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6 Ways to Burn Fat When You Sleep

Weight loss is a primary concern for a large percentage of the population all over the world. One of the major factors that contribute to weight gain is the accumulation of fat in the body. This fat accumulates slowly but gradually and before people know it, there are fat pockets and areas of the body that have an excessive amount of fat.

Fat can collect in various areas of the body, including face, breast, stomach, arms, thighs, buttocks and can also enlarge the waistline. Burning fat is essential to stay in shape and also be energetic in daily life. There are various ways like a healthy diet and exercise that help burn fat which is used by people facing this problem. However, once excessive fat accumulates it is extremely difficult to get rid of it.

It needs a holistic approach in which fat burning becomes a top priority twenty-four hours a day for a long period of time. Weight loss is a gradual process that can take months or even years. Burning fat as mentioned above is a gradual and continuous process. There are ways in which fat can be burned even during sleep. This means that instead of gaining fat during sleep there are ways to actually lose fat while sleeping. This helps in burning fat in a faster way as the body works to reduce fat even while sleeping. The following are some of the ways in which fat is reduced and gradually burned by the body while sleeping:

Have a Protein Shake before Going to Bed

There are many types of protein shakes available in the market. Protein shakes can also be made at home as there are many recipes of protein shakes available online. These shakes usually include whey, casein, soy protein and other natural forms of proteins found in grains, milk products, and vegetables. Having a protein shake before bed helps to keep the metabolism active throughout the night and this in turn helps burn fat while sleeping.

Eat Cottage Cheese before Sleeping

Generally speaking, the rule is to avoid food a few hours before going to bed. The principle behind this is it is not digested before morning that leads to accumulation of fat. Eating cottage cheese is an exception to this rule. Eating a little bit of cottage cheese before going to bed, as a snack, helps in burning fat during sleep. Cottage cheese has casein protein which aides in burning fat. It also has amino acid tryptophan which improves the quality of sleep and relaxed sleep helps in burning fat.

No Carbs after Lunch

For burning fat at night during sleep, it is essential to maintain a diet which helps in this process. For burning fat at night people should consume all the carbs in their diet during the day or in the afternoon. Having carbohydrates during the day reduces the insulin hormone in the blood while going to bed at night. This helps metabolized fat in the body into energy while sleeping at night.

Stay Hydrated

Most fitness experts usually recommend their clients to drink at least eight cups of water a day. Drinking this quota of water increases the chances of calorie and fat burning during sleep. Water is a natural suppressant of appetite, helps in metabolism and is a necessary ingredient in burning fat. Moreover, ice-cold water burns more calories as these calories are required to heat up the body that is cooled by the ice cold water.

Include Spices and Nuts in Your Diet

There are many types of food products that improve sleep and help in the fat burning process during sleep. Various types of nuts like almonds and walnuts increase the melatonin of the body which improves sleep and improves the fat burning process during sleep. Another way to burn fat during sleep is to include spices like cayenne pepper in the diet. These type of spices aide in fat burning and also help in burning fat during sleep.

Exercise before Bed

Resistance training is a type of exercise which uses weights and resistance bands which improve the muscle strength over the long run. Pre-bedtime workout helps increase the metabolic rate of the body. This helps people burn fat during sleep as metabolic rate is high for a few hours immediately after a workout. Exercise also tires the body before sleep which helps people get a more sound and relaxed sleep. Relaxed sleep is essential for losing weight and burning fat while sleeping.

As mentioned above, there are various ways in which fat can be burnt while sleeping. Burning fat and losing weight is a process that people with excessive fat accumulation need to think about constantly in their lives. This fat can lead to lethargy and many health problems. Fighting the fat and burning it even during sleep shows a commitment towards a healthier lifestyle.

7 Common Credit Card Mistakes People Make & Then Regret Later!

There are many types of modes of payment available in the market all over the world today. This includes cash, credit cards, debit cards, e-payment, net banking, and payment apps. Credit cards are commonly used all over the world and millions of people make monthly payments through credit cards. A credit card is a card given by the bank that can be swiped at purchase points to make payment and the credit card bill has to be paid at the end of the month. The payments made through credit cards are done on a credit limit given to the customers by a bank. But while using a credit card we have to be a little careful and there are many mistakes that people make while using this mode of payment. Using a credit card is also about being able to protect the credit score, making payments and adopting smart credit card habits. People commit bad credit card mistakes and these mistakes can be easily avoided as people can have a healthy relationship with their bank and their credit cards. The following are some of the common credit card mistakes all over the world:

Late Payment of Bills

It is very important to pay all the credit card bills on time. Failing to pay a credit card bill or paying the credit card bill late negatively affects the credit score which is an important parameter that determines the interest rate and the credit limit on credit cards. Also, late payments increase the interest on the payments as people have to spent more money on their credit cards.

