Business.com |
- The Rising Confidence in Cloud-based Video Conferencing
- So Your Business Got Positive Publicity: Now What?
- Not a Fan of Deadlines? Here Are 2019's Best Low-Stress Jobs
- Just How Big is the Customer Experience Gap in Financial Services?
- Self-Assessment: 5 Tips for Writing Your Performance Evaluation
- Why AI Is Impacting Web Design and Development
- Brand-Impersonation Fraud Is On the Rise and Can Hurt Your Business
- Why Hiring People With Disabilities Is Good for Business
- How to Offer Health Insurance to Your Employees
| The Rising Confidence in Cloud-based Video Conferencing Posted: 18 Apr 2019 03:00 PM PDT  Managing multiple sites containing complex technology places enormous strain on IT resources. The proliferation of disparate meeting room endpoints and incompatible systems is a challenge for enterprise leaders. Today, intuitive intelligent cloud-based solutions can alleviate collaboration difficulties and provide seamless interoperability to help the workforce interact more effectively and enjoy the benefits of easily manageable meeting room systems. Next generation smart solutions and enterprise architecture need to be flexible, secure and lightning fast to integrate capabilities that break down silo structures and move businesses toward virtualization and a cloud-first approach. It's time to simplify communications and give users an enriched experience that keeps them at the forefront of technology. Editor's Note: Looking for a video conferencing solution for your business? If you're looking for information to help you choose the one that's right for you, use the questionnaire below to get the information you need from a variety of vendors for free: The intelligent cloud
The key reasons for regional differences in cloud migration include the struggle with legacy systems, slow IT policy changes to adapt quickly to new strategies, and new data privacy laws, such as GDPR. However, statistics show that companies in all regions in the developed world are adopting a cloud migration strategy. Cloud platforms can act as a growth catalyst enabling enterprise initiatives to cater for on-site meeting room facilities and support an escalating mobile workforce. According to IDC, almost half of IT spending was cloud-based in 2018, with spend predictions to reach 60% of all IT infrastructure and 60% - 70% of all software, services and technology by 2020. [Interested in video conference systems? Check out our reviews and best picks.] Competitive differentiation is the endgame. A secure cloud-based video endpoint helps companies minimize infrastructure costs whilst consistently align to data compliance standards. The convergence of video, voice and messaging means the technological intelligence is moving away from the device and migrating to the cloud. The virtual world is inherently more flexible and offers a greater level of future proofing, the hardware is more hands-on and functional. Therefore, standardizing on solutions that offer interoperability with multi-platform devices allows participants to connect smoothly in real-time high definition. The cloud offers freedom to upgrade software, deploy innovation, and control costs in an instant. Users want a next generation, premium room experience. Whether it is conducting video conferencing at a specific location or seamlessly connecting by mobile, adopting intuitive intelligent solutions across the enterprise is achievable anywhere and from any device. According to the StarLeaf cloud data intelligence, the number of scheduled meetings has soared by over 3,750% in four years. The need to "meet," "greet," and "seat" the workforce plays a vital part in effective communications. The opportunity for enterprise businesses today is to rethink where the priorities lie in an evolving IT landscape. This is where integrated video conferencing and meeting room systems are extremely effective, helping to streamline and standardize the IT ecosystem, reduce manual maintenance and improve the quality experience of collaborative meetings. Starting a meeting needs to be simple. The use of frictionless solutions that are easy to use enables attendees to gain greater confidence that they can concentrate on the meeting rather than worry about IT challenges. Furthermore, the ability to manage and control the meeting from a single source, allows meeting organizers to have full functionality without disrupting the meeting agenda. Access via the cloud to intelligent data from meeting rooms systems also gives decision-makers a better overview of meeting room usage and stakeholder engagements. The value in the investment is not just in the endpoints in the room, but the smart output from the meeting. Work patterns and behaviors are changing, and organizations must remove the barriers to effective communications. Confidence in the room
Enterprises around the world are embracing intelligent collaboration solutions to future-proof investment and ensure their business remains ahead of the rapidly converging communications curve. |
| So Your Business Got Positive Publicity: Now What? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 12:00 PM PDT  When it comes to public relations, doing nothing with positive publicity about your business is a fatal mistake almost everyone makes. Positive publicity creates a massive opportunity for you to create a lot of exposure and social proof. But by failing to complete a few important steps, your big opportunity can soon disappear. The big day arrives when you get featured in ForbesYou wake up to the email you've been waiting for. Your featured article is live. The interview you did weeks ago is on the homepage. It already has a few thousand views, and shared hundreds of times. You pump your fist. It's a hit. It's sure to go viral. But you check your site's analytics. Nothing. Over the coming days you keep checking, and each time you're left underwhelmed. You assumed this feature would result in emails, calls and sales. It's a popular article on a big site, so went wrong? Nothing, other than your expectations. It is no longer enough to "just" get featuredThere was a time when getting featured on a big site would lead to a lot of traffic. Those days are dead. Today, there's just too much content. It's not to say getting featured on a site like Forbes isn't valuable. Far from it. It's a massive opportunity. But only if YOU leverage it. In the same way an author's job isn't done once they finish their book, your journey begins the moment your media placement goes live. "Just" expecting massive success is like creating a new product but then refusing to market it. It doesn't work like that. Yet you wouldn't believe the amount of smart people I meet who think getting a media placement will solve all their problems. This is an outdated look on PR that has to stop. This is why I work with my clients to not only get great media placement, but then leverage it for maximum impact. The day your feature goes live is just the beginning. What happens next is when you turn opportunity into success. 1. Shout about itDon't be afraid of self promotion. There's no reward for those who get featured, but tell no one about it. You have to shout about it from the rooftops.
