Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
Acumatica CEO Jon Roskill. Image credit: Acumatica
The past week has been a busy one for our client, Acumatica, the world’s fastest-growing cloud ERP company. The industry leader announced the release of Acumatica 2020 R2, the second of its biannual product updates. The release comprises a significant number of updates, many of which were community suggestions on the Acumatica Feedback Site subsequently vetted and selected through focus groups.
The release comes at a time of increased demand for cloud and mobile business management solutions. According to CEO Jon Roskill, “Digital transformation has become a requirement. With so many businesses operating from remote locations and home offices now, it’s more important than ever to have a single source of business truth that is accessible to anyone, anytime, from anywhere, which can also integrate easily with mission-critical applications.”
What’s unique about this update?
- Integration with leading eCommerce application Shopify
- Automated AI/ML-enabled Accounts Payable document creation, which simplifies how users prepare data that can be visualized on dashboards, analyzed in pivot tables and used for real-time notifications.
- Up to 500 recently viewed records are instantly available.
- A fully native POS software solution that provides retailers with real-time inventory availability, multiple locations and back-end warehouse management with barcode scanning. Now, users can manage a complete omni-channel experience without having onsite staff.
- AI/ML-enabled Advanced expense management, which incorporates electronic banking feeds for corporate cards and automates receipt creation to streamline processes for ordinary mobile users as well as back-office accounting personnel.
Acumatica also added several vertical-specific features and end-user productivity aids to all its Industry Editions. Taken from Acumatica’s website, its features include:
Financials:
- Boost cross-company sales by enabling related companies to buy and sell from each other
- Manage customer visibility with centralized account management
- Streamline monthly tasks with intuitive bank reconciliation improvements
Commerce:
- Boost B2C commerce with our powerful Shopify integration
- Simplify the buyer experience with improved shipment tracking, refund processing, and buyer notifications
Manufacturing and Distribution:
- Track production outputs and get your products to market faster with an embedded third-party quality module
- Reduce bad debt and simplify collections with streamlined payment and credit card processing
- Prevent overpayment by validating bills against purchase orders
Field Service:
- Enable appointments to span days and record travel and break time with multi-day appointments
Construction:
- Maximize billing accuracy with pro forma workflow enhancements
- Ensure the accuracy of contract caps with retainage allocation enhancements
- Improved AIA processes
- Enhanced integration to Procore’s construction management software
Acumatica also announced strong adoption rates and sales for Acumatica Construction Edition – complete, cloud-based construction software for general contractors, home builders, subcontractors, specialty contractors and developers.
The product has experienced notable growth, including 200 percent adoption and sales growth each year since its introduction two years ago.
The rapid uptake of Acumatica Construction Edition is due to:
- It being a true cloud offering, which allows contractors to easily share data between the office and the field.
- Construction, which has seen an inflow of a younger workforce and builders who want to utilize integrated, automated, and innovative cloud and mobile technology to meet their needs.
- The need to transition and adapt to remote workforces due to Covid-19.
We are excited about Acumatica’s innovation in delivering on consumer demand for cloud and mobile business management solutions. We are impressed with how Acumatica continues to deliver solutions to customers that will enable them to adapt and tailor Acumatica’s solution to meet their unique business needs.
If you work in public relations you’re likely learning new things each week. You might be getting educated about a new issue your client is facing, coming up to speed on an entirely new market sector, or learning how to help colleagues develop and expand new skills.
Continuous learning is one of the things I love most about my career in PR, so it was with great interest that I watched the video “How Practice Builds Our Hidden Learning System,” by Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., and professor of industrial and systems engineering at Oakland University.
The session, which took place during Course Hero’s 2020 virtual Education Summit, has some great insight, whether you’re a teacher, parent or working professional. I encourage you to watch it, but here are a few points that resonated most with me.
- Practice what you learn. When you learn, you create new neural links. Often these links are weak at first, but as you practice what you learn, these sets of links become stronger and broaden. However, if you learn something and don’t practice it, the neural connections won’t become as strong.
- Prioritize sleep. When you sleep, the neurons in your brain remain active by sending signals across these link sets. This helps you consolidate memories and make them stronger. This is one of the reasons that learning over several days is better than trying to cram all the learning into a single day.
- Recall the information. The most powerful technique for learning is to practice retrieving or recalling it. This is more effective than re-reading material, highlighting it or creating concept maps. When you retrieve information from the memory in your brain, you’re making the connections stronger and practicing remembering what you learned.
