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COVID-19, Manufacturing Skills Gap and the Connected Worker

StrategyDriven StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective Article |Connected Worker|COVID-19, Manufacturing Skills Gap and the Connected WorkerBy 2050, the world population is estimated to grow from 7.6 billion to 9.6 billion. This growing population will boost consumer demand across all industries. From construction, to food & beverage, to life sciences, oil & gas, and many more industries. This growing demand means that we expect to see investments into production and manufacturing facilities, creation of many new jobs and a positive impact to the economy. Ultimately this positive impact will lead to hiring of many new front-line workers to support these operations.

These new opportunities create new sets of challenges in the COVID-19 Era. In this blog, I will highlight four challenges that business operations will face to keep their operations running.

  • Digital Natives – The New “Front-Line” Worker – While the above growth in population is the good news, the bad news is that many of these new front-line workers are born digital natives. They expect everything digital in their life and we expect to see a talent war with these new front-line workers having a choice in where they choose to work. The new front-line workers will be expected to perform highly complex jobs and processes with minimal human interactions in the COVID-19 Era. Big, fat binders, walkie-talkies and pages of work instructions will no longer even be an option. Availability of experts to hand-hold these front-line workers is also rapidly diminishing and with COVID-19, it even makes things harder to keep machines running and spare parts available at the right time and at the right place.
  • Disappearance of Tribal Knowledge – The tribal knowledge that exists with your expert front-line workers is expected to disappear in relatively short time. The average age of front-line workers is at 44.1 years and it’s estimated that these workers will soon start to leave the workplace, creating a huge skills gap and tribal knowledge disappearance. This aging workforce, coupled with a tight labor market, has resulted in critical skills and talent gaps impacting the ability of asset-intensive industries to recruit, train and retain a workforce with suitable competencies. The Manufacturing Institute estimates that because of the skills gap 2.4 million job openings in manufacturing will likely go unfilled through 2028, representing half of all open positions.
  • Shrinking Profit Margins – The growing pressure on profit margins and talent challenges is felt across all asset-intensive industries, such as CPG, Life Sciences, Oil & Gas, Utilities, Mining & Metals, Chemicals, and Industrial Manufacturing. This pressure doesn’t just stem from the rising cost of people; these industries are facing increasing demand from customers to deliver higher value for a lower cost.
  • Worker Safety – During the COVID-19 crisis, we have seen many business operations grind to a complete standstill, impacting production and revenue streams. New safety procedures, risk assessments and contact tracking will become an integral part of running an operation without interruption. Practicing “Social Distancing” requires context of worker health and their location within a plant or a site. The old ways of working and implementing standard operating procedures on paper will not work in the COVID-19 Era.

Recently Forbes wrote an article asking, “Is now the moment for the connected worker platform?” It’s very critical for companies to start thinking about a “Connected Worker” strategy in the COVID-19 era. Companies need to start thinking of how digital transformation can help them combat these macro trends and challenges. Simply delivering a mobile app for your front-line worker is not the right solution.

You need to be thinking of a connected worker strategy that puts your front-line worker at the center of all your disparate systems and they are converted into a “Connected Worker.” The definition of a “Connected Worker” is to converge different technology trends such as Cloud, mobile, web, chat, social, wearables, AI/ML, and more to change the entire working life of your front-line worker. As a simple example, it’s important that you not only think of enabling your front-line workers with important ERP operational data, but also empower them with step-by-step guided work instructions that help them get the job done faster, better, cheaper and safer.

You also need to be thinking about the growing population from 7.6B to 9.6B and the consumer demand. If you are not already thinking about bridging the skills gap between a new front-line worker and an experienced front-line worker, you may soon end up in an operational crisis that may impact your production and revenue streams.

Best-in-class Connected Worker Platforms will offer you the technology for experts to guide new front-line workers remotely. We expect to see a trend where more and more expert workers will be used to help four to five new front-line workers from the comfort of their homes. Remote guided assistance and over the shoulder coaching with smart glasses and a two-way video conferencing experience will not just be a “cool technology,” but will be a necessity in the next two to five years.

Connected Worker Platforms appeal to younger front-line workers, who are “digital natives” and comfortable with mobile technology. Such platforms also help industrial plants successfully solve shrinking profit margin challenges, skills gaps, tribal knowledge loss and worker safety issues. For these reasons, a Connected Worker Platform will soon be a necessity for manufacturing and industrial facilities.


