Don't you want your technology to innovate your business?

I just read a great blog article written by Brain Sommer for Enterprise Irregulars, the title is "HR & Innovation" http://www.enterpriseirregulars.com/51938/hr-innovation/.

Contained herein is a great infographic he obtained from the consulting firm of Baker Tilly.  It shows their historical campus recruiting process using their ATS and ERP as centerpieces for data collection and process control.   Then, it shows the NEW way that redefines the process flow and reduces the dependence on core systems to accommodate social media and new technology tools to effect a more dynamic process flow.  Check these graphics out and note the stark differences that has developed over the last two years.

Taking the technology and innovation theme a bit further...

When speaking to line of business stakeholders who are searching for new systems, tools and technology, it is rare to find the 'innovators'; the ones who are looking to change out the way they do things, to re-invent processes, and to use a technology to achieve a strategic advantage in what they do.

It is rare, at least in my dealings, to find stakeholders and decision makers who will have already defined their current state process flow as well as their desired state process flow.  Most simply know that they need to do things better or want to have a system that will be competitive to their competitors.  Looking ahead and mapping out the process flow changes, advantages and gains in efficiency is most often left to a post-purchase task force and not used as a tool to guide the purchase.

It is also rare for the stakeholders to see beyond the impact that the new technology will have to their own department.  In most cases, a new technology system will impact the organization across many elements, processes and silos.  This is where a vendor can have a more profound impact if they can uncover other strategic advantages to other departments within the organization.  Thus, the business case becomes all the more pertinent and the potential 'returns' become all the more relevant. 

As good salespeople, this is our job, but maybe that's why there are so many consultants around!

Regards,
Jamie

Your CFO says that revenues are up, need to hire more, but...hold on

Best practices on how to connect with C-Level Execs

Interesting article I came across, it was written as a collaborative effort by an Executive Council focused on CIO's, but really, the same principles apply to anyone sitting in the C-Suite.

The survey drew results from over 250 executives across the US. Here is the advice they had to help them minimize the clutter and provide more relevant interactions:

- research your call lists to determine that you are even calling the right person. Too often vm's and emails are directed at the wrong executives, wasting their time and more importantly, your efforts. Cross reference one source agst the other to verify.
- don't script or broadcast your messages across the dial. Select topics of interest and provide relevant links in your emails to allow for further information gathering or education. Use your technology tracking tools to gauge the recipient's interest in what you have sent, then follow up where appropriate.
- your prospect is not sitting around waiting for a cold call...do research on the company, the person, their business, then call with a specific value proposition based upon something that connects you with them (check the blogs, analysts reports, CEO presentations).
-match the prospect's expected need with that company's size, vision, budget, timeframe, business cycle, mid-market or enterprise, etc. Don't even make an offer to the C-suite that seems unreasonable, unrealistic or improbable for them to consider purchasing today or ever.
- key talking points, if you do get through, are the total cost of ownership (TCO), the ability to execute, the ROI of the project/solution.
- be cognizant of getting trapped in spam filters, everyone uses them, everyone has different rules, and most people don't ever check the stuff that gets caught. So, even if you do everything right, relying on one modality may not get your message through even if the Exec wants it.
- learn to work with the EA's (executive assistants), yes, those gatekeepers. Many execs rely upon them to execute, manage their calendars, screen calls, listen for the buzz words, make connections. Sometimes they can be your best friend or your...

Remember, executives are buyers and fierce recommend-ers, who do need to acquire knowledge and be educated just like anyone else...or they delegate it and allow others to gather that information for them!

article can be downloaded at:
http://council.cio.com/content.html?trt=6

THE BIG SWITCH is on for the Enterprise, SAP really just doesn’t have a focus

The market buzz around SAP seems to be at an all-time high. Their ERP solution roadmaps seem to be at an all-time crossroads.  So (as Naomi Bloom says), in which direction lies the “The Yellow Brick Road”.
According to Gartner and ERP analysts Naomi Boom, Ray Wang, Phil Wainwright, Nick Carr, and everyone else….the Yellow Brick Road now ends at “The Cloud”.

