Dion Hinchcliffe

Vice President and Principal Analyst Constellation Research

Title: About Dion Hinchcliffe Dion Hinchcliffe is an internationally recognized business strategist, bestselling author, enterprise architect, industry analyst, and noted keynote speaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in digital strategy, the future of work, and enterprise IT. He works with the leadership teams of large enterprises as well as software vendors to raise the bar for the art-of-the-possible in their digital capabilities. He is currently Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research. Dion is also currently an executive fellow at the Tuck School of Business Center for Digital Strategies. He is a globally recognized industry expert on the topics of digital transformation, digital workplace, enterprise collaboration, API…...

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How should we design the modern employee experience? Some form of this query is perhaps the leading question I get today from IT and HR teams as they grapple with the sweeping forces of technological and societal change happening all around us.

Many questions abound: Why isn’t tool adoption happening faster? What can I do to maximize the impact of existing technologies and investments? What is the design focus of the digital workplace today? How can I measure my employee experience? Is the intranet still relevant?  What do I do about Shadow IT? What about the super suites like Office365 and Google Suite? Are they inevitable or should we pick and choose? How do I design and integrate all of this into a more cohesive whole? Is low-code, no-code an end-user technology that I should be rolling out? Where does artificial intelligence (AI) fit into an overall digital workplace strategy? What else am I missing to stay ahead of the curve?

These and many other issues are top of mind in digital workplace teams this year. Such teams are a relatively new construct I’ve only seen emerging in the last half-decade or so. Created well, they can bring order to the complexity and confusion that often reigns in the overall digital employee experience today, and they tend to be found more often in larger, well-funded IT organizations. The responsibility of such groups, which in their best form are integrated into a center or network of excellence with HR and other groups, has become profound as it drives forward employee engagement with technology, improves worker effectiveness, and even contributes directly to the competitive stance of the organization as a whole.

To help digital workplace teams in IT as well as employee experience specialists in HR groups, I’ve assembled a brand new report containing what I see are the top trends coming together today that must be addressed and/or are becoming unignorable bottom-up issues in these vital domains for workers, especially knowledge workers that drive the growth in today’s global economy. 

The reality on the ground is that support groups that enable workers with technology are often simply overwhelmed and underbudgeted with a deep bench of legacy technology to manage, too many new systems, applications, and digital channels that need to be deployed, and are often well behind where they want to be to become a best-in-class organization, which has become crucial in an increasingly winner-takes-all digital operating environment.

Titled Modern Digital Workplace Trends and Emerging Practices, this just-published report aims to bring together a single view of the major issues and concerns that digital workplace and employee experience practitioners must face successfully to help their organizations thrive in the digital age. I believe this view, shown in summary in the visual above, can form a blueprint and checklist for how practitioners can not only succeed, but get ahead in their efforts today.

Modern Digital Workplace Issues and Key Topics

Here is a summary of the issues and topics addressed in this report, highlighted in red dots in the visual above:

• Users caught between best-of-breed vs. large digital workplace suites.
• Local tool choice trumps one-size-fits-all.
• Design thinking and principles guide the overall realization of the digital workplace.
• Building employee skills with just-in-time digital workplace training.
• Employee experiences move to integrated digital workplaces.
• Every employee is becoming a citizen developer.
• Digital workplace hubs unite experiences.
• Solutions are increasingly shaped by use cases and business processes.
• Design and measurement take advantage of workplace analytics.
• The digital workplace is extended and automated by intelligent technologies.
• Work is more deeply digitized and coordinated. 
• The digital workplace experience extends to more audiences.
• Experience design drives a more effective and relevant digital workplace.
• The employee experience is connected to the devices that drive the business.
• Employee experiences will be guided by voice.
• Digital transformation of the workplace gets more investment and organization.

Those using this report for their digital workplace and employee experience planning are recommended to adapt these ideas and trends to their organization. While I’ve attempted to cull the cumulative experience from dozens of digital workplace initiatives and projects that I’ve had the priveldge to lead, work on, or review, almost all strategies, concepts, and technologies must be shaped for a particular organizations’ culture, inclinations, and sensitivities.

Please contact me at [email protected] to discuss how these issues and topics can best be addressed in your organization.

New Report: Modern Digital Workplace Trends and Emerging Practices

Future of Work Tech Optimization New C-Suite adobe SuccessFactors salesforce Microsoft AI Analytics Automation CX EX Employee Experience HCM Machine Learning ML SaaS PaaS Cloud Digital Transformation Enterprise Software Enterprise IT Leadership HR Chief People Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Human Resources Officer Chief Technology Officer

Joe Yuke

Marketing Intern Constellation Research

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“If we can go out and try to drive this kind of change, I think it’s possible for anyone.” Pursuing sustainability, much like digital transformation, can have its short-term risks, but there is value in being a purpose driven company for those who seek it out.

