KPIs, web page analytics and data sets often hide a multitude of richness and insight that can reveal a number of demographic and even community specific issues.

The TED talks on how to present including: How to speak so that people want to listen; Your body language shapes who you are; How I beat stage fright; Talk nerdy to me and How great leaders inspire action.

Online sales keep on gaining market shares in the distribution channel mix and retailers must rethink their bricks-and-mortar development strategy.

Serco Consulting held a ‘thought leadership’ workshop with over 10 People Directors chosen from a variety local government organisations.

PWC further elaborates on its five mega trends: Demographic and social change; Shifts in global economic power; Rapid urbanisation; Climate change and resource scarcity and Technological breakthroughs.

Recent moves by the European Community (EC) have opened up the competitive landscape and created opportunities for global enterprises to consolidate network operations in EC countries.

The UK’s tech sector is enjoying a strong period of sustained growth and IT recruitment is only going one way - up.

There is an endless supply of well-paid contract work out there according to Hudson.

IBM's Watson is the hottest thing in AI and its cognitive capabilities are seen as a huge opportunity for consultants.

The fall in prices and speed of adoption of new technologies continues to increase dramatically.

The EIU, commissioned by Wipro, evaluates the future of the telecoms industry.

John Lennon wisely said "life is what happens when you're making other plans." "You may nod sagely at this," says Liz, "but the real consequences of not taking leadership in your own life are that you end up on your deathbed thinking "I really wish I had done XYZ" or facing an overwhelming feeling that you've just played it all too safe. So what are the signs that you're just not a leader in your own life? - Your life is out of balance: it's either all work and little play or vice versa - You are outwardly successful but you're questioning if you are going in the right direction - You don't plan what you're going to do outside work and feel that you're wasting your free time - You're running around after everyone else with no time to yourself - You have let friendships slip because you just don't have the time - Poor time management.

Kia Motors has been working with Accenture to develop and execute a strategy to significantly increase the effectiveness of its social media marketing.

Consultants David Robinson and Jim Highsmith ask whether the forces behind digital business will lead to just one more wave of technology fueled change or are we on for a revolution? If different, what are the critical capabilities required to survive and thrive? .

Social business is now a well understood concept but commercial leaders still don't understand what it can do for their business.

Half of the UK’s total naval budget is spent on maritime support.

Innovative new models powered by the internet are shaking the core of every industry and incumbents are struggling to respond.

In a recent encyclical on climate change, the environment and inequality Pope Francis suggests our planet is 'beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.' His indictment embraces rubbish, the throwaway culture, the impacts of pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.

Atkin's Joe Boyer goes through a very useful list of the things every graduate should know but probably doesn't before they start work.

A fascinating and comprehensive set of insights into how to redesign your organisation.

Organisational alignment has always been the bugbear of strategic implementation.

Outsourcing relationships principally fail due to the clash of organisational memes between the customer and the supplier.

Ceridian summarises the 10 reasons why potential users do and don't use an HR system.

Capgemini's Marek Grodzinski explains how a reformulation of Einstein's famous equation can be applied to BPO delivery operations.

Deciding to bring on a third-party provider can have multiple benefits.

Tribal reports that it began using the eXact learning LCMS on its own projects in 2011 – principally to help it create learning content for the work-based (corporate) learning and further education (FE) sectors.

As banking customers are turning to new players, the World Retail Banking Report 2015 by Capgemini and Efma explores customer experience globally, the likelihood for customers leaving their bank and why the middle and back office are critical to delivering engaging and dynamic customer experiences.

Ford explains how it has been developing progressive IT infrastructure and effective integration of useful technologies to ensure to focus simultaneously on both the little things that matter and on the broader trends that continually reshape its industry.

By embracing the latest modelling and simulation techniques, organisations can more accurately model capacity, eliminate bottlenecks and develop optimal solutions.

Overestimating or underestimating the cost when approaching final investment decision can have serious consequences for both the project and operator. In this article, Turner and Townsend identify five common mistakes in estimating and advise five strategies to avoid setting unrealistic targets and improve confidence in the results.

Pioneered in developing countries where existing banking networks are sparse, the delivery of mobile financial services by telecommunications companies and online providers has mostly been seen as a disruptive force by providers of traditional banking services. With the developed world still to adopt mobile financial services in any real capacity due to the prevalence of traditional models, a significant opportunity exists to address a latent market need.

Deciding to bring on a third-party provider can have multiple benefits.

Changing demographics, rising public expectations and increasing costs of drugs and treatments are simplified reasons why financial pressure is spiraling upwards.

Citizens of Local Authorities are not only members of the general public consuming public services, they are also the consumers of services in the private sector, which include services online.

