Who is a Freight Forwarder?

A freight forwarder is a company or an individual who is in the business of dispatching shipments through various carriers like airplanes, trucks, railroads, and shipping vessels. One of the primary functions of a freight forwarder is arranging the movement of cargo to and from an international destination. As can be seen their core competency and functionality demands accountability, responsibility, and experience. Therefore it’s important that your pick the right freight forwarder. Here are a few tips to keep in mind, when it comes to choosing a freight forwarder.

The Size of the Freight Forwarder

The freight forwarder’s company must be big enough to accommodate all your requirements. Moreover, even if the freight forwarder is away on a tour or vacation, the services rendered, must not get affected. This is of paramount importance if you run an export business. Your exports should not come to a halt and the freight forwarding company must be big enough to see to it that all your shipping needs are handled effectively and on a continuous basis.

The Stability of the Freight Forwarder

This is one of the most important factors to be considered while selecting a freight forwarder. The stability not only refers to the number of years in operation, but also financial stability. If a freight forwarder has been in the business for a number of years then rest assured, you are making the right choice. However, to be on the safe side, check the credentials of the freight forwarder through banks and trade references.

Ship Them the Way You Want To

The freight forwarder that you select must have the requisite ability, expertise, and resources to handle all kinds of products and ship them according to the choice you make in this regard i.e. land, sea, or air. It’s also advisable that the freight forwarder also be an import broker. This comes handy in case you need to import some goods if your client returns your goods for some reason.

Good Networking

Go for freight forwarders who have a superior network of overseas agents. If your freight forwarder has a great network of agents in your target market, then the better it is for you. You must also be well aware of the handling capacity and capability of these agents.

A good network means that your shipment will reach its destination without any hassles and within the requisite deadline. If you want to deliver perishable products, then you want them to reach a particular country, in good time and before they perish. If you don’t, then it might have some serious consequences for your reputation.

A Good Communicator

Not many people have an expertise when it comes to the shipping of their products. Therefore, your freight forwarder must have the patience and ability to explain the necessary procedure to you. Moreover, the forwarder must be able to talk to you in a language that you understand.

Product Knowledge

If you can, do choose a freight forwarder who has some kind of knowledge or comfort level with the product that you want shipped. The freight forwarder that you pick must be able to recognize the special needs of your product, if any, and make the necessary preparations for shipping.

Check the Antecedents

You must closely scrutinize the references of your freight forwarder. After all you are going to do some important business with the company, and thus this becomes a crucial parameter of your selection process. Another aspect of this is the overall customer satisfaction provided by the freight forwarder in the past dealings.  Try getting some information in this regard from their past clients or customers.

The Insurance Factor

The best of people are liable to make mistakes. Even if your freight forwarder is extremely conscientious, it is liable to make an error or a mistake. Even a minor error can cause irrevocable damage to your sales, and your revenue. Therefore it’s important that the freight forwarder you choose has something called "errors and omissions insurance". This is enormously beneficial in the event that a mistake is made.

A Good Communications Network

How fast can the freight forwarder get in touch with you and vice-versa? How soon can the freight forwarder give your information about the status of your shipment? Is real time tracking information available? The answer to all these questions will give you fair idea about the forwarder’s communication links and whether they are good enough for your requirements.

Licenses and Certifications

Your freight forwarders must be licensed by the Maritime Commission, FMC, and be registered with organizations like IATA. Each organization has unique requirements when it comes to a freight forwarder. However, the basic needs remain the same. The tips listed above cater to the general needs of every organization when it comes to hiring the services of a freight forwarder.

Exercise caution while you select a freight forwarder and research thoroughly before you pick one.

In today's competitive business environment, small- and medium-sized businesses are often edged out by their larger counterparts. Until now, large multinational corporations enjoyed the advantage of having affordable resources spread out across the globe. Their use of offshore software development meant that they could get the custom software they needed at a fraction of the cost of utilizing in house employees. Times have changed, though, and now businesses of every size can regain the competitive edge by outsourcing software development.

As many executives can attest, however, shepherding projects through to completion using virtual teams can have both advantages and disadvantages. Here is an overview of both:

Benefits of Virtual Software Development Teams

There are several direct benefits of virtual teams. Because they are global in nature, you can take advantage of high degrees of expertise while paying much less than the prevailing wage. Since all parties come together for a single purpose, utilizing an offshore software development company also leads to shorter project durations and balanced team resources. Further, because the team members work from various locations, the risks are more evenly distributed.

There are also terrific intangible benefits to using virtual software development teams. You can have access to highly trained specialists who not only use their expertise to further your project, but who can also share their knowledge with others in your company. Your project can also conform to best practices by implementing quality standards. In addition, you gain the benefit of increased flexibility by having the ability to add team members as the project becomes more complex or labor intensive. This can lead to extremely agile software development.

Drawbacks of Virtual Software Development Teams

Virtual teams have unique characteristics. Unlike long-time staff members who work in the same office, the collaboration on virtual teams is temporary and usually limited to specific projects. This can be a benefit, since the team shares a vision and works toward the same goal, but it can also be a project's downfall, since there may be no infrastructure in place to support quality control and intra-team communication. In addition, virtual team members often speak different languages and work in different time zones, which can make effective communication difficult. Cultural differences can translate into project delays when days of worship or national or regional holidays interfere with deadlines.

