Author Archives: WSS

COMING SOON: Science & Innovation: 11 Ways to Orchestrate Your Next Job!

Posted by WSS on May 1, 2021   |   Comments Off on COMING SOON: Science & Innovation: 11 Ways to Orchestrate Your Next Job!

Author’s Note: This blog has been adopted into a Job Seeking book which will be announced and published in the upcoming months. The book, which is written and designed, is going through the final review process. Stay tuned! 

Explore Featured Assets:
 – Target Multiple Organization – Template
– Interview Preparation Sheet >>
– Job Interview Preparation: A Winning Formula!
– Networking Preparation
– Interviewing Tips

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Whether you’re a new graduate or long-time worker the best practices required to succeed have many common characteristics.

In sales and business development you must sell a product, solution, or service while in the job hunt you must sell one thing: yourself.

Back in the day, when I graduated from Drexel University, it was beyond hard to find a job that I truly enjoyed. Years later I learned that my graduating class landed in the middle of a BIG recession which added to the challenge.  My path took me on travels through Europe, Middle East, and Hawaii over a year’s time so it was not easy to jump start my career upon my return.

While I found work it was more about “settling” vs. directing my searches. After paying a former professor big money to coach me in “how to get a job” I made a vow, “If I ever learned how to find a job” based on a scientific and innovative approach, “I would share it with others who would follow in this path.“

As a result, I have compiled this top 11 list for all who are interested:

  1. NETWORK:  Identify successful people who are in the field that interests you. Make connections and request “informational interviews” to learn about how they got in their positions and background on the challenges they face.  Ask for referrals and knowledge; understand that they “may not have a job” or know of one but they can point you in the right direction. Send everyone who helps you a thank you!
  2. TRENDS:  Research compelling business issues and marketplace conditions which impact organizations that you are targeting. Send notes to those quoted and their teams to make meaningful connections on current and emerging opportunities. Find out where investments are taking place – “Follow the money!”
  3. TARGET:   Confirm a target list of companies and roles that interest you. Connect with the economic decision makers (i.e. VITO = “Very Important Top Officers“) and their teams around posted and non-posted opportunities. Minimize primarily going to Human Resources and Job Board postings. See book list below.
  4. PLAN:  Develop a spreadsheet which tracks your progress. Set goals for each day and week and show your progress to yourself and perhaps one or two friends (or coaches) (Review: JOB_PLANNING_TEMPLATE). Learn the proper way to prepare for an interview.
  5. TIME UTILIZATION: Spend 70% of your time networking and outreach (on-line and in person), 15% with recruiters, 15% with job boards (i.e. Monster.com, etc.).  Too many job seekers have these time ratios in reverse and don’t take charge of their own destiny. Note: If you see a job on a job board focus on a 3 prong approach: (1) Post; (2) Identify who you know (i.e. alumni / friend / colleague; (3) Confirm the economic decision maker. 
  6. SOCIAL MEDIA:  Update you’re Social Media sites such as  LinkedIn and others so they can help you network and build your brand. Makes sure your resume is impeccable and consider new ways to connect including Twitter, YouTube videos, thought leadership blogs as well as building your own website to showcase your skills, work experience and related professional passions. Take down any photos from your sites that are not professional. Prospective employers will check out your Facebook / Social Media posts.
  7. ALUMNI:  Leverage the resources that you have earned as a graduate of a university.  Reach out to your alumni office and career services; make connections via the directory, events, and/or volunteer opportunities.
  8. VOLUNTEER:  Provide weekly and monthly service to a non-profit (i.e. association) or charity around the skills and work experience that you have now or seek to secure in your next job. Find a cause that connects you to leaders, professionals, and the community. Also, make sure you have some part-time work that pays a few dollars as well.
  9. PERSIST:  Expect to receive rejection and a few set backs. When you run into trouble step back and move ahead. It takes small steps to achieve goals; understand there is a process – you can not easily (or practically) leap frog to the end result; start with the end in mind. Remember the famous saying, “When one door closes another will open.”
  10. ACCOUNTABILITY: Accept self ownership. No one owes you a job.  You must wake up each day and make forward progress. Stay disciplined and focused and the results you seek will come to you…but they may take a bit longer then you would like… remember, “patience is a virtue” (just not too much of it!)
  11. 3 PRONG APPROACH:  When you post for a position (i.e. LinkedIn, Indeed, Job Board) make sure you ask yourself:  Who do I know or connect to (i.e. Alumni)? Who is the top economic decision maker (i.e. VITO, CEO, Chief Marketing, Finance, Operations, Information Officer or their teams)?

