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Jan31
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In our talks about managing IT, I have been challenging us managers to really think of the consumer at the end of the design, not the design itself.
A recent study shows that the great majority of online banking sites don’t have look and feel problems. Only about 10% of those studied did. If you were to ask someone in an IT department what they thought the problem would be, they would almost always respond by saying something design related.
According to this recent study, and contrary to popular understanding, website look and feel contributes only a moderate amount to a good online experience.
Here are some of the findings of the research. Don’t think that this only applies to the banking industry; it is across the board.
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Jan31
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I wrote a little while ago about the great disconnect that exists in the mind of a developer versus consumer needs and service. Recently I researched a lot of developers that sell their services and what it was that they...
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Jan30
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In our talk about marketing to women and the great diversity and segmentation that it involves, let’s look at one case study. a Let me give you a quick illustration. Disney came out with a ‘family’ movie that many...
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Last post we looked at the fact that women, by far, make the great majority of buying and spending decisions. This fact isn’t under dispute, but what I want to point out to all marketers, is what to take...
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I talk a lot about developing your USP on the blogs I write for. Well, a part of my USP is cutting through hype and getting to the reality of a situation, so that we can make decisions based...
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Jan29
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Growth is one of the most treasured results that all managers or business owners seek after, and can also be a great danger if not managed properly. a While it may seem right to accept every area of growth...
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Jan28
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There is a continuing need in management to understand the needs of a customer versus the way a programmer looks at his craft. a Andrew Neitlich mentions on sitepoint that he believes that to be successful at anything it...
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Stats give evidence that a happy customer will tell 10 other people of their satisfaction. An unhappy customer will tell 20. Additionally, it's nine times more expensive to get a new customer than it is to sell to a...
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Jan27
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Here are a couple of practical ideas on how to develop your Unique Selling Proposition. a First of all, you must keep in mind that the USP will be the heart of that which you build your success, reputation,...
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The difference between a successful business and a mediocre or failed one, is none other than its ability to define its Unique Selling Proposition. Yet, far more than that, once it’s defined, to have the will and ability to...
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In business, as in life in general, we are always in danger of hearing about the next ‘big thing’ and because we develop the vocabulary of that topic, we can deceive ourselves into thinking that we are practically participating...
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Unless your business is done completely on a local level, there is a good chance that you will be doing business with China. a Dinesh Paliwal who runs the North American division of the Swedish-Swiss company in Davos, learned...
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There are certain characteristics that set successful women managers and leaders apart. Here is a list of five of them that research implies are key for women to reach their full potential in these areas. a DEFINE SUCCESS IN...
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Jan26
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Deming had a very strong view on the use of ‘fear’ as a tool to try to improve productiivty in the workplace. a "The economic loss from fear is appalling," Deming says. When people are afraid for their jobs,...
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The last of the Seven Deadly Diseases we’ll talk about for now is: Evaluation by performance, merit rating, or annual review of performance.a I talk about this in other posts in ManagersRealm here and here. Deming says this in...
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This post we’ll talk about the second of Deming’s list of Seven Deadly Diseases the Emphasis on short-term profits. This may seem a hard thing for western businesses to accept, and yet it is crucial to long-term success that...
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This post I want to talk about Deming’s insight into what he called “The Seven deadly Diseases." 1. Lack of constancy of purpose 2. Emphasis on short term profits 3. Evaluation by performance, merit rating, or annual review of...
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I am going to write the next few posts concerning some of the contributions of W. Edwards Deming. His insight and practical vision have literally changed industries and nations. a I want to begin with Deming’s idea of the...
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Jan25
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Alicia Barker, vice president of human resources, Hudson North America commented with this recently: a "Workplace training can be an invaluable tool to help recruit, retain and develop employees, but not if done offhand or as an afterthought." a...
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Jeff Cornwall Director of the Belmont University Center for Entrepreneurship points out that entrepreneur’s have very strong concerns about business related issues. a From the feedback he gets at his site, he has this to say about what concerns them:...
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We have been talking about sick leave in the last two posts. Now I want to talk about employee leave in general. Obviously there will be all types of reasons given by employees to have days off or extended...
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Developing a sick-leave policy will involve more than picking out the number of days to allot to your employees. a The best possible thing to do first when considering your policy is to make it a part of your...
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In the area of small business, it is very important to seriously consider the impact that sick leave can have upon you. The first thing we must do is to make sure we have a plan in place that...
