Your IT Department's Fear of the Cloud

WARNING - STRONG LANGUAGE IN THE VIDEO BELOW.

Information technology is going through a tremendous shift in organizations. I'm not just talking about the technology per se; I am referring to a more challenging issue - that of the traditional role of the "IT" and its leadership That role in many organizations needs to change and how.

Used to be that the application of technologies in organizations required high levels of understanding around the technical aspects of it all. Think of the days when hobbyists would construct their own personal computers, ala Apple, in a garage. Like the Wright Brothers, IT required at its core inventors with detailed oriented personalities who had to focus on great minutia to get something to do what needed to be done. The benefits of automating manual tasks utilizing RPG or other code was low hanging fruit and a different paradigm than today. To realize the benefits of technology today in organizations requires a deeper understanding of its deployment. There exists a wide range of methods to achieve results more easily and more inexpensively - thanks to the Cloud. Hence this post and video.

I can tell you that the TRUE adoption of the Cloud is not what many in IT claim or represent it to be,. Cloud adoption is being stifled by IT leadership in many instances mostly out of fear. Fear of losing jobs; fear of being irrelevant; fear of the unknown. Business leaders need to GET THEIR HANDS around what the Cloud really is and start evaluating their options because in most cases the options are much more worthy of pursuit then they might know or are being told.  My partner Clint Lee brought the video below to my atention. It is an actual discussion in an organization between an internal customer and an IT leader. It is not an exaggeration.Watch it (pardon the expletives) and believe me when I tell you - YOU NEED TO EVALUATE THE REAL CLOUD. Feel free to contact me if you need any assistance.

Why Social Media Works for B2B

I work with many professionals and they often ask me - what is the strategic advantage for me to adopt social media ? Many, but not all, see social media as a waste of time - STILL ! Social Media is Business Media. Christina "CK" Kerlev's presentation below outlines the 10 Key Benefits that social media provides for B2B development. Read it and the next time you are confronting senior leadership questioning the benefits for social media for business development -

just pull this out and show them.

B2B Social Media Marketing: Building the B2B Business Case for Social Media

View more presentations from Christina "CK" Kerley.

IDEA Fitness Connect - The "Freemium" Model

So who said you couldn't base a business on "FREE" ? I pose that question to people all of the time and it is hard for many to get their head around it. The Economics of Free exist in Google and other business models and I've written about the Economics of Free before (watch). Now in fitness and wellness comes IDEA's Fitness Connect. During the past several months I've had the benefit of talking to IDEA's Peter Davis and his technologist and COO Mike Bannan and learning more about their interesting strategy. Well its been unveiled at the recent IDEA World Conference. If you're a fitness facility owner or professional you need to get your hands on this tool and use it now. After all - ITS FREE !

What do you think about Fitness Connect? Contact me, Bryan O'Rourke, and share your thoughts about this new fitness platform.

Apple's Forray Into Fitness

If Apple's recent patent application tells you anything, its that the giant technology firm is working on further entry into the fitness space. That's something the fitness industry better pay close attention to. As the patent illustration shows on the left, the application includes an extensive interface running on the iPhone. The black and white images show the iPhone interface controlling and monitoring all details, from starting a treadmill to managing the number of curls you perform as part of a workout.

While details are still vague, compatible gym equipment would use a similar 30-pin connector that Apple sell to display video from your iPhone to your TV, and contain a new 'authentication' chip that Apple would provide to licensed third-party developers.

Apple is about to take this concept to the nextlevel by announcing partnerships with various fitness equipmentproducers including TechnoGym and LifeFitness.

In fact another article outlines a patent request by Nike for sensors that will monitor factors including EKG, heart rate, body temperature and hydration, all integrated into future iPhone compatible products.

While there's been no official announcement from Apple on gym compatibility an announcement should be out soon, with an app available via the App Store this summer.

Blue Ocean - Strategy as Innovation

Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne point out in their best seller Blue Ocean Strategy, that competing head on for results with competitors creates nothing but a bloody "red ocean" of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. While advising a client last night, we discussed this challenge, and I see it every day in my business, as my customers continue to fight the same battle; mainly swimming in their seas of red.

Many businesses engage in such mindless head-to-head competition in search of sustained, profitable growth. They fight for competitive advantage, battled over market share, and struggled for differentiation to no avail. There is a better way.

In today’s overcrowded industries, competing in a “red ocean” of rivals is NOT the answer. Kim and Mauborgne's book challenges everything you thought you knew about the requirements for strategic success. They contend that while most companies compete within such red oceans, this strategy is increasingly unlikely to create profitable growth in the future.

Based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than a hundred years and thirty industries, Kim and Mauborgne argue that tomorrow’s leading companies will succeed not by battling competitors, but by creating “blue oceans” of uncontested market space ripe for growth. Such strategic moves—termed “value innovation”—create powerful leaps in value for both the firm and its buyers, rendering rivals obsolete and unleashing new demand.

Blue Ocean Strategy provides a systematic approach to making the competition irrelevant. In this frame-changing book, Kim and Mauborgne present a proven analytical framework and the tools for successfully creating and capturing blue oceans. Examining a wide range of strategic moves across a host of industries, Blue Ocean Strategy highlights the six principles that every company can use to successfully formulate and execute blue ocean strategies. The six principles show how to reconstruct market boundaries, focus on the big picture, reach beyond existing demand, get the strategic sequence right, overcome organizational hurdles, and build execution into strategy.

Upending traditional thinking about strategy, Blue Ocean Strategy charts a bold new path to winning the future. Read the presentation below to learn more and tell me, Bryan O'Rourke, what are you doing to ensure a Blue Ocean Strategy ?

Blue Ocean Strategy - Creating Value Innovations