It’s no surprise that Bill Gates — a business magnate, investor, author, philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder — has lessons that can apply to any field. So why not include Uniform Management as well? 😉
SKYPRO has put together some of his sayings and lessons that can apply to our world and the result is very interesting.
Check out 9 things Bill Gates can teach us about Uniform Management:
- Innovate or die
- Time is a limited resource; use it wisely
- Change (better ways are available)
- Learn from unhappy customers – or, in your case, employees
- Take Care of Your People
- Don’t Automate Inefficiency
- Empower people
- Thrive on measuring your performance
- Business and technology go hand in hand
1. Innovate or die
“Innovation is moving at a SCARILY fast pace. Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time.” – Bill Gates
That is a fact stated by Bill Gates. Technology develops rapidly, and there are always new tools and products that can speed up production or decrease its costs, improve a market or even transform it for good.
Therefore, Gates believes that innovation is imperative for a company to succeed and survive nowadays. There is no other way, otherwise you will succumb to competition.
In Uniform Management, you can apply innovation to optimize the various processes that it encompasses. Uniform Management Systems (UMS) have already transformed the way companies buy, sell, return and deliver uniforms.
Nowadays, UMS like mySKYPRO are going further and using smart algorithms and Artificial Intelligence to predict orders and manage stocks. And this innovative process is just at its beginning.
2. Time is a limited resource; use it wisely
“No matter how much money you have, you can’t buy more time. There are only 24 hours in everyone’s day”. Grand words, Bill.
But how do you handle time management effectively? A few tips from Gates himself are:
- Structure your time – setting aside a specific amount of time for a specific task to be done
- Prioritise tasks – giving each task a proper urgency and proper amount of time dedicated to it.
When you have to manage uniform requests manually, for instance, reading and answering emails can be time-consuming. It is easy to be dragged into them once you have started. What about the extensive sheets that need to be updated all the time?
Emails and sheets, two things that are extremely expensive time-wise, when you think of Uniform Management.
So why do you keep doing this?
You can eliminate these processes by automating your uniform orders, returns and stock control by simply using a UMS, such as mySKYPRO.
3. Change (better ways are available)
“The people who resist change will be confronted by the growing number of people who see that better ways are available.”
Ouch, tough prediction.
Accepting change is a brave act. Sometimes, we will be afraid of changing something that has, apparently, been working well.
However, Bill Gates believes that the business world is constantly developing, and one of the reasons that he has stayed at the top of his field is because of his willingness to accept change.
So it’s time for your company to revisit the old ways of managing uniforms. Their days are numbered. Keep in mind the lessons learned from mistakes and use new tools and systems, like mySKYPRO, for a more effective and stress-free way.
4. Learn from unhappy customers – or, in your case, employees
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
When it comes to Uniforms, your customers are your company’s employees. So when a disgruntled employee has a problem with their uniform, treat it as a rich opportunity.
If Bill Gates were in a situation like this, the dissatisfied professional would likely be listened to carefully, so that he could take the right steps to improve his service, considering the best free feedback available.
Learn from the best. Dealing with customer dissatisfaction is an excellent method of continuous improvement.
5. Take Care of Your People
“Great organisations demand a high level of commitment by the people involved.”
This is a powerful statement from Mr. Gates, especially when related to the management of Uniforms.
Uniforms carry a load of symbolism and unite the workers as a powerful group. Therefore, it also represents the commitment of this group to the company’s goals.
However, for that to be true, they need to be the perfect outfit for a perfect performance. They need to give the professional the comfort, the protection and the confidence needed for their jobs. That is how a Uniform Manager takes care of their people. And here, at SKYPRO, we help you with this caring. ❤️
6. Don’t Automate Inefficiency
“The 1st rule of any technology used in a business is: automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The 2nd is: automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”
Automation is increasing rapidly in every industry, and it is not different with Uniform Management. An UMS automates and unifies every stage of Uniform Management, bringing cost and time efficiency and taking what could be a liability out of your hands. But, you have to know how to do it and do it well.
The myriad processes that Uniform Management encompasses can lead to diverse strategies to automate hundreds of tasks, which involve manufacturing, assembly, ordering, logistics and customer service.
Through mySKYPRO Portal, for example, you will have a SaaS self-service platform that will:
- easily connect you to suppliers,
- handle and limit orders,
- manage deliveries and returns,
- keep up with numbers and stocks, every step in real time
- even predict orders forecast by smart algorithms.
It’s a very wide range of processes. So, before implementing an Uniform Management System, make sure what is working and what needs to be rethought. And if in doubt, SKYPRO‘s team of experts can advise on the best ways to do it. That is how you automate efficiency.
If you want a free assessment of your uniform processes, click here.
7. Empower people
“The vision is really about empowering workers, giving them all the information about what’s going on so they can do a lot more than they’ve done in the past.”
“Okay, what does this saying have to do with Uniform Management?”, you might think. Nothing, unless you use an UMS like mySKYPRO, which gives your employees all the information they need so they can manage their uniforms on their own.
On mySKYPRO Portal, employees have information about sizes, materials, lifecycle of each item in terms of aging, uniform packs to which they are entitled, etc. Likewise, the system allows them to schedule their own fitting sessions and provide their correct clothing sizes.
In other words, mySKYPRO will remove unnecessary steps from the ordering journey and allow your employees to request their uniforms by themselves, according to the items that they are entitled to and according to their right sizes. It is an easy and error-free task, which avoids the problem of delay in wearing the uniform because of misinformation.
Wrong orders and constant returns are potentially reduced, and you take a lot of work off your hands. Your productivity will increase through direct communication and proper cooperation.
This is how you empower employees through your Uniform Management System. And they’ll like it because it’s a stress reducer for them too, not just you.
8. Thrive on measuring your performance
“In business, the idea of measuring what you are doing, picking the measurements that count… you thrive on that.”
Bill is right here, too.
Keeping track of the progress of your work so you can have control over it is key for a good Uniform Management.
Thankfully, today there are automated systems that generate reports that help you get full transparency. mySKYPRO is excellent at that. In one click, you can see your:
- Employees Orders
- Returns
- Renewal Rates
- Consumption
- Invoiced Value
- Current stocks
- Workgroups
- Cost per worker
- And many more useful reporting data.
9. Business and technology go hand in hand
“Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other.”
In saying that, Gates has summarized what you’ve read so far in this article, right?
Information technology is at the centre of the world now. Everything we do in our lives has some kind of connection with it. Just think of how many times you look at your phone a day, how often you use it to solve any task or problem of your professional or personal life.
That is why technology is now essential for any kind of business to grow. You are only ahead in the market just as much as you are ahead in technology.
So use it to your advantage on all your work fronts. If you are a Uniform Manager, find out why mySKYPRO is the best and most up-to-date UMS that will help you be the best at work.
Let’s talk: info@wearskypro.com 😉
SKYPRO, feel the ultimate care!
