I recently did an interesting calculation on time and the value of a tiny but repetitive task. The situation: an office worker had was required to locate information in one system and copy it, then paste into another system. Initially this seems very straight forward and only takes a few seconds at a time. However taking the time to actual look at what is happening showed that the staff member had to go through several steps to achieve this goal:

1. Open the application and log in.
2. Search and locate the desired information (in this case a Client’s Name and Address)
3. Copy relevant details.
4. Open the second application, login.
5. Locate the desired record.
6. Paste in the copied details.

Then they print or email a letter with the new details.

All done in just seven easy steps –Whoa! Let’s look at this in terms of time.

1. Depending on the computer speed / network, application etc. – from 10 to 30 seconds
2. Again speed dependant – say 5 to 10 seconds.
3. Easy bit -say 3 seconds.
4. Again speed dependant – from 10 to 30 seconds
5. Again speed dependant – say 5 to 10 seconds
6. Easy – say 2 seconds.

So adding this up, we get from 35 seconds to up to 85 seconds (1 minute and 25 Seconds).

Now if we have a busy office and this is needed to be done say 20 times a day we can multiply the calculated times by the number of repetitions:

35s x 20 = 700 Seconds or 11 Minutes and 40 Seconds (for the shortest) or
85s x 20 =1700 Seconds or 28 Minutes and 20 Seconds (for the worst case)

Now if this occurs every working day of the year (250 this year) then the time taken is very appreciable:

Over 48.6 Hours for the shortest and up to

Over 118 Hours for the worst case.

So what does this “simple Copy/Paste” routine cost our business?

Well if we take wages for an office worker at about $18 per hour and add a very conservative overhead of 50% for Annual leave/sick leave etc. we have an employee hourly cost of $27.00.

So best case the cost is 48.6 x 27 = $1,312 or up to 118 x 27 = $3,187 per Year, per Staff member for the worst case.

But it gets even more worrying!

What if during the boring and mundane Copy / Paste routine, due to lack of interest and focus, some details are not copied? The Previous Clients Details are then pasted into another Clients Record and sent to them! Breach of confidentiality and insulted Customers or even worse, it may even result in the loss of a hard won Customer!

What is the value of a Customer for the life of your business? – Yes, Huge!

What can you do to save this potential loss?

There are several possible options, ranging from a simple automated Export / Import routine that uses automatic matching to ensure correct results, or a fully automated Update function, to a completely new, fully integrated, business system -designed to match your needs.

ProcessIT will gladly discuss with you, your options and help you determine the best most viable solution to eliminate these costs and the risk of losing or insulting that key Customer –just give us a call or contact us to arrange your free initial consultation now!

 

Savings:

Of course there are also ongoing savings in that your staff are now freed from this boring and mundane task and are now able to use their skills for more productive uses…

 

Tech Tip:

Windows 10 will be coming to a device near you!

Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 will be available from Wednesday July 29 and as New Zealand is on the leading edge of the time zones, so it is that we will be the first to have the ability to upgrade.

I have personally trialled the new Operating System and found it to be a logical increment on that of Windows 8.1. The most obvious change is the 8.1 “Start” screen has now been integrated into a more traditional “Start Menu” -working more like the familiar old XP / Windows 7 start menu but retaining 8.1’s colourful “Live Tiles”. A key addition is new voice based (or text) search assistant “Cortana” that allows direct plain language searching via your PCs Microphone with on the fly voice recognition that will allow for control of some Computer functions or pass your search onto Bing for a list of matching results (This may not be available for a New Zealand dialect at release.)

Windows has also added a feature that has been popular in Linux for a while, with support for Multiple Desktops so you can arrange icons and applications to suit you task and keep them all on a related desktop. “Edge” is a new faster Browser that also allows you to write on or mark-up web pages although Internet explorer still remains. Other minor styling and tweaks are added but most go unnoticed.

All in all it builds again on the stable base of windows 7, adds the multi device and touch features of 8.1 but refocuses on desktop usability and ease of work.

Finally Windows 10 will be a FREE upgrade to users with Windows 7 or 8 if you upgrade in the first year or for about $156 (Home) or $260 for Pro but the NZ prices are not confirmed yet.

See https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/windows/features for more.