You may have a goal of becoming more active this year, but you might be finding it difficult to stay motivated. You are not alone. According to a study by the University of Southern Californias Center for a Digital Future, 32% of Americans say they are exercising less than before the pandemic.

Incorporating physical activity into your day has a ton of benefits including aiding in weight loss, boosting your immune system, relieving stress and helping to lower your blood pressure. The goal is to get 150 minutes of physical activity each week.

While it can be hard to get and stay motivated, here are some tips to help you meet your physical activity goals.

Make a plan. Figure out when you can incorporate physical activity into your week. The 150 minutes of weekly recommended physical activity can be broken down into 30 minutes over five days or even smaller increments throughout the day. The important thing is to move, even if it is for 10 minutes at a time. If you are not sure how to fit physical activity into your schedule, log how you spend your time each day, so you can see where exercise might fit in. Once you have an exercise schedule, develop a backup plan to help you catch up in case you cannot exercise at your regular time. Activities such as walking or climbing stairs require no equipment and can be done indoors, if the weather is not cooperating.

Find something you enjoy doing. Research has shown that people who enjoy their physical activity have a better chance of sticking with it. Also, to have an effect, your activity does not have to be difficult. It could be as simple as walking around your neighborhood or dancing to music each day.

Find ways to make it social. Prior to the coronavirus, some people found it helpful to have an exercise partner or join a gym class for motivation. While we now must be socially distant, we can still share in the social aspects of physical activity. You can call your former workout buddy while you are doing the activity that you used to do together, or you can find a virtual exercise class. Many gyms are conducting former in-person classes on Zoom. You can make it a family activity by encouraging your family to be active with you.

For more information on ways to get and stay active, contact the Laurel County office of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.

Educational programs of the Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of economic or social status and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expressions, pregnancy, marital status, genetic information, age, veteran status, or physical or mental disability.

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Ways to remain motivated to stay active | Local News - The Sentinel-Echo

LUBBOCK, Texas IRONMAN today announced that the IRONMAN70.3Lubbock triathlon taking place on June 27, 2021 will be designated as the IRONMAN 70.3 North American TriClub Championship Central Region for 2021. Lubbock joins the 2021 Global TriClub Championship Series as the seventh event internationally and the fourth within the United States. General Registration for IRONMAN 70.3 Lubbock is currently open by visiting,www.ironman.com/im703-lubbock.

Central Region: IRONMAN 70.3 Lubbock (June 27) The IRONMAN 70.3 Lubbock triathlon begins with a 1.2-mileswim in Historic Dunbar Lake. Once on the bike, athletes will experience everything from flat and fast to challenging hills with scenic views of Yellow House Canyons. To close out the 70.3-mile journey, athletes will have a high-energy run that traverses through the beautiful Texas Tech campus and the surrounding Lubbock area. The 2021 IRONMAN 70.3 Lubbock triathlon will offer 2 handcycle slots to the 2021 IRONMAN World Championshipin Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i, as well as 60 qualifying slots and 2 handcycle slots to the 2021 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in St. George, Utah.

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Motivational Monday: How to beat those winter blues - KLBK | KAMC | EverythingLubbock.com

Perhaps to appreciate is an attitude, born out of Divine blessing. Appreciation can be about ownself or about others. While we can learn to appreciate others, it is rare for a little self-indulgence to appreciating ownself. We never seriously ponder to appreciate the many splendid unique blessings of what the Creator has bestowed upon each of us, differently and abundantly. In this piece, I will restrict myself to writing about appreciating others (colleagues, friends, family) to evoke their best performance, in whatever vocation, they may be in pursuit of. Appreciating ownself, in some later piece.

Wisdom demands that all men should be appreciated. Wise men find and see the good in every person. They also value the efforts that go to build up goodness around us.

Appreciation is the most acceptable and exquisite form of courtesy and recognition. We have to learn to defy a generally accepted English proverb, Gratefulness is the poor mans payment. Nay. To appreciate is to give. Whilst, admittedly the most difficult task is to alter the instinctive nature of living beings, but even an effort can be made to place a frog on the throne, and prevent it from jumping off it, at the first sight of a puddle. Indeed with a conscious effort, we can alter our natural responses too.

