How to Say Thanks for Your Business ?| #business #startup #socialmedia #bigdata #USA #Europe

  

Client appreciation is key to deepening relationships

The more value you bring to a client relationship, the more your client is tied to you, and the more you can deepen that relationship, says Shauna Trainor, marketing manager with the Covenant Group in Toronto.

Your goal is to be the person your client turns to more and more,  Trainor says, even if your response is simply to connect the client with another professional.

By engaging with clients outside of the office — and showing gestures of goodwill —you can show that you are  invested in your clients’ well-being, eager to strengthen the relationship, and willing to go the extra mile.  Client appreciation events are an excellent way to enhance client engagement.

Here are four ways to demonstrate client appreciation:

1. Hold community events
Volunteerism is an increasingly important aspect of many clients’ lives, Trainor says.  Your involvement in charitable events shows that you are an active member of the broader community.

Trainor suggests sponsoring a volunteer day for a charity such as Habitat for Humanity, which uses volunteer labour to help build homes for the needy. This type of activity would give clients the opportunity to donate their time and efforts at no personal cost. Other options include promoting and sponsoring involvement in fundraising events such as a charity fun run in support of a local hospital.

2. Celebrate milestones
Trainor has some clients who celebrate a top client’s birthday by asking the client’s spouse to invite a few close friends to join them for a birthday lunch — with the financial advisor footing the bill. This special occasion has the added benefit of allowing the advisor to meet the client’s friends.

Not all gestures need to break the bank. Younger advisors with a tighter budget can make an impact on a client’s entire family by sending over a birthday cake for one of the client’s children. Trainor suggests giving the family notice in advance.

3. Create intimate interactions
Show appreciation on a smaller scale by taking clients out for coffee, lunch or a round of golf. Some advisors are getting creative, finding unconventional activities that fit within their clients’ active and busy lives.

For example, Trainor knows an advisor who invites his clients to group fitness sessions, such as a spin class, followed by refreshments at the juice bar.

4. Conduct a client-engagement survey
“It’s really important to get in touch with the interests of your clients,” Trainor says. In your client questionnaires, Trainor says, be sure to ask about the client’s personal interests. Include categories such as health and fitness, nature, arts and sports. Also, take the opportunity to ask your clients how you can add value through future events and engagements.

“What you’re actively trying to do,” Trainor says, “is build a community with your clients.”

This is the first part in a three-part series on client appreciation. 

Next: Planning a client-appreciation event.
 

How to Boost your Business using Pinterest? | #Pinterest #socialmedia #business #growthhacking

Many financial advisors regard social media exclusively as a marketing tool, says Geoff Evans, founder of the Social Media Coach in London, Ont.

But in fact, Evans says, social media is a tool that can be used at all points in the client-relationship cycle. It’s what Evans describes as the “three Cs of social media”: connecting, converting and continuing the relationship.

While many advisors use LinkedIn and some use Facebook and Twitter, Pinterestis often overlooked. Pinterest functions as a digital scrapbook on which users upload, save, sort and manage images. You can use your own pictures, or link to images you find on the web.

These images, called “pins,” are posted on “pin boards,” which usually follow themes. Pinterest is an effective tool that can potentially play a role in your client communications.

Here are three ways to use Pinterest in your practice:

1. Tell your story
A key component to closing a sale is building credibility and rapport, Evans says. Pinterest is one way to showcase your personal story and connect with clients on a deeper level.

Highlighting your role in the community, sharing issues you’re passionate about and relating how you spend your personal time are all methods of building trust with clients and prospects. You can use Pinterest to help you demonstrate your interests by posting pictures that show you or your team participating in community activities and hobbies.

2. Post “napkin concepts”
Many advisors are inclined to pull out a napkin while in a restaurant and draw a diagram to explain a concept to a client, according to Evans. “Advisors are the king of ‘napkin concepts’,” he says.

While you would not use Pinterest to promote the sale of products, you can use this platform to describe financial and lifestyle concepts in a visual way, either by drawing the idea yourself or by posting professional images.

