organization

How You Can Benefit from Training Online

Posted on February 26, 2017 by jerome General Business 0

You are in charge of your destiny, and that includes your career. This means that you have to be proactive, and even aggressive, when it comes to make sure you can reach your destiny. One way to achieve this is by completing corporate training, which will give you the transferable skills that you can apply to a variety of different jobs. There are many benefits to taking online corporate training, including that the training is relevant and affordable, and that you may receive a certificate on completion to prove to employers that you have the necessary skills.

By completing online courses, you can get the information, skills, and knowledge to advance your existing career and obtain a promotion, or in order to take a new direction in your career. You can add your training to your resume, which will make your more employable, and more opportunities will become available to you. If you are currently in employment, your boss may even be willing to pay for the training!

Online training courses have been designed to give you strong corporate skills and knowledge, which are needed in today’s world. The markets are changing continuously, and being able to stay up to date with that will make you incredibly marketable. You will have skills that put you ahead of your personal competition, and this in turn means that you can complete your career ambitions.

Of course, there is also something special about being able to show off new found skills, either to your co-workers or to your boss. This is particularly true if you can show that those new skills can actually benefit the organization as a whole. You will be able to take on more complex jobs, and come up with innovative solutions, and this will certainly attract a lot of positive attention your way.

If your organization offers online training courses, you should take every opportunity there is to complete them. Each piece of training is an investment in yourself, and one that will pay off tremendously. This is also why, if your employer does not offer training or is not willing to pay for it, you should invest in it yourself. Online training is surprisingly affordable, and you are likely to see a fantastic return on investment because you will be able to be considered for promotions, or apply for new, better paid, roles.

Finding online training is now easier than ever, simply because it is available online. All you have to do is perform a Google search. Do, however, make sure that the training you consider is of high quality, however. Accreditation is one way to check quality. Any accredited course is one that you can add to your CV and that will be recognized all over the country, by every single organization. In fact, it may even be recognized abroad. Most importantly, have fun! Training is an opportunity to learn about new things that attract your personal interest, and to grow as an individual.

Key Benefits of Cloud Archiving Your Emails

Posted on February 26, 2017 by jerome communication 0

If an organization is to be successful, they have to effectively and safely manage their electronic correspondence in the long term. Most communications, nowadays, regardless of how large an organization is, are performed using electronic systems. Unfortunately, this also means receiving a lot of spam messages and other unwanted messages. To top it off, businesses have to be able to comply with eDiscovery requests by law. One way to achieve all of this is through proper email archiving solutions. Let’s take a look at its key benefits.

You Can Search Quickly, Hence Productivity Will Be Increased

In the past, if you were to receive an eDiscovery request, or other such type of request, it would mean a staff member would have to go down to the archives and sift through page upon page of information, reading one disk after another. Now, all you have to do is type a few keywords into your search option, and the system will find it for you.

You Will Be Compliant with all Relevant Laws

Numerous laws now exist about eDiscovery requests that all businesses have to be compliant with. Good email archiving solutions are fully compliant. This means that, should you face legal action, you can always access the relevant correspondence.

IT Costs Will Be Lower

Before the cloud, IT departments had to spend a huge amount of their budget on storage, retrieval processes, complex backup systems, and more. Today, however, they can spend their budget on actually developing the IT infrastructure, because the email storage is kept on the cloud. The cost of email archiving is peanuts compared to the cost of having your IT department hold responsibility over it.

You Can Quickly Restore Your Data

Most agree that one of the greatest benefits of email archiving is that you can restore your data very quickly. In fact, it takes just a few seconds to put something back where it was. You can do that whether you archived by accident, or whether things have changed and you simply want it back.

Your Mail Servers Won’t Be Overloaded

This is another very important issue. Because your system manages every email that comes in, it also ensures you don’t get flooded with spam email anymore. This is very good for the overall quality of your server.

You Are Protected Against Information Loss

If you don’t store your data on the cloud, there is always a chance that something will go horribly wrong. For instance, a natural disaster could destroy your backup source. Or a clumsy employee could spill their coffee on their computer. Either way your data will be lost forever. By using a cloud based service, no matter what you do to your machines, the information will still be readily available.

