Management must choose a cost-effective investment in security Keep in mind that costs aren't simply the price of security software but are the costs of slowing down the business due to increased red-tape.

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Detecting sentiment through text mining analysis.

Data mining has significantly grown in popularity over the last decade because of its ability to detect hidden patterns in big data. With the rise of Web 2.0 and social media, text mining should become a focus for businesses as well. With sites like Yelp, Facebook, and Twitter, customers now have the ability to publicly shout their resentments or endearments of a company and be heard. It can be expensive for businesses to pay attention to every comment made on the vast social web. Text mining social sites can help by automating this process. A text mining sentiment algorithm could be used to provide a general daily sentiment of one's business. A sentiment algorithm analyzes language to determine whether a post's sentiment is positive or negative, shown by percentages. If a general negative sentiment is detected, one might be able to drill down to individual posts to address problems. Using a general sentiment key performance indicator can help businesses quickly assess their current online reputation. Try out the sentiment widget that I created, found at the top of my homepage: http://www.peterschlamp.com/

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Start your Lean journey with 5S!

Start your lean thinking journey with 5S.

5S is probably the simplest of Lean concepts to grasp, which makes it a great starting point for anyone interested in Lean thinking for their business. In the video, you can test yourself on identifying the 5 steps involved in 5S. You can probably also gather how it can be beneficial in terms of cost savings for your business.

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Lean Process Spaghetti Mapping Video and Worksheet

Business drives technology; not the other way around. A very important aspect of being a successful IT leader is in understanding business processes. By doing so, one can better apply technology to help increase productivity within these processes. Lean process management is an important methodology to know. Toyota found great success by basing its whole business on it. Although there's much more than process analysis to be successful at it, I wanted to provide a pretty fantastic (and entertaining) example of how one can go about analyzing their current processes to determine inefficiencies in an office context. Room Plan

The point is to create a "spaghetti" mapping of the movements that were used to create toast in the video example. The messier your map is at the end, the more need for improvement. You might see how this can benefit in the design of office space. By designing a work environment based on the work that is done, a team can greatly improve effectiveness by reducing the amount of movement necessary to fulfill tasks. In the context of information systems, you might think of ways to eliminate wasteful movements with the use of technology, such as workflow software. 




Thanks to:
Richard Heffernan
Principal Health & Safety Advisor Europe
FUJIFILM Speciality Ink Systems
for the great video example.

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Web 2.0 and the Average Firm

Web 2.0 influences industry structure and profitability for the average firm much more positively than the web of the past. Over a decade ago, before the existence of social media, Michael E. Porter described in his article, “Strategy and the Internet”, a web where companies often only competed through price competition, a method that naturally favors economies of scale. He used as a basis for his argument his 5 Competitive Forces model to prove that businesses that operate on the web have very little chance for achieving a competitive advantage if they didn’t strategically distinguish themselves. Today, Web 2.0 with its basis in social interaction and collaboration, changes the landscape, especially for average firms that focus on value. The trust of advice and recommendations through peer groups on the new web helps create a sense of loyalty in brands and products. Businesses must now focus on brand reputation more than ever. By using the 5 Competitive Forces model, this essay hopes to show that Web 2.0 is a new environment where average businesses that offer value can compete through strong customer relationship management and cheaper ways to advertise.

In analyzing Web 2.0 with the 5 forces, we find that threats of substitute products remain high. Internet approaches to doing things cheaply and easily will always facilitate the creation of substitute products. An average firm can utilize this to compete in an industry that might be hard to enter otherwise.

Bargaining power of suppliers is increased by Web 2.0 technologies. The internet continues to facilitate increased supplier-to-buyer reach and social networking allows suppliers to better compete with firms for brand loyalty. Average firms can benefit by this since the procurement playing field is leveled.

Barriers to entry remain low. Ever cheaper ways for new businesses to enter industries from utilizing web technologies still remain. The average firm obviously benefits from this, largely by the reduced overhead of operating almost entirely on the web. In addition, viral marketing is a cheap and very potent way to advertise a business across the social web.

The brand loyalty that is created from a new focus on reputation and business-to-person interactions, increases buyer switching costs from popular brands, thus buyer bargaining power decreases. Groupthink often dictates which products we use, often due to name recognition. Many web searchers use Google because it’s Google, without considering whether another search engine is better. Average firms that develop strong brand recognition on the web will succeed in achieving brand loyalties and a competitive advantage within their industry.

Finally, rivalry among competitors is diminished. Brand reputation is a differentiating force that average firms can use to stand out from the rest of their industry. Although there will always be a wide geographic market with many competitors on the internet, the new focus from customers on brand instead of solely on price, will assist average firms with the best reputations to attain and sustain a competitive advantage over larger competitors.

By analyzing Porter’s 5 Competitive Forces, it’s clear that Web 2.0 enables average firms to attain and sustain a competitive advantage on the web. Firms that focus on reputation and customer loyalty through customer relationship management as well as through unique ways of advertising, such as viral marketing, have a better chance to succeed than in the past.

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