How Companies are Building the Green Internet: GreenPeace Report

Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Role: Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on the IOT of Customer Experience and how the cloud is driving more flexible, agile, and robust customer service and customer experiences. In-app or in device customer service is the future. Coverage Areas: Next Generation Customer, Digital Marketing Transformation Bio: As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Petouhoff works with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic customer experience (marketing, sales and service) solutions which engage customers, build brands and grow businesses. Combining her experience as a former Forrester software analyst, PWC systems integrator and change management consultant, Petouhoff leads executive workshops to discuss to not only…...

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The GreenPeace Report puts technology companies into groups of energy use: Dirty Energy, Middle Of The Road and Green Innovators. As an analyst, we talk a lot about the newest types of software, computers and gadgets of which need energy to run. And there is real resurgence of entrepreneurial spirit, where people are looking to feel satisfaction from the work they do and make the world a better place, rather than just tolerating brain-numbing work for the sake a of paycheck, only to find enjoy somewhere else. With all the enthusiasm also comes a great deal of energy use that we may or may not be aware of.

According to the Kaufman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity (KIEA), the entrepreneurial rate in the U.S. is already well above the dot.com bubble of 15 years ago. From social media to music, streaming video, email and commerce, we are increasingly moving much of our lives online. But which companies are storing all of that data, and how are they getting the energy? Here’s who hosts some of the internet’s most popular sites and services in their data centers – and whether those companies are using dirty or clean energy. Find out how you can participate by following the hashtags #clickclean and download the full report and take action for a green internet.

Three Types of Energy As the expansion of technology is continuously accelerating, we are also creating a world where more and more energy is be required. There’s a term called Dirty Energy, which means the focus is only on efficiency and the company has taken few or no steps to switch to renewables. And the there’s the Middle of the Road, which are the companies that are taking steps toward a greener internet, buy not leading the way. And then Green Internet Innovators are the groups that are committed to 100% renewable energy. Their leadership is helping to make our lives, online and offline, greener.

The Green Internet Innovators Here’s one of the companies that is on the side of the green internet innovators.  Apple’s aggressive pursuit of its commitment to power the iCloud with 100% renewable energy has given the company the inside track among the IT sector’s leaders in building a green Internet. Apple has made good on its pledge by building the largest privately owned solar farms at its North Carolina data center, working with its utility in Nevada to power its upcoming data center there with solar and geothermal energy, and purchasing wind energy for its Oregon and California data centers. Apple’s commitment to renewable energy has helped set a new bar for the industry, illustrating in very concrete terms that a 100% renewable internet is within its reach, and providing several models of intervention for other companies that want to build a sustainable Internet. Download the full report. (Full disclosure: I have a relative that works at Apple.)

 

 

 

 

 

How Facebook Uses Energy    Facebook continues to grow and dominate the global social media landscape with 1.23 billion monthly active users. Facebook has made huge strides forward since 2012 to become one of the clear green internet leaders. Radical improvements in transparency and efforts to deliver significant wind energy investment in Iowa have helped drive Facebook into the top tier of companies creating the green internet. By building on the advocacy it has started with energy utilities to drive more clean energy investment, and continuing to find ways to bring renewable energy to scale to power its data centers in North Carolina and Iowa, Facebook is setting a clear bar for other major social media networks and internet companies to follow.

How Google Uses Energy Google has continued to lead the major internet brands in purchasing renewable energy at scale to power its massive online ecosystem. The company is now reporting electricity consumption of 3,315 GWh, with 34% of its operations powered by clean energy. Google’s use of power purchase agreements to procure clean energy has been adopted by others in the sector, like Microsoft, and it has successfully influenced utilities in Oklahoma and North Carolina to offer new renewable energy options by using its immense business clout. As Google expands its footprint to Latin America and Asia, it will need to maintain its innovative edge to make sure that it continues to source clean energy even in countries that feature dirty electric grids.

Twitter falls between the types of companies that are clearly innovating in their use of energy sources and those that fall into the dirty energy collection. Twitter’s has changed the way people around the world communicate. Twitter does not yet own any data centers of its own, instead renting data center space from others. The microblogging platform has remained silent about the type and amount of electricity that is powering those data centers. Twitter remains at the bottom of the industry for energy transparency, disclosing no information about its energy footprint. Twitter lags behind its competitors in social media, Facebook, which took significant steps to increase transparency and increase its use of clean energy soon after it went public.

