SEO Tips to Build a New Website:

1. Start with a theme (meaning your market and the top level keywords).
2. Use Keyword Research to build that theme into the site navigation, internal links, tags and naming conventions.
3. Determine the tipping point is for the top 5 competitors and exceed them using time-released content.
4. Leverage internal links to select preferred landing pages.
5. Build a stable base of off page links from trusted sources first, and then ensure a fresh supply of relevant ongoing links.
6. Build pages properly the first time “optimal” using a pliable CMS system which does all the SEO / heavy lifting by default.
7. Use keyword research to integrate less competitive keywords (branches of the root phrase) into supporting posts, pages and off page content (then go back to point #3).
8. Keep site architecture flat and make sure to link to a sitemap for that segment of the site (if you use categories).
9. Make changes to older / trusted pages – If ranking priorities change, go back and edit and add additional links and content to leverage pages 4 months or older to link to new pages with supporting keywords.
10. Measure the results and rinse and repeat.

Start with a theme: Understanding the competitiveness of the keywords, based on competing pages, the authority of the competitors holding down the top 5 spots and the content and link thresholds they exhibit is a great start for any endeavor.

You can also expand your base of modifiers to embrace multiple variations or flavors of the market to drive additional traffic that competitors may be leaving on the table due to their own narrowness or lack of creativity. *Links will be provided at the end of this post for further elaboration on various tactics and techniques.

Use Keyword Research: When conducting keyword research, keep in mind, it is the long term objective that matters, so you have to build the most competitive keywords and phrases into the site structure so that it is always present and acts as a hook for a node of relevance.

Then, using faceted or tiered navigation, you can drill down from the most broad phrases into the category and / or product level (giving each page its own focus) vs. trying to mash everything together as a keyword free for all.

The rule of thumb is a page should be optimized for 3 -5 keywords per page, anything else is just mid-tail and long-tail traffic which will happen anyway, once all the pages are indexed, linked and working in unison.

Determine The Tipping Point: Each keyword has a tipping point, determining what that is takes to outrank others requires observation, analysis and execution to overcome.

For example, is it 15 pages of content for keyword A, 25 deep links and 100 internal links from other pages, 5 pages of content for keyword B, 100 deep links and 4 months to season enough search engine trust?

They say practice makes perfect and no two websites are alike, however this is a moving target and requires persistence based on keyword thresholds exhibited by (a) your own website and (b) the thoroughness of your competitors SEO strategies and whether they are hollow or back by solid SEO metrics.

Leverage Internal Links: Leverage the links you build from other websites by using keyword relevant internal links through co-occurrence. If a keyword exists on another page you intend to rank for, and then make sure that all of the subsequent pages are linked to the preferred landing page with the keyword or semantic variation to support the preferred ranking.

Off Page Links: Getting the proper type of off page inbound links matters more than the quantity of links pointing at a page or website. Trusted links pass trust; you can have 200K inbound links from sites that are classified as a bad neighborhood that pass nothing of value to your website. On the other hand, you can have 1000 quality links from sites that have trust and authority and pass more ranking factor along than the 200K links.

Aged sites replete with either (a) trust or (b) rankings in the niche, market or segment your site corresponds to are ideal.

SEO for a CMS: You don’t have to over-think your SEO, just build it on a solid platform (such as WordPress) refer to our WordPress SEO Tips. After you set your site up properly the first time, you can easily mirroring the title, h1, meta tags and page naming conventions and focus on adding themed content to add an array of robust keywords and landing pages to garner rankings.

Keeping Site Architecture Flat: Flat site architecture implies building relevant pages in the root folder and using exact match or targeted naming conventions for the url structure. For example, instead of having a site format and naming convention like domain.com/electronics/games/sony-psp/ you could use domain.com/sony-psp-games.html to flatten the subfolders.

Here is a great piece on competition and how to leverage content silos to get that value out of your deeper pages and add traction for specific pages.

Making Changes to Older / Trusted Pages: You can benefit tremendously from refining or editing pages with trust or page rank to increase indexation for other newer pages or site segments.

Many SEO’s don’t tell you that your websites most trusted pages (older than 4 months) are a treasure trove when re-optimized or utilized (by adding additional content or links) to act as pivotal points within a website.

Linking from trusted pages passes along value beyond measureable link flow alone, it allows your other pages to rank on less inbound links from other sites (as inbound links or external inbound links are treated much in the same way).

Measure, Rinse and Repeat: No explanation needed here. Just test the metrics, keep a log and make adjustments where needed to dial in specific keyword variations.

Author

Vedicsoft
www.vedicsoft.com

What better way to motivate ourselves to move towards our goals than to have the object of our fascination as a source of motivation? If we want to live in a bigger house, let that house be our motivation. If we want to have a better job, let that new job with a big paycheck be our motivation. And if we want to have an international business, why not let that international business give us the nudge we need to trudge forward.

We understand that the biggest obstacle and challenge to being successful is the lack of motivation. Sometimes, when we’re halfway through a journey, we find ourselves slacking. It’s like writing a novel. Novel writers will happily tell you about how easy it is to start a project and how difficult it is to see it through to the end. Achieving success is a lot like that. You have a million and one starts, and practically not a single ending. Or even if we have lots of endings, most of them are premature and way off mark.

Never lose sight of success
The fastest way to success is to keep your eye on that success all the time. Consistently. Never peel your eyes away from the fact that one day, you’re going to get what you want in life. It’s not hope. It’s not a wish. It’s not even a goal! It has to be a fact. When you think success is not an option but a fact, the faster you will get it.

Take, for example, Olympic swimmers. If Olympic swimmers want to get their gold medals, they are trained to go through a series of mind-boggling workout sessions every single day and are consistently psyched up about WHEN they are going to achieve their goals. Not IF but WHEN. Only when they start viewing the gold medal as a necessity, envisioning the gold medals hanging from their clothes hook on their wall will they feel adequately motivated to move unwaveringly towards that goal.

Surrounding yourself with success minded people
We’ve personally heard of people who are so geared for success that they are literally living in a world of success, enjoying the things that they would enjoy when they are successful. This plays up the part of it being the biggest motivation, and when it is all around you, you cannot ignore it.

By surrounding themselves with successful people or success-minded people the rewards are limitless. Not only are their friends able to share their positive views on how to better reach their goals, they are in the position to motivate each other and share tips and tricks! Regardless of what an optimistic person you are, you are still susceptible to feeling negative, sad, disappointed and impatient about achieving your goals. Positive and success minded people can offer a sympathetic and understand shoulder to cry on and then help nudge you on your way.

Author

Vedicsoft
www.vedicsoft.com

Definitely there is a difference between doing business and running it. It may sound strange or useless to consider, but when you carefully observe people who do business and those who merely running it has significant dissimilarity.

Everything looks equal at first glance but we need to give a second and more careful look to the business to distinguish from doing a business to just running a business. Because sometime it becomes very imperative to know the status of business before we do any short of dealing with them.