Not Changing Credit Card Terms

Most people have not read the fine print about the terms and conditions of their credit cards. Many people do not know that they can change the terms of credit cards with the bank. Negotiating lower interest rates and annual fees and also changing the terms of this agreement is possible.

Not Knowing the Credit Score

The credit score is very important in determining the credit limit and the interest rates that are available for any given customers. Most people get credit cards without knowing their credit. They later regret this when they get their credit card bill and they have been charged a high-interest rate because of their low credit score.

Not Reporting the Credit Card being Stolen or Lost

It is very important to report to the police and to the bank about the lost or stolen credit card. That card may be used and if the credit card company is not told to stop the card, the credit card owner may be charged with the bill.

Only Paying Minimum Balance Payment

Only paying the minimum balance on payments lets people pay only a small amount that is due to the credit card bills. However, the due payment keeps accumulating on the credit and the interest on accumulating payments also keeps increasing. This then leads to a large credit card debt that people regret later.

Spending More Money Than People Have

People do not realize the amount of money that they spend as credit cards are easy to use and actually paying cash for purchases makes people more cautious. Maxing out credit cards and then not being able to pay credit card bills is a common mistake that people regret.

Having Too Many Credit Cards

A common credit card mistake is not being able to keep track of the money spent on credit cards. First applying for too many cards at once increases the chance of reject from the credit card company and then using multiple cards makes people lose track of their spending which they regret later when the credit card bills arrive.

UNDERSTANDING THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA

Australia is a famous destination as the place of study abroad for those students, especially those in a search to take a certain degree overseas. The high-quality education system of Australia attracts International students to study in that country. And it’s a friendly atmosphere, multicultural society, and easy access to student support services constantly attract students. With more than twenty thousand courses and one thousand one hundred institutions, this country typically offers diverse study options for international students.

Are you in search of the Australian education system? Then without any delay, let’s find about it.

These institutions can be younger than some of the other universities of another country. You can also get some of the same facilities in terms of demand and quality.

In Australia, it is common for students to enrol themselves in the double program, which can successfully lead them to secure two bachelor degrees. It usually is expected in the field of commerce, law, science, and arts.

Vocational Training and education

Vocational education and training are based on the partnership between industry and governments. These qualifications are usually provided by government institutions and private institutions also. There are many vocational training courses you can find in business administration, information technology, art and media, transport and logistics and construction, tourism, and hospitality.

Higher Education quality assurance program

This country has the national quality and regulatory agency for the field of higher education- the TEQSA. An Australian government set it up for monitoring the quality and regulating the anniversary and non-university higher education providers against the best of standards development by an independent Higher Education standards panel.

Academic rules and cultures

Here students are constantly encouraged to attend the classes, and at the same time, it is mandatory to be a part of the lectures. It would be best if you matured to understand the main reason for attending that session. In practical and lab-based units, attendance is very much stringent. The Australian universities’ faculty members and teaching staff are very punctual and stick to every deadline. Usually, students are penalised if the submission deadlines are being missed.

Each student is equally encouraged to take active participation in the class, offer opinions and ask questions. Always active engagement is welcomed by the lectures and valued by every person rather than quiet and passive.

Lastly,

Another essential aspect you have to keep in mind is that Australian educational institutions will consider plagiarism a serious offence. Are you willing to know about the best study places in Australia? You can easily find various websites to check it out. And if you have some queries about the education loan, you should feel free to contact the provider, who is always available on the internet. You can easily access them on their websites. So why are you waiting? You can find more about the entire process of the Australian Education System by searching their prospective sites.

Why do Enterprise Agile transformation fail?

The recent trends have been in such a way that almost many technology-based entities and enterprises have been making a changeover, that could precisely be termed as ‘Agile enterprises.’ Every entrepreneur dream would be to make their enterprise strong, fast and rapid and much more flexible for their customers. It is obvious to expect such entrepreneurs to take the necessary steps for this. However, transformation of an entity into an agile enterprise requires not some but a lot of planning and decision making involved. There are a lot of chances for any enterprise to fail if this is not done rightly.

What is agile?

To give a short note about what agile transformation means, it is when the operational model of an enterprise is changed for getting the organisation fast moving, flexible in operations and quick responses to unexpected external or internal forces within the enterprise.

