Business & Finance

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 nov 2014

Shopping malls and retailers are utilizing interactive and virtual technologies to enhance and facilitate customer buying experience. Mobile apps, touchscreens, tablets, 'Elf-Ray Vision', image search, texting services etc are some of the customer focused technologies that are being applied. One of the retailer have even partnered with a 3D printing company to provide customizable products. Deloitte holiday survey of more than 5000 people found that 2/3rd of Americans now own a smartphone, and 72% plan to use it in holiday shopping; for 27%, that means spending more. According to Jesse Tron of International Council of Shopping Centers, 'Using phones as a shopping tool also means many consumers have a pretty good idea of what they want before they ever walk through the door.' 'Consumers want to be entertained. But going beyond the entertainment factor and making technology helpful is crucial to successfully integrating digital experiences in stores.' says Kathleen Jordan, a leader in the retail practice group of design and architecture firm Gensler. Read on...

USA TODAY: Retailers use virtual technology to vie for sales
Author: Hadley Malcolm

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 nov 2014

According to recent American Community Survey, 2.6% of workers telecommute. More and more organizations are providing their workforce flexible work hours and locations to perform their job responsibilities. Technology is facilitating this shift in work dynamics. Effective collaboration tools are needed to get the dispersed members of the teams to stay connected, focused and efficient. There are variety of such tools available in the market, both free and paid. Here is the list of 7 free online collaboration tools - (1) Podio: Enterprise social network with project management system functionality. It has user profiles, chat app, internal email, contacts, calendar and tasks. Has customization features. (2) Asana: Project management/workflow management tool. Works on most platforms, offering the flexibility to assign tasks and to-dos, set milestones and deadlines and keep track of it all on work on tablets, smartphones or desktops. (3) Google Apps: Used as a suit, provides Gmail, Hangouts, Calendars, Docs, Sheets, Slides and more many of the features project management and collaboration software offer. (4) Yammer: Enterprise social network where users can create a personal profile page, create and join groups, share and like comments, upload images, and attach files. Best for communication but lacks project management capability. (5) Trello: Project management tool that uses a model known as Kanban. Projects are represented and organised using boards or cards that contain task/to-do lists that users share in real-time. (6) HipChat: Multi-platform communications tool allows to create virtual rooms for teams to meet and communicate as well as share files and photos. (7) GanttProject: Open source project management and scheduling app. Allows users to create and organise tasks and milestones. It can also create Gantt and PERT charts as well as reports in HTML or PDF formats. But it doesn't provide social features. Read on...

ComputerWorldUK: 7 free online collaboration and project management tools
Author: Rich Hein

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 19 nov 2014

The concept of 'collaborative economy', people sharing products and services with each other, is facilitated by technologies and disrupting businesses with services like Uber, Kickstarter, Airbnb etc getting substantial public and media attention. Jeremiah Owyang, founder of Crowd Companies, talks about 'Honeycomb', which shows how this economy is forming - resilient structures that efficiently enable many individuals to access, share, and grow resources among a common group. He mentions 3 things that drive the collaborative economy: societal drivers, economic drivers, and technology enablers. Collaborative economy is growing and the participation has nearly doubled between 2013 and 2014. Crowd funding businesses ensures loyal community involvement in the venture. Mr. Owyang makes three predictions on the future of collaborative economy - (1) New membership-based business models. A business model will emerge where people don't actually own goods, they just need access to them (2) Branded marketplaces will compete with startups (3) Brands will pull the makers closer to them, and co-innovation will blur lines between customers and employees. Read on...

Salesforce Blog: 3 Predictions for the Future of the Collaborative Economy
Author: Jeremiah Owyang

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 19 nov 2014

Over the years workplace has evolved as a result of advancement in technologies and changing nature of businesses. The earlier fixed office space has now transformed into anything from a living room to a corner coffee shop, depending upon the availability of good internet connectivity. Most modern businesses provides their workers flexibility to work from within or outside the traditional office space. This shift in work environment also brings new challenges for the managers to lead their remote workers and teams. Marty Fukuda, COO of N2 Publishing, suggests 5 essential keys to effectively lead remote workforce - (1) Set expectations: Establish and communicate the expectations early and that should include availability, productivity and meeting attendance (2) Leverage technology: Use communication tools like GoToMeeting, Facetime, Google Hangouts etc or simply utilize a phone call to connect with the team whenever required (3) Be available: Give opportunity for workers to contact and connect through online availability status or schedule specific times for them to interact like academician's office hours (4) Remember the power of face-to-face meetings: Arrange atleast some one-to-one meetings with each team member (5) Trust your team: Provide them freedom and flexibility to work and trust them to do what they do best. Read on...

Entrepreneur: 5 Essential Keys to Leading a Remote Workforce
Author: Marty Fukuda

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 nov 2014

Every region of the world poses different set of challenges for businesses and their employees due to culture, language, perceptions, people behavior etc. Josh Bersin of Deloitte, while on a visit to some Asian countries (Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo), interacted with HR professionals there and shares the following perspectives on human resources in Asia - (1) Leadership Gaps: Similar core leadership capabilites as other regions but need for style and 'cultural agility' (2) Culture and Communication Style: Varies across countries with Hong Kong more diverse and mix of Western and Asian while people in Japan more respectful, quiet and harmonious in communication (3) Employee Retention: Job hopping is prevalent particularly among young professionals (4) Use of Technology: Rapid growth and expanding economy in Asia is bringing use of latest technology (5) Fragmented and More Traditional HR Teams: Due to rapid growth HR organizations are less sophisticated and still have HR as a 'service center' function and are struggling to move to HR as 'business consultant' function (6) Highly Focused, Smart, Business Oriented HR leaders: HR leaders are actively engaged in discussions about how to restructure roles and try new approaches which drive results faster (7) The Simply Irresistible Framework: Companies should think holistically about their entire work environment if they want to compete for top talent. Read on...

