Tips to Minimize Downtime and Preserve Your Profits

Whether you’re running a retail store, a restaurant, or a processing plant, your profitability relies on uptime to drive profitability. Downtime not only disrupts productivity, but it can cost you a fortune. You can’t predict or avoid every instance of downtime, but you can be ready to deal with it and mitigate the negative impact on your business.

Be proactive to preserve your profits

Experiencing downtime can be a costly occurrence. For example, when a power transformer fails at a manufacturing plant, just one hour of downtime can cost millions of dollars. Businesses that want to avoid this issue replace their transformers when they’re close to the end of their useful service life, which is typically around the 30-year mark. Although a good transformer can function for around 40 years, replacing it early with a well-made unit avoids the damage from a catastrophic failure that can happen out of nowhere.

Being proactive requires being realistic about the potential for downtime and taking steps to mitigate those potentials in any way possible. Replacing large equipment, like transformers, before they have a chance to fail is just one example. Other proactive solutions can include:

  • Purchasing the highest quality equipment from the start to minimize operational disruptions.
  • Prioritizing worker safety to reduce the potential for injuries that will take key people off the floor.
  • Fixing problems immediately so nothing spirals out of control.
  • Using data analytics to perform predictive maintenance.
  • Creating a disaster response and recovery plan.
  • Performing preventive maintenance on equipment you know needs regular care.

How you get prepared will depend on your industry and specific circumstances.

Schedule your downtime for repairs and maintenance

If you need to conduct periodic maintenance or perform repairs, schedule your downtime to minimize the disruption to your business. Planning maintenance ahead of time gives you the chance to schedule it during off-peak hours when it will have the least impact on your business. If appropriate, you can even send out notices ahead of time to allow your customers and clients to plan their needs around your scheduled maintenance.

Perform risk auditsz 

A simple risk audit will tell you if you have equipment that is obsolete, about to fail, or will soon stop supporting your needs. For instance, you might not even be aware that one of your transformers is approaching the 40-year mark and should be replaced until you perform a risk audit. Or, you might be using equipment that is losing efficiency, or that costs more to repair than newer options.

Performing a risk audit can also alert you to any physical safety issues that impact your teams, along with potential cybersecurity weaknesses.

Thoroughly train your teams

Training is a critical foundation for success, yet it’s often overlooked and deprioritized. However, consider that thoroughly training your team will greatly reduce the potential for errors that can cause downtime. When employees are trained to follow protocols that are designed to optimize their workflow, and they are trained to mitigate the risks they might encounter, there’s less of a chance that human error will create downtime.

Another benefit to training your employees is having them perform routine maintenance where appropriate. For example, it can be as simple as training them to clean your laser printer or flush certain pieces of equipment.

You can also cross-train employees so they can properly cover other positions when needed. Too often, businesses ask their employees to fill in for people who are absent, but fail to train them for the position. The last thing you want is someone who hasn’t been trained to be responsible for taking actions or making decisions that can impact operations.

Hire professionals

Anytime you need expertise or a specialist, hire a professional for the job. Your employees can handle small maintenance and repair tasks, but don’t let them do anything dangerous or that might risk downtime if they make a mistake.

Track your data with software

Last but not least, tracking data with automated software will go a long way to prevent downtime. You can automate your preventive maintenance schedule, collect data on equipment fitted with sensors to catch performance issues before there’s a problem, and track historical downtime for each piece of equipment you own.

Having all of your data tracked automatically and accessible in one spot makes it easier to see what’s going on with your equipment and is the best way to catch issues before they turn into unexpected downtime.

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A Guide to Data & Its Viability in Business

No matter who you are and what you do for a living, you’ve probably heard people talking outlandishly about data. “Data is the new oil,” they might say. Or “data is digital gold.” While these statements take out the context and are a little extreme, the importance of data can’t quite be overstated.

It has become currency for all kinds of digital, social media, and technology companies. As it turns out, people’s information is very significant. It can help inform all kinds of business decisions, even the creation of new products and services. Data shapes our digital world with algorithmic results. Whether you are interested in advancing technology or just want to get a better grasp on it all, below is a guide to data and its viability in business.

What is Data?

Essentially, data is any piece of information that is collected for analysis and reference. In the digital world, it is more complex. Every time you visit a website, data is created. When you post on social media, data is created. Data, in the sense of cyber security, is the digital information that shows where the person was, what they did, and how they did it online. It is also the information that people give to companies when they make a purchase or sign up for a purchase. Data is any number of digital information that is compiled, stored, analyzed, and traded amongst companies.