On episode 158 of DisrupTV our hosts Vala Afshar and R “Ray” Wang caught up with Tim O'Keeffe, Chief Executive Officer at Symmons Industries; and Heather Clancy, Editorial Director at GreenBiz Group, to discuss the pairing of business objectives and goals for sustainability. Here are the top 5 takeaways from the episode:

Improving Efficiency Goes Hand in Hand with Improving Sustainability:

Tim O’Keefe is pushing Symmons Industries into the future with an innovative and efficient water management solution, demonstrating that improved products can also be greener. Symmons’ breakthrough business model centers around the use of sensors and software to provide advanced insights into a building’s water management system. With their new solution they are targeting the hospitality sector and offering a vastly improved guest experience. The Symmons platform can predict problems with a building’s water system before they occur, ensuring that water at the right temperature is delivered to guests at the right time. Increased efficiency also reduces the massive amounts of water and energy wasted while guests wait for their water to get hot. Consequently, hotels save on their energy bills and can declare sustainability as an element of their brands. In the future, automation may even allow Symmons to offer a water-as-a-service business model.

Old Businesses Can be Taught New Tricks:

Only a few years ago, Symmons Industries was a traditional plumbing manufacturer. To push for innovation within the organization, Tim says it took perseverance and curiosity. When faced with hesitant stakeholders and the breakneck pace of technological change, Tim advocates “Firing bullets instead of cannon balls”. He says that Innovation is an iterative process of taking small shots, learning from the feedback, and pushing forward. Furthermore, Tim described Symmons as a purpose driven company. He was personally motivated to reimagine how water is managed and spread this vision across the entire company, inspiring a culture of change and innovation. It takes bold and visionary leadership to explore new possibilities and move the needle. Tim’s advice for others: “be comfortable being uncomfortable”.

C-suite Champions are Required to Shift Organizational Culture:

Pursuing sustainability not only requires a change in processes, but it also requires a culture shift that everyone in the organization must be bought into. Heather Clancy says that often the actions required for sustainability are basic; however, organizations need a C-suite champion to operationalize a culture of sustainability and make real change happen.

Long Term Thinking Delivers Lasting Rewards:

Smart, long term investments are necessary to survive in our rapidly changing world. To illustrate this fact, Heather detailed the redevelopment of Kearny point, a historic shipyard. The site’s developer decided to completely reimagine the location after Superstorm Sandy. With support from the public sector, they have worked to build green infrastructure, repurpose older facilities to house sustainable businesses, and encourage new jobs to move onto the site. The underlying goal of the project is to rebuild the area as a model for sustainable economic development. Although oftentimes passed up on, the opportunity to think in the long-term can help differentiate a product and extract sustained rewards. You can read up on Kearny point here: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/new-jersey-developer-charts-course-urban-resilience-historic-shipyard.

Sustainable Development Goals Should be Tied to Business Goals:

As companies reevaluate their objectives for the next 5 to 10 years, sustainable business goals could make a global impact. When organizations discuss sustainability, it should be established as a core value - not just a marketing gimmick. According to Heather, companies used to cherry pick a few peripheral initiatives that they could carry out for sustainability. In the future, when sustainability efforts have proven value, more companies may incorporate sustainability into their core business objectives.

Sustainable development, as with digital transformation, doesn’t happen overnight. These are challenging yet rewarding processes that will become more intertwined over time. Eventually, delivering excellent experiences must include delivering a sustainable future.

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This is just a small glimpse at the great insight shared during the show. Please check out the full discussions in the video replay here or on the podcast.

DisrupTV Episode 158, Featuring Tim O'Keeffe and Heather Clancy from Constellation Research on Vimeo.

DisrupTV is a weekly Web series with hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar. The show airs live at 11:00 a.m. PT/ 2:00 p.m. ET every Friday.

New C-Suite Next-Generation Customer Experience Tech Optimization Chief Executive Officer Chief Information Officer

Aubrey Coggins

Constellation Research

Aubrey (Levinstone) Coggins manages Constellation's marketing and communications programs and is the producer of DisrupTV, a weekly Web series on innovation and the enterprise.  She previously served as a senior manager of corporate communications at Egnyte and held account roles at Access Communications and The Hoffman Agency. Born and raised in Texas, she received a bachelor's degree in Public Relations from The University of Texas at Austin – Hook ‘em!   ...

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As promised last week, we published an additional 24 lists from the Constellation ShortList portfolio today. 

These lists highlight the key players when considering investments across all of our coverage areas, including AI, commerce, HR, finance, marketing, customer experience, content management, planning, blockchain and more. We update the lists every six months to map to the quick changes within each market.

Today we released 24 new and updated lists:

•    Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Cloud Platforms
•    Campaign to Commerce
•    Cloud Customer Service and Contact Center Software
•    Cloud-Based BI & Analytics Platforms
•    Cloud-Based Planning Platforms
•    Compensation Management - NEW
•    Configure Price Quote (CPQ)
•    Customer Experience (CX) Services: Global
•    Digital Adoption Platforms
•    Digital Experience (DX) Integrated Platforms
•    Digital Transformation Target Platforms
•    Enterprise Cloud Finance
•    Enterprise File Sharing and Cloud Content Management 
•    Global HCM Suites
•    Global IaaS for NextGen Applications
•    Healthcare ERP
•    Healthcare IT Security
•    Hybrid- and Multi-Cloud Relational Database Management Systems RDBMS
•    PaaS Suites 
•    Price Optimization Solutions
•    Sales Productivity Solutions
•    Self-Service Advanced Analytics & Machine Learning
•    Synchronous Ledger Technology Services
•    Travel Management Platforms - NEW

Each offering meets the threshold criteria as determined by our analysts through client inquiries, partner conversations, customer references, vendor selection projects, market share and internal research. These reports are part of Constellation’s open research library and are free to download.

