Leadership, Productivity & Teams – Page 4

December 16, 2020

Secure Remote Work – sicher arbeiten im “neuen Normal”

Das “neue Normal” hat die Digitalisierung unserer Arbeitswelt noch einmal rapide beschleunigt und Remote Work bzw. Homeoffice sind fester Bestandteil unseres Lebens geworden. In Sachen Sicherheit zeigt sich aber auch, wo die Achillesfersen der neuen Konstrukte liegen: Nicht genügend Laptops im Haushalt, unsichere Zugänge oder geteilte Passwörter. Dazu arbeiten die neuen Heimarbeiter oft mit sogenannter “Schatten IT“, indem sie eigene Anwendungen und Apps nutzen (sei es aus Gewohnheit oder weil sie die unternehmenseigenen Angebote zu kompliziert finden). Das alles bietet neue Angriffsflächen für Hacker.

IT-Sicherheit: vor allem auch Bewusstseinsbildung

Deshalb muss zuerst bei allen Beteiligten ein echtes Bewusstsein geschaffen werden, sich auch zu Hause „cybersmart“ zu verhalten. Hier sollten Unternehmen ernsthaft Sorge dafür tragen, dass sie ihre Mitarbeiter mit dieser Botschaft auch erreichen – etwa mit einer Informationsseite oder einem ständigen Kommunikationskanal für solche Belange; am besten aber beides.

Die Fakten sprechen eine deutliche Sprache: Laut Studien lassen sich 80% aller Datenlecks auf schwache, wiederverwendete oder gestohlene Passwörter zurückführen. Es gibt also gute Gründe, hier rechtzeitig zu handeln.

Die neuen Gegebenheiten als Chance für die IT-Sicherheit begreifen

Die neuen Anforderungen und Gegebenheiten sind eine einmalige Chance für Unternehmen, ihre Verteidigung aus der Implementierungs- und Sicherheitsperspektive zu schärfen: Vor allem mit Security-as-a-Service und starken Passwörtern, die Mitarbeiter und Business gut absichern. Das sind die Basics gegen Viren und andere Malware. Und sie helfen der Homeoffice Workforce und den Unternehmen tatsächlich cybersicher zu sein.

Der Mensch als schwächstes Glied in der Sicherheitskette

Oft ist schlichtweg der Mensch selbst das schwächste Glied in der Sicherheitskette: Mitarbeiter, die keine Passwörter ändern oder dieselben Passwörter über viele Nutzerkonten hinweg benutzen. Das gilt besonders, wenn diesbezüglich keine Aufklärung betrieben oder kein Bewusstsein geschaffen wird. Eine solide IT-Sicherheitsbereitschaft und -kultur zu schaffen – das braucht in der Tat Zeit und viel Schulung. Dennoch müssen wir derzeit alle schnell reagieren.

Beim Zugangsmanagement sollte jeder begreifen, dass schlechte Passwort-Hygiene (Default-Passwörter nicht ändern, Passwort Wiederbenutzung oder schwache Passwörter) die Chance erhöht, Opfer eines Hackers zu werden.

Cybersecurity-Tipps für Homeoffice-Arbeiter

Heimarbeit bedeutet für die meisten Menschen, dass Dokumente und Gespräche offener für andere zugänglich sind, sei es auch nur die Familie. Deshalb ist es noch wichtiger als zuvor, dass alle Programme lange, zufallsgenerierte Passwörter besitzen. Mit einem Passwort-Manager schlägt man hier zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe, indem man einzigartige Passwörter für jeden Login generiert und speichert. Username und Passwörter werden dann in einem “Safe” gespeichert, wo sie verschlüsselt und organisiert werden. Die Produkte sind höchst kosteneffektiv, um die Cybersecurity von Heimarbeitern zu verbessern. (Übrigens auch sehr für die private Nutzung empfohlen!)

Ein Passwort-Manager kann schnell, nahtlos und einfach in den Workflow integriert werden. Sie verwenden auch oft Multifaktor-Authentifizierung, die zusätzliche Sicherheit bringt, gerade wenn Mitarbeiter sich von unterschiedlichen Standorten aus einloggen

Mehr Tipps im eBook

Die Cybersecurity Experten von LastPass haben dazu ein interessantes eBook erstellt, dass die Eckpfeiler von “Secure Remote Work” skizziert. Sie können es hier downloaden.

December 15, 2020

Risk Aversion vs Growth: Showing Decision Makers Opportunities In Crisis

It cannot be denied that COVID-19 has greatly impacted the business landscape.

Budgets and forecasted revenue have gone off course from their projected paths while business priorities and investments are shifting due to the vastly different economic conditions than what was anticipated for 2020.

Due to uncertainties brought by the pandemic, C-suites are focusing on conserving their cash flow and holding off on investments to keep further risks at bay.

In light of the current buying patterns, how do you persuade decision makers that your solution can be of immense help to their business continuity and growth? How do you reverse their risk-averse decision making?

Financial Uncertainty

Excluding industries that are thriving or unimpacted by the outbreak, the majority of businesses that are negatively affected have taken steps to tighten their financial belts.

According to our latest Executive Trend Survey with over 1,100 decision makers, 59% of top-level executives across Europe are revising their budget plans to ensure business continuity while 42% are preserving their cash flow.

The budgeting strategies are due to expected revenue drops in the coming months, whereby 44% foresaw an economic downturn in the next 6 months while 22% estimated decreased revenue throughout 12 months.

The financial setback is also affecting businesses’ financial plans for 2021 with 38% predicting a lower budget for next year, thus explaining the aversion to taking risks in technology and solution spending.

More Stakeholders Involved

Cost-saving measures and coronavirus aside, businesses have also been seeing a longer decision-making cycle as more stakeholders are involved in investments and spending strategies.

Back in 2014, the average number of decision makers in a purchase was 5.4, but has since risen to 10.2 in 2018, which can include multiple C-levels, executive board members and senior managers. When more individuals are involved in a purchase, the situation can become complex as each person has their own goals and objectives to achieve.

“As more decision makers join the debate – procurement, finance, legal – so the decision-making process becomes extended and watered down.”

– More Decision Makers. Less Decisions

Seraph Science

For instance, Gartner reported that CMOs expect to increase marketing investments in 2021, but with the ongoing pandemic, “CFOs will turn their attention to profitability, and marketing [tops] the list of functions where finance will look to trim expenses even further.”

Although both hold high C-suite positions, the two have different priorities as the CMO is looking to advance the brand while the CFO is focused on minimizing costs. This difference leads to struggles in reaching a mutually agreeable purchasing decision.

Attend our events: Get more insights on C-suite business needs at our upcoming events.

Reset Their Thinking

When diverse C-levels come together on a possible purchase, they usually settle on a decision that saves money and avoids risks.

While almost all the decision makers may find this outcome desirable, it may not necessarily be favorable or progressive for their business growth – and that is what you need to show them.

Let’s take marketing for example. During the coronavirus outbreak, only 7% of companies have seized the opportunity to invest more in marketing whereas 50% of brands have cut their marketing budget. However, budget cutting may not be the most strategic move.

According to Roland Vaile in his published work, The Use of Advertising During the Depression, businesses that increased their marketing and advertising spend during the recession saw faster revenues and recovery than their counterparts.