And on the side of the spectrum are copies that fall into the Stuck in dirty energy past ways of providing and using energy. One example is Digital Realty Trust (DRT)  which is the largest digital landlord in the world, with 131 data centers worldwide, roughly three-fourths of which are located in the US. Digital Realty operates on the wholesale end of the colocation spectrum, providing both entire data center properties to large customers like Equinix and Amazon Web Services, and also renting portions of facilities to meet the needs of large online properties such as Facebook, Rackspace, Salesforce, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

So the question really is – as we build all this technology, are we really making the world a better place? We need / want technology to scale. But at what cost? CEO’s need to consider not only their new innovations in products and services, but also how they are leaving the environment. Are they leaving it in a better or worse state and at the end of the day, what’s the cost in the long run to these decisions.

@DrNatalie

 

 

 

 

Future of Work Chief Executive Officer

Datameer CEO Goes With the Flow

Terri Griffith

Professor/Author/Speaker
Simon Fraser University

Terri Griffith holds the Keith Beedie Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business. She spent two decades in the Silicon Valley and, in 2012 was honored as a Woman of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Terri helps her students and their organizations accelerate performance and prepare for the futures of work. Through her speaking, writing, teaching, and research, she brings evidence-based leadership and innovation to high-tech, education, and global agribusiness organizations. She inspires and coaches groups on negotiating change and uniquely mixing existing and new capabilities. Her most recent work uses a “bottom-up” approach to automation, including artificial intelligence. Her award-winning book, The Plugged-In Manager:…...

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I have the honor of a post in today's Harvard Business Review Blog: Help Your Employees Find Flow. 

Holacracy. Results-Only Work Environments. These new, more flexible ways of working may be a step too far for many organizations. Still, greater employee freedom can create a better sense of “flow,” which enhances engagement, retention, and performance. This can be achieved by loosening your grip on work practices — but you don’t have to let go completely: remove obstacles, set boundaries and meaningful goals, then let work take its course.

Stefan Groschupf, founder and CEO of Datameer, a big data analytics company, talked with me about how he tries to reduce negative interruptions and increase “flow.” His industry is one of the most pressured to recruit and retain top talent. He’s finding that the organization is more productive (e.g., has more leads generated in marketing or has engineers moving through projects more quickly) with active management of interruptions and engagement to enhance flow.

Please take a look at the full post as Stefan Groschupf provides some great insights. Two things I loved about our conversation:

1. He can test his beliefs given Datameer's focus on data-driven business. They are always tracking results. This isn't flow for the sake of flow. It's flow for the sake of business.
2. When I asked him about examples related to my ideas of you can lead by letting go, he didn't back off. For him, it's about the work. This seemed to parallel the "Lead, Follow, and Get Out of the Way," conversation I had with Marc Klein, Event Manager and Associate Principal at Populous. The addition of technology may give leaders more confidence in their ability to keep track of the work process, and thus, enable them to let work go with the flow, rather than needing to keep a death grip on the business. 

 

Future of Work Innovation & Product-led Growth Chief Executive Officer Chief People Officer

Increase your IT Funding by Drawing More, a Core Competency for Every CIO

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A few months ago, Jay Ferro and I (Chief Information Officer at American Cancer Society) did a webinar with Frost and Sullivan.

We touched on communication skills, culture, getting innovation right, getting people right, and learning the commercial and value oriented lingo.

Something profound about communicating value as a CIO dawned on me after I subconsciously somewhat bold made the following statement:

I have yet to have pitched an idea or supported a project where if I did a good enough job and everyone understands it, it still didn’t get funded.

The bottom line is it’s not that we don’t have enough funding in the organization; it’s that we’re not articulating the value of the technology projects enough.

After I realize what I said on a recorded webinar and how it might have sounded sounded, I started to think through the “how” to make sure I can stand behind such a bold statement. I can. What was the secret sauce to pitching (and getting funded) large transformation IT projects?

I arrived at one conclusion, I DRAW EVERYTHING. I am notorious for pitching multimillion-dollar projects with a simple single image, and with a high percentage getting them funded.

And so I really started to dig into it, what are the three things that I can suggest to CIOs, to help them really embrace the notion of drawing. Here it goes.