About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Sundeep RavandeSundeep Ravande is the CEO of Innovapptive Inc. and believes in a better way of running plant based operations. In most enterprises, operations are a set of tedious linear steps – slow, inaccurate and highly inefficient. Sundeep believes in a world where field work can be done faster, cheaper and safer. He envisions Innovapptive to be at the center of all plant-based conversations between humans, machines and workflows. By digitally and autonomously connecting humans, machines, and workflows in the 21st Century Economy, Sundeep aims to create a “Connected Workforce” experience for 11 million field workers across the globe. Prior to co-founding Innovapptive Inc, Sundeep worked with several Big 5 consulting firms, such as IBM & Accenture, serving several Fortune 500 clients such as Verizon, Shell, Mead Johnson Nutrition, Coca-Cola and FMC Corporation to help them re-invent and re-imagine their business operations with digital technologies.

Money-Making Job Opportunities in Accounting Career: Exploratory Guide

StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Accounting Career|Money-Making Job Opportunities in Accounting Career: Exploratory GuideAccountants work with numbers. They ensure that the money of organizations, governments, and individuals is spent efficiently. In short, accountants are the backbone of the business world, and as long as cash exists, accountants will remain essential. Modern-day accounting is one of the most advanced and front-line professions which incorporates itself in various fields, from data analysis to cloud computing. Accountants deal with statistical data, such as financial records, costs, and profits. This title demands a deep understanding of finance, and it requires, at the least, a four-year bachelor’s degree in accounting.

There are many different job opportunities in the accounting field that range from entry-level jobs to executive positions. Bottom tier jobs depend on the level of your education, such as a clerk or bookkeeper’s job demands a high school diploma and an associate degree. The accounting field offers space for professional development. If you work in the field long enough, you can go from a staff accountant to an executive position such as a CFO. Most statistics show that the job progression rate in the accounting field is higher than in other industries. Approximately 24 % of accounting graduates work as certified accountants, and the next most common profession is investment analysts. Regardless of the job you choose, the accounting field offers endless opportunities to learn more skills to help you progress to the top.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN ACCOUNTING CAREER

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

CFO is one of the end goal positions for all accountants. It requires the highest level of power and duty, and only the most capable accountants can achieve this title. The position of CFO demands the most considerable expertise, maximum experience, and exceptional leadership skills. The job requirements also depend on the status of the organization where you have applied. The more compound the organization is, the more vital the character of a CFO becomes. The approximated salary of a CFO is around $127,780, which is an impressive figure. Good luck with that.

Bookkeeper

Bookkeepers are taken on board by businesses that may not have the resources to support an on-staff accountant. Bookkeepers usually look after routine financial tasks such as billing and payroll. The salary of a full-time bookkeeper ranges from $18,000 to $40,000, and it is a good figure for a start-up job. Most organizations that require a bookkeeper are retail stores, law offices, or small accounting firms. If they need an accountant, then they contact separate accounting firms to outsource the job. Bookkeepers focus on details as their job requires them to be precise and active with the wide variety of tasks related to finances.

Controller

It is another high-level position in the accounting field. Controllers are financial officers who manage the accounting department of large organizations. This occupation asks for a unique background in the area. And the title is usually earned through promotion within the department. Controllers typically answer to the CFO, but in individual companies, both the positions work in the combination, and the main tasks include preparing taxes, approving significant budgets, and maintaining daily financial reliability. The estimated salary for a controller ranges from $75k to $107.5k, so the title is worth the years of work and experience.

Forensic Accounting

This occupation plays a distinctive role in the field of accounting. Forensic accountants use their knowledge of numbers to assist in investigations related to financial crimes that include fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, and even embezzlement. It is a complicated field that requires a high level of education as well as experience. These accountants can work with law enforcement agencies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. They take part in financial examinations as part of the legal process, and most of the time, they have a say in defining awards from lawsuits. The median annual earning of a forensic accountant is around $68,000.

Cost Accountant Manager

Its specializations define modern-day accounting. The skills required from an accountant depends on the complexity of the organization. Their primary focus revolves around cost analysis and profit maximization. This job demands impressive analytical capabilities and a thorough understanding of economic factors that impact value and profit generation. Cost managers earn around $82,950, and it is a well-deserved amount.

CONCLUSION

There is a large variety of occupations to choose from after graduating as an accountant. It is a robust and competitive field that demands a lot from you, but if you want to earn an executive position in accounting, you must show resilience and develop your skills. You must show a distinctive and impressive performance at work, so you are recognized, and you can work your way to the top of the department. Take it easy on you, though. The success depends upon the hard work and dedication you offer, no matter what the field is. Therefore, instead of looking for shortcuts, choose a highway, and give your best.