The most common reasons for failure of agile:

So, here in this article you would be reading about the most common reasons for the failure of such transformation of enterprises.

One of the most common reason observed in the market for the failure of such transformations would be when the existing culture doesn’t get in sync with the new expected functioning. This means that, while an enterprise may have a great vision, understanding the reality of the organization’s existing culture, how a drastic change would evoke reactions and how this would be affecting the way people work.
On that note, it is important for any enterprise to ensure every department or team’s co-operation in handling such a change. Every employee in the enterprise perform their work based on their salary, incentive, wages, etc. When such a change has a direct monetary act, the willingness of the employee to work further may definitely be affected.
While it is the need of the company to address the employees and teams on one hand, it is also very important to understand the need to address the executive managers and directors while bringing about an agile element in the enterprise. While implementing such changes in the basic organisation hierarchy and functional structure, the people of the company may acknowledge it, while not everyone may support it.
Sudden changes are hard to handle for everyone. So, when agile transformation is being planned for the enterprise, another common mistake every person fails to undertake is to go through earlier records of how the organisation has responded to previous changes and analyse this from every perspective like how the sales been affected, how have the employees been affected, how has the working pattern been affected, etc. Once, this is analysed, the way to approach in bringing about such transformation could be worked on.
Everyone in the field of IT would definitely be aware of the key principles of agile. When it comes to the implementation of these principles, one common element that almost everyone fails to bring in to practicality is measuring progress. As the data in the enterprise keeps flowing in, it is vital that steps are taken and required technical arrangements are made to analyse and evaluate the data. Such measurement, would depict the scenario of the impact of bringing in agile.
While all these internal reasons may lead to failure of such agile transformation, there is one crucial external reason that has to be taken into consideration. It is most likely that co-operation from the customer side may not be as expected every time. Not every customer’s demand is the same and to stay ahead of their expectation and demands defining a successfully agile transformed enterprise, is not an easy task and many enterprises fail to work this out.
With the various teams working on a product like coding, testing, analysis, etc., there are certain established ways of working within such teams. When a team completes their task, the other team begins their work. In the market, this is referred to, as the traditional methods of working. When agile is introduced and effective changes are implemented, the working pattern will be changing and not everyone may adapt to this system. Failure of focusing on such transition strategies is another important reason for the overall downfall of the agile.
Investment in training of the members by leaders in the organisation should mandatorily be done for better performance of the teams. Appropriate efforts should be taken with necessary strategies to tackle disputes. This is not done by every organisation and thus results in lack of knowledge and practical application of such knowledge in handling unforeseen changes.

With this being said, these are some of the most common and popular reasons for the failure of agile transformation of an enterprise. At the end, it lies in the hands of the leaders and entrepreneurs on how the enterprise functions as a whole in contributing to the objectives and goals envisioned by the entrepreneur.

Rani Piputri: Working smart to acheive higher business growth

When I was 16 years old, I left my home, without telling my parents, and got on a bus to another city to take an exam for a scholarship. The exam was an opportunity for me to move to the Netherlands and experience another country. Another culture.

I ended up doing well and the next thing I knew, an envelope arrived in the post notifying me that I had been awarded the opportunity to study in Rotterdam. At that time, I actually didn’t know what I wanted to study. It was either biology or economics and, in the end, I settled on the latter, not really knowing what to expect.

I dove into econometrics, which I learned that it was economics on steroids. Four years later I had a degree and I was not sure what to do next. I knew that I needed a job, but like most first jobs, I had no idea what I actually wanted to become. Everything I had learned was in books and I didn’t have any inspiring role models in business to look up to.

We all have that experience in life where we are not exactly sure what we are going to do. We wonder if we are good enough. If people might see that we actually don’t know what we are doing. I believe it is in those first few months that we all feel like imposters. The thing that I learned then and carry with me today is a learner’s mind, that is able to adapt and learn. The creative tension that I felt at that time was exactly the quality that I have done my best to maintain in my business life. Somewhere between confidence that I am going to do a great job, while at the same time knowing that there is always something that I am missing.

I’ve also noticed throughout my career that it’s often harder for women to make peace with this “Impostor syndrome” because we often look at what we’re not capable of doing, rather than what we are capable of doing. In my experience, men often feel much more confident in areas where they have less experience, which has the effect that they are often given higher positions, even salaries, and a culture of “knowing” is given priority, over more creative cultures that invite exploration and creativity.

