Business & Finance

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 12 feb 2015

Recent research by Bell Pottinger Digital suggests 15 top digital trends that are going to change the way brands communicate in 2015. The data is obtained through searching the web (blogs, social media, comments etc) and finding out the most talked about and mentioned trends online in 2014. According to James Thomlinson, Partner and Managing Director of Bell Pottinger Digital, 'While technology will be one of the biggest drivers of marketing change in the New Year, the key focus for brands will be on delivering truly integrated strategies.' The following 15 trends are ranked in order of percentage increase throughout the year 2014 - (1) Near Field Communication (NFC): Increase- 358%, Mentions- 42530 (2) Internet of Things (IoT): 283%, 1126700 (3) Wearables: 220%, 1793574 (4) Internal Communications: 167%, 6597; (5) Storytelling: 145%, 82618 (6) Branded Content: 73%, 165898 (7) Beacons: 64%, 348468 (8) Personalization: 49%, 68443 (9) Big Data: 41%, 5032773 (10) Content Marketing: 41%, 3216165 (11) Augmented Reality: 38%, 400242 (12) 3D Printing: 35%, 1160336 (13) Real-Time Marketing: 16%, 252537 (14) Mobile: 6%, 1433582 (15) Gamification: 4%, 384938. Read on...

Bell Pottinger Newsroom: Infographic - 15 digital trends for 2015
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 08 feb 2015

Continual business transformation is necessary for companies not only for success but to attain and remain in the leadership position of any industry. According to an Oracle/Forbes Insights survey of 534 global executives conducted for the "Making the Change: Planning, Executing and Measuring Successful Business Transformation", 48% of executives believe their organization is only somewhat or not at all prepared to successfully execute a business transformation today. There are reasons for the failure and ways to avoid them and succeed - (1) You Need a Process, Not Just a Plan. (2) Buy-in Is Critical. (3) Everyone Must Be on the Same Page. (4) The Devil Really Is in the Details. (5) The Transformation Is Never Complete. Read on...

Forbes: Why Business Transformation Fails and How to Ensure It Doesn't
Author: Amy Westervelt

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 07 feb 2015

According to Wikipedia article on 'Digital Transformation', a report published on the basis of a three year study by MIT Center for Digital Business and Capgemini Consulting in November 2011 defined effective 'Digital Transformation' program as one that addressed - "The What": The intensity of digital initiatives within a corporation; "The How": The ability of a company to master transformational change to deliver business results. Altimeter Group defines 'Digital Transformation' as - 'The realignment of, or new investment in, technology and business models to more effectively engage digital customers at every touchpoint in the customer experience lifecycle.' In Altimeter's recent report 'The 2014 State of Digital Transformation' (by Brian Solis, Jaimy Szymanski and Rebecca Lieb) it is mentioned that '88% of executives and digital strategists stated that their company is undergoing a formal digital transformation effort in 2014. Yet, only 25% had mapped out the digital customer journey.' The digital transformation seems to be still misunderstood by many. According to Mike Sutcliff, Group Chief Executive of Accenture Digital, 'As businesses transform by trying to understand how to deliver better products and services, digital steps in with the set of tools and techniques to get it done.' Mr. Sutcliff provides seven digital business transformation lessons - (1) Mobility is an element of all digital transformation initiatives. (2) Digital business transformation expand beyond marketing. (3) Digital business transformation is a C-suite agenda. (4) Digital transformation is less about technology and more about business outcomes. (5) Data analytics is at the core of digital business transformation capabilities. (6) Balance cultural change from both top-down and bottom-up directions. (7) Business, products and services innovation is a team sport (the eco-system). Read on...

