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eec62f9d53e839daf707ada8b019c56a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2018/08/04/bitcoin-falls-under-7000/ | Bitcoin Falls Back Under $7,000 | Bitcoin Falls Back Under $7,000
As a visual representation of the digital Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. Photo by S3studio/Getty Images
Bitcoin rose to an intra-day high of $8,486 and close of $8,396 on July 24 after rebounding from its recent low close of $5,871 on June 28 and its intra-day low of $5,538 on July 2. However, since Tuesday Bitcoin has fallen over $1,000 to just under $7,000 on Saturday.
[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]
[Author’s note: There is no official price for Bitcoin, so I use round numbers and reference Yahoo! Finance data.]
There have been two distinct downturns in the past five days, both of which could be due to a very large Bitcoin trade going south and leading to a large number of the cryptocurrency hitting the market.
Bitcoin's one week price chart Coinmarketcap.com
On Friday, August 3, OKEx, a Hong Kong Bitcoin exchange announced that it had frozen a clients account due to the client initiating “an unusually large long position order (4,168,515 contracts).” This happened on July 31 and with each contract worth $100 this was almost a $420 million position.
OKEx said, “Our risk management team immediately contacted the client, requesting the client several times to partially close the positions to reduce the overall market risks. However, the client refused to cooperate, which lead to our decision of freezing the client’s account to prevent further positions increasing. Shortly after this preemptive action, unfortunately, the BTC price tumbled, causing the liquidation of the account.”
This seems to be at least one of the reasons that Bitcoin fell from around $8,100 to $7,500 on Tuesday . If OKEx wound up dumping a large number of Bitcoin’s on the market it could have created the downdraft.
Bitcoin then traded between $7,350 and $7,600 for the rest of the week until Saturday, when it has fallen to just under $7,000. This second downturn could be related to OKEx’s press release about what it had to do. Given the highly volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market, concerns about “whale” trades and hacking it wouldn’t be unreasonable to see sellers lighten positions and there be a buyers strike.
Downtrend may still be in place
Bitcoin had broken its sharp downtrend from its December 2017 $20,000 high when it turned back up in early July as can be seen in the long blue line. However, with this recent pull-back, another downward trend line may be in place .
Bitcoin's price chart StockCharts.com
Analyst had been looking for a pull-back
Rob Sluymer, Fundstrat Global Advisor’s Technical Strategist, had been looking for a short-term pullback since Bitcoin was approaching its next resistance level of $8,591. The cryptocurrency obliged but it has fallen below Sluymer’s support level of $7,400 to $7,800. However, I don’t think Sluymer would have counted on the support levels to stop Bitcoin’s downturn when an event such as what seems to have happened at OKEx occurs. An overbought condition can also be seen in the previous chart’s top portion by the bubble in RSI, or Relative Strength Index.
Fundstrat's Bitcoin technical analysis Fundstrat, Bloomberg, Optuma
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8bb4e7bc98328212c1fb85297e183fc1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2018/10/30/two-charts-show-trumps-job-gains-are-just-a-continuation-from-obamas-presidency/?fbclid=IwAR3o4ueqDnA-7Z748s8mVheEl4Bjg4oUF7vMNdZLRgCu0GYA5dJktXN8p7A | Two Charts Show Trump's Job Gains Are Just A Continuation From Obama's Presidency | Two Charts Show Trump's Job Gains Are Just A Continuation From Obama's Presidency
U.S President Donald Trump. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg © 2018 Bloomberg Finance LP
There has been a fair amount of rhetoric about the job growth and lower unemployment rate seen since President Trump took office. Candidate Trump touted that there would be 25 million jobs created over 10 years if he was elected. In January 2017, I wrote that this was a fairly easy campaign promise when you analyze the data and realize that it will only take 2% annual growth of the workforce to hit this target.
This is a review of Trump’s Economic Scorecard before the midterm elections.
President Trump started with a distinct advantage with a workforce of 145.7 million, 9% larger than when President Obama took office. If the workforce were to only grow by 2%, that would add just over 2.9 million jobs a year or 243,000 per month. Over the course of 10 years, there would be over 29 million jobs added.
Additionally, over President Obama’s last six and five years in office after the economy had recovered from the Great Recession, the average employment gains were 2.42 and 2.48 million jobs per year. Pretty much on track to add 25 million over 10 years. So it appears that Trump can reach his 25 million job growth goal even if the economy continued to grow at the pace under Obama .
To provide a monthly comparison, the average employment gain in Obama’s last six years in office (after getting out of the recession's impact) was 201 thousand. And the average for his last five years was 207 thousand, essentially the same as the 208 thousand for the first nine months this year.
This is an update using the October jobs report.
Over 2 million jobs added per year for the past 8 years
Below are the employment gains from President Bush’s last four years in office from just before the start of the Great Recession, through President Obama’s and so far through President Trump’s tenure.
Bush’s last four years in office:
2005: 210,000 per month or 2.52 million for the year 2006: 175,000 per month or 2.09 million 2007: 96,000 per month or 1.15 million Last six months averaged 55,000 per month 2008: Negative 297,000 per month (recession takes hold) Lost 3.6 million jobs
Obama’s eight years:
2009: Negative 422,000 per month Lost 5.1 million jobs (teeth of the recession) 2010: 88,000 per month or 1.05 million for the year 2011: 174,000 per month or 2.09 million 2012: 179,000 per month or 2.14 million 2013: 192,000 per month or 2.3 million 2014: 250,000 per month or 3 million 2015: 226,000 per month or 2.7 million 2016: 187,000 per month or 2.24 million
Trump’s through September:
2017: 182,000 per month or 2.19 million Through September 2018: 208,000 per month or 2.5 million run rate
U.S. employment Graph courtesy of Joel D. Shore, based on employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Unemployment rate has been dropping for 9 years
The unemployment rate shows pretty much the same progression from President Obama to President Trump . The unemployment rate started to climb the last two years of President Bush’s second term and substantially in Obama’s first year as the Great Recession that he had inherited was having a huge impact.
Bush’s last four years in office:
December 2005: 4.9% December 2006: 4.4%, decreased 0.5% December 2007: 5.0%, increased 0.6% December 2008: 7.3%, increased 2.3%
Obama’s time in office
December 2009: 9.9%, increased 2.6%(teeth of the recession) December 2010: 9.3%, decreased 0.6% December 2011: 8.5%, decreased 0.8% December 2012: 7.9%, decreased 0.6% December 2013: 6.7%, decreased 1.2% December 2014: 5.6%, decreased 1.1% December 2015: 5.0%, decreased 0.6% December 2016: 4.7%, decreased 0.3%
Trump’s through September:
December 2017: 4.1%, decreased 0.6% September 2018: 3.7%, decreased 0.4%
The second graph that shows the U.S. unemployment rate continues on essentially the same path even with a slightly higher GDP growth rate (based on trailing four quarters growth).
U.S. unemployment rate Graph courtesy of Jack Woida using Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, FRED data
The following articles provide information about:
Why Trump and Republican’s have gone radio silent on GDP growth,
How much Trump’s tariffs are impacting consumers and corporations,
That his budget deficits are about to become the largest in history,
His freezing federal wages saves less than the Wall,
Three surveys show plummeting confidence in the economy,
How China could be taking advantage of Trump in trade negotiations and
Fact-checking Trump's State of the Union address.
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8c7a2779c14fbfb0662343845ab5ff00 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2019/01/16/white-house-more-than-doubling-the-shutdowns-negative-impact-on-the-economy/ | Shutdown's Economic Impact More Than Double The White House's Original Estimate | Shutdown's Economic Impact More Than Double The White House's Original Estimate
U.S. President Donald Trump. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg © 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP
Trump administration officials now say that the government shutdown is having more than twice the negative impact on the economy than they first estimated . Amazingly, but maybe not surprising, it seems the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors did not include contractors not being paid (and who probably won’t receive retroactive payments) or the ripple effect on the economy such as restaurant meals not being taken or movies seen or the greater personal impacts of not having money to buy food, pay rent or have to sell a car.
Kevin Hassett, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, (and who called for the Dow to hit 36,000 back in 1999) told media outlets on Tuesday that the shutdown should reduce economic growth by 0.13 percentage points for every week that it lasts vs. the 0.1 percentage points every two weeks it originally projected. Hassett also said on NPR on December 31 that, “a huge share of government workers were planning to take the week off for the holidays, like, you know, many listeners probably have done. And they were going to have to use their vacation days. But, you know, what's happening now is they're getting the day off, and they're going to get paid for those days. And they don't have to use their vacation days.”
While he added,” Assuming the government reopens, you know, say, this week or next, then that's really the way to think about the effect.” This certainly seems like a tone-deaf statement to make about people who live paycheck to paycheck.
Could the first quarter’s GDP growth rate turn negative?
In the first quarter of 2018, the Federal government was directly responsible for $1.3 trillion of the economy’s $20 trillion (6.5% on an annualized basis). While only about 20% of the government is shut down, this portion directly accounts for 1.3% of the economy.
And this is only the Federal government spending and not the ripple effect. The Federal Reserve of St. Louis measures the “Velocity of Money” which is “the frequency at which one unit of currency is used to purchase domestically- produced goods and services within a given time period. In other words, it is the number of times one dollar is spent to buy goods and services per unit of time. If the velocity of money is increasing, then more transactions are occurring between individuals in an economy.”
As you can see from the chart below it is currently 1.45, which essentially means for every dollar spent it has a 1.45x ripple impact or the shutdown could have about a 2% impact on the economy.
, retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2V,... [+] January 16, 2019" align="" width="1159"] Velocity of money
Over the past four years the first quarter’s GDP growth rate has been:
2015: 3.3% 2016: 1.5% 2017: 1.8% 2018: 2.2%
Which means if the shutdown continues into February and especially March, it could throw the economy into a negative growth rate for the March quarter. While a large portion of this would be made up since Federal workers should get paid for the time they did not work, the impact could start to add up and will have long-term impacts.
Also, keep in mind the current and potential tariffs that Trump could impose on China if a deal is not reached on March 1. Tariffs are currently hitting the economy by $35 billion per year and could ratchet up substantially.
GDP growth rates U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
GDP growth rate looks to be slowing already
The Atlanta Fed updated its GDPNow forecast for the fourth quarter this morning and it remained at 2.8%, which is slightly higher than the average 2.7% for the Blue Chip Financial Forecast. This would be a decrease from the 4.2% experienced in the June quarter and 3.4% in the September quarter. It does appear that the short-term impact from the tax cuts are wearing off, and the economy is not going to achieve the 6% growth rates that President Trump was touting just over a year ago.
Atlanta Fed GDPNow forecast Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Blue Chip Economic Indicators and Blue Chip Financial Forecasts
Longer-term impacts
There are multiple longer-term impacts on the economy and Federal workers, especially if the shutdown goes on for many more weeks or hopefully not months as Trump has threatened to do. This is probably a negotiating tactic, but it impacts hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives and is not just a New York City real estate deal.
First, will current Federal employees look to leave their jobs for the private sector or potentially local or state governments if they are viewed as being more stable. With the Federal government having a third shutdown under the Trump administration (and this one now being the longest in history and no end in sight) morale is taking a hit. A tight labor market could easily get thousands of government workers to leave or never enter public service.
Second, who would want to come and work for the U.S. government after seeing people start GoFundMe pages (over 1,100 hits when you type in Federal worker on GoFundMe) or hear about people having to sell personal items or cars.
Third, even those workers that stay in their jobs will probably spend less and save more. While that could be good for their personal financial situation (if they can afford to) it will have an impact on the economy.
Fourth, consumer confidence could take a hit and not just for Federal workers. The Conference Board’s latest reading of 128.1 fell from 136.4 in December. While it is close to its recent and all-time high in 2000, if the economy slows down and the government shutdown lingers, it could continue to slide and impact consumer spending (which was 68% of the U.S. economy in the September quarter).
Consumer confidence The Conference Board; Nielsen; TNS; NBER
The following articles provide information about how Trump’s job growth compares to Obama, how much Trump’s tariffs are impacting consumers and corporations, that his budget deficits are about to become the largest in history, his freezing federal wages save less than the Wall and coal consumption is running lower than during Obama’s administration.
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f08915431c01182cbb44d05b8245088a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2019/03/09/trumps-twin-deficits-are-exploding/ | Trump's Twin Deficits Are Exploding | Trump's Twin Deficits Are Exploding
President Donald Trump. AP Photo/ Evan Vucci
Candidate Trump campaigned on wiping out the yearly federal deficit, the governments $19 trillion in total debt and reducing the trade deficit. Reality is harsher than campaigning, especially when President Trump signed a huge corporate tax cut (which contained a minor cut for individuals). This has led to the federal deficit on track to reach $1 trillion per year.
Trump has talked loudly but delivered little real results when it comes to impacting trade. Under his watch the trade deficit has grown over $100 billion, going from $502 billion in 2016 to $621 billion in 2018, an increase of 19%. The deficit for Goods has increased $140 billion from $751 billion to $891 billion. At its current pace, the Goods deficit could also hit $1 trillion in 2020 .
Federal deficit marches on to $1 trillion under Trump
There were two reports out last week that indicate the Federal deficit is on track to hit $1 trillion either in 2019 or 2020. The first is the U.S. Treasury’s Monthly Statement, which showed the following for the month of January.
• Spending increased from $312 to $331 billion, an increase of $19 billion
• Receipts decreased from $361 to $340 billion, a decrease of $21 billion
• January’s monthly surplus shrank from $49 to $9 billion
For the first four months of fiscal 2019:
• Spending increased from $1,306 to $1,421 billion, an increase of $115 billion
• Social Security spending increased from $321 to $338 billion, an increase of $17 billion
• Defense spending increased from $217 to $241 billion, an increase of $24 billion
• Medicare spending increased from $176 to $205 billion, an increase of $29 billion
• Interest expense increased from $109 to $129 billion, an increase of $20 billion
• Receipts decreased from $1,131 to $1,111 billion, a decrease of $20 billion
• Individual income taxes decreased from $603 to $570 billion, a decrease of 5%
• Corporate income taxes decreased from $76 to $60 billion, a decrease of 21%
The increased spending and lower receipts have led the year to date deficit exploding from $176 to $310 billion, an increase of 77%. The monthly report has the Treasury needing to borrow $1.18 trillion in fiscal 2019 and $1.16 trillion in fiscal 2020.
Note that customs duties have nearly doubled (94% to be exact) from $12.6 billion to $24.5 billion due to the tariffs the Administration has implemented. While Trump will say that this is positive since other countries are paying these, he either doesn’t realize or care that the additional duties are really paid for by American companies or consumers. The duties are really a hidden tax on the economy.
U.S. Treasury Department's Monthly Report, January 2019 U.S. Treasury Department
February data isn’t as gloomy but is still scary
The Congressional Budget Office or CBO released a preliminary analysis of the federal budget through February on Thursday. It shows that the government had a deficit of $227 billion in February vs. $215 billion a year earlier.
The CBO has the fiscal year to date deficit at $537 billion, an increase of $146 billion or 37%. If fiscal 2019’s deficit is 37% higher than last year’s $779 billion, it will come in at $1.07 trillion.
There was a $44 billion impact to fiscal 2018’s deficit since various payments were moved from fiscal 2018 into fiscal 2017. This would have made fiscal 2018’s deficit $823 billion vs. $779 billion.
The key point is that since the tax bill went into effect in 10 of the past 14 months the deficit has been greater than the corresponding year-earlier month, and on a trailing 12-month basis the deficit has been $925 billion.
The CBO also projects that deficit will remain high even though the unemployment rate is very low which is very concerning since when the economy slows or goes into a recession (and at some point in time it will) the deficit will balloon.
U.S. deficit compared to when the unemployment rate is under 6% Congressional Budget Office
The Goods trade deficit could also hit $1 trillion under Trump
The Census Bureau released December and 2018’s trade information and it shows that the U.S. trade deficit continues to increase. While Trump will rail that the U.S. is “losing”, in many ways this indicates that the American economy is performing better than other countries. It also shows that American companies and consumers are voting with their pocketbook since the products that are being imported are at a lower price or just not being made in the U.S.
For the November to December timeframe:
• Exports decreased by $3.9 billion to $205.1 billion, down 1.9%
• Imports increased by $5.5 billion to $264.9 billion, up 2.1%
• Leading to the deficit increasing by $9.5 billion to $59.8 billion, up 19%
• Goods exports decreased by $4 billion to $135.6 billion, down 2.8%
• Goods imports increased by $5 billion to $217.2 billion, up 2.4%
• Leading to a Goods deficit increasing $9 billion to $81.5 billion, up 12%
For the past two years:
• Exports increased by $284 billion to $2.5 trillion, up 13%
• Imports increased by $403 billion to $3.1 trillion, up 15%
• Leading to the deficit increasing by $119 billion to $621 billion, up 24%
• Goods exports increased by $215 billion to $1.67 trillion, up 15%
• Goods imports increased by $355 billion to $2.56 trillion, up 16%
• Leading to a Goods deficit increasing $140 billion to $891 billion, up 19%
U.S. Goods and Services trade deficits Statista
2018 could be construed as having the largest deficit ever
The following observation comes from Michael O’Rourke at JonesTrading (no relation to me), “Although the $761 Billion deficit of 2006 is technically the largest on record, it is important to remember that more than a third of that was Crude imports. In 2007 and 2008, crude prices were so high as the economy weakened, and oil imports accounted for almost the entire trade deficit. Thus, the current Trade Balance Ex-Petroleum of a deficit of $567 Billion is a new record .”
Trade deficit ex-Petroleum Bloomberg via Michael O'Rourke at JonesTrading (no relation)
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f047e18f581b17176a85b5d3ea72f315 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2019/06/10/trumps-economy-is-literally-coming-off-the-rails/ | Trump’s Economy Is Literally Coming Off The Rails | Trump’s Economy Is Literally Coming Off The Rails
Union Pacific employee is seen on board a locomotive in a rail yard in Council Bluffs, Iowa. (AP ... [+] Photo/Nati Harnik, File) ASSOCIATED PRESS
Following the transportation industry is one way to judge how the economy is doing. Trucks and railroads pretty much move all the goods and raw materials that are sold or used in the United States. That is one reason investors keep an eye on the Dow Jones Transportation Index to get a feeling for how the economy is performing. Neither railroad traffic nor the Index are doing well recently.
The underlying economy is weaker than perceived when you look at March quarter’s GDP numbers and the recent employment report. And if the economy continues on this path it could enter a recession when few are forecasting one with one reliable indicator foreshadowing a downturn in the next 6 to 18 months.
Railroad traffic is lower than last year and getting worse
The Association of American Railroads or AAR tracks U.S. rail traffic and releases weekly, monthly and yearly data. Monitoring this activity provides another indication on how the economy is performing.
In its most recent release ending on June 1 it shows that total rail traffic is down over 2% year over year and has weakened as the year has progressed. For 2019 year to date year over year changes have been:
January: Up 1.1%
February: Down 0.2%
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March: Down 1.8%
April: Down 1.9%
May: Down 2.4%
Also, the Petroleum and Petroleum Products category is the only one that is showing positive year over year growth. When its impact is removed the 2.4% decline deteriorates to a negative 2.9%.
U.S. Rail Traffic Association of American Railroads
And it has gotten much worse in the past two weeks
AAR’s data is showing that rail traffic has significantly worsened over the past two weeks. AAR Senior Vice President of Policy and Economics, John T. Gray had the following comments in the organization's latest press release.
“The current weakness in the rail traffic numbers is due to a combination of factors. These include flooding in the Midwest that’s been hindering the operations of railroads and many of their customers. More important is heightened economic uncertainty that’s being made worse by increased trade-related tensions; higher tariffs leading to reductions or disruptions of international trade, and lower industrial output. In addition, some rail markets are undergoing rapid change. For example, locally sourced frac sand in Texas is displacing sand that used to be shipped in by rail. Just by themselves, these reduced sand movements are having a material negative impact on total rail carloads.”
For the weeks of May 25 and June 1 total rail traffic was down 6.7% and 6.1%, respectively. Much worse than the 1.9% year to date through April, before the data went off the rails.
Additionally, when the Petroleum and Petroleum Products category, an outlier from the other categories, is removed last week’s rail traffic would have been down 6.7% vs. 6.1% and the year to date would be down 2.9% vs. 2.4%.
Dow Jones Transportation Index underperforming the market
In September and October last year the Dow Jones Industrial and Dow Jones Transports Indexes hit all-time highs, while the S&P 500’s value was within 1% of its April 30, 2019, all-time high.
S&P 500 Index StockCharts
Since last summer the Industrial’s is down 3.1%, the S&P 500 is down 1.8% but the Transports have substantially underperformed, down 12.2%. This is another indication that the economy is on the weaker side.
Dow Jones Transportation Index StockCharts
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b4b77d75e5bf2966e337d6badb526846 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2019/06/17/this-survey-should-terrify-trump/ | This Survey Should Terrify Trump | This Survey Should Terrify Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Getty Images
Duke University has conducted its CFO Global Business Outlook survey with CFO Magazine for over 23 years. It includes responses from over 500 CFOs, including 250 from North America, 54 from Asia, 59 from Europe, 157 from Latin America and 33 from Africa. It covers a wide range of industries and size of companies along with public and private ones. Their detailed answers are weighted by revenues or number of employees to adjust for their different sizes and therefore impacts on the results.
“The numbers may fluctuate slightly, but this is the third consecutive quarter that U.S. CFOs have predicted a 2020 recession,” said John Graham, a finance professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and director of the survey. “It’s notable this quarter how strongly recession is being predicted in other parts of the world.”
The underlying economy is weaker than perceived when you look at March quarter’s GDP numbers, the recent employment report and a sharp downturn in rail traffic. If the economy continues on this path it could enter a recession when few are forecasting one with one reliable indicator foreshadowing a downturn in the next 6 to 18 months. If the economy does weaken over the next 12 to 18 months and Duke’s CFO survey is correct, the most important issue that President Trump is running on could weaken substantially.
USA and China trade war. Getty
Almost 70% of CFO’s expect a recession by the end of 2020
Business investment spending in the U.S. generates about 15% of total GDP. While it is substantially less than consumer spending of almost 70%, companies impact consumer spending by their hiring plans (and layoffs) and how large raises are. If CFOs react to their recession outlook, a downturn could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
MORE FROMFORBES ADVISORWhat Is a Recession?ByDavid Rodeckcontributor
“For the first time in a decade, no region of the world appears to be on solid enough economic footing to be the engine that pulls the global economy upward. Trade wars and broad economic uncertainty are hurting the economic outlook,” said Graham.
The survey shows that, “Nearly half (48.1 percent) of U.S. CFOs believe that the U.S. will be in recession by the second quarter of 2020, and 69 percent believe that a recession will have begun by the end of next year. The results are consistent with last quarter’s survey in which 67 percent of CFOs predicted recession by the third quarter of 2020.”
Multiple outlooks are trending lower from a year ago
Some of the key findings from the June 2018 and 2019 surveys show CFOs are forecasting lower growth in almost all the surveyed categories. Below are weighted averages along with some median estimates for June 2019.
Earnings outlook: Down from 9.5% to 4.1% (median of 5.0%). Public companies only Revenue outlook: Down from 6.9% to 5.1% (median of 4.0%) Capital spending: Down from 8.3% to 3.4% Capital spending (median): Down from 5.0% to 2.0% Technology spending: Down from 7.2% to 4.8% (median 2.0%) Advertising and marketing spending: Up from 1.9% to 2.8% (median of 2.0%)
Outlooks for their own company have also fallen over the past year
CFOs have gotten less optimistic over the past year concerning their own company’s outlook.
More optimistic: Fallen from 54% to 44% Less optimistic: Increased from 17% to 27% No change: Increased from 29% to 29%
Accurate predictor of hiring and GDP growth
The report says, “The U.S. CFO Optimism Index, which historically has been an accurate predictor of hiring and GDP growth, is sending mixed signals this quarter. Pessimists outnumber optimists by a two-to-one margin in terms of their optimism about the overall U.S. economy (40% to 20%). At the same time, those growing more optimistic about their own firm’s prospects outnumber those growing more pessimistic (44% vs. 27%).” While there are more More Optimistic CFO’s than Less Optimistic, the year-to-year and quarter-to-quarter trends are negative.
Graham added, “Both indices were strongly optimistic as recently as September 2018. The reduced optimism about the overall U.S. economy likely reflects continued uncertainty about trade policy and weaker global economic growth. The overall Optimism Index is 65.7 this quarter, on a scale from 0 to 100, down from 70 in September 2018.”
Duke University CFO Optimism survey Duke CFO Global Business Outlook
The latest employment report was not pretty. Expectations had been running for job growth in the 175,000 to 180,000 range. The reported number for May was 75,000 but combined with downward revisions for March (down 36,000) and April (down 39,000) the net change was 0. One month does not make a trend but when multiple month averages are analyzed the trend is not good.
The Cleveland Fed produces a chart of the probability of a recession calculated from the yield curve. The current reading only shows a 12% chance but the forecast is 35% in May next year. Recessions also tend to start when no one sees them coming and one reliable indicator is blinking yellow.
Probability of U.S. recession Federal Reserve Board, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Haver Analytics
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b587f3c917a410fadd9a9464c0b26305 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2019/07/29/gdp-growth-is-slowing-after-the-tax-cut-sugar-rush/ | GDP Growth Is Slowing After The Tax Cut Sugar Rush | GDP Growth Is Slowing After The Tax Cut Sugar Rush
U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Getty Images
The Bureau of Economic Analysis or BEA reported that the economy grew at a 2.1% rate in the June quarter, falling from 3.1% in the March quarter. The report also shows that the economy’s growth rate peaked a year ago at 3.2% based on year-to-year comparisons, right in the middle of the tax cut impact. This should seal the Fed lowering its target interest rate next week.
Multiple economic indicators telegraphed the lower growth rate. Railroad traffic had been lower every week for all three months, PMI and multiple regional reports have been negative and almost 70% of CFO’s are predicting a recession by the end of 2020, which meant they could be cautious in their spending.
U.S. GDP growth: 3Q 2015 to 2Q 2019 U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Underlying June quarter GDP growth was stronger than 2.1%
It is helpful to adjust for the impact from inventories since they tend to balance out over multiple quarters. Trade is another category to be wary of in any given quarter, as over the past five years it has had a negative impact ranging from 0.16% to 0.73% on GDP growth. Lastly, government spending can have an outsized impact in any quarter, but that also means that is built on more debt being issued.
There are four major components to GDP growth: consumer spending, business investment, trade and government spending with the two most important being consumers and businesses.
Part of business investment is the change in inventories, which can have a positive or negative impact to GDP growth. Trade can also have a large impact to the GDP calculation as companies try to adjust their imports or exports due to external factors such as Trump’s tariffs. And due to any quarter’s result being multiplied by four to give a yearly number, their results can have a large influence on the final GDP number.
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For the June quarter these two had negative impacts to the reported GDP result but were partially offset by a large positive impact from government spending. GDP growth was 2.7% with these adjustments.
Reported GDP growth: 2.1%% (2.05% when not rounded) NEGATIVE impact from Inventories: (0.86)% POSITIVE impact from Government spending: 0.85% NEGATIVE impact from Trade: (0.65)% Adjusted GDP: 2.71% or 2.7%
However March quarter’s adjusted GDP remained a weak 1.3%
The BEA updated previous quarter’s results and the March 2019 quarter remained especially weak. Personal consumption increased by 16 basis points but this was more than offset by trade’s impact increasing by a negative 21 basis points. Overall the adjusted growth rate only moved from 1.2% to 1.3%.
Reported GDP growth: 3.1% (3.10% when not rounded) POSITIVE impact from Trade: 0.73% POSITIVE impact from Inventories: 0.53% POSITIVE impact from Government spending: 0.50% Adjusted GDP: 1.34% or 1.3%
To give an indication how much the government spending is an outlier below is a chart from Capital Economics showing that its growth is the largest in a decade. It grew 5% year over year with non-defense spending increasing 15.1%.
Government spending: annualized quarter to quarter growth Capital Economics and Refinitiv
Year-to-year comparisons are better indications and show growth slowing
It bears keeping in mind that the quarterly GDP results that are announced take the quarter-to-quarter changes and multiply by four, which can distort any one quarter’s growth especially if the components have an unusual strong or weak quarter.
Taking a look at how the economy is performing from the prior year’s quarter gives a better read on the economy as using this statistic smooth’s out the volatility of any one quarter’s result.
When looking at the year over year comparisons, in last year’s June quarter GDP growth was 3.2% and it has now fallen to 2.3%. Since Trump has been in office the year-to-year comparisons have ranged from 2.1% to 3.2%, and have only been above 3% for the June and September 2018 quarters (3.2% and 3.1%, respectively) when the tax cuts were probably having their largest impact (it wound up at 2.9% for the full year).
Container ships and cranes Getty
There were some significant revisions in the report
With every June quarter GDP report the BEA revises previous results since it has more complete data. As you can see from the quarter-to-quarter reports there can be large changes to the results.
It is interesting to note that three of the four quarters in 2017 saw increases while three of the four in 2018 had decreases and that last year's June quarter lost its 4% growth status.
1Q 2017: 1.8% to 2.3% (increased by 0.5%) 2Q 2017: 3.0% to 2.2% (decreased by 0.8%) 3Q 2017: 2.8% to 3.2% (increased by 0.4%) 4Q 2017: 2.3% to 3.5% (increased by 1.2%)
1Q 2018: 2.2% to 2.5% (increased by 0.3%) 2Q 2018: 4.2% to 3.5% (decreased by 0.7%) 3Q 2018: 3.4% to 2.9% (decreased by 0.5%) 4Q 2018: 2.2% to 1.1% (decreased by 1.1%)
1Q 2019: 3.1%to 3.1% (no change) 2Q 2019: reported 2.1%
Forklift in Warehouse Getty
Revisions knocked down recent yearly growth rates
One of the first items to note for the year-to-year revisions below is that they tend to be much smaller than the quarter-to-quarter calculations used for the results above. This is another reason to use them when analyzing the economy. It also appears that the tax cut helped growth in the middle of 2018 but has waned since then.
1Q 2017: 1.9% to 2.1% (increased by 0.2%) 2Q 2017: 2.1% to 2.2% (increased by 0.1%) 3Q 2017: 2.3% to 2.4% (increased by 0.1%) 4Q 2017: 2.5% to 2.8% (increased by 0.3%)
1Q 2018: 2.6% to 2.9% (increased by 0.3%) 2Q 2018: 2.9% to 3.2% (increased by 0.3%) 3Q 2018: 3.0% to 3.1% (increased by 0.1%) 4Q 2018: 3.0% to 2.5% (decreased by 0.5%)
1Q 2019: 3.2% to 2.7% (decreased by 0.5%) 2Q 2019: reported 2.3%
It appears that the economy is growing in the mid-2% area, which is about what it was doing in Obama's last few years in office and is not close to achieving Trump's boast of at least 3% if not 4%, 5% or even 6%.
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64a8279e44ba3e99a72a32ffb54d54f4 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2020/03/31/what-47-million-people-being-laid-off-looks-like/ | What 47 Million People Being Laid Off Looks Like | What 47 Million People Being Laid Off Looks Like
Business man With Umbrella Looking Storm Over City Getty
A week ago Miguel Faria-e-Castro, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, did a “Back-of-the-Envelope” estimate of what June’s unemployment rate and number of layoffs could be due to the coronavirus. As reported by Sarah Hansen at Forbes, the blog posting showed that there could be 47 million people let go which would lead to an unemployment rate of 32.1%, higher than the Great Depression’s worst rate of 24.9%.
Faria-e-Castro used analysis from two other blog postings by economists at the St. Louis Fed which were, “Which Workers Face the Highest Unemployment Risk” and “Social Distancing and Contact-Intensive Occupations” in calculating how many people could be laid off. Faria-e-Castro’s calculations were:
Civilian labor force in February 2020 = 164.5 million Unemployment rate in February 2020 = 3.5% Unemployed persons in February 2020 = 5.76 million
Workers in occupations with a high risk of layoffs = 66.8 million Workers in high contact-intensive occupations = 27.3 million Estimated layoffs (average of the two) = 47.05 million
Unemployed persons in June quarter = 52.8 million Unemployed rate in June quarter = 32.1%
MORE FROMFORBES ADVISORWhat Is a Recession?ByDavid Rodeckcontributor
Job seekers wait in line. Photographer: Jim R. Bounds/Bloomberg BLOOMBERG NEWS
Impact of 47 million layoffs
Forty-seven million people or over 28% of the total workforce being laid off in just three months would be devastating to the economy. This result is probably worse, too much worse, than what will transpire, as a number of assumptions below should help mitigate this outcome.
However, if this scenario is close to being correct the graph below shows what 47 million fewer people being employed looks like by June. After getting to the bottom, it includes by month what it would take to get back to February’s level of employment by the end of the year.
March: No change April: 15 million laid off May: 20 million laid off June: 12 million laid off
July: 4 million hired August: 7 million hired September: 7 million hired October: 9 million hired November: 11 million hired December: 9 million hired
Employment falling 47 million Graph courtesy of Joel D. Shore, based on employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Some of the key assumptions Faria-e-Castro used were:
Workers in education and especially health care are less likely to be laid off so quickly (10 million) Many businesses may send workers home with pay instead of laying them off This is before the positive impact from the $2 trillion recovery package passed by Congress and signed by President Trump
There are a number of economists that are forecasting between 14 and 20 million people being laid off due to the coronavirus, which unfortunately seems to be a more likely scenario.
The St. Louis Fed President essentially previewed the analysis
Before Faria-e-Castro’s blog posting, James Bullard, the St. Louis Federal Reserve President, did an interview with Bloomberg two days earlier. In it he said, “the U.S. unemployment rate may hit 30% in the second quarter because of shutdowns to combat the coronavirus, with an unprecedented 50% drop in gross domestic product.”
He added, “This is a planned, organized partial shutdown of the U.S. economy in the second quarter. The overall goal is to keep everyone, households and businesses, whole” with government support. “It is a huge shock and we are trying to cope with it and keep it under control.”
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8b16e2badcd03e52f3a32440c5fa5782 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2021/03/16/gamestops-sudden-move-higher-is-another-trap/ | GameStop’s Sudden Move Higher Is Another Trap | GameStop’s Sudden Move Higher Is Another Trap
GameStop and Reddit logos. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ... [+] Images) SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
In less that two weeks, GameStop’s stock spiked from $101.74 on the last trading day in February to close between $260 and $265 on March 10 to 12. It did pull back over $44 on Monday to close at $220.14, still more than double from its end of February price.
One of the reasons for the move last week was the company announcing, “its Board of Directors has formed a Strategic Planning and Capital Allocation Committee to identify initiatives that can further accelerate the Company’s transformation. The Committee is comprised of Alan Attal, Ryan Cohen, and Kurt Wolf, with Mr. Cohen serving as Chairperson.” Cohen is the activist investor who joined the Board in January and is leading the charge to make GameStop more of an e-commerce company.
GME is a highly volatile stock
After a peak close of $347.51 on January 27 and an intra-day high of $483.00 the following day, it only took three days for the stock to close at $90, down 74% and 81%, respectively. And only another two days to close at $53.50, down 85% from the peak close and down 89% from the peak intra-day high.
Keep in mind that last Wednesday the stock closed up just over $18 to $265 but traded between $172 and $348.50 during the day. It is HIGHLY unusual for a stock to drop over 50% during a single trading session and then recover the loss when there isn’t any fundamental news on the company. If one isn’t prepared for this type of activity, which can lead to large losses, don’t buy it.
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Short squeeze is a minor, if any, player recently
While the Reddit crowd helped to create a short squeeze on the shares in late January leading the stock to reach $483 intra-day and close at an all-time high of $347.51, the recent increase is probably not due to short positions being covered.
Ihor Dusaniwsky, Managing Director at Predictive Analytics, estimates how much short interest there is in a stock on a daily basis. His analysis shows that the first big run-up in the shares in late January/early February essentially forced the shorts to cover and dramatically reduce their positions.
At the beginning of the year the stock was under $19 (right axis/green line in the chart below) and Dusaniwsky estimates that there were over 70 million shares shorted (left axis/orange line). Since there were 69.7 million shares outstanding as of December 1 last year there was a power keg ready to blow on the stock.
In late February his analysis shows that there were about 15 million shares shorted before the stock started its recent rise. With 25 million or more shares traded almost every day since February 24, the start of the recent run, it doesn’t appear that short covering has been a major driver.
GameStop stock price and short interest Ihor Dusaniwsky: Predictive Analytics
The fundamental numbers still don’t make sense
Before Covid-19 derailed the U.S. and worldwide economies GameStop was slowly losing revenue from fiscal 2017 to 2019 then had a sharp drop-off in fiscal 2020. GameStop may be able to shake up its business enough to recover at least some of downturn but it won’t happen overnight.
Fiscal 2017 (Feb. 1) revenue: $8.6 billion Fiscal 2018 revenue: $8.5 billion Fiscal 2019 revenue: $8.3 billion Fiscal 2020 revenue: $6.5 billion Fiscal 2021 revenue: $5.3 billion estimate Fiscal 2022 revenue: $5.6 billion estimate
When calculating the company’s valuation metrics these results use fiscal 2019’s $8.3 billion in revenue so as to be as generous as possible.
At Monday’s close of $220.14 Market cap of $14.4 billion 11.7 times greater than December 31, 2020 market cap 1.7x market cap to fiscal 2019’s revenue vs. 0.15x at December 31, 2020
GameStop price chart StockCharts.com
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6e797df8df98162a6daf3ec2328a6b19 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2021/03/24/gamestops-day-of-reckoning-may-have-arrived/?sh=482e574c67c7 | GameStop’s Day Of Reckoning May Have Arrived | GameStop’s Day Of Reckoning May Have Arrived
GameStop logo. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
GameStop announced its January fiscal fourth quarter results after the market closed on Tuesday and results were a bit light. Revenue of $2.12 billion were short of the expected $2.21 billion and EPS, which was expected to be $1.35 on an adjusted basis, came in at a reported $1.27 but were helped by $1.03 in tax benefits. While it is only a small miss if the analyst were incorporating the tax help, it would be a huge miss if they were not.
Global E-commerce sales increased 175% in the quarter and 191% for fiscal 2020 but these results were expected since the company announced its holiday sales.
While not giving guidance is not a surprise, doing away with same store sales is to a degree understandable but it is a disappointment. Not answering questions and filing in its 10-K that it may sell additional shares crushed the stock in the after-market.
The stock has fallen the past four days from $209.81 to $181.75 and is down over $27 in the after-market to $154.
Balance sheet and cash flow were solid
GameStop’s balance sheet and cash flow were solid for the year given everything it had to navigate. While non-restricted cash was essentially flat over 12 months debt fell by about $80 million (and restricted cash increased by $110 million).
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Operating cash flow turned positive to $124 million, but this was due to the company significantly decreasing accounts payables and accrued liabilities. And free cash flow was positive coming in at $64 million but it may be hard to replicate this going forward. This may be one of the reasons management and the Board are considering selling shares.
Will a different game plan be enough
George Sherman, GameStop’s CEO, said, “we are excited by the opportunities that are in front of us as we begin prioritizing long-term digital and E-Commerce initiatives while continuing to execute on our core business during this emerging console cycle. Our emphasis in 2021 will be on improving our E-Commerce and customer experience, increasing our speed of delivery, providing superior customer service and expanding our catalogue.”
GameStop is making very good progress with its E-Commerce initiatives as seen with the huge increase in sales the past quarter and year. The challenge is to keep up such a steep ramp since it comprised 34% of net sales in the quarter vs. 12% a year ago. There will be some very tough comps later in 2021.
Revenues should turn back to some amount of growth, but given the shares rich valuation due to the Reddit crowd helping to goose the stock up it may not be enough to satisfy investors.
The fundamental numbers still don’t make sense
Before Covid-19 derailed the U.S. and worldwide economies GameStop was slowly losing revenue from fiscal 2016 to 2018 then had a sharp drop-off in fiscal 2019 (ended in January 2020). GameStop may be able to shake up its business enough to recover at least some of downturn but it won’t happen overnight.
Fiscal 2016 revenue: $8.6 billion Fiscal 2017 revenue: $8.5 billion Fiscal 2018 revenue: $8.3 billion Fiscal 2019 revenue: $6.5 billion Fiscal 2020 revenue: $5.1 billion Fiscal 2021 revenue: $5.6 billion estimate
Note that while GameStop’s fiscal year ended on January 30, 2021, and would normally be labeled fiscal 2021, GameStop calls it fiscal 2020.
When calculating the company’s valuation metrics these results use fiscal 2018’s $8.3 billion in revenue so as to be as generous as possible.
At Tuesday’s close of $181.75 Market cap of $11.9 billion 9.6 times greater than December 31, 2020’s market cap of $1.2 billion 1.4x market cap to fiscal 2018’s revenue vs. 0.15x at December 31, 2020
GameStop stock price StockCharts.com
Short squeeze is a minor, if any, player recently
While the Reddit crowd helped to create a short squeeze on the shares in late January leading the stock to reach $483 intra-day and close at an all-time high of $347.51, the recent increase to March 10’s close of $265 is probably not due to short positions having to be covered. Note that the stock has traded down 7 of the past 9 sessions and is poised to be down again today.
Ihor Dusaniwsky, Managing Director at Predictive Analytics, estimates how much short interest there is in a stock on a daily basis. His analysis shows that the first big run-up in the shares in late January/early February essentially forced the shorts to cover and dramatically reduce their positions.
At the beginning of the year the stock was under $19 (right axis/green line in the chart below) and Dusaniwsky estimates that there were over 70 million shares shorted (left axis/orange line in the chart below). Since there were 69.7 million shares outstanding as of December 1 last year there was a power keg ready to blow on the stock.
In late February his analysis shows that there were about 15 million shares shorted before the stock started its recent rise. With almost 24 million or more shares traded every day from February 24, the start of the recent run, to March 16 it doesn’t appear that short covering has been a major driver.
Note that the analysis is of last Wednesday, March 17.
GameStop stock price and short interest Ihor Dusaniwsky, Managing Director at Predictive Analytics
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768977d19a826829c1f65ef718b4297e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2021/04/19/bidens-stock-market-is-crushing-trumps/ | Biden’s Stock Market Is Crushing Trump’s | Biden’s Stock Market Is Crushing Trump’s
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 14: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks from the Treaty Room in the White House ... [+] about the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan on April 14, 2021 in Washington, DC. President Biden announced his plans to pull all remaining U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by September 11, 2021 in a final step towards ending America’s longest war. (Photo by Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images) Getty Images
While the markets are down between 0.4% to 1.1% today, the Dow and S&P 500 closed at all-time highs on Friday and the NASDAQ was only 0.3% off its peak. By one of President Trump’s favorite measures of success President Biden’s post-election stock market gains have beaten Trump’s equivalent five plus month’s returns. In fact Biden’s have crushed Trump’s, which continues a trend that occurred through the end of 2020.
All three major indexes, the Dow 30 Industrials, S&P 500 and the NASDAQ all generated greater percentage increases from their respective election days to mid-April. Biden’s outperformance includes from the day of the November 3 election and the Friday after the election since the race was not called until the weekend. Biden’s returns have also beaten Trump’s starting from January 19, the day before they were inaugurated.
Using the returns from the time the election was called in Biden’s favor to mid-April vs. when Trump was called the winner to mid-April 2017 the Dow, S&P 500 and the NASDAQ have risen by 9.2%, 10.4% and 6.4% more under Biden, respectively.
The Dow had the strongest performance for Biden vs. other Indexes
On the Tuesday in 2016 the election was held between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton the Dow 30 Industrials closed at 18,333. The Index responded positively to Trump’s victory, called on the same evening, and continued to rise until mid-December when it leveled off until the beginning of February.
From Tuesday, November 8, close: Up 2,121 or 11.6% From January 19 (the day before the Inauguration): Up 721 or 3.7%
Dow 30 Industrial Index StockCharts.com
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On the Tuesday of the election between Trump and Biden the Index closed at 28,323. It also increased the next three days with Biden in the lead but it had not been called. However, the Monday after the election was called the Index gapped upwards and has continually risen.
From Tuesday, November 3, close: Up 6,721 or 24.5% From Friday, November 6, close: Up 5,877 or 20.8% From January 19 (the day before the Inauguration): Up 3,270 or 10.6%
Dow 30 Industrial Index StockCharts.com
The S&P 500 had Biden’s largest outperformance vs. Trump
Trump saw a smaller gain in the S&P 500 vs. the Dow 30. It rose 8.9% from his election day and only 2.9% from his inauguration to mid-April 2017.
From Tuesday, November 8, close: Up 189 or 8.9% From January 19 (the day before the Inauguration): Up 65 or 2.9%
S&P 500 Index StockCharts.com
Between Biden’s election and last Friday the S&P 500 returns were very similar to the Dow’s. Biden’s market returns were again substantially above Trump’s.
From Tuesday, November 3, close: Up 816 or 24.2% From Friday, November 6, close: Up 676 or 19.3% From January 19 (the day before the Inauguration): Up 387 or 10.2%
S&P 500 Index StockCharts.com
The NASDAQ was Trump’s best Index but still fell short of Biden’s
The post-election to mid-April timeframe saw the NASDAQ with the highest performing Index for Trump, coming in at 11.8%.
From Tuesday, November 8, close: Up 612 or 11.8% From January 19 (the day before the Inauguration): Up 265 or 4.8%
Nasdaq Index StockCharts.com
However, even though the NASDAQ was Biden’s worst performing Index, it still rose 6.4% more than Trump’s.
From Tuesday, November 3, close: Up 2,892 or 25.9% From Friday, November 6, close: Up 2,157 or 18.1% From January 19 (the day before the Inauguration): Up 855 or 6.5%
Note the 6.4% outperformance is due to rounding the 6.36% delta of the two returns.
Nasdaq Index StockCharts.com
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6e364a91761e0a2ffa87af3d0d021d67 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2021/04/28/the-two-most-important-numbers-in-apples-earnings-announcement/?sh=6df247e93b49 | The Two Most Important Numbers In Apple’s Earnings Announcement | The Two Most Important Numbers In Apple’s Earnings Announcement
A green leaf is displayed on the Apple logo to mark this year's Earth Day. (Photo by Wang Gang/VCG ... [+] via Getty Images) VCG via Getty Images
Apple reports its March quarter results after the close today, April 28. While its shares have been essentially flat since the beginning of the year, they are up 83% and 241% since December 31 of 2019 and 2018, respectively.
The two critical numbers from the company’s press release will be how much revenue did the company generate and revenue guidance for the June quarter, if Tim Cook decides to provide it. The reason these are the two most important ones is that they will show if the new 5G iPhones are still seeing strong demand since this is one of the bulls biggest investment themes for the stock. Expectations are not extremely aggressive, but it does look like investors are expecting a very good quarter.
How strong was the December quarter
Apple had blowout revenue and earnings results in the December quarter, handily beating expectations. It was the first quarter that Apple has generated over $100 billion in revenue ($111.4 billion, up 21% year over year) driven by services (up 24%) and all its hardware categories. And while iPhone revenue “only” grew 17% year over year, it still constituted 59% of total revenue, compared to 61% in the December 2019 quarter and 50% for all of fiscal 2020.
To get a feeling for how strong the December quarter’s results were below is an analysis of Apple’s total incremental revenue from the September to December quarter. It shows how strong the December 2020 quarter was with revenue increasing 72% from the September quarter. The only other time incremental growth was higher on a percentage basis was when the larger screen iPhone 6 models were introduced.
2013: $20.1 billion, up 54% 2014: $32.5 billion, up 77%, iPhone 6 with larger screen 2015: $24.4 billion, up 47% 2016: $31.5 billion, up 67% 2017: $26.6 billion, up 68% 2018: $21.1 billion, up 34% 2019: $27.6 billion, up 43% 2020: $45.5 billion, up 72%, 5G iPhones
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The total revenue number for the March quarter is critical since it gives an indication if the totality of Apple’s hardware and services revenue streams have staying power or if there was a pull forward of demand due to so many people working and going to school from home. If the bulk of purchases that needed to be made have occurred it should start to show up in the company’s total revenue result being softer than historical outcomes.
Outlook for March quarter’s revenue result
To gauge if Apple’s 5G iPhones have staying power the amount of revenue decrease from the December to March quarter will give an indication since the iPhone makes up such a large portion of total revenue. Below is the amount and percentage decrease in the company’s total revenue for the past seven years.
2013 to 2014: $(11.9) billion, down 21% 2014 to 2015: $(16.6) billion, down 22%, iPhone 6 with larger screen 2015 to 2016: $(25.3) billion, down 33% 2016 to 2017: $(25.5) billion, down 33% 2017 to 2018: $(27.9) billion, down 31% 2018 to 2019: $(26.9) billion, down 31% 2019 to 2020: $(34.1) billion, down 37%, Impacted by Covid-19 2020 to 2021E: $(34.8) billion, down 31%, Estimated total revenue of $77.35 billion
Analysts are expecting March quarter revenue to follow a similar pattern that occurred in 2016 to 2019. However, if 5G iPhones have similar strength to the larger screen iPhone 6 models in 2015 Apple could report revenue $6 billion to almost $12 billion higher than projected.
If only down 20% quarter to quarter: Revenue of $89.2 billion, $11.8 billion above expectations
If only down 25% quarter to quarter: Revenue of $83.6 billion, $6.2 billion above expectations
Revenue guidance as always will be critical
Apple has not given guidance since January last year due to the coronavirus impacting visibility. Since the company has had a full year to understand the impact on its business and had two quarters of 5G iPhones being available, it would not be surprising to see Tim Cook go back to providing it. The ranges may be a bit bigger than previously provided, but it is not unreasonable to expect it to be brought back.
Analysts are expecting total revenue of $68.92 billion in the June quarter, down 11% from their March quarter projection but up 10% from the June 2020 quarter.
Below is the amount and percentage decrease in the company’s total revenue for the past eight years. Last year bucked the trend of June quarter’s revenue being lower than March quarter’s. This is entirely due to the impact from Covid-19 with people working from home or kids zooming into classes. People needed more equipment to do this.
2013: $(8.3) billion, down 19% 2014: $(8.2) billion, down 18%, iPhone 6 with larger screen 2015: $(8.4) billion, down 14% 2016: $(8.2) billion, down 16% 2017: $(7.5) billion, down 14% 2018: $(8.2) billion, down 13% 2019: $(4.2) billion, down 7% 2020: $1.6 billion, up 2%, Positive Covid-19 impact 2021E: $(11.9) billion, down 11%, Estimated total revenue of $68.92 billion
If only down 5% quarter to quarter: Revenue of $73.5 billion, $4.6 billion above expectations
If flat quarter to quarter: Revenue of $77.4 billion, $8.4 billion above expectations
While revenue from Services, Macs, iPads and Wearables are important, it is still the iPhone and the 5G models that will drive the March quarter results and June quarter guidance, if given.
Shares are slightly overbought
The graph below from StockCharts.com shows how well Apple’s stock has performed over the past two plus years. The shares are currently slightly overbought with a Relative Strength Index or RSI of 60.64 as seen in the top portion of the chart. While Apple doesn’t have to report blowout numbers for the stock to move higher, if there is any indication of weakness now or in the next quarter or two the stock should fall.
Apple stock price StockCharts.com
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bb5295f47ad09efc038afe8c3d2e71da | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckswoboda/2020/06/01/thank-you-mr-edison-well-take-it-from-here/ | Thank You Mr. Edison, We’ll Take It From Here | Thank You Mr. Edison, We’ll Take It From Here
American inventor Thomas Alva Edison holding a light bulb in his laboratory. Mondadori via Getty Images
GE sells lighting business and signals the end of an era
Last week The New York Times reported that General Electric was selling its lighting business - more than 140 years after company founder Thomas Edison invented one of the most iconic products of all time, the filament light bulb. The sale of this business signals the end of an era, one that started with Edison’s invention and established GE’s role as a leader in the Second Industrial Revolution. The origin of this decision to sell the business can be traced back nearly fourteen years to an invitation-only conference to discuss the future of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in lighting at the Del Coronado Hotel in San Diego, California.
In December of 2006, the LED had already made inroads as a light source in certain traditional lighting applications, such as traffic signals, automobile taillights, and even strings of Christmas tree lights. The LED manufacturing leaders sensed that the technology held great potential for many different applications, so they organized a meeting with the traditional lighting companies to discuss the market potential for what was called, at the time, “solid-state lighting.” As reported by NPR’s Scott Horsley, the upstart LED companies at the conference made it clear that they weren’t satisfied with their success and had set their sights on the biggest market of all — mainstream general lighting. In fact, the host companies were so confident in the future of LEDs, that the theme for the conference was: “Thank you, Mr. Edison, we’ll take it from here.”
I had the opportunity to be part of that meeting in California as the CEO of Cree, one of the LED companies that hosted the event. I was convinced at the time that the future would be lit with LEDs, but to my surprise, the major lighting companies like GE, Philips, and Osram Sylvania were skeptical. These companies were the undisputed market leaders and controlled approximately 70% of the world market for light bulbs at the time. And although they acknowledged the potential of LED technology for certain niche applications, they didn’t believe that it would eventually overtake their industry. During that conference, one lighting company executive even commented that “customers didn’t want or need better lightbulbs – the existing technology was more than good enough.” At that time, the traditional lighting businesses were not taking the LED threat seriously. They were facing what the late Clay Christensen called “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” which is when well-managed companies are not able to adapt to disruptive technology in their business. Now, almost fourteen years later, all three of those companies are out of the lighting business, and their story serves as an important lesson in the power of innovation.
The success of LED technology and the lighting companies’ eventual exit from the industry they created originated from an invention initially developed within their own labs. In 1962, GE scientist Nick Holonyak, Jr. demonstrated the world’s first visible LED. At the time, scientists at GE were scrambling to develop new semiconductor light sources. When Holonyak suggested using a mixture of gallium arsenide and gallium phosphide to make an LED, his colleagues argued that it would never work. He was undeterred and eventually proved them wrong. His work helped advance technology that would continue to evolve over the next 50 years - eventually pushing GE and the other lighting companies out of the business.
As LED technology improved, the major lighting companies did eventually embrace it. However, they initially positioned LEDs not as a mainstream lighting solution, but as a premium alternative. They had factories to run, and the prospect of light bulbs that lasted ten times longer would be bad for business. Their unwillingness to disrupt their existing business model created the opportunity for new LED competitors to enter the market and gain access to consumers through major retail channels.
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In 2013, Cree, one of these new LED competitors, introduced the Cree LED bulb, which they predicted would be “The Biggest Thing Since the Light Bulb.” This product was the first LED lightbulb to both look and work like a traditional bulb while also breaking the $10 price barrier - which made it affordable for consumers to try for the first time. The product was launched with a national TV advertising campaign that featured actor Lance Reddick burying a traditional lightbulb in a tiny coffin while a bagpiper played in the background. The advertising team that developed the ad nicknamed it “Eulogy,” and it foreshadowed the end of the era of traditional lighting.