I worked for the next few years at the insurance company Aegon, where I learned the basics of business. I learned how politics work. How budgets get created. And possibly most importantly, how the best ideas will fail, even before they are started, if there’s a culture that isn’t able to maintain it. The statement work smarter, not harder is something that I have found more and more wisdom in as I have evolved in my business career.

In 2008 I was lucky enough to cofound the hedge fund Saemor Capital. There I learned the difference between working in the public and private sector. I learned that once you are spending your own money, you treat it differently. There’s no company flipping the bill. It’s your own money and you see that you spend it more responsibly. This has been a lesson that I carried forward the rest if my life. Just because you work for a company that is not your own, doesn’t mean that you should treat it as if it is not your money.

After working in this hedge fund for ten years, I had the deep desire to work in another market. It was always my dream to work in London, a global financial capital. I knew that the competition was high and the hedge fund industry was competitive. I worked at Aspect Capital where I learned another big lesson in life. Not everything is what you imagine. Sometime your expectations are far from reality. I worked night and day, never leaving work at the office. I was preoccupied with work, where results were measured day to day, not year to year. What I learned here was important. We must have humility in the face of challenges. Not everyone is cut out for every job and I saw that this job as great, just not for me.

I also learned that some challenges were even greater than making money. An example to that is creating teams who could achieve more together than any individual could create on their own. I transitioned back to the Netherlands, where I brought my years of experience back into the corporate sphere. Creating teams that flourishes is a challenge that requires a vastly different set of skills. How does one inspire the best in an individual? How does a group flourish without the need for micromanagement?

I learned that this journey is actually less about understanding others and more about understanding oneself. How is my behavior positively or negatively influencing the group? How can I support each person, with very different motivations, to become successful in their chosen endeavor? I don’t see my position as a one of authority. I see my position as one of how do I inspire others through my behavior. This has been one of the greatest learnings of my life.

If I had to reduce successful leadership down to three points they would be the following: Successful leaders reflect on their behavior and continually learn how to get out of the way of their group’s success. Successful leaders are not fearful of change. In fact, they invite it as a pathway to continuous improvement. And finally, there is happiness. If people are not enjoying themselves, it is not sustainable. That does not mean that people do not take their job seriously, rather they balance achievement and self-care.

As long as these three things are in alignment I feel like I am serving the groups I work with, as well as myself.

Kate Bohn: Stepping out of the Usual

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected industries adversely, yet the business must go on. During such difficult times, we, as in the business world, are in a need of innovative leaders to rely on. One such young and inspiring businesswoman is Kate Bohn, Incubator & Accelerator lead at Lloyds Banking Group.

In an interview with Tycoon Success, Kate talks to us about her inspiring journey of becoming an award winning evangelist. Her unique ideology and exceptional methods have led her in achieving many milestones in her pathway. She wishes to cement the ‘Technical Women in Leadership’ network which she co-founded for a much-needed, psychologically-safe space for senior female practitioners in the tech and FS industries. Moreover, in the future she also plans to co-edit a book.

Tycoon Success admire such businesswoman and take pride in featuring Kate in its latest issue, “The 10 Young and Inspiring Businesswomen to Watch.”

Below are the highlights of the interview:

Into the Shoes of Kate

Growing up with a migrant lifestyle across both hemispheres of the globe has helped Kate to attain a resilient approach towards change. Initially, she straddled the creative world and science/math avenue in terms of her interests and capabilities, which resulted her acquiring an undergraduate degree in both Art History and Chemistry, for a secure future career path into academia or art conservation.

Initially, Kate came across an awful roundabout of attempting to move industries where she did not have enough experience for the position or was overqualified for the role. She solved this conundrum by taking various contract roles which offered her an opportunity to experience a number of different employers before taking on a permanent contract. “A ‘try before you buy’ on both sides”, says Kate.

One such role was with an American operation called Citigroup Global Investment Bank, and there, her interactions whilst visiting senior management from global headquarters in New York, led her being asked to build out an innovative platform offering customer online access to equities research content and create profiles/alert notifications. Eventually, this grew into the primary digital access channel for the Bank.

Kate states that the ability to interact with sales personalities and traders, research analysts, clients, to travel, all the while creating a space in which both buy and sell-side actors could have the complexity of their roles simplified, automated, analysed and nudged using technology and data-driven metrics was an exciting proposition for her. She also states that this opportunity resulted in her entry in the industry massively labelled as “Fintech”, “customer journeys”, and “problems to be solved.”

Defining Success Differently

“There are so many lenses to success for me – not just the traditional markers of money or titles,” says Kate.

