Big Data Is Not Just For Big Business

By Gary Evans

I was asked a couple of weeks ago to present to a group on Big Data. The target audience was C-level executives in the SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise) arena. Now in Ireland, this is a very different scale than that of the U.S. or larger European countries. Maximum size here for SME would be 250 employees; however, Ireland is the EU headquarters for the majority of the top 10 global tech companies. It’s important for these organisations to understand that Big Data is not restricted to large enterprises only, and they should not feel intimidated by the challenge that lies ahead.

I’ll admit straight away that I firmly believe everybody can gain value from Big Data in some way, shape or form, but you have to look at your organisation and see if it can meet the following criteria before you ever get started on the journey.

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     In-house Expertise: Do you have the in-house expertise to deliver on such a plan? Big Data projects require resources with deep technical and analytical skills, but also industry knowledge across many sectors. This is often referred to in the industry as a Data Scientist. Remember, they will be looking at data sets from many different sources and trying to piece them together to gain insight into your customer base and ultimately to add to the bottom line.

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     Financial ROI: Can you get the numbers to stack up financially? Or more importantly, do you have a deep enough understanding of how Big Data can work for your organisation? If the answer is no, then you need to rethink your Big Data strategy.

     

     While the organisations I meet with are not all global players, the data sets they create are vast and this is where companies of any size can start to unlock their value. In Ireland, Big Data is already at work in various industries.

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      Insurance affects every one of us. From car, to house, to health insurance, it all costs money and effective data management could provide significant reductions in premiums if used correctly. Take car insurance for example. Devices are now being installed in the cars of drivers who are just learning to drive and premiums are being customised from the results of this data. Through the manipulation of data sets, insurers can create policies based on accurate insight and complement the work done by actuaries. The actuary now has access to new real-time data that can provide much greater insight into the business. They can drive revenues but also price policies according to real-time metrics that can reduce premiums for the end user. It will get to the point that the insurer will know – based on the data – if a driver is going to make a claim and can then tailor the policy to suit.

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     Healthcare is a field that can benefit enormously from the data deluge. Imagine a world where all records, test results, and research were linked. RFID tags are now the norm in healthcare. These smart tags are used from streamlining patient flow, to reducing cost and inventory and preventing theft. Consultants now share data via mobile devices to allow for remote viewing of medical images. Take this to the next level and globally, the data sets are huge. Linking all of this data is the next step in the process. Global health data should be available to research institutes for in-depth analysis, thus leading to efficiencies in the healthcare system and ultimately, to finding cures and the effective prevention of terminal disease. The data is there, but the question remains if the right people are using it.

Banking and Finance is an industry that doesn’t move very quickly with new initiatives as it is highly regulated and has major security and privacy restrictions. Because of these factors, it usually takes some time to get things moving. That time has come. If you could predict what your customer was doing, could you add value and tailor marketing and solutions to meet their needs? Of course you could. This is not a risky business, but it will drive revenues and increase customer satisfaction.

Here at EMC EMC -0.26%, our internal IT department runs BAaaS – Business Analytics-as-a-Service. This introduces a new agile model for reporting and analytics. Data scientists and business analysts, by way of secure access to EMC’s global data sets, can now generate their own analytics reports on our infrastructure, and the results are back in minutes instead of hours or even days. This service allows business units to crunch their own data specific to their needs, which is where the real value is.

In my opinion, every organization should have access to such a system, but the question remains – do you build it yourself or pay for the service in the cloud? Well, that’s up to you, but the trick here is to not get left behind.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/emc/2013/09/10/big-data-is-not-just-for-big-business/

The Apprentices: Learn-By-Doing Entrepreneurship

It’s 6:45 a.m., and Ben Darr is coming back from the gym to a hideous smell from the refrigerator. A roommate shuffling past the kitchen shrugs. Another confirms the bad news: Last night, in a cleaning frenzy, someone moved the fridge and forgot to plug it back in. Darr just shakes his head and unloads the dishwasher.

That’s life at Enstitute, where 11 wannabe entrepreneurs, aged 18 to 25, are packed in a Lower Manhattan loft. Shopping, cooking, eating and cleaning together, they share one remote control and many secrets in three bedrooms at night. Come daylight, they’re off to work. Just under half the “kids” have already founded a company; only three have graduated from college. Maybe they’ll come out of this experiment knowing if they have the right stuff.