Competitive Marketing Strategies of the Digital Era

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Competitive Marketing Strategies|COMPETITIVE MARKETING STRATEGIES OF THE DIGITAL ERAIn the booming era of the digital revolution, technological trends are no surprise to anyone. It continues to thrill audiences with exciting and mind-blowing features. From being able to order food online to footing your utility bills – everything is a few clicks away. Likewise, it has hit the business industry, bringing some tech-savvy innovations, especially for the marketing department.

In today’s tech-savvy world, escaping the advantages of digital marketing is impossible. But do you think running after those old-school strategies are of any good now? Surprisingly, the new decade brings a whole bunch of new competitive marketing strategies. Marketers using black hat SEO practices, deceptive advertising, and content scraping – the time is up!

2020 demands an authentic approach to marketing, and you can make this possible by leveraging the latest tech tools and emerging channels. Experiment with new media formats, take a closer insight into changing purchase patterns, and brace yourself to make some digital noise. Are you wondering how? We are here to help you with the competitive marketing strategies of the digital era. Have a look below.

1. Bank on Video Marketing

We are far past that time when people enjoyed reading long paragraphs of text-based information. These days, most people prefer visuals in the form of images, infographics, and especially videos. Alongside increasing engagement with customers, videos are a great way to put your brand message across.

With increasing popularity, the two enormous marketing giants, Facebook and Instagram, have allocated 44% of their budget to videos. If you haven’t given a thought or you believe it is not your cup of tea, search for digital marketing in Newcastle to help you get started. Since users are obsessed with videos, this trend is unlikely to fade away anytime soon.

2. Build Communities

In the 21st century, social media forums are a lot more than entertainment tools. It has become the ultimate marketing platform where corporations with deep pockets are allocating a hefty budget for social media advertising. On the other hand, the pay to play model is not working for small businesses. Instead of trying to compete, try to innovate better solutions.

Start building communities on social media using the ‘native group’ features. It lets you develop healthy relationships with customers, giving a sense of exclusivity to group members. Utilize this one-on-one level engagement forum to engage and interact with audiences. You can address the audience’s queries, complaints, and regularly host live sessions. You can bring like-minded people together, allowing them to have a dialogue.

StrategyDriven Online Marketer & Website Developer Magazine


3. Aim for Position ‘Zero’

Have you seen a featured snippet right on the top of the search engine results page – SERP? Marketers call it the position zero as it appears before all other organic listings. Thus, instead of aiming to bag a spot on the first page of SERP, you have to aim for position zero. It significantly boosts your click-through rate – CTR, while helping you become visible to a broad audience. Unsurprisingly, there is plenty of competition out there, but moving ahead can be easier for you.

  • Create content that focuses on problem-solving – what, when, why, who, where, and write headlines accordingly.
  • Focus on creating instructional content ‘how to’ since people find it more appealing.
  • Structure in a list format to promote understandability.
  • Answer questions through your content.
  • With the rise of voice search, create conversational content around simple things.

4. Focus on All Stages of the Funnel

Sometimes, businesses make their way through the top results of SERP but encounter high bounce rates and low session duration. Unfortunately, this happens because of expectation mismatch, meaning you are targeting the wrong audience. The user lands on the website with an intention, but your content doesn’t meet their expectations. That happens when you spend days creating the top-of-the-funnel content but pay no attention to the bottom or middle content.

Diversify your content by bringing engaging topics and different formats. Create infographics, podcasts, along with text, to improve the versatility of your content marketing initiatives. Likewise, focus on addressing queries that are not on the top-of-the-funnel. Diversity and in-depth content allow you to convert visitors into prospects and then customers.

5. Micro-Influencer Marketing

Previously, we witnessed a rise in celebrity marketing, but in 2020, the wave is ebbing down. Customers now prefer trust and expertise over the clout, making brands realize that it is a wise choice to invest in micro-influencers. Therefore, they are no longer running after celebrities but look for someone they can relate to personally.

Micro-influencers act like role models for many people and have a potential reach of 10,000 to 100,000 followers. Pick an influencer of your niche – for instance, if you have an apparel brand, look for influencers who follow fashion. They will expose your brand to the right target audience without costing you an arm, as their charges are far below what celebrities charge.

6. Inspect Programmatic Audio

With the rise of new marketing tactics like podcasts and audio streaming apps – marketers have more avenues to connect with their audience. Are you wondering what programmatic audio is? It is not as complicated as it might sounds. It lets users place ads in the audio content – podcasts automatically, meaning you can advertise through audio streaming programs.

