Technology Revolution: The Future of Now

Utilities. We only think about them when we flip a switch and the power doesn't come on – right? But utilities are businesses that must play to win in a competitive global arena with infrastructure, government, supply, economic and customer challenges. Ovum's Stuart Ravens warns, "Business and technology pressures are combining to create a virtuous – or vicious – cycle disrupting the utility busin...

"Good. Better. Best. Never let it rest, until your good is better and your better is best." This classic children's nursery rhyme should be a grown-up mantra for every company today. Either do it better - operate more efficiently and continually innovate to meet market demands - or succumb to rising costs and proactive competitors. But how? SAP's Peter Russo advises, "Many standard processes can b...

Tech leaders with a traditional "CIO" title face increasing pressure to change with the times. Why? According to Asuret's Michael Krigsman, "In the old days of corporate technology, experts guarded big computer centers and served as the high priests of technology. Few others were allowed inside their precious realm. Today, so-called 'consumerization of IT' means every department and function in a...

"Show me the money", the iconic phrase from the 1996 film Jerry Maguire, still resonates in business and pop culture more than 15 years later. But before a company can see the money, they need to demand, "Show me the information." That's no easy task because growing your business requires getting the right information, in the right format, to the right people at the right time. Adding to your chal...

Valentine's Day: Love it if you receive "the perfect gift". Hate it if you don't know what gift to give or where to find it. If you're the latter, it's not all your fault, says Adrian Drury at Ovum: "You may not know what to buy your loved one, but your retailer does." As a game-changer holiday, Feb. 14 poses a double-edge relationship sword for retailers. Fail to help a consumer express their lov...

What's in a name? Plenty, for today's 'CIO'. Given this tech leader's dynamically evolving role, their "I" stripe could be earned for bravery as an astute Integrator, game-changing Innovator, Infrastructure guru, Intelligence master – or some of each. But perhaps the title itself needs a makeover: 'CCEO' for Chief Customer Experience Officer. Alphabet soup aside, who is best suited for this transf...

Ready to grow your company through global expansion? Smart strategy, according to Emergent Research's Steve King. "Almost three quarters 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? But the road to profitable subsidiaries can be bumpy, cautions SAP's Mike Morel. "Subsidiaries have been the stepchildren o...

Whether you're a start-up or a seasoned company, you're facing the hard facts of today's customer experience: it's a perpetual-motion target and it's your new competitive battleground. Given these challenges – plus your tight time and tighter budgets – how can you slide the sensitive customer satisfaction needle in the right direction to motivate your employees and satisfy your executives? Tune in...

According to Jen McClure at Thomson Reuters, "In just a few short years, social media has evolved from being considered a fad, to a disruptive force, to a powerful new set of business tools that are being incorporated into every function of organizations as they strive to become 'social businesses.'" Yes, social media has changed the voices of customers and the media – whenever they're happy or no...

With social media and smartphones fueling consumers' expectations and enabling them to impact your brand, the customer experience is now your competitive battleground. Everyone has a customer experience horror story. What's the buzz about your company? Are you prepared to put customers at the center of your thinking to transform them into your best advocates? Meet Reza Soudagar, Vinay Iyer and Dr....

There's a global financial crisis, and struggling companies are reducing staff, or worse, shuttering doors. If you're out of a job, you'd be out of your mind to consider starting a business today. Right? Not true, says small business expert Susan Wilson Solovic. "We are entering a new era in which the majority of Americans will either own a small business or work for one....While it may seem count...

Your holiday gifts may already be unwrapped, but we've got more surprises for you. Ten former guests will predict the exciting game-changer technologies that could transform, disrupt and shake up your business status quo in 2012. Their conversation may spark ideas on better ways to run your company – or start a new one – and move you in amazing new directions. Since our October debut, you've heard...

Some things never change. "The customer is always right", a slogan associated with Marshall Field's department store in the late 19th century, and attributed earlier to French hotelier César Ritz, holds true today. Consider this: You do everything right – deliver the right merchandise at the right price, right terms and guarantees, at the right time and place – yet some customers loudly declare th...

In our unwired world of business, millions of mobile devices connect the boardroom to the shop floor to the consumer across the entire supply chain. These laptops, tablet and smart phones – which aren't tied down by a power cord and data cable – empower employees at every level and the companies that employ them. If you're still on the outside peering into the window of today's game-changing mobil...

Imagine such fast access to all of your data - even field-fresh information less than a minute old - that when you ask a question, you get an informed answer in milliseconds! Not minutes, hours or days like you'd get from spreadsheets on different computers. Milliseconds. Essentially "real-time". Now think of the powerful intelligence this would give you in response to "I want it now" customers an...

Whoosh! That's the sound of data flying in and out of your company. Information today is indeed king. But if you're not governing data flow and handling with solid policies and processes, you're missing the boat on maximizing information business value and minimizing risk exposure. If this is on your perpetual to-do list or if tentative rules are scattered around the company, listen up! Today we e...

In our Era of Pervasive Mobility, most of us take the benefits of smart phones and tablet devices for granted. But it wasn't so long ago that we didn't have on-the-go connectivity to people, information, shopping, entertainment and work. On Nov. 23, two days before Black Friday starts the 2011 holiday season and the year's busiest travel weekend, we'll look at the social and business impacts of to...

Our Nov. 2 Breakfast with Game-Changers weather forecast predicted prevailing clouds disrupting business-as-usual in a good way far into the future, with bright stars lighting the cloud-filled skies. Of course, we were talking about "the cloud" as in "cloud computing" – and what it can do for your business, whether you're a new or mature small, mid-size or large company. Still in the dark, you say...

Facebook this. Tweet that. Blog something. LIKE this. FOLLOW that. Social media. Social networking. Social business. Whatever you call it, it's here to stay. And it's moved from the domain of y-/i-genners' personal trivia to a new business sandbox where companies big and small play to win high-stakes customer relationships. The theory: "Be in the game or lose the opportunity." So where is your com...

You've heard the buzz and hype about 'the cloud', but do you know what it can do for you and your business? While Sand Hill Group's research saw a dramatic leap in cloud computing adoption in Q4-2010, it also found that many small to midsize businesses are still confused about the meaning of 'cloud computing.' Can you tell the cloud apart from high-tech trends like Web 2.0, social media, virtualiz...

On last week's Big Data program, we discussed how today's massive data volume, velocity and variety are challenging the creative coping skills of companies around the world. Now we'll examine how to shake, bake and serve your data in far less time than it takes Rachael Ray to cook-up her newest yummo recipe. Yes! In-memory, real-time data analytics are the newest game-changing tool that can boost...

Big Data. The world of Three V's. Gartner describes "big data" as a three-dimensional data growth model: Volume of data; Velocity or speed of data in/out; and Variety of data types and sources. When we do the math, "big" typically ranges from a few dozen terabytes to multi-petabytes or more in a single data set. The bottom line: Big data is waaayyy too much for common software tools to efficiently...

Look what's walking in your door this morning with your employees: their ipads, ipods, iphones! Why? Because their on-the-go lifestyle requires continuous personal and work connectivity. But at the end of the day, they may walk out the door with your proprietary data on their devices. This rapid consumerization of IT is already a reality around the globe. Are you ready for this new fact of busines...

Wondering who today's business innovators are and what's on their plate that can change the way YOU do business next? Pour a fresh cup of your favorite breakfast beverage and join our expert panel for the debut of Breakfast with Game-Changers, as we explore these timely questions: How do game-changers think? What inspires them to develop breakthrough technologies that disrupt, excite and improve c...