As you contemplate this list ask yourself what are you passionate about? Where do your skills, education, and work experiences point you to?

Think of a job as an exchange of time and services in return for money. What can you provide that is worth the time and money to an employer who is investing in you?

During your search create small amounts of value along the way. Give your skills to others for free in small amounts. Chip away and success will be yours!

Remember…everything on this list takes time and hard work.

Over the years when I have shared these points with friends and colleagues looking for work they yield results 100% of the time, BUT only a small percent are willing to do what it takes.

It takes discipline and persistence to search for the right position.

If you are willing to climb the steps vs. expect an easy elevator ride to the top than you can secure a great job based on a proven scientific methodology and practicing an innovative approach along the way.

Reading List:
Selling to VITO (“Very Important Top Officer”) – Anthony Parinello
Winners Dream – Bill McDermott
Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill

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Richard D. Blumberg, President, World Sales Solutions, writes this series of blogs to help senior executives and their teams, leaders, influencers, educators, and students develop effective strategies and tactical execution which results in more revenues, profits, growth, jobs, and value. More >>

 
 
 

 

Elevating SAP Collaboration with Microsoft Teams and SharePoint

Posted by WSS on July 17, 2020   |   Comments Off on Elevating SAP Collaboration with Microsoft Teams and SharePoint

Originally published on the SAP Community.

When SAP and Microsoft announced they are building integrations to Microsoft Teams across solutions many of us were inspired. With the new reality of remote and hybrid work, the importance of elevating collaboration has grown significantly.

While the advancements of this integration are impressive, it is important to deploy these solutions the right way to achieve tangible business outcomes.

Since today’s globally distributed workers are no longer confined to office buildings, the “workplace” has transformed into a digital “workspace” allowing colleagues to meet, collaborate, and connect virtually across organizational boundaries. A great user experience is a necessity versus a “nice to have.”

Christian Klein, SAP CEO and member of the Executive Board, said it best that this partnership will address, “New ways of working, collaborating and interacting to completely transform how we operate,” and bring collaboration to the next level.

Collaboration is changing rapidly. Each of us are collaborating more often, increasingly mobile, and working on a schedule that enables us to connect more virtually.

Disparate information kept in silos and organized in ad-hoc ways becomes an impediment to performance and productivity. One of the challenging things to do is to keep Microsoft Teams and SharePoint, along with the SAP portfolio, organized so that the content is valuable to users.

Thoughtful leaders step back and ensure that SAP Collaboration represents how the business works both in the short-term and going forward.

The Information Architecture Pre-Request 

Each time you create a new Microsoft Teams you automatically get SharePoint with the Microsoft 365 Apps including Power App, Power BI, OneNote, and Exchange with email and calendaring.

Project teams working with SAP applications such as SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Digital Supply Chain, SAP SuccessFactors and learning communities, SAP CRM and Customer Experience, Industry 4.0 solutions and/or SAP Activate Methodology should prioritize and implement a well-planned information architecture as a pre-request for a high quality, high-performing intranet, central hub, or group.

It’s important to understand the audience and help them find what they need quickly to support them in getting their work completed efficiently. One expert once referred to it as “help the user get to where they need to go in ONE CLICK versus many clicks and endless folders to assist in completing a task.”

Putting in the time to address Information Architecture helps improve user satisfaction and adoption while reducing information overload.

Customer-Centric Enablement

In this video, “Remove Barriers for Your Sales Teams with SAP and Microsoft it shows the power of the integration,” there are many exciting front-line capabilities, but the power is in the information architecture that supports the tangible outcomes.

Could a sales, marketing, consultant, pre-sales, operations, services or other front-line worker to customers, strategic partners or suppliers have everything they need by primarily using their own individual OneDrive or SharePoint?

Clearly, they need the right resources (“assets”), at the right time for effective engagement including:

  1. Access – Enable secure private, enterprise, and/or external access.
  2. Central Hub – Deploy one location for individuals, teams, and the enterprise to find pertinent information.
  3. Teamwork – Allow for collaboration, chat, video conferencing, calls, meetings, and surveys.
  4. Content – Ensure easy to find central hub for content, information, contributions, and useful links.
  5. Components – Leverage multiuse calendars, planning, notebooks, and other tools and web parts.
  6. Collaboration – Microsoft Teams, comments, surveys, discussion treads, and news updates.
  7. Communications – Engagement and outreach to bring the audience to the central hub and share news, planning, announcements, updates, and access to key assets.
  8. Continuity – Plan that the collaboration continues versus the initial excitement and the investment in a quality set-up drop off months later.

