It is so easy to make extra cash with paid surveys. Don’t think you can’t do it, because you certainly can. The top survey companies are paying out millions of dollars every year to people for taking their surveys. All you need are a computer, an internet connection and an opinion (you have all those, right?).

Maybe you won’t get rich taking paid surveys, but you CAN make your life more comfortable. How about enough money to pay your car payment every month? You can do that with paid surveys. Or what about enough money to take that dream vacation? Paid surveys can pay for that too. Or maybe you want to retire early? You can turbo charge your retirement savings through paid surveys.

The bottom line is everyone can use some extra cash to make their lives easier. And there is no way that is easier or more risk free than by taking a paid survey. They are free to take and if you stick with the proven paid survey companies you know that you’ll be getting checks every month.

So here they are in no particular order. 7 tips to maximize your paid survey earnings.

1. Get yourself a list of paid survey companies, the longer the better. You can search for “paid survey” at Google and get a huge list of companies offering paid surveys or lists of paid survey companies. Just make sure that you use the free lists. You shouldn’t ever have to pay for any paid survey information. You shouldn’t even give up your email address to get a list of paid surveys. The free lists are the same as the ones that make you pay or register, so take the time to find a free paid survey list.

2. Register for a new email account to use when you sign up for surveys. This will keep your paid surveys separate from your personal email and help get you organized and focused.

3. Download and install Roboform or some other form filling software. This software can help you fill out forms up to 90% faster than doing it manually and time is very important to you when your taking paid surveys for cash. Roboform is free and it will increase your earnings dramatically. Anyone who is serious about making money by filling out paid surveys should have it.

4. Now that you have a list and a separate email account start going through it and sign up with as many paid survey companies as possible. The more sites you register with the more surveys you will receive. The goal here is to be able to take the best paying surveys out there. You want to be able to pick and choose your opportunities. Plus, some sites only send out surveys on a weekly or monthly basis, but these are often the surveys you want. Because they don’t survey frequently they often pay very well for your time. Signing up with as many paid survey sites as possible is the best thing you can do to maximize your income from paid surveys.

5. Complete your profiles at each survey company you register with. The survey companies use these profiles to decide who gets each paid survey. If you’ve taken the time to register don’t disqualify yourself from some surveys because you didn’t complete your profile. Also, consider everything you’ve ever done or owned when you complete your profile. Even if you don’t have a dog now, if you’ve ever owned a dog you are a good survey candidate because you have valid opinions about products relating to dogs. This goes for anything. Be creative and be flexible, but don’t lie.

6. Make sure you are checking your email regularly for new paid survey opportunities. Some surveys only need a limited number of respondents and the best paying surveys fill up fast. Three times a day should be sufficient, but if you are able to then check it more often. You will also see that the paid survey companies like it when you are a good panel member. Those who regularly respond to surveys will get more paid surveys and they will get better paying surveys. In addition, you could be invited to join exclusive survey panels that are the cream of the crop when it comes to paid surveys.

7. Of course you want to take the highest paying surveys first, but don’t discount surveys that enter you into drawings. They serve several purposes. First of all you might win! Some of the drawings, especially from smaller paid survey companies, have really good odds for winning. And if you consistently get yourself entered into drawings you will win one eventually. Another reason for doing this is to establish credibility with the paid survey company. Show them that you want more surveys and they will send them.

So there you have it, the 7 tips to making money through paid surveys. I hope that these tips have given you both the information and motivation that you need to make money online with paid surveys. It really is very simple and safe. Now get out there and take a paid survey.

There are several ways through which you can earn money online giving your opinions. You can earn anywhere from a dollar to about five for filling out an easy 5 or 10-minute paid survey. If you have the right strategy, you can increase your earning potential. Here are some tips to help you multiply your income with these surveys:

1. Sign up with as many free survey sites as possible. One of the excellent ways to maximize your earning capacity is to sign up with as many programs available as you can. Note that one program may only offer you a few surveys a week. If you have many companies sending you paid survey jobs, you can have better chances to earn more.

2. Don’t be choosy, at least at first. If you are starting out with paid survey programs, it is important for you to never miss any survey sent to you. You have to build your credibility as a respondent. If you become choosy and pass on a few too many surveys, there is a good chance for you to be taken off their list. If you want to earn more, patiently follow through during the first few months even if the programs do not give out substantial pay. If you already have a stable stream offered, then it is time to start choosing those that will be worth your time.

3. Be as general as you can. You should remember that surveys have certain target respondents. In order to qualify for more, try to be as general as possible. These programs usually ask you to fill out questionnaires for them to know your basic information. Of course, you should be honest when filling out these forms. You also need to make sure that you check all the boxes that apply to you.

4. Make use of form fill software. You can save a lot of time and effort by using one of the many form filling software available online. This software allows automated input of redundant data which includes names, phone numbers, addresses, and so on.

