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… Read more

Seeking The Rebels – Pioneers, Early Adopters, and Thought Leaders

Since we started Constellation Research in 2010, we have had a single mission – serve the market leaders and fast followers.  Yet, finding these market leaders and fast followers was no easy task. These folks shrugged off the legacy analyst firms as they failed to swiftly recognize and validate trends for good reason.  Why, the legacy analyst firms often ignored the needs of the business.  These legacy analyst firms would rubber stamp already accepted ideas for their base of  IT-centric cautious adopters and laggards years after the business had made key purchases.  Just recently, a legacy analyst firm showcased their innovative research around a “nexus of forces” in 2013 that we identified in 2010!

In order not to recreate the stale legacy analyst firm model, we realized a need to bring together a community of early adopters who saw how transformative technologies could create disruptive business models.   However, in order to cultivate and recognize these market leaders and fast followers, how would we identify, recognize, and reward them?

Enter the SuperNova Awards!  We started the SuperNova Awards in 2011 to celebrate and recognize leaders and teams who have overcome the odds to successfully apply emerging and disruptive technologies for their organizations.  We wanted to find these rebels, pioneers, and thought leaders.  We wanted to give them a home and community to network and learn from.

Last year we had over 120 applications and awarded seven global winners at our 2012 SuperNova Awards live ceremony on the first evening of our Connected Enterprise event.

2012 SuperNova Award winners:

• Lynn Hemans, Director, Industry and Competitive Insights, Taco Bell
• Jason Williams, Community Manger, Ipswitch, Inc.
• Chris Salles, Director of Store Labor, Guitar Center
• Miguel Angel Lozano Martinez, Corporate Innovation, CEMEX
• Leerom Segal, President & CEO, Klick Health
• Meagen Eisenberg, Vice President, Demand Generation, DocuSign
• Cari Cook, Executive Director, Delta Delta Delta
• Steve Haindl, Senior VP and CIO, ARI

Join Us For The Third Annual SuperNova Awards

Help us find this year’s finalists.  Nominate someone special for a 2013 SuperNova Award!

The Constellation SuperNova Awards celebrate and recognize leaders and teams who have overcome the odds to successfully apply emerging and disruptive technologies for their organizations.  This annual search for innovators includes an all star judging panel, substantial prizes, invite-only admission and speaking opportunities at Constellation’s premier innovation summit – Connected Enterprise.

The awards are open to end users only. End users at vendor companies may enter the awards. We will disqualify any vendor applications.  Vendors may submit on their customer’s behalf but must enter their customer’s details and have their approval.

• May 1, 2013 application process begins. Submit applications here: http://www.constellationr.com/content/supernova-awards-application
• July 22, 2013 August 7, 3013 last day for submissions.
• August 22, 2013 finalists announced and invited to Connected Enterprise.
• September 9, 2013 voting opens to the public
• October 9, 2013 polls close
• October 30, 2013 Winners announced, SuperNova Awards Gala Dinner at Connected Enterprise

The judging process is comprised of two phases.

Phase I: Judging panel reviews applications to determine SuperNova Award finalists

Phase II: Voting opens to the public. A combination of the public and judges votes will determine the winners of the SuperNova Awards. Judges votes are weighted at 75% of the total.

Winners are announced at the SuperNova Awards Gala Dinner during Connected Enterprise.

A notable list of technology thought leaders, analysts, and journalists will judge the SuperNova Awards. See the full list of judges here: http://www.constellationr.com/content/supernova-award-judges

Award categories center around Constellation’s business research themes. Award categories:

• Consumerization of IT & The New C-Suite
• Data to Decisions
• Digital Marketing Transformation
• Future of Work
• Matrix Commerce
• Next Generation Customer Experience
• Technology Optimization & Innovation

The SuperNova Award Winners will be announced live, on stage, at the SuperNova Awards Gala Dinner on October 31, 2013 on the first night of Constellation’s Connected Enterprise.

Finalists in each category will be awarded one complimentary ticket to Constellation’s Connected Enterprise.

Winners in each category will win a one-year subscription to Constellation’s Research Library.

