An active member of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, Mary Cicalese also serves as the Founder and CEO of Green Research One World (GROW). In her role at this organization, Mary Cicalese provides market assessments, benchmarks, win and loss analysis, and competitive intelligence studies for individuals and corporations that wish to enhance their level of sustainability. As a member of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, Mary Cicalese benefits from the organization’s professional development options, as well as the research outcomes and resources that are available to her. The most modern sustainability practices, a job postings board, and several sponsored events allow for a dialogue among the world’s leaders in the global sustainability effort through this organization. This article is meant as a brief overview of some of the opportunities for members of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals to learn more about the industry in 2011.
1. National Conference. Held from September 21 to the 23 in Portland, Oregon, this event is scheduled to include stories from the field, remarkable sustainability tools, and promising new strategies. Members are invited to take part in the pre-conference events as well as participate in the member and vendor expo.
2. October Workshops. On October 3, the International Society of Sustainability Professionals will sponsor two workshops. The first, titled Sustaining Sustainability Organizational Assessments and Systems, will show members how to continue the success of a sustainability effort and continue to progress. The second workshop, titled Zero Waste Strategies, was designed to educate members on how to come up with new techniques and survey the trends in the sustainability sector and how they affects business opportunities.
3. November Workshops. Held on November 7, the Leadership Skills for Change Agents Workshop will inform participants of a seven-step sustainability change process, and of the process of creating a business plan that will support a company’s renovation into a sustainable business.
4. December Workshops. Offered in December 31, Sustainability 101 is a program that will teach members the basics of sustainability measures and sustainable development.
Friday, October 7, 2011
A Brief Overview of Environment California’s Ocean-Related Endeavors
In her role as a dedicated member of the green environment and sustainability community, Mary Cicalese maintains membership in several green organizations like the International Society of Sustainability Professionals and Environment California. Mary Cicalese, who works as the founder and CEO of Green Research One World (GROW), provides clients with opportunities to enhance their sustainability.
Environment California, an organization that possesses several initiatives that pertain to subjects like environmental health, global warming, preservation, and energy, created three programs that aim to preserve the health of the California's oceans. These programs, the Great Pacific Cleanup, Stop Offshore Drilling, and Protect Fish and Marine Mammals, were created to preserve the natural beauty of the California oceans and coasts. This article is meant as a summary of the three programs that comprise the ocean-related endeavors of Environment California.
1. The Great Pacific Cleanup. A huge patch of garbage known as the Pacific Garbage Patch resides between California and Hawaii in the ocean waters. Twice the size of the state of Texas, the Pacific Garbage Patch is mostly composed of plastic and other inorganic materials. Environment California has enacted a program to ban plastic bags and Styrofoam take-out containers in several communities in the state to counteract the growth of this patch.
2. Stop Offshore Drilling. The coast of California has been drill-free for four decades, while new pressure to drill in this area was recently put upon lawmakers. Environment California strives to affect the decisions of these officials and end the possibility of offshore drilling off the California coastline.
3. Protect Fish and Marine Mammals. Another of Environment California’s initiatives to keep its coasts and ocean clean and healthy, Protect Fish and Marine Mammals is a program that aims to protect marine wildlife like red snapper, grouper, pacific rockfishes, and cod, from becoming extinct or remaining at historically low levels of population.
Environment California, an organization that possesses several initiatives that pertain to subjects like environmental health, global warming, preservation, and energy, created three programs that aim to preserve the health of the California's oceans. These programs, the Great Pacific Cleanup, Stop Offshore Drilling, and Protect Fish and Marine Mammals, were created to preserve the natural beauty of the California oceans and coasts. This article is meant as a summary of the three programs that comprise the ocean-related endeavors of Environment California.
1. The Great Pacific Cleanup. A huge patch of garbage known as the Pacific Garbage Patch resides between California and Hawaii in the ocean waters. Twice the size of the state of Texas, the Pacific Garbage Patch is mostly composed of plastic and other inorganic materials. Environment California has enacted a program to ban plastic bags and Styrofoam take-out containers in several communities in the state to counteract the growth of this patch.
2. Stop Offshore Drilling. The coast of California has been drill-free for four decades, while new pressure to drill in this area was recently put upon lawmakers. Environment California strives to affect the decisions of these officials and end the possibility of offshore drilling off the California coastline.
3. Protect Fish and Marine Mammals. Another of Environment California’s initiatives to keep its coasts and ocean clean and healthy, Protect Fish and Marine Mammals is a program that aims to protect marine wildlife like red snapper, grouper, pacific rockfishes, and cod, from becoming extinct or remaining at historically low levels of population.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Data Mining Converts Stored Information to Recognizable Behavior Patterns
By Mary Cicalese
Founder, GROW
Companies today experience an unprecedented ability to collect and store information from customers and prospective customers. Such activities as credit card transactions and point-of-sale purchases, as well as information gleaned from customer loyalty cards, generate enormous amounts of raw data that can be translated into useful information that tracks purchasing behavior and patterns. With effective data mining techniques, this knowledge becomes useful in developing strategies about management, marketing, and investments.
Data mining reveals factors such as market segmentation, which identifies common characteristics of people who buy the same products or services from an organization. In addition, data mining permits organizations to pinpoint which prospective customers they should include on mailing lists for ideal direct marketing efforts and, for interactive marketing, which websites are more likely to be interesting to target customers. Companies often use data mining to recognize customer churn, the movement of customers from one product or brand to another, and market basket analysis, which ascertains which products are often bought together, such as soft drinks and diapers. Moreover, data mining helps companies determine what type of transactions carry a high risk of being fraudulent.
The explosion of available data storage as well as its relatively low cost enables companies to maintain vast stores of data from customers. Whether companies keep collected data on physical servers or in cloud-based storage, new security methods as well as an ever-increasing storage capacity offer even the largest organizations the opportunity to amass huge amounts of data. Moreover, new technologies that enable businesses to retrieve, sort, and interpret data promote the use of data mining by making it a faster and more focused process.
Prior to the advent of such technologies, most businesses lacked the ability to create meaningful reports of data collected from customers. Even after many organizations adopted the use of comprehensive computer systems, weeding through the data proved to be cumbersome. Even today, data mining requires highly specialized skills and knowledge. An investment in data mining, however, allows for the development of cohesive, consequential programs that target products and markets most likely to provide growth opportunities for an organization.
Because campaigns created with the results of data mining are based on actual customer purchase patterns and product performance, they generally produce more favorable results than blind campaigns and those based on feelings about what might attract sales and attention.
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