March 2015

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 mar 2015

Non-profit organizations need to focus on their mission and objectives, and design and implement effective governance practices and align them with the interests of their main stakeholders. They should keep in mind the laws of the land and regulatory processes while pursuing their charitable goals. Non-profit organizations in the state of Pennsylania in US have the following main stakeholders - (1) Attorney General: Has responsibility for ensuring that nonprofit charitable corporations and their boards of directors operate in accordance with their nonprofit mandates. (2) Internal Revenue Service (IRS): Has the authority to grant tax-exempt status to charitable nonprofit corporations, has an interest in ensuring that charitable corporations are governed appropriately. (3) General Public: That contributes to and supports a nonprofit corporation's goals and objectives has economic and mission-related interests in the organization's affairs to ensure that their donations, contributions and support are used to further the organization's charitable purposes. Board of directors of non-profit organizations plays an important role in corporate governance and oversees its effective working. The directors have to carry out their duties in a responsible and conscientious manner. Two principal fiduciary duties of the director are - Duty of Care (Calls upon a director to actively participate in the decisions of the board and to appropriately review data relevant to such decisions); Duty of Loyalty (Requires that each director of a nonprofit corporation make decisions based on the best interests of the corporation and not based on any personal interests). To design an appropriate corporate structure, two tools can be of importance to guide and direct the board in the right direction - (1) Carefully Drafted Bylaws: They identify, shape and inform the corporation's governance structure. They provide a clear roadmap of the corporation's internal management structure while retaining flexibility to respond to operational and governance changes that may occur over time. (2) Judicious Adoption and Use of Corporate Policies and Procedures: Conflict of interest policy; Whistleblower policy; Document reduction and destruction policy. Read on...

The Legal Intelligencer: Effective Corporate Governance in the Nonprofit Sector
Author: Noel A. Fleming

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 mar 2015

In US charitable giving was about US$ 335 billion in 2013. Recently released '2014 Charitable Giving Report' by Blackbaud covers a sample size of US$ 16 billion in US-based giving. The report shows 2.1% increase in philanthropic giving in 2014 (Total Growth in US economy was 2.4%). The main highlight of the study was the rise in digital-based giving, which increased a total of 8.9% from the previous year. This points towards the digital future of fundraising. Moreover there is clear indication of use of digital strategies by smaller non-profits due to its lower costs as compared to traditional methods of fundraising like postal mail, phone calls etc. Todd Cohen, founder of Philanthropy North Carolina, provides insights on the importance of peer-to-peer fundraising in the digital age. Read on...

NonProfit Quarterly: Fundraising Insights for Smaller and Mid-sized Nonprofits - From a Blackbaud Report
Author: Steve Boland

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 mar 2015

Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to transform and disrupt various industries like healthcare, infrastructure management, transportation, utility etc. Recent report by Verizon estimates that by 2025, organizations that extensively use IoT technologies in their products and operations will be upto 10% more profitable. According to Arun Kundu, Director of Professional Services at Verizon Enterprise Solutions, manufacturing sector will be hugely impacted by IoT. He says, 'IoT is creating opportunities to capture and interpret data leading to new services, avoiding commoditisation. And of course, manufacturers are always looking for ways to streamline processes and increase efficiency. IoT-enabled asset tracking not only provides manufacturers with better control of their logistics, but using the data can also enable them to offer their customers near real-time tracking of shipments, an appealing differentiator.' He further adds, 'The factory of the future will be more capital efficient and flexible. Updates from product design teams will be introduced more quickly, and customisations incorporated more easily. Schedules will reflect changes in demand within hours, not days. Managers will be able to see what stock and raw materials are on hand, and exactly where they are, from their tablet.' Remote monitoring of the conditions of the equipment and visualize indicator's of imminent failure, and production-line monitoring and automation leading to predictive maintenance are some other uses of IoT that Mr. Kundu mentions. Read on...

