So You Invented Something?

It is truly exciting when you come up with an invention idea. Don't go crazy telling the whole world about it though. Write down everything. Take your time. Do some research. It is possible that somebody out there already did what you are doing. It is possible that someone else beat you to it!Many people don't understand the whole invention process. One is thinking about the money one can make because of an invention they came up with. It's great that you are inspired. But don't go crazy, you have to take it one step at a time.I highly recommend you read books about invention. Get expert advice from these authors. They have been where you are and know firsthand the do's and don't of the business.I met a man once that spent years on a toy invention. He spent approximately $15,000 on his prototype and became so discouraged with the whole process, including a terrible divorce. Well, he ended up throwing his "invention" in the garbage can and never pursued it again.So go slow. But don't waste time. Someone might just "invent" something very similar to what you came up with.Allow me to mention another thing. Let's say you are totally sure no one else has invented what you came up with. Beautiful! Now what are you going to do?Well, one of the first things I always recommend is: Do NOT run to an invention helper type of business! There is NO guarantee that they will help you market your product or idea and place it out there. Once you pay these people (which by the way could be over $15,000 in one sitting), you won't get your money back if they don't find a company, buyer, etc, that will want your invention idea thingy.


If you are business savvy, you might just want to market your invention idea yourself. So if you have business skills this is a great time to put them to use.Many inventors have done just that and have done well financially with their inventions. It is a lot of work. It is not easy. It is not cheap.I'm not trying to bust your bubble. I'm just letting you know beforehand.You need to stay organized in the process. Make sure you write down everything. Keep record of all your contacts. Whenever you get discouraged just take a breather, relax and continue the process.I don't know how much I should emphasize that you should read, read, read as much material as you can on the invention process and steps to take.There is so much information on the internet about this topic now. But, again, be careful.I wish you the best in your invention process.

Do You Have a Hidden Monster Preventing Innovation?

Think back. Did you ever ask your parents to check for monsters under your bed? Are your children or grandchildren afraid of the big, bad monster lurking in the closet? Most adults smile fondly at their children and check around to assure them that everything is fine. We recognize that the fear may be irrational, but a child cannot settle down until they know they are safe. What is the child really afraid of? The unknown. They can't see under the bed or in the closet because it is dark. What they can't see or what they don't know, they instinctively fear.As adults we know there are no monsters under the bed, but we still fear the unknown. H.P. Lovecraft wrote, "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." This is why a lot of people are resistant to suggest ideas or support innovation and change. Most adults enjoy and prefer some level of structure, routine and predictability. It gives them the perception of control. If it is familiar, it is comfortable - even if it isn't good for them in the long run. Unfortunately, we all know people who stay in a job they don't like and that doesn't suit them because it is familiar. They may grumble and complain, but they don't actually do anything to improve things. They are convinced there is a monster out there that is going to get them if they push beyond their comfort zone.Why is this important to a business leader? You are being squeezed. On the business front, the speed of change is increasing. Leaders recognize that companies that are not right-this-minute driving innovation within their organization and industry are falling behind. In order to stay competitive, you need employees to be open and actually advocating for improvements and change. But, employees are not embracing change or taking the initiative to try new approaches. The leader is caught in the center, trying to come up with the ideas and then overcoming the resistance to make them happen. Leaders are wearing themselves out trying to do it all alone. It is absolutely frustrating and not a successful, long-term strategy.One of the complaints I hear most often from leaders is "I am asking for new thinking and ideas, but I don't get anything back." As a leader, you need to deal with the monster under your employees' bed. Does your culture reward people for trying new things or punish them for not getting it perfect the first time? If someone in your group came up with a wild idea, how would you and your team respond? Would you make fun of them? Would you tell them that is not the way we do things around here? Or, would you embrace the idea and ask for more? Not all ideas are going to work, especially the first time. Most successful new ideas come after many iterations and experiments. You need to take away the fear of the unknown and make employees feel safe to suggest, try, fail and adapt. You need to build a culture that encourages and teaches employees how to be innovative.If the process of generating ideas becomes expected, rewarded, familiar, safe and fun, then you have chased the monster away! You can create an idea machine. Once employees become exposed to alternative ways of doing things and see good things happening with ideas, (even if they are not their own ideas) they quickly become comfortable with not only generating, but supporting them. Exposure to new and different thinking broadens employees' perspectives and advances their mental models. The more positive experiences people have with change and innovation, the more they are willing to expand beyond their current comfort zone. If you had all your employees thinking about ways to make things better, that would leave your competition in the dust. What would that do to your bottom-line results?


