How To vs What If
Are you overlooking a way to grow your customer base?
The economic impact of the COVID pandemic means many businesses are having to re-think their business models and find new markets. Could Universal Design or ‘designing for all’ be a worthwhile strategy to help your business discover new market opportunities?
5 Ways you can contribute to the Connection Economy
Marketing guru Seth Godin believes that people want connection more than things. However, our experience of connection and community has changed in a single generation.
Many of our close friendships now happen online and there are special interest groups for every passion. Whether its computer games, book clubs or knitting circles; nowadays if you don’t find the right community, it’s easy enough to start your own Facebook group.
15 Content design tips for your website
Are people leaving your website because they can’t find the information they need? What you need is better content not more content. Let’s look at content design from your audience’s point of view.
This is how you know you are leading a remote team
Leading a remote team comes with its fair share of challenges – small issues can creep into your team culture if you don’t address them directly. In this article, Nina Fountain from Transformed Teams explores some moments in your day to which you may relate, if you lead a remote team.
Steve and his team have their daily meeting at 10:30 am to coincide with the start of the day in Australia. It’s still early in the Philippines, but one of his team members who is based there starts her day at 6:00am Philippine time, so she regularly joins the call.
One of his team mentions they had an important call with a client yesterday. Steve’s ears prick up. How did they handle the call? He asks a few questions and realises they handled it well, exactly as he would have.
Steve sees autonomy as a strength of his team, but working remotely he has come to depend on his team more than ever, to be able to act and speak in a way that aligns with the business.
5 Tips for engaging participants in online workshops
Many organisations have shifted their events, conferences, workshops and even team brainstorming sessions online to avoid the risks associated with the Coronavirus. However, as many are discovering, delivering an online workshop is not simply replicating the same content you would have used in your face-to-face workshop.
According to Anna Pino, CEO of Lighthouse Business Innovation Centre, engaging audiences online can be more challenging.
When life decides to tear you a new one
The coronavirus pandemic has forced many businesses to temporarily close their bricks and mortar stores or implement strict social distancing, resulting in a dramatic decline in sales. The immediate need for survival has forced many of these businesses to innovate as they try to figure out new ways to get their products and services into the hands of customers who are largely confined to home.
First People to hire for any small business
Jeremy Chen from Good ThingsThe early stages of running a small business may see you flying solo and juggling several roles and responsibilities. Today you might be generating leads, tomorrow you’ll be budgeting funds and talking to investors.
Enabling activity-based working
Activity-Based Working (ABW) or agile working is a transformational business strategy that can create organisational benefits in terms of productivity, collaboration, the achievement of strategic objectives and corporate vision, and the wellbeing of employees. But if it isn't managed with people in mind first and foremost, there is a risk that the benefits of ABW won't be realised. Transformed Teams Founder, Nina Fountain unpacks what ABW really is and its enablers for success.
Is there such a thing as the ‘Bully Board Member’?
Most of people who volunteer to join a Not-For-Profit (NFP or For Purpose) Board because they hope to be involved in a process of change and make a difference. Whether it is a health or inclusion-
based cause or just to give people a voice – the board member wants to be part of that change.
What happens though, when one of those board members has firm opinions and will not listen to the opinions of others, or seems to be always influencing decisions or is disrespectful to other board members or staff? You might not think so, but you probably have a bully on your board.
This has obviously become an issue in the governance arena with the Fair Work Commissioner opening up workplace bullying laws to senior levels, including board members in 2017.
Tech Talk: First Steps to Securing Your Website
Probably the most overlooked aspect of managing your website is the fact that it needs to be secured on an ongoing basis. In this article we will cover what things need to be done as the beginnings of your security policy. A later article will cover more advanced topics such as content security policies, security headers and the like.
With security it is best to defend in depth. Defending in depth means that there are a number of barriers to overcome before access can be gained to a resource. This approach is to be chosen in preference to security through obscurity where you rely on hiding something to make it more secure.
Tech Talk: Why do I need a Digital Certificate for my Website?
In order for us to decide whether we need a digital certificate we first need to understand what it does. So let’s have a look first at some other acronyms that seem to crop up when it comes to digital certificates namely:
HTTP + SSL = HTTPS
(Hypertext Ttansfer Protocol Secure)(Secure Sockets Layer) (Hypertext Protocol)
HTTP deinfes how messages are transmitted between a visitor’s browser and a website’s server. SSL protects and encrypts information sent across the Internet and HTTPS encrypts the information sent between the browser and the server.
The human body - a design factor
Technology changes quickly but people don’t. No matter whether you’re designing a Facebook ad, infographic or a website; your design will either serve to hinder or benefit your audience. By understanding the people you aim to serve, you can create a better experience for them and a more profitable one for your business.
Here are some things to think about:
Tech Talk: 3 Free tools for monitoring your website
You have a shiny new website that is up and running. Now what? The first thing that you want to do is setup monitoring of your site. So in this article we will discuss setting up a few free online tools that will:
1. Tell you whether your website is online and accessible
2. Alert you when you have some errors in your pages
3. Provide you with insights into how your website is getting used and accessed
What is the impact of growth finance on SME's?
Did you know that there are more than 2.1 million SMEs registered in Australia? Unfortunately, according to the Banjo Small Business Finance Study, 27% state ‘availability of funding’ as a major concern. And the government are beginning to cotton on, too. Small business commissioner Mark Brennan believes that accessing adequate finance is “a major barrier to most businesses in Australia.” In his experience, businesses are often forced to borrow against personal assets, using credit cards, and even sourcing money from family and friends.
But growth finance has changed dramatically in the past decade, and it’s still changing. Here we look at the impact of growth finance on SMEs, including non-standard corporate finance techniques, and the realities of finding financial support post-GFC.