Adding “A P” to the Marketing Mix
One would think that running a business is easy – just maximise revenue and minimise costs! However, this simple formula is incomplete without the essence of what makes your business unique – it’s not just about the product, but also about the price, the place and the positioning. These “4 P’s” were coined by Neil Borden in 1964 as he illustrated how companies can use marketing and advertising to generate revenues. We add two more letters to this – “Analytics” and “People”. Holistically, this new mix now centres around customer experience, ensuring that any activity of the business is firmly centred around the customer and underpinned by data and analytics. Product and Customer Experience Products (or solutions in a B2B context) can be thought of as solutions to a problem. Do you know what problems your customers face? Is your solution the right fit to solve that problem? By solving a problem, you not only meet a basic need but also open up avenues to prevent the problem from recurring in the future -this value-enhancing activity attracts and keeps customers to your brand. This is where most data scientists spend their time – building models that predict customer take-up rates and churn rates. A question I will leave you with: if all companies are building these models, what’s next? Price and Customer Experience Pricing is tricky – it’s moved away from the cold mathematics of finding the optimal monetary amount where your revenue exceeds your cost as customers want to get value from what they purchase. Prices are simply the intersection of supply and demand and unfortunately can have an extreme impact on perceived value. For example, a bottle of water at either R1 or R100 would raise eyebrows (for different reasons), indicative that people intuitively place a value on the goods and services that they purchase. Value is also driven by quality – one would expect to pay a higher price for a higher quality product or service. At the very least, you should be able to price your products and services at the point where you have a positive margin, while still maintaining a competitive edge. However, the business that will succeed combines this optimisation with what the customer expects and perceives. Do customers feel that they get value for money after purchasing from you? This value doesn’t only have to be in the price – a simple “thank you” or confirmation of the good purchase decision or tips on how to use the product or service effectively goes a long way in creating value. Data drawn from research generate valuable insights into “segmenting” your customers into smaller, more tangible groups, after which you can apply different treatment strategies to ensure that each group is at its optimal. Place and Customer Experience As we have learnt with lockdown, businesses limited by geographical location face dire consequences if their clientele cannot reach them. This was actually an opportunity to innovate, by assessing whether your products and services can generate the same appeal virtually. Naturally, this is a trial and error experiment with many as some customers may simply not be digitally inclined whereas some products can “never” be sold online. This rise in digitalisation of businesses also generated significantly more data for use. The use of digital and geographic data is currently on the rise, as more businesses see the value of placement in offering enhanced interactions with their customers. Imagine a world where your route in the mall is “laid out” for you based on your previous purchase history, hobbies and interests Promotion and Customer Experience Marketing, in a post POPIA world, is no longer about spamming potential customers. It’s about gaining trust with your existing customers by only communicating what is relevant and timely. For prospective customers, your brand and corresponding advertising also need to be targeted at who you wish to attract. To determine your existing and potential clientele, it helps to not only segment your customers but also combine their psychographic data (values, needs, wants, aspirations) with their interactions and purchasing history. People and Customer Experience It is naturally important to focus on delivering on what the customer wants, but an often overlooked factor is ensuring that you have the right people to execute on that promise. Irrespective of the size of your business, your business is unique – it has a DNA, a culture, values and principles that differ from any other. Finding others who are aligned to this experience is critical to ensure success – it never ends well to hire a salesperson who hates talking to people! How do you know you have the right people? While interviews and personality traits can inform you of who to choose, you as the entrepreneur must know what your business’s DNA looks like. Getting these 5P’s is by itself not a winning recipe. However, by focusing on putting your customers (and employees) first, it can certainly get you into the competition. How far you progress through it depends on how capable and changeable you are. About the Author Professor Yudhvir Seetharam Head of Analytics: Insights and Research FNB
How Real is the Loneliness in Your Team?