Kate believes that, while measuring success, one must understand that the mental and physical health are foundationally important. She also believes that the ability to have quality spare time and to be involved in an activity that one can really get behind in terms of impact and purpose, surrounded by people working together in mutual respect, is priceless.

This approach was not only game changing in a period of time where ‘digital’ was still to be fully understood. It remains in play today and she is incredibly proud of all the colleagues and partners involved in bringing that original vision to life.

On the basis of her past achievements and experiences, she believes that ‘success’ will often be wrapped up in the ability to action and execute on outcomes that offer simplification, time saving and ease of use/engagement for any consumer. It is also important to her that this is achieved without negatively affecting future generations or creating negative consequences, albeit unintended, for the current social or economic welfare of all.

“My ego would also like to note that the ability to have made a difference in the fact that I took on a role or undertaking, shaping it in my own unique approach, rather than it was merely completed, is also in there somewhere!” asserts Kate.

Principles One Must Follow

Kate believes that soft skills have always been key for her growth in the industry, especially the ones that can be learnt but are often more authentically core to an individual’s personality and make-up. She seeks to build strong teams with high engagement levels in supportive and positive environments where obstacles are tackled with trust, transparency and appropriate levels of risk. The certain principles she admires as her ‘top three’ are empathy, curiosity, and influence without authority.

“The drivers of my unconscious motivation are deeply rooted in ‘imposter-syndrome-meets-perfectionist-meets-try-harder-and-carry-on-regardless.’” quotes Kate.

She also notes there are many leadership styles albeit some may feel ‘better’ than others to each individual in execution or engagement. However, Kate states, every style has its place in a leaders’ toolkit, flexing across the spectrum of ‘autocratic’ to ’laissez-faire’ as a situation demands or unfolds.

Kate believes that one characteristic every leader must possess, in the current Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) and amid the Covid-19 pandemic, is enhanced curiosity. By quoting an old Chinese proverb ‘the wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher’, Kate asserts that an agile leadership may be the ultimate requirement for leading today/ tomorrow’s talent, underpinned by the core characteristic of constant curiosity that our ever-changing world demands.

Advice to Rely on

In this particular excerpt, Kate emphasizes over the advice presented to her on her way to success. She states that the drivers of her unconscious motivation are deeply rooted in ‘imposter-syndrome-meets-perfectionist-meets-try-harder-and-carry-on-regardless.’ Below are few of many pieces of advice she adapted and moulded herself for the better approach, in her own words:

“These elements (or Life scripts as Taibi Kahler would define them) are fabulous motivators in respect of propelling me forwards and to succeed, and yet the flip side of this is that I regularly hold myself to expectations and standards that are significantly higher than anything I would ever apply to colleagues or peers. As part of a recent 360 feedback session, I was advised to STOP doing this, and so I am working on becoming more intentional on wrapping that insight into the primary advice I use on a daily basis: “Yes, if….”

“Yes, if….” should be used in place of any phrase that starts “Yes, but….” This phrase was introduced to me by Vicki Lintern (then working at Salesforce, and now with Temenos) in respect of creating better, braver outcomes – be that public speaking engagements, new ways of working/ collaborating, or simply retaining curiosity and an appetite for the art of the possible. If you never say ‘yes, if….’ you’ll never know just how supported, empowered, confident and valued you can feel while you deliver courageous work and outstanding results.”

Sujata Dasgupta: Leading the way for the Greater Good!

Amidst COVID-19 pandemic, many sectors in various industries have had faced difficult time. Be it healthcare, fintech or IT, the damages done to businesses ranges from lowest to the highest. Yet, in such striving/difficult times, some leaders have beautifully portrayed their exceptional skills on sustaining their organizations to its desired stature. One such professional is Sujata Dasgupta.

Being the Global Head – Financial Crimes Compliance Advisory at Tata Consultancy Services, Sujata has excellently implicated her unique ideas and methods to enhance the financial risk management and compliance.

“Early in my career, my goal was to rise the corporate ladder, just like anyone else,” quote Sujata. She envisions to finding a purpose and adding value through the work she does, rather than to only focus over the career growth. That later become her driving force to last 5-6 years. Moreover, she is extremely active in the global community on financial anti-crimes, and wrote in multiple journals and spoke extensively at industry events about this subject.

Tycoon Success admire such leaders and takes pride in featuring Sujata in its special edition ‘The 10 Young and Inspiring Businesswomen to Watch’.

