What many people in the movement promote now is called Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the idea that corporations should be responsible to all of society and the environment, as well as to shareholders.

It’s a shame they’ve gained momentum. After all, without modern corporations we would all be poorer, and in particular, few of us could expect to retire comfortably. More than anything else, modern corporations exist to provide pension income.

Sure, corporations used to be owned by a few, extremely rich people. But, with the widespread adoption of pension funds and mutual funds, corporations now belong mostly to working people.

While it’s true the average working person has far, far less wealth than the average billionaire, there are many, many times more working people. That means company and government pension plans can invest vast sums of money into capital stock, making working class people the largest shareholders of many corporations.

From a communication perspective, I’m interested in knowing why Corporate Social Responsibility gets such good media coverage and so much attention. I’m also interested in knowing what we, as communicators, can learn from them.

For starters, the anti-corporate movement has a simple message: “Corporations have too much money and power; working people don’t have enough,” or some variation on that theme. On the other hand, my defence of corporations above is anything but simple, even though I’m pretty good at capturing ideas in words. Did your eyes glaze over as you read my description?

The ‘anti’ movement also enjoys the luxury of making a good (poor working people) versus bad (rich corporations) argument. That’s a moral argument, one that adds spice to any news story. On the other hand, the ‘pro’ side works largely with rational discourse and the ideas of economists.

Third, the protestors bring passion to the anti-corporate message. After all, this is a battle of good against evil, isn’t it? Again, the defenders of modern corporations and globalization have to rely on the prosaic science of economists.

Fourth, the label ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ also helps the anti-corporate movement. Not only does the name act as a unifying point for its advocates, but it also implies that CSR is a good thing. After all, who could be against ‘social’ and ‘responsibility’?

Now, despite their high media profile and ubiquitous presence, the advocates of CSR have a problem. They may be able to win the attention of reporters and editors, but they haven’t had much clout with the real decision makers, the people who run companies, pension plans, and mutual funds.

And, the decision makers aren’t likely to be swayed. They understand the role of corporations, and they know where their responsibilities lie. Even widespread public sympathy for CSR isn’t likely to have much effect, since they report to shareholders, not to society as a whole.

So, perhaps the final lesson we’ll take from the anti-corporate movement today is that, sometimes, great communication can only take you so far by itself.

Communication & Corporate Social Responsibility is a post from: SKK Asken Business And Management Site

The most common business organization we think of joining is the Chamber of Commerce. There are a number of other organizations out there however that are worth checking out.

Finding Business Organizations

Read your local newspaper and watch for mentions of business organizations in your community.
Subscribe to a business journal in your area.
Visit government offices, business assistance officers, and economic development offices and ask for referrals to business organizations that people join for economic purposes.
Research the Gal Group Encyclopedia Associations.
Ask the reference librarian the names of some good business organizations in the area.
Use your network. Ask everyone you know whether they know of an appropriate business organization you could join.
Start with national organizations and then drill down to the state, country and city level.
Look at Business Referral Networks to get leads on business organizations. Two good ones are BNI.com and bltip.com
Don’t forget civic organizations. They aren’t business organizations per se but lots of business owners are members. Some popular ones are Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions. Don’t forget religious based organizations like the Knights of Columbus.
Then there are the specialty business organizations:
Minority business owners associations
IT related business organizations
The ICCA, Independent Computer Consultants Association
International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners for Microsoft certified partners
The “F” group, which is one of the bigger IT related business organizations for resellers

The Bottom Line on Business Organizations

Business Organizations are a great way to meet other business owners and potential clients. Don’t stop your search at the local Chamber of Commerce. There are many business organizations out there and one may be perfect for you. Check out the web, the library, your contacts – be proactive in your search for business organizations. Your payoff will be lots of good leads and great opportunities to network and use relationship marketing.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Computer Consulting 101. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Business Organizations – Finding The Best Ones To Join is a post from: SKK Asken Business And Management Site

1. Get More For Your Advertising Bucks
When the economy makes a turn for the worse, it just makes sense that your advertising will give less of a return than during and economic boon. Sure there’s a lot less money being spent, but you don’t have to have to watch your profit margin plummet!