When these items are brought together in full or part, the sum is truly greater than the parts.

Digital Transformation Realized with SAP Collaboration

Collaboration is nothing new and yet it remains a critical success factor for every organization.

Enabling workers to leverage and build upon the work of others is a fundamental principle. When team members work in a silo, they reduce productivity and have a higher probability of duplicating efforts.

With SAP Collaboration, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint the goal is to…

  • Help elevate workers to take advantage of modern platforms and digital transformation environments
  • Increase high quality teamwork, cooperation, and communications
  • Impact the value, growth, revenues, services, and outcomes with a focus on exceeding customer satisfaction.

Working together, people feel more connected to their work and their organization.

With these integration capabilities in place, combined with a well-deployed information architecture, users will always have access to the right content at the right time, to find what they are looking for more quickly and consistently, and support their business requirements.

Why CEOs Should Care About SAP Work Zone Collaboration During Challenging Times

Posted by WSS on June 27, 2020   |   Comments Off on Why CEOs Should Care About SAP Work Zone Collaboration During Challenging Times
Originally published in the SAP Community.

Almost every CEO and their leadership teams are attempting to figure out how to make their business more efficient during the COVID-era which is a big pivot from business as usual.

When we look back at the 2008 global recession there were many lessons learned.In 2020 and beyond, this pandemic has even greater impact to employees, customers, suppliers, and partners.

Everyone is affected around the world. Collaborating is more important than ever. Working remotely is our new reality both now and by way of preparedness going forward.

Many key priorities are impacted including:

  • Crisis Communications
  • Upskilling and Learning Hubs
  • Digital Supply Chain
  • Re-positioning Products & Services
  • Regulatory Compliance & Safety
  • And other important use cases

What we are seeing is that CEOs and their teams should take the time during this crisis to sow the seeds for lasting change by assessing how SAP Jam can be part of their immediate and future readiness roadmap to support business continuity.

Many high priority business processes, use cases and/or scenarios are fragmented. With SAP Jam, organizations can have a central hub to make it easier for users to find the right information at the right time.

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Solutions such as video conferencing, instant messaging and team-based chat do not solve the challenge of providing a platform to collaborate, engage, re-train staff and enable the business process that impact value and tangible outcomes.

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In speaking to customers they continue to use SAP Jam to achieve tangible results reflected in a Forrester Report, “The Total Economic Impact of SAP Jam” sighting:

  • 16% decrease in time-to-access of information and expertise
  • 19% reduction in the cost and time to train and onboard new employees who need key information
  • 14% faster time-to-resolution for internal team support issues and FAQs enabling faster expansion of the business
  • 10% reduction in time to close deals by providing go-to-market and supporting wins as part of the sales process shaving off time across all team members involved in deal development

For those organizations who were part of this study (& others) information, data, and expertise which was once siloed and difficult to access and share widely across the enterprise, can now be found and put into action by way of a centralized collaboration platform.

During a pandemic there is a lot of uncertainty. Organizations’ ability to share ideas and connect, communicate, collaborate, and engage employees, customers, and stakeholders with the right information and processes is more important than ever.

In an era where we’re all forced to transform to a “new normal,” SAP Jam collaboration helps customers address business continuity during this time of change.

About the Author

Richard D. Blumberg is the President of World Sales Solutions, LLC (WSS) and an SAP Jam consulting services practice leader. He provides over 2 decades of thought leadership on a variety of “View from the Top” strategies including: Enterprise Social Business, Go-to-Market Strategies, Business Development, Talent Development, and Community Building.  He and his team are recognized SAP Jam global experts for implementations, innovation, and adoption.

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Purpose-Driven Design for the SAP Build Work Zone Digital Learning User Experience

Posted by WSS on April 30, 2020   |   Comments Off on Purpose-Driven Design for the SAP Build Work Zone Digital Learning User Experience

Written by Elle Savage on the SAP Community.

When deploying SAP Build Work Zone and related SAP HR/Learning solutions, there is a great need for design solutions that are positioned to support business processes and add value to the user’s experience.

The challenge is to create high-quality graphic designs that turn ideas and missions into visuals that engage and excite employees, customers, partners, and other stakeholders, while also optimizing the business objective.

