Last week on the Hill, I had the opportunity to address representatives of the goverment during the LISTA Technology Legislative Forum where I provided an outlook on emerging technologies.
I want to share the main points of the briefing:
Intro:
Innovation and the Democratization of technology are driving the growth of our economy. Retention in technology, science, energy professions and the creation of green jobs propel innovation and position our country to compete in the new global and "connected" economy.
Solid understanding of the emerging technologies trends will position us to anticipate the needs of our economy and the consumer market.
Trends and Technologies:
1) Electronification of transactions (financial transactions, medical records), migration from paper to electronic medium.
2) User-generated content and democratization of information and knowledge ( adoption of web 2.0 technologies). Impact of user-generated trends to digital media and adversiting.
3) Mobile technologies ( mobile payments, P2P services, location - based services)
4) RFID, NFC impacting manufaturing, retailers, logistics
5) Adoption of Web 2.0 technologies (blogs, wikies, tagging)
6) Social networking
7) Collaboration technologies (teleconferences, videoconferencing) enable global collaboration and accelaration of innovation.
8) Cloud Computing
9) Nanotechnologies
10) Open Source Architecture
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Innovation and Customer Experience
Today I want to start this blog with a question: What is impact of introducing innovative services to the customer experience?
I thought about the relationship between innovation and customer experience reading a post in LinkedIn. While innovation is a cornerstone of web interactions - too much innovation too fast can negatively impact the customer experience.
When we were ready to launch the beta version of the first mobile banking service to Wachovia customers many members of the project team felt that introducing a beta version of the service could have a negative impact to the overall customer satisfaction with the web site. As a result of this concern they wanted to wait to launch mobile banking until the service was fully tested.
However, the beta version of mobile banking was a result of the “Test and Learn” approach to propel innovation across the organization and to engage customers in the innovation process.
The team did 3 important things to mitigate the risk of launching a beta service:
1) Telling customers the TRUE about our intentions for launching a beta version that was not fully developed.
2) Making sure business requirements for security and protection of the account data were taken into consideration during the development of the new services since the beginning.
3) Implementing a customer feedback form to allow customers to participate in the innovation process.
Last but not least, understanding the behaviors of target customer segments should be part of the design of the “Test and Learn” strategy. While some customers are always looking for the next innovative capabilities others like a website that seldom changes.
Invite customers to participate, design a virtual center of innovation where your customers can share ideas and test drive new products and services. Capturing customer feedback allows companies to connect the dots and design products that meet the needs of their customers.
I thought about the relationship between innovation and customer experience reading a post in LinkedIn. While innovation is a cornerstone of web interactions - too much innovation too fast can negatively impact the customer experience.
When we were ready to launch the beta version of the first mobile banking service to Wachovia customers many members of the project team felt that introducing a beta version of the service could have a negative impact to the overall customer satisfaction with the web site. As a result of this concern they wanted to wait to launch mobile banking until the service was fully tested.
However, the beta version of mobile banking was a result of the “Test and Learn” approach to propel innovation across the organization and to engage customers in the innovation process.
The team did 3 important things to mitigate the risk of launching a beta service:
1) Telling customers the TRUE about our intentions for launching a beta version that was not fully developed.
2) Making sure business requirements for security and protection of the account data were taken into consideration during the development of the new services since the beginning.
3) Implementing a customer feedback form to allow customers to participate in the innovation process.
Last but not least, understanding the behaviors of target customer segments should be part of the design of the “Test and Learn” strategy. While some customers are always looking for the next innovative capabilities others like a website that seldom changes.
Invite customers to participate, design a virtual center of innovation where your customers can share ideas and test drive new products and services. Capturing customer feedback allows companies to connect the dots and design products that meet the needs of their customers.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Framework for Doing Business in Social Networks
Summer 2007, as part of managing a portfolio of internet emerging technologies I became interested in exploring social networks and virtual worlds for business purposes.
Second Life was the buzzword back then (just like now everyone is talking about Twitter) so in collaboration with IBM partners we conducted a POC in Second Life. My goal was to test virtual worlds as a viable solution for internal collaboration for distributed teams of employees. The name of my avatar was Noemi and all avatars met at the IBM Business Center.
My ENTP mind always has the tendency to conceptualize things and created a framework to classify the different type of business opportunities within social networks. I wanted to use the framework for a conference but at the last minute the topic of my presentation changed and never used it.
Yesterday, I was cleaning old files when I found this framework. The classification still as relevant as it was in 2007. Perhaps even more relevant now when we look at the success with Twitter gaining broad media popularity and micropayments becoming the backbone of World Warcraft like gaming sites.
Just like the User-driven World matrix helps organizations to understand the behavioral motivations behind the consumerization of emerging technologies, the following framework will help organization in the identification of business opportunities to leverage and monetize social networks.
Let me know if the framework was helpful. And I will embrace the practice of checking my old files for new sources of information.
Second Life was the buzzword back then (just like now everyone is talking about Twitter) so in collaboration with IBM partners we conducted a POC in Second Life. My goal was to test virtual worlds as a viable solution for internal collaboration for distributed teams of employees. The name of my avatar was Noemi and all avatars met at the IBM Business Center.
My ENTP mind always has the tendency to conceptualize things and created a framework to classify the different type of business opportunities within social networks. I wanted to use the framework for a conference but at the last minute the topic of my presentation changed and never used it.