These are just a few tips to leverage your media placement. There are many more, but they all have one thing in common: You taking the initiative. The more people you drive to it, the more the platform will promote and share it (through their own email and social media platforms, and "popular" sections on their site). Beyond this, it means your existing audience sees your media placement. Unless you tell them about it, they may never even realize it happened. 2. Share it with new and old clientsGood media placement can generate new leads and sales, but the real value I've seen over the years is how you use it to convert existing leads. Getting featured in a publication like Forbes provides amazing social proof. It showcases you as an authority, and may help get those stuck on the fence to pull the trigger. In fact, studies show social proof has a greater influence on consumers than price does. So when your media placement goes live, personally reach out to all your warm leads. Link to the article and use it as an opportunity to spark a conversation. Leverage your newfound authority to convert your current leads into customers. And then reach out to old clients and do the same. This is something most people overlook., but I've witnessed my own clients see massive success by reconnecting with old customers. 3. Make it part of your long term marketingThis is something else almost everyone overlooks. Their media placement goes live, and they promote and share it for a few weeks. But then, nothing. Please, do not do this. Chances are your feature will be as relevant in two years as it is today. So, use it:
Good media placement doesn't have an end-date. Used effectively, it can continue to help you convert and close potential leads for years to come. 4. Track the dataThe moment your media placement goes live, track the impact it has on your brand.
Unless you track the impact, you don't know the impact it has. It's all just guesswork. So track the data and make informed, educated decisions. Before long, you'll learn which media platforms have the greatest impact and which content creates the biggest engagement. Today, it's easier than ever to track your media placements:
Tracking your media placement allows you to leverage it further, by doubling down on what works and getting rid of what doesn't. Over time, you'll perfect your PR and marketing. |
| Not a Fan of Deadlines? Here Are 2019's Best Low-Stress Jobs Posted: 18 Apr 2019 11:15 AM PDT  As professionals, we place expectations on ourselves and our co-workers on a daily basis. When we accept a new job or task, we agree to complete our work in a timely fashion, often with either a mandated or self-imposed deadline. For some workers, these deadlines are challenges that they willingly accept and meet. Others, however, feel stressed by deadlines and find that these time limits negatively affect their mental state. According to a 2017 survey by CareerCast, of the more than 1,000 individuals surveyed, 71% said they were under regular stress at work and cited deadlines as the most common cause. "Deadlines are not only a contributing factor to stress in the workplace, but they are a significant cause of it," said Kyle Kensing, online content editor at CareerCast. Though every job requires workers to perform certain tasks, expectations for those tasks vary from job to job. For job seekers who want a break from the deadlines that are so common in today's fast-paced world, a newly released study by CareerCast identified some of the top jobs for people looking to avoid deadline stress in the workplace. [Related: 3 Steps to Eliminate Workplace Stress] Jobs ranked by stressCareerCast officials scored jobs on several criteria, including the amount of stress a career generates due to the frequency and urgency of deadlines. To determine a job's ranking, officials said they examined "the overall work landscape [and measured] job quality through income, growth potential, environment and stress." Of the careers ranked for their deadline stress, 52 were found to score much lower than most. Jobs like dietitian and massage therapist were named as some of the least stressful jobs in relation to deadline expectations. In fact, professionals in most of the lower-ranked positions work directly with consumers, patients and clients. According to officials, the deadlines these professions regularly face differ, as they "focus on helping those they work with reach their goals." For them, making it to the finish line is important no matter how much time it takes to get there. Another type of job that fits into the low-stress category is research-based jobs, where long-term findings matter more than instant results. As such, positions like biomedical engineer and conservationist are also among the least stressful jobs in relation to deadlines. Conversely, the jobs that scored highest for deadline-related stress in 2019 included newspaper reporter, broadcaster and accountant. Airline pilot and air traffic controller also ranked significantly higher than most jobs in this category. Less stress, more growthEven though the jobs that CareerCast ranked lowest in stress are largely devoid of tight deadlines, some of them still offer competitive pay and have high growth outlook into 2026. These jobs also tend to have welcoming work environments. Officials said the following jobs would be perfect for anyone looking to avoid deadline stress. For those looking to get into the healthcare industry without a lot of deadlines, a career as an audiologist could be a good suggestion, as it's one of the fastest-growing positions (21%) and has an average salary of $75,920. Other healthcare careers that fit CareerCast's criteria include the following:
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| Just How Big is the Customer Experience Gap in Financial Services? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 10:00 AM PDT  There has been a 50% increase in volume of financial search phrases on search engines over the last five years, according to Google Trends. The upward trend for search phrases such as "commercial loans," "interest checking accounts," "mortgages," and "local banks" shows that consumer and commercial customers looking for financial products and financial institutions are starting their search online. As these customers venture out across the web to find options, they are being met by static bank and credit union websites with generic product and brand marketing. While financial marketers and customer experience managers agree that the future of digital finance is dynamic and personalized, few banks and credit unions have implemented these powerful technologies on their public websites and applications. Where is personalization innovation happening?Companies such as Amazon, Pandora and Netflix have demonstrated that dynamic sites with practical personalization outperform static industry peers with:
Amazon, with its well-known personalization engine, brings in over $100 million per day with personalized recommendations. Amazon is constantly researching new applications of personalization including a current program that ships items a customer will likely buy to the nearest distribution center before a customer adds them to their cart. Despite this, financial service brands – with the most sensitive of our data – are still presenting offers on their homepages for products or services we already have. Why aren't banks, credit unions and investment service companies implementing personalization?In Extractable's web analytics research, visitors that are exposed to personalization on bank and credit union websites have three to eight times the conversion rates of visitors that are only exposed to static messaging. Additionally, Episerver data indicates 25 percent of global shoppers are more likely to purchase from a brand again when their experience is personalized. However, in Extractable annual reports on the best bank websites and best credit unions websites, few are using personalization to promote products because of the complexities involved with older platforms such as: Digital Personalization = Increased Technical Complexity + Increased Content & Creative Resources + Increased Digital OverheadWith the introduction of user-friendly platforms such as Episerver, Demandbase and LiveRamp, non-technical marketers can implement personalization targeting anonymous and known website visitors. These mature tools are minimizing the complexities involved in implementing personalization and enabling non-technical team members to implement personalization with minimal effort from engineers. With the adoption of these new technologies, bank customer experience and marketing teams can implement personalization on their public and authenticated sites (online banking or OLB) without a significant investment of resources. Financial institutions can excel in personalization and achieve the lift in applications and customer loyalty. It is advisable to select the types of personalization that are applicable to the largest segment of the audiences and provide the highest lift in conversion. Organizations such as Matthews Asia are using Episerver integrated with data sources like CRM to drive new levels of personalization and digital marketing performance. Below is partial list of the types of personalization that can be implemented within the CMS without technology resources: Behavioral Personalization: This personalization attempts to determine the visitors interest based on their actions.
