Category: Business Advice

Simon Cordrey, Managing Director, Transformation Practice, BIE

2024 may be the ultimate year of leadership change. At least 64 countries, plus the European Union, are due to hold national elections this year, representing about 49% of the total population of the planet being involved in some form of vote. And with a change in government comes a change in leader, who will often have grand plans to transform the fortunes of their nation.

All of this comes at a time when macro-economic factors are impacting the world like never before. As Rishi Sunak pointed out recently in his leadership pitch to the nation: “More will change in the next five years than in the last thirty”.

Politics mirroring the business world

This huge groundswell of change is reflected in the business landscape too. In BIE’s recent Transformational Leadership report, which captured the views of over 800 UK-based senior leaders, 82% of respondents said that the rate and scale of change in their organisation would increase over the next five years.

It is certainly a trend we have seen accelerate since the pandemic, where organisations going through change now seems to be the norm rather than the exception.

Leadership as the key factor in transformation

What is absolutely certain is that for transformation to be a success, you need a strong leader with proven experience of leading change previously.

In BIE’s Transformational Leadership report one in three respondents said the biggest challenges faced during unsuccessful transformation programmes were a lack of transformation skills and a lack of leadership skills. Without a strong leader, that understands what it means to lead change effectively, any transformation is unlikely to succeed.

So, what are the key skills required to drive successful transformation and lead change?

The ability to lead people through change will define success

Even with new technologies being introduced, and new generations entering the workforce, the skills a leader needs to drive change hasn’t changed. Fundamentally, it is about leading people effectively. The key skills can be broken down into five core areas:

1. Strategic planning

Any transformation programme needs a strong plan. A good leader should be able to not only create a strong plan, but also deliver against it and steer it through unavoidable risky situations. They will also require adaptability and agility for when things don’t go according to plan and the plan may need to pivot quickly.

2. Stakeholder management

An absolutely critical skill for any transformation leader. It’s the ability to influence and lead people, both directly within your sphere of influence, but also outside it. This means having the ability to manage both up and down, build strong relationships externally with suppliers and work effectively across a whole organisation. The skill of achieving alignment across groups of people will ultimately determine whether your transformation is a success or not.

3. Building the right team

Any leader of a transformation programme won’t be an expert across all areas of that programme. It’s crucial that they surround themselves with highly experienced professionals who are experts in their own areas. But not just that, once they have a team in place, having the ability to delegate effectively and trust their team is key.

4. Communication

A core skill that underpins the ability to manage stakeholders and delegate effectively is communication. Any transformation leader needs to be an effective communicator themselves, to get often complex messages across to their stakeholders in a way they not only understand but also engage with. Not only this, but they will need to have a watertight communication plan that will allow them to bring the whole organisation with them during the change.

5. Practical experience

Finally, the best transformation leaders are the ones who have been there and done it before. And not just once or twice, multiple times. Learning time and time again about what works and what doesn’t work creates the best leaders. This is because they have the experience of actually delivering something and developing toolkits to deal with any situation. It’s grounded in experience and not just theory.

Make sure you have the right leader in place

With change at an organisation level and also at a national level showing no signs of slowing down, these skills are key for individuals taking up leadership roles with hopes of delivering successful transformation.

So, when voters across the world step up to their electoral booths this year, I hope they have not only assessed the policies, but the leader’s ability to deliver change effectively. As we see in business, if the right person isn’t in place from the start, then the transformation programme never stands a chance.

To find out more visit – https://www.bie-executive.com/reports/transformational-leadership-emerging-challenges-and-key-skills-needed-for-success/

Simon Cordrey is Managing Director, Transformation Practice, at BIE Executive. He has more than 20 years’ experience partnering with global PLCs, SMEs and private equity companies to recruit individuals with specialist transformation experience across sectors.

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack causes millions of organizations around the world to contend with low-performance, inoperable, or completely disabled business systems. As the number of DDoS attacks per year continues to skyrocket, companies increasingly search for innovative cybersecurity defenses to rely on.

Artificial intelligence-embedded DDoS protection tools are rapidly becoming the answer to the overwhelming number of DDoS attacks. In this article, we’ll explore how AI is helping prevent DDoS attacks, touching on why this attack vector is so disastrous for businesses and how artificial intelligence is providing a solution.

The Evolving DDoS Threat

Every single year, the DDoS threat becomes more pronounced. According to a recent report, the number of DDoS attacks grew by over 90% in 2023, increasing the total number of attacks dramatically. This yearly trend of a huge increase in the number of attacks follows from 2022’s figure of a nearly 100% increase in DDoS attacks.

Another alarming statistic is that hackers are now targeting a wider spread of businesses. DDoS attacks used to be concentrated on high-risk sectors, like e-Commerce, finance, government, and healthcare. Yet, recent data suggests that attacks now occur in high percentages across almost every industry.

