Social Networking and Green Technologies are much more than buzz words in the current blogosphere. They are a revolution and the wave of the future. You had better get on the wave and ride it with some skill or you will be left swimming with the sharks.
It is hard to go online, read a newspaper or magazine or watch any TV channel without getting blasted with terms that include "Green Technology" or "Social Network". They are the marketers' handles for holding on to the merry-go-round in the marketplace. Though we are just at the beginning of this "Green-Social" revolution and there is a lot of unknowns as to where this will all lead us, I do think overall this is causing a significant shift in public awareness. There are more folks in general paying attention to current affairs and real world issues that will affect them and generations in the future. I see little bad with this momentum since it should be a welcome change for people to start thinking ahead and with a more careful eye on the impact of the decisions they make in the short term. Perhaps this will lead to more careful planning or thoughtful execution of technology. Since we are in the middle of a technology revolution the idea of thinking ahead is very relevant.
As an example, in our household we made several decisions a couple years back related to lowering our carbon footprint as well as reducing our overall energy consumption. One of which was to get a hybrid car (we love our Prius) but lately we considering the purchase of a small truck so we can haul stuff and go back to having two vehicles. As we are reviewing the specs, the pros and cons, we are actually feeling a little guilty with getting this vehicle since the fuel efficiency is so poor in comparison and the need is just not that great. Getting over the hump at first to make the decision to "Go Green"was not so easy since we traded in two relatively new cars plus paid more money to get into our hybrid and the other changes we made in our home and offices were also at a big price tag. The reality for us though is now that we have made this lifestyle change, it feels great and costs us much less. It is "hard to go back" sort of speak and by beating the curve we have actually recouped the investments in a very short period of time.
Translating this into the world of doing business
The hardest part of any new technology deployment is to get started and to get over the first phase of planning and adoption. Once you get past this it only requires discipline to see real results. With the maturity of open source technologies, small businesses can now afford technology solutions such as Content Management Systems (CMS), Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and Learning Management Systems (LMS) that will enable them to compete not only in a Global economy but against much larger enterprises. With powerful open source platforms such as Joomla CMS (with over 4600 extensions and counting) and blended commercial/open source solutions like info@hand CRM we now have a full life cycle transaction management capability with all of the ERP or LMS required for having superior business intelligence in real time. This technology in the hands of the right small business owners and if it is implemented effectively can revolutionize their capabilities and open many new doors of opportunity.
Join the conversation or you don't get invited to the party
With the wave of Social Networks and the trend of Social CRM the main point is to "listen to your customers or they will go somewhere else." Why? Because they can! One of the most important achievements in your marketing and general way of doing business will be to build customer loyalty since it one general rule of doing business is that it is much easier to get more business from your existing customers than it is to acquire new customers. Another key point is that with the explosion of Twitter you now have individuals with more power of "twitter influence" than major news networks. The groundswell of social technologies and the chatter in these communities are changing our culture forever. Just my opinion but overall the top down and territorial boundaries will change significantly in scope to a much more horizontal collaborative network as people become more aware and systems get more and more transparent. What does this mean? Well, it means that individuals will first have to take more responsibility and become more informed but with this they will ultimately have much more power and influence if the collaborate effectively.
Save money time and become more effective
With the whole shift in our economy with unemployment rising and the types of jobs in the marketplace changing as we adapt to the effects of globalization, I think we will see a boom in "micro-small businesses" and an awakening of self-motivated individuals working from home offices. Not only will this reduce fuel consumption with long commutes to and from work but it also can offer an additional slice of time in each day that can be used towards individual efficiency. This is going to mean that the companies that can adapt their business model and implement the technology infrastructures to accommodate a virtual office will have a significant advantage over those that do not. By the way, since this cuts back on energy consumption it is very much considered as adopting Green Technology.
Another key factor is that will save companies money is through developing quality training systems and managing business intelligence. The average employee stays with a company much less than ever before in history. With this constant turnover it is increasingly important to develop processes and systems that are less dependent on the individuals that are performing the particular roles. Having a solid technology platform and infrastructure in place will give your company the ability to remain resilient and keep track of knowledge assets. Essentially this can add up to significant savings in the amount of time and money required to retrain or move talent around to perform different roles within your organization.
Good news and the key to success
Well the good news is that every small business can afford to implement these types of tools now that were once only affordable by large enterprise organizations. The small business will have some home field advantages since they are more agile and can begin to transform their business models and adapt to the new world of social networks. The reality though is that all of your competition can also have access to the same process efficiencies and communities through clever technology adoption. So what will set you ahead is how effectively you can use and adopt technology in your organization and how well you can train and integrate your people with your technologies. It takes real effort and discipline to bridge this gap. It will also take some skill and creativity to ride the wave. The surf boards are now cheap but the skill to ride will determine your success.
Careful planning, creativity and strategy are the solution
CNP Integrations has developed a "Value Builder" methodology and service plan that can help you identify your priorities, define the correct technologies for deploying a Customer Relationship Business Management Platform to help your business bridge the gaps and allow you to get the very best value out of your technology investments. Think of the "Value Builder Program" as an incubator project for reinventing your business with better and smarter use of low cost of ownership web based virtual office tools. Whether you work with CNP or other vendors make sure you are focused on defining your priorities, identify your short term and long term technology needs and how you can use "Being Green" and "Social Networking" in your approach. If you do this you will connect to the pulse of your customers, participate in the "Grand" collaborative conversations and prosper both professionally as well as get the best value for the companies or businesses that employ you.
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