News Analysis: The Rationale Behind @LinkedIn Turning Off Its CSV Connections Download Tool

R "Ray" Wang

Principal Analyst and Founder
Constellation Research

R “Ray” Wang is the CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He co-hosts DisrupTV, a weekly enterprise tech and leadership webcast that averages 50,000 views per episode and blogs at www.raywang.org. His ground-breaking best-selling book on digital transformation, Disrupting Digital Business, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2015. Ray's new book about Digital Giants and the future of business, titled, Everybody Wants to Rule The World was released in July 2021. Wang is well-quoted and frequently interviewed by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, and Bloomberg. Short Bio R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Founder, Chairman, and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation…...

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@LinkedIn Fighting Off Scrapers Inadvertently Angers Users

Over the weekend, Michael Korcuska, VP of Product Management at LinkedIn, responded to customer complaints with a series of blog posts explaining their rationale (see Figure 1 and 2).

Figure 1. Turning Our CSV Connections Download Tool Back On

The Bottom Line: Users Regain Unfettered Access To Their Own Data While Long Time Partners Remain Shut Out

There appears to be an internal LinkedIn effort to lock down access to the social graph by scrapers.  Based on conversations with over a dozen LinkedIn partners, many old time partners have  had their LinkedIn feed access cancelled or terminated over the past 6 months.  The goal is to keep partners who may have been building new services and potentially competitive services on the LinkedIn social graph from gaining access.  These partner remain miffed at why they were curtailed access and in many cases unsure what LinkedIn’s future business model will be.

Unfortunately, the measures taken, may have been too harsh and users were caught in the cross fire.  The good news – LinkedIn did recognize the impact on users and the perception this had on their access to their data.  Kudos for the relatively fast response.

 

Some other great POV’s

LinkedIn Is Not Facebook, But It Clearly Wants To Be And It’s Turning Away Users from Theo Priestley

digibyte – Has LinkedIn lobotomized its users? from Dennis Howlett

Your POV.

How do you feel about the way LinkedIn handled the situation to date?  Do you feel that LinkedIn broke your trust? Do you believe that this is their data or is this your data?  Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationR (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) org.

 

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

News Analysis: How @LinkedIn Is Creating A Personal Data Hostage Crisis For Its Users

R "Ray" Wang

Principal Analyst and Founder
Constellation Research

R “Ray” Wang is the CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He co-hosts DisrupTV, a weekly enterprise tech and leadership webcast that averages 50,000 views per episode and blogs at www.raywang.org. His ground-breaking best-selling book on digital transformation, Disrupting Digital Business, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2015. Ray's new book about Digital Giants and the future of business, titled, Everybody Wants to Rule The World was released in July 2021. Wang is well-quoted and frequently interviewed by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, and Bloomberg. Short Bio R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Founder, Chairman, and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation…...

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Curtailment Of @LinkedIn Downloadable Contacts Breaks Sacred Rules Of Digital Business

On July 23, 2015 11:46 AM, Emil Protalinski at Venture Beat broke the story that many users of LinkedIn had noted on social media outlets.  The easy to use, immediate download of one’s contacts in a number of flexible formats had been removed and quietly replaced with a less than desirable solution on an obscure help page (see Figure 1).  Customers would now have to request an archive of their own data and await 24 to 72 hours to receive their own data instead of an immediate download.

Figure 1. The Obscure Accessing Your Account Data Page

The Bottom Line:  Curtailment Of @LinkedIn Downloadable Contacts Breaks Sacred Rules Of Digital Business

Figure 2. @jeffweiner @reidhoffman founders of LinkedIn.

Source: Fortune

The actions taken by LinkedIn cut through the heart of customer’s expectations of a reputable brand and one that values the P2P networks created by the collective good of the network.  LinkedIn has damaged its social contract with its users by:

• Breaking the sacred tenet of trust and transparency.  By not announcing a significant change of features that impact one’s personal data, customers feel that LinkedIn tried to brush this under the table.  The lack of transparency damages the trusted relationship users have had with their social network.
• Trampling over personal data rights.  The move to limit access to one’s own data raises the question on data rights and ownership.  Customers should have the right to unfettered access their own content.  Removing the export contacts capability and requiring a hold period is just plain unacceptable.
• Forgetting that the customer’s network is the product.  LinkedIn’s management team apparently forgot that the customer is the raw input for the product.   The network would not exist without the collective P2P network.

