The Fundamentals Of Planning Your Business Travel Like An Expert
ENSURE YOU HAVE A CLEAR-CUT TRAVEL POLICY SET UP
A well-defined travel policy is an important (and cost-effective) manner of effective travel management. A specified travel policy should outline clearly stipulated guidelines for all employees with regards to responsibilities and while traveling; travel arrangements and travel expenses.There are a numerous factors to consider when compiling a travel policy for your company.Although cost-effectiveness is an important requirement, it is vital that you don’t jeopardies the safety and quality of travel service, as well as compromise on travelling employees’ travel needs. Offer a small variety of options that allow employees to select one that suits them the best. You can avoid unnecessary compromise even further by letting employees offer their thoughts and/ opinions during the decision-making process.Always ensure that you always have your employees’ up-to-date contact details on hand, in case of emergencies.Responsibility regarding expenses – personal, business, leisure etc. – must always be clearly and precisely set out.GET A GRIP ON TRAVEL TECH
Travel planning has undoubtedly been revolutionised by the rise of online booking apps. The trouble with the increase in availability of such tools is choosing which one to use for your business travel planning.A great option is to have a ‘personalised’ online booking tool that has been custom made according to you business’ particular travel policies and needs. Although having your own travel tech has its advantages – such as being able to increase efficiency with built in approval processes and managing your travel at any time – there are a few disadvantages that should be noted. The initial designing and assembly, as well as the continued administration, of a custom online booking tool can be rather steep. Another drawback is that all the research necessary will be your responsibility. It begs the question whether the convenience is worth the required effort and cost.A terrific option is to make use of a travel management company (TMC). Working with a TMC means acquire an experienced travel management asset that is a devoted travel manager. A travel manager can assist you in making the best travel decisions, based on your unique business requirements. Further benefits include help with a multitude of other details, such as VISA applications; arranging ground transport; arranging Forex and taking care of travel emergencies.The smart choice would be to use a combination of the two. The advantages of TMCs are clear and they often have an online booking tool that companies can use. This way you get best of both – the convenience and control of managing your travel bookings yourself, as well as the individual support and assistance with more complicated and/ or time-consuming processes.ENSURE TRAVELLING EMPLOYEES’ SAFETY
Although business travel is an essential and probable part of most businesses, is doesn’t come without risks. A company has a duty of care to its employees. This means it has a legal (and moral) obligation to elude risk of injury to an employee during a business trip, as much as possible. The onus is on you (the travel planner) to ensure that all the proper safety plans and measures are in place. This means assigning sufficient travel insurance, which includes medical cover, lost luggage, flight cancellations, as well as natural disasters and terrorism and everything in between.Employees must be informed of the associated risks of their destinations, before travelling, and need to be informed of the course of action to follow in case there is a travel emergency.It is vital to always know where your companies travelling employees without exception. There is a multitude of apps and online tools that you can use to help keep track of and stay in touch with your travellers.PRE-BOOK TO SAVE
You can save more when you plan ahead when it comes to making travel arrangements. Research has proven that business travellers who only book their flights a day beforehand – can end up paying as much as 200% more for their flights.In contrast – airfares are generally the cheapest from three weeks and more before the departure date. Employing an advanced purchase strategy, you can reduce or moderate the influence of price fluctuations on your company’s travel budget. Although it’s not always possible to book so far in advance as meetings and schedules are sometimes changed at the last minute), it is definitely worth the effort in the long term.APPOINT THE MOST QUALIFIED PERSON
Travel planning is not an easy task – it’s far more than just coordinating itineraries. The responsibilities of a travel manager range from bookings, policy management, budget approvals, reporting and handling travel emergencies. Then there’s the time-consuming task of finding the most affordable flights, ground transport, accommodation etc.Managing your company’s travel plans yourself has some advantages, such as great understanding of the needs and schedules of your travellers. However, employing an experienced and well-equipped corporate travel agencies will save you a great deal of the hassle. Quality TMCs have a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the travel industry, which empowers them to know when, how and where to find and book the best offers. Furthermore, TMCs often have global buying power and long-standing relationships with suppliers – which offer you the added benefit of being able to secure discounted fares on larger travel volumes.