People are actually quite adaptable. Individuals react and cope with change based on what they have recently lived through or experienced. Our research shows that many people are more innovative and creative than they believe. Once they learn they can contribute, and you remove the monster, a whole new world opens up. If employees think that generating and implementing new ideas is appreciated and rewarded (not necessarily with money but with recognition, opportunities, etc.) they look forward to participating.To develop a culture that embraces innovation (i.e., to chase away the monster), your employees must understand:1. The need for innovation and change. What is the compelling story? What are the possibilities? Why is it good for them?2. The desired type of innovation. Do you want them to focus on making things more efficient or generating completely new ideas? (It is important the leadership team think through this so you get the types of ideas you really want and can support.)3. The process for change. How is innovation going to happen? How is it going to be fostered, resourced and supported?4. How they will improve their innovation skills. Innovation skills and capabilities can be taught and expanded. What training are you going to provide that helps employees build their skills?5. This is not the initiative of the quarter, but a sustained and important process.6. Leaders will support employees who step up and challenge the status quo. (By the way, this is one of the hardest parts of the change for top executives: allowing themselves to be challenged and giving employees some latitude to try different ideas.)7. Success as well as failure will be celebrated. Everyone is comfortable celebrating successes. But, getting good at failing fast and celebrating the learning from your failures is important too.Innovation is not for leaders who only want to stay in their comfort zone. But it is essential for any business that wants to be ahead of their competitors. You need to reach out of your comfort zone, broaden your thinking and be open to new opportunities. You need to pull the monster from under the bed and address it so it isn't scary anymore. You need to embrace innovation and create the culture that allows the team to participate and make it happen. You cannot do it alone. Everyone in the organization needs to see that being innovative presents an opportunity to contribute and excel. By working together, you can solve complex problems and create long-term business success!

3 Reasons to Automate Business Processes in Your Organization

Since the days of the automaton, workers have been searching for ways to automate the manual business processes that steal time from more important jobs. Communicating with colleagues, manipulating spreadsheets, entering customer information into a CRM... these are all examples of time-consuming manual processes that can be done better and faster by someone (or something) other than you (no offense).If your idea of fun is copying and pasting text all day then by all means, continue doing what you're doing. Your competitors will love that. But we've got some thoughts on why you should at least consider automating business processes in your organization. Here are a few.Reason 1: To Err is Human. It's Also Expensive.In a compilation of error rates by business task*, as reported by studies over the last 30 years or so, error rates for medication prescriptions were found to exceed 1.6%. Data entry error rates for expert typists ranged as high as 6%. In general, the human mechanical (I.e. by hand) error rate for data entry tasks is 0.5%. Seems small at first, but what if you're entering order data from 100 online transactions into your CRM? Or, if you're compiling stock performance for 100 different mutual funds from an online investment website? What if you're changing prescription doses for 100 patients? That's 5 errors that have the potential to cost you money and maybe lives. You can expect to make 5 errors per 100 records any time you're manually changing information. The fun part is: You'll never know which records or pieces of data will be wrong. Get yourself an automated solution that enters and changes data for you automatically, and you'll never have to worry about data errors again.Reason 2: Have Time to Kill? Neither Do I.Here's the great thing about never making an error: You don't need to waste time fixing them. If you're lucky enough to catch an error (see #1 above), and it's a critical one, you'll need to go back and do the job again. In some industries like health insurance, where the cost of a reprocessed claim is 4 times that of one that gets approved the first time, that rework time can be a killer


