5 Tips for Choosing the Right Enterprise Social Platform - Business ...

This story originally appeared?here?in the?October issue?of?Business Review Australia?magazine.

Written by Matt Cameron, General Manager, Asia Pacific at Yammer Inc.

Employees across the world, at companies of all sizes and in every industry, are witnessing a major cultural shift to a more open and transparent workplace. Fuelling this trend is the social media revolution pioneered by Facebook and Twitter. However, the potential for social networking to enrich communication and engagement inside the workplace is even greater.

The benefits are clear: enterprise social networks (ESNs) help employees to collaborate across departments, geographies and organisations, breaking down silos while fostering more engaged employees. ESNs also offer a means of aligning knowledge workers to a company?s mission, values and overall strategy. Finally, employees can work together better and smarter by socialising their business operations.

The question, then, is how do IT and business leaders determine which social enterprise tool is right for their organisation? Moreover, how can they ensure that rolling out an internal social network will help them carry out everyday business priorities such as growth, talent retention, cost optimisation and innovation?

While use cases for social business vary from company to company, there are five key requirements for selecting an enterprise social network that should not be overlooked:

1. Inspires voluntary adoption -- One of the biggest mistakes companies make in choosing social software is mandating solutions without consulting the end users -- the employees themselves. Because collaboration is an activity that requires voluntary participation, you cannot force employees to share. If employees do not adopt the software voluntarily, there are no business benefits. On the contrary, when IT gives end users a choice and employees are able to select a social platform they actually want to use, it is much more likely that companies will see tangible business results and an increase in productivity. Furthermore, organisations can prove adoption and engagement before making a more significant investment in the technology.

2. Socially connects all of your enterprise systems -- When choosing a social business tool, don?t look for an add-on. A successful social enterprise seamlessly connects all systems of record so that users do not have to switch back and forth between third party business applications. For example, many large organisations use separate departmental tools for CRM, ERP and document management. An effective social platform will link all of these systems together, creating one searchable, discoverable knowledge base through which all employees can communicate and collaborate in real-time. Moreover, employees must be able to take action on this third-party data from within the enterprise social network, simplifying the process of getting work done across departmental apps.

3. Scales across your customers, employees and partners -- Enterprise social networking is no longer just for internal communications; it is also for external collaboration among customers, partners, agencies and suppliers. It is crucial to evaluate your communication needs to determine with whom your company communicates on a day-to-day basis, and over what channels you currently do so. Perhaps you use email to work with your PR agency, instant messaging to speak with development partners and Twitter to respond to customers. Look for a platform that will streamline communication with external parties, while also boosting efficiency internally. Next generation social enterprises are implementing enterprise social networks to collaborate with internal and external audiences of all sizes.

4. Offers robust administrative controls -- While voluntary adoption allows end users to choose a user-friendly platform, the chosen solution must be secure. A sound social platform allows you to:

• Manage your network -- Bulk provision users, sync with directories, set usage policies
• Control Your Data -- Track sensitive content, export data for eDiscovery
• Secure Your Users -- Enable single sign-on, set password policies, restrict access

5. Resources for customer success -- Enterprise social networks have the potential to drive business alignment and agility, reduce cycle times, increase employee engagement and improve relationships with customers and affiliates, but this doesn?t always happen overnight. A successful social enterprise thrives with the support of social business consultants who can impart implementation best practices and offer ongoing training and support. Taking advantage of additional resources such as customer communities and real-time analytics can also help organisations optimise their social channels. Deploying new technologies enterprise-wide is always a significant undertaking, but harnessing the expertise of social business professionals will greatly enhance both short and long term ROI.

Business and IT have to meet in the middle to choose a solution that is both user-friendly and technically secure. When the right tool is selected, embracing the new social enterprise is a win for executives and employees alike.

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Matt Cameron is responsible for ensuring the continued success of existing Yammer customers in APAC as well as building out the local sales and customer success teams to address the considerable growth opportunities in the region. Prior to joining Yammer, Matt served as co-founder and CEO of WhoTo, a sales intelligence tool that leverages the Linkedin graph and semantic analysis of web data to provide salespeople with competitive insights and customer activity monitoring. Matt also held sales and marketing positions at Salesforce.com, EDS NZ Ltd., Gen-i and Hewlett-Packard.