As an example, Evans suggests, you might explain permanent insurance by showing the growth of cash value in a policy over time by posting an infographic.

“Advisors don’t necessarily have a vehicle online to share concepts in a compelling way,” Evans says. “Pinterest can be that vehicle.”

3. Use images to inspire discussions
You can use images to illustrate financial planning goals. Encourage discussion about retirement planning, for example, by creating pin boards depicting various retirement activities, such as travel, golf and spending time with family members.

Clients can browse your boards online for inspiration either before or during client meetings, to help them get ideas in determining their retirement goals.

“Get [clients] to connect emotionally to the idea of retiring,” Evans says.

“It’s not about being on every platform,” Evans adds. “It’s figuring out how much time you have, and which aspect of your business you’re trying to affect the most.”
 

The Day When Social Media Did A Change in my life l #socialmedia #growthhacking #SEO #Bigdata

It is true that in one point you feel Confidence and re-believe in your salf because you start to use Social media where people you don’t know share your idea On Facebook or retweet one of Your tweets or rebloge your article

Most of Us had face a time where people facing you ignore your thoughts or ideas Or even not listening to You

Looking for Social Media as a tool of marketing and business links is not the principle and Core of Social media it was done for Connecting people with each other

Facebook was a platform for Connecting University Students but before Facebook There was ICQ ‘ Paltalk and MySpace

linkedin goal was to Connect professionals together and not a recruting website ‘ before linkedin doe’s any one remember xing

Twitter was created to share small massages between followers and not a news source

Because of Big data and Technology Development Social media had been modified from it’s original purpose and spreading wider

Social media platforms are trying to give you all service in One place

Think about it
for your personal needs you have the ability to post share photo’s share videos and add Friends and Family members
for Your business you can do marketing Campain and getting feedbacks

But Social Media makes you feel that you are valuable to others because they engaged with your posts or Comments.

Rasalkhaimah, ras, al, khaimah, dubai, university, salford, manchester, @hishamsafadi, hisham, safadi, European, medical, center, business, entrepreneur, startup, economy, money, motivation, education, Leadership,  Transactional,  analysis, emotional, intelligence, organisations,  development,  innovative, technology,  care, health, investor, investment, production, shark, tank, sharktank, USA, UK, London, group, european, canada, india, china, japan, KSA, projectmanagement, datascience, bigdata, IOT, internetofthings, cloud

Can Social Media Enhance Personal Security?| #socialmedia #security #growthhacking #USA #Europe

“More Generation Y workers globally said they feel more comfortable sharing personal information with retail sites than with their own employers’ IT departments,” says Cisco.

This attitude is at odds with business concerns about the disclosure of commercially sensitive information through social media to potentially hundreds of millions of Twitter and Facebook users.

In Europe, concerns about privacy linked to security are particularly acute, as evidenced by proposals for a new cyber security directive that link privacy and security.

The proposals aim to impose EU-wide reporting requirements on companies that run large databases, including social networking firms.

Although the final wording of the directive remains to be seen, the proposals are a good indication of just how seriously European authorities view data breaches.

But not only is social networking a threat to a company’s security because of what employees might disclose, but also because social networking sites are a prime target for cyber criminals.

The ability of individuals to share information with an audience of millions is at the heart of the particular challenge that social media presents to businesses. In addition to giving anyone the power to disseminate commercially sensitive information, social media also gives the same power to spread false information, which can be just as damaging.

The rapid spread of false information through social media is among the emerging risks identified by the World Economic Forum in its Global Risks 2013report.

The report’s authors draw the analogy of shouting “Fire” in a crowded cinema. Within minutes, people can be trampled to death before a correction can be made to the message.

The unprecedented reach of social media is something companies cannot afford to ignore because of the positive and negative effect it can have on the business.

Its power must therefore be recognised and managed. In the UK, BT is one firm that has done just this. Its customer service team runs a sophisticated social media operation across the most popular services.