The right action for LinkedIn is to publicly apologize and restore the ability to immediately download contacts for all users.  Stories from partners about cutting off API access and this personal data hostage issue continue to reinforce an image that the post-IPO LinkedIn is not a customer friendly nor partner friendly organization.  Time is of the essence as customers continue to mistrust LinkedIn’s intentions.

Your POV.

How do you feel about the way LinkedIn handled the situation to date?  Do you feel that LinkedIn broke your trust? Do you believe that this is their data or is this your data?  Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationR (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) org.

 

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

To survive IT services vendors must develop a multi-brand strategy

Founder, capioIT
calitolIT

Phil is the founder of capioIT, a research analyst firm focussed on driving change in the analyst and research market through innovation and collaboration, with a strong focus on IT services and BPO strategies in the Asia/Pacific region. He has 17 years' experience in corporate strategy, consulting and market intelligence, gained in a diverse range of organisations and industries. Prior to founding capioIT, he established the Australian and Services business units at Springboard Research. Prior to Springboard Research, Phil was responsible for driving analyst firm IDC's research in the services marketplace across the Asia/Pacific region. During his 6 years at IDC, Phil led a large multi-national team of analysts across a range of IT related services with a particular focus on IT…...

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No-one will argue that the level of disruption for technology buyers and sellers is at an all time high. Everything is up for the disruption and will be for the foreseeable term in business time-frames. Therefore every option to win needs to be considered.

Multi brand approaches are real. They work for airlines, retail, hotel chains, auto manufacturers and many other sectors of the economy so why have IT solution providers not considered a multi-brand approach. The Gap group has Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic, Qantas has Qantas and Jetstar, Volkswagen Group has VW, Skoda Audi amongst many examples. The time has come for IT Solutions vendors to meet distinct client requirements and frankly not let revenue walk out to competitors.

Let’s take a look at the model enjoyed by leading Asia Pacific airlines such as Qantas, and Singapore Airlines. These three airlines, whilst more than capable of frustrating their frequent fliers, have a very strong premium brand. When you fly them you know what you will get. The schedule is usually robust, and if there is a problem it can be resolved, you get experienced crew, and an overall premium experience (I know, a little idealistic perhaps).

If you fly Jetstar, or Scoot you know that you still get from A to B, it is just with less frills and services, and often some tears, but of course, all things being equal, you play less money.

From a car perspective, even though they can share the same platform the experience and cost outcomes between an Audi and Skoda is considerable

The legacy IT solutions vendors need to adopt this model if they are to stay relevant in what is of course an exceptionally disruptive environment. Maintain the premium brand for those organisations who need the full service and can invest the resources. Then create a tiered brand that services those clients who do not want bespoke solutions, rather those who want faster deployments.

The tiered model opens up the smaller sized organisations, specific industry offerings and partnering opportunities that are not always available to the premium model. Just as Qantas found with Jetstar it introduces new economics for potential customers that were either untapped or just went to the other competitors.

A key point is that some will say that this is the role of partners, but it is not as simple as letting the no frills work go to the channel. The partner environment is important but cannot please every engagement or client.

Characteristics of the premium services brand

• Integration depth and testing across Applications, processes etc.
• Availability of premium resource level
• Bespoke service provision
• Core business processes

Characteristics of the no frills services brand

• Stand alone project engagement
• Strong asset and automated solution base
• Inability to significantly modify or customise
• Secondary business processes

The core point is that currently there is not the flexibility to provide such a model. Vendors get themselves caught up in being both premium and no frills. This is where it gets difficult. The success of Qantas, Gap et al is because they know where one brand begins and the other ends. They price and deliver consistently to this benchmark. They also value customer experience and outcomes, just in different ways. 

The other area of debate relates to core versus secondary business processes. This is of course debateable, but it is clear that some processes need more technology investment focus than others.

Focus Point

The IT market is undergoing extreme change. The services market is no exception. Whilst it met the challenge of offshore, this is no guarantee that it will meet the challenge of cloud and digital more broadly.