- Understand the systems. There are two systems of learning information and moving it to long-term memory: declarative and procedural. Both are necessary for learning but there are important differences between them. Below are some characteristics of each learning system.
| Declarative | Procedural |
| You’re mostly conscious of it | You’re not conscious of it |
| Develops through explicit instruction | Develops through practice, especially spaced repetition |
| You can explain it | You can’t explain it (or not easily) |
| Involves sequential tasks | Involves complex patterns |
| Fast to learn, slow to use | Slow to learn, fast to use |
| Flexible | Inflexible |
I’ve often wondered why I can’t explain the writing process more easily with coworkers and now I understand that writing likely involves both declarative and procedural learning systems.
When describing how to complete a writing project, for example, I can suggest a series of sequential tasks, such as beginning with research, coming up with a theme, developing an outline and then writing the article. These would involve the declarative learning system.
But organizing information and writing the article, depending on the topic, is likely to require the expression of complex patterns. This will involve procedural learning. I won’t be able to easily explain how to do the research or the best way to arrange the information, and these things will take more time to learn.
Dr. Oakley uses an even better example of the use of declarative vs. procedural learning in the course. She describes learning Spanish. You can learn verb conjugation fairly easily by looking at a chart and using the declarative learning system, but speaking and understanding it in conversation is learned through procedural systems.
I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch this video for some great reminders and tips for deepening your ability to learn and recall information.
Now more than ever before, companies are expected to establish a clear stance on important social and political issues. In fact, a 2018 survey from DoSomething found that 76 percent of respondents said they have purchased, or would consider purchasing, from a company to show support for the issues they back. The survey also found that 67 percent of respondents had stopped purchasing, or would consider doing so, if a company stood for something that didn’t align with their values. As a result, defining and establishing a stance on key issues has become a critical element to many business strategies.
Our team recently wrote about how brands can rebrand with purpose and the benefits of doing so in this blog post. But once brands establish their stance on issues, how can they ensure they effectively support them?
I recently came across an article in Harvard Business Review about how brands can follow through on the values they’re promoting to consumers. The author, Latia Curry, artfully outlines two key elements necessary to evaluate a brand’s effectiveness in navigating the complexities of social advocacy. The first element is understanding a brand’s “issue fluency,” which analyzes how authentically a brand engages with the public on an issue, and the second is the “depth of engagement”, which evaluates how much a brand is investing in a particular issue.
As you may imagine, the most well-received brands are ones that authentically communicate and invest in addressing issues that are important to their stakeholders.
A brand that is often used as a successful example of social advocacy is Ben and Jerry’s. The business “lives their values,” according to Curry. This is largely because the company actively shares its stance on social and political issues, including social injustices, racial discrimination and climate change. But it doesn’t only speak to its perspective, it also acts on it, investing in initiatives that support changes related to the issues it supports.
As communications professionals, we are often providing recommendations on how brands should respond to large social issues. PR professionals can craft effective statements that enable “issue-fluency” that communicates a brand’s perspective, but Curry’s approach raises an important question to ask: Is the brand also supporting the issue through its actions? Or in Curry’s terms, what is the depth of the brand’s engagement?
The answer to this question will influence not only the response, but the tone as well.
Living its values. Brands that dedicate time and resources to important social issues, both internally and externally, are living their values. It’s important to note that these companies aren’t just responding to an event, they are familiar with an issue and are committed to addressing it, regardless of the climate.
As such, these brands are often very issue-fluent and construct responses to major social events that demonstrate a clear understanding of the complexities and nuances of a specific issue because they have been working to address it for some time.
Owning its position. It’s important to understand that if a brand hasn’t been investing the time or resources in addressing a specific issue, it does not mean it cannot comment on it. But, if they do so, it’s important they own their current position in relation to the issue. This might mean acknowledging the fact that they have not dedicated time and resources. After that, they might want to commit to taking the necessary steps to enhance their depth of engagement. And finally, if brands are not experts on a topic but comment on it as if they are, it will not be well-received by the public.
Similar to a crisis scenario, brands should consider having a plan in place on how to respond to a range of issues so they can do so in a timely and effective manner. Social advocacy is becoming a critical element of business strategy and PR professionals play a large role in sharing messages on these topics.
Congratulations: You’re having a baby! Between reveling in the news, taking weekend power naps (while you can) and dreaming about your future mini-me, you might begin panicking about how your life will change — including your professional life.