Paid survey sites and programs are one of the easiest ways for you to earn extra income through the Internet. However, you need to set realistic expectations when it comes to earnings. Remember that filling in surveys is actually a job. You only get paid an amount proportional to the time and effort you spend. If you patiently follow through and take each and every paid survey seriously, there is no reason for you not to earn a stable income through surveys quickly.

Concentrate only on about 5 programs. There are hundreds of paid surveys programs available for free in the Internet and you do not have to join all of them. Instead, narrow down your choices and pick out about five of the most reliable ones. This will be a number reasonable enough to give you enough loads to carry and allow you to focus. This will also allow you to stay organized and get your money faster.

Take each and every survey sent to you. This is a very important tip that most people getting paid for online survey usually do not follow. Do not choose surveys or focus only on those that pay big. Instead, take each that you are sent even if the pay is little or the topic is uninteresting. This is mainly because you need to establish your credibility as a survey taker. If you show your survey company that you are up for just about anything and are efficient in taking the surveys right, they will most likely send you more. When you have more than you can carry, you may start choosing only the ones which pay more than the others.

Take your surveys as soon as possible. One of the important facts about getting paid for online survey is that companies do keep score of your track record. Not only do they know the exact number of surveys you take, but they also know how soon it takes you to answer them. If you impress your survey site with speedy response, they will reciprocate the appreciation by sending you more invitations.

Use automated form fill software. Many of those getting paid for online survey have just recently discovered how powerful auto fills software programs are. To multiply your earnings, make sure you are using a good software program to save you lots of time in inputting the same old information again and again. Programs such as the Robo form or the free Google toolbar which allow you to enter redundant data such as names, address, and phone number very quickly.

Set a schedule. If you want to maximize your potential in getting paid for online survey, you should set a fixed schedule to take your surveys. There are many distractions in the Internet which may cause you to answer a 10-minute survey for an hour! If you are serious about getting paid for your effort, it will be best to set a schedule to do all your surveys in batches. Most surveys neither are rarely ever time consuming nor complicated as long as you set proper time for them.

Why Get Counted

The Get Counted Panel is an initiative to provide Indian consumers a platform to voluntarily provide their opinions, feedbacks & personal preferences on current happenings, products and services bought, or intended to be bought, through online surveys; similar to paid online survey opportunities provided in developed countries like USA, UK etc

Get Counted’ Consumer World has been created and is managed by Juxt Consult, India’s leading online research and advisory service company. Juxt Consult researches consumer preferences, feedback and insights using online surveys on behalf of both ‘companies that use Internet as the medium for their business’ and ‘non-Internet based businesses but have their consumers on the Internet’. It provides information and analysis that assists these companies in their marketing decision making.

These surveys are initiated by Juxt Consult for client’s like HUL, Future bazaar, Virgin Mobile, Sony Pix, Nokia, LG, HDFC Bank and many other reputed brand names. These associated brands consult them to better understand needs of their existing and prospective consumers for designing and delivering appropriate products & services.

The feedback collected actually helps companies in making things better for people in terms

–        create better product and services

–        price them appropriately to suit consumers need and requirements

–        maintain quality standards

–        promote the products and services efficiently and effectively

  The membership to the ‘Get Counted’ Consumer World is completely free of cost to you. All it requires from you is a little time and effort that you will need to spend in filling online surveys posted on their website from time to time. And there are possible rewards (in cash or kind) that you can win every time you participate in their surveys and complete them with ‘full sincerity and honesty’.

Earning Potential

The sizable earning potentials one will have are –

Rs.1000/- daily cash prize for participating in polls or remaining active in Live! An individual survey-wise cash prize of Rs.10,000 per survey A monthly prize of Rs.1 Lac(Rs.100,000) to be won among all the participants of various surveys in a month A yearly bumper prize of Rs.10 Lac(Rs.1,000,000) to be won among all the active members of Get Counted Live (members who are active entire year)

5-          Referral Program:– One can refer his friends, family members and colleagues to Get Counted Live and earn Guaranteed Rs.100/- and more.

The conditions for this are —

One has to download and install Get Counted Live Software on his PC/Laptop. Ask at least 2 of his friends, relatives and colleagues to download and install Get Counted Live Software in their PC/Laptop. Both you and your referrals have to remain active for 3/6 months† on Get Counted Live. You have to refer your friends, relatives & colleagues through Refer a friend page of Get Counted. As soon as you and your 2 friends install and activate Get Counted Live Software, you win Rs.100/- in cash. After that, for each referral that becomes the member of Get Counted Live, you will earn@Rs.50 per member! After 3 months you earn Rs.50 (@Rs. 25 per member) and after completion of 6 months you earn balance Rs.50 (@Rs. 25 per member).
Example: If 10 of your referals remain active for 3 months, you get Rs.250( 10x Rs.25); and if they remain active for 6 months you get Rs.500 (10X Rs.50)

How does it work?

