Get Support for Your Performance Management Update

 

It’s a fact of life that people don’t like change, so introducing any new HR process that requires people to think and act differently is always going to be a challenge.
Performance management is a problematic subject. It’s often regarded by managers as an irritating, box-ticking exercise and by employees (particularly those who’ve had bad review experiences) as something to be disdained and avoided.
It is important, however, to review performance management systems from time to time to make sure they are fit for purpose, running smoothly, and still reflect the organization’s culture and priorities.
If you’re going to invest time and effort in developing a new system, you want to make sure it lands well. So what do you need to do to make sure both employees and managers understand the thinking behind a new approach to performance management and engage enthusiastically with a new system?

Lay the Foundations

A performance management system—like any other new system—will work best if people feel they have been part of its creation. Of course you can’t consult with the whole workforce about every nut and bolt of a new system, but it is a good idea to involve users at the planning and development stage. A focus group with managers, for example, will help you understand what they need from a system and how you can build a process they will find easy to use. An employee focus group is a good way to test the temperature on any new initiatives you may be planning to introduce, such as competencies or scoring. Piloting a new system with a small test group is also a good way to iron out any glitches and highlight any unanticipated issues. You’ll never please everyone, but people are more likely to engage with a new process if they feel their voices have been heard and their ideas taken into account.

Have a Communication Plan

It’s no good just suddenly launching a new system out of the blue and expecting everyone to enthusiastically jump on board. You need to tell people a new system is being developed, explain the thinking behind it, and set out the practicalities of how it will work. One all-staff email isn’t enough. Plan a phased program of communication before, during, and after the launch so that there are no surprises, and everyone is clear about what they need to do differently. Employees and managers will have very different information needs, questions, and concerns, so ensure to tailor your communications to suit the audience. It’s important to reinforce information on a regular basis as it takes time for a new system to bed in and for people to get the hang of it.

Provide Reassurance

Performance management is often the cause of much angst in organizations, so it’s important to reassure people that they have nothing to fear from a new approach, and that it is there to support them and make life easier. Introduce an automated system, for example, and managers may be worried that it will be time-consuming or that the technology will be complicated. Introduce more frequent reviews and employees may be worried that their performance is going to be more closely monitored and they will be hauled over the coals for every little mistake. Make sure managers are clear about how a new approach to performance management will help them lead their teams more effectively and get the best out of their people. Reassure employees that the new focus on performance is about helping them build on their strengths, get clear about priorities, and develop new skills going forward.

Support Managers with Training

It’s quite possible your managers may have been resenting the current performance management for years. They have regarded it as yet another item on the to-do list, and as a distraction from the “real work”. If you are moving performance management up a gear, however, you can’t just expect managers to automatically know how to execute it or to change their behavior overnight. Managers may need help understanding how a forward-focused approach to performance management can yield better results than the traditional ‘looking back’ on last year, or how to have productive and motivating performance reviews with their team. Make sure everyone is clear about what the new approach is aiming to achieve and that they are equipped with tools and frameworks to help them have good quality conversations.

Let technology take the strain

Technology cannot replace the conversations managers need to have with their people, but it can give a lot of support the performance management process. The latest performance management software can nudge managers when appraisals are due and make it easy to find and complete the necessary forms electronically. They provide a central place where information about what’s been discussed can be recorded, so that it’s easy to revisit objectives or targets and adjust them if priorities have changed. Information about any development that’s been agreed can also be easily recorded, so that both managers and individuals can access records and make sure planned training gets scheduled in. The latest generation of systems are intuitive and straightforward, making it easy for managers to keep track of the performance management process and make it an integral part of the way they manage their teams.

29 ways to save time with Excel formulas

Formulas are the bread and butter of Excel, and If you use Excel on a regular basis, I bet you're working with a lot of formulas. But getting formulas working properly is tricky, and too often a problem that seems simple ends up taking far too long. In this article, I share some good tips to save you time when working with formulas in Excel.

Rather watch a video? We take a speed run through 20+ tips in this video.

Don't add the final parentheses to a function

Let's start out with something really easy! When you entering one function on it's own (SUM,AVERAGE, etc.) you don't need to enter the final closing parentheses. For example, you can just enter:
=SUM(A1:A10
and press return. Excel will add the closing parentheses for you. It's a small thing, but convenient. Note that this won't work if your formula contains more than one set of parentheses.

Move a formula and keep references from changing

One of Excel's most powerful features is relative addresses — when you copy a formula to a new location all relative addresses will change. Often this is exactly what you want, because the reuse of formulas is one of the most important techniques of a well-built, easy to maintain worksheet.
But sometimes you need to move or copy a formula to a new location and you don't want the formula to change at all. There several ways you can do this.
If you're just moving a formula to a nearby location, try drag and drop. Dragging will keep all addresses intact and unchanged.


If you moving a formula to a more distant location, use cut and paste. (Win: Ctrl + X, Ctrl + V  Mac:  Cmd + X, Cmd + V )  When you cut a formula, it's references do not change.