A couple of years back my brother went to Vidyanagar with one of his friend who owned a foundry in Rajkot, It was a business trip, during the meeting my brothers friend showed some photographs of his foundry facility to the purchase manager of the organization to whom they went to meet. Looking at the photos the manager said, I think this foundry is not in regular condition, you are not doing regular business right? May be you are just running it?! What I want to say is that the photos clearly displayed the state of foundry and the abysmal condition of infrastructure of the foundry unit, and his reaction was natural! The point I want to communicate is this only, here the foundry was just run by the new generation! It belonged to the family and the fellow way suppose to be the caretaker of the foundry unit from the new generation, he was not that much concerned about the business since he did not formed the foundry from a scratch, the lake of these business concern comes from the fact that he is not a foundry entrepreneur, it was not his vision to established the unit, but invariably he has to run the unit to keep balls rolling of a family business.

In India, particularly, we have numerous proprietary concerns as well as Pvt. Ltd. and Limited companies which are just been run by the family members, because they are not the actual entrepreneurs who envisaged the business and raised to a level! They are just running the business because they by law of the land own the business, neither they are fully qualified to run such business nor they really interested in running them properly!

If by mistake you are headed with wrong end of the road and did any business dealing with such less competent business house, what will happen to you? What about your commitments, what about your future goals, what about the security of your money in those hands of less competent people?

Yes there are so many questions would arise out of the fact which came to light in front of you.  But you will be helpless to make your position safe!

That is why you must make sure before any business dealing with any possible business house that whether the business house is run by the first generation entrepreneurs, the professional team of executives or the second or third generation family members. If the business house is run by second or third generation people from the family, make it sure that they are competent to run the business and they have done business successfully in past with other parties.

There is always good results of some extra care taken by you as businessman to know the real businessman and just inherent successor of the business house!

Author

Vedicsoft
www.vedicsoft.com

Everybody in this world wants success. Persons or animals – both want success. Every person wants happiness from his / her life. Nobody wants third class life.

Everybody wants to look like movie stars and always dream about the same life. Is it possible?  It is definitely possible. Have you heard that proverb – “if you have faith, you can climb mountains”. Just think about it. Just think that you can and you will see that you can do anything. It’s just like that. Ninety percent people in the world don’t know what they can do. They just follow others; always. That’s why they are always the same – followers.

Only one or two in a million think that they can lead. They can push hard. Napoleon, Hitler and Alexander came from that extraordinary and elite league. Even Bill Gates, Jack Welch and Richard Branson are in the same league.  You can’t push a mountain. They said – it is not possible.  if you believe you can, you are right and if you believe you can’t, you are right; again. It’s absolutely true that you can’t do that with just thinking. You have to work really hard for it. You can’t be a millionaire with just thinking about the stuff. You really need to push yourself with the super energy.

If you give your hundred percent, you can conquer the world. You can show the world that what metal you are made of. Success theory is very simple. Just remember two words “I can”. Whenever u want to do anything, just talk to your soul and say “I believe in me. I can do it. I am telling you, it will give me immense power, energy and innovative mind and you will see the difference in your attitude and work. Just try it once.  bet – you will love it. Daily thousands of people searching jobs, appearing for interviews, starting new jobs. They want to be successful. But ninety five percent of them are not sure that you can make it to the top league. Result – they don’t. That’s the main problem with the generation.

If you think it is impossible for you to make it to the top then you can’t search for the magic stairs. But some are really very good. They think they can and they know they can. Some employees always do the same work for life, no creativity factor at all but some always looking for better opportunities, better things and better responsibilities.  mostly you may see somewhere that a leader’s main objective is not to make followers but to make more leaders.

Author
Vedicsoft
www.vedicsoft.com

About Vedicsoft

VEDICSOFT is an award-winning IT Solutions company specializing in Business Intelligence. During the past 11 years in business, we have built more than 300 happy customers nationwide. Some of our customers are listed in fortune 500. We earn repeat business through superior service quality, high accountability and guaranteed delivery. By providing best BI practices by industry’s best, VEDICSOFT has steadily helped customers get 360 degree business insight leaving no stone unturned. Many of our clients rely on us to exclusively source their contract positions.

VEDICSOFT provides

• Professional services in wide-range of IT application landscapes.
• Turn-key IT solutions in Business Intelligence. We build decision support systems that enable companies to make informed decisions.
• IT Services in end-to-end Enterprise Data Management

Customers leverage VEDICSOFT’s full service offerings including Data Integration, Data Extraction, Data Transformation, Data Loading, Data Analytics, Data Analysis, Data Modeling, Data Conversions, Data Migration, Data Cleansing, Data Massaging, Data Scrubbing, Data Profiling, Data Normalization, Data Quality, Data Integrity, Data Governance, Data Stewardship and Data Anthropology. for more info logon to www.vedicsoft.com

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Vedicsoft
www.vedicsoft.com

Websites are not just designed for advertising the business globally but also help you in doing business online. In other words, your website works as a brand explanatory across the globe. So, you evidently need to apportion some money for quality website development in case you are looking forward to do business globally. However, at the initial stage of website development, business owners count and spend their penny very cautiously. And this is one of the reasons why most of the business owners gaze for the affordable custom web design services. Well, designing an affordable website for small business does not have to be convoluted and time-consuming. It is something that you can also design on your own. With the help of WYSIWYG editor, you can effectively design business website for your small business. If you are designing your website with WYSIWYG editor, you require little or no knowledge of the workings of web design.

However, you need to create your website in such a way that it must look professional. While designing a website, keep this in mind that the website you create is search engine optimized, as it will help in attracting huge amount of visitors to your site. Below are some of the tips which help you in designing affordable website for small business:

1) Logo Design

To start with small business web design, firstly you need to design a logo. Make sure you have a good logo for your business. Logo design is treated as a business code as it is the foremost thing people see and with the help of logo design they remember you.

2) Relevant Content

Make sure the content on your website should be relevant and informative. Content of each web page should not be of more than 250 words because excess text makes the web page overpopulated. Also, keep this in mind that text you add to your web page should contain keywords about your product or service.

3) Add Images

Images are also crucial and play an important role in building a website. With the help of good eccentricity shots of a product you don’t have to utter a single word because these shots are so powerful that they contend a thousand words.

4) Keep things simple

Most of the people make a mistake in such a way that they try to make their website too eye-catchy and also use flash technology as they think they can attract huge amount of visitors with the help of these websites. But they are wrong; these types of websites are cumbersome, difficult and strenuous to navigate. Generally people lose the interest and leave the website if they cannot find the relevant information quickly. So, keep things simple, straightforward and design your using HTML/XHTML.

Therefore, above mentioned points are some of the noteworthy tips for designing an affordable website for small business. In order to design a stupendous website for small business, it is counsel to take assistance from a custom web design company.

Professional custom webs design/development services by PixelCrayons, specializing in custom web site design solutions & custom web application development solutions.

Author
Vedicsoft
www.vedicsoft.com

The two greatest concerns of employers today are finding good workers and training them. The difference between the skills needed on the job and those possessed by applicants, called the skills-gap, is of real concern to CEO’s and HR managers looking to hire competent employees. While employers would prefer to hire people who are trained and job ready, they are usually willing to provide the specialized, job-specific training necessary for those lacking such skills. However, certain skills, referred to as employability skills, are mostly found missing in most of the applicants, especially at the entry level.
Employability skills are those basic skills necessary for getting, keeping, and doing well on a job. These are the skills, attitudes and actions that enable workers to get along with their fellow workers and supervisors and to make sound, critical decisions. Unlike occupational or technical skills, employability skills are generic in nature rather than job specific and cut across all industry types, business sizes, and job levels from the entry-level worker to the senior-most position.