The same sentiment is also expressed in a recent post by Peter Field, a marketing and advertising professional, whereby “if the resources are available, the arguments in favor of brand building are stronger.”

Another case example is the cutting of cyber security budgets, which Chief Technology Officer of Barracuda, Fleming Shi, sees as a bad move as hackers are taking advantage of the pandemic to target vulnerable organizations.

Show decision makers that they are facing higher risks and greater consequences should they decide to save costs and not spend on solving important pain points.

Find Their Direction

Market experts believe that organizations should take this chance to invest in opportunities that were once hidden or were not in the forefront of their business plans, such as retraining and upskilling employees, integrating digital innovations, and developing e-commerce business models.

Some companies are also seeing business gaps and weaknesses due to COVID-19 implications, and are taking steps to rectify these concerns, including strengthening cyber security and updating data analytics.

As pointed out by Arthur D. Little’s article, the key is to make decision makers “look beyond the short-term crisis and start preparing for the new world” with focus on both obvious business trends and major areas of uncertainty.

No matter how much organizations want to save their budget, there comes a point when they must spend in order to continue their business growth or be on the road to recovery. Discovering their direction and going deeper into their needs help greatly in knowing the exact solution they require, and the risks they face if they don’t address their concerns.

Get more insights: Attend our events for the latest trends and topics on the minds of C-suites across industries.

Identify The (Real) Stakeholders

According to Google’s B2B Path to Purchase Study, 64% of the C-suite have the final say in signing off a decision, and among them are risk-active, risk-neutral and risk-averse decision makers.

CEOs tend to be relatively risk-neutral, but senior managers and other C-level executives who are not comfortable taking risks in business decisions may need more convincing. Therefore, determining the right executive sponsor and key budget approver of the project is pivotal in preventing delays in deal closings and moving investment discussions further down the pipeline.

In cases where the executive sponsor and approver are individuals with aversion to risks, involving ‘influencers’ in the decision can help the risk-averse chief executives to better see the benefits and returns of an investment. A total of 81% of non-C-levels actually have a say or influence on a purchase, and are able to convince the key approver on the final decision.

“Clearly, if you’re marketing only to the highest level, you’re overlooking the people who need to notice you.”

– The Changing Face of B2B Marketing

Think With Google

To Push Or Not To Push

The answer is not to push, but to assist. If they have available resources, organizations should take this time to implement technologies and solutions that have been held back in their plans.

As solution providers, the goal is to make the decision makers see beyond their current predicament and risks, and focus instead on growth potentials to strengthen their market standing and get a lead on their competitors.

December 9, 2020

600Minutes Human Resources Highlights: How HR Support Leaders Through The Pandemic

Our recent Norway 600Minutes Human Resources virtual event revealed deep insights from top HR executives as they navigate the implications of COVID-19 alongside their C-level counterparts.

During the breakout sessions, CHROs communicated how the HR function “is now more clearly and centrally located in the organization, compared to before the pandemic, and has been essential in supporting leaders during this difficult period.”

THE POWER OF COMMUNICATION

As companies implement working from home to curb the coronavirus infections, leaders are facing communication problems even though there are resources and tools for easier collaboration.

The event participants expressed that there needs to be more active communication in the company.

An HR leader remarked that managers must ensure that information to employees is read, and not just sent out. “Use apps or other platforms instead of just email. Leaders should encourage dialogues with employees continuously, even with laid off employees.”

Other participants also agreed with the statement, with one conveying that leaders and employees should have regular contact with one another, and plan for walks or lunch together.

“Communication is a key factor for success,” stressed a top HR executive, who also mentioned that there should be a close collaboration between the HR and Communications teams to make necessary joint decisions.

Others chimed in, explaining that information packages from the Communications team, such as regulations, restrictions and recommendations, need to be clear, and sent out to employees to help them obtain important information.

One participant voiced out that any and all information must be communicated. “Even if there is nothing new to inform, inform about it.”

LOSING ‘CONTROL’

As companies temporarily close their offices or establish shift groups, some leaders are finding it harder to manage and oversee their teams due to distance working.

“Managers are insecure about their own and the team’s deliveries,” explained a participant. “They feel that they have lost ‘control’ over the team.”

From another point of view, the work-from-home situation empowers employees to be more independent and take accountability for their tasks.

An HR leader revealed that, “The team themselves have more control over their own work today, and manage themselves more.”

The other participants reiterated the sentiment, emphasizing on trust between managers and team members.

“Control-based management works poorly,” expressed a CHRO. “Trust-based management works better.”

“Trust the skills available in the organization,” declared another. “Dare to trust the decisions that are made, and stick to them without hesitation. This contributes to a strong trust foundation in the organization.”

An HR executive advised leaders that, “During times of uncertain future and challenges, the individual must reflect on how we can lead ourselves, not just our employees.”

FORMALIZE THE INFORMAL

A rising concern among those working from home is the increasing number of meetings, which have led to Zoom fatigue. Yet another worrying issue is the rise of informal meetings in non-work settings.

“It’s important to facilitate informal meeting places, not just the formal ones,” expressed a participant. Whether the meeting is held in the office or in a cafe, agreed meetings should be ‘to the point’ and agenda-focused.

A top executive disclosed that, “A method that is useful for many to find an informal meeting place is to establish ‘walk and talk’ as a principle.”

Leaders have to remember that all business-related meetings, regardless of its settings or formality in this new normal world, should still follow the same protocols as an official work discussion.

Discover more insights by joining our HR events in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Finland, and Norway.

MENTAL HEALTH

From feelings of anxiety to increased workload and higher pressure, the pandemic has brought many mental health impacts on workers and employees across the industries.

Among the topics discussed in the breakout sessions, mental health was one of the topmost concerns among the CHROs.

The event attendees believed that organizations should provide materials on how to work with mental health, and to accommodate individual needs.

For instance, an executive suggested that organizations “create a culture with openness about workload and pressure. This is so we can make adjustments when there’s a need, and when it’s difficult for the leader to have an overview of the situation.”

“But what are the boundaries of corporate responsibility for mental health?” one participant questioned.

While some companies have mental health as part of their corporate social responsibility, it’s still a difficult topic to bring up due to stereotypes of the illness.

One participant advised that, “Although it’s more efficient to work from home, you need to book some ‘free time’ as well.”

Thus, a number of the HR executives recommended a few steps for leaders to help reduce their team’s mental stress:

Make themselves available and set aside time for talks;
Create support communities and groups so that the team members don’t feel that they are alone;
Recommend apps with meditation or that helps with stress relief; and
Celebrate occasions and events together, such as birthdays.

To elaborate on the last recommended step, the HR leader explained that there should be “various virtual gatherings, such as virtual expert breakfasts, coffee breaks or lunches.”

Additionally, the leader commented that the gatherings should be held continuously, both unconditional and voluntary, but that mandatory sessions with a learning purpose, like workshops on various thematic areas, should also be arranged.

WORKING RESILIENTLY

The HR function is the backbone in every business concern, and with the outbreak not fading away any time soon, CHROs are standing together with their fellow C-suites to lead the organization with equal value for all employees.

Depending on the country the organization is located, HR executives have different rules and things of importance to keep in mind. But as mentioned by the HR participants, they are trying to keep track of everything and ensuring what’s best for the employees.

“As there are many uncertainties,” expressed a CHRO, “we need to continue to work with resilience.”