Copy a formula and keep references from changing

Note: you could change all cell references to make them absolute, but this tip assumes that you don't want to do that, for whatever reason.
If you just need to copy a single formula, select the entire formula in the formula bar and copy to the clipboard. You can then paste at a new location. The result will be a formula identical to the original.
If you need to copy a group of formulas to a new location without affecting references, there are two approaches you can use. First, you can use find and replace. Select the formulas you want to copy, then search for and replace the equal (=) sign in the formulas with some other character (use something that won't appear in the formulas, like # ). This will convert the formulas to text. Now copy and paste the formulas to a new location. After you paste the formulas, and with all formulas selected, reverse the search and replace process. Search for the hash (#) and replace an equal sign (=). This will restore the formulas to working order. (Credit: Tom Urtis)
Here's another tricky way to do the same thing: Select all the cells with formulas you want to copy. Next, change the number format to Text, and enter edit mode (Win: F2 Mac: Ctrl + U). Next, press Control + Enter to update all formulas to Text format. Now copy the formulas to a new location and reverse the process: change the format to General, enter edit mode, and press Control + Enter. (Credit: Sumit Bansal)

Double click the fill handle to copy down formulas

When you're adding formulas to tables, one of the things you do most often is copy the formula from the first row of the table to the last row of the table. If you know the keyboard shortcuts for navigating data in Excel, you can use them to quickly paste in a whole column of formulas in just a few key strokes. However, the fill handle is even faster, because there's no need to navigate to the bottom of the table.
The fill handle is the little rectangle that sits in the lower right corner of all selections in Excel. As long as the formula sits in a column next to another column will a full set of data, you can just double-click the fill handle to copy the formula all the way down to the bottom of the table.


Note: This tip won't work if there's not a full column of data the left of the formula you are entering. Excel uses this data to figure out how far down the worksheet to copy the formula. You can use this next approach however...
If the selection is not too large, you can also fill formulas down a worksheet using the shortcut for Fill Down (Control + D). Just make sure to select the original formula and the target cells first. This is faster than copy/paste, but not as fast as the fill handle, especially if you are copying the formula into a large group of cells.
See also: https://exceljet.net/tips/how-to-move-around-big-lists-fast

Use a table to enter formulas automatically

An even faster way to enter formulas is to first convert your table to an official Excel Table. The terminology here is confusing, since any data with more than one column is technically a "table" but Excel has a formal structure called a Table that provides many benefits. Once you convert your data to a table (Both platforms: Ctrl + T), all formulas you enter in the first row will be automatically copied down the full length of the table. This saves a lot of time and also helps to prevent errors.


As a bonus, when ever you update a formula in a table, Excel will again update all like formulas in the same column.
Note that formulas in a table will automatically use structured references (i.e. in the example above =[@Hours]*[@Rate] instead of =C4*D4. However, you can type cell addresses directly and they will be preserved.

Use AutoComplete + tab to enter functions

When you enter an equal sign and start typing, Excel will start matching the text you enter against the huge list of functions that are available. As you type, you'll see a list of "candidate" functions appear below. This list will narrow with each letter you type. Once the function you want is selected in the list, you can "ask" Excel to enter it for you by pressing tab. On Windows, functions are selected automatically as you type. On a Mac options are presented but not selected, so you need to take one more step: use the arrow key to select the function you want, then press tab or return to have Excel enter the function for you.

Use Control + click to enter arguments

Don't like typing commas between arguments? You can have Excel will do it for you. When you're entering arguments in a function, just hold down Control (Mac: Command) as you click each reference and Excel will automatically enter commas for you. For example, you can enter a formula like: =SUM(A1, B10, C5:C10) by entering "=SUM(" then Control-clicking each reference. This will work with any function where you are supplying references as arguments.

Use the formula tip window to select arguments

Whenever you're working with a formula that contains an Excel function, remember that you can always use the hint window to select arguments. This can be real time-saver if the formula is complicated, especially if it contains lots of nested parentheses. To select arguments, work in two steps. In step one, click to put the cursor inside the function whose argument you want to select. Excel will then display a hint for that function that shows all arguments. In step two, click the argument you want to select. Excel will select the entire argument, even when it contains other functions or formulas. These is a nice way to select arguments when using F9 to debug a formula.

Want to learn more? We offer an entire course on Excel formulas and functions.

Insert function argument placeholders with a shortcut

Normally, as you enter a function, Excel will present tips about each arguments as you add commas. But sometimes you might want to have Excel add placeholders for all the function arguments at once. If so, you'll be glad to know that there's a shortcut for that.
When you're entering a function, after Excel has recognized the function name, type Control + Shift + A (both platforms). For example, if you type "=DATE(" and then use Control + Shift + A, Excel will give you "=DATE(year,month,day)". You can then double-click each argument (or use the Function tip window to select each argument) and change it to the value you want.