Switching to SAP? , You know they have a new emphasis on The Cloud.  But, did you know what SAP stands for according to their website…(stands for "Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing).   

SAP has more platforms and products in the ERP space than anyone could fathom.  Its Career OnDemand cloud offering, due to be released in 04/2012 is probably dead with the Success Factors purchase.  The SFSF purchase was really a way to keep clients from defecting to a competitor’s Best of Breed Talent platform.  Their Employee Central HCM is probably dead now; it’s just not deep enough.

The analysts explain SAP’s roadmap this way: “You cannot buy your way into The Cloud; you need to re-invent yourself completely or throw everything away and build it from scratch!”

Do you know what SAP stands for: (S)aaS not, (A)pplication spaghetti, (P)latforms galore.

So, The Big Switch is on.  Cloud computing today is what the distributed power grid of the past was for the Industrial Revolution.  The distributed Internet grid powers The Cloud today.  Consumers are moving into the cloud.  Enterprises are moving to cloud, it’s all about the freedom to do what you need to do, when you need to do it.

This is all about The Big Switch.  Read a synopsis of Nicholas Carr’s book, The Big Switch on my blog.
http://bit.ly/vME8Fb

        

The Big Switch, what's this book all about

What is at the heart of the “Big Switch”?

To me, this book is about the disruptive change of technology.

To some, disruption might only be about changing from being a Yankees fan to a Mets fan.

But to the cloud, it’s about the Internet grid that’s changing everything!

This book by Nicholas Carr harkens back to the days of the water wheel and the generation of electricity by water power and the huge disruptions in the expansion of power plants in the early 1900’s. Interestingly, Nicholas juxtaposes this electrical grid disruption to today’s disruptions from the Internet grid in the cloud….It’s one huge analogy!  Read on for some deeper insight.

Let’s look at the Power grid…

Remember reading about those huge Grist Mills that were powered by huge wheels driven by rivers of water.  They were generating power at the source, where the power was being used directly in a manufacturing plant. 

With the advent of electricity, there followed electrical generating plans that allowed power to be generated away from the users of power and centralized and different locations.  This was great right?  Well, it took decades for the factories to realize what this disruptive change would bring. They were reluctant to trust outsiders with their most precious resource, power.  Their thinking was fixated on one thing…if the power company went down, so did my business.

But the big switch happened and electricity was now being distributed though distributed electrical grids and provided some sense of redundancy on the sources of generation.  Thereafter, this big switch allowed for the redundant expenses of local power generation to be eliminated, and factories were now allowed the freedom to build wherever they chose.  Factories could scale off the grid, reduce their risk of reliance, expand their worker base and move away from the non-value added task of generating electricity and focus on the generation of profits from their business!

Starting to see how a grid can be disruptive?

One more example…Let’s look at the Computing Grid.

Back in the 1960’s there were two huge Mainframe computing projects that began the first wave of computing, SABRE and ERMA.  Sabre as you might recall was the first national reservation system running on huge mainframes.  ERMA was the first national banking system.  What happened?  Every big company built their own copy cat version, driving IT spending up 100 fold up into the 1970’s and beyond.  Mainframes were the bomb!

Then there was a big switch in the 1970’s to the client-server model driving by a huge reduction in hardware costs and a marked increase in computing power.

The development of highly specialized applications went rampant requiring new machines, new software, data centers, technicians and software development.  Previously centralized tasks and systems were now distributed and performed on 1000’s of servers.  IT spending went up 100 fold.

There was one more big switch that took decades to develop, Internet grid computing.

Costs of storage were reduced 100 fold.  The Internet and access to bandwidth exploded.  Finally, virtualization of computing power and servers was uncovered.  All this made the client-server model un-scalable and almost obsolete.

The last leg of the big switch was a collection of all of these into software as a service in the cloud.  Now, the building blocks of computing power can be broken up with data, software, hardware distributed over different locations across the globe allowing portability.  Enterprises were reluctant to make the switch, what if the Internet went down?

Now, take a look back at the expansion of the power grid and note the similarities.  Companies were back then reluctant to move to a centralized power grid because they thought they would lose control!