Your Data Will Be 100% Secure

By using email archiving solutions, your data will no longer be stored on a local server, but rather by an external provider. This means that the responsibility for safety and security lies with them, something that they are very good at.

How to Make Sure Your Innovation Process Is Sustainable

Posted on February 26, 2017 by jerome General Business 0

Installing a crowdsourcing platform in your organization is just one step towards making your organization grow and become successful. The other step, however, is understanding that the journey is long and, perhaps, costly. It is an investment, however, and one that is likely to pay off, but you have to be realistic about that. Additionally, once you have put innovation and crowdsourcing platforms in place, you must also ensure that the process becomes sustainable.

Sustainability, in this context, is about being able to keep things going. If you are unable to develop sustainable innovation, then you may as well not bother. In fact, this will be more like a “hit or miss” situation. You are likely to either succeed, and think that you have done everything right, but then actually do it wrong by not continuing; or you will fail and believe that it is proof that innovation is not for you. In reality, however, by employing the benefits of crowdsourcing software, you will be able to step miles ahead of your competition and grow your organization as a whole.

So how is this done?

How to Make Crowdsourcing and Innovation Sustainable

There are, simply put, seven steps towards creating sustainable innovation through crowdsourcing platforms. Those are:

You must make sure that the process aligns properly with your overall organizational strategy.
You need to make sure that the executive team is on board and promotes the ideas.
You must have a clearly defined management process in place, so that you know exactly how you will ask for ideas, what you will ask for, how you suggest good solutions, and so on.
You need to have a team in place with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, so that everybody knows what to do. This also increases transparency.
You have to define the metrics. These can be entered into your crowdsourcing platform, so that it knows exactly which ideas are suitable for further consideration, and which ones are not.
You must be ready to always improve. If you believe innovation or crowdsourcing ends once an idea has been created an implemented, you are wrong. That is the “hit and miss” scenario previously discussed and will not actually innovate your business as a whole.
You need to change your company’s culture, so that the value of ideas, presented either from within the organization itself through innovation software, or from outside of the organization through crowdsourcing software, or both for that matter.

Perhaps the most important thing of all is that your organizational culture is properly aligned with what you are doing. If you are going to bring in outside ideas through crowdsourcing software, then you also need to make sure that everybody is on board with that, and that people know that the ideas that are generated valid and appreciated. It is particularly important that you get your leaders and managers on board with the idea as well.

How to Become a CEO

Posted on December 5, 2016 by jerome General Business 0

As far as professions go, the idea of becoming a CEO is one that would excite many of us, earning huge salaries as the head of a corporation or company, making big decisions each day that affect the lives of many, earning respect in the industry and having the power to make change are the reasons that so many people wish to become a CEO.

The career path to becoming a successful CEO like Patrick Imbardelli however, is not easy, it will take a great deal of hard work, a touch of luck and a strong mind in order to achieve it. If becoming a CEO is something that is in your plans for the future then here is how to go about it.

Have a Great Idea

Some of the greatest and most successful CEOs in the World right now are those who had a bright idea and ran with it, people like Evan Spiegel, Mark Zuckerberg and Richard Branson all had dreams for not only creating their own business but also to become the head of it. There is a stark contrast between those who have a great idea for business and those who can go on to become the CEO of their own company. If however, you have the skills and characteristics to be a CEO and a bright idea, then you could be on course for success.

Be a Forward Thinker

If you want to climb the ranks in your industry to a chief executive level then you will need to have a mind that is always looking forward, looking for new ways to find success, looking for gaps in he market or ways to reshape the industry that you are in. The most successful CEOs are always thinking ahead about how they can grow and improve their business an their industry.

Be Driven

CEOs are some of the hardest working people on the planet, they are consistently driven by the desire for success, they are the most dedicated people in their industry and they are the ones that display the most passion for what they do. If you are not 100% committed to what you are doing, so much so that you are willing to place success above all else, then you will find that becoming a CEO is incredibly difficult.

