HR but allow for an objective and unbiased assessment of challenging people situations. Used well, analytics in HR can be as powerful in terms of information as a P&L statement. Let us not forget that the highest cost to any business is their wage bill. People matter. Understanding your people matters more.