According to a recent McKinsey Quarterly study, “The Business Value of Design,” companies that address all four of the following design priorities are rare, but those that have, reported increased revenues and total stakeholders returns compared to their counterparts. These four key elements include:

  • Analytics – Bringing data to life
  • Cross-Functional Teams & Talent – Enabling visuals to go beyond the silos of a respective group or organization
  • Continuous Iteration – Continued review, improvement, maintenance, and testing to optimize the user experience
  • User Experience – Design a seamless user experience that adds value to their business requirements

In order to achieve the best user experience, designers must be closely aligned with a project’s business leaders and subject matter experts to ensure they understand the mission and design with purpose.

Assessment of the Design-Driven Maturity Curve

Purpose-driven design should be an integral part of a project’s strategy from day one. In today’s increasingly digital world, users have come to expect an interface that is both attractive and easy to use.

There are many corporate tools at our fingertips to satisfy this expectation such as company libraries of images, icons, videos, font guidelines, etc., which should be leveraged to develop standards, repeatable processes, and efficiencies. Still, it is highly recommended that a project’s core team includes a design professional who understands how to maximize the benefits of available design elements.

Setting high-quality standards, per the “Design-Driven Maturity Curve,” sends a message to your audience that a SAP Build Work Zone custom home page or group landing page is valuable, credible, properly maintained, and well thought out.

What is the SAP Build Work Zone Design Value?

Throughout a project’s development, it is important to recognize design as a priority versus as an afterthought. The most forward-thinking organizations will strive to make it a substantive part of their activities because they see the value of design at both a strategic and tactical level.

Designing an intuitive user experience will increase efficiencies and generate higher value by enabling site visitors to quickly navigate the interface and find essential information, therefore optimizing businesses processes.At the same time, the interface must maintain the organization’s brand and messaging throughout the experience.

While a high-quality UI (User Interface) fulfills a user’s wants by delivering an attractive digital environment, an excellent UX (User Experience) fulfills their needs by allowing them to efficiently complete the task they set out to do quickly and with ease.

The Delivery Methodology for Optimizing Design Elements

When building a new digital learning community, group, or site, it is vital that the delivery methodology has user testing baked in to the team’s approach from the start (“Initiate” and “Assess”) to finish (“Deploy,” “Post-go-live,” and “Adoption”). Taking an agile approach allows project leaders to incorporate users’ feedback throughout development in order to create the best user experience possible.

Incorporating a Purpose-Driven Design Approach

Business process mapping enables teams to understand the project requirements and objectives before developing the interface design.

When key participants come and go from the project, there should be guidelines in place, by way of standardization, procedures, and protocols, that can be leveraged while still maintaining the team’s ability to be creative.

Organizations and teams that prioritize design addressing the four key elements discussed (Analytics, Cross-Functional Teams & Talent, Continuous Iteration, and User Experience) as a core part of their strategy outperform groups that take a more ad-hoc or even intermediate design level approach.

A purpose-driven design combined with the proper delivery methodology streamlines organization operations, which allow business leaders, subject matter experts, and contributors to focus on creating high-quality content, boosting productivity, and providing a consistent, impactful user experience.

Sources:

  • “4 key stats on the importance of design for business.” Adobe Blogs. Harmer, Tony. October 2015.
  • “The Business Value of Design.” McKinsey & Company. Sheppard, Benedict; Sarrazin, Hugo; Kouyoumjian, Garen; Dore, Fabricio. October 2018.
  • “The Value of Design.” Design Management Institute.

The CEO’s Role with HR in the Digital Learning Workplace Powered by SAP Build Work Zone

Posted by WSS on April 22, 2020   |   Comments Off on The CEO’s Role with HR in the Digital Learning Workplace Powered by SAP Build Work Zone

Compelling business trends and transformation happens every day. New customer requirements. Markets change. Mergers and acquisitions. Government regulations and compliance. Competitive pressures. Advancements in technology and innovation.

Winning CEOs help these transformations succeed by communicating their vision and strategy, setting up the business model with their leadership team, and making strategic learning an organizational priority.

How can HR / Learning professionals respond?

First, it starts with the Chief HR (or People) Officer and their team, who partner with the CEO, to provide access to the vital skills, expertise, and resources required.

Employees who understand the mission and are trained to perform at the highest level are more likely to achieve tangible outcomes, value, and performance which helps drive the top and bottom line of the business.