Think of an automation software solution like a "digital employee" - someone who basically does the most unpleasant parts of your job for you so that you're free to do other things. Digital Employees generally work faster than humans in most web or Windows applications, so more gets done faster without rework. Even if it DIDN'T work faster, you'd still be free to perform other tasks while your software solution did all the typing, copying, and pasting. Automation basically returns 100% of the time spent on manual business process back to you so that you can go serve customers, win business, or take a vacation.Reason 3: It's Easier Than You Think.A good automation software solution can be installed and put to work inside of a few hours. Sure, there are some solutions out there that require coding or programming to operate, but the kind you're looking for can be "taught" to perform tasks simply by clicking and dragging your mouse to objects on the screen. The software should then present you with a narrow list of actions that work with the object you've targeted. You shouldn't have to scroll through 200 possible choices when all you need to do is click a "Submit" button.Automation software solutions that actually work like "digital employees" use a series of steps (called a script) to perform a task. They work off of those scripts diligently because it's what you have told them to do. And they do it flawlessly. If concerns over learning curves and installation times are preventing you from automating your workflows and business processes, choose the right solution and put those fears to rest.*Here's that link: http://panko.shidler.hawaii.edu/HumanErr/Basic.htm

The Seasons of Innovation in the Workplace

Innovation is one of the most-prized qualities for any organisation. It is what keeps a business at the head of its field, keeps its products and services relevant, and keeps employees motivated.But how do leaders go about inspiring innovation in their teams? How can they grow it in the workplace?'Grow' is a good word to use because, in many ways the process of creativity is a natural one, much like the process of changing seasons, and agricultural cycles...The natural cycle of innovationCrops grow according to the natural cycle of the seasons. From preparing the ground, to planting, nurturing, growing, and finally harvesting the crops, there is a set process that needs to happen before the fruits of labour are ripe.The same concept can be applied to ideas. Many organizations expect people to be creative automatically and to generate ideas without the ground being 'prepared'.The best leaders ensure that the ground is fertile, and ready for seeds to be planted and to flourish, before they expect results. This requires an understanding of the creative process and a commitment to creating the right conditions for it to take hold within an organisation.Leaders expecting creative teams need to first understand their team members - their needs, the way they think and arrive at decisions, and how they generate ideas; they also need to understand more about the process of innovation. Then they must take decisive steps to get the best out of them in order for innovative mindsets to blossom.The seasons of innovationExtending the metaphor, leaders need to take their teams through the 'seasons of innovation':

Springtime - Planting of the seeds
Leaders need to instigate discussions with team members in order to create teams that are comfortable working with each other and are cohesive, agile, goal-oriented, supportive, and optimistic. They then need to apply practical steps to create an environment of trust, passion, connection and hope that will allow innovative team to develop. This can take some time but is crucial for developing a long-term mindset where innovation is a natural consequence of a group working together closely.




Summer - removing the weeds that strangle growth
In any team it is important to understand what is holding progress back. What are the obstacles to innovation? Some of these are obvious and other are less so, requiring insight in to why people think and behave the way they do. Overcoming these obstacles is key to developing a sustainable creative mindset in the team, where misunderstandings, confusion, stress, cognitive bias, and conflict are all minimised.

Harvest time - reaping what you sow
There are eight different mindsets that create an innovation culture. It's important to get to grips with these and to identify a sequence of steps that the team needs to follow in order to be creative. This involves evaluating team structure and learning how to harness individual strengths to the overall benefit of the team.Leadership should be able to see that trying to energise people and teams to be 'more creative' without creating a culture where innovation is possible is doomed to failure. It's impossible to encourage innovation without understanding the innovation process and team dynamics. That requires a little psychology and neuroscience, and a lot of leadership.

New Year's Revolution! 10 Ways to Innovate ANYTHING in 2014

In today's chaotic and unpredictable marketplace where continuous innovation has become the price of doing business-and the only "business-as-usual" is that there is no business-as-usual anymore-many organizations struggle to keep up with the public's unrelenting demand for "new, different and better." Not long ago, you could thrive for years on just one great idea; today it seems you need a brand new game-changer every week.This non-negotiable requirement to innovate is the fire that has been lit under us all. We all know we need it; we all strive to do it. But many of us have only a vague notion of what it is we're actually struggling to achieve. Just what is innovation, anyway?Innovation can be defined as the introduction of something new or different that provides greater value or benefit. It's a simple definition for what can sometimes be a fairly complex process. But we find this explanation is clear and broad enough to help our clients understand what they should be aiming for when generating new ideas.There are a limitless number of ways in which an individual, team or an entire organization can approach the innovation process. There's no one-size-fits-all, foolproof formula. But there are proven creative problem-solving approaches that can be gleaned from studying innovation-driven leaders, such as Apple, Google, Starbucks, Disney, BMW, and others.Here are ten idea-inspiring ways you can tinker with the characteristics, ingredients, parts, steps, form, functionality, design, etc., of pretty much anything-a product, service, process, message, even your resume-in order to make it more innovative. When tackling any challenge, first take some time to carefully consider what you want to achieve, and then explore each of the following creative problem-solving paths, and see which ones spark new, "A-ha!" possibilities.

