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If critical electrical equipment has to be supplied with power beyond the run time of the UPS, a generator will be required.

The correct sizing of a generator is not as simple as one might at first suppose.

Not all electrical equipment will need to be protected by a UPS, but some will still require a power source in the event of a power failure. Other electrical equipment not considered important, can be allowed to become non-operational until mains power is restored.

When deciding on the level of protection required for electrical equipment it helps to adopt a methodical approach. A useful strategy is to list all electrical equipment, and then ask the question, what would be the effect on the reputation, profits, employee safety and the smooth running of the company, should this electrical equipment fail. Would it be a mild inconvenience or could it expose the company to extreme embarrassment, financial loss or even ruin? How much of an inconvenience would the loss of the organization’s email, Internet access or primary business applications be?

The UPS will need to be top of the list, as it will be protecting all critical systems.

Some equipment such as cooling plant will need to be included if associated with the server room. This is essential to prevent the servers, which will be running on Standby Power, shutting down because they become too hot. Health and safety issues will need to be addressed, with lifts and emergency lighting being included.

Depending on the way your particular company is structured, there may well be cross over with the Facilities Director, and it makes sense to work together when specifying a common resource such as a generator.

Once all electrical equipment has been identified, careful consideration should be given to electrical inrush or surge current. This is a phenomenon experienced when electrical devices start up and where the initial start up power consumption greatly exceeds the normal working load. All the above factors point to specifying a larger generator than may have at first seemed apparent, but there are other important reasons for specifying a more powerful generator.

The generator needs to support both the UPS power rating and an additional 20%-30% to cover the ‘power conditioning’ process. Best practice would indicate that an on-line UPS with frequency regulation features should be specified in conjunction with a generator. As the load changes, due to equipment being switched on or off, so the generator frequency can change.

If the UPS detects that the frequency changes are out of tolerance, it will immediately revert to battery power. This can happen with both off-line UPS and line interactive UPS. Specifying an on-line UPS with frequency regulation will solve this problem. An on-line double conversion UPS will typically operate at 90% efficiency on a full load. This is due to power losses incurred during the process of ‘cleaning’ incoming power.

Temperature also plays a significant role. With the generator running, a rise of 10 C is usual within the plant or engine room. If the ambient temperature is already 20 C the resultant 30 C temperature will be detrimental to the generator. Larger generators with adequate capacity run cooler so heat becomes much less of a problem.

A good rule of thumb is therefore to oversize a generator between 1.25 and 2 times the output of the UPS where the generator is only supporting the UPS, and to increase this to the required rating when it has to support additional electrical equipment such as emergency lighting or air conditioning.

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Filed under: Careers

If you have a business approach which is people-friendly and focuses on your customers’ needs, your clients’ pleasure will be sufficient motivation for your employees to keep up their good work. It would be best to start from the very beginning. There is no way you can inspire them if you do not teach them the fundamentals of business. To ensure that their basics are aright, you have to promise them sufficient financial incentives. Also make sure the conditions of work and atmosphere within the office are conducive to a healthy working environment. How can you be sure of this? Just ask your employees if they like the situation and implement whatever changes they suggest in order to motivate them.

Besides the overall working environment and conditions, there is another area which you should ensure is pleasant to your employees. Find out if they like working there, how they feel when they interact with other employees who are in a higher position, etc. You should encourage your employees to have an open, trusting relationship with you (the boss) and other employees. No one should feel uncomfortable while in the office, this is a very basic fact. If relationships between employees are strained, they won’t feel motivated.

It is extremely important that all nitty-gritty is sorted out to establish a smooth working environment. Since this is your company, it is your job to ensure that your employees have the optimum conditions to give their best to the job. You should interact with them in a personal level. Knowing that the boss actually cares about how each one works will stimulate them to work harder and better. After all the basics of the job have been settled, make sure that you allow your employees to give you their feedback about the changes in the office. Just take it slowly, taking up one issue at a time. Hurrying through the business will not work.

After getting the general things sorted out, it is time to connect on a personal level with your employees. Talk to each and learn more about their personalities, what they like about the work they do, their preferences, their strong points. This personal interest will motivate them no end.