For the CEO to achieve transformation 4 key factors must be in place:

  1. Showcase the importance of learning as a pillar of the organization’s success.
    – Believe in the content and its impact.
  2. Create an employee-first culture where learning enables incredible upside with customers.
    – Empower career development.
  3. Develop quality learning programs that are linked to strategic direction.
    – Ensure true commitment and accountability.
  4. Amplify top experts, leaders, knowledge (i.e. videos, playlists, podcasts, thought leadership, blogs, books, presentations, key assets, mentoring, etc.) as a central hub to provide context to formal learning.
    – Extend formal learning to optimize the experience.

Maximizing the Digital Learning Workplace Opportunity with SAP Jam provides a powerful, robust, mobile platform which represents an industry leading, complimentary approach to formal Learning Management Systems (LMS).  SAP Jam fulfills an important, unique niche amongst other learning tools to provide clear value which is highly visible with 53+ Million licensed users.

LMS provides the foundation for courses, certifications, testing, scheduling, and formal e-Learning, classroom, and virtual instructor-led training. The key is to combine LMS with a collaborative, business process, mobile enabled platform (“app”) powered by SAP Jam to achieve success. How would you rate your organization in using these tools?

To realize success, the CEO must go beyond the vision and communications by putting the right strategic learning system and approach in place.

As a result, the performance of the entire organization will elevate.

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Useful Links

About the Author

Richard D. Blumberg is a SAP Jam Practice leader who works with both SAP and SAP Services. He is the President of World Sales Solutions, LLC (WSS) (www.WorldSalesSolutions.com) providing 29+ years of thought leadership on a variety of “View from the Top” strategies including: Enterprise Social Business, Go-to-Market Strategies, Business Development, Talent Development, and Community Building.  He and his team are recognized SAP Jam global experts for implementations, innovation, and adoption.

Blogs

How SAP Build Work Zone and Google Analytics Extend Decision Support

Posted by WSS on March 17, 2020   |   Comments Off on How SAP Build Work Zone and Google Analytics Extend Decision Support

Customers often ask, “How do we know our SAP Build Work Zone group, portal/internet, activities are providing the best results?”

Many times, executive management and stakeholders want to know how the investments in SAP Build Work Zone are working, and what decisions should be considered to optimize the experience for employees, customers, and partners.

Until we started using the combination of SAP Work Zone admin reports (& dashboards) with Google Analytics the raw data, assets (i.e. documents, videos), experts’ knowledge, and the business process (& models) deployed were extremely hard to measure.

Extending SAP Work Zone to Google Analytics is like “turning the lights on” to help identify audience behavior, understand the engagement with content, and make better business decisions.

Given the rapidly changing nature of an organization using SAP Work Zone, along with both structured and unstructured information, it’s easy to lose track of how to analyze audience behavior in relation to goals and campaign tracking.

Five Overall Benefits

  1. Achieving deeper data exploration to uncover trends & patterns
  2. Operationalizing reporting insights to optimize processes and achieve greater impact
  3. Reducing complexity by understanding what’s working and what needs improvement
  4. Providing governance to have consistent views both in the real-time and by way of regular reporting (i.e. bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly)
  5. Delivering high quality insights to executive sponsors and key stakeholders

The first bit of good news is that the SAP Work Zone Collaboration platform does not share employee (or user) profile information with Google Analytics. That gives us all a great sigh of relief when addressing the importance of data privacy and security standards.

Examples of what Google Analytics does very well to enhance the SAP Jam reporting experience:

  • Real Time Custom Reports – Addressing visitors’ locations, traffic sources, content
  • Audience – Tracking active users, geo, languages, behavior, new vs. returning, frequency, technology, mobile, devices, user flow
  • Acquisition – Measuring channels, sources, campaigns
  • Behavior – Understanding the flow, site content (views – what content is most engaging) as well as insights on all pages, exit pages, and problematic pages (i.e. bounce rates) and the time of day that receives the most traffic

When you consider the quantity of assets, data, and traffic on a Jam group, intranet or portal, along with growth and scalability, extending SAP Work Zone to Google Analytics is an essential tool.

With a consistent governance the decision makers (i.e. business leaders, company or group admins) can have a consolidated view, and be in a more informed position, to continuously improve and refine the SAP Jam group(s) or portal/intranet.

