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How to Stop Drowning in Data and Find Actionable Insights

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StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures Article |Actionable Insights|How to Stop Drowning in Data and Find Actionable InsightsWhen a small group of executives from mid-size companies got together to discuss data issues, the conversation quickly turned to what to do once you have too much data. The executives were drowning in numbers and wanted someone to toss them a life jacket.

These companies had already invested significant resources into their data infrastructure. They were tracking millions or billions of data points in real-time and with some of the best technologies. Their challenge was actually using the data to make better decisions. They had this high-speed, modern car that no one knew how to drive. Just like you might admire a nice car as you walk by it, they were admiring their data infrastructure. But cars are meant to be driven, not just admired.

Data overwhelm is rooted in psychology and isn’t always solved by technology. In fact, technology might make it worse by increasing the volume of data. You can’t drink from a fire hydrant, and that same idea applies to data.

Data overwhelm is the classic “walking down the cereal aisle” problem. Imagine going to the supermarket to buy a new cereal. You don’t know what you want and instead will decide once you get there. The only problem is that there are a hundred choices of cereal. They all look surprisingly similar, and they might even cost roughly the same. How do you make a choice when everything looks the same?

That’s the problem with data overwhelm. You’re confronted with so many data points that you’re not quite sure what’s important and what’s noise. You may have discovered that 40 percent of your customers went to law school but so what? Should you change your marketing campaigns to talk about the law, or should you ignore this insight?

Now multiply this by 10, 50 or 100 insights, and you start to see the difficulties. Who’s to say what’s important or who could make that determination?

The underlying principle is to reduce the overall volume. It’s not about designing a process that could accommodate the weighing of hundreds of variables. It’s about reducing the number of variables that you’re working with. You want ways to rapidly remove large swaths of unnecessary data so you can deal with the remaining few.

This concept usually gets push back. Executives expect some kind of magical formula that can be applied to all of their data and spit out the right answer. They basically want a magic eight ball that considers all variables and then tells them what to do.

Instead, it’s best to work with fewer inputs to produce more outputs, which are decisions in this case. Once they move in a specified direction, it’s much easier to redirect the momentum towards the correct destination.

To help tackle data overwhelm and start finding actionable insights within your data, use these four strategies:

1. Use gatekeepers

The first strategy to deal with overwhelm is to employ gatekeepers. Companies are trying as much as possible to reduce friction in accessing data, but you may want to add friction in some cases. Some companies make it too easy to create reports, and everyone is constantly building them without thinking through what they actually want.

If you’re interested in learning more about the location of your customers, what will do you with the information? If you don’t have a good answer, your fishing expedition might prove fruitless. If your team struggles to sort through all the noise, you need to become more deliberate in where and how you fish. Gatekeepers can ask a few questions to clarify the overall goal of creating a report.

You want your own devil’s advocate who is skeptical of data requests. The Catholic Church created this position to argue against any given individual’s canonization (sainthood). It would assign someone to literally “advocate for the devil.” The healthy skepticism ensured that facts were uncovered and observed.

2. Decide WDIM — or What Does It Mean?

The second strategy is to obsess over WDIM. Whenever you come across an insight, your team should debate what this insight means (WDIM).

If you can’t come up with good answers, you may be dealing with a vanity metric. Vanity metrics are interesting to look at but don’t actually mean much to your business. If a metric can go up or down without forcing a significant behavior shift within your company, then you can safely ignore it.

3. Choose 3 things

The third strategy is “3 Things,” and it’s the simplest to apply. If you can’t figure out how to prioritize your data, pick the three things that fit the best or seem the best to you. Then analyze these three insights further and take action on them or discard them.

Wrong choices are seldom fatal, but paralysis is. Moving forward can be beneficial because you can now gauge the impact of your decisions and adjust as needed.

4. Manage expectations

For some teams, having the pressure of delivering on a deadline is the thing that helps them break through overwhelm. They focus on prioritizing, making clear choices and finding the WDIM in their data.

Work with your teams to manage expectations around how data is used, and the different scenarios in which data is appropriate and where it can be safely ignored.