By signing up and becoming a member of the ‘Get Counted’ Consumer World at this website you can access the various online surveys posted on the website.

By filling up these surveys completely and honestly from time to time (and at your own convenience, pace and time) you can possibly win the rewards that are on offer for completing these surveys.

To become a Member of Get Counted, send a e-mail at chandrashekharparkar@gmail.com for invitation, and just write Get counted in subject area and send it across. After receiving invitation,  just follow the  steps as indicated on site to activate your ‘Get Counted’ Consumer World membership (but make sure you read and understand the ‘terms and conditions’ of becoming and remaining a member of this panel):

Click on the Sign Up link anywhere on the website and create your account by completing the profile registration details in the form provided for the purpose. This will help us generate your ‘personal webpage’ with a unique username (any of your existing Email Ids) and password (of your choice), so that you can login into your account directly anytime you want. Once you have completed the member registration process by creating a complete profile (creating complete profile is very important), you will receive an email confirming your membership (on the email id provided during registration). You have to click on a link in that email to activate your profile. Once you login for the first time and activate your account. you will receive the status of all the ‘currently active surveys’ directly on your personal webpage. The page will also show your ‘pending’ surveys if any, and the one already filled by you. Your personal webpage will also let you ‘update’ your profile from time to time as there is any notification for changes. This will ensure that your details (personal information) are always up-to-date. The complete ‘profile creation’ process requires you to fill 3 sections of information about yourself, about your family background and lastly about your net habits, you can start using the website and participate in surveys by completing only the first section. You can update the rest of your profile sections at your own pace and convenience over a period of time. However, you will not be entitled to participate in the reward system and prize draws until you complete your 100% profile information by filling all the 3 required sections. You can also refer your family, colleagues and friends who are aged 13 or above by clicking on the Refer a friend to the Get Counted Consumer World link on your personal webpage. Remember there is no facility of referral link provided as it is provided on other survey sites. The winners will always be informed by email, and upon acknowledgement and confirmation from him, the prize will be delivered to the ‘address’ provided for the purpose in the membership profile. (Note: If you are above 13 years but below 18 years, prize money will go to your parent/guardian.) You can also access and view some of the details of the ‘winners’ of the previously closed surveys which we will also display on the website. Referral Status, where member can check number of referrals given till date, how many out of them signed up as active members of the Get Counted Consumer World and how far are they from the top referral.

So, let’s raise our voice to be heard by manufacturer through appropriate means. 

Online Paid Surveys Tip 1 – Survey Profiles

Before you start to take any survey, market research companies would be keen on knowing a little more about you. You see, they are paid by client companies, such as merchandisers, service providers to research the market, which means finding out about the needs of consumers and what they are looking for in their merchandise. They would not just survey anyone on the street, but survey only targeted audience relevant to their client merchandise or service. Normally, each market research company would have a profile section. Once you register, remember to update the survey profile. There would be many boxes to check such as interests, hobbies, products you use, etc. The trick here is to tick as many as possible but be honest. This increases the chance of you qualifying for more surveys.

Online Paid Surveys Tip 2 – Auto-Fill Software

Make good use of auto-fill software such as RoboForm or Mozilla Firefox browser with built-in feature. Now, these software are able to auto-populate forms with preset details such as your name, email, preferred login or userid and password. Such tools are extremely handy when registering with the companies. They save you the time and trouble of having to repeatedly copy and paste your details.

Online Paid Surveys Tip 3 – Survey Companies

Sign up for as many survey companies as possible. This increases your exposure and you would have many more surveys to take. Hanging around one or two survey companies is not going to bring in enough income for you. The hint here is to be registered with numerous survey companies. Go for hundreds if you can to ensure an endless stream of online surveys. At the same time, when you are still new, the market research companies may not offer you the highest paying surveys. In a certain way, you need to earn the trust of the survey companies by showing a good track record. Initially, you may have to go for the low paying surveys, and even participate for credits. Once you have established yourself as a committed and responsive survey participant, the higher paying surveys would be offered to you.

Online paid surveys are lucrative if you are willing to be disciplined in setting aside at least a little time for this opportunity such as one or two hours per day. It is also important that you are registered with the right companies, that is, market research companies that have a host of clients and hence many surveys.

Learn more tips and tricks about taking online paid surveys at my blog and find out how and where people are finding great market research companies that pay handsomely.

This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

By doing so not only do they get a feedback on what they are all about, they get a chance to improve the quality of the products and services. Most online paid surveys will provide detailed surveys with targeted questions, and this may be taken by anyone who is willing to do so. These are normally done by people who would like to do something from home in their spare time such as teenagers, school going folks and work at home mums.

