April 2015

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 apr 2015

According to the new research by Eduserv, 'Creating The Right Environment for Digital Transformation', most charities are aware of the importance of IT and digital transformation to improve the way they deliver services and engage with their volunteers. But there seems to be lack of clarity about how they will implement and accomplish this. Report observed three challenges that charity leaders are facing while driving digital transformation - (1) Strategy and Knowledge Gap: Many of those at the top of charities have yet to grasp that digital transformation is not about using technology or digital platforms to replicate existing activities but about fundamental transformation of the way charities go about doing their business. (2) Structure: Delivering on the needs of the digital-first charity requires different ways of organising and managing teams. Most charities are still relying on old structures and working relationships. IT and digital are failing to add value because they are seen as service providers and support functions rather than business partners. (3) Infrastructure: Charities are not only failing to put in place the right IT platforms but they are failing to invest in people with the right skills to support their digital future in their IT teams. To overcome these challenges, charities can do the following - (1) Embed digital capability at the top of organisation's leadership, so that digital is embedded at the heart of a charity's strategic thinking. (2) Build a digital-first culture throughout the charity. It is not realistic to expect digital and IT teams to drive change from the margins as support functions. Invest in IT and digital skills and tools. Read on...

Information Age: Digital transformation - the pressing three priorities for charities
Authors: Chloe Green, John Simcock

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 apr 2015

PR is undergoing transformational shifts. In this year's Agency Business Report, the main themes are integration, convergence and the enhanced value of digital and social media. The new PR firm is highly influenced by these factors as they change the dynamics of agency leadership roles, the structure of the firms, and the talent that is recruited and retained. Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman, defines the largest PR firm in the world as, 'It's a Venn diagram where the overlaps of the four [media, PR, social media, advertising] are becoming more present. It used to be distinct valleys and now the roads are crossing. We're going to try to have stronger creative, stronger planning, and look at problems differently.' Inspite of recognition of advertising agencies for their PR work and some ad-shops 'integrating forward', most PR agency leaders still believe PR has a unique mentality and heritage to bring to the modern content marketing mix. They don't see the need to rebrand as something other than PR. According to Andy Polansky, CEO of Weber Shandwick, 'Some advertising firms, like Mullen, have a strong PR capability - others do it around the edges. The key is to develop depth and have a credible, strong offering. PR has never been held in higher regard by the C-suite, and there's a lot more dimension to our business now. We've emerged as leaders in content marketing and social.' He further believes the sweet spot for PR agencies is the ability to engage multiple constituencies across different platforms and stakeholder groups. Fred Cook, CEO of PR firm Golin, says, 'It's getting harder to define what a PR agency is...We're competing with different types of agencies in different categories. You can call yourself anything you want, but it is how your clients define you. Our clients still define us as a PR agency, but a PR agency that does a lot more than before.' According to Dave Senay, CEO of FleishmanHillard, the principles of PR have never changed. He cites Edward Bernays' definition of PR as informing, persuading, and connecting people with people. He points out, 'PR is no different than it's ever been. If you take the two schools of PR, the behaviorist or socially responsible or conscious side, they are converging like never before. The wind is completely blowing into our strengths.' He believes modern marketing communications is all about how and why people behave the way they do, which requires an understanding of their culture, media consumption habits, and the global push toward shared value. Online video is at the forefront of new PR services. Although it has been mostly associated with ad agencies, but PR firms are now effectively utilizing the medium to construct engaging narratives. The change in skill sets required at the "new PR agency" is changing the people who come into the business and inevitably resulting in legacy personnel leaving at the other end of the talent funnel. It is also evolving different workforce structures more suited to the new environment. Many agencies have restructured their practice offerings and tried to inculcate collaboration across disciplines, geographies, and offices. Compensation structures are being amended to better reflect overall results at agencies, rather than being based on individual office P&Ls. Bonus pools are increasingly tied to individual objectives aligned with strategy and client goals rather than offices. Skeptics about this new age of PR and subsequent delineation for PR agencies may highlight the issue of measurement and how these new skill sets are producing return on investment for brands and clients. But in reality the payback and return on investment of content-based executions built from smart data can totally be monitored in real time, via measurement and social analytics. Effectiveness is measured on criteria such as the number of people who link to, share, view, or create their own content using the source material. Social metrics are much more powerful because they show someone is actively involved in the content and sharing it with their community. Rob Flaherty, CEO of Ketchum, points out, 'And now with the Internet of Things you can link these metrics to visits in-store and to purchases, which is the Holy Grail for every communicator and marketer - and also for the new age of PR firms servicing those clients' needs.' Real-time marketing is fueling a new range of skills, services, and ways of working at PR agencies. Read on...