Data overwhelm doesn’t have to derail your data strategy, but you need to think about it differently. Focus on the people behind the data, and you’ll start to see solutions to this pesky problem.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Ruben Ugarte Ruben Ugarte is founder of Practico Analytics, providing expertise in data analytics. He has worked with companies on five continents and in all company stages, helping them to use data to make higher quality decisions, boost performance, increase profitability and make their teams world-class. He maintains a popular blog with more than 100,000 readers. His new book is The Data Mirage: Why Companies Fail to Actually Use Their Data (Business Expert Press, January 22, 2021. Learn more at rubenugarte.com.

6 Great Hobbies to Keep Your Stress Under Control

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Keep your stress under control|6 Great Hobbies to Keep Your Stress Under ControlStress is an incredibly dangerous thing and if left uncontrolled it can cause absolute havoc on your mental and physical health. This means that any activity that you enjoy that helps you to mitigate and control your stress is a major boon to your health and wellbeing. To that end, this article aims to suggest a number of potential hobbies that could help you to control your stress and keep it at manageable levels.

1. Archery

One of the most relaxing and meditative sports out there, archery is all about careful control and accuracy, making it one of the best sports you could possibly engage with for stress relief. The enjoyment and engagement that you can get from taking your time, controlling your mind, and hitting your target in archery is second to none, and overall, that makes the sport an incredibly relaxing and soothing experience.

2. Reading

Reading is incredibly healthy for your mind. It boosts relaxation and mental acuity, allowing your mind to engage entirely in another world and releasing you, for a time, from the stresses and pressures of the world around you. By doing so, reading allows you to engage with an incredibly relaxing and meditative process that keeps your mind as clear and entertained as you could ever want.

3. Art

Drawing, painting, sculpting, modelling, and every other form of art are incredibly involved and meditative processes that allow the artist to throw themselves entirely into the process of creating something beautiful. By doing so the artist allows themselves to relax their fixations on the trials and pressures of their daily lives and to truly relax. This process is hugely meditative and wonderfully beneficial to their stress levels, allowing them to banish huge amounts of stress while simultaneously creating a beautiful work of art.

4. Football

As with most other forms of stress-relieving hobby, playing football allows you to escape, at least temporarily, from the stresses and pressures of your everyday life and simply enjoy the sport itself. Playing with friends and family helps to double down on the relaxing effect of the sport and, it so happens, that playing football is not the only way that the sport can allow you to relax your stresses.

Another way for you to relieve stress through football is through watching it with your friends and family. Watch parties are wonderful ways for you and your loved ones to get together and engage with the most important sporting competitions such as the Euro 2020 (Euro 2021 group tables). Watching these games together with your loved ones is a brilliant way to further reduce stress.

5. Model Building

Building models is a slow and delicate process and one that you can throw yourself into entirely. The experience of watching the model come together slowly, piece by piece, is hugely enjoyable and a brilliant way to mitigate and control your stress levels.

6. Writing Poetry

Finally, writing poetry is a wonderful way to allow you to bleed the stress from your mind. Poetry is all about transferring your emotion to the page and by doing so, you can find release from it yourself.

What Makes A Great SEO Campaign?

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SEO is one of the single most important elements of marketing a website. Rather than having to pay for adverts for years on end, SEO enables you to gain organic hits online. Of course, this process can take a lot of work and investment, but it can also save you a small fortune if you handle it correctly or hire an expert SEO agency like Australian Web Experts. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of the key elements that make a great SEO campaign.

Good Research

Research is key to every part of the SEO campaign you build. Not only do you need to research keywords, but you also need to learn about the specific market that you are working in. This can involve looking up information about your customers, though many companies will also want to know as much as possible about their competitors as they go through this.

A Specialized Approach

Every business is different, and this means that the approach that you take to your SEO should be based on the market you work in. Just like any marketing campaign, understanding what your customers will respond to is crucial during this process. Stellar SEO’s guide to SEO for lawyers is a great option for those working in the field of law, but you can find resources like this for just about every field on the market.