November 24, 2020

Evolving With The New Normal: Post-COVID-19 Survey

Management Events conducted a survey recently to learn how European businesses are adapting to the regulations that thousands of our EU delegates and solution providers are facing during our transition from physical to virtual events.

The responses highlighted a more concentrated effort from businesses to network in a socially distanced manner.

A major trend based on our survey shows that many would prefer to conduct meetings or attend events virtually as 70% are encouraged to not attend physical events in an effort to maintain social distancing.

Less than 30%, however, are interested in attending events that are related to their fields.

Engaging Decision Makers

One of the biggest concerns for virtual-based platforms has always been the absence of powerful face-to-face conversations that keep attendees engaged.

To maintain this social connectivity, Management Events introduced a variety of interactive elements that keeps our events engaging during an online networking session, such as Campfire sessions, roundtable and panel discussions, and matched 1-2-1 meetings.

Keep an eye out for our upcoming 2021 events for some of the exciting elements we have prepared, and take a look at our new format of C-level networking in the virtual space, connecting you to 20,000 top decision makers and 2,500 solution providers.

Moving Forward With Virtual Networking

Due to travel bans placed by the EU, as many as 80% of our respondents shared that their organization has placed restrictions towards international traveling. However, with fewer travel costs, businesses might be more willing to explore new streaming technology/virtual platforms to replace their networking strategies.

While there were interests by our respondents to attend smaller/intimate events, many chose to remain safe and practice social distancing by preferring to work from home as much as possible and network with other top-level decision makers through online or virtual applications.

Embracing The New Normal

The pandemic has shifted the way solution providers and organizations create business opportunities through event networking. As European companies continue to adopt more innovative solutions and technologies to further achieve their organizational goals, we expect to see virtual networking to be the new normal for years to come.

November 13, 2020

New Times, New Journeys for Talent & HR Leadership

Empower_Growth_Through_Data-Driven_Customer_Experience

Innovation in HR has always been the key focus for organizations in discovering and adopting new solutions, improving workflow and productivity, and to innovate and excel. In today’s COVID-19 world, Maistering BV’s Chief Sales Officer (CSO) Venkat Iyer (Markets, Sectors & Domains) understands that innovation in the HR industry is needed now more than ever to remain efficient in these new times.

The Focus Of Innovation In New Times

The role of HR leaders has always been to be at the forefront of innovation. From innovating workflow processes to adopting intelligent solutions and creating a better employee experience, HR leaders are pivotal when it comes to innovation and business improvement.

However, the current crisis has pivoted the outlook for HR leaders, pushing them to adopt new approaches for workflow efficiencies in the shortest timeframes. Especially in today’s remote working conditions, businesses need to remain efficient and prioritize quality over quantity.

For Iyer, the key points of focus that HR leaders need to be aware of can be summed in three major points:

1. Promoting digitalization and increasing productivity by understanding how technology can improve the workflow of people in the organization.

2. Shifting from complicated processes to simple ideas. Simplicity in HR can also mean leveraging distributed intelligence from the employees and efficient use of AI solutions.

3. Engaging the external workforce in an agile and unprecedented way. As remote working becomes the norm, skills become readily available in the digital marketplace, and HR needs to adapt to tap this availability for business needs.

The shift towards new technology and digital platforms is a necessary shift for HR leaders. Despite traditionally focusing on innovating processes, employee experience, and talent identification, Iyer says that the “current situation has encouraged us to look at digital connections among employees, simplify processes, and leverage skills in a digital marketplace.”

Adapting To Change And Innovating In HR

In the ‘new normal’, HR leaders cannot rely on the traditional ways of managing organizations. While Iyer points out that HR leaders have been quick to “introduce and manage change consistently over the past years”, the current situation demands an environment that is more driven by technology.

“Adopt AI services and solutions, embrace the cloud, and live in the virtual employee realities by introducing digital methods,” notes Iyer.

As these are business priorities for organizations anyway, Iyer believes that leaders can adopt these new methods and ride the wave while still keeping past priorities in check.

Of course, leadership will play a key role in fostering innovation, and Iyer highlights how most HR leaders are addressing the challenges through a familiar process of “defining the problem, addressing the variables that make it complicated and agreeing on the best way forward.”

However, in these ‘never normal’ times, Iyer believes that HR leaders need to adjust and develop a new core capability: a simplicity mindset.

With HR now working around the clock, to be truly effective, Iyer mentions the need for leaders to embrace the mindset of collaboration and simplicity, foregoing the traditional linear thinking and embracing a collective intelligence where the organization is the team.

Prioritizing The Digital Transformation In HR

With the new challenges faced by HR leaders today, the journey towards organizational improvement has shifted towards digital transformation and solutions.

Iyer points out that for HR leaders to be at the top of their game in these new times, they need to embrace digital transformation and start new journeys in utilizing effective but simple tools to tackle complex and complicated problems.

The three key technologies that Iyer believes HR leaders should prioritize are:

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

Chatbots have been part of HR systems for quite some time, helping to answer employee queries. But it’s time to step up the game via managing change, tracking employee emotions to help with health, seamless collaboration and open information exchange, aligning to business goals and tracking KPIs, and creating an impact – AI can help vastly in all of these.

With services available today in many areas that embrace the digital workplace and workforce, HR leaders should step up on AI adoption.

CLOUD

Only a few years ago, companies were discussing the benefits of systems such as the cloud. Today, they have embraced it.

Cloud-based systems are being used more and more for a variety of reasons, and the same is true for HR platforms and solutions as well. The possibility of being able to manage and complete work through a digital platform has allowed employees not only to do the job much faster, but most importantly, it has allowed for significantly increased earnings.

The use of cloud-based platforms also brings about numerous benefits such as reduced costs, greater and easier access, predictability and availability, and better reach.

COMPLEMENTARY PLATFORMS

In addition to core HR platforms that companies have adopted, the need for additional services that complement these massive platforms, and how it can be quickly integrated and used become increasingly important.

Solutions that improve collaboration and ideations, connect to external workforces, match talent with availability, organize and orchestrate HR journeys, measure impact, and are more predictable are vital to companies.

Establishing A Culture of Innovation

Iyer emphasizes that HR leaders today need to adapt and learn new methods in cooperation with employees, business partners, and stakeholders to foster a modernized culture of innovation.

“How can you create and maintain a culture of innovation when almost all of your workforce is working from home?”

Facing these challenges should be at the center stage for HR leaders. For Iyer, it’s important to adapt to the digital workplace while still ensuring that innovation contributes to both the employee experience and business needs of the organization.

To do so, Iyer believes that the following 3 methods should be considered by HR leaders to cultivate the innovation mindset in today’s digital workplace:

Create new behaviors that reflect not just your company values, but also the current digital workplace style
Spawn global and virtual digital ideation sessions
Capture and share learnings and ideas openly

All of these can be achieved by having a digital platform that complements the existing HR solutions in the organization. New times call for new journeys for sure, but technology today can help to make those journeys magical.

Maistering BV understood this and created the unique platform Master Collections. It addresses this topic by providing leaders the ability to run magical business journeys with essence, beauty, and impact in a way that classical HRM systems simply cannot.

Innovating Towards The Future Game Changers

The changing workplace requirements have caused a major shift in all industries, and for Iyer, there are several game-changers that HR leaders need to prioritize to maintain innovation.

