Keep Calm And Think Digital !!!! Happy Republic Day

Nothing Is Impossible

Ups and downs are the part of life.Your life is like the waves of the sea where some tides are high and some tides are low.To become a great achiever in life always look for the hopes.Think big,set your goal,fasten your belly belt and just move in search of right direction, right motivation, right contacts and the most important right approach to move ahead. Success is not a recipe that has one pre set formula to get it cook, it takes a lots of years , lots of patience , lots of hardworking and your positive attitude that ‘Yes I can do this’. It will take time but one day I will accomplish my goal and will proceed further in the direction of my next goal. And that would be the day when you will feel like top of the world because you proved yourself, your vision and your ideas that says “nothing is impossible” if you really wish to do that.

SLOWLY BUT SURELY

"The slower you go, the further you get", – my dearest 
               grandmother used to say this to me.

“If you go faster, you can step into something, hurt yourself, or even worth, break your leg. When you rushing, you forget things, you make sleek mistakes, that could cause many delays in your life! It’s better to walk slower, so you can look around yourself. When you look around, you remember beauty of buildings, old architecture or new, always a little bit of history. When you walk slower, you can see also what is happening in front of you, could be a group of teens, smoking and joking on the streets, you have time to walk around them, so they don’t hurt you if you are a girl, and for a boy also to be safe.”

Remember, we are talking about communism times, where after WWII, people where scared of death, happy to be alive, and nice to each other. There was not a single family, who had all family members survived after the war. Every family had someone lost to the war. I can say, that the streets were very safe to walk  anytime a day or night.

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Today the world is getting more dangerous, more advanced, if that’s the right way to say. Kids don’t have limits! They want it all! Sometimes slower,  we can get more things done, it’s rational. Not necessarily, it’s the right way, and for sure there is no right or wrong. It makes sense, but for me, myself?

No,…

I rush, I push, I make it faster. I can’t wait so long, I got to have it now, I needed it now, I want it now….

Of course I slow down to think,… and that’s the key,

…….my thinking and calculations shows me how well I go fast. 

Courtesy:

http://human--relationships.com/2015/01/20/slowly-but-surely/

Right Usage Of Social Media Can Really Bloom Ur Business To The New Heights !!!!!!

5 Ways Social Media is transforming digital world like never before. Read More…

33.3% of total time spent on internet is done on various Social Media platforms(Source : eMarketer Nov’14 report). Social media has changed the way people are consuming information on internet and businesses have to adopt to the new world order to make most out of it. Many are still trying to figure out ways to take advantage of this medium but, the complex and evolving nature of social is not making things easy.

Social is currently seen as the closet medium to interact with customers in real time. Businesses no longer need to wait for days to get data to evaluate the impact of their marketing campaigns. Data rich digital world has shortened the evaluation cycles with social media giving an early reaction and performance readings from the consumers.

The prominence of Social has opened up new opportunities:

1. New marketing channel (yet to explored fully) – Today on an average user spends 2-3 hours per day (Source – dazeinfo) on social media platforms and this number is constantly rising. So, businesses have no other option but, make efforts to reach out to their potential customers via Social media. The good part of social is that people spend lot of time on it but, bad part is the nature of information consumed on most social platforms is non-serious. Currently social offers one of the lowest ROI among different marketing channels (refer pic below).

With average revenue contribution from social ranging between 5-8% and social penetration among people of over 75%, the numbers don’t add up. There is still long gap to cover and marketers need to understand the space better and plan effectively.

2. Social has taken targeting and personalization to newer heights - Social platform like Facebook and LinkedIn are rich with customer data and fortunately the users share these information willingly. This makes social media very powerful as marketers are now able to target niche segments.

Other options like re-targeting, user content based targeting is making social media a powerful marketing channel. (Will cover different forms of marketing on social media in subsequent posts)

Though the social media offers extensive targeting but, the return on marketing dollars is far from desired.

3. Social media is taking Brands closer to consumers - Brands can now have real time engagement with customers via social media platforms. Social is currently used for multiple type of interaction with users namely brand/product information, new launches, surveys, product/service feedback and the list will keep on rising.

Companies with effective social engagement have successfully increased their brand strength and made their loyalist on social to act as their co-advertisers. If used smartly the domino effect of social can make brands and promotions reach large potential customers in very short time.

