A new piece of Arizona legislation, the Declaration of Independent Business Status (DIBS) statute is designed to help employers achieve greater certainty when classifying workers as independent contractors rather than employees. Determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor can be difficult. There are no bright dividing lines. Instead, there are a … [More]
Find Customer Service Stars
Logi-Serve enables companies to predict customer service ability, enhance customer experiences, increase sales and build a culture of sales and service excellence through patent-pending science and tools that pose questions based on story-boarded scenarios, its use of advanced response gathering technology, and a validated competency framework. … [More]
Build a Listening Culture
Waggl’s real-time listening platform enables companies to crowdsource feedback by creating a transparent, authentic, two-way dialogue that serves the dual needs of companies wanting an engaged workforce and employees wanting to know that their opinions count. … [More]
The Right Person Meets the Right Job
Sokanu’s career discovery platform to help people find their ideal career will ultimately benefit employers as well. Aiming to fundamentally change the way people prepare for the workforce by helping them to find the career that is right for them and the unique path to getting there, Sokanu employs education technology, social networking and career psychology. … [More]
Avoid Salary Surprises with Federal Overtime Rule Change
The U.S. Department of Labor’s changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act scheduled to go into effect on December 1 raises the federal minimum salary level for overtime pay for FLSA-covered workers to $913 per week, or $47,476 annually. The rule change announced this past spring has many companies already making preparations; the following tips will help businesses ensure they … [More]
Local Company Wins Prime Aerospace Contract
Local small-business aerospace company Qwaltec recently won a $19-million, five-year contract with the U.S. Navy. Founder and CEO Shawn Linam, noting this is her 15-year-old company’s first prime contract with the government, says, “It’s a huge step for us; it’s hard to break through that ceiling.” Qwaltec will provide support services for the Navy Satellite Operations … [More]
Zero-Down Remodel Aids Real Estate Sales
An updated home sells faster and for more money than a comparably sized fixer-upper. Nathan Pierce and Nick McCully created their No Money Down Remodel Program to help prospective homesellers realize their home’s greatest potential, fronting the cost of construction through their newly founded Strong Tower Homes and Construction, the residential construction division of Strong … [More]
New Restaurant and Retail
WINLEE Development, the real estate development division of locally based investment firm Winfield Lee Investments, has commenced construction on Chandler Viridian PRIMEGATE at Fashion Square. PRIMEGATE is the 24,000-square-foot distinctive restaurant and retail component of the 25-acre Chandler Viridian mixed-use project being developed by the consortium of Hines, Alliance … [More]
Artistically Thriving
Desert Viking Development’s new project, The Blocks of Roosevelt Row, will see the adaptive reuse of three bungalow-style homes and the prominent Flowers building, and construction of a new, three-story commercial building. The project to revitalize a portion of the Roosevelt Row Arts District is set to be completed in fall 2017, with portions delivering earlier next spring. … [More]
Lookin’ Good on Chat
Video chat platforms like Skype have become one of the main settings for interviews, but one big problem standing in the way of both recruiters and interviewees has been the quality of video lighting. Chatlight is a simple, lightweight LED light that connects to a smartphone, tablet or computer to help create studio-type lighting during Skype and video interviews, so chat … [More]
Act-ivate Texts
Scottsdale-based Swiftpage, the maker of Act!, has released SMS4Act! Act! helps individuals, small businesses, and sales teams organize prospect and customer details in one place, and send emails, market products and services more effectively. This newest Connection available to Act! Premium subscribers enables them to send text messages directly from Act! Premium. Proven to be … [More]
Savings for Small Business
SRP is the oldest multipurpose federal reclamation project in the United States. It has been serving central Arizona since 1903, nearly 10 years before Arizona became the 48th state. As part of its commitment to our community, SRP has a website dedicated to helping businesses save on energy costs. It offers information on rebates and energy savings, and provides energy tools … [More]
Vote Like Your Healthcare Depends on It
Welcome to the Silly Season. It’s easy to get caught up in the hysterics of the campaign and forget there are real things at stake this election. Healthcare is one of the biggest. Arizonans in recent months have seen first-hand the massive changes occurring throughout our industry. The trend of hospital consolidation continues apace, and not always to the benefit of patients … [More]
Collaboration the Allbound Way
Allbound enters the technology field as an industry disruptor in indirect sales for the technology industry. The biggest thing happening in the tech industry now is customer success, according to Scott Salkin, Allbound founder and CEO, who points out that we are moving to a subscription economy. “We are consuming things in pieces, even things that are not technology,” he says. … [More]
Stay for Business
Tempe Town Lake has grown up as one of Greater Phoenix’s strong business centers, anchored in large part by the much-talked-about State Farm corporate center. Marriott recently opened its AC Hotel a little way down the shoreline with an eye to the needs of the business traveler (and conveniently also serving visitors to the neighboring ASU campus). The sleek and modern … [More]
Hot Market for Craft Brews
“Arizona is becoming a hot bed around the country for the craft beer industry,” observes Chad Eby, who, with his wife, Amy, this past summer opened The Casual Pint in Chandler. They are the first to bring the fast-growing franchise west of the Mississippi. The Casual Pint is both market and pub, with more than 300 types of beer on the retail side and an ever-changing selection … [More]
Hiring via Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing to find top-quality candidates to fill open positions? Why not. This is what Reflik does, tapping into its extensive network of recruiters and industry professionals with innovative technology to quickly crowdsource top talent. And the cash reward to individuals who make a successful referral averages $10,000. … [More]
In the e-Zone
EZONES gets employees into their high performance zone. A video and media content delivery platform, it optimizes and distributes any content, to any device. It also has a vast library of curated video content that, through its proprietary channels, can complement a business’s existing media on various platforms and for most popular devices. Uses include employee communication, … [More]