Build Great Teams

The success of a CEO can often be measured by the capabilities of the team around them and below them, to become a CEO you need to be a great team builder, you need to not only have an eye to spot talent but also the ability to nurture it. As the leader of an organization or company, your role will be as the head of these teams, as such it is vital that you surround yourself with great people who can execute their job to their bets ability, the responsibility for creating that successful team is yours and yours alone, whether it is a team of 2 or 20.

4 Vital questions to ask before hiring an AdWords consultant for your company

Posted on October 2, 2016 by jerome General Business 0

Managing a website which is highly ranked might seem to be a full-time job for a company and it is often a demanding job. Perhaps this is the biggest reason behind so many companies hiring professionals who can take care of website management while you take care of all the other business values. Google AdWords, to be more particular, can be indeed time-consuming, more so if you’re not pretty acquainted with the platform and its ways. To make matters worse, if you have already set up an account with AdWords and then you’ve been ignoring it, you would probably been throwing your dollars away by not having your PPC campaign optimized properly.

When you hire a certified professional, they handle everything from planning to organization to maintenance and on-going optimization to ensure that your dollars are put to optimum use. Nevertheless, before hiring a person or a company and assigning them tasks, you should direct the following questions to them. Check out some vital queries to make to your prospective AdWords pro.

Question #1: Are you a certified professional with Google AdWords?

Remember that Google certification is given only when a person has passed his exams. Scores of 85% and above, warrant you a certificate from Google. Even members of Google Partners go through a quarterly training from Google to make sure their knowledge and skills are constantly refreshed and updated. Google exams have evolved over time to not only evaluate the technical side of Google but to also realize growth and profits from a blog or website.

Question #2: How often should I get reports from you?

Majority of the AdWords consultants offer reports once in a month. When you ask this question, the main point is to ensure that the consultant company you hire will always keep you in the loop as long as they handle your advertising campaign. You would want to be sure about data points like number of clicks, total ad spend, click through rate and the total number of conversions. You may even ask them to tell you the cost-per-acquisition for your ad campaign so as to let you determine the ROI of your campaigns.

Question #3: How will you handle the updates to my website?

A perfectly optimized campaign is just half the battle with AdWords. A company is also in dire need of a website which is optimized for converting the traffic into leads. This comprises of making profitable adjustments to the website and creating landing pages in correspondence to the ads in the campaign. Make sure you’re clear about how these website updates are handled.

Question #4: What is the cost of your service and why?

Don’t ever opt for the lowest bidder as you should expect worthy results from professional services. Be willing to pay for expert services. The quote that you’re given by the consultant should be categorized into a list of features so that you have a clear idea of what you may expect in lieu of your fee. Also make sure their quote is based on their past performance and experience on similar assignments.

So, if you come across any shady AdWords professionals, be smart enough to spot them soon. Don’t hire someone before getting the desired answers to the above mentioned questions.

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION: BREAKING BARRIERS FOR ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESS

Posted on July 24, 2016 by jerome communication 0

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” – Nelson Mandela. This quote embodies the importance of language both in our personal and professional lives. In an organization, effective communication skills are extremely valuable. Both verbal and non-verbal communication strategies are continuously honed to achieve solution and success for the company. In lieu of globalization, companies should also focus on effectively communicating to international business partners and consumers by availing certified translation services of the highest quality that read as if they were originally crafted in the target language. In this manner, it helps alleviate language barriers and cultural differences in the workplace thereby decreasing errors especially operations-wise due to miscommunication. Translation services can also be utilized during international transactions especially for the export industry. In line with this, employees, managers in particularly should be careful in communicating to avoid terms which are politically and culturally offensive.

Moreover, effective communication promotes efficiency among different departments since trust and rapport are built within teams. Leaders are able to command working standards without being hostile and rude. Thus, productivity, responsibility and respect are valued and upheld. Consequently, the employees’ morale is developed since effective communication produces a conducive and healthy work environment. If the management are able to provide and maintain good communication, employees will appreciate it. It has been proven that effective communication in the workplace is vital in maintaining employee motivation. When professional relationships are improved, management and employees would coordinate better resulting to harmonious decisions. Hence, end goals are easier to achieve. Poor communication streams and skills lead to poor customer service, high employee and product turnover, lack of productivity and even uncomfortable workplace.