Move the "formula thing" out of your way

Sometimes when you're entering a formula, the formula hint window gets in your way, blocking your view of other cells you want to see on the worksheet. When that happens, remember that you can move the hint window out of your way. Just mouse over the edge of the window until you see the cursor change, then click and drag to a new location. Then you can continue entering or editing your formula. Depending on the structure of your worksheet, another way to manage this problem is to edit the formula in the formula bar instead of directly in the cell.

Toggle the display all formulas at once

Whenever you edit a cell that contains a formula, Excel automatically displays the formula instead of it's result. But sometimes you might way to see all of the formulas on a worksheet at one time. To do this, just use the keyboard shortcut for displaying formulas: Control + ~ (that's a tilde). With this shortcut, you can rapidly toggle the display all formulas on a worksheet or off. This is a nice way to see all formulas at once, and to check formulas for consistency.

Select all formulas in a worksheet at once

Another way to see all formulas in a worksheet is to select them. You can do this using of the more powerful (and hidden) features in Excel: is Go To > Special (Ctrl + G). With this command, you can select all sorts of interesting things in Excel, including blank cells, cells that contain numbers, cells that are blank, and much more. One of the options is cells that contain formulas. To select all cells that contain formulas on a worksheet, just type Ctrl + G to bring up the Go To dialog box, then click the Special button, then select Formulas. When you click OK, all cells that contain formulas will be selected.




If you want to select only a subset of formulas in a worksheet, make a selection first, then use the same command.

Use paste special to convert formulas to static values

A common problem in Excel is a need to stop calculated values from changing. For example, maybe you want to simplify a worksheet by removing "helper" columns that you used to generate certain values. But if you delete these columns with formulas still referring to them, you'll get a load of #REF errors. The solution is to first convert formulas to values, then delete the extra columns. The simplest way to do that is to to use Paste Special. First, select the formulas you want to convert and Copy to the clipboard. Next, with the formulas still selected, open the Paste Special dialog (Win: Ctrl + Alt + V, Mac: Ctrl + Cmd + V) and use the Values option. This will replace all formulas you selected with the values they had calculated.

Use Paste Special to adjust values in place

Another common problem in Excel is a need to change a lot of values in place. For example, perhaps you have a list of 500 product prices and you need to increase all prices by 5%. Or maybe you have a list of 100 dates that all need to be moved into the future by one week? In such cases, you could add a "helper" column to your table, perform the required calculation, convert the results to values, then copy them over the original column. But if you only need a simple calculation, Paste Special is much simpler and faster, because you can change the value directly without any extra formulas.
For example, to convert a set of dates in place to one week later, do this: add the number 7 to any cell in the worksheet, then copy it to the clipboard. Next, select all of the dates you want to change. Then, use Paste Special > Operations > Add. When you click OK, Excel will add the number 7 to the dates you've selected, moving them forward in time by 7 days, with no need to create helper columns.



To increase a set of prices by 10%, use the same approach. Enter 1.10 into a cell, and copy it to the clipboard. Then select the prices you want to change, and use Paste Special > Operations > Multiply to convert all prices in place. Once you get the hang of this tip, you'll find lots of clever uses for it.



Note: this only works with values. Don't try it with formulas!

Use named ranges to make formulas more readable

One of the oldest pro tips in the book is to use named ranges in your formulas to make them more readable. For example, let's say you have a simple worksheet that shows hours worked for a small team. For each person, you want to multiply their hours worked times a single hourly rate. Assuming the hourly rate is in cell A1, your formulas might look like this:
=B3 * $A$1
=B4 * $A$1
=B5 * $A$1
But if you name cell A1 "hourly_rate", your formulas will look like this:
=B3 * hourly_rate
=B4 * hourly_rate
=B5 * hourly_rate
Naming ranges this way makes formulas a lot more readable, and saves entering a lot of dollar signs ($) to create absolute references.
Naming ranges is easy. Just select the range/cell(s) you want to name, then type a name in the namebox and press enter. Now that you've named a range, Excel will use it whenever you point and click on the range as you're building a formula — when you click a named range, you'll see it's name automatically inserted into the formula. As a bonus, you can also easily navigate to the named range whenever you like. Just select the name from the drop-down that appears next to the name box.

Apply names to existing formulas automatically

What happens when you've already created formulas and then create a named range you want to use in them? Nothing, actually. Excel won't make any changes to your existing formulas or offer to apply the new range names automatically. However, there is a way to apply range names to existing formulas. Just select the formulas you want to apply names to, then use the Apply Names feature.
Once the Apply Names window is open, select the names you want to apply and click OK. Excel will replace any corresponding references with the names you selected.

Save a formula that's not done

If you're working with a more complex formula, there's a good chance it will take a while to get the formula working right.  But you might be short on time and need to come back to the formula later to get it working like you want. Unfortunately, Excel won't let you enter a formula that's broken. If you try, Excel will complain loudly that the formula has errors, and won't let you continue until you've resolved all problems.
However, there's an easy workaround: just temporarily convert the formula to text. To do this, you can either add a single apostrophe to the start of the formula (before the =), or just remove the equal sign altogether. In both cases, Excel will stop trying to evaluate the formula and will let you enter it as-is. Later, you can come back to the formula and resume work.