PRWeek: What is the new PR agency?
Author: Steve Barrett

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 apr 2015

To get a for-profit social enterprise started and make it self-sustaining requires different types of fundraising at different stages of the venture's growth. Lisa Curtis, founder of Kuli Kuli Foods, suggests the following stepwise process to effectively finance the enterprise - (1) Put the idea for an enterprise on paper and participate in business plan competitions to win prizes and also to learn, connect and promote it to increase the chances of future funding. (2) Join an accelerator program as it helps to build the necessary funding network or sometimes it provides funds directly. (3) After business plan competition and refining the idea through an accelerator program, get on with crowdfunding campaign. But before the launch of crowdfunding it is important to know exactly how much money is required and what the final product will look like. (4) Once the product is ready for the market, it becomes important to sustain the business without running out of money. At this stage acquiring a loan will be an important financial strategy. (5) Once the business starts to grow and idea has got 'proof-of-concept' from the market, the next step is to seek angel investors. One way is to do an accredited-only crowdfunding campaign. Moreover join an investor network, prepare a solid executive summary and keep on pitching to prospective investors. (6) Keep the focus on the main purpose of the social enterprise i.e. to make a positive impact on the world. This will provide the strength to carry on during the challenging times. Read on...

Triple Pundit: 6 Steps to Finance Your New Social Enterprise
Author: Lisa Curtis

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 apr 2015

According to the American Enterprise Institute, social enterprises 'differ from typical government programs in that they are a business, usually operated outside of government, with a concern for the bottom line. They are typically started by people who want to make a difference in society by helping others.' The new study by Mathematica Policy Research states that social enterprises might be one part of the answer to combating poverty in the United States. The research evaluated social enterprises in California and found these public/private businesses increased employment, decreased dependence on government and increased the likelihood individuals had stable housing. Read on...

MacIver Institute: Social Enterprises - A Solution to Employing the Hard-to-Employ?
Author: Nick Novak

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 apr 2015

According to CDC estimates, about 30 million of US population had diabetes in 2014, and more than 1/4th of them were undiagnosed. Moreover another 80 million were classified as 'pre-diabetic', meaning they have greater chance of getting diabetic in the next decade if they don't change their lifestyle. Diabetes costed US$ 176 billion in direct medical bills and US$ 69 billion in indirect costs, including disability, work loss and premature death, in 2012. Considering data-intensive nature of diabetes, patients have to continuously monitor, calculate and control their blood sugar levels within a healthy range. As there are numerous and complex factors that affect blood sugar - including food, physical activity, and sleep patterns - it's not always clear what exactly occurs between a good blood sugar reading and a bad one. According to Jeff Dachis, co-founder of digital marketing firm Razorfish and now founder of diabetes managing app called One Drop, 'It's math all day long...if I stay in range, I can stay considerably healthy and unimpacted by diabetes.' Adoption of wearable health devices is somewhat trying to solve the mathematical aspects of diabetes. Moreover the coming wave of wearable technology and social media and mobile apps show prospects to transform how people live with and manage diabetes. Companies are also developing innovative devices like continuous glucose monitors, which constantly measure blood sugar levels through a small sensor that is inserted under the skin, providing a lot more insight into how a good reading turns into a bad one. Another technological advancement is an 'artificial pancreas', an implantable device which would monitor blood sugar as well as automatically deliver insulin. Researchers are developing small implants that can do both, eliminating the need for daily finger pricks and injections. Google and Novartis AG are partnering to develop less invasive way to measure blood sugar, a contact lens that monitors glucose contained in tears and transmits the data through a tiny antenna. These technology devices although hold a considerable promise to overcome challenges regarding the management of diabetes but they will be expensive and will take time to be commercially available. Read on...

