August 2023 - RSI Concepts - Top IT Solution Provider Company in Dubai, UAE

August 22, 2023October 10, 2023

React Native Apps and Cross Platform Software Development

Every business wants to grow, for that they need a robust information and data structure which can be used by their employees and customers. Businesses need to ensure user satisfaction by offering them a great digital ecosystem which enhances the digital user experience. Businesses use various software and applications to improve their processes, operational efficiency and to drive productivity and performance. That is not all, businesses always have several challenges, the tough competition, the ever increasing customer demands, the low performing teams and employees, and what not. When it comes to custom software development, businesses chose the solution which matches their technical requirements and also fits in their budgetary limitations. Businesses in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other parts of UAE are well-aware of the impact of digital tools, software and mobile apps. However, most often businesses do not realize that they don’t need to acquire different applications for different platforms (which is very expensive), in fact they can have a completely customized software using the technique of cross-platform software development, which is most cost-effective way of launching your software or app to multiple platforms.

What is React Native?

The React Native is a JavaScript based framework and library to develop the frontend UI for software and applications. It is an open-source platform, which means it is free to use and it is developed by Meta, formally known as Facebook. The reason why it is so popular is that it enable developers to utilize native capabilities of the platform and develop cross-platform software applications while utilizing only React framework. This simplifies the software development process and enable developers to develop excellent applications for multiple platforms with very less time and efforts. Furthermore the software developers can easily utilize their JavaScript skills to work on React Native framework which minuses the learning curve. The React JS and React Native often confused with one another, however, both are different. The React JS is majorly used for developing websites and web-apps however, the React Native is a cross-platform software development framework which is built on top of React JS and it allow developers to develop applications for Android, iOS, MAC OS, Windows and a few other platforms. Furthermore the React Native can also be utilized for both frontend and backend development which make it superior from other counterparts.

What is Cross-Platform App Development?

The cross-platform app development is simply a method of providing your software, mobile application or web-apps to a diverse range of audience who are using multiple different platforms. This means all users from different platform would be needing same user experience, features, UI, etc. The biggest challenge of cross-platform software development is that a business would be needing multiple different teams to work on different platforms. Here are some cross-platform development tools:

Popular cross-platform development tools:

JavaScript: For website and web-app development
Kotlin: For Android app development
Swift: For Apple iOS app development
.NET: For Windows software and tools development

If you want to make your software and app available for all above platforms, then you will be needing at least 4 different teams to work on your single app/software. This could be very expensive, moreover it is difficult to manage multiple teams working on a same software or app. Furthermore each platform team will have different costing mechanisms, hence it would be difficult to meet release date. Later on, when you will be needing any maintenance, update or upgrade, your efforts and expensive would be multiplied to the number of platforms you are working at. That is where the React Native comes to play, it allow businesses to hire a single team and make cross-platform software development seamless and very cost-effective. The maintenance/updates are also easier and very less expensive.

Lear More: What Is Cross-Platform App Development?

What are the Benefits of Using React Native Apps for Cross Platform Development?

The React Native is rapidly growing on Stack Overflow and GitHub. It is widely adopted by businesses and organizations not only in UAE but all across the world. This also means that a developer can easily find community support and a huge number of ready-made plugins and scripts all over the internet which help developer speeding up the cross-platform software development projects. Here are some key benefits of using React Native apps and cross-platform software development for your business:

Quicker Development Process

Since you don’t require to have different teams working on your software for different platforms and only a single team can do that, the development cycle becomes shorter which also enables you to launch your apps quickly. Furthermore the React Native offers several features which help the programmers and developers to quickly develop their applications, and also it enables quick debugging and testing which makes development process much quicker than any other available framework. Moreover the code is also useable at several platforms which make development fast, it also reduce efforts to write code for multiple platforms and making changes to it. That is why the react native can effectively reduce the time and efforts of developing cross platform software.

Reduce the Cost of Cross Platform Software Development

The react native can greatly reduce the cost of your cross platform software development projects. Thanks to its ability to provide a reusable and compatible code for multiple platforms and reducing the efforts the time required to develop such mobile apps, web-apps and software has become very low. This also help reducing the cost. As less time and efforts are needed to develop a cross platform software, the cost is also low and since only one technology stack is required for the entire team, it is easier to find the skilled teams or vendors who can develop such software, apps and tools. Here in Dubai and all around the UAE the software development agencies, such as RSI Concepts and many others are offering highly cost-efficient software development services, which also impact the cost of your software development and help business get a highly cost-effective solution.

Support Multiple Platforms

There is a common impression among businesses and non-coders, that the react native is only meant to be used for Android and iOS app development. However, that is not true at all. The react native is a very useful platform with a wider range of compatibility. Businesses can develop applications and software which can be offered on Android, iOS, Windows, MAC OS, Websites and a few more. There is a huge online community support for the React Native platform and above all it is rapidly evolving and growing adding support for newer platforms and technologies. This means businesses and developers both can expect a sharp rise in compatibility and efficacy of the react native and its expansion to various other platforms. That is what makes react native much more superior than other such frameworks.

Native-like Experience and Performance

When it comes to platforms like react native, the biggest concern of the businesses is experience and performance. That was also true, but a few years back, not now. Now a days, there are so many advancements made to the react native core, and furthermore the Meta (Formally known as Facebook) has introduced a new JavaScript engine, Hermes, which enables static optimization and help reducing the app size. Furthermore the React Native can also render components to the GPU which is achieved by eliminating the gap between the JavaScript and the native components and results in high-performing apps. This enables developers to offer a native-like experience and performance by simply using react native and its advanced components.

Quick Debugging and Changes

One of the biggest advantage of the React Native is its features like hot-reloading, live-reloading and fast refresh. When making changes to the application’s source code or debugging it the developers will have to recompile the application, however, with the react native this isn’t require anymore. It means that the developers can see their changes immediately, almost in real-time without the need to recompile the entire application, which is a time consuming tasks. That is why the developers prefer to use react native, as it helps them make changes and refine their work without any extra effort or repeated tasks. Furthermore the new features of the react native framework are extremely useful in debugging typos, syntax and other common errors in the code, which makes it more productive and ideal framework for the agile development teams.

