Posts Tagged ‘Transformation’

Digital Life – Is your Business Living in a Fishbowl?

Monday, May 7th, 2012

Ever feel like your business is swimming around and around in circles, like a goldfish in a bowl? Struggling to accomplish nothing much other than to search for an elusive pool of diminishing food?

Shrinking margins, a downtrodden economy, a rapidly transforming Digital World, and increasing scrutiny from those outside of your company’s fishbowl are all contributing to the “fear factor”. The fear factor is a knee-jerk reaction to these challenges and the common response is to cut costs, reduce headcount, and to lay off people as you cut production or business lines.

Over the past few years we have seen this reaction in nearly every industry. That is the primary reason unemployment is so high and yes, spending is lower by customers who are also driven by their own fear factor – not being able to pay the bills, their mortgage, or put food on the table.

And yet sales of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have continuously risen during this period. Aspects of Digital Life have flourished – more people than ever have accounts in social media venues such as Facebook and Twitter. Consumers are more conscious about what they spend their money on – but they are spending and willing to spend.

Perhaps if companies weren’t so concerned about cutting costs and were more focused on what products and services their customers are really willing to purchase, the emphasis on lay-offs and cutbacks could be shifted to providing Digital Life products and services that help their customers live a better life. Unemployment would go down, spending would go up and the goods delivered to consumers would begin to reflect their real wants and needs.

To understand how your business might escape the proverbial fishbowl and evolve to a Digital Life model that overcomes the fear factor, contact us at KeySo Global and register for a free diagnostic interview with our industry leading experts. Please email us at info@keysoglobal.com, call us at +1-847-478-1633 or visit our website www.keysoglobal.com.

Steve Benton, Principal, KeySo Global, LLC

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Google Plus – A Tool to Transform Knowledge Sharing As We Know It?

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

I was a relatively early adopter of LinkedIn and Twitter and although I have a corporate KeySo Global Facebook page, I really live vicariously on Facebook through my wife who, let’s face it, has managed our friendships and social calendar for most of our married life!

Then along comes this Google Plus! I’m invited to join, not by a friend or family member but by a business acquaintance where I suspect I’m in one of his circles labeled “met and might be an interesting or useful contact”!

I have to admit, I’d been intrigued by Google+ and the statistics for its growth are staggering. The media, of course, are claiming it’s the return of the cold war as Google takes on Facebook – but is it? Or is it something far more compelling than just another social network?

This amusing but revealing video on YouTube caught my eye, so I read Pete Cashmore’s blog on Mashable on “10 Tips for New Users”. Then I acquiesced and signed up!

We live in a world of “digital bytes” that consume our attention every second of the day. My biggest challenge is to find a digital tool that blends into my life to make it simpler, and replaces what currently requires multi-tasking with an all-encompassing digital medium. Similar to that which Steve Jobs managed to do with digital music and mobile web access.

Chris Brogan identified some interesting technical, human and etiquette aspects related to Google+ in two recent blogs. Firstly, just because you find someone of interest to follow and put that person in a “circle”, there is no guaranteed reciprocity. Unless you are “circled” in return, those people don’t see any of your updates and you still have the challenge of getting on their radar so that they “circle” you!

The belief is that Google+ will attract more professionals but their plight is the “digital byte syndrome” – compounded with fatigue – from constantly setting up new profiles and being disappointed by limited results. Then there’s the nagging question – what can I share that’s new? As I see it, the opportunity is there to blend the news updates of Twitter with the professional perspectives of LinkedIn and the digital life observations of Facebook, creating an integrated digital montage that could greatly enhance business and personal interactions.

David Armano appears to have a similar take on the situation. He views Google+ as a social layer that cuts across media, search, communication and collaboration services. This social layer potentially provides a capability that integrates the best of Web 2.0 into personalized services. It’s fascinating to consider that this horizontal layering could give rise to unforeseen and potentially transformational implications for our personal and professional lives, and I believe that its impact will extend way beyond that which most of us could predict.

Could the challenges of corporate knowledge sharing, together with the horizontal layering capability of Google+, form the seeds of what we at KeySo Global call “Digital Wisdom Networks”?  These networks face the challenge of bridging the gap between the internal communities within an organization that protect “aggregate” (internal) knowledge and those communities outside an organization, where an explosion of “collective” (external) knowledge has been powered by social networking. Essentially, Digital Wisdom Networks become trusted circles of professionals, in- and outside of a company, who collaborate to share new information for the purpose of generating company specific solutions and fresh innovation. Google+ might be just the tool they’re looking for!