Simplify it-The less complex something is, the more user-friendly it will feel. The most innovative ideas are often startling in their simplicity. Unnecessary parts, steps, ingredients, etc. are stripped away, to reveal an elegantly effective solution. What can be eliminated, streamlined or combined to make your product, service or process as simple as possible?

Make it more intuitive-In today's fast-paced world, most people simply don't have the time or patience to figure out complicated procedures or decipher cryptic instructions. They prefer anything that is streamlined, intuitive, user-friendly, quick, and easy-to-understand (i.e., foolproof). In fact many of the most innovative products today don't even include instruction manuals! In what ways can you make it easier for your customer to comprehend, learn, interact with, or use your goods or services?

Speed it up-Any innovation that delivers faster results-and therefore saves precious time-provides increased value. Today people hire others to shop for them, pay a premium when traveling to get through security lines faster and board planes earlier, and limit the number of items they purchase at the grocery store in order to qualify for the express line. In what ways can you speed up performance, response time, waiting time, delivery time, download speed, etc.?

Extend the experience-People want to savor the good things in life. While in many ways ours has become a disposable society, in others, we value enduring quality and long lasting value. In what ways can you extend an enjoyable and productive experience, prolong relief, make something more durable or dependable, lengthen shelf life, or provide round-the-clock access or convenience?

Make it beautiful-Apple products are coveted for their sleek and sophisticated design esthetic and elegant functionality. These highly innovative products sell at premium prices and inspire fierce devotion among their customers. In what ways can you elevate the esthetics of your goods or service? How can you make them more appealing to the senses? How can you delight your customer with beautiful design and functionality?

Make it indispensable-The more versatile a product or service is, the more indispensable it becomes to its users. For example, smart phones allow us to talk, text, take and share photos and videos, surf the Web, interact with our social networks, conduct business, etc.-all from a single, all-in-one device that many of us rely on every day. In what ways can you add or combine new functionalities, features, or benefits, in order to meet a wider range of needs for your customer? How can you make your product or service one they can't live without?

Enhance the quality-High quality is the competitive edge that separates the "good" from the "exceptional." Quality can be defined as the standard of excellence against which similar things are measured. Quality goods and services don't just meet customer expectations-they exceed them. In what ways can you raise your benchmark for excellence to make your product the gold standard in its category?

Add emotion-Innovative companies like Target, Apple, Starbucks, Nike, etc., have cultivated a strong sense of brand loyalty among their customers. Not only have they succeeded in appealing to their audience's minds, they have also forged an intimate, heartfelt, emotional connection that transcends logic. In what ways can you develop a more emotional relationship with your customers, and connect with them in a way that resonates not only in their minds, but in their hearts?

Socialize it-People by nature seek connection and a sense of community with others, including the brands and companies they value. At no point in history has this been more evident than in this era of social networking. Thanks to the now omnipresent connectivity provided by mobile technology and social media, we share our thoughts, emotions, likes and dislikes 24/7/365. For innovative businesses, this means unlimited opportunities for real-time dialogue and feedback from customers, crowd-sourcing valuable data, offering incentives and discounts, strengthening customer loyalty, etc. In what ways can you build greater social interactivity or connectivity with your customers? How can you become a part of their daily lives?

Inspire awe-Disruptive innovation introduces radically new and unexpected features, functions, design, or value propositions, with the power to transform markets, or create entirely new ones. For example, Sir James Dyson's radical, new designs for his ball technology/cyclone suction vacuum cleaners and bladeless house fans have dramatically changed people's perceptions about how these ordinary household appliances should look and function. Dyson's disruptive innovations changed the marketplace forcing competitors to scramble to play catch up with copycat products. What bold, new, and dramatic ideas can you imagine to set your product or service apart from all others?