The strategy is helping BT improve its reputation for customer service, and producing a clear return on investment for the business, according to Warren Buckley, managing director for customer services at the telco.

Like BT, investment bank Investec has technology in place to measure sentiment on the internet by picking up any mentions of the bank in social media, mainly for marketing purposes.

However, it forms part of the bank’s strategy to reduce the risk of social media becoming an insider threatto information security.

The other technology piece is a granular firewall to limit social media activities based on the user’s role in the organisation.

Manage social media with policies and technology

The most important part of Investec’s social media security strategy is awareness of its policies designed to ensure regulatory compliance and to prevent commercially sensitive information leaking.

The bank’s social media policycomprises just 10 bullet points that make it clear to staff what their obligations are every time they publish something online.

“There is no way organisations can hold back the flow of social media, so it is better to put policies and technologies in place to manage it,” says David Cripps, information security officer at Investec.

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Social-media-a-security-challenge-and-opportunity

Rasalkhaimah, ras, al, khaimah, dubai, university, salford, manchester, @hishamsafadi, hisham, safadi, European, medical, center, business, entrepreneur, startup, economy, money, motivation, education, Leadership,  Transactional,  analysis, emotional, intelligence, organisations,  development,  innovative, technology,  care, health, investor, investment, production, shark, tank, sharktank, USA, UK, London, group, european, canada, india, china, japan, KSA, projectmanagement, datascience, bigdata, IOT, internetofthings, cloud

What are the Leaders Emotions ? By HBR | #leadership #business #emotions #USA #Europe

  

It only took me about three seconds to decide what to wear on the first day in my new gig as strategy director at Genuine Interactive, a digital marketing agency (jeans and a wrinkled linen shirt, duh). Deciding what books to take was a bit trickier.

In the end, I decided to bring only one: The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval. Sure, the niceness principles in Chapter 1 are great, but what’s most intriguing about the book — especially for a strategy leader — is Chapter 8: Shut Up and Listen.

As strategists (and colleagues, and partners, and friends, and family members) we are often so eager to share what we think are dazzling insights that we cut things short and miss what’s important about a given interaction or relationship.

In a world filled with agencies, most of which offer the same services at roughly the same prices, the ultimate difference between success and failure is whether people want to work with your teams or not. It’s the same on the inside. Tara Back, my former boss and the new head of the event and experience lab at Google, used to say that success in an agency is when everyone wants you as part of their team.

In giving advice to customer experience professionals choosing an agency, Forrester Research advises: “Always consider how well the agency will be able to deliver a painful but necessary piece of advice or how comfortable it will be to work with the agency when something doesn’t go quite to plan.” And that’s where nice comes in. Everyone’s nice when things are going their way, but how nice are you when you find yourself in a tough situation?

In my experience, tough and nice don’t have to be incompatible. The most successful strategists are tough and intensely curious: tabloid reporters without the mean streak. The five goals listed in Chapter 8 are guides worth keeping in mind as my new team and I set strategy and I lead a new team:

Let the other guy (gal) be smarter.The person who desperately tries to be the smartest person in the room inevitably comes off as the least. During one pitch in which I was involved, the client told a strategist he reminded him of Cliff Clavin, the know-it-all postman from the TV show Cheers. (We didn’t win.) I know this is a tough balance — especially for young people starting out who want to show their smarts. But that’s where a little guidance from good mentors comes in.

Keep it simple. Life is complicated enough. Clients and colleagues expect us to be expert enough to keep things simple and easy to follow. It’s a constant struggle to focus more on the story you’re trying to tell than on the slides. But by reminding myself and my team that we’re sitting down with a client to have a nice conversation, we might be able to avoid coming across as the type of people who overly complicate things or act in a way that’s self-important.

Ask don’t tell. Even if you think you know the answer already, it’s worthwhile to ask someone to articulate it for you. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you hear. In my experience, this has the added benefit of conveying respect for work that has already been done and for the people who have done it.

