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  • Who my jesteśmy i w jaki sposób przyczyniamy się do tworzenia sukcesu naszych klientów. O tym wszystkim, przeczytasz w następujących podrozdziałach naszego firmowego portalu. Kliknij na jeden z następujących linków a zostaniesz przekierowany do odpowiedniej strony:
    Kim jesteśmy,Nasza Misja, Nasza Historia,Referencje,Napisali o nas
  • Na naszych oczach odbywa się prawdziwa rewolucja w handlu detalicznym. Jako konsumenci, nawet w niej uczestniczymy skanując samodzielnie, zamiast ekspedientek, kupowane produkty. Nadszedł też czas na inną rewolucję, dotyczącą wewnętrznych rozliczeń kasjerskich samych sklepów – przeczytaj o tym tutaj …
  • Do tej pory mogłeś sobie kupić jedynie system do kontroli i rozliczania czasu pracy w swojej firmie i zająć się głównie jego obsługą. Od dzisiaj, możesz w dalszym ciągu to zrobić Cs-Time ale dzięki nam, możesz też wybrać innowacyjną metodę zakupu usługi dostępu do takiego systemu i skoncentrować się wyłącznie na analizie i przetwarzaniu danych, całą resztę zrobimy my – za naprawdę niewielką opłatą ! Cs-Cerber


Trade and settlement

 

 

IS IT WORTH HOLDING CASH?

It would seem that the question asked in the headline is a rhetorical one. After all, who does not want to have cash? In the 21st century, however, upon reflection not everyone is willing to enthusiastically give the obvious answer. So what is the problem? The problem is the widespread belief that money as we know it - i.e. cash (banknotes, coins) - will soon be swept off from the face of the earth by electronic money and non-cash transactions performed over the Internet. Will that happen? Let us try to look for an explanation while answering another question:

 

Is the new Internet era going to change the traditional forms of trade and the physical currency in use (banknotes, coins)?

 

Conventional trade, i.e. one where the customer can touch the merchandise and usually pays for it on the spot has been in place for thousands of years and developed in all circles of civilization. As part of the evolution of forms of sales in recent years, new Internet stores have been and continue to be established; these are taking over part of clientele of the traditional stores. Despite this, we would put a bold thesis bordering on certainty that the rumors about the disappearance of traditional trading methods are premature and heavily exaggerated. The correctness of the thesis wagered in the previous sentence has its deep justification in human nature. That nature is directed by the rights resulting from the most basic human needs. These include: the Need for Security - after all, a product that we can touch, see its authentic color, unrendered by an LCD, or simply smell, prevents the client from buying a pig in a poke and being fooled after the package sent by the online store is unpacked? The need for interaction (communication) with other human beings will never be replaced by even the lowest price in an online store. Let's move on to the Need to Mark ones social status (value​​), the hard-earned, often for generations, which will never be satisfied when you shop anonymously by clicking a mouse on your computer! Or finally, the need for straight Entertainment (Relaxation), which, no matter what we say, many of us find while visiting shop or, more broadly a shopping center - the modern temple of Commerce. One can criticize it and mock it in a manner appropriate for the Internet neophyte, but sooner or later it simply turns out irresistible! As Homo Sapiens, or rather its more advanced cousin Homo Consumensis, we would still make most of our purchases in person and in a real store, because this way is just NATURAL for us!

 

If so, what will happen to physical money as we know it? The end of "cash" and replacing it with electronic or plastic money (credit cards) has been preached for 30-40 years now. As proof of this thesis, information about the booming amount of commercial transactions in the context of credit cards or Internet transfers is brought up. Yes, it's true but it is a paradox, too; although plastic/electronic money is becoming more and more common and is increasing its turnover volume, at the same time the Central Banks emit more and more paper money and coins. Impossible? On the contrary, it is both possible and logical!

