How Women in the Digital World Enhance the Competitiveness of Businesses

Men are stronger, they are more resilient, more able to work. Business world is a world of men. The list of such stereotypes can be continued indefinitely. But will people stick to this opinion in 5, 10, 20 years? Is it worth weaving this thread of the Stone Age into the 21st century, which has already been exhausted and is about to break? Or is it worth taking an objective look at the changed roles of men and women in business through the prism of inclusiveness and advantages that are naturally inherent to each of the sexes?

Lose the masks

We, women, have been cultivating "necessary" qualities and wearing "men's masks" for a long time. We were driven by the desire to be heard, to win a worthy place in the business community. At the same time we were breaking our nature, becoming more rigid. Only a few were able to find a harmonious combination of their natural features and knowledge on the one hand and the requirements of the business world on the other. In most cases, women still oppose their careers to family and purely "female" functions.

The role of women in business and in the family can be quite different. She is different at work, on vacation with friends. These are different spheres of life. However, quite often in our society one can hear discriminatory phrases against women. For example: "she is an iron lady, her poor husband", or "with such a masculine approach she will never get married", "we'll look at her when the children appear". Can you imagine such phrases in relation to any man?

The connection between kindergarten and women's employment

We know that child care plays an important role in women's economic decisions, including their participation in the labor market. A working paper from the World Bank's East Asia and Pacific Gender Innovation Laboratory shows that improving access to child care services increases women's labor force participation in Indonesia by 13 percent. This data also suggests that access to child care services can also affect women's access to information and opportunities.

This is important for workers, as those who use informal channels to learn about opportunities to leave the country for work are more likely to migrate illegally. The risks of undocumented migration are higher than those of formal migration and relatively higher for women. Women are more likely than men to experience emotional and physical abuse as a result of informal migration and, like men, they also risk becoming victims of financial exploitation.

In the future - respect and collaboration

The epoch "or-or" has passed away. The world has changed. Trying to get into the car of the train, which is rapidly taking away into the future, we are carrying with us the remnants of the last century. Let's stop for a few minutes and, realizing the changes that are taking place, let's calmly get into the first car of the train, which is going to the country of efficiency, inclusiveness, respect and collaboration. Few will dispute the truth that women and men are different in nature (this has already been proven by many studies). I invite you to build successful businesses, projects and breakthrough ideas on this difference, using the talents and abilities of each sex.

It has long been scientifically proven that women have a stronger connection between analytical and intuitive abilities of information processing. For this reason, they have better developed social skills and ability to solve multi-tasks. Women switch more easily and faster from one task to another than men.

Strengths of female leaders

How can this be reflected in the business processes of a successful company? And is there any evidence of these scientific facts in the business survey of managers? Yes, there are.

In June 2018, KPMG International released the first global study Global Female Leaders Outlook, which presented the differences in competencies and business approaches between men and women. This report demonstrates women's willingness to manage companies in a digital and technologically transforming environment, innovate and take responsibility.

New Technologies

In particular, 48% of managers have a sufficient level of competence to work with artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, augmented by reality and 3D printing. This is an invaluable skill for all companies in VUCA-world.

Multi-tasking

Things are changing so rapidly that adaptability, flexibility and multitasking are becoming a new currency. Here, women are becoming more successful and very effective. In my opinion, this means that any project team should include women whose opinion should be taken into account.

Customer focus

Customer service becomes an important and priority issue. It does not just transform into beautiful slogans, but often becomes a strong competitive advantage in highly competitive markets. Clients are becoming more and more demanding, expecting not only good service, but also elements of empathy and anticipation of their desires. In this business direction, women can also be successful, according to research data. By their nature, women are client-oriented, firmly believe in the productivity of personal relationships and collaboration: 66% do not see the risk of losing existing clients (because the processes are well established and work well), focus on attracting new clients, which in the future will be permanent for the company.

Facts, not intuition

Confirming scientific facts that women have a stronger connection between analytical and intuitive ability to process information, 77% of women believe that the use of predictive data models and analytics will increase. They are confident in making decisions based on data. While the Outlook 2018 CEO report, which was attended by 84 percent of men, reflects the fact that decisions are mostly based on intuition (67 percent).

If your company is thinking about transforming its business for strong growth, adapting to new technologies, improving customer service, look who is responsible for these areas. Are there women on your teams? Does your corporate culture promote the involvement of women in business process re-engineering? Perhaps today is the moment when it is important to take a step forward in gender equality to ensure the success and profitability of your company in a rapidly changing world.

The post How Women in the Digital World Enhance the Competitiveness of Businesses appeared first on Ellas2.

Successful businesswomen help newcomers to choose an idea, start a business, build processes.

For those who are starting their own business or are still burning with an idea, we have collected a selection of 20 tips from already existing girl entrepreneurs. Businesswomen who know from their own experience what difficulties and problems can wait at the initial stage, share their recommendations on choosing a niche, starting a business, building processes.