We all know remote working has had a large impact on our mental health with loneliness being cited as the most common emotion being experienced by entrepreneurs, leaders, and employees. This can cause us to withdraw and be less committed, creative, collaborative, and attentive, and both the quality and quantity of our work can deteriorate. Loneliness has also been identified as a factor in workplace burnout. We often associate loneliness with being on our own or alone. Research has found that loneliness is related more to the quality than the quantity of our relationships. A lonely person feels that their relationships are not meaningful, that he or she is not understood by others, or perceives they are alone or are being shunned and isolated from other people. This can happen from working in a virtual or geographically distributed team, or from being in a team of one (think solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, consultants). It can have a detrimental effect on our performance and wellness. Our modern society and lifestyles also contribute to people feeling isolated and disconnected in their personal lives – think social media, the “in-crowd or cool kids”, dysfunctional and toxic relationships and marriages and the increasing amount of people suffering from depression or some form of mental health challenge. The only way to tackle and prevent loneliness in the workplace (and at home) is to build a culture of connection and community. It’s important to watch for changes in behavior and body language. If your most talkative and participative people start to go quiet, avoid interaction, or their performance suddenly dips, then this is a red flag. On the other end of the spectrum, some people might seek opportunities for more physical contact (think handshakes, hugs, opportunities, coffee meet-ups to talk) so don’t be misled by outward appearances of extroversion. Another area to pay attention to is listening to team members’ concerns – they may be more aware of what is going on in their colleague’s world or landscape than you are. Here are some insights and tools you can use to help build a culture of community and connection. Change Things Up A Bit Remote/virtual working has its pros and cons. For many, it’s the freedom from the daily commute and stress that comes with it. For others it’s the flexibility to be able to spend time with their children while for others, it’s the ability to be focused and productive in their own space. Remote/virtual working should be no different from being in the office, the key difference is just not physically being with each other. Working from home should have guidelines just as we do when we are in the office. We seem to have forgotten some of these basics such as official work (vs personal) hours and the expectation of always needing to be online. Other factors will need to be increased (think communication, strategy, output) and organisations and leaders play a key role in constantly encouraging and reinforcing (and adhering) these guidelines and factors themselves, as employees will follow their lead. Build a Team That Has a Shared Purpose It’s important to not slip into the “out of sight, out of mind” hole. Teams need to know what is going on and what they are working towards, individually and collectively. This may need to involve new and different ways of communicating updates, progress and feedback. Keeping it visual and alive keeps everyone focused and aligned, clarity on what is expected from each person, how they are being measured and where to collaborate. Understanding individual strengths and the team’s collective strengths can help to ensure you have the right people and competencies in place and are able to allocate tasks or projects that leverage their potential. Developing a growth mindset means you are always looking for ways to continually up-skill yourself and evolve to remain relevant in an ever-changing landscape. Encourage Good Relationships Just because everyone is online now doesn’t mean you won’t experience conflict or discord of some sort. It’s not as easy to manage conflict online as it is in person where you can hop into a meeting room and talk it out. It’s key to deal with conflict before it evolves into online spats, email trails or team channel fights. One simple tool you can use is having VUCA team sessions. Take an Interest in People’s Lives Your people won’t care until they know how much you care. Research has shown time and again that money is not the only motivator when it comes to keeping employees motivated. Kindness goes a long way and it is probably one of your most valuable currencies you can apply when it comes to investing in your relationships and a sure way to get to know your people. If this is a challenge for you, create a folder with key notes and personal reminders on each of your employees that you can refer to if need. Tackle Exhaustion Zoom fatigue and exhaustion is real. Tackling this is going to require a new leadership style – one that is holistic and empathetic. We are now seeing the whole of an employee and not just the 9-5 version when we were in the office. We are stepping into our employees very personal and sacred space – their homes, their safe place. This is the place where they could get away from work and the world at large and now we’re invading that space. It’s important to implement support policies that encourage wellbeing. If need, use technology to track wellness such as stress assessments or wellness offerings and service providers. Celebrate small victories By the time Friday comes around, we’ve had a long week and are usually running out of steam. Why not turn your Friday afternoons into an energiser for the week to come. Get everyone to hop on a video call and share their wins from the week. At the same time, all work and no play will result in work becoming a grudge purchase and place to be, soon killing creativity and productivity. Here are two resources where you can get to have some fun: The Rage Room – feeling frustrated and want to get rid of some of that pent-up energy? Then the Rage Room is where you need to go to smash things up a little. Fun for couples, friends, teams. Virtual Escape Room – online fun for teams or groups. It’s important to understand that workplace loneliness can be structural, not personal and people won’t solve it on their own. At the same time if you are looking to implement a hybrid working environment, don’t expect loneliness to disappear just because everyone is back in the office. Fostering a sense of belonging may be about getting the work done but, it’s also about relationships and cultivating a sense of community, belonging, and security through the designing of your work streams and teams. About the Author Paula Quinsee: Growth Mindset Catalyst specialising in creating healthy relationships at home and in the workplace to co-create a more human-connected world and positively impact people’s lives. Paula is also a passionate advocate for mental health and Gender-Based violence, an international and Tedx speaker, and author of two self-help guides: Embracing Conflict and Embracing No. More info: https://paulaquinsee.com/