Health Care Reform Wayback – A Brief History of Health Care Reform in the USA
Is Health Care Reform New? As somebody who is very interested in the progress of health care reform as a taxpayer, private consumer of health insurance and services, and as a professional, I have been trying to follow the current health reform debates. I am getting a little frustrated with the lack of progress on either side of the aisle, and also by some of the knee jerk reactions by politicians and their groupies.. You would think that the current administration, and its political adversaries, had just invented health reform or the cries of outrage that sound against it.I decided to do my best to outline some of the highlights of the health reform attempts, failures, and progress in the past 100 years or so. I am not a professional historian, by any means, so some may feel as if I left out important things or took them out of context. I am trying to be balanced, but take all the blame if I neglected something you feel is important.Teddy Roosevelt In the 1910′sTeddy Roosevelt ran on a very progressive platform in the early part of the last century. His campaign promises for 1912 included protection for workers safety on the job women’s right to vote, and a national health care program. He was president of the United States, by the way, from 1901 – 1909. But he lost the election of 1912 to Woodrow Wilson. It is interesting to note that this Roosevelt was a Republic. Wilson was the Democrat. Never assume that American party politics are set in stone.Early Models of Current Health Insurance and Cries of SocialismIn 1929, Baylor Hospital in Dallas, Texas came up with a pre-paid program for a large areal teacher’s union. This is considered one of the earliest models of health insurance. Now here’s the irony. A few years later, an Oklahoma doctor formed a farmer’s association with a pre-paid plan. Members of the association would pay into the plan, and then get services covered. The American Medical Association called this doctor’s plan socialism!Despite this, pre-paid hospital and doctor plans continued to grow in popularity around the US. However, they usually left out the unemployed and elderly.The New Deal in the 1930′s Another Roosevelt, FDR, also wanted to implement national health reform. He wanted to include it as part of social security legislation. That did not work out, but even Truman wanted to set up a national fund. for health care. He figured everybody could pay in, like we do for social security, and then it could make sure that people’s most severe health needs were met. All of this was left out of the New Deal, and the AMA continued to criticize it as socialism.Post World War II By the end of the second world war, it became a lot more obvious that there was a big gap between health care costs and what mos people could afford. Congress did pass a bill to build a lot more hospitals. They also required hospitals to provide charity care. They had a clause to forbid discrimination on race, religion, etc. But they did allow separate but equal care, which did not always turn out to provide equal care to everybody.In the 1950′s, labor unions began adding health benefits to their collective bargaining agreements. This really formed the basis for the group health insurance many people enjoy at work today. So group health plans became more popular, and in 1954, Congress voted to make this benefits tax-exempt.The 1960′s JFK fought hard for national health care, but again he was met with cries of socialism. But Medicare and Medicaid, regarded as American institutions now, did emerge despite this. Medicare is the US national health plan for seniors and disabled people. Medicaid is the national health plan for very poor people.Despite the fact that millions of Americans had heath insurance coverage for the first time, in the 1960′s, health care spending and costs were beginning to rise.The 1970′s – Nixon and Carter President Nixon, a Republican, worked for health reform. He proposed a bill that would require employers to provide minimum health insurance coverage. Under his administration, money was allocated for the development of HMOs and managed care to contain costs.Carter ran for president, and national health care was a large part of his campaign platform. Even though he won, the severe recession put these plans on hold.The 1980′s and COBRACOBRA is the national law that requires some employers to extend group health benefits to terminated employees for several months.The 1990′s and The ClintonsProbably the most famous previous attempt to dramatically reform health care was under President Clinton. Hillary Clinton, then first lady, spear headed this work. You will probably not be surprised to learn that political critics of the pan delighted in calling it socialism. Experts contend that the plan failed because of partisan politics on both sides. The drug and insurance companies, and the American Medical Association (AMA) also spent a lot of time and money getting the Health Security Act defeated.CHIPS – I cannot leave the 1990′s without mentioning CHIPS. This is the state and federal children’s health insurance program which covers millions of children from lower and moderate income families.21st Century Health ReformI have to credit George Bush, a Republican, with passing the Medicare Prescription plan in 2003. This is also known as Medicare Part D, and it helps fund prescription insurance for Medicare beneficiaries.Obama ran on a platform that included health reform. It seems like it is as tough to pass now as it was during the time of Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, and Bill Clinton. Politicians are still making deals behind closed doors, and of course, people are still shouting socialism.But some things have changed. The AMA now supports health reform. Many businesses are concerned about spiking costs of covering employees, and representatives have admitted they would like to see some reform that would help them. Even insurance companies have said they will cooperate.Hopefully, we can see some progress. I have no idea what will (or should) happen next.