Once analyzed, SAP Work Zone decision support may require…

  • Improving communications (i.e. focusing on outreach & awareness)
  • Recognizing completeness of content / information (i.e. auditing a holistic vs. fragmented view. What are the audience’s priorities?)
  • Improving maintenance (i.e. accountability by content contributors to update or archive old information)
  • Assessing process improvements (i.e. ensure the company-wide, line of business or group’s business model is optimized on SAP Work Zone for the audience goals & objectives)
  • Leveraging knowledge (i.e. ownership and contribution from experts, mentors, peers)
  • Refining the user experience and design (i.e. make it easy for the audience to find what they want quickly and with the most value. Also, eliminate and reduce problem areas.)

When used the right way, SAP Work Zone and Google Analytics are a great combination which should be deployed to support data-driven decisions, metrics to inform executive sponsors and stakeholders, and help make decisions which ensure successful outcomes

Useful Links

About the Author

Richard D. Blumberg is a SAP Jam Practice leader who works with both SAP and SAP Services. He is the President of World Sales Solutions, LLC (WSS) (www.WorldSalesSolutions.com) providing 29+ years of thought leadership on a variety of “View from the Top” strategies including: Enterprise Social Business, Go-to-Market Strategies, Business Development, Talent Development, and Community Building.  He and his team are recognized SAP Jam global experts for implementations, innovation, and adoption.


Blogs

Maximizing the Digital Learning Workplace Opportunity with SAP Jam

Posted by WSS on March 5, 2020   |   Comments Off on Maximizing the Digital Learning Workplace Opportunity with SAP Jam

– Going Beyond a Formal Learning Management System to Combine it with a Professional Collaboration and Portal Environment to Display Complimentary Assets & Resources –

CEOs and their boards, leaders, as well as company innovators and experts, know that in order to achieve short- and long-term financial returns a solid enterprise learning strategy is a must.

With the ever growing complexity of customer requirements, partner ecosystems, the global economy, combined with new and evolving products, services and solutions, a top quality learning environment is not a “nice to have” but rather a critical necessity and a competitive advantage.

To scale and grow the business.
And forge new opportunities.

The enterprise’s education leaders must consider going beyond:
(A) a “formal” learning management system (LMS) alone
 “or”
(B) accepting LMS with a document repository only.

The key is to combine formal training and courses with the alignment of a less formal, complementary, and supplementary blended learning environment which we can refer to as the Digital Learning Workplace (DLW) .

A Formula to Consider:

DLW = SAP Jam + LMS (with governance, discipline, quality content, and quality design & brand attributes)

When auditing today’s learning environments do they measure up to modern standards?

The DLW works incredibly well with the SAP Jam collaboration platform by breaking down silos and optimizing business (& learning) processes. The DLW brings together the knowledge DNA of an organization to the employees (24/7, any device).

For example…
Like a university with Colleges and Schools. Each group has their own objectives within the larger mission of the university.

Together the sum (or all the groups) is greater than the individual parts of the university.

To further this example…
 Each class has formal courses as well as supplements with a range of assets and resources (i.e. Think of an accounting mid-term exam with a supplementary Harvard Business Review ”HBR” case study or TED Talks to better understand the concepts tested for in the test. Mid-term = Formal; HBR or TED Talk = less formal).

If they only had formal classes with tests, how effective would the curricula be for the students?

Equipping Employees with the DLW to Support Customers

To survive, a university as well as any organization must be ready for both today and tomorrow’s emerging (& compelling) opportunities. The DLW is a crucial element for success.

Consider employee turnover. As an organization address additions or subtractions (i.e. ~10 – 20%) in the number of employees per year… What knowledge will be shared and retained, and what will be lost or never found?

Employees and contractors.
Internal and external stakeholders. Early talent, older talent, and onboarding. Each depends on learning the current and new realities of the organization, marketplace, and how to best serve customers (& partners).

Each enterprise formed of teams and individuals must continuously learn about innovation, new technologies, products, solutions, services, customer relationships, core business, emerging trends, leadership & management, compliance, regulations, culture, diversity, as well as career and professional development.

Are Complimentary Learning Resources Optimizing the LMS Experience? 

Going beyond formal learning may include a range of complimentary assets such as one or more of the following: custom home pages (i.e. intranet and portal) and groups, expert videos and playlists, TED Talks, HBR case studies, whitepapers, podcasts, webinars, news & updates, 3rd party courses, instructor lead workshops/courses, affinity groups, CEO & their leadership team summits, virtual and face-to-face events — all of which requires a central hub and communications to engage the audience.