In the same article by The New York Times, financial analysts commented that the recent sale was not a surprise. GE had been looking to sell its lighting division for several years so that the company could focus on more profitable businesses such as renewable energy and health care technology. While that seems logical, it is still hard to believe that they no longer own the product line that helped launch the company and made it one of the most well-known brands in the world. Even their company slogan for almost twenty-five years, “We bring good things to light,” paid homage to their lighting roots.
I spent many years trying to convince the world that LED lighting was the future and encourage the traditional lightbulb companies to embrace the technology. By the time they got on board, it was too late. Over the last several years, Philips and Osram have either separated or sold their lighting businesses, and with GE’s recent announcement, it is indeed the end of an era.
Thank you, Mr. Edison, we’ll take it from here.
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fb951c5336a5a2adbbf7e0e31b191b54 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chucktannert/2018/12/07/2019-motorcycles-we-cant-wait-to-ride/ | 2019 Motorcycles We Can’t Wait To Ride | 2019 Motorcycles We Can’t Wait To Ride
The percentage of women riders is on the rise. BMW
This has been an exciting year in the two-wheeled world, especially for women riders.
While men still make up the lion’s share of motorcyclists worldwide, the number of women who own bikes—and thus ride them—has more than tripled in just under three decades. In 1990, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reported that only six percent of motorcycle owners were women. That figure is closer to 20 percent today, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council. And it's going to grow even higher.
“When you look at younger generations of riders coming up there are even more women riders,” says Ty Van Hooydonk, vice president of communications for the MIC. “I would anticipate that the ownership levels among women will quickly rise to 25 percent or beyond in the next few years. Some of the younger generations, like Gen X and Gen Y, are already there.”
Regardless of gender, motorcycle enthusiasts will have plenty of new two-wheelers to play with in the new year. Throwback bikes are hot right now. So are sport bikes (but what's new). Here, check out the 8 motorcycles that we can’t wait to ride in 2019. Oh... and one honorable mention that will appeal to any rider.
The most popular adventure bike gets a makeover. BMW
2019 BMW R 1250 GS
BMW has been a leader in the adventure bike market for more than 35 years. Its GS Series motorcycles have set the bar for quality and performance year-after-year. For 2019, the top-of-the-line R1200 GS is getting replaced by the R 1250 GS. Though its looks are similar, the R 1250 GS gets a bigger (1,254cc) and more powerful (135 horsepower) engine with a new variable camshaft control system, called ShiftCam, that helps to ensure consistent power delivery across the entire power band. The traditional electronic instrument cluster is also being replaced by a 6.5-inch TFT-display, which gives the rider constant access to navigation, phone, music, and additional vehicle information, such as speed and revs.
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Engine: flat-twin ● Displacement: 1,254cc ●Transmission: 6-speed ● Horsepower: 136 ● Torque: 105 pounds-foot ● Top Speed: more than 125 mph ● Fuel Capacity: 5.3 gallon ● Fuel Economy: 50 mpg ● Price: $17,695 ● On Sale: Now
Purpose built to win the Work Superbike Championship. Ducati
2019 Ducati Panigale V4 R
Ducati built this motorcycle for one purpose: To best perennial World Superbike Championship winner Kawasaki and bring the manufacturer’s cup back home to Italy. Describing the V4 R is easy: Decked out in Ducati red, it’s a fire-breathing race bike for the streets. It employs the same engine as the V4 only downsized from more than 1,200cc to a race-spec 998cc. As configured, it can deliver 209 Horsepower. However with either slip-on or full exhaust options, it can develop 229 and 234 horsepower, respectively. Cosmetically, the V4 R sports new bodywork, an aerodynamics package and a unique livery (Ducati Red offset by the brushed aluminum on the fuel tank). Do you feel the need for speed?
Engine: 90° Desmosedici Stradale V4 ● Displacement: 998cc ● Transmission: 6 speed ● Horsepower: 209 ● Torque: 83 pounds-feet ● Top Speed: NA ● Fuel Capacity: 4.23 gallons ● Fuel Economy: NA ● Price: $40,000 ● On Sale: March 2019
The uncommon cruiser. Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson FXDR 114
This is not your typical Harley. You might think it is designed to replace the V-Rod in Harley's stable, and it would be easy to understand why: the jet fighter-inspired lines, the 34-degree rake, and clip-on handlebars. But you’d be wrong. The FXDR 114 is a power cruiser designed for the rider who wants a more extreme look and stance, but also wants performance and handling not commonly found in a cruiser. Highlights include a big motor, premium suspension and slick aluminum subframe under the seat and tail.
Engine: Milwaukee-Eight, V-Twin ● Displacement: 1,868cc ● Transmission: 6-speed ● Horsepower: NA ● Torque: 119 pounds-feet ● Top Speed: NA ● Fuel Capacity: 4.4 gallons ● Fuel Economy: 46 mpg ● Price: $21,349 (Vivid Black), $21,749 (colors) ● On Sale: Now
Honda is getting serious in the dual sport arena. Honda
2019 Honda CRF450L
Take Honda’s immensely capable off-road superstar, the CRF450R. Add some lights, mirrors and a street-able exhaust. What do you get? The CRF450L, a Baja 1000-winning bike that you can legally ride to work every day. Unlike a pure race bike, the 450L is a little more softly sprung, the engine is tuned for more low-end and mid-range torque as well as to meet stricter emissions standards, and there’s a six-speed manual transmission that allows the bike to maintain highway speeds.
Engine: Unicam OHC, four-valve, liquid-cooled 10-degree single-cylinder four-stroke ● Displacement: 449.7cc ● Transmission: 6-speed ● Horsepower: NA ● Torque: NA ● Top Speed: NA ● Fuel Capacity: 2.01 gallons ● Fuel Economy: NA ● Price: $ 10,399 ● On Sale: Now
Not just for the dirt. Indian
2019 Indian FTR 1200
Flat-track racing is enjoying a renaissance in the U.S. In fact, dirt ovals are popping up all over the place thanks to a strong following on social media. Indian is the first manufacturer to capitalize on the trend with a street-legal, factory-made option. Modeled after Indian’s championship-winning Scout FTR750 dirt track racer, the 2019 FTR 1200 is actually a naked bike with retro styling that offers a high level of performance. In fact, some say the highest of any Indian to date. It will be available in two trims: the base model FTR 1200 and the FTR 1200 S. The base model will offer black paint only (both frame and bodywork) and a simple round speedometer, while the S comes in various liveries (including the Race version with Indian red frame and white tank panels) with a 4.3-inch digital dash with phone connectivity and an LCD touchscreen display that replaces the analog dash of the base model.
Engine: DOHC, 4-Valves per Cylinder, Graded Buckets ● Displacement: 1,203cc ● Transmission: 6-speed ● Claimed Horsepower: 120 horsepower ● Claimed Torque: 85 foot-pounds ● Top Speed: NA ● Fuel capacity: 3.4 gallons ● Fuel Consumption: NA ● Price: $12,999 (FTR 1200) / $14,999 (FTR 1200 S) / $15,999 (FTR 1200 S Race Replica) ● On Sale: TBD
The most hardcore Ninja built to date. Kawasaki
2019 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR
This machine was inspied by the bike that has amassed four consecutive World Superbike Championships for the Kawasaki Racing Team. In fact, it might even be the most formidable, road-legal, and naturally aspirated motorcycle on the planet. It is definitely the most hardcore version of the Ninja ever made. Though aesthetically it looks an awful lot like its predecessor, the new ZX-10RR offers greater power, a more generous power band, and an increase in torque. The suspension has also been tweaked for better handling. It's said to be a thrill-a-second to ride.
Engine: 4-stroke, Inline 4 cylinder, DOHC, 4-valve, Liquid-cooled ● Displacement: 998cc ● Transmission: 6-speed ● Horsepower: NA ● Torque: NA ● Top Speed: NA ● Fuel Capacity: 4.5 gallons ● Fuel Economy: NA ● Price: $24,899 ● On Sale: TBD
Welcome back Katana! Suzuki
2019 Suzuki Katana
After 13 years on the sidelines, Suzuki is resurrecting one of its most iconic models, the Katana. Not your typical crotch rocket, the all-new Katana features sleek Eighties styling, a proven 998cc inline-four engine derived from the 2005 to 2008 GSX-R1000, and approachable ergonomics thanks to a more upright riding position. The powerplant has been tweaked to deliver smoother throttle response and a broader torque band, so the bike is more capable yet easier to ride in everyday situations. Modern enhancements include a three-mode traction control system (which can be turned all the way off) and a centrally mounted LCD info screen.
Engine: inline-four engine ● Displacement: 998cc ● Transmission: 6 speed ● Horsepower: 147 ● Torque: 79 foot-pounds ● Top Speed: NA ● Fuel Capacity: 3.17 gallons ● Fuel Economy: NA ● Price: $TBD ● On Sale: April 2019
Sure it's weird. But in a good way. Yamaha
2019 Yamaha Niken
Yamaha is looking to redefine the three-wheeler concept with the Niken Leaning Multi-Wheel motorcycle. It is basically a conventional motorcycle from the headstock back. Upfront, however, it has two wheels that lean and turn just like a regular motorcycle. If you have ever felt a little nervous bending a bike into a corner in which traction might be compromised by gravel, oil, water, or any other slippery substance, the two wheels double the size of the front contact patch for greater safety and traction. Those who have ridden the trike say it corners as if on rails, even over cold, dirty, wet, or uneven surfaces.
Engine: Liquid-cooled, DOHC, inline three-cylinder ● Displacement: 847cc ● Transmission: 6-speed ● Horsepower: NA ● Torque: 64.5 ft-lb ● Top Speed: NA ● Fuel Capacity: 4.8 gallon ● Fuel Economy: NA ● Price: $15,999 ● On Sale: Now
HONORABLE MENTION
You know you want one. Honda
2019 Honda Monkey
All of my friends either wanted one or had one when I was a kid. The Honda Monkey was the quintessential minibike. The pint-sized bike was originally created as an amusement park ride, and got its name from the way people looked riding it. The all-new Monkey captures that same spirit in a completely modernized package. Unthinkable decades ago, the Monkey is now equipped with an electric starter, disc brakes at both wheels, electronic fuel injection, LED lighting, and an LCD gauge that features a speedometer, odometer, fuel level, and two trip meters. Mom, can I have one?
Engine: air-cooled single-cylinder four-stroke ● Displacement: 124.9cc ● Transmission: 4-speed ● Horsepower: NA ● Torque: NA ● Top Speed: NA ● Fuel Capacity: 1.5 gallons ● Fuel Economy: TBD ● Price: $3,999 / $4,199 (ABS) ● On Sale: Now
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d21781568c8a370a4ea950c96c3a2d77 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chucktannert/2019/08/17/how-to-cut-the-cord-the-best-hdtv-antennas/?sh=41dac30d6057 | How To Cut The Cord: The Best HDTV Antennas | How To Cut The Cord: The Best HDTV Antennas
This story was written in collaboration with Forbes Finds. Forbes Finds covers products and experiences we think you’ll love. Featured products are independently selected and linked to for your convenience. If you buy something using a link on this page, Forbes may receive a small share of that sale.
Digital HD Antennas are not like ancient rabbit ears. Universal Images Group via Getty Images
It’s ironic using the phrase “cutting the cord” when talking about replacing your cable television service with one or more streaming video or live television services. In most cases, you’re still going to need a way to funnel streaming content directly to your television. And that will require an actual cord.
Regardless, cutting and running from cable one is both easy and inexpensive, and you may already own the necessary components.
If live local television is a must, then you should consider an HD antenna, the modern-day version of the old-school “rabbit ears” from the dear dead days before cable. Just plug them into your TV and watch as free high-definition over-the-air channels roll in. It won’t allow you to watch streaming videos, but it’s the cheapest and most straightforward solution for local broadcast stations and, as such, is ideal for news and sports.
UPDATE: An error has been brought to my attention that must be addressed here. In the piece, I give props to antennas that offer support for ultra-high-definition 4K video and ding one that doesn’t. That was a mistake. Fact is all high-definition antennas support UHD 4K playback. So, using the phrases “4K-Ready,” “4K Compliant,” or “Supports 4K” is misleading marketing hype that makes the antenna sound like is does more than any other antenna. Again, that's not true.
The Next Gen TV broadcast standard, or ATSC 3.0, has the capability to broadcast high-quality UHD 4K video, HDR, and wide color gamut, high frame rates up to 120 Hz to your home over-the-air. All you'll need a HD antenna to capture the ATSC 3.0 signal and a TV or separate tuner to decode it. Unfortunately, you can't buy ATSC 3.0 hardware (TVs or external tuners) yet. That is expected to change in 2020.
MORE FROMFORBES ADVISORAmericans Are Cord Cutting In Record Numbers—And It’s Not Slowing Down Anytime SoonByBrett HolzhauerForbes Staff
Consequently, I have edited this text to represent this eggregious error. Here are the some top HD antennas of 2019:
Mohu Leaf Metro
The small and stealthy antenna can blend with any decor. Mohu
If you’re looking for an antenna to use a compact space, the Leaf Metro is a good choice. Not only is it small and thin, but it is also reversible. You can choose between having a white or black outward-facing side, or you can paint it any color you like, which gives you even more flexibility in concealing it. However, with a relatively short 25-mile range, it is designed for people who live in cities or at least close to a broadcast tower.
Shop Now
Mohu Releaf
Mohu ReLeaf Indoor TV Antenna Amazon
Concerned about your impact on the environment? Here is a rare example of a product that not only delivers the performance you desire but also satisfies your need to be eco-friendly, too. Unlike the standard Leaf, the ReLeaf is made of recycled, post-consumer cardboard and chlorine-free colors, as is the packaging it comes in. The cables and plastic components are made with crushed and ground-up bits of recycled cable boxes. It also has a slightly larger range—30 miles.
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Clearstream Eclipse
Like the Metro, the Eclipse is two-sided — a black side and a white side — to match your decor. Clearstream
The Clearstream Eclipse is a small yet powerful antenna with a novel circular design. Like the Metro, the Eclipse is two-sided—black or white—to match your decor and can be painted to be a discreet addition to any room.
Shop Now
U Must Have Amplified HD Digital Antenna
Captures beautiful pictures from signals 65 to 80 miles away U Must Have
No, you’re not misreading the brand name. It's odd. U Must Have’s Amplified HD Digital Antenna can capture signals from 65 to 80 miles away. It comes with everything you need to install it, including an 18-foot coaxial cable.
Shop Now
Pingbingding Outdoor HD Antenna
This Pingbingding will capture up to 4K quality video from over 100 miles away. Pingbingding
Outside big city limits, it can be difficult to pick up a digital signal. This Pingbingding will capture video from over 100 miles away. An outdoor model, you’ll need to adjust the antenna periodically to ensure a clear picture. To facilitate this process, the system comes with a wireless remote that allows you to rotate it from the comfort of your living room.
Shop Now
1byone Amplified HDTV Antenna
This HD antenna comes with everything you need to install it. 1ByGone
This is a simple, indoor antenna that offers everything you need to connect to a TV, including a 10-foot coaxial cable and adhesive patches for mounting. It has a 50-mile range and included amplifier, all for a reasonable price. However, it can be an inconsistent performer.
Shop Now
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db1fd038372bb2d2ae4d2e2a939c7e07 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2011/03/17/how-netflix-innovates-and-wins/ | How Netflix Innovates and Wins | How Netflix Innovates and Wins
Goldman Sachs upgraded Netflix from neutral to buy on Tuesday, setting a $300 price target. The news drove Netflix shares up almost 8% to $217.11 and a market value of more than $11B. The market is richly rewarding Netflix for being on the cusp of achieving Netflix CEO Reed Hastings’ vision to stream movies over the Internet directly into people’s homes. What Hastings should really get credit for, though, is the diligence with which he prepared the way for his vision—and that method is one that others can emulate.
Netflix illustrates a design principle that any company aspiring to succeed at disruptive innovation must adopt. It has four parts:
Think Big Start Small Fail Quickly Scale Fast
Even as he built the DVD business that toppled Blockbuster, Hastings was guided by the big idea that mailing people DVDs was a mere way station on the road to streaming video. As far back as 2001, Hastings spent $10 million a year on research into streaming; he was willing to forgo most of his tiny company's profits to get started on his preparation. In the years since, Hastings has frequently set up small tests to offer streaming video—only to junk the projects quickly when he realized they weren't feasible. As streaming started to become real, Hastings did a host of deals with content providers to see which would work and to make sure he wasn't left out, even though it was clear that most of the deals wouldn't amount to much. Hastings also considered numerous pricing models for streaming, ultimately deciding to start by giving it away as part of DVD subscriptions. That way, people could get used to streaming while he built his library of offerings, and he wouldn't create an opening for a competitor.
In late 2010, after almost 10 years of experimentation, Netflix offered a streaming-only option for about half the price of a subscription for DVDs by mail. That pricing—combined with the increasing size of the Netflix library, the spread of broadband connections, and the seemingly universal adoption of video-friendly tablets and smartphones—drastically accelerated the move to streaming. In its recent annual report, Netflix said:
In 2010, we passed a significant milestone with the majority of our subscribers viewing more of their TV shows and movies via streaming than by DVD. Going forward, we expect we will be primarily a global streaming business, with the added feature of DVDs-by-mail in the U.S.
The Netflix success may seem straightforward. Just about everything looks simple, even inevitable, after the fact. But executives need to truly understand the elements of the Netflix success if they want to emulate it and must have the discipline to follow each of the four steps that Netflix followed. Historically, few have.
Think Big. Hastings pursued his big idea, streaming video, even though it would render obsolete his wonderfully successful, highly tuned, mail-based system for distributing DVDs. By contrast, most companies think small—they try to protect their existing business even if they can see a long-term threat from the Internet or other technological disrupter. Companies that sell products through a network of agents protect the agents. Companies that sell goods through a chain of physical outlets protect the outlets. Companies that sling newspapers onto doorsteps try to protect the paper form of their information. These companies tell themselves they’re making incremental improvements, only to wake up one day and find the world has changed. When that day comes, they switch to panic mode, as Blockbuster did once it realized Netflix had transformed DVD distribution. Panic almost always leads to a huge, but ill-considered, bet—and failure. (For a chilling post-mortem on numerous ill-conceived big ideas, and how to avoid making the same mistakes, see my recent book, "Billion-Dollar Lessons," co-authored with Paul B. Carroll.)
Start Small. Though Reed Hastings had a big idea that he fervently believed in, he started with lots of small projects. On the contrary, companies with big ideas tend to fall in love with them and rush headlong into making them real. Take Starbucks’ failed launch of Sorbetto. It was an icy drink that Howard Schultz, Starbuck’s CEO, thought would be his next Frappuccino. Schultz had recently returned to the Starbucks helm and desperately wanted a product to boost sagging sales. He trusted his instincts and rushed Sorbetto into a splashy, 300-store launch in California. But, as reported in the NY Times:
Customers didn’t like the sugary concoction. And neither did Starbucks baristas, who had to spend an hour and a half cleaning the Sorbetto machines at the end of their shifts. A few months later, Mr. Schultz abandoned Sorbetto. "Sorbetto, we did too quickly, and that was my fault,” Mr. Schultz says.
With his more recent launch of instant coffee, Schultz learned his lesson, started small and worked out the kinks before going national. The Times says he may have a major success on his hands.
Fail Quickly. When early efforts at streaming video looked iffy, Hastings adopted the poker player’s mantra that most money is lost early in a hand, when the tendency is to hope that something good will materialize even though reason suggests otherwise. Hastings folded his hands, saving his money for the day when he finally got a good hand. By contrast, most companies keep playing bad hands far too long, partly because those involved know they’ll get tarnished by association with a failure. As one client bemoaned to me,
the only thing harder than starting a strategic initiative is killing one.
Scale Fast. Netflix is now scaling streaming video fast, maintaining the lead it worked so hard to build over competitors. Numerous companies have, however, won early battles and lost the war at this stage of innovation. Magical innovations are successfully developed but never find a home because, unlike Netflix, the company isn’t willing to attack its core business. One of the most dramatic examples is Kodak, which invented the sensor at the heart of digital photography in the mid-1980s, but, for decades, never found a way to leverage it.
It’s worth noting that Netflix is still very much a work in progress. Newspapers are reporting that the company is in talks to buy the rights to a television program, which would put it in direct competition with networks and perhaps accelerate the trend toward what is known as “cord cutting”—ending a monthly subscription to a cable-television or satellite-television service and drawing content directly from the Internet via Netflix or other service.
In other words, having savaged the movie business, Netflix may now have television in its sights, and the company seems to be taking the same smart, disciplined approach that has stood it in such good stead thus far. The company is thinking big but starting small. Failures, which will surely occur, will likely be quick. Scaling, if Netflix ever gets to that point, will surely be breathtakingly fast.
Please share your thoughts on systematic innovation. What's harder: thinking big, starting small, failing quickly, or scaling fast? How good are companies in putting it all together?
Follow me on Twitter @ChunkaMui
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d173f28788847bc642eec5fdcd7d437c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2011/07/01/bank-of-americas-40-billion-lesson/ | Bank of America's $40 Billion Lesson | Bank of America's $40 Billion Lesson
Image via Wikipedia
As you enjoy your July 4th refreshments, lift a toast of thanks to Bank of America for its almost $40 billion contribution to resolving the mortgage loan debacle that continues to plague the US economy. $40 billion (including a $20.6 billion second-quarter charge) is about the cost that the Wall Street Journal estimates that Bank of America has spent (thus far) to address the sins of Countrywide Financial Corp., the mortgage lender that it bought in 2008.
Also take a moment to ponder the unforced error that left the nation’s largest bank with this mortgage-related nightmare. It is too late for Bank of America to do anything but make the best of a bad decision, but it is not too late for other executives and board members to avoid making the same mistake.
Countrywide-Related Costs (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Bank of America’s dreams turned into nightmare in early 2008. That’s when Kenneth D. Lewis, Bank of America’s then-chief executive, tried to call the bottom of the subprime mess and swooped in to acquire Countrywide for $2.5 billion. Ironically, mortgage lending was a business that Lewis had avoided throughout his long tenure at the acquisitive bank. He often said that he liked “the product, not the business.” But as a nationwide spike in defaults and foreclosures threatened Countrywide’s solvency and plummeled its stock price, Lewis found the strategic temptation too hard to resist. As Lewis said in a company statement:
Countrywide presents a rare opportunity for Bank of America to add what we believe is the best domestic mortgage platform at an attractive price and to affirm our position as the nation’s premier lender to consumers.
As to the risk, Lewis said:
We are aware of the issues within the housing and mortgage industries. The transaction reflects those challenges.
More bluntly, he told analysts:
Arithmetic overcomes all your issues.
That arithmetic turned out to be an exercise in fuzzy math. Bank of America was entranced by the prospect of adding mortgages to its supermarket of financial products at a bargain basement price, and calculated that its massive balance sheet could soothe the liquidity problems that were crushing the relatively tiny Countrywide. Once Ken Lewis latched onto his strategic rationalization, you can bet that no investment banker or due-diligence team was going to tell him not to do it. Lewis did have “reservations” about the deal but “the longer we looked at it, the more it created its own momentum,” the WSJ quoted a person close to him.
Unfortunately, making huge bets on sinking assets without knowing where the bottom laid is not an isolated problem. Ken Lewis made that mistake again himself a few months later, when he made a hasty decision to pay roughly $40 billion for the quickly imploding Merrill Lynch. Merrill’s assets proved so toxic that, absent subsequent US government bailouts, they would have burned an even bigger hole in Bank of America’s balance sheet than Countrywide.
History is replete with successful companies brought down by toxic acquisitions. Take a look at the fate of Conseco Financial when it tried to take advantage of a subprime lending fiasco in the late 1990s. Green Tree Financial found itself in a life-threatening credit squeeze because the market had lost faith in its mortgage-backed securities and refused to refinance its short-term debt. The market’s skepticism was justified. Green Tree’s portfolio was generated by offering 30-year mortgages on trailer homes with a 10-year life. Green Tree’s profits were driven by loan origination fees and by selling huge bundles of securitized loans, rather than by the performance of the mortgages. It was a strategy that produced huge profits in the short term but was disastrous as the poor quality of the loans became apparent. (Sound familiar?)
Conseco swooped into the situation, buying Green Tree for $6 billion. The acquisition was so toxic that Conseco soon took billions of dollars in writeoffs and then filed for bankruptcy protection. It was the third largest bankruptcy in US history to that time. In reflecting on the acquisition, one Conseco executive told me that it was like the many acquisitions that Conseco had done except for one notable exception. It was a business that they didn’t really understand. They weren’t able to assess the dangers that came with the acquisition, or deal with them later.
So, how do you avoid being the next Conseco or Bank of America?
Managers and boards of directors scrambling to react to “opportunities” like those that destroyed Conseco and hobbled Bank of America should take some advice from the ancient Persians. Herodotus, the Greek historian, reported that the ancient Persians always made important decisions twice—first when they were drunk, and then again when they were sober. Only if the Persians reached the same decision, drunk and sober, would they act on that decision. The approach apparently worked—the Persians dominated the much of the Middle East and Central Asia for three centuries.
In research into more than 750 major business failures for our book, “Billion Dollar Lessons,” Paul Carroll and I found that, too often, managers, while not drunken, are making strategic decisions in a state that psychiatrists call “hot.” “Hot” because, while business is generally thought of as highly rational, there is a lot of emotion involved—especially when opportunistic acquisitions emerge. People feel an urgency to act, so they may gloss over potential problems. People get intimated by the stakes or by pressure from peers and bosses to proceed with a strategy, based on the idea that “it is rare opportunity.” People may be afraid to voice objections, lest they seem ill-informed.
In these situations, executives won’t need to go drinking to revisit their decisions. They need a cold, dispassionate environment that will let them reconsider their options and to stress test them very rigorously.
Enjoy the 4th, and reconsider these lessons again on the 5th!
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Follow Chunka Mui on Twitter @ChunkaMui
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71a04aba4b109366e0b4ccbad72fcfb8 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2011/09/08/to-reform-education-outsource-it-to-parents/ | To Reform Education, Outsource It To Parents | To Reform Education, Outsource It To Parents
Reforming K-12 education is a wicked problem. Even the best ideas are inevitably incomplete and contradictory. All fly in the face of entrenched interests and are beaten around by opposing ideologies. Not only are there no silver bullets, there isn’t even a common view of the target. Rather than hope for reform, parents should consider opting out of the mess and focus instead on their own kids’ learning.
Critiques of the US educational system’s failures include the lack of basic literacy, how our children are falling behind in math and science, how our educational system is creating a cultural divide, how the system is failing our best students, and how it kills creativity, just to cite a few perspectives. These varied issues do not stem from a few root causes but from a tangled mess of intertwined issues, many of which are outside the reach of educational reforms.
So, while I applaud the efforts of Bill Gates, Eli Broad and others mentioned in Luisa Kroll’s article, I’ve long wondered, as a parent, whether such efforts would make any difference to my children’s K-12 experience.
I’m afraid the answer is “no.”
Given that, my proposal in response to Forbes' call for the “single best idea for reforming K-12 education" is the one that I adopted for myself: outsource education to parents. In other words, encourage and help parents to home school their kids.
I did not come to this viewpoint lightly, as I suspect that most parents would not. But, as parents tending to our kids’ education, here’s what my wife and I faced:
Our city’s public school system reports that only 14.2 percent of its eighth grade students exceeded state standards. Our home sits almost equidistant between two public K-8 schools, one of the best and one of the worst. The poor option, our “neighborhood school,” lifted only 2.2 percent of its eighth grade students above state standards. The students at the better option, one of a number of “selective enrollment schools,” did much better, but the school has a 6.6 percent admission rate. (Harvard has a 6.9 percent admission rate.)
We have the good fortune of being able to afford private schools, and those options were better; but, their admissions processes were even more tortuous. We went to obligatory “parent teas,” interviews, and child assessments, only to learn that most had no openings. The Montessori school had only two openings—after preferential admissions for siblings, alumni and staff. The progressive “lab” school had no openings; all slots were allocated for children of faculty at its affiliated university.
We labored on and eventually secured a preschool slot for our son at a well-regarded private school. But, after so much effort to get him in, we soon had to face the question of whether it was worth it.
Our son struggled to adapt to the institutional regimentation, with its 20-minute activity rotations and emphasis on being in the right spot (in line, on the right section of carpet, and so on) at the right time. At home, he spent hours reading books, digging for worms or building with blocks, as the mood struck him. At school, there was no option but to move on when the curriculum said it was time for the next activity. His young teacher, on her first assignment, struggled to control and corral 18 toddlers, and didn’t have much energy or skill for nurturing them. At home, we were reading chapter books like “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH,” “Watership Down,” and “The Hobbit” to our son. At school, my son found it hard to pay attention as his teacher read picture books like “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” and “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” to the class.
After a few weeks, our son asked us, “I’m not having any fun, and I’m not learning anything. Why can’t I just stay home?” We eventually decided he was right.
For the last two years, we’ve home-schooled our son, now six. We have followed his passions and designed his “curriculum” around them. He wanted to watch “The Lord of the Rings” movies, and we agreed—if we read the book first. We read Tolkien’s “Silmarillion,” too, because he enjoyed Tolkien’s world so much. He got to watch the entire trilogy, but he likes the book better. We made the same deal with Harry Potter, though he stopped during volume four (the “death-eaters” were too scary). We’ve also read A.A. Milne, E.B. White, “The Iliad,” “The Odyssey,” and hundreds of other books. (He has his own library card with a 30-book limit, which is always maxed out.)
Chasing Butterflies
My son loves butterflies, so we spent much of the summer in local parks catching and identifying (then releasing) butterflies. On one recent butterfly hunt, we met the curator of the natural history museum’s insect collection, who was impressed enough to invite our son for a behind-the-scenes tour of his collection. In the midst of an animated two-hour discussion, the curator turned to my wife and asked, “How does he know so much?” The answer: we read about it.
My son loves the beach, so we joined an adopt-a-beach program where he works with other volunteers to clean the beach and take water samples.
After he learned to play chess, we joined a local home-school co-op where home-school families gather for a range of weekly, mostly parent-taught, classes, including chess, nature, math and kitchen chemistry. You get the idea.
While ours is a work-in-process, three observations stand out.
First, my son has help lead the way. We do not assume that his interests will lead us to all the learnings that he will need. But it has worked out well thus far, and we can see the linkages for the next several years, at least.
Second, we have not done it alone. Between ourselves, the other committed families in our home-school cooperative, and the subject matter experts that we have encountered or found (like the museum insect curator, the wild-food forager, the bee-keeper who sells honey at the Thursday farmers market, and the former state-champion chess teacher), we feel comfortable that we have enough fluency in the relevant topics to help our son learn deeply. The challenge will be to maintain real thresholds for fluency—but isn’t it always the teacher’s challenge to stay ahead of the student?
Third, it has been a mutually enriching experience. Sharing in the learning experiences, through deep reading, hands-on projects and even getting into the cold lake to take water samples, allow for deep bonding and mutual learning. It is also more fun then just being the schedule master and chauffeur. (I remember very well the speech from the headmaster of one prospective school; he made it clear that parents were not welcome into his educational process—that was a job for professionals.)
Home schooling isn’t a silver bullet, either, but it is the only big idea that is mostly within a parent’s control. It doesn’t require deficit spending, union busting, social transformations, management revolutions, or paradigm shifts on the part of teachers, administrators, politicians and other entrenched stakeholders. Home schooling reduces the problem of education reform to the needs of an individual child and gives the job of addressing those needs to the one or two persons in the best position to do so. Relative to education reform alternatives, home schooling is a much more tractable problem.
Many have written eloquently about homeschooling. I recommend that parents (and skeptics) explore that body of work. Here are some springboards:
John Holt was an educational reformer who came to believe that homeschooling is the best option for the child. Holt believed that for small children, “learning is as natural as breathing,” and that the great opportunity (and challenge) for educators is to build on that, rather than squashing it. Holt’s book, “How Children Learn,” should be on every parent’s reading list.
David Guterson, the novelist, wrote an eloquent book, “Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense,” about his family’s home-schooling experience. Guterson wrote this book while he worked as a high school English teacher—before his literary successes, which include “Snow Falling on Cedars.” He gives a thoughtful account of why, even though he worked inside the educational system, he opted out of it for his children. Guterson also addresses many frequently asked questions about homeschooling, such as the socialization of the child, the economic and time demands it places on the parents, the implications for our democracy, and how homeschooling and the formal educational system might constructively interact.
Homeschooling is not right for everyone, but it has been the right answer for my family. Studies show that many families—across a wide socioeconomic spectrum—choose to home school, and that it is the right answer for many of them, too. No studies show that it is the best answer for everyone.
Erasmus said that learning should be adapted to the ability of the child and should be taught with sympathy and tenderness. Who better to do that than the parents? And what better student-to-teacher ratio could a child get?
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Please share your comments below.
Follow me on Twitter @ChunkaMui
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d6613aeea645d47056aba64dee938ceb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2012/06/12/alan-kay-on-learning-to-see/ | Alan Kay on 'Learning to See' | Alan Kay on 'Learning to See'
What one piece of advice would you give the human race?
The tradition at commencement speeches is to offer advice to the graduating students—one last lesson before graduates enter the real world.
Alan Kay, the personal computing pioneer, education innovator, and philosopher, broke that tradition last week and, instead, asked graduating students what perspective their college education had given them on humanity and what one piece of advice they would give the human race.
Drawing upon a long line of thinkers, including Francis Bacon and Marshall McLuhan, Kay offered his own answer to the perspective question:
The perspective on humanity I would choose is that “we are the species that fools itself” — in fact we even pay to be fooled — and we have been fooling ourselves for our entire 200,000 years.
But, invoking the example of Helen Keller, Kay argued that humanity is not doomed to be fooled:
Every human being is born with the potential to learn to see as Helen Keller learned to see – with their hearts, bodies, spirit and minds — and to learn to be as vividly alive and human as Helen Keller learned to be.
Therefore, Kay’s advice to humanity is:
Let us learn how to wake up from the slumbers of our nervous system, culture and beliefs, and try to find out what is going on and what is really needed!
It was a provocative ten-minute speech, and well worth watching:
How about you? What of many perspectives on humanity would you choose, and what advice would you give?
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Chunka Mui is the co-author of “Unleashing the Killer App” and “Billion-Dollar Lessons.” Follow him at Forbes or on Twitter @chunkamui
(Disclosure — I am on the board of directors of Viewpoints Research Institute, which was co-founded and still directed by Alan Kay.)
Also — here’s a transcript of the entire speech:
“Learning to See”
June 10, 2012
by Alan Kay
Thank you for this great honor. It is especially meaningful because no one owes more to his research community than I do — and I feel the same spirit of family and community in the wonderful DePaul commitments to “access to everyone” and “it takes a village”, to help all of us succeed in our dreams.
When I asked about graduation speeches, I was told it is a tradition to give advice... and to be darn quick about it!
But since we are all manifestly diverse, everyone needs somewhat different advice — and moreover, after all these years I’m still working on my own process, so I have no lofty pronouncements from my own experience.
But, we are all members of the same species. And part of what Education with a capital E should mean is for us to gain some understanding and perspective on ourselves.
So after acquiring a real education in college, shouldn’t we be able to give the human race at least one piece of useful advice?
What of many perspectives on humanity would you choose, and what advice would you give?
—
From female mitochondrial DNA evidence, our species seems to have been on the planet for about 200,000 years.
Anthropologists studying several thousand societies have found that we all have language, stories, particular cultural approaches to life and survival, religion, music, dance, art — several hundred common categories of behaviors in all.
A child born into one culture and moved at birth to another will grow up as a member of the receiving culture.
So despite our manifest diversities, down deep we are also very similar — what seems to differ from culture to culture are not our categories, but how each culture fills them out. For example, we don’t fight over whether we have beliefs about the world, but over what beliefs.
Here is what strikes me about us: even though for hundreds of thousands of years we’ve cared so much about beliefs to fight for them, until very recently we humans have just taken the world of our senses and of our cultures “as they seem” with almost no attempts to invent ways to check if our perceptions and beliefs actually hold water.
In other words, we live inside our heads to an astonishing degree. So much so that we resemble a creature in a dream that only occasionally matches up with the world it lives in. We live in a kind of hallucination of our own devising.
Francis Bacon pointed this out in 1610 when he called for methods to be developed to get around the blindnesses caused by our genetics, individual brains, how we use language, and assimilating the beliefs of our cultures. The already started invention of modern science produced example after example where careful investigations and new kinds of thinking revealed that many of our beliefs about the world did not hold up. We had been fooling ourselves!
So, the perspective on humanity I would choose is that “we are the species that fools itself” — in fact we even pay to be fooled — and we have been fooling ourselves for our entire 200,000 years.
Part of the nature of this foolery is that we think that we can see—and that what we think is there is what is there. A wonderful line in the Talmud says “We see things not as they are but as we are”. (I wonder what happened to that person!)
Marshall McLuhan quipped: “Until I believe it, I can’t see it”.
Yet we need dreams and imagination.
One of my greatest heroes, Helen Keller, was rendered blind and deaf before she was two years old, yet became the first deafblind person to earn a college degree.
In 1932, shortly after the Empire State Building was built at the dawn of the Depression in amazingly less than a year as a statement by its contractors about what humans can do with purpose and will, Helen Keller, who knew a lot about purpose and will, took a trip to the top.
She was asked afterwards by Dr John Finley: "ʺWhat Did You Think 'ʹof the Sight'ʹ When You Were on the Top of the Empire Building?"ʺ
Here are a few extracts from the letter she wrote.
Frankly, I was so entranced "ʺseeing"ʺ that I did not think about the sight. If there was a subconscious thought of it, it was in the nature of gratitude to God for having given the blind seeing minds. As I now recall the view I had from the Empire Tower, I am convinced that, until we have looked into darkness, we cannot know what a divine thing vision is. I will concede that my guides saw a thousand things that escaped me from the top of the Empire Building, but I am not envious. For imagination creates distances and horizons that reach to the end of the world. It is as easy for the mind to think in stars as in cobblestones. It was a thrilling experience to be whizzed in a "ʺlift"ʺ a quarter of a mile heavenward, and to see New York spread out like a marvelous tapestry beneath us. There was the Hudson – more like the flash of a swordblade than a noble river. The little island of Manhattan, set like a jewel in its nest of rainbow waters, stared up into my face, and the solar system circled about my head! Why, I thought, the sun and the stars are suburbs of New York, and I never knew it! I see in the Empire Building something else – passionate skill, arduous and fearless idealism. The tallest building is a victory of imagination. Instead of crouching close to earth like a beast, the spirit of man soars to higher regions, and from this new point of vantage he looks upon the impossible with fortified courage and dreams yet more magnificent enterprises. What did I "ʺsee and hear"ʺ from the Empire Tower? As I stood there 'ʹtwixt earth and sky, I saw a romantic structure wrought by human brains and hands that is to the burning eye of the sun a rival luminary. I saw it stand erect and serene in the midst of storm and the tumult of elemental commotion. I heard the hammer of Thor ring when the shaft began to rise upward. I saw the unconquerable steel, the flash of testing flames, the sword-like rivets. I heard the steam drills in pandemonium. I saw countless skilled workers welding together that mighty symmetry. I looked upon the marvel of frail, yet indomitable hands that lifted the tower to its dominating height.
—
Wow!
Every human being is born with the potential to learn to see as Helen Keller learned to see – with their hearts, bodies, spirit and minds — and to learn to be as vividly alive and human as Helen Keller learned to be.
Our great gift is that though “we are the stuff that dreams are made of”, we can invest those dreams with the clearer knowledge brought by careful study beyond our simple prejudices. There is nothing more powerful than imagination coupled with investigation!
Imagination allows us to dream and conceive of better futures for us all. Investigation finds the powers and knowledge to make better futures happen.
So I think my advice to our species would be: “We can’t learn to see until we admit we are blind”.
In other words, let us learn how to wake up from the slumbers of our nervous system, culture and beliefs, and try to find out what is going on and what is really needed!
(end)
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3e3715a4b42c1fa69214071cd79ca4d2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2016/01/17/ioht/ | A Text Message Can Be As Powerful As A Drug | A Text Message Can Be As Powerful As A Drug
Dr. Joe Kvedar read the letter from his primary care physician with disappointment. Kvedar was taking a statin drug to manage his cholesterol. The letter asked Kvedar to take a blood test before his upcoming appointment so that his doctor could discuss his condition and treatment plan. It made perfect sense—except that the letter arrived two days after the appointment.
This kind of thing happens all the time in healthcare but it is ironic that it happened to Joe Kvedar. Kvedar is not only a physician; he is vice president of Connected Health at Partners HealthCare, the Boston-based healthcare system that includes two of the most prestigious teaching hospitals in the world.
Kvedar is also the coauthor, with Carol Colman and Gina Cella, of The Internet of Healthy Things, an excellent new book that explores how information technology and the Internet of Things can revolutionize healthcare.
The Internet of Healthy Things
Dr. Harry Leider, chief medical officer of Walgreen’s, writes in the forward to The Internet of Healthy Things that “No one has done more to power the creation of new models of healthcare delivery than Joe Kvedar and his colleagues at Partners HealthCare.”
Yet, as Kvedar bemoans after relating the story about his own doctor’s well-intentioned but too late, snail mail letter, “there’s been very little of it happening within conventional healthcare systems.”
That’s a shame, because so much is possible—and critically needed—as The Internet of Healthy Things makes clear.
For example, more than half of all adults in the U.S. have one or more chronic conditions that can lead to potentially deadly complications unless properly managed. One such condition is Type 2 diabetes, which affects 29 million Americans. Another 86 million have prediabetes and, without the right kind of intervention, a third will eventually become diabetics. The total cost due to diabetes in 2013 was almost $250 billion and, according to the U.S Centers for Disease Control, the incidence of diabetes may triple by 2050.
A critical aspect of fighting diabetes, and other chronic conditions like heart disease, hypertension and high cholesterol, is to lose weight and get more exercise. For those with these diseases, managing weight and exercise can prevent potentially deadly complications. For those at risk, it can delay or prevent the onset of disease. Clinical studies show, for example, that just 5 to 7% weight loss reduces the incidence of diabetes in prediabetics by more than 58%.
With a project called Text2Move, Kvedar and his colleagues showed that highly personalized, targeted, automated text messages, delivered at the just the right moment, can boost activity levels among a fairly sedentary population of people with Type 2 diabetes.
The innovative six-month behavioral modification program produced on average a 1% drop in hemoglobin A1c (the clinical measure of blood sugar control). By medical standards, Kvedar observed, a 1% decease reduces the risk of heart attack by 14% and diabetes-related death by 21%. It also means that the Text2Move intervention was at least as powerful as metformin, the usual drug treatment for this condition.
Text2Move is linked to patient’s electronic medical records and retrieves weather data from their mobile phones. It has the smarts to analyze each patient’s behavior patterns and automatically personalize messages from a databank of 1,000 unique messages. One patient for example took his walks around 2 a.m. every night, so the system adapted to send reminders at 1 a.m. (It turned out that the patient was a shift worker who got off work at 1 a.m.)
In addition to the drop in A1c, Text2Move appears to produce noticeable improvements in activity. For participants in the intervention group (who wore a pedometer and received daily text messages) the average daily step count was 1,200 to 1,400 steps more than the control group that wore a pedometer but did not receive text messages.
Text2Move is significant both in what it accomplishes and the possibilities that it enables us to imagine.
Kvedar and his colleagues are now building on the learning from Text2Move. They are leveraging more sophisticated sensors and other technologies built into smartphones. They are also taking advantage of social networking.
Kvedar foresees a day when apps will sometimes be prescribed instead of pills and every pill will be prescribed with an app. Just around the corner, he believes, real-time biometric data will be automatically captured and used to learn more about the impact of lifestyle on disease and wellness, and change behavior for the better.
The Internet of Healthy Things, titled after a term that Joe Kvedar coined, draws on Kvedar’s 20 years of effort to “invent radical new ways to deliver healthcare and inspire wellness.” In that time, Kvedar has gone from a self-acknowledged “lone wolf howling in the wilderness” to believing that the convergence of technology and market dynamics is finally ready to “make connected health solutions a prime driver in changing healthcare delivery.”
If you’re an observer or active participant in how information technology might advance healthcare, you should read this book.
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67c844501b3b058cdfeb6a30fa103710 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chynes/2016/07/19/why-digital-nomads-entrepreneurs-keep-choosing-chiang-mai/ | Why Digital Nomads & Entrepreneurs Keep Choosing Chiang Mai | Why Digital Nomads & Entrepreneurs Keep Choosing Chiang Mai
When Erica Blair left Chiang Mai in 2011, she knew it wasn’t goodbye forever. Blair had spent a year teaching English in the northern Thai city and planned to return once she built a sustainable business.
After developing an online marketing brand in Boulder, Colorado, Blair moved back to Chiang Mai in December 2015. She already knew the perks: low cost of living, balmy weather, beautiful countryside. What she didn’t expect to find was a thriving digital nomad scene.
A crowd of digital nomads and location independent entrepreneurs gathers at the 2016 Nomad Summit in... [+] Chiang Mai, Thailand. Credit: Johnny FD
In the years since Blair had left, Chiang Mai became a go-to destination for online entrepreneurs, freelancers, and remote workers—otherwise known as digital nomads. A rising number of expats are choosing to call Chiang Mai home as they bootstrap digital businesses or scale up their already-successful enterprises.
“It’s been nice to connect with people who are really on top of their game … [and to be inspired by] people who are really successful, badass entrepreneurs,” Blair said.
City Of Possibilities
Chiang Mai offers a mix of affordability, infrastructure, and quality of life that’s difficult to find elsewhere. Monthly accommodations in Chiang Mai range from $100 to several thousand dollars a month, depending on budget and preferences. Dining options range from $1 street food dishes to gourmet cuisines. Travel + Leisure recently named Chiang Mai the best city in Asia and second best in the world, thanks to its relaxed atmosphere, good food, and historical significance.
Blair, a marketing strategist, is taking advantage of the city’s affordability by decreasing the amount of client work she does. She’s focused on developing training materials and strategy guides—what she calls “the scaleable side of my business.” She shares insights into life as a digital nomad as "theericablair" on Snapchat.
Dan O’Donnell also moved to Thailand to ramp up his online earnings. O’Donnell was already earning money from Google's AdSense revenue when he landed in Chiang Mai. But his primary focus was Better Me, a board game based on personal growth. O’Donnell held numerous play sessions in the city to gain feedback from fellow entrepreneurs before its official launch. The game is now his primary source of income, and he says that living in Chiang Mai provided the freedom and resources to make that happen.
“For bootstrappers, it’s excellent because of the community and what you can learn from other people, the cost of living, and the general quality of life,” O’Donnell said. “As people do better [financially], it’s still a pretty cool home base. I don’t pinch pennies and my expenses are $750 USD tops.”
That amount varies by person, what neighborhood they live in, and how much they’re willing to spend on food and accommodations. But even lavish lifestyles are affordable in Chiang Mai.
“It’s really hard to spend more than $2,500 USD per month here,” said Sam Marks, an entrepreneur and angel investor who sold his e-cigarette company for $100 million in 2013.
Marks owns a condo in Chiang Mai and spends three to four months out of each year there. He first visited in 2012 and was struck by the peacefulness and amenities.
“I think it’s the best place I’ve ever been in terms of work-life balance,” Marks said.
An Ecosystem For Success
Reflecting on Chiang Mai’s continued popularity, Marks said that he believes good co-working spaces put cities on the map for digital nomads. Chiang Mai also has one of those.
Euam and Vichaya Sirisanthana opened Punspace in 2013. Both had worked as programmers in Bangkok, and they missed having a central workspace. Punspace became so popular among the location independent crowd that the husband and wife opened a second location in 2014, where they’ve since held events hosted by Amazon and Fiverr. BBC will hold an exclusive design and UX event at Punspace Thapae Gate on July 28.
Location independent workers gather at Punspace in Chiang Mai to bootstrap and scale their... [+] businesses. Credit: Punspace
“If it wasn’t for being in Chiang Mai, I never would have met other entrepreneurs and digital nomads who gave me support in growing [my] businesses,” said Johnny FD, who has built a number of profitable income streams while in Chiang Mai.
FD launched a dropshipping business in 2013 and figured that if he could make just one sale per day, he’d earn enough to cover his expenses in Chiang Mai. But he made far more than that. Since that initial sale, he’s built multiple dropshipping stores, written books, launched Udemy courses, and set up affiliate marketing income streams. He publishes regular income reports on his site johnnyfd.com, and he recently shared that he made nearly $83,000 from passive income in May.
Entrepreneurs Sam Marks (left) and Johnny FD built their businesses while traveling the world.... [+] Credit: Johnny FD
FD also pays it forward in the digital nomad community. He organizes a weekly nomad coffee club, a free gathering at which location independent folks discuss business practices, opportunities, and ideas. He also founded the Nomad Summit, an annual weekend-long event where attendees learn from experts in different fields.
Asked why he offers that support to the community, FD said, “There was a big chance I would have gone back to a normal life, gone back to a corporate job because I would have been scared,” if he had not found a path toward independence. “I almost feel like I’m the crab that got out of the cage. I feel I have an obligation to put down that ladder for everyone else.”
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5c56beac8f35a5b259ed735f384a0acc | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chynes/2016/11/19/these-startups-are-simplifying-sending-money-back-home-for-filipinos-working-overseas/ | These Startups Are Simplifying Sending Money Back Home For Filipinos Working Overseas | These Startups Are Simplifying Sending Money Back Home For Filipinos Working Overseas
Filipino domestic helpers load boxes with food and clothing in a street in the central district of... [+] Hong kong on November 30, 2008, to be sent back to their families in the Philippines. (Photo credit: TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images)
Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) total more than $26 billion, indicating that the industry is alive and well. Despite reports that the remittance business is slowing down, OFWs remain a key source of economic stability for millions of families in the Philippines. Indeed, approximately 10 million Filipinos are employed abroad. And that’s to say nothing of the workers who stay in the Philippines, taking jobs in cities so they can send money home to their families in more remote areas.
The ability to support one’s family is a driving factor in the decision to relocate for work, but getting money home can be an arduous process. Even when an OFW sends a cash transfer, there’s no guarantee the beneficiary will be able to receive it right away, according to Mikko Perez, founder and CEO of Ayannah. In places where a high number of families subsist on OFW remittances, it’s not uncommon for agents to run out of money and force receivers to return the next day. This is costly and time-consuming for people who may have to travel several hours just to pick up their money.
Then there’s the issue of how the money is spent. As the son of an OFW, Jonathan Chua knows first hand how precarious remittances can be once received. The parent might expect the cash to be spent on groceries or saved for educational purposes. But without their oversight, it’s all too easy for young family members in particular to buy luxury TVs or gamble the allowance instead.
“Money is pretty unaccountable,” Chua said. “The money they send over to their families is used for groceries or education or to pay bills, or let’s say gambling or drugs or alcohol. No one would ever know.”
And so he created BeamandGo, a platform that enables OFWs to purchase specific goods and services with their remittances. BeamandGo maintains partnerships with grocery chains, insurance companies and various service providers so that workers can ensure that their wages are enhancing their families’ well-being.
Remittances for the unbanked
BeamandGo is based on a straightforward concept, but making the platform accessible to its target audience was a challenge. Chua, who is BeamandGo’s CEO, noted that fintech companies in other markets can count on the fact that consumers will have credit cards or bank accounts that they can link to apps and services. Not so among many OFWs.
“Usually the ones that need this service the most don’t have credit cards at all,” Chua said. “They work in a very cash-based economy so they don’t have credit, and no one’s going to extend them credit. They’re unbanked.”
To get around that obstacle, BeamandGo built an easy-to-use website through which users can select the products and services they wish to fund, input their family members’ contact information and then head to a local agent to pay for the transaction. Those who do have credit cards can use those to pay online. Once the payment goes through, the beneficiary receives an SMS message alerting them to the deposit and they can redeem the remittance at the given vendor. BeamandGo currently has 100,000 registered users, with about 20,000 making regular transactions, Chua said.
Although OFWs can purchase cell phones, gifts, and insurance through BeamandGo, Chua said that groceries and bill payments were by far the most common uses. The company has partnerships with different providers throughout the Philippines, so the options change depending on where the remittance is being sent. There are restrictions on how the money can be spent even with BeamandGo purchases. For example, receivers cannot buy alcohol with a grocery remittance.
Remittances helped the Philippine economy avert the worst effects of the global economic slowdown... [+] triggered in 2008. (Photo credit: ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images)
But BeamandGo isn’t merely interested in restricting people’s vices. They want to help OFW families spend and save smarter.
“When their mom or dad or wife becomes an OFW, they think they’ve hit the lottery. That’s their perception,” Chua said. “They don’t see the hard work their family member has to do in Hong Kong or Singapore or Japan, so they don’t understand the value of the money that’s coming back.”
‘Amazon for migrant workers’
Fintech-based remittance solutions are also central to the products provided by Ayannah, a digital financial services company. But its mission extends beyond remittance platforms to increase financial inclusion for millions of people throughout the Philippines. Ayannah’s first product was Sendah, a digital gift remittance platform.
“If you’ve been to LAX or to San Francisco International Airport, you’ll see when Filipinos check their luggage, they have these massive boxes that they bring back to the Philippines from the United States,” Perez said. “We said, ‘Why don’t we use online commerce to make it easier for migrants to send goods back to their families in the Philippines?’ Think of it as Amazon for migrant workers.”
Users can buy flowers, airtime top-ups, fast food gift certificates, and a range of other gifts for their families through Sendah, rather than transporting piles of goods across the world. But Sendah was only the beginning for Ayannah. From there, the company built Sendah Direct, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that brick-and-mortar stores could use to sell to OFWs and manage payments.
It also developed Sendah Remit, another SaaS platform that enables remittance payments across multiple vendors. Connecting providers is crucial to addressing the issue of availability to beneficiaries in rural areas. Now if someone spends half a day traveling to redeem a remittance payment and the first place he goes is out of cash, other providers will be linked into the system and can fill the gap.
Startups with a mission
Both Chua and Perez say that although their companies are for-profit, their goals are to create positive impact in the Philippines.
“Having grown up in an emerging market and seeing poverty first hand, I do feel like I want to spend part of my career making a difference in my country,” Perez said. “I think there is a growing number of people with that mindset, which is encouraging.”
All of BeamandGo’s staff members have relatives who are OFWs, so they’re keenly aware of the challenges these families face.
“Our advocacy is pretty heartfelt because we’ve experienced all this,” Chua said. He added that the company hopes to promote both financial literacy and healthier lifestyles through its offerings. That’s why it chose to offer health insurance products. It’s also why you won’t find options for fast food on its website.
“We decided not to carry that even though we know that it’s probably going to be a big seller because of the demand,” he said.
BeamandGo also organizes classes in areas where there are many OFW families, and they cover financial literacy and nutritional education.
“When people talk about financial literacy [in developed economies], it’s about how to invest, whether it’s real estate or stock or even opening your own business,” Chua said. “Our demographic is not ready for that. They don’t make a lot of money and their issues are not, ‘How do I get the best yield from a bond?’ or ‘Should I invest in Apple?’ That’s not their needs.”
But it's those exact circumstances that provide fintech companies interesting, meaningful problems to solve, according to Perez.
“You’re basically being able to impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people,” Perez said. “It’s actually quite exciting.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated that remittances from overseas Filipino workers totaled more than $26 million. They total more than $26 billion.