Business Standard: Internet of Things can have massive impact on manufacturing
Author: Rakesh Rao

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 mar 2015

Office environment with meetings, conferences and discussions that involve face to face interactions with fellow employees and clients is a norm for businesses. But in today's technology-enabled, round-the-clock business operations, situations arise where workers have to perform and manage their projects and job duties remotely. Remote project management requires experience and specific skills to get work done effectively and efficiently. Following are some tips for project managers who need to work out of office - (1) Be organized (2) Use a collaborative tool (3) Seek personal connection with team members (4) Over communicate (5) Keep senior management and customer informed. Read on...

CIO: 5 tips for remote project managers
Author: Brad Egeland

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 mar 2015

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 'With reduced demand for production workers, total US manufacturing employment dropped from approximately 19 million in 1980 to 11.5 million in 2010. Most of manufacturing job losses were in the section of the workforce without a high school diploma.' The recent report 'Making Value for America' by National Academy of Engineering (NAE), points out the changing face of US manufacturing and the challenges faced by the human resources employed in manufacturing. The report suggests need of collaborative approach between government, companies and educators to strengthen workforce training programs and enhance innovation and productivity. Manufacturing is to be considered an important component of the value chain and businesses that focus on the entire system of product and service delivery help make value for their customers and are less likely to be disrupted by new technologies or increased competition from emerging economies around the world. According to the report, 'While technological advances offer companies new ways to understand customers' needs and in turn increase demand for their products, automation and streamlined operations are likely to supplant an increasing number of workers in a variety of occupations.' Nicholas Donofrio, chair of the committee that conducted the study, says 'Advancing skills and creating skilled jobs are the best bet to aid the workforce that has been left behind by changes in manufacturing and the broader economy.' Read on...

Engineering.com: National Academy of Engineering - U.S. Must Take Action to Strengthen Manufacturing Innovation, Productivity, and Workforce Training
Author: James Anderton

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 mar 2015

According to Jim Manias, VP of Advanced Systems Concepts, 'In a world of application diversity, business processes must cross boundaries between various solutions and technologies. As a result, workload automation solutions have stepped to the forefront as the next step in the evolution of job scheduling. As data flow increases, processing volumes grow and the infrastructure becomes more complex, IT is increasingly relying on workload automation to automate and standardize file/data transfers, workflows, applications, and processes.' He suggests following tips for IT departments on what they can automate - (1) Provision Dynamic Virtual/Cloud Systems (2) Streamline Development and Operations (3) Self-Service Automation (4) Improve Big Data Analytics (5) On-Board and Off-Board Customers and Employees (6) Preventing Service-Level Agreement Breaches (7) Automate FTP/SFTP/FTPS (8) Automate Help Desk and Support Procedures (9) Streamline Reporting (10) Enhance Security and Compliance (11) Real-Time Calculations (12) Script Lifecycle Management. Read on...

CIO Insight: 12 Things Enterprises Don't Know They Can Automate
Author: Karen A. Frenkel

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 mar 2015

'Synthetic Biology' is an interdisciplinary and emerging area of research in biology. SyntheticBiology.org defines it as - (a) the design and construction of new biological parts, devices and systems and (b) the re-design of existing natural biological systems for useful purposes. 'Synbio' as it is often termed as, involves writing genetic code and inserting it into simple organisms to change their function. Boston-based Ginkgo Bioworks sells custom-crafted organisms - mostly yeasts, baceteria and algae and they make synthetic scents that might be used in sprays and perfumes in future. Ginkgo was mostly funded initially by US government agencies. Jason Kelly, co-founder of Ginkgo, says 'Their belief was that the United States should be on the leading edge of creating tools to program cells - sort of like creating the base elements of the early Internet.' According to Professor Pamela Silver of Harvard Medical School, 'Synbio industry is going to grow quickly, especially in Boston.' Tom Knight, another founder of Ginkgo, explains 'Engineering biology has been an artisanal craft. You did things at a small scale, manually. We're moving into an age when we can start automating a lot of the processes and take advantage of economies of scale.' Read on...