1. USE CARTOONS

The video below is one of my favorite YouTube videos; it mixes sound, writing, images and visual. Cartoons are easy to draw, and your audience is willing to engage because they assume that it is not “baked” as yet, this allows them to own the shaping and framing of your proposal garnering the much needed "ownership capital" technology investment governance committees often need. The reality is, photos, or PowerPoint shapes (no matter how good you are) can never precisely tell a story the way a cartoon can.

2. USE PASTEL COLORS

I can’t tell you how many times I review presentations where the colors are the sharp reds and greens from the stock Microsoft Office palette. Many times the content is brilliant, and the visuals are digestible, but the mere use of “rookie” colors, you send a certain “rookie” tone for the content.

The image below is an illustration I did to show what I mean.

3. USE TRANSPARENCY & SINGLE HUE

It is one thing to use pastel colors, it’s another thing to use colors carefully.

I learned this after realizing approximately 1 in every 12 male is colorblind (the numbers are different for females). Colors can be a double-edged sword, you want to use tones to differentiate not for impact, but colors to impact. I made the example below.

So going back to the conversation I had with Jay, and Frost and Sullivan; If one of the more important things for CIOs in Life Sciences to do is communicate the value of a technology transformation and visuals are such a big part of said communication; should a CIO be taking some art/design lessons on the side?

Is there such a thing as visual literacy training for CIOs?

As usual, thank you for sharing, and do not hesitate to join the conversation. Be critical!

1. What are some of your tricks?
2. What are some of your best practices?

New C-Suite Future of Work Tech Optimization Innovation & Product-led Growth Chief Executive Officer Chief Information Officer

A Guide to the New Actions and Objects of the Digital Workplace

Alan Lepofsky

Vice President & Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Alan Lepofsky - VP and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research. With almost two decades of experience in the collaboration software industry, Lepofsky helps organizations improve the way their employees work together to get their jobs done. Lepofsky’s primary research area The Future of Work, focuses on: integrating collaboration and business processes (Purposeful Collaboration), structuring work via Social Task Management, leveraging analytics and digital assistants to work more productively, the strategic impact of mobile computing on business transformation, and measuring workforce culture based on Digital Proficiency instead of age. Twitter: @alanlepoLinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alanlepo     , Title: Big IdeasIntelligent Collaboration: The Intersection of…...

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In the Constellation Research report, Segmenting Audiences By Digital Proficiency, we introduced the idea of categorising people by a combination of their comfort and skill level with technology instead of by age. One of the things that contributes to a person's knowledge and comfort is an understanding of the current terminology used in the digital workplace, in this case specifically social networking.

Not long ago the main tools people used at work for communication were email and chat, and the main actions associated with those were Reply and Create Memo. In the era of social networking, employees now need to be familiar with terms like @mention, hashtag, check-in, follow, like and share.  

As a compliment to the Digital Proficiency report, Constellation has just published A Guide to the New Actions and Objects of the Digital Workplace.  This report provides a glossary of the items that digital workers should be familiar with, supported by examples from several consumer (ex: Facebook, Twitter) and enterprise social networks (ex: Jive, IBM Connections). It also covers the strengths and weaknesses of email versus social networking, and provides guidance on how employees should prepare for and use the new tools and actions now available to them.

Example:


Table of Contents
- Out with the Old, In with the Social
- Whatâ??s Wrong with Email?
  - Restricts audiences
  - Creates formatting challenges
  - Lacks useful integration
- Understand the New Nouns and Verbs
- How Does This Affect My Job?
- Quick Start Guide

Click here for more information on A Guide to the New Actions and Objects of the Digital Workplace, the first in a series of add-ons reports that build upon the Digital Proficiency framework.

Future of Work Marketing Transformation New C-Suite Next-Generation Customer Experience Innovation & Product-led Growth Tech Optimization Revenue & Growth Effectiveness Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Chief Customer Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief People Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Marketing Officer Chief Digital Officer Chief Revenue Officer Chief Human Resources Officer

Making Friends and Influencing People

Gavin Heaton

Founder
Disruptors Co

Gavin is the Founder of Disruptors Co, one of Australia’s leading independent strategy and innovation companies. Gavin advises firms on strategy, marketing, product development and innovation. He is also a member of the Orbits program, the influencer network of award winning analyst and advisory firm, Constellation Research. Gavin advises boards and leadership on innovation strategy, marketing, data-driven product development and corporate venturing. Gavin is on the board of Vibewire, a youth-led social enterprise based in Sydney, Australia and on the Technology Advisory Group for Good2Give – the workplace giving platform. ...