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db12221be07edafb617c9e4a8a664e09 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chynes/2017/04/25/how-data-will-help-drive-universal-financial-access/ | How Social Media Could Help The Unbanked Land A Loan | How Social Media Could Help The Unbanked Land A Loan
President of the World Bank Group, Jim Young Kim speaks during a meeting for 'Universal Financial... [+] Access 2020' at the IMF/WB Spring Meetings in Washington, DC on April 17, 2015. (Photo credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)
By 2020, one billion adults currently excluded from traditional financial systems will gain access to some form of banking services. At least, that’s the goal toward which the World Bank is working.
“Financial access facilitates day-to-day living, and helps families and businesses plan for everything from long-term goals to unexpected emergencies,” the World Bank wrote in a recently published brief. “As accountholders, people are more likely to use other financial services, such as credit and insurance, start and expand businesses, invest in education or health, manage risk and weather financial shocks, all of which can improve the overall quality of their lives.”
Achieving universal financial access requires a multi-pronged strategy. One aspect of that is extending lending services to people who have sparse credit histories or who have been unable to open traditional banking accounts.
Lenddo, a fintech company that deals in non-traditional data, is helping lenders reach such consumers. Founded by CEO Richard Eldridge and Chairman Jeffrey Stewart in 2011, Lenddo operates on the premise that non-traditional data can be used to vet potential borrowers and provide financing to underserved consumers.
The value of non-traditional data
Proponents of using non-traditional data in credit decisions say it creates opportunities for underserved people to access credit and financing. The number of unbanked adults has dropped in recent years, but those in developing economies continue to face obstacles to formal banking services. However, data and mobile technology can facilitate financial inclusion, according to ASEAN UP. Mobile activities such as airtime top-ups may provide insights into a person’s ability to make regular payments, while behavioral data can guide product development so banks create programs that suit the needs of the poor and unbanked.
Some companies, Lenddo included, believe that social media and behavioral data can also be used to this end. Lenddo initially launched in the Philippines, followed by Colombia and Mexico, and the team spent four years studying how good a predictor non-traditional data is when assessing creditworthiness.
During those early years, Lenddo wasn’t worried about how many people defaulted on their loans. Indeed, they welcomed defaults (to a point).
“Loan performance was not the top priority,” said Florentin Lenoir, Lenndo’s marketing and business development director, who works out of the Philippines and South Korea. “We actually had to have people default to build the model.”
What they found after issuing 10,000 loans based solely on non-traditional data was encouraging. The results “were very much on par, and sometimes better than, what banks would have,” Lenoir said.
To reach a greater amount of customers, however, Lenddo pivoted in 2015. Rather than issue loans, it became a technology provider, partnering with banks, telcos, credit card companies, online lenders and peer-to-peer lending platforms.
“Our core vision is to promote financial inclusion around the world to as many people as possible,” Lenoir said.
A new way of issuing credit
Lenddo offers clients a means of vetting borrowers beyond looking at traditional underwriting standards. Applicants are offered an opportunity to give Lenddo consent to access their social media profiles, email accounts, and even their phones to pull data that could influence the outcomes of their loans.
Lenoir emphasized that no data is gathered without consumers’ explicit consent, and he said that Lenddo tailors its services based on the laws, compliance standards, and needs of each client. If all customer data must be stored on-site, Lenddo will accommodate that requirement. In other cases, it uses cloud storage for managing the information.
Depending on the client company, the local regulations, and the customers’ preferences, Lenddo might draw on Facebook for identity verification and email content to get a better picture of people’s financial circumstances. The company uses machine learning to search for targeted items and retrieve useful data points. Lenoir said Lenddo’s algorithms do not analyze people’s entire email histories. Instead, the system searches for mentions of debt, keywords that indicate whether someone is employed and patterns in their shopping habits.
In cases where customers allow Lenddo to track behaviors on their smartphones, the system analyzes factors such as what time of day customers are most active on their devices and how many contacts they interact with on a regular basis.
Lenoir offered the example of someone who works overnight in a call center in the Philippines (and therefore uses her phone most frequently at night) to illustrate the logic behind these analyses. The company has found that people who work in call centers tend to switch jobs often. Generally speaking, they also don’t have as much access to banking services, due to their unconventional work hours, and therefore have fewer opportunities to cultivate good financial habits.
When assessing the number and frequency of people’s contacts, Lenddo is looking at a kind of Goldilocks situation.
“If you have no frequent contacts, you’re probably a loner and [may not be] a reliable borrower,” Lenoir said. “If you have too many frequent contacts, you’re a social butterfly and not reliable.” Someone who consistently connects with a handful of regular contacts is presumably “just right.”
However, these data points are not necessarily deciding factors in whether someone is approved for credit. If other metrics appear to be sound, they may have no problem receiving a credit card or loan.
An inclusive future
To date, Lenddo works with 50 partners across 20 countries. Major banks in places such as India, Indonesia and Brazil are particularly attractive to Lenddo because they have access to vast and underbanked populations.
“They allow us to target the populations that really need to be targeted immediately,” Lenoir said.
Lenoir said many of the banks that have expressed interest in working with the company are actively seeking ways to improve their digital strategies, making Lenddo an attractive partner for them. He added that although Lenddo has been contacted by organizations in the U.S. and Europe about potential partnerships, the company is focused on making inroads in its existing markets.
But it has its eye on expanding its global reach to help drive financial inclusion in developing economies. Lenoir said, “We know the demand is really there."
If universal financial access is to become a reality by 2020, companies such as Lenddo will provide important support along the way.
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7ddfe286e7666b79931462e4aa06003e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chynes/2017/04/28/how-mobile-phones-and-microfinance-empower-women-in-the-philippines/ | How Mobile Phones And Microfinance Empower Women In The Philippines | How Mobile Phones And Microfinance Empower Women In The Philippines
Hapinoy, a social enterprise company, has helped women microentrepreneurs in Leyte province rebuild... [+] their communities in the aftermath of super typhoon Yolanda, which devastated the area in 2013. (Photo credit: TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images)
Sari-sari stores are the smallest retailers in the Philippines, but they’re also among the most important. There are more than a million of these mom-and-pop convenience shops across the country, according to social entrepreneur Mark Ruiz. And it's their ubiquity that makes them so culturally and economically significant.
“The sari-sari store is pretty steeped deeply in [the] Filipino culture community,” Ruiz said via email. “It’s an extended pantry where neighbors can come in daily to buy items in small doses, and is also a place of convening where people can bump into each other, where information and chismis (rumors) gets passed along.”
The shops sell staple goods such as noodles, rice, coffee and toiletries in small, affordable quantities, making them vital to low-income and rural communities in particular. Ruiz’s social enterprise company, Hapinoy, aims to empower sari-sari store owners through business training and support. He and now-Sen. Bam Aquino first launched Hapinoy in 2007 with the goal of helping sari-sari store entrepreneurs improve their business outcomes and therefore their economic circumstances (Aquino has since divested from the company).
Most sari-sari owners are women, a demographic closely tied to microfinancing generally. “The global microfinancing movement lends by and large to women. This is so because it's been proven time and time again that women handle the loans very responsibly, and are very diligent in making productive use of the capital in their microbusinesses to generate added income,” Ruiz said. “Moreover, when a woman head of household earns, its also been seen that it directly benefits the children - whether it be nutrition, education, etc. As such, women can truly catalyze development in the household and in the community.”
Ruiz sees microfinance as playing an important role in broader economic development.
“Societies can only progress if economic growth is inclusive, when the fruits of development are also felt by many and not just the few,” he said. “And so it also forms a virtuous cycle -- as microentrepreneurs grow their businesses and catalyze local economic development, the larger companies also benefit because they would then have a larger market with a higher purchasing power that they can then serve.”
Hapinoy has worked with more than 5,000 sari-sari stores so far, and has another 1,000 in training. The organization provides education on business best practices and how to level up by introducing new products to their customers. It also helps owners connect with microfinancing lenders when they want to grow their shops.
Financing is a core driver in achieving economic equality for women. The World Bank reports that women own 30-37% of small- and medium-sized enterprises in emerging markets. But many struggle to grow because they don’t have formal bank accounts and cannot secure credit or loans.
“Access to credit can open up economic opportunities for women, and bank accounts can be a gateway to the use of additional financial services,” according to the World Bank. “However, women entrepreneurs and employers face significantly greater challenges than men in gaining access to financial services.”
Through its partnerships with microfinancing organizations, Hapinoy is helping close that gap for women in the Philippines. Hapinoy is also facilitating tech partnerships that benefit the shops’ growth, as well as improved access to financial services in poor and rural communities. These services include mobile bill payment and remittance transfers, which are particularly crucial in areas where many families are supported by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Ruiz said accommodating the demand for mobile services is key to the sari-sari stores’ futures.
“We really see the writing on the wall. Sari-sari Stores need to embrace technology, given the modernization of retail as well as the ascent of the digitization of industries,” Ruiz said. “A Hapinoy nanay with a mobile smartphone, a data connection and mobile money form the core pillars upon which the foundation of the future of sari-sari stores will be built. We're seeing it now in remittances and bills payment, but quite rapidly we will see applications in mobile commerce and mobile trading networks.” (Nanay is Tagalog for mother, and the word is used to refer to sari-sari owners.)
To encourage the use of tech in their businesses, Hapinoy is training microentrepreneurs on using the web, smartphones, and apps to expand their offerings. An example of this is Hapinoy’s work in Leyte, Laguna and Quezon, where it partnered with Qualcomm Wireless Reach to provide phones and internet to sari-sari owners. The microentrepreneurs used the technology to offer remittance services and mobile payments to their customers.
Ruiz said the work Hapinoy has done in Leyte and Samar are among the organization’s most significant accomplishments. He and his team of 30 staff members have helped microentrepreneurs rebuild stores that were lost during super typhoon Yolanda in 2013.
“Our core accomplishments are when we go around and visit our nanay storeowners and we see how the program is truly affecting not just their stores but themselves as individuals, their family, and their communities,” he said.
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7147c46bd1bc1959e0490c5d39035100 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chynes/2017/08/09/singapore-tops-new-list-of-best-startup-cities/ | Singapore Tops New List Of Best Startup Cities | Singapore Tops New List Of Best Startup Cities
This photograph taken on June 7, 2017 shows the sunset over the skyline of Singapore. (Photo credit:... [+] TOH TING WEI/AFP/Getty Images)
Singapore landed at number one on a new list of the best startup cities.
The index was released on Wednesday by Nestpick, a Berlin-based startup that analyzed popular startup locations based on metrics such as existing startup ecosystems, quality of life, salary, cost of living and social security and benefits. The top five were rounded out by Helsinki, San Francisco, Berlin and Stockholm.
That Singapore outranked San Francisco may come as a surprise, given Silicon Valley's undisputed position as the startup capital of the world. San Francisco scored highest on the startup ecosystem and salary metrics, but it was among the lowest of the cities ranked for cost of living and quality of life.
But those who have been following Singapore's rise as a startup and innovation hub may be less shocked by the results. Earlier this year, Startup Genome's Global Startup Ecosystem Report declared that Singapore had unseated Silicon Valley as the number one place in the world for startup talent.
While companies sometimes struggle to recruit advanced software engineers and tech talents in developing Southeast Asian markets, Singapore boasts a young but experienced cohort of software engineers, according to The Straits Times. As another Forbes contributor noted last year, the city-state is advantageously positioned in addition to being among the wealthiest communities in the world. Thanks to its advanced infrastructure, highly educated workforce (Singapore was said to have the world's best education system in 2015) and proximity to a number of emerging and developed markets, Singapore became a natural hub for tech companies and investors.
More on Forbes: Singapore Is Beating Hong Kong As Asia's Best Place To Do Business
Nestpick's index ranks 85 countries around the world based on the above criteria. According to Nestpick, Singapore's strong startup ecosystem and high marks in health care and safety clinched the number one spot. The Straits Times noted that salaries for software engineers fall below the global average of $49,000 per year in Singapore, though that drawback may be counteracted for some by the other benefits referenced in Nestpick's findings.
Nestpick Managing Director Ömer Kücükdere explained in a press statement that the company wanted to provide a resource that looked beyond job opportunities and marquee employers to offer a holistic picture of the potential cities in which professionals might consider working.
“Certain cities may offer bigger paychecks, but after considering taxes and living expenses, the return may not be so high. Similarly, professionals should consider quality of life: will vacation days be adequate to visit home? Is healthcare as accessible as you would like it to be?” Kücükdere said. “We believe that time taken researching potential employers should not overshadow understanding the best cities in which to work."
Seoul was the only other Asian city to crack the top ten. Credit: Shutterstock.
The only other Asian city to land in the top 10 was Seoul. Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Tokyo appeared further down the list. Several other Southeast Asian cities, including Bangkok, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta also made the rankings, though all fell at 70 or below.
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cd75c92f3b644dd6999c108ade88619a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chynes/2017/10/31/as-asian-medical-markets-grow-so-do-biotech-and-medtech-opportunities/ | As Asian Medical Markets Grow, So Do Biotech And Medtech Opportunities | As Asian Medical Markets Grow, So Do Biotech And Medtech Opportunities
Members of the band Ulala Session (R) bow to mourners at the funeral for their band member Lim... [+] Yoon-Taek (in photo, C) in Seoul on February 12, 2013. Lim, the leader of the South Korean band Ulala Session died on February 11 from stomach cancer. South Korea suffers from the highest rate of stomach cancer incidences in the world. (Photo credit: Starnews/AFP/Getty Images)
The Asian medical market is booming. McKinsey predicts that Asia will become the second highest medical technology market in the world by 2020, and it could account for a third of global sales by 2025. The opportunity is great, and with good reason. Until the last decade, many Asian countries were largely underserved by pharmaceutical companies and medtech providers.
Carl Firth, CEO of Singapore-based ASLAN Pharmaceuticals, worked at AstraZeneca for 10 years before founding his biotech company. He said that until recently, it was very difficult to pitch drug development concepts for diseases that made relatively little impact in the West.
“Back 10 or 12 years ago in Big Pharma, I remember if you were proposing a drug for a disease where there were 10,000 patients in the U.S., the commercial team would just laugh at you and it would be very difficult to get that investment required, which is unfortunate,” Firth said.
However, he said “there has been a sea change” in the pharmaceutical industry and that major pharmaceutical companies are now more interested in developing treatments for Asia-prevalent diseases. “We saw this huge unmet need,” he said of ASLAN Pharmaceuticals. “For many, many years, Big Pharma really just wanted to focus on diseases in the West,” particularly those impacting the U.S., Europe, and to a lesser extent, Japan. “Recently, that’s started to change and many companies now are pursuing diseases like gastric cancer, which is widely recognized to be a problem in Asia but also in the West.”
Targeting Asia-prevalent diseases
Fredrik Nyberg, CEO of the Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed) witnessed a similar evolution in thinking about the region. “Asia-Pacific used to be very much about Japan, then China, but not much else,” he said. “Then about five years ago, Asia-Pacific started to represent 15-20% of global revenue for many of these [medtech] multinationals. Then all of a sudden, you hear discussions in boardrooms in the U.S. and Europe mention Indonesia and Vietnam and India.” The potential for growth in the region also garnered interest, along with indicators of rising need. Among the latter is the increase in non-communicable diseases, such as stroke, diabetes, and cancer, according to Nyberg.
Lung and breast cancers are among the most common cancers in Asia, as they are in the U.S. However, stomach, liver, and biliary tract cancers are also highly problematic here. Firth noted that the high rates of stomach and liver cancers in Asia are often due to diet and environmental factors. He offered the example of South Korea, which suffers the highest rate of stomach cancer in the world. Firth attributes this to frequent consumption of kimchi, a fermented dish served with most meals there. While he noted that consuming kimchi a few times a week is likely healthy, eating it several times a day repeatedly exposes the stomach to inflammation, which can cause cancer to develop over time.
High rates of liver cancer in China and Taiwan are often linked to Hepatitis B, he said, while some factors are purely biological. For instance, the bacteria helicobacter pylori (h. pylori), which can cause stomach cancer, tends to be a more aggressive strain in Asia than in the West, Firth said. He also said that cancers behave differently in patients throughout the world. “Often, the molecular pathology, the bits of molecular machinery that are dysfunctional and that causes the cancer, is different in Asia than it is in the West,” he said.
The market for drug treatments for Asia-specific cancers is vast, particularly in areas such as biliary cancer. The disease impacts only 8,000 U.S. patients each year but 220,000 in Asia. Firth said that although there are still “huge areas of unmet need” with regard to treating breast cancer and other globally prominent diseases, there are at least targeted treatments and life-extending options for many of the most common cancers.
However, there are currently no treatments on the market for biliary tract cancer. Patients may be eligible for a surgical resection if the cancer is found early enough but Firth said that in many cases, symptoms present at a very late stage, which means that’s not an option for most people. Patients who are not eligible for surgical resections can try standard chemotherapy, though most either opt out of a second round or are denied the option due to the grim prognosis.
ASLAN is attempting to address this problem by developing a drug treatment specifically for biliary tract cancer. The company launched a study earlier this year in partnership with an American cancer center after consulting with the FDA on what results would be needed to get the drug approved. The study includes 120 participants and will span two years. “We’re hoping at the end of our study to demonstrate that our drug can provide patients with benefits above what they would normally receive with biliary tract cancer,” Firth said.
The company is running a study on a potential treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma as well, a type of cancer often associated with liver disease and which also typically doesn’t show symptoms until it’s reached an advanced stage. ASLAN is also developing a drug for cholangiocarcinoma, a subset of biliary tract cancer that is often associated with parasitic infections and is most common in Asia. In northern Thailand, which has the world’s highest rate of cholangiocarcinoma, people often contract liver fluke parasites from eating undercooked fish. The parasite finds its way to the biliary tract and can live there for decades, causing chronic inflammation that eventually leads to cancer. However, the causes for cholangiocarcinoma also vary by region, Firth said. He noted that rates are also high in Japan, though the disease does not seem to be linked to parasitic infection there. There are currently no targeted treatments on the market for the disease.
Regulatory challenges persist, but also need and opportunities
As the APAC market grows, both biotech and medtech companies face unique challenges given the vast range of socio-economic circumstances in this part of the world. “Part of the challenge is that it’s such a diverse region,” Nyberg said. “Of course, you have some of the richest markets in the world with the most sophisticated healthcare systems, in Singapore, Japan, and Australia. And of course you have some of the world’s poorest economies with the most undeveloped healthcare systems, like Myanmar and Laos and Cambodia, and then you’ve got the whole spectrum in between. And that creates challenges as well as opportunities.”
One of the major challenges is navigating regulatory standards across such a diverse collection of countries. Both Firth and Nyberg noted that China has traditionally been a particularly complex country for drug development due to its strict regulatory policies and its reticence to approve drug trials without a strong body of evidence that the drugs would work for its population.
Firth said that approvals to begin trials in China have taken up to 18 months, but he noted that the situation is improving. ASLAN Pharmaceuticals recently received approval within six months, and there’s talk of the timeline dropping to two months, he said. “The regulatory environment is still a moving piece, but it’s definitely moving in the right direction,” he added.
Nyberg said APACMed has worked with medical tech companies and government regulators throughout Asia to create and improve regulations that will allow more people access to needed medical devices. He said that inconsistency among legal standards has presented problems for medtech companies in the past, but that there have been increasing moves toward collaboration and standardization among regional countries. An example is the ASEAN Medical Device Directive, which seeks to harmonize legislation among the member states.
Another consideration both biotech and medtech companies must make is developing products that serve not just wealthy patients in wealthy countries, but a broad range of patients who can afford little more than generic drugs and low-cost supplies and therapies. “Large groups, hundreds of millions of people in say, India, China, and Indonesia haven’t had access to quality healthcare,” Nyberg said. That’s changing as new healthcare systems and policies come into effect, he said. But many of those previously underserved people still aren’t going to buy top-of-the-line, cutting-edge products. Therefore, some companies are tailoring their offerings according to different populations and the types of products they’re likely to buy. Firth noted that because ASLAN is developing oncology drugs for Asia-prevalent tumors, it will be able to adjust its pricing according to different Asian markets more easily than large pharmaceutical companies selling widely used drugs throughout the world. A company selling a common breast cancer treatment will have a difficult time selling at one price in China and another in the U.S., he said. But ASLAN will have more flexibility because the diseases its targeting are especially common in Asia.
Nyberg said APACMed hopes to reduce the timeline for regulatory approval by better leveraging clinical data and working with regulators to bring affordable devices and treatments to patients that much faster. He anticipates ongoing growth in the region, including increased interest from medtech and biotech companies, as well as the evolution of the regional medtech industry.
"Growth rates in this part of the world are going to continue to be far greater than growth rates that you'll see in any other part of the world, whether the U.S., or Europe or Latin American," he said. "So I think companies will continue to focus on Asia-Pacific, and that's of course exciting."
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d462987eddf525188bfca328c9f6bf15 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chynes/2017/11/20/singapore-serves-as-gateway-and-hub-for-the-apac-medtech-market/?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1169182547&utm_campaign=sprinklrForbesTechTwitter | Singapore Wants To Add Biotech Hub To Its List Of Accomplishments | Singapore Wants To Add Biotech Hub To Its List Of Accomplishments
Singapore is banking on lucrative medical and pharmaceutical patents to be a new economic growth... [+] engine in the 21st century. (Photo credit: ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Singapore has made a mark in a range of industries recently. It's been named a top city for startups, a leading smart city, a spacetech hub, and it's internationally known as one of the most business-friendly countries in the world. But it can now add emerging medtech and biotech hub to that list.
A lucrative market for all
As of 2016, Singapore's medtech industry was worth more than $ 3 billion USD, and the government aims to grow the sector considerably. The country already hosts a number of international medtech manufacturers and facilitates public-private partnerships for companies looking to connect with academics and researchers in their areas of expertise. Singapore also serves as a gateway to the broader Asia-Pacific market, which offers high growth potential in the next several years, making it particularly attractive to startups and global multinationals alike. Both find a favorable welcome in the city-state, which in the past has pledged tens of millions of dollars to medtech startups operating there.
It's even partnered with companies using technology to address growing health concerns in the country, as in the case of its recent collaboration with the UK-based Tictrac. The company worked with Singapore's Ministry of Health to launch its health engagement platform, HealthHub Track, in an effort to combat the rise of Type 2 diabetes in the Southeast Asian country.
"Singapore has officially ‘declared war’ on diabetes and has recognized the need to empower people to take more control over their own health, and have embraced the need to promote prevention programs in tandem with effective treatment," said Martin Blinder, founder and CEO of Tictrac. HealthHub Track users download an app and select a particular goal or track to follow with regard to their health. The app then offers helpful tips and information to guide their daily choices. Blinder said that in Singapore, users demand quality information about disease management. But he noted that increased education about overall nutrition is needed as well.
"A recurring theme from our conversations was just how hard it is for people to find reliable information about the best way to reduce risk and improve their health," he said. "After meeting their doctor, people go home with some very high level information: reduce sugar and fat, eat more fibers, etc. This is fairly general, so people often go online to dig a little deeper and end up finding a lot of contradictory information or dangerous fad diets. It can be quite overwhelming and disorienting."
"Another common find for us was that people don’t know really know what’s in the food they eat," Blinder added. "In Singapore, for example, we were surprised to see that most people still don’t associate carbohydrates with sugar."
Based on people's goals and interests, HealthHub offers suggestions for how to modify their behaviors based on the context of their lifestyles. So far, the results of the partnership with the Ministry of Health have been promising, Blinder said. He praised the government's proactive attitude toward increased use of technology to improve disease prevention and management.
"Singapore is an extraordinarily forward-looking country, at the very cutting edge of public health," he said.
A fertile ecosystem for globally groundbreaking work
Clearbridge Biomedics is also taking advantage of Singapore's supportive policies toward medtech and biotech businesses. The company developed its ClearCell® FX1 System from the city-state, where it is headquartered, and recently joined the CANCER-ID consortium. This international group is collaborating to improve non-invasive liquid biopsy procedures. Clearbridge Biomedics specializes in developing blood draw protocols to test for circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which can indicate the potential for a patient's cancer to metastasize.
"Capturing and understanding CTCs enhances cancer diagnosis, enabling personalized treatment for each cancer patient," said Clearbridge Biomedics CEO Michael Paumen." However, CTCs are incredibly rare – as few as 1 CTC for every 1,000,000,000 blood cells – and analyzing them has been a technological challenge," one that his company is addressing through the ClearCell FX platform, which "enables maximum recovery of viable un-adulterated CTCs." In theory, CTCs can shed light on the specifics of how a particular cancer is behaving within each individual patient. That information could enable physicians to provide more customized care plans, rather than relying on more general protocols for managing the disease.
"A key advantage of liquid biopsy and this technology is that it allows monitoring of tumor status when patients are undergoing treatment. The treating physician can use this information to recognize early how the tumor is evolving, enabling adjustment of personalized therapy," Paumen said. He also noted that liquid biopsies are less invasive and less dangerous than traditional methods.
Like Blinder, Paumen acknowledged the Singapore government's role in creating a rich environment for medtech and biotech advancements. "Singapore has swiftly emerged as the Asian capital for biotech and medtech development with strong technology innovation coupled with skillful execution," he said. "At the turn of this millennium, government-backed initiatives brought together world leading scientists to the city-state to develop the biotech ecosystem and train the next generation of scientists to tackle both endemic and global medical issues."
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e59c47ad613c8ba0255aea5632392c55 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciarabyrne/2014/06/30/marc-andreessen-low-income-america-yo/ | Why Marc Andreessen Knows Nothing About Low-Income America and Neither Do You | Why Marc Andreessen Knows Nothing About Low-Income America and Neither Do You
Not too long ago tech celebrity and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen made some tone-deaf comments on Twitter about how "tech innovation disproportionately helps the poor". The truth is that the tech business has long ignored people on low incomes. Most software developers (not to mention venture capitalists), who tend to be very well-paid, simply know nothing about them.
A few weeks ago I was among their number. That's when I started work at Significance Labs, a new not-for-profit in Brooklyn, New York, whose mission is to build tech products which create a little extra breathing space for the 25 million American families who live on less than $25,000 a year.
That's not a lot of money in a city like New York where 37% of residents experienced severe material deprivation in the last year, going short of food or medical care or having to sleep in a shelter or on a friend's sofa because they couldn't pay the rent. Nearly one in four New Yorkers relies on food stamps. Yet America's software industry, including Andreessen himself, continues to dedicate its efforts to taking better selfies or getting groceries delivered in under an hour.
Angel cradles his adorable, two-month-old daughter Maya. The 21-year-old delivered Maya himself when the ambulance didn't arrive in time. “I'm on 911. They constantly asking me for information. 'Sir, is the patient in pain now? On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad do you think it is?' I was like 'You're not serious right now.'” By the time the paramedics arrived, Maya was already lying quietly in his mother’s arms. For this, among other reasons, my colleagues at Significance Labs refer to Angel as “Angel the Superhero”.
Angel was placed in foster care before he was a year old. He got into trouble when he was in high school -- “I had a bad past. I got locked up” -- but turned his life around after he was sent to the school upstate where he met his girlfriend. He made us laugh with his account of how he wooed his girlfriend and later measured her finger for an engagement ring while she slept. Angel is clearly a doting Dad although, as he says, “I didn't plan to be married at 21.”
“I tried to find a job but then I don't have no-one to watch her (Maya),” he says. “She's a good girl though. I could leave her with someone but I don't know. I don't want to leave her with anyone. I just want to stay with her.” Angel would like to join the army and go immediately on active duty overseas so that his family (he also has a two year old son) would get benefits. His girlfriend is less keen.
We met many superheroes in our first few weeks of bouncing around some of NYC's poorest neighbourhoods talking to students and school aides, cleaners and nannies, system D entrepreneurs and undocumented immigrants. You have to be resilient and resourceful in order to survive on a low income in New York. Some of the people we interviewed didn’t have a job. Most had several, often on top of school and family responsibilities. When you make the minimum wage, side hustles are often essential.
People on low incomes have a lot of drama in their lives. When you don’t make much money, you have less slack. There’s a lower margin for error in any decision you make. An unexpected shock like a health problem or a sudden expense can seriously derail you. Angel dropped out of school when his son was born. He missed the last two week's of his six-month Green City Force program when his son had a seizure and ended up in intensive care. “I brought in like this much doctor's notes to them but they wasn't able to give me none of the services.” When you don’t have health insurance, getting sick can mean a trip to the emergency room and a $2000 bill.
Low income-Americans are more vulnerable to scams, exploitation and racism. “My boss sometimes called me like I was a servant, yelling at me from the other room,“ said Margarita, who has a green card and a Bachelor's degree. “In Ecuador I have my own office, my assistant. When I came here and I was a secretary they were asking me to clean also, to vacuum the floor. It was not my position. They did not hire me to clean up. But I was doing it anyway. I didn’t want to lose my job.”
A lack of physical security was another common problem. The formidable Ms. Flowers talked to us at a school in Brownsville, Brooklyn where, as a school aide, she has kept generations of students in line. “I treat these kids like they are my kids”, she said, which for Ms. Flowers means imposing strict discipline. I asked if she had kids of her own. “I have 6 kids,' she said, “I had 6 kids. One of my kids got killed in 1997.”
Ms. Flowers’s daughter Tasha was shot in a random attack right outside her house. One of her sons was also hit but survived. “That was a freak of nature,” she says. “Not God's nature but human nature” Brownsville still has a higher murder rate than all of Manhattan. Ms Flowers has lived there for 32 years. “The only bad thing that happened to me over here is my daughter getting killed,” she said.
Although we heard terrible stories like this one, our interviews were full of lighter moments too. A cleaner described the smell of a freshly cleaned house and how much satisfaction she gets from the fact that “I'm making people happy.” An undocumented daycare worker told us about her interest in computer programming. Monica waxed lyrical about her favorite artists Van Gogh and Miro. Sandra shared her dream of traveling to France or Italy. Margarita does not regret moving to New York in spite of the difficulties she has faced here. “I am not the same person that I was before,” she said. “This experience is beautiful.”
Every person we met had their own complicated, personal story to tell, but a few common themes emerged. Surviving on a low income translates into other types of scarcity – of information, of respect, of opportunity, of time with friends and family, of health problems or missing health insurance, of security, of “slack” and even of sleep. Some of these shortages technology may be able to address, others not, but most of our interviewees had a smartphone and at least intermittent internet access. People on low incomes can least afford bad design. It's our job to ensure that they don't have to.
“Wherever you go, you should have a focus, “ Angel told me. “What are you doing right there? Stay focused.” At Significance labs, each of us has only three months to build a tech product for low-income Americans. We plan to stay focused.
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25ac5be1828faea135f03d18a8e80c1a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/cindygordon/2020/07/22/why-board-directors-and-ceos-must-become-ai-literate-to-lead-forward/?sh=e8439ab49fac | Why Board Directors And CEOs Must Become AI Literate To Lead Forward | Why Board Directors And CEOs Must Become AI Literate To Lead Forward
Unrecognizable independent power producer activates electrical microgrid. Industry concept for ... [+] energy digitization, grid ecosystem, bi-directional flow of power, decentralized energy resources, DER. getty
You cannot escape the everyday realities of Artificial Intelligence (AI). All Fortune 1000 business leaders in diverse industries have AI focused initiatives well underway. Global companies in both enterprise and mid-markets are rapidly innovating to grow new revenues, increase profits, and discover new value in product and service offerings via the alluring promise of an AI advantage.
Despite the growth of AI, board directors and CEO’s are still well behind in AI language literacy, and risk management practices. The acceleration of AI is almost like a tempest, where a perfect storm may be brewing as few board directors and CEO’s can answer this question. Where are your AI algorithms (Algo’s) and models located and do your AI algos/models have risk profiles?
AI growth is like the wild west: a new global research report released in early July, 2020, stated the AI market is growing at over 42% CAGR, and will reach over $733.7B USA. According to MIT Sloan Research over 90% of larger enterprises are using AI to improve their customer interaction journeys. The growth of AI start-up investments is reminiscent of the dot com bull market and you may recall the 76% bull market drop in March, 2002, which created an awakening on the importance of value realization and profitability.
According to CBI Insights, $26.6 billion was invested in 2019, spanning more than 2,200 deals worldwide and the outlook, despite Covid-19 , the growth in health emergency and transformative technologies like smart machines, robots for health care, are rapidly emerging AI solutions to help contain the epidemic.
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On average, investments in advanced analytics will exceed 11% of overall marketing budgets by 2022. Spending on AI software will top $125B by 2025 as organizations weave AI and machine learning tools into their business processes.
You might think that with all this growth activity that more board directors and CEO’s could easily produce a comprehensive list identifying where all their AI algos/models are and provide a robust risk profile and be able to demonstrate value realization with clear key performance indicator(s) (KPI’s) and return on investment (ROI) markers.
Unfortunately, many companies have been lured into AI programs with black box AI practices, meaning clear accountabilities are not easily evident, transparent, let alone audited to manage risk. Board directors and CEOs know where their employees are located, whether they are working remotely or in an office, who to contact for customer service or personal issues.
Yet, I don’t know of one global company where a board director or a CEO can produce in less than five minutes, a comprehensive list of all their AI algo/AI model assets across their enterprise operations and know the last revision model date, and have robust risk classification evidence, verified by third party-auditors.
With the democratization of data which is the foundation of AI enablement, AI and machine learning (ML) KPI’s must be elevated to have more importance like our Financial KPIs, deriving increased transparency, like auditors have been disciplined with fiduciary accountability of profit and loss statements. Our world has changed and data is now our most strategic asset, yet few companies are role model in their data management practices, knowing easily where data is designed, collected and stored to enable and track the value of AI model transformations.
Few companies have mature AI centers of excellence where machine learning operations (MLOps) is a competency center, although many companies are now starting to invest in ML Ops. Forbes contributor, Ron Schmeltzer, recently profiled the Emergence of AI ML Ops with an excellent summary to advance knowledge in this area. In addition, a recent study from New Relic found that 89 % of 750 global senior IT decision-makers surveyed believe that AI and machine learning are critical in how organizations run their IT operations. Nearly 84% of the respondents confirmed that AI, and machine learning will make their role more manageable. This optimistic and positive outlook for AI will accelerate the adoption of improvements in data management practices, which are key to AI modelling and risk management practices.
My own research from speaking directly to over 500 global C-levels, over the past 18 months, in both mid to large B2B enterprises , I was not able to identify one company that can produce in five minutes the answers to most of these questions below.
Asking the right AI questions to keep leading foreword - each project that is using an AI algorithm or series of AI algo’s to build a customized AI model to solve a specific problem or business challenge should be able to answer many of these questions:
Use case(s) history
· What use case(s) was the AI model/algorithm(s) used for?
· What business problem, or challenge was the AI model/algo’s solving?
· What was the initial estimated value (ROI) of the AI model and methods to the organization before designing, building, and implementing the use case?
AI model ownership history
· Who wrote the algorithm or built the AI model?
· Is the process owner currently with the company?
· Is there a secondary process owner for the AI model, given the risk implications of the AI model and algorithmic approaches?
· Was the algorithm and the model structure audited by someone other than the creator? Is so who?
Creation and revision history
· When was the AI model /AI algorithm created?
· How many revisions have been made to the AI model/AI algorithm(s) since its first production release?
· What type of AI algorithm(s) are being used?
· Are the algorithm’s open source if so which ones?, or did someone write a unique AI algorithm to solve your unique business challenge?
AI algo/model methods history
· What is the mathematical structure/formula for the AI algorithm?
· Has the math been verified by a third party expert to verify accuracy?
· Who is the current AI model /algorithm(s) process owner that oversees the model that the AI algorithm(s) is /are operating on?
· What were the data types (structured/unstructured data) and data sources (internal, external, both, etc.) used for the AI model development?
· What was the size of the data set?
· Was the dataset cleansed prior to analysis? If so, who did the cleaning and what methods were used?
· What as the quality and accuracy of the data sources used in the AI model?
· What was the baseline predictive accuracy score compared to all the version history?
· Is there a risk class for the AI model and AI algorithms used and a risk mitigation plan?
· Was the AI model developed tested for data bias?
· What data bias methods were used?
· How many types of data bias risk reviews were completed?
· When was the last time the AI model was reviewed and optimized/retrained?
AI algo/model value realization
· What was the value that the AI model outcomes for the organization in terms of return on investment?
· Are there efficiency or effectiveness value outcomes clearly defined supporting the ROI?
· How accurate was the first use case ROI /value outcome prediction compared to the actual AI production ROI outcome(s)?
· Were the AI value outcomes validated or audited and signed off by financial experts, or third party experts? If so, was there a report filed?
· How does this AI model approach compare to other industry best practices?
· Is there an active process improvement plan for the AI model/on file?
If you have all these answers on record, I want to hear from you, as you are world-class in being acutely aware of the accountabilities that need to be in place in using AI to advance business models.
Although there are many other questions, to govern an AI center of excellence to track the evolution of AI model(s), an annual audit risk assessment and governance operating process is an area for board directors and CEO’s to lead forward with.
Unfortunately, it is more often the case that an AI model is created by a data scientist, a computer programmer, or a professional services firm (third party supplier), each striving to build a specific AI model, whether its predicting the intensity of the second wave of Covid-19 in the USA hot zones, where over 20% of the American public now live or determining the insect harvest risks to fruit trees, using drones with AI technology or predicting revenue forecasts, or ensuring the underlying risk management practices of AI approaches , etc. and for the majority of times, those players designing and building the AI models have the best intentions.
Board directors and CEO’s must appreciate that AI literacy is a new competency that they need to develop and also recruit the right talent to advance their organizations. AI models need nurturing to move successfully into production environments, and investing in modernizing data management infrastructure is key to enable data and machine learning ops to modernize successfully. Executives make mistakes if they don’t monitor the AI model production environment, retrain the model, and over time, augment with additional data sources to deepen the model insights, etc.
AI is like planting a garden and replenishment with nutrients and weed removal is a long term investment to harvest beauty. AI is not like a sculpture where you create the model and admire the artistry in its original formation state for years to come. I like to refer to AI as the new oxygen versus the new oil, as AI is increasingly pervasive and like climate change, ebbs and flows will be everywhere. Being able to see how the garden grows beyond your backyard will require tremendous foresight to plan wisely.
Unfortunately for board directors and CEOs, many of their technology leaders, or CIOs are not well skilled in AI and data science practices, further creating risks to companies that are advancing into AI practices. The rise of Chief Data Officers (CDO) and Chief Data Scientist Officers (CDSO) are advancing the AI and model building and risk management practices, although the investments into the data enablement support systems in most companies have to pick up the pace in investments to herd the algos and AI models to safer pastures.
Board directors and CEOs have a responsibility to step forward in AI governance by ensuring an AI audit and risk management framework is being thoughtfully operationalized. The questions outlined in this article can go along ways to leading forward.
Stay tuned for my next blog where I will dive into AI data bias and the imperative for board directors and CEOs to lead forward with more responsible AI governance practices. #AILeadForward
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Dr. Cindy Gordon is a CEO, a thought leader, author, keynote speaker, board director, and advisor to companies and governments striving to modernize their business operations, with advanced AI methods. She is the CEO and Founder of SalesChoice, an AI SaaS B2B company focused on Improving Sales Revenue Inefficiencies and Ending Revenue Uncertainty. A former Accenture, Xerox and Citicorp executive, she bridges governance, strategy and operations in her AI contributions. She is a board advisor of the Forbes School of Business and Technology, and the AI Forum. She is passionate about modernizing innovation with disruptive technologies (SaaS/Cloud, Smart Apps, AI, IoT, Robots), with 13 books in the market, with the 14th on The AI Split: A Perfect World or a Perfect Storm to be released shortly. Follow her on Linked In or on Twitter or her Website. You can also access her at The AI Directory.
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ebfbfdccd9d3c59bb8c01bd82bbcfc4f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/cindygordon/2020/08/17/where-is-your-global-organization-at-in-trusted-ai/ | Where Is Your Global Organization At In Trusted AI? | Where Is Your Global Organization At In Trusted AI?
Are your AI Algorithms locked down and safe? getty
In my prior Forbes blogs , the business imperative for Board Directors and CEOs to advance their governance practices to lead forward with AI was framed. This blog shares the insights from a recent interview with Cathy Cobey, the EY global trusted AI leader, where we explore: how practicing responsible AI is stacking up, the impact of data bias and key board director questions to ensure CEO’s are managing the new risks that AI presents.
One of the key insights Cathy shared is that from all of her global client interactions to date, she has yet to find any organization, large or small, which has a robust inventory management process to easily identify or inventorize their AI models. This also mirrors my global research that Board Directors and CEO’s don’t know where their AI algorithms are. Simply ask any CEO to produce in five minutes where their AI algo’s are and if they have a risk rating or a third party verification. You will quickly learn the gaps are real, wide and worrisome.
This is starting to slowing change as there is an increasing anxiousness of this vulnerability and AI is now rates as one of the top ten security risks reported by EY in their global risk survey.
Robust Risk Management is required for using AI effectively and efficiently. getty
According to Cathy many of the risks stem from the decentralized nature of AI systems. Although they can be very technical to build from scratch, many pre-developed AI models can be downloaded in a matter of minutes from open sources or technology companies. For example, many AI start-ups are providing free pilots of their tools to rapidly support model building and build their client base. In addition, there is a tremendous ease of access to learn AI machine learning methods which bypass some of the discipline knowledge and more structured approaches in formal educational programs. Cathy stressed that these creative practices often inspire market growth, however, these sources can also circumvent more robust technology procurement processes in companies which were designed, for large, expensive technology builds or licenses.
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From Cathy’s perspective, third-party AI audits are still an emerging governance practice and very rare. However, EY is starting to work with a number of internal audit groups that have begun to audit AI programs. They normally start with a focus on the broader governance and controls over the AI program before moving to specific AI systems or projects.
External audit opinions or certifications of AI models or systems are still in development, as standards that can be used as evaluation criteria, for both technical performance and ethical practices, are not yet available.
Organizations like IEEE, ISO are developing standards for AI, but these guidance standards won’t be available until at least 2021. Also, work is still required to develop audit accreditation ad the certification program itself, although work is underway by accounting bodies, such as CPA Canada and the AICPA to consider the assurance standards, evaluation criteria, and auditor credentials, including technical knowledge need to audit or certify AI.
The ethical development of AI is critical to ensure that the risk of machine to machine decisions that could impact where personal data ends up is explained in the IEEE P7006™ – Standard for Personal Data Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agent which describes the technical elements required when developing AI ethically and also keeping a human involved in all decision making. This will ensure that personal data use remains transparent even when an AI agent is being used. This standard is not yet finalized but is planned to be accessible in 2021.
With the standards lagging on governance, diverse industries are maturing at different rates. From Cathy’s global experiences, financial service organizations are ahead of other sectors. The main reason is that they have already had to comply with robust model risk management and validation regulations for over a decade and regulators have communicated that they expect those same standards to be applied to machine learning and AI models. However, even financial service organizations are struggling to keep pace with the growth of AI across their organization into areas they previously hadn’t used analytic models, such as credit lending, marketing and branch optimization. To keep pace, they need to automate their model validation processes and tests, and expand them to broader trusted AI attributes.
Another sector that is ahead of the others is the public sector. Several governments, including Canada have released standards to govern the use of AI in their public services, including social services and healthcare, to ensure that they are used in a responsible and trustworthy way. However, it is still early days and many departments are still working through how to implement the governance and control standards expected.
Other highly regulated industries such as aviation and automobiles are also early adopters driven partly by regulatory requirements and in building consumer trust in their autonomous vehicles and drones.
Data bias: Perfect World or a Perfect Storm? getty
One of the major concerns with AI is the ethical risks of data bias. One of the frequently discussed cases was in 1988 when the UK Commission for Racial Equality found that a computer software program was biases to women and also those with non – European names, impacting successful admission rates to the British medical school. The school was subsequently found guilty and a blot on the medical profession. Fast forward nearly thirty years, AI’s growth rates and continued lack of governance controls and audit standards on data sets, in only increasing the risks of AI at scale.
Google reports that training natural language processing models on news articles can exhibit gender stereotypes.
Cathy also highlighted the risks and misconceptions about bias and reminded me that there is inherent bias in all AI models with value judgements necessary to make predictions or decisions. She stressed that there is a natural requirement of an algorithmic model, or any decision whether made by a person or machine to have some level of bias. The goal is not to eliminate bias, but to identify biases that are discriminatory or unfair. Cathy reinforced that what is key is to focus on the context of the AI model, in other words, understand what is the objective that the AI model is working to achieve? Define clearly what are its target outcomes and what is the potential impact of that outcome? And to who? Through exploring these diverse angles and asking robust questions, only then can leaders then ask what are the risks of unintended, unfair or illegal bias.
One of the most frequently reported and common bias error in using AI is risks towards minority classes. For example, there are many cases where bias against a minority class in credit lending decisions can stem from many different sources – limited records, lack of previous banking records, systemic historical underemployment of a particular class, or historical bias in lending decisions used to train the algorithm.
Census data shows that black and Hispanic Americans are apt to be deprived of banking services more than white or Asian Americans. There remain many systemic and racial gaps in mortgage loans where applications for loans are declined due to data bias AI Algorithms. One Wallstreet leader, Cathy O’Neil, an academically trained mathematician who studied and worked at UC Berkeley, Harvard and MIT and left a job on Wall Street to write a book on the dangers of algorithms.
But bias can manifest in any dataset, not just those involving humans. Cathy Cobey, EY Global AI leader shared the story of a conversation she had with a telco that was using AI to optimize their fiber cable network. She advised her client that in that situation the minority class would be rural customers and that they needed to guard against optimizing the network for urban / high density regions to the detriment of their rural customers.
Strong governance practices must look at all directions, with particular the opposite or contrarian questions. Few leaders provide the time to explore risk from diverse angles, and often are in the mucky soup before putting in sufficient safe guards. There are a lot of existing controls that can leverage, but the unique characteristics of AI require new governance and controls to be put in place, and others to be modified.
Cathy emphasized that Board Directors and CEO’s need to ensure there are clearly defined decision criteria being used in the model, and to enable conversations on what are examples of unintended, illegal or unfair bias in a particular AI-enabled process or decision, and how might it manifest in the systems outcomes?
A common example is a record with more limited information. If you don’t have information for a particular data record for the features being prioritized, the model will not have the information it needs to operate in its decision framework, and therefore could result in an unfair decision.
Ultimately, there needs to be a close collaboration between the technicians designing and testing the AI system and the business SMEs that understand the business context of the AI’s outcomes and will be operating with the AI system. They need to work in tandem to understand both the technical and business context of bias and fairness. They also need to consider the alternative or exception routines to be followed for records that are identified as being biased, such as outliers.
EY is one of the leading global firms that have bias and fairness as one of their five trust attributes incorporated into their Trusted AI Framework. It is the most common principle in any AI guidance document issued, whether by a public or private organization.
To get AI governance heading in the right direction, the composition of the board with AI know-how will be key. There has been a growing trend to expand the technolgy knowledge of boards, and experts with expertise in cybersecurity, cloud, ERP systems, digital are more common. However, when Cathy and I pooled our global networks, we both agreed that we have yet to see AI experts joining as board directors, with the relevant skills to help advance the AI risk practices.
Currently, board directors are learning about AI at different rates, and emerging technology risks have started to be added as top risks that are monitored and reported by the risk and internal audit teams to board risk committees. Some organizations have also been adding ethics-based senior executive roles and ethics advisory committees, but as a member of management not of the board. Most of these strides are being made in the technology sector versus broadly in other sectors.
The International Corporate Governance Network has been advocating for the requirements for Board Directors to be trained on AI and to augment their board governance practices.
A list of ten board governance questions is provided below that can help advance increased leadership with AI. These questions are good starting anchors to get underway with stronger AI governance practices.
1.) Does the board know of AI use cases used within the company and what were the results?
2.) Is there a risk and control framework and inventory management process in place to measure and manage any AI risks and has the board reviewed this operating process?
3.) What processes oversee operations using AI to ensure that the outcomes are appropriate and/or indicate risks to the company?
4.) Have there been any cases where there were incorrect AI outcomes, such as data bias? How were these risks communicated and resolved to stakeholders?
5.) How does the company ensure the effective protection of AI intellectual property assets?
6.) What data is purchased from an external vendor, and is the company ensuring the data’s integrity and that it is appropriate for the use case?
7.) How is data privacy ensured across the organization and how does the data oversight reporting structure communicate with senior management and the board?
8.) What training is provided to upgrade skills in the company workforce to allow them to assist the company with the AI journey? What are the board and management’s plans to fill the knowledge gaps or job impacts from AI?
9.) Does the board have AI/technical/innovation expertise on the board, and what is their selection process?
10.) Does the board have clear AI benchmarks of companies that are role model in AI board governance to learn from, in particular around Machine Learning Operations and AI Inventory Management practices?
Google has one of the most well developed Responsible AI ethical principles which is a good starting point as having a clear position on ethics is key to enable organizations to lead with integrity and responsibly.
Clearly, we have much work to do to advance board governance forward with effective practices and controls to ensure man and machine have trusted AI harmonization.
Notes:
Interviewee Profile: Cathy is a Technology Risk Partner based in Toronto, Canada and is EY’s Global Trusted AI Leader. In this role, she leads the development of EY’s Trusted AI methods and tools, and assists clients in building trust into their AI systems. This involves not only the technical design and functionality of their AI systems, but also in considering the broader governance and control environments that they operate in.
More Insights to support AI Governance learning. getty
More Information:
To see the video interview of Cathy Cobey, EY Global Trusted AI Leader, with Dr. Cindy Gordon, CEO SalesChoice, see the Youtube Link. This video content compliments this blog content.
To see more of Cathy Cobey, EY Global Trusted AI and Dr. Cindy Gordon, CEO SalesChoice Inc., you can watch their video series: Managing the Risks of AI, go here.
For more questions addressing board director and CEO governance on AI, refer to Dr. Cindy Gordon’s Forbes blog roster.
Research: If you know of a company with an AI expert on a publicly traded board, please send an email to cindy.gordon@saleschoice.com
Trusted AI is key to advancing board governance and CEO leadership skills. getty
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a2c8c639afd1011babe0868a3c246015 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/cindygordon/2021/04/29/understanding-ai-and-machine-learning-concepts-to-build-your-ai-leadership-brain-trust/ | Understanding AI And Machine Learning Concepts To Build Your AI Leadership Brain Trust. | Understanding AI And Machine Learning Concepts To Build Your AI Leadership Brain Trust.
Executives Learning About Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics getty
This blog is a continuation of the Building AI Leadership Brain Trust Blog Series which targets board directors and CEO’s to accelerate their duty of care to develop stronger skills and competencies in AI in order to ensure their AI programs achieve sustaining results.
My last two blogs focused on the importance of AI professionals having some foundation in science discipline as a cornerstone for designing and developing AI models and production processes, and explored value of computing science, the richness of complexity sciences and the value of physics to appreciate the importance of integrating diverse disciplines into complex AI programs - key for successful returns on investments (ROI).
This blog discusses key AI and machine learning (ML) terms that every board director and CEO must know to stay relevant and advance their duty of care. If you want a good starter on the responsibility and duty of care, I recommend you read my earlier blog here.
In the Brain Trust Series, I have identified over 50 skills required to help evolve talent in organizations committed to advancing AI literacy. The last few blogs have been discussing the technical skills relevancy. To see the full AI Brain Trust Framework introduced in the first blog, reference here.
We are currently focused on the technical skills in the AI Brain Trust Framework advancing the key AI and machine learning terms.
Technical Skills:
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1. Research Methods Literacy
2. Agile Methods Literacy
3. User Centered Design Literacy
4. Data Analytics Literacy
5. Digital Literacy (Cloud, SaaS, Computers, etc.)
6. Mathematics Literacy
7. Statistics Literacy
8. Sciences (Computing Science, Complexity Science, Physics) Literacy
9. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Literacy
10.Sustainability Literacy
Understanding Key AI Terms
The AI field is a deep and rich field that includes many fields, including statistical methods, computational intelligence, and traditional symbolic AI. Many tools are used in AI, including versions of search and mathematical optimization, artificial neural networks, and methods based on statistics, probability and economics.
Hence I am only going to dip into three key basic concepts to answer: what is AI?, what is an algorithm?, and what is an AI Model? I will continue in the next two blogs to define other key AI concepts and definitions that I believe every CEO or Board Director must master at the basic AI proficiency levels. After all, how can you lead if you don’t know your basics in one of the most significant disruptors of our lifetime.
I always say to executives, it is never too late to learn and to stay relevant you have a business imperative to be sharper about digital transformation and AI is a cornerstone for not only countries to compete against, but for corporations to rethink their business models.
The first order of business is to ensure that you can define what is Artificial Intelligence? In the most simplistic terms, AI is the computer simulation of human intelligence in machines that is programmed to think like humans and mimic human actions.A typical AI analyzes its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of success.
AI was first defined, by John McCarthy in 1956, when he held the first academic conference on the subject. Then five years later, Alan Turing wrote a paper on the notion of machines being able to simulate human beings and the ability to do intelligent things.
AI is not new – it’s just that the time is right now for AI everywhere, due to the proliferation of volumes of data, both structured and unstructured data, and more importantly the ability of computing processing power to crunch the data and produce the insights that were near to impossible to generate prior.
More information on AI history: Refer to: Gil Press, a senior Forbes contributor’s excellent summary of AI, so if you are history buff, recommend you read his blog here. You will find many definitions of AI, but distilling AI to is basic roots, recommend you read the additional more detailed definition here.
The second most important concept reg: AI is to understand is what is an algorithm?
An algorithm is a process or a set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer. The Wikipedia defines an algorithm as “a step-by-step procedure for calculations. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning.” Whether you are aware of it or not, algorithms are increasingly ubiquitous – everywhere in our lives.
The goal of an algorithm is to solve a specific challenge or problem which is usually defined as a sequence of rules or steps. An algorithm tells a computer what to do next with an “and,” “or,” or “not” statements.
Algorithms provide the instructions for AI systems and without a set of algorithms AI cannot perform a function (outcome).
In terms of AI, we use the term machine learning to describe that an algorithm or series of algorithms perform a software function that enables software to update and automatically learn from without the need for a programmer. ML algo’s are fed into a data set to perform a specific task and solve a problem, without being programmed. There are literally hundreds of AI Algorithms, and this blog defines a number of the most popular types of clustering algorithms and is worth a read.
AI requires lots of data so it can find patterns and then builds predictions based on the data being analyzed.
The third key concept of AI to ensure you understand is What is an AI Model? AI/ML models are the mathematical algorithms that are “trained” using data and human expert input to replicate a decision an expert would make when provided that same information. Artificial intelligence is generally divided into two types of AI – narrow (or weak) AI and general AI, also known as AGI or strong AI.
Forbes contributor Tom Taulli wrote an excellent post on defining how to build an AI model which offers practical steps perspectives to give more depth to this point. See his writings here.
See this blog reference for additional information on basic AI terms, and some simple learning visualizations to make your AI learning easier and more fun.
Board Directors and CEOs ask to evaluate their depth of talent in artificial intelligence?