Explore ad formats such as ad pods or companions to get an insight into the benefits they are offering. Besides these formats, even Google, Soundcloud offers programmatic audio advertising features. Thus, give your social media followers a break from routine content and tempt them towards audio streaming platforms, helping you gain an edge.

7. Invest in Artificial Intelligence

Although digital assistants and chatbots are nothing new, still many brands are missing out on them. These tech-savvy tools are capable of delivering content and helping users with their purchases. They provide 24/7 customer support, dealing with customer queries around the clock without any coffee or tea breaks.

Likewise, digital assistants are smart enough to understand user needs, helping customers book tickets, and make reservations. With the increasing trend of voice search, marketers must leverage conversational artificial intelligence tactics, letting people talk to them. Moreover, artificial intelligence systems come in different variations and pretty affordable price, leaving you with no excuse to miss out on it.

Final Thoughts

In the changing dynamics of the digital era, there is so much you can do with marketing strategies. Despite the competition getting intense, technology continues to bring new tools and tactics to keep the users hooked. Hence, don’t be afraid to try new marketing techniques because you never know what works for your brand and always keep up with the competitive strategies.

Lead Generation Tips for Start Ups

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | Lead Generation Tips for Start UpsStarting a business isn’t easy work. You can have the greatest idea ever and the best product that exists on the market. Still, if you don’t have leads, you won’t sell a single product. And, it’s no secret that without making sales, even the best business won’t survive.

Therefore, generating a steady supply of new leads and building a pipeline is vital in developing a profitable business. Yet, this is by no means an easy process. In fact, generating leads can be especially difficult for startups for various reasons. For instance, startups often have limited resources, including money and time resources. In fact, nearly 61% of B2B marketers put the blame on lack of resources, including staff, funding, and time, as the toughest challenge to successful lead generation.

Also, they have no reputation at all, so no positive word-of-mouth, no referrals, no testimonials, and no social proof. At the same time, they are competing with brands with a well-established customer base.

But that’s not all! As the lead generation experts from Drip Digital explain, “Perhaps the biggest challenge in generating leads is that startups have no experience with it. And, with lead generation, there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy. A strategy that works great for others won’t necessarily work for you as well. Only by gaining experience, you will be able to look back and identify what works to attract leads for your startup and what doesn’t.”

Now, generating leads includes two main strategies: outbound and inbound. Yet, the point is that both have their own specific strengths and weaknesses. Ideally, your startup will use a little bit of both. However, when you’re just getting started, you might need to prioritize one over the other.

Feel confused yet? Don’t worry! We’re here to explain everything to you and share with you the tips you need to improve your lead generation.

Lead generation explained

First things first, in case this is the first time you ever hear about lead generation, we’ll quickly explain what lead generation is to make sure we’re on the same page as far as terminology goes.

Leads are basically people who have demonstrated interest in your business in some way. Basically, everyone who has given you their contact info, be it to attend your webinar, to download your free guide, or to sign up for your newspaper, is a lead. This person has engaged your business and has given you permission to contact them.

Now that you know exactly what leads are, the name “lead generation” is pretty self-explanatory. It is basically the process of attracting and converting strangers and prospects into leads.

So, how do you get leads you need to increase your revenue and exceed your goals?

Outbound lead generation strategies

Outbound strategies are pretty much all about reaching out to your prospective leads in order to engage them and transform them into actual leads. Outbound strategies usually include tactics such as door-to-door sales, cold emailing, and pay-per-click advertising. Outbound strategies include many tactics, both from offline and digital.

Now, outbound strategies generally require a more significant financial investment compared to inbound strategies. Yet, they can often deliver quicker results. So, how do you plan an effective outbound campaign?

Define your leads

What does your potential customer want? Once you’re able to answer this question and tie it to a high-converting landing page, that’s the moment when you’ll consistently generate leads.

It’s no secret that if you want to reach out to customers, you need to know who they are and what they want. In fact, this is one of the most common mistakes made by startups: they believe that what they’re selling is for everyone. So, don’t try to appeal to everyone but rather target a specific audience to tailor your campaign for.

If you already have a base of customers, that’s a great place to start to know them better. If not, don’t worry, you can learn more about your prospective leads by researching your competitors’ customers and analyzing their online activities.

Find your leads

Once you know who your prospective leads are, it is time to find them.

Now, you could buy lists of prospects, but this is not a safe bet because the quality of these lists can vary greatly. You may be paying for out-of-date emails and incorrect information. So, it makes much more sense to build your own list.