Think about it… advertisers are feeling the recession just as much as you are, and are more desperate for clients. It’s the perfect atmosphere to negotiate your way to lower costs – even if you are already getting a good price. Every advertising penny you can save, is that much more profit you’ll earn on the products.

Have you thought about getting free publicity? Local newspapers are always looking for something of local interest. Make the news! Publicity is free, but a wonderful way to get your business in front of potential clients.

Do your advertisements really need to be as big as they are? We tend to think the big is better, but the facts are that short ads with 11 words or less often generate higher response than large ads. Give it a try, and trim some costs right off your advertising bill.

2. Take Advantage Of Big Ticket Sales
Not all of your customers suffer during recession. Remember that there are always people who are thriving financially, so don’t be afraid to make big ticket sales offers. Additionally, when money is tight, people who place a lot of stock in your product will value it even more.

Think about ways to create products similar to yours, but with much higher prices. Internet marketers often create members only sites and sell their products at much higher prices. Hey, they’ll obviously make fewer sales, but the people who really value the product will buy. Each sale will net an immensely higher profit. Think about it like this… even though the sales are fewer, the actual profit may be even greater than when it was sold at a lower price.

3. Maximize The Customers You Have
Your customers already know that you have great products and provide satisfactory service. They trust you to come through for them. Think about it… it’s much easier to make sales to someone you already have a relationship with.

Use every opportunity to increase your sales volume within the customer audience you already have. Do you have a product that goes with the one they are purchasing? Offer it to them at the register. It’s a proven and effective method for increasing sales. You may be shocked at the additional sales you can generate from those who are already buying from you.

3 Foolproof Ways To Soar Through A Recession is a post from: SKK Asken Business And Management Site

1) People think they are experts.

Many people tell me that they know how to hold a meeting. Actually, all they do is host a party. They invite guests, provide treats, and preside over a conversation. People talk. People eat. And nothing happens. Or, if they somehow manage to reach an agreement, no one implements it.

> What to do: Learn how to lead a real meeting. Schedule a workshop or buy a book. When results really matter, hire a facilitator. Recognize that there are modern tools that help people make methodical progress toward results. These tools are practical and easy to use. Of course, you have to know what they are in order to use them. Call me (714-528-1300) for details.

2) People think they are inspiring.

Many people believe that long-winded announcements impress others. Actually, it’s the opposite. A long lecture quickly becomes a boring (and sometimes offensive) harangue. Why? Most employees want an active role in contributing to the business, and thus listening to a speech feels like a waste of time.

> What to do: Design meetings that give the attendees opportunities to contribute. Plan questions that direct thinking toward the results that you want. Use activities that help people make decisions. Distribute announcements in letters, memos, or E-mails. Or, if you must use a meeting, keep announcements brief (less than a few minutes).

3) People think others agree with them.

Many people rely on nods, smiles, and eye contact to measure acceptance. Actually, most employees will do anything to appease a boss. And if the boss seems to be upset, the employees will become even more agreeable. Then, once the meeting ends, the employees will do one of three things: 1) forget the lecture, 2) ignore the message, or 3) sabotage the idea.

> What to do: Conduct meetings by a process that everyone considers to be fair. Use consensus to reach agreements and make decisions. People will accept decisions that they helped make.

4) People think others are clairvoyant.

Many people call meetings without an agenda expecting that everyone will arrive sharing their vision for what needs to be done. Actually, everyone brings their private hopes, fears, and vision to the meeting. Without a clear agenda, the result is something between chitchat and chaos, depending upon the complexity of the issue.

Note: A vague agenda, such as a list of topics, is almost as useless as no agenda.

> What to do: Write out your goal for the meeting. Then prepare an agenda that is so complete someone else could use it to run the meeting without you. Specify each step and provide a time budget. Send the agenda at least a day before the meeting so that the attendees can use it to prepare. Call key participants before the meeting to check if they have questions or want to talk about the agenda.

5) People think meetings are necessary.

Many people respond to every emergency, surprise, or twitch by calling a meeting. Actually, a meeting is a special (and expensive) process. It should be used only to obtain results that require the efforts of a group of people working as a team. A meeting is NOT a universal cure for everything. Meetings held for the wrong reasons, waste everyone’s time.

