All Communications Articles
  • What devices are utilized when integrating IoT and smart manufacturing?

    Joseph Zulick Manufacturing

    A question that has come up quite a bit in the "Factory 4.0" world is: What do we need to get on the internet of things (IoT) train? When you break them down to their simplest components, you only need a small amount of things to yield benefits from implementing IoT. The first part is real-world connections. These are inputs and outputs.

  • Infographic: What does your car know about you?

    Zachary Kee-Clemmer Transportation Technology & Automotive

    While autonomous cars are not yet flooding the marketplace, your car is still doing a number of things without you realizing it. In the guise of providing you with improved services like GPS and voice texting, your car is also collecting data on you that can be used by whomever car manufacturers feel should be privy to the information. The infographic in this article takes a comprehensive look into all the information your car knows about you and how you might better protect yourself from that data working against you.

  • Help your employees use their smartphones more productively

    Lisa Mulcahy Business Management, Services & Risk Management

    A smartphone can be an incredibly helpful tool in helping your employees get their work done better and faster in many ways. Or...not so much. As a manager, you want to encourage your workers to engage with their technology in ways that benefit their productivity and avoid becoming distracted by their devices in ways that can affect your bottom line. So how do you do this? Use these science-tested tips to encourage great results.

  • How to steal talent without going to jail

    Roberta Matuson Business Management, Services & Risk Management

    Companies are pulling up stakes and moving their headquarters to major metropolitan locations. I can assure you, they are not doing this for the view. They are coming for talent. Amazon's recent search for H2 is a perfect example of this. Many companies sighed in relief when the news broke that Amazon had chosen a location that was nowhere close to their headquarters. This relief is only temporary. Many companies are desperate for talent and will do just about anything. Here's my advice on how to steal talent without going to jail.

  • 3 steps to monetizing your data through customer intelligence

    Andrew Wells and Kathy Chiang Marketing

    How intelligent is your company about your customer? Do you know enough about them in order to create a personalized customer experience? Understanding your customer through deep intelligence enables you to drive the right actions and experiences that can make the difference in your ability to compete in the marketplace and win with the customer. In today’s world, competing on price alone cannot win at checkout. To achieve a better yield on your marketing spend, we recommend creating customer intelligence analytical solutions that provide your company with a variety of ways to monetize your customer. Here is a three-step approach to building a customer intelligence analytical solution.

  • How you can become a more effective listener

    Hank Boyer Business Management, Services & Risk Management

    For most people, being listened to equals respect. It's true across cultures and true over time. True in your personal life as well as your professional one. And it is a best practice of people who want to be successful, regardless of who they are, what they do, or and how old they are. Hearing is an act of the brain registering a sound. Listening gives the sound meaning and considers an appropriate response. Active listening requires intentionality on the part of the listener. It enables the listener to extract critical content from what is being said.

  • Who blinked? Business lessons from the recent government shutdown

    Linda Popky Business Management, Services & Risk Management

    On Jan. 25, the nearly five-week partial government shutdown was resolved when President Trump and Congress agreed to reopen the government — at least for the following three weeks — in spite of leaving the issue of border security still open. It was Winston Churchill who first said, "Never let a good crisis go to waste." As government employees return to work and most daily functions return to normal, what can we as business people learn from this debacle and take back to our own organizations?

  • Build upon the mission

    Robert C. Harris Association Management

    Every nonprofit has a mission or a statement of purpose. It communicates the organization’s reason for existence and public benefit. Discussions and decisions are framed by the mission. The best are distinctive, memorable and easy to recite. While the mission can stand alone, there are five documents that easily build upon and enhance the impact of the organization. This article contains a sequence of documents that can enhance the mission:

  • Can you be held personally liable in an employment lawsuit?

    D. Albert Brannen Business Management, Services & Risk Management

    Case law under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), generally holds individuals cannot be found liable. Unfortunately, the clear language in case law supporting the dismissal of individuals has not prevented plaintiffs from bringing claims under these statutes. For example, a federal court judge in Oregon recently outlined this costly and questionable practice in his opinion in a case involving Starbucks.

  • What Facebook has in store for your business in 2019

    Emma Fitzpatrick Marketing

    If you’re like most business owners, you've been on your toes this January — just waiting to see what big change Facebook had in store for you! After all, it's been just over a year since Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder and CEO, announced that content from Publishers and Pages would be shown less. What does he have in store for you in 2019? Well, Zuckerberg confirmed (at least some) of what the company will focus on this year on its 2018 Q4 earnings call. Read on to see what you should have on your radar.