NOMINATE SOMEONE SPECIAL

Disclosures

Although we work closely with many mega software vendors, we want you to trust us. For the full disclosure policy, stay tuned for the full client list on the Constellation Research website.

* Not responsible for any factual errors or omissions.  However, happy to correct any errors upon email receipt.

Copyright © 2001 – 2013 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC All rights reserved.
Contact the Sales team to purchase this report on a a la carte basis or join the Constellation Customer Experience!

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. Read more

There has been a great deal of change in marketing practice over the last decade. There are new channels like social and mobile, new technologies like apps and new ways to measure effectiveness.

To take account of the changes, ADMA is kicking off a consultation process to engage marketers with the aim of updating the ADMA Code of Practice by the end of the year. You can participate in a two minute survey on the code here.

Key points to remember:

• ADMA’s existing Code was developed in the late 1990s to address issues around telemarketing and fair trading. The Code needs updating for the self-regulatory challenges facing marketers using new data-driven channels, techniques and technologies.
• Data volumes are growing exponentially and this is giving rise to renewed privacy and data security challenges that can be addressed via the Code.
• With new privacy laws about to come into effect (March 2014), a revised Code will enable ADMA to establish best practice under the new privacy regime and help members ensure they are meeting their legal requirements.
• The revised Code will become an enabling tool for marketers and advertisers committed to excellence in customer data management in the era of “Big Data”.

 Kevin Dooley via Compfight

Vice President & Principal Analyst Test

Joseph is Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc.&nbsp; Covering all things related to Data Management and Analytics, he focuses on making better decisions through using new sources of data, innovative ways of interweaving the volumetric flow of data of increasing compexity, and disruptive techniques for drawing inferences and making predictions from that data. <br> Sensor networks <br> Mobile devices <br> Machine-to-machine interchanges <br> Machine-to-human interactiions <br> Sensor Analytics <br> Internet of Things <br> Sustainability <br> Self-quantification <br> Since 1978, Joseph has been involved with renewable energy research, developing advanced statistical methods for complex system analysis, and creating analytical techniques and management… Read more

The number of articles about the Internet of Things [IoT], Machine-to-Machine communication [M2M], the Industrial Internet, the Internet of Everything [IoE] and the like have been increasing since I wrote my post introducing my IoT mindmap almost a year ago. I learn from some of them, some I nod sagely in agreement, and others cause me to scratch my head in confusion. One in particular this last week fell in that last category, when they claimed that all the terms listed here all mean the same thing.

From my reading, briefings and research over the past year, I've come to a different conclusion. The following definitions are my opinion. I can't say that any authority has certified these definitions. I believe them to be accurate, and if any vendor with an interest in any of these definitions strongly agree or disagree, I would be very much interested in talking with you.

Types

The first thing to be considered is Machine-to-Machine communication. M2M is really just one of four types of interchanges that occur over the Internet, intranets and any command, control, communication, computing or intelligence network. The other types are Human-to-Machine [H2M], Human-to-Human [H2H] and Machine-to-Human [M2H]. H2M and H2H interchanges have been around since the beginning of ARPAnet, which evolved to become the Internet. From the many different protocols at the beginning, such as FTP and Gopher [among many more], two have come to dominate Internet traffic:

• simple mail transfer protocol [SMTP] at the heart of email, and
• hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] at the heart of the world wide web [WWW or Web].

Every transaction made using a computer: online transaction process [OLTP] electronic data interchange [EDI], and eCommerce; every purchase you make at your favorite web store, is an example of H2M.

Of course, starting with email [still the dominant form of communication over the Internet and for businesses and individuals] and expanding to Twiter, Facebook, Waze, Yelp, Foursquare, Yammer, all the various instant messaging networks, voice over Internet protocol [VoIP] and your favorite public or private social network, we have many examples of Internet enabled H2H communication.