No one knows if you can really teach entrepreneurship. InSITE offers a one-semester mentorship in finance and tech to business and law students. Billionaire Peter Thiel pays kids $100,000 to drop out of college and pursue a startup idea. Enstitute’s edge: learning by doing for two years with a key founder—a model it will expand to three new cities next year.

Shaila Ittycheria, 31, and Kane Sarhan, 26, created Enstitute last year as a nonprofit, draining their savings and raising $300,000 from Boston Celtics co-owner Jim Pallotta and the deLaski Family Foundation, which backs social entrepreneurs. Sarhan handles fundraising, p.r. and recruiting companies. Ittycheria focuses on everything internal, taking care of the kids and overseeing the mentors, who include the likes of Fabian Pfortmüller of Holstee (a lifestyle brand) and Hilary Mason of Bitly (which shortens URLs for social). The mentor-entrepreneurs pay the apprentices $200 a week.

To get the matchups right, Enstitute spends months vetting apprentice candidates through video and in-person interviews, essays and self-assessment, then reaches out to startups that will offer real work—not to an “intern,” says Ittycheria, but to a “wingman.” Apprentices meet one-on-one with Ittycheria at least once a week. The review can be devastating. “Sometimes you think you’re doing great,” says one fellow, cringing. “Shaila’s always going to be the one to tell you when you’re wrong about that.”

How well is the program working, less than halfway through the first year? To find out I spent a couple of long workdays with Samman Chaudhary, 24, who is paired with entrepreneur, incubator and venture capitalist Mark Peter Davis, 34, and with Ben Darr, 20, who is attached to Thrillist Media Group’s Ben Lerer, 31.

It’s their first day in a rented work space on West 24th St., and the heat isn’t working. Chaudhary and Davis, who have worked together for five months, huddle at a single desk in a stark white office. “Pull up your PDP,” Davis says, referring to the personal development plan of skills to master. Last week, term sheets. This week, capitalization tables. It’s Fundraising 101.

“When you take an investment you issue new shares, and that increases the denominator,” Davis explains as Chaudhary builds a document and starts mocking up a series of investments. “I started as a VC, and someone said we needed a cap table, and I was like, ‘Whaaaat?’ I flailed for weeks before figuring it out,” he says. “Samman’s going to get it in two hours.”

Chaudhary was doing postgraduate work at Sheridan College in Toronto when she read about Enstitute while scrolling her Twitter feed during a dental checkup. She was a straight-A student but unsatisfied. Enstitute offered practical skills—and a pass to Manhattan. Davis’ habitat is New York’s Flatiron District, where he’s a partner in early-stage fund High Peaks Venture Partners and cofounder and board member of four companies via his incubator Interplay.

Two weeks into her apprenticeship Chaudhary says she felt she was doing great—showing up on time, completing every task with a smile. “I would have given myself a B+,” she says. Her mentor thought otherwise, telling Shaila at their first check-in that Samman was failing. “It was the wake-up call I needed, and it really changed the way Mark and I operate,” Chaudhary says. “I became 1,000% more proactive, and we now have a rule of the most brutal honesty.”

Chaudhary says she’s no longer sure whether she wants to found her own company—or continue her education. While she loves New York’s startup culture, she’s also interested in emerging markets. “If I have a brilliant idea and follow it, great,” she says. “If I move to China and keep learning, even better.”

Ben Darr, on the other hand, is hell-bent on becoming an entrepreneur. “After these two years I’ll be ready to start my own company,” he says. Can he survive the apprenticeship? He spent a restless two years of college at three very different schools. Working for someone else, he says, “is like staying at a friend’s house: It’s fun, you do cool stuff, but it’s still awkward every time you take something from the fridge.”

Check the full article on the next link:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2013/04/17/the-apprentices-learn-by-doing-entrepreneurship-at-enstitute-2/

Google launches the wearable computing device

Google Ventures is launching a new initiative to fuel the development of Google Glass called Glass Collective, in partnership with venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The three firms hope to fund a community of developers to make Google Glass the next major computing platform.

Google Glass is the wearable computing device that provides Internet content to the field of vision, along with photos, videos and speech-to-text technology. It’s not expected to be available to the public until later this year at the earliest. But Google plans to send the “explorer” version of the device to developers starting this month.