IP Based Personalization: This personalization can gain information about the anonymous visitor from the IP address and DNS record.
Online Banking, CRM, and Loan or Deposit applications: These effective types of personalization use data from other banking platforms to drive personalization. While this type of personalization may seem complex, the implementation is often easier than first perceived.
Once implemented, a team monitors the performance of visitors that are exposed to the personalization and interact with it to see which types of personalization drive the highest lift in deposit/loan applications and which drive the highest levels of customer satisfaction. |
| Self-Assessment: 5 Tips for Writing Your Performance Evaluation Posted: 18 Apr 2019 09:00 AM PDT  A performance evaluation is an important tool for keeping communication flowing between teams. Periodic evaluation is a chance for managers and employees to review the recent past and discuss expectations moving forward. An evaluation also serves as an opportunity to set goals, both as individuals and teams. Along with the performance evaluation often comes the self-assessment. An opportunity for employees to self-reflect and consider what their strengths and weaknesses are, self-assessments are not only important to growth as a worker but as a person. By critiquing their own work and behavior, employees can gain insight that helps them improve. For managers, self-assessments offer several benefits. They illuminate how the employee sees themselves in the context of the team and the organization at large. It also highlights any disagreements or misunderstandings between the manager and the employee. And, of course, self-assessments offer an opportunity for feedback to managers about what motivates and incentivizes an employee to do their best work. "Modern employees are intrinsically motivated to work autonomously and by opportunities to learn and grow. So, from a management perspective, self-assessments – which contribute to autonomy and development – are incredibly valuable," said David Hassell, founder and CEO of 15Five. "Work product from employees who are intrinsically motivated tends to be more impactful and sustainable than work derived from extrinsic motivators, such as bonuses or fear tactics." Despite its importance, writing a self-assessment is no easy task. Analyzing oneself can be immensely difficult, especially when that analysis is submitted to a supervisor for review. If you're having trouble getting started, these five tips will help you learn how to write a self-assessment. [Learn more about performance management.] 1. Be proud.One major goal of the self-evaluation is to highlight your accomplishments and recollect milestones in your professional development. A good self-assessment should point to specific tasks and projects that highlight your best work. When describing those accomplishments, employees should emphasize the impact those achievements had on the whole business to emphasize their value to the company. Julie Rieken, CEO of Applied Training Systems Inc., said you should strive to connect your actions with a manager's goals. This type of alignment is encouraging to any manager and conveys that you understand your role within the larger context of the company. "If your manager needs to hit a certain number, share how you played a role in hitting the number," said Rieken. "Accomplishments you list should connect with business objectives." 2. Be honest and critical.Self-assessments aren't just about highlighting triumphs. You should also critically assess the times you came up short. Being honest means pointing out weaknesses that could be improved upon or past failures that taught you a valuable lesson. Recognizing your own flaws is important to demonstrating your ability to learn and grow. Still, it's important to not be self-deprecating in your assessment. Timothy Butler, a senior fellow and director of career development programs at Harvard Business School, advised employees to use developmental language when critiquing the areas in which they need to improve. "You don't want to say, 'Here's where I really fall down,'" Butler told the Harvard Business Review. "Instead, say, 'Here's an area I want to work on. This is what I've learned. This is what we should do going forward.'" 3. Continuously strive for growth.It's important during self-assessments to never stagnate; humans are constantly adapting, learning and changing. Whether you've had a great year or fallen short of your own expectations, it's important to remain committed to improving and educating yourself. Taking a moment to list your goals and objectives for the coming year during a self-assessment demonstrates that you are not content to settle. "The first step is to adopt a growth mindset and understand that adult human potential is not fixed. We are always in a state of becoming, and our potential increases or decreases based on many factors, including the environments where we live and work," Hassel said. "Adopting that framework prevents people from becoming too transfixed on their perceived failures and from becoming too attached to their triumphs." Managers will also see a willingness to improve and take on new things as a sort of coachability. If an employee has been struggling, making room for growth could improve their performance. On the other hand, an employee thriving in their position requires growth opportunities to prevent boredom or stagnation. 4. Track your accomplishments.When it's time to discuss your accomplishments in your self-assessment, providing hard data to show what you've done throughout the year is highly beneficial. Employees and managers generally know how you have performed, but having concrete numbers to back up any assertion strengthens the validity of your self-assessment. "If employees ... spend 10 seconds a day writing down their one biggest accomplishment, success, metric hit, feedback received for that day, they'd have 10 times more data than they'd ever need for self-assessment," said Mike Mannon, president of WD Communications. Hank Yuloff, owner of Yuloff Creative Marketing Solutions, agreed: "We teach our clients to keep a list of daily and weekly accomplishments so that when it is time for the self-assessment, there is very little guesswork as to how valuable they are to the company." 5. Be professional.Employees should always be professional when writing self-assessments. This means not bashing the boss for poor leadership skills or criticizing co-workers for making their lives more difficult. It also means not gushing in an overly personal way about a co-worker or manager you really like. Whether you are providing critical or positive feedback, it's important to remain professional. Being professional means giving the appraisal its due attention, like any other important project that crosses your desk. Dominique Jones, chief operating officer at BetterU Education Corporation, advised treating your self-evaluation like a work of art that builds over time. You'll be much happier with the result if you give yourself time to reflect and carefully support your self-assessment, she said. "Use examples to support your assertions, and … make sure that you spell and grammar check your documents," Jones wrote in a blog post. "These are all signs of how seriously you take the process and its importance to you." Sample: How to Write a Self AssessmentWhile keeping these tips in mind can help you with writing a self-evaluation, few things improve the process like seeing an example firsthand. To that end, we've created a sample self-assessment to help guide you as you create your own. Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Core Values:
