Increasingly people are choosing to work from home. With most work being done online, it’s now easier than ever to work remotely from a computer or laptop and you can virtually do this from anywhere with an internet connection. This opens up many new possibilities for the way businesses organise and structure themselves but also creates new responsibilities for both employer and employee. Here we take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of working from home.

The benefits for business and employees are:

• Productivity gains – with no commute and less chance of colleague interruption, many people report getting a lot more done when they are working from home.
• For a business, working from home can open up a much wider pool of potential applicants which can include people who are geographically distant and also disabled people who may find it easier to work from home.
• Better work/life balance – employees based at home for all of the week or even part of it feel it leads to greater health and well-being.
• Convenience – a business can recruit sales staff much closer to clients rather than have them based at the office.
• Financial savings are also made with no need for large office spaces and other associated facilities.
• Employee retention is improved as workers with children, for example, find it easier to cope with home working hours around their parental responsibilities.

The disadvantages can include:

• Difficulty in monitoring performance – it is much harder for employers to keep tabs on performance and manage their home based staff.
• Information security will be more at risk as you are not in complete control of what networks people are using to connect to.
• Telecommunications cost may rise as there will a greater amount of time spent on telephone calls and a business mobile might be needed for every home based worker.
• Staff development becomes much harder and it’s difficult to upgrade skills if you don’t have a physical presence.
• Isolation can become an issue for some home workers who may feel disconnected from the organisation after long periods of working from home.
• Being at home all the time can lead to a loss of morale and boredom setting in. Often we need a change of scenery to stay fresh and focused. If you will be working from home for long periods, it might be worth investing in a special area set aside just for work so your home can remain your home. For Summer Houses Northern Ireland, visit http://www.morrowsectionalbuildings.com/summer_houses.
• Team spirit is harder to foster when members of a team rarely see each other and not all jobs suit home working.

Some jobs are better suited for home working than others. Ideal jobs for home working include customer service, telesales and marketing, accountancy, writing, editing and translation work. To be successful when working from home, you will need to be able to manage your time effectively, be self-disciplined, motivated, self-sufficient, be confident with technology and good at communicating.

Developing a new drug can be a time consuming and costly process, with many drug tests and development processes lasting years and costing millions or even billions of pounds. This long and drawn out process can delay important drugs making it to market and to the consumer, so anything that can speed up the process will be welcome to most people This is where cloud computing comes in.

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Data analysis

The cloud has the potential to speed up the development of drugs and get them to market more quickly. Using the cloud, we can access real-time data and collect important information in order to analyse results more quickly. All areas of the drug development process can work together more easily using cloud computing, to enable better communication and faster results.

Clinical trials are always a necessary part of developing a new drug. This is where the drugs are tested on people to make sure they work and are safe to go into production. There are three stages to a clinical trial starting from a small group and then widening to test on larger groups. Pharmaceutical companies can spend many millions getting their drugs to trial and running them through the whole testing process.

Patient recruitment

One problem of clinical trials has been recruiting the patients to take part in them. Cloud computing can help companies run the data through software to find the right type of people to invite to trial. The improvement in data collection and analysis means more effective and efficient patient selection. The data can also be analysed more quickly after the trials, for example, with thorough QT (TQT) studies, more reliable results can be determined. In fact, clinical trials with innovative new techniques can even save lives.

Finding the right company to conduct certain studies is also part of the problem of clinical trials. With more pharmaceutical companies developing new drugs, more specialist services are required to conduct thorough QT studies and other important studies. Companies such as http://www.richmondpharmacology.com/specialist-services/tqt.php can provide those services. By involving the most up-to-date studies, data will be more accurate.

The cloud is certainly paving the way to faster drug development and with specialist companies able to provide services to speed up innovative new studies, the pharmacology world is set to enter an exciting new phase.

If you work in business or marketing, you have no doubt heard much about video marketing and the fact it is the next big channel. Already, all social media platforms have embraced it as a key form of content delivery, and users will know themselves that when they scroll through their own news feed they will see a series of videos.

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Brand Benefits of Video Storytelling

Video is powerful because it enables storytelling in a way that other mediums don’t – offering a visual, powerful and emotive means of reaching audiences. This is why it is being vaunted as the next big thing for content marketing and a priority channel for brands to develop.

Already, nearly 50pc of mobile traffic is coming via video content, and viewers spend 88pc longer on websites with video content.

If you’ve already hired a Devon web design agency such as http://vuonline.co.uk/web-design/ to create your website and other digital assets, you’ll want to know how to drive traffic to them. Video content is a powerful means of doing this. Estimates suggest that 80pc of online traffic will be driven through video content by 2019.

What Does This Mean for Business?

Businesses and brands need to get on board with video in order to compete in an increasingly digitised landscape. This means sharing industry-relevant content, offering added value and innovative content to customers and leads, starting debates and conversations through video and helping customers to use your products and services with guides.

Retention Benefits

Video content has a stronger rate of retention, which lowers the bounce rate for landing pages that feature a video. Users are far more likely to watch the majority of a video – and certainly more so than for equivalent text-based content.

Video captures attention, increases read time and retention and offers a rich visual medium in which you can share your brand messages, values and USP. Videos also allow you to be more engaging and compelling with your calls to action.

Use video content on your landing pages and you will grow content views and increase conversions. Yes, video can be more costly to develop than text content, but the return on investment will pay off. You can create video in-house or commission a digital agency to take this on for you as part of a digital content delivery plan.

Changes in the web design industry and the proliferation of free design resources have led some people to question whether web design is a profession facing extinction; however, there are many reasons to conclude that web design is still alive and kicking.

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Maintaining security

Web design is not just about creating a site that looks pretty; in addition, it is about ensuring the site is safe and secure from potential hackers. This requires specialised knowledge and skills that constantly need updating as web security evolves. Equally, according to the Huffington Post, complex websites require an experienced web designer who is always updated.

Specialised functions

Rather than fading into extinction, the role of web designer is constantly evolving; therefore, those who want to stay at the top of their profession need to react to trends and changes and diversify their skill set. One of the biggest shifts in this industry is how web design is increasingly demanding specialised skills and functions, such as learning Android coding or customised blogging.

Marketing integration

Web design is increasingly becoming integrated with marketing, with the boundaries between these two functions disintegrating. In the past, web design may have been lumped in with IT; now, we are seeing web designers merging with marketing functions and using their skills to create specialised online branding and other digital marketing activities.

Quality still matters

The explosion of online templates and frameworks for creating websites, such as Drupal and WordPress, has made it easier for businesses to build their own sites. Although this may bring into question whether the web designer is still needed, the reality is that expert help from a Drupal agency such as https://www.website-express.co.uk/service/drupal-development-agency is still vital. Having expert know-how is particularly required for implementing intricate details, ironing out any complex problems and, crucially, creating a quality, professional image.

Evolving look and feel

Websites are increasingly viewed as a work of art, with the look and feel of a site given more consideration to influence the overall user experience. It demands expert skills and an evolving knowledge to add elements to a site that continue to excite and innovate in an already saturated marketplace. The use of video, infographics, layouts and fonts is continually changing to reflect trends; therefore, having web design experience and being able to implement these changes will always be high in demand.