> What to do: Challenge every meeting for its ability to earn a profit for your business. That is, make sure the value of the results is greater than the cost of holding a meeting. If any other activity can accomplish the same result, use that other activity.

5 Hidden Traps in Meetings is a post from: SKK Asken Business And Management Site

Home-based business owners don’t normally wake up one day and say, “Yep. I’m quitting my job today and starting a home-based business.” There is usually a period of time for contemplation, exploration, making the decision, creating a plan, and then starting to execute steps within the plan to achieve the final goal.

The process can take anywhere from several months to several years before an employee is in a position to walk away from her job to begin life as a full-time entrepreneur.

Being financially responsible is critical to not only home-based business success, but to create the financial cushion required to transition from being an employee to a full-time entrepreneur.

Understanding your current financial position is mandatory and doesn’t have to take more than an hour of your time if you follow the five basic steps below.

1. Calculate how much money you currently have sitting in bank accounts, investments, registered retirement savings plans, GIC’s, real estate, etc. If you were to leave your job today, would there be any form of payout (ie. sick plan credit, pension plan contributions, unused holidays, anniversary pay, etc.)?

2. Determine how much you earn on a monthly basis either through employment, child support payments, rental properties, dividends, your existing home-based business, etc.

3. Record your monthly household expenses. Some examples to get you started are:

- mortgage/rent
- property tax/house and mortgage insurance
- utilities (heat/water/hydro)
- phone/cable/satellite/Internet
- yard maintenance/snow removal
- groceries and household supplies
- vehicle fuel, insurance and maintenance costs
- medical
- child care
- personal care (hair/nails/clothing)
- entertainment (movies/sports/books/plays)
- club memberships, publications, etc.

4. List your monthly business expenses, for example:

- Internet
- phone (separate business line)
- autoresponder
- shopping cart
- long distance
- bank fees
- office supplies
- tools
- web hosting
- marketing
- advertising
- part-time help
- coaching services
- shipping/postage, etc.

5. Identify your outstanding liabilities such as:

- credit card balances
- personal loans
- lines of credit, etc.

When you calculate your earnings and revenue on an annual basis and deduct your personal and business expenses. How much do you have remaining at the end of the year? Can a portion of this be put aside to build your financial cushion?

If your current business revenue isn’t enough to cover your business and personal expenses and if you were to quit work today, how long would you be able to survive on your other revenue sources or savings and assets, taking into account your monthly expenses?

Have you considered all unexpected expenditures that could arise in the next year or two?

Is your car running on its last two cylinders?
Has your furnace almost reached its life expectancy?
Is your vacuum cleaner starting to growl at you?
Is your partner’s job secure or do you foresee unstable times ahead?

This exercise is by no means intended to scare or discourage. Financial stability is an area that needs to be addressed so you can keep your feet firmly planted and plans realistic as you build your home-based business.

Understanding where you are and what potentially lies ahead will help you make sound financial decisions as you plan your future.

After completing these five steps, you may realize your dream to break free of your job might take a year longer than expected, or you may learn that in order to move forward at a quicker pace, you may have to bring in a partner or investor, or learn to leverage your time, money and effort more efficiently to expedite progress.

Perhaps seeking professional guidance on reducing debt and managing finances is in order?

No matter what results you generate, don’t let them shake your spirit. Knowing exactly where you are financially will help you make informed, practical decisions so you can create your ideal future.

To increase your level of success at home-based business, make sure you have a financial advisor and accountant as part of your success team.

2006 © Laurie Hayes – The HBB Source

5 Easy Steps to Determine Your Financial Status So You Can Break Free of Your Job Sooner is a post from: SKK Asken Business And Management Site

Once the business gets going no doubt economic and industry variables change which affect the business. Each partner’s perception of the direction the business should go changes as well. There are constant decisions with regards to the mixture of product and service offerings … the decision to get into another line of business or get out of one. Should the focus be on a higher volume, lower profit margin business model or vice versa? What about a shift to a more capital intensive model. If the business becomes a success, many times potential investors creep in, whether an angel investor or venture capitalist. Both partners need to agree on the investment proposal.