In a recent survey carried out, following were the Top 7 skills which the employers were looking in employees:

• Communication
• Team Working
• Integrity
• Planning & Organization
• Good writing
• Numeracy (good with nos.)
• Analysis & Decision making

These skills are transferrable or teachable skills and the earlier the person is trained in the skills the better.  Governments all over the world are siezed with the problem and are taking steps to ensure that these form a part of school curriculum rather than being taught at a later stage, as is being done now.

what does really matter at  end of every day?

Asking this question ourselves certainly makes an impact. One question leads to another. This question leads us to “Are we better at what we do”?

At the end of the day, only the word “Work Satisfaction” does not matter. Everyone works to help oneself and not to help others.

There are lot many things that can matter and makes a day truly worthy. Live each day with a good purpose. Stay focused on the purpose and act accordingly. Good purpose can be “being true and honest to our self” or “being kind and friendly to all”.

If you haven’t done a good deed for the day, Say it to yourself  “I am guilty! Now I have to fix it”

Help need not be big. Offer help to pick or drop off your colleague running late or stuck at work late hours. Good deeds result in good results. Who knows what help is awaiting you from him down the road when you are in trouble. Result may not be instantaneous but there would be outcome. The partial becomes complete; the crooked gets straight; the empty gets full; the worn out becomes renewed. We will have life after life. We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds.

You should be able to sleep at the end of the day peacefully and that alone matters. You should not be weighed down by guilt, fear, anxiety or any other phobias that would give you sleepless nights. A peaceful night means you have been good that day and that day has been good for you.

Author
Vedicsoft
www.vedicsoft.com

1. Tell me about yourself.
Since this is often the opening question in an interview, be extracareful that you don’t run off at the mouth. Keep your answer to a minute or two at most. Cover four topics: early years, education, work history, and recent career experience. Emphasize this last subject. Remember that this is likely to be a warm-up question. Don’t waste your best points on it.

2. What do you know about our organization?
You should be able to discuss products or services, revenues, reputation, image, goals, problems, management style, people, history and philosophy. But don’t act as if you know everything about the place. Let your answer show that you have taken the time to do some research, but don’t overwhelm the interviewer, and make it clear that you wish to learn more.

You might start your answer in this manner: “In my job search, I’ve investigated a number of companies.

Yours is one of the few that interests me, for these reasons…”

Give your answer a positive tone. Don’t say, “Well, everyone tells me that you’re in all sorts of trouble, and that’s why I’m here”, even if that is why you’re there.

3. Why do you want to work for us?
The deadliest answer you can give is “Because I like people.” What else would you like-animals?

Here, and throughout the interview, a good answer comes from having done your homework so that you can speak in terms of the company’s needs. You might say that your research has shown that the company is doing things you would like to be involved with, and that it’s doing them in ways that greatly interest you. For example, if the organization is known for strong management, your answer should mention that fact and show that you would like to be a part of that team. If the company places a great deal of emphasis on research and development, emphasize the fact that you want to create new things and that you know this is a place in which such activity is encouraged. If the organization stresses financial controls, your answer should mention a reverence for numbers.

If you feel that you have to concoct an answer to this question – if, for example, the company stresses research, and you feel that you should mention it even though it really doesn’t interest you- then you probably should not be taking that interview, because you probably shouldn’t be considering a job with that organization.

Your homework should include learning enough about the company to avoid approaching places where you wouldn’t be able -or wouldn’t want- to function. Since most of us are poor liars, it’s difficult to con anyone in an interview. But even if you should succeed at it, your prize is a job you don’t really want.

4. What can you do for us that someone else can’t?
Here you have every right, and perhaps an obligation, to toot your own horn and be a bit egotistical. Talk about your record of getting things done, and mention specifics from your resume or list of career accomplishments. Say that your skills and interests, combined with this history of getting results, make you valuable. Mention your ability to set priorities, identify problems, and use your experience and energy to solve them.

5. What do you find most attractive about this position? What seems least attractive about it?

List three or four attractive factors of the job, and mention a single, minor, unattractive item.

6. Why should we hire you?

Create your answer by thinking in terms of your ability, your experience, and your energy. (See question 4.)

7. What do you look for in a job?

Keep your answer oriented to opportunities at this organization. Talk about your desire to perform and be recognized for your contributions. Make your answer oriented toward opportunity rather than personal security.

8. Please give me your defintion of [the position for which you are being interviewed].

Keep your answer brief and taskoriented. Think in in terms of responsibilities and accountability. Make sure that you really do understand what the position involves before you attempt an answer. If you are not certain. ask the interviewer; he or she may answer the question for you.

9. How long would it take you to make a meaningful contribution to our firm?

Be realistic. Say that, while you would expect to meet pressing demands and pull your own weight from the first day, it might take six months to a year before you could expect to know the organization and its needs well enough to make a major contribution.

10. How long would you stay with us?

Say that you are interested in a career with the organization, but admit that you would have to continue to feel challenged to remain with any organization. Think in terms of, “As long as we both feel achievement-oriented.”

11. Your resume suggests that you may be over-qualified or too experienced for this position. What’s Your opinion?

Emphasize your interest in establishing a long-term association with the organization, and say that you assume that if you perform well in his job, new opportunities will open up for you. Mention that a strong company needs a strong staff. Observe that experienced executives are always at a premium. Suggest that since you are so wellqualified, the employer will get a fast return on his investment. Say that a growing, energetic company can never have too much talent.

12. What is your management style?
You should know enough about the company’s style to know that your management style will complement it. Possible styles include: task oriented (I’ll enjoy problem-solving identifying what’s wrong, choosing a solution and implementing it”), results-oriented (”Every management decision I make is determined by how it will affect the bottom line”), or even paternalistic (”I’m committed to taking care of my subordinates and pointing them in the right direction”).

A participative style is currently quite popular: an open-door method of managing in which you get things done by motivating people and delegating responsibility.

As you consider this question, think about whether your style will let you work hatppily and effectively within the organization.

13. Are you a good manager? Can you give me some examples? Do you feel that you have top managerial potential?
Keep your answer achievementand ask-oriented. Rely on examples from your career to buttress your argument. Stress your experience and your energy.

14. What do you look for when You hire people?
Think in terms of skills. initiative, and the adaptability to be able to work comfortably and effectively with others. Mention that you like to hire people who appear capable of moving up in the organization.

15. Have you ever had to fire people? What were the reasons, and how did you handle the situation?
Admit that the situation was not easy, but say that it worked out well, both for the company and, you think, for the individual. Show that, like anyone else, you don’t enjoy unpleasant tasks but that you can resolve them efficiently and -in the case of firing someone- humanely.

16. What do you think is the most difficult thing about being a manager or executive?
Mention planning, execution, and cost-control. The most difficult task is to motivate and manage employess to get something planned and completed on time and within the budget.

17. What important trends do you see in our industry?
Be prepared with two or three trends that illustrate how well you understand your industry. You might consider technological challenges or opportunities, economic conditions, or even regulatory demands as you collect your thoughts about the direction in which your business is heading.