The Boston Globe: Manufacturing's cutting edge - custom organisms
Author: Scott Kirsner

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 mar 2015

Web design is a constantly evolving field. New concepts, technologies and designs give rise to new trends, that some time stay and catch on user's attention while at other times they just fizzle out in popularity. But there are also designs that stay too long in use due their popularity at one point of time but in actuality they have already lost their shine. Repetition of old ideas and trends just because of being comfortable and familiar with them may lead to loss of customers and business. Ilya Pozin, CEO of Pluto TV and Ciplex, explains why the following five web design trends have become obsolete and should be replaced by new concepts - (1) Mobile versions of websites are not cool anymore. Innovative designers are using responsive design that allows the layout to adjust based on the contextual experience of users. It provides fully integrated experience irrespective of the width of the user's device. (2) Text-heavy websites are unable to hold user attention. More designs now have precise text integrated with visuals like images and videos alongwith interactive functionality. (3) SEO copywriting, which was large part of web design and promotion at one time, is now should be replaced by developing keyword informed and user-centric content. (4) Pay-per-click advertising is losing its popularity as new technology tools are available that utilize new mediums and new targeting capablities to reach precise customer segments. Some new concepts are contextual advertising, online video and highly targeted product ads. (5) Designs below 200 pixels per inch (ppi) is getting obsolete as new devices are adopting retina displays. If the design resolution is low it gives poor quality on these displays. Moreover most web design is now more simplified with flat user interface and avoids use of gradients and shadows that provided three-dimensional look. Read on...

Forbes: Let It Go - Say Farewell To These 5 Web Design Trends
Author: Ilya Pozin

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 mar 2015

Customers are one of the most critical component of today's business ecosystem. Organizations need to understand and analyze customers with diligence and deliver the best customer experience and value to stay relevant and successful. According to Corrine Sandler, CEO of Fresh Intelligence Research, 'We are living in the age of the customer and customers are now the only source of sustainable competitive advantage - and the only thing you should be measuring.' She advocates digital transformation of businesses, use of big data and analytics tools to get customer and business insights and predictive analytics to anticipate customer's requirements. Moreover she emphasizes need of emotional engagement to achieve customer value. She points out an interesting customer behavior - 'About 96% of unhappy customers don't complain; however, 91% of those will simply leave and never come back. It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience.' Read on...

ITWeb: Customer intelligence boosts competitive advantage
Author: Regina Pazvakavambwa

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 22 mar 2015

The Dutch industrial and product designer, Hella Jongerius, is critical of design purely by profit, design without conscience and design without awareness. She advocates more holistic approach to industrial design with focus on quality and practical economics. She argues that design shouldn't view objects as isolated items and should interrogate their relationship with people. She suggests 6 steps for industrial designers to achieve this objective - (1) Design the materials. (2) Keep the design process hands-on. (3) Celebrate imperfection. (4) Make use of archives. (5) Have a signature style for differentiation and recognition. (6) Research extensively. Read on...

MarkLives: Hella Jongerius calls for new industrial design values #designindaba
Author: Herman Manson

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 mar 2015

According to Project Management Institute (PMI), 'Project management is a temporary endeavor designed to produce a unique product, service or result.' There is a distinction between 'business processes' and project management. Every task is not a project but project is composed of tasks. Online businesses can benefit from the effective implementation of project management as it can help to streamline the process, saving time, leveraging resources, maximizing profit, and meeting the client's and business's needs. The three key constraints that are balanced within project management are - (1) Schedule: Managing time factor or schedule, ensures that least amount of time is spend on a project. (2) Cost: Managing the cost factor can track what the client is paying and ensures that ROI (Return On Investment) is intact. (3) Scope: Managing the client's need or scope ensures that the needs are met effectively. Even if clients are not serviced by an organization, and its a product development entity, then project management processes can assist in increasing the profit margins, improve cost efficiencies and maximize earnings. Small businesses with limited budgets can utilize numerous online resources and services that can assist them in implementing project management. If they have somewhat more to spend they can also hire a project manager or even a project management consultant to guide and work through the project management implementation process. Read on...