If businesses aren’t prepared for a DDoS attack, they could likely be the next target. One of the reasons that DDoS attacks can be so powerful is that they don’t all look the same. Most commonly, people think of an attack as an overwhelming mass of traffic, which it can be. However, there are actually numerous types of DDoS attacks, each of which poses its unique risks:

• Volumetric Attacks: The classic form of DDoS attacks sends overwhelming amounts of traffic to a system, completely stalling the ability for employees and customers to access the systems.
• Application-Layer Attacks: These DDoS attacks focus on the application layer of systems, causing them to overload and be unable to complete tasks.
• Reflection Attacks: Hackers take control of third-party servers, and then use them to launch mass traffic at sites.
• Protocol Attack: Attacking the network protocol of a system to slow it down to an inoperable rate.

If businesses do not understand how to defend themselves against all of these potential DDoS attacks, then they could be the next company to add to the long list of targeted companies in 2024.

How AI Aids in DDoS Protection

Artificial intelligence is one of the most precise solutions when it comes to fighting back against the rising number of DDoS attacks that a business may face. One of the main reasons that DDoS attacks are able to impact systems is that hackers develop new attack patterns before launching traffic.

Traditional security systems use past attacks as a point of reference. When they identify a pattern in traffic that’s associated with DDoS, they block the attack, using pattern recognition to stall attackers. Yet, when a hacker then changes their attack pattern, many traditional security tools are unable to identify the attack in time, reducing the window of opportunity for security teams to react. In these circumstances, it is typically too late, with a DDoS attack successfully overwhelming defenses and rendering systems inoperable.

Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, provides real-time analysis of traffic, using its ability to learn new attack patterns and identify distinct vectors to more effectively stop DDoS attacks. Artificial intelligence helps in DDoS protection in several ways:

• Precise Traffic Filtering: The core duty of a tool that aims to prevent DDoS attacks is to determine the difference between real and botted traffic. Artificial intelligence tools don’t have to make generalized decisions; rather, they can analyze millions of concurrent connections on a granular level. This level of detection allows them to make more precise traffic filtering decisions, blocking any traffic that AI deems to be botted while still allowing real users to access your applications.
• Adaptive Learning and Threat Expansion: Artificial intelligence and machine learning technology use adaptive learning strategies to continually enhance their own knowledge of security threats, patterns, and potential attacks. By training on thousands of unique cases, AI DDoS detection tools can build up a comprehensive knowledge of not only precious threats but also what future threats may look like. With this approach, businesses can future-proof their security.
• Real-Time Traffic Pattern Analysis: AI tools provide 24/7 security, monitoring access networks and application layers to continuously check for potential suspicious traffic. This significantly decreases the need for real security agents to monitor traffic, freeing up their time for higher-ROI security tasks, like penetration testing.

As artificial intelligence tools continue to develop, they will only become more powerful at analyzing potentially botted traffic and ensuring that it is unable to connect to your servers. This powerful solution will help reduce the number of DDoS attacks that the average business encounters, protecting servers from malicious traffic.

Choosing the Right DDoS Solution

Cybersecurity systems that seamlessly implement AI into their existing security posture are able to better identify, respond to, and mitigate DDoS attacks when they occur. Artificial intelligence offers a powerful solution for DDoS attacks, providing evolving pattern recognition and advanced system monitoring to block traffic in its tracks.

As businesses continue to fortify their security defences, finding a DDoS solution that makes use of AI is the most effective method of keeping your business safe. Where possible, look toward security solutions that integrate new technology to enhance your security posture, expand threat intelligence, and create comprehensive security architecture.

by Amrit Sandhar (CEO/ Founder, &Evolve)

2024 is a pivotal year. Not only because there are general elections in the UK and U.S. It’s important because according to research, 4.1 million people in the U.S. are expected to retire, with 2024 seeing the largest population celebrating their 65^th birthday in U.S. history. This Baby Boomer generation also makes up 13.76 million people here in the UK, meaning we have a sizeable group of people who will leave those organisations drained of talent.

Succession planning involves identifying roles which are critical to your organisation – to help achieve strategic objectives or long-term goals, and working to develop people to take on those roles when others move on. With estimates of over $60 million being spent globally on developing leaders, you might think organisations are well prepared for an exodus of baby boomers about to hang up their boots, but this isn’t the case.

Research from Azets, highlights that less than one in ten organisations have built succession planning into their strategic objectives. It is estimated that close to $1 trillion a year is being lost in market value in the S&P 500 from poor succession planning of CEOs and C-suite executives. The equivalent of 20-25% higher investor returns, had succession planning been executed well. So, what’s going wrong?

Many organisations are failing to identify roles which are critical to the delivery of their strategic objectives and goals. This in turn means when those roles become vacant, it can lead to uncertainty or panic, when it’s realised there’s a lack of an appropriate replacement.