Don’t argue so much. Really. Don’t. Everyone has a style and way of going about understanding and contributing to a project. But in my experience, if you slip from being challenging to being argumentative, your chances of getting chosen for a project or a team go down dramatically.

Everyone is worth a listen. Don’t confuse this with the idea that everyone deserves a medal; some ideas are better than others (enough said). But pretty much all are worth a bit of a listen before moving on.

I have plenty of company in my views: Everyone from Richard Branson to Barrie Bergman has claimed that being nice is in no way incompatible with being successful in business. Need proof? For this, you can turn to another new book, Return on Character: The Real Reason Leaders and Their Companies Win, that just came out and is featured in this month’s Harvard Business Review. It’s based on a seven-year study of 84 CEOS and 8,000 of their employees. Basically, leaders who display integrity, compassion, the ability to forgive and forget, and accountability — who are what most of us would consider nice — deliver five times the return on assets of their counterparts who never or rarely display those traits.

So as I tackle my new job, I’ll be keeping these two things in mind: you can build character if you make it a priority, and nice guys do finish first.

By Harverd Business Review 

How Social Media can Enhance Business Sustainability ? | #socialmedia #sustainability #business

  

The path of business sustainability is a journey.  And what makes up a journey?  Experiences.  So too are the experiences shared by your guest at hotel destinations.  How well do your guests understand your sustainability initiatives?  Do they know what CSR means to your hotel?

High level sustainability concepts are universal and easier to understand.  However, what is compelling is the expression of how an individual or a company embraces those sustainability concepts to deliver results.  We’re all captivated by the unique sustainability experiences but equally important is its delivery and expression.  But most still find CSR and sustainability to be elusive.

Part of the challenge is the definition of sustainability and CSR.  When you think of ‘sustainability’ what comes up for you?  It is so big and broad in scope that it is difficult to grasp?  Or, is any one definition of it too small or limiting?  Now, imagine how equally confusing this might be to a hotel guest?  In general, there is confusion over exactly what is meant by ‘corporate social responsibility’ or ‘sustainability’.  CSR and sustainability encompasses environmental sustainability, but it also includes such concerns as employee relations, waste management, community relations, water management, and diversity issues.  Many topics of which are of interest to stakeholders determining their next vacation spot.

Social media marketing has proven to be an innovative and effective way to address two of the biggest hurdles around sustainability: defining what it is and providing the means and channels for sharing sustainability experiences.

There are a multitude of benefits to communicating your hotel’s definition of CSR and sustainability.  Articulating a more precise definition of CSR and sustainability transforms the conversation beyond a general ‘green’ mindset and opens a doorway for elevated stakeholder engagement around topics that are of keen interest, as in waste management, energy efficiency, and responsible care of pristine destinations.

Furthermore, social media, although a relatively recent phenomenon, is becoming an essential tool for value creation in sustainable business, and within all businesses, an increasingly important part of any marketing and client base development platform. The perception of social media marketing has shifted quickly—no longer viewed as a trendy or passing fad, having a flexible and well-managed presence has become a must for any business seeking to secure a place in both the traditional and digital marketplace. What could once be accomplished by a traditional website now needs to be supplemented by a robust and responsive utilization of the tools social media engagement offers.

Navigating this strange, new world can be quite confusing at first. With new tools and strategies changing the way the business world communicates and exchanges information, social media is becoming the transparent, engaging, competitive advantage that business sustainability delivers.

For starters, the use of social media collaboration technologies can help organizations break down silos and facilitate knowledge sharing across business units, corporate functions and stakeholders. Social media provides individuals, communities, businesses, and non-government organizations the ability to connect with business in meaningful discussion from anywhere in the world in real time – and around CSR topics of interest.   As a result, many businesses have already realized value by incorporating social media into traditional business processes including marketing, sales, PR, customer support, and product development.