Companies did eventually move and what did they gain?  Freedom and profits…freedom to do business anywhere with anyone, profits from their better focus on their business with less distractions from non-value added tasks.  Guess what, IT spending is not going up 100 fold!

So, now you get the analogy?

Cloud computing today is the distributed power grid of the past, just reinvented using the technologies of today.  Consumers are moving into the cloud.  Enterprises are moving to cloud, it’s all about the freedom to do what you need to do.

Final question?  Any you ready for the next Big Switch, do you seek the freedom that it will bring? Or are we afraid to make the next Big Switch, just like we made all the others…

How do WE (sales folks) understand how YOU (the customer) select vendors?

My thoughts were first stimulated by an article I read from enquiroresearch.com, on Mapping the Buyersphere, the subject being B2B buying decisions.

Each decision by a buyer or the B2B customer focuses on one object from start to finish, minimizing fear through the elimination of inherent risks. So, what are the risks in making a corporate buy? There are risks to the organization and there are risks to the individual.

The risks to the organization are usually mitigated through various formalized stages in the buying process. We’ve all been through these: RFI’s, RFP’s, detailed demonstration, use case presentation, sand boxes, pilot tests, documentations and discussions across various silos. These steps are different for every company and for every type of purchase depending upon the complexity of the product or deliverable. Riskier purchases are more formalized and get pushed through a stronger vetting process. These become mechanical and most sellers, knowing what will come, are well prepared to block and tackle through these steps.

One buyer was quoted as saying “My job is to make sure that every vendor that makes it through to the final cut is a vendor that we can live with.” There should not be a bad first choice or second choice at that stage.

So, what’s so difficult about becoming a finalist? The secret sauce is in understanding the buyer’s or buyers’ personal risks and how they go about mitigating their perception of risk. Typically your buyer will have completed quite a few tasks prior to even having a conversation with you. Here’s the top five risk control tools in use:

1st-Personal experience – if you have been in the market long enough, you’ve probably touched one of the products within the category that you are going to buy, people already have their favorites and they have those they loathed.

2nd- Get some word of mouth data points from co-workers and industry peers. Everyone knows someone who has purchased something similar, so there is plenty of advice to be had.

3rd- Look for pre-approved vendors on the corporate buying list, these folks have already been vetted out and are probably supplying a product to another peer within the company, a great place to find out first-hand what their experience was.

4th- Determine vendor credibility and market position. Who are the leaders in the space and those with the most perceived expertise in delivering solutions. Typically, this is well-known or can be determined through research and analyst opinions (Do NOT base your decision upon how many ads you see). Choosing the top vendor is the space may indeed be the safest purchase but may not always be the most suitable.

Lastly- think about price!

Next up, what does the vendor do to mitigate the buyer’s perception of their RISK?

Aggregating your Talents Profiles yields big results within organizations

I read an interesting article from SHRM's HR magazine, in the technology section, that talks directly to the use of online talent portals within organizations that allow HR partners to align their workforce workforce more efficiently and allow for employees to manage their careers.

In this article, Mercer Consulting's Kim Seals states "If I can get my talent profiles right, then I have a great source of information about the people in our business and how to move them around to fill key jobs." Mercer's Human Capital Connect is their human capital management consulting practice that is powered by the Peopleclick Authoria talent management platform.

So, what is the value of employee talent profiles? They pull pertinent employee data collected from the employees to help management and the employees find where talent can be used most effectively across organizational silos.  An example would be a professional services firm, like a consulting or engineering company, that needs to staff projects with employees who have the critical skills suitable to a particular project's requirements.  Spanning the organization and finding those with the proper language requirements, needed certifications or past prior experience leads to quick bid responses, the composition of the best project team, and higher customer satisfaction levels.

In addition, eemployee's are now interested in taking control of their own profiles, their careers and hence, their talent profile provides this visibility to corporate talent leaders and by the way...can be selfishly used to promote achievements.

Talent profiles can be easily built from an integrated employee self-service portal that serves as a foundation for an organizations entire talent value chain including recruiting, on boarding, alignment, development, performance, compensation and career management.

Just my thoughts on the subject purred by a recent article I read.