1.) How many resources do you have that have an undergraduate degree in Artificial Intelligence, or a masters or a Ph.D.?
2.) How many projects underway in your company are using internal AI resources vs external resources?
3.) Is the balance of your resourcing aligned to your strategic vision of modernizing your talent base?
4.) How many of the Board Directors or C-Suite have expertise in AI or Machine Learning disciplines?
Conclusion
I believe that board directors and CEOs need to appreciate AI fundamentals, and also ensure that they understand their talent depth in AI and machine learning disciplines, but as discussed through this series, there are many other skills and competencies required to thrive in using AI efficiently and effectively. Stay tuned for more helpful AI concepts simplified to increase your AI knowledge and vocabulary.
More Information:
To see the full AI Brain Trust Framework introduced in the first blog, reference here.
To learn more about Artificial Intelligence, and the challenges, both positive and negative, refer to my new book, The AI Dilemma, to guide leaders foreword.
Note:
If you have any ideas, please do advise as I welcome your thoughts and perspectives.
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0cd8e3b40147b103f0016914c2d0812d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/cindyhounsell/2021/03/09/financial-know-how-for-working-women-why-it-really-matters-now/?sh=690992a5b97b | Financial Know-how for Working Women: Why It Really Matters Now! | Financial Know-how for Working Women: Why It Really Matters Now!
The pandemic is a constant reminder of the need for emergency savings – but underlying that reminder is the need for financial know-how to make the best decisions in a most challenging world. For the workers who need it most, however, the trick is getting them vital financial help and info. This article has morphed from Black History month to Women’s History in March keeping a spotlight on the low-income, hardworking women piecing together jobs (sometimes 2-3) and seriously in need of financial education. The reasons? They need financial savvy to navigate the complicated economy but especially to access the improved children and family benefits they hopefully will be eligible for when the final Stimulus Bill passes Congress.
Statistically, women are more likely than men to care for children and aging parents. When employed, aside from the minimum-wage gap, the gender wage gap makes saving even more of a challenge, even mor
Pretty waitress giving sandwich to customer at the bakery getty
e so for women of color. For every dollar white males earn, White women earn 82 cents, Black women – 63 cents, and Latinas – 55 cents. After a lifetime of hard work, this translates to nearly a third - 31% of older Black women and 43% of older Latinas living in poverty compared to 16% of older White women.
But real help is on the way with Stimulus and with the long-awaited expansion and improvements to two key tax credits – the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) that can lift millions of low-wage earners and their families out of poverty. The problem is that these benefits are not automatic and after they pass there’s the challenge and need for a huge education campaign to get the information out so families with low-incomes can actually benefit.
But there’s another bright side to what can happen if low-wage workers – say, people with less than a high school education, and at the bottom of the wealth distribution scale, participate in financial education seminars, their wealth increases by 27 percent. They learn about the importance of creating an emergency savings fund, for instance, and of striving to save for the long-haul to supplement their future Social Security benefits with other modest savings.
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Educating these women unequivocally improves their financial futures. What’s more, we have learned a great deal about how to reach and educate these women. Specifically, we’ve learned there needs to be financial education funding for libraries and nonprofits as the ‘trusted messengers’ who are providing help for these women workers to become financially wiser.
For starters, successful community educators are likely to be female themselves. One excellent example, in the forefront is Vickie Elisa, Atlanta, Georgia, whose own story is compelling, and demonstrates why she has been able to reach so many women. A woman of color herself, struggling to overcome her own financial troubles over two decades ago, Vickie has gone on to educate thousands of women about improving their finances. She has worked with three U.S. Presidents toward this goal. Her grassroots financial education program for at-risk women, “Smart Women and Money,” was featured in 2015 as part of ‘Planning For Financial Security at Every Age’ with the Obama White House.
Vickie and other volunteer financial educators like her have learned important truths about how to help women improve their financial lives but most important is Meet them where they live. After I first met Vickie, as President of the non-profit Mothers’ Voices Georgia, she helped get thousands of low-income women of color to attend WISER workshops about emergency savings, planning for the future, and the important role Social Security benefits play for women’s retirement. Eventually, Vickie led her own financial literacy workshops—at a large health care center and at large churches. There, financial literacy was just one topic — she educated at-risk women on how to make healthier lifestyle choices.
Low-income women—are often gig workers, people working two jobs but also at times out of the workforce to care for children or parents. How, or where else will they be able to get, or find, financial advice or other ways to improve their lives?
More work needs to be done to help these hardworking, under-resourced women succeed: both on the granular (individual, person-by-person) level, and on the policy level—raising the minimum wage and addressing predatory lending for starters. But many are undeniably better off than they would be, also thanks to many unheralded female financial educators like Vickie Elisa. What’s more, luckily, there has been a ripple effect in recent years, with women from the financial-advisor industry responding to this vast need, creating more financial literacy programs one community at a time to help at-risk women.
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9d9df21e2221c204163efd2c24153672 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2010/11/12/why-facebook-for-the-enterprise-vendors-are-wrong/?boxes=Homepagechannels | Why 'Facebook For The Enterprise' Vendors Are Wrong | Why 'Facebook For The Enterprise' Vendors Are Wrong
Image via CrunchBase
Written by Christopher Lochhead
Have you noticed how many software vendors are claiming to be "Facebook for the enterprise"? These vendors are making a huge mistake. Don't be fooled.
Let's be clear. This commentary has nothing to do with Facebook. It has everything to do with the business application companies ripping them off. I think Facebook itself is great.
That said, let's talk about why copying Facebook is a dumb idea for enterprise application vendors.
1. It's about the business, stupid.
People at work have to get work done. They need a social platform that increases productivity and engages customers and employees. "Facebook for the enterprise" vendors are confused. They focus on "sharing" only. And when vendors are confused about the purpose of their products, they are doomed. By stealing the product strategy of a consumer service, these vendors have built social networks that can actually decrease business productivity.
Think about it. The average Facebook user has 130 friends, with maybe 20-30% actively generating content. In an enterprise, there are thousands of co-workers generating information on a daily basis. Cutting through the chatter to get to what matters becomes critical.
Status updates aren't enough. Social business platforms must create an "enterprise social graph" for employees, vendors, partners, customers and others on the social Web. The graph needs to include critical projects, intellectual capital and relationships in a "personal view" so that it acknowledges each kind of relationship.
One size will not fit all. The variations in how people work often create competitive advantage. The secret is in the ability to mold the social business platform to empower employees to produce material breakthroughs.
To drive a breakthrough in the way work gets done, social business networks require the ability to manage groups, projects, tasks, documents and discussions. Connecting to back-end systems to integrate existing enterprise data into the workflow becomes critical.
"Facebook for the enterprise" vendors do very little of this.
2. Ripping off Facebook is NOT a strategy.
Did SAP become the leader in ERP by claiming to be "QuickBooks for the enterprise"? Did Larry Ellison say he was "dBase for the enterprise"? (Remember Ashton-Tate?) Of course they didn't.
While there are important elements of consumer applications that enterprise vendors must embrace, no vendor has ever built a successful enterprise application by stealing a consumer app strategy.
"Facebook for the enterprise" vendors are idea bankrupt. They don't have a product strategy so they are knocking-off Facebook's.
3. Consumer social networks alone are not a Social Business strategy.
Businesses that are driving new revenue, cost structures and innovation with social business technology recognize that they need to engage with their customers on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. A seminal part of the equation is a community that's purpose-built by the company for its customers. It's the primary way to drive an increase in sales through social commerce and a decrease in customer service costs by enabling community support.
Social Business also requires an apps market where small foot print, high-value business applications can be socially driven. Making apps easily available and consumable by employees will change the game. Consumer-like, mass-customization will drive the next big breakthrough in enterprise productivity.
"Facebook for the enterprise" vendors don't understand this. They generally provide simple social features like micro-blogging or wikis and call it a day. Almost none has an apps market.
4. Employee collaboration requires enterprise controls.
Ask your CEO how she feels about her employees communicating, sharing documents and creating content on a public network. The stringent requirements for compliance and eDiscovery due to regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley fly in the face of blanket openness. Integration with compliance, storage and monitoring systems is a must. Missteps have huge ramifications. Employee collaboration must take place within an environment that has real enterprise controls built into the Social Business platform.
Most "Facebook for the enterprise" vendors are small startups. Does uploading critical information on to the servers of a 20-person company sound smart?
5. "Freemium" apps are like a "free puppy."
Free enterprise apps are akin to a "free puppy." While the product itself may be technically free, enterprises ultimately end up incurring real costs for any meaningful technology they use. Whether they pay license fees or service and support fees, there is no such thing as a free app.
"Facebook for the enterprise" providers seem to have forgotten that companies need to make money or they go out of business. They've forgotten the lessons of Web 1.0. Companies need revenue and profits to live.
As you continue on the road to building a social business, be smart about the vendors you choose. Those who are outsourcing their product strategy to Facebook will fail. Don't let them take you down with them.
Christopher Lochhead is chief strategy advisor and board member at Jive Software. He can be followed on Twitter @lochhead.
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4c78a5e3a52a92f76d9b28f650f84871 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2010/11/30/red-hat-at-1-billion/ | Red Hat At $1 Billion | Red Hat At $1 Billion
Image via CrunchBase
Based on the run rates of the current quarter, Red Hat will likely reach $1 billion in annual revenue in 2011. Only a handful of companies, probably less than 20 software firms, have ever hit this milestone. Red Hat will be the first open source-focused company to break the billion dollar barrier. Certainly Richard Stallman did not envision this when he created the paradigm of Free Software. Such an event may be more in tune with what Eric Raymond, Tim O'Reilly, and others had in mind when they reframed Free Software as Open Source.
It is easy to forget how important open source is now. Open source touches us every day more than we realize. SAP likes to point out that a huge percentage of the world's commerce is tracked by their software. It's a defensible claim because SAP knows its customers. Open source is harder to quantify. You can track downloads but that does not accurately reflect use. For web servers, it is possible to quantify use. The September Netcraft survey puts the open source Apache share of web servers at 57 percent. Estimates of operating system market share, including both servers and desktops, put Linux at 1 percent or so.
But the lack of a strong link to a reported commercial transaction makes estimates of market size from companies like IDC problematic. When IDC identifies a company like VMware as the market leader for virtualization, it means that companies spent the most on VMware products. But if you take into account the use of open source products like Xen and KVM in massive data centers, web server farms, and by web application providers like Google and Salesforce.com, the CPUs running open source virtualization likely dwarfs the commercial market. Open source has an unacknowledged footprint in many other markets as well.
The biggest way that open source touches each of us is through web-based applications. Every click on the Internet is processed in some way by open source. Now imagine that open source didn't exist, and instead, Google, Twitter, NetSuite, and dozens of startups had to pay for the open source they used. We wouldn't have such a panoply of free or advertising-supported services. Startups would require much more capital. Microsoft would be a much bigger company; Sun would have remained independent.
Red Hat's growth reflects IT's embrace of open source. Red Hat has made it to a billion my selling a subscription service that provides a stable, supported, distribution of the Linux operating system. The company's premier product is called Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat's success shows that it is not just Silicon Valley startups and cutting-edge innovators who use open source. The FUD that opponents used to spread liberally is gone. The SCO lawsuit seems like a bad joke.
Red Hat makes money because companies want experts to provide support. IT executives also want to buy products, not raw materials. In Open Source for the Enterprise, I argue that to make effective use of open source, companies must close the productization gap, that is, the lack of documentation, installation, administration tools, and support in most open source. Red Hat is the most popular strategy for closing the productization gap.
The success of Linux also shows that bizarre hybrid governance models can be successful if everyone is motivated and aligned. IBM, Intel, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Oracle, NEC and others collectively pumps hundreds of millions of dollars into developing Linux. Linus Torvalds sits at the center, not all powerful, but a major factor. Powerful players used to getting their own way must get along. The culture of development is still very community-based. IBM cannot just force developers on the project and have them accepted as committers. Red Hat and other participants provide the equivalent of product management, collecting requirements and feeding them into the process. If you designed this model and proposed that one of the most important layers of software on the planet would be created and managed this way, nobody would believe it would work. But it does.
One of attractions of open source to entrepreneurs is the marketing model. Commercial open source companies allow their products to be downloaded and used. Then, when a someone using the software wants support or features for connecting the product to the world of commercial IT, a license is required. In other words, open source is bought, not sold. The expensive sales and marketing process for commercial software is replaced by the ability to download and try the software out.
But to keep growing beyond a billion, Red Hat is going to be sold as well as bought. When I spoke to Jim Whitehurst, Red Hat's CEO, earlier this year, he described how he was institutionalizing the sales of Red Hat. Every time an SAP or Oracle application was sold, every time a server was sold by Dell or Hewlett Packard, every time a major consulting product was sold by IBM, Accenture, or Capgemini, Whitehurst wants Red Hat Enterprise Linux and its other products in the mix. The company is building the sales organization to support this sort of institutionalized expansion.
Could there be another Red Hat, an open source company that makes it to $1 billion in software-related revenues? Probably not. Companies like Spike Source and SourceLabs tried to put together subscription-based models for productizing the open source stack. Both companies were attempting to combine many different open source projects into one productized offering. Neither worked out, probably because the open source software stack is not as generic and interchangable as the operating system. Commercial open source companies like MySQL haven't come close to $1 billion. When it was purchased, MySQL was probably running at less than $50 million in annual revenue. The largest of the commercial open source application companies like Alfresco, the enterprise content management vendor, are smaller than that.
The problem is generality. Linux is used in dozens of domains. Very few other parts of the software stack are that widely used. Red Hat has focused on Linux and has taken its skills in productization and applied them to other open source projects such as JBoss for Java development and now KVM, a virtualization technology. But no other open source project, at Red Hat or anywhere else, will ever be as large a source of revenue as Linux.
To me, the implication of Red Hat's success is not that there is big money in selling open source, but that there is a huge payoff for being able to use open source. Red Hat is probably one of a kind. If you look at the companies generating the largest amount of revenue using open source (Google, Facebook, Twitter, Etsy), they are the ones who are the best at taking advantage of what open source has to offer.
Dan Woods is chief technology officer and editor of CITO Research, a firm focused on the needs of CTOs and CIOs. He consults for many of the companies he writes about. For longer takes on the topics covered in JargonSpy please visit CITOResearch.com.
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a811fa885c74709c40b2de1389d4e00d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/01/05/how-to-fix-apps-marketplaces/ | How to Fix Apps Marketplaces | How to Fix Apps Marketplaces
Image via CrunchBase
The Google Apps Marketplace and the Salesforce.com AppExchange are misnamed. They should not be called marketplaces but rather directories. In a marketplace you can find what you want, look it over, and buy it. You can almost do that in these marketplaces. You can find apps, install them if they are free, but to buy them it becomes complicated.
In addition, the complex nature of the apps being sold is not addressed. Both marketplaces essentially treat buying an app as if you are buying something much simpler like a song or a simple app for the iPhone or Android.
The third problem is that the marketplaces ignore that fact that apps are often most effectively used in bundles that complement each other. In both of these marketplaces, the idea of selling a collection of applications that work together to support a business is not emphasized.
To really provide what their intended customers need both of these marketplaces have to create a channel and find a way to motivate people to help market apps to specific niches.
It all hinges on what you think the ideal experience should be. To me a marketplace is a place set up to help me find stuff that I want and to discover new stuff that might be helpful. When I go into a Gap store, I'm looking for clothes, mostly pants and shirts but maybe a coat. When I go to The Container Store I may want one of many things. Perhaps some home organizing stuff like big plastics boxes or cedar hangers or maybe some office supply stuff like cord bundlers or reusable envelopers. In a huge store like CostCo or Sears even more needs can be satisfied. They have departments dedicated to specific categories like sports, hardware, home furnishings, and groceries. In each of these environments, there is someone to talk to if I have a question or have trouble finding something.
In the best on-line marketplaces, like eBay, Amazon.com or the iTunes store, you find much of this experience replicated. Physical departments become categories. Products and bundles of products are recommended to you based on past purchases. You can see what other people said about individual products. There are lots of top ten lists of specific product categories. For eBay and Amazon this is just the beginning. Through the kind of APIs I wrote about in "What's Fueling the API Gold Rush", hundreds of thousands of other people can get into the act of presenting storefronts to present specific products to specific audiences.
At first glance, when you look at the Google Apps Marketplace or the Salesforce AppExchange you see some of the simliar features. There are categories, top ten lists, and reviews. But the information provided is shallow and not connected to specifc types of users. Are you a big business? A small one? In a certain industry? The app store is not tailored to your needs. To find out more, you have to go to the site of the company offering the app. In addition, the marketplaces don't take into account the fact that even if an app is free or has a free trial, the end-user may have to make a significant investment of time to figure out what an app actually does. More information about what is is like to use the app would be helpful.
When a small business or a large one is looking for a solution, the apps are full-featured, not toys or games or simple apps. They are complex systems. Understanding the general idea of box.net is one thing. Understanding how to use box.net to help run your business better is another story. Understanding how to use many apps together is still another story. In the ideal world, the app store would help you get information about how to use an application in a specific industry. Comments and reviews from specific user groups could be separated so you could see what others who matched your needs said.
The point is that for products like music, and simple apps, a quick and shallow explanation might be good enough. But for combinations of apps that work synergistically or for more complicated applications these marketplaces fall short.
What would solve this problem is the ability to make money by marketing apps from these stores. On Amazon or eBay this is possible through a variety of partner programs and supporting APIs. These programs allow the long tail of user needs to be served by people who are experts in a niche area. SAP and Oracle solve this problem by including third party apps as part of their sales process, either selling them directly or in close partnership with the vendor.
From the way it looks now, Google will be able to create a channel for selling apps much faster than Salesforce.com. Here's why: Google is offering partners a piece of the action when a partner sells a subscription to Google Apps. Cloud Sherpas, for example, is in the business of selling both its administrative tools and Google App subscriptions. In fact, the way it sells its administrative tools is by selling Google Apps subscriptions. But, right now, when a customer buys through Cloud Sherpas or any other Google Apps partner, the transaction takes place outside of Google's infrastructure. This will likely change in the future and Google will allow partners to get credit for leading people to purchase app subscriptions.
So far so good. It is also possible to imagine that Google would start to allow this sort of revenue sharing with other apps in the Google Apps Marketplace, not just Google Apps. An app could be put into the Google Apps Marketplace and the subscription transaction would be managed by Google. This would allow companies to market and to sell each others products.
If this were possible, I suspect a company like Cloud Sherpas would jump on it. First they would sell their own product through Google Apps Marketplace directly, and then they would create bundles of products targeted toward niches. Other firms like Partnerpedia, which specializes in creating app market places for companies who are offering platforms to solve a problem, would likely join the fray. A typical Partnerpedia installation offers what Google Apps Marketplace and SalesForce.com App Exchanges does not, a privately branded marketplace for customers and a go-to-market channel for partners. The way Partnerpedia provides enterprise vendors with a self-contained application marketplace could easily be applied to create storefronts for the Google Apps Marketplace. In this model you would have a way to discover, test, and then sell the application in one environment. A fully functional channel like this would allow marketers not just developers to benefit from the Google Apps Marketplace.
Salesforce.com is far away from this model and probably will stay that way because it doesn't offer partners a chunk of its license revenue. This is probably because that revenue is the main event at Salesforce.com. (For Google, Google Apps subscriptions are a secondary business.) Salesforce.com has its own direct sales staff. The partners that form a channel for Salesforce.com are primarily rewarded through selling professional services, not through a piece of the licensing action. Some partners are selling apps on top of Salesforce.com but these customers get additional revenues for their applications, not a share of Salesforce.com's cut. These factors mean an independent channel for marketing the core Salesforce.com product is unlikely to develop.
The problem in my view is that Google and Salesforce.com are still stuck in a technology focused mentality when it comes to their app stores. Their offer is essentially: "Here's some apps and a short summary of what they do. Go for it!" Explaining how the apps solve specific users problems would be much more helpful. But Google and Salesforce.com will never and should never fund this educational effort. Instead, they should provide incentives so a channel can do its noble work of connecting the functionality of an app to specific user needs.
Dan Woods is chief technology officer and editor of CITO Research, a firm focused on the needs of CTOs and CIOs. He consults for many of the companies he writes about. For more stories about how CIOs and CTOs can grow visit CITOResearch.com.
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fe50998a45db5a3fc0e643e7143c4036 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/02/15/politics-aside-congress-wont-slow-offshore-outsourcing-growth/ | Politics Aside, Congress Won't Slow Offshore Outsourcing Growth | Politics Aside, Congress Won't Slow Offshore Outsourcing Growth
Written by David Rutchik
David Rutchik: Outsourcing believer.
Seizing on the combination of political expediency, a certain degree of xenophobia, and a U.S. unemployment figure that remains stubbornly near 10 percent, Congress has initiated both rhetoric and legislative initiatives aimed at impeding the offshore outsourcing industry. Despite these efforts, however, the offshore outsourcing industry continues to prosper as U.S. companies avail themselves of a critical tool in their arsenal to remain globally competitive.
Outsourcing: High Economic Stakes
It is undeniable that the outsourcing industry represents a significant component of the global economy. Forrester Research expects 2011 global business and government spending for IT outsourcing alone to top $254 billion. The Indian portion of that total in 2010 was nearly $64 billion, according to Nasscom, the Indian outsourcing industry trade association. Meanwhile, foreign companies use H1-B and L-1 visas, issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services division of the Department of Homeland Security, to enable foreign nationals to work legally in the U.S. for a prescribed time period based upon needed, specialized skills. Technology companies are traditionally the largest users of such visas, with the Indian-based outsourcing providers topping the list. According to recent USCIS data, the three largest Indian outsourcing providers - Infosys Technologies, Wipro, and Tata Consultancy Services - were among the top recipients of H1-B visas. These three companies, all of which trade on the U.S. exchange as ADRs (American Depositary Receipts), together account for nearly 10,000 H1-B visas annually.
U.S. Government Initiates Visa Restrictions
Whether truly attempting to quell U.S. unemployment concerns or championing an issue expected to be popular with the U.S. electorate, U.S. lawmakers have introduced several initiatives that translate to more hurdles for offshore outsourcing providers to compete effectively in the U.S. One such effort introduced dramatic visa fee increases as part of a bill to increase U.S.-Mexico border security. A portion of the Border Security bill (signed into law in 2009) substantially increased the H-1B and L-1 visa application fees for firms utilizing the visas for more than half of their U.S.-based staff. The provision ostensibly was included to raise $640 million a year to support U.S.-Mexico border security reinforcement efforts, but it was largely perceived by the Indian IT community as a means to discriminate against outsourcing firms.
Under the new law, individual fees for H-1B visas soared more than seven-fold, increasing to $2,320 from $320 per visa application, with the anticipated cost to Indian offshore outsourcing providers expected to exceed $250 million annually, according to CNN’s Indian unit, IBN Live. Indian providers decried the new legislation, with Wipro Technologies founder Azim Premji stressing that the recent American decision to clamp down on H-1B visas for skilled workers would reduce foreign investment in the U.S. and make it more difficult for U.S. exporters – hurting American workers’ job prospects.
These views are countered by the Center for Immigration Studies, which states that there is no cause and effect relationship between H1-B visas and U.S. job creation, saying that, on the current trajectory, the U.S. will approve enough H1-B visas for computer workers to fill nearly 80 percent of the computer jobs it creates each year. But even with similar statements and increased political rhetoric (e.g., Sen. Chuck Schumer’s reference to Indian IT outsourcers as “chop shops”), President Obama himself seems to be recognizing the value provided by the offshore outsourcing industry. Upon returning from a trip to India in November, he stated that the relationship “is not just a one-way street of American jobs and companies moving to India. It is a dynamic, two-way relationship that is creating jobs, growth, and higher living standards.”
Outsourcing Industry Rises Above Political Pressures with Little Impact
Ultimately, recent political activities have had a marginal impact on the outsourcing industry and have mostly signified a growing discontent with the inability of the U.S. government to generate enough jobs to meet the expectations of its citizens. The reality is that U.S. companies have grown too accustomed or dependent on the high-quality, low-cost technology support that these visas enable. And despite statements suggesting that the industry is feeling the pinch, outsourcing service providers’ 2010 revenue grew at the fastest pace in recent years—more than 10 percent—and is expected to continue, according to the Industry Association of Outsourcing Professionals’ Global Outsourcing 100 data. A recent Gartner survey also found that up to 85 percent of companies expect to maintain or increase their spending on outsourcing services.
As the dust settles from the recession, companies will continue to be mindful about how they utilize their limited resources. Outsourcing has the potential to do more for less, by more efficiently leveraging resources than trying to support outsourced functions in-house. Beyond economic efficiencies, companies who outsource tend to realize productivity gains as employees concentrate on their core objectives and outsourced resources provide best-in-class support. Until a model develops that can deliver more value with less resources, outsourcing will remain a fixture of the U.S. business environment, despite political interference.
David Rutchik is a Partner with outsourcing advisory firm Pace Harmon, where he represents multiple Fortune 500 clients in their outsourcing, offshoring, strategic sourcing and other critical business transformation initiatives. Tim Taylor, an Analyst with the firm, contributed to this article.
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5734ca2289ae135bed54cd60e46dac4e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/02/17/how-groupon-could-have-dodged-the-super-bowl-ad-debacle/ | How Groupon Could Have Dodged The Super Bowl Ad Debacle | How Groupon Could Have Dodged The Super Bowl Ad Debacle
Peter Daboll: Be prepared.
Written by Peter Daboll
C’mon, Groupon: How could this have happened?
I just read that Groupon is pulling its recent advertising campaign, which debuted with two spots on the Super Bowl. The spots, featuring Timothy Hutton and Elizabeth Hurley, attempted to spoof philanthropy ads, but they didn't work -and the company has been in damage-control mode ever since. CEO Andrew Mason was quoted saying, “we hate that we offended people, and we’re sorry that we did.”
Really? Given the amount spent on a 30-second Super Bowl spot (more than $3 million) he may have offended more than his customers - maybe the entire advertising industry? How could this be left to chance? How could their “execution be off?” How could they not know this?
For less than half of one percent of the cost of the media alone, the ads could have been tested. And, it is important that, for the Super Bowl audience especially, the ads are tested against all demographic groups, not just the target demo. Through smart pre-testing, Groupon would have been able to find out that their creative execution was ineffective and either take corrective action or yank the spots altogether. Instead, they wasted more than $3 million on a single Super Bowl media buy.
Granted, sometimes you need to take creative risks. Innovation often requires risk. I get that. But proper testing allows ideas to come together - to work - and eliminates the ones that don’t. Putting up a guess in front of 110 million people seems a tad on the risky side to me. It’s risky to the brand; it’s risky from a financial perspective; and it’s risky for the agency. What agency wants to be synonymous with a Super Bowl fiasco?
Groupon is a great company that somehow got caught up in the moment and ignored the risk. Whether this was creative ego or ignorance; the agencies’ fault or the clients’, at worst the failure to test will result in lasting brand damage, and at best it will be a huge lost opportunity to connect with more than 110 million people.
Great advertising is not a guess. So how can things go so wrong? Things go wrong when you don’t take all of the necessary steps to make them go right.
Peter Daboll is CEO of Ace Metrix, a provider analytics and competitive intelligence on advertising effectiveness; they have posted their ratings on the effectiveness of this year's Super Bowl advertising on their Web site.
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42d4911114d26f36e678238c260aa80b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/03/30/how-to-invest-in-social-media-wisely/ | How to Invest in Social Media...Wisely | How to Invest in Social Media...Wisely
When Twitter’s valuation went from $3.7B to $7.7B earlier this month, investors wondered if it was residual from the “Charlie Sheen” effect or if the pre-IPO market for social media companies had reached its climax.
The debate is bound to continue this week, as Qihoo (NYSE: QIHU), China’s number three internet company, goes public and many hope for a future that resembles Sina Weibo (NASDAQ: SINA), China’s Twitter, whose stock more than doubled last year.
Could all the valuation discussions distract from the true impact these technologies have for your company when you start using them? Don’t let the buzz around the technology take precedence over more important fundamentals. Here are few things to consider:
I’m not just an online friend, I’m your customer
I’m consistently surprised by the number of organizations who bolster about their social media campaigns but haven’t yet solved the basics of their customer relationship management systems. I was recently travelling with a major international airline, one of the biggest. At check-in time, the airline attendant explained that she wasn’t able to print out a pass for my connection. I was to try to make my connection through a country whose language I didn’t speak and explain to the local team to look me up in their computer. It might work, but if it didn’t, who would help me? Their company’s twitter feed?
What this mean to you: Integrate, then socialize
You might get thousands or millions of followers because of your brand, but if you don’t do anything to solve the basics of your customer systems, your social media strategy will ultimately fail.
Before starting a social media campaign, look at the possible integration issues along your customer experience. Have you removed all potential friction for them? If you are an airline or a bank, you might have system integration challenges as a result of the many acquisitions within your industry. Solve those first and quickly. My bank has been trying to reconcile two of my out of state accounts for the last 5 years. No amount of social media attention will fix my frustration.
Then, get your systems and marketing people together and buy them two books that came out this month: Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki and Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk. Each book will take them through the rules to observe when dealing with customers. In a highly competitive space, your organization’s ability to empower its employees to enchant and delight customers is the ultimate weapon.
You might elect to push forward your social media efforts first to incent your systems folks to resolve integration issues faster. That could work. Be sure to remind all your employees though that their customers are not just online likers or followers; they are also customers, in the flesh and blood. If they don’t believe you, have them watch this quick interview by Seth Godin on the value of social media for businesses.
Don’t implement solutions, prevent problems
A few months ago, Jeremiah Owyang, Industry Analyst and Partner at Altimeter Group, opened his session at the LeWeb Conference by telling his audience, “Don’t hire social media gurus, ninjas, samurais or experts.” They might advise you to hire staff to change your customer service processes from traditional to a more reactive, real-time system. Many may advise you to measure results in Twitter followers or Facebook-likers growth. They will ask you to integrate your site with social media features too. All of these might work, but do they help you focus your business and employees on the drivers of your business?
What this means to you: Influence is more important than mass
The risk with social media when it comes to customer relationship (either via marketing or services) is that it focuses your employees on the transactional aspect of relationships rather than the longer term relationships. Providing good and reactive customer support might be fine but are you able to uncover the fundamental and recurring issues your customers are dealing with? Are you using social media to significantly decrease customer churn or are you just firefighting?
Most of the answers lie in the data you collect from your customer interactions. If anything, you should probably start by measuring the influence of your followers, rather than just their sheer number. Tools such as Klout help to understand the influence of your followers and bubble up the top issues that get circulated in the community. You’d be surprised to find out that the most influential people on twitter are not necessarily the ones that have the most followers.
The faster you can answer the fundamentals of your marketing strategy and your customer service principles, the faster your organization will be able to use social media as a competitive tool to win.
Don’t fall for the hype. Social media is here to stay. Charlie Sheen’s ascension to a million followers in 24 hours is not a great model to follow. When Charlie Sheen meets Peter Drucker, Drucker wins all the time.
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5acdc0b9f0e81cd759fd8a5736ef541d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/04/04/a-message-to-congress-keep-your-hands-off-the-patent-office/ | A Message To Congress: Keep Your Hands Off The Patent Office | A Message To Congress: Keep Your Hands Off The Patent Office
Written By Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan: Hands off the patent office.
It is axiomatic that the struggling U.S. economy is slowly climbing out of its hole. President Obama and our elected representatives regularly wax eloquent about job growth, innovation and the opportunity and future for the once-great United States. But the recovery, critics say, given the depths of the worldwide economic melt-down of 2008, is far too anemic, and job growth too stunted, all because of cumbersome, growth-stifling laws and policies. It is also axiomatic that most, if not all, net job creation in the U.S. today comes from small, entrepreneurial companies less than five years old. As Kauffman Foundation economist Tim Kane, has said, "When it comes to U.S. job growth, start-up companies aren’t everything. They’re the only thing."
Receiving a disproportionate and unfair share of the blame for this economic malaise is the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Led since 2009 by Obama appointee and long time IBM veteran David Kappos, the PTO, depending on whom you ask, is credited with granting too many patents, granting too few patents and granting inferior patents. The overwhelming consensus seems to be that the office is severely underfunded and dysfunctional, has too few examiners, has inferior outdated technology and is helplessly backlogged with over 800,000 unprocessed patent applications. The result, according to the critics, is that the U.S. is perpetually losing ground amidst the onslaught of foreign competition.
So, assuming small entrepreneurial companies are ground zero for new ideas, innovation and job growth, and ultimately instrumental in the recovery and competitiveness of the U.S. economy on the global stage, why must Congress habitually steal the PTO’s resources and divert them for other purposes? In the last fifteen years Congress has divertedfor its own reasons nearly $1,000,000,000 in PTO fees, $100,000,000 in the last budgetary cycle alone. This from a job creating enginethat receives no taxpayer dollars and is the sole self-funded government agency, supported 100 percent by the patent fees of individual inventors, universities and creative companies.
Because the critics believe the patent system hopelessly broken, 15 large American technology companies have spearheaded a completely self-serving initiative to rewrite the patent laws, all in an effort to insulate themselves from the competitive threat posed by the very job engines upon which our economy and our standard of living are so dependent. The initiative is so self-serving, in fact that representatives for entrepreneurs and small business were not invited to participate at the March 30 Congressional hearings on patent reform.
America’s founders studied European patent laws when creating our government and intentionally implemented a patent system they believed enhanced society’s welfare. British patent laws were heavily skewed to the benefit of the wealthy, with patent fees levied at 10 times the annual income of the average British citizen. America’s first patent law, in 1790, levied a fee only 5% of Britain’s. The result: America, with half the population, surpassed Britain in patented inventions within 13 years. Less than 100 years later, the United States was the invention capital of the world, patenting inventions at three times the rate of Britain on a per capita basis. America’s innovation leadership is no accident. It is directly tied to a patent system specifically geared to creative and business minded inventors. The result is the most powerful economy in the world.
The competition is not sitting still. The U.S. PTO receives 500,000 patent applications annually. By contrast, China has developed a National Intellectual Property Strategy, aggressively targeting 2 million Chinese patent applications annually by 2015, spurring initiative and innovation with cash rewards, houses and tax breaks. The government has issued 250 specific measures for its various governmental agencies in areas including legislation, enforcement, trials and education, and it promises infrastructure for quicker patent filing, examining and granting of patents. This initiative is believed to be the only one of its kind. By 2020, China intends to quadruple patent applications domestically and in foreign countries, a staggering number.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission recently released a report called "The Evolving IP Marketplace," which concluded that intellectual property, including patents, comprises 80 percent of corporate net worth in the U.S. today. This is not lost on David Kappos, who has consistently and forcefully lobbied for increased funding for his department. He candidly acknowledges the challenges of working through his department’s backlog with limited resources. He admits that every patent application his department fails to process is an American job that is not created and could ultimately cost the U.S. economy "billions of dollars annually in foregone innovation." London Economics, a British research group, conservatively puts the annual tab of "foregone innovation" created by the current patent backlog at $6.4 billion each year.
The problem is not our patent system. The problem is a meddlesome Congress which starves and diverts resources from our economy’s best hope at regaining America’s worldwide competitiveness, not to mention American Exceptionalism.
Paul Ryan is CEO of Acacia Research, which manages patent portfolios for over 160 companies.
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12b9a8d6de716a59a2c09aa8619f8dfc | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/05/03/redhat-ceo-whitehurst-dont-be-tricked-into-cloud-based-lock-in/ | RedHat CEO Whitehurst: Don't Be Tricked into Cloud-based Lock-in | RedHat CEO Whitehurst: Don't Be Tricked into Cloud-based Lock-in
Jim Whitehurst, RedHat President and CEO What is the true value of the cloud? The original and essential value proposition of the cloud is to turn as many computing resources as possible into commodities that are available on demand. The value of the cloud lies in the fact that tasks that used to require an enormous investment in proprietary hardware can now be accomplished cheaply on commodity hardware that may not even be owned by the organization using them.But now, the cloud is in danger of becoming too commercially valuable to vendors. The economics of lock-in threaten to overcome the economics of efficiency. And so we must step back and ask ourselves: Is the point of the cloud that we continue our victory of standardization that leads to choice, or is the cloud going to become the next proprietary platform? If the issue of vendor lock-in is not carefully managed, the cloud could represent a step backward in terms of its impact on flexibility and choice in the enterprise. Jim Whitehurst, President and CEO of Red Hat, argues that the CIO’s greatest challenge is to make sure that with the cloud, choice grows rather than shrinks. He believes the next 24 months will be crucial in determining if the cloud becomes an open area in which most of the value goes to customers or a closed shop where the vendors reap most of the benefit. Whitehurst is discouraged as he sees an increasing number of cloud offerings on the market through which vendors attempt to offer their own unique, differentiated cloud products. “This is going in the wrong direction,” says Whitehurst. “Vendors don’t ask themselves,’How can I participate in a commodity market for the benefit of customers.’ They ask, ‘How do I differentiate?’” Whitehurst says. “What customers actually want is not differentiation; they want standardization. If you don't truly get the cloud to be a commodity, you're just rebuilding the vertical stacks of the 1980s.” While it’s true that the cloud is more flexible than the proprietary hardware and software stacks of prior eras, subscribing to one vendor’s proprietary architecture for the cloud will vastly reduce that flexibility, Whitehurst argues. “Lock-in will drive costs much higher and overwhelm the savings achieved through technical efficiency,” says Whitehurst. With Deltacloud, its open-source offering, Red Hat has set out to standardize the cloud, which has already begun to splinter into vertical stacks. Donated by Red Hat to the Apache Software Foundation, the Deltacloud project’s goal is to provide developers unified, simplified access to cloud engines such as Amazon, IBM, RackSpace, OpenStack, and Eucalyptus, and to virtualization technology such as EFX, VMware’s hypervisor. The idea behind Deltacloud -- and other efforts to provide one standard API for many clouds -- is to maximize choices for developers at each layer of the stack. The goal is to make the cloud more like Linux, that is, based on common standards, as opposed to becoming like Microsoft Windows, with one company in control, reaping most of the benefits. If Deltacloud succeeds, an application should be able to be created that can run on a VM in a data center, on a private cloud infrastructure, or on the public cloud without modification. This kind of flexibility and choice will be an essential tool for the contemporary CIO, whose role has changed dramatically over time. Running a company’s IT resources in the 1970s and 1980s was primarily about automating manual processes. The weapon of choice was a ponderously huge mainframe. Moving into the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, there was a recognition that technology had the power to change and improve--not just automate--existing processes. “Many people realized that rather than automate what they had been doing in the manual era, they should redefine the processes in the context of technology.’” Whitehurst says. This was the era of Michael Hammer’s Reengineering the Corporation and saw the birth of ERP systems, such as SAP. Business analytical skills became a key resume item. In the 2000s, IT became focused on assembling vast quantities of knowledge and information. CIOs then started making more use of business intelligence, assembling information collected by enterprise applications, and making use of it. “Today CIOs and technologists are asking themselves, ‘Wow, how do I change the business or the knowledge work around the business in the context of this abundance of information supported by business intelligence?’” Whitehurst says. In other words, the challenge of today’s IT is not just to assemble information but to understand the potential impact the vast pools of information can have on improving processes, on doing things in new ways. One key principle of this era is that IT must put information in the hands of users and provide them with the tools to make use of it and capture and propagate what they have learned. The skill set of the future-proofed, contemporary CIO revolves around understanding business strategy, managing services, and understanding that, fundamentally, the job is both about stabilizing the IT universe so that users can innovate, and applying their deep IT knowledge to today’s more user-friendly technology to help users “un-stick” their ideas and translate them into working solutions. “In the past, the CIO dictated the expectations their users had for what technology could do,” Whitehurst says. “Now, Google is every CIO’s competitor. Google has set the expectation levels their users have about the cost of technology, the richness of the experience, and how fast and functionality is added. So you're a CIO, and you have users saying, ‘Wow, I have all this huge business value. I know Google does this for free, and with rich content. Now I need this from you.’” This is where avoiding lock-in becomes crucial. The apps and tools users need may be mobile, on premise, in the cloud, or everywhere at once. It is vital that they are built in a such a way that they can be deployed according to user needs, not vendor dictates. With Deltacloud, Red Hat is hoping to return the speed and power of commoditized technology to CIOs and end users. The object of Deltacloud is to open up competition and choice in the cloud market, just as Red Hat Linux did in the hardware market, eliminating the switching cost of investing in a new stack of proprietary offerings and allowing cloud users to invest the savings into conducting application development that truly differentiates them. “The reason we offer so much value isn't that Linux is better than Unix; it's that we all of a sudden opened up competition and choice in the hardware layer,” Whitehurst says. “I can write software once, and just play the hardware vendors off each other. That leads to massive savings. With Deltacloud, it’s the same principle: Write your application once and run it internally at your own data center or move it to a cloud. We don't care; we just don’t want you to have to change your application.” Vendor lock-in is one of the biggest sources of costs in running IT, Whitehurst says. By using an agnostic approach to the cloud, such as Deltacloud, the benefits will accrue to the enterprise and not to the cloud providers.
Dan Woods is chief technology officer and editor of CITO Research, a firm focused on the needs of CTOs and CIOs. He consults for many of the companies he writes about. For more stories about how CIOs and CTOs can grow visit CITOResearch.com.
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ad13d0c412ee69f23e3ab2ceadca2535 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/05/12/google-disregards-the-law/ | Google Disregards The Law | Google Disregards The Law
Written By Scott Cleland
Scot Cleland: Do no evil.
Many people are scrambling to figure out the latest Federal law Google may have broken, given the company’s disclosure in its May SEC Q1 filing that it has accrued $500 million to potentially settle charges in “an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers.”
Given Google’s economy-wide advertising business and the slew of serious enforcement complaints facing Google, the latest law Google could have broken could be one of many.
It could have been fraud or misappropriation related to click fraud or changing clients’ ad default spending parameters without the advertisers’ permission. It could be related to ill-gotten Google advertising gains from promoting online piracy of movies, facilitating commerce in counterfeit goods like pharmaceuticals, or selling keywords that are trademarked to competitors. It also could be for running their ad auctions in an unfair, opaque, or deceptive manner resulting in overcharges or other harms to advertisers.
The wide range of plausible serious legal problems that could warrant Google paying at least a half a billion dollar fine, disgorgement or restitution to those harmed, unfortunately only underscores Google’s apparent disdain for obeying the law.
A disturbingly candid admission by a top Google lawyer in Stephen Levy’s book In The Plex - that “Google’s leadership does not care terribly much about precedent or law” - spotlights exactly why Google is serially under investigation by Federal and state law enforcement. Given that no other major public company claiming to be reputable faces the breadth, variety and seriousness of Federal, state and international law enforcement investigations that Google is experiencing, it is clear that the top Google lawyers’ assessment of Google’s leadership’s disrespect for the law - is sadly spot on.
It’s instructive to chronicle the myriad of current investigations of, and recent sanctions against, Google.
Google is under antitrust investigation on three continents. The EU and Korea are both investigating Google, and in the U.S., both the DOJ and the FTC are competing to lead a U.S. anti-monopolization investigation of Google. On top of that, Texas, Ohio and Wisconsin also investigating Google’s anti-competitive behavior.
Google is a unique repeat antitrust offender in having no less than five U.S. antitrust actions against it in the last 30 months alone:
An anti-monopolization case threatened in the proposed Google-Yahoo agreement. Both the DOJ and a Federal court opposed the Google Books Settlement because it would create a new online book monopoly. The FTC forced Google’s CEO off of a competitor’s board of directors (Apple’s). A DOJ court-enforced consent decree for Google’s illegal collusion to keep competitors from poaching Google’s employees. And a DOJ court-enforced consent decree on the Google ITA transaction to prohibit and police against certain Google behavior.
The facts make it clear that Google is all alone at the top of the world’s Antitrust Most Wanted List.
Concerning privacy laws, Google’s WiSpy privacy scandal of intercepting private communications of hundreds of millions of people worldwide has Google under investigation in several countries, including Germany, France, and Switzerland, among others.
In the U.S., the FCC is investigating whether Google violated U.S. anti-wiretapping laws, in addition to the 37 states that are also investigating Google for violations of state privacy laws. Concerning Google’s Buzz privacy scandal, the U.S. FTC in March charged Google with unfair and deceptive privacy practices.
Google is also the same company that via Google Earth exposed to the world classified photos of the roof of the White House and secret nuclear submarine locations.
Concerning public misrepresentation laws, the Department of Justice recently stated in court documents that Google misrepresented to the public that one of its suite of software services was certified by the government as secure when it in fact was not certified by the Federal Government, misleading the public that they were more protected than they in fact were.
One of the most irresponsible Google acts of the last year was the decision by the company’s leadership to index and make publicly accessible all of the stolen WikiLeaks documents that contained extremely sensitive national security secrets, confidential law enforcement information, private information and private property, claiming it was not illegal to do so. The government is now in the untenable position of not wanting to bring attention to the leaked secrets but wanting to deter such irresponsible and likely illegal behavior in the future.
In short, isn’t a key element of trust whether or not one can be trusted to follow rules and obey the law? The facts are overwhelming that Google is a serial scofflaw. The open question now is - when confronted with robust and committed law enforcement in the U.S. and around the world - will Google accept responsibility for its actions, make restitution and change their ways, or will they continue barreling down their current outlaw path?
Scott Cleland is the author of the book Search & Destroy: Why You Can’t Trust Google Inc., published this week by Telescope Books.
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ae5613c88f37202546bd4f1e5bea8108 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/06/20/a-look-at-the-boom-in-location-based-services/ | A Look At The Boom In Location-Based Services | A Look At The Boom In Location-Based Services
Written by Jeff Beard
The search for local products and services continues to shift away from the Yellow Pages and online directories and search engines to location-based services via a plethora of mobile apps.
Services like Foursquare, Facebook Places and ShopKick are leading the charge, as consumers shop on the go and share details about purchases with friends. The power of a personal recommendation is coming full circle as it becomes easier to share and find reviews and ratings on local shopping apps.
There are 6,000 location-based apps for the Apple iPhone alone, allowing users to share photos, videos and reviews. Smartphone adoption and the quick sharing capability of hyper-local information - and for some apps, a gaming element - is driving consumer use. Foursquare, which allows users to check in to businesses and be rewarded with special offers and badges, now has 7.5 million users - and the majority have joined in the last year.
As consumers jump on the trend, businesses are paying closer attention to their local-mobile presence. Merchants can pinpoint a customer’s exact location and reach them at the point-of-purchase, helping build loyalty, engagement and sales.
The 2011 MerchantCircle Merchant Confidence Index Survey of 8,500 U.S. small- and medium-sized businesses showed that merchants are using location-based services more for marketing. In fact, 32 percent of SMBs said they used Facebook Places to promote their business.
For businesses overwhelmed with the daunting task of making their presence known on traditional and new mobile-social search channels there are a few simple guidelines that can help build visibility on location-based apps.
First, a business must claim their online business listing and determine if they have a findable and tagable location. After a business listing is claimed, keywords and categories should be added to the listing. Many location-based sites provide guidelines for businesses on their Web sites. Next, a business should ensure their online listings within mobile apps have a consistent and accurate name, address, phone number, so that consumers can check-in to the right place. Not surprisingly, a basic name, address and phone number is the most desired result for consumers. Making sure these details are accurate and consistent online across the search ecosystem can be a challenge for businesses, especially if they’ve recently opened or relocated. And, if a consumer can’t find a business, they won’t be making a visit or a purchase, so this basic detail is crucial.
Location-based services apps give consumers freedom to create great content about a business, but consumers don’t always refer to a businesses’ name or address the same way the business does and can mistakenly create multiple social identities for a business, if they add a venue with an inaccurate name and/or address details. A great example is a pizza shop referred to by local consumers as Rosa’s, but with the official name Rosa’s Pizza and Sub Shop. If consumers create content about the business using Rosa’s, the business listing might be found with both names within LBS apps.
These multiple identities can often lead to fragmentation of valuable user experience content. For example, I checked-in to a local pub during my last trip to Boston. I noticed that the pub had five different listings available for checking in at that location with different name/address variations. Each of those check-ins had comments, reviews and other valuable content associated with them. Neither the consumer nor the business owner are getting the full value of the check-in because the tips and recommendations are scattered over numerous identities.
Foursquare, Facebook and other apps are working hard to condense and cleanse this information in an easy and authoritative way, but in the meantime businesses need to monitor their location-based service presence to ensure their business is found once and has a single social identity. That way when great content like reviews and photos are associated with the business, all of that valuable information will be found within one central listing.
Once businesses ensure they can be found and have a single identity, they should consider using incentives to build engagement once a customer checks-in. For example, American Eagle offers Foursquare users a 15 percent-off coupon when they check-in to stores nationwide. This is a way to reward loyal customers and encourage them to make another visit.
The bottom line is this: businesses that want to leverage the potential of location-based services apps must dedicate time to managing their online identity. These apps offer an amazing opportunity to connect with consumers on a very personal level, build a loyal clientele and, if done right, reach all of their customers’ social connections.
Jeff Beard is president and general manager of Localeze.
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ccedc9ff78a94b050d73053eb67f9e64 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/06/20/the-trouble-with-having-an-always-on-workforce/ | The Trouble With Having An Always-On Workforce | The Trouble With Having An Always-On Workforce
Written by Lakshmi Raj
Lakshmi Raj: Take a break.
“Work hard and get rewarded.”
Americans tend to think of this as capitalism at its finest. We work longer hours and take less vacation than almost everyone. Devotion to our jobs has become part of our DNA, to the point that - in many companies - “workaholic” is a good label, even a desired trait. Combine that with technology that lets people stay connected to their work 24/7, and the “always on” workforce emerges.
That can seem great to managers who want the highest ROI from their people. But there are hidden costs. In fact, an “all work and no play” approach can have a negative impact on your bottom line.
Overwork can reduce productivity
Many employees gain the respect of peers and supervisors by having a “can do” attitude that puts work above all else, including personal time off. It may be true that some people genuinely thrive by operating this way, but others do not cope as well with the fatigue, poor health and stress that can result. Inevitably, this leads to more sick days, doctor visits, and hospitalization than would otherwise be necessary. And even if it doesn’t get quite that severe, general burnout from inadequate “time-off” can take a toll on productivity during “time-on.” These factors directly impact your bottom line.
If that weren’t enough, the always-on environment can also foster poor morale, lower intensity of work and higher-than-desired employee turnover.
Project profitability can suffer
Organizations with a lot of project-based work face additional risks. You want your team members to tackle each task with enthusiasm and hard work, but it’s possible for energetic workers to expend too many hours on projects. When employees misunderstand or are unaware of the hours budgeted for their tasks, they may easily spend too much time on them, resulting in cost overruns and inefficiencies.
So it’s important that you communicate with your teams about the specific time budgets and expectations of a project. It’s also helpful for you to assess which employees are the best fits for particular tasks. Ideally you should gauge this from historical data on similar projects, including which employees have the appropriate skills. But without good analysis tools, this can consume a lot of time.
Unused vacation creates additional liability
An additional impact is the possibility of having to pay employees twice: Once for their regular salary and later for the vacation they didn’t take. PTO policies usually allow for accruals but the balances need to be paid, typically at the end of the year or when an employee leaves the company. This is a huge and growing problem for many employers. You also may need to pay unexpectedly for a temporary replacement if an employee chooses to (or is forced to) use vacation all at once.
How can you avoid these problems?
While there’s no way to prevent these issues entirely, you can minimize them by keeping employees informed, engaged and supported. Managers should communicate with teams upfront about the hours, expectations and goals of each project, so employees understand clearly how their tasks contribute. And they’ll perform better if you also make it clear they’re expected to take the time off they need and have earned. Better still: Build this into your projects’ schedules from the outset, and share the dates with your teams.
That’s easy with online time tracking software, but many companies still use outdated methods such as paper time sheets and Excel spreadsheets. Those guarantee that information is days or even weeks old, and increase the likelihood of errors. By contrast, Web-based tools provide comprehensive, up-to-the-minute views of what’s happening with each project and employee. With this insight, you more easily identify worker inefficiencies (and help them improve); track productivity; manage hours and schedules; and ensure work/time off balance.
Boosting profitability
Conventional wisdom says that the more your people work the more profitable you’ll be. But as outlined above, that can come at the cost of ill health, added liability, or poor morale. The key to profitability is helping employees maintain an optimum work/time off balance. How?
A great way is to show them how they contribute to profitability. Let them see how their utilization (productive versus non-productive time) does exactly that. Again, emphasize that your schedules provide for them to take time off. Then they can take responsibility for their personal utilization rate and not feel that the only way to seem efficient is to work without breaks.
Time sheet applications make this remarkably easy. The time savings alone can offset the cost of the software.
Of course, there’s more value. Filling in a time sheet helps personalize business goals for team members. When a time sheet calculates and displays the range of activities they work on and how much time they spend on each, employees see immediately how well they’re performing relative to their targets. This can be remarkably empowering and energizing. It helps workers think and act more strategically.
While innovations in technology make it possible for people to work many more hours, it also means employees are sometimes less efficient. They can overwork projects, and themselves. Without an easy way to track and analyze negative impacts, you may have more than tired employees on your hands—you could also have a diminished bottom line.
Lakshmi Raj is Co-founder & Co-CEO of Replicon, which provides software-as-a-service-based time-and-expense tracking software.
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644d0dd464f64d5cb3547218b1698a27 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/06/30/the-new-art-and-science-of-great-customer-experience/ | The New Art And Science Of Great Customer Experience | The New Art And Science Of Great Customer Experience
Written by Rob Tarkoff
Rob Tarkoff: For IT, it's a new world.
At last year's CEBIT conference, I spoke to a rather serious group of European Chief Information Officers on the topic of Customer Experience Management. I remember thinking how odd it must have been for CIOs used to thinking about SAP interfaces and Oracle data management problems to grasp the concept of using an “Outside-In” strategy for the development of core enterprise systems.
Fast forward one year, and customer experience management has emerged as the next big challenge and opportunity for enterprise business. To build a consistently engaging customer experience, enterprises must think about all of the ways that consumers engage with a brand across technologies and platforms. Customers are connecting through brick-and-mortar stores, social media, e-commerce, blogs, Twitter, mobile apps, mobile bar-codes and even geo-location services that offer personalization and immediacy.
Managing CEM is like herding cats. End user touch points continue to expand, and technologies are enabling better and faster ways for customers to get what they need from companies.
Traditional IT folks however, steeped in decades of development models where user design never even made the list of requirements, are struggling with the multitude of customer experience touch points. Existing IT systems were designed to address problems of data integrity, process management, security and speed for multi-channel transactions. They were not built to manage customer experience. Yet customer expectations for a better experience continue to rise. Users expect results to be fast and efficient, and interface design to be intuitive and convenient. To be competitive in today’s world, enterprise must become obsessive about customer experience management.
Adding to the complexities of the CEM landscape is the emergence of big data, as detailed in the recent McKinsey Report Big Data, The Next Frontier for Innovation, Competition and Productivity. In a digital world, consumers create enormous trails of personal data as they surf, browse, buy, share, and search across the Web. There are now large vats of information about products and services, consumer preferences, history and intent which can be captured and analyzed. Companies will begin to leverage this fire hose of data to design products that will better match customer needs which will provide an exponentially more valuable customer experience.