What are the Drawbacks of Using React Native for Cross Platform Software Development?

The React Native is one of the best framework available to this day for cross platform software and apps development. However, same like other technologies, it also has some drawbacks, although these drawbacks usually won’t impact a business, but in certain and very few number of scenarios these drawbacks could become problematic. Here are some drawbacks of using React Native for cross platform apps and software development:

Unlike native technologies such as Kotlin or Swift the React Native is based on JavaScript which is a dynamically-typed programming language. This requires developers to follow certain standards and rules in order to avoid bugs form the apps.
There are certain native modules which are not available in React Native, especially those are related to interacting with device’s hardware, hence when dealing with such functionalities the developers must have to insert native codes, which could also affect behavior and appearance.
When using a framework like react native for cross platform software development, the developers can never achieve the level of performance and integration which can be achieved using the native codes and APIs.
The operating systems of different platforms keep updating very frequently. However, the react native or any other cross platform app development framework is slow on adopting to new changes and introducing new features which are instantly available for the native apps.

There is a clear difference between the native app development and cross platform software development. However, frameworks like React Native are rapidly bridging the gap between these two. The modern versions of react native have already minimized a lot of problems, which makes it ideal for more than 90% of the businesses, there are only a certain sectors or businesses who still need to build native apps because they need sophisticated features and intensive hardware integration with their apps. Otherwise the react native is best for cross platform software development.

What are the Drawbacks of Using React Native for Cross Platform Software Development?

Conclusion

When it comes to mobile app development or customized software tools, the first thing businesses should consider is their needs. Both react native and the native app development has its own advantages and drawbacks. However, cross platform software development can significantly reduce your cost, efforts and time of development which is why most businesses are preferring it. The react native is also preferred choice of software developers as it is convenient, easy to use, debug, and it offers a variety of features which enable them to add advanced features to their mobile apps, and software tools. Furthermore the react native offers almost native like performance and experience. The developers can reuse the code, they can easily debug it and update it, and the overall efforts and development time can be greatly reduced. The react native framework is rapidly gaining popularity all around the world, the Meta is also introducing new features to make it better and the community support is also growing. All these are signs of a very bright future for React Native and cross platform software development. In this blog we tried to cover everything important about React Native and cross platform software development. This blog will give you a better understanding of cross platform and native apps. If you want to learn more or if you want our help to develop a native or cross platform app, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and someone will get in touch with you soon.

August 18, 2023October 11, 2023

How to Design a Modern Performance Management System?

The overall business landscape have drastically changed over the past decade, with the rise of smartphones, internet, social media and digital communication, the way business are building and nurturing their relationships with their customers have completely changed. In the modern fast-paced and highly competitive market environment it is crucial for a business to adopt to modern practices, methodologies and technologies. The performance management system is no exception at all, if you will compare the modern performance management system with the performance management practices just around a decade back, the present day performance management is totally unrecognizable. The modern performance management systems are designed with an aim to support every organization’s unique internal culture, minimize the influence of bureaucracy, increase transparency and maximize the impact of the performance management and human resource programs. Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other emirates of UAE are witnessing continuous growth, which is attracting more businesses and raising the competition. The governments are also turning toward a modern UAE government performance appraisal system in order to ensure excellent services for the citizens. Furthermore the rapidly changing market trends, and ever-increasing customer demands are compelling businesses to utilize their resources at the maximum potential in order to ensure stability and growth. That is what make performance management system a game-changing tool.

What is a Modern Performance Management System?

The major difference between the traditional and modern performance management system is that the old method relies on annual reviews, the modern methods offer more frequent reviews, better performance data collection and analysis, and include software tools which makes the employee performance management process more effective and impactful. When the employees doesn’t have a proper communication with their managers, they are blindfolded and couldn’t know if they are progressing in the right direction or not. Another biggest difference between traditional and modern performance management system is that it focuses on the people and help managers maximizing their potential. However, the traditional performance management system focus on what has been done in past, and have no visibility of the future at all. The software aided modern performance management system is more integrated, robust, responsive, and reactive and can easily be incorporated in the modern work flows. The modern performance management system offer a more contextual and comprehensive performance data which help managers and employees to identify the problems and help them set course for the future to achieve the excellence. The modern performance management system doesn’t only focus on the monetary incentives, but it offers in-depth employee development programs, it is more engaging and empowering, and help building trust on the performance management process.

What are the Characteristics of a Modern Performance Management System?

Businesses should be aware of modern performance management trends. Because in order to implement a modern performance management system you must understand what the characteristics of a modern performance management system are which distinguished it from a traditional performance management model.

Digital Transformation: The biggest advantage of a modern performance management system is that it enables digital transformation by implement software based solutions and tools. The performance management software help automating several tasks driving efficiency and accuracy in the process.
People Focused: The modern performance management systems focused on both the high-performing employees as well as the low-performer. It offer a great balance between the accountability and the development, which encourage all employees to perform better and also help low performers to achieve their goals while rewarding high-performing employees.
Continuous: The modern day employees want more frequent and instant reward, they don’t like the concept of waiting for an entire year. A continuous performance management system offer continuous communication, frequent reviews (biannual, quarterly, and even monthly), continuous feedback and frequent one-on-one meetings.
Transparent: Most of the business leaders and the employees don’t trust on traditional performance management system due to several factors. However the modern performance management system offers more transparency, it provide more accessibility to performance data and can keep the record of all past data, meetings, and reviews.
Adaptive: The modern performance management systems are great and offer castigation which enables them to adopt to changes in trends, needs and even allow businesses to implement customized performance management strategies and policies. The ability to integrate with other systems and collect performance data from multiple sources make them more adaptable.

These are the essential features which distinguishes between traditional and modern performance management system.

What are the Characteristics of a Modern Performance Management System?

