Use Noncompete Agreements To Help Protect Your Business From
Q: One of my former employees has started a competing business and is calling my clients and trying to steal their business from me. Do I have any legal recourse against him?
— Brad J.
A: I hate to break this to you, Brad, but unless this former employee signed a noncompete agreement while on your payroll, there is probably very little you can do to stop him from wooing your customers. You should discuss the situation with your attorney, but unless this person is also breaking the law in some other way (using stolen trade secrets, for example) your attorney will probably concur with me.
Renegade former employees riding the free enterprise wave is one reason noncompete agreements are gaining in popularity among employers who hope to use them to help protect their business from competitive threats launched by former employees. Many employers are now demanding that key employees sign noncompetes as a stipulation of employment. While signing noncompetes usually doesn’t sit well with employees who view them as potential roadblocks to their upwardly mobile career path, many businesses will not hire a key employee without his or her signature on the dotted line.
A noncompete agreement is a formal contract between you and your employees in which they promise not to use information or contacts pertinent to your business in a competing situation. In other words, they agree not to take everything they learn working for you and put it to use for someone else. This could mean going to work for a competitor or starting a competing business of their own.
While not popular with employees, noncompete agreements are a good way for employers to keep key employees on the payroll and protect the company’s proprietary information. That said, do not go overboard with noncompetes: not every employee should be required to sign one. If an employee does not have access to sensitive information, customer or accounting data, or is integral to the overall success of your business, there is no need to have them sign a noncompete. The janitor, for example, poses very little threat to your business if he gets a job with a competitor. Your sales manager, on the other hand, can devastate your business by hooking his wagon to a competing horse.
Which employees should sign noncompete agreements? While the prerequisites vary from business to business, the following is a good general list. The term “employees” represents executive level, management, supervisory, and non-management personnel relative to that example:
– Employees involved in research or product development. – Employees involved in the design, fabrication, engineering, and manufacturing process. – Employees who service products made and sold by your company. – Sales and service employees who have regular contact with customers or sensitive customer information. – Employees with access to sensitive business information or trade secrets. – Most importantly, employees who have sufficient information about your business that would allow them to start a competing business.
Most business experts agree that noncompete agreements are generally a good way to protect your business. The downside is that noncompete agreements are often difficult to enforce and in some states, may not be enforceable at all. Many state courts have ruled that noncompete agreements are too restrictive on an employee’s right to earn a living.
In California, for instance, noncompetes are generally only enforceable in connection with the sale of a business and not for employees. In Alabama, noncompetes are generally enforceable in only two contexts: the sale of a business and in connection with employment – but even then the enforcement requires that there be a valid interest worthy of protection.
Some states require that the noncompete be signed at the beginning of the employment relationship and will only consider the enforcement of a noncompete signed after the initial employment date if the signing of the noncompete was accompanied by a promotion, raise in pay, or other event that elevated the employee to a more important role within the company.
To be enforceable, noncompete agreements must be reasonable on three accounts: Time, geography and scope. Regarding time, you can’t restrict someone from competing with you forever, so one to three years is the accepted time period for most noncompetes.
As to geography, you can enforce restriction in the general area where you conduct business, but you can not enforce the restriction beyond those boundaries. And for scope, the agreement can restrict certain actions on the part of the employee, but can’t be so generally restrictive that the employee won’t be able to earn a living working in the same industry in a noncompetitive position.
One interesting thing to note: noncompete agreements are not enforceable against certain “professionals,” like doctors, CPAs, and lawyers (who do you think writes all those noncompetes).
At this point, Brad, the best thing you can do is contact your attorney to see if you have other grounds for suit, then contact your customers and let them know what’s going on.
Explain the situation regarding the former employee, but do so calmly and resist the urge to tell them what you really think of this guy. Showing your anger to the customer is not going to help you keep their business .
Reaffirm your relationship with the client, tell him how much you value his business, remind him of your track record and level of service, then ask one simple question: What can I do to make sure your business stays with me?
Here’s to your success!