Legacy vendors must consider the multi-tier model that has been so successful for the business model of brands such as Gap, Qantas and Volkswagen. This enables the opportunity to change the dynamics of the services market and have a better chance of winning during the disruption.

If you require further information, please contact Phil Hassey,  Founder capioIT. capioIT is an advisory firm focused on helping organisations to understand emerging technology as the world becomes Digital. Phil may be contacted by email below,

[email protected]

Marketing Transformation Tech Optimization Chief Information Officer Chief Marketing Officer

Man made software in his own image

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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In 2002, a couple of Japanese visitors to Australia swapped passports with each other before walking through an automatic biometric border control gate being tested at Sydney airport. The facial recognition algorithm falsely matched each of them to the others' passport photo. These gentlemen were in fact part of an international aviation industry study group and were in the habit of trying to fool biometric systems then being trialed round the world.

When I heard about this successful prank, I quipped that the algorithms were probably written by white people - because we think all Asians look the same. Colleagues thought I was making a typical sick joke, but actually I was half-serious. It did seem to me that the choice of facial features thought to be most distinguishing in a facial recognition model could be culturally biased.

Since that time, border control face recognition has come a long way, and I have not heard of such errors for many years. Until today.

The San Francisco Chronicle of July 21 carries a front page story about the cloud storage services of Google and Flickr mislabeling some black people as gorillas (see updated story, online). It's a quite incredible episode. Google has apologized. Its Chief Architect of social, Yonatan Zunger, seems mortified judging by his tweets as reported, and is investigating.

The newspaper report quotes machine learning experts who suggest programmers with limited experience of diversity may be to blame. That seems plausible to me, although I wonder where exactly the algorithm R&D gets done, and how much control is to be had over the biometric models and their parameters along the path from basic research to application development.

So man has literally made software in his own image.

The public is now being exposed to Self Driving Cars, which are heavily reliant on machine vision, object recognition and artificial intelligence. If some software of this sort can't tell people from apes in static photos given lots of processing time, how does it perform in real time, with fleeting images, subject to noise, and with much greater complexity? It's easy to imagine any number of real life scenarios where an autonomous car will have to make a split-second decision between two pretty similar looking objects appearing unexpectedly in its path.

One assumes Self Driving Cars (SDCs) will be tested to exhaustion but will it be enough? If cultural bias is affecting the work of programmers, it's possible that testers suffer the same blind spots without knowing it. Maybe the testers never even thought to try out the offending photo labeling programs on black people. So how are the test cases for SDCs being selected? What might happen when an SDC ventures into neighborhoods where its programmers and testers have never been?

Everybody in image processing and artificial intelligence should be humbled by the racist photo labeling. With the world being eaten by software, we need to reflect really deeply on how such design howlers arise. And frankly double check if we're ready to let computer programs behind the wheel.

Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Security Zero Trust Chief Information Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Privacy Officer

Cloud Analytics: What’s Driving Growth?

Doug Henschen

Former Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Doug Henschen is former Vice President and Principal Analyst where he focused on data-driven decision making. Henschen’s Data-to-Decisions research examines how organizations employ data analysis to reimagine their business models and gain a deeper understanding of their customers. Henschen's research acknowledges the fact that innovative applications of data analysis requires a multi-disciplinary approach starting with information and orchestration technologies, continuing through business intelligence, data-visualization, and analytics, and moving into NoSQL and big-data analysis, third-party data enrichment, and decision-management technologies. Insight-driven business models are of interest to the entire C-suite, but most particularly chief executive officers, chief digital officers,…...

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Cloud-based business intelligence, data visualization and analytics options are gaining momentum as the center of data gravity shifts along with apps and services. But be prepared for a hybrid world.

Cloud-based data-analysis was ahead of its time seven to 10 years ago, but as SaaS apps and cloud-based platforms and services have proliferated, businesses are increasingly turning to cloud-based business intelligence and analytics options.

Name a major vendor and you can bet it has a cloud-based service already fueling growth or dominating future plans. At Tableau Software it’s Tableau Online, launched in 2013. Qlik went GA with Qlik Sense Cloud earlier this year. At IBM it’s Watson Analytics and at SAP it’s Lumira Cloud. More recently we’ve seen the headlines about Databricks’ Spark-based Databricks cloud service and Microsoft’s evolved Power BI.