Step-by-Step Guide on Designing a Modern Performance Management System

Now that we understood the difference between traditional and modern performance management system and its benefits as well, let us dive into the actual process of designing a modern performance management system which resonates with your organizational culture and performance needs.

Identify Your Needs: It is important to understand the needs of your organization. Every business have different priorities, different challenges and different culture, this is why it is important to identify your needs. You will have to review the current performance management model and then do some brainstorming to identify the needs of your new strategy.
Chose The Purpose: Once you identify your needs, you should chose the primary purpose of your modern performance management system. There are five major purposes of implementing a performance management framework, accountability, organizational alignment, cultural alignment, development, and recognition. You should prioritize each one as per your needs.
Understand the Workflows: Understand who is making decisions and how decisions are being made. How the information are flowing, what communication channels you are currently using and what you are planning to use in future. Understand how you are currently defining roles, goals and objectives and how the success should look like.
Performance Fundamentals: No matter what performance management model you want to use, the performance fundamentals are the same, reviews, feedbacks and goals. Implement mechanisms to make reviews fair and transparent. Implement SMART goals, focus on accountability, development and alignment and lastly implement continuous feedback model.

If you follow the above steps you can easily identify your needs and the scope of your new modern performance management system. There are two ways to implement a new performance management system. First you can acquire a ready-made commercial off-the-shelf solution, or the second and more effective way is to acquire a professional software development agency in Dubai, such as RSI Concepts and let them build a customized performance management system as per your needs.

Step-by-Step Guide on Designing a Modern Performance Management System

How to Analyze the Effectiveness of your New Performance Management Model

Once you implemented a tailor-made modern performance management system you will definitely witness improvements, however, in order to analyze the effectiveness of your new performance management system you can perform a thorough analysis using the following steps:

Start with market research, understand your industry trends, and set the performance benchmarks for your industry.
Set and enlist organizational goals and objectives and accordingly set the individual goals that you are planning to achieve with your new performance management system.
Based on your organizational goals and objectives define how the success should look like for individual goals, also classify performance in three categories, high-performer, low-performer and average performers.
Now compare your design of performance management system and its success measures with this performance management model based on industry benchmarks.
Now try to minimize the gap between both performance management models and you will get a most efficient performance management system.

This analysis will help you improving your design of modern performance management system and it will help you maximizing the impact of your performance management program.

How to Analyze the Effectiveness of your New Performance Management Model?

Conclusion

Implementing a modern performance management system can greatly improve your employees’ performance, engagements and help you increase retention. When the employees and managers both trust on the performance management models and tools they tend to perform well and it also help elevating their morale which is absolutely essential for productivity and efficiency. There are several modern performance management systems available in the market, however, it is highly unlikely that any off-the-shelf performance management software can fulfill all your needs and produce the desired results. That is why we recommend going for a customized performance management system. In this blog we have discussed the difference between a traditional and modern performance management system, we also discussed how you can design a perfect performance management system which will empower your management and workforce. If is important to critically analyze the performance management model that you are building for your business. You can revise your model many times before reaching to the optimum results. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to design your new modern performance management system for your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

August 18, 2023October 14, 2023

A Complete Guide to a Multi-Branch Queue Management System

Customer facing environments are most sensitive part of a business’s operations. It is extremely important for a business to maximize the operational productivity to ensure the customers are having a satisfactory experience. For large businesses with multiple branches the management is even more challenging. Usually the senior management is sitting in the head office, it is a time taking process to get the updates and information related to any branch. Most of the time the head office will have to approach the branch manager to provide them the required information. The queuing and customer flow management is always difficult. Therefore businesses need a digital queue management system which can help them streamline their customer flow and improve their operational capabilities. The digital queue management system provides live queuing coverage, instant updates, alerts/notifications, business intelligence data and useful features for service agent, branch managers, head office and senior management. The queue management system is an intelligent software solution with hardware components to offer a full control and monitoring over the customer journey which helps improving customer experience. In this guide we will discuss how business can implement and leverage a multi-branch queue management system to drive growth.

What is a Multi-Branch Queue Management System?

A multi-branch queue management system is a centralized queue management system which enables businesses to manage and monitor customer queues and customer flow in real-time across all connected branches. The multi-branch queue management system runs on a centralized software which is hosted on an in-premises server, online or in cloud. The server is connected to all branches. A basic queue management system have multiple devices integrated in a synchronized framework. For example, there is an interactive self-service ticket dispensing kiosk which not only dispense tokens but also take basic information of the customer and in some cases it has ability to ID the customer as well. There is a digital signage screen which displays the live queuing information along with some multimedia content. The modern queue management systems also have integrated counter name plates which display counter number and the token number which is being served at the moment. Furthermore there is an audio announcement system which is used for customer calling. All these devices form one branch’s setup, and if there are more than one branch, in case of a multi-branch queue management system all these devices in all branches are connected to a centralized queue management software which monitor and control all these components of the system.

How does a Multi-Branch Queue Management System Works?

The multi-branch queuing also works on the concept of queue management system and crowd control, but it provides additional management features which greatly improve the efficiency of the queuing process. In a multi-branch queue management system setup all branches are connected via network to the main server software. The server application communicates with all branches in real-time. Whenever any action is taken in any branch the information is sent to the server and then the response is sent to the branch instantly. Think of a website, the website is hosted on a cloud which might be located in another continent, however, when you click on a link or a file, it immediately opens it. Same technical process works here too. When a user/customer in any branch choose a service to generate a token number, the information is sent to the queue management system software which is hosted on a server, and then in return it issues a token number which is being printed out instantly from where the user/customer made the request. All branches are connected to the head-office in a similar fashion via a public or private network. The smart algorithms and source code is executed at the server, and all the data is also stored in the server. The service agents, branch managers, and the senior management or head office staff gets their dedicated administrative dashboards and the access to data and functionality is managed by an in-built administration and authentication module. That is how a multi-branch queue management system works.

What are the Benefits of using a Multi-Branch Queue Management System?