What if one of the partners acquires an asset for the business whether it’s land, a building, a small data center, a thousand servers, or to complicate things further contributes an intellectual asset of some sort. When the company is going to be sold, what is the value of the partner’s contributed asset? Who is supposed to value it? This can become an insurmountable hurdle. Most buyers know not to value any one piece near what it’s worth by itself.

When it’s time to sell the company, the financial situation of each partner has no doubt changed since the company was founded. The consideration for the company could be all cash, all stock or a combination of cash and stock. The tax implications of each of the three scenarios are different for each partner. I have seen the process of divesting a company go up in smoke too many times because the partners didn’t agree on the proposed deal. They spent years growing the business then totally disagree about when to sell, who to sell to, and/or how much to sell it for.

Business is about return on equity, not “all for one and one for all”. My suggestion … one ship, one captain.

“The Cons of a 50/50 Equity Business Partnership.” is a post from: SKK Asken Business And Management Site

The one thing college offered more than anything was better job prospects. I needed to learn the skills specific to my field in order to be competitive. While I could learn some things on my own, colleges in Miami offered a chance for hands on training with equipment I had no access to otherwise. Another plus I quickly noticed was the chance to network with others in the field. I could have applied for a wide variety of positions for months and possibly been overlooked. By networking, I had excellent leads and recommendations to help me land a position directly out of college.

What To Study

I carefully considered what exactly to study. I started with taking two different tests. The first was a career/personality test, which helped me to determine where my interests were. The second was a college test to help me choose which colleges offered the best programs in these areas. I took the time to look at which fields were projected to grow during and after graduation from college. After all, I didn’t want a degree in a career slowly fading away.

The most important thing I did was talk to my school counselor. She helped guide to the right course of study and helped me choose the right college, including one that offered financial aid and an excellent program for my field. I also had regular appointments with my college counselor to ensure I had everything necessary to be the perfect candidate when I began my job search. I chose two different yet related majors to increase my options.

Career Paths

I chose a career path in computer science. Part of the reason was to ensure I had plenty of options upon graduation. Colleges in Miami offer almost every possible major available. It is important to choose which career path or paths to focus on before graduation. I chose database administration and security. A college counselor helps by providing a list of possible career paths as soon as a major is chosen.

I used my connections from college to help discover which companies were hiring. I truly realized how vital college was to my career when a professor recommended that I apply for what soon became my dream job. Often companies look towards highly reputable colleges for talented individuals. Having a Bachelor’s degree in my field placed me above applicants without one. I was also able to apply for a higher paying position and felt extremely proud of myself. Essentially, college helped me discover the best career path and prepared me completely for ultimate success.

Why College is Vital to Your Career is a post from: SKK Asken Business And Management Site

My first job as an intensive care nurse in a major medical center prepared me for business success. Subsequent jobs reinforced those early messages. I invite you to look closely at your own nursing career and discover the lessons that will help you succeed as a legal nurse consultant.

Success Lesson 1 — Find Your Passion and Turn It into a Business
As much as I loved my work with critically ill patients and their families, my inner voice told me I wouldn’t be working in a hospital forever. As a young nurse, the vision of myself working in the ICU at age 40, 50 or 60 just wouldn’t come into focus.

With only 6 years of nursing experience, I left the hospital and started my legal nurse consultant business. From there, I listened to my inner voice and reconnected with my first passion teaching. At age 8, I spent hours every day teaching an imaginary class. Today I am privileged to teach, coach and mentor nurses to live their career dreams. I turned my passion into a business, and since then I haven’t worked a single day.

Listen to your inner voice, and you will find your passion. Many nurses have reconnected to their passion through legal nurse consulting, a choice unknown to them before they took my program.

Success Lesson 2 – You Have the Power to Take Control of Your Career Destiny

Patients heal faster when they take control of their health and practice healthy habits. Even the smallest positive action can give a patient a sense of control and empower the healing process.

I learned this lesson time and again as I struggled to gain control of my own nursing career. Each time I refused to give in to the frustrations of working within the healthcare system and took a positive step on my own, I felt better. With every step I grew, I thrived and I came up with new ideas to further my sense of control and satisfaction.