Mercer Consulting discusses the Advantages of SaaS

I was thumbing through the latest edition of HR Technology magazine and found a report from the Human Capital Connect consulting team at Mercer Consulting. It is a great article that talks about the delivery platform known as Software as a Service or SaaS.


Many companies are facing their technology decisions with knowingly limited IT resources and at the same time are being forced to maximize the rollout of enterprise software. Herego, the SaaS platform requires serious consideration when both these factors are evident.

First, what is SaaS? Many applications that claim to be a Software as a Service delivery model...when in fact, they are really an on-demand ASP hosted model that still require time and effort to maintain and upgrade. SaaS eliminates that requirements and provides for a high capability to ensure business process improvement.

Why consider SaaS in your HCM evaluation:

-It shifts the IT burden to the vendor
-Data security is indeed robust and secure on a global basis
-No customer is on an older release
-Upgrades are delivered without pain or cost
-Incorporated best practices from the largest customers benefit the smaller
-Business processes will continually improve

An unbelievable benefit - The average SaaS customer will have a system that is 26.5% better in three years but at the same price.

If you require additional information or support on the benefits of an integrated talent management SaaS platform, please connect with me at 516-484-1231.

War for Talent...there wasnt one for awhile, but now it's back!

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article on the latest craze showing that all employers are in for a big shock on this rebound, the 'war for talent' it's finally happening.  The first tell-tale sign is the number of new job postings which stand at 4.7 million compared to 2.7 million only one year ago.  So employers ask, so what, the unemployment rate is going down, the economy is still not creating more jobs than it losses and no one is spending money shopping.

Well, this portends a new paradigm: employees ARE going shopping, the better ones that is.  They are looking for new jobs while they work, talking about better pay, better total rewards and opportunities for advancement.  The theory makes sense because those who were more fortunate have been sitting on their hands for the last few years, slugging through it, holding down their fort and keeping the paychecks depositing into the bank.  Now that the pent up demand for skilled workers is evident - many companies can't even fill their most coveted open reqs with the right people - employees are looking at making that move.

So how do employers deal with this?  Talent acquisition tools and talent management tools that attract and engage employees are a must.  Companies must allow employees the opportunity to manage their longer term careers and establish personal roadmaps from the time of hire.  Acquisition tools must manage candidates for the longer-term, building up a potential job bench and not just look to fill yesterday new req.  Talent management must allow employees the chance to develop and expand their scope and skills.  Skill building for today's business strategy is just as important as building those skills to address tomorrow's newer strategic direction.

Interested to hear thought from those hiring managers?  Maybe, this should be a leading indicator...

One Page Talent Management- is there really such a thing?

Recently read the book with the same title, written by Marc Effron and Miriam Ort.

Their concept at the core is simple. All organizations take a process (in their case, they are analyzing talent processes), dissect the process, redesign it, place it up on a system and then build all kind of rules around the process. What the final result is, is an overly complex, unwieldy set of tools that try to anticipate every variation and hence add to the pain and headache for employees who need to comply with the new process.

So, their mantra is a simple three steps:
- start with the science of the intent
- eliminate complexity, add value
- create transparency and accountability

For each of these, they describe their methodology and thought process and how to apply these to every talent management process. For example, adding value, how do you simply do that? Adding value means making it easier to use, eliminating redundancies, obviously inferior choices, so that the process will be used the correct way and yield actionable results.

Eliminate complexity, let's look at SMART goals. They suggest that 5 steps to creating a SMART goal is wasteful, they do it in 3! Specific, important and Measurable are all that matters.

Using the science in a 360 assessment, creates accountability. Too many questions from too many people require a science degree to interpret the results. They say, why not just ask each rater to recommend what the person should do more of (positive reinforcement) and what that person should do less of (changing out of bad behaviors)...makes sense, but I never saw anyone do it that way.

Finally, I'll talk to how they look at competencies. We all know that there are 20,30,40+ competencies out there that really define 90% of the knowledge worker's universe. So if all my people are competent in 'buiness acumen' but all of my competitors are as well, so what. So if all my people are competent in 'sales execution' and all my competitors are as well, so what. You get the picture. What they say is they you need to define what behaviors in YOUR company make up the culture, make things work and provide for the competitive advantage that your competitor doesn't have and cannot replicate.