Sure, you’ll probably take a break from late nights at the office and Friday happy hours, but having a baby doesn’t mean you have to put your career on hold. After all, more than 70% of mothers with children under 18 are in the workforce, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Whether you are carrying the babe, or your spouse is, here are some tips to prepare for your family leave:
Have a solid communications plan – starting with your manager
Similar to any job change, you’ll want to consider how and when to communicate your good news. As hard as it is not to share your exciting news with favorite work friends first, it’s best to start with your manager. By talking with your manager early on, you can determine the best approach for sharing the news broadly, when appropriate.
Share it like the good news it is
Sharing the big news with your manager and co-workers can be a stressful experience. Understandably, you’ll be wondering: How will people react? Will they be happy? Will this impact your career progression? While it can be daunting, share the news with confidence and excitement, knowing that what you say influences how people perceive the news and ultimately respond. This is another reason why it is crucial to have a plan in place prior to announcing it so you can provide specifics and instill confidence amongst your team as you lead up to the transition.
Determine the timing of your announcement
When you share your news is entirely up to you, and if you’re the one who is pregnant it may be influenced by how you’re feeling, how early you start showing and what your relationships at work are like. It’s best to assess the situation based on your workplace environment, individual manager and your level of comfort. In my case, I shared my news with my manager at around 12 weeks, but other coworkers and friends I know shared this information as early as six weeks. The difference? They had morning sickness and luckily, I did not.
The longer you wait, the more likely it is that you will lose control of your message. An equally important consideration is to move quickly – once you tell one person, tell the rest. While a phased approach is natural, expediting those communications will help colleagues feel well informed about the news and give them time to think about the coverage plan during your leave.
Develop a transition plan
To create a comprehensive coverage plan, you’ll want to make note of your responsibilities day-to-day and week-to-week. To do this, you can review your work calendar, long lead project plans, reoccurring tasks, etc. For each activity, clarify your role in the project and the responsibilities involved. Lastly, partnering with your manager, determine who is going to provide coverage in your absence and begin outlining a transition plan. Once a plan is in place, share it with your manager and discuss it as a team. Together, you can align how responsibilities will be covered and by whom.
Initiate the knowledge transfer
Consider the specific information that your colleagues will need as they take over projects. This is vital in making sure they’re set up for success while you are on family leave. I recommend outlining the projects or processes that you currently own, and providing links to relevant background materials, in a single document so everything is one place. This process can also help you identify where you might need documentation and supporting materials that may or may not exist.
Connecting for brief but regular conversations with those you will be handing work over to is also helpful. While documentation is a foundational tactic, 1:1 conversations are always helpful to provide dialogue and ensure you’re providing the right level of detail to adequately prepare your co-workers. Go with what works best with your team and company culture.
Get grounded in your benefits
In addition to preparing others for your leave, you’ll want to prepare yourself, too. Make sure you understand your family leave benefits. Start having conversations early about what’s included and what’s recommended. Talk with your HR partner and your benefits specialist, and also seek advice from those who’ve been through it before.
Prepare for departure
As your leave approaches, delegate more. This gives those taking over projects ownership while still working alongside you should questions arise. If you’ve been prepping in advance, you can make the gradual shift from taking on new work to providing final counsel, reassurance and comfort to those who are going to be leading the work during your leave.
Appreciate that your team is capable and that you’ve done everything you can to prepare them for the transition. And now, it’s time to prepare yourself for welcoming a tiny new addition into your family!
Writer’s block – sadly, it happens to all of us. Few things are worse than hitting the proverbial wall, especially in a field like PR, where writing is a daily requirement, be it for emails, media briefings, pitch materials or content development.
When you find yourself stuck, the magic question becomes, “How can I get the creative juices flowing again?” It’s not always easy, but fortunately, there are a few tricks that may jumpstart the process. This infographic from EnchantingMarketing.com details tips every writer can use for discovering their writing genius. Here are a few helpful pointers for getting unstuck with your writing.
Breaks can lead to breakthroughs
We’ve all sat at our keyboards mentally trying to fight through writer’s block, and often, it doesn’t work. When this happens, try giving your mind a break to allow your brain to recover from strenuous mental activity. As the infographic points out, our brains need to relax, too. Make time to play.
“During ‘off-time’ our brains continue to process ideas,” the infographic states. “So, breaks can give us extra insights, boost creativity, and make our writing better.”