We are finally seeing companies start to assemble complete reference architectures for building modern day enterprise platforms. These offerings sit between traditional IT systems and a complex array of channels and devices that customers are using to access their services today. Capabilities range from simply enabling marketing within social communities, to dramatically improving digital marketing initiatives by upgrading content management systems.
Some companies are taking the lead to provide true customer experience innovation. Smart brands are figuring out ways to extend the conversation beyond the purchase experience, creating new customer touch points by encouraging shoppers to share ideas and stories post sales on social sites such as My Starbucks Idea and Nike+. These brands are embracing new channels and new enterprise systems are being built to support them by discarding the constraints of past practices, architectures, and business models that inhibit true CEM.
There is both art and science to building a great customer experience.
The art of building a great customer experience starts with Design Thinking and is captured at the beginning of any enterprise project. Envisioning and building the architecture for an excellent customer experience is the baseline proposition for any enterprise system. Those who doubt that CEM is critical for business applications should consider that in Apple’s last quarter they sold more iPads than Macs: two years ago the iPad category didn’t exist.
Design Thinking is something that is core to a consumer application’s inherent value. What we see coming down the pike is the opportunity for a long-term, industrial strength player to merge the world of consumer interface design with the challenge of rebuilding everything that touches the customer within the enterprise experience.
The science is achieved through measurement and optimization tools that only strong Web analytics can provide. Everything is measurable on the Web today. Mobile device services like geo-location allow marketers to capture not only Web history but current location to further segment audiences in ways that were never before imaginable. Most of these projects have been experimental, and a few have been conceived as long-term architectures that will withstand the test of time as new channels emerge.
Enterprise systems must undergo a radical transformation to meet the oncoming tsunami of technology and design changes for CEM. The McKinsey research predicts that we are on the cusp of a remarkable wave of innovation, productivity and growth thanks to new and emerging technologies. Enterprise companies that are seeking a competitive advantage will embrace customer experience management at all its touch points, to provide unique user experiences and offer services at key inflection points based on context. We are now transitioning to a multi-functional discipline which will define the next five years of consumer decision making. A great opportunity resides in transforming this experience layer into a system of differentiation for business.
Rob Tarkoff is senior VP and general manager, digital enterprise solutions, for Adobe Systems.
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9d7c04579753f0b83c1ce3391d602f0f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/08/05/have-you-been-hacked-this-month-oh-yes-you-have/ | Have You Been Hacked This Month? Oh, Yes You Have | Have You Been Hacked This Month? Oh, Yes You Have
Written by Andrew Kemshall
Andrew Kemshall: You've been hacked.
I’m assuming the majority of people are sitting smugly reading this thinking ‘of course I haven’t!’
You do everything you’re supposed to do, right? You’ve installed a firewall, you’ve got some anti-virus software, you never follow links in emails or open attachments from someone you don’t know or trust. Well, that’s all very commendable. But unfortunately it isn’t you that’s been hacked. It’s your information stored by the companies you trust that’s been compromised.
Since the start of this year, globally, there have been 365 data loss incidents involving 126,727,474 records. According to Juniper Research, 90% of organizations have suffered data breaches in one form or another over the past 12 months. Testament to this is the number of household brands that have inadvertently divulged the information of hundreds of individuals:
Epsilon’s mailing lists were breached which affected, amongst others, a number of U.K. brands including Marks & Spencer and Mothercare. Sony Playstation had its systems hacked with the personal information of 77 million gamers accessed. Numerous incidents by the U.K.'s National Health Service that holds millions of sensitive personal information records for almost every individual in the country. RSA experienced a breach that has jeopardized the security of thousands of users of its physical two-factor authentication tokens. Travelodge is still holding its cards very close to its chest but it has confirmed that the email address of some of its customers have been sent spam messages.
I would conservatively estimate that the average family’s personal information has been breached 10 times since June.
Organizations ask you to trust them to store your information. They even provide a box for you to tick to show that you don’t want your details shared with third parties. And, with the best will in the world, they don’t intend to spill their databases into the black market. However, the stark reality is that all too often someone’s lax security controls allow a malicious person to gain entry to your personal records.
Too Little Too Late
Each time an organization is breached we see them desperately trying to reassure customers that it’s all going to be okay. For example, Travelodge was at great pains to inform its customers that it hadn’t made any money by selling its customers email addresses or that their financial information was affected.
What organizations fail to grasp is that, each time your record is breached, organized cyber criminals are piecing together bits of information about you, your habits, and that of your family’s that together creates a complete picture.
There will be some that argue - what can be done with an email address? Well, a criminal could spoof you into responding to a phishing email purported to be from the bank you use or the store you shop at. If they have some further details about you, for example date of birth, children’s names, etc,. they may be able to ‘guess’ your password and access your account. Some of you may even recall, back in 2008, when Jeremy Clarkson (from the BBC show Top Gear) printed his bank account details in his column in The Sun believing there was little criminals could do with the information other than put money into his account.
Take Back Control
You can’t personally go into every organization and ask them how they protect your information. That said, perhaps if more people were willing to challenge organizations about their security strategy before doing business, companies might do more to protect your information.
However, given this isn’t going to happen any time soon, you need to treat your personal information as you would any of your physical possessions in the real world. Here is a list of things you can do to prevent cyber-criminals capitalizing on your personal information :
Put a lock on the door by installing a firewall and make sure it is properly configured and up to date Keep your operating system and browser patched and up to date. Install an alarm by using industry standard anti-virus software and make sure you install any updates. Malware infecting your computer can be an avenue for hackers to gain access to your personal data. Restrict key holders by not sharing your password with anyone. PCs allow you to create user accounts for a reason! Change your password regularly and make it hard to crack – but one you can remember without writing it on a post-it-note and sticking it to the screen! If you change your PC make sure you get the hard drive scrubbed. It’s amazing what criminals can pick up on eBay. Be careful about the personal information you divulge when filling in registration forms. Ask yourself whether the organization really needs that much information about you and, as importantly, can you trust them to keep it safe? They’ll tell you how they intend to use the information but don’t be afraid to ask how they’re going to protect it to. Be careful what you tell strangers on social Web sites and in chat rooms. Question the validity of emails you receive and never click on an embedded link or down load attachments if you’re at all suspicious. Most banks will tell you how they will contact you and what they won’t ask you to do. If in doubt call the organization the communication is supposed to have been sent by to allay your fears or confirm your suspicion. If you have children, and allow them to use your PC to access the Internet, make sure they know about online safety. If you are using your computer for work purposes and store sensitive data on it, get your employers to install 2 factor authentication, that’s something you know (like your own strong and made up password) and something you have like a “one-time” password which can be sent to you via an SMS message on any mobile device you own.
We’ve all got used to locking our front doors and keeping valuables out of sight. Until we can trust organizations to give our virtual possessions the same protection we need to take steps to protect ourselves.
Andy Kemshall is CTO at SecurEnvoy, a provider of tokenless two-factor authentication systems.
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309d1324ad31142bde4585207a21b542 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/08/14/custom-software-development-a-luxury-you-may-not-need/ | Custom Software Development: A Luxury You May Not Need | Custom Software Development: A Luxury You May Not Need
Written by Mike Taylor
Mike Taylor: Save your money.
Just as using all available horsepower can put undue strain on other components of a car, too much technology can halt your organization’s productivity and efficiency. Many organizations try to earn back their return on investment in project management enterprise software by activating every function and feature a technology has to offer or by custom developing an elaborate solution. After all, you paid for the technology. Why not make the most of it, right?
While this approach can be tempting, it usually ends up being counter-productive and will likely cost your organization more in the long run. Implementing enterprise technology solutions that are overly complex, difficult to use and expensive to maintain creates an unnecessary burden on your organization and its employees, resulting in a lack of adoption, negative ROI and disenchanted users.
Keep in mind that any technology implementation should be accompanied by a business case that clearly outlines how the technology will provide quantifiable organizational benefits by solving a problem or helping your organization reach specific goals. Once you have established your business objectives, the task of choosing the right technology is simplified. It is easy to rule out technologies that do not directly address your business needs, and it helps you to hone in on technologies that can. You will also be able to determine the level of customization necessary or decide if pain points can be addressed using existing technologies. The key is to apply the necessary amount of customization to your technology without overspending on unnecessary functions and features.
Below are five best practices for building project management solutions that work without over customizing your technology or spending unnecessary resources on custom development:
Start with an assessment
Far too often solutions are implemented without investing time into truly understanding the cause of the underlying pain points. Perhaps more importantly, it is critical to know what value solving specific pain points provides to your business. These key business drivers become the cornerstones for whatever solutions are undertaken and will help you stay laser focused on the business outcomes. An assessment may also reveal that some problems can be addressed without the need for intensive efforts to custom configure or custom develop complex project management solutions. Whether performed by an outside consultant or an internal team, the time and cost of an assessment is insignificant compared to the cost of implementing and maintaining an over-sized solution.
Make better use of existing tools
Do you know your existing software inside and out? Before you begin custom configuring or custom developing software, do a thorough review of your existing software to see if the solution already exists within your current system. If no suitable solution exists within your current system, then consider custom configuring a solution.
Evaluate existing project management processes and methodologies
Your organization’s pain points may not be caused by technology. The root of the problem may stem from immature or incomplete project management processes and methodologies. No amount of technology will be effective without solid project management processes in place. Before you start customizing your software, test your processes first. Align your organization’s ability to implement new technologies with your organization’s current level of process and human resource sophistication.
Don’t get distracted by bells and whistles
Always try to use out-of-the-box technology when possible, add third-party add-ons only when needed and create custom software only when absolutely required to minimize reliance on human actions for very complex or repetitive activities. Don’t deploy every feature available unless your business case demonstrates a need for it. Additional technology adjustments can be made over time to add more functionality as users become comfortable using the solution and begin to see wider opportunities in their situation for applying new functions and features.
Focus on adoption
Attempting to do too much too fast causes confusion, frustration, and ultimately leads to discontinued or improper use of a system. If the solutions is complex, consider doing the implementation in phases to allow users time to adjust to new processes and technology. Remember the value of keeping the solution as simple as possible to stay laser focused on solving one set of pain points at a time. Keeping things simple means quick wins for management and all stakeholders. These wins can then lead to expanding the system capabilities in the future.
Mike Taylor is founder and CEO of Innovative-e Inc., a business consulting and technology services company specializing in Microsoft SharePoint technologies.
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c3aea00a23a9105e9e5ad5292788c627 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/09/19/data-breach-fud-fear-uncertainty-and-dollars/ | Data Breach FUD: Fear, Uncertainty And Dollars | Data Breach FUD: Fear, Uncertainty And Dollars
Written by Ted Julian
Ted Julian: The high cost of getting hacked.
Data breach cost models are like the three bears' porridge: victim estimates are decried as too low, market estimates are too high, and everyone is searching for the estimate that's just right. Recent reported estimates from high profile breaches like Sony and RSA have stoked the fires again on the discussion.
To date, much of the discussion in the security industry has been focused on fixed costs, which are relatively straightforward to calculate. For example, it isn't hard to calculate the costs associated with sending out notification letters or setting up credit monitoring. Less widely understood and discussed are the variable costs related to incident response, which can differ widely from case-to-case and if unmanaged can run far higher than fixed costs. Fines associated with a failure to notify affected customers in a timely fashion, even for a modest incident of a few dozen records, can easily surpass $100,000. In the heat of a breach, many organizations don’t prioritize these regulatory requirements – they’re too busy collecting forensics to figure out what happened, or remediating affected systems to make sure it can’t happen again. But firms ignore these regulatory requirements at their peril. After all, the clock - as well as the fine meter - stops for no one.
Consider a recent breach at a regional medical center in the Pacific Northwest. About 20,000 records on current and past employees were made accessible via the Internet for nine weeks before the problem was identified. Information in these records included names and Social Security numbers. As soon as the medical center became aware of the breach, they enacted a response plan that included removing the information from the Internet and notifying the affected people. Currently, there is no evidence that indicates the information has been used illegally, but the medical center is providing the affected parties with free identity theft protection services.
Although the breach occurred at a medical center, no medical information was compromised. This may have caused the center’s information security team to wonder: how significant is this breach to our organization? After all, medical centers, hospitals and healthcare providers routinely house decades worth of their patients’ medical records. Given this information’s sensitivity, and in light of various regulatory requirements, healthcare organizations have erected substantial security measures to keep this data safe. Since the medical center ultimately succeeded in keeping this information private, this would seem to be a victory, right?
This is mostly true, in that the most sensitive data remained secure. But the response process can nonetheless be tedious and costly if not properly managed. For example, failing to address the breach in a timely manner could result in substantial fines from regulators outside of the healthcare industry. Virtually every state and territory in the U.S. has regulations in place that allow attorneys general to levy financial punishments against organizations that do not properly address breaches involving personal information.
Thus, even when the most sensitive data an organization holds is not lost, a response plan needs to be enacted to contain and control the situation. Not reacting appropriately to a data loss incident can have dire fiscal and reputational consequences for any business or organization as seen in numerous high-profile breaches this year. This brings about another question: is the response plan a facility has in place for responding to the loss of medical data applicable to the loss of non-medical data? Some regulators only need to be notified when patient medical information is exposed, but how do you efficiently determine whether those same regulators need to be made aware of a different sort of breach? For example, the same notifications sent to the media as required under the HITECH Act (a personal information protection act for healthcare data) may or may not be required by state regulations, depending on the states and the specifics of your incident.
Also consider that this incident affected both current and former employees. Current employees are easy to locate and contact, but former employees may have moved far away or changed their phone numbers (and possibly even changed their names!). If they have moved out of state, the organization is subject to that state’s regulations and their associated requirements and fines. For example, if former employees now reside in Ohio, the organization may be subject to Ohio’s 45-day disclosure requirement. In addition to different notification timelines, out-of-state requirements could trigger differing formats/content for notifications, more complexity, and stiffer fines. If we presume a modest distribution across a handful of states, this incident would carry with it approximately $610,000 in potential fines. This level of complexity is by no means particularly unusual, but it taxes otherwise sound incident response plans at most organizations. And if unmanaged, risks driving fines that far outweigh other incident response expenses.
Thus what may appear to be a low-level incident, since the most sensitive information was not compromised, can be just as complex and time-consuming to clean up as a widespread loss of medical records or credit card numbers. Because it can be difficult to gauge the severity of an event at first glance, all events discovered at an organization should follow a well-defined process that has been agreed upon by the Privacy/Compliance, IT, Human Resources, and Legal departments. And this process should consistently be applied to all events. Consistency not only ensures that all events are handled in a manner that is appropriate to their requirements and associated risk, but also establishes a track record that will hold up under the scrutiny of senior managers, regulators, auditors, and Attorneys General.
Beyond just fine avoidance, the implementation of proper data loss management process has other powerful benefits. Imagine being able to easily offer documentation not only for how the event in question was handled, but an audit trail that proves all events are handled in a timely and consistent fashion. An angry inquiry from the state attorney general is transformed from a nerve-wracking, stressful event to a straightforward, confident process that convincingly demonstrates professionalism and competence.
Ted Julian is chief marketing officer at CO3 Systems.
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f687d5b9cdd09a42ccb301eb39e30704 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/09/26/payments-2-0-drafting-off-the-e-commerce-and-social-wave/ | Payments 2.0: Drafting Off The E-Commerce And Social Wave | Payments 2.0: Drafting Off The E-Commerce And Social Wave
Written by Ryan Sweeney
Ryan Sweeney is a partner with Accel Partners in Palo Alto. You can download a longer white paper on the payments market from Accel's web site. Also, you can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanjsweeney.
Ryan Sweeney: How do you want to pay for that?
It is no secret that consumers are increasingly making buying decisions and executing transactions through online, social and mobile channels. In fact, our recent studies suggest that over 50% of buying decisions are initially researched via social networks or other online and mobile applications. This shift in consumer behavior has profound implications for the payments sector, an industry that generates worldwide revenues of more than $900 billion each year.
Recognizing the size of the payments market and the opportunity for technology disruption, a new generation of payments applications is emerging to challenge the dominant traditional players. However, in order to be a winner in this Payments 2.0 era, companies must design products and services that address the evolving behaviors of today’s Web 2.0 merchants and online consumers.
Merchants
Merchants are increasingly being faced with a multitude of challenges for accepting and managing payments as consumers look to pay with a variety of new instruments, including mobile phones, prepaid cards and forms of credit. These acceptance issues are exacerbated by factors such as achieving PCI compliance (the global standard for card payments and fraud prevention), serving international customers, attaining merchant accounts and deciphering amongst various payment brands.
While large online merchants like Amazon have teams dedicated to solving payment issues, the average small/mid-sized enterprise does not. This has created an opportunity for innovative new business models attempting to minimize online SME pain points. A few companies are notable in their attention to addressing the needs of online merchants. For example, Braintree provides software for online and mobile commerce companies to seamlessly integrate non-disruptive payment functionality. Flexible and developer-friendly APIs, as well as a rapid install period, allow Braintree customers to achieve PCI compliance and payment functionality almost immediately. Another company, OzForex, enables SME’s to make large dollar international payments online. The company has partnered with a number of global, money-center banks to help customer’s settle international payables, pay employees overseas, and assist consumers with cross-border payment needs (i.e. foreign university tuition).
In addition, a large number of merchants remain rooted in offline commerce. Studies suggest half of SME’s do not even take credit cards; in certain industries like rent payment acceptance, the percentages are staggeringly lower – in the single digits. A number of interesting businesses are emerging to help mitigate these problems. Some, like Yapstone, are working to move arcane payment sectors (like rentals) into the credit card and online payment world. Others, like Square, are betting that mobile devices and tablets can become the cash registers/POS terminals of tomorrow by offering merchants a new way to not only accept payments, but track customers and purchasing data as well.
Consumers
The best payment companies will allow users to make payments where they are, which is increasingly not in a store with cash or credit card in hand. Three trends – limited access, microtransactions, and mobile – will be particularly influential in shaping consumer payment solutions. Limited access refers to the multitude of consumers (both internationally and in the U.S.) who are not able to attain traditional credit or debit card products (due to age, level of income or geography) to make online payments. Accordingly, these users are forced to look to third-party options for basic online shopping, bill pay and credit. Companies offering these products are often blending payment and financial services applications in new, innovative ways. For example, Rush Card provides branded prepaid debit cards and other financial services (such as healthcare discounts, insurance and personal financial management tools) to “underbanked” populations, which function like typical bank-backed debit cards (and run on the Visa network) but are loaded by cash. The company has distributed over 2 million cards to date.
Microtransactions within virtual games and other online social networks have also created a large, growing payments market that is now yielding over $2.5 billion in revenue annually in the U.S. alone. Micropayment solutions tend to follow one of two forms: 1) consumers using third-party, prepaid products that are built specifically to make virtual purchases (such as Paysafecard); or 2) a virtual world, or Web site, that offers its own form of currency (for example, Facebook “Credits” or Tencent “Q Coins”).
Due to the immense popularity of smartphone devices, we expect global mobile payments volumes to grow at over 100% annually through 2014, to over approximately $55 billion per annum. It is still too early to know who will become the dominant mobile payments company, though the market includes payment networks, mobile operators, technology innovations and online giants like PayPal and Google. One example of a disruptive mobile technology company is VIVOtech, which provides contactless mobile payment and NFC solutions. To date, the company has installed more than 800,000 NFC readers in 35 countries (including retailers like McDonalds, Home Depot and Whole Foods).
The primary takeaway is that we are embarking on a new era in payments, in which the giant payments processors (like First Data) and card networks (like Visa) of yesteryear are not the only ones building businesses of value. Indeed, both merchants and consumers are increasingly looking to, and trusting, new companies for payments solutions. While investing in this category is not without risk, at Accel we look forward to partnering with entrepreneurs who see these market trends as an opportunity to build disruptive businesses.
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620e0c4176ad42b6ddfbf6f552c77f13 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/10/05/executive-profiles/ | Executive Profiles: Disruptive Tech Leaders In Social Business -- Rob Tarkoff, Lithium Technologies | Executive Profiles: Disruptive Tech Leaders In Social Business -- Rob Tarkoff, Lithium Technologies
Welcome to an on-going series of interviews with the people behind the technologies in Social Business. The interviews provide insightful points of view from a customer, industry, and vendor perspective. A full list of interviewees can be found here.
Rob Tarkoff, President and CEO Lithium Technologies
Biography Rob Tarkoff is president and CEO of Lithium Technologies, the leader in Social Customer Solutions. Before assuming the CEO role at Lithium, based in Emeryville, Calif., Rob was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Adobe Systems’ Digital Enterprise Solutions business unit that had annual revenue in excess of $1 billion. Rob pioneered Adobe's Customer Experience Management strategy, and was responsible for the core Acrobat, Adobe Connect Web conferencing, Adobe Digital Enterprise Platform, and customer experience management offerings. He oversaw the Web content management and digital asset management solutions gained through Adobe’s acquisition of Day Software. Rob also led Adobe's worldwide enterprise solution partnerships, including system integration partners and strategic ISVs. Before Adobe, Rob held several executive positions at EMC Corporation, Documentum, Inc. and Commerce One. The Interview
1. Tell me in 2 minutes or less why Social Computing is changing the world for your customers.
Rob Tarkoff (RT): Social computing is changing the way marketers and line of business executives interact with their customers. It’s not another channel. It’s a philosophy. It’s a key way that customers experience brand.
The larger question is: “How do you design, build, deploy and manage an effective solution in the midst of massive evolution?” And, unfortunately, there is no common interpretation of social. Some get it fundamentally wrong when they view this only as a channel. Some are enlightened with a new philosophy to serve their customers.
Today, we face an expectations-gap between the consumer world and business environment. Employees and customers yearn to experience software and offerings as social and community based, whether it’s shopping, gaming, or internal collaboration.
What’s interesting is there is a generational gap here. People are very interested in including their reference peer group in everything they are doing with recommendations and experience sharing. A slightly older demographic may see the value of social, yet have not implemented that into everything they do. They see it as a major advantage, but may not fundamentally know how they want to engage with the ongoing experience
Meanwhile, the 40 to 50 year old demographic is engaged. They have to think about social the same way they think about rich media. For this group, social media is a rich media. This medium provides new ways to interact and experience. They expect these paradigms to be designed into everything.
2. What makes social computing disruptive?
(RT): The major disruption is the change in the power balance. Consumers have the power because they can quickly amplify their experience with admiration for a brand they love or rally their connections to hear their injustice. Companies are responding as much as they are leading. We now have the customer-network effect.
With social on everyone’s mind, company authenticity gains in importance. You can’t hide stuff in a social world because everything you do is on Twitter and Facebook. The major disruption is people have all the power and expect to use the power to surface whether or not a company is authentic.
Is a company doing what it says it’s doing? Are they true to the core of what they are about?
People are more willing to tweet or post on Facebook about a bad experience than call a company to tell them they had a bad interaction. This makes the way companies must respond to customers very different. And, you need to build this competency into your call centers and at every customer touch point.
Now, the only way to differentiate yourself and experience is through service and customers experience. Some may some say this is a major challenge, but those who have embraced can make the social customer experience an opportunity to differentiate, accelerate sales, and build brand advocacy.
3. What is the next big thing in Social Business software?
(RT): We have spent years uncovering what makes communities so powerful. Today, we are working on helping business executives understand the business impact. There are a lot of start-ups and un-proven technologies in the market creating confusion. At Lithium, we’re interested in understanding the effect of communities on people’s loyalties. What makes a community tick? What makes them sustainable? What makes a visitor return? Tell their friends? These are critical aspects for business executives to understand and core to social business software.
Interactions must be much more interactive and dynamic. I can’t stress enough how important it is that companies focus on the health of their communities, guiding them to create, encourage and reward brand advocates.
Social business software also helps drive down customer service costs. But this really is so much bigger than containing costs. We’re changing the competitive dynamics across entire industries.
4. What are you doing that’s disruptive for Social Computing?
(RT): Social computing should be more then just building connections from one platform to another. We change things by building a system that is meant to strengthen ties between people. It’s the passionate fans, the ones who feel like they belong to your brand, that are changing the game. They’re offering up their evangelism, their ideas, they’re advice to other customers. Taking that kind of data and making it useful to an organization takes changes to both culture and technology. Social customers don’t care if your title is “customer service agent” or “CEO” – when they have a question, they just want an answer. ASAP. So if you can create a system where any employee or passionate fan can give information exactly when it’s needed, everybody wins.
And, unlike a general online community, Lithium has created methods for brand advocates to attain rank and reputation. These ranks are associated with their ability to view, respond, and engage with other members of the community. It’s not a volume-game. It’s based upon how others in the community value your contribution. It’s our not-so-secret sauce to encourage repeat participation and provide passionate members with a badge of honor for their knowledge and contribution.
5. Where do you see technology convergence with Social?
(RT): Companies are facing a complete transformation in how they must engage with their customers. With volume of information, people, and resources available, customers are savvier than ever. The incredible digital transformation happening across industries has created unprecedented opportunities for companies to forge deep relationships with their customers through habit-forming community experiences. Lithium empowers companies to find their biggest advocates, tap their passions, and motivate them to participate to develop deeply engaged customers and brand buzz while enabling a superior customer experience.
6. If you weren’t focused on Social Computing what other disruptive technology would you have pursued?
(RT): I’m a big sports fan and was a tennis player in college so sports play a role. For me, I’d be developing devices that retrain your neuromuscular programming to perform at the same level as 20 years ago. If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be doing stuff around energy and clean-tech. I see many opportunities in the world of electric vehicles. We’re finally getting traction. This is where Shai Agassi was ahead of his time. I see so much interesting stuff in the future of transportation that I’d be looking at these areas. Because I love the San Francisco bay area and I don’t think too much about where else I’d be.
7. What’s your favorite science fiction gadget of all time?
(RT): I would say it’d be a jet pack that I could ride to travel around Silicon Valley and avoid the Valley’s notorious traffic. Cheaper than a helicopter, and more portable.
Your POV
What do you think? Got a question for Rob? Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationRG (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) com.
The Tech Vendor series is closed. To be considered for the Business and Tech Innovators series, please reach out to Elaine (at) ConstellationRG (dot) com.
Disclosure
Although we work closely with many mega software vendors, we want you to trust us. For the full disclosure policy, see the full client list on the Constellation Research website.
Copyright © 2011 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC All rights reserved.
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e3c1ad1a06b6c5e158edd9dffafd220f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/10/18/going-solar-a-new-approach-to-measuring-performance/ | Going Solar: A New Approach To Measuring Performance | Going Solar: A New Approach To Measuring Performance
Written by Marc van Gerven
Marc van Gerven is managing director of Q-Cells North America.
Marc van Gerven: Measuring the whole.
We all know an energy revolution is coming, whether we embrace it or not. One day soon (give or take a few years), we’ll live in a world that generates energy in radically different ways than it does today. For me, that’s the exciting part of working in the solar industry. And I suspect, as most media coverage I read suggests, this is also the exciting part for most casual observers of the clean technology sector.
Yet, while we all enjoy reading articles about new gizmos, electric cars, space-age wind turbines, and of course, the latest advances in photovoltaics, these advancements represent only the surface of a much larger, systemic change in the way we will soon conduct business. New technologies, especially disruptive ones, bring with them new business models, new forms of measurement, new modes of communication and ultimately entirely new practices.
To drive the adoption of new things, we must be cognizant of the fact that change is difficult and often scary– even for the “experts.” Bridging the gap between what is well-understood today and what will eventually be commonplace in the future requires a great deal of confidence building. Ultimately, it comes down to predictability.
For the solar energy industry to truly mature, it needs a performance model that can offer investors confidence and predictability in their return on investment. In order to achieve this confidence, a new model must do more than merely offer performance expectations; it must assure system performance in the same way a traditional coal plant does today.
Until relatively recently, the solar energy industry had been too young, and the technology too new, to accurately predict return on investment. This led to the acceptance of simple models to evaluate the cost of solar projects. While these models are straightforward and present a more complete picture of a solar plant’s operational capability than even earlier metrics, they still only measure the sum of the parts rather than the whole.
Sadly, these and other simplified metrics are not focused on lifetime costs versus lifetime returns, and so they paint an inaccurate and short-term portrait of plant production. The end result is misaligned expectations, which could doom big, utility-scale projects to financial failure.
Fortunately, a new model for evaluating the complete system is emerging, the power plant performance ratio, which measures a system’s efficiency in converting solar radiation into electricity. Because the performance ratio looks at the whole, rather than the sum of the parts, this indicator can take into consideration individual variables that are ignored by current metrics. By measuring the performance ratio, power plant owners and operators can immediately and fully predict the performance of the plant over its lifetime, accurately assessing the value of the plant. For the first time, the business of solar energy is catching up to the promise of solar technology.
But there is more: Beyond the academics of measuring solar production in more meaningful ways, companies must ultimately execute on their promise of predictability.
This is where one’s business model enters the picture. If you measure systems holistically, then the solutions you offer should be holistic as well. Only players with integrated systems experience can wrap or bundle their offerings based on the real-world experience of product performance. With a project-level perspective, an experienced developer possesses a thorough knowledge of field-tested plant performance down to the level of the solar module and even the solar cell itself. This breadth and depth of knowledge delivers the data needed to offer true performance guarantees– all tying back to predictability and ROI.
In sum, thinking about the development and execution of solar plant production differently – with an emphasis on predictability and system-wide guarantees – is what will move the needle toward mainstream investment in solar energy.
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c2f61ccfa0f30602baa6cc5feb85ff32 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/10/31/the-new-factors-of-production-and-the-rise-of-data-driven-applications/ | The New Factors Of Production And the Rise of Data-Driven Applications | The New Factors Of Production And the Rise of Data-Driven Applications
Guest post written by Brian Gentile
Brian Gentile is CEO of Jaspersoft, a provider of business intelligence software.
Brian Gentile: The new new thing.
Classical economic theory describes three primary factors, or inputs, to the production of any good or service: land, labor, and capital. These factors facilitate production, but do not become part of the end product (as a raw material would). While these three factors have been much discussed and extended at different points in economic evolution, I believe that they, in any of the advanced economies of the world today, are vastly antiquated.
Sometime even prior to this new millennium, the primary factors of production have now assuredly become: Time, Information and Capital. I submit that the primary relevance of land and labor has diminished, not completely but measurably, from their prominence during agrarian and industrial economic times. In a sense, owning land and employing lots of people no longer highly correlate to a valuable and successful enterprise. Although in certain industries these two factors will remain prominent (think mining and energy production, for example). By and large, land and labor have yielded to two more important factors – time and information. The third factor, capital, has been and will continue to be of primary importance in any Western-style, capitalistic economy. Or perhaps more to the point, an enterprise’s ability to raise and efficiently deploy capital will continue in its historic prominence.
Because “capital” is more properly a subject for a financially-oriented (not tech-oriented) article, we’ll focus here on the change agents - time and information.
Time
Competing based upon speed and time delivers a primary marketplace advantage. Understanding and translating customer needs swiftly from concept to practice, in many ways, determines the success rate of an enterprise. In part, the pace of technology innovation itself has set a blistering schedule for the rest of the business world. And in turn, technology innovation enables all organizations to compete on the basis of time (and speed).
Many timelines describe technology advancements that have accelerated markedly and consistently, quickening even more so during the past 40 years. Now, the “Internet of things,” hastened by cloud computing and network ubiquity, unprecedented gains in microprocessor performance, rapidly declining memory prices (while capacities have skyrocketed), and the more efficient use of computing power and energy (virtualization of most every computing resources) provide new possibilities for dramatically reducing the time to learn, innovate, and execute on a business plan.
It’s claimed that Toyota developed the Prius in 15 months, using techniques and technologies specifically designed to accelerate their product development process. As the first mainstream hybrid drive vehicle, the Prius represents a substantial amount of complex software development (it’s basically a computer on wheels), providing a great case study for both software and manufacturing engineers. Its speed from design through development and deployment enables Toyota to stay ahead of its competitors and better satisfy customers first. To learn more about the concepts behind “Competing on the Basis of Speed,” a fun and interesting Google Tech Talk video provides ample illustration here.
[By the way, speed in project and product development also enables fast failure, which is actually a good thing and probably should be the subject of a completely separate article.]
Toyota offers a great example of using “Time” for competitive advantage, which absolutely relies on putting more data and information to work, bringing us to our second new factor of production.
Information
Much research has chronicled the onslaught of data and its growth, especially during the past decade. A recent study by IDC (and sponsored by EMC) predicts that the amount of digital information created annually will grow by a factor of 44 from 2009 to 2020, as all major forms of media – voice, TV, radio, print – complete the journey from analog to digital. Speaking at a tech industry conference in the summer of 2010, Google’s Eric Schmidt warned about both the opportunity and the responsibility this much information represents. “People aren’t ready for the technology revolution that’s going to happen to them,” said Schmidt.
Indeed, Google and countless other companies are thriving at the epicenter of this data explosion, both enabling and taking advantage of it. In many ways, they represent models for any organization to more effectively use information to its own advantage.
To this end, harnessing information as a primary factor of production will mean recognizing and effectively planning for the four “V’s” of data: volume, velocity, variety and veracity.
Volume: The sheer amount of data being digitized, maintained, secured, and then used. Knowing the organization’s current needs and having a plan for its growth is fundamental. Velocity: The speed at which data must be moved, stored, transformed, managed, analyzed or reported on in order to maintain competitiveness. This will vary by organization and application or usage. Variety: The different types of data, from source (origin) to storage and usage, must be well understood because competitiveness requires access to the right types of data more than ever. From aged flat files to spatial and unstructured data, a plan must be in place. Veracity: The truthfulness or quality of data can either lead to poor understanding and decisions that belie progress or deliver a powerful jolt of reality that fuels new insight and ideas. Ultimately, data quality may be the most important frontier.
Being a master of the four Vs puts one in much better position to use information broadly for competitive advantage. To be sure, broad usage of information is key, because of the need for speed. The greater the latency to insight and decisions, the more likely your competitor will out-maneuver, using the advantages of time and information to his advantage. So, how can analytic insight be infused into more business operations and reach more corners of the organization? Analytic applications.
The Rise of Data-Driven Applications
Previously, I’ve written about the dramatic increase in the development and deployment of analytic applications to help provider greater business insight more precisely where and when it is needed. I’ve described ERP, CRM and other production applications as becoming commoditized and that real enterprise information systems value is coming increasingly from their analytic counterparts that live within or alongside the transactional system. Insight extracted from transactional data and ideas borne from those insights will create more value than even the process improvements that can come from capturing the transactions.
These data-driven applications are the logical manifest of the explosion in information and the need to harness time for greater competitiveness. Importantly, any software system that gathers or creates data has the possibility (or the responsibility) to expose that data in analytic views, helping anenterprise uncover patterns and gain new perception that would otherwise be missed, which improves performance. But, how assured is this causal link?
For the first time, causality between data-driven decision-making and organizational success has been proven in a study published (2011) by MIT and University of Pennsylvania researchers. Touching on the very thesis of this article, their report begins:
“Today, organizational judgment is in the midst of a fundamental change - from a reliance on a leader’s “gut instinct” to increasingly data-based analytics. At the same time, we have been witnessing a data revolution; firms gather extremely detailed data and propagate knowledge from their consumers, suppliers, alliance partners, and competitors. In particular, since 1993, most large companies have invested in large enterprise resource planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and similar enterprise information technology (Aral et al., 2006; McAfee, 2002). These systems collect terabytes of detailed data on operations, suppliers, customers and other aspects of the businesses, increasing the amount of data by 10-fold to 1000-fold. Mobile phones, automobiles, factory automation systems and other devices are routinely instrumented to generate streams of data on their activities, making possible an emerging field of “reality mining” to analyze this information (Pentland and Pentland, 2008). Manufacturers and retailers use RFID tags to deliver terabits of data on inventories and supplier interactions and then feed this information into analytical models to optimize and reinvent their business processes. Similarly, clickstream data and keyword searches collected from websites generate a plethora of data, making visible interactions and patterns that previously could only be guessed at.”
The study concludes by mathematically proving that firms adopting a data-driven decision making approach have output and productivity about 6% greater than their other investments and information technology usage would imply. And, these firms create higher asset utilization, return on equity and market value. Finally, data that supports the value of putting data to work!
Newly energized by this research, I recently met with a company creating a new-generation analytic application that has transformative possibilities within its industry: Retail.
Tomax creates management solutions for the retail industry, serving more than 100 retail chains with its Retail.net solution. The Tomax solution spans the entire demand-driven retail continuum, from planning and merchandising through in-store execution. Fundamental to their transactional application is the Performance Management module, which enables each retail customer to track and report on essentially all elements of salesresults and manage to key performance indicators.
Tomax has determined the most frequently used data sets and delivers them through standardized report views, which enables a very broad performance-oriented user base. It also recognizescustomerswill want some ad hoc report information delivered through an analytic view,so Retail.net’s performance moduledelivers this flexible insight in nearly real-time to satisfy its more sophisticated users.
Tomax is proving its clear understanding that the data created by its Retail.net application is just as valuable as the transaction system itself. In turn, its customers are proving this value by adopting the Performance Management module energetically.
Embracing the New Factors of Production
Success in the new economic battleground is based on our differential use of time and information, the two new factors of production. Because we can have no more of the former and an unlimited amount of the latter, our need for efficiency is never-ending. Harnessing information in ways that creates new insight and ideas will increasingly come from data-driven applications. The analytic views provided by these hard-working applications are fueled by the volume, velocity, variety and veracity of data available to an organization – which provides big incentive to understand and maximize these dynamic data characteristics. Embracing the new factors of production is now required. Nothing more than ultimate economic competitiveness is at stake.
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3adf6da0cd4bc0fe5e59430e21b57bd9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/11/06/3-ways-to-hack-into-asias-new-social-boom/ | 3 Ways To Hack Into Asia's New Social Boom | 3 Ways To Hack Into Asia's New Social Boom
Guest post written by Thomas Clayton
Thomas Clayton is CEO of Bubble Motion, a social messaging service.
Thomas Clayton: Looking East.
Just last month, Facebook hit the 800 million-user mark. It is foreseeable that in the not-so-distant future, Facebook will become the first service in history to reach 1 billion users – a truly unfathomable number just a decade ago. Social networks like Facebook are reaching unprecedented numbers of users, due to the proliferation of the Internet and mobile devices across the globe. Still, social networks have the potential to reach so many more.
For many, Asia is the key to reaching a global audience of massive scale. The vast region that makes up East, South, and Southeast Asia is quickly developing into a mobile social powerhouse due to its enormous (and increasingly developed) population. Although Internet and smartphone penetration are lagging far behind North America and Europe, the market opportunity there is truly massive; even with a much smaller smartphone penetration percentage, China is now the second-largest app market in the world, with 20% growth month over month.
However, taking advantage of Asia’s scale is a complex undertaking. The disparity in wealth, language, and culture across countries raises a number of hurdles. As always, the first step to overcoming these hurdles is to understand the market.
Below are the three most important lessons on Asia’s social and mobile frontier.
Price Your Product By Country, Not By Region:
Asian users are six times less likely than North American and European consumers to download the paid version of an app compared to a free one. Aside from Japan and South Korea, price sensitivity coupled with lower purchasing power means that free alternatives will always prevail. This is especially true in countries like India and China, where “free” is abused. So for most markets, the model of choice should gravitate towardsfreemium: the service is free to download, while add-ons and premium services are paid.
In parallel, lower credit card penetration makes it even more difficult for paid apps to take off, and also stifles in-app purchases. So even as the smartphone marketgrows, app spending lags.
Due to price sensitivity, monetization in Asia is much more challenging. Unlike in the U.S. and Europe, it is extremely difficult to build an ad-based business in Asia, where digital ad-spend is still in its infancy. Mobile companies cannot rely on ad-based monetization just yet, although it is increasing as smartphone penetration picks up as well. For the larger countries, like China and India, where smartphone penetration percentage remains in the teens, it will take even longer to catch on.
Don’t Be Afraid to Partner With Mobile Operators:
In Asia, feature phone usage far outstrips Internet usage and the only players who can reach feature phone users are the mobile operators. They are key to mass distribution of any service that aims to reach billions.
In the West, operator networks are often referred to as “dumb pipes," but with intelligent engineering, powerful voice and text services can be built into non-data-based mobile networks.
Most importantly, operators can charge users with micro transactions, even without credit cards. This makes them hugely useful in monetizing services – a great alternative to ads. Operators are currently clamoring for value added services to their network in order to monetize their enormous subscriber base and set up ad opportunities for brands.
Most U.S. companies will not want to deal with mobile operators, which can be very challenging. Carriers tend to be large and bureaucratic, with regional branches granted greater autonomy to make decision. Working with one carrier might be more like working with 10 – one for each region the operator is deployed in. In addition, mobile operators will also demand extreme localization – make sure to push back and keep it to what is only absolutely necessary.
Give Local Consumers More of What They Want:
Finally, it’s important to identify the most recent social trends to leverage pre-existing use cases.
Japan, with its extremely high mobile and Internet penetration rate, is the most advanced mobile market globally. Japanese users are also far less price sensitive than other users – they are willing to spend money on services such as virtual goods. They also prefer local networks to global ones: Facebook has stagnated in Japan, while gaming and blogging services provided by the likes of DeNa, GREE and Mixi continue to dominate. Paid service add-ons and partnering with a local company do a long way.
Social networking is already large in Japan, but it has plenty of room for growth. 90% of mobile users will access the Web on their phones this year – a massive number – and, surprisingly, the most prevalent reason for users accessing the mobile Web has been for blogging. Blogging and micro blogging is a huge phenomenon in Japan. This is another reason that foreign services like Facebook have stagnated or failed to take off in Japan, while Twitter has seen strong growth. Tap into the Japanese blogging phenomenon and you have much higher chances of success.
Meanwhile, Indonesia is a social media phenomenon. Indonesian users have adopted and repurposed social networks at lightning speed – just 18 months ago, Facebook was barely used, in favor of other networks. Now, Indonesia is Facebook’s second largest market and Twitter’s third largest market (accounting for 15% of tweets globally). Engagement is not just high in the more urban areas, but all throughout the country.
Finally, India is a true mobile-first country: there are 9 times as many mobile users as there are Internet users. Seven immense mobile carriers split 90% of the market share, with the final 10% split among six others.
In India, social networks are more of a popular way to share content, rather than communicate. For that, text and voice SMS is the preferred method. Lastly, micro blogging is growing quickly in popularity, both via text and voice.A celebrity culture also lends itself to creating megastars like Bollywood actors and cricket players. So the trick in India is to build a feature phone friendly service that acts as a value add to Indian operators and bring in celebrities for marketing purposes.
In Conclusion:
Asia’s mobile market is enormous and should be the focus of any social service strategy. However, the Asian mobile market is more heterogeneous and services must be built to entice both feature phone users as well as smartphone users. Mobile operators have many key assets: they offer broad reach and distribution as well as micro-billing capabilities. Global networks like Facebook and Twitter are doing well, but local players continue to dominate more insular and particular countries such as Japan. Think simply and creatively: creatively using an unassuming feature phone application such as SMS on which to base your service, has much wider reach than any online or smartphone strategy.
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963b24e58d35b22f85267d6dd1d0141a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/11/11/the-grinch-goes-digital-why-cyber-monday-is-hacker-heaven/ | The Grinch Goes Digital: Why Cyber Monday Is Hacker Heaven | The Grinch Goes Digital: Why Cyber Monday Is Hacker Heaven
Guest post written by Jorge Steinfeld
Jorge Steinfeld is VP of Information Systems at Check Point Software Technologies.
Jorge Steinfeld: Shop smarter.
Cyber Monday means big deals for businesses and consumers, but it’s also a big deal for hackers. As one of the biggest online shopping days of the year, Cyber Monday presents a huge opportunity for hackers to take advantage of retail promotions, popular holiday shopping search terms and online purchasing trends. Without the right precautions, a businesses’ payday could be the ultimate payoff for these Internet grinches.
In 2005, Black Friday was joined by the online shopping phenomenon known as Cyber Monday. Six years later, it’s become the biggest online shopping day of the year. In its first year alone, 78 percent of online retailers said that their sales increased substantially over the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004, according to Shop.org/BizRate Research. What many businesses don’t realize, however, is that cyber criminals are also gearing up for the big day.
One of the first places hackers are focusing on this holiday season is social media. They are busy creating fake profiles on social networking and e-commerce sites. These profiles and Web sites are meant to mimic well-known corporate brands, and coax users into clicking on their content. As a result, malicious content can now lay hidden within Twitter posts and Facebook links. Once an employee clicks on those links, your entire corporate environment can be compromised.
Ho, ho, ho.
And while people might think they know better than to click on a malicious link, a recent survey conducted by Check Point Software showed that phishing and social network tools are the most common sources of socially engineering threats – a hacking technique that traditionally leverages a variety of Web 2.0 and social networking applications to gather personal and professional information, creating specific profiles on individuals and tricking them into divulging sensitive or personal information. This can range anywhere from personal credit card numbers to information about their employer’s organization. The report, titled “The Risk of Social Engineering on Information Security,” revealed that 86 percent of IT and security professional are aware or highly aware of the risks associated with social engineering – and nearly half of enterprises surveyed admitted they have been victims of social engineering more than 25 times in the last two years.
This brings home a stark reality – technology alone isn’t enough to protect an organization. People are a critical part of the security process as they can be misled by criminals to make mistakes that lead to malware infections that put themselves and their companies at risk. Many organizations simply don’t pay enough attention to the involvement of users, when, in fact, employees are a critical part of the security process – but can also be the weakest link. A good way to raise security awareness among users is to involve them in the security process and empower them to prevent and remediate security incidents in real-time.
It is extremely important for businesses to take the necessary precautions and share best practices with employees before attacks can occur, especially during the busy holiday shopping season. The good news is that these schemes are often avoidable by applying a few Cyber Monday and holiday season security best practices.
Here are a few tips that businesses can do and implement to ensure that everyone has a safe holiday season:
Ensure your company has the latest intrusion prevention updates in place – as the first line in network defense, businesses can take preemptive measures to preventing known vulnerabilities from being exploited and ensure all endpoints and systems are secure. With a majority of retailers today using social media to offer promotions or coupons, a solid Application Control and URL Filtering solution can help mitigate the risks employees may encounter with millions of websites and Web 2.0 applications accessible to users. While social media can be a great engagement tool between businesses and customers, it also gives hackers an opportunity to spread malicious content and attacks virally. Application Control identifies numerous programs and applications with the ability to block or limit employee usage based on their specific business needs. It can improve system integrity and enable businesses to secure and manage the use of thousands of Web 2.0 applications in the enterprise without inhibiting the flow of business. Businesses need to encourage employees to only visit sites that are SSL secured. Depending on your browser, websites with SSL certificates will have a padlock icon or your address bar will change color and users can click on the padlock icon to verify the identity of the certificate owner. The website URL will also start with https://. SSL uses a complex system of key exchanges between your browser and the server you are communicating with in order to encrypt the data before transmitting it across the Web. Ensure business and employee computers have antivirus and operating system patches that are up to date. This is a critical step in preventing hacking attempts. Many employees browse and purchase items through mobile devices, increasing the risk with of mobile security threats and fraud. It’s important to know which mobile devices are accessing company resources and enforce the appropriate levels of network access control. Many retailers increase network traffic and capacity to accommodate for the rise in online shoppers during Cyber Monday and the holiday season. They do this by implementing flexible hosting sites or cloud sites for a short periods of time (i.e., a month or for a two week sale period). However, what happens to the data at the flexible sites once the contract ends? Retailers must have the appropriate internal security procedures enforced on temporary sites as well to ensure all corporate and customer data remains protected. Ensure existing security gateway can handle the increase in traffic – especially for businesses, such as retailers, personal banking sites or e-commerce sites that anticipate large volumes of traffic.
The bottom line is that the holiday shopping season means more security threats. As the biggest online shopping day of the year, Cyber Monday can offer a golden opportunity for some great online deals. For businesses, it’s important to be aware of the plethora of online shopping scams, hacker attacks, fraudulent emails, e-cards and phishing schemes that are known to increase this time of year. Companies that take proper precautions by leveraging a combination of technology and user awareness among their employees can greatly reduce their security risks this holiday season.
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a9a80c03804cb064cdc96ecea643f272 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/12/01/how-the-mobile-web-changes-the-seo-landscape/ | How The Mobile Web Changes The SEO Landscape | How The Mobile Web Changes The SEO Landscape
Guest post written by Duncan Heath
Duncan Heath is Senior SEO Engineer at Fresh Egg SEO, a leading UK-based SEO and web design company.
Duncan Heath: Optimizer.
The year 2000 may have seen the dot-com bubble reach the limits of its inflation, but at that point the Internet marketing industry was really only getting started. Rapid increases in personal computing accessibility and the unstoppable growth of search have, among other things, facilitated a very buoyant market in online promotion via SEO - search engine optimization - and related services.
From the beginning, the various milestones, modifications and perhaps revolutions in Internet marketing stemmed largely from changes and innovations in software. Chat rooms came and went, some search engines got lost, whilst others found their way, and algorithm updates caused disruption and delight in equal measure (it’s a zero-sum game after all). However, while software will undoubtedly continue to impact, it is hardware that is now taking its turn to shake up the industry and potentially change the working landscape for internet marketers and website owners around the world.
Mobile internet usage is set to overtake desktop Internet usage by 2014, and what’s more, the way people use their mobile devices to browse is very different. This represents a colossal threat and concurrent opportunity for Internet marketers, and it is only those that can truly appreciate how the Internet will be consumed via these various new mobile devices that will prosper. Here are just some of the ways Internet (and search) usage is likely to change.
Using mobiles to type-search. Using a traditional keyboard to enter a search query into Google is usually easier and quicker than doing the same on a mobile device. It is highly likely therefore that users will search for shorter keyword strings on mobile devices, or rely more heavily on tools such as predictive text or Google Suggest. This will likely influence the way sites optimise their content and carry out their link building. Voice search. In contrast to the previous point, there has been a rise in popularity of using voice search on mobile devices via Google or Yahoo search apps, or Apple iPhone’s Siri for example. This may make searching quicker and easier, but it should be noted that people tend to search differently when speaking, using more of a conversional sentence structure. For example, you may type-search “best netbooks”, but voice-search “what are the best netbooks available." This is likely to influence a site’s keyword targeting. Search by image. Tools such as Google Goggles allow users to very quickly search the Web using images on their phone or photos taken on the fly. Applications of this technology include taking a picture of a book in a store to find the best price, or using the picture of a restaurant front to find customer reviews. Ensuring your content and imagery are optimised for this form of search is likely to become increasingly important. Industry trends. As mobile Internet data shows, uptake levels are not necessarily equal across all industries. Travel, for example, is one area where growth in mobile Internet (and search) is increasing at pace, and is therefore likely to be a strong focus for this market moving forwards. Sociability. 91% of mobile Internet access is to socialize, compared to 79% on desktops. If Internet marketers haven’t been listening to the “search turning social” talk of recent years, then they certainly should be now. If they still cannot engage with individuals and groups on a social level they will be missing out on a massive proportion of mobile Internet usage. Geo-targeting. As well as a number of apps utilizing a user’s geo-location to enhance their functionality, so too does Google use it to show localized search results. If you hadn’t noticed, mobile devices tend to be used in multiple locations, therefore search results are highly likely to fluctuate more on mobile devices. Making sure your website’s “local” offering is up to scratch should be towards the top of your priority list. Immediacy. At the recent World Travel Market in London, a Google spokesperson revealed stats from ebooker.com saying that 70% of mobile hotel bookings were same-day check in. They also showed stats from easyJet stating 38% of mobile bookings were for flights departing within 10 days, compared to only 13% from desktops. This clearly shows a more immediate-requirement trend in mobile usage, for travel market at least, and this certainly might influence the kinds of content/offers that sites show to their mobile visitors.
It is true that the mobile Web is still in its infancy, but given the rate of adoption and innovation in the area, it already deserves a great deal of attention from Internet marketers, regardless of specialism. Ben Wood, mobile phone analyst at CCS Insight said the mobile phone may be "the most prolific consumer device on the planet". Much like all Internet marketing that has gone before, research, innovation and testing will form the building blocks of a stable and lucrative mobile Web campaign. However, those that cannot see a need to seriously evolve their approach as a result of this shift will struggle.
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f3365c075444fca8c0c6132f282b8176 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/12/12/how-small-businesses-can-hire-faster-and-better/ | How Small Businesses Can Hire Faster - And Better | How Small Businesses Can Hire Faster - And Better
Guest post written by Jerome Ternynck
Jerome Ternynck is CEO of SmartRecruiters.
Jerome Ternynck: Seeking jobs.
The nation's unemployment rate showed a modest improvement in November, falling from 9 percent to 8.6 percent. By most accounts, however, the jobs situation is still a mess and a troubling impediment to the improvement of our economy. Our government debates and proposes policies to encourage job creation, but the consensus of this crisis is that there are simply too few jobs available. Yet according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are well over three million jobs up for grabs. How do we reconcile these two figures?
Some people blame a skills or location mismatch. So in theory, the three million open jobs are for software developers in San Francisco and the 14 million unemployed are factory workers in Detroit. But jobs are open all over the country and according to a recent Manpower survey, the most difficult skills to find are skilled trades, sales representatives, engineers, drivers and accounting/finance professionals.
We often hear that employers are flooded with resumes and/or have unrealistic expectations in a buyer’s market.In reality, the average number of resumes received per job is five and companies that have an open job simply need help. Since resources are scarce in times of crisis, I would tend to think they need help badly. All companies want to do is fill that vacancy without making a mistake, and without spending too much time and money on recruiting. Small businesses in particular suffer from high recruiting costs. A recent study from Bersin & Associates found that small firms pay a median figure of $3,665 in recruiting costs per hire, compared with $1,949 per hire, at companies employing 10,000 employees or more.
Friction in the labor markets
The process of finding good candidates and selecting the best one to make a great hire is complex, difficult, expensive and time consuming. Large companies have access to advanced software and professional recruiters and understand how to run excellent referral programs and how to leverage social media for recruiting.
Yet small companies, the ones that employ 70 percent of the workforce and are supposed to get us out of trouble by creating (and filling) jobs, don’t have these same resources and expertise. So they ask friends, maybe place an ad somewhere, don’t often receive get qualified responses, waste time interviewing the wrong people and after spending a couple of months looking, they give up or compromise and hire someone that doesn’t fit, and thereby create even more problems. This is a widespread problem: 80 percent of businesses report difficulty to hire, Bersin reports.That friction in the hiring process is what creates the gap between employers and candidates.
Can small businesses bridge the gap?
What's required to change this dynamic of high costs and complexity for small employers is a change in process and the ability to better leverage existing technologies. Recruiting starts with a simple question: How can I find good candidates? The answer is to cast a wide net.
Create a concise and compelling job ad, put it online so the major search engines easily find it, make the job page mobile friendly, display it on your website and on your company Facebook page, share it with your network on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, send it to free job aggregators like Indeed or Simply Hired, and post it on job boards that attract your target audience.
If you follow this fairly basic regimen, you will get good candidates within a week. There are a few rules that every company should follow to get the best results: does your ad read well to attract the right candidates with the best keywords, does it appear on the sites where your target audience will look, it is easy to apply, and is it easy for your team to filter and track candidates?