Be aware of the functions that Excel offers

Functions exist to solve specific problems. You can think of a function as a pre-built formula with a specific name, purpose, and return value. For example the PROPER function has just one purpose: it capitalizes words. Give it text like "nEW york CiTY", and it will give you back "New York City". Functions are incredibly handy when they solve a problem that you have, so it make sense to familiarize yourself with the functions available in Excel.
See: Excel Functions for the Minimalist and Excel Formula Recipes for a list of commonly used functions and formulas that use them.
Note: People are often confused by the terminology used to talk about functions and formulas. An easy way to think about it is this: everything that starts with an equal sign in Excel is a formula. By this definition, all functions are formulas too, and formulas can contain multiple functions.

Use F4 to toggle relative and absolute references

The key to constructing formulas that you can be elegantly copied to new locations and still work correctly, is using the right combination of absolute and relative references. The reason this is so important is because it allows you to reuse existing formulas instead of creating new ones, and reusing the same formula drastically reduces the possibility of errors in a workbook by limiting the number of formulas that need to be checked.
However, converting references back and forth between relative and absolute references can be a nuisance — typing in all those dollar signs ($) is tedious and error-prone. Luckily, there's a great shortcut that allows you to quickly toggle through the 4 options available for each reference: (Windows: F4, Mac: Command + T). Simply put the cursor into a reference use the shortcut. Each time you use it, Excel will "rotate" to the next option in this order: fully relative (A1) > fully absolute ($A$1) > Absolute row (A$1) > absolute column ($A1).

Remember that formulas and functions return a value. Always.

When you're struggling with a formula, sometimes it's because you think part of the formula is returning a certain value but it fact it is returning something else. To check what is actually being returned by a function or by part of a formula, use the F9 tip below.
Note: The word "return" comes from the world of programing, and it sometimes confuses people new to this concept. In the context of Excel formulas, it's used like this "The LEN function returns a number" or "The formula in cell A1 returns an error". Whenever you hear the word "return" with formula, just think "result".

Use F9 to evaluate parts of a formula

The shortcut F9 (fn + F9 on a Mac) can solve parts of a formula in real time. This is a fantastic tool for debugging larger formulas, when you need to verify that the result of a particular part of the formula is what you're expecting. To use this tip, edit the formula and select the expression or function you want to evaluate (tip - use the function tip window to select entire arguments). One you have a selection, press F9. You'll see that part of the formula replaced by the value it returns.
Note: On Windows, you can undo F9, but this doesn't seem to work on a Mac. To exit the formula without making changes, just use Esc.
For a demonstration of F9, see: How to check and debug a formula with F9

Use Formula Evaluator to solve a formula step by step

When using F9 to evaluate a formula becomes too tedious, it's time to break out bigger hardware: Evaluate Formula. Evaluate Formula solves a formula one step at a time. Each time you click the Evaluate button, Excel will solve the underlined part of the formula and show you the result. You can find Evaluate Formula on the Formulas tab of the ribbon, in the Formula Auditing group. To use Evaluate Formula, select a formula, and click the button on the ribbon.  When the window opens, you'll see the formula displayed in a text box with an Evaluate button below. One part of the formula will be underlined — this is the part currently "under evaluation". When you click evaluate, the underlined portion of the formula is replaced with the value it returns. You can keep clicking evaluate until the formula is fully solved.
For a demonstration of Evaluate Formula, see: How to Evaluate Complex Formulas
Note: Evaluate formula is only available in the Windows version of Excel. The Mac version takes a different approach, called Formula Builder, which displays results as you create a formula. It's not quite the same functionality, but it is very helpful, and you can use it with formulas that already exist.

Build complex formulas in small steps

When you need to build a more complex formula, and aren't sure how to do it, start with the general approach and some hard-coded values. Then add in more logic to replace the hard-coded values one step at a time. For example, let's say you want to write a formula that extracts the first name from a full name. You know you could use the LEFT function, to pull text from the left, but you're not sure how to calculate the the number of characters to extract. Start with   LEFT(full_name, 5) to get the formula working. Then figure out how to to replace the number 5 with a calculated value. In this case, you can work out the number of characters to extract by using the FIND function to locate the position of the first space character.
For a demonstration of this tip,  see How to build a complex formula step by step

Use named ranges like variables

In many cases, it makes sense to use named ranges like variables to make your formulas more flexible and easier to work with. For example, if you're doing a lot of concatenation (joining text values together), you may want to create your own named ranges for new line characters, tab characters, etc. This way, you can simply refer to the named ranges directly instead of adding a lot of complex syntax to your formulas. As a bonus, if your named ranges contain text values,  you don't need to use any quotation marks around the text when you add them to a formula. This idea a little hard to explain so see this video for a detailed example.