In essence, the three major game-changers that HR should focus on are:

Prioritizing Re-Learning and Re-Skilling: HR leaders should now focus on re-skilling their potential employees to make them efficient and equipped with the skill of multitasking. Learning & Development would take place in a new digital collaborative platform.

Quality over Quantity: Taskforce optimization, performance management, and talent identification will all focus on top talent and work, which also mean that hiring and role filling will be different.

External Workforce Management: The pandemic has also exposed a wide variety of available talent, which few have looked at – temporary workers, contractors, project-based hires, and deliverables-based work packages. This also necessitates the need to have systems that can adapt and accommodate externals quite easily and consolidate content and let them collaborate seamlessly with existing employees.

The path towards innovation has changed tremendously due to the pandemic. Businesses and organizations need to undertake new journeys for talent & HR leadership to achieve a culture of innovation. With their platform, Master Collections, Maistering hopes to navigate leaders and businesses into the new times with the right tools.

October 8, 2020

600Minutes Executive IT: How IT Leaders Develop Agility In Times Of Crisis

The recent 600Minutes Executive IT held by Management Events revealed in-depth insights from over 300 top-level IT executives and solution providers from leading organizations in Sweden.

In group discussions during the virtual event, CIOs across the industries lent their thoughts and opinions on leading in the virtual landscape and through times of crisis.

Virtual Leadership

As known the world over, the coronavirus outbreak has brought unprecedented circumstances to the business world, from urgent business continuity planning to lengthy operational disruptions.

As C-suites sought to keep their business operations running, remote working was widely established throughout organizations. But for many IT leaders, managing and leading a remote workforce is a novel experience, and they are faced with different levels of difficulties.

Obstacles and Challenges

There were multiple concerns expressed by the event attendees during the group discussions.

One IT executive mentioned that it’s a challenge to keep track of how employees are doing while another stated that it’s harder to pick up on what’s going on when they, as the leader, are working away from the team. Yet another participant expressed worry on the flow of information not reaching the teams.

But among the many hurdles, face-to-face communication and socialization seem to be the most worrying aspects of remote work. Participants were concerned on how to keep the teams together when they’re no longer physically meeting or interacting with each other.

This is especially the case for new hires, whereby organizations need to ensure proper onboarding of the employees and help in building relationships with the current teams. As an IT leader aptly explained, “Now, we are riding on the current company culture from the physical office, but for new hires, there’s a challenge to transfer the silent knowledge and culture that ‘sits in the walls’.”

Stagnancy is another worrying issue among leading IT directors and C-levels as teams don’t share as many ideas or brainstorm as much as before.

As one IT leader commented, “New ideas get lost as most meetings are within the same function. It’s important to keep in contact with decision makers in other functions in order to develop new ideas.”

Other worries and issues presented during the discussions were:

Investing more 1-to-1 time for the same output;
Difficulty in following up with their teams and getting concrete actions;
Lack of boundaries between work and non-work, resulting in potential burnout;
Struggles in starting new projects; and
Micromanagement.

Positive Outlook and Solutions

Even though there are concerns with coordinating a remote workforce, a number of participants are positive that working offsite, or telecommuting, can bring good results. As one attendee stated, “[Remote work] should not be seen as a cost, but an opportunity.”

For instance, a decision maker participating in the group discussions claimed that due to the outbreak and subsequent remote working situation, there’s now a stronger focus on innovation, which can help companies to discover business opportunities that were once neglected.

Others corroborated with his statement, saying that the coronavirus inadvertently led to the organization gaining momentum in digitalization, and they should use the ‘new normal’ as a chance to initiate strategic changes.

One example given is the use of iPads for the company’s operators for communication and training purposes, which in the past would have taken a very long time. Others mentioned how their organization now works more digitally and has increased efficiency in some areas, and how people are more innovative without so many contradictions.

As an IT director said, “Productivity increases during periods where we are forced to be more innovative.”

Additionally, it was a general agreement among the IT leaders that working remotely led to more efficient online meetings as staff seems more prepared, with specific agendas and smooth subsequent information flow and discussions.

Even though a number of attendees voiced out the challenges they’re facing in creating a successful digitalized workforce, they also suggested solutions to overcome the hurdles.

Some of the solutions for effective and progressive remote workforce management given by the participants include:

Developing policies and reinforcing them;
Raising morale through interactive and non-work-related activities, such as music quizzes;
Connecting more often with peers, teams and others from the company to gain different perspectives;
Having more dialogues with the workforce on handling the crisis and other work issues; and
Scheduling fun meetings and engaging sessions, such as a virtual coffee break, to replace physical socializing.

However, given the pros and cons of working remotely, quite a few of the top executives are looking to develop a hybrid solution of working from home and office.

Towards A Hybrid Landscape

“Remotely, productivity remains the same, or is even better, But for some cooperation and creative process work, there’s a need for physical meetings.”

“Virtual hiring is possible. However, physical meetup is still needed to hand over computers and phones, and to provide basic training on how to perform the job.”

The above statements are just a few comments from IT leaders who believe in having the best of both offsite and onsite worlds, and were discussing how to maximize value and efficacy in a hybrid office landscape.

Aside from providing possible solutions to the difficulties of building team relations and maintaining the innovation and development arenas, the hybrid solution also addresses the issue of trust.

As a participant mentioned, “If you don’t see your teammates and staff every day, more trust is required,” while another explained that, “In the past, it wasn’t part of leadership to ensure that their groups do their jobs from home.”

An IT executive in the discussion suggested a day or two per week working from home with the rest of the days in the office. Such a solution not only provides the flexibility for employees needing time to take care of family and personal business, but also answers the needs for department heads to have their teams for certain face-to-face tasks.

“A flexible workforce can lead to higher productivity,” a participant asserted.

Moving Forward

As a top IT executive observed, “People react differently to the changing environment and working conditions.” However, overall, it seems that employees, and even customers, have adapted to the ‘new normal’ relatively fast, and companies are witnessing faster digital transformation and innovation than before.

Perhaps it’s true what a decision maker from the IT function said during the discussion – “We need more crises to develop further.”

September 10, 2020

Master Your Digital Leadership in Finance

Finance among organizational functions is unique in the sense that it spans all areas of a business. However, a new digital economic infrastructure and the tools to accompany it are being built with advancing digital technologies such as Cloud Computing, Internet of Things, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). What this means for financial innovation is that rapidly evolving technology and the full realization of the value of data are the current drivers developing the digital economy.

Consequently, finance leaders must adopt an all-inclusive view of their transformation across the organization. The effective finance leader needs to remain up to date by ensuring that they are conversant with the trends in technology and identify how they apply to create or support the company’s sustainable competitive advantage.

Trends and What It Means to Businesses and C-suite

Thinking about popular innovative leaders, one would be hard-pressed to remember or find a CFO on a shortlist, with most generally, seeing the CFO as the proverbial bad cop, with a bias for short term top and bottom line, depriving the creatives in the enterprise of oxygen, and subsequently killing innovation.

Fortunately, in the digital era, the CFO should maintain focus on the value equation: less cost, more revenues, and more margin. Thus, the caricature of the nay-saying bean counter does not apply to a holistic CFO. The digital CFO understands that the right type of innovation will, in the midterm, lead to all of that.

“Assuring innovation is tied to value thinking. Assuring creativity is not equal to Russian roulette. True innovation ultimately leads to superior financial performance is a mantra of the modern CFO.”