The same is true about your career. You have the power to practice the healthy habits essential to take control of your career destiny. Educate yourself about the steps to achieving career health, including new career options like legal nurse consulting. Then take action on those steps. You really can take control of your career destiny.

Success Lesson 3 – Don’t Give in to Fear

As a nurse, I frequently treated patients who had the same progressive disease, yet experienced dramatically different outcomes. We all have known patients who lived years after their predicted demise and other patients who should have lived but didn’t because they gave up or didn’t want to live. The fact that so many elderly patients die within months of losing a spouse is a solid example of the mind-body connection. In almost every case, the patients who died too soon had given in to fear.

There’s also a mind-business connection that will influence the health of your business. When I give in to fear, I become the biggest obstacle to my success. That was true when I started my business 19 years ago. That is true today.

Fear will paralyze you instantly. Practice mind control and exercise your mind daily for positive thinking. Shake off your lack of confidence and negative thinking. Don’t wait for an MI to stop inhaling the toxic smoke of fear. Don’t let fear be the reason you don’t live your career dreams. Always remember the mind-set of the patients who live and the patients who die.

Success Lesson 4 – Nurses Can Do Anything

As nurses most of us have brought patients back to life. We all can recall at least one miracle story a case where, with our help, a patient survived against all odds.

Whenever I face a business crisis, I remind myself, “I’m a nurse and nurses can do anything.” I’ve repeated this same message for 19 years, and it has helped me overcome every obstacle.

If you can heal sick patients and handle life-threatening emergencies as easily as you make your bed in the morning, you really can do anything – especially something as straightforward as starting a business.

Success Lesson 5 – You Can’t Climb Mount Everest without Practicing on the Foothills

I had to have extensive education and training just to qualify for my first nursing job. All the lessons from that job helped prepare me for the next. Each successive nursing position required new and different skills necessitating more training and education.

The same applies to owning a business. Today I handle things easily and successfully that seemed impossible 19 years ago. But that’s because I’ve been in training for what I do now ever since I became a nurse.

If you’re frustrated with your nursing career, don’t feel like you’ve thrown your life away. No experience or job is a waste. Everything you have done has trained you to move up to the next level. Above all, don’t let the fact that you’re not trained to climb Mount Everest stop you from pursuing your dreams of becoming an independent legal nurse consultant. Your nursing training and experience was the first step. Start the next step of your training today, and you will make that climb to start your successful legal nurse consultant business.

Success Lesson 6 – The Nursing Process Is Your Friend

When I left clinical nursing, I thought I could set aside the “nursing process” forever. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Business requires that same process of assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation. Every project I take on requires me to assess the possibilities and needs, diagnose the problems, plan how to achieve my goals, implement the plan and evaluate my results.

Your nursing jobs have prepared you well. You can apply the nursing process to any business situation and challenge. You will thank your nursing instructors for this one. Every time you review a medical-related case, interview with an attorney or face a challenge in running your business, you will rely on the process they taught you.

Success Lesson 7 – Act Quickly and Decisively

As an ICU nurse, I learned that seconds made a difference in patient outcome. That’s true for nurses in any specialty. I rarely had lots of time to ponder or brood over a clinical decision.

I have applied the same principles of acting quickly and decisively in business, too. Am I always correct? No. Do I make mistakes? Yes. Yet because of my nursing experience, I’m never paralyzed into inaction and I’ve been able to make the most of numerous opportunities I would have missed without acting quickly.

Don’t miss your chance to succeed. Learn to act quickly and decisively, and you will grow your legal nurse consultant business.

Success Lesson 8 – What You Focus on Is Where You Achieve Results

In nursing I was often overwhelmed by short staffing, heavy caseloads and lack of support from hospital administration. I soon learned to triage and focus on what I needed to do to heal patients in this less-than-ideal environment. Nursing taught me that where I focus my time is where I achieve results.

That skill comes in handy in business. It’s as important to triage and prioritize your actions in business as it is when working with patients. Every day I’m confronted with dozens of challenges, five things that must be done at once, and 20 new creative ideas for my business, but I rarely panic. The organizational and multi-tasking skills I learned as a nurse have served me well.