Remorse or regret can never be profitable; but appreciation can be. Appreciate not to seek greater benefaction but for its purity. Rabindranath Tagore, writes, Bees sip honey from flowers and hum their thanks when they leave. The gaudy butterfly is sure that flowers owe thanks to him.

At school and even university, a recognition by the teacher / professor was by far the most critical contributor to my wanting to do better, in my studies. A single word of appreciation from either of the parent can make any to move mountains. Those parents, who are either miserly in appreciating the work of their off springs, or are totally oblivious of its significance, unknown mostly to themselves actually promote the destruction of what could be otherwise, excellent personalities in the making. And at the worst end of the spectrum, those parents who use instead, rebuke and insult, ensure the growth of psychologically, socially and economically a deformed child.

By appreciation, we make excellence in other our own property (Voltaire). Co-workers respond to managers who are frequent in expressing their appreciation, with enhanced productivity. It is by far the most potent motivating factor. Appreciation as a tool of inspiration, far exceeds, mere monetary compensation or recognition.

Employee recognition awards done at frequent intervals help in the determination, creation and sustenance of improved inter-personal relationships and above, all such practices induce, not merely efficiency, but also invokes creativity.

The thunderous clapping of spectators arouses the best performance by sportsmen. I recall, during the semi-final of a match at the Wimbledon, where generally the spectators behave in the most sophisticated manner, a fan from the crowd shouted out to John McEnroe, who was losing one game after another and ultimately the set, Hey! John come on, buck up. McEnroe from the Centre Court to the delight of the spectators responded with exasperation from the court, I am trying my best, bloke he went on to win the match.

Appreciation expressed improves quality of life- it has positive effect on general health of both the givers and the recipient: An article in Psychology Today, states, The hypothalamus, which controls basic bodily functions such as eating and sleeping and dopamine, the reward neurotransmitter are heavily affected from feelings of gratitude and appreciation. Neuroscientists believe appreciation engages the brain of the recipient in a virtuous cycle.

Oprah Winfrey is reported to have commented in one of her programmes, I have talked to nearly 30,000 people on the show and all 30,000 had one thing in common - they all wanted validation (appreciation / recognition). They all wanted to know, do you hear me? Do you see me? Does what I say mean anything to you?

Appreciation should be delivered with speed. Delay induces more back-fire, then positive response. Upon each and every outstanding performance delivered, there is expectation to be rightfully recognised, never delay, deliver it instantly; to use the legal clich with amendment, appreciation delayed is appreciation denied! In the block buster movie Shakti starring two giants, Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachan; where they played father and son; the upright, inflexible about principles of justice, police inspector general, Dilip, ignores his son, Amitabh, who faces abduction during childhood. The son gets distanced when the police officer denies the demands of the abductors of his son; which is a bargain offered to spare the life of his only son. The son is distraught at his father's apparent lack of love. The son falls into waywardness and embraces criminality. In the drop scene, the father (IG) is shown chasing his son (the wanted criminal) and shouting out to him to stop or else he would pull the trigger upon him the father (IG) fires and pumps bullets in the chest of his son (the criminal). holding and kissing his dying son, he (IG) says, I love you, Vijay (the son). The criminal (son), who is gasping for breath makes such a powerful statement, that brings to the fore the importance of expressing feelings / emotions of love and appreciation at the right time; he says, why didnt you say this before, Dad? The neglected son dies in the arms of the honest, principled and upright father.

Never let ego stop you from appreciating the good work of colleagues or even family members. It is also regretfully an unfortunate truth, Do not expect to be acknowledged for what you are, much less of what you would be; since no man can well measure a great man but upon the bier, (Walter Landor).

The economic principle of greater supply reduces demand and consequently the price (value) is equally applicable to the use of appreciation. If it is excessively done, it may lose its charm in the eyes of co-workers- a manager who praises all, and everything from the best to shoddy work does more harm than good to their motivation.