Bill Maris, managing partner at Google Ventures, had seen Glass as it has created and wanted to invest in the developers building companies and applications for Glass. So he invited Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz and John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins to form a group that will share information on deals in companies working on software, hardware, apps or related technology for Glass. Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins already are Google Ventures’ most frequent co-investors in deals overall, Maris said.

This partnership will not have a new venture fund dedicated to Glass, since the firms have enough capital to invest, Maris said. But the structure is notable. Each firm will make its own investment decisions and has no obligation to invest. And entrepreneurs have no obligation to take any of the other firms’ money. But each firm will send all Glass related deals that it comes across to the other two firms for them to review. It’s a rarity in the venture world, where firms typically jealously guard deals and entrepreneurs like state secrets.

So why would Google do this if it could theoretically just invest without forming this group? From Google’s perspective, the company likely wants to plant its flag and claim ownership of the field of “wearable devices” or “Internet of things,” which is likely the next major wave of computing after mobile. So forming a larger partnership is one way to do that.

“At Google Ventures we’re not beholden to the traditional way things are done… The plus (of that) is: we could think creatively about what we could do here,” Maris said at a press briefing at Google Ventures Wednesday in Mountain View, Calif.

Developers such as Path and Twitter are already very interested in developing for Glass, Doerr said. This new venture collective should spur that interest.

Kleiner Perkins has a close connection with Google and Andreessen. Doerr met Andreessen about 20 years ago when he was starting the Mosaic browser, which would become Netscape, a Kleiner investment. Then five years later, Doerr met Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and later invested. Doerr, who first saw Glass about 20 months ago in September 2011–which he describes in a blog post–says this could be a similar transformative technology. “It feels a little like getting the band back together again,” Doerr said. “More than any other platform I’ve seen, I can’t imagine what they’ll do with this. It’s really different. It’s really radically new.”

Andreessen said Glass would become a platform like the web browser and could become as ubiquitous as the mobile phone. “The same way the browser was a window to the Internet, Glass is a whole new window to the Internet and reality,” Andreessen said. Glass can also be compared to another technology breakthrough 20 years ago, Andreessen said: the 3D graphics technology used in the Steven Spielberg film, Jurassic Park.

There are a number of other wearable devices that are great products, such as GoPro, but few actually can become a platform, Andresseen said. Glass is one of them, he said. You need a company like Google to build an ecosystem around, he said.

Andreessen cited two potential uses of Glass: first for medicine: surgeons and paramedics could use Glass to instantly get information while working. Secondly, a “zombie game,” which would be a kind of augmented reality game where certain people on the street are zombies. “You’re just walking around outside and you’re in the game,” he said.

Google cofounder Sergey Brin, who has overseen the development of Glass, dropped into the press briefing wearing Glass after a bicycle ride. Asked for an example of how Glass would be used, he said he wanted a viewfinder for his single lens reflex camera. Looking into a viewfinder is awkward for high-end cameras, but looking through Glass would be much easier, he said. (Glass can already snap photos itself.) He also wants a Glass integration with bicycles to track things like riding time, distance and heart rate.

Doerr sees Glass as not just augmented reality but “amplified reality,” where every direction you look you see something through Glass. The big change he noticed in the latest version was the power of the voice input, and “how different it is to speak to the world.” (You can speak to do things in Glass like Google search, ask for directions, take a picture or send a message.) Doerr is excited about Glass applications for education as well as health care. He cited companies like Udacity and Coursera and Khan Academy that are working on education but sees Glass as adding a whole new layer to education.

Computing is moving towards becoming “simulation engines” that will eventually show you information in a 3D format, Doerr said. For example, for Stanford University a device could eventually show you a 3D map of the campus with real-time traffic information, information about your lecture room and the class there, information about the subject there, such as biology in 3D, and so on. Now with Google Glass, Doerr says, you can not only see that but you can be immersed in that data. “Now you’re in it.”

Maris, who used to work at a neurobiology wet lab, sees Glass being used for scientists to load protocols to review while working. He also said he recently spent a weekend with two people using Google Glass who took pictures with it. “I didn’t know what they were doing. At the end of the weekend, they showed me… It was horrifying and fun. That was transformative to me. You can see from Steve’s point of view. Nothing’s posed. You’re not picking up a camera and putting a wall between you. You’re able to capture moments with friends and family that’s a lot more authentic than I’ve been able to capture.”