Accomplishments:
Goals:
Feedback:
Keeping things simple and using short declarative bullet points is key to writing an effective self-assessment. While the exact nature of your self-assessment might vary depending on your industry or your job description, this basic model can help guide you when writing a self-evaluation. Making performance evaluations a regular occurrencePerformance evaluations help everyone know where they stand and how they're performing, including in relation to the goals of the organization. Often, workplaces engage in performance evaluations annually, but they should become an ongoing process to fairly and accurately evaluate employees and create a culture of constant communication and feedback. "[S]elf-assessments cannot merely be an annual event. They are part of an ongoing and regular practice of reflection," Hassell said. "If you look at a snapshot of performance, you are never going to see the truth. It's too easy to focus on a particular experience or event and then create an overarching story around performance." Doing so will avoid "recency bias," or a type of tunnel vision that centers around recent events, rather than the big picture. It also creates an inclusive, give-and-take culture where employees are invited to participate in offering feedback to their managers as much as their managers offer them feedback. Overall, an inclusive and communicative workplace has a greater chance of succeeding. "Managers who adopt a coaching or mentorship role can provide external reflections and much-needed perspective so employees can see failures as learning opportunities," Hassell said. "They can also enjoy the praise of a job well done but not dwell on past triumphs, because every company has a continued need for peak employee performance over time." Additional reporting by Katherine Arline, Marci Martin and Jennifer Post. |
| Why AI Is Impacting Web Design and Development Posted: 18 Apr 2019 08:00 AM PDT 
It's the 21st century; the age of technology. All businesses and industries across the globe aim for innovation to stay ahead of the times. Tech savvy or not, there is an uncanny desire for automation among people and businesses alike. If you are a web development or a graphic design company, you have all the more reason to feel excited. Take any graphic design company into consideration. Its identity rests on the kind of work it does. Quality is something they cannot compromise. At the same time, a lot needs to be done and time is at a premium. How about AI intervention at this juncture? Doesn't sound bad right? After all, who would mind a little bit of automation? Numbers do tell a story. The Artificial Intelligence market has grown at a favorable rate over the years. Findings by Statista indicate that as of 2018, the AI industry was worth $7.3 billion. Whopping growth is expected over the next decade or so, catapulting the value of the industry to as high as $89 billion. The design and web-development industry has seen exponential growth over the years, but who is to say that the recurring operational complexities of the industry have been curtailed? There is definitely place for some AI presence in this industry. No wonder technology companies have noticed this opportunity and have started to create AI solutions. It's the scale and effectiveness of these solutions that is the talking point. How ADI aids web design and developmentIn the web design and development industry, the crux for artificial intelligence lies in helping automate the design and development of websites and images. Hence, it is often referred to as ADI (artificial design intelligence). There are a number of tools that aim at automating operations. For example, The Grid, Wix ADI, Adobe Sensei and Firedrop. The Grid: The Grid was one of the first entrants into the AI marketplace that promised to transform the whole website development scene. Initially, when artificial intelligence was the talk of the town, all benefactors loved the idea of "Molly" (The Grid's appointed AI agent) automating the design of a website with the innate capability of implementing five color palettes to a particular site in over 200,000 unique ways. Wix ADI: Another well-known AI website builder is Wix ADI, which has the potential to build a website independently just by using the content provided, and also suggest billions of different design options to choose from. It's also capable of performing all the re-formatting operations by itself based on the preferred input of choice. Adobe Sensei: One of the most talked about feature rolled out by Adobe is Sensei, as it has truly opened up a wide avenue of automation opportunities for design. Starting from an AI-driven face recognition feature to a feature called Scene switch, they have created a versatile design and development tool. Scene switch has the ability to automatically alter elements of an image by identifying a wide range of patterns and adjusting them with editing, patching and other processes. For example, if you want the high-rise buildings at the background to be replaced with hills, scene switch can automate it for you. Firedrop: Yet another AI and machine learning incorporated website development tool is Firedrop. All operations are delegated to 'Sacha', an AI powered chatbot, as it walks us through the web development process. All it needs are answers to a few strategically defined questions based on which it comes up with multiple recommendations. What's the potential of ADI?Although all these tools have created immense buzz in this industry, they have not yet come close to replacing humans. Basically, it would be wrong to expect miraculous returns from AI at this point. After all, it's still in the infancy stage. One might argue there are shortcomings with independently building websites and adjusting image designs. The favorable aspects of these AI enabled tools are they hardly ever miss a deadline, they allow infinite customizations, they provide thousands of options to choose from, and never ask for extra-incurred charges. But are these auto-created websites and design adjustments up to par? In a few cases, yes, but in most, they leave a lot to be desired. When it comes to carrying out minute tasks like cropping images that requires intricate detailing, or providing a website comprising of clinical and highly optimized codes, AI doesn't match up to that of a professional human. The problem areas include improper, random collation of data, complicated and un-optimized codes, and sub-standard finishing of websites, amidst