Overcoming Obstacles and Maximizing Benefits

While there are both advantages and disadvantages to outsourcing software development, the benefits ultimately outweigh the pitfalls. It's not easy, however, to develop the know-how and management style to successfully supervise virtual teams. In order to do so, it's helpful to look to an offshore software development company that specializes in distributed software development in virtual teams. Their consulting services and training courses can help you develop procedures to avoid problems and increase the effectiveness of your processes. They can also assist you in preparing your employees to become members of virtual teams as well as provide the technical infrastructure to ensure success.

There are a lot of worries involved with running your own business. From wondering whether sales will meet expectations to dealing with employees, worrying about bad checks and verifying the age of customers so you aren't selling adult products to minors, there are many potential problems that could come up any day.

Fortunately, technology can get rid of some of these worries. While it can't solve your disputes with employees, it can make it easier for you to accept payments with confidence and monitor the age of your customers.

The first and most vital piece of technology for making your business life easier is a credit card terminal. If you're not accepting credit cards, you really should be. People these days love to pay with plastic, and you'll turn some customers off by not offering the option.

While you're looking at merchant accounts and payment processing equipment, see if you can get a card reader that allows customers to put in their PIN numbers as well. This will allow you to accept debit cards, providing even more flexibility for your customers (and lower transaction rates for you).

Next, if bad checks are a worry for your business, you'll want to look into getting a check reader. This is sort of like a credit card machine for checks. Just insert the check into the reader and the amount of the check is automatically debited from the customer's account.

You get the payment within 24 hours and it's deposited directly into your account -- you don't even have to drive to the bank and physically deposit the check! Using a check reader can give you peace of mind because you'll know before the customer leaves your shop if they can afford the check they just wrote.

A final piece of technology that is a great addition for people who sell tobacco, alcohol or other adult-oriented products is age verification hardware. Electronic age verification is done with the help of a device that looks like a credit card terminal and scans the barcode or magnetic strip on state-issued identification cards.

The machine then tells you whether the person is of age to consume whatever your product is. This takes the guesswork out of reading IDs and is a lot faster than having a person inspect each patron's identification and do the math to make sure you aren't selling to minors.

In some ways technology can seem like it makes our lives more difficult, always giving us more to read, watch and do. But in the case of your business, picking up some new technology can certainly make your life a lot easier.

A limousine, or limo, is an uniquely long luxury vehicle, which traditionally sports black or white colors, although other colors have also been used like pink, or blue or maroon. Limousines are generally chauffeur-driven vehicles and are often associated with the wealthy and powerful.

Luxury vehicles like limousines usually place more emphasis on comfort, appearance, and amenities such as technological upgrades, higher quality material, and comforts like mini-bars, television sets or bubble baths. Luxury vehicles like these are often built in smaller numbers than more affordable mass-market vehicles.

Generally, limousines are utilized for special occasions such as weddings, funerals, birthdays, corporate events, anniversaries as well as for ferrying important people and celebrities. Depending on what the occasion calls for, the color of the limousine needs to match the same. For example, for a funeral, black limousines usually are the best choice.

Currently, limousine companies offer a wide array of new models to suit each client's needs. New vehicles such as the Audi A8L, Leland Miracle, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Hummer H2, BMW 760li, Lincoln Town Car , Maybach 62 and the Cadillac DTS. Vehicles of this type in private use may contain expensive audio players, televisions, video players, and bars, often with refrigerators. A new version of the limousine is the Limo-Bus, which is actually as large as a bus itself, yet has bigger passenger space, wider bars, and is equipped with dance floors, disco lights and surround sound.

All Limousines are luxury cars that offer spacious interiors. They can carry between 10 to 20 passengers depending on the size and type. There are many types of limousines, ranging from the traditional types of six to eight doors to the party/bus limousine, which is meant to carry a larger group of people who not only want to travel but also want to party while traveling in style. People rent limousines primarily to reflect style and elegance, which is usually the case when celebrities and other officials travel.

A limousine service can vary with pricing. The most simple and standardized limousine service will have the limousine, driver and beverages. When it comes to the driver, the service provider usually will provide a uniformed driver. The driver must be a professional who knows the standard and alternative routes Different types of beverages may be offered on its mini bars, and can range from alcoholic to non alcoholic beverages. Alcoholic drinks may be regulated by authorities in certain areas however.

Some limo services includes extras such as, “Just Married” signs, balloons, bow ties, red royal wedding carpet, interior decoration, flowers, champagne stands, wedding march air horns, and other customizations. Customizations can range from chrome fender trims, chrome post pillar covers with lightings, chrome Cartier wheels, and neon lights. This usually explains how some limousine rentals will cost $45.00 an hour, $85.00 an hour or $125.00 an hour. All of the added amenities are reflected in the pricing, and yet are a worthy investment if one puts a high premium on luxury, convenience, and elegance.