 

The volume of cash turnover in circulation has been increasing rapidly for decades, which results from two major processes : wealthier societies, which in economy is measured by the growth level of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the creation of the so-called virtual money (fiat money) emitted by the governments of many countries, e.g. in order to stimulate economic growth or operate the internal debt. Recently, this second method of creating virtual money was completed in an atmosphere of numerous scandals and spectacular failures of entire banks, by creative ways to create money using the so-called bank derivatives (options, futures transactions, forwarding contracts, etc.). All of these instruments have a speculative element deeply rooted into them and therefore are not involved in the production of specific goods; they only participate in the creation of virtual value, which through new instruments produce a cascade of further non-monetary value but are paradoxically expressed in money and recorded in the statistics. These huge masses of money then "circulate" in a normal economy, up until reaching a financial meltdown (the last one in 2008) causing a realignment of values ​​and through inflation baring the amount of real money in circulation. The history of recent years shows that even if the volume of "fiat" money falls only momentarily, as the governments of many countries have learned to immediately respond to such phenomena by emitting additional fiat money, which in turn causes re-inflation, and hence calls for another issuance of banknotes losing their nominal value. The above phenomena and the mechanisms activating them clearly show that the amount of money (real and virtual) in circulation will be growing steadily. An increasing amount of electronic money is also a result of the lack of profitability of printing banknotes as equivalent to money, which is not actually present in the economy, apart from the accounting records on servers. In conclusion, with the increase in the quantity of money in circulation, including that generated by the increase in GDP, or speculative and inflation growth, created in the accounting records of investment banks as well as emissions, the amount of physical money in the world is still growing and there is no indication that it should stop or decrease. To lay it on the line, we should only add that despite the high cost of production of banknotes and coins, countries that do not rely on the value of its currency bullion (such as the Euro-zone) must have something "hard" to rely on; and the records in a computer program like are not even close, and will never be. In some reasonable degree, they must always be a reflection of the real, physical money sunk into economic circulation and that ensures that the emission printing presses will still work. The whole production will sooner or later hit the millstones of commerce that will mill it around until the last man on earth would want to buy a can of Coca Cola a store around the corner.

Did you know that e-commerce in the U.S. is only 5.6% of total trade turnover?

 

Check the data of the U.S. Ministry of Commerce for the 2nd quarter of 2013 http://www.census.gov/retail/mrts/www/data/pdf/ec_current.pdf

 

 

Cash turnover in trade (p.1)

Cash turnover in convetional trade – a description of the process and vision of its development (p.1.)

    Conventional trade today refers to all these forms of trading that involve physical contact between the customer, the product and its reseller. Data provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce clearly show that the traditional trade is still 94.6% of the total U.S. trade turnover (link). This suggests that trade in its conventional form is well and will be so for a long time. The article about the circulation of money in economy (read more…) allows drawing a similar conclusion about the future use of cash in circulation. If this is so and still will be for long, you might want to ask yourself the following question: how does money in the form of cash circulate properly in the traditional trade and is this process is already fully optimized?

This and other questions concerning this issue can be answered if you are familiar with the current situation and development trends in the "cash processing" industry. But before we proceed to describe the current functioning of the system, for better orientation in this hermetic little world, it is worthwhile doing a brief insight into its history.

 

We will not go back to distant times; a description of the system just 10-40 years ago should be enough. In fact, matters connected with money do not usually change too quickly - changes are slow and allow easy tracking. Thus 10-40 years ago (differently in different countries), cash and checks (still very popular, especially in the West), upon acceptance by the cashier, ended up in a shop safe or vault, where they were first counted by the cashier, who had to settle the takings, then a second count was made by an internal department (for large networks) or the store manager (for small commercial units). Accordingly to the technological capabilities and accepted standards, the "safely" packed money was deposited in a safe or vault, where it awaited the arrival of the bank convoy. The armed convoy receiving it belonged to the bank; the central on or a large bank whose client the store was. After receiving the packaged cash, which involved meticulous counting and simple acknowledgment of receipt by the convoy and the store employees, cash was transported to a larger bank branch, including branches of commercial banks, which had the so-called sorting rooms. There, qualified bank staff recalculated each cash deposit or from a small customer or brought together the deposits, prepared by big stores. After doing this, the sorting staff entered the data of these calculations to the relevant internal and external (for the customer) protocols and the counted cash was forwarded to the sorting vault, only to be pulled out after a while, to carry out an order of some other customer for the preparation of the so-called "allowances". The excess cash over the limit allowed by the relevant provisions (in Poland issued by the Central Bank) should be immediately deposited into the vault of the nearest branch of this institution. It often happened that a convoy of surplus cash from a branch of a commercial bank has not yet reached the branch of National Bank of Poland, when another already left carrying out a reported, urgent customer order of a large branch of a commercial bank. In addition to the general provisions, since there was not even a semi-automatic system of coordinating activities of subordinate staff at that time, the system was extremely costly and inefficient.