When you start your legal nurse consultant business, you will not receive any extra hours in the day. In fact, the days will feel shorter. Even the general public knows that working conditions for RNs are worse than ever. Your ability to focus on what’s really important under these conditions is the perfect preparation for your successful legal nurse consultant practice.

Success Lesson 9 – This Is Just Business, It’s Not Breast Cancer

Ministering to patients and family members helped me put life with all its problems and challenges into perspective. Today when I overreact to a problem or feel I’m in crisis, I think of sick and dying patients. I think, “Now fighting for your life is a REAL problem.”

In business I’ve had lots of ups and downs. When the down moments come, I remind myself, “This is business – not breast cancer.” This helps me focus positively on solving the problem rather than embarking on a pity party. I’ve thrown plenty of those “parties”, and they never helped me solve a single business problem.

As you grow your legal nurse consultant business, it helps to ask “So what if this month is not as successful as I planned?” or “So what if my best attorney-client retires?” and to remember its just business, not breast cancer.

Success Lesson 10 – Illness Can Wake You Up

As a nurse I treated many patients who only began to live after they almost died. We’ve all had patients who said they are glad they got sick, because while they were well, they weren’t living the life they wanted. The health crisis forced them to wake up, reassess their lives, decide what was truly important to them, and go for it.

Not every day is a healthy business day. Some days I wake up to a disease challenge in my business. Surprisingly, it’s the business ills and mistakes that often awaken me to creative ways of injecting my business with new life.

If your career is facing a health crisis, this is your opportunity to wake up and change things for the better. Legal nurse consulting is one way to restore the health of your career.

Success Lesson 11 – Business Is Personal

Even though technical skills are vital for an ICU nurse, the relationships with patients and their families were what mattered most to me. Those relationships paid off one day when I made a mistake. Because of our relationship, the patient requested that I continue being his nurse despite my error.

Legal nurse consulting is a service business where you will apply the same relationship principles you learned in nursing to your attorney-clients and prospects. Provide quality service and excellent work product that no other legal nurse consultant can replicate, and soon you’ll feel like you’re in a short-staffing situation all over again.

Success Lesson 12 – Healthy Patients Take Care of Themselves

We’ve all worked with healthy and unhealthy patients and we’ve seen the effects of poor health habits on the human body. The health of a pregnant woman is often dramatically reflected in the health of her offspring.

To run a successful company you must enjoy an optimal state of health. Give yourself permission to take care of yourself. I love my business, but I love myself more. After all, without a healthy me, I couldn’t muster the energy to give 110% to my clients and employees every day.

Every lesson I learned from nursing, I apply to my business today. You’ve already learned similar lessons yourself. You don’t need another hospital job to help you succeed in business. Take a moment to revel in all nursing has taught you. These lessons will multiply your success when you transfer them to your new legal nurse consulting practice.

12 Things Nursing Taught Me About Owning a Business is a post from: SKK Asken Business And Management Site

The legal system runs on information. Any law suit or court case involves a veritable sea of documentation ranging from witness statements to affidavits to any documents that can be applied as evidence. And the legal system demands impeccable documentation with accuracy, security, integrity, speed and efficiency. The management of this rigorous process is known as litigation support.

Litigation support can be defined as any operation involving human and mechanical systems to process information for use by attorneys or expert consultants in preparation for a lawsuit or a trial. And in these high-tech times it’s an especially demanding task.

Nowadays, a major part of such documentation is likely to be in electronic form and stored on a computer system. The retrieval and authentication of such digital documents is a field in itself and one of vital importance in a successful legal undertaking.

What’s more, paper documents also have to be scanned and stored in digital format. This allows easy access to concerned parties. It’s a process that demands impeccable organisation and supervision. Documents have to be tagged and indexed and stored in document management centers in a way that they’re instantly retrievable.

Clearly people working in this field have to skilled in both technology and law. And generally employees in firm that offer litigation support services are qualified paralegals.

The challenges of dealing with digital media are many. For one thing, there tends to be large volumes of such data and each document may have many copies or exist in several versions. Also electronic data is much more volatile than hard copy. So it requires special handling. What’s more the data may be concealed or encrypted which demands special expertise.