– John Brahim

“Digital” encompasses a set of trends and opportunities that belongs to the C-Suite. It thus should not be viewed as in contradiction of the long-term strategic focus on innovation and or delivering on the next reporting period. The CFO, as the guardian of value thinking, has a vital role to play. Such as Investment Allocation, Risk Mitigation, and Sharpening benefits cases.

How to Manage Innovation and Change

Change is inevitable, and just as the famous quote by Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, “The only constant in life is change.” Change affects us all, and we deal with each new change differently. There can be no innovation without change and vice versa.

“Make it tangible. Sure, innovation is about soft things like culture and freedom; however, sooner rather than later, it should shape up in concrete Journeys. The CFO can lead the way by focusing on 3 levers for innovation: automating the enterprise round 3, embracing analytics day to day, being digital as a way of life.”

As technology progresses and new solutions become available, the needs of financially vulnerable individuals or businesses need to be kept in mind. Players from various sectors can propel innovation effectively when they partner across sectors and keep the needs of financially vulnerable people at the center.

Automating Enterprise Sequel 3

Firstly, the hard part of the back office was automated. Softer operational processes closely followed this. Where thanks to a combination of Cloud, AI, and Visualization technologies, the third automation wave will go beyond mere operations and transform the tactical layers, augmenting those that orchestrate the enterprise.
Embracing Analytics

The past saw financial functions providing curated historical data to the enterprise. However, current trends show people clamoring for real, actionable, and predictive insights. Fortunately, enterprises only require two components to achieve this: the right tools to capture and analyze Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to deliver more contextual and human answers.
Being Digital

Taking an enterprise digital requires a lot. For starters, the enterprise’s mission, value proposition, and business model will be affected. It will be a series of journeys requiring a dissimilar culture, new skills, different governance, and a new way of working. The mission and way of working have to transform for the CFO to assure financial health, allocate assets rightly, and mitigate risks amid novel volatility.

Remaining Relevant in the Eyes of Your Stakeholders

From a financial perspective, we can deduce that innovation requires proper budgets and timeframes. Smart financial constraints and deadlines do not impede but accelerate creativity by fostering a sense of urgency and focus. As the CFO, you play a vital role by operating with independence and critical empathy.

This translates to creating measured freedom from business-as-usual rules, especially when it relates to funding, contracting, hiring, and reporting. The company can expect significant breakthroughs provided the CFOs know how to exercise their levers to empower and encourage innovation by understanding which rules to relax and which to follow. In this sense, a holistic CFO can validate how ideas outside of the current business logic may be worth pursuing.

CFOs are often being asked by their CEOs to assist in enabling digital innovations in their companies. As the gatekeeper of a data-rooted, value-seeking business model, the opportunity for CFOs is not so much to play the role of a skeptic but rather to be the voice of reason. Similarly, because CFOs can logically relate innovation to key business drivers, they can also engage with the innovation teams as the individual guiding them to a “Yes.”

CFOs: learning from innovation-driven leadership

Brahim shares one of the first things that CFOs need to be inspired to formulate a digital mindset for their own basic processes. Going digital touches all classical financial processes, changing everything from core accounting and treasury management to fraud detection and KPI reporting.

Secondly, established CFOs should take cues from the new generation of digital leaders about more effective and efficient means of collaborating internally & externally. Understandably, changing one’s working style will significantly drag a leader out of their comfort zone than intellectually absorbing the intrinsic contents of the new digital journeys.

Thirdly, AI should pervade the entire enterprise. CFO’s who were not raised with this technology must be willing to get their hands dirty, learning how to apply AI in their daily play. On the positive side, this makes them a better role model whilst signaling to their team that nobody stays behind.

This is all easier said than done. Fortunately, Maistering’s platform, Master Collections, brings all of these together in an entirely new set of services. It offers a completely natural means for CFOs and other C-suite members to adopt a digital way of working. Unlike classical ERP applications, the platform adapts organically and does not require a heavy wall-to-wall implementation. Within weeks a CFO and her team will easily engage in digital or other innovative journeys using Master Collections.

The Immediate Future of Finance Function

The finance function is set to experience the biggest era of transformation. Requiring a balance of solid technical knowledge and data science, as well as a deep understanding of the business itself. Digital and AI innovation spread from the consumer to the enterprise world so that most experiments will start with sales and marketing functions.

However, there will be as many use cases in production, logistics, HR, and so on. Finance will be no exception, but like all others, will wrestle with its own strengths and weaknesses in culture, talent, practices, and assets. To a certain extent, the CFO will be catalyzed by her own ecosystem as the surrounding world of accounting, funding, collections, tax, and compliance is bracing for deep impact from AI themselves.

In the past, enterprises were shaped by processes. However, Brahim believes that the largest impact will undoubtedly originate from leader augmentation by the more practical AI and not the mythical deep stuff. Thus, our century will experience enterprises shaped by leader orchestrated journeys.

““Augmenting leaders in how they orchestrate Journeys, taps into a formidable business case. Imagine all those digital and other Journeys that a CFO or her peers in the C-suite undertake, becoming faster, richer, and more impactful. There is simply no better business case in modern enterprise than that. Surprisingly enough, Master Collections is a first mover when it comes to “augmenting masters”, as we call enterprise leaders, on their Journeys.”

– John Brahim

Ultimately Brahim believes that competent CFOs know how to co-shape journeys, create processes beneficial to the entire business, and make others successful. Master Collections as a new category platform offers CFOs the perfect toolset to engage in digital journeys and naturally fosters the synergies with the C-suite peers and others that require guidance and empowerment from the digital CFO. This is where the future lies for the new digital CFO.

September 9, 2020

Organizational Crisis Management: 7 Surprising Ways HR Leads Through a Crisis

Organizational trends point to an increase in the “invisible structure”; culture networks, employee learning abilities, core values, and projected identity that aids in solving previously unforeseen problems. Human resources are the arm of the organization that builds this invisible structure.

HR typically functions as a bridge between management and other employees. Yet, this influential department is not often regarded as a business partner, playing a vital role in the organization’s day-to-day running, particularly during a crisis. HR’s responsibility is more than just managing administration and service contracts. The article below expounds that in times of crisis, HR can play a decisive role in safeguarding the company’s success, and as such, it is about time for the rest of C-Suite to bring HR to the decision-making table.

1. People First

Being the people-focused arm of an organization, CHROs must place the safety, culture, protection, and mental health of the employees at the forefront. According to a KPMG International survey, HR executives prioritize employee experience (EX) as their focal point. Pathfinding HR¹ organizations were almost three times more likely to “strongly agree” that employee experience is a strategic priority for the entire organization. Furthermore, when asked about organizational strategies in place as regards EX, 75% of Pathfinding HR organizations had a system in place to design an EX that reflects and supports the customer experience.

¹KPMG defines “Pathfinding HR” as a confident group of HR executives, simultaneously focused on four discrete capabilities to chart their course to the future in a disrupted world: shaping the workforce of the future, nurturing a purpose driven culture, and designing a “consumer grade” employee experience, all through the use of evidence-based insights.

– KPMG International

COVID-19 struck impromptu, hitting hard and affecting all levels of businesses. Suddenly, CHROs must focus on employees’ health and well-being over the potential for denial of access or financial loss. Executing workforce adjustments will prevent high attrition levels.