The Washington Post: How the data revolution could transform the way people live with diabetes
Author: Ana Swanson

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 apr 2015

The survey of 924 nonprofit board directors conducted by team of researchers (David F. Larcker, William F. Meehan III, Nicholas Donatiello, Brian Tayan) from Stanford Graduate School of Business supports a long-held hypothesis that many nonprofit boards are ineffective. The study revealed that a significant minority are unsure of their organization's mission and strategy, dissatisfied with their ability to evaluate their organization's performance, and uncertain whether their fellow board members have the experience to do their jobs well. According to Prof. Larcker, the lead researcher, 'Our research finds that too often board members lack the skill set, depth of knowledge, and engagement required to help their organizations succeed.' Researchers offer following recommendations to improve nonprofit board governance - (1) Ensure the mission is focused, and its skills and resources are well-aligned. (2) Ensure the mission is understood by the board, management, and key stakeholders. (3) Establish explicit goals and strategies tied to achieving that mission. (4) Develop rigorous performance metrics that reflect those goals. (5) Hold the executive director accountable for meeting the performance metrics, and evaluate his or her performance with an objective process. (6) Compose your board with individuals with skills, resources, diversity, and dedication to address the needs of the nonprofit. (7) Define explicitly the roles and responsibility of board members. (8) Establish well-defined board, committee, and ad hoc processes that reflect the nonprofit's needs and ensure optimal handling of key decisions. (9) Regularly review and assess each board member and the board's overall performance. Read on...

Business Wire: Stanford Research Offers Nine Tips to Improve Nonprofit Governance
Author: Heather Hansen

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 apr 2015

The expansion and transformation of healthcare ecosystem with new models of healthcare delivery is creating rapid growth of required human resources. The industry now have new types of insurance companies, novel provider organizations and new health information technology companies. Physicians and nurses are having shifts in roles and responsibilities in order to effectively and successfully lead these organizations. They need different set of skills from the ones they acquired during their clinical training. Sachin H. Jain, chief medical officer of CareMore Health System and lecturer in healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School, suggests three skills that are critical for doctors and nurses as they transition to management and assume higher level of influence in the business of health - (1) Operations Management and Execution (2) People Leadership (3) Setting and Defining Strategy. Dr. Jain quotes one CEO's remark, 'Physicians and nurses run the risk of losing their clinical identities as they develop into executives.' On this, he comments, 'It would be a shame if they did. As they transition to careers in the business of health care, clinicians must hold on to the heart and practice of medicine as they continuously develop the core executive skills required to effectively lead and shape their organizations.' Read on...

Harvard Business Review: The Skills Doctors and Nurses Need to Be Effective Executives
Author: Sachin H. Jain

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 apr 2015

Professor Shree K. Nayar of Columbia University, research engineer Daniel Sims and consultant Mikhail Fridberg of ADSP Consulting, have invented a fully self-powered video camera that can produce an image each second, indefinitely, of a well-lit indoor scene. They designed a pixel that can not only measure incident light but also convert the incident light into electric power. According to Prof. Nayar, 'We are in the middle of a digital imaging revolution. I think we have just seen the tip of the iceberg. Digital imaging is expected to enable many emerging fields including wearable devices, sensor networks, smart environments, personalized medicine, and the Internet of Things. A camera that can function as an untethered device forever - without any external power supply - would be incredibly useful.' The team used off-the-shelf components to fabricate an image sensor with 30x40 pixels. In this prototype camera, which is housed in a 3D printed body, each pixel's photodiode is always operated in the photovoltaic mode. Read on...

