Wednesday 7 October 2015

M3 Marine Group Marine Consultancy Charts a New Course to Global Productivity with Cloud-Based Tools

M3 Marine Group staff did not have the access to emails and documents needed to support the global expansion envisioned by founder Mike Meade. Then he subscribed to Microsoft Office 365. Today, brokers reliably access archived emails for market trending to build better deals, and consultants collaborate better in virtual teams to expedite reports—two essential steps toward building a global business that stays true to its service-oriented roots.
  • “We can build a global company and stay true to our roots as a service-based business because we’re using Office 365 to support productive virtual teamwork around the world.”
    Mike Meade
    M3 Marine Group
    Chief Executive Officer


1
As one of the busiest ports in the world, it’s not surprising that Captain Mike Meade chose Singapore as the headquarters for his company, M3 Marine Group. Meade worked as a ship’s captain before trading in his sea legs for senior management positions in the corporate world. However, his experience dealing with major oil companies and offshore marine engineering service providers is just one reason for M3 Marine’s success.
“Our brokers are veterans in the industry who use their experience to broker deals that build lasting customer relationships,” says Meade. “On the consultancy side, we are well-known for our expertise in designing computer-controlled ship positioning systems and the relevant documentation, especially FMEAs [failure mode effects analysis].

Defining a Vision for Growth

Today, Meade envisions M3 Marine as a global company. “I want to broaden our base, first by opening an office in Australia and then expanding to the Middle East,” he says. “We will populate those offices over time, always with a focus on delivering best-in-class service and gaining repeat business.”
To achieve this goal, Meade needed to reevaluate the technology his staff uses every day. “I looked for productivity tools that would amplify the core competencies of the brokerage and consultancy sides of the business,” he says. “We need communication and collaboration tools that work on any device across any time zone so that we can function as productive, virtual teams. That means we need easy access to corporate data and customer information, no matter where we are in the world.”

Choosing Microsoft Office 365

Meade knew that cloud-based IT services would be the most cost-effective computing platform for his company. “We tried Google, but we didn’t like the interface and it didn’t do what we wanted; we tried a ship broker’s proprietary database and messaging service, but it didn’t perform to contract,” he recalls. “Then, in 2012, I went to a luncheon hosted by the British Chamber of Commerce Small Business Group. I met our IT provider, and I learned about Microsoft Office 365. Things at M3 Marine haven’t been the same since.”

Business Tools that Just Work

M3 Marine worked with IT provider to migrate to Office 365 and the seamless transition for all 30 employees was the first indication that the new cloud-based business communication and collaboration tools lived up to Meade’s expectations. Today, all M3 Marine employees are using the same up-to-date Microsoft Office programs as part of the cloud-based suite of services.
“Each of us can deploy Office 365 ProPlus on up to five computers and devices, saving me licensing costs,” says Meade. “And with Office Web Apps, we will be able to work with Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, and Excel programs on the go, using any browser.”
Meade begins his day by checking email on his PC at home. On his way to work, he stops for coffee and logs on to the corporate network using his laptop. Then, he’ll use a PC at the office during a meeting. Later, he’ll take his laptop to talk to a consultant about a report. “It’s that seamless transfer from one location and one device to another and knowing that I’ll always have access to up-to-date information that’s made me productive, no matter where I go,” he says.

Reliable Email, Better Customer Service

Today, brokers are negotiating better deals in chartering, ship building, and sales and purchases. They are also building better customer relationships. That’s because with Office 365, brokers gain reliable, ubiquitous access to email, contacts, and shared calendars. Now they can search archived emails to benchmark indexes so that they can provide better advice to customers about market trends.
Weekly downtime due to someone’s overflowing archived emails that blocked the network is a thing of the past. “If staff can’t work because email is down for two hours, that’s a massive cost to me; almost as much as my annual IT burden,” says Meade. “So maintaining that reliability and productivity—with Office 365 we haven’t had a moment of downtime—is key to growing my business and saving money.”

Effective Virtual Teams

M3 Marine consultants provide a range of technical and commercial consultancy in the oil and gas space along with concept design of computer-controlled ship positioning systems called Dynamic Positioning. The team can deliver their reports quicker thanks to improved virtual teamwork using Office 365 sophisticated document versioning capabilities and cloud-based document storage. In this data-centric business, these reports are a key deliverable that M3 Marine customers rely on for FMEA of their computer-based ship dynamic positioning systems.
“Four or five consultants can contribute to a single 1,000-page marine report, including drawings, schematics, and charts,” says Meade. “Using team sites in SharePoint Online will streamline virtual teamwork and document collaboration to more quickly deliver the massive reports that they develop for our customers.”