The biggest advantage of a multi-branch queue management system is that it offers a centralized management framework where all the information are stored in a central location, which makes management and monitoring much easier comparing to standalone queue management system. If each branch have a standalone queue management system then the information will be stored in silos, which poses monitoring and management challenges. Furthermore the senior management or head office doesn’t require any intermediate database/integration to consolidate all the information flowing from and towards all branches. Here are the key benefits of a multi-branch queue management system:

Easy Monitoring and Administration from a centralized location
All the data and updates are available in a centralized location which enables real-time monitoring and control over all connected branches
Since there is only one main queue management system software, therefore the implementation, operational and maintenance cost is low
All the dashboards are updated in real-time, the content/configurations can be pushed in real-time to all connected branches
Handling large footfall, congestion, and several other problems is easy with real-time monitoring and it enables the management to take quick and informed decisions
Enables real-time monitoring of customer flow, customer wait time, employee performance and other queuing metrics and system stats
Senior managers, branch managers, supervisors and stakeholders have up-to-date information and data all the time, there is no lag or latency
Easy integration with third-party software tools, customer databases, and central information center help driving efficiency and productivity

A multi-branch queue management system is essential for businesses who are managing multiple branches in remote locations, it help them minimize the administrative efforts while maximizing the operational productivity.

What are the Benefits of using a Multi-Branch Queue Management System?

What are the Best Practices for Implementing a Multi-Branch Queue Management System?

Implementing a multi-branch queue management system is a crucial task. The businesses should be very careful in choosing the right vendor, technology, queuing system type and several other factors. Here are some key points that a business should consider while implementing a multi-branch queue management system:

Identify your requirements and make a plan of what features you want to include
Find and shortlist multiple queue management system vendors
Scrutinize all vendors, evaluate proposals and finalize the best vendor
Choose the right platform and queuing type for your business
Always start with a pilot project, implement the system at one or maximum two branches
Train your employees, provide them with the manuals and required technical support, etc.
Now closely observe the performance of the branch and try to find what can be improved
Take feedback from customers, employees, managers and relevant stakeholders
Discuss and share your observations and finding with the vendor and make improvements
Monitor the system and evaluate the changes you made, and repeat until your customers are satisfied
Now go for full-fledge implementation or start implementing in remaining branches one-by-one

If you will consider the above suggestions you can save a lot of time and efforts.

What are the Best Practices for Implementing a Multi-Branch Queue Management System?

What are the Challenges of Implementing a Multi-Branch Queue Management System?

Implementing a multi-branch queue management system is not an easy task, there are several challenges that a business could face while implementing a multi-channel queue management system, such as:

Initial Cost: One of the biggest challenge is the initial cost, if you are planning to implement a multi-branch queue management system across all branches at once, the cost could be very high. That is why the best practice is to start with pilot project, and implement the queue management system to all branches in small chunks, such as one-by-one, or 2 or 3 branches at a time, etc.
System Integration: When you are implementing a multi-branch queue management system or any other system, the biggest technical challenge is the integration with other tools, and data synchronization. A modern queue management system with customer-friendly features would require many different types of integration. If your existing IT infrastructure and other systems are not compatible then you might have to develop intermediate tools to streamline the data flow.
Employee Training: Whenever a business implements a new solution they require training for the employees, same is the case with the multi-branch queue management system. You must have to train your employees in order to enable them to leverage the full potential of the queue management system. User manuals, guides, and training videos can be created to make your employees well versed with your new multi-branch queue management system.

It might sound difficult and a bit challenging though but implementing a multi-branch queue management system is not as that challenging. Businesses will have to face all these challenges whenever they implement a new system. However, a queue management system is relatively easier to work with, furthermore the business can use customized UIs and branding tactics to reduce the training needs.

What are the Challenges of Implementing a Multi-Branch Queue Management System?

Conclusion

The customer satisfaction is essential for growth and stability. Businesses are always eager to implement solutions and offer services to raise the customer satisfaction. Businesses managing multiple branches always face administrative issues, the visibility and data flow is one of the most challenging task in any multi-branch setup. That is why when it comes to queue management system, most of the businesses in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other emirates of UAE prefer to implement standalone systems. However, that is not ideal, in order to leverage the full potential of a modern queue management system businesses need a comprehensive multi-branch queuing solution. A multi-branch queue management system is a very effective tool, it help businesses dealing with technical challenges, and it offer real-time monitoring and control over all branches. That is what makes it most effective. In this guide we have discussed multi-branch queue management system in brief details and tried to answer most of the questions a business could have while planning to implement a multi-branch queue management system. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to implement a customized and very cost-efficiency multi-branch queue management system for your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

August 16, 2023

Employee Evaluation and KPIs for Better Employee Performance

With the rise of technology, the customer expectations have increased, the market trends have been changed, and the competition is getting tougher day by day. Businesses need to be very productive in order to be able to survive in the current market landscape of UAE. An effective performance management is the solution to level up your game and out-perform your competition. Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other parts of the country are well-aware of the competitiveness of the market and the skyrocketed demands of the customers. That is why businesses are continuously seeking ways to optimize their internal processes, operations and workforce. Most of the large businesses, enterprises and organizations are using some kind of performance management process, to monitor and improve their performance. Whereas, small and medium sized businesses usually don’t focus much on this aspect. However, the performance management is equally important and effective for all types and sizes of businesses and organizations.

It is important for a business to understand where they need improvements and how they can leverage the true potential of their workforce to achieve the business goals. For any business employee turnover is a very challenging aspect of HR. Employee retention is connected to employee satisfaction. The employee satisfaction and employee retention is linked to employee engagements. If you are providing a highly engaging environment to your employees where they are given a productive organizational culture, your employee turnover will be less, not only that the employee satisfaction also results in higher customer satisfaction which translates to growth and profitability. When it comes to performance management the employee evaluation and KPIs are they key factors. A good performance management system must provide a comprehensive framework to evaluate employees and monitor their KPIs. In this blog we will discuss how employee evaluation and KPIs can help businesses improve their performance.

For any business employee turnover is a very challenging aspect of HR.