18. Why are you leaving (did you leave) your present (last) job?
Be brief, to the point, and as honest as you can without hurting yourself. Refer back to the planning phase of your job search. where you considered this topic as you set your reference statements. If you were laid off in an across-the-board cutback, say so; otherwise, indicate that the move was your decision, the result of your action. Do not mention personality conflicts.

The interviewer may spend some time probing you on this issue, particularly if it is clear that you were terminated. The “We agreed to disagree” approach may be useful. Remember hat your references are likely to be checked, so don’t concoct a story for an interview.

19. How do you feel about leaving all your benefits to find a new job?
Mention that you are concerned, naturally, but not panicked. You are willing to accept some risk to find the right job for yourself. Don’t suggest that security might interest you more than getting the job done successfully.

20. In your current (last) position, what features do (did) you like the most? The least?
Be careful and be positive. Describe more features that you liked than disliked. Don’t cite personality problems. If you make your last job sound terrible, an interviewer may wonder why you remained there until now.

21. What do you think of your boss?
Be as positive as you can. A potential boss is likely to wonder if you might talk about him in similar terms at some point in the future.

22. Why aren’t you earning more at your age?
Say that this is one reason that you are conducting this job search. Don’t be defensive.

23. What do you feel this position should pay?
Salary is a delicate topic. We suggest that you defer tying yourself to a precise figure for as long as you can do so politely. You might say, “I understand that the range for this job is between $______ and $______. That seems appropriate for the job as I understand it.” You might answer the question with a question: “Perhaps you can help me on this one. Can you tell me if there is a range for similar jobs in the organization?”

If you are asked the question during an initial screening interview, you might say that you feel you need to know more about the position’s responsibilities before you could give a meaningful answer to that question. Here, too, either by asking the interviewer or search executive (if one is involved), or in research done as part of your homework, you can try to find out whether there is a salary grade attached to the job. If there is, and if you can live with it, say that the range seems right to you.

If the interviewer continues to probe, you might say, “You know that I’m making $______ now. Like everyone else, I’d like to improve on that figure, but my major interest is with the job itself.” Remember that the act of taking a new job does not, in and of itself, make you worth more money.

If a search firm is involved, your contact there may be able to help with the salary question. He or she may even be able to run interference for you. If, for instance, he tells you what the position pays, and you tell him that you are earning that amount now and would Like to do a bit better, he might go back to the employer and propose that you be offered an additional 10%.

If no price range is attached to the job, and the interviewer continues to press the subject, then you will have to restpond with a number. You cannot leave the impression that it does not really matter, that you’ll accept whatever is offered. If you’ve been making $80,000 a year, you can’t say that a $35,000 figure would be fine without sounding as if you’ve given up on yourself. (If you are making a radical career change, however, this kind of disparity may be more reasonable and understandable.)

Don’t sell yourself short, but continue to stress the fact that the job itself is the most important thing in your mind. The interviewer may be trying to determine just how much you want the job. Don’t leave the impression that money is the only thing that is important to you. Link questions of salary to the work itself.

But whenever possible, say as little as you can about salary until you reach the “final” stage of the interview process. At that point, you know that the company is genuinely interested in you and that it is likely to be flexible in salary negotiations.

24. What are your long-range goals?
Refer back to the planning phase of your job search. Don’t answer, “I want the job you’ve advertised.” Relate your goals to the company you are interviewing: ‘in a firm like yours, I would like to…”

25. How successful do you you’ve been so far?
Say that, all-in-all, you’re happy with the way your career has progressed so far. Given the normal ups and downs of life, you feel that you’ve done quite well and have no complaints.

Present a positive and confident picture of yourself, but don’t overstate your case. An answer like, “Everything’s wonderful! I can’t think of a time when things were going better! I’m overjoyed!” is likely to make an interviewer wonder whether you’re trying to fool him . . . or yourself. The most convincing confidence is usually quiet confidence.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a form of business process outsourcing (BPO) when an employer outsources or transfers all or part of the staffing process to an external service provider.

A true or total RPO solution involves the outsourcing of the entire recruiting function or process to an external service provider. This provider serves to provide the necessary skills, tools, technologies, and activities to serve as their client’s virtual “recruiting department”. This definition differs from occasional recruiting support often provided by many temporary, contingency, and executive search firms. While these organizations do provide an invaluable service, they do not qualify as RPO as it does not involve the outsourcing of the recruiting process.

History
While many temporary, contingency, and executive search firms have provided a form of RPO for many decades, the concept of an employer outsourcing the entire recruiting process wasn’t truly realized until the mid-to-late 1990s when the dot-com boom resulted in significant talent shortages. Many companies lacked the internal expertise and resources to acquire the talent needed to remain competitive.

In addition, the generation arriving to the labor force in the 1990s began bringing a shift in career pathing. Rapidly changing markets and industries now forced people to consider shifting employers when beneficial to them as opposed to staying with the same company over the course of their career. This combined with the arrival of Internet technologies and job boards, such as Monster.com, CareerBuilder, and HotJobs resulted in greater attrition and heightened competition for talent.

While RPO was first coined as a term in the late 1990s, several companies now claim to provide RPO services. HRO Today, a trade magazine specializing in human resources outsourcing, credited Recruitment Enhancement Services (RES) as the inventor of recruitment process outsourcing. RES began offering candidate sourcing, screening, and coordination services as early as 1983. More recently, in 2004, HRO Today credited RPO provider Hyrian with “Bringing a new acronym (RPO) to the HRO dictionary” and “Reinforcing that RPO is a rising trend”.

Purpose / Benefits
Often the goal of starting an RPO solution is to achieve improvement in four areas: quality, cost, service, and speed.

RPO providers utilize their inherent economies of scale along with heightened levels of recruiting expertise that is expected within a company that does nothing but recruiting. For example, some multi-national companies may have over 1,000 positions requiring different skill-sets and expertise. Staffing an in-house recruiting population that possesses the sourcing skills needed to recruit for all those different skill-sets is extremely challenging. However, an RPO provider will typically have a large staff of recruiters, an extensive database of candidate resumes, and the established tools and networks needed to source for all types of positions.

Costs can be reduced because an RPO provider typically provides greater recruiting efficiencies with best practice processes and improved sourcing techniques. In addition, RPO solutions typically allow for greater fluctuation in volumes and do not require dedicated staff to support a department when volumes are low. For example, if a company hires 10 recruiters to handle their peak requisition volumes, then the company will have to either lay-off recruiters during the slower periods or will be forced to compensate under-utilized recruiters. With RPO, the external provider can often shift underutilized resources to other clients where volumes are higher, thus saving the original client the cost of those resources.

Potential Consequences/Problems
Outsourcing of any company process can be a challenging change management experience. Failing to properly ascertain the impact of RPO will result in reduced hire success, decreased quality of hire, and higher costs.

Furthermore, not all employers are well-suited to RPO. An RPO solution will not work under a broken or failing process. The employer must be willing to recognize that the RPO provider has success because of a proven business model and process. Hiring managers within an employer must be required to observe new procedural controls and process in order to achieve optimal delivery of RPO services.

If an organization has difficulty hiring quality hires due to an extremely negative perception of the employer, an RPO program will not correct this. This will instead require improved branding and an adjustment of that image before RPO will begin to be successful.

On the other hand, a company with a well observed hiring process and that is widely considered to be an employer-of-choice, may only receive negligible benefits from an RPO solution. Such a company may not be well-suited for an RPO solution either as it would not bring a positive return on investment.

