Android Users Read This

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Stephen Jagger

As you may have heard, Android phones have a new vulnerability – and it’s pretty bad. It has been covered on most major tech blogs and media outlets.

From NPR:

Android is the most popular mobile operating system on Earth: About 80 percent of smartphones run on it. And, according to mobile security experts at the firm Zimperium, there’s a gaping hole in the software — one that would let hackers break into someone’s phone and take over, just by knowing the phone’s number.

In this attack, the target would not need to goof up — open an attachment or download a file that’s corrupt. The malicious code would take over instantly, the moment you receive a text message…

Here’s how the attack would work: The bad guy creates a short video, hides the malware inside it and texts it to your number. As soon as it’s received by the phone, Drake says, “it does its initial processing, which triggers the vulnerability.”

Google has already issued a patch for this vulnerability.

BUT, most Android patches don’t make it to existing smartphone owners. They first have to be dealt with by the manufacturers of the phones (of which there are many) and then by telco themselves. Both of which don’t happen super fast – which results in million’s of Android devices being vulnerable to this issue.

At PayrollHero, we push Apple as our prefer platform for clients to use for clocking in and out. We support Android, but most of our new features come out for iOS first. Plus, there are so many added benefits that Apple brings, security being one of them, but other built in features like Guided Access.

Apple does not have this same problem as Android as Apple has controlled the relationship with the telcos and has the ability to push updates to iOS phones themselves. No need for the telco to get involved and Apple makes the hardware, so no manufacturers to deal with.

What To Do After The 3rd Store Grand Opening

Posted on June 4, 2015 by

Image by decor8blog.com

Success in your business would mean it’s time to expand, but this feat does not come without it’s own set of challenges.

After interviewing 3 different owners for our Retail/ Restaurant Executive Series, I’ve learnt that they all faced similar challenges in management, as soon as they’ve reached their 3rd store opening.

Here are some of the problems and solutions used by our retail/ restaurant executives when managing multiple store locations.

Keep Calm

Managing multiple locations means using technology to cut down on travel expenses

Implementing a different management system is necessary when you have several stores to oversee. Although it is not impossible, but it takes a lot of effort for you to constantly schedule your travel time to supervise different stores at different locations. Travel costs will pile up even more if your stores are located at different countries.

Getting your hands on free, cheap or available SaaS (software-as-a-service) solutions will be save your company a chunk of money. While some businesses have their own custom- built software platforms as collaborative platforms, some of the more commonly-used tools are available online and widely used by small business owners. Some of the best cost saving productivity tools are available online- free or at low monthly costs like Google Documents, Skype, PipelineDeals.com.

As mentioned by our retail executive Andrew Masigan, owner of The Advent Manila Hospitality Group in the Philippines, he advice that “the trick is to put the important systems in place… the efficiency your company’s chain-of-command largely determines
how well your stores operate”.

Managing multiple locations means having putting a system in place

“You must have systems in place to be able to standardize the quality of your communications, products and results,” says Bert Martinez, founder of Bert Martinez Communications. Ensuring a strong internal system of operations would mean that you can save costs on training and reduce time required for supervision. Each employee will have a clear understanding of their responsibilities and boundaries.

In our interview with Adrien Desbaillets, President at SaladStop, he says that “a strong infrastructure is required to support the operation. Overheads start to escalate and a strong focus on SOPs, training, technology is required.” The point here is then to make each employee’s responsibility crystal clear through an organised structure and combine that with a system that measures each person. That way, everyone is accountable for delivering their work regardless of which location they are based at.

Managing multiple locations means shifting from micro management to systematized macro management

Before, Eileen Grey– owner of The Picture Company in the Philippines, didn’t need to think about an entire infrastructure when she opened her first store. She recalls it being just “very personal and mom and pop” until her 3rd store opening. Now she has to consider personnel training, back office space, production, logistics and others.

Having systems and technology in place is good for the business, but it wouldn’t help much if there is no focus on communication. Establishing good communication practices within the whole business is key to collaborate with offices at different locations, co-workers and clients.

Good tips to foster good communication between offices at different locations can include using webcams during weekly team meetings or webinars so team members can see each other, establish a daily reporting system online and use a centralized task management software like Asana, Trello and others.

(Read on how PayrollHero stays in sync with our other offices across the globe)

PayrollHero can help you efficiently manage your multiple business locations and cut down on costs. Talk to us about our business or meet us at our next Meetup!

Going Open Source with our Singapore Payroll Gems

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Stephen Jagger

At PayrollHero we are proud of our work and want to share it with the business community of Singapore. Over the coming months we intend to release the payroll aspects of our code for free to the public.

That’s right, we are going open source with our Singapore payroll code! Any developer or interested party will be able to scrutinize the code responsible for Singapore Payroll calculations like CPF. PayrollHero’s payroll transparency will allow anyone the opportunity to use our code . It will engage the software community to provide the best possible product to all our clients – this will result with furthering our mission to bring Payroll Accuracy for Singapore Employees.

We write our software using a language called Ruby on the Ruby on Rails Framework (we flew DHH to Whistler in 2004). The Ruby community is a passionate collection of developers who have helped us create the HR Platform we have today. This is our opportunity to give back to the community who helped us get to where we are today.

Not a developer but you are interested in learning more about the quality of our code at PayrollHero? We use a program called code climate that systematically grades every line of code that we write. It helps us to write the best code possible and gives a neutral and outside indication of it’s quality using a GPA system. We don’t release anything less than a 4.0 GPA!

code climate singapore payroll Security important to you? Our code also receives a Security Scan performed every few hours for potential vulnerabilities. When anything is found we immediately act on the alert.

Here are the links you need for our Singapore Payroll CPF Gem:

Source Code: https://github.com/payrollhero/singapore_cpf_calculator
Gem: https://rubygems.org/gems/singapore_cpf_calculator
Code Climate Score: https://codeclimate.com/github/payrollhero/singapore_cpf_calculator

Singapore Payroll Software by PayrollHero Want to learn more about PayrollHero Singapore? Head over to singapore.payrollhero.com to find out more about our Charter Client Program.