Use concatenation in labels to make assumptions clear

When you create a worksheet that relies on certain assumptions, it can be a challenge to clearly show the assumptions you're making. Often, you'll have a certain area on the worksheet for inputs and another area for outputs, and there isn't room to show both at the same time. One way to make sure key assumptions are clear is to embed them directly into labels that appear on the worksheet using concatenation, usually with the TEXT function.
For example, normally, you might have a label that says "Coffee cost" followed by a calculated cost. With concatenation, you can make the label say "Coffee cost ($2.00/cup): which makes it clear that you have assumed a cost of $2.00/cup.
Also see this video for a detailed example.

Add line breaks to nested IFs to make them easier to read

When you're creating a nested IF formula, keeping track of true and false arguments in a blizzard of parentheses can get very confusing. As you wrangle the parentheses, its easy to make a mistake in the logic. However, there is a simple way make a formula with multiple IF statements much easier to read: just add line breaks to the formula after each TRUE argument. This will make the formula read more like a table.
To see this tip in action, see this short video.

Enter functions with AutoComplete

When you're entering a function, excel will try to guess the name of the function you want, and present an AutoComplete list for you to select from. The question is, how do you accept one of the options displayed and yet still stay in edit mode? The trick is to use the tab key. When you press tab, Excel adds the complete function and leaves the cursor active in the parentheses so that you can fill in the arguments as needed. On a Mac, you need to use the down arrow key first to select the function you want to add, then press Tab to insert the function.

Use AutoSum to enter SUM formulas

You don't always get the chance to use this AutoSum, but when you do, it's satisfying. AutoSum works for both rows and columns. Just select an empty cell to the right or below the cells you want to sum, and type Alt + = (Mac: Command + Shift + T). Excel will guess the range you are trying to sum and insert the SUM function in one step. If you want to be more specific, so that Excel doesn't guess, first select the range you intend to sum, including the cell where you'd like the SUM function to be.
AutoSum will even insert multiple SUM functions at the same time. To sum multiple columns, select a range of empty cells below the columns. To sum multiple rows, select a range of empty cells in a column to the right of the rows.
Finally, you can use AutoSum to add both row and column totals at the same time for an entire table. Just select a full table of numbers, including empty cells below the table and to the right of the table, and use the shortcut. Excel will add the appropriate SUM functions in the empty cells, giving you column totals, row totals, and a grand total in a single step.

Enter the same formula in multiple cells at once

Often, you'll need to enter the same formula into a group of cells. You can actually do this in one step with the keyboard shortcut Control + Enter. Just select all the cells at the same time, then enter the formula normally as you would for the first cell. Then, when you're done, instead of pressing Enter, press Control + Enter. Excel will add the same formula to all cells in the selection, adjusting references as needed. When you use this approach you don't have to copy and paste, fill down, or use the fill handle. You're done in one step.
You can also use this same technique to edit multiple formulas at the same time. Just select all of the formulas at once, make the change you need, and press Control + Enter.

Import & Export Finance​​​​​​​​​​

 

 

Funding for your importing and exporting needs.

The ability to obtain competitive financing can mean the difference between gaining and losing a new business opportunity. From working capital requirements to inventory needs, Comerica can structure the tailored solutions your organization needs at competitive rates, allowing you to obtain funding advances for your importing and exporting needs. 

Financing solutions for importers

Bankers’ Acceptance 

A Bankers’ Acceptance is an attractive option when, as an importer, you may not be able to obtain the required financing from your exporter, requiring you to request acceptance financing from your bank. Comerica can structure Bankers’ Acceptances at competitive rates. Once the bank agrees to accept drafts for you, you can draw time drafts on the bank to obtain funding advances when you need them.

Financing solutions for exporters

Working capital loans

For your pre-export financing needs, Comerica can facilitate an Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) guaranteed working capital loan. As one of the lenders for the Export-Import Bank Working Capital Guarantee program, Comerica holds the highest-level Export-Import Bank Bank Delegated Authority lender designation, allowing us to approve loans up to $10 million independently. We are also one of only nine financial institutions nationwide to hold the Export-Import Bank Fast Track lender designation, allowing us to approve loans up to $25 million in coordination with Export-Import Bank.

You may use the guaranteed working capital loan to

• Purchase finished products for export
• Pay for raw materials, equipment, supplies, labor and overhead to produce goods and/or provide services for export
• Cover standby letters of credit serving as bid bonds, performance bonds or payment guarantees
• Finance foreign receivables

Foreign receivable financing

To increase your cash flow, Comerica can facilitate foreign receivable financing for up to 360 days. This enables you to extend competitive credit terms to your buyers and allows you to borrow against foreign receivables. Various insurance options are available through Export-Import Bank and private insurers.

Foreign receivable discounting

To meet your short-term financing needs and increase your cash flow, Comerica can facilitate for the discounting of your foreign receivables.