 

Going back to the description of the cash turnover, the sorting room of a commercial bank had to prepare cash shipments for their clients who had ordered it for the next day. The costly counting and packaging of the ordered packets took place again, often consisting of various denominations including coins. After packing the cash in the bank sorting room, the convoy delivered the ordered packages to the bank customers. It happened so often that there was only one customer in remote small towns, and in accordance with the provisions, the convoy had to reach them, wasting time and money. Needless to say, another bank would send its own convoy to the same town but different client. When the convoy had reached its destination, the procedure of transfer or receipt of cash would usually require the physical presence of the bank customer's representative responsible for these issues, which in turn limited the convoy's work during to the opening hours of commercial establishments and thus raised the convoy's operating costs. Moreover, the mere transmission of cash was associated with physical counting of packages and protocoling the fact. The cash taken by the bank's customer, in our case, a commercial chain, ended up in store vault. At the appropriate time, while maintaining strict procedures, officers would prepared and issue for a receipt the so-called cashier benefits to all cashiers working several shifts. Cashiers had an obligation to count them and acknowledge the accuracy of the declared amount. Here again we had to deal with another costly process (time, technical infrastructure, salaries of dedicated employees). At this point, the cycle would close for a while, just to start anew immediately upon the checkout receiving cash from customers for their purchases..

 

The situation described above with its various local variants, took place in our country until the late 1990s and the first years of the new millennium. It had changed primarily due to the emergence of a number of large foreign retailers and convoy businesses in Poland, escorting and clearing cash (Securitas, Group4, etc.). At this time, there has also been rapid development and consolidation of companies in the home sector, initially security companies, who would very quickly fill the new opening segment: Cash in Transit (CIT) and Cash Processing (CP).

 

 

What happened then and why?

 

The main driver of change were the expectations of foreign investors from the trade and banking sectors and the stress of political factors in Poland to introduce systemic changes in the cash handling to follow a model that has operated in the West for many years. These changes were downright revolutionary for our country. Firstly, the National Bank of Poland, along with large banks, has lost its monopoly to conduct have rooms/vaults in favor of the newly established private counting and escorting companies. After a brief adjustment period, commercial banks quickly abandoned the independent exercise of convoy and counting services for their clients, recognizing these actions as too costly. The already mentioned private companies have taken over the support of their clients in two main areas: called Cash in Transit (CIT), which is escorting cash, and Cash Processing (CP), which involves counting and cash management. The latter activities are taking place in the so-called Cash Center (CC).

We already know what happened but why? That still remains unsaid. In fact these changes resulted from economic calculations, first carried out in the West, and later implemented in our country with the entire imported, ready system. A system that had already had the time to consolidate and overgrow with proven methods of work and related procedures.