Gaining growing and sustainable traffic implies you are a company that can be trusted and a valued partner. A b2b seo agency can assist you with building your reputation and trust within vendor relationships. Effective SEO is a massive part of this process and can be invaluable when implemented correctly.

Regular Content

Google and other search engines like to see websites that are actively posting content all the time. This helps to raise your reputation, while also giving you the chance to target loads of keywords. Most successful websites will produce one or two blog posts each week, giving them the chance to rake in new hits on search engines without having to spend loads of money on adverts.

No Plagiarism

Search engines are very good at reading written content, and this means that they are able to tell when websites share the same wording. This can be very bad, especially if you published your content after the other instances of it that can be found on the web. You should avoid plagiarism at all costs, even if you are running an eCommerce website and have been given product descriptions from other companies.

Constant Monitoring

While many companies stop working on SEO when they get the results that they want, keeping your engagement up is going to require constant monitoring and changes. Your new blog posts and other content can help with this, but you can also change the content you have when you notice keyword preferences changing across the web. There are loads of tools that can help with this.

SEO can be one of the hardest parts of marketing for many companies. While this area is well-documented online, there are a lot of secrets that you will only be able to learn through experience. The more time you spend working on this, the easier it will become, but you will still need to put effort into it for the lifespan of your website.

How to Make Your Website Safe With CAPTCHA!

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Keep your website safe|Guide to Keep Your Website Safe With CAPTCHAIf you’re an e-commerce or online business owner, then you are perhaps by now already well aware of the issues brought about by bots and annoying spams. If ignored, they can bring down the value of your website by harming your comments section, hijack your site with unwanted ads and even attack your contact forms which could lead to a catastrophic data breach. You might have in the past multiple have been asked to prove if you’re not a ROBOT or perhaps times when you have been asked to click certain images or click the images containing traffic signals or such. Maybe enter the ambiguous hard-to-read collection of letters and or numbers that warrant you are a real person and not a bot or an algorithm that is illegally trying to gain access to the system. These tests, though annoying, help protect your website. They’re called “Completely Automated Public Turing Tests to Tell Computers and Humans Apart” or CAPTCHA for short since it is such a mouthful to say. CAPTCHAs are to date one of the most effective and efficient ways to stop bots, software and program from spamming your website. Even though they seem complicated, they are rather easy to implement, and they provide a firm line of defence.

So let’s learn more about this defence mechanism and how it can prove beneficial for your website.

So what is CAPTCHA?

As mentioned above, CAPTCHA is short for Completely Automated Public Turing Tests To Tell Computers and Humans Apart. It is a process used to clarify and ascertain whether the action was requested by a human or a bot, or a machine. The user is asked a question to carry out certain actions which are not possible for a non-human entity. The user may proceed to the page if and only if this question is retorted correctly. CAPTCHAs provide difficult tests for computers, program or bots to perform but are relatively easy for humans to solve. Don’t worry; these tests are not some complicated puzzles, rather simple and basic tasks like identifying objects or typing out a series of numbers or alphabets that are displayed. These tests are easy for humans, but a bot or a machine would not crack them as they are not programmed to solve these tests. In some cases, the test may include identifying what is distorted, and some users might find it difficult to identify them. In such cases, users are typically given the option to request a new test and are presented with a new image or a combination of alphabets and numbers.

But why use CAPTCHA?

Now that you know what CAPTCHA is let’s see why exactly you should use it. Simply put, CAPTCHA stops and prevents spam on your website. Several spammers attack the website’s comment sections with hyperlinks and click baits to increase search engine rankings. With the help of this test, you can make sure only humans comment on your site and are not bombarded by useless ads and comments left by bots.  The main aim of spammers is often to flood your inbox or your comment section with links to whatever they would like to push. The CAPTCHA test is specifically premeditated to ensure only humans can sign in and a bot or a machine doesn’t leave spam. Think of it as a layer of safety to screen out real humans from spambots by providing added resistance from spammers and scammers. These spammers or hackers usually want to gain access in search of your users’ email addresses and data. With CAPTCHA in place, you can stay protected against these unwanted entities. 