Take GE- their behavioral anchors were: imagination, expertise, inclusiveness, clear thinking and external focus. They didn't get these from a book.  They used these to build their competency model which framed the behaviors that new hires needed to be successful and that their competitors could not replicate. But it was so much simpler that the FYI 67 competency model that makes everyone the same as everyone else.

read the book, it's fun and different.

Kirkpatrick model turned upside down...? Level 4 to 1

Interesting article in November's edition of CLO magazine (www.clomedia.com) by Donald Kirkpatrick's son, Jim and his wife, on how the Kirkpatrick evaluation model which seems to have turned upside down like everything else in this crazy world.

It use to be that you would conduct a Level 1 evaluation survey on the training that you provided in order to gauge people's reaction to the event. Then follow up with level 2 to check their knowledge, then level 3 evaluation to determine what they have retained and finally a level 4 survey to poll the actual results that were produced as an output...logical, yes?

Well, their new theory is: when thinking about the entire training process, let's start with the expected results, quantify them (the level expected output) and then drill in reverse down the food chain. So, once you have the intended results that are expected to be achieved, then determine (Level 3) what behaviors you want the people to exhibit that will produce those results. Drill down again and determine what information or knowledge (level 2) you will have to impart to them to get the intended behaviors. Finally, determine Level 1, what training do you need to develop and in what modality should it be delivered in order to get their positive reaction or commitment.

It's upside down, but it makes perfect sense!

A success story from my customer

Client's objective, build a global system to manage learning and skills across the enterprise. Client= Global solutions provider

Jeannette didn't know what she was in for when the company handed her the keys to the LMS. She started with 7000 folks, working as a part-time Super Admin. Over the next 12-18 months, she inherited another 15000 people across the globe, and BTW, they through Competency Assessments into her bucket TOO!

The company has build out a global team of power users, each managing a particular business unit or region of the globe, all of them have defined secutiry roles and permisssion within their group...how nice that the system allows all 12 of them to work together yet separately. Each is managing their own programs, curricula, and learning catalogs. All of the courses bubble up to create one global catalog that, according to the CEO, will allow the businesses to share knowledge and cross train. Isn't this what an LMS is suppose to do???

Then they built out SME's across the globe for peformance issues, leadership issues, L&D concerns, compliance rollouts, just like your typical governance model is suppose to be. They even have one person dedicated to 'change adoption' and another to 'continuous improvement'.

Oh, and Jeannette is the global Level One support person for 20,000 people. She told me that on an average day, she receives all of ....20 tickets in her InBox, and wait, 2/3's of them are forgotten passwords! She quickly dispenses with these. And she is waiting for 'someone' to revise her log in page to include the nefarious 'forgotten passsword' and secret question' links that were left out of their original design, but we won't go into his story! So when someone asks you if the system is intuitive and easy to manage without lots of training and support....here is the proof point.

Best Practices on How to Connect with C level Execs

Interesting article I came across, it was written as a collaborative effort by an Executive Council focused on CIO's, but really, the same principles apply to anyone sitting in the C-Suite.

The survey drew results from over 250 executives across the US. Here is the advice they had to help them minimize the clutter and provide more relevant interactions:

- research your call lists to determine that you are even calling the right person. Too often vm's and emails are directed at the wrong executives, wasting their time and more importantly, your efforts. Cross reference one source agst the other to verify.
- don't sctipt or broadcast your messages across the dial. Select topics of interest and provide relevant links in your emails to allow for further information gathering or education. Use your technology tracking tools to gauge the recipient's interest in what you have sent, then follow up where appropriate.
- your prospect is not sitting around waiting for a cold call...do research on the company, the person, their business, then call with a specific value proposition based upon something that connects you with them (check the blogs, analysts reports, CEO presentations).
-match the prospect's expected need with that company's size, vision, budget, timeframe, business cycle, mid-market or enterprise, etc. Don't even make an offer to the C-suite that seems unreasonable, unrealistic or improbable for them to consider purchasing today or ever.
- key talking points, if you do get through, are the total cost of ownership (TCO), the ability to execute, the ROI of the project/solution.
- be cognizant of getting trapped in spam filters, everyone uses them, everyone has different rules, and most people don't ever check the stuff that gets caught. So, even if you do everything right, relying on one modality may not get your message through even if the Exec wants it.
- learn to work with the EA's (executive assistants), yes, those gatekeepers. Many execs rely upon them to execute, manage their calendars, screen calls, listen for the buzz words, make connections. Sometimes they can be your best friend or your...