A bit of history helps put things in perspective. Over the last decade we’ve seen the CRM category move solidly into the cloud, led by Salesforce and followed by Microsoft, Oracle and SAP. Amazon launched its first Web Services in 2004 and Google followed suite with the Google App Engine in 2008.

With the rise of social networks and digital marketing, yet more data originated in the cloud, and soon, SaaS marketing options like Eloqua and Marketo took off. The state of the art in social insight evolved from crude counts of mentions, positives and negatives to much more subtle, industry-specific understanding of influencers, churn, content interactions and buying triggers.

Smartphones, tablets and mobile apps are piling on yet more data, and the NoSQL databases that typically run these apps are often deployed in the cloud. With so much data now originating in the cloud, is it any wonder that in 2014 Amazon RedShift became AWS’s fastest-growing service ever? No surprise, too, that we’ve seen similar database-as-a-service (DBaaS) offerings from IBM (DashDB), HP Vertica and Teradata.

A few of the earliest cloud BI vendors (like LucidEra, Oco and PivotLink) didn’t survive to see the cloud data gold rush. But stronger survivors, like Birst and GoodData, are now getting a second wind. And no surprise we’re seeing new pure-play cloud vendors emerge, such as Domo and InsightSquared.

Among the services from on-premises vendors, Tableau Online, a multi-tenant service, is now that vendor’s fastest-growing product. Fueling that growth is analysis of data from Amazon RedShift, Google Analytics, Google BigQuery and Salesforce, in that order. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that cloud-based analysis only for data born in the cloud. The majority of data analyzed in Tableau Online is from on-premises sources linked through live database connections, synced through published extracts or uploaded from databases or files.

So what’s the nature of these analyses and how are insights being put into action? I expect to hear more next week when I moderate a July 29 panel discussion in San Francisco on the topic of cloud analytics. On that panel will be executives from Tableau, Google Cloud Platform, Databricks, Birst and Tableau customer Practice Fusion. It’s a small, invite-only event, but event sponsor Tableau is inviting a short list of Bay-area journalists to cover the discussion. I’ll be asking about use cases, tips on correlating on-premises and cloud-based data, analysis approaches (SQL, visualization, machine learning or all of the above?) and how companies are coping with data at scale.

Watch for my Tweets (@DHenschen) on stand-out coverage from the July 29 event, and I’ll follow up with a blog of my own on what’s driving reporting, data exploration, visualization and advanced analytics into the cloud.

Data to Decisions Chief Customer Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Marketing Officer Chief Digital Officer

Tuesday's Tip: Apply For A SuperNova Award - Recognize Leaders In Digital Business

R "Ray" Wang

Principal Analyst and Founder
Constellation Research

R “Ray” Wang is the CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He co-hosts DisrupTV, a weekly enterprise tech and leadership webcast that averages 50,000 views per episode and blogs at www.raywang.org. His ground-breaking best-selling book on digital transformation, Disrupting Digital Business, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2015. Ray's new book about Digital Giants and the future of business, titled, Everybody Wants to Rule The World was released in July 2021. Wang is well-quoted and frequently interviewed by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, and Bloomberg. Short Bio R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Founder, Chairman, and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation…...

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Nominate A Pioneer Or Leader Driving Business Change

Every year the Constellation SuperNova Awards recognize eight individuals for their leadership in digital business. Nominate yourself or someone you know by August 7, 2015.

The SuperNova Awards honor leaders that demonstrate excellence in the application and adoption of new and emerging technologies.
In its fifth year, the Constellation SuperNova Awards will recognize eight individuals who demonstrate true leadership in digital business through their application and adoption of new and emerging technologies. We’re searching for leaders and teams who have innovatively applied disruptive technolgies to their business models as a means of adapting to the rapidly-changing digital business environment. Special emphasis will be given to projects that seek to redefine how the enterprise uses technology on a large scale.

We’re searching for the boldest, most transformative technology projects out there. Apply for a SuperNova Award by filling out the application here:

Apply Here

SuperNova Award Categories

Our eight categories reflect the business themes Constellation Research analysts cover for our clients.