Do not let your employees get stagnated in their jobs as this is the surefire way to demoralize them. They will feel that no one appreciates them for their creativity and potential. You should give your employees tasks which challenge them intellectually and creatively. Excite them, and thus motivate them as they look forward to a challenge at work every day. In order to satisfy the wants of your employees, you should ask them what kind of work they want to do, and what they think will be enough of a challenge for them. Every person will respond differently to your personal interactions with them, so you need to notice how you interact with each. You could also try raft-building, paint-balling and away-days to engender team spirit and motivation.

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Whether it’s true or not, most everyone agrees that wedding DJs are expensive. A popular tip circulating the net is to replace your wedding DJ with an iPod and DJ your reception yourself. While this may sound like a great idea, there are some things to consider. Just as with any do-it-yourself project, you must be aware of all facets before you start.

The first most important job for a good DJ is to play music that the crowd enjoys. A simple shuffle has no way of knowing who is dancing to what. A person does need to run things, but not just any person will do. Putting your 12 year old nephew won’t do you any good. The person in charge of the music needs a large amount of music knowledge. A good DJ should have this knowledge. A good DJ should be able to identify a song based on a few bars hummed out of tune or a snippet of lyrics that are slightly incorrect. Your DJ must not have a fear of speaking in front of a crowd, and this is not as easy as it sounds. One simply has to think of all the Best men who have hemmed and hawed their way through a wedding toast with the microphone held at waist level. Also, does he/she know how to auction off a garter or any of the other traditional reception activities? If not, will the bride and groom want to do these things while they should be enjoying their guests? Oh, and just like you would give your wedding singer or officiant a tip for performing your ceremony, don’t forget a gratuity for your impromptu DJ.

Unless you’re a music collector, chances are you don’t have a music library with waltzes, polkas, old country, new country, oldies, classic rock, new rock, soft rock, hard rock, hip hop, dance, etc. And, unless you want to subject your guests to your musical tastes, you should probably buy a selection of these songs. If you’re not up on popular waltzes and polkas, or don’t know which songs are currently topping the country Top 40, search the web. $25 dollars should buy you enough music on iTunes to cover enough various musical tastes that most guests will enjoy themselves.

Another task for a good wedding DJ is one who is covered by insurance. Sure, your homeowners policy *might* cover it, but I’d hate to see your premiums next year if an accident does occur. Don’t think accidents will happen to you? Are you serving alcohol at your reception? If you’re telling yourself, “All the drunk people I know never act like fools!”, stop and think about that again. Besides, many venues require proof of insurance because they don’t want to see their premiums raised because your grandma tripped on a speaker cable and broke her hip. Searching the web for “wedding event insurance” will yield a whole crop of insurers who will give you a $1 million dollar policy for around $200.

Equipment is of course another important factor a good DJ brings to your reception. Do you know where to get speakers? Or mics? Or Mixer?? Larger cities will have rental companies that can provide these things. You can even find many such companies by searching the web for “dj equipment rental”. Most wedding sized systems rent for anywhere from $250 to $500 dollars per day. In most cases, you must provide a truck or van to transport the equipment. Now, do you know how to set these things up? If not, will the rental company give you a tutorial? Some rental companies will give you a tutorial when you pick the equipment up, but make sure to take notes, because if you have to call them later they will likely charge you for a service call. Some equipment rental companies will deliver, setup, and test their equipment as well as pick up later, but this is extra.

That being said, if you KNOW your group will interact without being prompted (or just don’t care if they interact or not), and if you’ve got a person with an encyclopedic knowledge of music that will run your iPod (instead of enjoying your reception), and you have adequate insurance to cover any accidents that occur due to your iPod setup, and you have a large enough music library to make sure everyone gets to hear the music they want, and you’re able to get your hands on adequate dance lights and speakers, and will be saving money by spending $550 to $700 then by all means use an iPod. You honestly have no need for a DJ.

If planning and organizing all this sounds like just one more hassle, you’d probably do better to hire a professional so that you can enjoy your reception and spend your first day as husband and wife doing something besides returning rental equipment. For a few dollars more you’ll get professional equipment, professional knowledge from someone who has planned and performed at hundreds of weddings, peace of mind that any glitches will be resolved quickly, no hassles about tearing down equipment when the reception is over, and no worries about getting it back before you owe another day’s worth of rental fees.