Currently, bots, program, algorithms and computer systems do not have the level of reasoning abilities that humans have which is required to process and evaluate pictorial information or data. Therefore, CAPTCHAs are very important to secure your website.

 When should you use CAPTCHA?

The question is not when but how soon should you use CAPTCHA? Well, if you find your website flooded with spams and irrelevant ads, it is a sign that you should put CAPTCHA in place to filter out your users from the bots. CAPTCHAs help protect your website by stopping spam from computerized programs or bots programmed to shoot emails, advertisements and spam comments on your website. The tests also help prevent spam signups and processes on your website. Many users know what CAPTCHAs are, and hence these people with by default, understand what they’re supposed to do since the directions and instructions of the tests are very simple.  

How did CAPTCHAs come about?

The internet is a great tool, but it is also a playground for fraud and spam. As the usage increased, so did the cases of spamming and data breaches. These spams are not only a menace for the users but the website owners as well. Therefore, there was a growing need for a system to filter out the real users from the automated bots that usually hijack the website and spam. This is where CAPTCHAs started to come into play. CAPTCHAs help protect your website by stopping spam from computerized programs or bots programmed to shoot emails, advertisements and spam comments on your website. The tests also help prevent scam signups and processes on your website. Many users know what CAPTCHAs are, and hence these people with by default, understand what they’re supposed to do since the directions and instructions of the tests are very simple. CAPTCHA was formed at Carnegie Mellon University in the year 2000 to help websites keep the bots outside whilst allowing entrance to only real users. The puzzles and tests work because computers, bots and machines are not as good as humans at reading distorted text or identifying basic objects as it is not in their program. As time progressed, these bots and programs got smarter but so have the difficulty level of CAPTCHAs.

What makes CAPCTHAs so popular today?

The simple answer is security. With so many threats looming over the internet today, it becomes important for website owners to employ security features like this one to help keep their websites secured from external frauds, bots and spammers. Wondering about why to make website secure with CAPTCHA code? CAPTCHAs help secure the website but also aids in filtering out authentic users from the spamming bots. In addition, CAPTCHAs also stop sites from being affected by brute-force hacking and attacks, which is a huge bonus. A brute force attack is a hacking technique where the attacker uses a trial-and-error method to predict passwords to gain access. CAPTCHAs are designed to recognize such attempts which are illegal and hence block access to the attacker.

 Other tactics and techniques to secure your website

Apart from CAPTCHA, you can use several other techniques and tools to secure your website from external threats and attacks. 

HTTPS is always better than HTTP

One technique you can use to secure your website is to use HTTPS or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, a more secure form of conventional HTTP. HTTPS amplifies the security of your website since it is encrypted and scrambled. Websites that are not HTTPS are at a higher risk of giving free access to Internet Service Providers, allowing them to fit their content or spam your webpages. HTTPS encryption, however, does have some limitations, but you reinforce this by using an authenticator. An authenticator oversees any communication between you and the server and ensures that it’s secure, thereby assisting HTTPS to secure your website. SSL certificates or secure socket layer is one such authenticator. We suggest that you purchase SSL certificate from reliable SSL providers such as ClickSSL to make your website more secure by providing a safe and secure transfer-layer. This shields your personal and precious data from going into the attacker’s hands.

Keep updating your passwords.

Another trick to keeping your data secure is to make sure you regularly keep updating and changing your password as it becomes much more difficult to crack. But always make sure that your passwords should not be similar to your previous passwords and should be long, complex and have some special characters in them. Doing so makes your password unpredictable and much more difficult to guess and crack.

Updating your website software regularly.

There is a reason why the software comes with regular updates and patches. However, just as the security is constantly updated, the hackers are also constantly trying to find loopholes to exploit. This is the reason why you should frequently update your website software with the latest version. In addition, you need to be constantly aware of the security patches that the website software developer sends out and apply them without any further delay. If you do not do this, your website will be vulnerable to new techniques of hacking and attacks. 

Always have a backup of your data.