With content marketing, consumer attention can’t be bought; it has to be earned.

Serco Consulting identified significant variation in performance across teams as a result of non-standard work and a variable operating model.

Called ‘Global assessment: Achieving scale and managing risk’, the paper highlights the benefits that employers can gain by standardising the application of assessment processes worldwide.

The study by Ashridge Business School’s leadership expert Dr Megan Reitz, published in the new book Dialogue in Organizations: Developing Relational Leadership, offers new insights into effective business leadership and organisational change in the 21st century.

According to Roland Berger Strategy Consultants' newly released THINK ACT booklet, "Cancellation of drug sale subsidization for medical services and separation of drug sales from hospitals," China's policy of separating drug sales from hospitals will finally be substantially and widely implemented over the course of its 13th Five Year Plan. - China’s pharmaceutical consumption market is dominated by prescription drugs, and 92% of prescription drug sales are made through hospitals. - The income and spending for Basic Medical Insurances (BMIs) is becoming imbalanced; spending is rising at a faster rate than income for Urban Basic Medical Insurances (UBMIs) According to Roland Berger's analysis, the "separation of drug sales from hospitals" and cancellation of "subsidization of medical services with drug sales" policies will be substantially and widely implemented during the 13th Five Year Plan, creating a major, long-term impact on the pharmaceuticals market and industry. This report analyzes sales within China's pharmaceutical market, which is based heavily on prescription drug sales, predicting both policy trends and the extent to which the "cancellation of drug sale subsidization for medical services" and "separation of drug sales from hospitals" policies will be implemented following the 18th CPC National Congress.

As cyber-attacks today become more sophisticated, harder to detect, and are able to bypass traditional security tools, it is a necessity that enterprises today assess their overall security strategy, which should encompass detection, remediation and prevention capabilities in a platform approach rather than viewing them in silos. "The inspiration behind TRACE was to create a new industry standard for the cyber security community by developing a holistic approach which includes not only security products but also the expertise required to prevent, detect and remediate threats effectively in the enterprise environment," noted Charles Lim, Senior Industry Analyst, Frost & Sullivan Cyber Security practice lead. "In addition, we realized that several security components used in enterprises have acronyms tagged to them, such as IAM, NAC, IPS, UTM, NGFW and so on.

Although globalization is not a new trend, its relevance to the investment management industry is growing.

Innovation is both threatening and enhancing our lives, careers and the way we do business.

Firing staff is a necessary and essential part of a manager’s role.

When you are running a business, most business owners are focused on three things: 1) Getting more customers 2) Increasing sales 3) Earning more profit But when these things aren’t happening many start "reacting" and a lot of random approaches start creeping in to their marketing activity. According to Shweta Jhajharia of The London Coaching Group this is because we forget that these three areas are only important at the time of setting goals – but not when it comes to the day-to-day operations and marketing of your business. The really important considerations are the items that lead to these outcomes. The main thing you need to get into the habit of is measuring and managing the Five Levers that lead to the outcomes you want (customers, sales, profit): · Number of Enquiries · Conversion Rate · Number of Transactions · Average Sale Value · Margin You can download a one-page PDF of these five levers of growth here, with an explanation of each one.

A study by IBM, a technology and consulting corporation, looked at the global IT infrastructure of 750 companies and found that 70% of the questioned IT executives believed that IT infrastructure optimises a company’s revenue and profit, and is a source of competitive advantage1.

However according to William Buist of Abelard Collaborative Consultancy and founder of the exclusive xTEN Club the nature of business has changed, and the idea of what constitutes a business skill has changed with it. There are notable differences in business itself: increased globalization; less focus on what is happening locally; personalised service is harder to come by and is often less likely to be sought out; speed and efficiency are often seen as the top concerns; businesses are becoming smaller, more specialised and deeply networked; cultural diversity is becoming a high priority and multiple offices in a variety of international locations are no longer reserved only for the largest corporations. 21st Century is very different from its predecessor and exercising good business skills now means tapping into quality leadership, which, as Buist explains, also looks different than it did decades ago. 1) Inspire Engagement While businesses need to have a sense of clarity when it comes to who is in charge, the way that employees are actually led looks different in a successful business. Leaders must present an image to their employees, customers, and shareholders of honesty and integrity, of insight, and courage, and of a collaborative, valuing spirit. They need to respond to, effect and affect change within the company, and within the business world in general.

We are all negotiators.

Regulators and HR practitioners who call for culture change to prevent behaviours that led to the last financial crash are barking up the wrong tree according to research findings by the University of Greenwich's Prof.

There are multiple challenges.

The dust has now settled after the general election.