Finally, the proper control or governance of a well run solution may be difficult for some employers to adjust to. While the responsibility for results and success will often still reside with the employer’s HR Vice President or Director of Staffing, the responsibility for execution will reside with the RPO provider. This often amounts to a switch for the employer’s executive from the role of player to coach. This adjustment, while critical, may not fit with the personality or skill set of the executive and/or the culture of the employer implementing the RPO solution.
for more visit rpo.vedicsoft.com

Sometimes the biggest lessons in life come from the smallest folks around us.
All of us tend to look up to big people for lessons on how to get better. We are keen to learn the secrets of their success. But we forget that sometimes the biggest lessons in life come from the smallest folks around us. Now that’s a good lesson to remember!
Take ants for instance. Would you believe those small creatures can teach us how to live a better life? Jim Rohn – the great motivational guru – developed what he called the ‘Ants Philosophy’.

He identified four key lessons from the behaviour of ants that can help us lead better lives. Jim Rohn is no more – but his messages continue to inspire. Here then, are the four lessons from Rohn’s ‘Ants Philosophy’.

1. Ants never quit. Have you noticed how ants always look for a way around an obstacle? Put your finger in an ant’s path and it will try and go around it, or over it. It will keep looking for a way out. It won’t just stand there and stare. It won’t give up and go back.

We should all learn to be like that. There will always be obstacles in our lives. The challenge is to keep trying, keep looking for alternative routes to get to our goals. Winston Churchill probably paraphrased the ant’s mindset when he offered this priceless advice: “Never give up. Never, never give up!”

2. Ants think winter all summer. Remember the old story of the ant and the grasshopper? In the middle of summer, the ant was busy gathering food for the winter ahead – while the grasshopper was out having a good time. Ants know that summer – the good times – won’t last forever. Winters will come. That’s a good lesson to remember. When the going is good, don’t be so arrogant as to believe that a crisis or a setback cannot happen to you. Be good to other people. Save for a rainy day. Look ahead. And remember, good times may not last, but good people do.

3. Ants think summer all winter. As they suffer through the unbearable cold of the winter, ants keep reminding themselves that it won’t last forever, and that summer will soon be here. And with the first rays of the summer sun, the ants come out – ready to work, ready to play. When we are down and seemingly out, when we go through what looks like a never-ending crisis, it’s good to remind ourselves that this too shall pass. Good times will come. It’s important to retain a positive attitude, an attitude that says things will get better. As the old saying goes, tough times don’t last. Tough people do.

4. Ants do all they possibly can. How much food does an ant gather in summer? All that it possibly can! Now that’s a great work ethic to have. Do all you can! One ant doesn’t worry about how much food another ant is collecting. It does not sit back and wonder why it should have to work so hard. Nor does it complain about the poor pay! Ants just do their bit. They gather all the food they can. Success and happiness are usually the result of giving 100% – doing all you possibly can. If you look around you, you’ll find that successful people are those who just do all they possibly can.

Follow the four simple steps of Jim Rohn’s ‘Ant Philosophy’ – and you’ll see the difference. Don’t quit. Look ahead. Stay positive. And do all you can.
And there’s just one more lesson to learn from ants. Did you know that an ant can carry objects up to 20 times their own weight? Maybe we are like that too. We can carry burdens on our shoulders and manage workloads that are far, far heavier than we’d imagine. Next time something’s bothering you and weighing you down, and you feel you just can’t carry on, don’t fret. Think of the little ant. And remember, you too can carry a lot more on your shoulders!

Being smart, even being good at your job, is no guarantee of success. So what’s the key ingredient?

In my experience—primarily working with and training finance professionals—attitude is more important than aptitude.

Getty Images
Sure, you’re smart. But do people like working with you?

Don’t get me wrong. Intelligence is important. Financial institutions often target recruiting efforts for new professionals at “core schools” where they feel assured of the quality of the education and student body. Most job candidates from these schools will have the skills to perform on the job, especially at entry-level positions. (Full disclosure: Having Princeton on my resume has definitely helped open doors.) Another way of standing out on the aptitude scale is by being the top candidate from any school.

But what do you do when the door is opened? One senior banker addressing a new hire analyst class said, “We know you’re all smart. We wouldn’t interview you if we didn’t think you had the brains to succeed. But what do you do with this job opportunity? Do you have the attitude and the stamina to impress your bosses? This isn’t rocket science. Do you have the will and determination to succeed? Do people like working with you? Do they respect you? Do you have leadership potential?”

Attitude is about executing reliably and taking responsibility for seeing a project all the way through, even if there are bumps in the road, all while meeting the needs of coworkers and clients. A positive, “can do” work style often translates into better mentoring by your bosses (they give you more advice because you actually take it), better projects to work on (everyone knows they can count on you), and more recognition of your successes (you made everyone look good, so they return the favor).

Another senior executive shared his early experiences in finance with a new-hire group: “While I’m a bright guy, I wasn’t the smartest in my training class, but I was the hungriest and always went the extra mile. The guy who was ranked No. 1 out of training quit after a year; here I am nearly 15 years later, the head of a business group.”

This holds true through many other industries, as well, where getting things done and getting along do much more to increase a company’s bottom line than being the smartest. That’s why aptitude will always get you in the door but attitude is what will get you to the corner office.

VRecruit4U is an award-winning recruiting processing outsourcing methodology that solely focuses on entire paraphernalia of HR functions. Our unique technologies and processes supplement your current human capital efforts by offering contract, contract-to-hire and contingent recruiting functions nationwide. Our outsourcing programs are tailor-made to suit your recruiting needs. Hiring the right candidates is core to your business. for more visit rpo.vedicsoft.com

Sometimes the biggest lessons in life come from the smallest folks around us. All of us tend to look up to big people for lessons on how to get better. We are keen to learn the secrets of their success. But we forget that sometimes the biggest lessons in life come from the smallest folks around us. Now that’s a good lesson to remember!
Take ants for instance. Would you believe those small creatures can teach us how to live a better life? Jim Rohn – the great motivational guru – developed what he called the ‘Ants Philosophy’.
He identified four key lessons from the behavior of ants that can help us lead better lives. Jim Rohn is no more – but his messages continue to inspire. Here then, are the four lessons from Rohn’s ‘Ants Philosophy’.

1. Ants never quit. Have you noticed how ants always look for a way around an obstacle? Put your finger in an ant’s path and it will try and go around it, or over it. It will keep looking for a way out. It won’t just stand there and stare. It won’t give up and go back.
We should all learn to be like that. There will always be obstacles in our lives. The challenge is to keep trying, keep looking for alternative routes to get to our goals. Winston Churchill probably paraphrased the ant’s mindset when he offered this priceless advice: “Never give up. Never, never give up!”

2. Ants think winter all summer. Remember the old story of the ant and the grasshopper? In the middle of summer, the ant was busy gathering food for the winter ahead – while the grasshopper was out having a good time. Ants know that summer – the good times – won’t last forever. Winters will come. That’s a good lesson to remember. When the going is good, don’t be so arrogant as to believe that a crisis or a setback cannot happen to you. Be good to other people. Save for a rainy day. Look ahead. And remember, good times may not last, but good people do.

