Companies use the Web to reach customers throughout the decision-making process. The McKinsey conducted a survey on “How businesses are using Web 2.0″. The participating companies in the survey cited that “Web 2.0 technologies are strategic and that (more…)

With the growth of Internet and e-mails, it is easy for everyone to send and receive documents that are confidential or copyrighted. These actions could be damaging and may result in unwanted legal harassments. Receiving external documents containing viruses is another burning problem these days, which could harm or seriously damage your system and cause severe disruption to the organization.

Browsing the irrelevant web sites and be unproductive in their assigned role is another issue causing employers headache.

Technology is only part of the solution and can only help you enforce your policy. The responsibility for successful e-policy lies with both management and employees. Management needs to decide what is appropriate to the organization, lay down a set of rules or guidelines (a policy) and inform all employees of this. Employees need to understand the risks to the organization and ramifications of not following the procedures laid down.

No matter how small your company, here are some steps you need to take:

• Implement an e-policies addressing employee use of e-mail, the Internet, software piracy and ethical use of e-resources. That should be an integral part of the employee handbook
• Everybody in the organization should be educated about the details written in e-policy.
• Provide clear guidance, if possible give examples and templates, on what is and is not appropriate to communicate via e-mail.
• Let everybody know how much personal use of Internet and e-mail is acceptable.
• Prepare and enact a risk management policy that incorporates policies on e-mail and other electronic documents retention, deletion, passwords and filtering.
• Implement a computer and network security policy to keep hackers and other intruders out of your system.

Many of the above issues can be addressed by use of some form of technology, but only the technology can not help to enforce policies. It is no use having a police force if there are no laws for them to uphold.

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I am trying to list here few of the reasons why people blog. Write your reasons in comment area to expand and make this list more comprehensive. People are motivated and engaged tirelessly to operate blogs for one or more of the following reasons.

To make money
This is the most motivating reason people start blogging. They create blogs to generate traffic that they make money from Google adSense and other click and impression based ads providers. If blog traffic is high, you get advertisements more easily.

To establish and enhance brand
Small and large businesses today run blogs to enhance their another business or sell another product/service. People are (more…)

Complaining clients tell you where you are going wrong. They’re the ones at the front line, testing out your service. If you handle those clients the right way, they will become your most loyal clients.

If you identify client complaints, analyze the causes and address those on time, you will win a lot of loyal customer. When clients complain they are actually giving you an opportunity to keep their business, business you would otherwise have lost.

Each complaining client gives you a chance to win a “new” client. Studies have shown that 95% of dissatisfied clients will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint in their favor on the spot. That’s the beauty of complaints: if you deal with them properly, and actively seek and welcome complaints, then word soon gets around.

Follow my suggestions below to handle the complaints:

1. Politely note the complaint if you are talking to client over the phone. Prepare a standard complaint form and send to client when you start project or sign an agreement for the project. This will make clients feel, lodging a complain is part (more…)

Business-to-business (B2B) sales are fully based on satisfying a need of a company. It should directly fulfill the need or solve the problem of a company to make a sale, no matter how good your products are, how cost effective offers you give or how innovative in nature the product or service may seem.

For this reason, sales people should conduct sufficient research about a company before approaching it. Ideally, sales (more…)

Theodore Levitt, the famous Harvard marketing professor, said “The marketing process consists of a tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse, and satisfy customer needs.”

I am fan of Seth Godin. I recently completed his a “must-read” book “Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers“. Seth Godin refers to the marketing process as one of converting strangers into friends and friends into customers. I would like to go a step further on both ends of the marketing frame he presents. (more…)

(For your information, these are not paid reviews)

Approver.com

Anyone who has collaborated with multiple people on a document knows the true meaning of frustration. You have to distribute the file to the entire group, convince every person to review it by a certain date and time, and get them all to sign off on it. Approver.com lowers the pain quotient considerably. Upload the document you want to track, and the site routes it to everyone who needs to see it. It also lets you set deadlines for reviewing the document, and keep track of approvals and comments. Approver.com works with a number of apps, including Microsoft Office, Adobe PDF, and Open Office; alternatively, you can use the site to create documents, and have your colleagues read them online. (more…)

How to help enterprise to retain their knowledge and which in turn helps you manage more?

Enterprises are already moving towards making knowledge more open, sharable and accessible. Knowledge needs to be collaborative, inter-operative and re-usable. Knowledge needs management. It has its own life - initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling and its closing. An exceptionally unique attribute that needs nurturing to make it dynamic & long lasting. How do you proceed in your life, department, organization?

Last year, one of the International NGOs hired me for consulting on managing knowledge in their organization. They use laptops and PCs, they use emails, web based free emails and everything they know about - fully computerized, very few things in hard copy documents. Most of their staffs are short-term contract employees. They join, work for few months as per contract and they leave. They write project reports and reports are archived, but always something is missing. After people leave organization, no way of accessing information in their laptops, personal emails, web based emails. Whatever available in organization network is all fragmented. Some information in emails, some other in PDF, Word, Excel, (more…)