What is the difference between a KPI and a metric?

People often confuse a KPI and Metric, however, both are different. A KPI or key performance indicator is a high-level indicator which provide context about the business goal and it tells how these goals are related to different business functions. The metric is a low-level perspective and it is used to track activities and processes of different business functions. For example, a business wants to increase its customer satisfaction by 20%. That would be a KPI. In order to achieve that goal, different business functions such as customer service team, sales team, marketing, management and various other departments will have to improve their performance, each department or business functions’ metrics will be used to measure the impact of their activities and processes on the high-leave business goal. The best metric to measure customer satisfaction is the NPS or net promoter score, businesses can also use other metrics such as customer satisfaction index to understand their progress towards their goal.

How to set KPIs which are aligned with high-level business goals?

The most common mistake businesses made during their performance management campaign is not aligning their KPIs with their high-level business goals. Here are a few key points to consider while creating KPIs:

Start by setting up or analyzing your business goals, for example, if you want to increase sales, or raise customer satisfaction, etc.
Define what you will measure, for example, in case of customer satisfaction you can measure customer satisfaction index, and in case of sales you can measure the increase in sales.
Once you know what you will measure, you have to understand how you can collect that data, for sales, it is easier you can just see how much sales you made, for customer satisfaction you can use NPS or customer happiness gauge, etc.
In order to measure the performance you must have to be able to communicate and relate the KPI to the employees and managers. Your KPI should be able to engage the employees and it should be able to raise the morale and motivate them to put efforts towards achieving it.
Adopting SMART framework is a great way to boost employee engagement. The SMART stands for Scalable, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. Implementing SMART framework and defining the targets or target range is crucial.
Make an action plan for if the KPI falls outside of the target range, and ensure your action plan is realistic and executable given the circumstances and available tools, workforce or skillsets in hand.
Reviewing and analyzing the performance data is a continuous task, the KPIs should be monitored regularly and the data should be analyzed properly to extract meaningful insight from it.
It is important to fine tune your KPIs over the time to ensure your KPIs deliver value to your business and will remain relevant to your business goals, industry benchmarks and competitive landscape.

If you will follow the above steps it would be much easier to set effective KPIs and if you have to redefine them or improve them you can also do easily with the above mentioned steps.

How to set KPIs which are aligned with high-level business goals?

How to collect employee performance data?

When we are measuring something it is usually a number, however, the human performance is not something which can entirely be measured on the bases of hard numbers. Although a good performance management system measures employee performance in quantifiable metrics but this is not as that simple as measuring the weight or height. Here are a few most effective methods of measuring the employee performance:

Rating Scales: Using the rating scales or graphical rating scales is one of the best way to measure employee performance in different performance areas. The graphical rating scales are usually sequential numbers such as 1 to 10 or 1 to 5. Usually the rating scales are used to measure the behavioral competencies, for technical competencies other tools are used.
Feedbacks: The feedbacks or 360^O Feedback is one of the most commonly used and most effective method to collect employee performance data. The 360^O Feedback includes taking feedback from supervisor/manager, peers, customers, suppliers, cross-team management, and any other stakeholder and then it is analyzed for common trends and similarities.
One-to-One: The one to one meetings are a great way to quickly evaluate the performance and identify the areas of improvement. A good performance management system also facilitate one-on-one meetings and provide intuitive features to document them. The one-on-one meetings and discussions can help bridging the communication gap between the managers and employees which is essential for improving the performance.
Management by Objectives: The Management by Objectives or MBO is a process where the employees and the managers define the objectives with mutual understanding. Thus the employees have a better understanding of what is to be expected from them and how the success would be measured. This is a great way to increase employee engagement and improve communication between employees and the managers.
Self-Evaluation: The employee self-evaluation is one of the best way to increase employee engagements and motivation. Often employees are more critical of their performance than the managers are. Which help managers to compare the employee’s self-evaluation with their evaluations. It help finding similarities and provide a better understanding of the employee performance, it also help managers to build good employee development and training programs.
Check-list Forms: A simple check-list form is a great way to quickly evaluate an employee. It could be used for both behavioral and technical competencies. It will help managers identify the employees with major deficiencies in important performance areas and help them improve training programs and also in forming high-performing teams.

There are several other ways and methods to collect employee performance data, however, the most important thing to understand is that the employee performance management requires continuous monitoring and tracking of the employee performance.

How to collect employee performance data?

Conclusion

No matter how high-tech or advanced your IT infrastructure, assembly line, production plant or customer service center it, one thing is essential and it is your employees who will be utilizing those technologies and resources to generate value. The value which will help you satisfy and retain your customers and help you build a good brand image. Markets in Dubai, Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi or in any other emirate of the UAE are very competitive, the customers tend to switch very quickly if a business fails to meet their needs or expectations. In such a tough and competitive market landscape it is important to ensure you are utilizing your resources at their full potential whether it is human resource or non-human resource. That is why the performance management system is so crucial for a businesses of all types and sizes. The two core aspects of performance management are employee evaluation and KPIs. In this blog we have discussed what KPIs are and how businesses can utilize them to harvest the highest possible value form their resources. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to implement a highly cost-effective and tailor-made performance management system for your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

August 14, 2023

Maximizing Efficiency: The Benefits of Implementing a Queue Management System

Every business wants efficient operation, whether it is some internal process or a customer facing environment, the efficiency is essential. When a business has efficient work flows, processes and even the teams, they tend to produce more and better outcome with whatever resources they have in hand. That is the reason in order to generate value and drive profits a business needs efficiency in every aspect of the operations. Now when we talk about the customer facing environments, the biggest challenge is to make customer flow efficient and improve customer experience. Whether you are operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi or any other part of UAE you must be aware of the fact that every customer have too many choices, you one mistake and you can lose them to your competitor. Furthermore the customers are also very demanding and they tend to switch service provider very quickly. Even just a single bad experience is enough to make customer the switch. Studies and market research have revealed that it is 9 to 25 times more expensive to acquire a new customer comparing to selling to an existing customer. That is why customer experience and customer satisfaction is crucial for a business success.

