Responses to questions from last week’s Innovation Series lunch #iveseries

Posted on by

The Innovation Series lunch forum held last Friday in Brisbane saw myself, QUT’s Prof Simon Kaplan and CSIRO’s Dr Cecile Paris discuss a range of topics relating to social media and its rise through online channels around the world.

My presentation focused on many of the themes contained within A Faster Future, and sought to remind the audience that while technology moves quickly, it is important to consider the fundamentals of the business before making any decisions regarding emerging fields such as social media. The session generated a lot of questions from the audience, some via Twitter, of which many couldn’t be answered in the time allotted.

Hence the organisers asked me to respond to those unanswered questions, and I have attempted to do so below:

Q:Why did you publish a book rather than via an online channel?

A: My co-author and I were keen to write something at the length of a book, to capture a large swathe of ideas and string them together around themes. The intention was that it be read in a short period of time rather than as an evolving work over many months. Many of the people that we want to reach with A Faster Future are not those that currently use e-reader devices, hence the decision to go with a paperback book. Rest assured, an ebook version is currently being prepared and will be announced soon. We are also considering using online channels to further the book’s evolution over the next year, but no firm decisions have been made.

Q: Do you think journalists have become lazier since the start of social media and why?

A: That presupposes that journalists were lazy to begin with, which I don’t agree with. If anything, the rise of online media and the need for journalists to produce stories for immediate publication online (often creating multiple versions) has made them busier than ever. What social media has done is augment the news-gathering work of journalists with a plethora of (often gifted) amateurs, leading some publishers to take on a role that curates external content as well as generating their own. Social media has also provided a direct response mechanism whereby those who wish to comment on a story can do so immediately. This tears down some of the barriers that have existed between journalists and their audiences, making them more accountable.

Q: To generalise… journalists seek truth, marketers seek to resonate – is there a book in that?

A: There is a book in anything, although some books are more interesting then others. From my experience journalists seek two things – accuracy and a good story. Marketers have a very different remit, which is to drive sales (or some other result), and many of the best do so in an accurate and compelling way. That said, the two professions are often poles apart, if not directly at odds. Whereas a journalist does not care of a story boosts or denigrates a brand, a marketer certainly does.

Q: Do you agree with Simon Kaplan’s view that it’s a social media evolution rather than revolution? and Why?

A: Social media existed before the Internet, we just didn’t call it that. Talkback radio is one version of an old-style social media mechanism. People have always talked about brands amongst their peerrs, and word-of-mouth marketing is considered one of the most powerful forms of marketing. I think Simon also pointed to the coffee houses of 100 years ago. There are dozens of variations in between. Hence I agree that online social media is an evolution of something that had already occured, albeit it a radical step forward in that evolution. But as social media already had foundations offline, I don’t see it as a revolution.

Live from the Global Retail Insights 2011 report release #ACRS

Posted on by

I spent the first part of this morning in the audience of the Australian Centre for Retail Studies (ACRS) Global Retail Insights report. The event started with a presentation from Dr Sean Sands from the ACRS, who discussed cross-channel activity and how spending and customer behaviour are moving from traditional channels to newer media channels. He also highlighted the propensity for consumers to undertake online research before making a purchase, using online services such as websites and search engines, particularly through mobile, before heading out to a shopping mall. In terms of purchasing, the physical store still reigns supreme, with retailer and manufacturer websites ranked third and fourth.

He also talked about mobile and the way that it was changing the game once more, such as through enabling consumers to do on-the-spot price comparisons in-store. The number of consumers who access retail websites through their mobile phone has grown from 24 percent last year to 33 percent now. He also talked about social media, and the fact that 40 percent of people who “like” a Facebook page do so to seek discounts and promotions, but many do so to learn more, stay informed, and get access to entertainment and exclusive content. Dr Sands also discussed location-based services, specifically Facebook’s check-in facility that enables people to redeem coupoons through their mobile phone.

Looking forward, he said trditional retailers saw integration of online systems with existing business models as being the biggest challenge, particularly for franchise operators. While 45 percent of investment will be in advertising and promotion, 41 percent of investment will go into enabling online selling. He also highlighted the use of video, particularly at Marks & Spencer, that has created videos about both its products but also the stories behind them, and French Connection’s Youtique video site. And he showed the Lego augmented reality experience, which uses AR to show what a toy looks like once its assembled.