Remember, executives are buyers and fierce recommendors, who do need to acquire knowledge and be educated just like anyone else...or they delegate it and allow others to gather that information for them!

article can be downloaded at:
http://council.cio.com/content.html?trt=6

Is your software tool a true SaaS or a 1/2 Saas?

Here is a great article that talks about software applications that claim to be a Software as a Service delivery model...when in fact, they are really an on-demand ASP hosted model. Kind of hard to tell from a layman's perspective, but from a technical level, it's black and white.
Do you have only one version?
Do you have all of your customer on the most current and only version of your product?
Do you provide quarterly upgrades that are delivered seamlessly to customers?
Do you have a unique database for each customer so that they can monitor their own security roles and permissions?
and on and on. If they say it's On-demand...then demand to understand if it is truly a SaaS solution!
read it here at:

http://www.shrm.org/Publications/hrmagazine/Pages/default.aspx

The Kirkpatrick Model: some facts on the past, present and future

It started in 1959 when Don Kirkpatrick wrote a series of four articles, each related to one subject at a time: he categorized them into reaction, learning, behavior, and results.

His first article was on reactions to learning (level 1). Then, he wrote about the learning itself and to what degree did the participates acquire the intended knowledge, skills and attitudes based on their participation in the learning event (level 2). Next, he wrote about behavior, to what degree did participants apply what they learned when they got back to their jobs. Finally, he wrote about results, to what degree were targeted results reached as a result of the learning event.

People in the industry talked about these four levels for decades. Did you know, it wasn't until 1993 that he institutionalized the four levels within a published book.

The model is not really changing today, but the way it is being used moving forward is a bit like reverse engineering. Formally, the typical learning model started with learning objectives, build on that and eventually the results were measured down the line months later. Changes were then made in the learning objectives based upon the results received. But, the feedback loop was quite long and took many iterations to improve, this is being called the chain of evidence.

Now, the chain of evidence is being reverse engineered. The final results or the goal achievement is modeled first. The model is socialized within the executive team and a concensus is reached. This becomes the development of the Level 4. Next, Level 3 is built, the behaviors to be exhibited based upon the results that are to be achieved. From there, the learning events are created that will teach those exhibited behaviors, Level two. Finally, the reactions are planned that the participants expect from the event, level one. I guess they are calling this the Reverse Kirkpatrick Model. The feedback loop is certainly shorter, although the development time is more complex.

One anecdotal tidbit I came across: every presentation that Don does in any venue is still done with the use of an overhead projector! Now he tells his audiences that "You are looking at a new piece of equipment, a special technology". Most believe him cause they never have seen anything like it.

Book Review: The Groundswell- everything is about social networking today

My inspiration for this blog rant comes from a book "Groundswell" by charlene li and josh bernoff from forrester research.


Are you doing these things?
- looking it up on a wiki (www.wikipedia.com)
- tag it with del.icio.us (http://delicious.com/)
- find a widget that will do it
- will you Digg this (www.digg.com)
- can you friend me
- let's mash these up on one page

This is the groundswell! And you say, so, what is it? Some of us are in the know, others are not, some are up and comers, some are out of touch. Some think of this as an opportunity, others think of it as an annoyance.

What it really is is a force that can be harnessed like a skill set. But to harness it effectively, you will need the proper level of knowledge and experience to understand it and how to use it to your advantage. The use of social technologies can be analogous to the Big Bang of the Internet. Scientists know that the Big Bang of the Universe (wiki it at the big bang) happened, but they couldn't identify it at first. With learned knowledge and experience, they figured out where it was coming from and how it was created.

