Technology Revolution: The Future of Now

Right Time Experiences. Huge business potential for you, but mobile solutions require business insight, technical chops and strong design to get it right.

You're a game-changer! You've created the new product or service of the millennium, but have no money to take it to market. Your best options: beg your FFF (family, friends, fools) circle, tap an angel for seed money, or convince a venture capitalist to invest millions. Our experts have a lot to say. Chris O'Connor / Taptera : "You've got to have a pretty face (user experience) to get attention; t...

Digital marketing. Your increasingly digitally-smart customers expect more from your website than being able to buy something. They're demanding a relevant, personalized browsing experience with new product discovery, research, price comparisons and feedback exchange. But if your company is just going through the motions of ecommerce, you'll lose them fast. Our experts can help you get there. Glen...

Sales transformation. A catch phrase "for virtually every C-level executive in the race to find answers to questions about sales and earnings growth, positioning and differentiation; even survival," says Bob Nicols, author of The Journey to Sale Transformation: Twenty-five Axioms for Becoming a Trusted Partner to your Customers. Bob and other experts have a lot to say about why and how your sales...

M2M. Rise of the machines. The promise of a world of connected devices, where machines of all types and sizes can autonomously communicate with each other. Don't believe it's a reality yet? Global M2M revenue is projected to soar from $121 million in 2010 to $948 billion by 2020, the year Ericsson predicts the number of connected devices will reach 50 billion. Our experts have a lot to say. Jason...

Utilities. How "smart" are they about the smart meter data they can now read and its value to the consumer? Our experts weigh in. Roque Marinho: "With the smart meter being part of operations...utilities have to cope with the fact that there is no turning back on the 'quantum leap' on the multitude of reads." Stuart Ravens: "Smartness begins and ends with analyzing the vast volumes of data created...

Retailers: We know it's tougher than ever to turn customers into loyal evangelists for your brand. The experts say: Christine B. Whittemore: "The winners in retail today are retailers who understand that the customer calls the shots. Few retailers can compete strictly on price..." Brian Kilcourse: "Retailers have a big opportunity to re-define the in-store experience by making it a part of the wor...

Open government. Transparency, participation, collaboration. Sounds good on paper, but is it a true game-changer yet? Our experts say: Dr. Natalie Helbig: "Opening government is a perfect storm, but we don't know whether it will just be a lot of data or a sustained and meaningful change in the way we govern and are governed. Russ LeFevre: Technologies exist to enable open government. This 'genie'...

Risk. A fact of business life today. What is your company doing about it? Hear what our experts say. Dr. Parveen Gupta: "Today, nothing is more fundamental to business and more vexing to a company's directors than effective risk governance...a failure in risk oversight could be interpreted by the regulators and the courts as a breach of fiduciary duty by the Board." Barry Murphy: "Good information...

Have your employees demanded a BYOD (bring your own device) policy yet? If not, the writing is on the wall – or on the tablet. Any day now, they'll be bringing their iPhones and iPads to work. Is this trend a threat or an opportunity for you? Consultant Steven Romero sees the latter, advising companies to "leverage the consumerization of IT to advance enterprise mobility." Forrester's George Lawri...

Today's the day! You're hiring a well-vetted, steep-salary C-suite exec and you're staffing a business-critical new department. Surely your HR folks gave you rock-solid validation for these particular human capital investments. Well, did they? Bersin and Associates founder Josh Bersin doubts it. "One of the biggest opportunities for HR to drive value in the coming years is talent analytics, but HR...

Bankers, listen up: It's not about YOU anymore. Customers are demanding a hassle-free experience, convenience, faster transaction processing, fair fees. Gone are the days of luring them with a free toaster. Two recent blogs tell the story: "4 Reasons Why Bankers Should Think Like Retailers" and "Stop Running Banks for Bankers—Run Them for Customers." What do the experts say? Javelin's James Van Dy...

Enterprise mobility is an unstoppable force. By 2015, this game-changer could impact over 37% of the world's workforce - about 1.3 billion people. And by that time, 50% of enterprise mobility applications will be HTML5, predicts Sanjay Poonen, President & Corporate Officer, Technology & Innovation Products, Head of Mobile Division at SAP. He notes, "Mobile technology is creating both an expectatio...