Here are a few barriers to these rules, and ways of getting around them:
Where to post the job?
Companies often don't know where to start because there are so many job sites and communities online where their ad could appear. The best first stepis to create an excellent career site of your own before signing up for any job boards—yet few small companies bother to do this. Any CMS software or recruiting package can help you create a professional, simple page that lists actual jobs and includes links for applying.
Why is my job ad not resulting in quality candidates?
Top- notch candidates will run screaming from your job ad if it requires 15 or 20 minutes of manual data entry.Allow candidates to apply with their social profile or click a link to attach their resume and cover letter. You’ll easily lose up to 50 percent of candidates if the applicant process requires a lengthy form.
How do I use social media?
More and more, job hunters are using social media to look for work. If you have a Facebook page, be sure to include a jobs tab so that you can turn fans into hires. You may also consider using LinkedIn to advertise jobs and even Twitter or industry-specific social media sites. Encourage your team to help advertise jobs on their own personal social media pages. That provides a viral, potentially massive audience for your opening, yet within a controlled audience of people who are more relevant to your company than if you posted the ad on a general job board.
How do I make a hiring decision quickly yet smartly?
Large companies have proven, formal processes for screening, interviewing, selecting and tracking candidates, and may incorporate expensive personality or skills testing programs that a small business can’t offer. A small company can make it easier to review and track candidates, share their profiles across the company, invite candidates for interviews, and collect and share feedback until an intelligent collaborative decision has been reached. This applicant management process can live on a corporate intranet page with some basic functionality for sharing and routing documents and creating a Facebook-like zone for sharing comments, or through using third-party recruiting software.
If you have everything in place as I've outlined above, you’ve still got the hardest job ahead: properly evaluating the candidate for a good fit for the role and your organization. At the end of the day, it's up to your managers’ judgment and analytical skills to make the right choice in hiring, but getting to that decision point should be much easier from here on out.
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1a0feb37a8c14b4793f186da05788ed9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/01/27/parents-buy-kids-legos-but-throw-away-the-instructions/ | Parents: Buy Kids' Legos, But Throw Away The Instructions | Parents: Buy Kids' Legos, But Throw Away The Instructions
Guest post written by Steve Vassallo
Steve Vassallo is a general partner at Foundation Capital and a father of three.
Steve Vassallo: Please, don't glue your Legos.
When I was 10 years old, I built a monster truck out of Legos. It had a four-speed transmission and fully working transfer case, so you could switch from two- to four-wheel drive. It had articulating suspension and steering, a snowplow, and a winch. It even had working headlights. All this meant two things were inevitable: that it would be a long while before my first kiss, and that I would one day become an engineer.
Lego, loosely translated, means “to put together” in Latin. But “to put together” doesn’t fully encompass the value - and purpose - of those buckets of colorful bricks. Legos are about putting together, then taking apart, then reassembling in new ways. That’s why I got so upset recently when a friend told me that she and her daughter had built a pirate ship out of Legos, arranged the pieces until they were just right, and then glued the whole thing together. That, I exclaimed, is not the point.
Legos unleashed my creativity when I was growing up. They drew out the part of me that had to know what things looked like from the inside out, how they worked, how they might work better. The hours I spent with them — sprawled on the floor, building and rebuilding, puzzling and visualizing — became my first lessons in engineering. There was magic in those little bricks. There still is.
Since that time, Legos have changed. Instead of all-purpose boxes of bricks, with no rules or instruction manuals, the company now sells Star Wars Legos and Harry Potter Legos, complete with step-by-step instructions and stated objectives. Follow these steps to build a Jedi Starfighter or Hogwarts Castle; when you’re done, your creation should look just like the picture on the box. These Legos require a level of precision, and a measure of patience. But no longer are they about imagination; instead, the point is replication. In an essay in his wonderful collection, Manhood for Amateurs, Michael Chabon described the transformation like this: “Where Lego-building had once been open-ended and exploratory, it now [has] far more in common with puzzle-solving, a process of moving incrementally toward an ideal, pre-established, and above all, a provided solution.”
It’s not hard to understand why it all happened this way. At the beginning of the last decade, Lego almost went out of business. A deal with LucasFilm to create a Star Wars product line turned everything around. In the midst of the recession, when other toy companies saw declining sales, Lego sales rose almost 19 percent. Today, more than a quarter of their worldwide retail sales come from these licensed products. My 10-year-old self might have advised against the deal. The businessman I’ve become understands its necessity.
Still, we lose something when the nondescript buckets of freeform Lego bricks are moved to the back of the toy store, while the highly specialized Disney sets fly off the shelves. We lose that chance to inspire a future engineer, the one who will grow up to revolutionize solar power, or make the iPhone as obsolete as Steve Jobs made the Discman. This isn’t just about Lego bricks and Star Wars kits; it isn’t just about playthings. It’s about the way we prioritize and encourage creativity in society. Which is to say that we don’t do it nearly enough.
At a time when our economy depends increasingly on the ingenuity of scientists and engineers – and at a time when both are in perilously short supply – we need to remember that there is more to cultivating innovation than adding more advanced placement classes in physics and chemistry. Math and science education are critical, of course; but as building blocks, they are insufficient. What we need, above all, is the spark of imagination. The passion for tinkering. The hunger for exploration. The realization, even at age 10, that you can create real, tangible things if you think about it long enough, and work at it hard enough. Albert Einstein once said that he was “enough of an artist to draw freely on [his] imagination” which he valued even above knowledge. “Knowledge is limited,” he explained. “Imagination encircles the world.”
At the most basic level, Legos - the classic, old-fashioned kind - are about possibility and creative thinking-in-action: the idea that the only limitations on what you can create are the boundaries of your mind (and, perhaps, the number of Lego bricks at your disposal).
Sometimes it seems to me that, beneath all the worry about STEM - science, technology, electronics and mathematics - education and funding and our global competitiveness, there’s a sense that we’re fast approaching our limit as an “innovation nation”—or worse, that we’re already there. In new product development where I began my career, we emphasize “design thinking,” the idea that when you have a problem to address, you start, first, by imagining its solution. That kind of thinking requires a belief in possibility, and the idea that our future is what we choose to make of it. Too much of that is missing right now. But it can be found again.
My advice in all of this is not to throw out your Legos altogether, or to refuse to buy the licensed set your child is clamoring for. It’s still a great product, as my own children will attest. But when you get home from the toy store, throw out the instructions. Your children won’t be able to replicate the Star Wars space ship. But, without a roadmap, they may find a way to build a better one.
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267bcbf2807fd14d150c0718e0377a88 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/02/12/conversations-on-cybersecurity-part-3-why-you-arent-protected/ | Conversations On Cybersecurity Part 3: Why You Aren't Protected | Conversations On Cybersecurity Part 3: Why You Aren't Protected
Guest post by Alan Paller
Alan Paller is director of research for the SANS Institute, a provider of security training and certification.
Also read: Conversations On Cybersecurity: The Trouble With China, Part 1 and Conversations On Cybersecurity: The Trouble With China, Part 2.
Alan Paller: Think you're protected? Think again.
When we last left the attorneys, they had learned who attacked them and why, they had learned how the attackers got into their systems, and they were waiting to learn why the tools that security vendors had sold them didn’t protect their computers against the targeted attacks.
Attorneys: We hired a security consultant, a couple years ago, to come in and do a security assessment, and we put in the defenses he prescribed: automatic updating for Windows, antivirus on every computer and firewalls between our systems and the Internet. He said that was “best practice.”
Alan: Those moves are valuable, but they don’t protect you against targeted attacks. The folks doing targeted attacks exploit your need to make your computers useful in your business to get around your defenses. Does that make sense?
Attorneys: (looking confused)
Alan: Guess not. Let’s take the targeted attack one step at a time and see how each step evades your defenses.
First they get your e-mail addresses. You have no defense against that because as a going concern you need to receive e-mails and that means your e-mail addresses need to be available at last to some people. And since most email addresses use one of a few common forms like first-dot-last-name @ your-company-dot-com, it’s not hard to guess them.
Attorneys: Wait, how do they know which of the many forms we are using?
Alan: They search for several names using different forms in Google until they find some notes your partners have posted, or, failing that, they send innocuous e-mail to each form of address at your organization and the form that doesn’t get rejected is the correct one.
So, moving on, their second step is to send a spoofed e-mail (one that looks like it comes from a trusted friend or client) to one of your key employees or partners and the e-mail includes an infected attachment. Here’s where your firewall or your anti-virus or your fully patched operating system would be expected to help; but they don’t. The firewall doesn’t stop the e-mail because the spoofed e-mail looks just like every other e-mail you get. If the firewall stopped this one, it would have to stop them all and that would disable your business. The firewall doesn’t strip the infected attachment because that’s not what firewalls generally do – that’s what antivirus tools are supposed to do. But the increased sophistication of modern attackers overwhelms your AV tools. An arms race between attackers and AV researchers is being won by the attackers. They write a new exploit; the AV guys write a defense; the attackers reverse engineer every AV company’s defense and change their attack to evade them all.
So that’s how infected attachments get through firewalls and past AV systems.
Attorneys: Before you go on, does that mean we can throw away the AV tools? They sound useless and their marketing people never let on that they are losing the so-called arms race.
Alan: No, you need AV to block old attacks, but lower cost, second-tier AV tools usually outperform the high priced ones from the big name vendors in head-to-head tests measuring which AV tool finds the most infections. You ready to go on?
Attorneys: Yeah. Why doesn’t the fact that we turned on automatic patching stop the infected attachment from working on our system?
Alan: I am impressed. You get an A for knowing how the attack works. Microsoft updates don’t protect you because the majority of the successful infected attachments are not going after flaws in Microsoft products. They are going after flaws in applications like Adobe Reader or Flash. Many, many people do not update those applications. Adobe Reader displays PDF files and Flash shows videos and animated advertisements. Huge numbers of flaws have been found in them.
Attorneys: Why didn’t our consultant set us up to automatically patch those?
Alan: Probably because when he came several years ago, most of the attacks were not targeted and the ones that were targeted usually focused on military and defense contractors and used flaws in Microsoft products like Word or Excel or PowerPoint that are patched automatically along with the operating system if you set up the system correctly. This is the arms race made real. We patch the Windows operating system, they go after Word and Excel. We path the flaws in Word and they go after Adobe Reader and Flash.
Attorneys: Is there any way out of this maze?
Alan: The Australian Defense Signals Directorate has found a surprisingly effective formula for dealing with these targeted intrusions and it seems to work in all kinds of organizations.
Their innovation will be the next installment of this series of posts.
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8ef30910d94ab900000432144d23be36 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/02/17/facebook-will-timeline-force-brands-to-shift-strategy/ | Facebook: Will Timeline Force Brands To Shift Strategy? | Facebook: Will Timeline Force Brands To Shift Strategy?
Guest post written by Reggie Bradford
Reggie Bradford is founder and CEO of Vitrue, a provider of social marketing software.
Reggie Bradford
Facebook is personal. It’s the way people are presenting their lives to their friends - and with Facebook’s new Timeline feature, it’s possible that it just got a bit more personal. This intimacy is quite evident to those that saw Zuckerberg present the nostalgic Timeline video at the company's f8 conference. The reason for this is that Timeline has the ability to unpack individual instances and present an aggregated, multimedia view to our friends. We are no longer living from status update to status update; now we are continuing to author our own personal story. So, before I get too poetic and digress into a tangent - reminiscent of Don Draper’s Kodak carousel presentation—let’s focus on the reality of the situation: how will Facebook Timeline impact brand pages?
It’s not a question of “if” Timeline will be arriving for brands, but “when.” So for a utility that boasts more than 800 million active users and supports almost 3.5 million brand pages, it’s vital to start thinking about how companies need to invest in this switch.
Timeline is Important: We're ALL Storytellers
Weren’t we before? While Timeline lends easier access to our past - which some folks are a bit weary of - what you cannot fail to miss is that Timeline introduces a new realm of insights and interactive capabilities. Does that mean that brands have to start from scratch? Not at all. However, you have to be agile. What worked before may not work as well with Timeline. Investing time in understanding how this shift impacts the way your brand’s story is presented to your social community is vital to any organization’s success.
As a hypothetical example, let’s take a lens to Spotify. We see how consumers engage with Spotify; blips of real-time updates on listening behavior on your Ticker and subsequently the Newsfeed. With Timeline, Spotify could offer more context and translate this activity on their Timeline as the aggregate story of music consumption across Facebook. What a fantastic way to tell their story. Spotify could tell the January 2012 part of their story by sharing the aggregate behavior of specific regions. For example, Spotify audiences in Atlanta could see the top 10 songs in Atlanta over the past week. Of course, to Spotify’s advantage, this relevant and engaging post will be fed into users’ Ticker and subsequently their Newsfeed, spurring organic traffic.
From Insights to Interactions
The big picture is that Timeline will offer brands more insight into their audience’s interests, how they interact and more - and with that presents an opportunity for brands to capitalize on a new surplus of data. If Timeline enables brands to have more personalized insights, then the opportunity to build even more meaningful interactions with social audiences is upon us. A company like Nike, with their Nike+ technology, could see that there are more than a handful of runners training in the morning hours in a specific area in Minneapolis, perhaps training for the Twin Cities Marathon. Nike can illustrate this aggregate behavior but can also take the next step and offer to share the top running courses for those training or even recommend breakfast locales near the common courses for these runners to recharge post-run.
Facebook is still personal and Timeline will call for more meaningful interactions. Moderation will become more important – so forget inundating the Newsfeed with irrelevant attempts at mass appeal. Instead, emphasize the chapters of your story that are relevant and interesting to specific audiences. No one wants to read a dull story, let alone engage with one. And in the same vein, as brands like Nike and Spotify can allow audiences to build out their personal Timelines with respective actions of “running” and “listening,” understand what’s relevant and actionable with your brand – can you provide a way for your audience to tell a more interesting story via their Timelines?
Timeline is Coming for Brands. Definitely.
It’s still necessary to make it into the Newsfeed to direct folks to your company's Timeline. So understand what your brand assets are and continue to present a captivating multimedia snapshot of what your brand is about, at any given time. And to that point, knowing that Timeline is visually stimulating, images will become increasingly important in making it into the Newsfeed more often. Recent Vitrue data shows that apps are the most engaged with content on Facebook, followed by video, image and then text. So this naturally plays well considering apps and multimedia will be enhanced with Timeline. Marketers should take note and be sure they are providing a healthy combination of all for maximum effectiveness.
Every brand has all the "ingredients" for a successful Facebook marketing strategy and while Timeline might mean that the “recipe” is changing, what’s perhaps most interesting is that it is giving brand loyalists the opportunity to help you spice it up. Give your audiences the power to help you tell your story and make it personal.
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36ece5bc8fc175f16b5c8151c94f1237 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/02/29/facebook-timeline-for-brands-its-about-storytelling/ | Facebook Timeline For Brands: It's About Storytelling | Facebook Timeline For Brands: It's About Storytelling
Guest post written by Jamie Tedford
Jamie Tedford is founder and CEO of Brand Networks, a social solutions company.
Jamie Tedford
As anticipated, Facebook Timeline for Pages was announced Wednesday. The buzz is deafening. Us social media types don’t lack opinions or channels to share them. Among my network, the chatter is mostly positive, obsessed with aesthetics of the interface, new navigation patterns and the placement of things like Apps, Photos and the like. But this, my “friends,” is not the real story here.
Yes, this is a beautiful unified design standard that is way more appealing than the default “Wall” tab on Facebook. The organizing principles appeal to Brand Managers in the same way it did my type A friends upon Timeline’s launch for personal pages. But if you look behind the headlines, functional analysis and feature listings, there’s an underlying storyline that needs to be told. The story, is Stories.
If you read between the lines, you’ll discover that the entire Facebook platform is organized around the generation and amplification of stories. Marketers should be singularly focused to do both effectively. Here’s how: Timeline helps brands become better storytellers and extends the reach of those stories to more customers and prospects.
Every brand has a story. Tell yours.
Few of us know the origins of the products we use and companies we love. Did you know American Express started as a courier service in the late 1800’s? Coca-Cola was invented as a concoction to cure headaches. Paul Sperry founded Sperry Top-Sider after studying the ice-grabbing paw of his loyal dog Prince in 1935. The Timeline is equal parts archive and scrapbook, capturing the rich history of brands and surfacing it for discovery and sharing.
Stories get the “star” treatment.
At Brand Networks we no longer refer to updates as “posts.” They are Stories, carefully curated for discovery and sharing. Important Stories can now maintain the spotlight at the top of the Timeline by assigning it a “Star” or “Pinning” it. Good storytellers are also good curators, so they know “starworthy” stories when they read or write them. Stop posting updates and start sharing Stories.
Apps are story generation engines - verbs are the fuel.
Facebook coined the term “Social by Design” to describe the process by which brands, and by proxy developers, should be creating experiences with social in the DNA. What this means to us is that apps only succeed if they are designed to help users share Stories. The placement of the application navigation along the top of the new Timeline Page is a lot less important than the fact that apps can create “custom actions” like “pinning” and “listening.” Stories need action, so build your apps around verbs.
A story worth telling is one worth amplifying.
Stories that are not amplified rarely reach beyond your existing inner circle. Facebook’s Sponsored Stories are the answer to amplifying your brand’s stories to and through your existing Page likes and App users. In marketing circles, customer acquisition and retention campaigns are often linear. On the Facebook Platform, this whole process is a circle. With the advent of Featured Stories, the circle now reaches mobile users. Great stories, when amplified, are the key to both acquiring new customers while engaging and retaining your existing ones.
A picture paints a thousand words.
Life magazine taught us that images are so often more powerful storytellers than words. This is empirically confirmed on the Facebook Platform. Any admin of a Facebook page can rattle off a percentage increase when a post includes a compelling image vs. text alone. The weighting of Stories with a photo on Timeline for Pages is significant. Stories without images will be lost on Timeline as they are in people’s news feeds.
Are you ready to make your company, your brand, your agency a better storyteller? I can tell you my firm was not. Six months ago we had media planners who planned Facebook Marketplace Ads to acquire new fans. We had content managers who planned messaging for our clients to keep their fans engaged. These people sat in different areas of the office, used opposite sides of their brains, and rarely found reason for collaboration. That is until we centered ourselves around one simple organizing principle. The same principle, by the way, the new Timeline and the Facebook platform is centered around: Stories.
Now we have one team, Story Planners. They sit together and use both sides of the brain at the same time. They plan stories using images and words in creative ways. They prioritize and in many cases localize these Stories to suit the business objectives of our clients. They turn editorial decisions into advertising plans and amplify the stories that matter. They use analytics to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.
So don’t obsess about your new Timeline cover photo or how a user’s eyeball will scan your new page layout. Rather, spend that time to become the storyteller your brand deserves, because every brand has a story.
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b0c8b2c32405489b64ee8761664f4106 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/03/22/battery-chemistry-is-getting-in-the-way-of-apples-vision/ | Battery Chemistry Is Getting In The Way Of Apple's Vision | Battery Chemistry Is Getting In The Way Of Apple's Vision
Guest post written by Noam Kedem
Noam Kedem is VP of marketing for Leyden Energy, a Fremont, California-based producer of Lithium-imide batteries for consumer electronics, electric vehicles and storage applications.
Noam Kedem: iPads are hot.
The new Apple iPad is a hot product in more ways than one. A small firestorm has blown up in user forums as consumers report the device getting unusually warm, or even shutting down when exposed to hotter than normal conditions. Apple’s response so far is that the device is “operating well within our thermal specifications.”
Speculation about the cause has focused on the power-hungry LED-backlit Retina display, the new A5X processor with its quad core graphics, the 4G LTE chipset present in some of the flavors offered and the new, larger battery pack.
The uproar has overshadowed another aspect of the new iPad that’s really more interesting: the fact that for the first time, a flagship mobile product from Apple is thicker and heavier than its predecessor. Not a lot - 0.6 mm and 51 grams - but significant enough for a company that lives on the cutting edge of design and has always been known for pushing the envelope on sleekness. Thinner and lighter was the mantra until now. What’s going on? Has Apple blinked? Is this Apple’s “New Coke”?
Hardly. The reality is much simpler: bleeding-edge features impose bleeding-edge power requirements. More power means a bigger battery and more heat generated during operation. For instance, the “resolutionary” Retina display has double the LEDs, which some experts estimate means 2.5 times the power. The 4G LTE feature appears to contribute to the problem too, as users have noted less heat with it turned off. Most important, bleeding-edge features mean more consumer engagement with graphically-mesmerizing applications, so there’s less time to cool down. In a way, the heat complaints are a testimony to Apple’s ability to create products that consumers can’t put down.
The fundamental driver of both heat and bulk - and not just in the New iPad - is the fact that Moore’s Law only works for electronics, not for the batteries that power them. The lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries that power the iPad and virtually all other mobile devices are still based on a chemistry from the early 1990s. Since then, Li-ion batteries have barely tripled their volumetric energy density, while processor transistor count has zoomed more than a thousand-fold.
When Apple’s engineers summed up the power requirements for the new iPad they hit lithium-ion’s chemistry ceiling. They needed to increase battery capacity by 70 percent, but there was no magic wand available, so the new battery pack is just over a millimeter thicker and roughly 80 grams heavier than that of the iPad 2 - both about at 60% increase. The rest of the capacity increase comes from the kind of efficiencies Apple is well known for. But even with Apple’s brilliant engineering, the end result had to be a thicker and heavier iPad. Not by much… but with Apple, one can assume this didn’t go down well.
Worse, there’s a vicious cycle involved. Li-ion batteries don’t like elevated temperatures. Without going into details, suffice it to say that a hotter battery means shorter cycle and calendar life. What this means is that every time you charge and discharge a Li-ion battery, it loses some run-time and finally can’t run the device long enough between charges to satisfy the user. Plus, even if a battery isn’t cycling, heat shortens its life. This degradation is due to irreversible chemical changes that double in speed with every 10° C increase in temperature; according to Consumer Reports, the New iPad runs 6-7° C (12-13° degrees F) hotter than the old one.
But wait, there’s more! Batteries - especially the high energy-density batteries required by devices like the iPad - generate more heat the faster they discharge (which is what higher power consumption means) and, equally important, the faster they recharge. Some Web postings indicate it takes as much as 4 hours to charge the new iPad from a 31 percent to a 65 percent state of charge, which may reflect the impact of this fundamental physical limitation on recharge speed, despite how unhappy it makes users.
Only time will tell what impact these realities will have on the New iPad, but since battery replacement for the iPad means giving up that can’t-put-it-down experience (and all your personal data) until Apple gets it back to you, any perceived shortfall in battery life is going to mean unhappy customers.
What the kerfuffle over the New iPad really illustrates, then, is that in the race to make mobile devices both thinner and more powerful, which are pretty much opposing vectors from a battery design standpoint, manufacturers are pushing the limits of existing Li-ion battery chemistry to the point of failure. There’s a lot of promising research into new battery chemistries out there, and some new solutions are already on the market, including one that eliminates hydrofluoric acid - the most corrosive of all chemicals - from Li-ion chemistry to deliver dramatic improvement in thermal stability, cycle life and calendar life.
In the meantime, Apple has a huge reservoir of goodwill with consumers to draw on, and rightfully so - its world-class product design and interest in supplying their customers with the latest and greatest has long been a core principle. That will buy the company time to address the battery problems. What we’re seeing in the short term is simply the problem of any company that pushes the envelope as aggressively as Apple does: as the old saying goes, it’s the pioneers who get the arrows in the back.
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f95fb304603202b0c52ff062826a480f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/05/03/5-ways-the-corporate-pc-market-is-evolving/ | 5 Ways The Corporate PC Market Is Evolving | 5 Ways The Corporate PC Market Is Evolving
Guest post written by Barry Phillips
Barry Phillips is chief marketing officer at Wanova.
Barry Phillips
Far from being dead, the personal computer is alive and well. But in many ways - hardware, software, usage patterns - the PC continues to evolve, and nowhere more so than in the enterprise.
Here are five ways that the corporate PC is changing:
"Bring Your Own Computing" is not only a growing trend, but it’s disrupting the balance between user freedom and IT control.
BYOC involves more of managing the workspace than the device. IT will need to find a way to manage the corporate information assets while letting users have the freedom and personalization they want. Microsoft Windows 8 introduces a capability where the PC can be split into two different sides, the user side and the corporate side. This will enable IT to manage the corporate Windows side while enabling the user to have his or her freedom on the personal Windows side. If the user corrupts his or her personal Windows side, it will have no effect on the corporate Windows side.
Mobile devices drive the centralization of apps, files and profiles to the cloud.
Users want common information across all devices including their PC, and the cloud is the natural hub for this information. There first needs to be a mechanism that migrates the user’s existing information to the cloud and then a component that synchronizes application, file and profile information across all the user’s devices. A change to information on one device should be centralized to the cloud and then by synchronized with all the users other devices.
The PC is for work creation and mobile devices are used for review and tactical work.
A smartphone can be used to review short emails and delete ones that are not relevant. With a larger screen, a tablet can be used to review long emails and respond appropriately. Heavy work creation such as spreadsheets, document creation, presentation creation will still be done on a PC.
Desktop virtualization and desktop management will have to become one solution.
The new function will need to be combined to give IT the management cost savings it needs while also providing users with the PC user experience they demand. Today, desktop virtualization and desktop management solutions overlap in how they manage Windows. DV reduces management costs, but burdens the user who can’t work offline, has difficulty over a slow connection, or with multimedia. On the other hand, desktop management enables the user to work offline or over a slow connection, and allows the use of multimedia, but burdens IT. This needs to be fixed. Desktop virtualization can no longer just provide the management cost savings for IT, but a substandard user experience and the reverse goes for desktop management.
Hardware performance is outpacing the software need for the performance for business.
The new Ultrabooks from Intel provide incredible performance. While great for gaming, this performance will soon exceed the performance for applications that many business users need. This extra horsepower provides the capability for the BYOC model as described above. This steady growth in performance for the same or lower price, just as you see with other electronics like big screen TVs, also drives down mid-range and low-end model prices. Lower prices, increased power efficiency and simplified PC management resulting from number four above will make it difficult for thin client terminal vendors to compete – especially with such lower volumes.
Overall, the paradigm of the desktop begins to take a backseat to user applications, files and profile information. While the concept of a desktop on a PC will remain for some time and will need to be managed appropriately, there is no similar concept on a mobile device. We are already starting to see these types of consumer clouds set up for music, photos, contacts, etc. from Apple and Amazon. It is just a matter of time for the same type of cloud to exist for business so that users can access their applications, files and profile information whether they are on a computer or a device, physical or virtual.
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849970b2aed5c7ce1424c3be616a0652 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/06/25/the-jobs-act-how-to-ensure-it-pays-off-for-entrepreneurs/ | The JOBS Act: How To Ensure It Pays Off For Entrepreneurs | The JOBS Act: How To Ensure It Pays Off For Entrepreneurs
Guest post written by David Lawee
David Lawee is VP for Corporate Development at Google.
David Lawee
One of the brilliant things about the Internet is how easy it is for anyone, anywhere to start a global business. Everyone can be an entrepreneur, and thanks to the passage of the JOBS Act, everyone can be an investor. The JOBS Act is a good step in creating a nonpartisan, positive agenda for economic growth, so it’s worth giving a close look at how this bill passed.
The short answer is: Washington listened to the entrepreneurs and small businesses of this country.
Key parts of the bill didn’t come from lobbyists, established companies, or other usual suspects. Instead, a core provision on “crowdfunding” was first drafted in 2009 by one entrepreneur, who posted the idea on a blog. A small group met and collaborated online to develop the legislation further and started a petition called StartupExemption.com. Then, they rallied other entrepreneurs and Internet users to eliminate outdated regulations that restrict access to capital for small businesses and entrepreneurs through the Internet. And that’s how an idea became a law.
The provisions of the law around crowdfunding are specifically worth celebrating. Why? Because today entrepreneurs are facing a global capital crunch: by some estimates, only 2.3% of startups are able to receive private financing, and the number of bank loans to small firms decreased significantly during the recession. So crowdfunding - seeking small amounts of cash from large numbers of people - makes it easier for entrepreneurs to raise the capital that they need to grow their businesses. This is a significant step in the right direction for our struggling economy; data proves that net job growth in the U.S. economy comes almost exclusively from new businesses. Without access to capital, these businesses struggle to grow and create the jobs our economy so desperately needs.
Using online services like Kickstarter, AngelList and IndieGoGo, you can post an idea for a new project, ask other Internet users for financial support, and raise little bits of money from lots of people, the “crowd.” On Kickstarter last year, 10,000 different projects raised nearly $100 million combined, and over one million people have financially contributed. In 2010, artist Steve Taylor raised more than $300,000 to adapt the best-selling book Blue Like Jazz into a feature length film, getting donations from nearly 4,500 people. But the opportunities extend beyond online businesses; even the manufacturing sector is ripe for economic growth, with innovations in 3D printing that could allow people around the country to build and sell their own creations, with just a small injection of capital from the crowd.
Crowdfunding may sound odd, but is it any stranger than the existence of Wikipedia, which just a few years ago would have seemed impossible? The Internet allows collaboration and growth at a previously unimaginable scale, enabling small ideas to become world changing ones. Crowdfunding draws on the same large-scale collaboration that Wikipedia does, and routes it to small businesses, the growth engine for our economy.
Regulatory barriers were created with good intentions: protecting investors against fraud. But they have also limited the full potential of crowdfunding. Today, current regulations only allow you to offer non-monetary rewards to donors: Steve Taylor gave some donors a “producer” credit on the movie, for instance. But existing regulations prohibit you from offering the crowd a financial return on their investment, like a stake in the company or a percentage of the profits. So if Steve wanted to make a movie and give those producers a cut of the profits, he’s not easily able to do so today.
The JOBS Act, rightly, didn’t do away with these legal protections entirely. Instead, Congress instructed the Securities and Exchange Commission to adapt them to today’s technological reality. As the SEC moves to define how they’re going to enforce the JOBS Act, they are seeking public comments online - a great example of government encouraging participation in processes that are usually not open to the public. There are reasonable concerns out there around how to ease regulation while still protecting investors, but these need to be weighed against the urgent need for job creation in this country.
That’s a big job for the SEC - if they don’t adapt the law well, our job-creation policies will continue to fall behind the rest of the world. For example, the United Kingdom already has policies in place that clear a path for crowdfunding of investments, through services like Seedrs. Meanwhile, Jessica Jackley and Dana Mauriello recently had to close the doors on one one of the first crowdfund investing platforms in the U.S., Profounder, because “the current regulatory environment prevents us from pursuing the innovations we feel would be most valuable to our customers, and we’ve made the decision to shut down the company.”
It’s now in the SEC’s hands to craft rules that empower entrepreneurs like Jessica and Dana to create jobs, while providing appropriate protections against fraud.
I’m bullish on the ability of what the JOBS Act’s crowdfunding provisions will do for our economy, if it’s implemented well. I’ve been an entrepreneur my whole career; it’s what drew me to Silicon Valley from Canada, and I’ve seen first hand how the Internet is empowering anyone to be an entrepreneur. Thanks to the Internet, anyone can grow from a start-up in a garage to be the next big thing.
I may not know what the nitty gritty of the regulations should be, but here are 3 suggestions from my perspective as an entrepreneur:
Make the people who will be impacted by these rules a part of the rule-setting process: In an age where the Internet empowers anyone to be an entrepreneur, the SEC needs to get out into the entrepreneurial community to ask the job creators themselves what would help them. I applaud the SEC for taking steps to engage online, even before the “official” comment period starts, but offline discussions should be an important part of the process as well. Align the incentives so that technological solutions can help address technological challenges: Laws are important to limiting fraud, but they aren’t the only tool society can use to prevent bad behavior. Platforms that facilitate online commerce have strong, market-based incentives to fight fraud. Take eBay, for instance. There are over 100 million active users, and, in 2011, the total value of goods sold on eBay was $68.6 billion -- more than $2,100 every second. All of this commerce goes on despite the fact that the buyers and sellers rarely, if ever, meet in person. They trust each other in part because eBay built a sophisticated reputation system - if you defraud someone, you’ll get negative ratings, and then people won’t buy from you. By the same token, crowdfunding platforms for investment will have strong incentives to fight bad behavior. Recognize what has made the Internet awesome: The Internet has operated relatively freely from government regulation, and the resulting innovation has already created huge benefits for society. We need to preserve these conditions - and trim away regulatory barriers that create obstacles for today’s job creators.
In short, we have to design the regulations in ways that allow new systems of trust, accountability and cooperation to flourish. Without them, we’re restricting our own ability to innovate our way out of our current economic state. The ideas and entrepreneurs are out there, and so is the capital. The Internet is the most powerful vehicle for job creation, so creating minimal friction between ideas and capital is one of the most commonsense ways we can spur economic growth.
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440b98502b9c71f7ec04b95ca1b113ae | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/07/05/best-practices-for-managing-big-data/ | Best Practices For Managing Big Data | Best Practices For Managing Big Data
Guest post written by Ash Ashutosh
Ash Ashutosh is CEO of Actifio, a provider of data management software.
Ash Ashutosh
Big Data is the result of practically everything in the world being monitored and measured, creating data faster than the available technologies can store, process or manage it. Since it is a lot more intuitive to represent information as a “file” than a relational object, there has been a surge of unstructured data, making up as much as 80% of new data we must manage.
Organizations are struggling to manage Big Data. According to IDC, the amount of information created, captured or replicated has exceeded available storage for the first time since 2007. The size of the digital universe this year will be tenfold what it was just five years earlier.
Therefore, organizations must find smarter data management approaches that enable them to effectively corral and optimize their data.
Too many organizations think they can manage Big Data by throwing increasing amounts of storage at the problem. They often buy additional storage capacity every 6-to-12 months, which not only results in exorbitant costs but forces their frazzled IT teams to spend more time on data management rather than more strategic IT initiatives. The lack of a real solution for managing Big Data simply causes tremendous inefficiencies all across the organization.
At the same time, Big Data just keeps growing and growing, according to Forrester Research:
--The average organization will grow their data by 50 percent in the coming year.
--Overall corporate data will grow by a staggering 94 percent.
--Database systems will grow by 97 percent.
--Server backups for disaster recovery and continuity will expand by 89 percent.
Big Data results in three basic challenges: storing, processing and managing it efficiently. Scale-out architectures have been developed to store large amounts of data and purpose-built appliances have improved the processing capability. The next frontier is learning how to manage Big Data throughout its entire lifecycle.
What most people don’t know is that the vast majority of Big Data is either duplicated data or synthesized data. Let’s take a look at a leading medical research facility that generates 100 terabytes of data from various instruments.
This data is then copied by 18 different research departments that further process the data and add 5 terabytes of additional synthesized data each. Now they must manage a total of over a petabyte of data, of which less than 150 terabytes is unique. Yet, the entire petabyte of data is backed up, moved to a disaster recovery site, consuming additional power and space used to store it all. So now, the medical center has used over 10 petabytes of storage to manage less than 150 terabytes of real unique data. This is not efficient.
So how should it be managed?
The first step is to bring the data down to its unique set and reduce the amount of data to be managed.
Next , leverage the power of virtualization technology. Organizations must virtualize this unique data set so that not only multiple applications can reuse the same data footprint, but also the smaller data footprint can be stored on any vendor-independent storage device.
Virtualization is the secret weapon that organizations can wield to battle the Big Data management challenge.
By reducing the data footprint, virtualizing the reuse and storage of the data and centralizing the management of the data set, Big Data is ultimately transformed into small data and managed like virtual data. Now that the data footprint is smaller, organizations will dramatically improve data management in three key areas:
Less time is required by applications to process data. Data can be better secured since the management is centralized, even though access is distributed. Results of data analysis are more accurate since all copies of data are visible.
Virtualization is indeed the “hero” when it comes to managing Big Data. And, it gives organizations so many additional benefits – end-users enjoy flexibility, lower costs and freedom from IT vendor lock-in.
A smarter data management approach not only allows Big Data to be backed up far more effectively but also makes it more easily recoverable and accessible with a whopping 90% cost savings - while freeing IT staff to drive more strategic technology initiatives that drive corporate growth instead of engaging in a futile battle with an out-of-control Big Data beast.
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ae22a517201c54043373d16b4aed240e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/08/04/listening-to-social-media-cues-doesnt-mean-ceding-control/?sh=13e564a3cd52 | Listening To Social Media Cues Doesn't Mean Ceding Control | Listening To Social Media Cues Doesn't Mean Ceding Control
Guest post by Patrick Sayler
Patrick Salyer is CEO of Gigya.
“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is.” - Scott Cook, co-founder, Intuit
“Our head of social media is the customer.” - Unknown spokesperson, McDonald’s
Patrick Salyer
These social media adages are scary enough to give any CMO the chills. The lifeblood of online marketing before the Age of the Consumer has centered around control – of brand, user experience, messaging, conversations. Marketers have been told countless times over the last few years that social meant the end of control. You were told that no longer would your users linger on your carefully manicured website, absorbing your delicately crafted messaging as they click on products and articles. You were told that consumers now had the power, and, in some ways, that has become the reality. But that’s not the whole story. Social business has evolved to the point to where marketers are taking back their brands and, by using social infrastructure, they are reaching, understanding and influencing their customers like never before.
For some time, the prescription to the “social problem” for businesses has been to create a Facebook fan page, a corporate Twitter handle and, for the avant-garde, a Google+ and Pinterest page. While creating and managing social media profiles has become the norm for many big brands, data shows that posting content to marketing tools like Facebook pages does little to engender any significant level of engagement or other meaningful business metric. Furthermore, booting users from your company’s website to its Facebook page isn’t an optimal way of getting your users to engage with or stay connected to your brand.
This raises an important question: If consumers are deeply rooted in being social on the Web (a thesis widely accepted by analysts and industry observers and evident from the billions of active social networks users), how can companies respond in a way that provides both a social experience to those consumers and brand control to those very companies? While there is no social silver bullet to miraculously help brands navigate through new media, there is a powerful set of technologies that companies can employ to maintain control over their brands while catering to a social user-base: social infrastructure.
Social infrastructure is the technology that makes Web properties social. It’s the backbone of the social Web beyond the walls of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks. Anytime a user registers or logs into a website with his social ID, leaves a comment with his social ID, shares content from the site to his social network(s) or participates in a site’s gamification elements while leveraging his social profile – that is social infrastructure at work. This set of technologies mobilizes a user’s social identity and allows them to be truly social across the web. But aside from an improved user experience, social infrastructure delivers a critical element to marketers: control.
Control in this case refers to two distinct but interrelated concepts. First, by implementing social infrastructure and allowing your users to be social on your site, you can control what your users see - messages, content and even advertising. The alternative is to boot your users to Facebook where they are placed in a hyperactive circus of ads from other companies, sponsored posts and two constantly updating feeds displaying their friends’ activities across the social Web. This all-too-common scenario provides little control for a business trying to foster brand engagement. In fact, for marketers, it’s chaos.
The second way that social infrastructure gives marketers control is in the incredibly valuable sets of data that your social users bring to your site. When a customer comes to your site and signs in via social login, for example, a cordial exchange occurs. He is able to register and login to your site quickly without needing to create a new set of credentials and is able to seamlessly share and comment on and otherwise interact with your site’s content using his social profile. In return, you, the marketer, gain permission-based access to his social profile information, building a lasting relationship with the user. This data set is quite literally the most extensive and valuable assortment of user information available. When authenticating via social login, the user passes dozens of data fields to you including: name, email, birthdate, hometown, relationship status, political views, interests, activities, work history, religious views and education level. It’s the holy grail of customer information which is easily attainable in an aboveboard and responsible way.
The exchange that takes place when a user logs into your site via social login is essentially a “virtual handshake” where customers receive value from a faster login process and the ability to interact with content, and you, the marketer, gain permission-based access to customers’ social profile data.
There is little debate that social networks have changed consumer behavior and expectation. Big brands can no longer get away with unresponsive customer service, lackadaisical content and poor quality products. Customers now have a voice and they’re not afraid to shout their cacophonous opinions across any number of social platforms for the world to see. But rather than cowering in fear at the new uninhibited consumer or simply trying to manage the online conversations that take place outside of your business’s Web properties, you can embrace technologies that help you maintain control of your brand and understand your customers like never before.
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97267219a3b903594129458731daedcc | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/08/16/cios-must-address-the-growing-mobile-device-security-threat/ | CIOs Must Address The Growing Mobile Device Security Threat | CIOs Must Address The Growing Mobile Device Security Threat
Guest post written by Kevin Johnson
Kevin Johnson is CEO of Juniper Networks. He's also a presidential appointee to NSTAC, the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
Kevin Johnson
A steady stream of computer hacks in recent months has elevated cyber security on the national agenda. Online breaches at tech-savvy companies reveal a sobering truth: No one is immune to the threat posed by cyber criminals.
Political leaders around the world, including President Obama, have begun calling for a greater focus on this issue.
Perhaps the most critical battleground in this broad effort is the mobile security challenge. From a cyber-criminal’s perspective, mobile phones and mobile applications represent a weak link to be exploited for profit. Consider that six out of every 10 cyber-security breaches occur as a result of a mobile device, according to the Ponemon Institute. In 2011, malware targeting smartphones increased 155 percent, and in a span of just seven months the volume of malware targeting Android phones increased 3,325%.
We’ve reached an inflection point where the lightning-fast adoption of powerful, smart devices is outpacing our ability to secure our mobile lives. In a world of 7 billion people, there are now 5.9 billion mobile-phone subscribers. Here in the U.S., we have more mobile-phone subscriptions than people. The mobile Internet that we’ve come to rely on ― for everything from financial transactions to business operations to emergency-response procedures ― is increasingly vulnerable.
Why are cyber criminals targeting mobile devices? The answer is simple: mobile malware has become highly profitable. And those profits are attracting talented programmers to the dark side of cyber-crime networks.
The result is a new generation of mobile malware that is increasingly sophisticated. With billions now routinely using their smartphones to store sensitive information such as banking and credit-card data, cyber-criminals are targeting these devices with “Trojan horse” mobile applications, which look and feel like legitimate apps. Once downloaded, however, these apps automatically transmit confidential data from the unsuspecting user’s device to a cyber-criminal’s server. Some criminals are now taking this concept a step further, building entire fake storefronts of mobile apps. And it is no longer just the individual’s data that’s at stake: very often the target is high-value information owned by governments and businesses.
From an economic standpoint, the risks we face in today’s mobile environment are enormous. A typical security breach costs a business more than a half a million dollars to address in terms of cash outlays, business disruption, and revenue losses, according to the Ponemon Institute.
So how do we address this challenge?
First and foremost, an effective, long-term response to the mobile-security challenge demands a focused, industry-wide cooperative effort involving business decision-makers, government leaders, law enforcement, security labs and R&D organizations, device makers, networking companies and telecommunications service providers. In particular, we need an active and ongoing partnership between the public and private sectors in order to drive greater transparency and a faster, more coordinated response to mobile-security threats.
When a cyber attack occurs, there is a natural human tendency to go into lock down mode and keep information about the breach confidential for as long as possible. By contrast, cyber criminals have an incentive to openly share time-sensitive data about who is vulnerable ― because there is money to be made in selling this information. This real-time transparency translates into a distinct advantage for "black hat" hackers as they face off against their ethical “white hat” counterparts who are dedicated to improving online security. A key challenge for security professionals on the right side of the law is to foster a faster and more open exchange of valuable information as they strive to stay a step ahead of technically advanced, well-financed cyber criminals.
From a technology standpoint, our collective challenge is to innovate and invest in three critical areas:
Secure the device itself, Secure the network, and Secure the growing number of massive-scale data centers, which are the “engine rooms” of today’s mobile Internet.
When it comes to securing our personal devices, we must acknowledge that we all have a role to play in the solution. As individuals, there are simple steps each of us can take to better protect ourselves, such as researching the publisher of an app before you purchase, using anti-malware software on your mobile devices, and ensuring you set robust passwords on every device you own.
In many respects, mobile technology is still in its infancy. Certainly our reliance on mobile connections and capabilities has increased rapidly over the last 10 years; yet it’s equally clear that the mobile revolution holds even greater promise in the decade to come. But that promise, like all promises, is predicated on trust. We must act now to protect and preserve our trust in mobility.
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d6348de0aa9306c7365528c110faff1c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/09/18/how-to-win-the-cloud-wars/ | How To Win The Cloud Wars | How To Win The Cloud Wars
Guest post written by Byron Deeter
Byron Deeter is a partner in the Menlo Park, California, office of Bessemer Venture Partners.
Byron Deeter
Today “the cloud” surrounds us, literally and figuratively. IBM and Microsoft are running enterprise-oriented ads about cloud computing, Apple features iCloud and Siri (running in the cloud) prominently in marketing messages, and while Amazon.com remains most famous for e-commerce, its Amazon Web Service unit is the cloud infrastructure running popular websites from Netflix to Pinterest.
Underneath these friendly marketing campaigns and infrastructure offerings rages an early battle for the future of the software industry, with tens of billions of dollars at stake. For years, the entrenched software giants have spent most of their energies selling against the cloud computing trend and the startup companies that were leading this revolution: see Oracle/Ellison vs. Salesforce/Benioff. But the fight has largely proven futile, and the big guys have switched to playing catch up by building, buying and partnering their way to relevance.
What it means for entrepreneurs is that for the first time in over two decades the software landscape is open and level for new entrants. The incumbents’ size and scale are now more than offset by the “baggage” associated with legacy business models, outdated technology offerings, and investor expectations.
Some say that all creates a gold rush, but the great land rush of ’89 is probably a more accurate picture. It’s the software version of noon on April 22, 1889 in Oklahoma, and the gun just went off. Huge parcels of software real estate are up for grabs, and companies are racing to claim theirs.
As a successful entrepreneur and investor in the space since 1999, I’ve enjoyed a front row seat to these massive – and often entertaining – battles for over a dozen years. Having had the good fortune of working closely with tens of companies and having met with over a thousand aspiring entrepreneurs and companies in this broad market segment, several important themes have emerged for companies looking to enter, and eventually dominate, the cloud computing market.
Having just updated our seminal 10 Laws, I realize that a handful of these “laws” are the most actionable – and often least understood – lessons of the early years of cloud computing, so I wanted to share the key takeaways.
Grow or die. In technology, very few things stay constant. As a result, you either grow up to become a dominant company in your category, or get passed over and killed off by someone who does. Therefore, not surprisingly, growth rate is often the single biggest driver of valuation multiples in the private and public markets. To dominate a cloud segment, a company typically needs to become a multi-million dollar revenue business within its first two years, and then grow at over a 100% compound annual growth rate for several more years. Play Moneyball, and check the scoreboard with the 5 C’s of Cloud Finance. A core set of consistent business metrics is critical to understand and measure your cloud business. Although enterprise software companies have long organized around a clear set of business metrics – including bookings, maintenance and support fees, and revenue – they don’t work when directly applied to cloud businesses. The cloudonomy is just starting to converge on its own set of metrics, and 5 key “Cs” rise above the others as essential performance indicators: Committed Monthly Recurring Revenue, Cash Flow, Customer Acquisition Cost, Customer Lifetime Value and Churn. Build the Revenue Engine, and step on the gas when your Customer Acquisition Cost payback period is short. Sales and marketing are your key levers for growth, but how do you know if these investments are “profitable”, and therefore should be increased to drive faster growth? The answer to this question can be found through measuring your Customer Acquisition Cost, much like consumer Internet companies measure Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) or Cost Per Click (CPC). Online sales and marketing is the future. As a cloud business, your users access your product through a browser or mobile device, so by definition, sales prospects are all online. Savvy online sales and marketing is a core competence (sometimes the only one) of every successful Cloud business. In this new era, the creative elements of marketing are becoming secondary andquant jocks and analytical wizards are starting to take over the helm. Cash is (still) king. Cloudonomics requires that you focus on cash flow above operating profit, and that you plan your fuel stops very carefully. The cash flow characteristics of a Cloud business are wonderful in the long term, but can be lousy in the short term because customers typically pay small monthly subscriptions instead of a single large upfront purchase. Despite the revenue being stretched out over a multi-year stream, the costs are still front-loaded to fund research, development, sales and marketing. Trust your metrics and dashboard and invest behind success. If your cloud metrics show strength and your unit economics are meaningfully positive, then a business would be leaving significant value unrealized if it didn’t invest capital aggressively in growth.
The headwinds that dispersed past cloud businesses have now largely become tail winds pushing newer players forward. Customers are often looking to buy cloud-first today, and the financial markets are extremely supportive of cloud growth stories. We have seen multiple $1b+ cloud acquisitions in the last year, strong valuations for the roughly two dozen pure play public cloud companies, and several more sizeable companies like Workday and Lifelock are now in registration.
As we sit on the eve of the biggest cloud party in history, with Salesforce.com set to host more than 90,000 cloud professionals in San Francisco for DreamForce this week, it’s an exciting time to be a cloud entrepreneur.
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2478e0edfd6a3a8a27896f7a4b511feb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/10/05/strategy-reboot-time-to-stop-building-mobile-websites/ | Strategy Reboot: Time To Stop Building Mobile Websites | Strategy Reboot: Time To Stop Building Mobile Websites
Guest post written by Ian Lurie
Ian Lurie is CEO of Portent, an Internet marketing company.
Ian Lurie
It's time to re-think your mobile Web strategy. By feeding it into a shredder.
Organizations are pouring money into apps and mobile websites, which diverts money and time from an integrated Internet marketing strategy. Focusing on mobile as a separate channel is a distraction that turns the platform into an either/or proposition that hurts results.
You don't have to do that anymore. Here's why.
Mobile is Internet is mobile
“Mobile” as a separate marketing channel existed for about six months – somewhere back in 2009. It had an extremely short lifecycle because technology and user behavior caught up, waved a cheery hello and then raced right by.
Mobile marketing is part of Internet marketing. And everything you do online should support it. If you do that, you can save a ton of money and time, and get better results.
Think form factor, not mobility
The mobile and traditional Web separated initially because of slower processors, slower connection speeds and lousy displays. That distinction is disappearing – fast.
My smartphone has more processing power than the computer I used when I started my Internet marketing company 17 years ago. It also displays more colors at a higher resolution. The only difference? Screen size. My phone still has a relatively small screen.
You need to think about form factor in your marketing, not mobile versus desktop.
Why are you building that app?
Why an app? A cool game or interactive tool justifies a mobile application. Simple content delivery or e-commerce does not.
Any mobile app will require:
Development time. Your team will likely have to learn another set of development tools. That means time and money that could otherwise go toward existing marketing efforts and your existing website. Maintenance across platforms. If you want your application available on both iOS and Android, you'll have to build a separate version for each. And, as Apple and Google release new operating system versions, you'll have to update your software. Again, you'll have to split your effort. Support. Someone, somewhere, will find your app confusing. You'll have to provide support. Who will do that? Your existing customer support team. Another distraction. Delivery. Chances are good that you'll want your app listed in the iTunes and Google Play stores. That's time wasted twisting your way through the rabbit warren of app approvals and reviews.
Don't use mobile apps to deliver content. It's a waste of effort.
Why are you building a separate site?
If you want me to cry, tell me you're building a “mobile website” for your company. If you want me to weep, tell me it has taken three months so far and cost you one-third of your marketing budget. If you want me to wail with grief, show me how you're duplicating content across the mobile and non-mobile sites.
No sane person builds a separate mobile site to deliver content or support e-commerce. You might create a separate checkout funnel. But a full-fledged mobile website can cause loads of painstaking effort, and at the end of the day it’s worthless.
Friends don't let friends build mobile websites.
Instead, build responsive designs
Don't split your effort. Instead, adapt your current site with responsive design. With the right HTML and CSS code, you can ensure that your site:
Automatically resizes to fit smaller screens Removes slower-loading videos or other content for mobile users Adapts navigation and other interface elements Supports swiping and other gesture actions
Responsive design has huge advantages:
You deliver one set of content to one site. You maintain one content management/e-commerce infrastructure. You support all mobile devices that include Web browsers. Your existing Web team can learn responsive design in hours, not days or weeks. It's better for search engine optimization (SEO).
Responsive design removes two major SEO issues with mobile content delivery: Duplicate content and often-botched mobile domain setup. Google even recommends that you use responsive design.
What to do
You can invest the money, time and aggravation in a separate mobile marketing platform. Devote resources to building and maintaining a mobile app or website. But when you do, you split your effort and hurt your other Internet marketing efforts.
Or you can deliver content more effectively and for less money. Build a fast-loading, responsive website that works well on small devices. Responsive design techniques adapt your website to different screen sizes. So you can deliver an app experience without the overhead. And gain a competitive advantage.
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3d497e8126b529c3638641b9ef4420e9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/10/21/start-locally-think-globally-5-key-strategies-for-start-ups/?utm_campaign=forbestwittersf&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social | Start Locally, Think Globally: 5 Key Strategies For Start-Ups | Start Locally, Think Globally: 5 Key Strategies For Start-Ups
Guest post written by Tracy Isacke
Tracy Isacke is Director of Investments and Business Development at Telefonica Digital.
Depending on where you sit, Silicon Valley is either a place you want to get to, or a place you want to grow beyond. We’ve all heard (and believe) the arguments that the Valley is exceptional and unique. An idyllic paradise of savvy entrepreneurs, world-changing innovation in lockstep harmony with abundant risk capital supported by interlocking networks of leadership, talent and services. A Shangri-La for nerds. And much of the frothy faith the Valley has in itself is in fact true.
But let’s face it: the Valley, while utterly unique, is far from the only place where smart people congregate and work. A whole other world beckons. A global strategy matters. Not least because VC’s want to know you solve a big problem - a global problem. We don’t really need another cutesy app that helps the in-crowd find open seats at sushi bars in Cow Hollow (or its equivalent). Maybe it’s time to expand our horizons - just a bit.
That said, scaling to reach global markets is challenging. It requires strategy and planning. Here are five perspectives entrepreneurs should consider.
Don’t Ignore a Global Market:
Outside of the U.S. there are emerging markets that aren’t covered like Silicon Valley, but hold great potential. Latin America is one of those areas. In areas of Latin America we have seen interesting opportunities that are less relevant in the developed market. For example, banking the underbanked. Earlier this year, the World Bank created the Global Findex, a global financial inclusion database to measure the use of financial services and identify those with the greatest barriers to access. Through this, the Global Findex shows that three quarters of the world’s poor do not have a bank account. In Latin America, country residents cited that too much documentation was needed to open an account, and for others it is travel distance to a bank, and the costs associated with setting up and maintaining an account. On the other hand access to mobile phones is easy and most people have access to a mobile phone. This provides a great opportunity to disrupt the banking and payment space.
Coupled with this, smart phone penetration in Latin America is only around 15 percent. We see this as a brilliant opportunity to find solutions to offer lower cost smart phones, which will provide people with more opportunities to connect with their financial institution.
Think Through Market Challenges:
There is a surge in demand for digital services. No matter where they are in the world, people want to be connected. As a start-up it is important to think about how you can create a global service. As we break down more borders with technology, companies that create technologies and devices that can be used globally will succeed. For example, back in 2010 we acquired Jajah, a VoIP company located in the Silicon Valley. We saw the opportunity to use their technology, and build on top of it to create apps like TUMe, which is a global communications application offered by Telefonica Digital.