5 Reasons Why Advanced Analytics Projects are Failing, and Potential Solutions
By Dirko Hay, CEO, StreamBurst (Pty) Ltd As this Covid-19 pandemic continues, companies are making renewed efforts to invest huge amounts in advanced analytics technologies and are commissioning projects to buffer and protect themselves against the current economic environment, and to weather potential further storms ahead. But many of these advanced analytics projects are still not giving the ROI that they promise. Many do not end up in production and many fail outright. In 2019, Andrew White from Gartner (1) predicted the following: “Through 2020, 80% of AI projects will remain alchemy, run by wizards whose talents will not scale in the organization. Through 2022, only 20% of analytic insights will deliver business outcomes.” Here are some possible reasons why some of these initiatives are not successful: 1. A Lack of Comprehensive and Cohesive Analytics Strategy Having a comprehensive and cohesive analytics strategy to address modern day data drivers like business competitiveness, maximizing return on 5G and IoT initiatives in a changing landscape, and getting value from continuous digitization projects is key to delivering optimal ROI on data assets. Sadly, a big number of companies still have fragmented, siloed strategies to address this challenge and do not see or understand the value of an integrated, cohesive strategy that can significantly improve decision making. This is exacerbated by internal politics and failure to agree on key strategic analytical initiatives that can drive the company forward. The key here is to focus and prioritize initiatives that have executive buy-in and stem from a cohesive business strategy, and that can deliver high impact rapid results through smaller incremental steps. This will allow a culture where ‘fail fast’ can be tolerated and will ultimately increase the overall success rate of analytics, AI and machine learning projects. 2. Analytic Process Automation While many vendors today are talking about analytic process automation (2), very few offer the capabilities to move a company forward on the road to automated analytical processes. This has become a big differentiating factor in speed of execution of analytics projects and improves the overall competitiveness of a company as it increases decision-making capability, streamlines overall processes, and rapidly brings about a data-driven culture. The Pareto 80/20 principle where 80% of effort is still spent on data cleansing, blending and ETL/ELT related processes is still in effect in many analytics shops today. Although inroads have been made into changing this modus operandi, the key here is that this should be turned upside down and 20% of effort should be spent on cleansing and wrangling work and the balance of 80% on actually analysing and visualising the data. This can only be achieved through end-to-end analytic automation processes with software tools that allow for fast efficient blending, wrangling, collecting, and pre-processing of data. There are several software tools available on the market today that cater for this (2), and they are not necessarily only in IT hands, but also empower the business with self-service capabilities. 3. Neglecting of DataOps DataOps these days is more of a buzzword than an embedded practice of any sorts in the analytics domain and failure to embrace the inherent principles might cause challenges that could have been avoided with a well-executed plan. We will define DataOps as the ability to effectively execute and monitor any data related processes, workflows or infrastructure, effectively, with rapid speed, accuracy and automation capabilities, with minimal errors, and ensuring proper test procedures in development, with the capability to move analytical models and reporting swiftly into production for operationalisation purposes. DataOps is becoming more important as companies scale their analytical operations. More employees become analytical minded and require access to the capabilities that advanced analytics offers. Understanding what DataOps contributes and implementing the key principles will in future become a key differentiator for optimising advanced analytical projects and speed of execution in this domain. 4. Failure to Operationalise Data Science Models Effectively Many data science teams are excellent in developing data science models but lack the capabilities to operationalise them fast and effectively. In many cases, the development of models takes a fraction of the time that it takes to operationalise them, and this mainly stems from the lack of capabilities to put all the pieces together required for operationalisation and to create real value for the company from the models. Another factor is that by the time these models are production ready, the business value might have diminished. Having software to automate model operationalisation capabilities rapidly to production and to embed the models into key business process will expedite ROI on advanced analytics initiatives and ensure sustainability. 5. Failure to Adopt Open-Source and Other Advanced Technologies While some companies have the appetite to move unrelentingly forward in the pressing need to adopt modern technologies like streaming, real-time, event-driven databases, graph databases, and open-source technologies, others are sitting on the sidelines and waiting to see if it delivers value in vertical horizontal markets. Reasons for this are many, but one reason is fear of failure that comes about through being an early adopter in the past. Many of these technologies are however not new, and have been extensively tested in companies like Facebook, Uber, Netflix, Google and some of the largest fortune 500 companies in the world. They deliver real-time event-driven insights with sub-second response times, monetization of 5G and IoT initiatives, and the ability to analyse up to trillions of records. These capabilities will become key drivers of business competitiveness in the next 5 years as companies look to drive costs down and increase revenue and competitiveness. The reality today is that up to 85% of data science and machine learning models still do not make it to production and many advanced analytical projects end up in smoke. Failure to address these reasons for lack of success will cause executives to stop spending required funds to move analytics forward. There are, however, positive signs that this trend is changing, and Covid-19 has rapidly increased improvement and innovation initiatives in this domain. References Andrew White, Our top data and Analytics Predicts for 2019, Gartner Blog Network. Alteryx : What is Analytic Process Automation?