In this way, market survey companies will get honest opinions, and they will discover what the people really want. These jobs can be done in the spare time, and a good sum of money can be made from taking online paid surveys. However the right sites have to be chosen by the users. The survey sites will also accept people from all over the world, but this may vary from site to site.

All users have to do is to send in the mail address with a profile, and once this is verified, the surveys can immediately begin. Most of the online paid surveys will be sent via emails to those who can qualify for the surveys. If people want to earn the maximum amount of cash, they must join as many sites as they can. There is even software available to help those who want to join many sites.

Using this form filling software, they can just update their information once in the software and it will auto-populate all the forms for all the survey websites. The reputed sites for online paid surveys are all established market research companies that have been around for quite a while. For those who are not familiar with how this works, they may get some help from survey directory sites that have information on hundreds of paid survey sites. These survey directory sites will help compare all reputed paid survey sites so that you know which are the reliable survey companies to join.

It is always best for people to join survey sites that are free and has good reviews from survey directories. If any new sites come up, they will be updated in the list of survey sites. Looking for such information is essential when it comes to joining paid survey sites. Therefore, check out the top survey directories at my survey blog if you are looking forward to earn a second income from doing online paid surveys.

The survey found out that

72% of parents were worried that their children were spending too much time online; at the expense of more worthwhile activities.

62% are worried that their child will read inappropriate content online,

58% are concerned that their child will meet strangers online, who will then try to exploit them

When parents are considering how to control their young child’s computer, they need to consider the following.

Pros of Computer usage Some of the pros of a young child using the computer are as follows:

If a child is allowed to use the computer at an early age, he or she is able to develop his or her computer skills faster.

There are many child-appropriate Web sites which are educational and of benefit to the development of a young child.

The computer gives your young child quick and effective access to a large amount of educational material.

Unfortunately, the cons of young children using the computer are many too. There is concern among parents and professionals about the potential harmful effects on a young child of computer use, and they consider it vital that parents should control their young child’s computer.

Cons of Computer Usage Some of the cons of a young child using the computer are as follows:

The Internet has many dangers. There are many wholly inappropriate Web sites for young children, which can pop-up even when your child is not searching for them.

Even a young child can suffer from physical ailments such as neck pain and back pain, due to spending too much time on the computer on unbeneficial activities.

Advertising – Parents of children as young as one year old are targeted, and parents scramble to obtain these products. Promoters use clever marketing drives to empty parents’ wallets for their children’s sake.

If your young child is using the computer for large periods of time doing activities that are of little benefit to his or her education, this is in effect a waste of precious childhood. The computer can be extraordinarily seductive to a child.

http://www.spysureonline.com is one of hundreds of such a software. 

How to control a young child’s Computer

According to the results of the nonprofit polling organization’s latest survey, an increasing number of parents are using parental control software programs that block access to Web sites of questionable content.

54% of American families have parental control software installed on their home computers,” she says. By Pew’s reckoning, that translated into roughly 12 million households.

By contrast, only 41%, or 7 million Net-connected homes, used parental control software in December 2000, says Lenhart. That means there was increase of 65% in the last 4 years in the amount of families using parental control software

Benefits of Parental Control Software Technology

As a concerned parent, you can expect to gain many benefits from using parental control software in your home. Some of the benefits care listed as follows:

Worry less while your kids are online or using the computer when you are away.

Protect your personal information

Know how your kids have been using the computer and restrict it’s use.

Protect your children from being connected by possible online predators.

Enable your child to get the most out of their computer time.

It gives you the ability to prevent your kids from harmful web sites, chat rooms, and programs, whilst still allowing your kids to enjoy the educational and entertaining resources that are available on the web, and accessible though the computer.

.You can try the software here in  http://www.spysureonline.com

Aside from the use of parental control technology, results from the Pew survey show that U.S. households are trying to follow common sense advice of online home safety;

73 percent of respondents say the family PC is located in a public place inside the home, making it more difficult for teens to conduct illicit online behavior,

64 percent of those surveyed say they have set specific rules governing time online.

Parents and their siblings experience plenty of disagreements, but one thing that they do agree on is that children and teens are engaging in risky online behavior.

81% of parents and 79% of teens say that teens aren’t careful enough when giving out their personal information online, and a near identical number of adults and kids;

65% and 64%, respectively- believe that teens do things online that they wouldn’t want their parents to know about.

And there are consequences for such actions.

About 3 million teens, or 13% of youth ages 12 to 17 years old, do not use the Internet.

Nearly 10% of those kids report being offline because they had “bad experiences,” faced parental restrictions or no longer felt safe online. Ref.: www.pewinternet.org.

Other Solutions

Check with their teachers for suggested Web sites and for recommendations for good resources online.