Source: http://www.businessreviewaustralia.com/marketing/social-media/5-tips-for-choosing-the-right-enterprise-social-platform

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Meningitis outbreak toll: 119 cases, 11 deaths

NEW YORK (AP) ? The number of people sickened by a deadly meningitis outbreak has now reached 119 cases, including 11 deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the count on Tuesday.

New Jersey is the 10th state to report at least one illness. The other states involved in the outbreak are Tennessee, Michigan, Virginia, Indiana, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina and Ohio.

Officials have tied the outbreak of rare fungal meningitis to steroid shots for back pain. The steroid was made by a specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts. At least one contaminated vial was found at the company.

The company recalled the steroid that was sent to clinics in 23 states, and later recalled everything it makes.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-10-10-Meningitis%20Outbreak/id-f6b5bd84e4b946778de1d295c50a07b1

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Bizelo: Customizable Apps Built for Small Businesses | Small ...

Many small businesses use spreadsheets for everyday tasks like inventory management and accounting. Most know that this may not be the most efficient method, but software built specifically with these tasks in mind is often geared toward larger companies, and has the price tag to match.

That?s where Bizelo comes in. Bizelo is a startup that offers individual apps for different business functions. The company and its offerings were built specifically for small businesses, so the features are simple and minimal, and apps cost just $25 per month.

Said founder Ron Schmelzer:

?Most small business owners don?t want a thousand-dollar product with thousands of features, they want a simple product with three or four features that is priced appropriately.?

Currently, the company offers four different types of apps: inventory management, supply management, returns management, and accounting sync. But it has plans to add at least 12 more apps by early next year.

Said Schmelzer:

?Eventually we?d like to have a supply of hundreds of apps that small businesses can pick and choose from, but for now we?re starting with a few simple ones that we think can benefit a lot of small companies.?

The apps ?snap? together so that companies can keep all of their data in one place, but can customize the service to fit the needs of their industry without having to navigate around a bunch of unnecessary and unused features aimed at different types of businesses.

So for example, businesses that have an online store and a local storefront can use the inventory management app to sync and manage the inventory of both stores. But other businesses may just have an online store or multiple online stores, maybe on different platforms such as Ebay or Etsy. These different business models can all use the same app and just customize it to their own needs.

Schmelzer compared the concept behind Bizelo, which launched its first app in 2011, to that of Salesforce, but said the functions behind the two are completely different. Where Salesforce is often used for customer management tasks, Bizelo can provide a similar platform for the back office tasks like supply and inventory.

Though there are programs available for each of the functions of Bizelo?s apps, this concept allows for businesses to keep all or most of their data in one place. And once the company releases more apps, there could possibly be even more business functions that Bizelo can help companies manage.

About Annie Pilon

Annie Pilon is a freelance writer specializing inmarketing, social media, and creative topics. When she?s not writing for her various freelance projects or her personal blog Wattlebird, she can be found exploring all that her home state of Michigan has to offer.

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Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/10/bizelo-customizable-apps-for-small-businesses.html

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The Relationship between Digital Footprint Management and Internet

?Digital footprint? is a term used to describe someone?s online presence. Over the past few years, there have been a multiple of reports which suggest a link between digital footprints and Internet security risks. The list of content available online is seemingly endless. This gives the average person the ability to quickly amass a large digital footprint and be exposed to multiple Internet security threats.

What is Digital Footprint?

The first step is understanding exactly what a digital footprint is. In the most general terms, it refers to the total amount of content on the Internet which is associated with a specific individual. Since it is online, anyone has the ability to find it with a quick search. Some of the most common content associated with the average person includes family videos on video sharing sites, comments on the news, blogs, and social media, photos of friends and family, and daily social media interaction. All of this information can create an internet security risk if it falls into the wrong hands.

What is Internet Security?

Internet security encompasses a variety of protection techniques which have been developed to prevent any threat associated with the Internet. These threats include everything, ranging from viruses to complex social engineering schemes. In relation to a person?s digital footprint, the most common Internet security threats result in data theft. The more available online information about someone, the easier it is for hackers and identity thieves to crack passwords and take over personal accounts.

3 Steps to Managing a Digital Footprint and Reducing Internet Security Risks

Map Footprint

The first step in managing a digital footprint and minimizing the related Internet security threats is by understanding how large the footprint actually is. The best place to get started is by making a list of all of the social networking sites and personal accounts a person has signed up for. Included in this list should be the name of the website, user names, aliases, and passwords. Once this list has been compiled, do a quick search on multiple search engines to ensure the entire footprint has been mapped out.