Data is precious in the digital world, be it yours or your users’. It’s important to take all the steps to ensure that the data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. But it’s equally important to back up the content and data of your website. In a worst-case scenario, if a hacker manages to get into your system and your website, you can always recover your data. On the other hand, if your website data is safely stored, the odds are you can recover it.

 In conclusion, CAPTCHAs are your safest bet when it comes to securing your website online. But do not just employ CAPTCHA and think that your website is secured. Instead, invest in other security measures like SSL certificates that reinforce your website security.

Smart Ways To Enhance the Efficiency of Your Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Business efficiency|Smart Ways To Enhance the Efficiency of Your BusinessEvery entrepreneur and business manager is constantly working to improve the efficiency of their business. Business efficiency entails maximizing your outputs from your input and making the most out of your resources.

Failure to notice stagnation or regression in your business can ultimately lead to a decrease in profits or the eventual closure of your business. It is, therefore, essential to apply smart tactics to improve the efficiency of your business. They include the following;

Delegate Duties

While delegating duties might seem obvious for business owners, it is often quite difficult to practice. Many entrepreneurs hold their business close to their heart, and they prefer to have a direct hand in everything involved with it. While prioritizing the quality of your products or services is quite okay, checking on every small detail rather than delegating can lead to wastage of everyone’s valuable time.

Instead, consider delegating responsibilities to the most qualified employees and entrust them with performing the task well. Doing this gives your employees the chance to learn new skills and gain leadership experience, which are ultimate benefits for your company.

Assign Tasks According to Skills

Knowing the behavioral styles and skills of your employees is vital for maximizing efficiency. For instance, a creative and extroverted person who thinks out of the box will probably be the best at pitching proposals to potential clients. However, they may not show the same excellence when it comes to a more detail-oriented and rule-intensive task.

Efficiency doesn’t call for expecting your employees to be great at everything. Instead, it requires that you determine that an employee is suited to perform a specific task before you assign it to them. If they cannot perform the task as expected, it means you might have to find someone else whose styles and skills match your needs.

Outsource Intelligently

Intelligent outsourcing can make your business run efficiently without alienating your employees and customers. The best way to do this is by outsourcing the non-core activities of your business. For instance, you can find a company specializing in human resource management and payroll or outsource for QuickBooks bookkeeping services if no one in your team is savvy with accounting.

Outsourcing also allows you to focus on the core activities that make up your business. You can also put the money you saved up from outsourcing into marketing, innovation, and any other aspects that are vital for the smooth running of your business. It also allows you to focus your attention exactly where it belongs and see a quick boost in the productivity and efficiency of your business.

Automate

While some entrepreneurs are reluctant about automating their business, it is also likely that their businesses are incredibly inefficient. Technology is a vital tool for improving the efficiency of your business, and you should consider incorporating it as soon as possible if you haven’t already done it.

Automation doesn’t mean that you have to replace your employees with robots and software. It only requires that you incorporate such technology to increase the efficiency of your workforce. You can also use software to host meetings, which saves a lot of time and money used for travel to the meeting venue.

Incentivize Your Employees

One of the best ways to encourage your employees to continue performing exceptionally is by giving them a reason to do so. You can achieve this by recognizing them whenever they do a good job, making them feel appreciated, therefore increasing their productivity.

Ensure that you take every individual’s preferences and needs when rewarding your employees. In addition to simple words of gratitude and appreciation, you can give them incentives like a handwritten note, taking them out for a meal, or implementing a workplace wellness program.

Make Communication Easy

Miscommunication or the lack of communication is another aspect of inefficiency. While a meeting can sometimes solve this problem quite easily, they are difficult to schedule, and you may end up wasting a lot of time.

Fortunately, all the available technology makes it easy to have streamlined communication at all times. Whether you opt to utilize a fast-paced chat system software or easy face-to-face conversation via webcam, you can ensure that your employees get the relevant information as fast as possible. Effective communication can also sidestep confusion and ensure that your employees can get to work and improve the productivity of your business.

While selecting the tactics that will help improve your business’s efficiency, you must first identify the issues present and then work to determine their solution. You should also keep in mind that working for your business efficiency is a continuous process that requires you to continually find loopholes and work towards implementing an effective solution.