Huffington Post: Accenture Digital: 7 Digital Business Transformation Lessons
Author: Vala Afshar

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 24 jan 2015

Apple Inc. is associated with the best designed world-class products. It's a result of extraordinary design process that they apply before their products reach the hands of their customers. Here are few product design lessons from Apple - (1) Quality counts at every stage of product development and customer experience. (2) Embrace change and continuously iterate, evolve and develop new products. (3) Stay ahead and provide new to market technologies within compelling new products people need. (4) Whole widget, meaning owns the primary software technology giving it the flexibility to introduce new solutions and add new features over time. (5) Riding without wheels, meaning the robust, inventive and long design process that takes time to launch new to market product categories. (6) Take risks, embrace failures and learn. Apple understands the value of process innovation in order to maintain its design lead. (7) Thoroughly understand the various elements of the innovations process like use of advanced new materials and technologies etc. (8) Deeply complex but simple to users. Develop products so that they work intuitively. (9) Customers count at every stage. (10) Consistency across every strand of the user experience. Read on...

Computerworld: Apple's top 10 tips for great product design
Author: Jonny Evans

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 22 jan 2015

Although pharmaceutical industry comprises of well entrenched big corporations with strong R&D investments and there hardly seem to be any room for entrepreneurs with the 'fail fast, fail often' philosophy of startup culture. But Kevin Xu, CEO of MEBO International & Skingenics, argues otherwise and suggests entrepreneurs to still seek opportunities in the drug development industry by looking at right places within the various components of the pharma ecosystem. They should observe and anticipate innovations and emerging technologies. Mr. Xu provides following four specific suggestions for entrepreneurs to find their niche in the drug development world by understanding & developing a relationship within R&D - (1) Look at the supply chain and search for gaps in what's available and what's needed for maximum accuracy and efficiency. (2) Figure out what's in demand and develop the right expertise to develop a niche as an expert consultant. (3) Go to trade shows as they are invaluable resources for both networking and information-gathering. (4) Look at the periphery and find out what is needed in the inside. They can develop specialized tools outside the industry which can be utilized by those working in drug development. Read on...

Entrepreneur: 4 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Break Into the Drug Industry
Author: Kevin Xu

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 jan 2015

Over the years it is observed that there is no change in the success rate of around 30% for major corporate change programs. Ron Ashkenas, managing partner of Schaffer Consulting, suggests that although enough investments are being made in education, research, consulting and training to understand and implement change management, the results had been disappointing mainly due to an underlying symantic problem that stems from the confusion between what constitutes 'change' versus 'transformation'. Most managers can't differentiate between the two. Organizations have even though learned to manage change but they generally struggle with transformation. According to Mr. Ashkenas, 'change management' means implementing finite initiatives, which may or may not cut across the organization. The focus is on executing a well-defined shift in the way things work. While 'transformation', unlike change management, doesn't focus on a few discrete, well-defined shifts, but rather on a portfolio of initiatives, which are interdependent or intersecting. More importantly, the overall goal of transformation is not just to execute a defined change - but to reinvent the organization and discover a new or revised business model based on a vision for the future. It's much more unpredictable, iterative, and experimental. Read on...

Harvard Business Review: We Still Don't Know the Difference Between Change and Transformation
Author: Ron Ashkenas

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 jan 2015

Change management and project management are two important and different aspects of business management. Change management provides a structured framework to transition individuals and organizations from one state to the next. Project management is concerned with accomplishing a clearly defined goal and outcome with a specific budget, scope and quality standards. Christopher Smith, Change Management Director at WalkMe, provides critical differences between change management and project management - (1) Project management has a specific measurable goal while change management typically involves less tangible and measurable ideas about what is being achieved. (2) Project management necessitates a timeline while change management involves input from stakeholders in the business throughout the process, meaning that as the idea is being developed it will be implemented over an undefined period of time. (3) Milestones are integral to project management while change management is an open and consultative process where course correction can happen based on suggestions and needs. (4) Project management has limited scope while in change management the scope can be very broad or not defined at all. (5) Change management involves input of multiple ideas while in contrast project management only requires a single idea from which it can be developed. Read on...