As for how developers will make money on Google Glass, Maris said that’s not an immediate concern. “You build it first. If it’s really interesting and worthwhile something will come out of it,” Maris said.

Asked whether it’s weird to wear Google Glass, Maris said, “I challenge that notion. Lots of people wear glasses on their face.” He also said contact lenses were once thought to be strange.

Google has previously shown some applications of Google Glass with companies such as Path, Evernote and the New York Times. But this partnership is designed to open up interest much more broadly.

Kleiner Perkins has previously created the iFund for iPhone apps and the sFund for social startups. Andreessen Horowitz meanwhile has previously invested in the Start Fund which invested in all Y Combinator companies.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2013/04/10/google-launches-glass-collective-with-andreessen-horowitz-kleiner-perkins-to-fund-google-glass-startups/

San Andrés, mucho más que sol y playa

Un grupo de empresarios nacionales pudo comprobar que la isle de San Andrés es mucho más que sol y playa, gracias a su participación en la rueda comercial Turismo Negocia, que se realizó hoy en esta isla del Caribe colombiano y fue organizada por el Ministerio de Comercio, Industria y Turismo.

La iniciativa obedece a los esfuerzos que realiza esta cartera para generar contactos comerciales entre grandes operadores nacionales y pequeños empresarios locales, con el fin de aumentar la llegada de turistas a los diferentes destinos nacionales, y en este caso en particular, fortalecer la oferta turística del archipiélago colombiano.

“El Archipiélago de San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina es un destino maravilloso, por lo que nos hemos comprometido a hacerlo crecer de manera sostenible, con opciones invaluables de buceo, ecología y cultura. Y Turismo Negocia es una oportunidad para que el país conozca la oferta que allí existe”, ha insistido el Ministro Sergio Díaz-Granados.

En efecto, el director de la Federación de Ecoturismo (Fedec), Javier Gómez, quien asistió en calidad de comprador, manifestó que “hemos podido dar cuenta de la oferta relacionada con gastronomía, cultura, religión, naturaleza y buceo, una buena cantidad de oportunidades para promoción y negocios que se salen de las opciones tradicionales”.

En ello coincidió Patricia Morales, propietaria de Colombia Exótica, quien destacó el interés de los empresarios sanandresanos en darle valor agregado a sus servicios. En su caso particular, destacó que San Andrés cuenta con  opciones terrestres y bajo el mar que no conocía y que ahora ofrecerá a sus clientes.

Por su parte, Ana María Fajardo, directora ejecutiva del gremio hotelero de las islas, aseguró que la opción de participar en Turismo Negocia es una oportunidad única para los pequeños operadores locales. “Pocas veces tenemos la coyuntura de establecer contacto con empresarios de índole nacional con quienes podamos iniciar negocios para expandir nuestros servicios”, anotó.

Igualmente, la gobernadora de San Andrés, Aury Guerrero, aseguró que el evento, además de generar oportunidades de promoción y negocios, les permite a las autoridades locales medir la capacidad empresarial de la isla y establecer planes para mejorar la oferta actual.

“Es una forma de medirnos el aceite, de conocer qué necesitamos, qué debemos mejorar, en qué debemos innovar”, dijo.

Durante la versión de Turismo Negocia San Andrés se generaron 537 citas de negocios; en esta oportunidad participaron 35 empresarios de todo el país en calidad de compradores y 55 locales como vendedores.

http://www.xn--elisleo-9za.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5418:san-andres-mucho-mas-que-sol-y-playa&catid=51:turismo&Itemid=80

Paso a paso para renovar su matrícula mercantil

•  La Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá le recuerda a los empresarios qué deben tener en cuenta para renovar la Matrícula Mercantil, obligación que se debe cumplir antes del 31 de marzo.

• Antes de realizar la renovación de matrícula o de su establecimiento de comercio, sucursal o agencia, tenga en cuenta que primero debe realizar las siguientes verificaciones:

1. Tenga a la mano sus datos

Recuerde que a la hora de renovar su matrícula, usted deberá registrar los siguientes datos: Nombre o Razón Social, dirección, teléfono, tipo y número de identificación, correo electrónico y activos e información financiera.