Information is still king. But you'll need a different mantra to capture the ear – and the wallets – of the vast Latino market. According to JeffreyGroup president Mike Valdés-Fauli, "Culture is king...Only now are we starting to see savvy-marketers at major consumer brands that 'get it'...The nuances surrounding countries of origin make for remarkably different points of view from Mexicans in Los...

Have your employees demanded a BYOD (bring your own device) policy yet? If not, the writing is on the wall – or on the tablet. Any day now, they'll be bringing their iPhones and iPads to work. Is this trend a threat or an opportunity for you? Consultant Steven Romero sees the latter, advising companies to "leverage the consumerization of IT to advance enterprise mobility." Forrester's George Lawri...

Ready to grow your company into a global brand? Good plan, says Emergent Research's Steve King. "Almost 75% of global GDP growth over the next 10 years is expected to come from emerging market countries. How can you not participate in that growth? More good news from Vivaldi Partners' Erich Joachimsthaler. "Today, we run a global business in a hyperlocal fashion. Collaboration between headquarters...

Like their grown-up counterparts, college newspapers are in trouble, says campusmediagroup.wordpress.com. "It's now conventional wisdom that newspapers are dying, and the only debate left is when, not if...Are you with a college newspaper...? What have you been doing to stay relevant and prevent your eulogy from being written?" SAP VP Dan Mahowald has the answer. "The newspaper is not dead. Higher...

Through the magic of remote radio production, SAP Radio producer / host Bonnie D. Graham interviewed more two dozen attendees at SAP's Sapphire Now 2012 for this special edition of "Coffee Break with Game-Changers". Hear noted influencers plus SAP partners, customers and experts answer the big question: "How is SAP changing the game for your company, clients and/or market?" And see guests posing w...

On April 4, we explored whether business intelligence, aka "BI", is an oxymoron or a way to make companies genuinely smarter. Today our experts take a deeper dive into why even the best technical intelligence isn't really "smart" without a solid strategy. Jason Rose sees it this way: "Technology is an enabler. Having a strategy sets your roadmap for success." Brian Sommer takes a mathematical appr...

Put on your consumer hat for a minute. Does your personal favorite customer service horror story end with how easily the offending company could have made your experience a dream, instead of a nightmare? Now put on your business hat. If you've heard such a tale of woe about your own company, do you know why? SAP's Anthony Leaper believes it's about the people you hire. "Are they emotionally attach...

We're spoiled! We're so accustomed to getting real-time/right-time personal and business information via mobile devices and apps that we now expect similar responsiveness from the public sector. Could game-changing mobility be the answer to speeding-up the so-called slow-turning wheels of government? Yes! And government leaders are poised to make it happen. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show...

Wow! You've got an amazing idea for the game-changing new product of the century. But no money to bring it to market. What to do? Start by begging for seed money from your FFF circle (family, friends and fools). If that fails, cast your hopes heavenward for an angel investor with start-up capital. Or, if you're dreaming big, find a venture capitalist with millions to invest in your potentially hig...

Pop quiz: Business intelligence aka "BI". (A) Alphabet soup? (B) Oxymoron? (C) Secret weapon that instantly makes your company smarter? Answer: C, but it's not that simple, says analyst Josh Greenbaum. "Business users don't understand data, and data geeks don't understand business. BI software has traditionally been among the top forms of shelfware in the enterprise. Most data warehouses are sanit...

The mobile world isn't coming; it's already here. It's a fact of business your company has to deal with, and a serious game you'd better play to win. That means getting the right information in the right format to the right people at the right time and place. According to communications researcher Maribel Lopez, "Businesses face a dynamic landscape where both customer and employee demands are chan...

"Demanding, vocal, impatient, and always right." If this describes your customers, are you tempted to just give up and find new ones? Don't do it, cautions Becky Carroll, author of The Hidden Power of Your Customers. "The popularity of social media and ubiquitous mobile phones have created the perfect storm for customer service - and companies need to get it right or suffer the very public consequ...