Same thing here. These social technologies are being lumped together as the Big Bang of the Internet, They call it web 2.0. The groundswell is already underway, people are consumed with the various techniques to connect with each other, are creating communities that are effecting change, and are creating content and ideas that could never have been aggregated. These changes come in the form of interlocking relationships within newly created communities or networks. These networks do not exist in any physical sense (we all know what a networking event is or was), they do not rely upon meetings, conferences, or phone calls (think about how many people are BBM'ing each other all day long). These social communities are being formed on the Internet and then are extended into the physical space. Remember how you use to create a relationship or community of like-minded people, then it was really cool to extend that to the Internet and set up a Yahoo Group so that everyone can communicate? Very coordinated and orchestrated. Yeah, well that ain't happening anymore.

So, now you create a community of inspired folks using some social technology like a blog, a wiki or linked in to allow people to connect to each other, to create content, to build ideas, to profess knowledge, to eschew innuendo, and to self-express. It's very uncoordinated! This is the groundswell and people, companies, organizations are using this to build communities. Uh, didn't Obama announce his Vice Presidential candidate on his website? NO, he sent a text message, a BBM from his Blackberry for God's sake.

So, you better get a good widget on your website, you should add a Twitter dialogue to your blog (oh, you don't have a blog?) Tell me your not even using Facebook, My Space or Linked in? All I can say is that you better go and DIGG this.

Why are companies moving away from older learning systems?

Why is this happening all of a sudden? Is this a case of follow the leader? Why migrate to another system when you have spent lots of money in getting the first one correctly positioned?

I'd like to inject my thoughts into this market phenom in a series of short articles on the best practices in selecting your 2nd or even 3rd Learning Management System.

People get tired of their systems, people just get tired of things they own, whether they be personal or business. When things get old, you want to freshen things up...like getting a new paint job or getting a new piece of furniture.

So, why not freshen up your technology system? Well, it's not that easy. Many companies purchased systems years ago when the way of the world said: "buy this, install this, customize this and you'll love this". There are many people dependent upon those systems, IT folks keeping it backed up, database people writing scripts.

I see companies with learning systems that are 5 and 6 years old and you know what, they never got freshened up. Same old look and feel, same old functionality. In fact, its the same old people who are using them...they can't get the newer employees to learn and develop because they are trying to satisfy their needs with older, tired-looking, and slower-working learning technologies.

So, these companies are on the hunt for newer technologies, fresher looks, faster systems and more importanly, something they can purchase and NOT have the same staleness fall into their laps in another 3 years.

Companies are digging deeper in new technologies and service models that utlize Software as a Service, such as salesforce.com, workday ERP, igoogle for business.

There is no hardware, software, middleware, databases, or business intelligence tools to buy, install, maintain, and upgrade. It is based upon a multi-tenancy model that means that each customer securely shares one physical instance of software without ever seeing each other’s data.

There are No Pain Upgrades, seamless for that matter...
With traditional on-premise applications, many customers often fall drastically behind the latest technology & feature releases. With SaaS, all software updates and upgrades are seamless delivered throughout the year to all customers at one time.

Use The Best Available Technology...
Make sure your product is built on a next-generation architecture (using .NET 2.0 and AJAX) that enables the deliver of services faster – deliver implementations & integrations through the use of Web services - so they can easily interact with other applications. In this way, the platform is always moving ahead, it's not getting about getting stale.

So, what is a good (no, great) product demo?

We'll take a look at some of the best practices for presenting a product and for viewing a product presentation...

The best way to start a demo is the way you will end the demo. Heh, I didn't make this up but the theory is that you most remember the last most important thing you saw and most presentations 'end' with the best thing you will see. So, why not show the best up front, cement that vision, and then work through the rest of the product?

Most presentations tend to stray away from the core functionality that the customer wants to see. So, give them what they need to see and only what they need to see, really, everything else is just a distraction for the viewers.

The power of the presenter is to illustrate the "Power of the Delta", if you can differentiate the way it is done today and the way it could be done tomorrow, then you created the proper vision that will resonate and 'stick' to the viewers.