Business 2 Community: Why Small Businesses Need Project Management
Author: Deborah Anderson

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 19 mar 2015

Organizations grow and stay competitive by carefully planning and applying 'Learning and Development' (L&D) strategies and aligning them effectively with their business goals. Frank Jaquez, L&D head for H. J. Heinz & Company, suggests steps to successfully define and create L&D strategies - (1) Develop better understanding of the business. (2) Define priorities and develop the plan: Discuss variety of issues related to the team like its priorities, challenges, skills upgradation etc, with senior leadership and functional heads; Create strategy framework like L&D visions, business goals, L&D roadmap, resources required and project timeline. (3) Align leadership with the developed plan and effectively convince them the importance and need of the L&D plan to bridge the gap between business's strategy and performance. Read on...

ATD: Aligning L&D to the Business Strategy
Author: Frank Jaquez

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 19 mar 2015

Corporations utilize business strategy to achieve their long-term goals and objectives. Healthcare strategists work towards understanding the pulse of the customers and markets that they serve and mould their organization's actions to provide best solutions. In the process their goal is to grow and retain their customer base and maintain the financial health of their organization. Richard Miller, CEO of Virtua Health Inc, believes that balance of power in health economics will shift to the consumer in future as the Affordable Healthcare Act matures. According to him, 'They'll be buying their products and their insurance, whether in a public exchange or a private exchange. So the relationship to the customer may change when you aren't dealing with large employers insuring people.' The relationship with the consumer will be more direct and participatory. While explaining his organization's recent focus and strategy towards women's health, he says, 'They are the decision makers. So when you talk about economics and the consumer being front and center, I want to talk to the women in the community who are going to make the economic decisions in their families.' Read on...

philly.com: Business strategy - Marketing to women improves hospitals' health
Author: Jane M. Von Bergen

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 mar 2015

As life sciences industry and markets are continuously evolving, managers need to acquire new skills and expertise to adapt, perform and succeed. Health economics, biopharmaceutical supply chain, research & development and innovation are some of the areas that require special consideration in this regard. According to Professor Jan Rosier of Michael Smurfit GSB at University College Dublin, 'For years marketing has been a driving factor when launching new drugs. Now people in the industry need to look much more at how much a drug is going to cost, the impact of this and the effectiveness of the drug in this context. The cost of a drug and how it is linked to the treatment of diseases will come much more to the fore.' Read on...

Business & Leadership: Management skills need to move beyond marketing and profit in life sciences
Author: Sorcha Corcoran

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 mar 2015

According to Pew Research Center data, seven out of ten US adults say that they track at least one health indicator, and 21% of this group use some form of technology to track their health data. With numerous health platforms being launched in the market, that utilize sensors built in smartphones and wearable fitness devices to record physicial activity, the demand is expected to further increase in future. The huge data obtained from such devices will benefit biomedical research, drug development and human health. Professor Ida Sim of University of California at San Francisco says, 'Such technologies hold the potential to encourage the general public to participate in medical studies and make the research community more collaborative and open.' She is the co-founder of non-profit 'Open mHealth', where her team is leading the initiatives to build open source software that facilitates sharing and integration of digital health data. According to her, 'The data can be used to do variety of things like combining genomic information and behavior data from wearables to discover new insights into health and disease.' While explaining some of the challenges related to digital health data, she says, 'Making sense of data from various digital health devices is challenging when the devices don't represent data the same way. Currently, wearable devices and other healthcare tools describe the data they collect using their own languages that are not shared or integrated with other devices.' She further mentions her collaboration with Professor Michael McConnell of Stanford's Preventive Cardiology Clinic, where Open mHealth platform is utilized and digital health data is used to aid in the care of patients with cardiovascular conditions. While mentioning privacy issues related to patient data, she says, 'At Open mHealth, we believe that the focus should be on individual users having ownership of their own data.' Read on...