For more information, visit https://www.constellationr.com/shortlist.

Be sure to check back next Wednesday for the final updates for the quarter. 

 

Innovation & Product-led Growth Tech Optimization ShortList ShortList

Sharon Lee

Marketing Intern Constellation Research

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The judges' votes are in. We are excited to announce the finalists for our ninth annual SuperNova Awards!

This year had some of the stiffest competition to date. After reviewing hundreds of submissions, we’ve narrowed it down to some of the most transformative, innovative and disruptive programs from across industries and geographies. Choosing the final winners will be a tough decision, so we need your help.

The polls open on August 19, and you'll be able to cast your votes for your favorite finalists in each category. Spread the word! Voting closes on September 13. Winners will be announced at the SuperNova Awards Gala Dinner on November 6, 2019 in Half Moon Bay, California. The dinner will take place at Constellation’s Connected Enterprise, our annual innovation summit.

Without further ado, we present…

Finalists SuperNova Award category:

 

AI and Augmented Humanity

• Brian Banks, Global Water Challenge / Global Environment Technology Foundation
• Professor Hwee Pink Tan, Singapore Management University (SMU) iCity Lab
• Scott Barnwell, Nancie McCraw, Frances Ruiz, City of Asheville IT Services

Data to Decisions

• Bobbie Goldie, Chubb
• Daniel Goldsmith, Pearson
• Daniel Jeavons, Royal Dutch Shell
• David Burns, GE Aviation
• Jennifer Austin, 3M
• Michael Becker, RingCentral, Inc.

Data-Driven Digital Networks (DDNs) and Business Models

• Douwe van der Heij, Syniverse Technologies
• IBM Food Trust, IBM
• Joan Zerkowich, AAIS
• Mike Brusov , Cindicator
• Vedant Sampath, Mediaocean

Digital Marketing and Sales Effectiveness

• Justin Ritchie, Cox Automotive
• Mike Daniel, Sportable Scoreboards
• Oliver Gomes, Condé Nast
• Richard Garner, Lincoln Financial Group
• Sunny Sanyal, Hyster-Yale

Digital Safety, Governance, and Privacy

• Ernie White , Melanoma Institute of Australia
• Julie Esser, CULedger, LLC
• Melissa Thomas, VyStar Credit Union
• Phillip J. Windley, Sovrin Foundation
• Taylor Lehman, Wellforce and Tufts Medical Center

Future of Work - Employee Experience

• Amy Keelty, American Family Insurance
• Jeff Banaszak, Creative Dining Services
• Laura Valenziano, Walgreens
• Mark Martynus, Accenture

Future of Work: Human Capital Management

• Anie Chenarian, Henley Enterprises, Henley Enterprises
• Elizabeth Navarro, Rubio’s Coastal Grill
• Geoff Gerks, G4S
• Guro Ruud Cedell, Norconsult
• Martin Thomas, Royal Phillips
• Melissa Forte, SiteOne Landscape Supply
• Special Olympics’ Leadership Academy, Special Olympics

Next-Generation Customer Experience

• Brian Osterloh, City of Albuquerque
• Chris Salles, Audible
• Dr. Clay Johnston, The University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School UT Health Austin
• Gurmeet Singh, 7-Eleven
• John Beaven, Golden State Warriors
• José Lorenzo, Posadas (Grupo Posadas, S.A.B. de C.V.)
• Julie Schweigert, New York Road Runners
• Michael Menna, DuPont
• Rizwan Patel, Caesars Entertainment (Emerging Technology and Innovation)

Tech Optimization and Modernization

• Amanda Dolan, Purolite Corporation
• Antonino Cisternino, University of Pisa
• Jorge Frausto, General Electric Power
• Kevin Long, ACI Worldwide
• Kim Sammut, WSP
• Matthew Singer, Twitter
• Metra Utama, Telkomsel
• Pamela Bakker, Laird Management

Innovation & Product-led Growth AR Executive Events

On August 7, 2019, Salesforce and ClickSoftware announced they had signed a definitive agreement for Salesforce to acquire ClickSoftware for approximately $1.35 billion in a combination of cash and stock. The deal is net of ClickSoftware shares Salesforce currently holds and expected to close by the end of October.

Rumors that the two companies were discussing potential acquisition at a price tag of $1.5 billion emerged in January, as reported by Reuters in Tel Aviv. The two companies have also partnered on field service since Salesforce released Field Service Lightening in 2016. So in a sense, this isn’t new news, but confirmation and conclusion of a deal that was already in the works.

Constellation’s Take:

Salesforce has the understanding of what its customers need and the vision to make it happen. It’s clear from Salesforce’s track record of acquisitions, as well as its internal development investments, that the company understands what its customers want and why. While field service doesn’t apply in every industry, it has a huge impact on customer experience in those where it does. Given Salesforce’s emphasis on helping its customers to build great customer experiences, it makes sense for the company to deepen its capabilities in this area.

Field service is a specialist area that requires deep expertise to get right. In both technology and process or workflow terms, field service is a complex, specialist area. Coordinating customers, technicians, parts, vehicles, warranty information, and service practices requires a deep knowledge of the processes required to make field service happen effectively. Technologies like AI play an increasingly important role in managing the complexity of dispatching service, but like all forms of AI, they are most effective when applied to specific elements of the problem. That’s tough to do well without specialist knowledge.