 

Have these effects already completed the revolution in the organization of the cash turnover in? The answer, of course is, NO! This was only the beginning of changes that (and this must be stated clearly) could not have taken place without the first fundamental change in the philosophy of cash turnover, i.e. PRIVATIZATION OF THE PROCESSES MANAGING THIS CYCLE. To be continued……

 

 

Time

 

THERE ARE REASONS TO WORK HONESTLY AND TO HONESTLY PAY FOR THE TIME WORKED

NOW THERE ARE ALSO TECHNOLOGICAL POSSIBILITIES TO ENSURE THAT

Which employer would not want to honestly pay its employees for all hours they have worked? Which employee would not want to work honestly the hours spent in work? Excluding pathological cases, almost none. Therefore, why do these two groups often make a wide arc bypassing the common goal? Firstly, they perceive it from two opposite sides and that creates antagonisms in the interpretation of this issue. Secondly, the historically conditioned prejudices, whose roots date back to the nineteenth century as well as the unfortunate atmosphere of distrust, still fueled by the media, supported by negative examples of current practice completing the whole (we are talking about abuse cases occurring on both sides).

Contrary to appearances, the situation is not at a stalemate, and many organizations are getting better and better at dealing with the solving the problem. Their number is constantly growing, since only solving this problem can increase productivity and improve the competitive position in the economic and labor markets.

What is the key to solve the problem, what action should be taken to solve it once and for all? Just as there are two reasons for the problem, so are there also two solutions; here they are:

In both cases the initiative lies with the managers

In the first case, managers must honestly and skillfully demonstrate to their subordinate employees the direct impact their labor productivity has on the economic performance or index achieved by the organization, and consequently, on the associated salaries, bonuses, non-salary bonuses, etc. Finally on maintaining the stability of jobs in the long run - which in itself is the value that cannot be overestimated nowadays. Policymakers may use a wide range of tools for passing credible knowledge of these mechanisms to their staff, and in the absence of these tools, they may use professional assistance to companies that specialize in this regard. It has to be noted, however, that for such a message to be authentic and convincing, the key declarations must be submitted by the board, and it should see to it that every now and then this initiative is repeated. Such action must be included in the personnel policy of organizations as systemic action.

In the latter case of the existing deadlock, effective solution involves the latest... technology! Its skilful use can effectively solve the issues of mutual mistrust, accumulated over the decades. How does it do it is among the issues so far reserved for psychology. Increased confidence among the feuding parties is guaranteed by an independent arbiter controlling and responsive to any attempts at fraudulent use of one party by another. Until now, it was a representative of the employer, a union member, state inspection body, etc., all of whom were susceptible to bias and self-interest, or in the best case, to lack of jurisdiction. Instead of finding a solution, the problem would grow. The emergence of the latest technological solutions introduced a revolution in this field, although unnoticed by many. What is it? First of all, for the first time there has appeared a truly independent and, admittedly, soulless arbiter who would equally protect the interests of the employer and the employee. An arbiter that is also infallible, fair, competent and resistant to attempted pressures.

How does it work in practice?

Recent IT systems supported by biometric identification technology give each party a 100% guarantee of fairness in the collection of authentic data about the time worked. We deliberately omit the issue of labor productivity associated with employee obstruction or with the work process being badly organized the employer. These are extremely important issues, however, which require a separate analysis. However, if the company or organization has already successfully dealt with them or is determined to do so, then the foundation to the strengthening of a correct relationship or initiating it is a thorough Time Attendance (T&A). After all, it is impossible to raise labor productivity, if 15% of the crew is notoriously late for work, just as many leave home before time, and another 25% spends dozens of minutes on cigarette breaks, thus demoralizing those who do not smoke and have to remain at their workplace, because honesty does not allow them to find a reasonable excuse for a little "break". All this raises frustration and discourages honest workers. In a way, these abuses are seen by some employees as compensation for the employer's informal unrecorded overtime. A paradox can be observed: the employer and the employee become silent accomplices of the same unfair conduct, each trying to cheat the other one a little more! Leaving aside the obvious moral aspect, we can easily note the absurdity of the system and the dual discomfort on both sides. Would it not be easier and better for everyone to go back to the content of the signed "contract of employment", which clearly states that the employer has to pay for the specified amount of hours worked! Then why should one employee receive full pay for 85% of time worked while another is to receive the normal hourly rate, if they had stayed an additional 2 hours at work at the employer's request? A thorough analysis of the costs would certainly have shown the company is the one who loses the most of all, since the cost of the demoralization of some of the employees is more than paid overtime or given as additional free time. To make such an analysis, one should have an accurate tool. So far there had been a shortage of such tools. Everything had changed with new technologies, particularly with the methods of biometric identification.