Rasalkhaimah, ras, al, khaimah, dubai, university, salford, manchester, @hishamsafadi, hisham, safadi, European, medical, center, business, entrepreneur, startup, economy, money, motivation, education, Leadership,  Transactional,  analysis, emotional, intelligence, organisations,  development,  innovative, technology,  care, health, investor, investment, production, shark, tank, sharktank, USA, UK, London, group, european, canada, india, china, japan, KSA, projectmanagement, datascience, bigdata, IOT, internetofthings, cloud

http://www.greenhotelier.org/our-themes/community-communication-engagement/how-social-media-is-driving-sustainability-communications/

How Big Data can Limit Business Fraud ? | #bigdata #business #technology #USA #India #Europe

  

80% of Indian respondents support the potential of emerging technologies such as Big Data to strengthen the compliance and anti-fraud efforts of organisations, states EY’s 2014 global forensic data analytics survey, Big risks require big data thinking. However, according to the report, there is a low adoption and awareness around deploying the right tools which manage fraud and bribery risks, only 3% of the respondents surveyed were aware of them. It also states that regulatory compliance with respect to global anti-corruption laws, recent enforcement trends and increased focus on data privacy are the key factors fueling the design and use of forensic data analytics (FDA) among Indian organisations.

The survey showcases the opinions and views of senior Indian executives across functions such as internal audit, finance, compliance, legal and others, about their use of FDA in anti-fraud and anti-bribery compliance programs. Challenges related to bribery and corruption, asset misappropriation and capital projects emerge as a mutual adversary across the board, and a majority of respondents express concerns related to such risks, which stand higher than the global average. In line with this, organisations have aligned their FDA efforts to address key areas related to these risks. 80% of respondents agree to using FDA to investigate risks around bribery and corruption, while 83% deploy it during asset misappropriation. However, the perils of the current business environment continue to increase in magnitude and complexity. Therefore 65% of senior executives surveyed also agree that they need to do more to improve their anti-fraud and anti-bribery procedures, including the use of FDA.

Arpinder Singh, Partner and National Leader – Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services, EY India says, “Today, organisations are cognisant of the issues around fraud and corruption in India, and how they are evolving and becoming more complex with changing technology. The results of our survey echo a similar sentiment, with 65% of the respondents voicing the need to enhance their existing anti-bribery and anti-corruption procedures. While many have undertaken several steps, implemented good governance policies and proactive security measures to minimise such hazards, corporate India still has a long way to go before it can shift from a compliant to a complacent role.”

David Stulb, EY’s Global Leader of Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services (FIDS), says: “With regulators and law enforcement agencies intensifying their cross-border cooperation, resulting in significant corporate fines and jail sentences for executives, boards should encourage management to leverage forensic data analytics in their ongoing compliance efforts.”

Harnessing the power of FDA to battle fraud

Managing a holistic anti-bribery and anti-corruption framework is paramount to alleviate any immediate or impending risks in global companies, and FDA plays a key role in solidifying that framework. Rightly so, an overwhelming majority, 98% of Indian respondents say that using FDA is a significant factor which improves the efficacy of the risk assessment process. Another major advantage highlighted by 95% of the Indian respondents is the ability to detect a potential misconduct which couldn’t be detected before. FDA is also a key catalyst in improving fraud risk decision making as stated by 85% of the respondents, because of its capabilities to offer a better comparison of data. According to the survey, 93% of the respondents consider people in Internal audit and Corporate executive management as the primary beneficiaries of FDA. It is also advantageous to those in director, compliance and investigation roles.

Mukul Shrivastava, Partner – Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services, EY India says, “Changes in the Indian regulatory landscape, rapid digitisation and rising cases of cybercrime and data theft has increased today’s business risks by manifold. In line with this, the deployment of cutting edge, disruptive technology solutions and advanced forensic data analytics will be instrumental in safeguarding organisations from the detrimental effects fraud and corruption.”