Breaking barriers in professional communication

Like other important facets in organizational management, effective communication also has barriers. It is important to identify these barriers in order to avoid these mistakes and

efficiently maintain healthy business communication lines.

Poor listening skills

This is one of the most common barriers in the workplace. Not listening happens when one does not have any desire or concern in the conversation. In addition, differences in ideas and self-entitlement also affects not listen deliberately. To avoid this, ensure that meetings and brainstorming is done in a quiet room. It is also important to maintain professional respect so that listening is easier to do.

Perceptional barriers

We all have different outlooks and perspectives. While its normal that we view things differently, it is important to also remember other views and opinions. In this manner, we would learn new processes and approaches in dealing with problems in the workplace. Keep an open mind for you can also deduce bright and creative ideas from others.

Misunderstanding non-verbal signals

Some body signals such as raising of brows, shaking your head and waving your hands in a particular direction will send negative messages even if you do not intend to. To avoid these, one must be aware of his or her nuances and assess whether they send negative messages.

Making assumptions

“Assuming can be dooming; when in doubt, check it out.” This is an important reminder everyone, especially for leaders to not make an assumption more so decide something based on it. Assuming things will most likely make you miss on crucial information thereby increasing your susceptibility to grave mistakes.

Emotional and psychological problems

These problem can distract you to effectively communicate to others, whether personally or professionally. Moreover, emotions play a vital role on our ability to focus. To avoid barriers that can arise due to these problems, it is important to seek help so you can cope healthily. It also pays to make your closest confidants know your situation so they would not misinterpret you.

Understanding the Key to Successful Leadership

Posted on July 1, 2016 by jerome General Business 0

For a long time, it was believed that the key to being a successful leader was to have authority. More and more, however, people are starting to understand that successful leaders are influencers, not dictators. That being said, authority is also very important. Take Charles Phillips, Infor CEO and Marissa Mayer, of Yahoo!, master & mistress of their business respectively. Nobody could possibly say that they do not have authority, but they are also influencers.

The Key to Successful Leadership

What matters most is what someone’s goal is when they start to lead an organization. If they want their staff to be subordinates, working from compliance, then authority is needed above all. If, however, they look for commitment from their staff, they must be influencers. Those who work for a leader who is mostly influential will be far more committed to the organization as a whole. They are more likely to put in overtime, talk to difficult customers, and think outside of the box. That being said, the old fashioned ‘command and control’ model also had a lot to be said for, not in the least that things get done and they get done on time.

What is important in an organization is that everybody works as part of a team, and that everybody is respected for their individual contributions to the whole organization. People need to be able to speak, and be involved in coming up with out of the box solutions. People shouldn’t be told what to do, they should be influenced to think in the right direction. This leads to an effective, productive workplace in which people trust their leader and each other, work in collaboration, share information, and are open with each other.

If a leader becomes influential above authoritative, they will see their employees blossom. People will suddenly be able to really utilize not just their established skills, but their hidden talents as well. This is very important for the younger workforce, who are still finding their feet but therefore have some of the most interesting opinions on things. They are motivated, but they have also learned to be independent thinkers and they expect their leaders to be engaged with them on an equal footing. When they enter a traditional workforce, with a top-bottom chain of command, they often become distrustful, disgruntled, and effectively stuck.

A truly effective leader leads in the way their staff wants to be led. Sometimes, people simply need to be told what to do. Decisions have to be made quickly, and they have to be clear. Overall, however, true authoritative leadership seems to be a thing of the past. People have learned that leaders may know a lot, they don’t know everything. They look for someone who can inspire them and take them to the next level, by celebrating, fostering, and nurturing individual talent and paying respect where it is due. The key to leadership, therefore, is to be an influencer, but one who can switch back to authority if an emergency situation occurs.