2. Consulte o actualice su Código CIIU

Recuerde que, según la Resolución 139 de la DIAN, desde el 1º de diciembre de 2012, los interesados deben consultar o actualizar su Código CIIU de acuerdo con la nueva versión de actividades económicas que encontrará aquí

3. Actualice su información financiera y/o activos

Los datos que suministre deben corresponder a los del balance a 31 de diciembre del año anterior, aún en el caso de que se haga en cortes semestrales.

Establecimiento de comercio, sucursal o agencia: Escriba el valor de los activos que tiene vinculados. Esta cifra es la base para la liquidación del valor de su matrícula o renovación, de acuerdo con las tarifas establecidas por el Gobierno Nacional. Consulte las tarifas de este año aquí

4. Verifique el valor de las tarifas de los Registros Públicos

Pague el valor de su renovación de acuerdo con las tarifas de los Registros Públicos para este año.

5. Renueve de forma fácil y segura

Recuerde que usted puede realizar la renovación de su matrícula de forma fácil y segura a través de nuestro portal haciendo clic aquí o en cualquiera de nuestras sedes.

Fuente: Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá

Boom digital en Latinoamérica tras la muerte de Chávez

•      Socialeyes, empresa líder de monitoreo de medios sociales, presente en Colombia como compañía socia de Competencia Plus, realizó un análisis de las reacciones generadas en Venezuela, Colombia y Argentina, tras el fallecimiento del presidente Hugo Chávez.
•      Entre las 11:00 a.m. del 5 de marzo, antes del anuncio oficial del fallecimiento de Hugo Chávez, y hasta las 10:00 a.m. del 6 de marzo, los impactos en medios sociales fueron superiores a 4.000.000.
•     La plataforma más utilizada por los usuarios fue Twitter, seguida por los medios online (comentarios en los portales web de los periódicos), y Facebook.
•     Venezuela, Argentina y Colombia fueron los países de Latinoamérica con mayor actividad en redes sociales en reacción al anuncio del fallecimiento del presidente Hugo Chávez.

A través de un innovador servicio de monitoreo de redes sociales ofrecido en Colombia por Competencia Plus, se ha realizado un análisis del impacto originado desde las redes sociales a raíz del fallecimiento del presidente Hugo Chávez. El 5 de marzo, día en que se anunció el fallecimiento del presidente Hugo Chávez, ya se habían creado más de cuatro hashtags, desde los cuales millones de personas trinaron desde diferentes partes del mundo.

El pico de repercusiones se dio a las 19 horas del 5 de marzo con más de 1.900.000 menciones en Twitter, y Venezuela, fue el país que más actividad digital realizó frente a los demás países de Latinoamérica con un 63%. En todos los países, los comentarios se dividieron en mensajes a favor y en contra de la imagen del presidente venezolano, antes y después de ser anunciada su muerte.

Frases como “CHAVEZ te llevo en mi corazón, en mi sangre, no me creo esto, pero tu lucha Chávez es mi Lucha lo juro delante de Dios!!!” y “Me parece bien que diferentes medios hagan una cronología de la vida de Chávez, luego deberían hacerlo con todo lo que se burlo en 14 años!” son una muestra de la polarización que no sólo se vive en las calles de Venezuela.

En el caso colombiano, la mayoría de las repercusiones corresponden a noticias de tono informativo que son difundidas por los usuarios sin incorporar una opinión, o bien, por las cuentas oficiales de los medios tradicionales en Twitter y Facebook. Muchos comentarios mostraron su agradecimiento al presidente venezolano debido a su participación en negociaciones con las FARC; adicionalmente, el humor se hizo presente en comentarios que vinculan a una supuesta maldición de Simón Bolívar producto de que Chávez mandó a abrir el sarcófago del prócer en 2010.

El estudio fue realizado por Socialeyes, un servicio de Global News Group, y publicado en Colombia por su empresa socia Competencia Plus. Este tipo de herramientas ayuda a las grandes compañías a interpretar su exposición y grado de engagement, además de realizar análisis de inteligencia competitiva en los medios sociales.

Estrategias de marketing a base de georeferenciación

Mapcity lanza su nueva herramienta de información en Colombia, donde ofrece servicio de canales temáticos donde el usuario podrá obtener información de utilidad y de fácil acceso a través de Internet. M2M ha tenido la oportunidad de entrevistar a Javier Trout, KAM en MAPCITY.