Yesterday, I was cleaning old files when I found this framework. The classification still as relevant as it was in 2007. Perhaps even more relevant now when we look at the success with Twitter gaining broad media popularity and micropayments becoming the backbone of World Warcraft like gaming sites.
Just like the User-driven World matrix helps organizations to understand the behavioral motivations behind the consumerization of emerging technologies, the following framework will help organization in the identification of business opportunities to leverage and monetize social networks.
Let me know if the framework was helpful. And I will embrace the practice of checking my old files for new sources of information.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Social Networking Personality
We all have many dots2connect but we connect our dots in a different way making multidimensional connections.
I wrote about social networking personality types last year in a blog discussing the top 6 reasons why people join Linkend. Since then I have been observing social behavior in the Twitter community and found the same 5 social networking personality types.
Who are you? Do you hide your network / tweets from the broad community? Are you just a Spectator? Or do you fall into Malcolm Gladwell's categories? Are you a Connector with million of connections in your network? Are you the knowledgeable Maven who provides helpful insights but doesn't really spend much time connecting, or the Salesman with the perfect profile and persuasive recommendations?
Controllers are typically those with a few protected connections / messages and no additional engagement outside their own network. Even more extreme are those that I call Spectators with a lonely profile and no connections at all.
So, what is your social networking personality?
Are a Connector? Maven, Salesman, Controller or a Spectator?
What is the connection between your social networking behavior and your personality type?
Are active Twitter Connectors always Extraverts?
Take this online version of a personality test and find out what is your personality !
I wrote about social networking personality types last year in a blog discussing the top 6 reasons why people join Linkend. Since then I have been observing social behavior in the Twitter community and found the same 5 social networking personality types.
Who are you? Do you hide your network / tweets from the broad community? Are you just a Spectator? Or do you fall into Malcolm Gladwell's categories? Are you a Connector with million of connections in your network? Are you the knowledgeable Maven who provides helpful insights but doesn't really spend much time connecting, or the Salesman with the perfect profile and persuasive recommendations?
Controllers are typically those with a few protected connections / messages and no additional engagement outside their own network. Even more extreme are those that I call Spectators with a lonely profile and no connections at all.
So, what is your social networking personality?
Are a Connector? Maven, Salesman, Controller or a Spectator?
What is the connection between your social networking behavior and your personality type?
Are active Twitter Connectors always Extraverts?
Take this online version of a personality test and find out what is your personality !
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Managing Success during Recession
We tend to think about success when things are going well in our lives, but when things go bad we shift to the survival mode and forget to develop a plan and pay attention to our key priorities.
Planning for success becomes even more important during times when we are facing economic hardships and personal problems. During the years of my illness I did not stop making plans. Focusing on the future gave me the hope and strength to overcome obstacles. I began to understand a simple rule: “Success means to be ready when the opportunity comes”.
Successful companies have created new business models during times of economic downturn and many people have found their passion and a new career as a result of loosing their jobs.
How were they able to accomplish this? I think because of these two reasons:
1) They see opportunities when others see problems.
2) They never stop making success a top priority.
Over the years of learning from my success and failures, I have developed my own formula for success, which I call the 4P Formula:
4P = Planning, Preparation, Perseverance, and Passion
Your plan starts with a dream. The power of a dream is endless; however, you need tools that will help you in achieving your goals. In my book Connecting My Dots I share Five Leadership Lessons and a tool called the Priority Wheel which will help you define and achieve success on your own terms by keeping your key priorities in motion.
When I think about success, I think about a wheel that is always in motion because what will make you successful today will not make you successful in the future. Here is where the Priority Wheel will help you identify and focus on your key priorities so you can connect your dots at each stage of your life.
Success is always a moving target and we need to recalibrate our priorities or the weight of each priority within the wheel. Using the Five Leadership Lessons and the Priority Wheel, you will be to stay focused on your goals and also be flexible and willing to try different approaches.
Do you have a formula for success that you use to connect your dots?
Planning for success becomes even more important during times when we are facing economic hardships and personal problems. During the years of my illness I did not stop making plans. Focusing on the future gave me the hope and strength to overcome obstacles. I began to understand a simple rule: “Success means to be ready when the opportunity comes”.
Successful companies have created new business models during times of economic downturn and many people have found their passion and a new career as a result of loosing their jobs.
How were they able to accomplish this? I think because of these two reasons:
1) They see opportunities when others see problems.
2) They never stop making success a top priority.
Over the years of learning from my success and failures, I have developed my own formula for success, which I call the 4P Formula:
4P = Planning, Preparation, Perseverance, and Passion
Your plan starts with a dream. The power of a dream is endless; however, you need tools that will help you in achieving your goals. In my book Connecting My Dots I share Five Leadership Lessons and a tool called the Priority Wheel which will help you define and achieve success on your own terms by keeping your key priorities in motion.
When I think about success, I think about a wheel that is always in motion because what will make you successful today will not make you successful in the future. Here is where the Priority Wheel will help you identify and focus on your key priorities so you can connect your dots at each stage of your life.
Success is always a moving target and we need to recalibrate our priorities or the weight of each priority within the wheel. Using the Five Leadership Lessons and the Priority Wheel, you will be to stay focused on your goals and also be flexible and willing to try different approaches.
Do you have a formula for success that you use to connect your dots?
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