What is a Queue Management System?

A queue management system is a tool which consists of software and hardware parts and it is used to manage the customer flow and customer experience. The queue management software is a server application which is connected to an interactive self-service ticket dispensing kiosk or queuing kiosk. It is also connected to digital signage screens and audio announcement system. Some businesses also use dynamic counter plates which can also be managed through the queue management system. Furthermore the hardware part of the queue management system includes a ticket dispensing kiosk which allow your customers and visitors to interact with the system and issue them token numbers. There is a digital signage screen, which displays live queuing details and keep your guests informed about the current activities on each service counter. A business can have multiple signage depends on the premises size. Similarly the audio announcement system is also hardware part powered by in-built multi-lingual audio announcements module. The counter plates are also connected to the queue management system via network and can display the counter number/name along with the current ticket number. These components form a standard queue management system with basic configurations. Businesses can add more software and hardware components to enhance the features of the queue management system.

What are the Drawbacks of Poorly Organized Customer Flow?

A poorly organized customer flow have many drawbacks, it doesn’t only affect your customers but it will also have a negative impact on your employees and their performance. Which will translate to low productivity, poor growth, bad business reputation, higher customer churn rate, lower conversion rate and in the long run it will damage your brand image. When the queues or waiting lines are not managed properly the very first effect is extended wait time. When the customers will have to wait for longer period of time, they will be frustrated and annoyed. This will cause many other problems such as line jumping, customer complaints and more fraction in customer journey. When the waiting lines are not managed efficiently they employees also suffer, they will have to deal with customer complaints, they will have to manage the queues by themselves and they will have more workload, it will also distract them from their primary tasks which will undermine their performance. The customers will reach to the counter in stress and they will be unhappy, this will result in poor interaction with the service agents, and it will also make it difficult for the service agents to satisfy the customer. Long waiting lines, and extended wait time will result in higher customer churn. When employees will fail to improve their performance despite putting all efforts, they will leave too. Higher employee turnover will cause several other problems, higher customer churn rate will damage your business’s reputation.

What are The Benefits of Implementing a Queue Management System?

There are several benefits of implementing a queue management system, but it is important to understand that there are different types of queue management systems available in the market. You must have to choose the right solution that suits your needs and business type. However, one of the best way is to hire a well-reputed queue management system provider such as RSI Concepts and ask them to build a bespoke tailor-made customized queue management system according to your needs. Here are some of the benefits of implementing a queue management system:

Reduction in Customer Waiting Time

When the customer flow is well-organized, they queuing process is automated the customer wait time will automatically reduce. By implementing a queue management system businesses can automate several queuing process. The ticket dispensing is automated, the customer flow is managed by the smart algorithms of the queue management software, and the employee performance is also improved. A queue management system can automatically take decisions, and set customer route according to the historical data and the live queuing data, which is why the customer wait time is optimized. Furthermore the queue management system also help improving customers’ waiting experience by reducing the perceived wait time. It keep customers engaged and distracted from the waiting by frequently making audio-visual announcements and updating the digital signage. Furthermore the queue management system can also play multimedia content, adverts, promotional and marketing content on the digital signage which also help increasing customer engagement and help optimizing the perceived wait time.

Improved Employee Performance

When a business implements a queue management system the employee efficiency and performance is significantly improved. Without a queue management system the employees will have to adhere to several other tasks, most of which are not productive. Manually managing customer flow, especially during the peak-hours can greatly undermine the employee performance and it also have toll on service quality. However, with a proper queue management system in place the employees don’t have to worry about many things and they are free to focus on their primary and more productive tasks. This not only boost employee performance but also greatly reduce their workload. When the employees work under a balanced workload their satisfaction increases and they tend to perform better. The queue management system automate several queuing processes, and it also offers dedicated service agent dashboards, which can also lift up a lot of workload and help service agents in many tasks. Businesses can significantly improve employee performance and service quality by implementing a queue management system.

Enhanced Customer Experience

The customer satisfaction depends on customer experience and service quality, better experience results in higher customer satisfaction index. When a business implements a queue management system it automates several queuing processes. When the customers know that their tokens are issued by computer operated system, they have more trust over the system, and it assured them there will no favoritisms, no line-jumping, no intervention from the staff, whatever token is issued to them they will be served accordingly. Furthermore the queue management system keeps customers and visitors engaged and help diluting the effects of waiting and reduce their stress. This will improve their waiting experience. As the service staff is also aided by the queue management system, they are also more welcoming, fresh and prepared for the customers. This all results in a better customer interaction with the service agent and also tend to improve the service quality. Implementing a queue management system greatly improves customer experience and results in higher customer satisfaction which help your business building a strong brand image and reputation.

Real-time Monitoring and Remote Management

One of the best advantage of implementing a queue management system is that it offers real-time monitoring and remote management features. Businesses often have multiple branches where they deploy a queue management system, and even in case of only one office the real-time monitoring dashboard and capabilities to manage the system remotely are some of the most productive features. Usually there is a central location or head office where the top management resides, they want to monitor the queuing activities and stats to take timely decisions. The queue management system is a centralized software system which connects all branches and parts and enable real-time monitoring. The branch manager, or the senior manager at the head office or any other user with adequate access can monitor the live real-time queuing data and stats. Furthermore it is very easy to implement the queuing polices and strategies across the entire business, remotely from the head office. Businesses can also set automated alerts and notifications for the managers and supervisors to enable them to be more reactive towards the customer footfall and help them improve the customer flow by keeping them up-to-date all the time.

