Business Intelligence - How Can It Evolve ?

Access to and the use of appropriate information is fundamental to enhancing an organizations productivity. Consider that 30% of a manager's time is spent collecting information and 43% of managers agree that the inability to understand what information is relevant delays decision making. The fundamental problem is that most systems are still constructed around the notion of a database not on how the human brain needs to have information presented nor how business process is implemented - thoughtfully and consistently. This is further complicated by the lack of friendly User Interfaces which limit the manner within which visualization and interactivity are enabled. See this two minute talk by Visual I/O chief executive Angela Shen-Hsieh as she explains these concepts eloquently.

Moran - Most Marketers Don't Get It & Why

Mike Moran describes the theme of his most recent book, "Get It Wrong Quickly". A brilliant long time employee of IBM who recently departed to a new venture, Moran shows how markets are indeed conversations. More importantly he explains that most organizations have yet to embrace the changes they must make in how they "sell" and advertise. It isn't about getting it perfect, its about engaging in conversation. First you must attract customers to the message, not push it on them, next you need to listen to what they say, third you need to watch what they do and finally respond. A quick "ok" reply is better than a perfect response delivered too late. The key is learning as you go, which is the essence of this very interesting book. Remember markets are conversations, so to be successful in the future, organizations must adopt this modality of engagement. Its a two way street.

How to Transform Your Organization to Succeed During the Revolution

Businesses in every industry have always had to adapt to stay competitive. But the need to transform is even greater in today's global market, where success is realized by the swiftest and most agile of competitors. However, many companies are asleep at the wheel and they better wake up soon before the revolution comes knocking at their door. How can you prepare? Read the following thoughts to help you identify the necessary initial steps.

Transforming companies is a high-level and broad strategic concept. As they say, the "devil is in the details". The globally competitive arena has little room for laggards. Enterprises in every industry are trying to align and integrate processes and technology with business strategy to foster expansion into new markets, and more quickly deliver the products and services customers demand. In this climate of uncertainty and risk, companies are also seeking to optimize operations to achieve these goals at lower costs. Those businesses able to harness their assets toward these ends will advance at a pace and with an agility that will leave their competitors well behind and those organizations that do not embrace this reality are lacking in true strategic vision reflective of the reality that the revolution has unleashed on us all.

Getting there from where you are as a business is requires insights uncommon among many company leaders and management, but it also requires planning, precision, and the patience to shape organizational culture to new business models and new ways of working (can I stress patience and uncommon insights). Another saying has it, after all, that the journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step. That step is sure to differ depending on the particular industry and organization, and how the organization currently manages the integration of technology and business strategy to support its road map. Some businesses will focus primarily on upgrading ERP systems to streamline processes or overcome the complexities of their application and IT environments via service oriented architectures. Others will concentrate initially on driving greater productivity and ROI from data center infrastructures. Still others will aim, first and foremost, to improve the flow of information to reduce lead times in the supply chain. Some will not see these examples as integral pieces of the solutions at all.

The optimization of business processes lies behind many of the efforts organizations will undertake on their way to business transformation. Yet in so many companies, understanding of processes is fragmented by department, and integration is stymied by "silo'd" IT infrastructures, making it difficult to improve on current practices—and blocking efforts to realize the full potential of business transformation.

Surely that goes a good way toward explaining why a growing number of organizations are turning to business process outsourcing providers that can leverage deep industry and functional expertise, leading technology practices, and an advanced, global delivery model to help them transform their highest-value business processes and improve their business performance. Leading BPO analyst firm NelsonHall reported in June that the BPO market is forecast to reach $450 billion by 2012. "Underlying strength in the BPO market is being amplified by the current economic slowdown, placing pressure on organizations across all sectors to review their efficiency in mature markets," the firm notes.

Read more about business transformation here. 

How Web Tools Can Help Connect Companies With Customers

Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang is an excellent site with pertinent information on the new age of relating to customers via the web. Jeremiah is a Senior Research Analyst for Forrester Research specializing in social computing. His content deserves a look given its thoughtful relevance to the revolution.

Competing Through The Revolution - Network Orchestration

Quality thinking regarding effectively competing in a rapidly changing world is presented in "Competing in a Flat World". Many of the concepts center on the creation of orchestrated networks as part of business strategy and these are delivered impressively in this book . It is a must read for individuals and organizations trying to grasp and understand what the paradigm of value creation has become.

When one accepts the three mega trends and their convergence it is impossible to not embrace the notion that single non-networked firms can actually compete in the new world. However, numerous industries still remain untouched at this point by these trends that represent Friedman's "triple convergence" a critical mass of enabling technologies, individuals and organizations skilled enough to take advantage of these new methods and the sudden arrival of more than three billion people from emerging economies entering the new,more level, playing field.  The reality is that adopting orchestration is a necessity for all businesses and organizations to survive; large and small. It is not a choice, it is an imperative. Learn more about Li & Fung in the video clip below.