Educational Problem Solving
AbstractThis article introduces the educational solutions module of the world’s most recent personal and professional problem solving site, describing competitive offerings, the customer profile, problem-oriented solutions, target markets, product offerings, and usability features. It concludes that the module is a major contribution to the information superhighway.IntroductionThe aim of this article is to introduce to the world the educational solutions module of the world’s most recent personal and professional problem solving site. The article is addressed to those readers who may have an educational problem bogging them and who may therefore be looking for a way out of their predicament. The reader may be a parent, child, or student.It is a common fact of life that we all have problems and that we are often frustrated or we tend to lash out because of our inability to find accessible and reliable information about our problems. This specialist site fills this need – as our pragmatic friend for solving our educational problems.To be of the greatest use to people a problem solving site must combine pragmatic discussions of their personal or professional problem with merchant products that provide more detailed information. Typically, the web site will provide free information in the form of news, articles, and advice, which direct the visitor on what to do to solve her problems. Complementing this, the web site will also provide merchant products which discuss in detail how the visitor can go about resolving her problem. This means that the most effective, visitor-oriented problem-solving site will be an information-packed commercial site – and so is the world’s most recent personal and professional problem solving site and its specialist sites.The approach that we have adopted below is to describe competitive offerings, the customer profile, problem-oriented solutions, target markets, product offerings, and usability features.Competitive OfferingsThe following are the top educational sites on the Internet, along with their offerings.US Department of Education. It defines the US education policy and provides information on financial aid, educational research and statistics, grants and contracts, and teaching and learning resources.Educational Testing Service. It provides a range of test resources.FunBrain.com. It provides educational games for K-8 kids.PrimaryGames.com. It provides fun learning tools and games for kids.GEM. It provides educational resources such as lesson plans and other teaching and learning resources.Education World. It provides advice on lesson plans, professional development, and technology integration.NASA Education Enterprise. It provides educational materials and information relating to space exploration.Spartacus Educational. It is a British online encyclopedia that focuses on historical topics.Department for Education and Skills. It is a UK government department site that offers information and advice on various educational and skills topics.Times Educational Supplement. It offers teaching news, teaching & educational resources, and active forums to help UK teachers.
All these sites are useful in the domains that they cover. Their main limitations are as follows:1. They tend to cover only a very narrow segment of the educational market.
2. They do not take as their starting point the daily educational needs of the typical family.
3. They lack a problem focus; i.e., they do not formulate the typical learning and educational problems that pupils, students, and parents face on a daily basis.
4. As a result of the preceding point, the solutions offered are not as incisive (i.e. as problem-centred) as they could be.
5. They do not offer merchant products that deepen the visitor’s understanding of her problem and of the consequent solutions.The educational solutions module of the world’s most recent personal and professional problem solving site addresses these problems by targeting a multiplicity of market segments, adopting a customer profile that fits the typical education-pursuing family, considering the specific needs or problems that this family may face, offering incisive (problem-centred) solutions to the various problems, and offering a range of merchant products that deepen the visitor’s appreciation of her problems and of the solutions that are applicable to them.Customer ProfileThe customer profile or target visitor characteristics of the educational solutions module is the same as for all specialist sites of the world’s most recent personal and professional problem solving site. The site has been designed to meet the needs of visitors who have an educational problem bogging them. It is designed for both males and females, even though it is often convenient to refer to just one sex when writing.This visitor uses search engines to research information about her personal or professional problem, with the intention of finding solutions to it. The visitor is serious about solving her problem and is therefore willing to buy products that help her to achieve her mission, provided that she can find reliable and honest information about relevant products so that she can make an informed decision about which ones to acquire. This information will help her to apply her finances economically, and hence avoid wasting money.The visitor will want a money-back guarantee so that if a product does not live up to expectations or if she were misled into buying a product she can get a refund. Such a guarantee absolves her of purchase risks.The visitor is intelligent (without necessarily being a genius), educated (without necessarily being a PhD), computer literate (without necessarily being a computer guru), and money-minded (without necessarily being a freebie hunter or an unemployed person). This of course does not mean that freebie hunters or unemployed persons cannot gain a thing from the site. To the contrary, there is a great deal of free information on the site. Just that it is hard to see how anyone can gain the full benefits of the site without buying products.The visitor wants high quality information products (usually in digital form) and wants to pay the cheapest price for these (without paying so much emphasis on price that she compromises quality). The visitor also wants free bonus offers that are attached to the purchased goods.The visitor is self-reliant and can cope on her own by reading, digesting, and applying advice about her problem until she solves it or discovers that she needs help from a professional, at which point her acquired knowledge will help her to reduce her consulting fees. As a result of the knowledge gained, the visitor will be able to assess consultants in order to avoid incompetent or fraudulent ones.Problem-Centred SolutionsOur free solutions are organised in the form of pragmatic articles that are written by top experts. Each article addresses a specific daily problem, but does not go into detail. It explains the problem and tells the