• Consumerization of IT & The New C-Suite – The Enterprise embraces consumer tech, and perfects it.
•  Data to Decisions – Using data to make informed business decisions.
•  Digital Marketing Transformation – Put away that megaphone. Marketing in the digital age requires a new approach.
•  Future of Work – The processes and technologies addressing the rapidly shifting work paradigm.
•  Matrix Commerce – Commerce responds to changing realities from the supply chain to the storefront.
•  Next Generation Customer Experience – Customers in the digital age demand seamless service throughout all lifecycle stages and across all channels.
•  Safety and Privacy – Not ‘security’. Safety and Privacy is the art and science of the art and science of protecting information assets, including your most important assets: your people.
•  Technology Optimization & Innovation – Innovative methods to balance innovation and budget requirements.

5 reasons to apply for a SuperNova Award:

• Exposure to the SuperNova Award judges, comprised of the top influencers in enterprise technology
• Case study highlighting the achievements of the winners written by Constellation analysts
• Complimentary admission to the SuperNova Award Gala Dinner and Constellation’s Connected Enterprise for all finalists
(November 4-6, 2015) lodging and travel not included
• One year unlimited access to Constellation’s research library
• Winners featured in Constellation’s blog and weekly newsletter

Learn more about the SuperNova Awards.

What to expect when applying for a SuperNova Award. Tips and sample application.

 

Data to Decisions Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Future of Work Marketing Transformation Matrix Commerce New C-Suite Next-Generation Customer Experience Tech Optimization Innovation & Product-led Growth AR Executive Events Leadership 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 Supply Chain Officer Chief Experience Officer

Nominate your CMO for a SuperNova Award

Honor your organization's CMO or innovative business leader by nominating them for a SuperNova Award. The SuperNova Awards honor leaders that demonstrate excellence in the application and adoption of new and emerging technologies. 

The application deadline is August 7, 2015. 

Apply for a SuperNova Award by filling out the application here: 

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SuperNova Award Winner: Lynn Hemans, Director, Industry & Competitive Insights, Taco Bell

Lynn Hemans oversaw an integrated Twitter campaign to drive customer engagement and derive insights from social actions during the launch of Taco Bell's most successful product--the Doritos Locos Taco. The campaign produced insights on which Taco Bell could easily act, and created an avenue for enthusiastic customers to interact directly with the brand and other enthusiastic customers. The actionable insights combined with the social campaign created viral buzz for the product. Upon its launch, Taco Bell sold 200m+ Doritos Locos Tacos in six months.

Prior to the successful launch of Hemans' 'Insights Drive Tactics' campaign in 2012, little emphasis was placed on customer engagement via social. The success of the campaign highlights the need for constant innovation where customer engagement is involved. Successful marketing officers constantly seek out and engage with customers.  

Lynn Hemans won the 2012 SuperNova Award for Next Generation Customer Experience.

5 reasons to apply for a SuperNova Award:

• Exposure to the SuperNova Award judges, comprised of the top influencers in enterprise technology
• Case study highlighting the achievements of the winners written by Constellation analysts
• Complimentary admission to the SuperNova Award Gala Dinner and Constellation's Connected Enterprise for all finalists
  (November 4-6, 2015) lodging and travel not included
• One year unlimited access to Constellation's research library
• Winners featured on Constellation's blog and weekly newsletter

Learn more about the SuperNova Awards. 

What to expect when applying for a SuperNova Award. Tips and sample application.  

 

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Data to Decisions Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Future of Work Marketing Transformation Matrix Commerce New C-Suite Next-Generation Customer Experience Tech Optimization Innovation & Product-led Growth 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 Supply Chain Officer

Duck Intelligence, Think Wisdom

1

I have exercised my systems of patience, after using my systems of reading to dive into the blog and research published (sorry, posted using their systems of writing, editing, and publication) by Forrester recently.

I had to use my patience not to react using what my daughters call my “catch phrase” — Aw, come on!!

Seriously – is everything becoming a system now? I groaned at the birth of Systems of Engagement (possibly as a potential alter-ego to the forever-there-but-never-named-so systems of record… AKA CRM).  Downright exploded and made my feelings known at the “systems of intelligence” (aka analytics).  But this is where I feel I have to put down my proverbial foot and say enough is enough.