To find out more about Digital Wisdom Networks and how converged digital technologies can greatly simplify collaboration and knowledge sharing within your organization, contact us at info@keysoglobal.com, +1-847-478-1633 or visit our website www.keysoglobal.com

Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global

 

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Is it live or is it Memorex?

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

In 1971 Memorex launched its “shattering glass” advertisements, followed up by a series of television commercials featuring Ella Fitzgerald singing a note that shattered a glass while being recorded to a Memorex audio cassette. The tape was played back and the recording also broke the glass, asking “Is it live or is it Memorex?”

Who remembers those ads from an era as far behind us as the Walkman – and why should they matter to us today? If you remember the ads and the company and are reading this blog then you are young at heart and smart enough to know that you need to understand the significance of digital transformation on your business. This story is important for the following 3 reasons:

  1.  Memorex no longer exists – it was started 1961 as a high tech computer storage company, branched into consumer products and after being acquired and broken up, was put into bankruptcy in 1996.
  2. The technologies (audio & video tapes) it was promoting have ceased to be relevant.
  3. Finally, and most importantly, the brand name and power of the message still have value. The brand was acquired by Imation of Taiwan and is used on accessories for iPods, Blueray and flash drives to evoke that sense of authenticity for quality playback.

While companies come and go and technologies fade, the value of a brand and the authenticity are more critical in a digital world than ever before. It is harder than ever today to determine what is live, what is real or fake, who are friends and who are not. Is the Facebook friend a real friend, one who would do for you what you need a friend to do? Is the company you “like” on Facebook a legitimate organization that understands what makes you tick, what really matters in your life? And perhaps most importantly, is trust possible in today’s Digital Life?

There are aspects of human nature that will always supercede the advances of technology – an understanding of right and wrong, good morals, spirituality, the courage to defend one’s family and loved ones, and to help and care for those who are in need. These are the values that define us and do not go away. And this is why brands that we have established an emotional and values-based connection with have such longevity and resonance with us.

Companies and individuals alike both face an interesting dilemma in today’s fast paced Digital World. Do we opt to embrace or ignore new technologies and the changes they bring about? The harsh reality is that ignoring change does not keep things the same!

On a corporate level, ignoring change can lead to disenfranchisement of the brand promise. A classic example of loss and recovery is Apple which owned simplicity with the Mac, lost it in the mid 90’s, only to rediscover it again when Steve Jobs returned and ushered in the iPod.

On a human level, it can hobble our ability to teach our children how to manage time, create expectations, earn respect and create trust by following through using new technologies and mediums, and building on the common values we share. Through the actions we take on a personal level and the brands we chose to validate, we define who we are, and how the world will evolve.

So in the Digital World “is it live or is it Memorex?” translates to authenticity and trust being the critical components of success! As we embrace change, build companies and continue to create more enabling technologies, we must not lose sight of those values that define us as humans. We must use the opportunities presented globally by Digital World technologies to bring health, happiness and the joy of living into the real world.

Organizations will need to change and adapt in order to ensure that their products remain authentic to their brands, and society as a whole will need to adapt to ensure that it remains true to its core values, and rewards those companies and brands that best understand and serve it.

If you’re interested in learning how your business can remain relevant and authentic in the emerging Digital World, we at KeySo Global can show you how. Contact us at info@keysoglobal.com, +1-847-478-1633 or visit our website www.keysoglobal.com

Steve Bell & Steve Benton, KeySo Global

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The advent of social business – how your business can benefit through digital life transformation

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

Social business has its roots in the ever increasing number of converged technologies and devices that are readily available to today’s Digital Life consumer. Their widespread adoption of these has spawned exciting new possibilities for businesses willing to engage with their customers, partners, and other stakeholders.

By implementing a social business strategy, a business can provide easy access to company resources for eager and accepting consumers and customers in ways that many incumbents do not, and often cannot. Social businesses treat staff not only as valued members of their own company, but as recognized and valued members of society at large.

Many businesses are experimenting with social media forums, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn in order to increase sales by reaching their customers using channels that are familiar to them. However, use of social media is merely the tip of the social business iceberg of opportunities.

Social businesses capitalize on the emerging opportunities that reach deep into the hearts and minds of their employees, customers, suppliers, and partners by focusing on 3 core elements of social interaction:

  1. Building of trust and lasting relationships
  2. Listening and learning from employees, customers, consumers, partners and suppliers alike
  3. Collaborating to provide innovative and timely products and services that resonate with the needs and wants of all constituents and stakeholders

Some of the key business opportunities presented through social business include:

  • New and greater insights into market trends
  • Deeper brand loyalty and customer stickiness
  • Timely innovative products and services that are geared to meeting emerging needs of today and tomorrow
  • Increased market share and business growth
  • Better business performance and sustainability

Social businesses learn that the more they successfully engage (interact, listen, learn, and co-create) with Digital Life communities, the more their insights into the needs and wants of their customers are enhanced. They are much quicker to market in providing innovative goods and services that meet changing needs and wants. They find that their growth in sales rapidly turns to record profitability and soon realize that their brand has strengthened significantly due to the viral spread of reactions amongst their customers, potential customers, partners and other stakeholders.