Other than procedures such as the scanning, imaging, and indexing of documents, litigation support firms also provide such sophisticated activities as electronic discovery and computer forensics. These are essentially the same procedure – the retrieval of data from computer systems for a specific purpose. The difference is just in the reason for the retrieval; electronic discovery is for general purposes, while the term computer forensics is generally used when the retrieved information is for use in a law suit or in a court of law.

Forensic investigations could involve recovering hidden, damaged or corrupted files. Or perhaps decrypting password-protected or encrypted files, as well as recovering emails, chat data and other forms of online communication.

The range of crimes that might require these services is extremely wide ranging. Some examples are copyright infringement, money laundering, blackmail or corruption. In fact any crime in which relevant information is stored on a computer system. And in this day and age that could mean virtually anything.

The legal system depends on accurate and documented information in order to function so it’s essential to have professionals take charge of this task. More and more data is now in digital form, to it’s essential for litigation support firms to be able to deal with this. And with data security becoming increasingly important in this wired world, the field of computer forensics is one that has to develop accordingly.

A Peek Into The World Of Hi-Tech Litigation Support is a post from: SKK Asken Business And Management Site

In-Demand Skills for Success

1. BASIC SKILLS‚ Reading, writing and arithmetic! Believe it or not, a good portion of high school graduates (and some college grads) do not read at an 8th grade level and cannot do multiplication in their head. Employers are seeking employees who can read well, can write coherently, and who can calculate mathematics in a business environment (fractions, percentages, etc.) Add to that the modern basic skills of keyboarding skill, basic computer knowledge, and ability to use most computerized tools (e.g. fax machine, basic word processing program, etc.) to round out the basic skill sets needed for employment success.

2. PERSONAL SKILLS‚ Can a potential employee speak well? Can he/she answer questions of customers in a positive, informative manner? Can the prospect provide good customer service? While not everyone has an outgoing sales’ personality, successful employees can communicate in a non-confrontational, positive manner with their coworkers, team members, subordinates, management, and customers. Being able to work well with others is a vital skill for success in all jobs.

3. JOB ATTAINMENT‚ Job search is a process that requires a great deal of dedication and attention to be conducted successfully. It follows the old principal that many veteran programmers refer to as GIGO ‚ Garbage In, Garbage Out. If you put lousy effort in, you will receive lousy results. Employers are seeking employees who know how to present themselves in a positive manner and who display enthusiasm and knowledge about the companies they approach. Not only do candidates get evaluated on their skills and experience, but also on how they are approaching the job search. Enthusiastic candidates with fewer skills have an even chance of getting the job as dull candidates with better skills.

4. JOB SURVIVAL‚ Now there’s a hot topic in this period of layoffs. Who gets the ax and who doesn’t is often a matter of numbers, but it is also often a matter of performance. Employees who have consistently demonstrated their worth, taken initiative, and made themselves a valuable asset to the company have lower incidences of being downsized than employees who put forth mediocre or average effort in their jobs. Surviving within a company through layoffs or moving up the career ladder is a success skill that is learned and is consciously cultivated among successful professionals.

5. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT‚ As all high tech and engineering pros know‚ it’s learn or burn in today’s work environment. Attaining new skills, applying new concepts, updating established skills is an absolute necessity to succeed in today’s work force. The successful individual is constantly attending seminars, taking classes, attaining training on new products or releases, and otherwise learning new skills that will keep them marketable in their careers. Successful people are lifelong learners. Employers are looking for people who have the training necessary to fulfill their needs.

6. CAREER DEVELOPMENT‚ Career Development differs from Professional Development. Professional Development is learning while Career Development is a planning and goal setting process. Successful individuals design a career plan with written goals for short term and long term. They lay out the steps needed to move their careers from Point A to Point B within Time Frame C and plan how they are going to achieve those steps. Successful people have someone to whom they are accountable for their progress and who will monitor their success in achieving their goals. Employers are seeking individuals who (believe it or not) wish to commit to the company for a long period of time. Good career progression is a high selling point of candidates to prospective employers.

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6 Factors Of Career Success is a post from: SKK Asken Business And Management Site