visitor what she must do to solve her problem. However, it does not tell the visitor how she must solve it – this is too much for an article. To find out about the how, the visitor must buy a product (usually an e-book or e-book set) that goes into greater depth.The set of educational articles that we have chosen, to provide initial solution to a visitor’s problem are as follows:Signs of a Gifted Child – Informs parents on how to identify whether or not their children are gifted.Essential Parenting Lessons for Enriching Your Child’s Education – Teaches parents how to enhance their child’s education.Using Positive Affirmations to Be a Better Student – Teaches students how to use positive affirmations to improve their performance.They Are Just Afraid of Writing – Teaches writing skills to studentsHow Can Parents Encourage Their Children to Read? – Shows parents how they can improve their children’s reading skills.Test Preparation Tutoring – Discusses the topic of tutoring students to prepare for tests or exams.Test Taking Strategies – Discusses various strategies for taking and passing tests or examsPlaying and Winning the Scholarship Game – Describes how to win scholarships.How to Get a Scholarship to a UK University – Describes how to win scholarships to a UK university.Saving Money for College – Instructs students on how they can save money in preparation for college.Student Loans: When Your Educational Dreams Can’t Compete with the Cost – Explains to students the benefits of a student loan.Education Loans Can Fund a Higher Degree to Boost Your Career – Also explains to students the benefits of a student loan.The Secret to US Department of Education Loans – Teaches students how to get a US DoE loan to finance their higher education.Student Loan Consolidation – Save Money, Pay Less, Spend More – Explains to graduates how to make use of loan consolidation to reduce their student loan repayments.Higher Education: Finding the Right College for You – Explains to students how to find the right college or university for their higher education studies.Mobile Learning – An Alternative Worth Considering – Explains the concept of mobile learning and its place in education.Online Degrees – Is Online Education Right for You? – Analyses the merits of online learning as compared to traditional learning.An Online College Education Overview – Reviews the whole concept of online learning.Finding the Right Quotation for Your Paper or Speech Online – Shows writers and speakers how to find the right quotation to use in their writings or speeches.Collaboration: An Important Leadership Development Skill – Explores the useful concept of collaboration and its role in leadership development.At the end of each article is a list of merchant products that supplement the article’s content. A link is also included for accessing the educational product catalogue.Target Markets and Product OfferingsNow let us turn to the target markets and their associated product offerings. We have positioned the segments to address the various needs of a visitor over a period of time, and at any given time a customer may belong to one or more of the market segments. There are three general classes of products offered: ClickBank products, Google products, and eBay products. Google and eBay products are presented on each page of the site. ClickBank products are grouped into product categories that match the target markets. These categories and their markets are as follows.Children and Parenting. This consists of visitors who want parenting solutions for improving their children’s upbringing. Their needs are met through the Children and Parenting section of the educational product catalogue.Difficult Admissions. This consists of visitors who want to learn how to get admission into top universities. Their needs are met through the Difficult Admissions section of the educational product catalogue.Esoteric Needs. This consists of visitors with unusual needs. Their needs are met through the Esoteric Needs section of the educational product catalogue.Financial Aid. This consists of visitors looking for scholarships, grants, or loans. Their needs are met through the Financial Aid section of the educational product catalogue.Leadership Skills. This consists of visitors looking to develop their leadership skills. Their needs are met through the Leadership Skills section of the educational product catalogue.Learning. This consists of visitors who want to improve their learning ability. Their needs are met through the Learning section of the educational product catalogue.Mental Speed. This consists of visitors who want to explode their mental speed. Their needs are met through the Mental Speed section of the educational product catalogue.Positive Affirmations. This consists of visitors who want to transform their negative dispositions into a positive mindset in order to improve their performance. Their needs are met through the Positive Affirmations section of the educational product catalogue.Speaking. This consists of visitors looking to improve their speaking skills. Their needs are met through the Speaking section of the educational product catalogue.Tests and Exams. This consists of visitors looking to master exam technique. Their needs are met through the Tests and Exams section of the educational product catalogue.Writing. This consists of visitors looking to improve their writing skills. Their needs are met through the Writing section of the educational product catalogue.Usability ConsiderationsUsability has been enhanced to make it easy for the visitor to find solutions to her problem, by following these steps:1. The first thing the visitor sees are a set of articles whose titles represent the specific problem area they address. The articles are accessed from the Educational Problem Solving menu of the navigation bar to the left of the screen or from the Educational Problem Solving main page. By scanning these articles the visitor can identify whether or not her problem is covered. If not the visitor can check the educational product catalogue through the Product Catalogues menu of the same navigation bar, to see whether a product exists that answers her query. If she finds nothing she knows that her problem is not addressed. She can proceed to the Related Sites pages, which are accessible from the left navigation bar.2. If the visitor finds an article that addresses her problem then she can begin to explore that; at the end of the article she will find products that discuss her problem more deeply. She can also access the educational product catalogue through an article page.ConclusionThis article has introduced the educational solutions module of the world’s most recent personal and professional problem solving site. The article has examined competitive offerings, the target customer profile, problem-oriented solutions, target markets, product offerings, and usability considerations. It concludes that the module is a major contribution to the information superhighway.