When analyzing the opportunities and threats afforded by social business, your business cannot use traditional tools and methodologies. Instead, a holistic, integrated, and interconnected view of Digital Life must be at the root of your business development and strategy, culminating in new business and economic models that are founded in thinking differently about the world.

To learn how to create a more adaptable business model that can keep pace with the rapidly changing digital landscape, contact us at info@keysoglobal.com, +1-847-478-1633 or visit our website www.keysoglobal.com

Steve Benton, Principal, KeySo Global LLC

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Why Google should buy Barnes & Noble

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

Article first published as Why Google Should Buy Barnes & Noble on Technorati.

The media is abuzz with the news that John Malone of Liberty Media has made an offer of $17 a share for 70% of Barnes & Noble, the last remaining bookstore in the US.

In the Financial Times the point was made that, being the last man standing, Barnes and Noble has the advantage of no competition, and the Wall Street Journal emphasized the value of the Nook software that could become prevalent across Android-based tablets.

There could, however, be a broader opportunity for a company with vision. In one of his recent blogs, Seth Godin challenged the concept of the current library as being a warehouse of dead books to being a place where “people come together to do co-working and coordinate and invent projects worth working on together”.

Why not extend this concept of reinventing the library to being a reinvention of the bookstore? Apple’s concept of successfully mashing 3 things together – a community (Mac / iPhone users), a platform (iTunes) and an experience (Apple store) – could be built upon to create a powerful viral marketing experience and exceptionally loyal fans.

If Google were to buy Barnes & Noble they could enhance the Apple model by blending communities (Android, Nook, YouTube) with platforms (Nook, Google Search, Chrome and Android), and provide opportunities for new experiences of learning, creating and discovering in an amazing distinct new mashed-up retail forum.

It could become the perfect living laboratory for integration of digital and real-world resources, and at the same time provide a mechanism for interaction with consumers; it would make the Google brand incredibly tangible across all its ventures.

Coincidently, it could provide the perfect forum for facilitating a nationwide open innovation environment that encourages the growth of entrepreneurism. In this new digital age, the Barnes & Noble Café could become the innovation catalyst, similar to the old coffee houses of Europe that used to facilitate the bringing together of creative and inspiring inventors and entrepreneurs. The Android and Nook platforms could be extended to enable a social networking community focused on education, innovation, creativity and fun.

The retail aspect of the B&N facility would also evolve offering a broad array of products and services that real and virtual associates could advise on and show virtually, while suggesting suitable additions that could be purchased locally or online with their Android devices and delivered when they want. The facility would then morph into a hub that brings Adwords to life, with context and location both physically and virtually on Android devices in the store.

In a single move, Google could totally revolutionize the face of retail, turn the tables on the Amazon business model by emulating and enhancing the Apple model – all for less than $1bn. Sounds like a deal to me!

We at KeySo Global understand the importance of reinventing business models and we’d be delighted to show you how converged technologies can be used to help your business run more efficiently and effectively. To set up an appointment, call us at +1 847-478-1633, email us at info@keysoglobal.com or visit our website at www.keysoglobal.com.
Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global LLC

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Social media boot camps – is that all it takes to re-boot your business?

Friday, May 13th, 2011

You can tell when the hype cycle on social media has reached its pinnacle when you see a Sunday newspaper running an advertisement for a “Social Media CEO Boot Camp”. In 90 minutes, this crash course is going to provide you with Social Media 101, successful case studies, proven strategies and tested techniques, and will result in generating new customers for you. And the reason that you’d be interested in this is because “your existing traditional advertising and marketing has stalled”!

The likely probability is that this course will tell you about social networks, including Facebook, forums like Yelp or Trip Advisor, and micro-blogging Twitter, as well as content communities like YouTube; perhaps it will also mention wiki’s and social search sites such as Digg, and the power of RSS. It will inform you about the explosion in social media created by users generating content and companies exponentially increasing their participation, while emphasizing why you must have a voice in this expanding universe. At the same time it will preach to you about the value of search engine optimization and, if the program is really good, it will stress the need to engage listening programs to hear what people are saying about your company and its brands. As a CEO, you will come away in one of two states: either total amazement and full of energy or, more likely, filled with concern about the ability of your organization to catch up.