Simplicity, convenience, speed, durability, functionality, quality, beauty, emotion, interactivity, and disruption -10 proven creative problem solving approaches to innovation that can be applied to just about anything you have to tackle in the coming year.The trick is to explore, imagine, play with the possibilities-while always asking yourself, Will this change we're considering introduce something new or different that provides greater value or benefit? That's what innovation is really all about.Innovation is a mindset. Great innovators are those individuals and organizations that simply accept nothing less than continuous improvement, always moving closer and closer to perfection. If you adopt that attitude in 2014, your odds of success increase exponentially, even in today's unpredictable marketplace.Just wake up every day and look for something to improve. There's always something.

Financial Services Innovation: Something Is Missing!

One bank that has led the innovation agenda is Barclays.In fact in the last few months Barclays announced the introduction of biometric finger scanning, as well as video banking. These innovations should improve both the customer experience and overall security measures... so are win-win for Barclays and its customers alike.Video banking in particular seemed to take a few people by surprise. However, it makes perfect sense, and is likely to become commonplace across the industry over the next few years. In this respect, Barclays is leading the industry, and should be congratulated.The Challenging part!The challenge, as all financial services companies know, isn't injecting a bit of innovation here or sprinkling a bit of magic dust here.Everyone struggles with embedding innovation into complex multichannel environments, constrained by organisational silos, competing executive priorities and balanced against a 'must do' regulatory programme portfolio.Providing a consistently good customer experience across multiple customer channels is hard now. In the future, it will can only really become harder!One bank customer review really jumped out. A Business Banking customer, told us about his difficulty in getting in touch with his bank.In his review, the customer started his customer journey via a broken web contact form, then went to Twitter, where after approximately 20 messages, a member of the business banking team, with no apparent knowledge of the Twitter conversation picked-up the phone. The customer labels this experience as 'the general mess of their communications.'Not so long ago, the use of twitter for many financial services organisation was in itself seen as a big innovative step. Engaging customers through multiple channels is great! But in this case the customer experience was clearly disjointed, and via Twitter Pete received replies from three other banks offering to take his business instead!


In this case, the customer's expectation was clearly not met, and multichannel engagement did not work.However, the future could be very bright!The pace of innovation will likely not slow down. In fact, we believe that there is some pretty inspiring innovation not too far away that will really please customers. This has the potential to be great news!Financial services firms will have to be better at implementing innovation, but also at performing all the core processes (e.g. making and receiving payments). After all, a beautifully designed app that doesn't work really isn't going to please customers for too long!Innovation won't build sustainable advantageThe innovation wave is picking up power. All organisations will join the wave, as no one can afford to be left behind. Some organisations will lead the charge, and others will do well to not fall too far behind.That said, looking across the industry, all financial services companies need to get better at communicating, managing customer expectations and being more open. This is probably the hardest nut of all to crack, but vital if sustainable competitive advantage is to be gained. We argue that it should also be central to the innovation agenda.Customers want to love the brands they shop, eat, travel and bank with! Innovation in financial services isn't enough. To truly build sustainable advantage, financial services organisations must lead the customer trust and transparency agenda.

The 3 Keys to Brainstorming Success (or Failure)