3. Ants think summer all winter. As they suffer through the unbearable cold of the winter, ants keep reminding themselves that it won’t last forever, and that summer will soon be here. And with the first rays of the summer sun, the ants come out – ready to work, ready to play. When we are down and seemingly out, when we go through what looks like a never-ending crisis, it’s good to remind ourselves that this too shall pass. Good times will come. It’s important to retain a positive attitude, an attitude that says things will get better. As the old saying goes, tough times don’t last. Tough people do.

4. Ants do all they possibly can. How much food does an ant gather in summer? All that it possibly can! Now that’s a great work ethic to have. Do all you can! One ant doesn’t worry about how much food another ant is collecting. It does not sit back and wonder why it should have to work so hard. Nor does it complain about the poor pay! Ants just do their bit. They gather all the food they can. Success and happiness are usually the result of giving 100% – doing all you possibly can. If you look around you, you’ll find that successful people are those who just do all they possibly can.
Follow the four simple steps of Jim Rohn’s ‘Ant Philosophy’ – and you’ll see the difference. Don’t quit. Look ahead. Stay positive. And do all you can.
And there’s just one more lesson to learn from ants. Did you know that an ant can carry objects up to 20 times their own weight? Maybe we are like that too. We can carry burdens on our shoulders and manage workloads that are far, far heavier than we’d imagine. Next time something’s bothering you and weighing you down, and you feel you just can’t carry on, don’t fret. Think of the little ant. And remember, you too can carry a lot more on your shoulders!

Author
Vedicsoft
www.vedicsoft.com

During the recent conversation with a start-up firm on Marketing Strategies and best practices for customer centric Business, the question that drove me blog this post was “How can Social Media benefit my Business”?

Social Media is a buzzword that is tossed around a lot these days.But what exactly is Social Media? Social Media is a new media or platform on communication. Social Media is a conversational marketing channel which doesn’t just give you information, but interacts with you while giving you that information. Social media is a two way communication channel which is a door opener of opportunities and measureable results that can be extremely beneficial to companies of all sizes.

Social Media is another tool or an instrument to trade your products and services which produces meaningful results when it is done right.

Benefits of Social Media

• Seeds in an opportunity to listen what others are saying about your brand and Company.
• Social Media helps you promote your brands and services online with deeper impact.
• Social Media promotes personalization of your business
• Gives your Business new ways to market products and services, be it exclusive offers, new feature releases or business specific promotions.
• Social Media provides potential opportunities for word-of-mouth and public relations strategies.
• Helps you re-invent and re-engage with your prospects, customers and prospective evaluators.
• Helps your Business to cultivate and activate Brand Enthusiasts
• Social Media connects you with your buyers before and after the sale.

Over last few years Social Networking sites like FaceBook, Twiiter, LinkedIn, and YouTube have emerged and are nourished by user communities. If you have a customer centric business model and most importantly time to invest then include Social Media in your Marketing Strategy to harness the benefits of Social Networking to your ecosystem.

Social Media Optimization or search media marketing optimization has been developed as an important blend for search engine marketing and optimization. Social Media Optimization, refining the practice of optimizing a website so that it means accountability and materials are just users and website visitors through social mediums and online communities through the spread.

You need power all the links and marketing value you can get from social and professional networks. In general business is finally beginning to understand the power of social media. , And big brands continue their marketing plan and implementation as part of the adoption of social media optimization will start.
No way substitute social search in search engines as we know them today can, but the growth rate for the main search engines of course social networks, podcasts and specialized equipment such conditions will be affected by the growing number of media channels and tagging, regular blogs and other social media, social bookmarking sites, personalized search, video blogs.

SEO is mainly technical roots and become more of a creative discipline is out. There always will solve the technical issues, since Web sites and servers technical points. This creative and multiple “pull” marketing that are defining the future of search engine optimization are channel aspects.for more visit blog.vedicsoft.com

Recruiting is all about finding the right candidate for the right position at the right time. Right candidates are like a moving target. You wink for a brief moment of time; you have to start your search all over again. Right positions are no different. You can’t tell your client that it is too late in the evening to work on a position. If you can’t get right into action the sooner the position gets open, your competitors get ahead of you. Worse, your own client becomes either direct competition by spreading the word internally or an indirect competition by reaching out to your competitors.

A successful recruiting company builds a robust process that produces consistent results irrespective of market conditions. They achieve this by building a highly competitive recruiting team and rewarding them with top-of-the-line incentives. You can’t make a recruiter recruit for you. A recruiter has to have it in her. Top-gun recruiters have the unfathomable passion to fill in any position, the will of a leading sportsman to beat own record and courage to think out of box.

In good times, there is so much demand and so little a supply, yet you have to hire the best available in the market and reengineer them if required to suit the positions. Clients ease the restrictions by being flexible to hire less qualified candidates for the project deadlines they have to meet. It is like a rising wave. In good times, everyone sails well and recruiting companies do good by and large.

In the bad times like recession where there is little demand and plenty of supply, time is of sole essence. Be ahead of your competition to beat the bust, else you get busted. You can’t plan in the middle of a crisis. Experience counts, so does planning in advance. Bad times are the true testing period for great recruiting companies to stand out among the rest.

Vedicsoft is one of the few successful companies that has transformed from being a good recruiting company to great recruiting company over the past decade. This is no simple feat to achieve especially when they have leveraged the cost effective outsourcing model to the fullest. They have weathered the storms of 2001 bust with sheer focus and determination. Staying on course is the primary key to recruiting success. They mastered this simple art to greater results. Vedicsoft has built a word-of-mouth recruiting model that works. The current recession is bigger challenge to even great companies. Vedicsoft seems to have in it what it takes to ride the wave and stay on course.

Vedicsoft is not a pure play recruiting company. They specialize in IT solutions. In fact Vedicsoft is well known for providing turn-key business solutions in Business Intelligence and ERP segments. Go to www.vedicsoft.com to learn more about them.

FindMeOn.com – Link all of your networks together and verify your identity so people know it’s your profile.

FreeYourID.com – Uses .name address to sign you up for sites.

Garlik.com – Searches the web looking for mentions of you that might involve identity theft.

MyOpenID.com – Use one username to verify your log in on sites that use OpenID – great for sites where you might otherwise have multiple log ins.

Spyshakers.com – Identity Management System that allows users to access their websites and passwords remotley.

TypeKey.com – Another provider of the OpenID standard.

WordPress.com – Sign up for a free account and use as OpenID

Naymz.com – Sign-up and invite your invite people to write reviews about you and your work.

Rapleaf.com – Look up your reputation, rate others, and they will be invited to rate you in return.

RepVine – Reference and reputation management combined.

ReputationDefender.com – A service that attempts to help you get things being said online about you removed

TrustPl.us – An online reputation service that ranks based on trust scores.

Comwat.com – Put your online identities in one place to make it easier to show and find profiles

onXiam.com – This site lets you link all your online identities into one account making it easier for people to find you across the Internet.

ProfileBuilder.com – Very function heavy profile builder that shows off the parts of your profiles you select.

ProfileMat.com – Pull all you profiles together and allow commenting on your profile mat page.

SimplifID.com – One ID for all your online profiles

SocialURL.com – Simple URL to show all your profiles

Venyo.org – Lets you add all of your online activities, including blogs and comments to one page.