Crunched numbers determine the most optimum methods to prevent the company from being overwhelmed. Deciding employee teams, non-intermittent or rotational work and shifts in location (home or office), number of employees that can work together, those who cannot, and prolonged absences. C-Suite and upper management must prioritize additional insurance coverage specifically designed to protect and support their people, intellectual property, and premises in the event of a crisis.

2. Talent Management and Engagement

The past few years have taught us that business agility is vital to the future of work. With increasing digitalization, globalization, and the newer generation entering the labor force, the faster a company can evolve alongside shifting consumer and employee engagement trends, the better equipped they are to survive in the long run.

Chances are everyone who works for you is aware of at least one website or has an app that gently nudges them to change employers. And if you are like most business leaders, you work hard to give them reasons to stay with your company every single day willingly. In the latest PwC’s Human Resources Technology Survey, technology investments and their effectiveness were explored, with the views of 600 HR and HR information technology (IT) leaders on six continents collected.

58% of these HR professionals informed that they had issues utilizing technology to find, attract, and retain talent. Companies spend $310 per employee per year on HR tech, yet 74% of companies surveyed still plan to boost spending on HR tech in 2020 to focus on pressing talent needs.

During a pandemic, HR plays another significant role that most do not get to think about, one of which is ensuring that employee emergency contacts are up to date. CHROs also take the lead by providing all employees with appropriate outlets for emotional or financial support. Supplementary training offered to develop and retain the best talents.

3. Leading with Candor (Communication & Support)

The golden hours of a crisis are the period in which decision making is at the most critical. During this period, CHROs are looked upon to trigger resources to communicate and respond efficiently across the company, responding to employees’ questions and concerns. Other employees typically place high expectations on C-level executives such as yourself for strength, reassurance, and leadership in turbulent times. It is essential to keep your people sufficiently informed.

One of the most critical tools for any successful crisis management approach is implementing a practical communications framework and access to dedicated numbers to help businesses respond to new information as they are available. Examples are special groups and channels via Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, or similar messaging platforms.

Contrary to generally accepted organization data privacy and security laws, a key factor is to ensure the chosen platform is externally controlled, especially in the event of a cyber-attack that forces a section or company-wide network shutdown. This preset mode of communication might very well be the only way to communicate with teams safely.

While only a small number of companies use incentives (30%) and gamification (20%) to lift adoption rates, these two practices were rated the most successful methods to combat low adoption. The two most common strategies—training and leadership communication—while important, should be delivered alongside these other tactics that make using digital technologies more enjoyable, even fun.

4. Establish a Crisis Management Team

Despite a business’s best efforts, encountering a crisis may be inevitable for many. During the formative stage, CHROs as strategic planners can bring people together to form a crisis management team to formulate policies and guidelines. The team will propose potential outcomes and crises that might arise and develop multiple contingency plans based on such situations.

Such as communicating efficiently and effectively with customers, employees, the media, and all other stakeholders. It is critical for businesses with a strong social media presence; you cannot afford to stay silent during this period. Meticulously crafted, frank communications will be essential to maintaining your company’s reputation. The style of communication, honesty, and, when suitable, messaging on how your company is aiding an affected community and employees is vital. Lastly, develop a Business Continuity Plan, where the CMT is in charge of outlining strategies to overcome business disruption.

5. Encourage training and new skills acquisition

During a crisis, leaders often refer to past experiences and or a guidebook of sorts to aid their decision-making. However, there is no single playbook during this pandemic that managers can reference for accurate advice and responses on how to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and its multiple disruptions across all business sectors. Since many HR leaders are accountable for guiding the overall workforce response to COVID-19, they must model a learning mentality and influence others to stay interested and open to learning.

In recent years, technology has dramatically automated the typical functions carried out by the HR department. Summarily, it became possible to activate online payroll transmission, record keeping, training, skill management, employment interviews, hiring, and compensations. HR professionals and employees alike must also flow with the current digitization trend, focusing on skill development.

HR takes the lead to develop and model an experimental culture and encourage other employees to “fail forward” to learn from tough choices quickly. This crisis can also be a chance for HR leaders who have labored in the past to create learning cultures in their organizations, as there may be less opposition to trial and error from performance-focused leaders.

6. Providing Data-Driven Views

There are no clear-cut answers or precedents in this pandemic. C-suite leaders expect CHROs to resolve problems such as rotating the workforce to work productively from home, keeping essential frontline workers safe, and managing large-scale virtual downsizing furloughs. All these while trying to protect health benefits.

To achieve this, CHROs, HR teams, managers, and business owners rely on various software, including an information system to assist, manage, and automate many of the administrative tasks to improve HR activities’ workflow.

According to the PwC’s Human Resources Technology Survey, HR leaders report robust business benefits from cloud-based HR systems that shape their technology portfolio’s core. 72% report having core HR applications in the cloud or are in the process of moving them. 56% from the KPMG International survey agree that preparing the workforce for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and related technologies is challenging. A further 66% (2 in 3 HR executives) believe that one of the ways CHROs can manage the impact of AI (and related technologies) on the workforce is to prioritize workforce upskilling. Particularly during a crisis when scale-downs or ramp-ups might be in order. HR can and should be providing a data-driven opinion to any actions.

7. Hastening the Future of Work

It is imperative to be aware that the crisis’s effects remain long after it has ended for employees, their families, organizations, and communities during recovery. At this stage, HR must have the necessary tools to educate employees and business leaders on identifying stress impacts and recommending they get help. Achievable by sending out memos or paving the way for intranet pages containing the necessary information about employee benefits and other employee-related policies and programs. Programs such as the Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

Remembering to look towards the future is a common challenge for CHRO leaders. Companies will benefit significantly from endorsing human-capital decisions that respond to the current crisis and future proof tomorrow.

The previous months of lockdown have seen most of the world’s workforce telecommuting from home. Consequently, revealing many cracks and opportunities in the current workforce policies. Fortunately, something good can come out of it. It is an excellent time to rethink the processes and accelerate the future of work — the flexible workplace, wider talent pool, training for remote work, concentrating on employee well-being, and redefining events for societal connections.

Conclusion

The pandemic has devastated businesses and workers alike, obliging CHROs at the epicenter to make tough choices regarding safety, downsizing, compensation, engagement, benefits, and business permanence. Most CHROs have switched to working from home full time for the first time. What with schools and daycare/kindergartens closed. Many employees with young children and dual-career families struggle with work-life integration.

HR’s responsibility is more than just managing administration and service contracts. In times of crisis, HR can play a decisive role in safeguarding a company’s success. They have to be bold and defensive in building effective, cohesive cultures of collaboration, insisting that employees prepare to deal with the unexpected and the challenges ahead, rather than merely refining skills from the past. It is not in the moment of crisis that HR should shine; it is before and afterward. Achievable by insisting the organization do the right things before the crisis hits.

August 28, 2020

8 Actionable Tips on Virtual Presentation to Rise above the Competition

You received a memo informing you that your organization has canceled all international and domestic road trips or flights due to the ongoing pandemic. Including that quarterly regional sales convention you have been prepping for months or that invitation to deliver a keynote at a B2B conference. So now what? How are you ever going to exhibit your impressive numbers and showcase your presenting skills?