These two, H2M and H2H, have become so prevalent, and so important to business, governments and our personal life, that the over-hyped phenomenon "Big Data" was born. But the importance and pervasiveness of M2M, and soon, M2H data will swamp the so-called data tsunami of the past decade. Predictive maintenance, building automation, elastic provisioning, machine logs, software "phoning home" and automated decision support systems are all good examples of direct M2M interchanges where one sensor, device, embedded computer or system has a productive exchange with another such machine, without concurrent human intervention. Self-quantification, gamification, personalized medicine and augmented reality [AR] are all early examples of M2H interchanges, where sensors, devices, embedded computers or system directly provides relevant information to an individual, allowing for better informed decisions.

The Internet of Things

The Internet of Things was coined in 1999 by Kevin Ashton. Since then, the term has come to mean any device that is connected to the Internet. Most people don't consider computers, routers, edge equipment and other Internet infrastructure hardware to be a "device", and usually exclude such hardware from consideration as a thing that uses that infrastructure. For many, the devices are only smart phones, feature phones and tablets. This has led to predictions by Cisco and GSMA to declare that there will be 30 to 50 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2020. However, even these organizations, and most people with whom I speak who have skin in the IoT game, feel that my own prediction of one trillion devices connected to the Internet by 2020 is more likely. These devices span from individual, but connected sensors, to heavy machinery. However, as companies come out with Tweeting diapers, glowing clothing and other such silliness, the Internet of Things is in danger of becoming a fad. So, what is the Internet of Things? To my mind, the Internet of Things comprises any sensor, embedded sensor, embedded computer, component, package, sub-system, systems, or System that is connected to the Internet and intended to have meaningful interchanges with other such items and with humans. The Internet of Things primarily uses M2M and increasingly M2H interchange.

Smarter Planet

The first treatment of the IoT as large, complex system, to which I was exposed was at networking event in 2008… One of those events where IBM was introducing their new initiative for a Smarter Planet. The Smarter Planet brings complex systems such as the Smart Grid, building automation across facilities, water management, traffic management, Smarter Cities and Smarter Farms under one System. One approach and one initiative that raises the IoT to a new level of importance for world governments, global businesses and individuals from the poorest village to the most cosmopolitan city. The Smarter Planet initiatives go beyond IoT, beyond the individual things, to treating all such things, the Internet, the protocols, process and policies as one very large, complex, possibly cognate system.

Industrial Internet

The Industrial Internet is a term coined by General Electric [GE] in 2011. At a very simple level, the Industrial Internet can be thought of connected industrial control systems. But the impact is much more complex, and much more significant. The first thing to be realized is that connected sensors and computing power will be embedded in everything, from robots and conveyor belts on the factory floor, to tractors and irrigation on the farm, from heavy equipment to hand drills, from jet engines to bus fleets; every piece of equipment, everywhere. The Industrial Internet also primarily uses M2M and M2H. While this sounds much like the Internet of Things, the purpose is much different. The Industrial Internet is about changing business processes and making data the new coin of the realm. GE is very serious about the Industrial Internet, and while they don't use the term yet, Sensor Analytics Ecosystems. Data Marketplaces are rapidly becoming core to GEs businesses, as proven by their recent 140 million dollar investment in Pivotal, the new Big Data Platform as a Service [PaaS] by EMC. Another excellent example of the importance of the Industrial Internet comes from Salesforce.com use of The Social Machine by Digi International and its Etherios business unit, in bringing sensor data into customer relationship management [CRM] by allowing sensors embedded in industrial refrigerators, hot tubs, and heavy and light equipment of all types to open SFDC chatter sessions and to file cases.

The Internet of Everything

Cisco has recently started two initiatives related to the IoT, the Internet of Everything [IoE] and Fog Computing. IoE seeks to bring together H2H, H2M, M2M and H2H interchanges. On June 19th of this year, Cisco introduced their IoE Value Index [link to PDF]. By bringing together people, processes, data, and things, and with some impressive research to back it up, Cisco feels that the IoE, in 2013, could bring 1.2 Trillion Dollars in added value, and by 2022, 14.4 Trillion dollars in added market value to business around the world. Fog Computing tends more to the infrastructure of the IoE, bringing the concepts of Cloud Computing, such as distributed computing and elastic provisioning, to the edge of the network, with an emphasis on wireless connectivity, streaming data, and heterogeneity.