Columbia Engineering: Columbia Engineering Professor Invents Video Camera that Runs without a Battery
Author: Holly Evarts

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 apr 2015

Using technology to bring social change and improve people's lives is a challenging task. 'One-size-fits-all' approaches to implement technology strategies may not be effective and provide expected results. There is need to have proper context, clarity of purpose and supportive environment to fulfil the promises that technology intends to bring for the well-being and welfare of the society. Professor Kentaro Toyama of University of Michigan, in his latest book 'Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology', argues that technologists undermine efforts at social progress by promoting 'packaged interventions' at the expense of more difficult reforms. Prof. Toyama has worked extensively in India and launched various projects that sought to use computers and Internet connectivity to improve education and reduce poverty. Following are selected excerpts from his Q&A session done by Brian Bergstein, deputy editor of MIT Technology Review - • 'There are already several randomized, controlled trials of schools with and without One Laptop per Child. Generally, what most of these studies show is that schools with laptops did not see their children gain anything in terms of academic achievement, in terms of grades, in terms of test scores, in terms of attendance, or in terms of supposed engagement with the classroom.' • 'I think it's perfectly sensible for parents to want a certain amount of exposure to technology for their children, both as a form of explorative play and as a way to get them used to technology that they'll undoubtedly encounter later in their life. I think the fundamental error people make is that, therefore, we should have the computer be the primary instrument of education for all children...I think one of the issues is we tend to think of education as being the content. We overemphasize the importance of content, as opposed to emphasizing the part that's really difficult in any good education, which is adult-supervised motivation - the motivation of the child to learn something.' • 'If you measure some positive benefit in the technology case, your conclusion is that technology helped. But it was always the people that we worked with, the partners that we chose and the people on the ground who interacted with the people that we wanted to support. All of those human factors were required for the technology itself to have an impact; whether the technology helped or not was really up to people.' Read on...

MIT Technology Review: Putting Technology in Its Place
Author: Brian Bergstein

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 apr 2015

According to MarketingTerms.com, 'Affiliate Marketing' is the 'Revenue sharing between online advertisers/merchants and online publishers/salespeople, whereby compensation is based on performance measures, typically in the form of sales, clicks, registrations, or a hybrid model.' Wikipedia defines 'Customer Relationship Management' (CRM) as 'System for managing a company's interactions with current and future customers. It often involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support.' Affiliate managers need to keep track of their affiliate relationships efficiently and they can use CRM tools to stay organized. According to Dustin Howes, Director of Marketing at Marketing Clique, 'Using the CRM creates full transparency of the current state of the affiliate program and the growth in the near future.' He provides the following ways CRM can be effective for affiliate marketing - (1) Document Hot Leads (2) Task Reminders (3) Institutional Memory (4) Predicting Affiliate Performance. Read on...

FeedFront: Growing your Affiliate Program with a CRM
Author: Dustin Howes

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 apr 2015

Entrepreneurs are always seeking new ways to leverage their position in the market to stay competitive and successful. Competitive advantage is not an easy thing to achieve for entrepreneurs. Here are few ways that entrepreneurs can gain competitive edge - (1) Positioning is better than prospecting. (2) Plans fail, movements don't. (3) Stand on the shoulder of giants. (4) Become a people developer. (5) Create raving fans and advocates. Read on...

Entrepreneur: 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Gain a Competitive Advantage
Author: Peter Voogd

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 12 apr 2015

Adoption and implementation of business-IT strategies with emerging technologies like big data, cloud, social business and mobility, is a continuous long-term process. It involves multiple streams of projects with complexity and uncertainty. In such an environment CIO's will be challenged to manage a continuous process of incremental development. Jyoti Lalchandani, group vice president and regional managing director at IDC Middle East, Africa and Turkey, explains the approach of 'Failure Management' that IDC utilizes for project management. According to him, 'Businesses rushing to embrace emerging technology solutions may fail more often than not to extract full value from individual projects, but in the long run they will reap enormous value as long as they persist and stay focused on their strategic goals.' Failure management doesn't consider failure as an absolute end result but as a range of project outcomes. Some outcomes might lead to project termination but in other situations it would require some alterations and tweaking to get favourable results and returns on tech investments. Evaluation process is a must at key stages of project lifecycle. The stages are called 'value checkpoints' as they measure the business value return in addition to standard performance metrics. When projects are failing, there are three options for organizations, called 'Rule of Three' by IDC - (1) Stay the course (2) Kill the project or (3) Find a way to change the project's trajectory. Although most project planning methodologies focus on (1) & (2), but it is important to consider all three options and answer all questions to determine the optimum course of action. Read on...