Thankfully, in the ever-growing digital workplace, virtual presentations are on the rise. Consequently, with the right planning, decent internet connection, and video conferencing tools, you can deliver a high-quality, engaging presentation to the rest of the team in a virtual environment.

Virtual presentations, like in-person presentations, need to be meticulously designed. Small mistakes can make or break their success, particularly when you may not see your audience, which introduces another tier of challenges. Therefore, as a presenter, there are individual things that you should and should not do to deliver a seamless presentation.

The following are some general considerations and suggestions for running any virtual presentation and transporting live activities into a virtual setting. Note that the specific tools, features, and technological capabilities available will vary by platform.

Tip 1: Choosing a virtual platform

Choosing the wrong platform can be the difference between having a poor presentation or a great one. As the host or organizer, you get to pick the virtual presentation platform for the event. Carefully consider the size of the audience, bandwidth limitations of other attendees, and available features.

As the visiting speaker at an external event, you probably have little to no influence in choosing the platform. However, once you are aware of the selected virtual platform, ensure that you familiarize yourself with the platform, particularly if you will be switching between slides and or screen sharing. As a host or co-host, ensure other facilitators and participants receive proper training.

Tip 2: Dynamic Presentation

During an in-person presentation, we habitually employ various vital tips and tricks to keep our audience engaged. These include using appropriate facial expressions, maintaining eye contact, and hand gestures. Similarly, in a virtual presentation, you have to maintain a dynamic presence. Otherwise, statistics have shown that a passive display is one of the quickest ways to lose audience engagement other than an overly lengthy presentation. According to a Barco ClickShare study, 72% of respondents agreed that using multimedia elements made presentations more engaging.

Future predictions indicate that Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technology will be at the forefront of virtual presentations. Businesses have already begun leveraging augmented reality in presentations to engage their audience on an elevated level, sell their products and services more effectively, and more importantly, develop a memorable brand experience. However, for traditional slideshow presentations, endeavor to keep your slides minimal, clean & colorful; be creative and make use of multimedia (bold visuals, videos, and links) content to keep your presentation exciting and attention-seeking. The content they say is King in the virtual space.

Tip 3: Involve your audience

Another critical tip is the employment of several engagement tools to increase audience involvement, such as polls, quizzes, hands-raising, asking pertinent questions, with answers given auditorily or in the chat window. Notwithstanding, do not use these tools for the sake of inclusion. So, if a poll is inserted, ensure that the questions match your content and relevant to the presented topic.

Tip 4: The Three S’s (Stand, Stay Still & Smile)

Standing during a virtual presentation is an often-overlooked factor, particularly during the recent pandemic that forced most businesses to shutter their physical offices and workers to work from home. You may not always possess the choice of choosing whether to sit or stand. However, if you can stand, do so, as you may be able to convey more authority, avoid many potential presentation difficulties, and make it easier for your listeners to focus on you and your ideas.

Standing also improves your breathing by ensuring that you can breathe more quickly from your diaphragm and that energy can flow smoothly through your body. Additionally, standing makes it less likely for you to lean on a table or surface, which can be regarded as unprofessional. Employ hand gestures even when you are invisible.

While standing, it is crucial to remain still and in front of the camera. Balance your weight equally on both legs to keep your lower body still and minimize or eliminate shifting. Should your presentation involve moving around, gesture a bit higher than usual to ensure your audience can see them. Taking care not to move outside the camera’s viewing angle, keep your gestures contained and deliberate; doing otherwise would come off as amateurish and unprofessional.

Smiling or, at a minimum, keeping one’s facial expression neutral yet pleasant makes for a more relatable presenter. Do a few practice runs while watching yourself present. You may notice that you frown too much and or look overly serious in concentration. So, when practicing your presentation, also work on relaxing your face and smiling at appropriate moments. Eventually, you get comfortable with the content, and in turn, feel more relaxed and come across naturally.

Tip 5: Environment

Humans are highly visually stimulated animals, and our brains instantaneously register color. Thus, when setting up your camera, avoid setting up in locations with a messy or distracting background, as this may inadvertently draw the attention of your viewers away from you onto objects or other happenings besides your presentation.

Studies have shown that our brain registers color before anything else. Given that color is a powerful communicator, it helps to know how to use it effectively during presentations. Consequently, ensure you are correctly and adequately lit from above, wear neutral-colored clothing, and avoid all-black attires. From the viewer’s perspective, black-colored clothing tends to ‘swallow’ the presenter. If you have to wear black or a dark color, consider design and texture or introduce other colors to generate interest. Summarily, when choosing an outfit, think about how it fits with your overall branding.

Tip 6: Voice Modulation

Voice modulation is one of the most formidable weapons you can possess in your virtual presenting arsenal while delivering a speech. Not only does it reflect confidence, but it also helps in compelling your audience about your opinions or ideas. Many great orators have attributed their successful command over people partly due to voice modulation.

Use your voice to convey that passion and energy. When your audience cannot see you, your voice is all you have to keep your audience engaged. Therefore, your voice needs to be dynamic and engaging, or you will lose people’s attention. Practice by reading a script using exaggerated emotion, volume, and intonation. If you have a wireless headset on hand, get up and move around the room as you speak; doing this simple task may help you generate the right amount of energy in your voice.

Practice speaking at a measured pace, not too slow and not too fast. Occasionally, pause for 2 – 3 seconds when you have made a vital or transition point. Because your audience is reliant on your speech, a stillness will not only catch their attention but also return them to you.

Tip 7: Bring in a guest speaker or co-presenter.

When possible, particularly on lengthy presentations, consider bringing in a guest speaker or co-presenter to mix things up a bit. The changes in voice and style from having two presenters can keep the presentation interesting, and the audience engaged.

Still, it would be best if you choreographed the collaboration – as only one of you should be speaking at a time. Resist the temptation to interrupt each other or talk over each other. Depending on your content material and the audience, excessive inside jokes with your co-presenter might not be a good idea, as it can make the audience feel excluded.

Tip 8: Keep it short.

Lastly, presenting in person is already in itself a challenging experience. As discussed above, when we take presentations virtual, those challenges increase exponentially. During in-person presentations, we employ hand gestures, intentional body movements, track the audience’s engagement levels, use deliberate eye contact to connect with a drifting individual or sections of the audience, and redirect their attention back to us.

Virtual audiences can turn you off with a mouse click or a tap on their mobile device. Thankfully, this does not mean that all hope is completely lost. It is better to create or cover less BUT engaging content in the virtual world while keeping your presentation’s overall length to 10 – 15 minutes.

“It is not your customer’s job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don’t have the chance to forget you.”

– Patricia Fripp (Executive Speech Coach and Sales Presentation Skills Trainer)

Final Thoughts

Paying close attention and integrating these tips will undoubtedly assist in creating an engaging virtual presentation. Virtual presentations are here to stay. They are convenient, cost-effective, and gradually becoming the preferred choice for many organizations.

However, it will take some time and effort to radiate a strong virtual presence for the less experienced. Highly ranked and engaging presenters have had much-structured practice and development feedback under their belt to become masters of the art. Some have undergone coaching from skilled orators and presenters. All these merged made them the excellent presenters they are.

As time goes on, your virtual presentation skills will get better. Your knowledge and mastery of the software and various other complementary tools will improve. You become more efficient, taking less and less time to produce engaging content.