Clean Up the Current Digital Footprint

Once the digital footprint has been mapped out, it is time to take proactive steps to get it under control and address current internet security risks. The easiest way to clean up a digital footprint includes removing photos, content, and the links which are either inappropriate or reveal too much personal information. Another important step is minimizing the access other people have to personal information. For example, on social media sites the best solution is taking advantage of the block comments feature as well as setting the user profile to ?private?.

Manage Interactions with Others

The final step is taking a look at how a person interacts with others. It is important to become more selective about the platforms a person participates in. Certain codes of conduct should also be put into practice, such as minimizing or eliminating references to places of employment, job functions, and sensitive personal information. This minimizes the exposure of Internet security threats.

About the Author: Ted Legg is a writer with an interest in various internet services and technologies such as VPNs for China. His articles provide information on online security, privacy, and freedom.

Biz Tech Rave Editor

Ivan Widjaya is the Owner/Editor of BizTechRave.com. He is a web business owner, business blogger and web business builder. You can follow Ivan Widjaya on Google+.

Source: http://www.biztechrave.com/2012/10/10/the-relationship-between-digital-footprint-management-and-internet-security.html

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Samsung confirms Galaxy S III Mini unveiling on October 11th [updated]

Two trends are becoming more and more prevalent with Samsung?s (005930) smartphones as time moves on: They?re getting bigger and they?re getting more popular. Despite the success seen by ?phablets? like the Galaxy Note and Galaxy S III, however, Samsung has seemingly acknowledged that some users prefer a flagship handset in a more manageable package. The company has now confirmed that it plans to launch a smaller Galaxy smartphone dubbed the Galaxy S III Mini, and the device will be unveiled during a press conference in Europe on Thursday, October 11th.??We?ll unveil the 4 inch Galaxy S III Mini in Germany on October 11th,? a company spokesperson told Engadget. Earlier rumors suggested that the new handset will be much like the current Galaxy S III smartphone but it will feature a smaller 4-inch display, placing it in direct competition with?Apple?s?(AAPL)?iPhone 5.

UPDATE: An image of the Galaxy S III has now been published by MobileGeeks?alongside preliminary specs, which follow below.

Rumored specs include a?4-inch Super AMOLED display with 800 x 480-pixel resolution, a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, a 5-megapixel camera and a 399-Euro price tag excluding taxes and subsidies.

Read

Get more from BGR.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-confirms-galaxy-iii-mini-unveiling-october-11th-114004657.html

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Nobel physics prize highlights quantum optics

STOCKHOLM?? A French-American duo shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for inventing methods to observe the bizarre properties of the quantum world ? research that has led to the construction of extremely precise clocks and helped scientists take the first steps toward building superfast computers.

Serge Haroche of France and American David Wineland opened the door to new experiments in quantum physics by showing how to observe individual quantum particles without destroying them.

A quantum particle is one that is isolated from everything else. In this situation, an atom or electron or photon takes on strange properties. It can be in two places at once, for example. It behaves in some ways like a wave. But these properties are instantly changed when it interacts with something else, such as when somebody observes it.

Working separately, the two scientists, both 68, developed "ingenious laboratory methods" that allowed them to manage and measure and control fragile quantum states, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

"Their ground-breaking methods have enabled this field of research to take the very first steps towards building a new type of superfast computer based on quantum physics," the academy said. "The research has also led to the construction of extremely precise clocks that could become the future basis for a new standard of time."

Background: Nobel-winning physics explained

Haroche is a professor at the College de France and Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. Wineland is a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado.

The two researchers use opposite approaches to examine, control and count quantum particles, the academy said. Wineland traps ions ? electrically charged atoms ? and measures them with light. Haroche controls and measures photons, or light particles, by sending atoms through a specially prepared trap.

Haroche said he was out walking with his wife when he got the call from the Nobel judges.

"I was in the street and passing a bench so I was able to sit down," Haroche told a news conference in Stockholm by telephone. "It's very overwhelming."

He said his work in the realm of quantum physics could ultimately lead to unimaginably fast computers, with atoms that can essentially be in two different states at the same time. "You can do things which are prohibited by the laws of classical physics," he told The Associated Press.