Anil Kona, Partner – Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services, EY India says, “The ever expanding volume of data across disparate systems is a reality as well as a challenge for companies across all industries. Managing this data deluge and mining key elements of evidence from it during a possible fraud investigation or litigation scenario will be essential in addressing the financial and reputational risks faced by companies. The deployment of FDA will also be a huge contributing factor in building the foundation for a robust anti-fraud mechanism with continuous monitoring that enables easy adaptability and responsiveness to changing regulations”

Roadblocks hinder turning data into information

The results of survey reflect optimism around the deployment of FDA across multiple sectors. However, a majority of organisations typically analyse an insufficient portion of data volume in comparison to the size of their corporate revenues. This means that many companies may overlook critical fraud prevention and detection opportunities by not mining larger datasets. Hence, 82% of India respondents over US$1 billion in revenues report working with data sizes less than or equal to 1 million records and only 4% indicate working with data sets over 1 million records.

The survey also states that 25% of respondents have identified getting the right tools and expertise for FDA as the biggest challenge. While the leadership team should ideally explore FDA as part of their boardroom agendas, 18% of respondents maintain that they still need to increase management’s awareness about the benefits accrued. 13% of respondents also remark that the global nature of organisations augments the difficulty in adapting FDA to comply with different regulations across markets. 

Bigger data, deeper insights

Traditional spreadsheet and database applications can struggle with the increasing volumes, velocities and varieties of data generated by global companies. Advanced FDA technologies including statistical tools that incorporate predictive modeling, anomaly detection and risk-scoring algorithms, can mine such big data to detect possible fraudulent transactions in real, or near-real, time. The effective use of natural language processing, or text-mining, combined with data visualisation, can handle a wide variety of sources, including both structured and unstructured data, to improve overall detection, reduce risk and increase return on the investment in FDA. So it’s no surprise that Indian respondents expect an uptick in the organisation’s spending on FDA over the next three years – almost 35% state a significant increase in the annual spend.

Can Social Media Enhance Transparency in Business Leadership | #socialmedia #business #leadership

  

By the time “trends” get mentioned in new year forecast blog posts, they can be a little more “old” than “news.” Though forward motion is always worth celebrating, change usually happens more slowly. Take, for example, the call for more transparency in business leadership. While today’s startups are more likely to intentionally bake this into their corporate DNA, 100+ year old companies have a lot more embedded business culture to counter.

Still, no matter the corporation’s size or long-established “ways,” the imperative of transparency really is, to be festive about it, “nipping at their toes.” Governing bodies now require regular reporting on natural resource use, and accounting and legal issues, to name a few. And, the general public could well have interest in much more. The unique opportunity I see heading into 2015 is this: developing more social media-engaged leaders to embody that transparency.

Transparency As The Rule

“The currency of leadership is transparency,” as a recent piece in The Economist quoting Starbucks’ Howard Schultz reminded us. And, it is true. Companies can choose how to use that currency for themselves.

But, at this point, there really is no choice about whether to be transparent. Anyone with access to social media can see what is going on in most corporations (good and bad). So, companies have to be ready. While some will choose the proactive and authentic approach, using business missteps as lessons to be shared — and learned from — along the way. Other companies, with a more embedded and opaque culture might continue with a “wait and see” reactive approach, hoping against hope that their various transgressions will go unnoticed.

Either proactive or reactive can be a short term solution, but only bold, intentional transparency will succeed over the long term. If a company honestly pursues solutions and engages with stakeholders toward moving sustainability and social responsibility forward, for example, it will create a deep, trust-building foundation. Relying mainly on transparency constructs like the well-worded press release, splashy marketing campaign or grand philanthropic gesture, however, won’t produce enough substance to survive scrutiny.

Executive Leadership As The Key

While today’s business and consumer markets have both become a lot savvier in, and suspicious of, the usual marketing and cause efforts, leaders who are comfortable in the public eye and can build person-to-person trust are 2015’s “secret weapon.” Getting out from behind that Wizard of Oz corporate curtain and communicating in human-scale is what matters.