Stanford Medicine Scope Blog: Harnessing mobile health technologies to transform human health
Author: Lia Steakley Dicker

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 mar 2015

Successful entrepreneurs have diverse traits and skills, belong to different geographies, social and income groups, have different level of educational qualifications and expertise in different fields. But according to Thomas Smale, co-founder of FE International, inspite of all these differences all successful entrepreneurs possess the following common traits - (1) Full of determination (2) Not afraid to take risks (3) High level of confidence (4) Craves learning (5) Understands failure is part of the game (6) Passionate about his or her business (7) Highly adaptable (8) Good understanding of money management (9) Expert at networking (10) Ability to sell and promote. Read on...

Entrepreneur: 10 Traits All Successful Entrepreneurs Share
Author: Thomas Smale

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 10 mar 2015

Generation Z, cohort of people born after the Millennials, is now getting attention of marketers. According to research by Global Messaging, some of defining characteristics of this generation include - 86% use some kind of social media; 72% want to start their own business; 25% left Facebook in 2014; 66% list gaming as their hobby; 1 in 2 will be university educated; Communicate with images, emoticons and emojis. Marketers have to target this generation with innovative, directed and focused strategies to have an impact. Here are few suggestions - (1) Agile Marketing (2) Programmatic Mobile Marketing (3) Snackable Content Marketing (4) Text Message Marketing . Read on...

The Wall Blog: How to market to Gen Z
Author: Polly Becker

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 10 mar 2015

Gartner predicts that the global education industry (including higher, primary and secondary sectors) technology spending will grow 2.3% to reach US$ 67.8 billion in 2015. According to Jan-Martin Löwendahl, vice-president of research at Gartner, 'An increasing number of technical innovations and technology trends are emerging from within the industry, but most will emerge outside the industry, driven by major forces such as digital business and the consumerisation and industrialisation of IT.' Following are Gartner's top 10 strategic technologies for 2015 - (1) Adaptive Learning (2) Adaptive E-Textbooks (3) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) (4) Big Data (5) Sourcing Strategies (Represent a collection of technologies and vendor services, from hosting to cloud, homegrown to open source, to subscription models for acquiring software/hardware capabilities) (6) Exostructure (Means acquiring the critical capability of interoperability as a deliberate strategy to integrate the increasing numbers of partnerships, tools and services in the education ecosystem) (7) Open Microcredentials (8) Digital Assessment (9) Mobile (10) Social Learning. Read on...

Memeburn: 10 technologies that will have a huge impact on education in 2015 and beyond
Author: Myolisi Sikupela

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 08 mar 2015

One of the most challenging tasks for nonprofits is to attract donors and obtain funds for their operations from external sources. Lack of funds can bring great causes and social movements to a halt. To raise money needs specific talent and skills. According to Dan McGinley, director of the Sanford Institute of Philanthropy at National University in San Diego, 'A more effective technique to seek money is to approach a philanthropist the same way a salesman approaches a client... We're adopting the already proven practices of professional selling. The process includes building relationships and getting to know a person's interests, then showing that person how a particular product or nonprofit can meet those interests.' T. Denny Sanford, a successful businessman and philanthropist, advices to keep the process of asking for money simple and says, 'I want everyone to tell their story as if it is to their grandmothers and no more than a 10-story elevator ride. Short and sweet and easy to understand. Because (with) some of the technology people get too technical and talk way over everybody's head.' Read on...