Foreign buyer financing

To meet your buyers’ needs for financing to pay for their purchases from you, Comerica can facilitate foreign buyer financing supported by Export-Import Bank, providing you with the required cash flow and allowing you to extend the financing required by your buyers.​​​​​​​​​​​​

The Talent Management Systems Market Surges Ahead

The market for corporate talent management software continues to surge forward. Our new research shows that this exciting market grew by 17% last year and is now over $5 billion in size. Why? Companies have now realized that "talent optimization" is key to their business success. And without integrated software to manage the people-processes in a business, it's very hard to do.
I've been on the road talking with dozens of companies over the last few months, and everywhere I go executives talk about their challenges in developing leaders, locating and hiring top technical skills, diagnosing and improving organizational culture, and creating an improved process for global talent mobility. And the world of corporate learning is entering a new cycle of innovation: MOOCs, new LMS technology, and highly interactive digital content is forcing companies to rethink their L&D strategies as well.
Underneath all these issues is the need for a single, corporate-wide system that lets employees "manage their work" and helps managers "manage people." The original concepts of talent management software (pioneered by a company called Authoria, now part of PeopleFluent) were to provide an integrated software system to manage all the things HR has to do (recruiting, performance management development planning, etc.). Today the market has totally shifted: talent management software is not for HR (even though HR buys it), it's for the employees, managers, and leaders.
While the feature set among these products has somewhat commoditized, there is a new era emerging:  the talent management system as a true employee "system of engagement." I've written about this for years and now it is coming true. Today employees and managers need to be able to go online to find skilled staff, locate information and content, share information, view other peoples' goals, and develop their own skills. Tools for employee engagement (which are becoming real-time), for online recognition, and for managing work-life balance are all becoming part of the "talent management" market.
In some ways I wish we could "rename" this whole space "Employee Work Management Software" or just "YourCompany People System.com." The best of these tools are no longer only used by HR, they are used by all of us to make our work easier, get us aligned, and help us develop.
That all said, the market continues to be one of tools sold to and purchased by HR departments.
Look at all the "categories" now covered by talent management software:

Whew.
And I would suggest that this category will soon include real-time engagement and agile work management tools.  (Read my latest article on "The Quantified Employee" for more on that topic.)
Vendor Landscape
Funny thing has happened here, and we could have predicted it. While many of the smaller fast-growing players were acquired (SuccessFactors, Taleo, Authoria, GeoLearning, Pathlore, and many more), there are still lots of innovative companies in the market.
Today, as our market share shows (taken from the Market Brief you can download here), there are plenty of well established vendors to choose from. Not only have SAP, Oracle, IBM, Workday, CornerstoneOnDemand, and ADP staked out this space, but so have many other highly innovative companies (including good sized vendors like Saba, PeopleFluent, SumTotal Systems, Ultimate Software) and others.

 
Lots of analysts speculate that this market will become dominated by the ERP providers. Not true. I firmly believe this market is far too big and moving far too fast for the ERP providers to dominate. Yes, we all want our talent management tools integrated into our other core HR systems - but the "space" is moving too fast for ERP vendors to keep up. Not only are their 200+ LMS vendors today, but we predict an explosion of new tools for social recruiting, sourcing, analytics, real-time engagement and feedback, and social recognition. These HR software categories will all eventually "converge" into the talent management system, keeping the market exciting and alive.
Look at companies like Achievers and Globoforce, for example. These two fast-growing companies provide very powerful tools for social recognition, real-time employee feedback, and employee engagement. Today they are both growing at 40% or faster and they have very unique and powerful solutions which really change the daily lives of employees. Are these tools available from the larger talent management vendors? Not yet. This is only one of many categories we see emerging.
Our history is in the learning management systems market (LMS). This market, which we study in a whole separate research report, continues to challenge organizations around the world. While the bigger LMS players have been consolidated, most companies are still struggling to develop and roll out a "compelling learning experience" to their employees, customers, and partners. Companies like CornerstoneOnDemand, (which is one of the fastest growing talent management vendors) have shown that a strong focus on the LMS market continues to drive growth. I believe the LMS market is entering a whole new era of innovation - focused much more heavily on integration with MOOCs, enabling corporate expertise to be shared, and finally delivering on "on-demand" learning.
The other fast-growing part of the talent management software market is talent acquisition software. Again we study this in a seperate report, but this is the most innovative space of all. Not only are people fed up with their 10 year old applicant tracking systems (they were designed in the days of paper resumes and no LinkedIn), there are dozens of exciting startups building mobile recruiting tools, online assessment tools, tools for candidate relationship management, and analytics. Again, these innovative companies typically grow to $30-50M in size and then they either disrupt or are acquired by larger talent management software companies. So this makes the space more exciting than ever.
I wont steal the thunder of our reports (available to Research Members), but I recommend you attend Dr. Katherine Jones' webinar The Nirvana of Optimized Talent Management, and stay tuned for more from us on this exciting market. Let me conclude with a simple thought: if you don't have an integrated talent management platform yet, you should seriously think about it. We can help you with strategy, selection, implementation, and all the related analytics. These systems are not only highly valued by HR, but now highly valued by your employees as well.