Stay creative – feed your muse with new and creative experiences
To create, you need creative input. Inspiration comes from many different sources. Pursue those activities that excite and inspire you. Read books, have conversations. This can help feed your “creative well.”
Additionally, allow yourself to experience growth. Challenge yourself to stray from your comfort zone and explore new horizons. This can entail adopting a new writing technique or taking on a project with a new client. Yes, there’s a reason why people avoid leaving their comfort zones – it’s unfamiliar and can be difficult and scary. However, it can also lead to growth, and ultimately, satisfaction.
“When you stay in your creative comfort zone, you risk going stale,” the infographic states.
Befriend your inner critic
Sometimes, the person who is hardest on you can be yourself. It can be easy to overly criticize your writing. However, having an inner critic doesn’t have to be a bad thing, so long as you can avoid being overly critical and realize that the inner critic is likely your way of trying to bring about your best work.
For a healthy balance, try befriending your inner critic. Evaluate where you see room for growth in your writing and determine what is sustainable for your situation. What’s realistic for you to achieve? This can help you work with that inner voice, focus on the project at hand and make effective progress.
The writing process is painful. Embrace this.
Ernest Hemingway once said, “The first draft of anything is s***.” Unfortunately, this is accurate more often than not, especially when leaving your comfort zone. No masterpiece is captured on the first try.
Again, this doesn’t have to be a bad thing – a first draft is progress toward a greater end result. The revision process can be messy, but don’t give up. This is how writers work out the cobwebs and kinks in their writing – and demonstrate growth with each writing project. Each revision will help make your writing tighter and more focused.
Find your writing joy
Finding joy in your writing can lead to increased productivity while eliminating distractions. The infographic shows that writing joy is associated with maintaining a keen focus on the writing process. Joy can help propel your progress.
“When you focus on the work in front of you, you get into a flow and find pleasure in creating something that didn’t exist before,” the infographic states.
When it happens, writing joy is undeniable. Your best work will come when pursuing what interests you most and your enthusiasm will shine through.
As the infographic notes, “Even when you feel empty, you still have ideas, experiences, and stories to share.” In those moments when you’re feeling mentally drained, hold on to these words of wisdom, and refer to these tips to help guide you back onto your creative path.
8 questions to ask yourself when dealing with writer’s block
- What do you need to keep your soul happy and your brain cells humming along?
- Which kinds of input keep you inspired?
- How will you tiptoe out of your comfort zone?
- How can you be friends with your inner critic?
- When do you stumble in the writing process? And how can you get unstuck?
- Which distractions keep you from doing your best work?
- Who are your creative heroes? What can you learn from them?
- How can you make time to follow your curiosity and do your best work?
To see the full infographic via EnchantingMarketing.com, click here.
On Monday, July 13, 2020, NPR broke the story that more than 1,200 current employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed a letter calling for the federal agency to address “ongoing and recurring acts of racism and discrimination” against Black employees. NPR contributors Selena Simmons-Duffin and Pien Huang note, “The letter offers a rare glimpse inside a famously opaque federal agency, where career staff often work for decades and information is carefully filtered to the public through the press office.”
The internally circulated letter received signatures from 10% of the organization’s 11,000-person workforce as of July 14. In the letter, the signatories lay out seven demands to address issues of racism, such as reviewing outstanding equal employment opportunity complaints, increasing diversity among senior leadership, and most importantly declaring racism a public health crisis. This letter arrives following public outrage over the silence of the organization in publishing official data on racial disparities in COVID-19 transmissions, illnesses and deaths.
In order to maintain unified messaging on disease control and prevention for American policymakers and the public, the CDC aims to limit the release of information from its employees to put the focus on official organizational messaging. In recent years this control over the release of employee information has tightened. In September 2017, Sam Baker, a reporter at Axios, published an internal CDC email by public affairs officer Jeffrey Lancashire, which read, “Effective immediately and until further notice, any and all correspondence with any member of the news media, regardless of the nature of the inquiry, must be cleared through CDC’s Atlanta Communications Office.” This email formalized the CDC’s position on silencing the voices of individual scientists within the organization.
The CDC website currently makes clear that scientists are only available to journalists following the approval by a CDC press officer.
The anonymous release of this letter provides a unique view into the inner workings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In recent years scientists have followed agency protocol to hold restraint in speaking with the media. However, the release of this letter could signify an increasing non-compliance with this policy. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage through the United States, and Americans stand divided on how to address the mounting case numbers, disgruntled scientists may begin to take action to report their findings when the CDC refuses to do so.