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Thursday, October 10, 2013

Social business: Should leaders stand back or jump in?

Social business may be ready for the enterprise, but are enterprise leaders ready for social business?

Deloitte and MIT Sloan Management Review surveyed more than 3,400 enterprise leaders and managers around the globe to learn whether social networking and software are transforming their businesses. We found that many respondents use social technologies to better understand and connect with their customers. Others use social business tools to push employee interests, ideas and knowledge across the enterprise.

While 52 percent of the survey respondents said social business is at least somewhat important to their enterprises today, many leaders of organizations have not joined the trend. Are they wise to hold back? Or should they get started now?

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Doug Palmer, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Enterprise leaders are just beginning to embrace social business, and the survey indicates that many are enthusiastic about its value – especially in the media and technology industries. While others are cautious, more than 80 percent of survey respondents acknowledge that social business is likely to be at least somewhat important to their organization three years from now. If that’s the case, it’s important that leaders get to work now. Here’s how you can get started:

Align social business to strategy. How can social technologies and networks help you better serve customers, gain a competitive edge and achieve the business strategy? Design social business initiatives that directly support your business goals, but don’t expect an immediate return on investment. You should look to continually pilot new projects, measure results and adapt strategies to build the business case.

Assess where you are today – and where you want to be. Monitor and track what your employees, consumers and influencers say about your organization, brands, customer service and competition. Explore how business analytics can connect social data with enterprise data. This can help your organization move beyond understanding to influencing and anticipating behaviors.

Support effective adoption. Provide clear guidelines and training for employees so they know what they can and cannot say through external social media channels. Executives should also be trained on social technologies to help them more effectively sponsor social initiatives and use social tools to shape the organization’s culture to promote innovation and collaboration.

Prepare to act. Social conversations are likely to reveal brand, product and employee issues. Provide processes and resources for appropriate and quick responses.

For more insights, download the full survey report here.

Library: Deloitte Debates
Services: Consulting
Overview: Technology

As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

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Gamification: Should business take games seriously?

Gamification—the application of game-design principles to non-game situations—is gaining traction among businesses that want to engage employees and customers. But can games help solve critical strategic challenges? And can they actually address serious business problems?

Many companies are applying the essence of games—fun, play and passion—to real-world business situations as a way to influence behaviors in everything from back-office tasks and training, to sales management and career counselling. Using game attributes that resonate with their target audiences, companies can often achieve higher performance. That’s all well and good for employee and even customer engagement, but can businesses apply gaming principles to solve more serious challenges – like strategy development and innovation?

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Andre Hugo, Director, Deloitte Digital RSA

We talk to many companies that want to implement game dynamics to enrich training, staff engagement, customer service and loyalty programs. But gaming can provide an even bigger opportunity for the broader business strategy.

Generally, it takes decades for leaders to gain the knowledge, skills and experiences to effectively develop and apply business strategies. Even with mentoring and rotating management assignments, developing effective leadership skills usually takes years. However, game-like simulations can expose current and future leaders to many real-world business scenarios and accelerate their learning.

For example, one client was concerned that retiring Baby Boomer executives with decades of supply chain experiences would leave a knowledge gap within the organization. They were challenged to capture this institutional knowledge so less-experienced managers could gain access to it. Using executive insights captured through interviews, they employed a 2-D, scenario-based game that was designed to allow participants to make real-world business decisions and quickly see likely outcomes.

This game proved invaluable as a strategic management tool following the 2011 tsunami. Within 24 hours of the disaster, the game was remodeled to remove Japan from the company’s supply chain mix. Based on previous experiences already embedded in the game, managers simulated what they could do and couldn’t do, allowing them to respond quickly with a new supply chain solution.

Strategic games hold potentially large benefits for businesses. First, employees moving up the ranks can test management approaches in a low-risk environment and accelerate their learning. Second, managers have a tool that’s available round-the-clock to test drive decisions in a simulated environment before they commit to any real-world action. And that’s when using games can help people solve serious challenges.

Library: Deloitte Debates
Services: Consulting
Overview: Technology

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When crafting corporate strategy, should social business be bolted on or baked in?

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Many companies recognize that social business offers new tools and rules for competing in the marketplace. But should social strategy be integrated into the overall corporate strategy? Or should it stand alone?

Social media has amplified customer and employee voices to levels that companies can ill afford to ignore. Today, leading companies are not just listening, but responding – fast. So what’s next? Incremental improvements may not be enough to sustain your market leadership – it may be necessary to embrace the fundamental shift brought about by social business to "change the game" in your industry.