others. For instance, The Grid has come under scrutiny as experts have claimed that the use case of the tool is more or less restricted to image auto-cropping and generating color palettes. Even the websites that they churn out have received some flak as claims have been made that they are mere lookalikes with very little space for any further customization. These AI tools have not yet reached the level where they can replace humans. That in no way means that there isn't a possibility for future opportunities for AI to make a mark on. At present, it can serve as a worthy catalyst to human designers – saving them time and physical labor. AI-powered tools: The perfect assistance for designers and web developers todayAI tools in design and web development still don't match up to human perfection, and its skills by no means suggest that they cannot empower humans. The results they produce might not be perfect, but still mighty impressive. Designers and developers are often involved with a lot of basic and mundane legwork like updating database records, predictive coding and basic image editing. While they are basic, they are still time consuming. Auto-editing of images and auto-generation of code can be handled by these tools with distinction. Another primary area of human empowerment brought about by AI is in quality testing of applications. Deep learning algorithms can test an app without any human intervention by analyzing huge amounts of data and predicting any errors or inefficiencies. Not only does this improve the standards of software, but also saves a lot of time for dedicated testers. Then there are AI powered chatbots mimicking human interaction and enhancing customer experience when they visit websites. These bots are getting more intelligent every day and as a result their use cases are increasing as well. Another area where chatbots are turning out to be a boon is automating customer-experience data accumulation based on the inputs customers provide. This data is then passed on to the developers and designers as it serves as hands on insight for them to make necessary changes and modifications to the website design, browsing experience, UI/UX, etc. Artificial intelligence in this industry still has a lot of ground to cover. But what it has already achieved is quite extraordinary, and something no one could have imagined a decade back. Now looking a decade ahead into the future, I have a feeling that AI is going to break all barriers. |
| Brand-Impersonation Fraud Is On the Rise and Can Hurt Your Business Posted: 18 Apr 2019 07:00 AM PDT  When customers see a message from your brand on social media or in their inbox, is it really your brand, or is it a scam? The odds are rising that it could be a con. Brand-impersonation attacks increased eleven-fold from 2014 to 2018, in part because they're so easy. Anyone can create a social media profile, and many companies have unprotected email domains that criminals can hijack for real-looking phishing campaigns. Here's how you can protect your brand and keep your customers' trust. Brand impersonation is big businessScams that trick victims into thinking they're dealing with a store, brand or service provider they trust are not new, but there are new developments making these attacks more common. One is the growing organization and sophistication of cybercriminal gangs, who carefully profile the types of victims they want to target and even set fraud quotas for their criminal employees. Another factor is the ease with which scammers can use brands' own tools to cloak their identity. Copying a brand logo or even a validation symbol like the Twitter checkmark takes only a few minutes and minimal skills. Because email was originally developed without safeguards to verify senders' identity, many if not most brands' domains are open to tech-savvy malicious users. Without raising any alarms, they can launch phishing attacks that appear to come from the brand's email accounts. This practice is known as domain spoofing. Automation has dramatically increased the speed and scope of brand-impersonation fraud attempts, too. Scammers now send nearly 23 phishing emails every second and launch a new phishing domain every five minutes. The result is a perfect storm of brand fakery targeting consumers and damaging brands. Social media scams that steal customer dataSocial media scams make the most of real-time interaction to quickly steal account credentials and payment data from consumers. Scammers create fake accounts that look like their target brand – complete with copied logos and forged account-validation symbols. With these accounts, they can offer fake coupons and deals, show up in brand-related threads posing as customer service representatives and run fake contests. When Apple released the iPhone X, for example, criminals created more than 500 Apple-imposter social media accounts to promote fake iPhone giveaways. All hopeful victims had to do was follow a link to a website that would quietly steal their credentials, take their payment data, or install malware on their devices. Email impersonations that defraud your customersPhishing attacks – emails from scammers posing as brands, stores, or service providers – rose by 250% during 2018, according to Microsoft. In addition to domain spoofing, fraudsters also send emails from "lookalike domains" (such as mlcrosoft.com instead of microsoft.com), send malicious links, request victims' login and payment credentials, and even threaten victims with consequences for nonpayment. This last method swept the U.S. last fall and winter when scammers posing as local utility companies threatened to cut power to victims unless they paid a fictitious unpaid balance immediately. The fallout for brands after impersonation scamsImpersonation scams can hurt brands in several ways, even though brands are victims in these schemes, too. First and foremost, scams can drive away customers. Victims may blame the brand for not preventing the fraud, and research shows that 63% of consumers stop shopping with a brand after one bad experience. Other victims, as well as customers who learn about the scam in the media, may hesitate to open future emails from that brand, and that can cause marketing email campaigns lose effectiveness. News reports and social media discussions can also steer potential customers toward other brands. Phishing scams also require damage control. Brands that are targeted need to warn their customers about the impersonation scam. They also need to try to find out how the phishing is happening. Are fraudsters using the brand's domains to send email? If so, implementing better email security is an urgent priority. Are scammers setting up lookalike accounts on social media? Those accounts must be reported and monitored. Reducing the risk of brand impersonationThere are three core areas that help companies protect their brands from abuse by cybercrooks: communication, security and monitoring. Communication: Include a safety policy in customer-facing emails, on your social media accounts, and on your site, along the lines of "Brand XYZ will never contact you to ask for your