Connections are Key:
This may seem obvious, but think through who you know that can help push your company beyond Silicon Valley. Take the opportunity to attend networking events, conferences and hack-a-thons that have a global focus. At Telefonica Ventures, we look at a number of channels when identifying new partners and investment opportunities and exclusively seek to invest where a commercial relationship does or will exist. We spend a lot of time meeting with entrepreneurs, financial investors, legal firms and attending conferences. We also find companies through talking to our internal colleagues about areas of focus and companies our engineers are excited about.
Ordinary Doesn’t Mean Boring:
Start-ups often feel pressure to think of a new, unique innovation that will change the world. While it is important to think out of the box when developing products, there markets, like mobile payments, which have a long shelf life. The New York Times wrote about the Square/Starbucks deal and said it may be “the year’s most important venture capital deal.” Reporter Steven Davidoff wrote that with all the mobile payment competitors in the market, this could have been looked at as an ordinary deal, but Square used a hot technology and pushed it to the next level. Taking products like Square global is relatively easy when you offer unregulated services globally, such as Facebook or Twitter. However it becomes much more complicated when you are operating in regulated environments like financial services. In our view partnerships with organizations that understand local markets is a great opportunity to gain the required expertise and understand what can be incorporated into products to make them more global.
As the Internet of things evolves, the M2M (machine to machine) space is going to provide big opportunity as the number of connected devices is forecast to grow from 1 billion to 50 billion by 2020, according to Forrester. The companies who will get attention are those who can find ways to make these products and services attractive, interesting and useful. eHealth and video are two areas where the consumer is going to have incredible abilities at their fingertips as we approach 2020.
Tap into Global Issues:
The great news about global trends is they are well communicated and easy to understand, finding and developing solutions to that meet the needs of global trends can also be easier to fund as it is clear there is a need being met. Startups in the U.S. are in a really good position to tackle many of these problems as they are likely to be front of mind. For example, we spend a lot of time in the cloud and big data space looking to harvest the opportunities that are being created by the proliferation of data. Big data has become a hot topic for many companies so they can understand how to enhance customer experiences by providing us data in a way that is seen as truly making life easier.
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684ab32fc590b7790240e01b2be61203 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/10/22/making-sense-of-online-personalization-and-privacy/ | Making Sense Of Online Personalization And Privacy | Making Sense Of Online Personalization And Privacy
Guest post written by Scott Brave
Scott Brave is chief technology officer of Baynote.
Scott Brave
According to estimates, business data doubles every 1.2 years. This phenomenon presents both an exciting and daunting opportunity for businesses looking to tap into this fire hose of information. On one hand, businesses now have more data than ever before on their customers, allowing them to deliver far more personalized online experiences. On the other hand, companies like eBay process up to 50 petabyes of data a day, a seemingly impossible task for most organizations.
With the rise of Big Data, personalization technology that can transform user data into unique experiences is all the rage among Silicon Valley bellwethers and VCs alike. Hunch, a service that provides a “taste graph” was acquired by eBay last year, and Kleiner Perkins partner Aileen Lee recently stated, “In the future, the best retail sites will know you much better and show you things that are much more relevant.”
Indeed personalization is hot, but it’s also a high stakes game, where the wrong experience can alienate a customer base, like when Urban Outfitters tried to present user-specific experiences based on gender. So what exactly can companies do to personalize experiences without completely drowning in a sea of data?
Ecommerce sites, social networks and digital content providers using customer data to personalize user experiences must walk a fine line to ensure those experiences are authentic and non-intrusive. Personal, yet not stalkerish.
Let’s take a look at the different flavors of personalization – what each entails, how data is leveraged and what privacy risks are associated with each data usage.
Profile-based personalization
The most commonly known type is profile-based personalization where recommendations are based on past purchases – think Amazon and Netflix. While this type of personalization can make educated guesses for future purchases, one purchase that deviates from your overall purchase history can really skew your recommendations.
Recommendations made on past purchases often don’t reflect what a customer is looking for, and merchants using this type of personalization tend to push products based on inventory goals instead of customer intent. This type of personalization is less effective for product recommendations and is better suited for retargeting, the practice of advertising to consumers based on their previous Internet actions.
Furthermore, profile-based personalization requires data from purchase histories and other personally identifiable information, such as email addresses or account IDs, in order to make recommendations. While profile-based personalization can provide solid recommendations for a single user, with the holiday shopping season just around the corner, retailers relying too heavily on this approach will make off-base recommendations. As much as my daughter loves My Little Pony, I don’t, and online merchants should be aware of this aversion.
Rule-driven personalization
This type of personalization builds rules for general personas based on what they already know about you – age, gender, income, location, etc. Users are then grouped together depending on geography and/or social graph and presented with a broad range of recommendations. This is not a truly personalized approach because the recommendations are broad and not unique to the user. Has every female adult read “50 Shades of Grey?” OK, bad example, but I’m sure you can understand the generalizations that emerge from this practice.
To drive this type of personalization, companies are employing statisticians to sort through seas of data to discover new ways to target consumer groups. For example, Target assigns every customer an ID, tied to their credit card, email address, etc., and stores a history of everything that user has bought and any demographic information the retailer has collected from them or bought from other sources. They use this data to create user groups and market specific products to them. However, this approach can turn awry like when Target figured out a teenager was pregnant before the girl’s father did.
Intent-based personalization
Intent-based personalization leverages your real-time actions, such as search terms, clicks and dwell times, and device type, to figure out what you want in the moment and shape the experience accordingly. The idea behind intent-based personalization is that you get what you need when you need it. This is especially important during the holidays when people are gift shopping.
Out of the three types of personalization, this is the only “user-centric” approach where making the sale is a function of what the customer is specifically looking for. Think of a great in-store experience where the salesperson is a useful resource, providing you with tips and recommendations based on your current interests, rather than convincing you to buy the products that were discussed in the morning sales meeting.
From a privacy perspective, intent-based personalization is completely anonymous. No past profile or personal data is used, and recommendations are based entirely on user behavior from that specific interaction. Therefore, a website using personalization technology would not know that I was pregnant or that I had a child until I typed in specific search terms, such as “cradle,” “diapers” or “baby blanket.” Would I be OK with a site presenting me with products based on these actions? Absolutely.
In the end, choosing the right personalization approach shouldn’t be an either or scenario for online brands as each serves a purpose. What’s particularly important for retailers to understand, however, is that most shoppers likely only want My Little Pony recommendations when they specifically search for “My Little Pony” – not 365 days a year.
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5782733aa1fa734b06c3210c5453be68 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/10/29/time-to-invest-in-hardware-and-manufacturing-startups/ | Time To Invest In Hardware And Manufacturing Startups | Time To Invest In Hardware And Manufacturing Startups
Guest post written by Rachel Sheinbein
Racehl Sheinbein
Rachel Sheinbein is a partner in the energy and materials practice at CMEA Capital. She is also the President of the board of Expanding Your Horizons, a non-profit that encourages young women to pursue careers in math, science, engineering and technology.
Hardware-only business models are dead. Or so I’ve heard from some venture capitalists. In the IT world, recent exits such as SeaMicro continue to fuel select VC hardware investments such as Redpoint’s latest two. But those were seen as surprises instead of the norm.
If VCs can’t see a path to a successful exit for IT hardware companies, how much more difficult will it be for companies producing physical products in the energy space, with substantially bigger safety and reliability challenges along with competition from well-funded incumbents? Building successful energy companies, even when following the few scaling strategies such as leveraging existing scale or pursuing a design-build-assemble approach which I laid out in a blog post last year, remains a challenge.
It is no surprise that there has been a lot of buzz around investing in companies at the software/energy interface. These types of companies, such as Enernoc, Comverge or Silicon Energy, have been around for a long time, but advances in the Internet space have created a new foundation that extends to the energy arena. The area at the Internet/energy intersection had been dubbed the CleanWeb. By the nature of the technology, CleanWeb companies usually require only modest capital investment before starting to generate revenue, avoiding many of the scaling challenges plaguing energy start-ups. A whole new ecosystem of CleanWeb focused accelerators such as Greenstart in San Francisco, SURGE in Houston and Greenlite Labs in Boulder has come to life to support new ideas in this space.
But this movement does not cover the entire spectrum of energy companies. What about energy challenges that can’t be fixed with IT solutions, but still require manufacturing a physical product to fill a need? Will VCs invest in these companies? We’ve heard of IT companies that make a physical product like Ouya, Adapteva or Pebble taking their wares to Kickstarter for funding. Some of these admitted that VC firms turned them down for funding.
We’ve even seen some energy companies follow this route such as LIFX or Wattvision. Kickstarter funders don’t require VC returns; they either want to be among the first to own the actual product or to just be a part of the excitement without receiving a tangible reward. (Hard to believe, but true!) When successful, these companies mitigate risk both by establishing a customer base and bringing in initial (non-dilutive) capital. VC funding may be the perfect fit for their later funding needs. While notable, to date there have still been just a handful of meaningful successes with this approach. It remains to be seen whether crowd funding will continue to grow and become a viable path for a meaningful subset of energy companies, especially those with consumer facing products.
We have our eye on another sphere of innovations that may create VC opportunities for physical products in the energy space: manufacturing innovations. For example, advances in the field of 3D Printing will conceivably bring manufacturing costs down enough to even meet VC investment criteria. 3D printing has been around since the first Stereo Lithography machines hit the market with a price tag over $250,000 back in 1986. Twenty-five years later, anyone can acquire a breadbox-sized MakerBot 3D Printer for less than $2000. It is possible that the affordability and new capabilities of 3D printing will change the way products are manufactured, even products for the old-fashioned energy industry. The cost and time of prototyping new designs, from a new turbine blade to a new solar panel mounting bracket or an intricately designed heat exchanger, could drop dramatically. Also, 20% of 3D printing output is already producing final product with that percentage expected to increase as capabilities improve, reducing the money and time spent in product development as well. Even the Federal government has pledged $30 million in funding to create the new National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute.
3D printing isn’t the only promising manufacturing innovation. Vibrant Research is working on snap-in-place fabrication that may scale to mass manufacturing volumes cheaply enough to deliver VC returns. There may be new investment opportunities as companies applying standard inkjet printing techniques to reduce the cost of making solar modules or batteries continue to make progress. Inventors and entrepreneurs have countless ideas for reducing manufacturing costs, even in the capital-intensive energy industry.
There is evidence that the U.S. will put more investment in this space. The U.S. ceded the top manufacturing position to China last year, but manufacturing still contributes an enormous $1.8 trillion to the U.S. economy. The country created the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership and the Advanced Manufacturing Office of the Department of Energy is putting $120 million to work through the Innovative Manufacturing Initiative. U.S. universities have been focusing on this issue as well. Earlier this year, I participated in the Leaders for Global Operations Conference: The Future of Manufacturing in the U.S., hosted by MIT. Across the river at Harvard Business School, the role of manufacturing is an integral component for the school’s U.S. Competitiveness Project. There is definite attention being paid to keeping a strong US manufacturing sector.
It remains to be seen whether these efforts and innovations will be enough to create new paths for successful investments in hardware-only business models or whether VC investments in physical products in the IT and Energy arena will have limited interest for the foreseeable future.
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958d33400b8841b0045985d332145455 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/11/06/how-gaap-accounting-rules-may-be-damaging-to-investors/ | How GAAP Accounting Rules May Be Damaging To Investors | How GAAP Accounting Rules May Be Damaging To Investors
Guest post written by Michael Kwatinetz
Michael Kwatinetz is a managing partner with Azure Capital Partners, an early stage venture capital firm. Kwatinetz has a Ph.D. in mathematical modeling and an MBA in accounting; he is also a certified public accountant.
Michael Kwatinetz
I always assumed that the most important issue for those setting accounting standards was to ensure that financial statements are of the highest quality so that users of these statements are properly informed for decision making. Over the past 15 years I have learned this is not the case.
This piece will look at where we’ve gone astray and created a set of rules that could potentially lead to materially misleading information for investors. Hopefully, we can have informed dialogue that forces change before current methods lead to the next financial scandal.
Financial reporting standards have increasingly moved towards “purist” accounting. In theory, everyone should want accounting standards which lead to the most accurate representation of a company’s financial results. But what if a requirement that is more theoretically correct (which appears to be the goal of current accounting standards) also leads to inconsistent reporting among companies in the same industry, creates more opportunity for misstatements of results (that are difficult for auditors to detect), reduces transparency to ordinary users of financial statements and/or adds cost that may outweigh the benefits? I believe that setting of accounting standards should take each of these issues into account and that material misunderstandings of actual performance would be reduced if that was done. Currently, these issues do not appear to be priorities when creating accounting standards.
In a number of areas, accounting standards are moving more towards methods that give an appearance of enhanced objectivity when in fact they are more subjective than ever. While this, in theory, can be audited, in practice the knowledge to do so is unlikely to be possessed by the auditor. So while this may create an illusion of better theoretical accuracy, in practice it can lead to inconsistent reporting by comparable companies and the potential for increased misstatements.
A striking example is recent changes to rules for venture capital fund accounting. Since there is no public market for the privately held companies in which venture capital firms typically invest, the recent requirement to “mark to market” is time consuming to implement, extraordinarily inconsistently applied, increases audit costs and yet is of questionable value to investors.
Before the change in methodology used to determine fair value, the typical portfolio company valuation was equal to the value established by investors at the time of the most recent investment. These savvy investors would have already performed significant analysis to determine a valuation at which they felt comfortable investing. If a venture firm subsequently believed that the value of an investment became impaired a markdown would be taken.
As a result of the change in accounting rules, venture firms must now substantiate valuations using multiples of trailing and forecast revenue and/or earnings based on those of “comparable” public companies. Given that a young company’s forecasts of future revenue and earnings are often quite inaccurate and that the choice of which public companies are proper comparables is extremely subjective and hard for any auditor to verify as appropriate, this change easily leads to inconsistency and inaccuracy. For example, which of the following is the best choice of comparables?
Those in a similar business; Those with comparable business models (for example subscription vs. one-time charges for software); Those with similar profit margins; or Those with similar revenue growth.
Each of these four choices could show substantial variation in multiples. If we consider both publicly traded comparable companies as well as private companies that have recently been acquired, the possible variations multiply. On the other hand, the previous requirement that used the most recent investment by an independent financial investor is very easy to audit and much more consistent across venture capital firms.
The above example is related to venture capital accounting, but the foremost area of concern relates to public company reporting as that affects significantly more investors. Current financial reporting standards (as outlined in the accounting principles known as GAAP – “Generally Accepted Accounting Principles”) have fallen into disrepute as a means of understanding current operating performance.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board, which is responsible for developing accounting principles, does not appear to view providing investors with meaningful information as a priority. Many analysts and investors rely on pro forma results instead of GAAP accounting because they find the pro forma statements provide more insight into the overall performance and health of a company. In research reports, GAAP results often take a back seat to pro forma results. In a Credit Suisse research report on Salesforce.com prepared in the summer of 2012, no mention of GAAP earnings appears on the first page; rather, the earnings figures mentioned in multiple places on the first page are pro forma earnings (non-GAAP). On the second page, the entire historic and projected income statement is shown based on pro forma results with the GAAP EPS appearing, almost like a footnote, underneath. So, while these pro forma statements are viewed by analysts and investors to better reflect current company performance and ongoing earnings potential, they are not subject to the same level of scrutiny and regulation as are GAAP financial statements.
Examples of material differences between GAAP and proforma earnings include reporting by Salesforce.com, Facebook, Zynga and Nvidia. For each, Wall Street research analyst reports focus on proforma earnings and barely mention GAAP numbers.
For fiscal 2012, Salesforce.com, as mentioned above, reported a GAAP earnings per share (EPS) loss of 9 cents and proforma earnings per share of $1.36. In Facebook’s 2012 second quarter earnings report, GAAP earnings were a loss of $743 million while proforma earnings showed a profit of $515 million, a difference of well over a billion dollars. The difference between the two was the accounting cost of shares and stock options employees owned. This GAAP charge was based on the Black Scholes valuation method, often maligned for being subjective and inappropriate for shares and options generally held for a long period of time.
For Q1 of FY 2013, Nvidia reported GAAP earnings of 10 cents a share and proforma earnings of 16 cents - 60% higher. In the commentary provided by Nvidia’s CFO that accompanied their results, gross margins, operating expenses, net income and earnings per share all differ between the non-GAAP (proforma) and GAAP reporting.
For the first quarter of fiscal 2012, Zynga reported a GAAP earnings loss of ($85 million), proforma “adjusted EBITDA” of $87 million profit and proforma net income of $47 million. This can easily lead to confusion. Adam Martin wrote in The Atlantic Wire: “The first Reuters headline on Zynga’s first quarter earnings blared that the company had lost $85 million.” The article later points out, “The Associated Press subsequently reported, ‘Adjusted earnings of 6 cents per share beat Wall Street’s expectations.’” The first number reported ($85 million loss) is the GAAP number (pretty much ignored by Wall Street analysts) and the second (6 cents per share) is the pro forma number. Since most reporting focuses on the analyst estimates (pro forma) some individual investors may have taken an action (sold the stock) after the initial Reuters report that was based on the misbelief that Zynga had missed estimates. Obviously, regulators and accounting standard setting organizations should be concerned that this could occur.
On the third page of its latest earnings release, Zynga provides some of the reasons why they report pro forma (non-GAAP) earnings. “We believe that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing our performance and when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods," the company said. "We believe these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors because they allow for greater transparency with respect to key financial metrics we use in making operating decisions and because our investors and analysts use them to help assess the health of our business.”
The fact that investors and analysts who follow Zynga rely on pro forma results leads to another issue – these results may not be reported consistently, reducing the ability to compare performance of companies in the same industry. In the same information release, Zynga states, “Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate bookings, adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP EPS differently, or not at all, which reduces their usefulness as a comparative measure.”
Investors may buy or sell a stock upon hearing the initial GAAP number thinking the company has fallen far short of analyst estimates. In this case, releasing GAAP earnings first can result in an investor making a wrong decision since analysts and the press have consistently been reporting non-GAAP (pro forma) earnings estimates as the expected earnings. And, as we’ve shown with examples, GAAP and pro forma earnings may materially differ.
Financial reporting standards sometimes require “theoretically correct accounting” that is not useful in helping investors understand current operating results. As another example, little effort has been made to require footnotes of items that may distort the investor’s view of the company.
While there are many areas that this could affect, one that I have substantial personal knowledge of is the lack of easily accessible information that would allow an investor to separate organic revenue growth from acquired revenue growth. Since revenue growth is a common metric used in estimating a company’s valuation, this information is quite relevant as acquired growth won’t persist beyond one year. Purchase accounting, the current accounting standard for incorporating the financial results of the acquired company into the financial results of the acquiring company, does not consider the acquired company’s revenue from any period prior to the acquisition to be part of the consolidated company’s history. Disclosure of the information needed to separate organic from acquired revenue growth is not required and when offered is not standardized.
This means that one company can purchase another that has half as much revenue as it has, and for the following four quarters it will appear that the acquirer’s revenue growth rate is 50% higher than it actually is. Since no disclosure is required, companies can decide whether or not to put this in their footnotes. Without having the information, investors could overprice the stock as growth is a key factor in valuation.
While this may seem theoretical, as a Wall Street analyst I witnessed this exact situation when Compaq Computer acquired Digital Equipment Corp. The company took the position that the 36% reported growth in revenue (in Q3 of 1998) was going to continue where an examination of the apples to apples comparison (not required nor disclosed in their reporting) showed that organic revenue growth was actually negative (about -7%) for the combined entities. Consequently, the stock was over-valued until the company finally admitted (several quarters later) that it could not replicate this (artificial) growth the next year.
A more recent example of organic growth and reported growth differing widely is found in NetLogic’s 2011 10K. GAAP revenue is reported as $175 million in 2009 and $382 million in 2010, a growth rate of 119%. The actual organic revenue growth appears at most to be 48%. In this case, despite not being required to disclose it, the company revealed on page 47 of its 10K that 70% of reported GAAP revenue growth was from two of its acquisitions. While this implies that organic growth was the remaining 48%, I can’t be certain as there may have been other less material acquisitions not discussed or I may be misinterpreting the limited footnote.
Unfortunately, since footnotes of this type are not required, disclosures are not standardized and it is difficult to be sure of this information. Why is this relevant? Knowing the accurate organic growth rate helps predict the following year’s revenue and earnings and can substantially impact valuation. A company whose revenue is growing 119% could be valued at a much higher multiple then one growing 48%.
In summary, I believe that GAAP accounting often fails to provide investors (or other users of financial statements) with the information they need to make sound decisions. As a result, numerous companies provide pro forma (non-GAAP) financial statements in addition to the mandated GAAP statements. In many of these cases Wall Street research analysts ignore the GAAP reporting because they believe it to be misleading and instead do their work based on proforma reporting. However, as pointed out by Zynga, using pro forma results as a means of comparing results between companies can also be a problem due to the lack of standards and lack of consistency in pro forma reporting. If the goal of financial reporting is to provide investors with the information needed to make informed decisions, then we fall quite short of this goal. This can result in severely misleading information that could cause great financial harm to individual investors. It would be unfortunate if corrective action weren’t taken until a major issue erupts.
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dec63d0360ffa502a513d3759943c4f6 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/11/26/whats-the-best-time-to-share-social-content/ | What's The Best Time To Share Social Content? | What's The Best Time To Share Social Content?
Guest post written by Doug Chavez
Doug Chavez is VP of Marketing at RadiumOne, which built the social sharing platform Po.st.
Doug Chavez
There seems to be an optimal time for everything - from eating and napping to working out and communicating with friends. Timing affects the way we all behave in day-to-day interactions, whether we are conscious of it or not. And the same proves to be true for social sharing.
After examining the social sharing data from 10,000+ publishers, data from RadiumOne's Po.st show that not only are there peak times for social sharing in general, but there are also different peak times for click backs, for sharing to certain social platforms, for sharing on different devices and for sharing based on user geography.
Research highlights include:
There are two peak sharing times during the day: First between 10 a.m. and noon and then again between 8 and 10 p.m. The worst time to share an article, if your goal is to maximize clickbacks, is between 9 and 11a.m. Sharing and clickbacks remain consistent from 1- 6 p.m. The hours between noon and 2pm see the most shares with the highest clickback rates.
During peak hours, not all content is shared equally. The top five verticals include:
Arts & Entertainment Technology Health & Fitness Business Politics
Also, the Po.st team found that different social channels like: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+ and email, have a particular time when sharing is at its peak. Ranging from early in the morning to late at night, here is how the channels stack up:
Best Times for Sharing on Social Channels:
Twitter: 1 p.m. Facebook: 5 p.m. Pinterest: 11 p.m. Google+: 10 a.m. Email: 7 a.m.
We found it fascinating that these times differed so dramatically from channel to channel, and deduced that peak sharing times may correlate with the amount of time needed to engage with a particular social channel. For example, Twitter is a social tool that requires very little time to use, it is much easier to send a quick 140-character tweet out during or after lunch than to carefully curate visually-driven boards on Pinterest. When people have more time to dedicate to the channel, like at the end of their workday, they tend to share and create more thoughtful content on social networks like Facebook and Pinterest.
Peak sharing times shift across the globe as well. Here are the peak times for sharing content, by country:
United States: 9 a.m is Highest Share Count, 1 p.m. Most Clickbacks Great Britain: 6 p.m. is Highest Share Count, 4 a.m. Most Clickbacks France: 12 p.m. is Highest Share Count, 5 a.m. is Most Clickbacks India: 12 p.m. is Highest Share Count, 11:30am is Most Clickbacks
One thing to note is that these numbers vary dramatically across the globe and while there may be cultural factors at play, this data reflects the times when people are currently sharing the most. This does not necessarily mean it is the best time to share content. Since so many people may be sharing at these times, it may make it more difficult to cut through the noise and actually reach people during these times.
The fact that the highest times for clickbacks does not directly match the peak times that people are sharing content, means that people are dividing their days into times when they are sharing content and times when they are engaging with content. In the U.S. people are sharing content in the morning but actually engaging with content and clicking through during lunchtime.
The RadiumOne team also examined trends in peak sharing times and clickbacks across different devices like mobile phones, tablets and computers. Here is what they found (all times are PST):
Mobile:
Highest Sharing at 10 p.m., lowest Sharing at 4 a.m. Highest Clickbacks at 9 p.m., Lowest Clickbacks at 4 a.m.
Tablet:
Highest Sharing at 1 p.m., lowest Sharing at 4 a.m. Highest Clickbacks at 9 p.m., lowest Clickbacks at 4 a.m
Desktop & Laptop Computer:
Highest Sharing at 9 p.m., lowest Sharing at 4 a.m. Highest Clickbacks at 4 a.m., lowest Sharing at 4 p.m.
The Analysis
As indicated by the research above, social sharing has distinct peaks and valleys throughout the day. During the mid-late morning, peak sharing may align with people finishing projects at work and having some lag time before lunch. In these hours, they are able to access their favorite content on the web and quickly pass it along to their social connections. Social sharing also ramps up from 8-10 p.m. This could be because people have gotten home from work, have eaten dinner and are beginning to settle in for the night. With the day behind them, social influencers can explore content published throughout the day and share it with friends.
The fact that 12 p.m.-2 p.m. sees the most shares with the highest clickbacks indicates that publishers should post and share their content when readers are on their lunch breaks. During this time, not only do users go back to review what has happened so far in the day and take a look at trending content, but also share content with others.
The ultimate take away from Po.st’s research is that timing is key. Publishers need to observe what is happening on their own sites and monitor when their audience is most actively involved in viewing and sharing content. The Po.st network as a whole paints a general picture of when content is most shared and most viral, but that is not to say that peak times will be the same for every site. Just as peak sharing time varies by social network, geography and device, it will also vary by publisher. It is important for publishers to check analytics dashboards to receive detailed insights about their audience and their online habits. Social data observance is necessary to construct a content marketing strategy that takes full advantage of social media.
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8f398acd0379fc401c9611af2e76c814 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/11/29/why-the-private-sector-needs-to-invest-in-public-school-teachers/ | Why The Private Sector Needs To Invest In Public School Teachers | Why The Private Sector Needs To Invest In Public School Teachers
Guest post written by Anthony Salcito
Anthony Salcito is vice president of Worldwide Public Sector Education at Microsoft.
Anthony Salcito
Twenty-five percent of Americans that start high school fail to graduate - and that leads to an unemployment rate for high school dropouts that is 3.5 percentage points higher than for college grads. As it happens, U.S. college graduation rates aren’t impressive, either - at 40%, the U.S. rate is below the global average.
At a time when the national unemployment rate has hovered at or above 8% for nearly four consecutive years, all eyes are turning to education, and specifically to teachers, to graduate more students and help spark the nation’s economy and global competitiveness.
While we live in the wealthiest country in the world, our students are falling behind those graduating from school systems in countries like Japan, Korea and the U.K.
Teachers play a pivotal role in helping students succeed. Harvard and Columbia researchers found a good fourth-grade teacher makes a student 1.25% more likely to go to college and earn a higher salary. Imagine the impact if all students had great teachers – not just in the fourth grade, but throughout their school years.
Everyone – business, parents, principals, administrators, governments and the community – has a responsibility to support our teachers by providing them with professional development, resources and college-ready curriculum students need to feel inspired to learn and to be ready to work and compete. Education, more than ever, is a social imperative.
Microsoft, obviously, sells software, services and devices. Windows 8, Office 365, and PCs and tablets, both ours and those of our partners, all have an important place in classrooms. And just like Microsoft, Apple, Google and other companies are investing in technologies that matter to education. We all know technology can transform a teacher’s delivery and accelerate a student’s motivation.
But none of this matters if teachers aren’t able to effectively and dynamically incorporate technology into their curricula. To solve the issues that plague our education system, we all need to do more. We have a duty, a responsibility, to do and give more.
This is why Microsoft takes a holistic, partnering approach to education. Technology is important, but investing first in teachers is the sweet spot to solving this dilemma. Every year, we invest millions of dollars and countless hours in human capital to train teachers and connect them with each other to inspire classroom best practices.
Today, for example, we announced a $250 million, five-year renewal of our Partners in Learning initiative that’s designed to support and train teachers’ and schools’ use of technology so they, in turn, can help every student reach their full potential.
Since its inception in 2003, Partners in Learning has built a community of 11 million educators in more than 20,000 schools in 119 countries. We accomplished this with an initial $500 million investment. With this additional $250 million investment, we will nearly double the program’s reach to 20 million educators worldwide.
It’s not about an investment of money. It’s about an investment in teachers. Every day, Partners in Learning is helping teachers and school leaders envision their classrooms’ potential and implement changes to reach it. It’s helping teachers see beyond the glimmer of new devices landing in their classrooms to genuinely understand how to use them to inspire students and help them succeed.
We don’t stop there. We work closely with governments, policy makers, education leaders and many partners, including Intel, Dell, UNESCO and British Council, to transform teaching practices and education quality, deploy technology into more schools and get access to technology in the hands of more children around the world, including those in poverty-stricken communities.
Many private sector companies, like Exxon, State Farm and Target, are doing their part to invest in teachers and in education, but none of us can succeed in silos. It truly does take a village. That’s why, today, we urge our colleagues and friends in all industries to stand up and join us in investing in teachers directly.
America has high expectations of its teachers. We expect them to groom tomorrow’s successful innovators, employees and leaders. But let’s set an equally high standard for ourselves. We must invest in teachers so they have the tools, resources and technologies needed to meet students’ and our expectations.
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f609b33d73b3277f11ee8cb958375237 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/12/03/why-facebook-cant-be-the-center-of-your-social-strategy/ | Why Facebook Can't Be The Center Of Your Social Strategy | Why Facebook Can't Be The Center Of Your Social Strategy
Guest post written by Rob Tarkoff
Rob Tarkoff is CEO of Lithium Technologies.
Rob Tarkoff
Barriers to entry are very low in public social networks. Time and again, we see brands put up a Facebook Page, a LinkedIn page, start Tweeting, and then wonder where the value is. Off-domain social networks are an important part of an overall social strategy, but presence alone only gets us part way there. Yes, we should meet our customers where they congregate. But we must have the ability to guide social customer experience in a way that helps drives business objectives.
The customer conversations that happen across the social Web are filled with user generated content that can boost search results, but only if they happen on our own domain. Social customers are willing to advocate on our behalf, but without a social customer experience that motivates the right behavior, they won’t.
Competitive social media strategy today happens in on-domain customer communities where we can continuously innovate the social customer experience. We must have the tools to engage and enlist our social customers, learn what works and what doesn’t, and evolve the social customer experience to better motivate the right behaviors.
With little control over the way our customers experience our brand on sites like Facebook, differentiating ourselves becomes problematic. That’s the problem with social media that we don’t own - its value is constantly at risk. Unlike Facebook pages, online communities are customer networks we own and the way our social customers experience them is entirely up to us.
An online customer community is a central, flexible social customer experience solution that integrates easily with off-domain networks. Importantly, we own all the user-generated content it produces. We can harvest it, analyze it and use it to inform the business. And we can continue to deliver the right social customer experiences for our brand no matter how the social media environment changes.
If we expect to remain competitive today, it’s deeply important that we do more than simply show up on popular social networks. It’s critical that we build insight into the needs and wants of our customers and use that insight to build predictable forecasts for our business. Without the ability to innovate the social customer experience, that insight remains out of our grasp.
The most cutting-edge B2B and B2C brands are placing bets on on-domain, owned, social media hubs where they can control the brand, guide the experience, and drive real business outcomes.
Even brands that have a long track record of success are beginning to realize that when it comes to social media, a business as usual approach doesn’t cut it. While 86% of companies today maintain a Facebook page, many have discovered that simply following the heard isn’t much of a strategy. The fans and likes may roll in, but meaningful results like improved customer satisfaction and increased sales revenue remain elusive.
Why? Because the real power of social media lies in its ability to engage and enlist, not just tally. We must deliver social customer experiences that entice customers to interact with us, share their passions, their insights, and their ideas.
When only 2% of consumers ever return to brand pages they “like” on Facebook, the platform clearly isn’t a tool for engagement. When the only way our customers can interact with us to “like” us, we aren’t doing much to enlist their help in making our brand more successful.
The full power of social media lies in its ability to invite customers to help us meet our business goals. The most successful social brands have strategies for getting their customers to share passion, ideas, and service, and they drive real business outcomes in the process. They entice their social customers to interact and get involved and can accelerate innovation by tapping their social customers for new product ideas.
When consumers can level-up, collect rewards and attain community status through their social customer experiences, they engage with brands in helpful ways and become extensions of sales, support and marketing teams.
Brands who are winning in social have one very important thing in common—they know that the full benefit of social media comes from engaging experiences that enlist social customers to act favorably. And they know that the best place for those experiences is on-domain.
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21cfc74409922205da7056e0110f2caf | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2013/01/22/6-key-lessons-for-startups-from-an-early-internet-pioneer/ | 6 Key Lessons For Startups From An Early Internet Pioneer | 6 Key Lessons For Startups From An Early Internet Pioneer
Guest post written by Paul Mockapetris
Paul Mockapetris is chairman and chief scientist of Nominum, a security software company. An IEEE member, he received the 2003 IEEE Internet Award for his work on the Domain Name System.
Paul Mockapetris
Some say the number of new businesses in the U.S. is declining, but from where I sit in the tech universe, startup fever is spreading faster than ever. That’s because the cost of entry is now so low. Back in the 1980s and '90s, you could burn $10 million just getting resources in place to establish the foundation for your technology system. Today, thanks to advances like cloud computing, a couple of kids in a dorm room can create the next great thing with almost no outside capital or expensive equipment.
Over the course of my career, I’ve been directly involved with a half dozen startups, and have counseled a dozen more. I also invented the Domain Name System (DNS), the distributed naming system that helps people find their way around the Internet. Here are six key startup lessons I’ve learned along the way.
Keep it simple.
The first thing I tell startups is to create a simple product that you and everyone else can understand. If your product is hard to understand, that’s a barrier to adoption, and your business may never take off. For example, the original Google search window is wonderfully simple; however, Google+ is perhaps getting too complicated. Even though the technical functionality of a product may be complex, end-users will use the product if they understand what they are getting, and the benefits are clear and compelling. Equally important, you need an architecture that is understandable to developers.
Leave lots of room to grow.
This lesson is often discussed in the context of DNS. The original specifications of DNS created a simple yet extensible base, and I dreamed that many others would build upon that base. I was right. Over the past 30 years, the Internet Engineering Task Force has taken my original 100 pages of DNS specs and added several thousands of pages of extensions. These extensions are now used by IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization, and other standards bodies and companies across the globe. My current company, Nominum, built upon its heritage in high performance DNS and DHCP servers with new analytics technologies that monitor DNS use. The analytics help network operators create a better, more secure Internet experience and control costs.
Try to think of it this way: The Wright brothers didn’t have bathrooms and drink carts in their original airplanes, but the dream of flying in comfort was probably always there. The same applies to the startup world. Startups have a limited amount of capital, so they have to try to aim for something well within their reach. But they also need to have a clear growth path. You don’t want to solve a small problem and then find yourself at a dead end. In my case, I like to the think that my contributions to DNS were the basement and first two floors of a tall building. Since then, people have added many more stories to the original structure.
Take the path less traveled.
Don’t be afraid to wander off the beaten path. I was originally handed the DNS project because it was seen as an interesting little problem. All the really important people in the field at the time were off solving the higher priority problems. That gave me free reign to focus on a solution without competitors breathing down my neck. The same is true for startups. Why work in an area where so many others are competing if you can avoid it? Even better, pursue something that is counter to conventional wisdom, especially if it’s something that you have unique insight into and believe in personally.
Timing is everything.
I was involved with one startup that was focused on providing Internet services to large office buildings. When we first started, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the business model. But suddenly there were multiple other startups that had the same idea we did. As a result, the economics collapsed. There were too many players willing to do anything to get market share, so margins dropped down to nothing. I learned that getting the timing right is paramount. If you hit the wave too early or too late, you’re sunk.
The sum is greater than its parts.
I think the best startup opportunities occur where two disparate fields or ideas come together. My first venture-backed startup was a company called @Home, a pioneering force in cable Internet services. When I joined the company, many people still thought that trying to send data over cable was a dead end. They said cable was too noisy and could never support data traffic, and sharing it would be too difficult. But I came from a background of integrated circuits and understood that Moore’s law was on my side. New ICs were coming along that would eliminate the sharing and noise problems with signal processing. My experience with both networking and integrated circuits allowed me to see the big picture – that cable Internet was going to be very big indeed.
Newer isn’t always better.
Many startups thumb their nose at mature markets. But if you can find an established field in need of improvement, then you don’t have to struggle creating a whole new market. DNS is a perfect example of an older technology that still has room for growth. Nominum has grown from offering DNS engines to providing integrated subscriber, network and security solutions for network operators. God love the people who go off and pursue big ideas like quantum computing, but sometimes the best opportunities are in legacy markets right under your nose.
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044c605ba4c2949da5e345869779ebe5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2013/02/15/is-your-mobile-app-safe/ | Is Your Mobile App Safe? | Is Your Mobile App Safe?
Guest post written by Charles Henderson
Charles Henderson is director of application security services at Trustwave, a Chicago-base IT security and compliance company.
Charles Henderson
The history of mobile application security is a case of “two steps forward, one step back.” The rush of companies and developers into the mobile software market has led to shortcuts that have repeated many security problems already solved in older technology platforms. Mobile has been fraught with issues of caching sensitive data, incomplete encryption and simple mistakes in coding. The extreme portability of mobile devices and the relative ease of obtaining physical access pose a significantly new risk - which is why a top-of-the-line, soup-to-nuts data security plan is crucial when it comes to protecting sensitive information.
You may remember how secure the first PCs were in practice. As the 1980s charged on, more computer viruses were written and became an increasing problem until antivirus software was invented and eventually provided some degree of protection. When Tim Berners-Lee first invented the World Wide Web at CERN, security wasn’t an issue. As websites evolved into web applications, attackers became increasingly sophisticated and clever. The last decade of the 20th century and the early part of the 21st century have seen vulnerabilities like SQL injection make headlines as hackers have stolen millions of credit-card numbers at a time. But web application security caught up and a well-defined set of practices now exists to protect sensitive data. Now we need that same caliber of security for mobile applications, and we still have a long way to go.
Trustwave security experts test many mobile applications every year, usually fitting into one of two categories: free merchant or service-provider applications targeting consumer users (mobile banking applications, grocery store applications, etc.) and applications used by brick-and- mortar merchants for roving sales clerks. A small card reader that often plugs into the headphone jack can turn a tablet or mobile phone into a hand-held cashless register. And, unlike traditional cash registers, a mobile device can easily be slipped under a coat and carried out of the store for offline analysis. How do we prevent that potential compromise?
Whenever credit-card numbers are in play, encryption is obviously a must. The best design for a mobile credit-card reader is to embed the encryption function into the actual magnetic stripe hardware. This prevents any plain text card numbers from being saved to the device’s storage. This is the most common design, but we still test some applications that encrypt the card number on the mobile device. These alternate designs have the potential to allow malware on the device to intercept the card number before it is encrypted by the software running on the mobile device.
Caching is a wonderful feature that most consumers don’t even know exists. When used properly, it can provide significant performance improvements to mobile applications, particularly when running on slower or older networks. When abused by programmers, sensitive data can be cached by applications. For example, your online banking username and password, checking routing and account number, account history and so on. Granted, your mobile banking application will load much faster, but if you lose your phone, that information will be available to anyone who finds it.
Another problem that we often see is related to other features that most users are unaware of. Many tools and utilities exist to make the development process of mobile applications easier for the programmers. Those tools are great during the testing process, but should always be removed before the product is released to users. A good example is the logging of sensitive data by mobile applications. Trustwave recently tested an otherwise secure banking application that wrote full debit card data, including card numbers, expiration dates and security code, to the phone’s log file in plain text. Reading the data was trivial once the phone was “jailbroken” - no in-depth hacking skills were required.
To protect themselves, at the very least, businesses need to be cautious about what applications are installed on mobile devices used by employees. If a company is developing its own mobile applications (internally or by an external party), third-party security testing is critical. Similarly, any mobile application used to handle sensitive corporate data needs to be thoroughly tested first.
The best advice for consumers is to treat your smart phone like your wallet. Be careful what you keep on it and if you lose it, immediately start thinking about your risk exposure. Resetting passwords is usually easy to do and should be a high priority. Think about what credit-card numbers might be cached on your phone and consider calling your bank to have a new one issued. Most importantly, eat your way through your favorite application’s payment account before someone else does.
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4737f29ad9002155c4a6f64e1d722e12 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2013/02/25/selling-out-or-growing-up-why-paid-social-media-is-set-to-surge/ | Selling Out Or Growing Up? Why Paid Social Media Is Set To Surge | Selling Out Or Growing Up? Why Paid Social Media Is Set To Surge
Guest post written by Ryan Holmes
Ryan Holmes is CEO of HootSuite, a social media management software provider.
Ryan Holmes
In July 2011, social media users began noticing unexpected guests in their Twitter streams. Nestled among messages from friends and colleagues were a mysterious new animal called Promoted Tweets: 140-character ads dressed up to look - apart from tiny disclaimers - just like honest-to-goodness Tweets.
Fast-forward less than two years and Promoted Tweets, along with equivalents from Facebook and other social networks, are now officially among the fastest growing sectors of online advertising. Spending on so-called “native” social media ads is forecast to nearly triple from $1.5 billion this year to $3.9 billion in 2016, according to a new report by market analysts BIA/Kelsey. Meanwhile, Nielsen reports that three-quarters of all advertisers have jumped on the paid social media bandwagon, pulling funds out of traditional banner ads and other online channels.
The reason: Native ads have shown engagement rates that leave traditional banner ads (the boxed-off “digital billboards” ubiquitous on most websites) in the dust. While banner ads are now virtually ignored (clicked on a mere 0.2 percent of the time), Promoted Tweets show engagement rates of one to three percent - proving up to 15 times as effective.
Why the difference? Native ads seem to have done the impossible: make the experience of advertising - so grating to consumers, so costly to companies - just a little more bearable.
For starters, the best native ads often spring from actual Tweets that have already proven themselves witty, worthy and shareable on Twitter. A brand like Volkswagen or MTV, for instance, might send out dozens of ordinary Tweets a day to its followers. Using basic social media analytical tools, they can see which of these messages are actually clicked on and retweeted. The best of the bunch can then be amplified further as Promoted Tweets - shared not just with followers but the rest of the Twitterverse. For consumers, this means fewer annoying ads and more content that just might be interesting enough to look at. And for companies hoping to stretch limited ad dollars, this takes the guesswork out of forecasting which messages will resonate with buyers and which will fall flatter than New Coke.
Then there’s the targeting sophistication. One of the major rubs with traditional ads is inefficiency. Every time a die-hard Prius owner sees an ad for an F-150 pickup it represents a major waste of his time and Ford’s money. With Promoted Tweets, this kind of spillage doesn’t have to happen. Companies can drill down to microtarget users - either their own followers or people “like” their followers - based on literally hundreds of different interests, everything from adventure travel and reptiles to Bollywood and tech start-ups. Tweets can be targeted by country and city, gender and even device. If so inclined, a brand could blast out a Promoted Tweet to female Blackberry users in Tanzania whose interests include enterprise software and college basketball. Meanwhile, companies only pay when users “engage” with the Promoted Tweet in some way, i.e. by clicking on a link or retweeting it. That degree of marketing precision - in any other medium - is hard to imagine.
Couple that with another critical perk: agility. Twitter - with its ephemeral memes and viral hits - is a fickle and fast-changing medium. Companies hoping to leverage this week’s Harlem Shake before it becomes last week’s Gangnam Style are obligated to execute ad campaigns in real-time. And it’s here that native ads really shine. Members of an organization can log in at any time, create a message and instantly push it to a global audience as a Promoted Tweet. An eBay-style bidding system means prime ad spots always go for the lowest price, minimizing ad spend. The time-consuming (not to mention pricey) requirements of traditional ad campaigns - design teams, creative agencies and media buyers - can, in some cases, be dispensed with or pushed to the sidelines.
And the process is getting easier. Twitter announced on Feb. 20 that it’s now sharing its Promoted Products API (the technology for placing Promoted Tweets) with external social media management tools. Companies can now send out tweets, analyze the results and then - with a click - amplify the best messages as Promoted Tweets. Apart from convenience, these tools also offer significantly beefed up planning features - a nod to the fact that native ads are commanding a bigger chunk of marketing budgets and strategy. Whereas before Promoted Tweets had to be placed one-by-one, now entire campaigns can be drafted, scheduled and bought from one screen. HootSuite even allows ad agencies, content producers and company executives to collaborate inside one tool on native ad campaigns, which can easily run to tens of thousands of dollars daily for large consumer brands.
Critics are quick to point out, however, that a backlash may be brewing. In a medium where community - not dollars - has been the prevailing currency, native ads are bound to ruffle feathers. And as Promoted Tweets and other forms of native ads become more prevalent, users may come to resent the intrusion on their personal streams and news feeds. There’s also the novelty factor to consider. Banner ads, back when they premiered in 2000, boasted a click-through rate of nine percent. Eventually, however, viewers learned to simply tune them out.
Does the same fate await native ads? The trifecta of lower costs, better targeting and more engaging content suggests they may be around for the long haul. Plus, there’s plenty of room to grow. In the near future, expect the emergence of tools for buying Twitter, Facebook and other native ads from one-stop-shopping-style interfaces. Companies will be able to compare, say, price and projected reach of a Twitter Promoted Tweet versus a Facebook Promoted Post, buy ads, then run analytics reports to see which campaign delivers better. Social media management systems might offer push notifications to buyers when selected keywords start to trend on Twitter, enabling them to get a scoop on ads featuring those words. Some type of stock-market-style limit-order system is even foreseeable - with social ad buys executed automatically when prices dip below a set point.
Ultimately, however, whether Promoted Tweets and other native ads end up a marketing revolution or just another annoyance will depend on how they’re used. Companies that “get” social media - and have the tools to draft, publish and analyze compelling messages, then turn the best ones into ads - will reach new customers and connect better with existing ones. Meanwhile, companies that clog up Twitter streams and Facebook feeds with the same old sales pitches may well get an unpleasant surprise - social media users ready, willing and able to push back against boring ads.
Previously from Ryan Holmes: 5 Ways Social Media Will Change The Way You Work in 2013
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afed7efd8ad4fdef0e91d286e162b51f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2013/03/07/the-bring-your-own-software-trend-and-why-it-will-be-brief/ | The Bring Your Own Software Trend - And Why It Will Be Brief | The Bring Your Own Software Trend - And Why It Will Be Brief
Guest post written by Alan Trefler
Alan Trefler is founder and CEO of Pegasystems.
Alan Trefler
As the newest surge of consumerization of IT continues, I can’t help but recall the many similarities to the trend that shaped the computing world in the 1980’s. It was an era of revolt against the mainframe. The personal computer was just starting to shine, giving business people a heady whiff of empowerment with innovative modeling tools like the remarkable VisiCalc spreadsheet. The client-server revolution was in full force, and at the time, a lot was implied by putting the ‘client’ in front of the ‘server’. We said hell no, we won’t go [to the mainframe for all our critical business data].
Fast forward 20 years, and another revolution of sorts took place: ubiquitous computing based on wireless Internet access and mobile devices. The business community once again took to the ramparts and collectively said “no” to being tied to their desktops. Now computing is everywhere, in our cars, on tablets and on our phones. Thanks to social networks, computing now also exists between us and our colleagues, family and friends.
I’m not one to make predictions, but one could argue that today’s latest sea change – wherein employees are increasingly bringing in their own device and their own software to work (BYOD and BYOS respectively) – might mark yet another revolution. The trend has become more prevalent as younger employees who have fast become adept at using their own tools have carried over these practices from their college or personal digital lives. Even some seasoned executives are flaunting their use of this type of technology. Whether it’s Google Docs or Office 365 in the cloud, or file sharing like DropBox or SugarSync, there’s little doubt that BYO-whatever has far-reaching effects beyond IT. You know the approach is turning heads when even like-minded acronyms are sprouting up: BYOA (bring your own applications); BYOS (servers); and BYOF (files). But for many reasons, it’s my view that this revolution, however exciting, will likely run into the same limitations as the last one. Why? Because together with all the BYO initiatives comes BYOC – Bring Your Own Chaos.
The devil is in the process. Whether it’s for files, photos or fun, employees bringing in their own software to work can be helpful in the short-term and I admit they drive some productivity (they have the ability to store and share data in the cloud quickly, easily and reliably). But these apps don’t differentiate your business or drive ROI; they just allow you to do basic stuff faster, cheaper, and easier. Let’s look at a few negatives:
BYOS could actually stand for “Bring Your Own Silo.”
It might work adequately in a five-person start-up, but the bigger your enterprise, or the larger you grow, the worse it can get. Managing an ecosystem internally with BYOS is a nightmare because, most often, it’s not integrated with any other solutions and applications. This creates a significant headache – not just for IT but for the entire organization.
Security isn’t guaranteed.
How long until one of these technologies is manipulated on purpose to cause long-lasting system-wide outages, viruses or worse? And how hard will it be to find the infiltration? With BYOS, there are no real audit trails or certifications required. In enterprises that handle information protected and governed by regulations, BYOS can open the door to security issues and system reliability, which can have catastrophic consequences. Right now network administrators can impose passwords onto iPads and iPhones on the corporate network, but they’re rarely renewed, are only four characters in length, and rarely part of an authoritative single-sign-on function. Your security chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and right now that vulnerability window is preoccupied with Angry Birds.
How about data integrity?
BYOD implies that no contract between the enterprise and the vendor was ever executed, hence things such as data integrity and SLAs could be worth nothing. For example, what can prevent the BYOS vendor from sifting through customer data if a bank clerk decides to store files in DropBox, for instance? In an era where companies are spending millions to comply with global regulations, do businesses need another distraction that will weigh on their bottom lines?
Rather than jumping on the bandwagon, stay laser focused on the things that keep customers up at night. I’m talking about giving global enterprises transformation technology to increase customer satisfaction on all channels, drive more efficient operations and increase worker productivity. Our customers need to be agile so they can not only stay ahead of the competition, but also be able to quickly change the underlying behavior and logic of their strategic business systems in customer service, new product development and marketing. Executives should only welcome technologies that are IT friendly, intent-driven and provide enterprises with the capabilities to address their burning platform issues. This adds up to scaling business process and efficiencies as enterprises grow and innovate. It moves far beyond sharing photos, files and videos.
Empower business users? Absolutely. Embrace mobile computing platforms? Ditto. But a blank-check policy on letting any and every Internet-enabled device onto you corporate network? Not so fast.
First, make sure that there’s a reason. And perhaps explore how you might be better able to provide a layer of mobile empowerment and freedom to innovate that can coexist with and leverage core systems and data. The root cause for this revolution is the same as the last one – business people will not truly be satisfied until they can own the underlying business logic that shapes the systems they use to drive their business. Social and mobile computing could well become part of the solution, but they do not address the root cause. We should not confuse your ‘personal cloud’ of useful apps and replicated entertainment libraries that follow you around, with your new ideas for your business that may involve hundreds of people, supply chain logistics, government regulation and massive volumes of critical transaction data.
That real revolution has yet to happen. ‘BYOD’ should be rebranded to mean “Bring Your Own Differentiators.” Bring your own layers of innovation and differentiation that can be shared in a secure but scalable way across the whole enterprise.
The only game I play now is Angry CEOs. They’re angry because they cannot bring products and new ideas to market fast enough, they cannot cut costs quickly enough, and because their business systems are in ever-expanding maintenance mode. The only way to win that game is to drive down costs, improve revenue and dramatically improve customer experience. That’s a game worth playing.
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a8e55ca283ed495dd19079629b2f8a85 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2017/07/05/office-365-and-digital-transformation-what-cios-need-to-know/ | Office 365 and Digital Transformation: What CIOs Need to Know | Office 365 and Digital Transformation: What CIOs Need to Know
There’s no doubt that Office 365 is the biggest thing to hit to the enterprise since Salesforce. Microsoft touts that Office 365 has more than 85 million users, and is on course to surpass 100 million users by the end of the year. While these numbers might seem large, they still only represent about seven percent of Microsoft Office users worldwide. In other words, Office 365 is just getting started.
Office 365 has demonstrated its ability to boost productivity and decrease the burden of IT support. But, to harness those benefits, CIOs must take a step back and rethink the architecture on which it will run. When you adopt Office 365, the work of all your users moves from the desktop and the LAN to the cloud, which results in an explosion of Internet-bound traffic. Traffic can increase an average of 40 percent, depending on Internet usage and size of the business.
As the CIO, you should take lead your company’s Office 365 transition not just because it is so widely used, but also because it is a catalyst for understanding how to architect solutions for the consumption of cloud services. You are doing much more than simple app implementation, you are changing the way users work — the way IT works — and preparing your organization for a cloud-centric future.
Is your network ready?
The most overlooked factor in the success of Office 365 implementation is network readiness. It’s also the place where most go wrong due in large part to entrenched thinking about controls.
The networks we have today are not built to support a cloud application with the magnitude of Office 365. Unlike Salesforce or Workday, which are used sporadically or by specific departments, Office 365 moves many of your company’s most used applications, Office and email, from a LAN based network to a WAN based network. Where firewalls, proxies and Internet gateways were not in-line for office traffic with the on-prem solutions, they certainly are with Office 365. All that LAN traffic is now going out to the Internet. This requires a complete redesign of your network. Any attempt to run Office 365 on legacy architecture is doomed to fail.
According to a recent survey of enterprises that have implemented Office 365 (full disclosure: my employer Zscaler was a sponsor of the survey), respondents said they prepared for it in much of the same way they prepared for other SaaS applications: they made upgrades to their central gateways and increased bandwidth to backhaul traffic from branch offices, and in a few instances, they created local breakouts to the Internet from remote offices. But the majority still had problems. Almost 60 percent of respondents reported that user complaints about network performance persisted despite upgrades, and 70 percent of executives reported daily problems with poor performance. Increasing network capacity is not the answer.
Look for answers beyond the network
As the CIO and leader of your company’s digital transformation strategy, you have the opportunity to help the organization become more agile and adapt to changing customers needs and business situations. This goes beyond just running Office 365. However, before you can do so, you’ll have to accept a few new realities.
Chief among those is to recognize that the corporate network doesn’t play a role in this transition; in fact, if you continue to send Internet-bound traffic over an internal network before letting it go out to the open Internet, you will kill user experience on Office 365. Accept that the Internet is the new corporate network and commit to an Internet-first strategy with local breakouts for Internet traffic. Running major SaaS apps over this configuration leads to a better user experience, because users connect at the provider’s nearest point of presence, which is precisely what SaaS companies recommend for a fast user experience.
Accepting the Internet as your network may sound radical, but it is not. Recent threats have shown that enterprise networks are penetrable, so attempting to protect a crumbling perimeter by contorting traffic patterns makes less and less sense. Instead, you can use Office 365 as the push your organization needs to step away from legacy architectures and move forward, scaling your business and your IT infrastructure to meet the evolving needs of the business.