The L&D Innovation Research Report 2019
The digital workplace is truly disrupting all business, and learning is no exception. The nature of work, the workplace and the workforce are evolving at incredible speed, changing how we work, where we work and introducing new ways of learning. These changes are contributing to huge challenges with rapidly increasing requirements for learning and development teams. “Time” Biggest Barrier to Successful L&D Innovation Of the L&D professionals we spoke to, 29% said that getting enough time and resources away from “business as usual” was their biggest challenge in driving innovation within their organisations. 29% – Getting enough time and resources away from “business as usual” 24.3% – Preparing for the future of learning technology 19.6% – Getting buy-in from the business 17.8% – Using data effectively for decision-making 9.3% – Upskilling teams and improving processes Top 6 Innovation Challenges for South African L&D Leaders The following six themes emerged from our roundtable discussions as being most important to the community: 1. Leveraging Technology & Innovation to Enhance L&D 2. Quantifying L&D Value & Efficiencies with Data & Reporting 3. L&D Strategy, Value Proposition & Realising Return on Investment 4. Improving the Learning Culture, Engagement, Experience & The Adoption of L&D Technology 5. Customisation, Personalisation & Scalability of L&D Endeavours 6. The Future of L&D Read more about the challenges facing L&D professionals in driving innovation in The L&D Innovation Research Report South Africa 2019. Fill in the form below to download your free copy:
The HR Innovation Research Report 2019
In a recent series of roundtable discussion groups, over 100 HR and IT professionals from across South Africa shared their stories straight from the frontline of innovation and technology integration in HR strategy. This report distils these discussions to provide detailed insights into the challenges and opportunities facing HR practitioners in using technology to be a driver and enabler of organisational change. “Future prep” Biggest Challenge to Successful HR Innovation When asked “What is your biggest challenge in driving HR innovation internally?”, participants answered: 26% – Preparing for the future of HR technology 23% – Upskilling teams and improving processes 19% – Using data effectively for decision-making 16% – Getting enough time and resources away from ‘business as usual’ 16% – Getting buy-in from the business Top 6 Innovation Challenges for South African HR Leaders The following six themes emerged from our roundtable discussions as being most important to the South African HR community: 1. Quantifying HR Value with Data & Analytics 2. The Future of Work 3. Leveraging Technology to Enhance HR 4. The Transformation of Learning & Development 5. Winning the War on Talent, Recruitment, Retention & Successful Performance Goals 6. Change Management & Adoption of HR Technology Read more about the challenges facing HR professionals in driving innovation in The HR Innovation Research Report South Africa 2019. Fill in the form below to download your free copy:
Does Engagement Drive Performance? The Chicken and Egg Question
If you have ever linked employee engagement scores to business outcomes (sales volume, customer satisfaction, financial & operational performance, etc.), you have likely been part of a “chicken or egg” discussion: does engagement really drive performance? Or is it the other way around, so being part of a winning team and having high performance (and getting the rewards) drives engagement? This debate often turns very philosophical and with more opinions than fact, and you know what they say about opinions (everybody has one..). But it’s actually a question that can easily be answered by data – and here is what I have seen people analytics teams find across three large organizations in different industries, using 5-7 years of data, and published in 2015 and 2017 in open access (free) papers I co-authored: 1. Over time (2-3 years), engagement really does drive business and individual performance The potential uplift in sales or customer satisfaction (NPS) is typically in the 15-25% range. That’s a massive opportunity. Building employee engagement is a bit like buying shares: you are investing in the future, and both employers, customers, shareholders and employees can collectively reap the dividends ongoing. This is also aligned with the meta-analyses on high-performing work systems, showing the impact of motivation on business performance (e.g. ‘How does Human Resource Management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. AMJ, 2012’). 