Appreciation must retain some exclusivity and must be used intelligently to provoke performance. The leader must know the difference between frequent and excessive. Appreciation is taken and given; both require a different set of mind. In the act of conveying appreciation, we are looking at others outstanding traits.

Divinity, has as its essential Being, the primacy of mercy. Each living soul is blessed with a different and unique talent and personality - it is up to us each to discover, and acquire mastery of that unique blessing. Do we ever appreciate Mother Natures endowments upon us? I recently heard a blind man with a vision, who said, appreciate what you have - there are many not so fortunate what I have - someone is praying for.

More about appreciating oneself, in another piece, if time and tide, waits upon me..

The writer is a banker and freelance columnist

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Appreciate to motivate - The News International

The COVID-19 pandemic prevented McWilliams Arroyo from seeing action in 2020, but the Puerto Rican boxer will now attempt to capture the flyweight crown of the World Boxing Council (WBC), on the 27th of February at the Hard RockStadium in Miami, Florida.

Arroyo will go up against dangerous puncher Julio Cesar Martinez of Mexico.

Arroyo, a former Olympian who turned professional in 2010 andarrives with a suitcase full of experience, will try for the third time to wina world title.

Martinez became champion in 2019 by beating Nicaraguan Cristofer Rosales.

I am very excited and my dream has always been to become a world champion. Now I have that new opportunity under the company of Miguel Cotto Promotions. I have the tools and although I know it is a tough fight, we are prepared for tests like this one, said Arroyo to Carlos Narvaez.

Arroyo had a great brawl in 2016 when he challenged Romn Chocolatito Gonzlez. Although he lost by unanimous decision, the Puerto Ricanboxer lefta great impression and later demonstrated his boxing quality with a majority decision victory over Carlos Cuadras.

During the time that I was not able to fight the pandemic, I was active in the gym and also working with some fans and people who wanted to practice boxing to stay in shape. So we are ready to go. I'll take advantage of this opportunity for which we have trained thoroughly. We know that Martinez is a great champion. He is an aggressive fighter andhe has my respect, but in the ring it will be something else,"Arroyo said.

Martinez, 26, has a professional record of 17-1 and 13 KO's. Arroyo, 35, is 20-4 with 15 KO's.

My career in boxing has been one of a lot of sacrifice, a lot of work,it hasn't been easy. But thanks to boxing I am where I am today. I hope to be active for two or three more years, but now my mission is to get into the ring and become a world champion,"Martinez said.

The fight betweenMartinez and Arroyo will be the co-feature to Saul Canelo Alvarez's mandatory super middleweight title defense against Avni Yildirim.

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McWilliams Arroyo Motivated To Achieve Title Dream By Beating Julio Cesar Martinez - BoxingScene.com

GARY Rowett said he had to hold the Millwall team meeting in the concourse at the Madejksi Stadium on Saturday and his players used it as motivation as his team came from a goal down to beat Reading.

Alfa Semedo put the hosts ahead, but substitutes Matt Smith and Mason Bennett struck in the 76th and 85th minutes to give the Lions just a second win at Reading since 2001.

Rowett brought on Jed Wallace and Mason Bennett for Shaun Williams and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson at half-time.

We certainly werent hoping to hold our team meeting in a concourse that was about minus-eight, Rowett said. We just felt it was a tad disrespectful when youve got a stadium that Im sure has plenty more room.

It was the players that felt a little bit aggrieved, it was the players that used it to their advantage. I didnt feel [the facilities] were anywhere near the level [expected].

We had to do [the half-time team-talk] in a room where we shouldnt have to squeeze that amount of people in there.

Im more focused on the win, on what we had to do. It didnt affect them psychologically, I thought they dealt with the game pretty well after going a goal down. You could see that in the celebrations.

It gave us more motivation, it was something we spoke about and we used it to our advantage.

Reading are a fantastic team, they have as good a front four as any in the division. Theyve certainly got the quality in the likes of Joao to open the game up at will. Youve got to be on your guard defensively.