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Some light reading for your Easter weekend, this time courtesy of those clever folks at We Are Social Singapore. This easily digestible deck on social media debunks some of the many myths and provides “10 commendments” – things that you could do if you were so inclined. My favourite? “Be in it for the long term”. After all, after we get engaged, surely we expect a deeper commitment, right?

Marketing Transformation Innovation & Product-led Growth Chief Marketing Officer

Constellation Publishes “Big Privacy”, the New Data Privacy Protocol for Big Data

“Big Privacy” calls on Big Data businesses to exercise restraint and transparency, and offer consumers fair value for data

San Francisco, CA - April 11, 2014 - Constellation Research, Inc. the research and advisory firm focused how disruptive technologies transform business models announced today the publication of “Big Privacy Rises to the Challenges of Big Data” by Constellation Vice President and Principal Analyst, Steve Wilson. This ‘Big Idea’ research report introduces “Big Privacy” - a new pact between data miners and end users that calls on digital businesses to exercise restraint and transparency in their collection activities, and offer end users fair value for their data. 

Wilson’s report identifies the strengths and weaknesses of today’s Data Privacy rules, citing how the dynamic nature of modern Big Data challenges the static nature of conventional data protection. The benefits of “Big Privacy” extend beyond the consumer. Wilson notes, ““Big Privacy” benefits digital businesses as adoption of this pact helps avoid privacy breaches, and maintain the trust of an increasingly anxious customer base”.

This report reveals:

• Many Big Data and digital businesses collect and analyze data on the assumption that raw data in the "public domain" is up for grabs, and that data collectors own the fruits of data mining. However, ownership is irrelevant, and data analytics results are still subject to Privacy Laws. 
• Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is often interpreted narrowly to mean credit card data or health records. However, in most jurisdictions (even the United States) PII is defined very broadly, and can include raw data even before it is identified.
• There is no prohibition anywhere against collecting PII; “Big Privacy” calls on businesses to engage in fair and transparent collection.
• Privacy-savvy organizations appreciate that Big Data must benefit the business and the end user.  To maintain customer trust and to avoid international compliance risks, Constellation calls for a new data privacy pact, “Big Privacy”:  

1. businesses should be restrained in how they use data analytics
2. honor the value of users’ Personal Information
3. be open about Big Data business models.

 

Comments on the report – Steve Wilson, report author, Vice President and Principal Analyst

“In my advisory work over the years I've found time and time again a blind spot among technologists as to data privacy. There is a well-meaning slogan ‘Privacy is not a Technology Issue’ but technologists too often think that means privacy is not for them.  The misconception is amplified by a bit of a myth (or wishful thinking) that the law has not kept up with the technology. It’s really very surprising how technology-neutral data privacy laws deal neatly with so many of the current controversies in cyberspace – like face recognition, natural language processing, DNA hacking, Augmented Reality, and so on. Privacy design principles like Data Minimization have a great deal in common with information security. So there’s a lot here for IT professionals to sink their teeth into. I’m really optimistic that we can help innovators see privacy in a clear new light. Surely we have to get this right as we plunge into Big Data and the Internet of Things.”

This report fits into Constellation’s business-focused research themes of Data to Decisions, Matrix Commerce and Next Gen Customer.

About Steve Wilson

Steve Wilson is Vice President and Principal Analyst covering digital identity, privacy and cyber security. Steve’s current research focuses on the evolution of identity online, the move from static privacy safeguards to dynamic information safety, and the challenges of Big Data and the Internet of Things

Coordinates
Profile: http://constellationr.com/users/swilson
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Steve_Lockstep
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lockstep
Geo: Sydney, Australia

The Report
“Big Privacy Rises to the Challenges of Big Data” https://www.constellationr.com/research/big-privacy-rises-challenges-big-data

Data to Decisions Marketing Transformation Matrix Commerce Innovation & Product-led Growth AI ML Machine Learning LLMs Agentic AI Generative AI Robotics Analytics Automation Cloud SaaS PaaS IaaS Quantum Computing Digital Transformation Disruptive Technology Enterprise IT Enterprise Acceleration Enterprise Software Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP CCaaS UCaaS Collaboration Enterprise Service developer Metaverse VR Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Chief Customer Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Marketing Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Data Officer

Infor moves to the cloud with innovation and (micro) vertical flavor

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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We learnt a lot from Infor – as expected – and as pretty much nothing except for sensitive customer information was under NDA – we had a lively tweet stream collected here.