For top leading organizations where brand and the quality standards matter, a DLW discipline and governance must first be achieved and then maintained.

By way of DLW portals, intranets, home pages, and groups, each must look exceptional, have accurate, approved, and maintained content, and represent the highest-level user experience for the sake of the respective audience.

From an employee standpoint, when you provide a high quality DLW environment, they will be in a better position to take care of customers.

And a result…

  • Lead and support growing revenues.
  • Improve operational efficiencies.
  • And help cut costs.

These learning environments don’t happen on their own. Only with a concerted formal “and” less formal, complimentary learning initiative with a talented core team of HR/Learning leaders, will a DLW take shape and become an impactful, invaluable resource on any device, 24/7.

Stepping Back: A Few Questions Worth Asking!

So consider your learning platforms, environments, and experiences.
Make your assessments. Ask yourself a few questions:

  • Do they represent “formal” and “less formal,” complimentary learning as one system?
  • Do they have the modern tool capabilities you require for success? Would millennials enjoy the experience?
  • Do they reflect the business and learning processes required?
  • Do they represent the whole …or disparate, fragmented parts?
  • Do they provide current and maintained content?
  • Do they showcase your organization’s brand and high quality?
  • Do they provide measurabilty to extend decision support?

Every individual, team, and leader must know their part.  To help the organization achieve success as champions.

They have their roadmap(s).
But are they equipped…
…with a Digital Learning Workplace at their finger-tips?

The DLW provides a modern resource with excellent capabilities to address the holistic learning requirements of the organization.

As your team considers…
What your DLW is and what it can be…
Are you ready to maximize the opportunity?

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Useful Links

About the Author

Richard D. Blumberg is a SAP Jam Practice leader who works with both SAP and SAP Services. He is the President of World Sales Solutions, LLC (WSS) (www.WorldSalesSolutions.com) providing 29+ years of thought leadership on a variety of “View from the Top” strategies including: Enterprise Social Business, Go-to-Market Strategies, Business Development, Talent Development, and Community Building.  He and his team are recognized SAP Jam global experts for implementations, innovation, and adoption.

 

Blogs

Podcast: A Converation wtih Drexel LeBow Career Services

Posted by WSS on February 28, 2020   |   Comments Off on Podcast: A Converation wtih Drexel LeBow Career Services

Enjoyed discussing Careers & Professional Development with Kelly Deilly, Drexel LeBow Career Services & Strategist.  Check it  out.

Together we shared insights on best practices, lessons learned, and insights on landing great jobs. What’s the process? What does it take to find success and new opportunities?

SAP Jam for social onboarding: How to Improve First Impressions for New Hires?

Posted by WSS on February 10, 2020   |   Comments Off on SAP Jam for social onboarding: How to Improve First Impressions for New Hires?

As an employer do you want to leave the early impressions of your organization to chance?

The day a new employee is hired it’s an exciting time. Do you want them to rely on a Google search, Glassdoor, Social Media, and/or disparate information for them to learn more about your organization or their new department?

In an Aberdeen Report, “Strategic Onboarding: Help New Employees and the Business” they pointed out:

“Best-in-Class companies are 2.5 times more likely than all others to provide key stakeholders with visibility into the development progress of new employees through the onboarding process.”

“58% of all companies indicate that the biggest influence on onboarding efforts is the need to engage new hires in the company culture.”

“Since 90% of employees make the decision to stay within the first year, it’s more important than ever to determine if new hires are engaged early on.”

When looking at the life cycle of an employee from prehire, new hire, and cross-hire… to becoming a productive employee, it’s important to enable a positive experience, engage, and help reduce the dropout rate.

First impressions make a big difference!

As a result, SAP Jam aligned with SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding (& the related HCM Suite) represents a best-in-class platform (& app) approach to enabling social onboarding.

4 SAP Jam for social onboarding considerations  
  1. External SAP Jam Group – For new hires they can be invited into an external Jam group with a focus to gaining access to company wide and department specific prehire information (i.e. videos, welcome ambassadors / experts, check lists, what to expect Day 1, etc.)
  2. Account Conversion – Once the new hire joins, Day 1, their prehire account can be converted to a full access SAP Jam user account allowing them to keep their existing information and expand into company wide access
  3. Dynamic Member Lists – New employees based on their start date can automatically become a member of a new hire Jam group which addresses both company-wide and departmental new hire considerations (i.e. stay in the group for 100 days)
  4. Complimentary Platforms & Apps – Align SAP Jam to recruiting, onboarding, learning, Fiori, and related HCM business processes and tools leveraging a common user management experience with SAP Foundation (aka – BizX) to enable the employee system of record
The Role of HR and Business Leadership

An organization’s Chief People &/or Talent Officer and their team play a big role as internal consultants within the organization to step back and assess if prehires, new hires, and cross-team hires are getting the best experience and optimizing their productivity?