LinkedIn Pulse: The Key Differences Between Change Management and Project Management
Author: Christopher Smith

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 jan 2015

Since small businesses have budget constraints and can't spend too much on marketing, branding & advertising, they have to try to do less with more. Moreover they have to develop a solid marketing plan to attract and retain their customers. Christine St.Vil and Julian Kiganda, authors and entrepreneurs, provide tips on branding and marketing for small business owners. On Branding - (1) Have total clarity on your WHY (2) Know who you are (3) Deliver on your promise. On Marketing - (1) Focuse on relationship building (2) Focus on creating and sharing great content that your audience wants/needs/will benefit from (3) Tell your story (4) When your business grows, make sure your head stays the same size. Read on...

Madame Noire: 7 BRANDING & MARKETING TIPS FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS JUST STARTING OUT
Author: Kara Stevens

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 15 jan 2015

In the ever changing and evolving world of technology, it is challenging to predict with certainty what will succeed and fail in the coming times. But researchers and experts apply variety of methods to analyze and understand what technologies will become trends and survive, and keeping businesses and public aware of their usefulness and impact. Amy Webb, founder and CEO of Webbmedia Group, at the end of each year applies a framework to bring out the most important emerging trends in digital media and emerging technology for the year ahead. The framework analyzes consumer behavior, microeconomic trends, government policies, market forces, and emerging research within the context of our continually-evolving tech and digital media ecosystem. Her team uses a core set of five attributes to look for emerging patterns: contradictions, inflections, oddities, coincidences, and inversions. These attributes help to identify a set of likely trends on horizon. Each trend is then put through five questions - (1) Where/how are people wasting their time? (2) Where/how are people having difficulty with technology? (3) Where/how are people looking for information? (4) Where/how are people stuck? (5) How do people want to be perceived? These five questions help in qualitatively and quantitatively assess whether or not that pattern is actually a trend that will stick in the future. Based on this methodology Ms. Webb suggests six tech trends of importance for managers in all industries - (1) Deep learning (2) Smart virtual personal assistants (3) More Uber-type businesses in other industries (4) Oversight for algorithms (5) Data privacy (6) Block chain technology. Read on...

Harvard Business Review: The Tech Trends You Can't Ignore in 2015
Author: Amy Webb

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 12 jan 2015

Technology plays an important role in bringing efficiency to the financial markets. Emerging technologies, public's desire for financial transparency and government regulations that started to favor financial market alternatives after the financial crisis, provided the necessary momentum for the FinTech sector which saw billions of dollars invested and couple of successful IPOs (LendingClub, OnDeck) in 2014. Following are important FinTech trends to keep an eye on in 2015 as they provide both opportunities and risks - (1) Service-based Investing: Term for 'low-cost service-based investing', the upcoming sector of paid services around low cost investing. Example is RobinHood, mobile based commission-free trading brokerage. The combination of paid apps with commission-free investing could result in a combination of sophisticated trading products in an environment that costs less than what one or two trades would cost at a competing online broker. The downside of this business model can be learned from forex industry, where most services are free and getting clients to pay for premium services is challenging. (2) Robo Investing: It is anti-social trading, an opposite of social trading which tends to be democratization of trading where anybody can develop a track record and become trade leaders. With robo investing, users enter information such as their age, risk tolerance, years until retirement and expected savings amount. The platforms then automatically invest funds in ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) that track indexes. This is all done for fees at a fraction of those charged at actively managed mutual funds and professional financial advisors. The fear here is that incumbents like Charles Schwab, Fidelity and Vanguard will enter the market and commoditize robo investing. If this happens smaller players and new firms may find it too tough to scale large enough to become profitable. (3) Digital-based Equity Investing: Combining blockchain technology and equity crowdfunding, decentralized exchanges are being used to create digital stock offerings. Equity crowdfunding itself is an emerging market. The appeal of digital-based equity crowdfunding is that it is easier to create an aftermarket once a sale takes place, as well as marketing the offering around the globe. Regulation is one of the biggest challenge for this model. Another issue is the bitcoin-based buying process for digital shares which presents a stumbling block for someone that doesn't have bitcoins. Read on...

Forex Magnates: Fintech Trends for 2015: Investing Services, Anti-Social Trading, and Digital Crowdfunding
Author: Ron Finberg

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