Organisations will often look externally; however, external recruits aren’t always the best route to follow. A 15-year study carried out by Khurana and Nohria, as cited in the HBR, looking at operating returns from 200 organisations, found that for CEO-succession the organisations which promoting a reasonably well performing internal recruit, didn’t see any significant change to their organisation’s performance. Whilst on the face of it, this might seem like an issue, the focus on succession planning should delivering stability. Some organisations may benefit from external hires – as according to the study, some organisations that performed badly, saw improvements from an external hire. A cause for concern however would be for those organisations that are performing well, with findings showing how externally hired CEOs caused the biggest negative impact on the performance of the organisation.

The allure of experienced CEOs or senior leaders may be short-lived, as their lack of experience of the organisation can become apparent. According to Matthew Bidwell (Wharton School of Business), external hires receive ‘significantly lower performance evaluations for their first two years on the job than internal people promoted into similar jobs’. With the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimating that an external hire can in some cases, cost an organisation three to four times the salary being filled, it seems that going outside the organisation to replace senior roles should be a last resort, and if nothing else, promoting from within could help retain extensive knowledge and experience.

A commonly used tool for succession planning is that of the 9-box grid, which assesses potential vs. performance for those being considered in the talent pipeline. However, the subjective nature of this approach means many could be written off without being given a chance.

For critical roles, organisations need to consider the leadership capabilities and competencies required and how they develop them in not just one or two people, but extensively across a selection of people. Leadership development programmes should be focused on developing these capabilities and competencies in a more holistic approach.

According to Yemiscigil, Born, and Ling, leadership development is “less about learning specific, tactical skills than it is about cultivating the broad capabilities, such as self-awareness or resilience, necessary for adapting to dynamic, evolving challenges”.

Successful development programmes should not only challenge how leaders lead, but how they live their lives, providing valuable life skills, which should include learning the art of reflection. Rarely do leaders immerse themselves in enough time to think, yet this is critical to developing wisdom – the art of learning from past experiences to make better future decisions.

Often within organisations people are pigeon-holed into a grade or a position, which prevents others from seeing their potential. We should consider how we develop internal experienced good-performers to become the next wave of C-suite executives. Just as those on graduate programmes experience different parts of the organisation, potential successors should be given similar opportunities to learn and grow professionally. This should be part of a formal leadership development programme, allowing leaders to learn while gaining real-life experiences.

With less than 10 percent of organisations building succession planning into their objectives, we face a challenging few years, as senior leaders retire, leaving organisations ill-equipped to deliver their growth ambitions. While it can seem tempting to attract fresh talent externally, the greatest performance drivers in your organisation could be those performing individuals, who have accumulated in-depth knowledge and experience, who are looking to demonstrate what they are capable of.

Succession planning should form a key part of your strategic objectives to ensure that when such vacancies arise, there are a selection of people to choose from, and who have been developed and nurtured to fulfil senior leadership roles.

Managers and business owners have been told how to help employees progress in their career and boost business outputs.

Business specialists at TelephoneSystems.Cloud have told managers how to invest in their colleagues and facilitate their growth up the career ladder.

It’s important to invest in employees by offering promotions and pay rises, as well as providing professional development training courses.

Managers should ensure their employees are given a clear trajectory of what they need to work towards, and offer constructive feedback on a regular basis.

Implementing a mentoring programme to ensure individuals have the opportunity to work alongside different teams will also help develop their skills and subsequent career path.

Juliet Moran, founder of TelephoneSystems.Cloud, a UK VoIP provider said: “Managers and business owners should take the time to recognise the importance of their employees and invest in their career development.

“This will not only help your colleagues progress, but will in turn grow your business outputs and improve employee retention.

“You should set aside a generous budget in order to invest in valuable training courses and opportunities for employees, and offer promotions and pay rises to well-deserved individuals.

“Managers should also regularly check in with their colleagues to offer constructive feedback and present opportunities for growth whilst supporting workers progressing up the career path.

“Here at TelephoneSystems.Cloud we provide a profit share scheme which ensures that the staff feel their hard work is rewarded, so the whole team can benefit when the business is doing well.”

Here’s how to support your employees career path:

Invest in promotions and training

Facilitate your employees career progression by offering well-deserved promotions and pay rises. It’s important to invest in helpful and meaningful training courses and development opportunities that your industry offers. Investing in employees and actively making decisions to grow their skills and knowledge will also increase staff retention and assist them in progressing up the career ladder. Managers can also value hard-working staff by implementing profit share schemes.

Provide a clear trajectory

Offer employees a clear trajectory of their career path at the company and ensure they understand what they’re working towards. Setting out a clear plan of action that is tailored to individuals will ensure employees know what they need to be working on in order to progress.

Offer insightful and constructive feedback

One of the most helpful things to do is provide genuine and constructive feedback on a regular basis. It’s important to set this up as a career development session with helpful pointers on how their work can improve – rather than coming across as aggressive. Check in with employees to ensure they are working to the best of their ability and enjoying the job with scheduled one to one meetings.

Implement a mentoring programme

Encourage a friendly environment where employees feel comfortable raising any concerns with their career progression. Implementing a mentor programme will allow support from the wider team rather than just a line manager. Allow space for the opportunity to work with people in different areas of the business through the mentor scheme to encourage skills development, which in turn can develop their career.