Over the years there's been a growing debate between those who assert that brainstorming as a process is ineffective (and provide research to support their perspective), and a second group that champion seemingly conflicting studies that suggest brainstorming, when executed properly and employing certain best practices, works very well.So does brainstorming work, or not? Is it an effective process, or an empty promise? When you gather together a group of people to generate and develop ideas, are you just wasting everyone's time and efforts?And if brainstorming does, or at least can work, what does it take to increase your odds of success?The Achilles' Heel of Traditional Brainstorming: The FacilitatorIneffective brainstorming sessions can almost always be attributed to a lack of knowledge, understanding and skills on the part of the facilitator.Some of the research mentioned earlier seems to support this conclusion. A study published in 1996 revealed that when group facilitators receive formal training, their groups produce a greater number of concepts.1 A separate study, also published in 1996, went further, and looked at the level of training a facilitator receives. The conclusion: Groups with highly trained facilitators perform better than groups whose facilitators have had less training.2 And a more recent study, conducted at North Carolina State University in 2010, found that "the benefits of high quality brainstorming" kicked in only when a number of best practices were incorporated.3In our own surveys of over 1,000 individuals from a wide range of industries, fewer than 10 percent had ever received any formal training of any kind in creative problem solving or brainstorming. Those who had typically only learned one or two ideation techniques to use during sessions.It's no wonder that brainstorming, as traditionally practiced, so often falls short.Like so many other great ideas before and after it, the breakdown of brainstorming takes place in its execution. In concept, it's pure genius. In practice, however, somewhat less so.Traditional brainstorming as actually practiced today is often a loosely structured and improvised affair that leaves way too much to chance. Many people, in an effort to avoid restricting "creativity," purposely impose little or no structure on a brainstorming session, generally with disappointing results.Success Doesn't Just HappenSuccessful group ideation sessions do not happen by accident; they are designed, planned, and executed-by group leaders who know what they're doing from start to finish. It's not enough to have good intentions or a strong sense of optimism, a belief in the power of camaraderie, or even abundant talent and creativity. You must have all of that, and more. Thorough, big-picture planning, advance preparation, a sound process, and strong, active leadership throughout the process are essential.3 Pillars of Brainstorming SuccessWhile multiple factors contribute to a successful brainstorm, we have identified three overall categories, which we refer to as the "3 Pillars of Brainstorming Success."

Structure-There is a widely accepted belief that creative activities should be loose, free and unfettered by process and structure. But nothing could be further from the truth. All highly creative people follow a process in their creative endeavors, and most will confirm that creativity without structure most often leads to chaos.
Effective brainstorms are planned and follow a thoughtful meeting structure, from start to finish, in order to optimize the flow of ideas and energy and to ensure consistent results. Well structured sessions free the leader to focus on room dynamics and team participation, help to maximize creative performance and productivity and allow the group stay on schedule and make the best possible use of time.



Leadership Skills-As we mentioned earlier, the vast majority of individuals leading brainstorms have had little to no formal training whatsoever in how to do it. This is fairly remarkable when one considers how important effective idea generation is in today's innovation-driven marketplace, and that brainstorming (as a key tool for generating ideas) has become a critical business process.
Skilled brainstorm leaders, in addition to understanding effective meeting structure, must possess a very specific set of skills to actively guide and inspire a group-the ability to ask powerful questions, techniques for managing a variety of personality types, time management and communication skills, ways of inspiring fresh thinking, etc. It is naive to believe that anyone can masterfully and consistently achieve outstanding brainstorming results without the necessary skill set.



Idea-Generation Techniques-The vast majority of brainstorm leaders and participants know one idea-generation technique: free association. Someone suggests an idea, which sparks a new thought from someone else, which does the same in someone else, and so on. But while free association is one valid approach for generating ideas, simply "throwing ideas against the wall" is usually not the most effective way to help groups generate an abundance of innovative concepts.
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of idea-generation techniques, proven effective for stimulating the flow of original thoughts, helping teams expand and enhance the ideas of others and create totally new directions by combining or exploring various aspects of ideas. Some techniques are effective for coming up with volumes of ideas in a very short time; others help you drill down beyond limiting assumptions to see new possibilities, and still others can help a group "multidimensionalize" a problem from a range of different perspectives. The most successful brainstorm leaders know to employ several idea-generation tools and techniques in a session, to help their groups produce a wider depth and breadth of fresh, new ideas.





The Fun FactorThere is an added benefit to conducting well-structured, skillfully-led sessions utilizing imaginative ideation techniques: people enjoy them.When a group finds a collaborative process pleasurable, when it makes them feel good about the job they're doing and the contribution they're making, when it helps them work more effectively and productively, both individually and with their colleagues, they embrace it. And when teams enthusiastically engage in a brainstorm and freely contribute, the results can only be that much better.While many typical brainstorming sessions lapse into haphazard, "hit or miss" affairs (and ultimately provide ammunition for all of the "brainstorming doesn't work" detractors), those sessions employing the 3 Pillars of Brainstorming Success are consistently more effective, productive and make a positive impact on employee engagement and morale.So the next time you experience a less-than-satisfying brainstorming session, ask yourself, "Which of the 3 pillars of success are missing? Structure, leadership skills, idea-generation techniques?" And more important, how you can ensure they will be in place the next time?----------------References

Offner, A. K., Kramer, T. J., & Winter, J. P. "The Effects of Facilitation, Recording, and Pauses on Group Brainstorming." Small Group Research 27 (1996): 283-298.