Part of our game-plan was to utilise the fact that Reading had played on Wednesday night against Brentford and theyd expended a lot of energy and were unfortunate to lose the game late on.

We just felt as though there was an opportunity to start well, we did in the first 15 or 20 minutes when we hit the bar, pinned Reading back but just couldnt find the extra moments of quality.

Then we concede a goal against the run of play that is disappointing, to be 1-0 down in such a stupid fashion.

We huffed and puffed to half-time, didnt play with any quality, looked as though mentally the goal had set us back and we couldnt quite get our game going.

Then at half-time I had to bring the two wide players on and change from 5-3-2 to 4-2-3-1 and it did the trick.

Image: Millwall FC

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What Reading did before the game to give Millwall big motivation as they come from behind to win - newsatden.co.uk - News At Den

February 16, 2021 08:30 ET | Source: ValueSelling Associates, Inc.

ValueSelling Associates and Training Industry study shows soft skills active listening, empathy, and presentation skills -- differentiate companies that grew from those that didnt in 2020

RANCHO SANTA FE, Calif., Feb. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to research findings released today by ValueSelling Associates, Inc., 87% of high-growth companies take a value-based approach to sales compared to 45% of negative-growth companies. What top-performing salespeople do differently is focus on helping prospects understand the value gained from the product or service through each customer interaction.

New research findings also show that soft skills matter. They are especially crucial when salespeople and their customers encounter market uncertainty and rapidly shifting business needs, as we saw in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic uncertainty. The soft skills that top sales performers are better at include:

Weve all had to change in response to 2020s unexpected events. The sales teams that adapted to change enabled companies to excel despite the challenges they faced, while other companies reported low or negative growth, said Julie Thomas, CEO and President of ValueSelling Associates. As you plan for 2021, keep in mind that a virtual selling and buying process is here to stay. Sales organizations need to be agile and flexible in using new techniques and tactics that align with evolving buyer preferences.

ValueSelling Associates, Inc. and Training Industry, Inc. surveyed online 256 U.S. sales leaders and learning and development decision-makers about the approach their companies are taking toward sales skills and managing change through a global crisis.

Two distinct groups of companies emerged from the study high revenue growth companies and negative revenue growth companies. High-growth companies leaders said 2020 was a banner year of growth, while negative-growth companies leaders said 2020 was the worst of the last five years.

Key study findings include:

For more detail on the survey results, download the ValueSelling Associates e-book, How High-growth Sales Organizations Respond to Crisis.

About Training Industry, Inc. Training Industry, Inc. spotlights the latest news, articles, case studies and best practices within the training industry. Training Industry, Inc. research captures the collective wisdom of learning professionals, revealing fresh data on trends and practices in the evolving training market. For additional information onTraining Industry, Inc. visitwww.trainingindustry.com.

About ValueSelling Associates, Inc. ValueSelling Associatesis the creator of the ValueSelling Framework, the practical and proven sales methodology preferred by sales executives around the globe. Since 1991, ValueSelling Associates has helped thousands of sales professionals increase their sales productivity and realize immediate revenue growth. We offer customized training to FORTUNE 1000, mid-sized and start-up companies to keep it simple and drive sales results.www.valueselling.com

Connect with ValueSelling Associates:

Media Contact: Maria Doyle Doyle Strategic Communications 781-964-3536 maria@doylestratcomm.com

A PDF accompanying this announcement is available at:http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/15b0f5b3-f2f2-4613-92a0-1ed71e4a33b2

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87% of High-growth Sales Organizations Take a Value-based Approach to Sales, According to New Research - GlobeNewswire

Sales Training Program of the Year

BOSTON (PRWEB) February 11, 2021

RAIN Group, a global sales training company delivering award-winning results through in-person and virtual sales training, coaching, and reinforcement,announced today that it received two Gold Stevie Awards in the 15th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

The firm took home top honors for Sales Training Program of the Year with client Toyota Fleet Management (TFM) and Research Report of the Year for its latest study, Virtual Selling Skills & Challenges.