Just like not everything in this world is a platform or part of an ecosystem (as necessary as those are, you cannot turn a 20-year old solution into a “knowledge management platform” just by hiring a new VP of Marketing), not everything in this world is becoming a “system of” something.

In this case, the problem is that the marketing hype surrounding the concept of wisdom (and the rush to be the first one to coin a term – well done, Forrester — you win that one… yay) is clouding a reality.

Knowledge Management is no longer sufficient to power organizations’ quest for business transformation.

We have been trying for over 50 years to manage knowledge with different degrees of success.  We created technology, processes, even a culture of knowledge that was supposed to ensure organizations could corral, manage, and reuse knowledge at the drop of a hat in any instance, at any time, via any channel, integrated into any technology.

Needless to say, it hasn’t happened.  I wrote plenty about this (look at the my downloads page and read some of the series of blog posts I did – or search knowledge management on my blog) and the need to alter the model of knowledge management.  I am a big pusher for knowledge-in-use and communities and try to stay away from knowledge repositories – although I know that virtually no one is following me there…

The recent changes to technologies, information management (which i covered in my last business transformation update), speed of change, and societal changes induced by communities (no, not powered by vendors – more and more people flocking to communities) have made the traditional knowledge-in-storage model almost unsustainable.

Indeed, collecting knowledge for (maybe) later use is no longer feasible for organizations.  While the current systems will continue powering that model for another 2-3 years (up to a decade in some cases) I am seeing a need and demand for something more useful.

Powered by “Systems of Intelligence” (analytics), “Systems of Insight” (seriously?), and more importantly by the failure rate associated with traditional KM implementations in organizations my clients are asking to bypass the concept of KM and instead focus on wisdom.

Before you start screaming, I am not using wisdom in the same way that Webster defines it – but as a model for applied knowledge.  Got a better word? bring it – comment box is below.

Wisdom is what happens when you use knowledge – and what we always wanted our KM systems to do.  It is not just to store an article with an answer, but it is to know how that answer is applied, when does it work, when it doesn’t, and how to find the ancillary information necessary to make it work in the latter.  Not by simply starting a new query – but by associating all the wisdom surrounding that answer (in real time, mind you – as things are changing quite rapidly these days) from all the relevant SME (subject matter experts) regardless of where they are and what they are doing.

There is an old phrase – knowledge is understanding that tomatoes are fruits.  Wisdom is understanding that they shouldn’t go into a fruit salad.

That is likely the easier way to explain the difference.  Or to go back to my title… as odd as it is.

Knowledge is understanding that ducks are unlikely to be a source of wisdom.  Wisdom is to know I wrote that title on my iPhone and autocorrect changed it.

Waddle on to the comments below and let me know what you think… are we ready for some wisdom?

Next-Generation Customer Experience Chief Customer Officer Chief Information Officer

The Re-Positioning of the Major Technology Vendors will be followed by the IT Department having to Re-Position

Andy Mulholland

Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Andy Mulholland is Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on cloud business models. Formerly the Global Chief Technology Officer for the Capgemini Group from 2001 to 2011, Mulholland successfully led the organization through a period of mass disruption. Mulholland brings this experience to Constellation’s clients seeking to understand how Digital Business models will be built and deployed in conjunction with existing IT systems. Coverage Areas Consumerization of IT & The New C-Suite: BYOD, Internet of Things, IoT, technology and business use Previous experience: Mulholland co authored four major books that chronicled the change and its impact on Enterprises starting in 2006 with the well-recognised book ‘Mashup Corporations’ with Chris Thomas of Intel. This was followed in…...

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As the technology wave relentless refocuses attention around Internet based technologies all of the current leading Technology Vendors have moved to reposition their products and capabilities. The resulting re alignments will also have to apply to IT departments to ensure that they are similarly aligned to both these new product sets, but most of all to the new Enterprise Business internal redesign of operations.

The maturity of Client-Server based technology in terms of its technology elements, leading products, and the manner in which Enterprise Business makes use of its capabilities, has lead to an optimization through specialization within the IT department. This has lead to undoubted excellence in delivery operations of the internal use of IT as a mechanism to reduce the costs of the so-called Back Office internal administration of an Enterprise. However it also introduces the risk of being unable to see and understand these changes that don’t fit the existing specializations.