customer login or payment card information." Visual communication matters, too, so keep your logo, colors and other visual branding elements consistent across channels, so knockoffs are easier for customers to spot. And when scammers target your brand, let your customers know what to watch for. Better security: Create strong passwords for your brand's social media accounts, keep a running list of who has login access, and update passwords when there are staffing changes. To prevent domain spoofing, implement a DMARC sender authentication policy on all your email domains. This open-source protocol gives domain owners the power to detect and reject unauthorized users. Monitoring: Use social monitoring tools to keep tabs on brand mentions and conversations. Report scam accounts when they appear and delete comments on your pages and posts by accounts impersonating your brand. For email, DMARC will show you who's sending emails from your domains (employees, third-party tools like MailChimp and maybe fraudsters) and can flag or reject suspicious outgoing messages. Finally, respond quickly to customer reports of scammers abusing your brand. Protecting your brand from impostors requires attention to what's happening in your brand's communication channels, as well as regular security improvements. These efforts are a good way to drive scammers away from your brand in search of easier targets. They're also a must to build and maintain trust with your customers in an age when brands and consumers need to be allies in the fight against cybercrime. |
| Why Hiring People With Disabilities Is Good for Business Posted: 18 Apr 2019 06:15 AM PDT  People with disabilities have long been excluded from or underrepresented in the workforce based on low expectations and preconceived notions about their capabilities. The signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 opened the doors for inclusion and employment for millions of people with disabilities, but a culture of stigma and misunderstanding has pervaded, especially when it comes to employment. In the last decade, however, there has been a significant increase in conversation and activism concerning fair representation and opportunity for people with disabilities in the workforce. The working world is changing for the better as a result – and not just in terms of inclusion. A 2018 study by Accenture in partnership with the American Association of People with Disabilities and Disability:IN reports that businesses that actively seek to employ people with disabilities outperform businesses that do not. Their revenues were 28% higher, net income was two times more, and profit margins were higher by 30%. Additionally, the Department of Labor found that employers who embraced disability saw a 90% increase in employee retention. But the value that people with disabilities can bring to the workplace goes far beyond numbers. "Hiring people with disabilities is a win for everyone involved," said Mary Dale Walters, senior vice president at Allsup. "Those with disabilities often look at business problems differently and bring innovative thinking to new products and customer service." A vast untapped marketThere is a striking disparity between the current American labor market and employment status of people with disabilities. According to the Accenture study, only 29% of Americans with a disability between the ages of 16 and 64 were employed, compared with 75% of Americans without a disability in the same age bracket. If American companies were to actively participate in hiring people with disabilities, they would have access to a talent pool of more than 10.7 million people with diverse strengths, leadership styles and ways of thinking. The study also reports that the GDP could see a boost of nearly $25 billion if just 1% more people with disabilities joined the workforce. Why companies are holding backMany companies avoid targeting active inclusion of people with disabilities because they incorrectly assume that it will cost them money or require complex expertise – but multiple studies show that this is not the case. "Many people will not hire out of ignorance and, many times, fear," said Alexandra Allred, CEO and disabilities advocate at 13 Able and adjunct professor at Tarleton State University. Nearly 60% of accommodations cost nothing, while the rest average around $500 per person with a disability. Additionally, reports overwhelmingly show that the benefits of a diversely abled workforce vastly outweigh the costs. Being mindful of accommodation from the start can also help companies avoid extra costs: Consider adding accessibility features right away and making flexible working hours and diversity training part of your workplace culture. Specific expertise or training is not required. Because everyone is an individual and has unique needs, the best way to serve any of your employees is simply to ask what they need from you, rather than assuming they'll need complex accommodations, and delivering on those needs to the best of your ability. "Push down in your organization and reconsider outdated processes and thinking," said Walters. "Sometimes there's an unrecognized bias among hiring managers – their jobs will not be harder if they hire someone who works a little differently." How to create an inclusive environmentThe research by Accenture shows that companies that actively hire people with disabilities – identified in the study as "champions" – perform four key actions for hiring, retaining and advancing diverse talent: 1. Hire people with disabilities Many large corporations are taking the lead on championing diverse talent. Bank of America brought together a group of 300 people with intellectual disabilities to create a support services team that manages fulfillment and external clients; Microsoft created a hiring program specifically for people on the autism spectrum; Starbucks opened its first Signing Store in Washington, D.C. Non-monetary benefitsAside from the financial and economic gains, hiring people with disabilities has a positive effect on factors such as absenteeism and motivation. The Accenture study highlights six main areas of "inclusion incentives" – increased innovation, improved shareholder value, improved productivity, access to the supplier ecosystem, improved market share and enhanced reputation. "Individuals with disabilities can bring innovative thinking, a unique perspective and other talents that can help businesses be more productive and competitive," said Walters. Companies that focus on diverse hiring also see lower turnover, as their employees feel greater loyalty to the company and a positive connection to its business practices. The future of diverse hiringFor companies to be truly successful in hiring a diverse workforce, they need to look at it as embracing the advantages of having a group of people with varying abilities, skills and intelligences, rather than compliance or perceived obligation. "Diversity of all sorts is a good idea," said Philip LaDuke, global business principal consultant at ERM. "Not because of political correctness, but from a pragmatic business point of view." To make your business more inclusive, start from the inside out, Walters said. "Make sure your company policies and culture are inclusive and disability-friendly. That means everything – employee handbooks, procedures and practices – should take into account that what many think of as a standard is not a standard for others." People with disabilities stand to bring success, diversity and increased motivation to the workplace, but they are still fighting against decades of stigma and discrimination. More companies are seeing the benefits of fully inclusive hiring, but there is still a great deal of work to be done. "Not utilizing talented individuals because they might need accommodations is a serious issue," said Diane Elizabeth, CEO of Skincare Ox. "Focus on what the person can do for the company." |