The technology challenges increase with use of IoT as well. The ability to pull information directly from devices that need repair is significantly changing the nature of field service, with tremendous potential to improve customer experience. Indeed, field service is the point at which customer data intersects directly with device or product data—and there’s still a whole lot of work to do to make this work as well as it potentially can. That’s not a game for generalists.

This acquisition builds capabilities and blocks competitors. Although Salesforce and ClickSoftware have had a close relationship for several years, it was by no means exclusive. ClickSoftware executives even joined SAP on stage at 2018’s Mobile World Congress to demo predictive field service capabilities. We believe that Salesforce’s acquisition of ClickSoftware, like its acquisition of Tableau, was as much about blocking other competitors from acquiring them as it was about securing desired capabilities.

Overall, it’s probably good news for customers. Although details on how the acquisition will be managed and who from ClickSoftware will remain, at this point, it seems likely that the ClickSoftware organization will remain largely intact. Given the specialist nature of this type of capability, we anticipate that Salesforce will be eager to keep ClickSoftware’s expertise. There’s already a good bit of overlap between the customer bases of both companies, so focus will likely be on extending that even further. If you’re in manufacturing or service, running Salesforce, and not using ClickSoftware, you’ll likely hear from your account manager by the end of the year. Likewise, if you're a manufacturer or in field service using ClickSoftware but not already use Salesforce, they may get to you even sooner.

Data to Decisions Next-Generation Customer Experience Chief Customer Officer Chief Financial Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Digital Officer

Call it productive procrastination if you will. Working on a research piece recently, I started contemplating the inherent complexity of customer relationships. It wasn’t always so hard. Once upon a time, customers walked through the door, called, or wrote. Observing them and inferring their priorities and preferences wasn’t too difficult. Neither was talking to them.

Today, customers compare online while they’re in a store. They research whatever they’re about to buy before they ever call a salesperson. They expect transparency, consistency, and easy transactions both in their private lives as consumers and in their professional lives as decision-makers.

Meanwhile, for the companies they do business with, simply keeping track of all the ways customers communicate is a challenge. Email, chat, text, call, social media, in-app messaging—the list goes on. Want to really mess with the system? Try sending a snail-mail letter.

If communication channels alone present this level of complexity, I thought, how are we supposed to get the complicated things right, like personalization? Or using the insights we have about our customers to design great experiences? What about evolving our offerings and business strategy over time?

Managing complexity, it struck me, is the key—not just to getting customer relationships right, but to so many of the big business and technology challenges. Complexity always exists somewhere in the system. As businesses, we have a choice: we can put that complexity on our customers or we can take it on ourselves.

Then I remembered reading something long ago about how to do it well and why so few organizations seem to get it. Something about when keeping it simple was, well…just stupid.

Off to the other room I headed, and down, down, down the rabbit hole I fell…

There among the many treasures of my over-stuffed bookshelf at last I found it: Designing the Global Corporation by Jay R. Galbraith.[1] He wrote about organizational models and management practices in multinational companies, not customer experience per se, but Galbraith squarely focused on understanding the impact of complexity on customers.

Here’s the money quote I’d been looking for on page one (emphasis is mine): “At the heart of the issue is the manager’s difficulty embracing the complexity of the organization and building the capability to manage it. Most managerial mindsets…may also be influenced by the so-called management principle of ‘keeping it simple.’ Yet serious students of cross-border [read: complex] organization have arrived at the position keeping it simple is stupid; the world is complex, and a simple organization in a complex world becomes less and less viable.”

Galbraith’s main point is that—stay with me here—a company’s organization must be as complex as its business. That is, if your company is doing anything more than selling a single offering to a single type of buyer, you need something more than a very simple organization model. More importantly, you need the management capability to deal with the commensurate complexity. Otherwise, you make it the customer’s job to deal with complexity. And that’s bad for business.

The same principles apply to all kinds of customer relationships and interactions. Complexity exists somewhere in the continuum or value chain. Either we take it on as businesses and, hopefully, manage it effectively or we push it on to customers to manage for themselves. There are certainly cases where customers want and expect to deal with complexity themselves (think flea markets…I’m shuddering as I do). In the vast majority of cases, however, our priority and our vested interest as businesses is to understand and deal with that complexity in order to make things simple for our customers—whether B2B or B2C.

My fall down the rabbit hole continued. Throughout his book, Galbraith references the law of requisite variety or requisite complexity. The former originates in control theory and the latter is the application to organizations. My search for more background on control theory turned up multiple references to general systems theory and cybernetics.

Cybernetics?? My first thought was of L. Ron Hubbard. (Fear not. Scientology has no role in this story. Do like his first initial though.)

Back to my bookshelf and the comforting embrace of the Oxford Dictionary of English.[2] This is where things started to come full circle:

Here we are, back at the original challenge: how to use technology effectively to facilitate (dare I say simplify) communication and interactions between people. And increasingly, how to use technology tools to automate the things we want to make easy and fast.

As I emerged from the rabbit hole, this revelation blew my mind a little bit. I honestly hadn’t even thought about the name Kubernetes much before that moment.