Interesting Facts on Cybersecurity

• The prevalence of cyber crime has skyrocketed over the past several years to include cyber espionage, malware and phishing schemes. In response, the cybersecurity market has also grown and is expected to reach $120.1 billion by 2017. This may seem like an excessive estimate, but many tech users are unaware of just how costly cyber crime can be. The FBI’s Most Wanted List for cyber criminals currently contains just five individuals, but each is responsible for consumer losses ranging from $350,000 to $100 million.
• The United States loses $100 billion annually as a result of cyber crime, which targets over 556 million victims per year. Cyber crime targets range from individual citizens to massive organizations like the U.S. Navy, which receives 110,000 cyber attacks every hour. Businesses, especially those with fewer than 2,500 employees, have become popular targets. Current trends such as cloud computing, bring-your-own-device policies, and consumerization increase the risks for businesses.
• As consumers expand their tech use to new outlets, cyber criminals follow them. Social media and mobile devices have opened many new opportunities for hackers to compromise the security of computer systems and networks. Criminals are opting to use social networks over email as their primary means of targeting victims, as social media has become the primary source of Internet activity for most people. Social networks, including sites such as Facebook and Pinterest, are primarily used by cyber criminals as mediums for implementing spamming and phishing techniques.
• "Online criminals target social media because that's where the victims are," stated Symantec's 2013 Internet Security Threat report. About 10% of all social media users have received a cyber threat. More than 600,000 accounts are compromised every day on Facebook alone. People are more likely to share personal information like addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth on social networks. These facts are useful to hackers who want to figure out passwords or steal their victims' identities. 
• Social media users are also likely to click links posted by trusted friends, which criminals can use to their advantage. Like-jacking, which occurs when criminals post fake Facebook "like" buttons to webpages, is a popular method of cyber crime. Users who click the button don't "like" the page, but instead download malware.
• SMS scams have increased among mobile users, who are especially vulnerable because their devices are directly connected to their cellphone bills. Cyber criminals can send expensive text messages without the user's knowledge. Mobile botnets described in a recent Symantec report used this tactic to generate $547,500 to $3,285,000 per year.
• Although mobile and social threats have increased, desktop and laptop users should also pay close attention to their computer security. Apple users in particular should take caution, as Macs have become an attractive target for cyber crime as the company has gained more market share. An example of this can be seen in the 2013 Flashback Attack, during which cyber criminals took control of 600,000 Macs. It should be noted that just 2.5% of all threats in 2012 were targeted towards Macs, but this number is expected to grow as Apple continues to grow within the market.

 

Target Market Selection

Target market represents a group of individuals who have similar needs, perceptions and interests. They show inclination towards similar brands and respond equally to market fluctuations.
Individuals who think on the same lines and have similar preferences form the target audience. Target market includes individuals who have almost similar expectations from the organizations or marketers.
Obese individuals all across the globe look forward to cutting down their calorie intake. Marketers understood their need and came up with Kellogg’s K Special which promises to reduce weight in just two weeks. The target market for Kellogg’s K Special diet would include obese individuals.
Individuals who sweat more would be more interested in buying perfumes and deodorants with a strong and lasting fragrance.

How to select the Target Market ?

It is essential for the organizations or marketers to identify the set of people whom they want to target ?. Marketers must understand the needs and expectations of the individuals to create its target market.
The target audience must have similar needs, interests and expectations.
Similar products and brands should entice the individuals comprising the target market.
Same taglines and advertisements attract the attention of the target audience and prompt them to buy.
To select a target market, it is essential for the organizations to study the following factors:

• Understand the lifestyle of the consumers
• Age group of the individuals
• Income of the consumers
• Spending capacity of the consumers
• Education and Profession of the people
• Gender
• Mentality and thought process of the consumers
• Social Status
• Kind of environment individuals are exposed to

Always remember you would never be successful if you try to impress everyone. Be specific
Identify individuals who show similar characteristics. Put them in one group to create target market within a broad market.
Let us go through the below example:
Why do people use soaps ?
Some would use it against body odour
Some would use it to fight germs and infections
Some for a fair and spotless skin
In the above case the product is same but the needs of the individuals are different. Consumers have different reasons as to why they use soaps.
Target Audience 1
Against body odour - Soaps with a strong and lasting fragrance.

• Marketing professionals
• Sales Representatives
• People exposed to sun for a longer duration
• Individuals travelling by public transport

Target Audience 2
To fight germs and infections - Soaps with medicinal properties

• Individuals working in hospitals, nursing homes and research centres
• Individuals working in unhygienic conditions

Target Audience 3
For a whiter skin - Soaps which improve the skin tone of individuals.

• Teenagers
• College students

Target Audience 4
For a younger looking skin - Soaps which help get rid of wrinkles and fine lines of ageing

• Individuals between age group 30 – 50 years or above

Individuals with identical requirements form the target audience. A 20 year old girl can’t be targeted along with someone who is 50 years old.
Online matrimony sites target young individuals aspiring to get married. The organizations strive hard to fulfil their expectations by providing suitable matches.
Other important factors like climatic conditions and geographical locations also play an important role in deciding the target market.
Deodorants and perfumes sell like hot cakes in humid and warm places.