July 1, 2020

Dr Gero Decker: The Path To Customer Experience Excellence

With today’s increased focus on customer experience (CX), it’s hard to believe that customers were once seen as an afterthought to products.

But business process management (BPM) software vendor, Signavio, has long understood the importance of client satisfaction, building services around their ‘passion’ statement: Create products that people love to use.

Deep diving into the customer-centricity of Signavio, Co-Founder and CEO Dr Gero Decker shares with Management Events on the characteristics of a client-oriented organization and the aspects of customer experience excellence.

A SNIPPET OF SIGNAVIO

Offering solutions such as BPM tech, RPA and ERP since 2009, Signavio has been constantly recognized for their exceptional services.

Some notable awards and rankings include 2018 Inc. 5000 Europe, Deloitte Technology Fast 50 for 3 years, 2015 EY Founders Ranking, and the BPM2ThePeople Award for their BPM project with the daycare centre, Kita Am See Großbettlingen.

DEFINING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

“Concentrate on the areas that can have the greatest effect
on customer experience.”

There are many factors that contribute to customer satisfaction, from the company’s culture and staff capabilities to the processes and systems of the organization. For Signavio, what defines customer experience?

“All of these factors play a role in customer experience,” Dr Decker (picture left) relates. “Of course, some things are beyond the control of individual employees or companies. Just look at the unprecedented impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“That’s why it’s essential to concentrate on areas that can have the greatest effect on customer experience, often for a relatively low effort,” he discloses.

“Focus on your customer journey, including all the interactions, moments of truth and emotions. Then, concentrate on your processes that deliver against that journey.”

“Your capabilities and systems flow from this strong foundation, which then work together to reinforce a customer-centric approach, and help your company culture move from customer service to customer excellence.”

ESSENTIAL CUSTOMER-CENTRIC CHARACTERISTICS

“Build lasting relationships that are more than mere interactions.”

With customer satisfaction becoming an increasing differentiator among businesses, organizations are focusing on effective CX strategies to gain competitive advantage.

In fact, according to Gartner, two thirds of surveyed marketing leaders state that they are “currently competing partly or mainly on the basis of customer experience.” But what makes an organization truly customer-centric?

“It’s all about building lasting relationships, which are more than mere interactions: it’s about trust,” Dr Decker emphasizes. “The only way to ensure success is to reorient everything your business does around the customer.”

He further stresses how employees are an integral part of executing a successful customer journey and helping to improve customer experience.

“Does everyone in your organization know
what the company’s customer-oriented goals and objectives are?”

“Do they understand what they do and how they do it impacts the customer? Do they have access to all the information they need to serve the customer immediately?”

“And, crucially,” Dr Decker questions, “do they have the authority and ability to solve problems as they arise, without constant checks for permission?”

“If your answer to all these is ‘yes’, then you’re probably well on the way to becoming a customer-centric organization. If your answer is ‘no’, your customer experience efforts are likely too disconnected from your operational excellence efforts to be genuinely effective.”

CREATING A SEAMLESS CUSTOMER JOURNEY

“You need a ‘single source of truth’.”

Today, businesses are using multiple platforms to communicate and market to their target audience. But if the company doesn’t have a proper customer journey map in place, the omnichannel experience can be inconsistent and unsatisfactory.

Based on industry research, over 70% of customers see experience as a key part of their purchasing decision, but many of them state that companies deliver only an ‘ok’ experience.

Other research found that a high majority of customers expect consistent interactions across channels. So how can organizations provide a steady and seamless customer experience?

“Beyond the potent combination of process mining with CJM technology,” Dr Decker shares, “the most important capability to deliver a seamless customer experience is clear communication across your business.”

“This is not only with the customers themselves, but internally.”

“You need a ‘single source of truth’, a standard that is understood by all staff, and delivered consistently no matter where and how customers interact with your business.”

“At the same time,” he informs, “a common understanding of “how we do things” will allow for clearer communication within your business, and give customer-focused staff and projects a solid foundation.”

“Enabling widespread communication means leaders can pull insights from across their organizations, and make more informed decisions that will ultimately benefit the customers.”

CONNECTING CUSTOMER FOCUS & OPERATIONS

“Companies need to bring together the Customer Experience practice
with their Operational Excellence efforts.”

The interaction between people and businesses has roots all the way to the pre-industrial revolution, when relationship-building was simple and a loyal customer base was typical of every business.

While CX has a much broader meaning today, what is truly new about building client relations and customer experience excellence?

“Indeed, customer experience is not a new topic,” Dr Decker agrees, “But what is different now is that companies realize that they need to bring together the Customer Experience practice with their Operational Excellence efforts.”

“As Kasper Rorstedt, the CEO of adidas, said:
Customer Experience is not just about a sexy front-end
but equally as much about great processes.”

“By viewing customer-centric imperatives through the lens of operational excellence, the connection between customers, their touchpoints, and your underlying business processes is always visible and traceable.”

“In other words,” he explains, “to succeed in becoming truly customer-centric, we must connect our business processes directly to the drive to delight customers.”

“This means refreshing our way of thinking about interactions, and focusing on deep changes down to the process level.”

“Being able to manage and fill process gaps across an entire company lays the groundwork for leadership to clearly understand the necessary changes for improved customer relationships.”

TOWARDS INTELLIGENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

“Digital plays a critical role in retrieving customer data.”

Since the explosion of big data and digital technologies, industries from retail to healthcare have been utilizing analytics and adopting intelligent innovations to improve their customer experience.

As Dr Decker proclaims, “We have much more data available to understand our customers. On a daily basis, we can see customer behavior changing, sentiments going up or down, and the effects of changes that we implement in our processes.”

But how does digital capabilities and smart technologies help in delivering great customer experience?

“Digital plays a critical role in retrieving relevant data,” Dr Decker elaborates.

“On top of that, intelligent technology allows us to implement more customer touchpoints than ever.”

“Twenty years ago, the webshop was a big novelty, allowing customers to get informed and place orders 24/7. Now, almost all touchpoints can be automated, for instance through apps, in-product messaging and conversational interfaces.”

“The big realization these days, however, is that technology not only provides for a great user interface to the customer but that it is at least as critical for providing smooth and fast operations in the background.”

The findings from an IDC research further confirms Dr Decker’s point, which found that a majority of CEOs are shifting their focus to more modern and digital strategies to deliver better experiences to their customers.

SIGNAVIO’S CX APPROACH

“Customer experience is not simply a project; it’s the way we do business.”

Every company has their own unique CX strategy, and the recent coronavirus outbreak has brought significant changes in customer behaviour, pushing businesses to re-emphasize their customer relations.

But for Signavio, customer experience has always been a top priority.

“We pride ourselves on offering a customer experience second to none, and high levels of satisfaction to our own customers,” Dr Decker expresses. “For us—as it should be for all organizations—customer experience is not simply a project; it is the way we do business.”

“We closely track customer engagement, success and relationship health so that we can proactively influence the relationships we have with our customers, and rally everyone on the team behind the important moments of truth for our customers.”

“For us, now more than ever is the time to maintain customer trust, and work to add customer value while communicating with empathy.”

To support businesses during these trying times, Signavio is offering a free 30-day trial of their all-in-one Business Transformation Suite that helps optimize business processes and drive intelligent transformation.

From real-time insights to quick operational change, the Business Transformation Suite offers customers continuous improvements and efficiency to their daily business tasks.