We are at a unique and important moment in time when it comes to the intersection of business and technology. Technology has created many of our challenges; it also provides an indispensable means of addressing them.

Whether consolidating communication channels or containerizing workloads, we must as businesses keep finding better ways of using technology to help us manage complexity. That means, among other things, using technology tools to move up levels of abstraction so that we’re concentrating less on how the technology works and more on what we’re trying to do with it.

This is where we are—taking very old ideas (the steersman) and using new technologies (containers, chatbots, AI-driven analytics…you name it) to apply them in wholly different contexts. Today, we’re steering through the complexities of customer relationships that span digital and old-school modes.

To succeed, we must use these new capabilities to refocus on the some very old fundamentals—like understanding our customers—and get them right.

[1] Galbraith, Jay R. (2000). Designing the Global Corporation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc., A Wiley Company.

[2] Apologies to Merriam-Webster. I was living in England when I bought it.

Header image credit: The Siren Vase courtesy of the British Museum

Future of Work Marketing Transformation Next-Generation Customer Experience Tech Optimization Chief Customer Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Marketing Officer Chief Digital Officer

Joe Yuke

Marketing Intern Constellation Research

...

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Blockchain technology will power a “lifelong learning adventure” for future students that will conceivably be more equitable and wider reaching compared to the current education model (Phil Komarny).

On episode 155 of DisrupTV, our hosts Vala Afshar and R “Ray” Wang interviewed Sharon Leu, Principal Executive Chief for the Committee Future Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, Manoj Kutty, Founder and CEO at GreenLight Credentials, and Phil Komarny, Vice President, Innovation at Salesforce.com, and discussed one particular opportunity area for blockchain technology: education. Here are a few quick takeaways from the episode:

Education Efforts Should Modernize While Staying Equitable

We are entering an age of digital first education, according to Sharon Leu. Students with access to the Internet generally perform better in school, in part because of the availability of materials that are catered to individual learning styles. As advanced technologies reshape the modern classroom, many educational programs need to be updated. Students without access to technology miss out on some of the newer opportunities that can help optimize their education. As a nation, we can’t move into the future with people left behind. Regarding contemporary education efforts, there should be a balance struck between creating advanced learning experiences and making sure that everyone has access to them.

Credentialing Through Blockchain Technology Will Create More Detailed Academic Records

Blockchain has a surprising new use in education: credentialing. For students who go through various degree programs and accumulate skills along the way, blockchain is able to provide detailed and verified academic records, demonstrating in detail what people know and what they can bring to the table overall. Introducing this holistic skills-based model presents a different way of communicating the value of one’s degree.

Manoj Kutty of Greenlight Credentials is working to translate this concept into reality. Greenlight’s solution gives employers a reliable way to find skilled workers while giving job candidates a better way to communicate themselves. Blockchain sits at the cornerstone of their efforts as a way to verify people’s skills over time down to the micro level. This type of solution could reduce barriers for diverse groups of people who want to go to college. Ideally, institutions would have a more accurate way of measuring a student’s potential success compared to what is available currently: using few data points such as SAT scores. One day, people may not even need to apply to colleges and will instead be selected for admission directly by the institutions. Even further, people may be able to skip the degree all together and show their competency for the job market through skills accumulated in other experiences.

Blockchain’s Breakout Use Case Could be Found in the Education Sector

Blockchain technology is ripe with potential but rife with image problems. While crypto currency is the best available application of the blockchain, there is a perception of Bitcoin that causes resistance from business leaders . Blockchain needs a really good use case to get executives to buy in to its potential. It’s use in education could be the necessary turning point, says Phil Komarny. In his former role at The University of Texas, Phil combined blockchain technology with CRM software to create student profiles that could be transferred across schools within their 14-instituiton system and demonstrated the skills that they accumulated. In this model, the distributed leger architecture centers around a student’s identity. Because these profiles could be built up throughout one’s education and career, students are in for a “lifelong learning adventure,” as Phil says.

This is just a small glimpse at the great insight shared during the show. Please check out the full discussions in the video replay here or the podcast.

DisrupTV Episode 155, Featuring Sharon Leu, Manoj Kutty, Phil Komarny from Constellation Research on Vimeo.

DisrupTV is a weekly Web series with hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar. The show airs live at 11:00 a.m. PT/ 2:00 p.m. ET every Friday.

Tech Optimization Innovation & Product-led Growth DisrupTV Leadership

Joe Yuke

Marketing Intern Constellation Research

...

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Many forward-looking companies have begun to take advantage of artificial intelligence tools and reap the rewards ahead of the competition. Our 2018 Artificial Intelligence Study found that 60% of executives plan to increase their budget for AI significantly. As more and more businesses adopt these technologies, what will our AI-driven future will look like?

This year, we are conducting a new survey to understand the evolving role for AI in organizations and the adjustments required to support this technology. In addition, survey respondents will be able to learn where their own organization stands within Constellation Research’s maturity model for adopting and integrating AI capabilities.

The survey contains 29 multiple-choice questions and should take around 10 minutes to complete. After completion, you will receive a score on a scale from 1-5 indicating the degree of AI adoption. You will be able to learn more about what your results mean and where you stand among your peers when the full research report is published. Respondents also get priority access to the results of the study!

