-
What encyclopedias, cellphones and the circus can teach us about business…
Steven L. Blue Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementOne of the important things I tell CEOs is to embrace, not deny, the impending change that is coming to their industry. Because if they don’t, their business is on a path to failure. When you think of important business lessons, I’m sure an encyclopedia, cellphone, and circus company wouldn’t be the first thing to come mind. But each of these examples showcase a company that has either succeeded or failed during a radical business transformation.
-
Strategies to help your team members become more proactive
Lisa Mulcahy Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementIt's a familiar scene: you explain the general outline of a project to your team — but no one takes the immediate initiative to contribute fresh ideas to the plan. If your employees routinely seem to hesitate when it comes to jumping into a new task, it's probably not a lack of motivation — it's most likely because they don't know how proactive you really want them to be. Yet you no doubt want your employees to bring you their A-game when it comes to giving each project their all from the start — so let them know it and help them do it!
-
Commonly confused words that can cost you credibility
Hank Boyer Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementA homonym is a word that sounds roughly the same as another word but is very different in meaning. We’ve already covered the importance of using the spellcheck function when completing all job search documents, and the use of grammar, word choice, and slang applying to the written as well as the spoken word. Here are some commonly confused homonyms that sound the same but are often confused when writing.
-
Exploring upcoming hotel technologies
Bambi Majumdar Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementSpending for 2019 in the hotel sector is coming soon. Technology upgrades for sales, marketing, operations, and every area focused on ROI are priorities. The most significant digital shift for hotels has been to incorporate artificial intelligence and Internet of Things in their operations. Artificial intelligence, thanks to devices like Alexa, can now offer guests the same experience that they enjoy at home. Meanwhile, IoT devices with automated settings make rooms hands-free. They not only personalize guests’ in-room experiences but continue to improve operations.
-
4 steps to make your business intelligence teams more relevant
Andrew Wells and Kathy Chiang Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementThe world of analytics is changing. Self-service analytical tools like Tableau, Qlik, and Power BI are enabling business users to perform reporting and analytics on their own with little to no support from the IT organization. This trend has evolved due to several factors. Organizations are flooded with data and IT organizations are not able to keep up; easier to use business intelligence tools make it more efficient for business users to directly create their reports rather than go through IT for a project; and IT organizations’ analytical projects can take several months when a business needs this information in weeks.
-
Take the lead to sidestep herd mentality
Bob Kowalski Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementWhen Merriam-Webster added 300 words to its Scrabble dictionary recently, the company that made its name in language played directly to the fans of the popular board game. A couple of the additions also pointed out a trend of follow-the-leader. Among the new words usable in the game were "sheeple" and "hivemind." Outside of Scrabble, though, those words can lead to a herd mentality among both leaders and teams. You might have experienced those terms in the workplace, if not verbally then visually.
-
Stop email from secretly undermining your success
Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementHow awesome is email? With it, we can work remotely, delegate, share files, manage teams, stay productive while traveling and more. Yet as useful as it is, managing email can also waste time, challenge communication and foster bad habits. Here are a few simple ways to ensure email does not secretly undermine you or your team’s success. For example, with email, we can respond to anyone, anytime and anywhere; presumably, this makes us more efficient.
-
Use this checklist before posting holiday ads on social media
Emma Fitzpatrick MarketingBy now, you've likely finished your holiday ads for social media — or perhaps you're putting the final touch on them. Either way, before you mark them done, do a quick check to make sure you’re reaching the right people. If you’re like most businesses, the bulk of your holiday advertising budget is allocated to social media. It’s no small chunk of change either. Marketers are planning to spend 25 percent of their entire annual ad budget to target shoppers just during the Thanksgiving weekend, according to 2018 Nanigans data.
-
Skin care product reviews: Reliable or fake news?
Elizabeth Donat RetailOnline reviews are the new word of mouth in today's digital age. They shape how we shop, where we eat, where we lodge and how we dress. In terms of the beauty and spa industries, reviews help us form our decisions regarding which skin care products to purchase and where to go to get our favorite spa procedures. Moreover, if you are a spa, medical spa or salon owner, then positive and negative reviews can make or break your business. Because these reviews play such a critical role in our businesses and our everyday lives it begs the question: Are reviews reliable or the new fake news?
-
Applying an agile tool to make your proposal processes better
Maryann Lesnick Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementWe talk about it in our proposals. We know it works. Agile practitioners take it seriously and are diligent about its use. What is it? It’s the idea of using lessons learned from each proposal effort to improve our approach the next time. In the Agile Scrum world, they call it a retrospective. APMP best practices suggest that conducting a lessons-learned review on each major bid opportunity is a critical best practice. Lessons learned should be well-documented and stored for others to access and reference on future opportunities.
All Communications Articles