As an example associating SAP with your ERP delivery unit alone, or any other major Technology player solely with their existing internal IT delivery unit, is a big mistake. The Technology venders know they have to move into a wholly different set of products or services with correspondingly different delivery methods, and have already done so. The danger is that IT departments have not followed these disruptive changes in product sets and capabilities.

A previous blog drew attention to this danger using as, an example, Cisco announcing a new set of capabilities for the Internet of Things, IoT. An announcement that included adding a whole range of new integration technology products to build Internet based systems. Cisco knows it has difficulty in getting non-networking IT staff to read its releases and recognize the new roles and capabilities its products now support. Its the same story for SAP with its rapidly growing HANA capabilities moving its capabilities beyond those of the IT departments ERP staff. Or, Salesforce, IBM, in fact the whole top tier of Technology vendors find themselves ‘trapped’ in there traditional market slot.

Investments have introduced genuinely new, innovative products that match real business requirements, unfortunately they all too often cant be matched to their current ‘partnership’ positioning in the IT department organization.

For the major technology vendors, as much as the new startups, the inability to get their messages read and understood is a major issue. As specialized team members make what were previously rational decisions to disregard what doesn’t directly concern them in their current roles and partnership alignments it has now become a recognizable issue for the IT department too.

It’s a subtle and difficult challenge to take on, because right now few IT departments have any systematic manner of identifying the ‘big picture’ of emerging technologies to identify and characterize how to make use of radical new capabilities with business. New requirements are either dealt with in the manner of the one off requirement, or maybe by asking the ‘nerd squad’ doing small scale Internet and Services build work for sales or marketing. Neither reaches the real issue, which is to strategically decide what is required as an ongoing Enterprise in association with Business change, and accordingly, re evaluate potential partners around their positioning and products.

Can IT re evaluate and re-position itself on its own? The answer is almost certainly no, as the re-positioning has to be around the new Enterprise Business model built on the basis of Technology capabilities.

Exactly what this means was skillfully made clear by Blake Cahill, the Global Head of Brand Marketing for Philips, speaking at the Constellation Research Digital Disruption tour in Amsterdam recently.  Blake has been interviewed by various publications and there are three interviews that cover his views and provide more depth to the whole topic of the extent to which Digital Disruption is reorganizing Enterprises;  One, Two, and Three.

Blake’s presentation to the event described how Philips had created three common business zones each of which covered all their products and activities to insure that there is a common enterprise wide engagement;

1. Market to Sale – understanding and interacting with the overall Digital Marketing in all aspects of both inward intelligence as well as outward messaging.
2. Sale to Order – presenting the choices and assisting the potential customer in achieving a mutually satisfying deal.
3. Order to Fulfillment – recognizably based around much of the existing Back Office IT systems, but with the addition of Digital links for purposes such as order tracking by a customer.

The three zones each have all the activities of Philips in that particular engagement area to ensure a full ‘big picture’ relationship to each other, though not necessarily in the manner of traditional IT processes where alignment of process and data is the key. Taking as an example Market to Sale the requirement is to be able to track all market data both incoming and outgoing to determine new ‘insights’ of business value that in turn are used to act and create successful ‘outcomes’.

Digital Business is not just about doing Business Online using Digital Technology; above all it’s the development of ‘Smart’ Business capabilities to interpret apparently unrelated data into previously unrecognized ‘Insights’ of Business value. In the super competitive Digital world awash with data to survive, and prosper, requires not just more data analytics, but a different business model.

This point was made in a previous blog, and brings the point back to the re invention and re positioning of the knowledge and capabilities of the current IT department. The IT department has to bring a very different set of technology tools, probably from a new set of partners, to manage the data flows from a world of Internet of Things devices, as well as many other existing sources; Machine learning is just one example of a new and radically disruptive new tool, but already the there are sufficient new products and capabilities launched that need to assessed in systematic manner.

However the words Strategic and Systematic examination of new technology and tools require matching to the requirements of the new re-positioned operating and business models of the enterprise.

This is the first in a new blog series where the focus will be on understanding what, and how, a business may choose to operate as it under goes its own ‘Digital Disruption’, and the consequences for re-positioning the capabilities and competencies’ of the IT department as the provider of Enterprise Technology knowledge. 