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Business Platform for Growth

With Office 365, it’s easy to simplify the process of hiring new employees. When Meade hired a new general manager for the brokerage business, all it took was a few minutes to furnish him with a laptop and an Office 365 account. Today, everyone at M3 Marine is well equipped to help Meade achieve his vision of expanding from one of Asia’s largest independent ship broking and marine consultancy houses to a global operation.
“I’m using Office 365 to build a global network that supports real-time collaboration through web conferences, instant messaging, desktop sharing, emails, and calendaring, and breaks down the barriers of time and space to boost productivity and customer service,” concludes Meade.

Industry

Professional Services

Organization Size

Small (1 - 49 employees)

Country

Singapore

Monday 5 October 2015

SURVEYS ON MEDICAL BENEFITS, MAN‐DAYS LOSS TO ASSIST EMPLOYERS OVERCOME CHALLENGES 81%企业医药成本上涨

PETALING JAYA, Weds, 30 Oct   40 companies participated in the Medical Benefits and Man-Days Loss Survey by The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) throughout 2014, which found employers lost about 591,199 man-days last year and paid RM50.12mil for outpatient expenses, and paid an average of about RM4,475.36 and RM762.27 per employee for hospitalisation and outpatient treatment respectively. 
MEF President Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Azman Shah Dato’ Seri Haron, in launching the latest ‘MEF Survey on Medical Benefits and Man‐Days Loss’ here today, said that the findings provided a valuable insight into the challenges faced by employers in terms of improving productivity and managing the cost of doing business.

 “About 81.2% of the companies surveyed projected that the cost to provide medical benefits will increase for the upcoming year, and 91% stated that increases in medical cost was one of the reasons that lead to the increasing medical cost, followed by rising of insurance premium (65.3%), increasing outpatient care cases (45.1%) and increasing hospitalisation cases (43.1%),” said Tan Sri Azman. 
“We must improve the situation so that we are able to improve our productivity. It is critical as we lagged behind our competitors,” he said.
In terms of man‐days loss, the survey indicated that the number of man‐days loss were due to the employee’s failure to report at work or being absent from work when they are scheduled to work; such as visits to clinics, sick leave, prolonged illness, lateness, and absent without leave. 

“In 2014, the average wages paid per day for sick leave taken for non‐hospitalisation was RM390.66, while medical expenses paid per day for sick leave averaged RM165.41,” he said.   
Also present at the launching ceremony were MEF Vice Presidents En. Abdul Wahab Abu Bakar and En. A. Ramadass, Honorary Treasurer Tn. Hj. Mohammed Amin Aziz, Council Members Tan Sri Dato’ Dr. Mohd Noor Ismail, Tn. Hj. Razali b Dato’ Hj Rahmat @ Ali Mhd, and Executive Director Datuk Hj. Shamsuddin Bardan.  
81%企业医药成本上涨
明年料有81%企业的医药成本会上涨,其中九成企业降至归咎于整体医药成本上涨,另有65.3%归咎于公司保费的上涨。
45.1%的企业认为会出现更多门诊治疗,及43.1%认为会出现更多入院治疗的情况,也有四成的商家将医药成本归咎于年龄渐长的劳工。
大马雇主联合会主席丹斯里阿兹曼宣布关于“医疗福利及工作日损失”的民调时也说,大约有54.8%的雇主已经采取行动来管制日益增长的医药成本问题,但仍有20.4%的雇主没有采取行动。
谈到如何管制企业医药成本上涨的问题,七成的商家提出要提升雇员对卫生和安全课题的意识、也有六成的商家落实防止患病和保持健康的方案、也有近四成的企业推动雇员每年都做身体检查。
6.5万员工门诊费达5012万
根据参与民调的40家企业,他们支付员工看门诊的费用高达5011万9351令吉,这涉及6万5750名雇员,每人平均年看门诊的费用为762令吉27仙。
阿兹曼说,“工作日损失”是指企业因为雇员没能上班而损失的生产力,而这次的民调涉及7万9173名员工,每名员工的平均工作日为263.92天。
“2014年工作日总损失为59万1199天,或是2.83%。”
而雇员没有上班的原因包括要到诊所、医院求诊、病假、工伤,也有人是无故缺席。
阿兹曼说,40.4%的执行人员所使用的病假未足每年限额的一半,而非执行人员的比例则是46.3%,而使用限额50%至99.9%的执行人员有14.1%,非执行人员则有16.9%。
也有雇员请病假是达到每年的限额或是超过限额,其中1.1%执行人员请病假达到限额,也有0.3%人请病假的天数超过限额,而非执行人员方面则有3.6%雇员请假天数达到限额、2.6%人则是超过限额。
每天病假医药费165元
根据民调,雇主为病假支付的平均薪金为390令吉66仙、平均每天病假医药费为165令吉41线,而只要有人请病假就需要付平均52令吉70仙让其他同事加班顶上病假之人的工作。