2. Within shorter time frames (less than a year), engagement and business/individual performance impact each other mutually Uplifts (or drops) in engagement have about the same effects on business/individual performance outcomes, as uplifts (or drops) in business/individual performance have on engagement. That means they are dynamic, and impact each other – that is really not that surprising, given our knowledge about how human beings work: our inner life (e.g. engagement/motivation) is in constant feedback loops with the real world, so we can effectively adjust our behaviour. How do we know that? Simply put, you establish whether one thing drives another, or the other way around, by studying things over time (i.e. a ‘longitudinal research design’ with several years of data). This allows you to compare the relative strength of your “chicken” explanation, with the relative strength of your “egg” explanation (technically, this is what academics call “checking for reverse causality”, and you also test for other things that impact the relationship – i.e. what academia calls “mediators and moderators” or “confounders”). That is what people analytics professionals do for a living. Hear more from Dr Thomas Rasmussen and other top thought leaders at HR Innovation & Tech Fest. For many things – like engagement and performance – there are normally some dynamic effects (i.e. effects go both ways), and it’s also normal to find, that over time, one direction becomes (statistically) stronger than the other, and thus becomes the main effect. An analogy is exercise and weight-loss: as you build muscle, you can initially gain weight, but over time, more muscle mass will help you burn more calories and lose weight. In sum, if you want to lose weight over time, exercising is a good idea. So what does that mean for employee engagement? It means engagement really is a lever to pull to increase performance over time – if you increase engagement (which is really just motivation), there will be positive performance outcomes over time (especially if you reward performance well). You want to get into a positive spiral or virtuous cycle, where engagement and performance mutually and positively reinforce each other (and avoid or get out of a negative spiral or vicious cycle, where they pull each other down). You do that by strengthening the things that drive motivation (promote good leadership, provide interesting work, pay people for performance, etc.) and eliminate those things that don’t (get leaders that are not good at leadership to improve or get them out of leadership positions, remove roadblocks, etc.). Learn from those parts in your organization that do it really well, and apply to those parts with room for improvement. People analytics teams answer questions with data, but storytelling is also an important part of people analytics, and for this topic, Aristotle did it best: He was attributed the phrase “The Morale of The Troops is Important for Winning the Battle” – when discussing with the Generals (while drinking considerable amounts of wine), why a group of ill-equipped farmers could sometimes win over a group of trained mercenaries, they concluded it was because they had “The Morale”: they were fighting for their homes, their loved ones – they had skin in the game and a clear purpose. Engagement in a commercial context is the same: those with skin in the game will fight harder and better, and strive to improve – and that leads to better performance outcomes (and better and more fulfilling working lives for employees – make sure you do something you are good at, and that you love doing). So driving engagement will build resilience in your workforce and improve performance. About the Author Dr Thomas Rasmussen is GM People Analytics at National Australia Bank. He is a global thought leader on Analytics and data-driven HR, has published several papers on the topic and believes data and evidence should supplement business understanding, experience and intuition in decision making on people and organisational issues – and that this will enable businesses to deliver more value to customers, shareholders and employees. This post originally appeared on the HR Innovation & Tech Fest Australian blog.
HR Technology & Innovation: 2016 Industry Snapshot
In a recent series of round-table discussion groups, HR and IT professionals from across South Africa shared their stories straight from the front line of technology integration in HR strategy. This report distils these discussions to provide detailed insights into the challenges and opportunities facing HR practitioners in using technology to be a driver and enabler of organisational change. Methodology and Respondent Profile Research conducted in February 2016 Method: Small face-to-face discussion groups facilitated by an industry thought-leader to uncover pain points, challenges and ideas for improvement Over 50 HR and IT professionals participated A range of professionals: HR Directors HRIS Managers Head of People and Development Learning & Development Managers Senior Business Analysts Project Managers Directors of Technology Fill in the form below to download your free report.