Zoolit.com – A landing page to show all your social networks

Quite often we overlook and forget the basics that are so very fundamental to content writing for the web. It does not matter how good your writing skills are or how persuasive your words are. If your website cannot be found on the internet, the content which you have written will remain unread. What many people forget is that writing for a website is different from writing for any other medium. When it comes to website writing, there are a few things that you should consider in order to maximize the potential of the content written by you. Given below are a few search engine optimization secrets that will help in maximizing your potential.

One of the search engine optimization secrets is to understand what the reader is looking for. It is this ability to think like your potential reader that will determine the flow of traffic to your website. You will have to be specific with the content you develop for your website. For instance if your site is using a keyword “garments” and you sell only with women’s garments then you will have quite a lot of people getting off your website pretty quickly. They may in fact be looking for information on a wide range of garments ranging from children’s garments to men’s garments to fashion garments or they may be looking for information on the various garment manufacturers.

One of the other search engine optimization secrets includes the use of relevant keywords. This is because people have become more specific with the terms of their search. Quite often they may use long tail keywords which can translate into a buying process. It may signal the customer’s willingness to buy a product that you are selling. Finally, ensuring the use of proper grammar is another search engine optimization secret that is so very important to writing good content for your website.

Business intelligence (BI) refers to computer-based techniques used in spotting, digging-out, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments or associated costs and incomes.

BI technologies provide historical, current, and predictive views of business operations. Common functions of business intelligence technologies are reporting, online analytical processing, analytics, data mining, business performance management, benchmarking, text mining, and predictive analytics.

Business intelligence aims to support better business decision-making. Thus a BI system can be called a decision support system (DSS).Though the term business intelligence is often used as a synonym for competitive intelligence, because they both support decision making, BI uses technologies, processes, and applications to analyze mostly internal, structured data and business processes while competitive intelligence is done by gathering, analyzing and disseminating information with or without support from technology and applications, and focuses on all-source information and data (unstructured or structured), mostly external, but also internal to a company, to support decision making

History:

In a 1958 article, IBM researcher Hans Peter Luhn used the term business intelligence. He defined intelligence as: “the ability to apprehend the interrelationships of presented facts in such a way as to guide action towards a desired goal.”

In 1989 Howard Dresner (later a Gartner Group analyst) proposed BI as an umbrella term to describe “concepts and methods to improve business decision making by using fact-based support systems.” It was not until the late 1990s that this usage was widespread

What Does a World-Class BI Program Look Like?

I was asked this question last week at an internal meeting for the BI teams of a large Nordic telecom company, who had invited me to do a presentation on BI trends. Here’s my answer:“
It’s one where that successfully changesthe information CULTURE of the organization”

Business intelligence is about business and people, not information and technology. Information is useless unless you actually change something in the way your organization does business. And technology is useless unless it actually gets to the people who should be using it.

A truly successful BI program is one that not only provides value to the business with every project, but also inspires the company as a whole to push to the next level of information use.

I regularly present on the topic of best-practice BI, with topics like “Why BI Projects Fail and What to Do About It”, where I go through a long list of the BI problems I’ve seen repeatedly over the last two decades. In this post, I’ve extracted the top five that I think make the biggest difference in the long run:

1. Focus on Changing the Business

If you’re in charge of BI, your job is not providing a technical infrastructure, nor information, nor keeping internal customers happy – it’s using information to improving the way the company works.

BI projects aren’t delivered when you have built the data warehouse and started providing the reports to the business people – that’s just the start of the real project of changing the business.

Yes, of course the business people think that’s their job, but it’s the mindset that is important. Focusing on the end goal – even though you are not directly responsible for it – leads to the types of behavior that correlate to BI success:

It helps you ask why people want information, and what they’re going to do when they get it – which in turn helps focus business people who may only have a vague idea of what they’re really trying to do, and what is possible
It helps you learn and understand your company’s business
It helps you prioritize projects, make the right tradeoffs, and dedicate resources more intelligently
It helps you explain the value of your projects in business benefits, not just cost or productivity savings
As an example: somebody comes to you with a strong business need for better data, but the only way to achieve it is through manual information gathering and spreadsheets, and it doesn’t have anything to do with your existing DW or BI infrastructure. Is it still part of your business? Yes! (note this doesn’t mean that your team necessarily does the work).

You should be THE go-to person in the company that best understands both the business information needs and what’s feasible. You should be a clearing-house for best-practice “better run business through better information”, using whatever means are necessary.

2. Focus on People
The figures to the left came from a old IBM survey about IT in general, but ring especially true for business intelligence projects. We spend over 90% of our time on data and technology, while 75% of project success or failure depends on people, process, organization, culture, and leadership.

BI is a crucial interface between the tens of millions of dollars invested in your information systems over the years, and the people who are in a position to unleash some of the value in that investment.

Ultimately, BI projects never fail because of technology alone. Things go wrong all the time, of course, but it’s only if non-technology factors like leadership and expectation setting have been neglected that a BI project truly fails.

There are myriad signs that indicate underinvestment in people: the intended audience is disappointed with the solution(and IT replies “but that’s exactly what you asked us for!”); user adoption is systematically under-funded, with little ongoing training; executives don’t understand “why it all seems so hard – I just want these numbers!”; business teams end up downloading information into Excel because that’s what they’re used to; etc. etc.

If 75% of success is about people, why aren’t we spending 75% of our time on it? If your job is world-class BI, you should be spending a lot more time listening, explaining, evangelizing, and leading than you do “implementing”.

3. Provide Some Simple Data Access for Everyone
You must, of course, focus on the BI projects that provide the most value to your organization. B, but there’s one thing we have to learn from the consumer world: the most effective way to build demand for your product or service is to provide something that’s “too simple”, and then create a community around it.

For example, the iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player, it wasn’t the most advanced, and it certainly wasn’t the cheapest – but it was the simplest to use. And that’s why it’s the first MP3 player that most people ever heard of.

We design our BI implementations for our power users, and implement what they want – typically lots of complex data and “features”. Apple designed something for everybody, but keeping the number of features deliberately, even artificially low.

I’m convinced that Apple employed somebody whose job it was to say “no”: “Can we add some more buttons?” “No!” “Can we add search?” “No!” “Custom playlists?” “No!”.

Once the iPod was a success, more features were slowly added, and it’s a formula that Apple has repeated with newer devices like the iPhone and iPad – launching with fewer features than the competitors and aiming for volume first, and then extending.

The Web 2.0 world has followed a similar model: Facebook and Twitter did one simple thing well first, then built a community, then provided more features. Even video games follow this model. They start out easy: level one is about understanding the basic controls, and then you slowly build up skills level by level.

How does this apply to business intelligence? You should aim to roll out some simple analytic information to everybody in your organization – such as travel and expenses, or breakdown of mobile phone bills, or budget spending, or time management. And it should be incredibly simple to use – basic reports, with every fancy option turned off, and with no extra logon required.

Once you’ve done this (and promoted it widely), you’ll find that people soon come and ask for more information, other types of information, and more features. People get used to having information, their expectations get higher, and you’ve started changing the information culture from the bottom up.

Unlike rolling out BI to power users, widespread information to everyone sets up a long-term virtuous spiral of people accessing, using, and demanding information.

4. Tell Stories
Obviously, people need to believe in the benefits of BI if you stand a chance of changing the culture of the organization.

