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Digital Tools and Digital Practices for Success

It has become somewhat obvious in recent years that technology is essential for the advancement of businesses. However, what's the best way to advance? A study recently conducted by Google and Deloitte Surveying, affectionately called, "The Study," found that online advertising and digital business tools have done a lot to improve the productivity of small business across the globe. In most cases the tools increased productivity by 300% . Deloitte surveyed businesses that implement Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest to see if there was any difference in their productivity. This entailed the social media side of the survey. The other side of the survey analyzed the effects of things such as websites, analytics, online marketing, cloud-based communication, and other digital channels. Before diving into Deloitte's study, it would be a good idea to separate the alternate realities of social media and digital tools. According to the Meriam Webste
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Business Process Discovery

Business Process Discovery (BPD) in relation to process mining, is the endeavor to portray current business processes and business variations in an honest light. With this, organizations can asses situations and problems with the intent of improvement. There are several components to BPD, each playing a part in its functionality.   Emergent Paradigm - Where current business methods are organized from top-down manual operations, relying on second-hand interpretations of business data. An automated system of data collection relies on the collection of data over a certain period of time. From there, data can be analyzed to reform the business process. Automated Process Discovery - By automating the analysis of data, the subjectivity of current manual process analysis techniques is removed. The analysis system has an ingrained methodology that- through trials and periods of reform- has been shown to more accurately depict business data and process variations without the infringemen

EDI Revolution in Business Processes

Shopping now as opposed to thirty years ago is quite different. Today we have eCommerce stores (online stores), and many specialized outlets for products. But with all this input, what are some ways that your customer's overall experience can improve? One way is the use of EDI , (Electronic Data Interchange), which is an electronic communication method that provides standards for exchanging data through any electronic means. In the context of inventory, sales data can be exchanged between companies. By adhering to the same standard, two different companies or organizations, even in two different countries, can electronically exchange documents (such as purchase orders, invoices, shipping notices, etc.). EDI has existed for more than 30 years, and there are many EDI standards, some of which address the needs of specific industries or regions. It also refers specifically to a family of standards. In 1996, the National Institute of Standards and Technology defined electronic data

Purchase Order Innovation

The importance of purchase orders  is somewhat obvious in today's business. A purchase order is simply an order that is submitted to an outside supplier for an amount of goods specified, for an amount that is agreed upon. But are there any way to improve this system? As stated, the purchase order is a vital part of the business' productivity. It governs how much material the company is taking in for the manufacturing of their product. For example, if we ran an electrical company, we would have to issue purchase orders to other companies for materials that we might need. These materials could range from wiring and electrical cables to switches and lightbulbs. But the acquisition of these items all depends on the purchase order. To get a bit deeper, a requisition order is an order that is submitted to the financial department of the business, and is then either approved or declined. In essence, the requisition is the purchase order before it has been confirmed. Whi

The EOU Business Process

The Economics of One Unit By: Zayne Hamilton The Economics of one unit is an essential building block of the business plan. These days, the world is full of get rich quick schemes and ideas that often turn out to be a waste of time. What would happen if your company was focused on selling one product at a time, rather than meeting the goal of millions? The Economics of One Unit can be a blessing or a burden, depending on how you view it. For small businesses in particular it would be wise to focus on a specific small goal of sales rather than flooding the bank in the first year. Typically, the Economics of One Unit model will have three numbers: the price of the unit, the cost of goods sold (which is subtracted from the price), and the "contribution margin"- or gross profit. This last number is key, as it will be added to the fixed costs per unit. The resulting outcome of these numbers will be your profit (before taxes). The Economics of One Unit model derives itself f

The Importance of Business Process Management

Business Process Management (BPM) There are a lot of moving parts in a business. Sales management, purchase orders, shipping labels, etc. And the thing that binds them all together into a manageable group is this: Business Process Management (BPM). Note that this is not the study of individual functions in the effort to improve, however BPM seeks to encapsulate the entire string of actions into groups called processes. Typical examples of individual actions are: reducing prices, increasing customer satisfaction, reducing error rates, etc. The goal of BPM is to analyze entire processes. By knowing different business processes and their names, it allows for greater efficiency and productivity in your business plan. An example of a business process is the  Order-to-Cash process.  This process begins when a customer agrees to pay x amount of dollars for a good or service, and ends when the product has been delivered and the payment made. An order-to-cash process encompasses things

Business Analytics in a Virtual Data World

Business Analytics In the business world, information is everything. Without information, a company won't know how to better serve their customers, maintain their products, order stock, pay wages, or even when to open in the morning. Information in recent years has becoming less and less analog and more digital. Further, the company itself is becoming virtualized. Information is being stored in the cloud, making physical servers unnecessary. Another name for all this information can be, "data". The more data we have, the better informed our decisions can be. How data relates to a business in the terms of revenue and customer service is called business analytics. A large part of business analytics is marketing analysis data, where businesses take a look at the atmosphere into which they are selling their products, and make changes according to what they see. Marketing analysis data allows businesses to see whether they are gaining or losing customers, if they are ma