In the world of corporate training and restructuring, there is a lot of focus now on lean innovation management, a process where innovation can take place with minimum time lag. An idea my management consulting experts tiled “three horizons of innovation” has emerged. Horizon 1 talks about established businesses, 2 includes fast growing ones and 3 involves only emerging businesses. It is at stage 3 that greatest innovation take place in shortest time period. Horizon 2 is about extension while 1 is about keeping existing processes functioning smoothly. The brand value too differs with maximum knowledge at horizon 1 but lesser at 2 and almost non-existent at 3 where the organization is seen as a disruptor. Matrix management becomes crucial at 3 but also technological shortcuts are taken often leading to technological debt. Ultimately, innovation can only work practically if the entire organization is up to it.

In the age of digital marketing, a number of firms are worried about future. The cost of technology change has often been blamed for ills. Industries such as utilities, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas have been rated as per market research conducted, as least threated due to their status as providing customers with most essential products and their products being physical. The travel industry across the spectrum has been hit hardest hurting tourism jobs. Lufthansa chief executive has accepted defeat in the mobile phone segments which has far outperformed his own industry over the years. Financial technology firms meanwhile are replacing jobs earlier performed by traditional banks. Thus the ‘hunt or be hunted’ maxim continues to ideally sum up this stage of business development.

Business research has proved certain approaches to be ideal tools to ensure customer feedback through employee engagement. There must be strong focus on seamless change management. Employee NPS is a tool to measure operational effectiveness of employees and track their engagement over time. Business intelligence must be shared with customers and employees to get comprehensive response. Ways must be devised to empower employees to rid business processes not effective. NPS targets must be tagged with personal growth goals. Certain expert outsiders may be appointed as champions for customer feedback. The NPS process followed internally ought to be branded. Top management must take time out to interact with highest performing employees. Customers who have commented positive must be incentivized with some recognition. During the orientation for new employees, NPS must be included as a component. A fast and inexpensive method to share success stories is creation of vox pop to share positive news or achievements across the firm.

There exist certain tools that are sure to boost online businesses. Intercom allows in-app chats thus enabling capture of data at critical juncture when potential customer is surfing for related product. Then there is KISSmetrics provides a funnel to detect segments of online store which pull maximum users. This business analytics tool provides data more tangible than clicks or visits. Moz provides a forum to network with fellow marketers and helps analyze positions for keywords, backlinks and content with regards to the website. This is important as organic searches still form between 33 to 50% of composite net traffic. Meanwhile, SumoMe offers potpourri of tools to help grow brand network through referrals and sharing. It enables greater email marketing followers of which have been known to be more loyal. Unbounce is a tool that enables firm to develop content and visuals to perform business research on ideal landing pages.

Some apps exist with the primary motive of planning and improving travel experience. Even lots of tourism jobs are created as a result of these user friendly apps. Kayak helps to synchronize all emails related to flights, hotels and car rent services into one body called itinerary. SeatGuru helps travelers decide seats for themselves as detailed plane body maps are provided within. Airbnb provides basic bed and breakfast facilities from all price ranges. Tripadvisor is of course extremely well known as the ultimate peer review site for restaurants, hotels, destinations and bars. Uber helps travelers book and use cabs conveniently across countries and cities. Instead of using cabs, if one drives on one’s own, Waze provides crowd sourced maps to help traveler reach destination using easiest route on given day. Google translate is the most user friendly tool to translate languages where barriers exist. Instagram is of course a must have tool for photographs sharing and storage even. Postagram meanwhile follows the model of exclusive photography clubs. Pinterest allows users to pin events and post pictures, videos or other memories associated under the created tag.

Contrary to opinion, management consulting has shown that social media tools do benefit corporate training. Groups or forums may be created on LinkedIn or Facebook and fruitful discussions may be held. Articles, websites and videos for potential learners must be posted under a Twitter hashtag. An Instagram hashtag on the other hand, enables vision boards to be created by learners. Inspirational as well as instructional videos may be posted on YouTube. E-How can be a more effective tool than printed work aids. For future usage, PowerPoint presentations may be recorded on SlideShare.

The NBA allows the bottom team with only a fourth of a chance to win the first pick at the draft, something which the NFL guarantees a 100%. Marketing channels function more like the NBA rather than the NFL. The marketplace is getting extremely fragmented and thus engagement across media channels is necessary.Marketing research has thrown some useful recommendations for use. Store pamphlets, email promotion and coupons worked best at retail stores. Massage services, tour operators and fitness clubs did best with daily deals as customers look for trials in these lines. Apartments and job agencies best utilized the power of newspapers. Meanwhile, online reviews did best for restaurants, pet parlours and painting agencies. These trends may be validated using business analytics and are sure to win positive results for SMBs without vast marketing budgets in particular.