To this end, some enterprises are positioning social business as a stand-alone discipline that informs their corporate strategy. Others see social business as possessing the power to transform business and disrupt industries – and they are diffusing social business throughout their overall strategy. Which approach should you take to put this trend to work for your organization?

Here’s the debate:

Bolt it on.
Social business can more effectively serve the enterprise as a stand-alone discipline, employing sophisticated tools and dedicated resources. Until it is a more mature discipline, social business deserves a page in the corporate strategy book, but shouldn’t replace it.Bake it in.
Social business possesses transformational powers that could disrupt entire industries. Considering people, process, technology - and their convergence – from the start can allow strategists to plan smarter.Leadership’s not convinced.
Executive management is not willing to bet the farm on social – and who can blame them? A smarter approach tests social initiatives in isolated areas and builds from there. If the value is there, you can eventually build a business case that can get leadership’s attention.How much proof do they need?
In many organizations, sales and marketing are already believers in the power of social initiatives, with human resources, recruiting and product development following close behind. But these strategies in isolation are not as powerful as they are together and not likely to generate the potential synergies of a broad strategy.Social business supports small steps.
Sure, social business can improve collaboration and productivity. These incremental improvements are worthwhile pursuits, but they are not going to revolutionize our business.Social business supports big leaps.
Social conversations can trigger expansive, new ways to think about your business and enable innovation. There can be value in serendipity. Breakthrough ideas often come from unexpected places.Why take on a transformation project when a social networking page will do?
It's the domain of marketing and public relations today and they have it handled with our social networking pages and social media accounts.That’s postponing the inevitable.
Even on a small scale, you’ll need people to manage systems and interactions – not to mention security and integration issues that are likely to occur. Plan to disrupt or risk being disrupted.My take

Chris Heuer, Specialist Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Can social business deliver more potential value when it’s baked into a company's strategy, or when it stands alone? The answer varies from industry to industry, but if you want to increase the chance to win, bake it in and enjoy the sweetness of a warm chocolate chip cookie. Consider changing your thinking and then changing your strategy, to meet the changing dynamics of the market. Make big bets – but make them smart bets – to out-compete others in your marketplace.

For example, the risks and rewards for consumer-facing companies are often clear, so their social initiatives tend to be more far reaching than those of business-to-business companies. And, regardless of industry, collaborative cultures are more likely to create greater value, improve performance and enable you to retain talent.

You can start from where ever you are. If your organization has leadership support and a track record of effective bottom-up social initiatives, think big. How could your core processes and capabilities be reinvented to create more value, more quickly, in a society that’s interconnected by expanding social networks?

But if your organization is not ready to incorporate social business strategy across the enterprise, start small. Focus on building a solid business case based on results that are measurable and attributable. Stand-alone initiatives – with the big picture in mind – can be used to introduce a social mindset to leaders and employees that supports enterprise-wide collaboration and idea sharing, paving the way for more broad social strategies.

Sometimes it’s important to do something first, but often it’s more important to do it well. Companies that do social business well – building corporate strategies that align the passions of their people with the needs of their customers – hold the potential to not only capture their market, but to create passionate, loyal customers AND engaged employees.

Library: Deloitte Debates
Services: Consulting
Overview: Technology

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Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Champia Shares Why You Should Test for Radon in Atlanta

NORCROSS, GA, August 12, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Radon is an odorless, tasteless and invisible gas that is produced by the decay of uranium in soil and water. It can be hazardous when found in highly-concentrated areas in homes and other buildings. Atlanta home inspectors, Champia Real Estate Inspections, discuss why it is essential to know the level of radon in your home.

Why is Radon Dangerous?
Statistics reported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicate that radon is the leading cause of lung cancer around the world aside from smoking. The chances of smokers contracting lung cancer from radon are significantly higher than for non-smokers because of the combined impact of the two.

Radon Levels in Atlanta and Throughout Georgia
Nearly one out of every 15 homes in this country has an elevated radon level. You cannot predict radon levels based on local measurements or even on levels in neighboring homes. Homes that are next to each other can have different radon levels.

Levels of radon in Atlanta are particularly high. According to the EPA, Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, and DeKalb counties around Atlanta have a predicted average indoor radon level in the elevated or "red zone" level with a predicted average indoor radon screening level greater than 4 pCi/L--higher than any other area in the state.

When and How Often Should You Test for Radon?
You should definitely have a home you are considering purchasing tested. However, there are a number of times when testing is warranted. Radon levels can change with the seasons. That's why some experts recommend testing seasonally. The EPA also recommends testing before you do any construction so that if there is a problem, you can use radon-resistant techniques.