Especially in the business-to-business (B2B) realm, the authentic accessibility of leaders is worth the time and effort. The idea is that, by making sure a business leader is comfortable using social media, any interested party — whether employee, investor, vendor or general public member — should be able to develop a better “sense” of what that person stands for, what they are passionate about and how that reflects his or her corporate affiliation. Whatever methods are used (speaking gigs, writing, or social media engagement, for example), the proactive efforts to develop some online archive of content or personal digital profile contributes to that foundation of trust. And that, either separately or in combination with more traditional marketing and communications efforts, can have major impact.

Social Media As The Tool

Speaking of being proactive, social media might be the most effective — albeit still surprisingly under-used — tool of them all. To be clear: I am not referring to the business-to-consumer (B2C), brand marketing type of social media, but to the type of intimate social media engagement that connects humans to each other.

In business leadership, the more truly “known” individual leaders can become, the more their social media conversations will help elevate and amplify industry developments, cross-sector thinking and global change. Using social media, leaders can more fluidly share what their companies are up to, more easily form new collaborations and more productively engage with the communities, employees, vendors and investors. It’s about building social capital before there becomes reason to need it.

Transparency Won’t Wait Until 2016

Not surprisingly, companies continue to hedge their bets about the professional social media practices of their leaders, and that gets them no closer to its transparency-enhancing possibilities. Press releases, web site copy, conference presentations and any other such content or marketing collateral – in and of itself – are no match for being in what feels like “personal” touch with the individual leaders. Two who are known for doing that well via Twitter already are Apple’s Angela Ahrendts and Tangerine Bank CEO, Peter Aceto.

By the end of 2014, even boards of directors had started to understand the importance of CEO social media savvy, as Ted Coine and Mark Babbitt wrote in their December 4, 2014, Harvard Business Review piece:

Five years ago, when boards were searching for a leader, social media competency wasn’t even on the radar. Now, according to the board members and CEOs we interviewed for our book, a strong social presence is often high on the list of factors they consider when vetting CEO candidates.

For those professionals who do dive into social media, learning this new relationship building and thought leadership tool can become a very personally rewarding practice too. But, there is no carefully choreographed communications team-managed way to get up to speed. It takes individual interest and commitment to truly do its transparency power justice.

The socially savvy leaders I’ve known and/or coached over the past few years have taken social media on for their own professional development, with no major agenda otherwise. (But, it has only helped make the jobs of their company’s marketing and communications teams easier). Through their experiences, these women and men have observed things like the following:

• They can’t believe how fun and rewarding it is.
• It has helped them discover information they’d otherwise have missed.
• They now look forward to conferences and public appearance obligations, because that’s where their social media relationships tend to become real life business friendships.
• They are surprised by how quickly they’ve realized social media’s benefits, but they are also surprised by how few of their competitive peers have joined in.

Leading with transparency involves a feedback loop, where what comes into the exchange is as important as what goes out. The insights discovered or connections made one-to-one feed the corporate reports or formal information shared, and vice versa. Business leaders who brave social media participation as their authentic selves make the best conduits for such interaction. And, THEY are the ones who will make the biggest difference for corporate transparency in 2015.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6407498

Rasalkhaimah, ras, al, khaimah, dubai, university, salford, manchester, @hishamsafadi, hisham, safadi, European, medical, center, business, entrepreneur, startup, economy, money, motivation, education, Leadership,  Transactional,  analysis, emotional, intelligence, organisations,  development,  innovative, technology,  care, health, investor, investment, production, shark, tank, sharktank, USA, UK, London, group, european, canada, india, china, japan, KSA, projectmanagement, datascience, bigdata, IOT, internetofthings, cloud

How Technology Serving NHS Ambulance Services? l #NHS #UK #bigdata #Tech #patient #USA #Europe