Be trusting with new opportunities for growth

Build a trusting relationship when it comes to growth opportunities. Allow employees to learn what the next step up of their career will involve by allowing them the chance to work close alongside senior colleagues. By presenting new opportunities to individuals, workers feel as though they can learn on the job whilst still having the support they need.

There is no need to sugarcoat it — building and maintaining software takes a lot of money. Suppose you want to deliver a high-quality product that caters to the needs of a broad audience. In that case, you must allocate significant resources to find qualified specialists, sponsor marketing campaigns, manage projects, and perform other essential business operations. 

It might sound pessimistic, but do not let these gloomy financial aspects discourage you from pursuing your business aspirations. Even though there is a thin line between cutting costs and reducing quality in software development, there are many ways to achieve the former and avoid the latter. Whether you are pondering building your own software company or just looking for practical business strategies, this article will present you with the most valuable advice on steps needed for successful software development. 

The best practices to elevate software development 

1. Work out clear goals and technical requirements 

Everything starts with the plan, and the more deliberate it is, the easier it makes for you to move forward with all stages of software development. Documenting all the requirements might seem tedious initially, but it ensures everyone is on the same page. Communication can be more efficient when every team member understands what needs to be achieved and how exactly it can be accomplished. It applies to developers, project managers, clients, and other team members. Clear guidelines also minimize the amount of errors and the time needed to fix them. 

2. Try outsourcing 

Outsourcing has gained much popularity among business owners in recent years. According to statistics, almost 25 percent of companies choose outsourcing teams to work on their projects. This trend is growing and for a good reason. Outsourcing offers a vast array of benefits for the company, namely: 

• Access to talented specialists worldwide without the need to bring them in-house. This significantly lowers costs for salaries, medical insurance, etc. 
• Talented and qualified specialists bring their extensive expertise, which will increase product quality and efficiency. 
• By delegating routine tasks to external teams, the business will have more opportunities to focus on the vision and strategic initiatives. 

3. Establish efficient project management 

Project management ensures that your teams deliver high-quality products by all deadlines. Agile is one of the most popular and effective project management strategies. It is compatible with software development because software constantly evolves, and Agile can be highly adaptable and flexible. 

The main principle of Agile is to divide the project into several cycles, which are called sprints. The feature that makes Agile stand out is its focus on communication and teamwork rather than individual work. The ideas are born in the work process and can be applied immediately. Additionally, Agile focuses on customer satisfaction in the early stages of development and always looks for simple solutions to problems. 

4. Opt for open-source programming languages 

As the name suggests, open-source programming languages, like Python, Java, and JavaScript, are free of charge. Additionally, they have extensive libraries and a large community of supporters you can contact if you need advice or profound insights. 

5. Use pre-built features 

Sometimes, using the features built by another company is more sensible than spending your time and resources creating your own. Because those features have already been developed and tested, it will significantly accelerate software development on your end. Additionally, developers can customize pre-built features to fit project requirements, ensuring efficiency and quality.

6. Build an MVP 

The MVP, which stands for ‘minimum viable product,’ is a simplified version of your software with only the necessary features installed. It can be launched on the market to ‘test the waters’—gather customers’ feedback, verify your assumptions about business plans and market demands, and test the software’s usability in general. Starting with MVP is an excellent business strategy—in case of failure, you still save the money you could have spent on the full-fledged software. 

7. Shift to cloud computing 

Cloud services are highly cost-effective for software development. Once you switch to cloud computing, you can forget the costs of maintaining physical infrastructure, like servers, storage devices, and networking equipment. Cloud providers also offer managed services like databases, machine learning, and analytics. By utilizing these services, businesses can save on development costs as there is no need to create and maintain them in-house.

8. Automate your processes 

By automating repetitive tasks like code testing, deployment, and monitoring, you and other developers can save time and effort that you would have spent on manual intervention. This improved efficiency enables you to shift your focus towards more valuable tasks like designing new features and optimizing code. Consequently, the development process is accelerated and time-to-market is reduced. One way to achieve smooth automation is by implementing AI and ML devices into your work routine. 

9. Implement shared license 

Shared licensing is a system that enables multiple users or teams to utilize the same software tools or resources by using a single license or subscription. This approach effectively lowers the overall licensing expenses compared to procuring individual licenses for each user or team, particularly for costly or specialized software. It can also foster collaboration and teamwork, as all team members have access to the same resources and tools and, hence, share their insights with them. 

Wrapping up

Software development is not an easy task. It demands deliberate planning, talented specialists with extensive expertise, and many other resources. All this amounts to the large sums of money you must allocate and even more effort to make your product feasible and find clients on the market. Luckily, there are many solutions to make software development less costly without losing quality. 

Besides the life hacks mentioned, the secret sauce is how you perceive your business. If you value clear communication with your employees and shareholders and are a fan of devising plans and detailed requirements, these qualities will prove valuable in software development. 

So, arm yourself with these insights, implement them into your work routine, and watch your products thrive on the market while keeping costs in check. 