Gulf Times: Manage failure to secure strategic advantage
Author: Jyoti Lalchandani

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 07 apr 2015

Technology-enabled learning is an important part of today's education landscape. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), interactive learning platforms, course management systems, learning analytics, mobile learning and education apps are some of the technological innovations transforming education. Following is a partial list of ways, identified by researchers and teachers, in which technology has influenced learning and education - (1) Critical Thinking: Technology fosters analogical, expressive and experiential thinking, and also problem solving ability. Authors of 'Meaningful Learning With Technology', David H. Jonassen, Jane L. Howland and Rose M. Marra, argue that students do not learn from teachers or from technologies. Rather, students learn from thinking. Thinking mediates learning. (2) Mobile Learning: Tablets and smartphones are driving mobile learning. In one survey, 73% of teachers said that they and their students use smartphones for educational purposes. (3) Access to Education: X-Prize is challenging entrepreneurs to develop open-source software that children can use to acquire basic literacy and arithmetic skills on their own. According to Matt Keller, director of the Global Learning X-Prize, 'It's based on the supposition, still unproven, that kids can teach themselves how to read and write.' (4) Deeper Learning: 'The most powerful uses are where people are producing,' says Karen Cator, president and CEO of Digital Promise and former head of the Office of Technology at the US Department of Education. (5) Continuous Feedback: At Utah State University researchers conducted a study to examine the use of frequent, anonymous student course surveys as a tool in supporting continuous quality improvement (CQI) principles in online instruction. (6) Unlimited and Immediate Learning (7) Creation and Contribution (8) Social Connectedness: Researchers at the University of North Texas found that university students who used text messaging to communicate with other students during group projects felt more socially connected and communicated more often with questions and ideas. (9) Global Awareness: José Picardo, head of modern foreign languages at Nottingham High School, says 'Options that would not have occurred to us before stand out as obvious if we understand how other people experience the world. That's why it is so important for students to have a deeper global awareness and understanding of other cultures.' (10) Understanding Learning: Professor Rich Lamb of Washington State University has figured out a dramatically easier and more cost-effective way to do research on science curriculum - through video games. Called 'computational modeling', it involves a computer 'learning' student behavior and then 'thinking' as students would. Prof. Lamb says, 'The process could revolutionise the way educational research is done.' Read on...

Innovation Excellence: 10 Most Powerful Uses of Technology for Learning
Author: Saga Briggs

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 apr 2015

Marketing strategy need to be communicated, accepted and implemented by the whole team to get the expected results. Oftentimes it is observed that a good plan and strategy fails due to lack of understanding and support by the members of the team. John Rampton, president of Adogy, provides three innovative techniques to bring the team on the same page regarding the marketing plan - (1) Make it a Game: Allen Graves, a content marketing strategist, suggests making the marketing strategy a game. The idea is based on Joe Pulizzi's 'Epic Content Marketing'. Make four small teams and a team is constitued with 4-5 members who don't generally work together and use a 10-step process to create strategy (i-Decide on a single product to market; ii-Research & document general audiences, buyer personas etc; iii-Define goals of the conent; iv-Detail the buying process and engagement cycles; v-Define the conent niche; vi-Develop a content mission statement; vii-Create a comprehensive content marketing plan; viii-Build a content calender to include at least 12 pieces of content; ix-Develop a strategy to market each piece of content; x-Define key performance indicators and how goals will be measured). Finally team answers the 10-steps in a PowerPoint presentation. (2) Implement an Internal Communication Plan: According to Kris Prendergast, a communication expert, 'Internal communication is the strategic process of gaining employee support for external branding efforts and marketing campaigns.' This can be achieved within the organization by internal newsletter or blog; internal social network; sales conferences and marketing conferences; team building/training events; and digital interactive capabilities. (3) Hold a Strategy Planning Day: John Jantsch, author of 'Duct Tape Marketing', suggests scheduling a strategy planning day, preferably on an offsite location and including a facilitator for the session. Brainstorming sessions would include a team leader, who assembles his own team & resources, and creates a framework and plan based on key themes like objectives, results, constraints, goals, projects and tactics. Read on...