1. Set goals. Not just for a year, 5 years, 50. It is great to set goals for 100 years, goals beyond life. When you realize what legacy you will leave (books, texts, meanings, values, children), it becomes clear why all this is necessary.
2. It is necessary to understand how you will improve the lives of others with your wonderful future business. What is your value? Why do you create a business?
3. Write a plan, a sequence of actions and an end result that you want to see in the end. Then it will be clear the path to be followed. When you understand the reality of the end result and the adequacy of your steps, then you can come to something.
4. It is important to understand from the beginning how your business will scale. Many entrepreneurs miss it. You cannot do it for 10, 15, 30, 40 years. You have to understand what kind of development you have. If you are making one product, who else can you supply it to. If you open a store, how are you really going to scale it. If you have this understanding, it is very noticeable in business. It's a vision of the future, of how you're going to enter another country's market, it allows you to see from above whether you're doing it right.
5. There's no need to build an idealistic picture at once. I read a book about business development, and there was a good phrase about perfectionists. When you send out mail, you can create an envelope - an example of Michelangelo's work, for which you will spend a lot of effort and time, but know that a regular envelope and such an envelope masterpiece will come to the addressee at the same time. This doesn't mean that you have to do some work, but you don't have to put something off because you can't do it perfectly at the first attempt. Just start to act and it will work better over and over again. As long as you bring it to perfection in your head, the other one will take it and start implementing it. Decide on what you are in love with, and start to act now.
6. If you have an idea in your head, don't put it in a long box, look for funds to implement the project! Otherwise, you may get ahead of yourself.
7. Be sure to come up with something new. If you do like everyone else, people won't come to you because they already have "their own people" who are doing the same thing.
8. Finding your niche is very easy: if you need your own product and you know other people who need it, and you love what you're going to do, the product is doomed to success. The only thing left to do is to make an effort.
9. Be aware of the fact that it may not go well. Well, it just so happened. I opened an online store of designer watches. They were super cool, but there were few sales. It happens that way. It is important not to give up. All businessmen go through this first "pit". Someone eats it, a person decides that the business is not his, and returns to work for hire. And somebody overcomes difficulties. Someone tries again and again. And if you are not ready to do it, it is better not to go into business.
10. First of all, it is important to be honest with yourself and to answer the question why you need your business, what kind of opportunities that you can't get while working as an employee, entrepreneurship gives you personally. Often the concept of "your business" is too romanticized, you can read a bunch of articles about the history of failures and all the difficulties faced by entrepreneurs to have a more complete picture of how it happens.
11. Do not pour too much money in. Money corrupts resources and prevents you from thinking. When money is scarce or limited, creativity and productivity are included. You look for new solutions, you use unconventional approaches. Noubar Afeyan of the Massachusetts University of Technology (MIT Sloan), one of today's prominent entrepreneurs and investors, says about start-ups: "It's ruining your own ego, a lot of money and no team. We didn't have a team at first either, we all wanted to do it ourselves, but it's very difficult to do something alone.
12. If you are not confident in yourself, in your strength, in your idea, you shouldn't invest a lot of money in business at this stage. All the more reason to take a lot of credits and get back into debt. Start with a small one. Start with what you have.
13. Count on it. Action-analysis, action-analysis. I came to this very not immediately. To the fact that the business on the one hand is a fan, you do what you like, you think it's funny, you may not meet the standards. But it's very important to look at the future, what brings the exhaust and what does not. Where to invest and where not to invest.
14. Do not wait for quick results. Our life teaches us to dates: we defended our diploma, went to look for an internship and so on. And in business results do not appear immediately, and you need to be calm about it and just keep working.
    • So before you make a decision to start a business, think about how you will measure your success in life, because it is measured not only by money.
15. All processes have to be organized. All behavior patterns should be set at the beginning, the rules - written down on paper, so that each employee understands the other with half a letter and all work in a single way.
16. It is necessary to count the money and delegate it. Many people do not understand what to spend money on at the start and what niche the money is in and where it is not in. I am not a fan of business plans, but I am for the fact that everything should be counted at the start. How much should I invest? When will everything work out? Who and what will do if it does not work? It is necessary to learn how to delegate. You should not consider yourself the smartest and think that no one will do better than you. This attitude hinders your growth.
17. You don't have to get attached to your employees. Any business, absolutely any business - it is always a staff turnover. I have made some distinctions. A job is a job. There are working moments in which I am very demanding, but at the same time I can madly love a person and be friends with him in life.
18. Treat business as business: pay your salary and assess how much more profitable it is to have a business than a corporate job.
    • There is no need to spend time on developing your weaknesses. Even if you put a lot of time and effort into it, it will still turn out mediocre. It is better to develop your strengths. Delegate everything else.
19. Be sure to start social networks and show what is going on in your business. Now both your personal brand and your business should be as transparent as possible. People will trust you if you show them the truth. Where are you, what's going on with you, what's in the business, what customers go. I don't even have any special secrets, because everything is as open as possible for each client.
20. You can't work with rough clients. This is stress, which does not justify money. The people who will come across them (my employees) will be nervous for nothing. The exception is a good financial bonus for harmful work. Very good.

The post 20 Tips for Future Business-girls appeared first on Ellas2.