Mapcity.com, empresa líder en Latinoamérica en tecnología Geobusiness Intelligent, lanza en Colombia su servicio de canales temáticos donde de manera fácil y eficaz se puede acceder a información que contribuya al día a día de los usuarios en las principales ciudades del país.

Un claro ejemplo es la utilización de este servicio gratuito para encontrar la localización y descripción de lugares de interés común como restaurantes, bares, bancos, parques, museos, bibliotecas, hospitales, clínicas, casas de cambio, centros comerciales, teatros, entre otros. Por ejemplo, si un usuario de la plataforma web desea ir a un restaurante de comida mediterránea, este servicio le puede brindar información de todos los lugares donde existe este tipo de comida con sus respectivas rutas de acceso.

Lo anterior es posible gracias al conocimiento de Mapcity de la cartografía, mapas y bases de datos que permiten brindar a los usuarios la mejor información desde sus computadores o tablets.

A través de su página www.mapcity.com.co los usuarios podrán encontrar estos canales temáticos y especializados que le ayudarán a encontrar servicios y actividades en la guía virtual.

"Mapcity presenta a los colombianos una herramienta innovadora para conocer información actual de su respectiva ciudad, a través de mapas digitales con múltiples alternativas para localizar las experiencias que ofrece el día a día de cada ciudad del país", afirma Daniel Cuervo, Gerente de Mapcity en Colombia.

Mapcity.com busca ser la primera red geosocial en Colombia para todo tipo de negocio u organización que represente una solución innovadora y real para el diseño de estrategias de marketing dirigidas a clientes, además de convertirse en una herramienta clave para la localización de lugares de interés común y especializados para los colombianos.

http://www.m2m.com.co/interna.asp?mid=1&did=4930&Id_Tarea=23439&

Email: clauss1011@gmail.com

5 consejos para elaborar un plan de marketing

Te presentamos una guía con los pilares para elaborar un plan de mercadotecnia que te ayude a posicionar tu producto.

Planes de marketing abundan en Internet, pero de todos esos “manuales” realizados por gurús de las grandes empresas muy poco es lo que se puede obtener en términos prácticos. “Establece tus objetivos", son algunas de frases que a menudo se repiten, sin ser lo bastante explícitos o profundos como para tener alguna validez cuando se llevan a la realidad.

Como una forma de terminar con esta repetición de consejos absurdos, Andrea Pallares de Puro Marketing creó una pequeña lista de elementos realmente importantes a considerar en este proceso. Tal vez hayas escuchado alguno, pero ¿Entendiste, y aplicaste, lo que te quisieron decir?

Se sencillo y breve

Los planes complejos no funcionan. Lo dijo Steve Jobs muchas veces durante sus discursos, incluso fue capaz de llevarlo a la usabilidad de sus teléfonos con gran éxito.

“Los planes con estrategias complicadas, que requieren de gran cantidad de requisitos y condiciones, o que cuestan de entender, no funcionan. Los planes con multitud de objetivos, que intentan abarcar y conseguir demasiadas cosas tampoco funcionan. Cuando más grande y complejo sea un plan, más probabilidades hay de que algo falle”, dice Pallares.

Por el contrario, los planes simples, con no muchos objetivos y que van "poco a poco" sin complicar las cosas demasiado son los que se cumplen y funcionan.

En este sentido, el consultor de Marketing Estratégico, Claudio Ponce, realiza un excelente aporte ideando un plan que cuenta con todo lo necesario y dista mucho de aquellos detalles que sólo sirven para confundir a quienes intentan llevarlos a cabo.

El plan se basa en 6 puntos: Planteamiento de los objetivos puntuales que se desean alcanzar (dependiendo de tu actividad), información sobre tus productos o servicios, información sobre la competencia, cómo está posicionado tu producto/servicio en el mercado, diseño de una guía en función de los objetivos planteados antes y, finalmente, la planificación de acciones en función de la estrategia planteada.

“Como podemos observar, la información sólo será una herramienta estratégica en función a los objetivos puntuales que la empresa necesita alcanzar, y el informe final no superará las 10 páginas”, dice Ponce.

La acción es lo más importante

Muchos se pasan horas y horas planeando lo que será el lanzamiento de un producto o tienda, pero cuando llega el momento de la acción, ya están aburridos, lo que es un grave error.