Here are my top 3 takeaways from the fully packed day:

• From Soho to Gramercy Park – A little more than a year ago, Infor presented a new user interface paradigm called Soho – after the hip Manhattan neighborhood. It was the first result of its acquisition of design agency Hook & Look and was a promising new user interface. Contrary to sceptics expectation, Infor managed to bring this user interface to all of their go-forward products – making Infor’s products one of the most consistent user interfacince experiences in the industry. Interestingly Infor is not resting on its laurels and the creative team has come up with a new paradigm – code named Gramercy Park (which, as I learnt, is an even more desirable New York neighborhood). And the new paradigm looks improved to the current Soho paradigm, it’s a responsive design (no surprise) – and operating on very high fidelity across devices. And UI techniques like progressive reduction have not been seen in enterprise software (at least by me) – so far. I was also impressed by the normalization of screen types, a technique that not only helps product development, but also the user as interaction becomes consistent and the application behaves as expected. So credit goes to Infor not to tune Soho with little improvement steps – but to go to the next level of user interface. Few vendors innovate on a new UI after a year or so already.

Picture of the new Infor Gramercy Park UI paradigm

• HCM leads – As expected the most complete and advanced major automation block (Finance, HR, Purchasing, Manufacturing, and CRM) is Infor HCM. With assets from Infor, Lawson, Enwisen, the recent acquisition of Peopleanswers – it is not only a complete HCM suite, but it also has a consistent user interface – one of the few complete HCM suites to feature that. Behind the scenes though a lot of work remains, Infor has largely solved the integration via ION. But again, instead of taking a breath, Infor is actively re-writing key HCM automation functionality on its go to technology stack. Adding more science – as Infor calls it – to the HCM process is a generally welcome addition and differentiating move to HCM. This summer Infor will ship its CloudSuite Corporate product – which is formed by Financials and HCM and will see its HCM suite fully run in production on AWS. A true innovation in the enterprise software space – as no other vendor (to my knowledge) offers to run production of a major automation block on a public cloud service. Even though not all functionality is harmonized and unified, Infor still deserves credit for this innovative move.

• From (Microsoft) to Open Source and AWS – As with all vendors with acquired portfolios, Infor has accumulated a staple of technology stacks over time. The most recent consolidation (about 3 or so years ago) was around a Microsoft centric technology stack. But consolidating on a single technology stack is not trivial and Infor did not conclude that process. Instead of that Infor has re-calibrated its technology stack strategy with a focus on open source. COO Murphy ran us through the pro and cons on the database side – and in this area – as in all others – the open source option win out –in this case PostgreSQL / EnterpriseDB. With a JBoss / Tomcat based presentation and application tier and utilization of either AWS for cloud or RedHat for on premises installs, Infor has completely moved to open source on the technology stack side.

Picture of ION capabilites

• At the heart of Infor’s technology stack is ION, which was introduced the other year and started out as a file broker (maybe a not giving it enough credit) that allows Infor and 3rd party applications to declare and transfer data feeds in a XML format. Infor was shrewd to not position ION as more – but now it is becoming more, gaining the capability to also invoke APIs on the data it transports. Worth to mention that these APIs will be able to be invoked both locally and remotely. And this makes a lot of sense for Infor, given the expected hybrid deployment scenario of their customers. But it also means that Infor no longer has to replicate functionality, but can start putting functionality into one place and maintain it in one place only, too. This next release of ION is supposed to ship summer this year. And with that ION becomes more than ever the key integration technology for Infor customers. 

 

MyPOV

 

New C-Suite Tech Optimization Data to Decisions Future of Work Innovation & Product-led Growth Marketing Transformation Next-Generation Customer Experience Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity infor workday amazon SAP Oracle AI Analytics Automation CX EX Employee Experience HCM Machine Learning ML SaaS PaaS Cloud Digital Transformation Enterprise Software Enterprise IT Leadership HR IaaS Disruptive Technology Enterprise Acceleration Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP CCaaS UCaaS Collaboration Enterprise Service Chief Information Officer Chief Customer Officer Chief People Officer Chief Human Resources Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Data Officer Chief Executive Officer

Transitioning Your Marketing and Customer Experience Strategies to Digital

"Marketing is the first line of customer engagement." What does that even mean? Join us to find out.