Oxley, N. L., Dzindolet, M. T., & Paulus, P. B. "The effects of facilitators on the performance of brainstorming groups." Journal of Social Behavior and Personality 11 (1996): 633-646.

Brazel, J. F., Carpenter, T. D., & Jenkins, J. G. "Auditors' Use of Brainstorming in the Consideration of Fraud: Reports from the Field." The Accounting Review, Vol. 85, No. 4, (July 2010): 1273-1301.

Improving Quality Of Wastewater Through Treatment Processes

Wastewater treatment is carried out for improving the quality of wastewater. It helps achieve the standards and expectations that have been set for the waste matter quality. Such treatments are designed towards achieving improvement not only in the quality of the wastewater, but also in protecting the environment.Why improving the quality of wastewater is importantThrough various treatment processes, the suspended solids are removed. Removing these solids is necessary as these can clog down channels and rivers.These treatments also ensure the removal of biodegradable organics. It is worth mentioning that these organics serve as a food for microorganisms. These organics are combined with oxygen extracted from water by these microorganisms. This allows them not only to thrive, but also to multiply. The matter of concern is that this oxygen is also required by the fish in the water to survive. The organic pollution being caused as a result will lead to the formation of dead zones. It would not be possible for fish to survive in this environment. This results in fish skills when organic loads are released into water. Hence, it becomes essential to treat wastewater.There are many pathogenic bacteria and other organisms present in the wastewater which cause diseases. They come out to be of great influence at places where the receiving water is employed for drinking purposes. They also thrive in place where people may come in close contact with the water. Thus, they may cause diseases among the human population. Due to this reason, it becomes extremely important to treat wastewater. Otherwise many diseases will be borne.


The different forms of treatmentMechanical treatmentThis form of treatment removes the suspended particles and other floating solids from the raw sewerage. It involves a screening process whereby solid objects are trapped. This is a very useful treatment as 50 to 60 percent of the suspended solids are removed through this treatment. Also, up to 30 percent of the biodegradable organics are removed from the waste water.Biological treatmentThis is the next phase of treatment that helps remove the dissolved organic matter. This is basically the matter that has escaped the mechanical treatment. The food in this wastewater is consumed by microbes. Microbes use this food to convert it to water, energy and carbon dioxide for their own use. After this biological process, the water is made to go through settling tanks to further remove the suspended solids. This treatment enables the removal of around 85 percent of the suspended solids and biodegradable organics.Tertiary treatmentThis form of treatment helps remove almost all the impurities. Usually the percentage of the impurities removed stands at 99 percent. The effluent produced has a quality that is almost up to the quality of drinking water.

The Evolution Of Fax And Business

Ever wondered about the evolution of fax and business? How they became so mutually inclusive? Well, there is definitely a certain pattern when it comes to fax and business, but in order to understand where it all started and how it all started, you need to make sure that you understand the history of the fax itself and how crucial it has been to communications as a whole. Fax machines themselves were actually not viewed as essential pieces of equipment until the late 20th century. Before that, methods of communication were the telegram and the letter. The fax machine was however invented before the telephone, by Alexander Bain. Bain wanted to send information fast, via an electronic impulse so that people could get letters much faster than via the postal service. He succeeded in inventing this machine, but it was not developed until much later.Faxing was only proven to be useful as a good mode of communications when it was picked up by the banking sector. The first functional fax machines were used to record banking transactions. Once the telephone was fully invented and in use, fax machines were paired onto telephones as a more reliable way of sending signals across ling distances.The importance of fax in business todayThe fax machine was only made into a staple of office life in the 1970's. The Japanese were the first to recognise its value in business and make it an essential addition to communication. The reason that the fax machine was so simple is because it could take messages that were in English and print them out in Japanese, without the Japanese having to have a machine that had all 6000 characters of their alphabet on it. As soon as this was discovered, the fax became a staple in every office as well as home.