4. Social is giving an extended support to alleviate Business operations - Social with its wide reach and customer engagement capabilities can easily fit into multiple operational strategies. Products and promotions are now first launched on social followed by other channels. Social has become an information center where customers directly post queries on brand pages and expect quick answers.

One of the major areas where social media has impacted is the customer care and after sales service departments. Customers are slowly putting their needs and grievances on Brand's social pages rather taking the normal route of calling or e-mailing. This has made life of Brands tough as it has reduced their cycle time to respond and they cannot afford to make any error in communication leading to Brand degradation.

We Need To Train Our People On How To Generate Referrals For Our Business....

How Selling to Referrals Is Different Than Other Lead Types

Have you noticed how crazy busy everyone seems to be these days? Have you noticed how hard it is to reach your clients, let alone your prospects? Have you noticed how difficult it’s become to cut through the noise your prospects experience every day just to grab their attention for a minute or two?

Building your sales process around referrals is beneficial for a number of reasons, including the fact that a customer referral can help you earn prospects' interest faster. However, getting referrals are not enough -- salespeople also have to know how to work them.

It's Different When You Work From Referrals

When you’ve been introduced to a prospect, that prospect’s interest is piqued, and they're more likely to answer your call, return your call, or reply to your email.

But not just any type of introduction will do -- it has to be an engaged introduction. An engaged introduction is a collaborative effort where the referral source works with you to make sure you get connected to the new prospect. This type of introduction gets your foot in the door and establishes a genuine connection between you and the new prospect.

After you’ve received a referral, you have to set the appointment with the new prospect. Depending on your business model, the appointment might be in person or take place over the phone.

And contacting your prospects and setting appointments looks different when you work from referrals as opposed to other types of lead sources. What you learn about the new prospect from your referral source helps you craft a much more compelling reason for why that prospect should give you a piece of his or her valuable time.

However, keep in mind that just because you’ve met someone through a referral, it doesn’t mean that person is going to meet with you. When the trust level between the referral source and the new prospect is high, that is sometimes enough to move the sales process along. But not always. In most cases, you have to continue to deliver value and build trust so that the prospect warms up to meeting with you.

At the opposite end of the sales process is the close, a word I've never particularly liked. “Closing the sale” should never be about tricky, manipulative closing techniques, but especially not if you hope to receive a referral. If you trick people into buying from you, their reaction could be regret. This can lead to cancellations and certainly no referrals. Think in terms of confirming the new relationship instead of closing the deal.

The Value of a Referral Culture

I often call referrals “forgotten gold.” Most businesses know the importance and effectiveness of referrals and introductions, but very few have strived to build a referral-based business. They give lip service to referrals, but they rarely train their people on how to generate referrals.

Some companies have adopted the practice of measuring their Net Promoter Score (NPS). The NPS is a customer loyalty metric developed by (and a registered trademark of) Fred Reichheld, Bain & Company, and Satmetrix. It measures the willingness of customers to recommend your business, and places them on a continuum from a low range of “detractors” to a high range of “promoters.” Proponents of the Net Promoter Score say it’s the most important metric in measuring customer service. 

However, while this is certainly a worthwhile measurement, most companies don’t go to the next step of leveraging these scores. They don’t become proactive in turning promoters into connectors. They encourage word of mouth, but they don’t seek referrals and introductions.

Courtesy:

http://blog.hubspot.com/sales/how-selling-to-referrals-is-different?utm_campaign=Sales%20Blog%20on%20Twitter&utm_content=11288760&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Rs 1,500 crore has been dedicated by Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the innovation in software and services in India

Good to hear that

Infosys CEO meets Modi; dedicates $250 million to innovate in India

Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and disclosed that his company will spend USD 250 million (over Rs 1,500 crore) to fund innovations in software and services in India.

The chief of India’s second largest IT services firm also discussed with Modi ways in which the company can participate in the Prime Minister’s vision of smart and digitally empowered India.

Infosys will develop software for managing the kumbh mela scheduled in Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) in 2016, he told PTI in an interview.

Mr. Sikka, the first non-founder CEO of Infosys, said Mr. Modi has agreed to dedicate the company’s Mysore campus as the first model smart city in the country in April this year.