Not let young children use interactive games, such as X-Box Live or Sony Playstation network. Try (for instance) Toontown.com instead.

Sit down with them as often as possible and find out what sites they like to visit online, and ask or answer questions about these sites.

Look for safe site lists that can be trusted. There is an approved safe sites list at WiredKids.

http://www.spysureonline.com If you have any comment come here 

Is your current ERP system is lacking in functionality? Does it limit your ability to respond quickly to customers’ requests? Where are you placed in comparison with your competitors, and does your existing system help you or hinder you in meeting industry best practice or benchmarks? Are you simply unhappy with your current supplier and their ability to respond to your requirements, let alone those of your customers?

Whatever the case, you are unlikely to stand alone in these areas – many companies have faced similar issues with their ERP systems, so no user is likely to be unique. There are common drivers you can consider in your deliberations over a replacement ERP system, and these include the measures you use to chart the success of your technology investment, the major issues you need to address and the consideration of how much pain you are willing to put up with to achieve your ultimate goal.

According to Aberdeen Group’s 2007 ERP in Manufacturing Benchmark Report, 328 companies out of 1245 companies surveyed were planning to replace their current ERP systems at one or more locations within the next three years. In other words, at any one time, a quarter of companies are looking to replace their existing ERP systems.

In the past, enterprise resource planning has garnered a mixed reputation. While there are fundamental reasons and obvious benefits for going down the ERP path, many have feared – rightly or wrongly – that ERP entailed major organisational disruption if not re-engineering, at high cost and high risk.

Aberdeen Group reports (“When Replacing ERP – Size Matters”, June 2007) the primary driver for large companies is consolidation and rationalisation strategies. An underlying issue, considering the proliferation of ERP and other enterprise applications, is the need for integration. For mid-sized and small companies, on the other hand, the concerns are more with gaining functionality and integration. These sized firms are also more heavily concerned with updating their outdated user interfaces, an important factor in raising employee productivity and efficiencies.

Other issues include requirements of expansion, pressure from trading partners, compliance with regulation and even disastrous events, but overall companies looking at ERP implementations are primarily seeking “low cost options that minimise risk”.

Risk and cost in combination imply a concern for return on investment, but Aberdeen’s surveys show that fewer than 25 per cent of respondents consistently estimate ROI to cost estimate ERP projects, and 20 per cent or less measure the actual post-implementation costs and gains to calculate ROI.

In contrast, “best in class companies are on average 88 per cent more likely to estimate ROI before initiating projects and are 130 per cent more likely to measure ROI after project completion. As a result, these best performing companies produce, on average, 93 per cent more improvement across a variety of metrics such as cost reductions, schedule performance, headcount reduction or redeployment and quality improvements.”

The reality is that minimising risk with an ERP implementation is an achievable result and, by minimising risk, costs should also be kept under control. By following a formal process of charting the reasons for your implementation, assessing the various offerings from your current supplier and, importantly, from suppliers who might be new to you, and checking off against the various criteria for selection, an ERP implementation need not be a nightmare; in fact, it could prove to be the instigator of quantifiable benefits for all concerned.

Specific success markers

Getting down to brass tacks, there are a number of key aspects of an ERP system that need to be addressed, both prior to any decision to move to such a system and certainly as part of selection criteria. Near the top of the list is total cost of ownership, which incorporates:

Software and implementation costs;

Costs associated with any interfaces or system modifications;

All costs associated with system communications;

Costs associated with employing additional or specialised staff; and

Annual costs for system upgrades and helpline support.

Other specific areas of consideration that will impact on the success or otherwise of your ERP program include:

Functionality;

Ease of use;

Integration capabilities;

Ease and speed of implementation;

Ability to tailor functionality without programming; and

Software licence price.

Added to this, or overarching these considerations, is return on investment. Whether and how quickly you achieve this is dependent on many factors, not least the rigour and realism applied to the assessment of current circumstances and the contribution made by the ERP system as outlined in initial business cases. An article as far back as the European Journal of Information Systems in 1996 reported on a survey of the 200 largest UK companies that found that 47 per cent openly admitted to overstating the benefits to get approval for IT investments.

But wishful thinking and creative accounting aside, these are all relevant considerations. (And in future articles, covering total cost of ownership, selection criteria, best and worst practices, and maximising ROI, we will look at them in more detail.) But it should be noted that the level and mix of these factors and how successfully they are achieved is specific to individual sets of circumstances, including size and type of organisation, intended purpose, individual business priorities and, of course, budget.

The big picture

The overriding consideration that affects all organisations, large or small, regardless of industry sector or even of budget, is alignment with the business objectives of your organisation.

Jerry Luftman and Rajkumar Kempaiah of the Stevens Institute of Technology suggest (“An update on business-IT alignment”, September 2007) that the issue of achieving IT-business alignment was first documented in the late 1970s and was in the top 10 IT management issues from 1980 through 1994, as reported by the Society for Information Management. Since 1994 it has consistently been issue #1 or #2.