Industry Overview

While some of the above are corporate initiatives, they each represent important and distinct concepts. In addition to these from IBM, Cisco, GE, EMC and Salesforce.com, there are other initiatives and products, in this sphere, coming from HP, Oracle, SAP, MuleSoft, SnapLogic, Nuance, Splunk, Mocana, Evrythng, Electric Imp, Quirky, reelyActive, Ayla, SmartThings, Withings, Fitbit, Jawbone including BodyMedia, Nike, Basis, Cohda Wireless, AT&T, Verizon, Huawei, Orange, Belkin, DropCam, Gravity Jack, Alcatel-Lucent, and Siemens. Platforms, software, sensor packages and services, are being developed by a wide variety of innovative companies:

• Axeda,
• Xively,
• Macheen,
• Informatica,
• Oracle,
• ThingWorx,
• TheThings.IO,
• C3 Energy,
• Digi Intenational,
• Noesis Energy,
• NGData,
• Space-Time Insights,
• Infobright,
• Pentaho,
• Yellowfin Business Intelligence,
• Actian including Pervasive Software and Vectorwise ADBMS,
• Alpine Data Labs,
• Opera Solutions,
• Zementis,
• Teradata,
• SQLstream,
• WANdisco,
• Pivotal,
• INRIX,
• IMRSV,
• Paxata,
• Ayasdi,
• Datameer,
• August Smart Lock,
• Lively,
• Data Sensing Lab,
• Metaio, and
• Streetline.

Bottom Line

These innovative companies, and others, are implementing one or more of these concepts in a variety of ways. As I stated at the beginning, I don't think that these concepts are the same. While the IoT was first named 14 years ago, it is still early days in its implementation. There are many ways that the Internet of Things might evolve, and many missteps that could lead the IoT to be a passing fancy, leaving some important changes in its wake, but never reaching its full potential. I think there is one way, and one way only, that all of the concepts and initiatives will come together and change everything that we do, how we make decisions, how we think about ourselves, how governments make policy, how businesses make money: The Sensor Analytics Ecosystem [SAE]. Here's a tease of a mindmap giving a hint of what I mean by the SAE. Look for my upcoming report "Sensor Analytics as an Ecosystem" and a series of research reports delving into each area introduced therein. The companies listed above are building out parts of the SAE, and will feature heavily in these reports.

Click for Full Size SVG

Except where otherwise noted, this content is
licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst Constellation Research

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

Today Oracle announced the availability of Cloud Application Foundation (CAF), and never shy, declared it the #1 Application Foundation across conventional and cloud environments. This is a key step for Oracle to integrate products and make it easier to built applications on the Oracle technology stack. We take a look at the announcement and present our takeaways.

Building up the stack

It makes sense for Oracle to work the way up the technology stack - as the products leverage each other - CAF uses 12c heavily - and makes curios when we will see Application releases. 

But building applications always takes longer - so I would be surprised to see Application news before OpenWorld. But never say never.

Could it be a little more?

Actually CAF rurns out to be a little more than just Oracle WebLogic Server and Oracle Coherence, it also includes Oracle Tuxedo, a Virtual Assembly Builder and Traffic Director / Web Tier. And all of that plays nicely together and can be deployed in the Oracle Cloud and / or Oracle Excalogic Elastic Cloud Servers. Needless to say, it works with Oracle Database 12c and uses the databases new multitenancy features. And Oracle has learnt the lessons from the past - you need an infrastructure management tool for these systems at general availability time and Oracle Enterprise Manager can administer CAF and ships with it now. And finally no application products without tie-in from the developer side - so there is a new Oracle JDeveloper version available along side, too. 

If you throw all the new features of these products together, you come up with a staggering list of features, that comes back to my concerns raised after Oracle Analyst day - how can that amount of code and functionality be built reliably and then be trained and administered. We know the answer to the latter is Oracle Enterprise Manager - but for the rest Oracle will have to show, how its product quality can be upheld with this large scope and how the ecosystem will be trained. Oracle seems to have catered for the concern, mentioning the training availability and even providing the link to the training - in the press release. 

