Have a business or technology question? Send it to ask@NCET.org and if selected, NCET’s panel of business and technology experts will answer it in our monthly column.
Should I outsource my Human Resources functions?
In these uncertain times, having a reliable workforce solutions partner can be imperative to your company’s growth and success. Many companies during these times also utilize an outsourced human resources services company to make their lives easier when it comes to dealing with those important administrative duties. So how do you know if outsourcing these administrative duties is the right fit for your organization? Here are three ways that outsourcing HR, benefits, payroll, and workers compensation might make sense for your company.
1. Cost savings – HR functions can cost a small business the expense of maintaining and even growing back office functions while contributing relatively little to revenue generation. Outsourcing HR functions immediately relieves back-office expense. In addition, HR duties can be enhanced, maintained at a certain level, or optimized with much more flexibility if the functions are outsourced – and with minimal requirement of your time!
2. Risk Management – Companies need to make sure that they follow all applicable state and Federal laws related to employment and the sector in which they do business. They also need to stay on top of rules and regulations. If they do not, they risk fines, sanctions or even lawsuits. In-house HR departments, especially for small businesses, may become overburdened keeping up with ever-changing laws and regulations.
3. Efficiencies in Multiple Functions – HR departments fulfill multiple functions. They handle payroll and tax withholding, if applicable. They administer benefits. They handle onboarding and process terminations. They may be responsible for all hiring functions, from job description development to postings.
With 2021 hopefully leading to sunnier times ahead, maybe now is the time for outsourcing these critical duties.
Chris Boline is the Lead Generation Specialist with The Applied Companies (TAC) (www.theappliedcompanies.com), a locally-owned and founded Professional Employer Organization (PEO) in Reno, NV, and a graduate of the University of Nevada. He is involved with multiple community organizations and is NCET’s co-VP of Social Media.
What the heck is an NFT and why are people paying so much for something you can look at for free?
You may have heard about a JPEG by some artist named “Beeple” selling for $69 million at Christie’s and thought it was a joke, or about people reselling clips from basketball games for thousands. Like many things that are very early in the tech adoption cycle, they don’t make sense to most people.
First off, owning an original is very different from just having access to look at or copy it. A classic analogy – you can download a copy of a Picasso, print it, put it on your wall, but you’re not going to be able to sell it for millions. Art needs proof of authenticity, often established through “provenance.”
An NFT is digital provenance. You aren’t really buying a JPEG file, you’re buying a digital deed that authenticates your ownership of an asset on a blockchain, which is like a decentralized ledger that no one can hack or change. And if that asset is scarce (there’s only one) and far more than one person wants to own it, that token becomes worth as much as what collectors are willing to pay.
Supply, meet demand.
They have many use cases, since they contain a smart contract, which automates things like royalties forever. So they could potentially replace licensing orgs like ASCAP, human jobs managing contracts, and possibly entire industries. We’re very early in this tech, so it’s something to pay attention to.
Wes McQuillen is Principal of ALTER Strategies (www.alterstrategies.co) and NCET’s VP of Email Services for Tech Wednesday. ALTER Strategies offers alternative marketing approaches for the hard-to-advertise – age restricted, highly regulated, and stigmatized products and services – including NFTs. He started collecting them last year as a nerdy hobby.
NCET is Northern Nevada’s largest member-supported non-profit that produces educational and networking events to help people explore businesses and technology. (www.NCET.org)