A check list to consider:

  1. First Impressions – Has the organization taken the time to optimize the first impressions to the new employees?
  2. Knowledge – Do pre- and new hires have clarity on the value, culture, opportunities, and expectations for their new role?
  3. Engage – Are pre- and new hires being engaged in a timely manner with the best knowledge and information available to equip them for success?
    • Who are the experts and ambassadors who can share their experiences / insights?
  4. Busy Managers – While the business leads from the respective departments (“business units”) are very, very busy, have they provided what’s needed for pre- & new hires to be productive?
    • When was the last time the business addressed how long the boarding process takes and the process for efficiency?
  5. Compliance – Do the pre- and new hires have the information they need to address compliance (i.e. privacy, confidentiality, and related industry compliance requirements)?
  6. Strategy – Is onboarding viewed as a strategic initiative to your organization with ongoing reviews to keep the information fresh & current and use the best tools available?
What can the Chief HR and Talent Officer address? 

With digital transformation new employees expect social onboarding tools to facilitate their new hire experience. For recent graduates (“Next-Gen”) who have grown up with cell phones and social media it’s important for a business to put it’s best foot forward in the hiring process using modern tools and capabilities.

When left to ad-hoc approaches it’s proven that satisfaction levels can go down, and the drop out rate increases, which costs both time and money for all participants in the hiring process.

The Chief HR and Talent Officer and their team should develop approaches (“frameworks”) that make it easier for lines of business within the organization to address the business requirements to optimize the ramp up period… and bring on happy successful new employees… and as result, achieve higher levels of productivity, successful outcomes, and satisfaction.

Based on many SAP Jam experiences, it is often best for the business lead and their core team to focus on the business requirements and stakeholder input, and then work with SAP Jam implementation & adoption services experts to ensure that the platform is optimized and best practices are in place.

First day impressions are very important.

By stepping back… and looking at the best processes, key information, and approach… organizations can optimize what happens before, during, and after the first day on the job to develop talent and positively impact bottom-line results.

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Blogs

 

Jerry McGuire had it right, “Show me the money!”

Posted by WSS on October 13, 2018   |   Comments Off on Jerry McGuire had it right, “Show me the money!”


So often well intended investments in webinars, seminars, conferences, demand generation and other marketing and partner programs adds value, but unless it can be measured by way of revenues it can be under appreciated.

The WorkSpan approach of providing a platform for “Joint Marketing” and “Joint Sales” is an ideal way for 2 or more organizations to work together on deal qualification and sales cycles.

Consider 2 companies co-sponsor a marketing or partner program. It would be ideal for the account teams in both organizations to have access to the leads as well as the qualified sales opportunities.

CRM systems alone are not the answer in that proprietary information cannot be shared outside the organization. Only with a Joint Marketing & Joint Sales system can this approach be optimized.

What’s the alternative? emails? Phone calls? Texts? Spreadsheets? Social Media tools with disparate, disorganized threads of discussions?

Keep in mind the importance of privacy, security, and that the lead Account Executive wants and must control who participates and who doesn’t. Trust must be built. Often change management is key to addressing new ways to win deals.

A few questions / comments to consider:

  • How often does a sales pursuit include 2 companies and often a third (or more)
  • How can you optimize 2 (or more) talented organizations going after 1 important deal?
  • There can be 1 company with 10 deals and 10 different partners for each… how best to manage the various partners pursuing these deals?
  • And for every deal an account team pursues, the participants inside and outside the organization can change throughout the sales cycle.

As WorkSpan states, “Where you & your partners can nominate joint accounts to pursue, track deals, & report on partner contribution to revenue.” This platform and the methodology that goes with it is an excellent way to bolster measurable outcomes.

When marketing and strategic alliances professionals (“aces”) have measurable success they will make their manager and organization happy, gain more trust, increase investments in future programs, and have better control of important outcomes.

When you and your team achieve “Show Me the Money” status with revenues aligned to marketing and partner programs, more investments can be considered, more customer success can be developed and showcased, and the most important value of them all can be optimized: TIME.

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