Winning gold in the Sales Training Program of the Year category, Toyota Fleet Management experienced significant gains across the board after completing an engagement with RAIN Group. The program has had a major impact on their success and reputation with impressive results, including online finance quotes completed by dealers increased 1,091%, number of contracts written online improved 68%, actual amount financed increased 103%, and corporate referrals increased 40%.

Its an honor to be recognized by this awards program and have our training and client results highlighted. Our work with Toyota is a prime example of what can be achieved with the right training, tools, and reinforcement in place, shared Mike Schultz, president of RAIN Group and director of the Center for Sales Research.

Last May, the RAIN Group Center for Sales Research conducted a global study of 528 buyers and sellers to better understand experiences with virtual selling on both sides of the proverbial table. The Virtual Selling Skills & Challenges report reveals the results, including buyers' perceptions of sellers and the areas where sellers need to increase their focus.

2020 was a difficult year for sales organizations. Many were thrown into a new sales environment and had to learn how to adapt. Sellers struggled. Buyers expectations werent being met. Thats why we launched our study on virtual selling to help sellers and sales leaders understand the gaps and how to overcome them to succeed in the new normal, shared Schultz. The report has been downloaded by nearly 4,000 sellers and sales leaders and the complete results are shared in our Amazon Bestseller Virtual Selling: How to Build Relationships, Differentiate, and Win Sales Remotely.

Additionally, RAIN Group received bronze for Sales Training Practice of the Year and Business Development Achievement of the Year with client HORNE for reaching double-digit growth in the size of its engagements and improving its Net Promoter Score YOY.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are the world's top honors for customer service, contact center, business development and sales professionals. More than 2,300 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry, in 51 nations, were considered in this year's competition. Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 160 professionals worldwide serving on nine specialized judging committees. Entries were considered in more than 90 categories for customer service and contact center achievements.

"In the toughest working environment in memory for most organizations, 2021 Stevie Award winners still found ways to innovate, grow sales, please their customers, and secure new business," said Stevie Awards president,Maggie Gallagher. "The judges have recognized and rewarded this, and we join them in applauding this year's winners for their continued success. We look forward to recognizing them onApril 14."

About RAIN Group Founded in 2002, RAIN Groupis aTop 20 Sales Training Company that delivers award-winning results through in-person and virtual sales training, coaching, and reinforcement. The firm has helped hundreds of thousands of salespeople, managers, and professionals in more than 75 countries significantly increase their sales results. Headquartered in the greater Boston area, office locations include Bogot,Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Mumbai, Seoul, Sydney, and Toronto. To learn more, visithttp://www.raingroup.com.

About the Stevie Awards Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards athttp://www.StevieAwards.com.

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RAIN Group Wins Gold for Sales Training Program of the Year with Toyota and Research Report on Virtual Selling - PR Web

Comprehensive Market Research Study 2021 on Global Sales Training Market with Industry Statistics, Facts and Figures, Trends and Forecast by 2026.

The Global Sales Training Market report offers actionable data through the SWOT analysis, Porters Five Analysis, Competitors Analysis, Products and Sales Analysis. It also includes the major market situations across the globe such as the product profit, price, production, capacity, demand, supply, as well as market growth structure. The report on the Global Sales Training Market has been prepared after conducting a comprehensive research through a systematized methodology. This report will help you to make your business decisions in upcoming years as report data is forecasted precisely to 2026 by applying all the matrices.

The report covers market shares, CAGR, sales, gross margin, value, volume, and other important market statistics and figures that give an exact picture of the growth of the global Sales Training market.

Get The Sample Report PDF with Detail TOC & List of Figures@https://www.apexmarketsresearch.com/report/global-sales-training-market-by-product-type-sales-762517/?utm_source=Pratiksha&utm_medium=Pratiksha#sample

The report also provides detail study on the trending innovations, business models, growth factors and every information about the big companies that will be present in the future market insights. Every market consists of set of manufacturers, vendors and consumers that gives a definition to the market, its each and every move, achievements. All these important subjects are covered in this report.