Forbes: 3 Tips To Take Marketing Strategy to Whole Team
Author: John Rampton

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 01 apr 2015

For long-term success and continuous growth of their businesses, corporate leaders focus on innovation, performance excellence and risk management as their priority agenda. Their innovation strategy includes 10 types of innovation - product, service, platform, structure, process, business model, network, channel, customer engagement and brand. According to Andy Boynton, Bill Fischer and William Bole, co-authors of 'The Idea Hunter', as a long-term success mantra, corporate innovators need to cultivate habits of curiosity, deliberate observation, diverse information seeking and engagement with other creative people. Peter Sims, author and entrepreneur, explains 'In addition to idea flow, enterprise innovators need to nurture habits of taking 'little bets' via creative play, prototyping, learning and pivoting.' Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen, co-authors of 'The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators', suggest 'At an individual and organisational level, corporate innovation calls for skills in questioning, observing, networking, experimenting and making associations. Gerald Tellis, Director of the Centre for Global Innovation at University of Southern California, says 'In an increasingly competitive and globalised economy, it is only 'unrelenting innovation' that can help companies sustain a long term advantage.' According to Madanmohan Rao, research director at YourStory Media, large corporations can seek innovative ideas and creative solutions by partnering and collaborating with entrepreneurial startups in variety of ways. This will help them save time, money and effort that goes into in-house innovation. He provides 15 tips and suggestions for big organizations to tap startup innovation - (1) Acquisition (2) Accelerators (3) Calls to Collaboration (4) Hackathons and Hackdays (5) Startup Competitions (6) Conferences and Local Meetups (7) Startup Hotspot Visits (8) Customer Engagement Models (9) Thought Leadership Via Startup Media (10) Special Interest Groups (11) Startup Networks (12) Entrepreneurship Networks (13) Incubators (14) R&D Grants to Entrepreneur-focused Universities (15) Entrepreneurs in Residence. Read on...

YourStory: 15 innovation tips - how large corporations can successfully engage with startups
Author: Madanmohan Rao

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 01 apr 2015

Journalism is undergoing transformation due to innovative use of latest technologies. Journalism students view technology as an essential element of today's reporting and broadcasting. Here are some perspectives of students on technologies that they utilize and have potential to encourage innovation in journalism - (1) Alex Lucke, University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Using journalism education and tech background to develop a mobile app 'a Pandora station' for travellers that gives social-based recommendations for concerts and other activities. (2) Fernando Hurtado, University of Southern California's Annenberg Media Center: Mini-broadcasts that simulate the live coverage experience; Social media broadcasts. (3) Daniel Wheaton, University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Use of overhead drones for filming and coverage. (4) Anne Li, Northwestern University's Knight Lab: Uses live Google spreadsheets as a powerful content management system through Tarbell, a site authoring tool. (5) Sam Hart and Alex Duner, Northwestern University: Utilize interactive plug-and-chug tools and templates that editors can use to quickly generate quizzes, flowcharts etc to tell innovative stories. (6) Tony Papousek, University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Computer engineering student-turned-journalist, uses open source programming languages like Ruby, Python and R to build scraping tools and apps. He is inspired by story bots, algorithms that zip through massive databases of articles and churn out thousands of stories in seconds, without a single reporter. (7) Anna-Catherine Brigida, Reporter at Intersections South L.A. & graduate of University of Southern California's Annenberg Media Center: Wearable filming through augmented reality glasses like Google Glass and GoPro for reporting and storytelling. These tools make for storytelling experiences with perspective. (8) Jessica Oliveira, University of Southern California's Annenberg School: Mobile presence is important with smartphone and tablet app, and responsive website to reach large audience. (9) Jasmine Lee, New York University's Studio20: Streamlined collaborative communication using team-based apps. Task management app Trello, integrated with Slack, a team chatting app, that can also be used with collaborative tools like Google Drive, GitHub etc, for innovative workflow and purposeful collaboration. Read on...

American Journalism Review: How Tech-Savvy Journalism Students View Innovation
Author: Aysha Khan