Data has become the lifeblood of organisations worldwide today. The information it imparts can  influence key decisions for business leaders and CEOs related to marketing, innovation, growth, and many other areas, providing tangible evidence to guide strategic business direction. In the age of digitisation, connectivity, and growing AI influence, conversations around data integrity, security and ethics have only grown in frequency and importance.

With businesses holding an abundance of data on file nowadays, they must dutifully uphold the responsibility of ensuring its secure retention and disposal when no longer needed. CEOs and business decision-makers are often the focal point if an organisation is at the heart of poor data protection practices or, in extreme cases, a data breach. One of the most overlooked areas for secure data disposal is implementing data destruction policies.

Establishing clear data destruction and disposal processes ensures that all sensitive information relating to customers, stakeholders, accounts, intellectual property, partners, staff, and the organisation itself is properly discarded, to the point where it is irretrievable. Doing so may seem like an unnecessary procedure to implement, but it will ensure long-term compliance with industry regulations. It also preserves your brand’s reputation, ensuring archived sensitive data is not restored by someone who may use an old device such as a computer, mobile phone, tablet, hard drive, or other storage media. 

This short guide will explore why secure data disposal and destruction policies are important to establish, what they should include and other steps to ensure they preserve your business reputation and compliance.

The Importance of Secure Data Destruction and Disposal

Even though many organisations entrust reputable fully managed document storage platforms, cloud-based hosting and secure data centres to preserve their information and resources nowadays, that doesn’t mean that they should overlook an equipment and data disposal policy. No matter what data an organisation collects, uses, transfers, or stores, all businesses must ensure it – along with any redundant physical media – is properly destroyed and disposed of. 

What can happen if a business fails to uphold proper data etiquette when it’s no longer required?

1. Regulatory fines: If you fail to dispose of sensitive data on old storage media properly, and that data somehow gets restored and used in unlawful ways, you are breaching industry regulations and legislation such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). As such, the outcome can result in financial penalties and legal repercussions for your organisation. 

2. Data breach risk increases: Just because devices are thrown away doesn’t mean they are no longer susceptible to attacks by malicious actors. Improperly discarded data can fall into the wrong hands, meaning that if a bad actor were to discover logins or financial information, it could pave the way for a data breach which can further compromise active customer records, finances, and intellectual property.
   
3. Damaged customer trust: Should discarded data be restored and mishandled post-disposal, your business’s reputation faces increased pressure. If customers find that their data has been misused due to your lack of oversight and supervision of its disposal, their trust in your brand could fade away entirely. Take this recent example of a taxi dispatch system breach which saw nearly 300,000 passengers’ data exposed as proof that security matters. If you are tasked with addressing the matter publicly, a lack of transparency and accountability will only worsen the matter.

Best Practices for Secure Data Destruction and Disposal

It goes without saying that data is pivotal for organisations’ success, but only when it’s relevant and needed. When that data is redundant, for whatever reason, it’s vital to securely wipe devices and storage media clean of all data so that it’s no longer accessible. 

When determining the right methods and approaches for securely destroying data, consider a few essential factors.

1. Understand data classification: Firstly, categorise and classify the data pertinent to your organisation. For example, isolate specific data based on sensitivity (e.g. public, internal, confidential, restricted, etc.) or based on end-of-life value or media type. Be sure to consider all applicable regulatory or security frameworks that your company must adhere to. From this, you can determine the best destruction method.

2. Establish clear policies and procedures: Outline the roles, responsibilities and processes for disposing of and destroying data securely and ethically. Be sure to include procedures relevant to various media formats, such as data stored on paper documents, digital platforms, and physical media. Make sure that these policies are provided to every member of staff, are instantly accessible, and are regularly reviewed and updated accordingly. 

3. Deploy secure destruction techniques: There are several methods of destroying data on physical drives such as Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) or Solid-State Drives (SSDs), Processes like digital shredding or wiping overwrite data with binary code, while clearing is a tried-and-tested process for reusing devices throughout an organisation. Alternatively, degaussing (an ideal process for compromised devices) uses a strong magnetic field to rearrange the hard disk structure, making it unusable. As a last resort, mechanical or hydraulic crushing or shredding devices can render them unusable. In relation to paper documents, shredding or pulping is a reliable solution.
   
4. Document and monitor: Maintain detailed records of physical media you have discarded and destroyed. Make sure that activities and processes are regularly audited and reviewed for effectiveness and compliance.

5. Partner with trusted data destruction service providers: If in-house data destruction and disposal proves ineffective, consider partnering with a reputable third-party service provider specialising in secure data destruction.
   
6. Train and educate employees: Fundamentally, it’s crucial to educate employees on the importance of secure data disposal and provide regular training on proper handling and disposal methods. In light of evolving digital security risks, proper data hygiene minimises an organisation’s risk exposure and attack surface.