Below are the highlights interview:

A Journey worth Appreciating

She started his career as a Banker with India’s largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI), in the year 2000. Having worked across varied functions from retail banking to corporate credit, foreign exchange, risk and compliance in India and New York for close to 7 years, she moved to the IT industry as a banking advisory consultant. She states that in the last 14 years, she initially worked in IT services and eventually moved to IT and Management Consulting, focusing on non-financial risk and compliance. During this period, she worked earlier with IBM and Infosys, and now with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) where she head the global advisory on financial crimes risk management and compliance. She have worked in 7 countries across USA, UK, Europe, and Asia, in Risk and Regulatory compliance related transformational programs for leading global banks. And, she is currently based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Accomplishing many Achievements

Sujata states that there have been several achievements during her career which are very precious to her, as each has helped her to grow both personally and professionally. From being the topper in the selection for foreign postings from SBI India (leading to her New York deputation) to several awards in IBM, Infosys and TCS, being featured in interviews by leading international journals viz. She also states that the Economist and Bloomberg, the privilege to run her own column in Corporate Compliance Insights, USA, being invited to speak in the FinCrime World Forum where each one has been very special. However, she states that the most recent accomplishment, and probably the most notable yet, has been winning 2 prestigious international awards in the March 2021 – ‘Risk Professional of The Year’ by Waters Technology in their ‘Women in Technology & Data Awards’ and ‘Fraud Prevention Award’ by Themis in their Anti-Financial Crimes Awards 2021. “Industry recognitions like these are truly motivating and drive me to pursue my passion in the risk and compliance field with a stronger resolve!” quotes Sujata.

Overcoming the Challenges

Sujata addresses that her area – financial crimes risk and compliance – is a very dynamic, complex, and challenging space to work in. Thus, it takes a lot of effort to stay up to date with all that is going on in the financial world in terms of Regulations, technology advancements, emerging risks and designing corresponding controls. “But this is an area which has grown beyond my profession – it is more of my passion now, and I consider myself one of the many fincrime fighters who are doing their bit to prevent some of the disastrous impacts of these crimes on human lives, environment and the economy!” says Sujata. So, in addition to helping her clients develop robust risk management and controls framework around fincrime and other non-financial risks, Sujata is and has been very active in the global community writing and speaking on this particular subject to bring awareness in these areas as well.

A Unique Approach

Sujata asserts a commonly known definition of leadership which states that it is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could. And she tries to inspire by example, by pushing her own boundaries, reinventing herself and accomplishing new milestones, continuously learning while keeping her ear to the ground to stay ahead of the curve. She also believes in and also practice sending the elevator back down, to groom and nurture the next layers and build the leaders of tomorrow. When asked about success, Sujata explains that success for her is to be happy doing what she love and making a difference in the process by achieving tangible results. With years passing, her idea of success has changed from material wealth and rising the career ladder to pursue her passion of research and innovation, writing and speaking on the subject that has grown very close to her heart—anti-financial crimes. “The fact that I have had a positive impact on the businesses of our clients as well as the global community in this pursuit, and the recognitions that have come my way through this are what I hold as my successes!” Sujata adds.

Creating Room for new Ideas

Sujata states that she is a strong advocate of data-driven and AI powered solutions for financial crimes risk management & compliance (FCC), aligning with the business 4.0 agenda that is steering all industries globally. FCC is poised to witness a digital disruption in this new decade, and she has been sharing her ideas on leveraging digital innovations like smart identification and verification solutions for KYC, automated screening for customers and transactions including adverse media, AI based transaction monitoring, graph technology based linkage analysis for discovering criminal networks, dynamic risk monitoring and due diligence, to name a few. She advise that enriching financial institutions’ data quality through ongoing remediation and integration of internal data with external data, as the effectiveness of AI models are heavily dependent on the firms’ data quality. She describes herself as a people’s person and have strived to build effective relationships with her teams and all stakeholders she work with.

Through quoting, “A leader is as good as his team, and that is why I invest a lot of effort in grooming those who work with me, bringing out the strengths they are not sure of themselves!” Sujata states that she leads her team from the front, with a clear vision of what she and her team must and can achieve, enabling her team to work towards that goal. She trust her people and give them the autonomy to drive initiatives on their own, while providing all the required support to achieve the target.

Advice to Rely On

Sujata expresses that her parents have always advised her to stay humble and keep her feet firmly on the ground, no matter how high life takes her. Incidentally, after her successive international award wins this year which are undoubtedly some of the highest points of her life, a close friend of hers gave me this very advice which says, “I do not to get carried away by this success but stay humble and continue the hard work!”

