Few IT directors or CIOs would disagree with the claim that having skilled employees is an important component of operating an effective IT department. Far more contentious, however, is the question of which skills are most beneficial to the organisation, and which IT qualifications and training courses are worth sending employees on to acquire them.

Perversely, the training budget for employees is often one of the first things to be cut during a downturn – after all, the business can at least survive without its staff progressing.

But that is a false economy in the long term; training existing staff is a highly economical way of improving the effectiveness of any operation, as well as a proven technique for retaining valued employees.

Still, IT budgets are down across the board, and making sure training investments deliver value is critical.

Getting that resource in “quick” to finish off some work, or “taking a punt because we’re desperate”, is not the way to recruit staff. One needs to show diligence, a concerted effort to check detail, check over the CV. Background checks. Regardless of what people will tell you, most SME’s are not doing thorough background checks. I KNOW! I’ve checked!

What about technical competency tests for technical people? It takes but a moment to set up a free on-line technical survey, post up some multiple choice well researched questions relating to the field, and emailing it off to your candidate.

What about the interviewers? 26% of candidates are lost because THEY have chosen not to work for the hiring company based on the quality of the interviewer! Asking the wrong questions is a no-no, not being qualified enough to actually interview the person is another common mistake. The BIGGEST mistake however, is the HR minefield, and that of illegal questioning.

I’ve cringed in interviews, and then promptly walked away from the company after, due to some ill-advised middle manager or CEO with little understanding, asking things such as “how old are you”, or “are you married”, “do you have children” etc. Post interview, companies look at me goggle-eyes when I advise them this is wrong, and their lack of understanding is undermining them, and their business.

I get sad when senior people, make small errors, such as typo’s, incorrect grammar, poor communication or have inconsistent or even non-existent psychological understanding of not only the people that work with them, but the business they are in.

Some people think that this lack of attention may be due to a cultural shift in the workforce — younger workers are characterized by their desire for short-term instant gratification and lack the ‘big picture’ focus and spend too much time worrying about the details of a single project — neglecting other items that need addressing. Older workers are characterized by their desire to build a career and may have too much of a ‘big picture’ focus and can often neglect the smaller details. This is not always the case though but it tends to ring true in many businesses.

However, it may not be that culture affects the ability of either generation to focus on multiple tasks and follow through on all fronts of a project. It may actually be that these people have so much going on and just don’t have the ability to go back with a fine tooth comb to ensure that all tasks are being done and done properly — , it may be because you have a disease that you didn’t know you have.

The solution? Take the time to figure out how you may be affected and make sure to structure your team of employees to compensate for any bit of A.D.D that your team has on board. Doing so will ensure that work is done, it is done right, and done to the satisfaction of your clients who are the reason you exist at all.

Many users have reported problems with reception on their device, which is caused when their left-hand covers an antenna in the lower left-hand corner of the iPhone 4. This so-called “death grip” issue will not be corrected by the software update.

The company started contacting US-based technology journalists on Wednesday, inviting them to the hastily convened press conference.

Apple has given no further clues about the nature of the event, but has confirmed that the key topic for discussion will be iPhone 4.

The company has faced a barrage of criticism in recent weeks for the way in which it has handled a series of problems with its flagship device. Many users have reported a loss of reception whenever the hold the phone in their left hand, covering one of the antenna built in to the stainless steel band that runs around the middle of the device.

Apple said that such problems were common to all mobile phones, while Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, responded to one angry customer’s email by telling him to simply stop holding his iPhone like that.

Apple issued a statement earlier this month claiming the reception issues were a result of an error in the way the iPhone calculated signal strength, usually indicated by a set of bars in the corner of the screen.

“Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays two more bars than it should for a given signal strength,” Apple said.

However, many users have rejected the diagnosis, claiming that holding the phone in a certain way actually reduces the signal strength, rather than simply the way the phone interprets the level of reception.

Earlier this week, a leading analyst warned that a recall of iPhone 4s would cost Apple around $1.5 billion. Apple sold more than 1.7 million iPhone 4s in its first three days on sale.

Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst with Bernstein Research, said such a recall was “highly unlikely”, and that Apple would be more likely to give away cases to customers affected by the issue.

Consumer Reports, a US consumer watchdog, also issued a damning review of the iPhone 4, highlighting the signal problems, and concluding that it “could not recommend” the device as a result. It also urged Apple to fix the issue quickly, at no additional cost to customers.

The emergency press conference is almost unheard of for Apple, which prides itself on the carefully timed release of information, and has dealt with other problems in the past simply by issuing an open letter from Jobs.

However, the company has come in for strong criticism for the way it has handled these signal problems, with many branding its attitude towards loyal customers as “arrogant”.

“I think the fact they’ve called this press conference at such short notice is indicative of the seriousness of the situation, and the way in which it’s snowballed,” said Geoff Blaber, an analyst with CCS Insight.

“Apple needs to be seen to be taking some steps to address this problem. I think a full product recall is highly unlikely, but there is a clear need to be proactive.

“There’s less than a week to go before Apple’s next quarterly earnings call, so the timing of this press conference is crucial.”

Blaber said that Apple may give away cases to iPhone 4 users, but that by doing so, the company would be making a tacit admission that there was a significant hardware problem.