The second presentation was from Andrew Eckford from Google Australia, who talked about the recent move by many Australian retailers to get online in a serious way. The growth of shopping related search queries hit 35 percent last year, and is much higher in some categories. On mobile devices the number of shopping-related queries as a percentage of the total searches grew from 2.5 percent in January 2009 to around 17.5 percent by December, and 50 percent of Australians will have access to a smartphone by the end of 2011. Mobile devices can bring consumers closer to retail content and services when they need them.

ACRS’ Carla Ferraro discussed specific research around green consumers, while Salmat’s Sean McDonell discussed multichannel strategies, and the fact that things are only going to get faster. He also touched on how traditional retailers can balance their new investment in multichannel strategies against their existing investment in bricks-and-mortar retailing. He said the first step was to recognise that there was a change, and some retailers contended that they would reduce their retail space, or re-dedicate it to collection facilities or other ways of supporting their online activity. Once again however, the key theme was the rise of mobile and its importance as both a mechanism for building a connection to customers and driving transactions.

Live from Cisco Live Melbourne 2011 #clmel11

Posted on by

Am currently attending Cisco Live, a gathering of 2600 partners and customers being hosted by the giant network equipment maker Cisco. The event kicked off today with a keynote presentation from Padmasree Warrior,

Warrior talked about a number of technology trends, focusing on collaboration and use of video on the Internet, along with the architectural shift that we are seeing technology models brought on by virtualisation and cloud computing. Many of her comments echoed themes that are discussed in A Faster Future, particularly in how we work.

“In the future, people will not be going to work, they will simply do work,” Warrior said.

She also talked about the merger of the Internet and mobile technology. She said the network is no longer about data transport, it is about enabling compelling experiences, and hence requires a lot of technological transformation as it moves from being a messaging platform to a real-time collaboration platform. Amongst the areas that Cisco is focusing on are enabling connectivity between data centres and other infrastructure resources, providing awareness of the context of end users, driving resource awareness within networks and better providing and managing service level agreements. Much of this supports the drive to cloud computing and is designed to help organisations innovate at the top layer rather than worrying about the infrastructure.

There was also a demonstration of the Cius, Cisco’s entry into the tablet computing marketplace. including a demonstration of how the device might be used in a hospital situation.

The most interesting comments however related to Cisco’s evolution from a products companny to an ‘architecture’ company focused on delivering complete outcomes for companies. It’s a big shift for an organisation whose considerations used to be about building faster and more powerful devices. Now it is more focued on how customers use these devices, lookingless  at the outcome of the device’s implementation and more at what the business was trying to achieve in the first place. She said the company is experiencing strong growth for this concept in the small business arena, where businesses don’t want to worry about architectures themselves, but just want to get on with the job.

 

ZDNet Patch Monday podcast – Trends for a broadband-enabled future #AFasterFuture

Posted on by

The article I penned for SmartCompany (below) on technology trends identified in A Faster Future caught the eye of a few folk, including prominent Australian writer and podacster Stilgherrian. Hence this week I was the subject of his weekly Patch Monday podcast for ZDNet, talking in more detail about some of those trends – particularly the rise of video and the need to equip both business and society with the tools to take advantage of the changes that are coming. Anyway, you can listen to the interview by clicking here or downloading it into iTunes.

SmartCompany – Brave new tech: the next 10 trends for SMEs

Posted on by

While researching A Faster Future Janelle and I uncovered a great number of technology-driven trends that are sure to impact business in the coming years. Some are obvious, such as the rise of collaboration tools and video, others are more subtle, such as the increasing desire of consumers for instant gratification.

In this article for SmartCompany I highlighted ten of the trends that business needs to be thinking about, illustrated with quotes from some of the many speakers in the book.

Me featured as Australian Business Traveller’s Frequent Flyer

Posted on by

In the space of just a few months Australian Business Traveller has become an indispensable resource for many regular travellers, myself included. David Flynn and his team do an excellent job of pulling together useful and timely information relating to business travel, from news of service changes and safety advisories through to useful advice for seasoned road warriors.