The report covers following Top Companies Data:

Action Selling, Aslan Training and Development, The Brooks Group, BTS, Carew International, DoubleDigit Sales, Imparta, IMPAX, Integrity Solutions, Janek Performance Group, Kurlan & Associates, Mercuri International, Miller Heiman Group, RAIN Group, Revenue Storm, Richardson, Sales Performance International, Sales Readiness Group, ValueSelling Associates, Wilson Learning

The Sales Training Market report has been segregated based on distinct categories, such as product type, application, end user, and region. Each and every segment is evaluated on the basis of CAGR, share, and growth potential. In the regional analysis, the report highlights the prospective region, which is estimated to generate opportunities in the global Sales Training market in the forthcoming years. This segmental analysis will surely turn out to be a useful tool for the readers, stakeholders, and market participants to get a complete picture of the global Sales Training market and its potential to grow in the years to come.

The Global Sales Training Market Report 2021-2026 Attributes:

COVID-19 Impact Analysis:

The outburst of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis in the global Sales Training market has expressively impacted the infrastructure in overall market in 2021. This pandemic crisis has brought the impact on various industries in different ways like disruption of the supply chain, shutdown of the manufacturing processes and manufacturing plants, all indoor events restricted, over forty countries state of emergency declared, stock market volatility and uncertainty about future. This global Sales Training market research report covers the new survey on the Covid-19 impact on the Sales Training market, which helps the marketers to find latest market dynamics, new development in the market and in the industry, along with this, this survey also helps to form the new business plans, product portfolio and segmentations.

FAQS in the report: What is the growth opportunities of the Sales Training market? Which product segment is leading in the market? Which regional market will dominate in coming years? Which application segment will grow steadily? What are the growth opportunities that may come in Sales Training industry in the upcoming years? What are the key challenges that the global Sales Training market may face in future? Which are the leading players in the global Sales Training market? Which are the key trends boosting the market growth? Which are the growth strategies considered by the players to sustain hold in the global Sales Training market? What will be the post COVID-19 market scenario?

For More Queries and Customization in The Report@https://www.apexmarketsresearch.com/report/global-sales-training-market-by-product-type-sales-762517/?utm_source=Pratiksha&utm_medium=Pratiksha#inquiry

TOC for the Global Sales Training Market:

Chapter 1: Market Overview, Drivers, Restraints and Opportunities, Segmentation Overview Chapter 2: Market Competition by Manufacturers Chapter 3: Production by Regions Chapter 4: Consumption by Regions Chapter 5: Production, By Types, Revenue and Market share by Types Chapter 6: Consumption, By Applications, Market share (%) and Growth Rate by Applications Chapter 7: Complete profiling and analysis of Manufacturers Chapter 8: Manufacturing cost analysis, Raw materials analysis, Region-wise Manufacturing expenses Chapter 9: Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers Chapter 10: Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders Chapter 11: Market Effect Factors Analysis Chapter 12: Market Forecast Chapter 13: Sales Training Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source

About Us: We at Apex Market Research aim to be global leaders in qualitative and predictive analysis as we put ourselves in the front seat for identifying worldwide industrial trends and opportunities and mapping them out for you on a silver platter. We specialize in identifying the calibers of the markets robust activities and constantly pushing out the areas which allow our clientele base in making the most innovative, optimized, integrated and strategic business decisions in order to put them ahead of their competition by leaps and bounds. Our researchers achieve this mammoth of a task by conducting sound research through many data points scattered through carefully placed equatorial regions.

Contact Us: Apex Market Research 1st Floor, Harikrishna Building, Samarth Nagar, New Sanghvi, Pune- 411027 India tel: +91-8149441100 (GMT Office Hours) tel: +17738002974 sales@apexmarketsresearch.com

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Sales Training Market Analysis, Size, Share, Trends and Forecast by 2026 | Action Selling, Aslan Training and Development, The Brooks Group - The...

