The cloud is a key enabler of business transformation. IT leaders, business executives and digital transformation architects are migrating to the cloud to modernize operations enterprise-wide. I was invited by IDG/CIO and Microsoft Azure to share my views on cloud-driven digital transformation across private and public-sector institutions. Some of the topics we discussed include: Big data/analytics – how companies can turn data into insights and revenue growth using the cloud, analytics and other tools Workplace transformation – how technology is…
Customer Experiences Become Memories, Good or Bad, and They Add Up To Your Brand
Customer experience (CX) is the sum of the all interactions a customer has with your business. It’s not enough to measure performance in any one moment. The customer doesn’t care about your individual operations. All they care about is how well they can reach their objective and how they feel along the way (and after). This is where most companies miss opportunities in CX. It’s not a tech or business strategy that can be simply defined by a framework. True…
For Decades, Technology Scaled Businesses Away from People; It’s Time To Bring Customers Closer
For decades, businesses used technology to distance themselves from customers. Systems and processes helped companes automate, grow and scale transactions and service. Moving forward, we have to explore technology and service innovation to deliver against the experiences customers value versus building updated solutions on top of existing paradigms. Innovation is all the work you do to conform to expectations and aspirations of people as they evolve instead of making them conform to your legacy perspectives, assumptions, processes and metrics of…
ContextMatters Episode 1: Uber, Microsoft HoloLens and Why “Women Shouldn’t Code”
I’m proud to introduce you to “Context Matters,” a new podcast hosted by my good friend Chris Saad and yours truly. This is a long time in the making and we finally committed to this series as a long-term program. Context Matters explores discussions at the intersection of business, technology and culture. My co-host, Chris Saad (@ChrisSaad) is a geek at heart and a long-time player in the startup community. Saad the co-founder of The Echo Experience Studio and spends…
Your invitation to events in Paris and London
These last few months have certainly been a wonderful whirlwind. With the debut of What’s the Future of Business (WTF), a research report co-produced with Altimeter Group colleague Charlene Li (The Evolution of Social Business: Six Stages of Social Media Transformation), and the roll out of the all new Conversation Prism (v 4.0), I’ve been inspired by all of your support each step of the way. Thank you. It is with great privilege that I announce a special book tour…
The Hunt for Social Business Value
Guest post by Ashley Furness of Software Advice When Microsoft announced plans to buy enterprise social network Yammer recently I was a little stunned. The reported $1.2-billion acquisition price tag seemed like a lot for simply replicating social networking functions in the business environment. Would companies really achieve ROI? Or would it be more of a “distraction,” as one user told me? Still, Chatter Product Marketing Director Dave King told me in a recent conversation that “social is more than…
Mark Drapeau’s New Job: Corporate Public Diplomacy via Innovative Social Engagement
Guest post by Mark Drapeau For a good part of my career, I was a scientist researching how animal behavior is controlled by genes and neurons. Desiring something more, I got a terrific fellowship from the scientific society AAAS in 2006 and was able to conduct science and technology policy research at the Department of Defense for a few years. That experience opened my eyes to everything from the inner workings of the military, to how the government purchases goods…
Crisis Communications 2.0 – Apple and the iPhone Price Bomb
One week following the aftermath, it’s worth another look to dissect and analyze what went right and what went horribly wrong in order for PR people to understand how to prevent crises and also know how to react when they inevitably arise. Gasp. Is it true? Can apple actually “do” wrong? Yes indeed, but before you can call em on it, Steve Jobs swoops in and saves the day, again. Yes, we all know by now that Apple reduced the…
iPhone for Dummies, 48 Hours with an iPhone
The iPhone is considered to be one of the most successful product launches in history. Although I’ve heard some incredibly, almost unbelievably gushing praise of the iPhone, I opted not to buy one while documenting the mania of iLines at the Palo Alto and San Francisco stores. But then a series of interesting events unfolded, as if I almost subconsciously set them in motion in order to justify the purchase of an iPhone. Last week, while loading the car, I…
Social Media is Not Dead
Rather than address the blogosphere with brilliant rhetoric and clarity regarding the Ferrari Incident, instead, Steve Rubel has declared Social Media Dead. Perhaps he’s merely tapping into the power of social media to spark controversy to displace the conversation on Techmeme, or, just maybe, he really does believe that “social” or any other category preceding the word “media” is dead. Jeremy Pepper calls it “Crisis Blogging to Defeat a Meme.” Open the Dialogue captures it with, “What strikes me most…