Traffic lights are a pet peeve for many city-dwelling drivers. You’ll be running late for a meeting, but all of your attempts to make up the time are thwarted by successive red lights. Bad luck on the road can be particularly problematic for ambulances in the UK — when they’re rushing to the scene of an accident, every second counts. To help out, Newcastle University is spearheading a new project that gives NHS vehicles priority at the lights.As The Telegraph reports, a small gizmo fitted to the windscreen detects the traffic lights from roughly 100 metres away and requests priority before their arrival. The system can also recommend drivers an average speed which will carry them through a series of green lights without interruption. Extra features include alerting drivers to road obstacles and other motorists currently jumping red lights. The hope is that such a system will improve not only journey times, but also the comfort of patients being ferried across the city.For now, 14 non-emergency NHS vehicles and 20 traffic lights are fitted with the new “Compass4D” system. If successful, the pilot could be expanded to a broader range of vehicles, including driverless cars. It’s important to note that if you don’t have the technology fitted in your vehicle, you shouldn’t be penalised either. Newcastle’s Urban Traffic Management Control (UTMC) centre is monitoring the project and says the changing traffic lights shouldn’t impact other motorists. “There would be no point doing this if it meant the roads were a nightmare for the cars that weren’t fitted with it,” Ray King, a UTMC manager told The Telegraph. “But so far it doesn’t seem to be causing any problems.”

http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/03/nhs-traffic-lights-green/

Rasalkhaimah, ras, al, khaimah, dubai, university, salford, manchester, @hishamsafadi, hisham, safadi, European, medical, center, business, entrepreneur, startup, economy, money, motivation, education, Leadership,  Transactional,  analysis, emotional, intelligence, organisations,  development,  innovative, technology,  care, health, investor, investment, production, shark, tank, sharktank, USA, UK, London, group, european, canada, india, china, japan, KSA, projectmanagement, datascience, bigdata, IOT, internetofthings, cloud

The Role of Social Media for Better Sustainable Strategy l #socialmedia #sustainability #Business #bigdata

“Social media provides the perfect platform for companies to communicate sustainability because it is driven by the philosophy of being transparent when communicating and authentic in what you have to say. Time and time again over the last decade, companies have found—to their cost—just what happens when they try and fool social media communities or fail to respond promptly and transparently to questions consumers ask of them. As more and more companies seek to show just how responsible they can be (and explore how they can make sustainability a valuable business offering) so they will increase their use of social media to build community and promote their sustainability “stories”.”
http://usefulsocialmedia.com/reputation/sustainable-social-media

Many companies think that building a comprehensive social media presence is enough to engage with their customers, but just putting the information out there will not guarantee the quantity or quality of stakeholders firms attract, Morgan wrote.The social media efforts need to be part of a broader strategy and companies need to carefully review the channels the public uses to evaluate its corporate social responsibility efforts and how to reach them through those channels. If not, the elaborate efforts will only result in a big web design bill, he wrote.
Read more: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2014/02/19/how-to-use-social-media-to-communicate-sustainability/#ixzz3WM3WyU00

Companies that lead this year’s index include Unilever, Intel, Coca-Cola Company, Philips and McDonalds.This year 273 companies were found to have some form of dedicated social media sustainability efforts, a significant increase on the 120 recorded in 2011. The growth highlights the need and business benefits of communicating sustainable practices to consumers.
http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2015/02/24/companies-turning-to-social-media-to-communicate-sustainability/

For organizations involved in sustainability, social media affords a multitude of benefits including increased consumer trust. While social media can benefit responsible organizations by enhancing their brand reputations, it  is also a platform capable of exerting tremendous pressure on irresponsible businesses.Organizational messaging has been transformed by social media and the ramifications for reputation and brand impact are becoming increasingly obvious
http://beforeitsnews.com/environment/2013/04/how-social-media-can-drive-the-growth-of-sustainability-2466514.html

Rasalkhaimah, ras, al, khaimah, dubai, university, salford, manchester, @hishamsafadi, hisham, safadi, European, medical, center, business, entrepreneur, startup, economy, money, motivation, education, Leadership,  Transactional,  analysis, emotional, intelligence, organisations,  development,  innovative, technology,  care, health, investor, investment, production, shark, tank, sharktank, USA, UK, London, group, european, canada, india, china, japan, KSA, projectmanagement, datascience, bigdata, IOT, internetofthings, cloud