Fax machines were also the first pieces of technology that gave rise to fast and efficient communication, as well as the ability to print out documents as well as receive them. Fax machines then came with built in photocopiers, so that people could make copies of the faxes that they received. This meant that anyone from anywhere in the world could do business with or communicate with anyone from elsewhere.Faxes were also the first pieces of technology that made a signature authentic. Any signature that is on a fax document is considered to be truer than an electronic signature. No computer has managed to make a signature that is as authentic just yet. This is important in business dealings too.So as you can see the fact fax machines and businesses have been working side by side for many years. Even though the technology has not been used as much lately it will always have its place.

The Integrated Enterprise - Are We Ready?

There are many barriers to change in a commercial enterprise, and most of them start with a dollar sign. You are comfortable with what you're doing. Your staff is comfortable. Sure, there may be some missed opportunities, but perfection is unrealistic. To implement enterprise-wide changes to something like your data management strategy would require cooperation across multiple departments, absorb numerous man-hours in implementation, and who can say how long it will take for all parties to get used to the new strategy and work with a level of comfort they already feel today? Is it worth it? How long will it take to recover the investment?There are many legitimate questions to ask when considering whether or not to move toward an integrated data management strategy. How do we calculate the true cost of making such a change? A question that is very rarely asked is: What is the true cost of not making such a change?First, let's consider some of the reasons in favor of data integration.Inconsistent dataOne of the problems addressed by data integration is inconsistency between data on the plant floor and the business data further upstairs. Depending on the type of business, different departments typically have different goals and criteria for success. The plant floor supervisor wants to know where his products are; the executive upstairs wants to know how much his products are worth. Here is a case where we have different people querying for different bits of information about the same asset. Over time, the different goals and process definitions have led to departments using the same terms to describe different things, and different terms to describe the same things. This barrier to departmental collaboration in the manufacturing industry, for example, has led to the development of standards like ISA 95 to help facilitate the integration of manufacturing systems with business systems.Redundant dataAnother common condition is the tendency for different departments or divisions to have different ways of recording information about the same things. It is not at all unusual for large organizations to have multiple records of the same asset. For instance, if we imagine a particular production unit from the perspective of the plant floor operator, he will need to have information about where it is in the production process, its quality, the personnel involved in its production and testing, and when it will be shipping. At the same time, a manager will want to have information about how much it cost to produce this unit, how many units will be produced today, and how much we will get for it. We now have a situation where we are capturing and recording separate sets of data about the same thing.


Fewer Human ResourcesThis one seems obvious, but it a significant difference-maker when you analyze your bottom line. Making it easier to find needed data will allow personnel to spend more time focusing on other aspects of their jobs. It will allow for faster decisions and more immediate response to abnormal conditions. Your plant floor supervisor won't have to make that call upstairs to find out why today's production schedule has changed, or log in to a separate system to find out when a piece of equipment was last inspected. And the manager upstairs won't have to call downstairs to find out why we are behind schedule today, or what happened to that shipment that was supposed to go out. Having the ability to quickly assess a situation leads to better-informed decisions made more quickly and with more immediate results.Reduced RiskWhile we are on the topic of making informed decisions more quickly, this is a good time to consider the way that decisions are currently made in many enterprises. When a decision needs to be made quickly, and the data that could support that decision is not available as quickly as the decision is needed, owners and executives are left to make decisions based on intuition. Studies have suggested that about 80% of decisions are made this way. It may work and it may not. Having the right information when and where it is needed can significantly reduce the risk involved in the decision-making process.There are many additional benefits that can be attributed to data integration. New business opportunities can be revealed. New calculations can be used to improve efficiency and coordinate processes. Improve inventory management, energy consumption, supply chain scheduling, etc. Whether you choose to use a system of data virtualization to integrate key data from different divisions, a system of data federation to consolidate all enterprise data, or opt for a complete data integration solution that re-engineers your entire data system, the benefits are very real and yes, so is the cost. The cost, however, is a short-term loss for a long-term gain; a temporary pain for permanent growth.So, to revisit the topic of this article: Are we ready for the integrated enterprise? The answer is irrelevant. Those who are ready will continue to prosper. Those who are not will lose the ability to compete, and will ultimately have to get ready or get out of the way.