Nonetheless, it has proved to be an elusive target. Luftman and Kempaiah suggest a number of reasons for this, including that, while IT might be aligned with the business, business is rarely aligned with IT. They also add that organisations have often looked for a ‘silver bullet’, whether technological solution or improved communications, as well as improved governance to identify and prioritise projects, resources and risks. Another reason they suggest for missing the alignment target has been the lack of an effective tool to gauge the maturity of IT-business alignment.

On this last point, they suggest a set of six components that indicate (if not mandate) alignment maturity: Communications – exchange of ideas, knowledge and information between IT and business; Value – balanced measurements to demonstrate the contributions of information technology and the IT organisation in terms that both business and IT understand;

Governance – who has authority to make IT decisions and set IT priorities;

Partnership – including IT’s role in defining business strategies, the degree of trust and how each perceives the other’s contribution;

Scope and architecture – IT’s provision of flexible infrastructure, evaluation of emerging technologies, driving business process change, and delivery of customised solutions internally and externally; and

Skills – HR practices of hiring and retention, encouragement of innovation, developing individuals’ skills, and the organisation’s readiness for change, capability to learn and ability to leverage new ideas.

Interestingly, they say that “business executives score alignment maturity higher than IT executives”. In other words, it is the IT side of the business that feels most that alignment is not being achieved. Whether your organisation complies with these suggestions – and it should be added that sometimes these factors can be seen as reflections of alignment maturity as opposed to stepping-stones for achieving that heightened state – any IT implementation, especially one as significant as ERP, should keep all of these factors top of mind.

Supply chain criteria

Many ERP systems are implemented as part of the supply chain process of an organisation. Here, again, the above success markers are relevant, but Tim Payne of Gartner (“Supply chain and IT strategies must align around five key themes”, August 2007) suggests that “enterprises should focus on five technology areas – business process agility, data management, analytics and performance management, collaboration, and sensory networks – as the sources of technology-enabled supply chain innovation”.

Payne says “focusing on these technology areas will give the IT organisation more credibility as an ongoing participant in the dialogue [with the supply Key No 1 - Charting the course of success for your technology investment

Is your current ERP system is lacking in functionality? Does it limit your ability to respond quickly to customers' requests? Where are you placed in comparison with your competitors, and does your existing system help you or hinder you in meeting industry best practice or benchmarks? Are you simply unhappy with your current supplier and their ability to respond to your requirements, let alone those of your customers?

Whatever the case, you are unlikely to stand alone in these areas - many companies have faced similar issues with their ERP systems, so no user is likely to be unique. There are common drivers you can consider in your deliberations over a replacement ERP system, and these include the measures you use to chart the success of your technology investment, the major issues you need to address and the consideration of how much pain you are willing to put up with to achieve your ultimate goal.

According to Aberdeen Group's 2007 ERP in Manufacturing Benchmark Report, 328 companies out of 1245 companies surveyed were planning to replace their current ERP systems at one or more locations within the next three years. In other words, at any one time, a quarter of companies are looking to replace their existing ERP systems.

In the past, enterprise resource planning has garnered a mixed reputation. While there are fundamental reasons and obvious benefits for going down the ERP path, many have feared - rightly or wrongly - that ERP entailed major organisational disruption if not re-engineering, at high cost and high risk.

Aberdeen Group reports ("When Replacing ERP - Size Matters", June 2007) the primary driver for large companies is consolidation and rationalisation strategies. An underlying issue, considering the proliferation of ERP and other enterprise applications, is the need for integration. For mid-sized and small companies, on the other hand, the concerns are more with gaining functionality and integration. These sized firms are also more heavily concerned with updating their outdated user interfaces, an important factor in raising employee productivity and efficiencies.

Other issues include requirements of expansion, pressure from trading partners, compliance with regulation and even disastrous events, but overall companies looking at ERP implementations are primarily seeking "low cost options that minimise risk".

Risk and cost in combination imply a concern for return on investment, but Aberdeen's surveys show that fewer than 25 per cent of respondents consistently estimate ROI to cost estimate ERP projects, and 20 per cent or less measure the actual post-implementation costs and gains to calculate ROI.

In contrast, "best in class companies are on average 88 per cent more likely to estimate ROI before initiating projects and are 130 per cent more likely to measure ROI after project completion. As a result, these best performing companies produce, on average, 93 per cent more improvement across a variety of metrics such as cost reductions, schedule performance, headcount reduction or redeployment and quality improvements."