“Today, I had a meeting with the Prime Minister. We had a talk on smart cities, smart infrastructure, which is close to his heart.

“And the other big area is innovation. PM has a vision for innovation. As announced last week, we have a USD 500 million Innovation Fund. Of this, we have decided that half of this, which is a little over Rs. 1,500 crore, will be dedicated to just innovation in India. We will call it Innovate in India,” Mr. Sikka said.

Google has now launched an app for iOS devices that can log into your computer from your iPhone or iPad

After Android devices, Google has now launched an app for iOS devices that can log into your computer from your iPhone or iPad.

Called Chrome Remote Desktop app, the iOS version lets you remotely control your computer using your smartphone or tablet, Venturebeat reported. The app can also give a friend temporary access to your desktop in case you want some key information while being away from home or office. This is how it works: On your computer, set up remote access using the Chrome Remote Desktop app from Chrome Web Store. On your iOS device, open the app and tap your online computers to connect.

The app authorises the connection by generating a code which you must input into your smartphone or tablet. The app is available on Apple’s App Store.

Courtesy:

http://www.bgr.in/news/chrome-remote-desktop-app-allows-you-to-access-your-computer-remotely/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

If your brand doesn't support social causes, it's missing out on a huge audience!!!!!

Consumers don't just like when companies incorporate social good into their business models — they've come to expect it, whether it's through corporate social responsibility (CSR), cause marketing or "good" content. In fact, 90% of Americans say they're more likely to trust and stay loyal to companies that actively try to make a difference.

Studies also show that 88% of consumers would buy a product with a social or environmental benefit, and a surprising 84% would tell friends and family about a company's CSR efforts.

Brands can tap into this consumer base through original content and social media. After all, 64% of millennials use social media to address companies about social and environmental issues, and 36% of consumers say they mainly share content to promote the causes they care about.

But your company needs to be genuine. Don't underestimate your consumers' intelligence by simply jumping on this bandwagon. "Causewashing" is a serious issue, and odds are your consumers will smell it a mile away.

Check out Column Five's infographic below to learn more about how your brand can create "good" content responsibly and effectively.

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”

Benjamin Voyer on the psychology of teamwork

BENJAMIN VOYER is a marketing and psychology professor at ESCP Europe Business School in London and the London School of Economics. He is an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society and writes widely on teamwork, particularly with respect to health care.

How would you describe the psychology of teamwork?

The study of teamwork began with the emergence of social psychology and an interest in how groups behave, particularly as against another group. This is the idea of having an “in group” that you’re a member of and that becomes part of your social identity, and then the “out group” against which you discriminate and define yourself. It has developed into its own field of organisational psychology.

We’ve looked at how groups form against each other and what happens to an individual voice in the team. We wonder how we make a team more efficient and also what the risks are of having teams. Teams don’t always do better than individuals, but there is a Helen Keller quote I particularly like: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” This summarises the trade-off. You can’t do a lot alone, but you are more in control. You can do less of your own thing in a bigger team, but you can achieve more.

But things can go wrong?

Yes. Power plays a big role. In health care there are two big priorities—quality and safety. When you look at incidents in teams they are usually caused by problems in the team and not with people’s clinical skills. You can attribute most of what goes wrong in medical units to dysfunction in the team.

For example?

A surgeon asks for a medical tool and the assistant misunderstands because he’s just been transferred from another team. You need to develop a team mind. Teams all need the three Cs: collaboration, co-ordination, communication. Collaboration is the shared perspective you need for a shared understanding of what you have to do. Doctors, because of their higher status, think they know better, even in day-to-day treatment that nurses, in fact, know better. So close collaboration is key: understanding that everyone’s perspective is important. Co-ordination is simply the idea that you need to co-ordinate the work that needs to be done. In the 70s and 80s there were studies done of autonomous teams, teams that are self-managing, maybe without an official leader. The finding was that a natural leader would emerge. You need someone to co-ordinate the team and facilitate the different tasks.

So someone always leads a team?

Yes. There are basically two styles of leadership—democratic and autocratic. In health care my studies reveal two types of self-construal, the independent and the interdependent. My survey shows that doctors have an independent view of themselves. They don’t look for input from others but think their perspective is the right one. Nurses, for many reasons, primarily the fact that until recently they used not to be too specialised and would be performing multiple and varied activities, are much more interdependent in self-construal.