Sujata believes in ‘Empathy!’ She recites a quote that she read long ago: ‘if you want your team to accomplish great things, you must first show them that you truly care’ and has always stayed with her. She admire such quality in her superiors and do practice with her teams. She discovered that empathetic leaders are able to communicate with their team better, eliciting more effective feedback in the process.

Why iterative innovation is my business strategy of choice in 2021

The year 2020 turned out to be, among many other things, the single greatest catalyst of digital transformation across industries and regions. As the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted economies around the world, organisations had to quickly adapt to enable remote work for their business to remainproductive.

World trade declined by an estimated 9.2% in 2020. Recent data by the World Bank indicate growth in sub-Saharan Africa will fall to -3.3%, pushing the region into its first recession in 25 years and pushing an estimated 40 million people into extreme poverty.

Lacking the deep pockets and extensive social security safety nets of their more developed peers, African nations will need to apply ingenuity and innovation to get the continent’s growth and development back on track.

The response by Africa’s business sector could hold the key to how the continent overcomes the economic challenges ahead, while also building greater resilience and adaptability for future disruptions.

Small steps, not giant leaps

One of the outcomes of the widespread disruption of 2020 is that business leaders and their technology partners are likely to forego large, waterfall projects in favour of taking small, consistent steps on their business transformation journey in 2021.

A strategy of iterative innovation can enable businesses to make consistent improvements to their current products, services and strategies. Iterative innovation implies that businesses enter into a process of continuous improvement, measurement and learning. Successful iterative innovation ensures the business extends its capabilities while navigating any new disruptions or emerging complexities.

Taking an iterative innovation approach means huge, expensive and lengthy digital transformation projects are substituted with a greater number of much smaller, well-defined and clearly measurable projects that focus on delivering quick business value.

However, iterative innovation requires an environment of learning. Analytics should be embedded in business processes to provide real-time visibility over the performance of these innovation projects.

By measuring impact, analysing insights and applying learnings, business leaders and their technology partners can ensure each iteration builds on what has been achieved, moving the business closer to its goals.

Mobilising executive support

In the face of the disruption every industry is experiencing – economic, technological, and pandemic related – there is tremendous value in the ability to take constant steps toward greater performance, productivity and innovation. However, this requires bold leadership.

Business leaders need to mobilise and bring functional heads together to actively drive projects to a successful outcome. The very best business transformation projects are built around active participation from executives whose involvement helps ensure the project delivers direct business value and supports organisational strategy.

If organisations wish to thrive in our disruptive digital economy, innovation needs to be driven throughout the company from both IT and business.

What does this mean for their technology partners?

Firstly, technology partners need to engage with their customers at a business level, not a purely technological one. The goal should be quick time-to-value – what can we do to achieve positive business results and drive iterative innovation quickly and consistently?

Secondly, a customer-first strategy is vital. This may mean making small sacrifices in the short term to secure long-term value. For example, instead of insisting on a total digital transformation project, technology partners should seek opportunities for smaller deployments that address specific issues along the business value chain to produce measurable results. As each project builds on the last, bigger business and technology priorities become achievable.

Thirdly, an organisational culture shift is needed. The nature of business is that we all pursue monthly and quarterly targets, and our success is often measured along similar lines. An exceptional sales strategy would balance the need for immediate results with what’s best for the customer in the longer term. This requires that leaders take a long view, and not sacrifice long-term gains for short-term outcomes.

To echo Albert Einstein, we can’t solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. The digital transformation of the African continent is continuing apace. By changing our collective strategy and shifting focus to a more iterative approach to innovation, the continent’s business sector could be well-placed to emerge from our current crisis stronger, more resilient and with greater long-term sustainability.

About SAP

As the Experience Company powered by the Intelligent Enterprise, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software, helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP® system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables more than 440,000 business and public customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people’s lives. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

The Ultimate Guide To Women In Interior Design

As a team, we’ve been thinking about how businesses and especially women in business have been affected during the pandemic and how we can support our team as we return to more normal operations. In many countries, the female labor force is at a 30year low, which some experts attribute to the quarantining. Achieving a work-life balance was challenging in “normal” circumstances but has been even harder during the months of remote working. Some women are responsible for additional hours of caregiving than ever before. If the woman shares a home with a spouse and children, space and internet bandwidth is at a premium. It is challenging to create any separation between life and work responsibilities. These factors have forced many women out of the workforce altogether. Although some economists predict a big comeback, growth in some industries may be slower than others. In order to accelerate the regrowth, companies should provide a clear path for staff, but especially women, to return to the workforce.