The reality is that social media is one element of a larger movement resulting from the impact that digital technologies and social business have in changing the interactions of companies, customers and employees on a daily basis. It is no longer about monologue conversations between the company or its employees and consumers; it’s not about control and selling; instead the emphasis is shifting to community engagement, openness and participation.

At a recent seminar on social business run by IBM and “Information Week”, the following component pieces were identified as critical elements in social business architecture:

1. The ability to understand the market dynamics of the industry, including how competition, brands and customers are socially engaging.
2. The utilization of social software, including platforms, applications and technology.
3. The identification of social objectives, including customer engagement, employee empowerment, partner enablement and supplier engagement.
4. The determination of social output, including consistent social media, the creation of communities and the participation in social networks.

The key take-away was that a social business strategy is not just about the deployment of social technology and software but that it is about the organizational, cultural and process shifts that also need to be recognized and planned for.

The audience at this seminar was comprised of technology and information savvy subscribers of Information Week, and yet the majority of the questions related to these four major themes:

1. How do I work with IT so that they don’t stall implementation of our social media strategy?
2. How do I sell the need & concept of a social business strategy to my boss?
3. How do I ensure that my social business strategy addresses security and compliance issues?
4. How do I prevent organizational overload derailing my social business strategy?

At the heart of all this complexity and constant change, resulting from the increasing utilization of new technologies, software and business processes, is the need to take a holistic planning perspective and to recognize the need for good human relations and change management.

As a CEO, you are smart, flexible and adaptable but even you can’t keep pace with what is occurring, so don’t anticipate that a single individual in the organization can either. What is required is the creation of a community of people with the common purpose of acquiring the necessary knowledge and pushing forward with the transformation that is required. In this way you will facilitate, shape and ensure the success of your company in the digital world.

We at KeySo Global understand the importance of having a strong social business strategy and we’d be happy to show you how converged technologies can be used to help your business run more efficiently and effectively. To set up an appointment, call us at +1 847-478-1633, email us at info@keysoglobal.com or visit our website at www.keysoglobal.com.
Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global LLC

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The digital paradox: 5 questions to address

Saturday, April 30th, 2011

We identified in our last blog that CEO’s face a huge paradox: how do they adapt to new digital technologies and adopt social media but at the same time not lose momentum, market share or profitability?

Good inter-departmental collaboration is crucial, and we addressed how social media strategy shared across a company can act as a catalyst for change and engagement. Another more critical problem that organizations have to wrestle with is that their resources have been stretched thinly as the severe economic conditions of the last three years have forced them to focus on efficiency and effectiveness. Processes and systems have been tightened at the same time that personnel has been slashed, resulting in fewer people having to take on more.

The crisis occurs when these fully stretched, 100% loaded systems need to be fundamentally changed in order to adapt to new business model requirements brought about by the digital economy. It’s one thing to introduce a new system but if you don’t have the time and resources to provide the training and support to upgrade and develop necessary staff skills and knowledge, the business will likely implode.

No one is saying that this change is easy but it’s possible to plan and manage this transition effectively with forethought and assistance from external expertise. The key is for companies to have a clear vision and game plan that they can share, communicate and implement internally in order to be able to make this transition run smoothly.

The following are 5 initial questions that you should be asking as you consider embracing digital technologies and adopting a social media strategy for your business:

1. Is your organization structured to engage your customer base and respond proactively to your customers, or will it be you who has to react?
2. Do you have policies to guide & enable your staff to interact, monitor and evolve the message that you want delivered with social media?
3. Will your new digital business strategy and IT systems be architected to allow Marketing to have flexible best-of-breed tools, and at the same time enable integration into existing information solutions that ensure secure data storage?
4. What process will you use to capture ideas from social media , incubate them and determine future strategies?
5. What training & support will you provide your workforce to be better able to listen, analyze and use the information gathered, and at the same time cope with this change?

By considering these questions and having a strong game plan in place when embracing digital technology, it will mean reduced overload and more efficiency for your workforce, as well as more flexibility and adaptability for your organization. Once you involve your staff in the process, show them how simply the end result can be achieved and the benefits to both themselves and the company as a whole, they will be more willing to participate in helping you achieve this goal.

The ultimate outcome of these questions and decisions will be a transformation strategy to move the existing one dimensional business model into the multidimensional digital world in order to take advantage of the opportunities enabled by convergence technologies. Would you like a better understanding of these opportunities or do you need help addressing the challenges associated with this digital transformation? We’d be happy to assist you – just contact us at +1 847-478-1633 or visit our website at www.keysoglobal.com.
Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global LLC

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