Según Pallares, “Al final son las acciones las que hacen avanzar todo. Todo plan que funciona está centrado en actuar, actuar y actuar. De manera constante y masiva. Si nos centramos en actuar y cada día damos un paso, haciendo algo que ayude a conseguir nuestros objetivos, llegaremos lejos”.

Entonces; podemos concluir que cuando realizamos una planificación, por ejemplo para redes sociales, lo importante es estipular un calendario con las actividades que realizaremos con tal de cumplir los objetivos (hora, cantidad, cuándo y cómo). Será esto lo más destacado del plan pues de ello dependerá realmente si nuestra estrategia tiene el efecto deseado.

Respecto de este tema, el texto “Cómo lograr acciones exitosas de marketing en redes sociales”, de Juan Merodio, es de gran utilidad.

Objetivos Claros

“Si no sabemos dónde vamos, no nos debe extrañar que no lleguemos nunca a nuestro destino. Por eso todo plan que es útil de verdad sabe perfectamente dónde quiere llegar, es decir, cuáles son los objetivos a alcanzar”, asegura Pallares.

Y tiene toda la razón. O más probable es que cuando tenemos un negocio, ingresamos a la redes sociales para darnos a conocer e incluso abrir nuestro campo a nuevas oportunidad de venta, como puede ser una tienda online. Sin embargo, muchos nunca se enteraron de la existencia de las aplicaciones de F-Commerce que existen en Facebook, que facilitan mucho esta tarea.

Yadira Monroy comenta en su blog yadiramonroy.com -específicamente en la nota “Errores En Tu Campaña De E-Mail Marketing”- cómo en sus comienzos cometía el error de reunir a muchas personas en torno a su e-mailing, sin tener claro para qué; lo que le hizo desaprovechar muchas oportunidades.

Todo plan de marketing te ocupará tiempo y otros recursos

Las personas obtienen tanto Marketing como empeño y recursos ponen en la tarea. Si posees un marketing al que sólo dedicas el “tiempo que te sobra” o bien pretendes conseguir millones de clientes sin invertir recursos monetarios en ello, entonces te estás auto-engañando.

Quizás suena a cuento –dicho por quienes se desempeñan en el departamento de marketing-, pero las empresas deben poner el marketing a la misma altura que el resto de las cosas importantes.

Según unos datos entregados por “ZavorDigital” respecto de Coca-cola, asegura que “Coca-cola invierte más dinero en publicidad que Microsoft y Apple juntos”. Aunque ello sería bastante difícil de especificar por la política que tiene la compañía de no difundir demasiado sus datos.

“El marketing es lo que nos consigue clientes, pocas cosas hay más importantes que eso en una empresa, con lo que debería estar entre nuestras primeras prioridades”, indica Pallares.

Aprender las reglas del juego

Este es quizás el consejo más importante al ahora de elaborar un plan de marketing para cualquier empresa: conocer de qué estamos hablando. Debes tomarte el tiempo de conocer al mercado, la competencia y al mismo contexto donde se ejecuta el plan de marketing, es decir la empresa.

Uno de los requisitos que Apple exige para una persona que opta a cualquier empleo dentro de la empresa es conocer sus productos y lo que opinan los usuarios de sus productos. BusinessInsider comenta que lo ideal es que los ingenieros lean un par de veces al día los comentarios que aparecen acerca de la marca en sitios dedicados al sector, como TechCrunch o el mismo BusinessInsider.

10 Characteristics of Superior Leaders

Do you have these essential traits?

Thousands of articles and books have been published describing what it takes to be a superior organizational leader. Some researchers and authors claim a superior leader possesses certain traits or abilities; others say it's all personality. Still others maintain it's the behaviors--not necessarily the intentions or thoughts--that are crucial.

Whatever your viewpoint, it boils down to this: successful leaders share the following characteristics or views:

1. Mission: Leaders know what their mission is. They know why the organization exists. A superior leader has a well thought out (often written) mission describing the purpose of the organization. That purpose need not be esoteric or abstract, but rather descriptive, clear and understandable. Every employee should be able to identify with the mission and strive to achieve it.
2. Vision: Where do you want your organization to go? A vision needs to be abstract enough to encourage people to imagine it but concrete enough for followers to see it, understand it and be willing to climb onboard to fulfill it.
3. Goal: How is the organization going to achieve its mission and vision and how will you measure your progress? Like a vision, goals need to be operational; that is specific and measurable. If your output and results can't be readily measured, then it will be difficult to know if you have achieved your purpose. You may have wasted important resources (time, money, people, and equipment) pursuing a strategy or plan without knowing if it truly succeeded.
    
