How to determine the net benefits for a distributed workforce
What companies support the fastest growing datacenters for the online gaming market?
Suggest plans for a large soft drink manufacturer to boost sales for its retail channels.
Closed: 10 Dec 2008, 11:59PM PT
Earn up to $200 for Insights on this case.
As you probably know from our earlier cases, American Express is sponsoring a conversation here in the Insight Community concerning how small businesses are dealing with the financial crisis. Already, a bunch of the insights generated by those earlier discussions have made their way to American Express' OPEN Forum blog. Some great examples of the type of content include Zack Miller's post on Black Swan Contingency Planning and Dennis Howlett's Quick Tips for Small Businesses. If you decide to participate in this case, we suggest those two posts are great examples of the level of quality to strive for.
This time, we're looking for more insight from small business owners on issues as we approach the end of the year. How are you approaching your strategy for the end of this year, as many are worried that holiday spending won't be what it's been in the past? Alternatively, how are you gearing up for this financial climate as we head into 2009 and how would you recommend others do so. We're also curious how the changing political environment, and the various efforts to create various stimulus packages (or bailouts) might impact the way you do business.
To enter, please submit a post around these concepts. Please try to avoid just listing out the questions here and answering each one separately. The description is just a conversation starter, from which we hope you'll craft an interesting, insightful, compelling, and relevant blog post that will be helpful to small business owners, such as yourself. The goal here is to go beyond what everyone else is talking about, and dig a little deeper.
This case uses the "claiming" system. You can claim a slot and reserve that spot for yourself, guaranteeing payment if the response actually does meet the guidelines laid out in the case description. Any insight that is selected to then be placed on the American Express OpenForum blog, also will be designated a "top insight" and the authors will be granted the additional bonus on top of the guaranteed claim amount. Please be aware that claiming a spot but failing to submit an insight will lead to a poor rating and an inability to participate in future cases.
12 Insights
Closed: 17 Nov 2008, 11:59PM PT
Earn up to $200 for Insights on this case.
As you probably know from our earlier case, American Express is sponsoring a conversation here in the Insight Community concerning how small businesses are dealing with the financial crisis. Already, a bunch of the insights generated by that first discussion have made their way to American Express' OPEN Forum blog. Some great examples of the type of content include Zack Miller's post on Black Swan Contingency Planning and Dennis Howlett's Quick Tips for Small Businesses. If you decide to participate in this case, we suggest those two posts are great examples of the level of quality to strive for.
This time, we're looking for a little reflection. Now that we're well into the financial crisis, and some of the initial concerns have been somewhat alleviated (at least temporarily), how is your small business managing? It looks like the worst fears of the financial crisis (complete economic meltdown) have been avoided, but there's still plenty to be concerned about. Now that we're past that first stage, though, what more concrete steps are you taking or would you advise other businesses to take to manage to survive the current economy? Are these steps different than what you had originally expected?
To enter, please submit a post around these concepts. Please try to avoid just listing out the questions here and answering each one separately. The description is just a conversation starter, from which we hope you'll craft an interesting, insightful, compelling, and relevant blog post that will be helpful to small business owners, such as yourself. The goal here is to go beyond what everyone else is talking about, and dig a little deeper.
This case uses the "claiming" system. You can claim a slot and reserve that spot for yourself, guaranteeing payment if the response actually does meet the guidelines laid out in the case description. Any insight that is selected to then be placed on the American Express OpenForum blog, also will be designated a "top insight" and the authors will be granted the additional bonus on top of the guaranteed claim amount. Please be aware that claiming a spot but failing to submit an insight will lead to a poor rating and an inability to participate in future cases.
8 Insights
Closed: 30 Oct 2008, 11:59PM PT
Qualifying Insights Split a $3,000 Bonus.
We're looking to get insights into how individuals and the workplace are changing due to an increasingly "mobile" workforce -- thanks to things like widespread laptop and mobile device usage, as well as wireless connectivity. These days, "working" no longer means "being in the office." People and employees have truly become "Digital Nomads." Over the next few weeks and months, we'll be hosting a series of cases exploring different aspects related to this new mobile workforce. Dell is sponsoring the conversations here, and the best results will be placed on a site sponsored by Dell: http://whitepaper.digitalnomads.com/. The content may later also be added to a whitepaper and a wiki on the subject. While Dell is sponsoring the conversation, the content is vendor neutral. Just provide your insights on the question at hand.
We all know that more employees are becoming Digital Nomads, but from a business and IT perspective, how do you determine if this is a net benefit or a net loss? Do you do anything to measure the specific ROI of having a dispersed workforce? If so, how are you measuring it? What have you found? What would make it easier to determine the ROI of having a distributed workforce? Basically, we're looking for any discussion that can speak to the ROI (good or bad) of having a workforce made up of Digital Nomads.
16 Insights
Closed: 8 Oct 2008, 11:59PM PT
Earn up to $200 for Insights on this case.
Following the discussion on Techdirt about the financial crisis, American Express wanted to sponsor a Techdirt Insight Community Case to facilitate a larger conversation about how this impacts small businesses, and what they can do during this crisis. To kick it off, we've written another post on Techdirt and on American Express' OpenForum blog, about how the financial crisis might impact small business, but we want to hear from you, based on your experiences, recommendations and perspectives as owners, workers or partners of small businesses.
As a conversation starter, you can discuss whatever you want about how this current financial criss might impact small business and how they can and should deal with it. Here are some topics that could be worth covering:
This case uses the "claiming" system. You can claim a slot and reserve
that spot for yourself, guaranteeing payment if the response actually
does meet the guidelines laid out in the case description. Any insight
that is selected to then be placed on the American Express OpenForum
blog, also will be designated a "top insight" and the authors will be
granted the additional bonus on top of the guaranteed claim amount. Please be aware that claiming a spot, but failing to submit an insight will lead to a poor rating.
10 Insights
Closed: 22 Oct 2008, 11:59PM PT
Earn up to $100 for Insights on this case.
LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:
Many years ago, mobile phones were seen as gadgets that could come in handy for emergencies. Obviously, now that mobile phones are ubiquitous, mobile communication is seen more as a convenience. Emergencies that call for the use of a mobile phone now include letting someone know that there's no more milk in the fridge. But mobile phones are still extremely useful in emergency situations, so before we forget about that, what are some best practices for using mobile phones for safety purposes? What phone features or services are useful for parents to keep track of their children? How can GPS functions on mobile phones make users safer? Besides not driving while talking on the phone, what other activities should people avoid doing with their phones? Can you dispel any 'dangerous' myths about using mobile phones? How can mobile phones be used to keep everyone safer?
11 Insights
Closed: 30 Sep 2008, 11:59PM PT
Earn up to $100 for Insights on this case.
LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:
If you've used a mobile banking interface, we're looking for reviews on how well it performs. Which kinds of banking-by-phone interfaces are the most useful? Is the traditional automated menu system (eg. "press 1 to transfer funds") still your favorite? What kinds of mobile banking or payment services are becoming more popular? Do you think 4-digit PINs are secure enough for mobile banking -- or can you imagine more secure authentication methods for banking-by-phone? How else can mobile phones help you to manage your spending or financial affairs?
5 Insights
Closed: 2 Jun 2008, 11:59PM PT
Earn up to $500 for Insights on this case.
10 Insights