In this final episode in the series, OPI CEO Steve Hilleard discusses the New Way ofWorking survey with leading expert and Fellowes Head of European Marketing for Workplace Health Solutions, Louise Shipley.

Fellowes Brands launched the research to understand how employees cope with working from home. The study questioned 7,000 employees across Europe to discover how lockdown has affected them and the consequences on their physical and mental health.

Shipley delves into the results, providing a fascinating insight into how the events of the past year are expected to reshape the world of work. She also reveals the opportunities for the business supplies industry.

Clickhereto listen to the podcast.

To listen to the first episode where Louise Shipley discusses homeworking and its impact on employee health and well-being, click here.

To listen to the second episode where Louise Shipley talks about hybrid working and sales opportunities, click here.

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Podcast: Part 3 A deep dive into the new way of working with Fellowes Brands' Louise Shipley | OPI - Office Products International

A security researcher says Microsoft Azure and Canonical are creating a privacy issue by allowing sales reps to track users spinning Ubuntu Linux on Azure. Bentley Systems advisor Luca Bongiorini was stunned when a Canonical sales rep contact him shortly after he spun an instance of Ubuntu 18.04 on Microsofts cloud platform.

Just three hours later, he received a message from a rep saying, I saw that you spun up an Ubuntu image in Azure. Bongiorni was stunned that a salesperson was able to track him in such a manner. It is worth noting Canonical is the developers behind Ubuntu.

Outraged by this breach of privacy, the security expert was less than diplomatic in his response: What the f*** is happening here? WHY [did] MICROSOFT FORWARDED TO UBUNTU THAT I SPUN A NEW VM!?! Customer privacy, whats that?

The situation provided Microsoft rivals with a chance to score some free points against the company. Corey Quinn, Chief Cloud Economist for Duckbill Group but also a pro-Amazon Web Services (AWS) blogger suggests Microsoft is playing fast and lose with user information:

@azure had a GOLDEN opportunity to pull a we dont mine your data, we dont compete with you, WHO KNOWS what @GCPcloud and @awscloud do with your confidential cloud info! Instead, they legit did exactly what their competitors dont, but we worry about.

So, is Microsoft allowing third-party services to have almost instant access to Azure data? ZDNet reached out to the company for an explanation. According to a spokesperson, its withing Azures T&Cs to allow service/app publishers to access customer data when their product is used:

Customer privacy and trust is our top priority at Microsoft. We do not sell any information to third-party companies and only share customer information with Azure Marketplace publishers when customers deploy their product, as outlined in our Terms and Conditions. Our terms with our publishers allow them to provide customers with implementation and technical support for their products but restricts them from using contact details for marketing purposes.

Canonical confirms this is what happened in this instance:

As per the Azure T&Cs, Microsoft shares with Canonical, the publisher of Ubuntu, the contact details of developers launching Ubuntu instances on Azure. These contact details are held in Canonicals CRM in accordance with privacy rules. On February 10th, a new Canonical Sales Representative contacted one of these developers via LinkedIn, with a poor choice of word. In light of this incident, Canonical will be reviewing its sales training and policies.

Microsoft also adds:

If you purchase or use a Marketplace Offering, we may share with the Publisher of such Offering your contact information and details about the transaction and your usage. We will not share your Customer Data (as defined in this Section 3) with any Publisher without your permission.

One problem here is Microsoft is clearly offering a blurry privacy setup that may confuse Azure customers. For example, how does contact information (which can be shared) not fall under the same classification as Customer Data (which requires consent)?

This probably means the original Azure wrap up agreement you know, the one no-one reads but agrees to anyway is all the consent Microsoft needs to share contact information. As for Bongiorini, once was enough and he is jumping to another cloud provider.

Tip of the day:

Do you get flooded by notifications in Windows 10 from apps and want to disable them completely or just the notification sound? Our tutorial shows you how to do this. As an alternative you can also configure Windows 10 Focus Assist (Do Not Disturb Mode) and set quiet hours.

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Microsoft Azure is Sharing Customer Information and Allowing Publishers to Contact Customers - WinBuzzer