Ensure Salary and Benefits Are Competitive

To retain top talent, employers must provide pay and benefits that are competitive. In some cases, it may require employers to go a little beyond what they usually would. However, in the long run, this investment will pay off. For example, when coming up with a compensation package, factor what finding, hiring, and training a new employee will cost. How much will a recruiter run? Will much productivity time be lost training a new hire?

Provide Educational and Training Opportunities

Keeping a top performer at the top of their skills is an investment in them that also pays dividends for your organization. While training can take away from work hours, it can pay for itself down the road. Typically, allowing opportunities for education and training makes the top performer feel valued and appreciated. This leads them to stay with the company longer and incentivizes them to work harder.

Make Sure Work Is Recognized

Often the work of elite performers can go unnoticed; this is a classic case of “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” Make sure that good work is always acknowledged. Spot bonuses or awards can be a good way to achieve this. Even something as simple as an email saying “job well done” to a top performer goes a long way.

Ensure Work Stays Challenging

If a top performer keeps delivering on time and above expectations, it may be time to tweak the strategy for that employee. It is all too easy to want to keep in place employees who are doing a job well. However, too much time in any job can easily lead to burn out and boredom. If an employee doesn’t feel challenged in their current role, it can cause them to start looking for other, more exciting opportunities.

Make Sure Mentoring is in Place

While it may not seem a top performer needs mentoring, it can be a useful tool for both the employee and the organization. Mentoring not only helps the employee to grow but also helps keep them connected to the firm. This connection will decrease the risk of the employee not feeling attached or valued.

Ensure the Top Performer Sees a Future In Your Organization

Finally, the main reason an employee leaves an employer is the lack of a future. The best way to fight against this is to make sure that your top performer sees a path of progression within the firm. Providing a clear career path with goals and objectives clearly outlined makes it more likely that your top performers will stick around.

Moving Forward

Retaining top performers is a vital part of running any business. If you need help in recruiting top talent or in developing strategies for retaining top talent, its best to reach out to the professionals at Open Systems.

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AI for Business Analytics

Data is necessary to develop business strategy. In this pursuit, AI focuses on giving machines access to data and letting them learn for themselves. The Harvard Business Journal shared an example of AI and business analytics by using algorithms and machine learning. Company and customer information was used to select successful sales phrasing. This then allowed for the creation of a new sales strategy.

AI for HR

In 2017, Inc. magazine published an article regarding the ways that AI is changing HR functions. Benefits included reducing human bias and increasing efficiency. AI also allowed for insight in assessments. Finally, AI also improved relationships with employees. Specifically, by utilizing AI in dealing with existing employees through automated email and instant messaging which reduced the workload of stressed HR departments.

AI in IT

Artificial Intelligence is transforming IT operations in many ways. Cybersecurity was one of the first areas to take advantage of developments in AI, using it to develop models to detect abnormal activity and malware. AI is now used to optimize network configurations based on traffic flow patterns. AI can also automatically detect data types based on similar models. As AI becomes more powerful and prevalent, it will be able to drive further improvements in IT, thus reducing spending and improving performance.

Looking Toward the Future

Looking toward the future, heavy hitters like Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Facebook are all on board with using AI. These business leaders have even formed a partnership to collaborate on this important issue. Regarding the financial impact, Goldman Sachs expects “AI to create hundreds of billions of dollars in cost savings and new opportunities over the next decade.”

So how does an organization apply AI into their infrastructure? It’s best to consult a solutions provider to assess the areas in your organization that could benefit the most from AI.

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In today’s day and age, businesses must do more with less, and ERP is a valuable item in the business toolkit that can allow any organization to save time, money, and create synergy among its many moving parts. Businesses focused on financial and manufacturing are some of the many companies that can benefit greatly from an ERP implementation.

In 2017, ERP News listed Information Integration, Standardization, and Automation as the benefits of ERP implementation.

Information Integration

Think of the amount and various types of information that your company processes every day. ERP allows this data to be pulled together from multiple sources for a more streamlined collection which can save time and money. In many cases, pulling data together from across the company can help provide insights. These insights enable efficiencies in supply and cost management. It can also ensure that a company’s working capital is saved for where it is needed the most.

Standardization

ERP ensures that the information collected from various departments meets minimum reporting standards. This allows for better integration using compatible and complementary formats. With a standard format, data can be more easily collected and synthesized allowing for faster, more robust analytics driving key business insights.

Automation

Day to day administrative tasks can be a big headache and a massive time sink for employees. ERP can be utilized to automate simple tasks such as collection and data conversion. This frees up time that employees can use to focus on more strategic thinking. ERP can also be used to automatically validate existing data such as customer contact and billing information. Thus, shortening the time between delivery and payment by eliminating errors or typos.

Is ERP for you?

Before introducing ERP into an organization, it should do an internal assessment to discover what their individual needs are and what processes it can help with. When in doubt, it’s best to consult a professional solutions provider to aid in your organization’s design and creation of a new ERP solution to ensure you make the best investment for your business and your employees. They will also be able to tailor a training plan that will best prepare your organization for a successful implementation.

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