Are Some Student Loans Better Than Others?
At times it becomes difficult to finance education from your own pocket or via scholarships. For that purpose you must go for student loans. There could be many choices of getting a student loan, depending upon your status and type of education. So, you should check all options available and to choose the best one.Student loans are of three main types:o Federal student loanso Private student loanso Consolidation student loansFederal loans are the main source for educational loans. Private financial institutes provide these loans. They are better than private loans, due to their assurance from government and their lowest interest rate.Credit scores are not accountable for this so almost all students can apply for them before going for any other loan. You can make delay payments, flexible credit requirements and they have longer refund terms. Federal loan is further divided in three major types. i.e.o Federal Stafford loanso Federal Perkins loanso Federal Parent PLUS loanso Federal Graduate PLUS loansIn further categorization of Federal loans Perkins are better than Stafford due to their lowest interest rate (i.e. 5% interest rate). Federal Perkins loans are only for those who are facing acute financial crises. They have no fee, a lengthy grace period.On the other hand Federal Stafford loans are more suitable if you need college loan. It has six month grace period and flexible repayments with no fine. You should be declared poor from your school.Stafford loan can be taken in case you already owe an educational fund. Its interest rate is 6.8%.There is classification of Stafford loan, i.e. if you need a long term and need based loan, and you want government to pay your interest during the school time or you want to request a grace period. In such a case Stafford loan will be term as subsidized federal Stafford loan.In another case if you need long term and you don’t fall under need based, with low interest rate, or you want additional financial support, then unsubsidized federal Stafford loan is best for you. Here interest will be paid by you. And if you are independent student then you should go for Additional unsubsidized federal Stafford loan.There is another kind of federal loan termed as federal parent plus loans, they are better for the parents of undergraduate students, who depend on their parents and parents of independent students can’t apply. For this kind of loans it necessary to check credits, they have flexible repayment options and can be used for saving money during repayments of another loan. Prepayment fine is not charged, no wages or security required, repayments can be postpone till 60 months along with the school time period of your dependent child.For graduates and professional students Federal Graduate plus loans is a best selection and these loans are better than Stafford loans and Private loans for them. You can borrow complete cost of education, but credits are checked, they offer flexible repayments, no prepayment fine is charged, interest could be tax deductible. They could also be helpful to save money for repayments and could be taken with Stafford loans. You can borrow full educational expenses, until you receive some other aid. Fee is charged but you could get help from lenders and sponsors.If you are attending a community college or a 4 – 5 year college and you are heading for your degree with adequate credits, then you can go for Signature Student Loan. In this type of loan interest rate and fee is variable depending upon the student credits, standard repayment duration is 15 years but can be extended up to 30years.Now if you have good credits and you are a parent or working adult, graduate or even undergraduate and you own a social security numbers then you are suitable for Tuition Student Loan. You should give the poof that you are already registered as student at licensed institute.In case your need is not fulfilled by federal Stafford loan or any other aid or scholarship then Signature Student Loan for Community colleges could help you. These loans have a variable interest rate, no prepayment fine and a grace period of six months.If you are part time student looking forward for degree or postsecondary student and not looking forward for degree, then Continuing Education loan is best for you. In this loan repayments can be done up to 15 years, interest rates are variable and change every month.For technical training, some sort of continuing education and online courses, Career Training loan is best. Its terms and conditions are almost same as Continuing Education loan only difference is that its fees are from 0% to 6.5%.