It's no secret that the proliferation of digital consumer and enterprise technology is driving dramatic disruption of traditional business models. Roles are changing, responsibilities are changing, and expectations are changing. Position yourself and your organization to take advantage of these technology-driven paradigm shifts.  

Join R "Ray" Wang, Paul Greenberg, Natalie Petouhoff and Peter Kim for a discussion about how new technologies disrupt traditional marketing and customer experience models. They will reflect on their takeaways from this year's Adobe Summit, discussing how developments at the Summit demonstrate a general paradigm shift in marketing and customer experience, and how that shift will affect customers, partners, and marketers in general. The session closes with actionable advice for marketers and customer officers.

You will learn:

• How digital disruption is impacting customer experience and marketing
• How revelations at Adobe Summit 2014 impact customer experience, digital marketing, and matrix commerce
• Insights from 1:1's and conversations at Adobe Summit
• Advice on how to kick start your organization's digital transformation

Who should attend:

•  CMOs, marketing officers
• Social media professionals
• Customer experience professionals

 

Speakers

R "Ray" Wang	CEO, Constellation Research, Inc.
Peter Kim	Chief Strategy Officer, Constellation Research, Inc.
Natalie Petouhoff	Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research, Inc.
Paul Greenberg	President, The 56 Group

Data to Decisions Marketing Transformation Matrix Commerce Next-Generation Customer Experience Innovation & Product-led Growth Tech Optimization Future of Work Webinar AR AI ML Machine Learning LLMs Agentic AI Generative AI Analytics Automation B2B B2C CX EX Employee Experience HR HCM business Marketing Metaverse developer SaaS PaaS IaaS Supply Chain Quantum Computing Growth Cloud Digital Transformation Disruptive Technology eCommerce Enterprise IT Enterprise Acceleration Enterprise Software Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP Leadership finance Social Healthcare VR CCaaS UCaaS Customer Service Content Management Collaboration M&A Enterprise Service Chief Customer Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief Marketing Officer Chief Digital Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Data Officer Chief Analytics Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Operating Officer

Big Privacy: The New Standard for Big Data Privacy

Steve Wilson

Former Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Steve Wilson is former VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, leading the business theme Digital Safety and Privacy. His coverage includes digital identity, data protection, data privacy, cryptography, and trust. His advisory services to CIOs, CISOs, CPOs and IT architects include identity product strategy, security practice benchmarking, Privacy by Design (PbD), privacy engineering and Privacy [or Data Protection] Impact Assessments (PIA, DPIA). Coverage Areas: -  Identity management, frameworks & governance-  Digital identity technologies-  Privacy by Design -  Big Data; “Big Privacy”-  Identity & privacy innovation Previous experience: Wilson has worked in ICT innovation, research, development and analysis for over 25 years. With double…...

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I've just completed a major new Constellation Research report looking at how today's privacy practices cope with Big Data. The report draws together my longstanding research on the counter-intuitive strengths of technology-neutral data protection laws, and melds it with my new Constellation colleagues' vast body of work in data analytics. The synergy is honestly exciting and illuminating.

Big Data promises tremendous benefits for a great many stakeholders but the potential gains are jeopardised by the excesses of a few. Some cavalier online businesses are propelled by a naive assumption that data in the "public domain" is up for grabs, and with that they often cross a line.

For example, there are apps and services now that will try to identify pictures you take of strangers in public, by matching them biometrically against data supersets compiled from social networking sites and other publically accessible databases. Many find such offerings quite creepy but they may be at a loss as to what to do about it, or even how to think through the issues objectively. Yet the very metaphor of data mining holds some of the clues. If, as some say, raw data is like crude oil, just waiting to be mined and exploited by enterprising prospecters, then surely there are limits, akin to mining permits?

