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Keeping Your Skill Set Current Can Be Key to Keeping Your Job Small and midsize companies can’t afford to not keep up with technology, and neither can enterprise-level companies. This past fall, IBM notified employees, who it had determined needed additional training, they were required to step up their technological game, and that they would receive only 90% of their salary while embarking upon this additional training. Talk about an incentive to stay on top of changes in technology ! According to the article in the New York Times covering this move, some IBM workers received an email letting them know that an assessment had determined certain members of the team had “not kept pace with acquiring the skills and expertise needed to address changing client needs, technology and market requirements.” While some criticized the move, the reality is that employees can no longer be complacent when it comes to their grasp of technology and how to use it to help their businesses grow. That’s something to keep in mind, for sure, whether you’re just embarking on a career or whether you’re already in the workforce and want to make sure you have the skills you need to stay marketable.

The Modern Worker Needs to Be Constantly Learning

But investing in both strategies to minimize those issues (via a sophisticated commenting, social management, or forum system) and people to help soothe the pain is very much a way to help solve those pain points. If you’re not investing, you’re just opening yourself up to problems.

A controlled community of members commenting on a subject? Perhaps a better one.

public interaction—particularly, the framing of that interaction—needs to make sense with your association’s overall business goals,and if it doesn’t, it’s worth considering cutting bait.

The expression "Big Brother" has become dated. Experts would seem to have reached consensus on the term "Big Data" to describe the new favorite topic of discussion in boardrooms, at conventions like Berlin's re:publica last week, and in a number of new books. Big Data promises both total control and the logical management of our future in all aspects of life.

New is the way companies, government agencies and scientists are now beginning to interpret and analyze their data resources. Because storage space costs almost nothing nowadays, computers, which are getting faster and faster, can link and correlate a wide variety of data around the clock. Algorithms are what create order from this chaos. They dig through, discovering previously unknown patterns and promptly revealing new relationships, insights and business models. Though the term Big Data means very little to most people, the power of algorithms is already everywhere. Credit card companies can quickly recognize unusual usage patterns, and hence automatically warn cardholders when large sums are suddenly being charged to their cards in places where they have never been. Energy companies use weather

According to official figures, since the Swedish capital Stockholm began using algorithms to manage traffic, drive times through the city's downtown area have been cut in half and emissions reduced by 10 percent. Online merchants have recently started using the analyses to optimize their selling strategies. The widespread phrase "Customers who bought this item also bought …" is only one example of the approach.

The option to telecommute is one way to attract and retain that talent. The majority of millennials and gen X-ers prefer to work for organizations that offer telecommuting, and 42 and 44 percent, respectively, will accept a lower salary in exchange for this benefit. However, they both still value face-to-face interaction as much as older generations and prefer to work outside the office only one to two days a week.

As a younger generation who grew up using technology, millennials expect companies and organizations to be cutting-edge adopters, using the most up-to-date hardware and software to add flexibility and ease to their workflow, according to a new study from CompTIA.

“Like the Baby Boomers and Gen Xers that preceded them, Millennials have strong preferences and priorities on what they think the workplace should look like,” said Seth Robinson, senior director, technology analysis, CompTIA. “It will be interesting to see if these preferences become the norm as more millennials enter senior leadership positions; or if millennials change their views as they take on greater responsibilities to clients, communities, employees and shareholders.”

rkplace Flexibility

Social Media

According to a study from the Girl Scout Research Institute, 73 percent of girls are interested in STEM-related fields, but girls are more likely to “drop out” of STEM fields once they get to college. It also found that about half of all girls don’t think STEM is a typical career path for women, and 57 percent agreed if they went into a STEM career, “they’d have to work harder than a man just to be taken seriously.”

In 2014, GSUSA revolutionized its cookie program when it introduced Digital Cookie, which allowed Girl Scouts to sell cookies online via a personalized website or in-person using a mobile app..

Girl Scouts teaches the five essential skills of goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics,” Chávez said. “It’s all part of Girl Scouts’ legacy of teaching cutting-edge skills relevant to today’s girls, while staying true to the core values of our mission. Digital Cookie 2.0 is allowing us to do this on a whole new level, which will help girls in school, in their careers, and in life.”