Data Destruction and Disposal: a Business Must-Have

As a CEO or business leader, prioritising secure data destruction and disposal practices should be more than just an obligatory tick-box exercise to satisfy regulators and stakeholders. It’s a strategic investment in your organisation to preserve your internal and external assets – most notably, your customers – while safeguarding your brand reputation in an age where data integrity is essential. 

Failing to exercise proper data destruction methods and uphold data hygiene opens you up to public scrutiny from customers who, on the whole, are taking security methods incredibly seriously, as this recent study from Deloitte highlights. However, don’t view it as an unnecessary obstacle; it’s an essential component in an overall strategy that looks to leverage data ethically to help organisations grow, scale, and expand. 

By Adam Herbert, CEO and co-founder of Go Live Data

While the stable big three remain in play, email, digital and social, the extent of each of these channels grows and adapts almost daily. With new regulations to navigate, new algorithms to fight against and technological growth to contend with it, can be a marketing minefield.

I’m Adam Herbert, CEO and co-founder of Go Live Data and in this article, I’ll explain how you can navigate the wave of new media channels effectively.

Email

While the basics of email remain pretty constant, the regulations around data and who you can send what to in what way and with what options to unsubscribe, coupled with how often and when can be tricky.

GDPR is a non-negotiable, which is why if you’re considering sending a lot of emails, frequently, you need to be on top of your data and clean your lists as often as possible. Not keeping track of unsubscribers or not working with a platform that will auto-remove them isn’t an option.

Next comes frequency. How often is enough, does too many emails drive your potential clients to the unsubscribe button? It’s impossible to answer if you’re not tracking your data, open and click-through rates and how many people take action or respond.

Once you know these figures you can work out your email risk. The delicate balance between knowing you’re going to get some who unsubscribe, but who probably weren’t that interested in the first place, and those who need that little nudge to get them over the line.

Finally, it’s all about content. And really, this should come first. Without engaging, well-written and clear content, no one is going to interact with your emails. You need to offer clear value, whether that be a discount, information on a new service or information on the topic they signed up to receive the email on in the first place.

Stay consistent, stay targeted and where possible, work with a data agency to maintain your data to the highest level possible.

Digital

Digital covers all three of the core areas here in some way. To integrate digital into your customer journey, you need to first look at where you’re connecting with your customers. If you’ve seen a significant drive from appearing in a certain online publication, then it may be worth considering starting a digital relationship with the title where you can host display ads.

Equally, if you’ve been on a podcast, or there’s one which is super niche to your audience, it could be worth considering sponsoring it.

The key to adding digital to your customer journey and marketing strategy is to see it as a bolster or support to your other work. On its own, it might struggle, but supported by your other work, it can add that extra touchpoint needed to get that customer over the line.

Social

There’s no disputing the power of social media. It’s one of the first places, aside from Google, where potential customers will try to check you out. They’ll look for reviews, they’ll look at your content and they’ll look at who is commenting what under your posts.

They’ll also look to be inspired and engaged. If a company is purely posting stories about itself with little to no engagement and isn’t trying to converse with its audience, it can come across as cold. There’s often a real case of businesses doing social, for social sake, without any real thought or strategy behind it.

The key is to work out what you want social to deliver. Is it just about telling your customers about your brand or product? Or is it about sales? Each comes with its own list of requirements, and one requires a healthy budget.

With all the added integrations now available, social can be one of the highest-returning tools for lead generation and when plugged into your CRM to nurture those leads further, can build a strong customer basis.

The key with all these channels is strong, clean data and a CRM that helps you maintain frequent and targeted communication. Get your data right, and you’ll be 90% of the way there.

By James McGowan, CEO at Wall Street English

In today’s fast-paced and demanding world, time is precious. Managing our time and getting the best use out of it is an issue we all face day-to-day, whether you are a global CEO, employee or student. Harvard Business School researchers found that many people nowadays feel persistently “time poor” – having too many things to do and not enough time to do them.

Despite this, growth remains a top priority for professionals, with (76%) of employees looking for opportunities to advance their careers. Therefore, these development opportunities must be flexible to fit around professionals’ increasingly complex schedules and provide real value. As the old saying goes, time is an investment, spend it wisely. We do not want employees to idly spend their time learning; we want them to invest it with purpose. And to achieve that, we need to optimise the learning process.

Employee learning pays dividends

Employee learning should not be seen as a luxury but vital in driving a successful business, shaping best practices and building confidence and skills among the workforce. When employees are empowered to enhance their abilities, their engagement skyrockets. The reason for this is simple: humans have a psychological need to learn and grow.

Gallup has found that a key factor in creating a high-performance workplace is through a high-development culture. Organisations that strategically invest in employee development report 11% greater profitability and are twice as likely to retain team members.

Among these sought-after skills, proficiency in English stands out as a crucial asset for career progression and economic empowerment. The Economist Intelligence Unit found that 70% of executives from non-English speaking countries believe that English skills are essential for career advancement. In an ever-connected world, English is a vital skill worth investing in.

Time is money

We all have responsibilities to balance with work commitments, whether it is doing the school run or caring for a relative. Learning programmes need to be optimised to ensure effective results without being overly time-consuming.