For the purposes of this survey, Constellation defines artificial intelligence as the culmination of technologies such as deep learning, neural networks, natural language processing, and big data/predictive analytics to produce software that is self-improving, automatic, and emulates human intelligence.

Take the Constellation Research 2019 AI Survey here. Constellation will send survey participants a summary of the survey data.

Sales Marketing Data to Decisions

Sharon Lee

Marketing Intern Constellation Research

...

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After reviewing the amazing nominations of innovative, disruptive leaders from peers, industry influencers, technology vendors and analysts over the past six-months, we are excited to unveil the 2020 Business Transformation 150 (BT150).

As digital transformation evolves into a mainstream program, organizations across all geographies and industries, including entertainment, finance, government, healthcare, higher education, and retail, must make deeper investments to create true impact. Named leaders demonstrate excellence in responding to disruptive forces while enabling their teams to succeed through the creation of new exponential business models, a key challenge moving into 2020.

These leaders have built teams who can navigate disruption, fund innovation and build new business models that are reinventing the modern organization. Their stories mirror the needs of the industry, illustrating the combination of talent, leadership, business vision, technology and execution in the era of growing digital maturity.

Congrats again to the listed leaders:

• Elena Alfaro, Global Head of Data & Open Innovation at BBVA & World Economic Forum
• Patrick Anderson, CIO at City of Hope
• Snehal Antani, CTO at USSOCOM
• Paola Arbour, Executive Vice President & CIO at Tenet Healthcare
• Matthew Arvay, CIO at City of Phoenix
• Karen Austin, Board Member and Retired CIO at Triton International
• Daniel Baranowski, Global Head of BI at PayPal
• Julia Bardmesser, SVP & Head of Data Architecture and Analytics at Voya Financial
• Anna Barsby, CIO <confidential>
• Ramin Beheshti, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Dow Jones
• Melissa Bell, CIO at Danaher Corporation
• Gunjan Bhow, CDO at Walgreens Boots Alliance
• Alan Boehme, Global Chief Technology Officer, VP of IT Services and Chief IT Innovation Officer
• John Bollen, CDO at Mobilitie
• James Brady, CIO at LA County DHS
• Dr. Tracy Brower, Principal, Applied Research + Consulting at Steelcase
• Dr. Fredrik Bruhn, CEO at Unibap and Eisenhower Fellow
• Dr. Martin Buchheim, Director, Data Science and Analytics Lab at American Family Insurance
• Bradd Busick, CIO at MacDonald-Miller
• Velia Carboni, CDO at VF Corporation
• Walt Carter, CIO & CDO at Homestar Financial Corporation
• Sam Charmand, CIO at Qantas Airlines
• Zafar Chaudry, SVP & CIO at Seattle Children’s
• Anil Cheriyan, Advisory Board Member at Fenergo
• Neetan Chopra, Group CTO at Dubai Holdings
• Chantell Comberger, CIO &VIP at Tire Discounters
• William Conaway, CIO at Prime Healthcare
• Andy Crowder, CIO at Scripps Healthcare
• Paul Cunningham, CISO at U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs
• Dick Daniels, EVP & CIO at Kaiser Permanente
• Jody Davids, SVP & Global CIO at PepsiCo
• Myra Davis, SVP & CIO at Texas Children's Hospital
• John Delano, Regional CIO at AdventHealth
• Chandra Dhandapani, CDO & CTO at CBRE
• Jake Dorst, Chief Information and Innovation Officer at Tahoe Forest Health System
• Arjun Dugal, CTO at Capital One
• Adam Ely, Vice President & Deputy Chief Information Security Officer at Walmart
• Gail Evans, Chief Digital Officer at Mercer
• Deborah Fiorella, SVP Information Technology at NBC Universal Theme Parks & Resorts
• Paul Fipps, CDO at Under Armour
• Lidia Fonesca, EVP & Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Pfizer
• Larry Freed, CIO at Overhead Door Corporation
• Deborah Gash, SVP & CDO at St. Luke’s Health System
• Aude Giard, CDO at Veolia Water Technologies
• Sally Giligan, CIO at Gap Inc.
• Derry Goberdhansingh, CEO at Harper Paige
• David Graham, CIO at City of Carlsbad
• Sallie Graves, CIO at MagMutual Insurance
• Jennifer Greer-Glanville, CIO at ClubCorp
• Matt Griffiths, VP of Data Driven Transformation at Stanley Black & Decker
• Alex Grimwade, SVP & CIO at Twentieth Century Fox Television
• Marie Gulin-Merle, Global CMO & CDO at Calvin Klein & PVH
• Elizabeth Hackenson, CIO at Schneider Electric
• Marc Hamer, Global Chief Information Officer at Sealed Air Corporation
• Rachel Hayden, VP & CIO at Just Born, Inc.
• Jamie Head, Chief Digital & Technology Officer at Ocean Spray Cranberries
• Donagh Herlihy, EVP & CTO at Bloomin Brands
• Joan Holman, CIO at Clark Hill Strasburger
• Ulrike Huemer, CIO at City of Vienna
• JP Hurtado, CIO at Dave and Buster’s
• Archana Jain, VP for Global Technology Solutions at Verizon Consumer Group
• Charu Jain, CIO at Alaska Airlines
• Phil Jordan, Group Chief Information Officer at Sainsbury’s
• Dr. Athina Kanioura, Chief Analytics Officer at Accenture