Oracle WebLogic Server gets cloudy

Beefed up Oracle Coherence

TCO Reduction

Is SAP HANA driving Oracle?

Cloud or not Cloud?

Implication for Fusion Apps?

MyPOV

President, Computer Economics and Strativa, Inc. Computer Economics and Strativa, Inc.

Frank Scavo is skilled at formulating and communicating IT strategy, developing the business case for new systems, and facilitating the selection of enterprise systems, such as ERP, CRM, and supply chain management. He is also an expert in benchmarking IT spending and staffing levels for end-user IT organizations. Frank was one of the first tech bloggers, beginning in 2002 with his launch of the Enterprise System Spectator providing independent analysis of issues and trends in enterprise applications software and the strengths, weaknesses, advantages, and disadvantages of the vendors that provide them. Frank has been quoted as an IT expert in numerous business and industry publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Computerworld, CIO Magazine, ZDnet, eWeek,… Read more

Dr. Qi Lu, Microsoft's Applications and Services Engineering Group

CEO Steve Ballmer published a long-awaiting memo this morning announcing corporate-wide organizational changes at Microsoft.  Although the reorg includes changes across many Microsoft functions, what does it mean specifically for the Dynamics group, which is responsible for Microsoft's business applications?

The changes for Dynamics appear minor, but there is much written between the lines.

Ballmer wrote:

Dynamics. Kirill Tatarinov will continue to run Dynamics as is, but his product leaders will dotted line report to Qi Lu, his marketing leader will dotted line report to Tami Reller and his sales leader will dotted line report to the COO group.

There are two important implications in this short paragraph.

1. Strategic role of Dynamics. The dotted line relationships with sales and marketing are a recognition of the connections that Dynamics makes outside the customer's IT organization. In the enterprise, apart from Dynamics, Microsoft sells at a fairly low level--at best to the CIO. The Dynamics group is the one part of Microsoft that gets into conversations with other members of the C-suite and with lines of business leaders. As the consumerization of IT continues, it is essential that Microsoft break out of the IT organization. With its enterprise applications, Dynamics represents and excellent opportunity for it to do so. 
    
2. Dynamics representing Microsoft's ISV partners. The dotted line relationship with Qi Lu, the newly announced head of the Applications and Services Engineering Group, points to the opportunity to leverage other parts of Microsoft's portfolio in its Dynamics line of business applications. These include products such as Bing, Lync, Office 365, Sharepoint, Exchange, and Yammer, among others. All of these products are enterprise-focused and should be tightly integrated with the Dynamics applications. If Microsoft expects its ISV partners to make use of these technologies, Microsoft needs to set an example by doing so within its own Dynamics apps. The tighter relationship between Dynamics and Qi Lu's business unit indicates the strategic role that Dynamics plays as showcase for the use of the broader portfolio of Microsoft products. 

Finally some have asked, do these dotted line relationships indicate a lack of confidence in the Dynamics group? The answer is no. If there were a lack of confidence, a corporate reorganization would be the perfect time to replace the leadership. Clearly, that didn't happen. These changes, rather, point to an elevated role for Dynamics within Microsoft.

Related posts

Microsoft Dynamics Move Up-Market: What’s Missing?
Four Needs Pushing Microsoft Dynamics into Large Enterprises

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 &nbsp;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. Read more

In reality, we are not really dealing with a gap. It could be better described as a “mismatch” – after all, a “gap” would indicate some alignment. But the problem for brands is that the distance between the two sets of expectations [customers and businesses] is growing.

The pressure in this relationship rests firmly with the marketing team. Digital and social media has not only transformed the way that most marketers work, it has significantly added to the process of marketing. There’s so much more technology involved, more analytics, reporting and monitoring. There are more agencies to deal with and more relationships to manage. And targets. And budgets. And so on.

So the title of Mitch Joel’s new book struck a chord with me. Ctrl Alt Delete – we certainly need a reboot in the world of marketing. Let’s take a look at just a couple of the mind blowing stats he starts with:

• 14% of businesses are not prepared to deal with the speed of today’s competitive landscape. Think about it. What happens to them? Do they just disappear Kodak-style? What happens to their customers and their employees?