The Top Emerging Mega Trends In The Middle Eastern Business World

Posted on February 16, 2016 by jerome General Business 0

The Middle Eastern region of the world is currently experiencing an unprecedented explosion of commercial activity, the likes of which have rarely been seen in recent years. Some of these trends are bound to affect not only the region, but ultimately the world, in the coming decades. It’s an excellent idea to get acquainted with a few of these emerging mega trends so as to be fully prepared for the major effect some of them are going to have on international commerce and culture.

An Explosion Of Basic Infrastructure Development In The Middle Eastern Region

To begin with, an explosion of basic infrastructure development is radically reshaping the Middle Eastern region in the most basic and self evident manner. Many of the leading economic authorities in the region, such as Fahad Al Rajaan among many others, are helping to bankroll and supervise this massive explosion in infrastructure development, which includes such trends as the building of airports, high speed railways, private and state banks, food storage facilities, highways, and other important projects.

The Demand For Infrastructure Involves Global Cooperation

The demand for basic infrastructure has reached such a point that many companies in the Middle East are reaching out to their peers in the global community for financial and material assistance in the realization of these crucially important projects. As a result, the basis for mutual cooperation and economic gain is stronger than ever between the Middle Eastern corporations and their international compatriots.

An Increased Export Of Electrical Resources Is Projected

An increased export of electrical resources is projected to take place in the very near future. The countries of Europe are set to begin importing a projected 20 percent of their total consumption of electricity from various companies in the Middle Eastern region. Such a development means a massive increase in the power and influence of regional corporations all throughout the Middle East, with a very significant percentage of energy exchange involving the use of renewable resources.

The Need For Clean And Renewable Energy Is An Emerging Trend

A newly created non profit organization, known as the Desertec Initiative, is already hard at work to provide electrical and other environmentally friendly power sources to the world. At the moment, European nations are scheduled to receive some 15 percent of the total amount of clean electrical power that is generated from this massive project. This is only one of several energy providing projects that could radically reshape the face of international power consumption in the coming decade.

The Increasing Prevalence Of Social Media In Business Networking

Another major trend that is taking place in the Middle Eastern region is the increasing prevalence of social media interaction, both personal and commercial. As of 2015, over 75 percent of the population of the Middle East is already using some form of social media, whether this be Facebook, Twitter, or other networks.

The increased presence of Middle Eastern businesses and individual entrepreneurs on social media networks will facilitate an increased amount of global cooperation, on a scale that is just now beginning to be realized. Of all the trends that can be forecast by the continuing linkage of communicative possibilities between the various companies doing business all over the world, this is perhaps the most important of them all.

Good Innovation Management Is Key to the Success of a Small Business

Posted on June 24, 2015 by jerome General Business 0

No matter what size your business is, you must focus on innovation. Yet, too many still think that innovation is just about applying research and development or new technologies. In fact, however, it is about far more than that. It is about thinking outside of the box, being more cost efficient and really staying ahead of the competition.

Businessman sketching on a glass a success graph

A Definition of Innovation

Innovation for business was first defined in 1985 by Drucker. It was stated then that it was a method for entrepreneurs to find new resources for the production of wealth, or for changing the way existing resources are used in order to create more wealth. This basically means that a business, through innovation process management, implements various changes in order for them to become more competitive in the market, rivaling their competition. Furthermore, the goal is for these innovations to increase their profitability and/or efficiency. Before starting on the process of innovation, however, businesses need to be able to access new information and understand how this can be turned into knowledge. They must also be able to create resources and procedures that allow them to actually apply this new found knowledge.

As such, innovation is actually a process that can be felt throughout every element of the organization. It is not possible to change one element and simply hope that nothing else changes. Thanks to innovation, an entire organization will go through changes. This includes operations, human resources, sales, accounts and every other element of the business itself. It is for this reason that so many struggle with the implementation of innovative practice, as it requires a new company culture that is open to creativity and communication.

Six Stages of Innovation

Innovation goes through six clear stages:

The definition of the strategic intent.
Looking for pathways and ideas.
Mapping the process of development.
Applying the various decision-making processes.
Implementing the actual decision.
Reviewing the process in order to learn and continue.