Business Proposal Writing How Writing Training Can Help You Write Better Proposals
The way in which you write your business proposals can either make or break your business. Writing a solid business proposal is imperative if you want to see some measure of success in your business, or if you want to bring in any business at all! Business proposals are an important aspect of business management and knowing how to write a great business proposal can help in generating more business and income for your company.
There are many writing training courses that can help you write great proposals. If you are a newcomer to the business world, and are looking for tips on how to draft an effective business proposal, then you have come to the right place.
Here are a few effective business proposal writing tips:
Never Confuse the Prospective Readers: A poorly written business proposal can raise more questions instead of clarifying doubts. This is why your first step should be to clearly outline the objectives of the proposal and summarise the points that you want to cover. Make sure your proposal flows smoothly and that the language you use is plain and easy to understand (unless you work in a technical field). Even a layman should be able to understand the contents of your proposal. Clarity is the most important factor in any business proposal, so never compromise it at any cost. Steer clear of vague descriptions that could potentially mislead your readers or encourage them to take their business elsewhere. The way you write your proposals speaks volumes about you as a business person.
Clearly define your Objectives: When writing a business proposal, make sure you know exactly what it is you want to write about in the first place. Identify the key points that you need to put in your proposal and how you will persuade your reader. Your idea should be communicated effectively through your proposal.
Use Flawless Grammar: Always ensure that the grammar you use in your proposals is flawless. Failing to exhibit good writing skills can lead to a lot of rejections. Check to see that your proposal is free of grammar mistakes and typos, and never use jargon. If you do wish to use jargon, then make sure all the terms are well defined. This is one of the first things you’ll learn at any writing training course.
Research: Research plays a very big role when writing your proposal. Make sure you understand completely what your customer needs and what challenges they face so that you can address their problems.
These are just a few tips for a solid business proposal. Never take your business proposal writing lightly, as this could cost you a lot in terms of business.
[Top]Why Business Administration Is So Important And Required At Business Industry
Although the concept of a Business Administration qualification seems fairly recent, the first business school opened in the early 19th century, and by the mid-20th century numerous schools in Europe were offering qualifications in business. With the first program launched in Barcelona in 1959, students studying todays Bachelor of Business Administration in Barcelona can benefit from the citys 60-plus years of experience in this area.
Business Administration itself is very diverse. Generally speaking, it consists in effectively managing a business and helping it to grow and achieve more, whilst ensuring growth is achievable, realistic and that stability is maintained in the company. More precisely, there are many different sides to business administration and studying a Bachelor of Business Administration in Barcelona can give you not only all-round knowledge of these areas (useful in todays job market where many find themselves performing multiple roles, or transferring to other departments), but can allow you to specialize in an area you find particularly stimulating.
So what exactly is Business Administration when broken down? Henri Fayol, an engineer born in 1841, who is best-known for his General and Industrial Administration, based on his own management experiences, is seen as a trailblazer in defining business administration. He defined 5 primary functions of management, or Business Administration:
Planning and Forecasting
Organization
Direction
Coordination
Feedback
We can see how these principles have influenced business management today by equating these management functions to departments in all areas of modern businesses, such as Operations, Logistics, HR. Marketing, Economics, and of course Management. Thus it can be seen that Business Administration is a key part of most areas of company management.
Now that we have seen how key Business Administration is to companies operating today, there still remains the question of what you will learn when studying for a Bachelor of Business Administration in Barcelona. Course contents vary depending on the institution but at GBS the emphasis is on innovation and preparing you to work in global business, as well as equipping you with the basic core business concepts everyone needs in order to be successful in business. This international focus not only prepares you to work in markets as diverse as Asia, Europe and Latin America, but as you will be studying with students from all over the world, you are sure to gain much cultural sensitivity and learn from interactions with students from all over the world!