One way to do this is through micro-learning which involves 10-15 minutes of learning in bites. This helps busy professionals fit education into their schedules and provides benefits such as improved knowledge retention due to the breakdown of content into smaller sections. Keeping sessions easily digestible encourages employees to make it a habit they keep up with little and often.

With technologies like AI, students can automate mundane activities such as scheduling meetings, saving time and effort. Additionally, AI tools can provide instant feedback on performance or questions, helping them quickly identify improvement areas, and making the learning journey as convenient as possible.

Introduce personalised and experiential learning

To see the value additional training and development has, employees need it to have relevance to their daily roles and challenges. Experiential learning – or ‘learn by doing’ – brings what they are absorbing to life, ensuring a greater impact.

Personalised learning is also vital in keeping employees engaged. At Wall Street English, our students track monthly progress through an interactive interface supporting them with short and long-term goals. Real-time insights into optimal study rates empower students to tailor their learning experiences to suit their rhythms and needs, fostering a conducive environment for consistent attendance and accelerated progress to achieve their full potential.

The benefits of hybrid learning models

Hybrid learning – which blends online learning with classroom learning – is now commonplace thanks to EdTech. This learning method offers the best of both worlds, the ability to learn at your own pace while having in-person support and coaching when needed. Hybrid learning is also inclusive and easily accessible wherever you are.

On-the-go learning opportunities for employees suit our fast-paced world. For example, mobile-enabled learning is easily accessible during a short break from work or commute home. The ability to align learning with employees’ needs improves their wellbeing, removing pressure and ultimately making them more likely to keep learning as they have control.

Leverage productivity and measurement tools

With analytics platforms that include measurement tools, employees can easily obtain insights into how well they are performing and what needs improving, which helps them stay on track and focused on their goals.

At Wall Street English, despite already having a remarkable 96% success rate, we are always looking for ways to improve our systems, whether enhancing speed, augmenting productivity or increasing flexibility. With the recent introduction of our tool Study Planner, we are empowering students to command their learning journey, track their progress and achieve their full potential.

Employee learning is essential in building productive, engaged and high-performance teams. Education benefits both the learner’s ability to adopt new skills and the organisation’s ability to meet complex challenges. As time becomes an increasingly precious commodity, optimising the learning experience is essential for maximum impact. After all, time is an investment and we want to ensure it delivers returns.

Every day, decisions have to be made and a flood of reports, contracts and meeting notes need to be juggled at the same time. Even the boldest head threatens to explode in this case. Smart leaders don’t even get to this point because they use their time efficiently beforehand. This article shows which tools can help.

Interactive PDF management: goodbye snail’s pace searches

Leaders often receive extensive documents, reports and the like on their desks. These are often formatted in PDF for more structure, data protection and readability. Anyone searching for a keyword or a number here needs to have nerves of steel. Scrolling from top to bottom takes a long time, and the important information quickly rushes past if you are not careful.

A more efficient and, above all, more accurate method is chatting with PDF. An AI-supported tool is used for this, which helps with lightning-fast searches. In this way, specific data can be extracted quickly and questions can be asked and answered directly in the context of the document. The content no longer needs to be read in full, as the relevant sections can be retrieved directly. The human error rate in manual data extraction and (incorrect) interpretations due to careless reading are also eliminated.

Automation of document management

Decision-makers need one thing above all: to have all information quickly to hand. Therefore, central storage and organization of all documents is essential for them. Programs with automation functions provide support here. Notes, documents and web content can be conveniently and centrally collected in one place. Such tools also support the tagging and categorization of content, which enables even faster access and easier retrieval.

Functions that make the workflow easier

If content can be synchronized across all devices, the information is always up-to-date. For the best possible preparation for meetings, the tools can search through texts in images or handwritten notes. This saves time and quickly brings to mind what may have been discussed in the last meeting or is still on the to-do list. Integrated calendar functions support effective planning and task management, usually even from the notes.

Better team communication through centralization

A good leader not only shows decisiveness and insight in chaos, but also sensitivity for the team. Organizing messages helps to ensure that communication with the team is not neglected even in stressful times. A centralized platform allows messages to be bundled and files and collaboration to be processed in topic-specific channels.

The exchange of information is faster thanks to this much structure, and unnecessary e-mail floods are avoided. By activating the comment function under Overview of the editing process, all team members can also see who has edited something and when, and what may still need to be done. Numerous additional features can be integrated, such as automated reminders or regular progress reports. For example, if a project is running for a long time, an update for everyone could be fully automated at the end of each month.

Scheduling and coordination with tool support

The more participants are involved in a meeting, the more difficult it often becomes to organize appointments. Smart tools and the use of surveys make it easier to identify time slots and find a common time. Participants can indicate their availability and emphasize their preferences. This saves organizational effort at all levels.

If the dates and all associated information are updated automatically, everyone involved stays up to date. If there are last-minute changes or additional documents, these can be added to the appointment and also viewed by all participants.