• Aiaz Kazi, Chief Platform Officer at Banco Santander
• Haden Kirkpatrick, VP Customer Experience at Esurance
• Rajesh (Raj) Kulkarni, VP IT & CIO & CDO at Lehigh Hanson
• Rush LaSelle, Senior Director, Digital Manufacturing at Jabli
• Ken Lawonn, SVP & CIO at Sharp HealthCare
• Sean Lennon, CIO at Medtronic
• Alison Lewis, Global Chief Marketing Officer at Johnson & Johnson
• Mikko Rusama, CDO at City of Helsinki
• Misha Logvinov, Managing Director at EQT Partners/EQT AB
• Ray Lowe, SVP & CIO at AltaMed Health Services
• Erika Lunceforc, Head of SIlicon Valley Innovation Center at BNY Mellon
• Shawn Mandel, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Cineplex
• Martin Marcinczyk, GM CX Solutions, Strategic Development at Comcast
• Barbara Martin Coppola, CDO at Ikea
• Ed Marx, CIO at Cleveland Clinic
• Greg Matthews, VP of Engineering at Keller Williams Realty, Inc.
• Fernando Mattoso Lemos, VP & CIO at Natura
• Karl Mattson, Chief Information Security Officer at City National Bank
• Michelle McKenna, CIO at NFL
• Ben McMullen, Executive Manager-Digital Enablement at Suncorp Group
• Joe Megibow, CEO at Purple
• Laura Miller, CIO at InterContinental Hotels Group
• John Minardi, Senior Director, Digital Healthcare at Johnson & Johnson
• Kirby Miner, Senior Vice President, Information Technology at Sunbelt Rentals
• Aaron Miri, CIO at Dell Medical School & UT Health Austin
• Sherif Mityas, Chief Experience Officer at TGI Fridays 
• Clodagh Moriarty, CDO at Sainsbury’s Group
• Jeff Moss, President at DEF CON Communications
• Bryan Muehlberger, CIO at Beachbody
• Jason Nadeau, CDO at Fidelity National Financial
• Also Noseda, CIO at Eastman Chemical Company
• Les Ottolenghi, EVP & CIO at Caesars Entertainment Corporation
• Darren Palfrey, CDO at Li & Fung Limited
• Matt Pammer, CIO at Prime Therapeutics
• Pam Parisian, Former President of Technology Services at AT&T Services
• Viraj Patwardhan, VP Digital Design & Consumer Experience at Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals
• Opal Perry, CIO at Hertz
• Keith Perry, SVP & CIO at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
• Arthur Phidd, SVP & CIO at BNB Bank
• Steven Philips, CIO at Alorica
• Ben Pivar, CIO at Carter’s | OshKosh B’gosh
• Herve Pluche, Partner, Digital and Innovation at Heidrick Consulting
• Otto Preiss, Group Senior Vice President & Chief Operating Officer Digital at ABB
• Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy, Chief Data Scientist at Halliburton
• Shafiq Rab, SVP & CIO at Rush System for Health and Rush University Medical Center
• John Ragsdale, CIO at Eyecare Services Partners
• Jill Ramsey, CDO & Digital Revenue Officer at Macy’s
• Julie Ray, SVP & Enterprise Chief Information Officer at Fannie Mae
• Michael Reagin, SVP & Chief Information and Innovation Officer at Sentara Healthcare
• Sarah Richardson, VP of IT at DaVita Medical Group
• Quentin Roach, SVP Business Development & Chief Procurement Officer at Merck
• Alastair Robertson, CIO at Qantas
• Simona Rollinson, CIO at Clayco
• Rajeev Ronaki, SVP & CDO at Anthem, Inc.
• Angie Ruan, SVP of Technology at NASDAQ
• Ira Rubenstein, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at PBS
• Diane Ryan Schaffer, Vice President, Technology at Walt Disney Attractions
• Sanjay Saggere, CIO at Colville Confederated Tribes
• Michael Salas, Chief Information and Digital Officer at SUEZ in North America
• Vish Sankaran, CIO at Walgreens Boots Alliance
• Suzy Scanlon, EVP & CIO at Reinsurance Group of America, Inc.
• Lisa Schneider, CDO at Merriam-Webster
• Jennifer Sepull, CDO at Air New Zealand
• Neelu Sethi, SVP & CIO at Reddy Ice
• Barry Shurkey, CIO at NTT Data Services
• Manjit Singh, CIO at Toyota North America
• Tim Skeen, CIO at Anthem, Inc.
• Tom Stafford, VP & CIO at Halifax Health
• Christopher Stephens, VP Data Technology at American Eagle Outfitters
• Erica Stevens, VP of Supply Chain and Information Technology at Dylan’s Candy Bar
• Andy Sturrock, Head of Modernise IT Transformation at BP
• Bala Subramanian, CDO at AT&T
• Mike Sutcliff, Group Chief Executive at Accenture Digital
• Guillaume Thfoin, Head of Analytics- Holding, Majid Al Futtaim
• Cheryl Thomas, CIO at Valero Energy Corporation
• David Thompson, Chief Information and Technology Officer at American Express Global Business Travel
• Brian Tilzer, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Best Buy
• JJ Van Oosten, CDO at LEGO Group
• Joel Vengco, SVP & CIO at Baystate Health
• Katia Walsh, Chief Global Strategy and AI at Levi Strauss & Co.
• Chris Wiggins, CDO at The New York Times
• Laura Wilt, System Vice President & Chief Information Officer at Ochsner Health System
• WIlliam (Bill) Wood, EVP & President of Digital at Barnes & Noble, Inc.
• Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler, CDO at Swisscom
• Monique Yates, Director GEOINT Analysis & Production Subcommittee, Co-Chair Analysis Directorate
• Angela Yochem, EVP, CDO & CTO at Novant Health

This prestigious recognition and induction ceremony will be held at Constellation’s Connected Enterprise in November 2019.