Many think the law has not kept pace with technology, and that digital innovators are free to do what they like with any data they can get their hands on. But technologists repeatedly underestimate the strength of conventional data protection laws and regulations. The extraction of PII from raw data may be interpreted under technology neutral privacy principles as an act of Collection and as such is subject to existing statutes. Around the world, Google thus found they are not actually allowed to gather Personal Data that happens to be available in unencrypted Wi-Fi transmission as StreetView cars drive by homes and offices. And Facebook found they are not actually allowed to automatically identify people in photos through face recognition without consent. And Target probably would find, if they tried it outside the USA, that they cannot flag selected female customers as possibly pregnant by analysing their buying habits.

On the other hand, orthodox privacy policies and static user agreements do not cater for the way personal data can be conjured tomorrow from raw data collected today. Traditional privacy regimes require businesses to spell out what personally identifiable information (PII) they collect and why, and to restrict secondary usage. Yet with Big Data, with the best will in the world, a company might not know what data analytics will yield down the track. If mutual benefits for business and customer alike might be uncovered, a freeze-frame privacy arrangement may be counter-productive.

Thus the fit between data analytics and data privacy standards is complex and sometimes surprising. While existing laws are not to be underestimated, we do need something new. As far as I know it was Ray Wang in his Harvard Business Review blog who first called for a fresh privacy compact amongst users and businesses.

The spirit of data privacy is simply framed: organisations that know us should respect the knowledge they have, they should be open about what they know, and they should be restrained in what they do with it. In the Age of Big Data, let's have businesses respect the intelligence they extract from data mining, just as they should respect the knowledge they collect directly through forms and questionnaires.

I like the label "Big Privacy"; it is grandly optimistic, like "Big Data" itself, and at the same time implies a challenge to do better than regular privacy practices.

Ontario Privacy Commissioner Dr Ann Cavoukian writes about Big Privacy, describing it simply as "Privacy By Design writ large". But I think there must be more to it than that. Big Data is quantitatively but also qualitatively different from ordinary data analyis.

To summarise the basic elements of a Big Data compact:

• Respect and Restraint: In the face of Big Data's temptations, remember that privacy is not only about what we do with PII; just as important is what we choose not to do.
• Super transparency: Who knows what lies ahead in Big Data? If data privacy means being open about what PII is collected and why, then advanced privacy means going further, telling people more about the business models and the sorts of results data mining is expected to return.
• Engage customers in a fair deal for PII: Information businesses ought to set out what PII is really worth to them (especially when it is extracted in non-obvious ways from raw data) and offer a fair "price" for it, whether in the form of "free" products and services, or explicit payment.
• Really innovate in privacy: There's a common refrain that "privacy hampers innovation" but often that's an intellectually lazy cover for reserving the right to strip-mine PII. Real innovation lies in business practices which create and leverage PII while honoring privacy principles.

The report:        "Big Privacy" Rises to the Challenges of Big Data"       

New C-Suite Data to Decisions Next-Generation Customer Experience Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Security Zero Trust AI ML Machine Learning LLMs Agentic AI Generative AI Robotics Analytics Automation Cloud SaaS PaaS IaaS Quantum Computing Digital Transformation Disruptive Technology Enterprise IT Enterprise Acceleration Enterprise Software Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP CCaaS UCaaS Collaboration Enterprise Service developer Metaverse VR Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership business Marketing finance Customer Service Content Management Chief Customer Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Privacy Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Data Officer

Ultimate’s UltiConnect - Off to a great start, but the road(map) is long

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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We attended the Ultimate Software user conference, UltiConnect, held over three days at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas. With over 2000 attendees it was the largest user conference for Ultimate yet – and with that always comes a positive basic vibe. Both customers and employees are encouraged by seeing more attendees being there than in the year(s) before – always a good proof point of vendor success. And Ultimate just passed a revenue milestone with US$ 400M in revenue in its last financial year.

 

Next-Generation Customer Experience Revenue & Growth Effectiveness Data to Decisions Future of Work Innovation & Product-led Growth New C-Suite Marketing Transformation Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Tech Optimization User Conference workday SAP Oracle AI Analytics Automation CX EX Employee Experience HCM Machine Learning ML SaaS PaaS Cloud Digital Transformation Enterprise Software Enterprise IT Leadership HR LLMs Agentic AI Generative AI business Marketing IaaS Disruptive Technology Enterprise Acceleration Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP finance Healthcare Customer Service Content Management Collaboration Chief Customer Officer Chief People Officer Chief Human Resources Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Data Officer