In addition, the Bachelor of Business Administration in Barcelona (or BBA for short) allows you to study modules in global Communications, Marketing, Management and Entrepreneurship. It also allows you to take elective modules in areas of particular interest, such as the study of markets you may be less familiar with. What is certain is that Business Administration embraces all areas of corporate activity, and studying a Bachelor of Business Administration in Barcelona is one of the best ways to increase your adaptability, cultural knowledge and to improve your future career prospects.
[Top]Construction Company Business Plan Equipment Needed To Launch
A major variable in the startup costs listed in your construction company business plan is the cash needed for equipment and tools. As you think through these needs, consider these choices.
Choosing Services
You cannot begin to estimate equipment requirements before knowing what type of construction you engage in and what services you will or will not offer. This decision should be driven by the experience of the team and the opportunity in the market, although the overall cost of equipment may enter into the decision as well. If it becomes apparent that you will not be able to recover the cost of equipment in a reasonable period of time, you may have to rethink offering services which require that equipment.
Buy, Lease, Rent, or Subcontract
Secondly, it is important to remember that purchasing outright the equipment required for a service you must offer may not be necessary. Leasing equipment can reduce the cost of launching and the needs for raising capital, although the total cost of acquiring the items will be higher in the end. If the equipment will be needed for tasks which wont be necessary on every project, or will only be needed sporadically or at one stage, renting the equipment for those periods of time may be a better option, assuming a quality renter is available in your locale.
Finally, it may make sense to simply outsource the work that requires certain specialized equipment to companies which already own the needed tools and have staff trained specifically. Subcontractors specializing in roofing or framing, for example, have the needed tools of the trade and the expertise to do the work less expensively than your company. However, keep in mind that the more work your company subcontracts, the greater the burden on your managers to check quality, to manage vendor schedule, and to develop other skills of vendor communication and negotiation.
[Top]The Evolution Of Business Analysts
Software application development has only been around since the late 1970s. Compared to other industries and professions the software industry is still very young. Ever since organizations began to use computers to support their business tasks, the people who create and maintain those “systems” have become more and more sophisticated and specialized. This specialization is necessary because as computer systems become more and more complex, no one person can know how to do everything.
One of the “specialties” to arise is the Business Analyst. A Business Analyst is a person who acts as a liaison between business people who have a business problem and technology people who know how to create solutions. Although some organizations have used this title in non-IT areas of the business, it is an appropriate description for the role that functions as the bridge between people in business and IT. The use of the word “Business” is a constant reminder that any application software developed by an organization should further improve its business operations, either by increasing revenue, reducing costs, or increasing service level to the customers.
History of the Business Analyst Role
In the 1980s when the software development life cycle was well accepted as a necessary step, people doing this work typically came from a technical background and were working in the IT organization. They understood the software development process and often had programming experience. They used textual requirements along with ANSI flowcharts, dataflow diagrams, database diagrams, and prototypes. The biggest complaint about software development was the length of time required to develop a system that didn’t always meet the business needs. Business people had become accustomed to sophisticated software and wanted it better and faster.
In response to the demand for speed, a class of development tools referred to as CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering) were invented. These tools were designed to capture requirements and use them to manage a software development project from beginning to end. They required a strict adherence to a methodology, involved a long learning curve, and often alienated the business community from the development process due to the unfamiliar symbols used in the diagrams.
As IT teams struggled to learn to use CASE tools, PCs (personal computers) began to appear in large numbers on desktops around the organization. Suddenly anyone could be a computer programmer, designer and user. IT teams were still perfecting their management of a central mainframe computer and then suddenly had hundreds of independent computers to manage. Client-server technologies emerged as an advanced alternative to the traditional “green screen,” keyboard-based software.
The impact on the software development process was devastating. Methodologies and classic approaches to development had to be revised to support the new distributed systems technology and the increased sophistication of the computer user prompted the number of software requests to skyrocket.
Many business areas got tired of waiting for a large, slow moving IT department to rollout yet another cumbersome application. They began learning to do things for themselves, or hiring consultants, often called Business Analysts, who would report directly to them, to help with automation needs. This caused even more problems for IT which was suddenly asked to support software that they had not written or approved. Small independent databases were created everywhere with inconsistent, and often, unprotected data. During this time, the internal Business Analyst role was minimized and as a result many systems did not solve the right business problem causing an increase in maintenance expenses and rework.