Sacconaghi estimated that it would cost Apple around $1 per unit to give away cases to iPhone 4 customers.

The irony is that CMS packages & content management software are supposed to make your life easier (and many do), but there are times they can negatively impact your SEO initiatives (and that’s an understatement).  There are many types of content management systems on the market.  Some are tailored for specific industries, others for running e-commerce shops, and then you have the major players which can run robust and high volume websites.  Some packages are more flexible to work with, while others have limits.

I’ve mentioned SEO a few times already, but you probably noticed that the title of my post focused on SEM and not just SEO.  That’s because I’ve been running into more and more CMS-related SEM problems than I’d like to.  Some of the problems can be avoided if they are addressed up front, while others are more difficult to tackle.

My goal is to arm you with information that can help you avoid some of the headaches I’ve seen when running SEM campaigns while using a CMS to power a website.  And as many of you know, hell hath no fury like an SEM that can’t track his campaigns properly.   By the way, I am by no means saying that CMS packages in general are problematic for marketing departments.  I simply want to explain specific situations where content management systems can be a thorn in your SEM side.

But Isn’t SEM Straight Forward?

There are times when I’ve been brought in to help companies and clients vet and choose the right CMS packages.  Regardless of the size of the client, most of the focus has been on the potential SEO impact.  I think many people see paid search as something relatively easy to implement.  For example, choose your keywords, build campaigns, point them to your site, and you’re good to go.  That’s not necessarily the case.  Sure, the SEO implications of choosing the wrong package for your specific situation could be catastrophic, but when many SEM campaigns are heavily judged on ROI, you should be able to give yourself the best shot at success (and that means control).  That’s where some CMS packages can be a pain in the neck.

Or this: an entrepreneur is at a conference. He is on the lookout for a new marketing director. Within minutes he has identified ten people in the hall with the right CV, two of whom are looking to change jobs. His mobile tells him one of them is standing 20ft away. That evening, a record of all the people he has met is automatically displayed with their profiles on his home computer.

This is not science fiction – it is the future of social networking and it is just around the corner. After the explosion in internet-based social networking (MySpace, Facebook) doing the same thing in real life instead of in front of a computer became an obvious next step. Much of it is already happening on a small scale as dozens of companies seek to exploit social networking on the go.

So how does it work? The key is the coming together of internet-connected mobile phones and location or proximity technology.

You can browse the internet quickly and easily on most new phones. Phones know where they are, thanks to in-built GPS satellite technology or triangulation from mobile phone masts. They can then tell if other phones are in the same area. Bluetooth short-range radio technology is also standard on most mobiles and with this phones can pick up the presence of other Bluetooth-enabled phones within about 20 metres.

Effectively, by linking these two developments, your phone can tell if someone is near you and can access lots of information about them – the perfect ingredients for real social interaction.

The possibilities are endless. Can’t ever put names to faces? Want to check the background of that chief executive officer so you can remind him that he owes you a favour? Want to avoid all accountants/lawyers/journalists? Keep seeing that handsome man at the bar and need a common interest to get the ball rolling? All these scenarios are being solved by the new wave of mobile applications.

Tis pretty awesome,

It’s a brooding sort of anger that I can’t shake, the kind of anger that wont suffer fools, the kind that wants to pick people up and give them a damn good shake. And I can’t switch it off.

I’ve been on some sort of crusade to expunge shit service in all its incarnations, only now my mind has decided that Im expanding my business portfolio,  to incorporate the role of a lone moral crusader.

The problem is that there’s a downside to being a moral crusader and that is that you get labelled, or end up far deeper in something that would have passed by if you’d just counted to 5 and took deep breaths instead of getting het up about it. That’s ok if you can count to 5.

I wanted to do something about the white van man who is renovating a property two doors down, and thought it be ok to throw the two boxes of metal blinds outside on my drive. I took the number and name of his van, ready to ring and kick off. I figured it was his own business. So who would of answered the phone? Him? Would he of cared? No! And all Id of got is some abuse.

I wanted to do something about the people around me who lie, have their own political agenda’s and try all the subversion tactics under the Sun to make it look like butter wouldnt melt in their vile little mouths. But who cares? The world carries on turning and no one gives a damn about doing the “right thing”

I want to speak to my neigbours and tell them they dont need to shout, slam and bang doors, but you cant train people to be decent, there either decent, or their lowlife.

I have more, believe me. Much more.

At the same time, there are certain generic steps you can take to meet up with the changes and remain relevant with times.

Here are the steps:

1. Notice what has changed around you.

2. Point out what needs to change within you.

3. Check if the changes you need to make will match your values, direction and goal. If Yes, move to step 4. If No, you need to decide which is the priority.

4. Fine-tune the plan you need to make that change.

5. Act on your plan to change.

6. Review the change after sometime to ensure you are on course.

7. Go back to Step 1 regularly.

You can apply these steps to almost any area of your life, from personal dreams, relationships, public speaking and communication to running a company, management and leadership.

The above points remain an eternal cycle of steps that one has to constantly make in order to stay relevant. As long as times have changed, you need to change.

Relevance is important to remain in excellence mode.