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Jan24
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If you’re a manager, one of the things that you need to do to sell blended learning is to embrace it yourself. As in all areas of a business, employees follow what they see being done, not just what...
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Before I had heard the name ‘Blended Learning’ I had been operating under that learning style for years; from one resource I could easily grasp one aspect of business while trying to learn that same concept from another stymied...
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Last post we talked about using the iPod for the purpose of enhancing the customer experience in various ways. What we call blended learning takes things a step further and mixes together every possible medium to produce the high-quality,...
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The Daily Innovator has a great report concerning the uses that businesses are starting to discover in the use of iPods as a tool for interacting with their customers. He talks about how the Arizona Heart Institute is using...
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Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Helen Pukszta has discovered that for the most part IT business necessities and administrative trends appear to be determined by IT innovations in and of themselves, rather than the other way around. a She has...
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Jan23
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If you are looking for some ideas and examples of designing information products you don’t need to go any further than DK Publishing. Terri Ducay of Cheskin gives an excellent report on the DKs excellent product and why it...
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A lot of people have talked to me concerning supply chain management, and they have a hard time putting something together that will make sense to and benefit their company or unit. Just keep in mind this fundamental fact...
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Those who are in IT need to look strongly at automating their IT backoffice and routine responsibilities. This may seem like a non-issue, but it really can make a difference between being able to apply your time do those...
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We talked last post about the new service Microsoft has started for its small business customers. We’ll take a little more detailed look at it in this post. Doug Leland, general manager for small business at Microsoft's Worldwide Small...
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Those of you who use Microsoft products in your business now have a new online resource to use for technical support. a A Microsoft executive announced that they will begin an eight-country introduction of this latest set of online resources. ...
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Jan22
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The difference between landing a quality employee, these days, may be contingent upon offering them some type of option concerning whether they will come directly to the work place or another type of action. a If you are offering...
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Concerning the assessment of idea of the Virtual Office, Thomas H. Davenport and Keri Pearlson, reporting for the MIT-Sloan Management Review, have recognized several widespread practical situations that need to be considered; they list them like this: ...
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Here are a few lessons you can learn from the big companies concerning the increasingly complex strategy of outsourcing. a First of all, the great majority of large companies are starting to hire multiple outsourcing vendors. This gives a...
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Jan21
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When I talk about objectives I am referring to a very specific step to take, a landmark, which makes possible the achieving of your goal. a Putting objectives in place will involve a steady process of explorations and making...
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I will always be a true believer in not only hiring right people, but also in using a certain management style that adds not only to the company bottom line, but the quality of experience for the employee. It...
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It would be wise of you to learn a little about forced ranking systems as a tool to measure the performance of your employees. a Simply what is does is a group leader or manager makes a list of...
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If you are contemplating doing business outside of your culture, here are a few tips and observances to keep in mind. To ignore or be ignorant of basic cultural differences can lead to failure in sealing a deal no...
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Jan20
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When it comes to growing your business with repeat customer sales, one of the best tools to use is the feedback that your clientele give you. a Of course to receive feedback, you’ve got to ask for it. Don’t...
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In many cases, in both small and large business, not keeping a firm grip on financial parameters can be the difference between failure and success. a This article gives you a good, primer on calculation of fixed and variable...
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Concerning our marketing research, we must make it a priority to caution ourselves against those that make endless assertions. a When you make decisions in your business, you must know that they are based upon solid observations and research....
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It doesn’t matter whether you’re a small local business or a international conglomerate, doing research on the market you plan to serve is paramount to your success. a I want to talk a little in this post about market...
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Last post we talked about one of the growing forces in the tourism industry - Zubin Karkaria. Now I want to show you something of the company that he works for. There is so much hype and sometimes...
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Zubin Karkaria is fast becoming a known force in the worldwide travel and tourism industry. Starting as a sales executive for trade fairs within the company, Zubin quickly worked across a number of different strategic business entities within the...
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Jan19
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Throughout the years I have had intense discussions with managers about the most productive style to get the result they are after. It has been extremely difficult to convince many of them that the dominating, forceful approach in counterproductive....
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A lot of people in management continually struggle concerning the best style to use to produce the best results. I came across an individual that wrote his concerns about not encountering very many good managers. a Here is...