New methodologies and approaches were developed to respond to the changes, RAD (rapid application development), JAD (joint application development), and OO (object oriented) tools and methods were developed.
As we began the new millennium, the Internet emerged as the new technology and IT was again faced with a tremendous change. Once again, more sophisticated users, anxious to take advantage of new technology, often looked outside of their own organizations for the automation they craved. The business side of the organization started driving the technology as never before and in a large percentage of organizations began staffing the Business Analyst role from within the operational units instead of from IT. We now have Marketing Directors, Accountants, Attorneys, and Payroll Clerks performing the role of the Business Analyst.
In addition, the quality movement that had started in the 70s with TQM, came into focus again as companies looked for ways to lower their cost of missed requirements as they expanded globally. The ISO (International Standards Organization) set quality standards that must be adhered to when doing international business. Carnegie Mellon created a software development quality standard CMM (Capability Maturity Model). Additionally, Six Sigma provided a disciplined, data-driven quality approach to process improvement aimed at the near elimination of defects from every product, process, and transaction. Each of these quality efforts required more facts and rigor during requirements gathering and analysis which highlighted the need for more skilled Business Analysts familiar with the business, IT, and quality best practices.
Future of the Business Analyst Role
Today we see Business Analysts coming from both the IT and business areas. In the best situations, the Business Analyst today has a combination of IT and business skills. Each organization has unique titles for these individuals and the structure of Business Analyst groups is as varied as the companies themselves. However, there is a core set of tasks that most Business Analysts are doing regardless of their background or their industry.
The Business Analyst role becomes more critical as project teams become more geographically dispersed.
Outsourcing and globalization of large corporations have been the driving factors for much of this change recently. When the IT development role no longer resides inside our organizations, it becomes necessary to accurately and completely define the requirements in more detail than ever before. A consistent structured approach, while nice to have in the past, is required to be successful in the new environment. Most organizations will maintain the Business Analyst role as an “inhouse” function. As a result, more IT staff are being trained as Business Analysts.
The Business Analyst role will continue to shift its focus from “Software” to “Business System.”
Most Business Analysts today are focused on software development and maintenance, but the skills of the Business Analyst can be utilized on a larger scale. An excellent Business Analyst can study a business area and make recommendations about procedural changes, personnel changes, and policy changes in addition to recommending software. The Business Analyst can help improve the business system not just the business software.
The Business Analyst role will continue to evolve as business dictates.
Future productivity increases will be achieved through re-usability of requirements. Requirements Management will become another key skill in the expanding role of the Business Analyst as organizations mature in their understanding of this critical expertise. The Business Analyst is often described as an “Agent of Change.” Having a detailed understanding of the organization’s key initiatives, a Business Analyst can lead the way to influence people to adapt to major changes that benefit the organization and its business goals. The role of a Business Analyst is an exciting and secure career choice as U.S. companies continue to drive the global economy.
Training for the Business Analyst
The skill set needed for a successful Business Analyst is diverse and can range from communication skills to data modeling. A Business Analyst’s educational and professional background may vary as well–some possess an IT background while others come from the business stakeholder area.
With backgrounds as diverse and broad as these it is difficult for a Business Analyst to possess all the skills necessary to perform successful business analysis. Companies are finding that individuals with a strong business analysis background are difficult to locate in the marketplace and are choosing to train their employees to become Business Analysts in consistent structured approaches. First, organizations seeking formal business analysis training should examine vendors who are considered “experts” on the field with a strong focus on business analysis approaches and methodologies. Second, you will want to examine the quality of the training vendor’s materials. This may be done by researching who wrote a vendor’s materials and how often they are updated to stay abreast of industry best practices. Third, matching the real-world experience of instructors to the needs and experience level of your organization is critical to successful training. Business analysis is an emerging profession and it is critical that the instructors that you choose have been practicing Business Analysts.
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