Consumer environmental awareness has heightened significantly in recent years, as climate change has gained greater attention in the media. In light of this, businesses face the challenge of satisfying rising consumer expectations around sustainability while also maintaining operational integrity and authenticity

Greenwashing is a concern for companies in a host of sectors and CEOs have a responsibility to ensure they’re backing up their claims with concrete evidence to maintain customer trust and loyalty. Here, we’ll take a look at a few key strategies for developing a genuine, honest approach to sustainability and why authenticity is the key to establishing a true commitment to environmental responsibility.

The Rise of Purpose-Driven Marketing and Social Change

In recent years there’s been a profound shift emerging in the marketing landscape — a shift fuelled by the rising tide of purpose-driven brands. This isn’t merely a marketing strategy but a response to a deeper societal transformation driven by social change. At its heart lies the changing demographics of consumer power, notably the influence of Millennials and Gen Z.

Millennials and Gen Z, comprising a substantial portion of today’s consumer market, exhibit a remarkable shift in consumer consciousness. Unlike previous generations, they prioritise values such as environmental sustainability and social responsibility when making purchasing decisions. This shift in mindset has ushered in a new era where brands are not only judged by the quality of their products or services but also by the values they uphold and the causes they champion.

Customers no longer passively consume; instead, they actively seek out brands that reflect their values and contribute positively to society, creating a demand for eco-friendly products and services, and compelling brands to reevaluate their strategies and embrace purpose-driven initiatives.

Strategies for Incorporating Sustainability into Your Business

Communicate your actions and progress

Being able to back up your actions with tangible proof and evidence of your progress is essential to avoid greenwashing claims and maintaining credibility with your customers. There are many ways your business can operate more sustainably, from using renewable energy to waste reduction or being more transparent about your supply chain. Clearly highlight those efforts being taken and illustrate the progress you’re making.

Embracing transparent language is paramount to avoiding greenwashing and building trust with consumers. Rather than relying on vague terms like “natural” which lack substantiation and can be misleading, companies should prioritise clarity and specificity in their communications. For instance, instead of simply claiming to be “eco-friendly,” a brand might highlight specific initiatives, such as reducing carbon emissions by a certain percentage or implementing sustainable sourcing practices.

A prime example of a company prioritising and communicating sustainability is MPB, a platform for buying, selling and trading used photography and videography gear. The release of their impact report highlights the progress being made in their sustainability strategy. From sourcing 45% of their electricity from renewable sources, to sticking to plastic-free packaging throughout the year and increasing fuel efficiencies to lower the carbon footprint of the business, they showcase actionable commitment to environmental responsibility.

Work with like-minded suppliers

An increasingly significant aspect of customer expectations is the sustainability credentials of products and services. Many customers prioritise environmentally friendly options when making purchasing decisions, so companies need to consider how they can adopt a supplier framework that prioritises goods and services with lower environmental impacts.

Collaborating with suppliers is key to enhancing sustainability throughout the supply chain and the wider business. Brands should work closely with suppliers to communicate their environmental requirements and expectations effectively. By fostering open communication, CEOs can encourage suppliers to improve their environmental performance and offer more sustainable products and services – a win-win for both companies when it comes to reputation.

Cultivate a company culture around sustainability

Fostering a company culture of sustainable practices is essential for today’s businesses, where environmental responsibility is crucial for long-term viability and success. Leadership plays a pivotal role in this endeavour – executives need to demonstrate a genuine commitment to sustainability and integrate it into the organisation’s mission and values.

Empowering employees to actively participate in sustainability initiatives helps staff develop a sense of ownership and commitment, while regular communication and recognition of achievements reinforce the importance of these efforts. Sustainability should be seamlessly integrated into all aspects of the company’s operations, from procurement and supply chain management to energy consumption.

By prioritising sustainability in your company culture, where environmental responsibility is ingrained in every aspect of the business, brands can reduce their environmental footprint, enhance employee engagement and drive long-term business success.

Be open about where you can improve

No business gets it right 100% of the time and as the CEO of a business making strides to become more sustainable, there will no doubt be areas where you can improve. Transparency is about being honest about those faults or missteps – rather than trying to hide away and cover up the areas of your business where you’re falling short, be open with your customers and clients and identify where you want to do better in the future.

Maybe that’s through an audit of your current procedures or policies, or how competitors are doing things differently. From here, you’ll have a clear baseline from which to improve. Customers value brands that own their shortcomings and strive to do better, so when it comes to sustainability, honesty is the best policy – even if it doesn’t look as positive on paper.

There are many benefits to sustainability for businesses, from reducing your operating costs to attracting top talent. One of the biggest advantages is the impact it can have on your reputation, but only if you approach it from an authentic standpoint. Customers are more attuned to spotting greenwashing and it can have disastrous effects on your business if you’re found to be making claims you can’t back up with statistics. If you’re not sure where to begin, hopefully these tips for showcasing authenticity and honesty in your sustainability strategy will provide you with a strong foundation.