LinkedIn Pulse: Talent Challenges in Asia - Growth, Youth, Dynamic Business Climate
Author: Josh Bersin

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 nov 2014

In the world of business there are often debates regarding the art of leadership and the science of management. Supporters of leadership sometimes consider management as simply making the trains run on time, while those favoring management view leadership as more of an emotional discipline. But there is a middle way of viewing them both - Management is the "What" and Leadership is the "Why". All what and no why leads to workforce just moving like pendulum with no real engagement. On the other hand, all why and no what results in more enthusiasm without much valuable output. Leadership and management are interdependent and in an organization, people must work along a continuum that optimally blends them to fit the situation. Executives should be prepared to undertake the demands of both leadership and management to successfully steer their organizations to desired goals. Read on...

strategy+business: Ending the Battle between Leadership and Management
Author: Eric J. McNulty

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 nov 2014

Successful change and transformation in an organization is often a result of the collaborative efforts of workers at various levels of hierarchy. Mid-level managers stand out considering their critical role in bringing large-scale organizational change. According to research study of 56 randomly selected companies from diverse industries, by Professor Behnam Tabrizi of Stanford University, most of the large-scale change and innovation efforts failed, but the successful 32% were due to the involvement of mide-level managers two or more levels below the CEO. In these successful efforts, mid-level managers weren't only manageing incremental change but they were leading it by working levers of power up, across and down in their organizations. Prof. Tabrizi, who is also Managing Director of Rapid Transformation LLC, mentions defining characteristics of managers who emerge as successful change leaders - (1) Change leaders have a North Star - and they talk about it (2) Change leaders use a GPS to guide them toward their North Star (3) Change leaders work across boundaries (4) Change leaders move fast. Moreover he also suggests five stages of a process, from his book 'Rapid Transformation', that managers should adopt, stick to it and inspire others to embrace it - (i) Inspiration (ii) Shifting the mindset (iii) Envisioning and articulating the future (iv) Planning how to accomplish change (v) Implementing the change. Read on...

HBR Blog: The Key to Change Is Middle Management
Author: Behnam Tabrizi

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 11 nov 2014

Successful entrepreneurs have behavioral understanding of their diverse staff to effectively align them towards the organizational goals. To manage work relationships with software developers they should have different leadership style and management structure. Scott Gerber, founder of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), asked 11 entrepreneurs who are part of YEC to provide significant leadership mistakes they noticed regarding management of software developers and how to avoid them: (1) Assuming They Will Speak Up- David Hassell, 15Five (2) Assuming Developers Want To Work The Same Schedule As Everyone Else- Rameet Chawla, Fueled (3) Not Showing Trust- Phil Chen, Systems Watch (4) Not Managing Distractions- Mark Cenicola, Banner View (5) Believing False Deadlines- Joshua Lee, Standout Authority (6) Not Playing to Their Strengths and Experiences- Jyot Singh, RTS Labs (7) Not Focusing on Detailed Requirements- Vladimir Gendelman, Company Folders, Inc (8) Not Listening to Technical Expertise- Laura Roeder, MeetEdgar (9) Managing Based on Whims- Juha Liikala, Stripped Bare Media (10) Assuming They Can Solve Every Problem- Alfredo Atanacio, Uassist.ME (11) Not Understanding the Developer's Personality- Adam Stillman, SparkReel. Read on...

ReadWrite: 11 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Managing Developers
Author: Scott Gerber

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 10 nov 2014

According to Steve Blank, serial-entrepreneur and academician, who launched the Lean Startup movement, 'in a true, thriving startup ecosystem, venture capitalists understand failure.' In the Lean Startup methodology startups are able to "fail quickly" and learn from those mistakes to make the necessary pivot required to find a successful business model. He says, 'Smart VCs, when you have a cluster, believe that entrepreneurship is not just execution. You're betting on the team, on the people, on the passion, on the vision and sometimes on the circumstances. When you can't get them to believe failure equals experience, you don't have the right culture yet.' Read on...

StartupSmart: Venture capitalists need to better understand failure for an ecosystem to thrive, says Steve Blank
Author: Kye White

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 10 nov 2014

Number of start-ups are often considered to have a positive correlation with the health of the economy. But Professor Daniel Isenberg of Babson College, and Fernando Fabre, president of Endeavor Global, argue that 'Scale-ups', growing businesses that promote long-term entrepreneurship, have more impact on the economy as they lead to more innovation and create more jobs as compared to a high-number of quickly failed start-ups. They negate the Brookings Institution report that blames the decline of entrepreneurship in US on established companies and point out that the report doesn't classify company as entrepreneurial if it has lasted for more than 16 years, implying that fewer start-ups reflect an economy that can't support new business. On the contrary, companies that exist for longer period continue to grow and innovate and contribute substantially to the economy. Prof. Isenberg and Mr. Faber have created a 'Scale-up Declaration' that explains the benefits of scale-ups: 'Entrepreneurs create value and are necessary in all sectors of society. What makes great entrepreneurs are people who scale up their operation and then reinvest their knowledge or financial gains to help the next generation of entrepreneurs.' An example of successful scale-up entrepreneur cited by Mr. Faber is Fadi Ghandour, founder of Aramex, who reinvested in Jordanian entrepreneurs and helped create an entrepreneurial ecosystem there alongwith other successful entrepreneurs. Scale-up entrepreneurs have the power to recycle life and energy into the economy by reinvesting in innovation. Read on...

Chronicle-Independent: A broader definition of entrepreneurs
Author: John Hoffmire, Krystal Bailey

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