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Five Lessons from a Year of Disruption

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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When you are head down working on projects, developing new business and just keeping it all together, it’s easy to miss business milestones – like your first year in business.

The initial idea for Disruptor’s Handbook came from a lunchtime meeting with my former colleagues at PwC. We were talking about the concept of “disruption” and how it could be managed. Used for innovation. Simon Gibbard suggested that we write a handbook – a disruptor’s handbook. Tim Lovitt and I had topic ideas and thought we could pull together a blog. Or an ebook. Or something.

Of course, it never happened. We were busy with projects and with life.

When my PwC contract ended, I launched Disruptor’s Handbook with the view that there was something to the concept. There were plenty of lessons from the world of startups that could be applied to corporates, and vice versa. I had also worked with communities and business networks and knew there was value in collaboration. The plan was to bring these things together – to help corporates, smaller businesses with the appetite for change, and innovative NFPs:

• Reduce the risk of innovation
• Innovate quickly by adopting proven frameworks
• Be supported by experienced executives, mentors and teams.

The Three Principles

So I began with three principles that applied not only to collaborators but also to clients:

• Intention: When working with clients and with collaborators, I needed to understand their intention. Did they truly, deeply have an intention to work together? Or was it a “lipstick on a pig” project designed to give the appearance of innovation?
• Commitment: Was there a commitment to make a difference with innovation? Would clients and collaborators commit to a problem, wrestle with politics, budgets and organisational apathy?
• Gavin is not always right: I can be passionate and easily convinced of the power of my own ideas, but I challenged myself to be open to alternatives of all kinds.

Five Lessons from Disruption

Like any fledgling business, there’s a lot required to build, learn and grow. You need work. Case studies. Cash flow. But these are the same for any business. What follows, however, are the more hidden lessons that I have taken out of the last 12 months:

1. Your greatest strength is speed – but only if you use it. There is plenty of competition out there. But being a small business means that you can change the way you DO business quickly. But you have to commit to doing so. If you take a week to change your website, you’re too late. If you need to delay a project you may lose it. The challenge is to actually use your nimbleness to respond to project, client or market changes faster than everyone else.
2. You aren’t what you sell. After creating a dozen or more disruptor’s handbooks on various topics from “using the lean canvas” to “how to run a hackathon”, I realised that I needed to bring things together. Potential clients could see the value but not the offer. I needed to quickly change the way that I explained Disruptor’s Handbook to make it more tangible. Remember to sell the sizzle as well as the steak.
3. What you have isn’t necessarily what clients want. This is a hard one. Sometimes people “want” disruption but they’re not “ready” for it (yet). Like most innovation, it’s a journey. You’ve got to both educate your clients and lead them on a journey. You’ve got to support them in selling the concepts into their own teams and management. It may be that your offerings are too early for the market. In which case, it’s time for Lesson 4.
4. Ditch your beautiful ideas. Ideas in your disruptive business are worth nothing. What counts is traction. If a proposal is successful, analyse it for what worked. Keep refining it. But if you proposals are not succeeding, you need to move on quickly (see Lesson 1). No one will love your idea more than you, and that’s what makes it hard to let go. Be honest with yourself, ask for feedback and figure out where to go next. After all, you need to eat.
5. Ride the horse all the way to “yes”. In our minds we are often saying yes but our words, presentations, proposals and actions indicate “no”. Keep practising saying “yes” out loud so that your clients and collaborators can hear it. Be open (as per Principle 3 above) as a project can often veer into unexpected and exciting territory. It may start out simply but can become truly disruptive and exciting. Ride that horse all the way to yes.
6. A note of thanks. I know this is Lesson 6 … but it’s also important to be thankful. In the first year I have been fortunate to work with and learn from many people. We’ve done some great work together – from the innovative Qantas Hackathon to StudyNSW digital strategy. We’ve run workshops, spoken at conferences, mentored startups and incubated a few new businesses that are yet to launch (more to come). Every project took commitment and intention from the business and the business sponsors. And I was not always right. But I am truly thankful for the opportunity and experience.

With one year down, I’m excited to be looking further ahead. Plans are being considered. Collaborators cultivated. If you have a project you like to discuss, I’d love to hear from you. If you’d like to be a collaborator, hit me up.

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