It’s notoriously hard to predict the return on investment on business intelligence projects, because “you don’t know what you don’t know”: having better information reveals new areas for improvement.

As a study by IDC showed, the majority of BI benefits are typically in “business process enhancements” which can be very hard to determine in advance.

By following #1 above, you’ll have a better idea of what the business benefits of your project really are, and be able to take credit for them (Sadly, if a Marketing VP, say, improves campaign performance thanks to improved business intelligence, they don’t often include a big ‘thank you’ to the IT organization when they tout their performance to the board)

But this can only take you so far. For all the insistence on “hard numbers,” executives – like the rest of us – are surprisingly anecdote-driven. Just as charities know that focusing on the plight of one child is more effective than a series of statistics, you need to be able to tell the stories behind the numbers. You need to collect real-life examples of how your projects have helped individuals in the organization transform the way you do business.

Here’s the crucial test: if you suddenly find yourself in the elevator with the CEO of your organization, do you have a compelling, 30 second story to tell about how somebody spotted something in the data (a risk, an opportunity, a problem), and was able to act on it? If you don’t, start researching how people are using the data you’re providing. I guarantee you’ll find a great story (and if you don’t, then you really need to rethink the foundations of your BI initiative).

5. Stick With It

With twenty years of experience to draw on, it’s not that the industry as a whole doesn’t know what best-practice BI looks like. But it can be very hard to put into practice.

BI remains a stubbornly complex, hard-to-simplify technological and business problem. It takes time, the environment is ever-changing, and there are no real silver bullets or shortcuts. Every successful project I’ve seen was the result of professionals doing the right incremental things day after day.

You have to roll with the punches and stay pragmatic. It’s not about having a perfect data architecture (nobody will ever achieve this). It’s about making endless iterative improvements, making the right painful tradeoffs, and picking yourself up after every business complaint.

If it helps, you should realize that while you only ever hear about the problems, business people do appreciate the power of the information that you’re providing. For example:

According to a CIO magazine review, business executives are actually more likely than CIOs to believe in the importance of technology to the business(they just aren’t that sure that the CIO is qualified/able to deliver)
Cindi Howson’s book on Successful Business Intelligence includes a survey that showed that 92% of business people said that BI had contributed somewhat or significantly to company performance (which was higher than the number of IT people that considered their BI projects to be moderately or very successful).
Ultimately, the best way to change the information culture of the organization is to lead by example, and being a tireless advocate for better run businesses. Good luck!

Microsoft has rung billion sales in 2009 in Sharepoint licensing fees. They want to double their sales with Microsoft Office Sharepoint Services 2010. What started as an enhancement to minor application to an enterprise platform of servers is going to impact the businesses

Many a times, enterprises migrate to Sharepoint because of its power in structuring the organizational data. It enables cloud computing so all users can access user-specific data from anywhere in the globe without VPN access. Because Sharepoint is compatible with Web 2.0 feature wherein it makes corporate content portals bidirectional. Sharepoint has powerful workflow system wherein at the completion of each event next event gets triggered. Sharepoint comes with powerful search feature. It also plugs directly into infopath forms and excel applications at ease.

Sharepoint has built-in KPI reporting and graphical visualization that enables the user to have a dashboard Sharepoint gives secured and single point of view and management of the organizational data on cloud.

New technologies evolve every few years. New technologies need consultants to implement those technologies at the enterprises. With the cloud, enterprise content management sites like SharePoint and virtualization servers like VMWare make a killer combination for consulting opportunities. If you are a visual basic developer or a windows administrator, educate yourself with Sharepoint and VMWare and you wouldn’t regret the consulting revenues you could pocket in.

If you are a big fan of Microsoft, starting from Windows 7, Office 2010, Outlook 2010 to MOSS 2010 to a new cloud in Azure, get ready for the excitement that never ends.

Businesses are very selective in approving new IT projects, esp. in the down time. Business sponsors are constantly re-evaluating the need to continue some of the existing IT projects based on ROI.The bar is constantly raised for the players at all the levels of hierarchy to cut the cost and increase the profitability to compensate the drop in sales.

If you are an IT consultant, find ways to add value to the project and overall business. Deliver your best consistently. It makes your boss look good in front of her higher-ups. If you save her, she will return the favor when time comes for project extension. Invite work. Loads of it. You are always in race with colleagues. If you are an underdog, learn from them. Outreach them slowly but steadily. Be active and visible in meetings. Listen first, think twice, and then talk with confidence. Read the rest of this entry »

Human beings, to the best of our knowledge, are the only form of life with the capacity and the ability to stand off and examine our own thoughts. Thought Process is not solely about the activity of “Thinking”.When we think about a problem, our emotions and imaginations come into play and they contribute to and influence the intellectual thought process. But with the conscious and unconscious minds interacting with each other, imagination, emotion and thinking  actually operate simultaneously. To demonstrate this, let us consider the following scenario. Recall that you probably told  your concept about “how to build a social networking site” to your project manager. The consciousness and the imagination which made us to think about the concept and the emotion that led us to explain the concept. All these modes collectively end in processing our own thoughts. Read the rest of this entry »

Opportunity does not knock our door, we do.

Its a well known fact that successful people take every experience as an opportunity. Perceive every conversation with the idea that something good will come out of it.At the same time, know what we seek out and expect from the opportunity. Consider that the approach is not an accident and everything that shows up in our life is there for a reason. Any consequence will eventually lead to good results. Consequences are there to move us towards the ultimate destiny. Gradually we will begin to see through every event no matter how difficult it is. We see the challenge as a chance for enrichment and advantage of our life. When we approach every single encounter as an opportunity, the results will be wonderful. Without exploring opportunities no one can reach the highest levels of their field. Read the rest of this entry »

State of Mind is a term which has synonyms “mood” or “outlook”. In the most simple terms the way we think and act, the way we view the world around us and how we react to certain scenarios.

The way we see ourselves has a direct impact on the way others perceive us. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success. The fact is that your behavior follows your thoughts. Whether it is currently true or not, you must believe in something first, before you are able obtain it. Read the rest of this entry »

If we have already set a goal and things going harder day by day,what should we do?

when we confront an obstacle or run into a road block, we just need to stop and brainstorm a way to get around.For every obstacle, there are many number of strategies that work but we will find them only if we spend time looking for them. I feel “Hang in there, where you are” is one such strategy. Read the rest of this entry »

“Are we better at what we do than we were a month or two ago?”

We should all ask ourselves this question from time to time. It’s good to get the reminder!.

Most students don’t know how to set goals for themselves.To divide a long-term into short,all short term goals collectively helps us achieving the long term goals.Short term goals can be anything for that matter.Goals are basically a plan to accomplish what we thought.Without goals, we would never get ourselves better!

Always believe that “Let’s take up the responsibility” and “accept the challenges” . As I am sure We can find so many other possibilities for being productive and get better at what we do!

One of the best ways to get better at what we do is to learn from other people .For instance if you find any good quality in others,immediately inherit that quality and ensure that we add that with all the good qualities that we have.

Working at the place where there is mutual exchange of knowledge among the employees .(It really helps us a lot!)Continuous learning should be part of our daily routine!(Zeal to learn the new things related to our career).

Each time we grow better,we should ensure that our environment gets better too.