Why Data is So Valuable

Data is valuable because it can be used to make profit. Whether it’s by gathering that data that shows which ads people are responding to on social media or data that shows what people in a specific region prefer about a product, data can inform businesses and provide new ways to analyze the information. It can help a business get to know their customer base. For example, properly analyzed data can be put into software, composed as graphs, and categorized carefully to make precise representations of people’s wants, needs, behavior, and desires. It can reveal a lot to a business about what is working and what isn’t. It can help them create new products, services, and branding.

Data Accuracy vs. Data Integrity

Of course, the data that is used for these purposes needs to be valid. There is a difference between the accuracy of the data and its integrity, but both are vital. Data accuracy is the quality of the data a company collects. If the quality is high, the business can base pivotal decisions on it. Accuracy means that it reflects reality. Accurate data will prove its worth by showing up correct in the tangible operations of a business.

On the other hand, data integrity is how consistent and relevant this information stays over time. Data could be very accurate when it is initially gathered, but as time goes on these numbers change and the integrity of the data could be compromised by failing to remain accurate or significant to what the business is doing. Both data accuracy and integrity are instrumental, and there are third party companies that provide services to help you understand the accuracy and integrity of data sets.

The Future of Data

As more and more data is collected by businesses both large and small, it will become increasingly effective. Businesses will buy and sell data legally whether it is moral. Data will be analyzed not just by humans with software, Excel, and graphs, it will be analyzed by artificial intelligence. AI can organize and deeply analyze large sets of data in seconds. It can create accessible images and graphs to work with. It can even provide direct solutions to problems and ideas for new revenue streams. The future of data is not fully known, but one thing is for sure. It will remain incredibly vital to business and technology.

Whether you are skeptical about this technological future or are excited about these incredible changes, there is no way to stop it. Data has been used to make profit for businesses for years already and it is only becoming more sophisticated. However you feel about it all, it is important to watch as data usage evolves and determine how it can best be used to benefit humanity—not just a handful of wealthy investors. 

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5 Ways to Advance Your Digital Marketing Career

Everyone wants a fulfilling career. If you are a digital marketer, you need to work hard to stand out. Making a successful career as a digital marketer has never been easy, and there are numerous frustrations along the way. However, you’ll get there eventually with some hard work and determination. Below are five tips to help you advance your digital marketing career.

  • Continuous learning

With changing technology trends, continuous education is necessary. A digital marketing leadership graduate certificate on top of your marketing degree cert is a great place to start. Continuous learning equips you with the skills and knowledge you need to serve better. If you want to grow, you must embrace learning. Be sure to take courses from accredited schools to make your resume more professional. If you decide to take an extra course, here are some factors to consider:  

  • Where to take the course
  • The cost of the course
  • The reviews on the school
  • Your availability

  • Keep up with the trends

Staying current on trends helps you become a better marketer. If anything, trends are here to make work easier. When you are up to date, your clients get assurance that you are offering them the right services. You can keep up with digital marketing trends by following blogs, podcasts and following opinion leaders in the industry.

  • Have a strong digital presence

If you cannot market yourself, you will never convince anyone that you can market them. A strong digital presence will help you convince prospective clients that you are the best candidate to market their services or products. Update all your social media pages with decent images. Add strong content and make meaningful posts. Avoid unnecessary comments that may be offensive. You also need to regularly post about your services on your social media. 

  • Personal branding

Personal branding is one way to stand out from the crowd. Grow a personal brand by showcasing your abilities in digital marketing. You do not have to post on every social site available. Find one where you have a great following and use it for your gain. Post consistently, and grow your following as much as you can. Do not forget to engage your audience by answering questions and attending to your inbox and comments. 

  • Understand and make use of data

When you understand data, you can make better decisions. Data analysis can be a hard nut to crack for many. However, you must understand data so you can decide what that means for you and your career. Clients want to see ROI and metrics when they hire you. If you cannot prove that there has been an improvement after campaigns, they will have a hard time keeping you. Learn how to collect and analyze data. Consider taking a short course in data analysis. 

Endnote

You can grow your digital marketing career with the simple steps above. If you want to go further, look for a mentor and network. Everything is always easy when you have the right guidance to see you through.

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