U-T San Diego: Teaching nonprofits how to raise money
Author: Gary Warth

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 07 mar 2015

Entrepreneurs and customers are important components of the business ecosystem. Entrepreneurs create innovative products and services for the customers. A strong exchange and partnership between the two will assure that the activity of product and process innovation and improvement never stops. The efficient integration of what customers need and what entrepreneurs develop will lead to growth of businesses and markets. Read on...

ilmeps/read: Relationship Between Entrepreneurs and Customers to Drive Innovation
Author: Mohammad Anas Wahaj

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 mar 2015

In the world where products and services are designed to be simple and bring ease in human lives, Brian Millar, head of strategy at Sense Worldwide, brings out a contrarian view. According to him difficulty can sometime make lives and jobs more meaningful. To explain his perspective he mentions an influential book 'Drive', in which author Daniel Pink argues that humans are motivated by autonomy, mastery and purpose and when things are designed to be simple, it takes away the fulfilment and satisfaction that come from mastery. He cites example of phishing scams that prey on trance-like state of people where clicking a link to reset password is not always thought about well. He also provides a case of shared space movement, a successful road safety design campaign, where ambiguity is brought back into road use at certain points, by making unclear who has right of way, for both padestrians and drivers. This resulted in slowing down of traffic and subsequent 43% fall in accident rates. He talks about his experience of an unsuccessful risk assessment sofware product that was designed to be very simple but since complexity was prevalent in investment banks for decision-making at that time, it was rejected. He argues that by incorporating a little difficulty in the design of that sofware might have resulted in a better outcome as the industry's practice relied on it. Read on...

the guardian: Why we should design things to be difficult to use
Author: Brian Millar

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 mar 2015

In addition to just aesthetics, architects are now applying neuroscience, by studying how brain reacts to various environments through brain scanners, to design schools, hospitals, community spaces etc. Eve Edelstein, president of consulting firm Innovative Design Science, says 'Understanding the power and significance of design is not a luxury. It has a direct impact on wellness issues and a direct influence on activity within that space.' According to Betsey Olenick Dougherty of Dougherty + Dougherty Architects, 'Visual access to sky, trees and landscape stimulates brain function. Providing vistas throughout the facility and particularly in classrooms has been a major strategy in the design of this building (Corona del Mar High School, Newport Beach, California).' Justin Hollander, co-author of the book 'Cognitive Architecture' and urban planning professor at Tufts University, says 'Patterns matter. And edges matter. The research argues that not only do we need order but our brain likes hearing stories...When you go to Times Square, you're told a story. You go to Disneyland, it's a story.' He further adds, 'Humans have a clear bias for curves over straight or sharp lines. Studies have shown that curves elicit feelings of happiness and elation, while jagged and sharp forms tend to connect to feelings of pain and sadness.' Hospitals and care centers are now being designed based on how brains of Alzheimer's patients reacts or how lighting affects patient's sleep cycle. Neuroscience shows light triggers brain reactions far beyond vision. 'It has an impact on heart rate.' says Edelstein. Michael Arbib of University of Southern California Brain Project and the vice president of the Academy of Architecture and Neuroscience, says 'Smart architecture can learn from brain science. To use artificial intelligence to build buildings that can better interact with people...is going to be very applicable to a home.' Read on...

Al Jazeera: Smart buildings- Architects using brain science for design guidance
Author: Haya El Nasser

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 02 mar 2015

To create a business from an idea and managing it successfully, requires not only technical and managerial skills but also 'intangible' competencies that are essential for start-up's survival. Carla Young, founder and publisher of MOMeo Magazine, suggest skills that entrepreneurs should have particularly at the early stages of the venture's development - (1) Talking Money (2) Public Speaking (3) Selling (4) Managing (and Protecting) Your Time (5) Dealing with Criticism (6) Communicating with Crazy & Irrational People (7) Learning New Skills. Read on...

MOMeo Magazine: Essential Entrepreneurial Skills- The 7 Skills Every Entrepreneur Must Master
Author: Carla Young