4. Competency: You must be seen by your advisors, stakeholders, employees, and the public as being an expert in your field or an expert in leadership. Unless your constituents see you as highly credentialed--either by academic degree or with specialized experience--and capable of leading your company to success, it will be more difficult for you to be as respected, admired, or followed.
   
   Practically speaking, not all executives immediately possess all of the characteristics that spell success. Many leaders learn along the way with hard work. As crises and challenges arise, those at the top of the hierarchy have key opportunities to demonstrate to others that they are in fact, qualified to be leaders. In actuality, greater competency can be achieved as a leader gains more on-the-job experiences.
5. A strong team: Realistically, few executives possess all of the skills and abilities necessary to demonstrate total mastery of every requisite area within the organization. To complement the areas of weakness, a wise leader assembles effective teams of experienced, credentialed, and capable individuals who can supplement any voids in the leader's skill set. This ability is what sets leaders apart from others. However, the leader needs to be willing to admit he lacks certain abilities and go about finding trusted colleagues to complement those deficiencies. After building the team, the entrepreneur needs to trust that team to understand issues, create solutions, and to act on them.
6. Communication skills: It does little good to have a strong mission, vision, and goals--and even a solid budget--if the executive cannot easily and effectively convey his ideas to the stakeholders inside and outside of the organization. He must regularly be in touch with key individuals, by email, v-mail, meetings, or other forms of correspondence. Of course, the best way to ensure other people receive and understand the message is with face-to-face interactions.
   
   Getting out of the office or touring different sites is an irreplaceable method of building rapport and sending and receiving messages. "Management By Walking Around," or MBWA, meeting employees at their workstations or conference rooms, or joining them for lunch are just a few of the many effective approaches leaders can use to develop positive contacts with employees.
7. Interpersonal skills: Successful entrepreneurs are comfortable relating to other people; they easily create rapport and are at least more extroverted than they are introverted. These factors help leaders seem approachable, likeable, and comfortable in their position. Those qualities contribute to staff wanting to interact with their leader. They also help motivate employees to do a better job. When workers can relate to their boss, they believe that their boss is more concerned about them, with their performance, and with their output. Furthermore, they believe that they can go to their boss with problems they encounter on the job without fearing consequences for not knowing how to resolve issues.
   
   Not all entrepreneurs are adept at interpersonal skills. Those that aren't, might find it helpful to take a course, choose a mentor or locate a therapist to help them build interpersonal skills. The intangible cost is too high to not improve these abilities. In addition, here's where a strong team comes into play. The less experienced leader who is still learning these skills can rely on the team to get out and to "press the flesh," interact with employees, and spread a positive attitude to help develop morale.
8. A "can do, get it done" attitude: Nothing builds a picture of success more than achievement, and achievement is the number one factor that motivates just about everyone across all cultures. When employees see that their boss can lead and direct, has a clear vision and attainable goals, and actually gains results in a timely manner, then that person's credibility increases throughout the organization. Entrepreneurs must modestly demonstrate their skills to give their constituents valid reasons to appreciate and value their efforts.
9. Inspiration: Quite often, employees need someone to look up to for direction, guidance, and motivation. The entrepreneur needs to be that person. Hopefully, Human Resources has hired self-motivated individuals. Nevertheless, there are times, when many employees need the boss to inspire them by word or action. Employees need someone to look up to, admire, and follow. Even when the production or delivery of services looks like "it is all going well," the leader may at times need to step in personally to offer a suggestion or encouragement to ensure that employees perform their jobs in an optimal manner.
10. Ambition: Resting on your laurels is bad for employee morale and entrepreneurial credibility. Employees need to be constantly striving for improvement and success; and they need to see the same and more in their leaders. When the boss is seen as someone who works to attain increasingly higher goals, employees will be impressed and more willing to mirror that behavior. It's a win-win for everyone.

The basic message in this article is that you as the owner/entrepreneur need to "be out there" for your employees. Continually demonstrate to them why and how you earned the position you now hold. Communicate with them using any of a variety of methods that show them you are worthy of being followed. Make that process inspiring and positive and you can almost guarantee that your results will be consistent with your efforts.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/204248