Is there a gender issue?

Yes. All the studies done on gender differences in leadership suggest that women have a more democratic style of leadership and men a more autocratic style. It has to do with the way we socialise and educate people. It’s to do with stereotyping. However, the work I’ve done suggests that attaining power within an organisation can change the way we see ourselves. No matter whether you are a man or a woman you feel more independent, more unique, the more power you have.

So you’re less likely to be a good team player?

Possibly. For both men and women power increases independent self-construal. But power also increases interdependent self-construal for women whereas it decreases that for men. So, men will be more autocratic (this does not mean bullying here). Depending on what kind of team you want, you will look at different styles of team players and bosses. If you need a leader giving a lot of direction you will want a more autocratic leader.

What makes things go wrong?

There are two big phenomena. One is “group think”—when the group develops its own mind, so that group members stop being critical. The Challenger disaster is a good example of this. The issues were all dealt with at a group level and most of the information should have led any group member to say, “We have a problem and should not launch the shuttle.” It was a mixture of being part of an organisation where you didn’t want to voice your concerns and a very hierarchical organisation that meant that the people closest to the problems had no access to higher levels of command.

The other thing that can go wrong is “group polarisation” or “group shift”. Sometimes when you put people in a team they take a more extreme decision than they would have taken individually, either more conservative or more adventurous. A lot of decisions are based on this group phenomenon, one that produces a distorted perception of reality. When you stop thinking in terms or “I” and start thinking “we” things can change dramatically.

Is that because people feel less culpable if the culpability is spread?

There is a diffusion of responsibility, yes. The optimal number of people in a team is five. If you have large teams of 10 or 12, people don’t have the same impression of accountability. Everybody—and therefore nobody—is responsible. You also get “social loafing” where you think everyone else will do the job.

What about the group turning a blind eye, as with the BBC and Jimmy Saville?

This is a problem of bigger, modern organisations. Everyone wants to be in charge, a director of something, but nobody wants to be responsible. When something goes wrong in teams the “we” goes and the “I” comes back as people try to save their own face. Very few people try to save the whole team’s face.

Doesn’t that mean you were never part of the team anyway—you were just serving your own advantage?

There are cross-cultural differences. In the West the default is the individual, but in China or Japan the group is the default unit. When Japanese car manufacturers were accounting for error, they would know whose team worked on what and the whole team would take the blame. In Europe and the US you would find the individual in charge when the incident was located. In the individualist world people join groups because it serves their own purpose, yes.

So how do you form a good team?

Well, it should be as small as possible, the team should have clear boundaries about membership, members should be chosen for their task skills and interpersonal skills and you have to choose a team with a high probability of developing cohesion.

Easy.

As a team member you need to develop the ability to see the perspective of the other. In some of the work I do with doctors and nurses I ask them to write diaries— how a nurse might think about it, how a doctor might think about it. You need to be aware of what can go wrong in the team too. If you’re aware that “group think” happens you can reflect back and see if you’ve been affected. When building a team you need to pay attention to the different types of profile you want in that team. In some industries where you have a high concentration of likeminded individuals, like in investment banking, there is not enough diversity of profiles. That can create more harm than good, resulting in confrontational perspective, intra-team conflict and intra-team competition.

Courtesy:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2015/01/quick-study?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/benjaminvoyeronthepsychologyofteamwork

The first person in the world to spend the entire earnings for a social cause !!!!!!

Mr.Kalayanasundaram worked as a Librarian for 30 years. Every month in his 30 year experience(service), he donated his entire salary to help the needy. He worked as a server in a hotel to meet his needs. He donated even his pension amount of about TEN(10) Lakh rupees to the needy.

He is the first person in the world to spend the entire earnings for a social cause. In recognition to his service, (UNO)United Nations Organisation adjudged him as one of the Outstanding People of the 20th Century.. An American organisation honored him with the‘Man of the Millennium’ award. He received a sum of Rs 30 crores as part of this award which he distributed entirely for the needy as usual.

Moved by his passion to help others, Super Star Rajinikanth adopted him as his father. He still stays as a bachelor and dedicated his entire life for serving the society.

We all should be PROUD. UNO has honored him but we don't even know that such a personality exist amongst us.

Courtesy: David Peter