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Haroche also said quantum research could help make GPS navigating systems more accurate.

'Got a lot smarter'
Wineland told AP he was sleeping when his wife answered the phone at 3:30 a.m. local time in Denver. He was utterly shocked even though his name had come up before. "But actually I hadn't heard anything this time around. It was certainly surprising and kind of overwhelming right now," he said. "I feel like I got a lot smarter overnight."

Wineland took pains to note that many people are working in the field. "First of all, a lot of people have been working on advanced computers and atomic clocks for a long time. It's a bit embarrassing to focus on just two individuals," he said.

Asked how he will celebrate, Wineland said: "I'll probably be pretty worn out by this evening. I'll probably have a glass of wine and fall asleep."

Christopher Monroe, who does similar work at the Joint Quantum Institute at the University of Maryland, said the awarding of the prize to the two men "is not a big surprise to me. ... It was sort of obvious that they were a package."

Monroe said that thanks to the bizarre properties of the quantum world, when he and Wineland worked together in the 1990s, they were able to put a single atom in two places simultaneously.

At that time, it wasn't clear that trapping single atoms could help pave the way to superfast quantum computers, he said. That whole field "just fell into our laps,'" Monroe said.

In an ordinary computer, information is represented in bits, each of which is either a zero or a one. But in a quantum computer, an individual particle can essentially represent a zero and a one at the same time ? that is, until the result is read out. If scientists can make quantum bits, or "qubits," work together, certain kinds of calculations could be done with blazing speed.

One example is prime factorization, the process of discovering which two prime numbers can be multiplied together to produce a given number. That has implications for breaking the encryption codes that provide the foundation for today's secure financial transactions. However, quantum encryption could open the way for a new generation of secure communication tools as well.

Quantum computers could radically change people's lives in the way that classical computers did last century, but a full-scale quantum computer is still decades away, the Nobel judges said. "The calculations would be incredibly much faster and exact, and you would be able to use it for areas like meteorology and for measuring the climate of the earth," said Lars Bergstrom, the secretary of the prize committee.

The physics prize was the second of the 2012 Nobel Prizes to be announced, with the medicine prize going Monday to stem cell pioneers John Gurdon of Britain and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka. Each award is worth 8 million kronor, or about $1.2 million.

The prizes are always handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.

More about quantum physics:

AP science writer Malcolm Ritter in New York, Lori Hinnant in Paris, and James Anderson and Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this report. The report was also supplemented by NBC News.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49339942/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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HBT: What happened to the SF offense?

The stunning thing about the Giants? success this year was the way the offense fueled the team in the second half, even with All-Star Game MVP Melky Cabrera gone due to suspension.

The Giants ranked third in the NL with 380 runs scored in the second half. Only the Brewers (392) and Nationals (383) were better, and no other team was within 20 runs of San Francisco.

The pitching wasn?t bad either, ranking sixth with 303 runs allowed during the same span. However, considering that AT&T played as a very good pitcher?s park this year, the offense was even better than the raw run total suggests, while the pitching wasn?t quite as good.

Unfortunately, through two games against the Reds, the Giants haven?t gotten a lot of hitting or pitching. Still, it?s the offense that?s been especially disappointing, particularly after the Giants caught a break in Game 1 when Johnny Cueto left in the first. Completely unable to capitalize, the Giants scored just two runs then and were later shut out by Bronson Arroyo and company on Sunday.

Summer acquisition Hunter Pence has been the biggest culprit, racking up dreadful at-bats behind Buster Posey in the order. He?s 0-for-8 so far. The lineup?s first three hitters ? Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro and Pablo Sandoval ? are a combined 3-for-26.

Changes seem unlikely. The two most vulnerable players in the Giants? order ? first baseman Brandon Belt and left fielder Gregor Blanco ? have actually looked the best of anyone besides Posey.?Belt walked twice Saturday and had the only hit off Arroyo on Sunday. Blanco was 2-for-3 with a walk Saturday. No one else is likely to suddenly take a seat.

The Giants are probably doomed now, but perhaps the change of scenery to Cincinnati will do the team some good. The Giants hit 31 homers and averaged 3.8 runs per game at home this year, compared to 72 homers and 5.1 runs per game on the road.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/08/offenses-disappearing-act-leaves-giants-on-cusp-of-elimination/related

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