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Every business should have a corporate identity, which is defined as corporate design, corporate communication and corporate behavior. Part of the corporate design aspect of corporate identity is represented by a corporate logo, which is a graphic emblem that represents the business.

Many, if not most, entrepreneurs do not understand how vital a logo is to the identity of their company and their brand. Many logos you see obviously had little thought put into their creation, which reflects poorly on the company they are attempting to represent.

This is understandable as not every small business owner is able to design their own logo, so they have to pay someone to come up with a company logo if they want one that looks good. Paying for a custom logo design use to mean spending thousands of dollars with a logo design firm to come up with something that you might like. Today, any small business can afford a quality logo design when they can pay an online logo design company less than $220 to design a custom logo.

Some would say you get what you pay for when it comes to custom logo design. Can you expect to receive a good quality logo when you spend less than $200? The answer is yes, you can. Most business owners will be extremely happy with purchasing a lower priced custom logo design.

If you want, and need, the absolute best when it comes to a company logo and corporate identity, then you will need to go with a company that specialized in the branding of businesses. These companies spend a lot of time getting to know you business and products, and will develop a plan for your corporate identity. Of course, this will cost you thousands of dollars and a whole lot of time.

Spending thousands of dollars for a custom logo design is out of the realm of practicality for the normal business owner. It is for these entrepreneurs that an online custom logo design service is the ideal solution.

You get a truly unique, custom logo that has been designed specifically with your business in mind when you use the services of an online logo design company. This lets you start on your corporate branding and your companies identity without having to spend a lot of money that you could use elsewhere.

If you own a small business and need to have a custom logo designed for you, check out what is available online for affordable, custom logos. You will find that there are many inexpensive logo design options for the small business owner.

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Filed under: Branding

Most of us are familiar with reality television shows which have the audience voting for their favorite contestants in a bid to keep them in the show after each episode. To do this they may use a number such as 1300-TEMPO- followed by the performance number of the contestant. Now some of us may wonder, how do we “dial” TEMPO on the phone? Well, actually you are not “dialing” TEMPO. Instead you are dialing the number 83676. The word TEMPO is spelled out by the alphabetic characters written on each number key. In this context the word TEMPO is a phone word.

Though this strategy is quite niche in Australia, its full potential is yet to be uncovered. When used, results have been easily observable through a boost in profits. The right number positions itself in the minds of the customer, creating a long term impact. For example 1300 SPARK can be dialed if you are in a need for an electrician. The numbers associating the brand name are easy to remember. It also has the added benefit of imprinting the brand in the customers mind.

Phone words, if used well, cut down on competition. Nobody will try the yellow pages or the classified columns if they can remember a number and dial it at ease. A company can gain a larger customer base by being exclusive with their number.

The clear advantage of Phone words is that you don’t need to spend a fortune creating a new client base. You actually generate quality leads and yield better results. There is another benefit: if one customer recommends a company to another stating the phone word, it is ensured that the correct company name will be conveyed.

With Phone words, a business is better advertised and response rates are higher; so is the profit for the company. It is important how easily one can remember the phone word and what the message is, when one is marketing via this method.

In Australia, where this concept is in vogue, big names such as AAMI, Hyatt Regency, Telstra, Subway etc have had great responses to phone word campaigns. Leasing the phone word is cheap when compared with other marketing strategies. Service providers like 1300 Easy Dial offer simple, easy to use phone word facilities. You can choose your phone word number from 1300, 1800 or 13 numbers. A 1800 number puts the total call cost on the business that leases the number whereas costs for 13 and 1300 are divided between the customers and the company. Simply communicate your preferences and they will find the best deal for you.

Getting a phone word is simple. To get a fixed word, you have to have rights for a certain area. The word needs to be registered with a service provider. After having done this, you can readily lease the number. With this initial investment, you get excellent returns with a little effort. You can run two parallel services with two Phone words for the same business.

Results of phone word campaigns have led to it being considered a marketing breakthrough. It has given businesses an edge enabling them to earn increased profits quickly for a long term at a low cost. Because of these proven results Phone words are a must have for any business.

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Filed under: Marketing