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Despite being a startup, we have been able to stretch out across the globe to areas such as New York, Los Angeles, Athens, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City and more. Operating across multiple time zones can be tricky, however, as we need to we stay connected with associates, advisors, partners and clients without always being in the same location. However, by using the latest technology and staying true to our foundational principles including forging long-term relationships, we are able to stay connected as Ideoli expands international. To stay connected when running a multi-national company, consider these five areas: 1. Constant Communication If you’re not in the same location as someone, it can be easy to let communication decline over time. However, it’s crucial to go against this tendency and instead, find ways to maintain constant communication. Today’s digitally-enabled world makes it easier than ever to communicate with anyone, anywhere, anytime. This communication does not have to be lengthy, but we find that even just texting clients to say hi or getting a quick project status update over the phone with project managers is important to make sure that the business is moving forward successfully on all fronts. 2. Digital Face Time Seeing is believing, so sometimes communication needs to take the form of digital face time. Whether it’s using video chat platforms like Google Hangouts, FaceTime or Skype, or just sending a photo or video of things like product prototypes, digital face time can help close the physical divide between people working in different locations. 3. Physical Face Time While digital face time helps us stay connected, it’s also important to not discount real face-to-face meetings. At Ideoli, we plan business trips with the goal of maximizing in-person interactions so that we can more fully-connect with those important to our work. Sometimes that means planning multi-purpose trips, such as traveling to a client’s site to oversee an installation, followed by meeting with a local supplier and potential interviews for new partners. 4. Project Management Tools To keep everything organized and to maintain a solid communication flow even when associates are far away from each other, we rely on project management tools as our lifeline to the business. Doing so helps us ensure that everyone is on the same page. While we want to maintain constant communication, we also don’t want to start falling into unnecessary communication due to associates duplicating work or missing deadlines because not everyone has the right information. And when traveling, tools like Asana, Zoho and Salesforce make it easy to stay up-to-date, rather than having to dig through emails to find out what’s going on. 5. Targeted Time Zone Shifts Lastly, Ideoli finds that having constant coverage across international time zones helps us stay connected, have a consistent flow of communication around the world and allows for a truly integrated organization. Rather than trying to serve all our clients globally only during U.S. business hours, we have associates and partners in multiple time zones that can help us provide client coverage around the clock. That way, the company as a whole does not miss out on important opportunities or issues due to time differences Running a successful multi-national company requires staying connected, and Ideoli is always on the front lines of using technology to make this possible. 

The rise of e-commerce has been a challenge for brick-and-mortar retailers, and many face strained budgets. As a result, retailers are turning to the practice of value engineering, which involves analyzing the value of each of the elements within a retail space—ranging from the type of flooring to the lighting—to see whether the elements provide enough functionality to make the cost worth it. While value engineering is a smart practice to optimize budgets, retailers should understand that there are pros and cons. Being aware of the downsides can help them avoid these pitfalls and ensure that their spaces look great and provide quality functionality without breaking the bank. Value engineering includes the following pros and cons for retailers: Pro: Increased Cost Savings By analyzing whether elements provide enough benefit to justify the cost, then retailers can eliminate unnecessary expenses. For example, if a store needs to put in new flooring, it might find that laminate wood looks just as nice as hardwood, while having a much lower price and easier maintenance. Con: Overlooked Expenses On the other hand, value engineering can cause stores to overlook certain expenses. An incandescent light bulb might provide the same luminosity as an LED bulb for less cost, which would indicate that the incandescent is a better value. However, it’s important to consider the larger picture of costs, such as the maintenance fees for replacing hard-to-access bulbs, as incandescents might only last a year, while LEDs can last over a decade. Pro: Enhanced Functionality Since value engineering is all about maximizing the right ratio between functionality and cost, that means that sometimes instead of focusing on minimizing cost, retailers can choose elements that have such high functionality that it justifies the cost, and thus provides great value. For example, multi-purpose furniture like adjustable desks that can be used in an office or to display merchandise provide a lot of functionality and perhaps more value than other desks. Con: Risk of Diminished Customer and Employee Experience While some elements may not seem to provide much value on the surface, it’s important to consider how all elements affect customer and employee experience. If a brand opens a new store that uses the lowest-cost materials without regard for where they were sourced from, then that could push away customers and employees who prefer retailers that use and promote sustainable materials. Pro: An Eye for Optimization Value engineering optimizes the design and buildout of retail environments, so by getting into that mindset, retailers can look to optimize other areas of the company, ranging from how they staff their business to how they spend budget on advertising campaigns. The pros tend to outweigh the cons for using value engineering in the retail industry, and by recognizing the downsides and working with trusted partners like Ideoli, retailers get even more value out of value engineering. 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but what happens if the beholder’s eyes are not even given a fair chance? Poor-quality mirrors and lighting can put a damper on your true appearance, so it’s important for retail stores, hotels, restaurants, offices and other commercial environments to not disregard this area. Ideoli’s LED backlit mirrors make a big difference on how you look. Check out our video on our Vimeo channel to see the impact they can have. Designers and owners of commercial spaces often overlook the importance and influence that mirrors in areas such as dressing rooms and bathrooms have on their clients and visitors. To cut costs and keep budgets low, many designers and owners simply slap a mirror on the wall and a standard downlight above it, and call it a day. But these poor conditions have negative consequences. When a customer goes into a poorly lit dressing room to try on a special outfit, for instance, the lighting could cast unflattering shadows, making them less inclined to buy the clothes. Or if the mirror quality is poor, the customer might not be able to see how good the clothes actually look. So instead, commercial environments should turn to Ideoli’s customized LED backlit mirrors,which are perfect for a wide variety of businesses such as retail stores, restaurants, hotels, gyms and offices. By integrating highly efficient LED lighting into the mirrors in hundreds of different variations, our mirrors properly illuminate the subject, helping them appreciate their true appearance. Depending on your space requirements and preference, we can customize the size, lighting configuration, light quality and several other items, which together allow for clean, consistent and complimentary lighting for your customers and employees. Ideoli not only manufactures great-looking products; our products themselves can help people look better.