Hopefully, you found out enough information about your prospective leads to get an idea of where they might be spending their time. For example, if your target audience is Gen Z, they’re probably spending a lot of time hashtagging on Instagram. So, no need to waste your time and efforts anywhere else.

In other words, based on what you know about your leads, figure out where you can find them online.

Reach out to your leads

Now that you know who they are and where they are, it is time actually to reach out to your leads. You can use tactics such as cold calling, cold emailing, and social selling. Yet, keep in mind that each has its weaknesses and strengths. For example, while cold calls might be interrupting, it can be more effective at getting quick decisions. Social selling might take longer, but can help you build relationships with the prospects before you reach out to them.

Inbound strategies

Alternatively, you can also use inbound strategies that are all about creating value for your leads and offering it to them to attract them. Inbound strategies include forms of content such as blog posts, ebooks, and webinars, and video content. Pretty much all types of content that brings value to your prospective leads.

With Inbound strategies, things are different in terms of how you capture your leads. You don’t reach out to them directly but rather attract them to you. And, to do this, you have to create valuable content, share it, and finally capture your leads.

The most important step for your inbound strategies is creating valuable content. Yet, to create relevant content, you need to know who the ideal customer is. So, knowing your customer and tailoring your inbound strategies is just as important as it is for your outbound strategies.

Practical, Professional Programs That Strengthen Business Practices

StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |professional programs |Practical, Professional Programs That Strengthen Business PracticesProfessional programs are much more than some window dressing.

Their benefits are many and varied, ranging from money savings and worker engagement. But, they can’t be implemented by edicts. Words and promises don’t account for much either.

Instead, management needs to set priorities, take action, and get workers behind programs. It’s a strategic effort that requires ample resources.

Worker safety, accountability, and satisfaction are the three key ingredients of business success. Here is how to mix and blend them together.

Cultural Foundations for Professionals Programs

Before fleshing out programs, lay the foundations with empowering company culture.

First off, senior manageress should embody the core value and mission of the company. They would also do well to embrace responsibility and lead by example, not by cracking the whip.

The next step revolves around engaging the workforce.

To pull it off, open your channels of communication, and gather suggestions and feedback. The whole process has to be completely transparent.

Once it’s completed, set clear, measurable, and realistic goals. You can use the S.M.A.R.T. formula to do it right. The next sections will give you an idea of what concrete objectives to pursue.

Workplace Safety and Health

Worker health and safety have to be absolute management priorities.

Namely, effective safety programs add true value to the organization. They reduce injury frequency and severity, as well as worker compensation premiums.

So, carry out workplace audits and come up with preventive measures and controls. Put proper training procedures in place and hold biweekly/monthly safety meetings.

Educate everyone on Occupational Safety and Health requirements. Check out OSHA guidelines (including those for COVID-19), which are golden industry standards.

Provide corresponding materials, such as this HazCom training guide to classifying and labeling chemicals. Make sure worker participation is ubiquitous.

A Matter of Accountability

Next off, it’s of utmost importance to foster organizational accountability.

The ultimate trick is to do it without pointing fingers and alienating anyone. Moreover, you want to instruct and demonstrate instead of merely telling people to be more accountable.

Here, bear in mind accountability pertains to the aforementioned goals, values, and priorities. Your main job is to communicate them and put together a working system. Keep the messages positive and informative.

This is a way to become a desirable employer, a company people want to be part of.

Bolstering Employee Motivation and Satisfaction

To apply finishing touches, develop programs aimed at further boosting motivation and satisfaction.

Always give recognition and credit where they are due. Reward top performers offering more than kind words. Both monetary (gift cards, for instance) and non-monetary incentives can be quite effective here.

Apart from individuals, you can recognize the contributions of whole teams and departments.

These programs will pay dividends in terms of improving workplace productivity. At the same time, you have a chance to supercharge your employee retention rates.

That’s a clear win-win right there.

Turn It Up a Notch

Purpose-built professional programs empower workers and reinforce your bottom line.

But, integrating them with your practices isn’t easy. You first have to get everyone on board, from workers to top executives. Start by uniting them around shared goals and vision.

Furthermore, make the workplace safer and minimize the risk of injuries and hazards. Become a true role model for organizational accountability. Acknowledge and appreciate good work.

Following these steps, you’ll steer worker behavior in the right direction and outpace the competition.
Get in touch with us if you need strategic advice and counseling. It’s time to take your business game to the next level.