For us at Opaal Interiors, this global pandemic has taught us so much. We streamlined our virtual collaboration process to allow our whole team to continue working together. We were happily surprised with how much productivity is possible even during quarantine. The entire industry now realizes that virtual work is more possible than we had imagined, especially as teams adopt the use of technologies. But, as soon as we could safely allow people back into the office, Opaal Interiors did encourage the staff to return. We may continue to use hybrid methods of communication and project management now that we have integrated these technologies into our process. Other companies adopting these practices could also provide opportunities for women who live in more remote areas or who didn’t previously have access to higher-income positions. For women at any stage of their career, there’s good lessons to focus on as we look to grow professionally in a post-pandemic world.

For women at the beginning of their careers, the path to success is much the same as it has always been. It’s important to not let a slow economy scare you away from pursuing our dreams, learning new skills or stepping into new leadership roles. While it may seem counterintuitive, a study released by the Kaufman Foundation in 2009 found that over 50% of Fortune 500 companies started either in a slow economy or recession. You must build a plan for your professional growth. This may be the perfect time to learn new skills or get additional training and education for a new line of work. By following your passion and leveraging your natural abilities, you can discover opportunities to make a positive impact on the world around you. You may find yourself as CEO of your own company! As your confidence grows, you will be able to take on more responsibility and work your way up. After working for fifteen years at Emaar Properties, we had developed a good process and learned what was missing in the market. The choice to venture off to launch Opaal was not without its own challenges, but we felt confident that we could build a business to meet the needs of our future customers. Being a first-time business owner can be daunting, but you can lean on your family, friends and professional mentors, when possible. For Opaal Interiors, some of the most challenging times for us came in the early years. Without an established client list, we were pitching against well-established firms, and had to build our reputation on providing excellent customer service. I am happy to say that our patience and determination has paid off. I’m very proud of where we are today. If you are just beginning your own entrepreneurial endeavors, I encourage you to be focused, flexible, and persistent. It’s not easy to start something, but it’s not impossible.

For women who are in the middle of their careers or perhaps already responsible for bigger teams, this may be the time to focus on growing a specific area of the business, so that you don’t spread yourself too thin. You must understand what sets you apart in the market and lean into those differences. What sets Opaal apart is the strength of our client partnerships. Both strong creative leadership, and real client partnership exist side-by-side. This approach also informs our hiring strategy and we take great care in the hiring and training process. We make sure each team member understands the unique way we run our business because we want a sense of shared ownership across the company. We try to give young designers each a voice and opportunity to develop and use their skills. Our hope is that they are empowered here at Opaal to step bravely into the world of design if and when they choose to move on to other opportunities.

As women, we may feel pressure to blend in, but we should not be afraid to stand out in your work! As a professional, it’s helpful to understand our strengths and natural skills so that we can bring that authentically into our work. We must also know and harness the unique gifts that may be stereotypically ‘feminine’. If you have the skill of precise and insightful communication with others, accept it! This is a huge asset to any business. If you are naturally warm, empathetic, expressive, humble, let these serve your business and your clients. Client partnerships are a critical aspect of most businesses, and the ability to place ourselves in the shoes of the client will give us a real edge on the competition. It is also crucial to give ourselves space and quiet to nurture creativity. When the pace of life slowed down at the onset of the pandemic, our creative brainstorming capacity at Opaal Interiors shot up tremendously. We need to pay attention to that.

Innovation and creativity have been critical to our success in the interior design industry. Staying on top of trends, (or better yet, setting trends,) can seem daunting, but we have to make a little space for exploring new ideas every week. This sounds simple, but it is incredibly hard with all the other demands on the business. So, if innovation is important to your business, you must prioritize creative exploration every week. For us, innovation may be in the form of new ways of operating the business or a new creative use of a material that we’ve never explored before. Either way, it is a combination of response to the demands of our customers and the creative vision that we want to bring to life. One of most successful results of innovative thinking at Opaal Interiors in the last five years has been to open a sister company to manage furniture procurement. It has afforded us the opportunity to serve our clients better while also giving our team the path to building additional skills. Whatever form innovation may take in your business, don’t forget that good ideas can come from anywhere.

For women nearing the end of their careers, we hope that you will continue to mentor and inspire the next generation. We need your wisdom, and we want to learn from your experiences. As we share our stories with each other, we feel empowered to realize our dreams and take bold steps forward in our journeys. We love to see so many women stepping into leadership roles, and we’re thankful to magazines like this who shine a spotlight on female entrepreneurs.

Author: admin