For more details about the listed executives, visit: https://www.constellationr.com/business-transformation-150/2020

Data to Decisions Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Future of Work Marketing Transformation Matrix Commerce New C-Suite Next-Generation Customer Experience Tech Optimization Chief Customer Officer Chief Digital Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Marketing Officer Chief People Officer Chief Procurement Officer Chief Revenue Officer Chief Supply Chain Officer

Joe Yuke

Marketing Intern Constellation Research

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“If you can envision it, it’s possible.” From language-processing chat bots to autonomous cars that alleviate motion sickness, the future has infinite possibilities but will ultimately be shaped by the innovations that can best fit the needs of organizations.

Episode 154 of DisrupTV took an exciting look ahead at the future of technology. Our hosts Vala Afshar and R “Ray” Wang interviewed Rori DuBoff, Head of Content Innovation at Accenture Interactive, Tracy Malingo, SVP of Product Strategy at Verint Intelligent Self-Service, and Andrew Nebus, Senior Principal SME: Trusted Advisory at ASRC Federal, and discussed some of these important trends impacting consumers and businesses alike. Here are a few quick takeaways from the episode:

The Next Generation of Computing is Extended Reality

Extended Reality (XR), which encompasses VR, AR, and an expanding set of immersive digital tools, has already made waves in the consumer entertainment market and has massive potential for deployment in enterprises according to a recent report by Accenture: “Waking Up to a New Reality, Building a Responsible Future for Immersive Technologies.” In fact, Rori DuBoff, who worked on this report, emphasized that the XR industry is further along than many realize. On the enterprise side, there is already data to prove its effectiveness in the workplace. Accenture’s report notes a 21% average boost in productivity through the use of XR and immersive training scenarios.

With XR, it’s not all virtual roses and unicorns however. Rori informed our hosts about some of the concerns associated with an XR-driven future, many of which seem to come straight out of an episode of Black Mirror. Since data collected by XR hardware isn’t just personal information – it is high-level biometric data – there are many concerns related to identity fraud. Opportunities for identity theft, social media fraud, and “deepfakes” loom on the horizon.

Resistance to Artificial Intelligence Will Fade with Time

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and chat-bots have been around for a while now; however, there is still resistance to their use in many companies. When advising executives on how to implement these technologies into their organizations, Tracy Malingo says that the main challenge is getting leadership to understand how AI tools can be used to achieve broader organizational goals. Regarding chat-bots specifically, there are concerns with having machines communicate directly with customers, and many executives doubt that they can deliver the same quality of service as a person. Tracey emphasizes that chat-bots can provide exceptional customer service; they just need to be developed to align with the brand pillars.

Furthermore, hesitant executives have directed much of their AI efforts towards reducing costs to prove the value of the technology. While cost cutting has an impact, Tracey states that AI can have enormous additive benefits by emulating the best human performers. The good news is that resistance will not last forever. Tracey predicted a five-year attitudinal shift when “AI natives” enter the workforce. Young people, who have come to expect machines to do things for them, will be able to devise innovative business strategies that integrate the most advanced technologies.

Regulatory Bodies Need to Keep up with Changing Dominant Logic

Although governments oftentimes can’t keep up with trends in the same way as profit-chasing firms, Andrew Nebus sees an important role for regulatory bodies in the changing world. AI tools can be trained to automate any decision; however, humans need to be inserted somewhere into the process to determine which decisions are ethical and what kind of future we want. To be effective, institutions need to stay up-to-date and informed by diverse perspectives. One such upcoming regulatory decision concerns the structure of compiled data. China exhibits its open and more centralized data structure with its social credit system, whereas the West is used to having closed, proprietary data. Which system will prevail? Only the future will tell. 

The limiting factor on modern enterprise technology is not what the tech can do but how it’s applied and accepted by users. Despite the risks associated with adopting new technology, in the end, only the organizations that take the leap and stick the landing will see rewards in the long-term.

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This is just a small glimpse at the great insights shared during the show. Please check out the full discussions in the video replay here or the podcast.

If you would like to learn more about AI, take Constellation Research's Artificial Intelligence Survey. Completion of this survey will show you where your organization stands within Constellation Research’s capability maturity model for AI technology implementation. In addition, by completing this survey, you will be contributing to a research report on AI adoption by businesses. Check out last year's report here.

DisrupTV Episode 154, Featuring Rori DuBoff, Tracy Malingo, Andrew Nebus from Constellation Research on Vimeo.

DisrupTV is a weekly Web series with hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar. The show airs live at 11:00 a.m. PT/ 2:00 p.m. ET every Friday.

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