• 74% of businesses don’t have a plan to stay competitive in the mobile world. How many nimble competitors are already eyeing the potential markets that will become available?

The cost of entry to existing markets is so much lower than the cost of TRANSFORMATION. This is why new business models and disruptive competitors are able to quickly gain traction in YOUR markets. Here are a few ideas that you can use to help you cope:

• Start a customer conversation: Who are your customers? I don’t mean “segments” or “personas” … I mean “real names”. Run a quick check over your records and identify 10 of your best customers and 10 of your worst. Reach out to them and ask them what they like and don’t like about you. See what you can fix and what you can do more of.

• Run a poll on your website: Get feedback on one or two of your products by running a poll on your website. SurveyMonkey is great – or you could just use Twtpoll. You might be surprised about what you learn.

• Dig into your website analytics: Don’t tell me you haven’t even installed Google Analytics on your website! If you haven’t, do so. It’s easy. And if you don’t know how, ask Twitter. Once you have stats coming through, look up “Traffic Sources” and learn about how your customers find you. Look at the search terms they use and the links they click to come to your site. Are you solving the right problems?

• Make your website mobile friendly: “Responsive design” is a hot topic at the moment. But most of the robust content management systems have responsive design templates or plugins that can be easily added to your site. At the minimum, add responsive design templates/capabilities to your blog – after all, Google Analytics will show you that about 25% of traffic comes from mobiles.

• Start or update your blog: What? Still no blog? That’s so 2003. If you haven’t started a blog, it’s never too late to do so. Start today (just check out IBM’s cool Tumblr as an easy-to-run example). Download WordPress and get going. And if you have a blog that hasn’t been updated for months, write a post and link to this article. Explain you are getting back on the bandwagon because you WANT to hear from your customers.

• Go social: Whether you like it or not, social is here to stay. But you need to get your hands dirty. Setup an account on Twitter or on Facebook. Do a little stalking to find out what your customers are talking about. Connect and slowly build out a strategy. Be sure to own that strategy – and don’t delegate it to the intern. Make it part of your business and use it to learn more about your customers, partners, suppliers and even employees. CEOs all over the world are doing it, why can’t you?

25+ Mind Blowing Stats About Business Today – CTRL ALT Delete from mitchjoel

Javier Eduardo Piragauta Mora via Compfight

Deadline for applications July 22, 2013 August 7, 2013

In its third year, the Constellation SuperNova Awards will recognize seven individuals who demonstrate true innovation through their application and adoption of new and emerging technologies. As always, we’re searching for leaders and teams who have overcome the odds to successfully apply emerging and disruptive technologies for their organizations. Special emphasis will be given to projects that seek to redefine how the enterprise uses technology on a large scale.

Continuing the SuperNova Award tradition, we’re searching for the boldest, most transformative technology projects out there. If you or someone you know has what it takes to compete in the SuperNova Awards, fill out the application here: http://www.constellationr.com/content/supernova-awards-application

Learn more about last year's winners:

• Lynn Hemans, Director, Industry and Competitive Insights, Taco Bell
• Jason Williams, Community Manger, Ipswitch, Inc.
• Chris Salles, Director of Store Labor, Guitar Center
• Miguel Angel Lozano Martinez, Corporate Innovation, CEMEX
• Leerom Segal, President & CEO, Klick Health
• Meagen Eisenberg, Vice President, Demand Generation, DocuSign
• Cari Cook, Executive Director, Delta Delta Delta
• Steve Haindl, Senior VP and CIO, ARI

About the SuperNova Awards

All entries are evaluated by our all star cast of judges which is comprised of the top enterprise technology journalists and thought leaders. Compelling applications stand to gain additional exposure as the judges may write case studies and articles about such applications.

Who can enter?

The awards are open to end users only. End users at vendor companies may enter the awards. We will disqualify any vendor applications.