Why previous RCP systems did not meet the fairness condition described above? The short answer to this question is the commonly used practice of transferring proximity cards (RFID) from a colleague, who had left work earlier or is going to arrive late, to another helpful colleague from the department in order to register "correctly". The technical impossibility of registering smokers going out for a cigarette is another problem in monitoring this phenomenon.

All of these problems can be solved by biometric systems that verify only the actual person and not their card or signature on the attendance list. As you can guess, the sudden introduction of this technology had infringed the interests of both groups (employers and employees), but mainly it became inconvenient for the employees to the extent that under pressure from trade unions, the Chief Inspector of Personal Data and the Labor Courts raised charges of inconsistent with logic and the level of technological protection violations of e.g. the Law on Protection of Personal Data and the provisions of the Labor Law in the context of the so-called "inequality of parties". All of this is highly polemical and controversial, but at the present time creates an atmosphere of uncertainty and perpetuate the status quo. Waiting for a final settlement, mainly formalized in the EU legislation, which would clearly and definitively give a green light to biometric solutions, there is some uncertainty as to the legality of the use of these technologies now. Of course, there are many legal ways to protect against the effects of over-interpretation of the control authorities regarding the use of biometric RCP systems in our country, but so far it has been the way only the brave and the determined would pursue. Those who are undoubtedly right but some of the Labor Courts do not know that yet? What can be done by this part of enterprises and organizations, which would want to avoid protracted litigation, in case, and at the same time cannot tolerate the status quo?

In our opinion, there are three solutions:

  • Give up and announce your surrender as to enforcing honesty in this matter
  • Fight on and introduce biometric T&A control systems, bearing in mind the possibility of legal retaliation from staff and State authorities
  • Introduce a fully legal solution of semi-biometric T&A control and the professional accounting offered e.g. by an innovative technology company Data Evolution Labs

CONSEQUENCES OF CHOICE

In the first case, it will probably further demoralization of management and labor personnel that will intensify the relations and inevitably lead towards economic disaster. With the stipulation that this would first be felt by redundant workers and later by the employer closing company.

In the second case, the consequence would be a temporary exacerbation of relations between the board and the staff; following a period of turbulence achieving positive economic results (increased productivity) will be possible as well as laborious but progressive rebuilding of mutual trust. The only negative consequence of the choice may be the long-term costs and even losing the legal struggle in case of the employees suing the employer under employee representation.

In the third case, using the legally approved methods of RFID card identification with the use of an innovative method called "biometric overlay" which allows avoiding conflict with the law, you can achieve a fully effective time and attendance control while also eliminating the arguments of staff! Increasing labor productivity is just a simple consequence of the method used. Good atmosphere between the employer and the employees results from a non-confrontational implementation of methods used in contrast to the method as in the second case. The expected liberalization of the legislation in the future will allow full transition to the biometric system, which is already applied in part.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we should note the two distinctive and undoubtedly positive aspects of change caused by technological advances in the field of RCP and having a substantial impact on businesses and increase in their economic efficiency; they are:

  • improved economic performance through incorporating into the organization of work a foundation for growth in the form of a modern, fully accurate and fair system of control of working time
  • by eliminating the generator of mutual distrust and replacing it with an "Arbiter" that protects the rights of both parties and builds mutual trust. The technological change is also opening a new chapter in labor relations, where each party has the opportunity for a reliable assessment of their mutual obligations resulting from the contract for the provision of work.

Gaining mutual trust through a reliable system for measuring working time, both sides of the conflict defined at the beginning of the article will unexpectedly find themselves at the same on side of it. Seeing this issue in the same way, without prejudices, they will be able to focus on the most important thing - raising labor productivity and management efficiency, because it is the only guarantee of development and even survival in a market economy. A positive side effect here may be an increase in the profitability of the business and thus increased pay for a fair day's work.


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