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Everest Software, Inc. (formerly iCode, Inc.), a leading provider of business management software for small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), today announced the general availability of the latest version of its offering, Everest(R) Advanced 3.0.1. a The award winning...
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Kevin Wilde, vice president and CLO (chief learning officer), General Mills Inc. and Jane Hutcheson, vice president, learning and development, Toronto Dominion Bank Financial Group, think not. a While this is probably true, there are ways that it can...
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To learn some of the qualities that having a strong customer satisfaction result requires, look to Siemens who is No. 1 in IMV ServiceTrak Modalities and Overall Manufacturer Ratings. a Demonstrating its resolute commitment to customer satisfaction, Siemens Medical...
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Jan18
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As a manager who may be looking at meeting customer demand for building business applications, you will want to read what two individuals have to say about it. a This is a very good interaction between a developer and...
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It is interesting to me that many business owners and managers don’t realize that they keep it a secret what it is they value in their employees. a I believe it is important to everyone that works be shown...
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I was talking to a manager who was having trouble finding local developers for her business. It reminded me of something I had read recently at tag-strategia concerning the same issue. a What was discovered in the conversation was...
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UCSF has a good article on defining the purpose of a job description. It really helps you see the organizational help and clarity it can give you and your employees to help you both be successful. a Here is...
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Johanna Rothman commented recently on Don Blohowiak’s question of, "How much of a factor do you think job descriptions are in influencing what people do at work all day?" His answer to his own question was, “What’s smaller than...
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Jan17
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When we do business with other cultures, there is a number of things that we must learn so that we can concentrate on the business at hand and not fearing we will offend others through lack of knowledge. In...
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XTVWORLD., offered a press release that announced a new online tool for small business owners that is being launched by Focus Four. a It includes an interactive survey to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses concerning management and ownership...
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We can no longer afford as managers to simply ignore what motivates different types and age-groups of employees. We must learn how to juggle all of these things if we expect to be successful now and in the future....
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All studies and experience with managing Gen Xers reveals that the way they respond to work and motivation is different than boomers do. Charlotte and Laura Shelton performed a nationwide survey that showed these results: 77% of Gen Xers...
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James Clark reported on a post concerning a customer being an “evangelist” for your company. He mentions Jackie Huba’s definition of what a “customer evangelist” is. She says, “A customer evangelist not only buys your products or services but...
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Jan16
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I have noticed a number of times throughout the years that some companies have new hires that seem to take forever to be trained. Now I’m not talking about an employee being slow, but the attitude of the management....
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Being promoted to a management role at work is a cause for celebration for most people. But as many of us know, your relationships with your fellow workers can have some abrupt changes as a result. a In addition...
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Anyone that wants to excel in management knows that a worker that is happy and fulfilled will perform far better on the job than those that aren’t. a During the 50’s and 60's, Fredrick Herzberg decided to carefully study and...
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Last post we talked about Frederick Herzberg and his motivational theory. Now we’ll get a little more into the details of his theory. a Here are some of the characteristics of the two aspects of his theory. a Hygiene...
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Jan15
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When some of us here the word outsourcing, we think of big business. But more and more small companies are starting to understand that outsourcing can be a very profitable addition to their business strategy. The major reason anyone...
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Jan14
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"Vast sums of money are spent to make decisions that realize no ultimate value for the organization," said Paul Nutt, professor of management sciences at Ohio State University's Fishers College of Business, "and managers make the same mistakes over and...
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Hal Halliday wrote about a colleague recently that had bought a business and was disappointed in the response of his employees to leadership. Here is what his colleague said: “I end up being disappointed with people’s decisions rather than...
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Jan13
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People have asked me through the years of practical steps to take that can result in hiring the type of people you want to work for you. There are those who we've talked about recently whose main attributes that were...
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Reading an article on the web the other day reminded me of some important things we must do before we even begin to write a business plan. For example Allbusiness.com mentions: “Prior to writing your business plan, you...
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Jan12
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One of the mistakes we in management can make is to make assumptions that once we get changes going, that the employees will believe that it is going to happen and will get on board. This is, at best, an...
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SEAN FARRELL, AP Sports, has a great article I have to share about with you, as it gives us some great lessons in marketing our business or product. Here is the headline: Ottawa's High-Octane Offense Costing Pizza Joint Senators...
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In the minds of consumers, the cost of business has been increasing for the last several years. I am not talking about simply financial cost, but emotional as well. The constant barrage of events that are displayed in...
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