Heh, if I am tying to impress the viewers, the best way is to develop illustrations for their use cases (how they will use the product in each specific instance). The first illustration is to show the baseline, the shortest way to do it. Then you show the improved version, using some options to make it better, more efficient. Lastly, you show the advanced version, basically on steroids (bad word these days for David Ortiz in Boston) with the bells and whistles...a visionary approach>

Now, let's talk about questions that arise from the audience. If you really need to know, sometimes, we love to hear those questions, other times the hair rises on our back! Why?

There are three types of questions:
- a great question
- a good question
- a stupid (sorry!) question

Can you figure out what a GREAT question is...easy, it's a question that leads you directly into your next presentation point. Perfect! Give them kudos and move forward.

OK, how about a good question? Something that you can effectively address but the answer really doesn't impact everyone just a select few in the audience. For the others, its boring. So, you take it over to the 'parking lot', write it on the white board and address every detail after the main preso. This way, whoever is interested in the answer can stay, the others can leave. Perfect, everyone gets what they want.

Finally, a 'stupid question'. I hate to do this, but it's question that a distractor asks where the only purpose is take the presenter away from where they are into an unknown space that has no relevance to the audience or the objectives of the meeting. Even if you want to or can answer it, you do NOT want to, it's a waste of every one's time and serves no purpose. SO, take it to the parking lot, just like above and deal with it later, see if that person is willing to stay late so they can get the answer in private, one on one, with the utmost attention. Guess what, they will leave because it is not even worth their time. Result: detractor is detracted, case solved!

I was thinking "Why am I important to my customers?" it is the word 'custom'

So everyone has some importance to someone...we hope. In the course of what I do everyday, selling complicated software solutions to large companies and their HR organizations, I look to build relationships and trust with the prospective 'customers' that I work with, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. Some call your prospects who purchase services or product from you a 'client.

Firstly, I like to use the word 'customer', my client sounds like there is an arms-length transaction at hand, you know, what the attorneys and Wall Street people do. If you think about it, the word 'customer' is comprised of 'custom' - 'er' (see www.dictionary.com). So if you think about it, a custom, habit or practice means an established way of doing things. Custom, applied to a community or to an individual, Habit, applied particularly to an individual, implies such repetition of the same action as to develop a natural, spontaneous, or rooted tendency or inclination to perform it: to make a habit of reading the newspapers. Practice applies to a set of fixed habits or an ordered procedure in conducting activities.

So I decided that I want to 'practice' the 'habit' of providing a 'custom' experience to my customers!

Investing in Talent Management: what's needed to enhance your ROI

What Provides Positive Return from Your Investment?

Integrate Your Learning and Performance to Achieve Talent Management-
The talent management suite covers the employee lifecycle from onboarding through learning management through performance measurement and succession planning and into a pay-per-perfromance culture. Assessing employee performance in isolation is often not enough – you should be able to close skill gaps with dynamically recommended training and development. Don't get stuck with different tools, disconnected databases and no unified view of the data.

Use Talent Management 2.0 web tools-
Workforces are changing fast – hierarchies are flatter, workers are more geographically dispersed, and generational differences are as sharp as ever. Integrated talent management now must account for the numerous ways that your employees interact, learn, and work. An integrated approach is required – one that enables high-impact success around employee collaboration, professional networking, development, and performance. Make use of social networking to foster engagement, drive adoption through intuitive interfaces, make sure there is some AJAX programming that will decrease the use of those pop-up blockers.

Utilize a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model-
On-demand delivery is fast, cost-effective, secure, and meets the needs of some of the world’s largest global enterprises. SaaS architecture provides clients with minimal IT costs, high flexibility, great reliability, and the lowest total cost of ownership. Unlike silos of talent management systems, An integrated SaaS delivery model is fully deployable across the entire enterprise within weeks.

Make Sure the Tools Are Configurable for Your Business Processes-
Every organization is unique and a one-size-fits-all approach to talent management does not work. The need to configure your Organizational Units is entirely more scalable and more flexible than domains and allows for ready matching of your specific workflows and processes with the processes and work flows being managed by the application – down to the tiniest of details.

That's just some of my advice....