The reality is that minimising risk with an ERP implementation is an achievable result and, by minimising risk, costs should also be kept under control. By following a formal process of charting the reasons for your implementation, assessing the various offerings from your current supplier and, importantly, from suppliers who might be new to you, and checking off against the various criteria for selection, an ERP implementation need not be a nightmare; in fact, it could prove to be the instigator of quantifiable benefits for all concerned.

Specific success markers

Getting down to brass tacks, there are a number of key aspects of an ERP system that need to be addressed, both prior to any decision to move to such a system and certainly as part of selection criteria. Near the top of the list is total cost of ownership, which incorporates:

Software and implementation costs;

Costs associated with any interfaces or system modifications;

All costs associated with system communications;

Costs associated with employing additional or specialised staff; and

Annual costs for system upgrades and helpline support.

Other specific areas of consideration that will impact on the success or otherwise of your ERP program include:

Functionality;

Ease of use;

Integration capabilities;

Ease and speed of implementation;

Ability to tailor functionality without programming; and

Software licence price.

Added to this, or overarching these considerations, is return on investment. Whether and how quickly you achieve this is dependent on many factors, not least the rigour and realism applied to the assessment of current circumstances and the contribution made by the ERP system as outlined in initial business cases. An article as far back as the European Journal of Information Systems in 1996 reported on a survey of the 200 largest UK companies that found that 47 per cent openly admitted to overstating the benefits to get approval for IT investments.

But wishful thinking and creative accounting aside, these are all relevant considerations. (And in future articles, covering total cost of ownership, selection criteria, best and worst practices, and maximising ROI, we will look at them in more detail.) But it should be noted that the level and mix of these factors and how successfully they are achieved is specific to individual sets of circumstances, including size and type of organisation, intended purpose, individual business priorities and, of course, budget.

The big picture

The overriding consideration that affects all organisations, large or small, regardless of industry sector or even of budget, is alignment with the business objectives of your organisation.

Jerry Luftman and Rajkumar Kempaiah of the Stevens Institute of Technology suggest ("An update on business-IT alignment", September 2007) that the issue of achieving IT-business alignment was first documented in the late 1970s and was in the top 10 IT management issues from 1980 through 1994, as reported by the Society for Information Management. Since 1994 it has consistently been issue #1 or #2.

Nonetheless, it has proved to be an elusive target. Luftman and Kempaiah suggest a number of reasons for this, including that, while IT might be aligned with the business, business is rarely aligned with IT. They also add that organisations have often looked for a 'silver bullet', whether technological solution or improved communications, as well as improved governance to identify and prioritise projects, resources and risks. Another reason they suggest for missing the alignment target has been the lack of an effective tool to gauge the maturity of IT-business alignment.

On this last point, they suggest a set of six components that indicate (if not mandate) alignment maturity: Communications - exchange of ideas, knowledge and information between IT and business; Value - balanced measurements to demonstrate the contributions of information technology and the IT organisation in terms that both business and IT understand;

Governance - who has authority to make IT decisions and set IT priorities;

Partnership - including IT's role in defining business strategies, the degree of trust and how each perceives the other's contribution;

Scope and architecture - IT's provision of flexible infrastructure, evaluation of emerging technologies, driving business process change, and delivery of customised solutions internally and externally; and

Skills - HR practices of hiring and retention, encouragement of innovation, developing individuals' skills, and the organisation's readiness for change, capability to learn and ability to leverage new ideas.

Interestingly, they say that "business executives score alignment maturity higher than IT executives". In other words, it is the IT side of the business that feels most that alignment is not being achieved. Whether your organisation complies with these suggestions - and it should be added that sometimes these factors can be seen as reflections of alignment maturity as opposed to stepping-stones for achieving that heightened state - any IT implementation, especially one as significant as ERP, should keep all of these factors top of mind.

Supply chain criteria

Many ERP systems are implemented as part of the supply chain process of an organisation. Here, again, the above success markers are relevant, but Tim Payne of Gartner ("Supply chain and IT strategies must align around five key themes", August 2007) suggests that "enterprises should focus on five technology areas - business process agility, data management, analytics and performance management, collaboration, and sensory networks - as the sources of technology-enabled supply chain innovation".

Payne says "focusing on these technology areas will give the IT organisation more credibility as an ongoing participant in the dialogue [with the supply chain organisation]“. He goes on to recommend:

Periodic demonstrations of new technology capabilities, coupled with the co-development of supply chain initiatives, as new capabilities arise in these areas;

Developing a plan for incorporating new infrastructure components that are needed to support innovation areas; and
Evaluating the supply chain IT strategies and SCM vendor-sourcing criteria with the supply chain organisation for conformance and alignment based on the five key themes and related discussions, adjusting IT and sourcing strategies to address perceived gaps.