22 Social Media Marketing Management Tools

With every online marketing channel and discipline, there must be tools to make the task of marketing more efficient and effective. Social Media Marketing is no different. Over the past 6-9 months, I’ve been researching and reviewing a variety of social media management tools that help with everything from source network connections to campaign & social content management to monitoring & measurement. While there numerous tools that manage single platforms (like Twitter) this list includes services that manage multiple social network accounts, content and measurement.
At some point we’ll do more with individual reviews, but in the meantime, here is a list of 22 different social media marketing management tools, platforms and services to help manage and scale your online marketing efforts on the social web:

Shoutlet – Manages social media marketing communications with one platform for building, engaging and measuring social media. Includes multiple account and platform support, social CRM and ecommerce for Facebook, email marketing and mobile features.

Direct Message Lab – Provides consulting, implementation and a platform (REACH) for centralized management of social media promotions & contests, advertising and measurement.

Objective Marketer – Offers social media marketing and analytics with integrated campaign management (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, YouTube), multi-channel execution, engagement reports and user management.

Wildfire Interactive – Platform for easy creation, implementation and management of branded interactive campaigns including: sweepstakes, contests and give-aways.

StrongMail Social Studio – Comprehensive social media marketing platform with a referral marketing platform, social sharing tool and campaign management application. (Disclosure: StrongMail is a TopRank client)

Sprout – Cloud-based visual authoring software used to build interactive Engage Ads and Engage Apps that deliver rich, interactive, and social content across the web and mobile devices.

Spredfast - Enterprise social media management system that allows an organization to manage, monitor, and measure its voices across multiple social media channels. Also offers a white label option for agencies.

socialTALK – allows brands to create (text, photos, videos), manage (customize workflow & approval process), publish (single source, scheduled publishing to multiple platforms) and measure (aggregated analytics dashboard) their content strategy and posting schedule.

Crowd Factory – Suite of social media marketing tools include Social Campaign, that enables marketers to acquire new customers through simple social gestures and custom social marketing campaigns while easily tracking ROI.

Awareness - Social marketing hub that centralizes social media content publishing, management, measurement and engagement. Also includes access to 7 white-labeled, best practice social networking applications.

@this moment – Built on the @this moment platform, DEC is a system for managing a brand’s presence across multiple online environments combining multimedia UGC, and a variety of real-time inputs which are distributed across social platforms including YouTube Brand Channels, Facebook Fan Pages, MySpace Brand Communities & the iPhone.

MediaFunnel – Offers a Business Social Media platform for Facebook and Twitter supporting multiple users per profile and editorial review. Includes monitoring and integrates with Salesforce.com.

Virtue – Works with clients and agencies through a Social Relationship Management (SEM) platform offering Facebook tabs & applications, a publishing feature for Facebook & Twitter and mobile solutions.

Sprinklr – Social media marketing platform and consulting services for consumer & B2B marketers as well as agencies. Provides social media audience research, acquisition, content promotion and measurement tools.

Janrain – Web based platform of tools including: Engage to make it easy for users to connect a site with their social networks, Federate to facilitate navigation across multiple web properties & partner sites with a single log-in (currently supports 16 networks), Capture to leverage user data for personalized experiences.

Sprout Social – Affordable social media dashboard, monitoring, team workflow, influencer and contact management, performance metrics and daily or weekly email summaries. Supports Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp and Foursquare.

Sendible – Social media marketing platform that supports 30+ networks & services offering management of: accounts/profiles, messages & content, social contacts, content discovery, engagement, blog content & promotion, monitoring and analytics. Also offers a white label version for agencies.

KickApps – Self service social media web site authoring and social content management system system supporting video, social networking, social graph & activity streams, apps & analytics. Enables web publishers and marketers to develop branded communities, social applications and interactive widgets on their websites and across the social web. Solutions for small and large business.

Postling – Local business social media marketing platform to create content, stay organized and reach customers. Currently free for small business or personal use.

pop.to Social Marketing –  A social marketing suite, including feed-enabled social gestures and widgets, social dashboard, segmentation tools, influencer identification, conversion tracking and built-in friend casting.

HootSuite - Social media dashboard for managing social content and engagement on multiple networks with team workflow and statistics.

Seesmic – Web and desktop tools to manage social marketing activity on Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Google Buzz and Linkedin plus a plug-in marketplace for more social management options.
This list of social media marketing platforms & services “ad hoc” was compiled by bookmarking various services as they were discovered or pitched to us (we don’t reply to pitches).  Here’s another useful list of SMMS was compiled in March 2010 by Jeremiah Owyang.
What social media marketing dashboards, software and management tools from the list above have you tested or use? Reviews, observations, insights and questions are greatly appreciated!
Obviously, tools are only as good as the expertise of the people using them, so TopRank Marketing is always interested in helping companies develop their social media roadmap and recommend the right supporting software for implementation.