| How to Offer Health Insurance to Your Employees Posted: 18 Apr 2019 05:50 AM PDT  Health insurance benefits, which are a major part of an employee's compensation package, are becoming increasingly more important in a competitive labor market. Full-time employees often expect health insurance coverage, so even those employers who aren't required to provide coverage under the law might want to consider adopting group coverage of some kind. How do you offer health insurance to your employees when there are so many options on the market? It's a complex area with a lot of options and potential pitfalls. We pulled together these expert insights to help you put together the best health insurance benefits package for your business and employees. Are you looking for other employee benefits as well? Consider our benefits package guide, which breaks down benefits like health insurance, retirement savings plans, paid time off and more. Interested in finding the right health insurance plan for your small business? Fill out this questionnaire and our vendor partners will contact you with information.
Employer-sponsored health insurance can be tough to manageThe answer to the question of how you offer health insurance to employees is complicated. Health insurance benefits are complex and include varied types of coverage. It can be difficult to know which plans to offer and where to start. What kind of coverage do your employees need? Which type of policy will keep costs down? What kind of health insurance premiums should you consider? Do these plans meet your minimum requirements under the law? Which insurers should you partner with? It's enough to make anyone's head spin. The first step to selecting the right coverage options for both your bottom line and your employees' well-being is understanding some of the major types of insurance on the market. From there, offering an employer-sponsored health insurance plan is largely a matter of your business's budget and your group's personal circumstances. Selecting the best fit possible for your employees is key to boosting morale and retention while picking a cost-effective plan is important to keep your expenses manageable. Balancing these two considerations can be tricky. Types of health insurance plansWhen searching for an employee health insurance plan, employers have several options. For starters, employers can opt to offer a fully insured health plan or a self-funded health plan. Fully insured health plans refer to coverage provided by an insurance company on behalf of the employer. These plans are regulated by the states. Self-funded plans grant employers more control over the precise design of the insurance coverage and are governed by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974. What types of fully insured health plans are on the market? Understanding the answer to this question is the first step in deciding whether this type of plan or a self-funded plan is right for your business and employees. There are several types of fully insured health plans from which employers can choose. Managed care plansManaged care plans include Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), Exclusive Provider Organization (EPO) and Point of Service (POS). Each plan varies in costs and services. HMO health insurance options cover medical services at an in-network provider. The restrictive nature of an HMO plans keep insurance premiums and co-pays down, said Matthew Gardner, an insurance agent and executive sales leader at HealthMarkets. PPO plans are far more flexible, Gardner said, but come with higher premiums and co-pays. Sometimes employees might be required to pay out-of-network costs up front and then file a claim with the insurance company to get reimbursed. EPO plans provide health insurance coverage that only extends to providers within the plan's network. Except in an emergency, EPOs only cover the costs of in-network providers, meaning the covered employee would be responsible for the full cost of services incurred from an out-of-network healthcare provider. Finally, POS plans are a hybrid of HMOs and PPOs. With a POS health insurance plan, employees must first visit a primary care physician and obtain a referral for medical services at an out-of-network provider, which may also be covered depending o the specific details of the plan. Indemnity fee-for-serviceFee for Service (FFS) plans, or indemnity health insurance, are highly flexible health insurance policies that permit members to visit any healthcare provider of their choosing for whichever medical services they need. The flexibility of these plans comes with high out of pocket costs, Gardner said. High-deductible health insurance plansFinally, high-deductible health insurance coverage demands a high annual deductible, which members must meet before becoming eligible for the plan's co-pays. However, due to the high annual deductible, members of a high-deductible plan enjoy much lower monthly premiums than those with other types of health insurance coverage. These plans often include health savings accounts (HSAs). HSAs are tax-advantaged medical savings account for employees enrolled in a high-deductible health plan. The funds saved in these accounts are not subject to federal income tax and roll over each year if they are not spent, accumulating over time. Choosing an employer-sponsored health insurance planSelecting the right coverage involves a great deal of research on the part of the employer. Balancing cost with the need to find coverage that meets employee needs is key, as well as ensuring that the plans you choose bring your business into compliance with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations, such as the Affordable Care Act, ERISA and the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1986. "There are a variety of factors that go into choosing a plan for employees, including how many employees you have, the ages of those employees, their status, and many more," Gardner said, adding that part-time employees, full-time employees and managerial staff will all differ. "When it comes down to choosing a plan, it is very dependent on the budget you have available for health insurance." In addition to budget, employers have to understand the details of the health insurance coverage they're choosing, including covered medical services, in-network healthcare providers, insurance premiums, co-pays and more. "The factors an employer should consider when choosing a health plan include the ability to receive information on what is driving the employer's costs, the ability to implement cost-saving strategies and a long term strategy for managing the plans' costs," said Mike Schroeder, president of Roundstone Insurance. "Other factors influencing the health plan choice include hospital and physician services that are available, plans that encourage the employees to engage with the purchase of their health care and plans that promote a healthy lifestyle." According to Misty Guinn, director of benefits and wellness at Benefitfocus, employers should consider the following:
"[Health insurance selection] depends on an individual's personal situation, so what is comprehensive for one employee may not be comprehensive for another," Guinn said. "For example, if a millennial employee is enrolled in a PPO plan, but they're generally healthy, they may be spending unnecessary dollars on premiums and deductibles when they may be better suited for an HDHP plan and be investing those funds into a Health Savings Account (HSA)." "However," she added, "someone who selected an HDHP due to the lower premiums may open themselves up for financial risk to meet a high deductible in the event that something happens and medical care is needed. It's key that employers offer a variety of choices and guide employees into their best-fit plans. The most comprehensive plans are ones that offer voluntary solutions, such as accident or critical illness options, to supplement the individual's medical plan and provide a financial safety net." Employer requirements for offering health insurance benefitsBeyond offering appropriate plans based on the needs of the workforce, employers must keep in mind all applicable laws and regulations. Health insurance is a highly regulated space subject to a wide array of state and federal laws. Its critical employers understand their obligations under all laws and regulations that apply to them, which vary depending on company size and location. "There are a handful of regulatory requirements you should keep in mind, depending on how many employees you have," Gardner said. "ERISA, COBRA and [the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] (HIPAA) are three employers should be aware of. Additionally, there are state regulatory requirements to be aware of that can impact your business." The Affordable Care ActOne of the hallmarks of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is that it requires employers that have 50 or more full-time employees to provide health insurance coverage. The law also established state and federal health insurance exchanges where employers and individuals could purchase health insurance coverage. Employers are also required to adhere to specific reporting options under the ACA. To find out more about employer requirements, see our ACA essentials guide to help your business stay in compliance. ERISAThe federal ERISA governs self-funded retirement and health insurance plans to ensure certain standards of employee protection are met. "When self-funding their employee health plan, employers must become aware of and adhere to ERISA's rules on protecting employee contributions," Schroeder said. The primary requirements employers face under ERISA include an obligation to provide employees with details regarding plan features and funding, as well as setting minimum standards for participation, vesting, benefit accrual and funding. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) maintains a guide on employer obligations under ERISA for general reference. COBRAThe federal COBRA provides workers and their families the opportunity to extend their group health benefits for a limited period in the event they lose their coverage. Generally, COBRA requires employers with 20 or more full-time employees to extend continuation coverage to employees in certain instances where insurance coverage would otherwise end. Under COBRA, employers and plans are required to provide employees notice when they might be eligible for continuation coverage. To find out more about COBRA, visit the U.S. DOL website. HIPAAThe federal HIPAA governs the sharing of sensitive health information and protects it from unauthorized release. In the case of employer-employee relationships, HIPAA governs what information a health insurance provider can share with employers about a covered employee. HIPAA protects medical and health plan records from improper disclosure to protect the privacy of employees. To learn more about HIPAA regulations, visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) website. Educating employees about health insurance benefitsWith so many types of plans, health insurance can be a complex topic. Employees often don't know what type of coverage to choose or what it entails once they select it. Many employees won't be aware of what their health insurance plan covers at all until they're at the hospital or doctor's office. To help ease the pain of the process, employers should offer education and training opportunities around the healthcare plans they make available. One of the best ways to educate your employees about their health insurance coverage options is to host an open enrollment meeting, which is led by a health insurance broker or plan provider. These meetings explain plan benefits and details to employee's during open enrollment periods when they will be selecting their coverage options for the next year. Ongoing education is important as well, Gardner said, because health insurance benefits can be confusing. Education is also important when it comes to keeping employees healthy, which ultimately drives down costs. Providing employees with opportunities for fitness and nutrition education, as well as stress management services, could help employer's health insurance costs. "Most employees have no idea what their coverage entails until they are at the hospital being treated for something. I think ongoing education is key to ensure your employees the details of their plan and help manage their expectations of the benefits available," Gardner said. "Additionally, I'm finding that many employers are taking it to the next level by educating and encouraging health and wellness in general for their employees. By helping them stay healthy, you can help reduce premiums." While selecting employee benefits, especially employer-sponsored health insurance, can be incredibly difficult, doing it correctly can have positive impacts on your business. A strong employee benefits package can increase morale, employee retention and recruitment success. Although employee benefits represent significant expenses, employees that are well taken care of are more productive and loyal, which ultimately makes your company stronger. When it comes to employee health insurance, it's critical not to cut corners but choose a plan that marries both cost-effectiveness with comprehensive coverage. |
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