Hence it was a great honour to be asked to feature in the site’s Frequent Flyer column, talking about my own life on the road. You can read more by clicking here.

A Faster Future featured on iTnews.com.au #AFasterFuture

Posted on by

For anyone not lucky enough to have seen Robert Tercek at Digital Dirctions 2011 or X Media Lab, you’ve missed hearing from one of the world’s leading thinkers on digital media. Tercek’s career includes being involved in numerous ‘firsts’ when it comes to creating interactive entertainment, as well as a stint as president of digital media at the Oprah Winfrey Network, and in 2008 he was named a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts in recognition of his achievements in social media for the benefit of society.

That list barely does him justice.

Tercek was one of the key speakers in A Faster Future, providing insights into both the digital entertainment industry and the changes being wrought by digital commerce generally. In this extact published on iTnews.com.au, he talks about how the Internet has made certain products such as music and filmed entertainment ‘weighless’ by reducing them to just information, and warns that many other industries face this same fate.

B&T – The ABC of DSPs

Posted on by

Demand-Side Platforms (DSP) are one of the most confusing concepts yet to appear in online advertising. An DSP essentially enables a media buyer to operate its own virtual advertising network, acquiring inventory on a real-time basis to fulfill the needs of its clients.DSPs work symbiotically with another new phenomenon, ad exchanges, which enable the real-time buying and selling of the advertising inventory that is used by DSPs.

Confused yet? The March 4 edition of B&T carries my cover story on DSPs and tries to explain what they are all about. While the story is not yet online, it should still be in newsagents for a few more days.

While this may not seem like the most stunning topic, DSPs and ad exchanges are part of a broader movement that I’m referring to as the Era of Big Data. What makes DSPs effective is the consumer behaviural data that is fed into them from a myriad of sources such as BlueKai (whose chief executive Omar Tawakol is quoted in A Faster Future). Services such as BlueKai enable the buying and selling of anonymous browser data, helping advertisers know a little more about how to make the placements effective.

It is this kind of technology that drives the effectiveness of online advertising, and is helping planners make much more strategic decisions about where they spend their media budget. In some ways it brings elements of the one-to-one advertising model created by search advertising to the display market.

As Tawakol says in A Faster Future; “We believe that data is becoming more valuable than media”.

CarGrabber.com.au wants to level the playing field

Posted on by

Today I caught up with digital media entrepreneur Chris Noone. I first met Chris some years back when he was running the mobile division at ninemsn. After stepping out to set up local arms of international mobile games companies, he has now turned his attention to shaking up the online market for used cars.

CarGrabber.com.au takes information from dozens of other used car sites and displays the results together on one page. Hence a search for Nissan Hilux vans can bring together the results from many other sites. It’s great for the consumer, who now doesn’t need to keep track of the listings of different sites.

It may not be so great for some of the car sales sites, particularly the larger ones, whose legals teams have been pestering Noone since CarGrabber.com.au’s launch back in November last year.

The reason is simple. Larger car sites tend to attract more traffic, and hence charge more for listings. However, Noone’s site enables cars from a small site to be displayed alongside those from the premium sites. Should CarGrabber.com.au grab enough traffic it essentially levels the playing field and reduces the premium site’s ability to charge a higher price.

Noone is not yet ready to reveal how he is going to monetise CarGrabber.com.au, but expect an announcement around the middle of the year. That is of course if others in the industry don’t find a way to shut him down first.

BRW TV features A Faster Future #AFasterFuture

Posted on by

The latest edition of BRW TV sees co-authors Brad Howarth and Janelle Ledwidge interviewed by BRW’s Jean-Vida Douglas on the topic of the future of sofware innovation in a broadband-enabled society. In the interview we talk about the impact of broadband and the way that more and more of the actions we perform and the services we use are being mediated by software, and about the rise of collaboration software that is reshaping the way that businesses interoperate and manage themselves.

Other topics include online outsourcing and mobile broadband communications, and exploration of the opportunities for new entrepreneurs to enter the market. For the full interview, click here.

A Faster Future is also referenced in Jean-Vida’s story “It’s the maganificent seven” in the March 10 edition of BRW, along with profiles of A FasterFuture-featured companies Aconex and MyCyberTwin.