Getting a Qualified Radon Tester
There are low-cost "do-it-yourself" radon test kits available online and in hardware stores. If you are buying a home, however, you should hire a qualified radon tester. Do not just accept the seller's test. Radon testing in Atlanta, GA should be done by qualified professionals. Champia's inspectors are certified with the highest industry standard certifications, including American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), International Code Council (ICC), and National Radon Proficiency Program (NRPP).

What to Do if High Radon Levels are Found
If elevated levels are found during the inspection, the EPA recommends that it be mitigated. The buyer should request that the seller mitigate to below the necessary threshold. The cost of making repairs to reduce radon levels depends on how the home was built among other factors.

Bill Compton, President and CEO of Champia Real Estate Inspections says, "Our qualified inspectors can do a radon test along with the home inspection and other inspections, including termite and mold inspections. It will allow you the chance to work out the cost of fixing it with the seller, just as with any other repairs that are needed. Most importantly, with Atlanta radon levels being so high, it will give you peace of mind for your family and yourself."

For more information on Champia's services, and to schedule testing and an Atlanta home inspection, visit http://champia.com/.

About Champia:
Champia Real Estate Inspections has been providing comprehensive home inspections in Atlanta and the surrounding area since 1987. Their services are available 24/7 and cover new properties to older historic properties. They also involve a range of services from radon testing to termite inspections.

For more information, visit http://champia.com/.

For all media inquiries, please contact:

Allie Petit
Content Manager
Cardinal Web Solutions
http://www.CardinalWebSolutions.com

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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Should You Pay Your Taxes With a Credit Card?

While the majority of American will expect a tax refund this year, there are still a sizable fraction of us who will have to scrounge up their savings to pay Uncle Sam what they owe.

And while some are vaguely aware that there are ways to pay taxes with their credit cards, few really understand the benefits and drawbacks of these options.

Here are the basics.

How to pay taxes with a credit card

The IRS is happy to receive payment in the form of a check, but they do not directly accept credit cards. Instead, they have authorized a handful of private companies to accept payment on their behalf. And while this service is convenient, it comes at a cost. Authorized processors charge a fee of between 1.88% and 2.35% of the amount remitted to the IRS. In addition, some state and local governments will also accept taxes paid with a credit card.

To choose from an authorized payment processor, visit the IRS credit card payment site.

[Related Article: The First Thing You Must Do Before Paying Off Debt]

Paying taxes with a credit card versus a debit card

In addition to credit cards, taxpayers can also use their debit cards to remit payment to the IRS through the same authorized payment processors. And rather than being charged a percentage of their payment, payments using a debit card only incur a flat fee of about $2- $3 per payment. Therefore, taxpayers who are only using a payment processor for convenience alone will want to use a debit card instead of a credit card, so long as their payment is above approximately $100.

When it makes sense to use a credit card

With a credit card fee of at least 1.88%, most taxpayers will save money by simply mailing a check to the IRS. But there are some rare situations where payments using a credit card can make sense. First, those who have a card with a 0% APR promotional financing offer can avoid interest for as long as 18 months. This may be the best option for cardholders who are unable to pay their tax bill immediately.

Also, there are very few credit cards that offer rewards greater than the fees the processors charge, but they do exist. For example, the Capital One Venture Rewards card offers double miles for each dollar spent, and each mile is worth one cent as a statement credit towards any travel related expense. So by paying a 1.88% credit card fee, cardholders still earn a small, .12% reward on their tax bill. For example, a $2,000 tax payment would result in a net gain of $2.40 worth of rewards.

And finally, paying taxes with a credit card can be an easy way to meet the minimum spending requirements necessary to receive a credit card’s sign-up bonus . For instance, new applicants for the Starwood Preferred Guest card from American Express earn 10,000 points after their first purchase, and another 15,000 points after spending $5,000 within six months. If cardholders are unable to spend $5,000 in that time, incurring the credit card fee to pay taxes might be worthwhile as the additional 15,000 points that can be worth hundreds of dollars in rewards. Even then, these strategies only makes sense when cardholders avoid interest by paying their statement balance in full.

Why it’s a bad idea to use a credit card

Unless cardholders are using a 0% APR promotional financing offer, it makes no sense to use a credit card as a means of financing a tax payment. This is because the IRS offers its own financing options with lower interest rates. For instance, their current rate is 3%, although it can be adjusted each quarter. This is far below the standard interest rates of any credit card, especially when the credit card processing fee is considered. And while these installment plans do have a setup fees, they still offer more savings for most cardholders compared to credit card fees and interest.

By understanding the process of paying taxes with a credit card, taxpayers can make the best decision when it comes time to fulfill this essential obligation.

More from Credit.com

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