Collect Business Intelligence Data

The data is the backbone of modern fast-paced markets. Every business who wants to succeed should be able to collect, analyze and utilize the business intelligence data in order to generate value and productive outcomes. A queue management system can provide a wealth of highly accurate and valuable business intelligence data. The queue management system can collect queuing data, system usage stats, waiting time trends, customer footfall trends, employee performance and KPI metrics, and it can also collect direct customer feedback which can be incorporated in several internal decision making process to improve strategies and overall performance of the business. The queue management system can also be integrated with third-party tools and central information center which enables it to collect data from various sources, and it also allow the queue management system to provide business intelligence data for other systems and tools. Businesses can analyze the queue management system data and customer feedback using in-built analytical tools, or they can extract it in form of various intuitive report formats such as summary reports, trend reports and much more which help them utilize the business intelligence data at its full potential and maximize the overall efficiency and performance of the business.

Conclusion

In modern fast-paced markets where the markets are subjected to subtle and rapid changes, a business needs a proactive approach to deal with up-coming challenges. Managing customer facing environments and maintain a satisfactory customer experience is one of the most challenging task a service-based business ever faces. Poorly organized waiting lines and long queues can have devastating effects on a business. Pool queuing strategy and manual queue management can results in poor employee performance, low service quality, and unhappy customers. However when a business implements q modern queue management system, they can greatly improve employee performance, customer experience and consequently customer satisfaction. A queue management system offers many features which can help improving the customer flow and minimizing the customer churn rate. In this blog we have discussed what a queue management system is and how businesses can benefits from it. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to build you a tailor-made queue management system for your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

August 2, 2023

Why Custom Performance Management System is more Effective?

In the fast-paced business landscape it is extremely important for a business to utilize its resources at fullest potential. Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and anywhere else in UAE are well aware of the fact that the markets in this country tend to change very quickly, the customer demands are also increasing endlessly. That is why businesses all around the UAE give a lot of attention to performance management frameworks. The performance management is one of the primary task of the HR department and that is the reason HR leaders and businesses are ready to invest a lot in performance management systems and programs. There is another strong reason for investing in performance management system which is the adaptation of agile processes and methods. When businesses adopt agility, a gap is formed naturally between the managers and the employees. Most of the time the business leaders and managers failed to implement proper people management practices which results in dissatisfaction and distrust among the employees and undermine their performance and productivity.

The modern day employees are also more concerned about their personal development and growth, they want more frequent feedback from their managers which help them improve their skills and productivity. There has been several surveys and studies all around the world which suggested more than 80% of the business leaders lost faith on the traditional performance management practices and annual appraisal processes. Almost similar percentage of employees also express their distrust on traditional performance management methods. Therefore a modern, digitalized and technology based performance management system is needed. Basically a performance management system is a software tool, which can provide a continuous performance monitoring tools and analytical data and allow both managers and employees to access valuable performance management data in a very intuitive and interactive manner. Only a modern digital performance management system solution can fulfill the needs of the modern businesses. In this blog we will discuss why a custom performance management system is more effective for your business.

Only a modern digital performance management system solution can fulfill the needs of the modern businesses. — Only a modern digital performance management system solution can fulfill the needs of the modern businesses

What is the Difference between a COTS and Custom Performance Management System?

Before we discuss what is the difference between a custom and COTS performance management system it is important to understand that a performance management system is a software which is used to streamline and improve the performance management processes such as one-on-one meetings, acquiring feedback, appraisal, developing personal development and training programs and other such tasks. For any HR department it is their prime goal to retain and sustain a skilled workforce and ensure other business functions can get the required talent and skillset. The performance management system is built on a powerful analytical and statistical engine, along with smart algorithms and AI software tools which makes it more efficient, impactful and effective. When it comes to acquire a new software tool there are two options, one is hiring a professional software development agency like RSI Concepts and have a tailor-made solution which matches 100% of your business needs. The second option is to quickly implement a cloud-based solution or acquire a ready-made performance management software. Both the ready-made and cloud-based solutions are COTS software, it means Commercial Off-the-shelf Software. The COTS are not designed for a single business or a specific set of users, in fact they are general purpose tools which are designed and available to a mass audience ranging from a few hundred to millions of users.

What made Custom Performance Management System Superior and a Better Match to your Needs?

Whenever a business needs a software solution and they decide to go with a commercial off-the-shelf software or COTS they usually seek to match as much of their needs as possible, on an average a good COTS solution will meet your 80% of needs. That means you will have to make compromise for the rest of the 20% of your needs. That is one of the major reason business prefer to have a tailor-made custom software solution because a custom software solution is capable of meeting 100% of your needs as it will be exclusively designed for your needs. Another great advantage of a custom performance management system is that it can provide a great competitive advantage. Furthermore the custom performance management system is exclusively designed for your business, so you also hold the ownership rights for the product. This will free your business from vendor-dependency. Businesses can manage, customize and upgrade custom performance management system in-house as well as they can choose any vendor to do so, as the entire software tool and its resources such as source code, databases and integration tools are handed over to the business who will be using it.

Here are some key advantages of choosing a custom performance management system over a COTS solution:

Custom Performance Management System: Effectively Implement Strategy

It is important to understand that the performance management is a very flexible concept. Every business has a unique organizational culture so does the strategy to implement different performance methods. It is due to the preference which every business have different from the other. These preferences are based on the business goals, strategic objectives and their desire to improve certain aspects of the performance. For example, some businesses might prioritize the technical competencies and some might want to focus on behavioral competencies and so on. Along with that for a different set of employees the KPIs are different the desired outcome is different, hence the strategy and focused performance aspects would be different. Furthermore there are different performance management methods and every business would have different choice, on top of that most business leader prefer to use a combination of two or more methods to implement their own unique performance management strategy. That is the reason the commercial off-the-shelf software solutions can never fulfill all of your needs. Furthermore the COTS are built as per industry standards and offers more rigid framework. However, a custom performance management system can offer you more control, flexibility, freedom and customization which enable you to effectively implement your own unique performance management strategy. You can utilize in-built templates and configurations wizards to setup your own customized KPIs, OKRs and performance metrics as per your needs. This allow you to laser focus on your prioritized aspects of the performance management which can greatly improve the impact and outcome.

