The Cloud Becomes the Go-To Platform for Growth

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The ‘cloud-first’ strategy doesn’t work everywhere and for everyone, but where it does, it works wonders. Recent studies have found that cloud-centric strategies (SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS) are paying off big time for those with vision. So much so that organizations are now using the cloud as a strategic platform for expanding sales channels and growing customer demand.

Ten years ago you could count the available cloud applications on the fingers of one hand. Today, they are everywhere. CIOs and CTOs in 2015 are as much geeks as they are businessmen – because cloud investing has become a lucrative business in and of itself.

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Made a Mistake? Which Of These 16 Reactions Characterizes You?

In communication, it’s equally important to convey as it is to acknowledge. That’s how dialog works, but sometimes things don’t go as planned. People make mistakes, but not everyone apologizes or even realizes that they made a blunder.

It all boils down to empathy. Humans have it in different levels, which is why there are bullies on the one hand, and drama queens on the other. Empathy is the ability to understand and even feel what another person is experiencing from within the “victim’s” frame of reference. In short, putting yourself in someone else’s shoes.

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Companies Today Prefer to Outsource Communication and Collaboration

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If there’s one thing you want to hear in business, it’s a good forecast. Today, we have one such forecast to share with everyone doing business in the Unified Communications market. Grand View Research estimates that the UC segment will be a $75 billion market by 2020. A report released by the company this month takes a deeper look at the products and their application in key areas around the globe.

Grand View Research has no doubt that the global Unified Communications market is ballooning and explains why this is happening. First on the list of reasons is BYOD (bring your own device), a phenomenon that requires little explanation. Second is the emergence of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). The research found that more and more companies

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The #1 Reason Why People Love Their Job Is…

Companies with established recognition programs have 31% lower turnover rates, and 41% of companies that have such a program set in place report higher customer satisfaction. Statistics may not answer life’s most burning questions, but numbers don’t lie.

Ford isn’t a Human Resources company. It makes cars. To make those cars and sell them, it needs people as much as it needs the robots on the assembly line. Unlike machines, people have morale. They are driven not by electric current, but by motivation. And motivation comes from within. So how do you get people to love what they do? Easy!

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Hubgets, Or How To Get ROI Without Dwelling On It

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Moving into cloud territory isn’t about getting a rapid return on investment (ROI), but about giving your company a competitive edge (i.e. speeding up your time to market). Those who are obsessed with ROI are missing the point of cloud apps, and cloud computing in general.

CTOs and CIOs today are savvier than ever, no longer fixated on the ROI for cloud investments – though it’s still a pressing issue for many. According to Brett Gillett of Softchoice, a Toronto-based software reseller, two years ago business leaders would make one-to-one comparisons to see if the cloud version of a certain service fared better. Today, executives are on much better terms with cloud services (SaaS, Paas, IaaS, UCaaS). And here’s why.

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How Much Does It Really Cost to Power Your Gadgets?

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Ever felt guilty for charging your phone in someone else’s house? Well, don’t. The annual cost of charging a typical smartphone every single day is 25 cents. Not 25 cents a day, but 25 cents a year.

It’s not too different with your other gizmos. A tablet costs just over a dollar to charge annually, and that’s only if you plug it in every day. With a device like the iPad – which lasts for days without a charge – that number is even smaller. What about your laptop?

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Google Shrinks Down the Internet with Brotli Compression Algorithm

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Last time anyone counted heads on the Internet, there were more than 3.2 billion active users scattered worldwide (more or less evenly). The World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) has even had to adopt new types of IP addresses (IPv6) because the older ones (IPv4) were running out. The data generated annually is being measured in exabytes (1 billion gigabytes). Internet providers estimate that annual global IP traffic will shift into a new gear, passing the zettabyte threshold by the end of 2016. For who’s asking, that’s 1024 exabytes.

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Quote of the Day by Bette Davis

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What would you do if money suddenly wasn’t a problem anymore? Some people would choose a life of indolence and non-stop partying, others would succumb to drugs or alcohol, perhaps others would blow it all on gambling. But some, a select few, would change nothing.

Wealth doesn’t affect everyone in the same way

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They Say Timing Isn’t Everything, But These Numbers Beg to Differ

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I recently heard someone say “timing isn’t everything,” in that it shouldn’t be at the top of your to-do list as a general rule. I thought, fair enough. It doesn’t have to be the #1 priority all the time, that much is true. But it’s still up there, regardless of your line of work. In marketing, it’s as important as any other issue.

Getting the content right is usually a non issue in marketing. Basically, you just need “something” that can be used in a campaign. It’s not a priority – it’s a must! Without the content, you don’t have marketing, period. Now, since content creators are everywhere, putting together a colorful banner or a video is not a pressing issue. What you do with that content is much more important.

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