How world's most famous companies got their names?

Author: Jitendra Madhav Ramchandani

I read an interesting article on how today’s big electronics and computer giants got their names. 

Here is the simpler version of what I read.

ORACLE

The prophets of RDBMS, Larry Ellison and Bob Miner worked on a consulting project for CIA, USA, where they were asked to use a new SQL language white papered by IBM. The code name of this project was 'Oracle'. The project was in due course expired but Larry and Bob took chance to take their start-up work in the market and they use the same word 'Oracle' to name their new RDBMS engine.

REDHAT

The company founder Marc Ewing was given a cap with Red and White strips by his grandfather. People would turn to him to solve their problems and he was famous as the guy in Red hat. Eventually when he founded his company he named it Redhat.

YAHOO

The word Yahoo! was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book Gulliver's Travels. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely human. Yahoo! founders Jerry Yang and David Filo selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos.

GOOGLE

The name Google is a spelling error. The founders of the site, Larry page and Sergey Brin, actually wanted to register 'Googol' but they communicated this orally and then it was by mistake registered as 'Google'.

MICROSOFT

The word Microsoft was coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was 'shift deleted' later.

Training Needs Analysis

Author: Jaydip Gupte

Training Needs Analysis: It does exactly what it says - analyses training needs. But how do you do it, and why? Who needs the training, and what for? In this advice page we look at the TNA process and highlight important tips for making TNA more than just a paper-pushing exercise. 

♦ Start with the 'Bigger Picture'

The first question has to be, why does development need to take place?

The answer to this is to start at the top.

What is your company strategy? Where do you want to be next year? In five years time?

Look at your company mission and corporate plan, if these things exist.
A corporate plan should give you a clear indication of how the company plans to develop in the near future. In an ideal world, you as HR or Training Manager will already be involved in discussions with those making the decisions about the direction the company is taking.

Try to arrange to speak to senior management at this stage about any planned changes which are likely to require new skills or organisational change. There are almost certain to be some!

♦ Cascading Down

The next step is to cascade this information down so that it transfers into concrete steps to help the company employee’s work towards these goals.

A simplistic but relevant example - if the company plans to bring in new technology, some staff will need to train on using and maybe maintaining the equipment. If the organisation is going to undergo major changes in the near future, all staff may benefit from workshops and briefings to help them understand and work with the changes ahead.

Some of these identified needs will be across the organisation, others will be departmental/team specific and others will be specific to an individual. 

International Women's Day

You've got everything to take the world in your stride. Happy International Women’s Day.

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World Book Day

Author: Parinita Bahadur

On world book day we will like to dedicate our article to a book that really helped us transform. When we walked through the phase of building our HR blog, we derived many ideas from the book Start your own Awesome HR blog by Alan Collins who motivated us to be what we are today. The book doesn’t stop at the point where it tells you why you need a blog. More ever it helps you create an impact in your blog.

For anyone who wants to create a successful HR blog, make Alan Collins your guru and you will never have to look back ever again. He is not only an inspiration to many but also part of many success stories like ours. Here is what you can expect out of this book:

♦ 10 reasons you should start your own HR blog now
♦ How to pick the right topic for your blog
♦ Still clueless about what to blog about
♦ How to differentiate yourself with your HR blog
♦ Deciding what to call your HR blog
♦ How to set up your own awesome HR blog
♦ Secret of boosting your career with your blog
♦ How to attract readers to your HR blog
♦ 41 instant HR blog article ideas
♦ 47 instant HR blog headlines
♦ 7 sure-fire ways to make money from your HR blog
♦ Concluding Remarks

As die-hard fan of Alan Collins we recommend this book to one and all. To know more about the book and for additional resources visit Alan Collins website.

(We celebrate a handful of days every year and we write about these days so as to wish the day to our fellow readers. Such articles are not directly related to our subject but are a part of our social initiative.)

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Work Harder

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