There are different performance management methods and every business would have different choice

Custom Performance Management System: Easy Integration with Data and Third-party Systems

The entire performance management system depends on collecting, flow and analysis of the data. It is extremely important to understand that if data collection would be easier, the outcome would be more accurate. That is why most modern performance management systems have ability to automatically collect data. Businesses can manually upload data too or they can use dedicated dashboards to input the data but it is important that uploading data or integration and automated-data collection is as per the needs of the business. The IT infrastructure of any organization is a very complex eco-system, it develops gradually and evolve as per the needs and changes within the organization or due to the impact of external factors. This means there would be a lot of different system some of which might be integrated already with the central information system. There could be a lot technology platforms and different vendors that a business is using to form their IT infrastructure. When a new software application is deployed in such environment the biggest challenge is integration and communication between different third-party systems and tools. Since the commercial off-the-shelf software are usually standardized tools, hence integration could be a big challenge, it could be very expensive and in some cases it could be impossible. However, the customized performance management system is exclusively built for your needs, so all these problems are already accounted for. All these challenges can be dealt effectively and with convenience when you have full control over the structure of the software that you are building. That is why the customized performance management system are more effective in integrating with third-party tools and databases, which allow them to easily attain automation and built innovative features to minimize the effort and workload of the users. Even in case of manual uploads or dedicated dashboard to input data the customized performance management system is much more effective and far superior to any COTS solution in the market.

Custom Performance Management System: Get Customized Features and UI

Similar to performance strategy implementation, the features of the performance management system also require customization if you want to align the system with your needs. The biggest problem with the commercial off-the-shelf performance management software is that they are built according to the industry standards and only follow standardized procedures and processes. Which is helpful but sometimes it could be a hurdle instead of support. The custom performance management system software is exclusively designed as per your requirements hence there is no such barrier or limitation. You can customize each and every feature, process, SOP, protocol and even the reporting formats and designs. For any performance management system the ultimate goal is to collect performance data, drive reports from the data and then take informed decisions to maximize the probability of the success. There is another most important aspect which is the user interface (UI). Most of the businesses doesn’t focus much on it, however, it is extremely important aspect of any software application. With the custom performance management system you can customize the GUI or UI as per your requirements, you can have your customized branding, and even functionalities can be customized and labeled as per your needs which can greatly enhance the efficiency and efficacy of the performance management system. The stock or off-the-shelf solutions doesn’t offer such customizations.

Custom Performance Management System: High Scalability and Easy Upgrade

Whenever businesses are acquiring any software solution, the scalability and ability to upgrade it in future are the two most important aspects to consider. The commercial off-the-shelf software comes with several restrictions and limitations. Similarly the commercial off-the-shelf performance management system could be easier and quicker to deploy but down the road it will pose more challenges. Furthermore these software are usually cloud-based and comes in different tiers and plans which are designed to target a specific size or industry. Hence if you need some features which are not available in your plan you might have to subscribe for additional plan, which will be more expensive and at the end of the day most of the features comes with expensive plan might not be useful for your business. The markets evolve very fast, the customer demands could change over the night, and business need to be very vigilant and responsive towards such changes, which is usually not possible with the commercial off-the-shelf solutions. Furthermore these applications take ages to develop and build new features, there are several challenges for the vendor to upgrade them. Businesses keep growing and after sometime scaling up these software would cost you a lot. The custom performance management system is completely free from all those limitations and restrictions. You can customize it whenever you want, you can scale it up or downsize it whenever you need and without paying even a single dime. Furthermore you can also customize your custom performance management system to add new features or to make changes at a nominal cost unlike the COTS which incurs hefty fees and charges for such requirements.

Custom Performance Management System: Cost-effective and High ROI

When we compare the initial cost of the commercial off-the-shelf solutions and the customized software applications, the COTS apparently looks more cost-effective. However, that is not true at all. The COTS can be deployed quickly but won’t be able to fully match your 100% of the requirements, however, the custom performance management systems have higher initial cost but can fully aligned with your requirements and fulfill your 100% of the needs. In order to compare the cost we will have to look at the ROI over a longer period of the time. The stock or commercial off-the-shelf solutions have regular subscription charges which you will have to pay on monthly, quarterly or yearly bases as per your plan. You will have no control over the software vendor, the vendor will own the application and in some cases your data is also stored at vendor’s server which is not as that secure. However, the custom performance management system is exclusively designed for your business, the vendor doesn’t have the ownership of the application, instead you will own the ownership rights of the software and you will also own all the software code, resources and the entire application which will be handed over to you. You can have full control over your custom performance management system, there is no vendor dependency, you can chose any vendor or even in-house team to maintain and upgrade your software. Your data will be hosted with you or at the server/cloud of your choice which offers better security. There will be no subscription fee or hidden charges, the customization will be very cost-efficient and if you calculate the ROI over an extended period of time the custom performance management system will cost you less than half of a reputed commercial off-the-shelf performance management system. The custom performance management system have longer life-cycle which can be further extended by making few changes and iterations, but in case of COTS you might have to acquire a completely new software after a few years.

Conclusion

Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi or any other emirate of UAE knows that very well that the markets here are very competitive. The overall government policies and environment is very investor-friendly hence the competition will keep rising in future too. Furthermore the customer demands are also skyrocketing and the market is subjected to rapid changes. In such environment if a business want to maintain a steady growth it is extremely important for them to have a proactive performance management strategy. The modern day employees need higher engagements and the business leaders also want more productive and effective tools to maximize the performance and productivity of their organization. That is why businesses deploy performance management systems which are mainly a dedicated software application designed to streamline the performance management processes and aid management in performing performance management tasks. When it comes to acquire a performance management system software, businesses have two way, one is finding a suitable commercial off-the-shelf solution and quickly implement it and the other is slightly longer path, which is to develop a tailor-made and fully customized performance management system which is exclusively designed for the business by keeping in mind all the needs, requirements, and existing IT infrastructure.

In this blog we have discussed several aspects of performance management system and tried to highlight the aspects which make custom performance management system more superior, effective and impactful then its counterpart, the commercial off-the-shelf performance management software. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to develop an exclusive tailor-made custom performance management system for your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.