In most cases, innovation is limited to the commitment of the business manager. In many cases, innovation is something that accidentally happens. However, if it is actually done formally, the success a business can have as a result can be phenomenal.

Implementing Innovation

So how can you make sure innovation becomes part of your strategy? It should start by making sure everybody knows what innovation is and why it is so important to the future success of the organization itself. This can be done by bringing in an external consultant, or by offering innovation training. Others improve their networking contacts by speaking to businesses that already are innovative and learning from them. Networking in itself is already a highly innovative idea, particularly because many businesses still feel that speaking with the competition is like sharing trade secrets. Implementing a culture of innovation can be hard work, but if there is a commitment from leadership and management, the results can be tremendous.

Embrace the social media to boost your business’ ROI – Smart ways to stay afloat

Posted on February 21, 2015 by jerome Advertising General Business 0

It is universally acknowledged by all businessmen that social media is an increasingly vital tactic in the marketing strategies of the companies and in fact there are big shot companies that manage social media as a totally different activity. If you have a business of your own and you are wondering about the tactics that you should employ in order to multiply your monthly returns, you’re perhaps forgetting about embracing the social media. We all know that marketing is an integral part of a commercial organization and now that the entire world is there in the social media, it is vital for the business firms to carry on with social media marketing.

There are a number of companies that are buried under a burden of debt and are rampantly taking out commercial debt consolidation loans from the banks or the SBA. But little do they know that a small reorganization of their marketing efforts can help them boost their profits and thereby help them in getting back their lost shape. Instead of worrying about your soaring commercial debt obligations, take some time to under what social media is.

A social media marketing plan – What is it?

What is a social media marketing plan? Well, this is nothing but the summary of all that you plan to do and achieve for your business through the social media marketing efforts. You should begin with an audit of where your business accounts are at present, the goals that you want to achieve in the near future and the different social media tools that you will use in order to get there. Generally, the more specific you can get with your social media marketing plan, the more effective it will be during execution. Don’t make the social media marketing strategy too lofty to be attainable. Make sure that your plan guides all your actions and it will also help you measure whether or not you’re succeeding or failing with your social media efforts.

Smart tips to integrate social media into your business marketing strategy

According to an interview with marketers throughout different industry sectors, they’ve given their insight into the actions that they’re taking to enhance social media integration. Here are some points that we’ve learned.

Choose social media strategies over tools: We all know that social media is still in its nascent stage and hence change is something that is constant. New social media tools are evolving day by day. By using the greatest and the latest technology, you may benefit the company, especially when your target audience is the younger generation. However, you should always judge the impact and value of a social media tool against the marketing strategy of the company. The key area should be innovativeness.
Always look forward: Like some of the traditional media campaigns, the social media is also used to generate brand, company and product awareness. If you think that your goal is awareness, marketers should have a clear comprehension of what next in the marketing strategy of the company. Similarly, if building brand advocacy is the goal, you should be clear about how to use evangelists to endorse the message of your company.
Allocate a social media channel to your strategy: Practically, every brand is on Twitter and Facebook and there are different other social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram. Brands typically don’t have enough resources to be present in each and every social media platform. So how will you know which channel to prioritize? One should always choose the social media platform that fits the target audience of your brand and then choose it. For example, both Twitter and Facebook reach a broad demographic and Instagram and Snapchat have a younger user base.
Convert in order to make them purchase: Social media is one of those few places where every company can engage in a valuable conversation with their customers in an ongoing and real-time manner. This can serve as a key touch point through which the company can gradually reach the most vital part of its marketing plan, which is making people purchase. Keep responding to tweets and other posts.
Share success stories: If you want your integration to be sought-after and valued, you should share success stories through your organization. Nowadays, success stories have become an integral part of the ethos of an organization and this will also organically influence social media marketing activities as well.

Hence, instead of taking out loans and getting help from financial advisors, adopt a social media marketing plan for your business. Take into account the above mentioned strategies so that you can deduce a plan and create the desired effect through social media. However, before making any decision, make sure you have your strategies ready.