Finding the Signal in the Noise
Dan Neely, Networked Insights

Perched high above downtown Madison, Networked Insights, mines 3.5 million conversations a day, totaling over 1 billion annually. Using proprietary software, CEO and founder Dan Neely and his staff are monitoring our online social lives and using what we read, rate, share, link to and write to help businesses make informed decisions on who and what we like … the signal in the massive amount of e-noise. Neely, a native of Liverpool, England, talks with usinessWatch
about how Networked Insights (NI) began, Measuring the Social and how we are all content creators, whether we like it or not. —Amanda N. Wegner READ MORE

Business Incubators
Expecting growth in downturn

By Kimberly Genné

Business incubators are a great place for start-up, expanding and small- to medium-sized businesses to be located in tumultuous economic times. In fact, many incubators will most likely see an increase in applications as those who have been laid off or have been placed in less-than-desirable job situations try their hand at the entrepreneurial arena.
“When people can’t find a job, they make one for themselves,” says Richard Brown, facility director, Genesis Enterprise Center (GEC). READ MORE

Telecommuting
Work smarter … at home

By Angela Mihm Nigro

As Americans bemoan foreign oil dependence and await the next green breakthrough, we’re overlooking an obvious strategy: going green by working from home.
In fact, 40 percent of employees have jobs that could be teleworked, but a mere 15 percent actually do, state authors Kate Lister and Tom Harnish, Undress for Success: The Naked Truth About Working From Home.
Lister and Harnish estimate that at its full potential, telework would reduce Gulf oil imports by as much as 80 percent, or $43 billion at the pump, and slash carbon dioxide emissions by 107 million tons. That’s going green and saving green. READ MORE