All well and good. But, despite the best planning and setting of firm criteria, there is always the issue of compromise – that such an important and far-reaching a system as an ERP will not perfectly match your organisational set-up. The Aberdeen report suggests that “if your business processes were developed over time – in an unstructured way – the possibility exists that no ERP system will match exactly. Search out ERP solution providers with customers in your industry, evaluate the fit, and balance the need to adapt your business processes to conform with the software against aligning the software to your processes. While some customisation of software may be necessary, (only 11 per cent of respondents have zero customisation) it adds expense and effort to the initial implementation, and the complexity of future upgrades.”

In other words, if you bend a little to accommodate the ERP, while still maintaining your markers of success, you will find that the ultimate payback is a system that works well with an organisation in sync with itself.

It is important overall, therefore, to look at all options, and that includes a range of suppliers, to assess the issues, drivers and pain points that you may have been facing in the past, and that you might be looking to deal with or, hopefully, avoid in the future to ensure the best fit for your organisation.

The next article in this series will look at “Managing the total cost of ownership – What you need to know”.

IBS Australia develops ERP solutions, ERP Systems and business management supply chain software for inventory management systems, manufacturing ERP software, business intelligence systems and integration ERP software.

Peter Clarke will present on ERP Systems at the Gartner 2008 ITxpo, 11-14 November to be held in Sydney, Australia

References:

?Jutras, C., and Barnett, R., “The total cost of ERP ownership in large companies”, Aberdeen Group, July 2008
?Jutras, C., and Dalle Tezze, H., “When replacing ERP – size matters”, Aberdeen Group, June 2007
?Jutras, C., Trost, J., and Dalle Tezze, H., “Taking the ERP plunge for the first time”, July 2007
?IBS, “5 things you should know about total cost of ownership (TCO) for ERP systems”, IBS Australia, March 2008
?IBS, “6 essential considerations when selecting an ERP system”, IBS Australia, February 2008
?Luftman, J., and Kempaiah, R., “An update on business-IT alignment: ‘A line’ has been drawn”, MIS Quarterly Executive, Vol 6 No 3, September 2007
?Payne, T., “Supply chain and IT strategies must align around five key themes”, Gartner Research, August 2007
?Ward, J., Daniel, E., and Peppard, J., “Building better business cases for IT investments”, MIS Quarterly Executive, Vol 7 No 1, March 2008
?Ward, J., Taylor, P., and Bond, P., “Evaluation and realization of IS/IT benefits: an empirical study of current practice”, European Journal of Information Systems (4), 1996, pp 214-225 (as cited in Ward et al, 2008).

Below I have outlined the secrets of maximizing your paid survey income.

Use automated software to cut down form filling time -  almost all if not 100% of the survey companies require you to fill up your basic information such as name, address, telephone no and etc before starting your online survey.  There is a software called Roboform, not sure whether you have heard of it.  It is a FREE software which can help filling up basic information in the survey form and therefore cut down your form filling time. This is a user friendly software and it could help maximizing your paid survey income.

Join as many survey sites as possible - in order to make meaningful sum of money by taking online survey, you need to register with as many survey sites as possible.  This is because some of the online survey are offered based on certain requirements, for example, certain survey are targeting teenager who are below 18 years old, if you can’t meet the criteria of the survey, then you will not be selected to participate. 

Have a separate email specially for your online survey – it is important to have a separate email specially for online survey.  This is to ensure that your invitation to participate in a survey is responded on time and not overlooked. Furthermore, having a separate email enables you to sort out surveys that you have participated and to avoid invitation to answer survey being sent to junk mail box.

Try not to turn down invitation to fill out surveys - turning down too many offers to fill out surveys may reduce your chances to be offered survey again. 

Check you email regularly – you need to ensure that you check your emails regularly, probably at least one or two times per day.  This is to ensure that you won’t miss out any invitation to fill out surveys.

Getting paid for taking online survey is not difficult.  But it will not make you rich.  How much you can earn is depends on how much time and effort you are willing to put in.

Most paid surveys ask you several of the same questions initially, no matter what company is giving the survey. Every paid survey begins with what are called screener questions, which are used to determine if you qualify for that particular study or not. Filling in these screener questions can be a pain, especially if you have several survey invitations to get through. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a program that would be able to fill in those responses automatically, so that you don’t have to continually enter the same information over and over for every survey? Well, there is, and it’s called Roboform.

This software is the difference between your average survey taker and your survey pro. It automatically fills in information that is common in most paid surveys. Using this will save you time when taking paid surveys, which will open up more time for other paid surveys. You’ll never miss a survey when using this software. Best of all, it is completely free to use!

A lot of people wonder if this software can take surveys for you and the answer to that is no. The software was created to help people automatically fill in information that is often repeated, such as the screener questions in paid surveys. You will still need to complete the full survey on your own. There is no way out of that.

Are you making enough money with paid surveys? Are a member of the top survey companies out there? If not, check out the best paid survey sites at Paid Survey Reviews!