Timeline

• May 1, 2013 application process begins. Submit applications here: http://www.constellationr.com/content/supernova-awards-application
• July 22, 2013 August 7, 3013 last day for submissions.
• August 22, 2013 finalists announced and invited to Connected Enterprise.
• September 9, 2013 voting opens to the public
• October 9, 2013 polls close
• October 30, 2013 Winners announced, SuperNova Awards Gala Dinner at Connected Enterprise

Judging Process

The judging process is comprised of two phases.

Phase I: Judging panel reviews applications to determine SuperNova Award finalists

Phase II: Voting opens to the public. A combination of the public and judges votes will determine the winners of the SuperNova Awards. Judges votes are weighted at 75% of the total. 

Winners are announced at the SuperNova Awards Gala Dinner during Connected Enterprise.

Judges

A notable list of technology thought leaders, analysts, and journalists will judge the SuperNova Awards. See the full list of judges here: http://www.constellationr.com/content/supernova-award-judges

Categories

Award categories center around Constellation's business research themes. Award categories:

• Consumerization of IT & The New C-Suite
• Data to Decisions
• Digital Marketing Transformation
• Future of Work
• Matrix Commerce
• Next Generation Customer Experience
• Technology Optimization & Innovation 

Awards Ceremony

The SuperNova Award Winners will be announced live, on stage, at the SuperNova Awards Gala Dinner on October 30, 2013 on the first night of Constellation's Connected Enterprise.

Rewards

Finalists in each category will be awarded one complimentary ticket to Constellation's Connected Enterprise.

Winners in each category will win a one-year subscription to Constellation’s Research Library.

More information about the awards including FAQs here: http://www.constellationr.com/content/supernova-award-guidelines

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst Constellation Research

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

HANA in Review: I had the pleasure of being hosted by SAP for a fully loaded day of HANA briefings - and it was an information-rich and very interesting day. Needless to say, I learned a lot - and need to review my position on HANA to be more positive, as more progress has been made by SAP than I previously thought.

Suite on Hana

 SAP HANA One (Premium)

HANA Enterprise Cloud

HANA Cloud Platform

"Analytics" and Analytics

Design Thinking

SAP the technology company

MyPOV

Continuing to explore the new world of Knowledge Management thanks to my sponsored research model, right now with my friends at Coveo, I want to take a moment to focus on an often overused, always misunderstood, and seldom (to the best of my knowledge – no pun intended) related to knowledge metric of FCR (First Call Resolution).

If you work in Customer Service you heard about it before: how can we ensure that customers don’t call back after we give them (what we believe is) the answer to their problems?  Each return call or return to search for solutions to the same problems corrodes satisfaction and with it long-term loyalty and engagement.  Thus, we want to make sure that the agents are empowered, knowledgeable, and with all necessary information to give a complete and total answer in the first interaction.

However, is this a valid metric? I mean, now that knowledge is changing to a new paradigm – is there a better way to measure resolution and satisfaction?  Could we switch from FCR to a better way to measure? Could we make sure we deliver better satisfaction at every interaction?

To answer these questions I wrote my thoughts in a blog post you can find at Coveo’s blog.  Go over there, read it, and please let me know what you think – am I expecting too much from what we know about customers and their needs? is it possible shift FCR to a new model? Have you done it – and if so, what’s your experience being?

Would love to hear you thoughts and comments.

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 &nbsp;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. Read more

As we begin to ramp up our efforts for the second half of 2013, it’s always worth taking a moment to reflect on what has emerged, what is emerging and the gaps that are becoming obvious in our marketing strategy and tactics.

For me, one of the things that has solidified is the notion that consumers are not only king, but the entire universe. As such they have become the centre of gravity around which brands now orbit.

Understanding and navigating this new “consumerverse” is a core requirement for any marketer.

My snapshot report on Succeeding in the New Consumerverse reveals four strategies to help marketers win in a state of disruption as usual:

• The shift from participating to serving with purpose
• Becoming connected and connectable
• Realising that channels are dead
• Embracing tech sector innovation

Register and download the report here.

And if you would like to learn more about how this connects to real businesses, some of the interesting proof points that are emerging and how businesses can embrace disruption as a business imperative, take a look at my interview with Which-50’s Andrew Birmingham.