This is precisely where you, the CIO, come in: the shift to a cloud-first architecture is not a bottoms-up decision. It must come from the top down so that all teams involved — networking, security, application support and risk and compliance — can coordinate the necessary adjustments in strategy and practice to make the transition a success. Left to their own devices, many departments will fall back on traditional solutions, which will only slow and complicate the transition to a cloud-first orientation. Insist that your teams let go of the practices of the last decade and work together to determine the technologies, controls and practices needed to support a cloud application of Office 365’s magnitude.
Be clear, but realistic, about Office 365 benefits
Office 365 brings about change — measurable, positive change — but does not necessarily result in a cost benefit. In fact, nearly half of those in the survey mentioned above said that the cost of network infrastructure and equipment upgrades exceeded their estimates. That’s why it’s crucial for you to be clear about the benefits of running the suite in the cloud vs. the traditional way. They are many of these benefits, including: better collaboration among employees in dispersed locations, better productivity as users sign in from multiple devices, mobile usage, easier setup and maintenance. And the cloud model frees up resources to do important, strategic work rather than managing servers, licenses and upgrades.
You can also bring cost efficiency to the process by avoiding the missteps brought about by traditional, entrenched thinking. Despite upgrading firewalls and increasing bandwidth, most organizations in the survey were still plagued by user complaints, application availability challenges and slow performance.
To understand how to make the transition to a cloud-first strategy, work closely with your peers who have deployed Office 365 successfully and already realize the difference between best practices for legacy deployments vs. cloud deployments. Office 365 can be a catalyzing force in your digital transformation journey; not every application will be as trying, but what you learn in a successful deployment will give you the confidence to take on bigger transitions, like deploying your internal applications in the cloud.
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0e00c787432bd7555cec79a6e4f1bbfe | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2020/01/02/firms-must-overcome-human-barriers-to-enable-data-driven-transformation/?sh=15cd103c2a56 | Firms Must Overcome Human Barriers to Enable Data-Driven Transformation | Firms Must Overcome Human Barriers to Enable Data-Driven Transformation
How is data-driven business transformation driving better business outcomes, and what are the obstacles to that transformation? These are the core themes of NewVantage Partners 8th annual executive survey, to be published on January 6, 2020.
Nearly 75 Fortune 1000 or industry leading firms are represented in this year’s survey, among them Allstate, Berkshire Hathaway, Capital One, CVS Health, Google, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, and Met Life. C-executive decision-makers comprise 98.8% of the survey participants.
Leading firms are pushing hard to realize business outcomes from their Big Data and AI investments. Yet, for most firms, challenges remain and progress against Big Data and AI returns must be viewed in the context of a multi-year journey with progressive stages of maturity.
While companies are certainly well on their way with their investments in Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities, with 98.8% reporting active investment underway, what has been less understood is the extent to which companies are generating business results and measurable outcomes. Although 73.3% of the survey participants indicate that they are achieving measurable results, the precise nature of these results has been less understood.
Data and AI investment are up, but the pace of investment is slowing
In recent years, it has become evident that investment in Big Data and AI initiatives is nearly universal among surveyed firms. That trend continues unabated in 2020, as the percentage of firms investing in Big Data and AI continues to climb. The percentage of firms investing greater than $50MM is up to 64.8% in 2020 from just 39.7% in 2018.
Investment in Big Data/AI NewVantage Partners LLC
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What is new is that the degree of urgency associated with last year’s investments in Big Data and AI has appeared to ease up considerably.
While 91.6% of executives reported that Big Data and AI investments were accelerating in 2019, nearly half – 46.9% — of those executives now report that these investments are being undertaken at a steadier pace. This may be a case of digesting what firms have already invested in, or it may signal a tapering of Big Data and AI investment for many organizations.
Pace of Investment in Big Data/AI NewVantage Partners LLC
Firms struggle to become Data-driven as progress remains slow
Firms report measurable results from their Big Data and AI investments, with 70.3%% responding affirmatively. Yet, the data underscores what is obvious to many – that even with progress in achieving measurable results, a vast majority of organizations – 73.4% — still experience business adoption of Big Data and AI initiatives as a challenge.
Business Adoption of Big Data/AI NewVantage Partners LLC
Remarkably, even with record investment levels, organizations continue to struggle to become Data-driven. For example:
Only 26.8% of firms have forged a data culture; 73.2% have yet to achieve this Only 37.8% of firms have created a data-driven organization; 62.2% have not Only 45.1% of firms are competing on data and analytics; 54.9% are not Only half of firms are managing data as a business asset; half are not.
The State of Big Data/AI in 2019 NewVantage Partners LLC
Nor has there been notable improvement, as demonstrated by the flatline trend over the course of the past 4 years. So why is this?
Data Driven Organizations NewVantage Partners LLC
Organizations continue to struggle with people and process challenges
The principal challenges to becoming data-driven continue to be cultural – people and business process related — and not attributable to technology, which is prevalent and abundant. Why are so many organizations struggling to successfully tackle these human factors? Perhaps this is an area that warrants greater management focus and remedy.
Principal Challenge to Becoming Data-Driven NewVantage Partners LLC
One solution that many organizations have attempted in efforts to address organizational alignment and responsibility for data initiatives is through the establishment and appointment of a Chief Data Officer or Chief Data & Analytics Officer. Yet, for 72.1% of firms, the CDO/CDAO function remains an unsettled role — reflective of the dynamic and disruptive changes that Big Data and AI have triggered over the course of the past decade.
Just 27.9% of firms report that the CDO/CDAO is successful and established, while 23.0% report that they are struggling with turnover, and the remaining 49.1% reporting that the role is nascent and continues to evolve.
Success of the CDO Role NewVantage Partners LLC
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In our Foreword to this year’s survey, co-authored with Thomas H. Davenport, author of the landmark study Competing on Analytics, we observe that over the course of the 8 years during which this survey has been conducted, the results remain largely consistent, reflecting “a field that is struggling to succeed despite massive investments in technology and applications”.
We draw the conclusion that “continuing in the current vein or giving up on the objective of data-driven organizations and cultures isn’t really a viable option”, noting that this would result in “the eventual demise of legacy organizations in favor of digital native firms — a prospect that many executives have feared”.
However, there is a bright note. While we believe that human change represents a persisting challenge for most legacy companies, we are convinced that those firms that step up and change the paradigm of data management in a more human direction will emerge as the leading firms of the future.
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baf08e0c3e4abb7df5dbe90409f231c0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2020/05/05/building-a-world-class-genetics-center-based-on-data-scalability/?sh=68fa5ba57fe7 | Building A World Class Genetics Center Based On Data Scalability | Building A World Class Genetics Center Based On Data Scalability
Regeneron World Creativity Science Academy
The ability to accelerate drug discovery is necessary. I recently spoke with Jeffrey Reid, Head of Genomics and Data Engineering for Regeneron. Reid works in the Regeneron Genetics Center (RGC), a research initiative that seeks to improve patient care by using genomic approaches to speed drug discovery and development. The genetics center is a unit of Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN), a leading biotechnology company that has been at the forefront of drug discovery for 3 decades. The firm’s focus on translating science into medicine has led to seven FDA-approved treatments. The Regeneron Genetics Center is engaged in one of the largest genetics sequencing efforts in the world.
Reid describes his role as existing at the intersection of science and data, noting that he is responsible for “taking raw data and turning it into usable facts about genomes”. His role in data engineering entails the deployment of algorithms that enable drug development. As part of building a large genetic sequencing center, Reid works with more than 80 industry and academic research partners to combine genetics data with electronic health record (EHR) data to understand how genetics impact health.
To enable these drug discovery efforts, Reid and his team have deployed the Databricks technology platform to help mine genomic data at scale. Reid remarks, “We bring to bear a lot of robotics in the lab and analysis automation”. He emphasizes the urgency of operating at scale, given the billions of combinations of genotypes and phenotypes that can be mined for drug development insights. “We need to identify every possible association between each genotype and phenotype. This requires us to analyze billions of cells of information”, says Reid.
Databricks provides Regeneron with a scalable solution for mining these vast amounts of data. Reid notes that in the past, there was no scalable approach to managing volumes of data this large, and research companies were dependent upon home-built solutions based on antiquated approaches and technologies. According to Reid, Databricks delivers an enterprise platform that operates on the FAIR data principles of making data “findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable” and helps drive scientific insights. Reid describes a technology environment at Regeneron characterized by what he describes as “tune up, deploy, tear down clusters” that support collaborative research initiatives such as Project Glow, an open-source toolkit for large-scale genomic analysis that was jointly created by the Regeneron Genetics Center and Databricks.
Databricks was launched in 2013 as what the firm’s CEO and cofounder, Ali Ghodsi, describes as a unified data analytics platform which combines data with AI/ML. Rather than managing data on one technology platform and analytics on another, Databricks has sought to create a single platform, leveraging the on-demand availability and economies of scale of Cloud computing, and designed to enable “massive scale data engineering and collaborative data science’’.
MORE FOR YOUThe State Of Data, April 2021
Frank Nothaft, Technical Director Healthcare and Life Sciences for Databricks notes that Healthcare and life sciences (HLS) firms have been among the earliest adopters of distributed and Cloud computing. This is driven by a need to support highly collaborative scientific computing and drug discovery activities. “Large pharmaceutical firms were at the forefront of early movement of healthcare and life sciences into the Cloud” says Nothaft. This was driven by work on genomic databases, phenotypes, genetic markers, drug discovery, and the need to reduce the high costs of creating new drugs. While mainstream industries like financial services have been among the heaviest users and investors in data management capabilities, they have been slower to adopt Cloud computing.
Life sciences firms have also been leaders in the early adoption of AI/ML. Ghodsi and Nothaft cite the current healthcare challenge presented by coronavirus as an example of how HLS firms can convert raw data into higher quality data more rapidly. As an example, they note the current testing shortage and how a unified AI/ML data platform can enable a real-time picture of the available supply. They observe that the data problem presented by pandemics is one of being able to predict the course and trajectory of the disease. They note the impact on clinical trials, where data pipelines can be rapidly built via live feeds to Electronic Health Record (EHR) data in a matter of minutes.
The ability to use AI/ML with access to public datasets can also enable faster tracking, as illustrated by the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracking initiative. Ghodsi forecasts, “AI/ML will enable massive societal change resulting from algorithmic automation of the most basic and mundane everyday tasks. There will be substantial cost savings realized from rapid pattern learning”. Ghodsi notes that though there is always interest in sexy AI applications like self-driving cars, so-called ‘boring AI’ is where 95% of the benefit will be derived.
Regeneron’s Reid expresses a contrarian view however, concluding from his vantage point, “I am an AI pessimist. AI/ML is high hanging fruit from where I sit. We are focused on harvesting the low hanging fruit – culling large datasets at scale to derive a tremendous payback”. This is not even “boring AI”, but the result is highly impactful data management and analysis targeted at outcomes that will benefit mankind.
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d18fe94e9dca2a7d3a29634296eaaab0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2020/06/28/gartner-predictions-every-you-think-you-know-about-data-could-be-wrong/ | Gartner Predictions: Everything You Think You Know About Data Could Be Wrong... | Gartner Predictions: Everything You Think You Know About Data Could Be Wrong...
This past week, Gartner issued a list of their 100 data analytics predictions through 2024.
If you subscribe to the idea that data, analytics and artificial intelligence will define the next era of technology innovation (I do), you might want to read through the list and align your strategy accordingly.
There is a lot to pick from their top 100 predictions. You’ll likely find surprising insights that apply to your life and work.
In this piece, I’m highlighting a couple themes that I think are universally relevant. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
WHAT'S NEXT? Getty
You Don’t Decide Anymore
Just a few years ago, I wrote about the automation of decision making in our daily shopping decisions. I asked: “what if our weekly groceries were delivered to us automatically based on the information we’re willing to share with retailers about our schedule, eating habits and preferences?” After all, we’re used to Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) recommending movies based on our viewing habits. What if that extended to our physical world?!
In this year’s predictions, Gartner implies that we might be getting closer to that reality: “by 2025, the top 10 retailers globally will leverage AI to facilitate prescriptive product recommendations, transactions and forward deployment of inventory for immediate delivery to consumers”.
MORE FOR YOUThe State Of Data, April 2021
The idea that Artificial Intelligence (AI) might not only aid our decision making process but that it would in fact enact decisions on our behalf might be scary for some. However, countless examples of this trend are already present in our daily lives.
I feel so strongly about this truth that, just a few months ago, I told a reporter that “A.I.” (the acronym used for “Artificial Intelligence”) should also be used to describe the benefits we get from Artificial Intelligence: “A.I. doesn’t just stand for “Artificial Intelligence”. It also stands for “Applied and Invisible”
Don’t believe me? Try this simple exercise:
Pick up your phone and start a text Type a sentence but don’t insert spaces within words (for example: ‘whatdoyou’) Hit the spacebar.
Notice how your phone inserted spaces in the correct places? Your phone detected your error and corrected it as you typed. It decided for you.
This occurs around us every day. Multiple times a day. Almost invisibly. In plain sight. And it’s just the beginning. According to Gartner: “By 2024, 80% of newly created documents and correspondence will contain recycled content and content inserted through autocompletion”
There is a massive difference between a phone completing your texts and a retailer automatically delivering goods to your doorstep. However, my simple autocompletion example points to what I believe are important vectors for AI value realization: Application and Invisibility.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is most useful when it is “Applied” and “Invisible”. And humans make choices (sometimes unconsciously) to accept AI into their life based on the value and the risk they perceive the service provides.
The Future Getty
Back to my retail example. If you’ve ever used Zappos, you might have benefited from their return policy: customers can easily order multiple shoe sizes or types and return what they don’t like for free. When I asked Zappos founder (who happens to live in my neighborhood) what was hard about starting his company, he pointed to the fact that, when he started it (over 20 years ago), investors didn’t believe that customers would behave that way. As it turns out, they did. That model worked so well that 10 years later, Zappos sold to Amazon for close to $1B.
The company seems to have worked out a pretty successful business model despite what investors believed would be tough barriers to overcome: the cost of shipping physical goods and consumers' habits.
What if Zappos now sent you shoes based on what it knows about your habits? Would you find that intrusive or would you elect to pay for such a service?
As it turns out, such a service already exists and many are already paying for it. Take a look at Stitch Fix (NASDAQ: SFIX), an online personal styling subscription service that uses recommendation algorithms and data science to decide what clothing items to deliver to you based on size, budget and style. The company went public 3 years ago, has a valuation north of $2B and has a business model that predicated on the idea that algorithms can choose for you. The future is already here but not everyone is aware of it. Yet.
What does this mean for you?
When assessing technology like Artificial Intelligence, focus on how “invisibly applicable” it is (or will be). Focus on how effortlessly and conveniently value is delivered. Businesses that thrive on using A.I. don’t do so because of the predictions of investors (see Zappos’ example). They succeed because consumers choose to evolve habits based on the value that technology brings to their lives. Value is best realized when it is applied to a specific problem and it is experienced effortlessly or invisibly (see the phone auto-correct example above). Finally, by the time you predict a technology trend, it might already be there (see StitchFix story above): don’t miss the technology trends that are hidden in plain sight.
One More Thing
If the above feels too scary, rest assured: massive change won’t occur as abruptly as you might fear. Indeed, Gartner predicts that despite the fact that “augmented analytics technology will be ubiquitous” by 2022, “only 10% of analysts will use its full potential”.
And the research firm goes on to explain that, through next year, “80% of line of business (LOB) leaders will override business decisions made by AI”.
The reality though is that change is coming and that it will ultimately change the way we live and work. According to Gartner, “69% of what a manager currently does will be automated by 2024, requiring a complete overhaul of the role of the manager”.
For more insights like the above, join me every Monday as I discuss the top Data, AI and Analytics trends of the week on youtube, spotify and medium.
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b81848be1a5478f72b030901071c86fd | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2018/08/20/how-i-realized-my-school-needed-an-its-on-us-chapter/?sh=40c87956521d | How I Realized My School Needed An It’s On Us Chapter | How I Realized My School Needed An It’s On Us Chapter
After our first year at college, my friends and I got together and discussed all of our different experiences. While we had received different advice from our families and friends before we left for college, we all agreed there were challenges no one had warned us about. The biggest challenge was that we were all unprepared for the initial culture shock. My friends and I grew up in New York City, which is a pretty liberal city. When we arrived on our individual college campuses, we quickly realized we were out of our element when it came to campus life.
By spending my freshman year studying in Europe, I faced an even bigger culture shock. I was suddenly faced with what it was like to be a young black woman in a predominantly white European world. I was thrown into an environment where there were few people that looked like me, or faced the same problems I did. Many of my peers hailed from more traditionally patriarchal communities and upbringings, which meant that even the young women had different values than mine. One of my first friends was a young woman from Spain who thought nothing of men calling the shots—even if it meant an unwanted kiss. After a few weeks of adjusting to college culture, and going to gatherings and parties, I began to realize that many of the people around me held antiquated views on how men and women should carry themselves, and specifically, what the standards were for acceptable male behavior.
Vice President Joe Biden joins students at an It's On Us event. Courtesy of the Associated Press
Coming from a city where I took for granted many progressive attitudes towards women’s empowerment and bodily autonomy, I was suddenly faced with having to create my own definition of what is considered to be sexual harassment and assault. I then realized that my academic environment was missing the necessary resources and spaces to hold important conversations on race, gender, and sexuality in society.
Being alone in trying to accomplish this goal was daunting, but not impossible. I consulted the existing gender organization group about ways to create a stronger voice on campus and develop an advocacy and education program.
I reached out to It’s On Us to become a Digital Fellow as a stepping stone to better understand what it meant to create an It’s On Us chapter and how the organization worked from the inside.
It’s On Us’s mission puts engaging college men in the fight against campus sexual assault at the forefront. When I saw this as part of their mission, it instantly clicked with me. Even in my own university’s sexual assault prevention clubs, men were almost non-existent. I remember my own conversations trying to recruit men on my campus shied away from these conversations out of fear that they were going to be the ones to be blamed for any conflict around college campus sexual assault. What I failed to articulate to these men is that we simply wanted to create a dialogue, and that their opinions in these issues are valuable.
As the It’s On Us Digital Fellow, I had the opportunity to attend the first-ever Regional Advisor Summit and sit in on various presentations, where I listened in on what we can do with our peers around bystander intervention. We all know how difficult it can be to intervene in a situation we know nothing about, and many times we see the warning signs, but don’t know how we can insert ourselves into a situation without calling too much attention to it. It’s On Us lends their expertise to campus organizers on simple actions students can take to prevent a sexual assault from happening. They can also point you in different directions on how to support survivors.
As the It’s On Us Digital Fellow, I had the opportunity to attend the first-ever Regional Advisor Summit and sit in on various presentations, where I listened in on what we can do with our peers around bystander intervention. Courtesy of Leila Roker
Nearly half a million people have taken the It’s On Us pledge, and It’s On Us has campus chapters in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., making it the largest campus organizing program in the sexual assault awareness and prevention space. Getting involved on campus can feel daunting, but we can agree that action does not end with the pledge. Starting an It’s On Us chapter is simple and guided by support from the It’s On Us staff every step of the way.
It’s easy to feel that your voice can’t make a difference, but our collective voices are very powerful. That’s why I am encouraging my friends back home to get involved with their existing It’s On Us chapter or start their own today by applying to be an It’s On Us Campus Organizer. You can too! Apply to be a Campus Organizer today at bit.ly/IOUOrganizer.
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127854ca8205b841960d5ed84cc0a870 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2018/10/08/what-we-know-about-the-free-college-movement/ | What We Know About The Free College Movement | What We Know About The Free College Movement
Recently, Brookings Institute hosted a discussion on “The Future of Free College” with panelists Dr. Martha Kanter, Dr. Zakiya Smith Ellis, Dr. Douglas Harris, and Dr. Beth Akers on the national landscape of the research and policy of the free college movement and its future.
The nature of work is changing. AI is disrupting industries making many of the jobs of today obsolete in the future. By 2020, 65% of jobs will require education beyond high school. As of 2017, only 46% of Americans between the age of 25-29 completed an associates degree, technical certificate, or further levels of higher education. With student loan debt exceeding $1.5 trillion, making college affordable is urgent.
Recently, Brookings Institute hosted a discussion on “The Future of Free College” with panelists Dr. Martha Kanter, Dr. Zakiya Smith Ellis, Dr. Douglas Harris, and Dr. Beth Akers on the national landscape of the research and policy of the free college movement and its future. Courtesy of the College Promise Campaign
During the panel discussion, Dr. Martha Kanter, Executive Director of the College Promise Campaign and former U.S. Under Secretary of Education, highlighted early outcomes from Promise programs across the nation that exemplify their effectiveness in creating a college-going culture and supporting student success.
What is the College Promise movement? College Promise programs help to remove the financial barriers to education by covering at a minimum the cost of tuition and fees, making a college degree more affordable and accessible for hardworking students. Whether a Promise is scaled for a single institution, a local community, or even an entire state, these programs allow students from all walks of life to achieve their educational goal without unmanageable debt.
However, tuition is only 20% of the total cost of attending college. Students often have to pay for expenses such as textbooks, rent, food, childcare, and transportation that make a college education out-of-reach. According to a recent survey conducted by HSBC, students are spending more time working than studying due to to the overwhelming cost of education. That’s why many College Promise programs offer services and support beyond free tuition and fees to help students complete a degree or certificate.
There are over 200 programs across 44 states including 23 statewide programs. College Promise programs are proliferating across the country from Boston to San Diego and Seattle to Jacksonville. Courtesy of the College Promise Campaign
Here are some early findings from College Promise programs across the nation:
Reducing Student Loans
Gov. Haslam launched the Tennessee Promise in 2014 as part of the Drive to 55 initiative that challenges the state to equip 55% of Tennesseans with a college degree or certificate by 2025. In its first year, tnAchieves reported a 23% decrease in the number of students using student loans and only 7% of Tennessee Promise students used a student loan at Nashville State Community College.
Creating a College-Going Culture
Wabash County, Indiana, Providence, Rhode Island, and Oakland, California are just a few examples of College Promise programs that aim to create a cradle-to-career path for their residents. These programs incorporated Children's Savings Accounts (CSA) into their program design to close the equity gap on college savings and encourage families and students to think about college at an early age. For many low-income families, saving for college seems impossible. But these Promise programs incentivize savings by initializing the first deposit and individualizing realistic savings amount to make higher education within reach.
Transferring to a Four-Year University
As one of the oldest Promise programs in the country, Long Beach Promise designed its program to aid Long Beach Community College (LBCC) students in completing their degree and transferring credits to a four-year university. It partners with Long Beach State University, which allows LBCC graduates to seamlessly transfer to the four-year university and complete a bachelor’s degree on time.
In its 10th year, the Promise reported a 55% increase in enrollment from LBCC graduates to Long Beach State University.
Supporting Students Beyond Academics
Many College Promise programs have cross-sector partnerships that foster student success. Among the many, Dallas County Promise has an impressive list of partners including the Dallas school districts, four-year universities, nonprofits, and businesses such as J.P. Morgan. All the partners collaborate to create a robust Promise program that supports students in a wide range of areas. Dallas County Promise offers food pantries, transportation assistance, mentoring services, and others to ensure that students are well-supported as they complete their degree.
In its first year, the Dallas County Community College District saw an increase of 40% in enrollment.
College Promise Campaign Establishing a Research Network
Research and data are essential to building quality Promise programs that create a college-going culture and support student success. That’s why the College Promise Campaign partnered with the Strada Education Network to establish the College Promise Research Network (CPRN), made up of dedicated scholars and researchers committed to advancing Promise programs through high-quality data and research. Just three years ago, there were about fifty programs, but today, there are over 200 programs across 44 states including 23 statewide programs. College Promise programs are proliferating across the country from Boston to San Diego and Seattle to Jacksonville. In June, the College Promise Campaign published a Playbook on guiding local elected officials on building a Promise program that tailors to their community’s needs. Community leaders have the flexibility to design Promise programs that fit the needs of their community.
In June, the College Promise Campaign published a Playbook on guiding local elected officials on building a Promise program that tailors to their community’s needs. Courtesy of the College Promise Campaign
College, Career, Community, and Country
More than ever, education beyond high school is essential to prosperity of the community and livelihood of students.
Join the movement now at www.collegepromise.org/join.
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4a7fb72934b6a3079b7dba6d2ef4c6a7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2018/11/23/how-this-organization-is-helping-gold-star-families-attain-higher-education/ | How This Organization Is Helping Gold Star Families Attain Higher Education | How This Organization Is Helping Gold Star Families Attain Higher Education
Ashlynne Haycock, Deputy Director, Policy for Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, is a guest contributor for the College Promise Campaign
From a young age, I was taught the value of education. Throughout my childhood, my parents reminded me that education is the only thing that cannot be taken away from you.
For both my parents, joining the military was an opportunity to pursue higher education that would not have been accessible otherwise. My father joined the Army at age 19 and earned a couple of degrees during his long career in the service. My mother completed a year of community college before joining the Air Force. After her four years as an airman, she went back to school on the VEAP GI Bill.
If my father had not died in the line of duty when I was young, I probably would have joined the military myself. Instead, because of his sacrifice for our country, I was able to utilize survivor education benefits under the Marine Gunnery Sgt. John David Fry Scholarship (the equivalent of the Post-9/11 GI Bill) to finance my college education. Those benefits gave me an opportunity that many young adults in this country do not have: the opportunity to graduate college debt-free.
Just one percent of the American population currently serves in the military, and an even smaller percentage are Gold Star families—families of those who died while serving in the Armed Forces. In recent years, considerable focus has been devoted to supporting veterans on college campuses. Student Veterans of America (SVA) was founded in large part to fill the gap in student veteran support and now has chapters on thousands of college campuses.
Yet outside of the work the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) does in partnership with SVA, no programs exist to support surviving military children and spouses on college campuses. There are roughly 100,000 military dependents utilizing Chapter 35 education benefits, including spouses and children of 100 percent disabled veterans and those who died of a service-connected cause. On top of that, there are an additional 6,000 spouses and children currently utilizing the Fry Scholarship.
Just one percent of the American population currently serves in the military, and an even smaller percentage are Gold Star families—families of those who died while serving in the Armed Forces. Courtesy of TAPS
For these surviving military family members, finding a place among traditional college students on campus can be difficult.
In many ways, I was considered a traditional student. I went to college right out of high school and finished my degree in four years. I lived in the dorms and outwardly looked like every other student at my private university.
However, beneath the surface, I really struggled to connect with the students around me. One moment in particular made me realize just how different my childhood experience was compared to that of my peers.
It was the end of my freshman year and a friend came to my dorm crying. She was angry at her father for refusing to pay her credit card bill after she had gone on an unapproved shopping spree. At the time, she was livid that her father would dare do that to her and even threatened to never speak to him again.
In that moment, I looked at her and said, “At least you have a dad.”
My experience with that particular friend was not uncommon. Many of my classmates took for granted the fact that their parents were still alive and did not understand the sacrifice that members of the military make for our country.
Much later in college, I realized that my true peers were actually student veterans. Had I known that organizations like SVA existed and were open to military survivors, I would have found the sense of belonging and community that were missing for me on campus.
In my professional career, I have made it a focus to assist surviving military children transition into higher education. At TAPS, I started Education Resource Kits, a program where we send items like coffee mugs and gift cards to surviving children who are beginning college as freshmen. The packages include personalized booklets that explain the benefits the children can receive at their school, how they can access Tricare as an adult, and information about the SVA chapter on their campus.
The packages are designed to help surviving children connect with others in the military community as they begin their college journey. I know firsthand that these connections can make an enormous difference on the educational experience of our nation’s surviving military children.
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31127c0d8851d2ccd001f8c2a93903b7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2019/06/13/creating-a-culture-of-inclusivity-in-tallahassee-city-government/ | Creating A Culture Of Inclusivity In Tallahassee City Government | Creating A Culture Of Inclusivity In Tallahassee City Government
For far too long women have fought for their rightful seat at the decision-making table in local governments. In 1887, in a small town in Kansas, the United States elected their first woman mayor. Yet, in 2019 women and nonbinary people are still having to carve out space for themselves in ways that men do not.
During a recent vacancy appointment process, I learned that my beloved city, Tallahassee, was slow to create a culture of inclusiveness in the documents that govern us—our City Charter. A charter makes up the underlying rules of how a municipal government operates in its responsibilities, processes, structure, and functions. It outlines powers enumerated to various positions such as the city attorney, city manager, and mayor.
Alexandria Washington is the Tallahassee Ambassador for United State of Women.
Take, for example, the power enumerated to the city manager:
“The city commission shall appoint a city manager who shall be the administrative head of the municipal government under the direction and supervision of the city commission. He shall hold office at the pleasure of the city commission. He shall be chosen solely on the basis of his executive and administrative qualifications, without regard to his political belief, and he need not be a resident of the city or state at the time of his appointment. The city manager shall have the power and authority to appoint an assistant city manager to serve during the pleasure of the city manager and under his direction and supervision, which assistant city manager shall have the power and authority in the name of the city manager to execute all powers and duties of the city manager as provided in this Charter.”
The only problem is that for more than 18 years Tallahassee’s city manager was a well-accomplished black woman, Anita Favors-Thompson. The gendered language does not stop there, the charter assumes at various points that the mayor, the city attorney, and commissioners are all men.
Fed up with the lack of representation in our city charter I decided to express my concerns through an opinion piece in the local newspaper, the Tallahassee Democrat. In the piece, I challenged my commissioners to rectify the inequity and amend the charter to reflect our robust community that is the mecca for tolerance and change. “I challenge our city commissioners to vote to place a local amendment on the 2020 ballot that would revise gendered pronouns from the city's charter, so maybe young women searching around our charter won’t have the reminder of a time we have fought hard to change—and claim their place of equal worth, equal pay and equal titles.”
To be honest, I was not sure how the commissioners would react—or if they would even consider my charge. The very day the opinion piece was published, I received a call from Commissioner Curtis Richardson letting me know that my voice was heard loud and clear and that he was going to act. During the city commission meeting on March 27th, Commissioner Richardson made a request to his fellow commissioners to introduce a gender neutral ordinance regarding the City Charter. This request essentially directs the city attorney to conduct a full review of the City Charter and present an ordinance for introduction and public hearing to amend the City Charter to provide for gender neutral language. I held my breath as the commissioners placed their votes and as fate would have it they voted unanimously to move forward. That action was introducing an ordinance to make the city charter gender neutral, which passed the city commission unanimously.
There are still some other procedural happenings that must take place before the ordinance is adopted. The city attorney’s office will work to review the charter and locate instances where only masculine gendered pronouns are used. They will also draft a potential ordinance for the city to adopt. But, before the ordinance can officially be adopted by the city there is an opportunity for community members to share their support or opposition to the ordinance through a public hearing. If everything comes to fruition Tallahassee will join the ranks of cities such as Warwick, Rhode Island; Portland, Texas; Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; and Newport Beach, California, that have already adopted gender-neutral language.
Although I will always love the city that I now call home, I recognize our shortcomings. And one of this shortcomings is the archaic language under which we are governed. I urge you all to take a look at your city charter and contemplate the following questions. Is the language reflective of the community you love? Is the language reflective of the progress that has been made in your community? Does the language even reflect your gender identity and gender expression? If you answered no to any of the questions then it is time to take action and let your elected officials know that your community deserves a gender neutral charter.
What it all boils down to is the fact that language matters especially when it comes to city charters. The words that comprise a city charter can play a powerful role in eliminating discrimination. By using gender-neutral language in our city charter, we affirm that our community is inclusive of everyone who lives there. By using gender-neutral language in our city charter, we affirm that equal representation in our local government matters. And–most importantly–by using gender-neutral language in our city charter, we carve out the space that woman and nonbinary people have always deserved.
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639c880cae48ead3c08f4893c0de4eef | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2019/06/13/this-community-organizer-is-helping-baltimore-residents-find-their-voice-at-the-polls/?sh=133badb64b00 | This Community Organizer Is Helping Baltimore Residents Find Their Voice At The Polls | This Community Organizer Is Helping Baltimore Residents Find Their Voice At The Polls
The 12th Annual No Boundaries Coalition Block Party recently kicked off in West Baltimore with dynamic energy and wide range of offerings. The Baltimore Twighlighters Marching Band set the mood and residents were able to access all kinds of community resources, from bike repair to jobs opportunities to healthy food.
Ashiah took over as Executive Director of No Boundaries Coalition this year after four years in a variety of different roles throughout the organization.
Behind much of this activity was the quiet determination and brilliance of a remarkable leader, Ashiah Parker. Ashiah took over as Executive Director of No Boundaries Coalition this year after four years in a variety of different roles throughout the organization. A longtime resident of Sandtown-Winchester, Ashiah first got involved with No Boundaries Coalition at a community meeting in 2015 when the neighborhood was working through the implications of the unrest and global spotlight that followed the death of Freddie Gray in the custody of Baltimore City Police. She liked how No Boundaries was “action oriented” and understood that a lack of power and representation was at the core of the many disparate challenges facing the community.
With a background running local political campaigns, Ashiah deeply understood the ways in which the neighborhood’s historically low voting rate limited residents’ ability to change the conditions on the ground. She got involved with the Get Out The Vote Committee in 2016, which set an ambitious goal to “Double Up 21217,” meaning double up voter participation in Central West Baltimore. To launch the initiative during early voting, a pastor went up on the roof of his church and said he wouldn’t come down until they reached the goal of doubling turnout. Residents ended up tripling it in the primary. In the general, turnout quadrupled from the previous election. Ashiah remembers the moment they hit the turnout goal in 2016 as “the happiest moment” she’s had in her time with No Boundaries Coalition.
To launch the initiative during early voting, a pastor went up on the roof of his church and said he wouldn’t come down until they reached the goal of doubling turnout.
In 2018, Ashiah helped No Boundaries Coalition grow its Get Out the Vote Program by building a strong partnership with Baltimore Votes and Vote Together. They added parties at the polls to a robust effort that already included rides to the polls, extensive door knocking, and local media. For the 2018 primary in June 2018, they made sure to schedule the annual block party during early voting and then provided rides all day to help residents vote early. And in the general election in November 2018, they held a family fun fest during early voting with a moonbounce and facepainting and Halloween arts and crafts to bring in young parents and a voter appreciation event on election day to ensure every voter in 21217 felt valued as part of the democratic process.
Under Ashiah’s leadership, No Boundaries Coalition is setting an incredible example of how to embed voter engagement within a broader commitment to place and community. It is so much easier to break through the sense that many residents have that “my vote doesn’t matter” when the organization doing the voter mobilization is also working on the Baltimore police consent decree, providing healthy food through a regular pop up fresh food market, and engaging youth through a youth civic education and organizing program the way No Boundaries Coalition. It’s easier for residents to believe that voting might make a difference when they see the people asking them to vote making a tangible difference in the community every single day. And by staying committed to doing voter engagement in the same community election after election after election, Ashiah is helping No Boundaries Coalition create a more dynamic culture of civic participation and engagement in Central West Baltimore.
Under Ashiah’s leadership, No Boundaries Coalition is setting an incredible example of how to embed voter engagement within a broader commitment to place and community.
Going forward, Ashiah is looking to grow the No Boundaries Coalition civic engagement program through campaigns to encourage participation in the census and the 2020 elections. What started as just a block party 12 years ago has become a wraparound effort dedicated to building the voice and power of the residents of Central West Baltimore. By making such a strong and sustained commitment to participation to the full participation of residents in a particular community, Ashiah and her team are able to break through where many other efforts falter. That doesn’t just make that community stronger, it also helps our nation live up to the ideal of an inclusive democracy that doesn’t leave anyone out.
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15015b70e962cbe2996b519c0676dfb0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2019/09/30/community-colleges-a-path-to-create-wings-to-further-educational-access-and-opportunities/ | Community Colleges: A Path To Create Wings To Further Educational Access and Opportunities | Community Colleges: A Path To Create Wings To Further Educational Access and Opportunities
In 2014, I graduated from high school full of fear, doubt, uncertainty, and frustration.
As I reflect, I wonder why was I so angry. But now, it makes much more sense. In the process of applying to colleges, my support system was very weak. My parents never finished high school, so they did not push me to pursue any higher education. Many teachers throughout middle school and some in high school, believed I would fall victim to the streets, gangs, incarceration, or economic isolation, and become another statistic. I wasn’t sure myself.
Jermaine is currently pursuing his Masters of Science Degree in Educational Policy and Leadership at the University at Albany. Jermaine Meadows
Many men growing up in East New York Brooklyn (where I grew up), have become a statistic of the realities of mass incarceration, drug dealing, and death before the age of 25.
In my experience, there was often no guidance for post-secondary success. Many teachers washed their hands of me due to their biases and assumptions. Because of these variables, I never envisioned a college campus as a place for me. My vision was blurred by survival, generational patterns of uncertainty, and potential prison cells. Because that was all I knew.
After visiting Queensborough Community College in New York and seeing how huge the campus was, I fell in love. I did not only fall in love with the idea of being a college student, but also I fell in love with being outside of Brooklyn for a change. I was exposed to a bigger world.
I accepted the offer to Queensborough Community College and was enrolled in the Accelerated Study in Associate Program (ASAP). The ASAP program gave me wings. I was given an opportunity to enroll in a free remedial math course during summer semester before fall semester classes started so that I could begin on track to graduate within two years. Not only did I begin on track, but I was able to develop an understanding of what college would be like when fall classes started.
Throughout my time at Queensborough Community College, ASAP provided me with an unlimited transportation metrocard to travel to and from school every month and a book voucher that covered the full cost of my textbooks for every semester. This played a critical role in my success. As an independent, first-generation college student, this opportunity lifted a huge financial burden off my back. I still had to work full-time while attending school to make ends meet, but this eased some of the stressors. I am not sure I would have been able to succeed without the financial support from ASAP and financial aid.
I am aware that breaking many of the generational patterns of a lack of access, opportunities and awareness of possibilities beyond my neighborhood, allowed me to graduate from Queensborough Community College within two years, and go straight into a four-year SUNY institution, where I completed my Bachelors of Science in Education with a concentration in Special Education.
The skills, tools, knowledge, and exposure I learned from my community college experience helped me navigate the SUNY system, and provided a foundation for further education and exploration.
Community colleges are often places where students like me begin their journey as non-traditional students. It develops a sense of hope, community, and belonging and provides the skills and exploration of curiosity many of us need.
I am now a graduate student at the University at Albany studying Educational Policy and Leadership. I also serve as a Graduate Assistant for TRiO Student Support Services also known as Project Excel which supports underrepresented and economically disadvantaged students to excel in higher education. My community college experience is part of my motivation for paying it forward.
Community colleges are a key part of our educational system, and I strongly recommend strengthening the support and funding of community colleges and organizations like the College Promise Campaign that support and highlight them. They help many of us get our wings to furthering our education and becoming the leaders of tomorrow.
Read more articles from contributors to gain insights on how Civic Nation initiatives and the work of its partners are empowering people to agents of change and activate people to organize in their communities.
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f221ff0e09faa730d5c1fd4ab016856b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2019/11/07/the-untold-story-of-an-african-american-family-affected-by-a-broken-health-care-system/ | The Untold Story Of An African American Family Affected By A Broken Health Care System | The Untold Story Of An African American Family Affected By A Broken Health Care System
Quyionah Wingfield, mother of two, author, speaker, co-founder, creator and CEO of Cool Moms Dance Too! (CMDToo!), is a family health and wellness provider and advocate.
In January of 2013, my family was hit with an incredible blow. My partner and the father of my two children took his own life. The week Jamir passed away, I talked to him and noticed changes in his behavior. I asked him if he wanted to talk to a professional, but he was uncomfortable doing so, despite being in so much pain. He felt he had no safe space to deal with his internal battle. He reached out to me one last time to talk, and I took him to a local hospital Dekalb Medical in Decatur, Georgia, to see if we could get him some help. The fact that he agreed to go showed me he was open to receiving help. He was admitted for evaluation after being given medication to manage his anxiety and discomfort.
What happened next is something I will never forget. Instead of evaluating him in the facility for 72 hours, Jamir was released after just 10 hours. No one took into account that he had just been given medication his body was not used to or that it could have major side effects. Doctors had convinced themselves he was capable of managing alone once released. Tragically, Jamir was gone the next morning, leaving two daughters, parents, siblings, and countless family and friends affected by his passing and grieving his loss.
Although this traumatic event affected everyone close to my partner, no one understood the emotional turmoil it inflicted on our two small children. What I remember most is the PTSD my daughters and I experienced after he passed. It was almost impossible to manage their questions, pain, mental health, and self-worth.
Jamir and his young daughter.
Why weren’t we a good enough of a reason for him to stay? Was it my fault? Did he not love us? Why didn’t anyone help him?
Those were questions they had. It created feelings of horror, anger, shame, confusion, and guilt—all feelings that can overwhelm a child.
To make matters worse, in an attempt to gain a change of pace, the girls and I moved to East Atlanta and redistricted school zones. August of the same year, my eldest daughter attended Ronald E. McNair Elementary School where Michael Brandon Hill attempted a school shooting in a traumatic chain of events shaking our metro Atlanta area. The school was predominantly African American, and the support provided to the children after the incident did not cover the needs of the community, a common problem faced by marginalized communities. As a mother, I was given the task of picking up the pieces. I had to endure the stress of finding clinicians who could understand the cultural sensitivity of my children's emotional and mental needs all while being their sole caregiver and provider.
Instead of leaving the matter in someone else’s hands, I decided to engage deeper with my daughters to help them recover. In the summer of 2015, I found that my daughters loved to dance when we started dancing together at home. After we finished dancing on the first day, I noticed how they opened up and talked to me about their struggles. They saw me as a true confidant, so I did whatever I could to build that trust and maintain it. Dancing became our commonality and the resulting open and honest communication became our outlet. In this way, I found a way to support my daughters by catering to their needs.
The author, Quiyonah Wingfield, and her daughters.
That’s when we created Cool Moms Dance Too, a program designed to help mothers support their children using the power of dance and discussion through hip-hop fitness classes, journaling, and a family engagement card game. I started Cool Moms Dance Too with my two daughters, and it became the source of our healing and helped us get on track to build a supportive community at home and in class. What I experienced with my girls could help other mothers create a safe space built on stimulating and relevant activities. I started this work at home with my daughters as a way to open lines of communication to meet on a human level. Cool Moms Dance Too has become an outlet for everyday families using dance and discussion to improve physical and mental health working with organizations such as Georgia PTA, Kate’s Club, The National Alliance on Mental Health, The Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence, Kidz Bop, and the Atlanta Hawks.
In the African American community, there’s a huge reluctance to discuss mental health issues. This stems from a lack of trust in the healthcare system and a lack of access to resources. Studies in 2015 show that African Americans often deal with major depression, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity disorder, suicide, and posttraumatic stress disorder. The lack of resources and understanding are becoming fatal to the African American community. The increased suicide rate of African American children has grown by 60 percent. These are the real issues families deal with when picking up the pieces of losing someone close, dealing with stress, bullying, and more.
Our journey is not unique. We’ve found that there are millions of families who lacked proper support and care to manage their mental and emotional health. In order to change this, mothers and their allies must advocate supporting policy that provides our children and families with comprehensive trauma-informed and culturally responsive care. We can start by using practical tools in the home, school, and community which encourage families to develop coping mechanisms as a preventative method to support their own mental health. We have to change the narrative in our community and it begins with us. As the African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Ashleigh Guice contributed to the writing of this article.
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7ca0b89378fc08f6c3ccbf5ad3792065 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2019/12/31/there-are-300-college-promise-programs-in-44-states-and-more-to-come-in-2019/ | There Are 300+ College Promise Programs In 44 States And More To Come In 2019 | There Are 300+ College Promise Programs In 44 States And More To Come In 2019
Three years ago, a group of committed leaders set out to launch the nationwide College Promise movement to increase student access and success in America’s community colleges and universities. After 36 months of exponential growth, our College Promise Campaign is grateful for the leadership and support from thousands of educators, business executives, government officials, students, nonprofit directors, and philanthropists whose shared commitments have established more than 300 College Promise programs in 44 states. Elected leaders have also scaled College Promise programs statewide in 23 states, with more on the horizon for 2019. Promise programs have been launched or expanded in large cities, small towns, and in rural and urban areas, spread across every corner of our nation.
2018 saw growth of inclusive adult College Promise programs, like Rediscover Laramie County Community College - only 46% of U.S. adults have a college degree or certificate, leaving the majority of U.S. adults excluded from the ever-changing economy. COURTESY OF LARAMIE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
This expansion is consistent with our core belief that a high school education is no longer enough to achieve the American dream. We must prepare our youth and adults for the careers of today and tomorrow. We must support the contributions and dignity of all Americans by assisting them to grow their knowledge and skills to enter and remain competitive in our economy. A strong talent pipeline will bolster the success of our nation and ensure sustained prosperity for all.
College Promise programs are designed to support students in completing a college education relevant to the needs of a 21st century workforce, without the burden of unmanageable debt. By 2020, 65% of jobs will require education and training beyond high school. However, only 46% of U.S. adults aged 25-64 currently have a college degree or certificate, leaving the majority of U. S. adults excluded from the ever-changing economy.
CPC and NGA hosted a national webinar with Dr. Jill Biden, former Governor Jim Geringer (WY), and Gov. Phil Murphy (NJ), along with other state-wide Promise leaders to highlight the bipartisan leadership of Governors to prioritize higher education. COURTESY OF TRISH ALEGRE-SMITH
In addition to the personal benefits of a college education, there is strong evidence that the positive impacts of a more educated populace generates intergenerational benefits. Every dollar invested in a community college returns three or more dollars to the local economy. Educational attainment leads to lifelong economic benefits, improved financial stability, reduction in poverty rates, savings in intervention and subsidized services, lower mortality rates, and increased community engagement.
While there is still much to be done to advance the growth of comprehensive, high-quality Promise programs across the country, we also reflect on the incredible gains achieved in 2018.
This year, the College Promise Campaign has:
Celebrated over 300 College Promise programs across the country, from rural programs in Northern Iowa to urban districts such as Baltimore County. We were also excited to see the growth of inclusive adult programs like Tennessee Reconnect and Rediscover Laramie County Community College, and to see the launch of the California College Promise, which waived community college fees for more than 1,000,000 students. Launched the first of its kind—the City and County Playbook—to support mayors, county executives, and other locally-elected leaders as they seek to establish or expand Promise programs in their communities. Hosted and spoke at over 125 conferences and events across the country to build broad public support for the College Promise movement, including a national webinar hosted with the National Governors Association, featuring Dr. Jill Biden, former Governor Jim Geringer (R-WY), and Governor Phil Murphy (D-NJ), and two town halls in Virginia and Texas focused on removing the barriers to student success facing Veterans and military-connected students. Engaged over 5,000,000 supporters via social media, blogs, opinion pieces, and face-to-fact events. Have you joined the movement? If not sign up here!
Mayor Donald Terry (Rancho Cordova, CA), Martha Kanter, Mayor Lucy Vinis (Eugene, OR), Mayor Chris Cabaldon (West Sacramento, CA), Clarence Anthony (NLC Executive Director), Mayor Jenny Durkan (Seattle, WA), and Mayor Lily Mei (Fremont, CA). COURTESY OF THE COLLEGE PROMISE CAMPAIGN
In 2019, The College Promise Campaign will launch more initiatives designed to increase quality Promise programs. We remain committed to our goal of making a college degree or technical certificate as universal, free, and accessible as a high school diploma has been for a century, and we look forward to another year in this movement with all of you.
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421772bbbdcb63a9d92e642d4ae8f882 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2020/03/03/listening-to-todays-students/?sh=7f4c2d21dd38 | Listening To Today’s Students | Listening To Today’s Students
Today's college students have changed: they are older and more racially diverse. They are parents and veterans. They don’t necessarily live on campus. They are financially independent from their parents and work while in school. They struggle with food and housing insecurity.
Students are rapidly changing, but the higher ed system has yet to catch up—resulting in students struggling to thrive in a system that wasn’t designed for them. Consider the following:
You’re a student of color on a predominantly white campus and a racist graffiti pops up around campus. Your campus doesn’t respond. You’re a low-income student and while your campus provides a stipend to attend paid events, you have to stand in a different entrance line than all of the other students. You’re a parent but a campus administrator keeps referring to you as a “kid.”
If you’re a policymaker or leader in higher education, you might have thoughts about how students feel about these scenarios and the best way to respond. But if you don’t include your students in the solution—if you don’t actively solicit their options and make space for their voices—you will never really know.
This is why we need to listen to students, especially those who have been historically marginalized, or systematically excluded from the design and implementation of higher education, policies and practices. We need to put students at the center of the conversation.
This is why Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA), an organization dedicated to diversifying our nation’s leadership pipeline, launched the LEDA Policy Project in 2017 and why we’re bringing students to the 2020 SXSW EDU Conference.
Amber Briggs, Director of the LEDA Policy Project, with the 2019-2020 LEDA Policy Corps in Washington, DC. LEDA
During our session, three LEDA Scholars who are current college students, will discuss how having a sense of belonging in college can impact students’ ability to succeed and thrive. This conversation will be moderated by Eric Waldo, the Executive Director of Reach Higher. Over the next few days, and in advance of our session, these students will be sharing their stories about their experiences in higher education right here on Forbes and on Reach Higher’s Instagram. By elevating student stories, our goal is to give higher education leaders and policymakers the perspectives and information they need to successfully adapt the system for today’s students.
If you’re planning on being at SXSW EDU, we hope you join us at our panel on March 9th. If you’re not able to attend the conference, we hope that you read our student’s stories. Most importantly, if you work with students, we hope you provide them with opportunities to provide input about policies and practices.
We hope when they speak, you listen.
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161ae8fabeef933b0edd8e443c6d8944 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2020/03/04/money-matters-my-journey-through-princeton/?sh=2ba569bb3c5f | Money Matters: My Journey Through Princeton | Money Matters: My Journey Through Princeton
The worst grade I have ever gotten was a C in writing when I was in fifth grade. I have never forgotten the day I brought that report card home. Boy, was my mother angry! She relentlessly told my sisters and me that we had to get good grades.
As a fifth grader, I never questioned my mother—her words were law. It wasn’t until my father was deported that I understood that good grades were a necessity. I had been brought to the United States to study and anything short of a bachelor’s degree would be letting my family’s sacrifices be in vain. I also knew that my mother could not contribute financially at all to my or my sister’s college education. I would have to get scholarships and that meant no more C’s or even B’s, ever.
Jessica as a child (3rd from the left) with her family in Merrill, Oregon. Jessica Cobian
My father's absence hit us hard and my family dealt with it in different ways. I indulged my life with books and sports. If I wasn’t in the library reading, I was in the gym putting up some shots on the basketball court. Through grit, hard work, and the grace of God, I found Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA). With the help and support of LEDA, I was accepted into the Princeton Class of 2021.
A large part of why I decided to attend Princeton was the generous financial aid package that I received and the programs it had to help low-income students. My journey through Princeton, however, has been an adjustment. Funds granted to students from the university are only accessible once classes start and it can take up to a week longer for students to get access to these funds. The problem is that students move-in, get syllabi, and are expected to buy materials up to a week before classes start. Because I depend on this money for school, I often do not have books, notebooks, and dorm essentials at the beginning of every semester. This means that I usually have twice as much reading to complete during the first weekend of classes,because it is not until the first week is almost over that I have my books.
Fall move-in is particularly hard, because I usually move in a week before classes start, and then have to wait an additional week for funds, leaving me with two weeks of little food. This past fall, I managed to survive a week off of a bag of bagels and honey. Everyone says, “I’m broke,” but it feels more trendy than realistic. Broke is obsessively checking your bank account to see if you can afford an outing. Broke is stepping away to call your sisters to Venmo you money so that you can afford food for the week. Broke is being conscious of every dollar that goes in and out of your bank account.
In addition to struggling to meet basic needs, attempting to fit into an elite college can be a challenge. Social life at Princeton revolves around eating clubs, which are similar to fraternities and sororities. They are social clubs housed in mansions on the edge of campus, and in addition to a place to eat, they are the center of most of the social life at Princeton. Membership varies per club, ranging from $8,900 to $10,450. While some clubs have made efforts to be more inclusive to low-income students, and financial aid packages cover a part of the costs, these spaces are inherently filled with elitism. They are spaces that do not consider me worthy— spaces in which I do not feel like I belong. I cannot imagine having the ability to spend upwards of $10,000 on meals and social benefits, when this compromises a significant portion of my family’s income. If you choose to not participate in eating club culture—because of the cost, exclusivity, and unwelcome environment—you are inundated with reminders on social media that you weren’t there.
While it might seem like an optional social aspect of college—your network matters. If you connect with peers and alumni through eating clubs, you have access to internships, jobs, and other things that can bolster your career. If you don’t, it’s an added layer of things you don’t have in common with your peers. This only further perpetuates feelings of loneliness on campus knowing it is a shared experience for many students and alumni that I will never be a part of. While other colleges might not have hyper-elite spaces like eating clubs, students like me are sent messages that they don’t belong in other ways. However, it doesn’t have to be like this because we DO belong. I know that I bring immense value to this campus and the broader Princeton community.
Here’s my recommendation for how colleges can take steps to make it easier for students like me to transition through college:
Make funds available to students one week before the start of classes. This will allow students to have enough time to buy any necessary materials to prepare for classes without getting behind. Create and have food pantries available for students throughout the semester and especially during key dates like move-in, start of the term, and breaks. Recognize elite and exclusive spaces on your campus and find ways to be more inclusive for all students. At the very least, create better alternatives. Alternatives should target access to social and career networks, which members of exclusive memberships benefit from, but low-income students often get left out from.
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b2ccc489dd6eb7e8eea41fd2dd172a33 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2020/03/06/why-community-and-belonging-are-detrimental-for-u-fli-students/?sh=6d355b3c74f1 | Why Community And Belonging Are Important For U-FLi Students | Why Community And Belonging Are Important For U-FLi Students
In the fall of 2018, I traveled over 3,000 miles to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. When I said goodbye to my parents, I cried, but was happy to be leaving their side to pursue higher education.
It was also my first time stepping foot on campus, and I was extremely hopeful for what my time would look like while in college. However, after my first year at Brown University, I really began to doubt whether or not I should return. I had struggled with finding my place on campus and didn’t feel welcomed. How could coming to my dream institution leave me feeling so devastated?
My first year was the lowest point of my life. I was dealing with health issues, the passing of a family member, and was learning to manage a new kind of academic workload and everything else involved with the transition to college. The culmination of these circumstances made it extremely difficult to exist on a campus that was not culturally suited for undocu+, first-generation, low-income (U-FLi) students. Last year the Granoff Scandal, alone, rocked campus, which exposed that students from elite backgrounds received the opportunity to attend special networking events facilitated by high ranking officials from Brown’s Advancement Office. This sparked outrage, particularly amongst U-FLi students, but our peers mocked and belittled our outrage by claiming, “One seemingly very effective strategy to [fund U-FLi students attendance] is to have legacy admissions and cozy up to big donors.” Based on their logic, these events “benefit” U-FLi students, and U-FLi students should feel indebted to the kindness of their wealthy counterparts for getting to attend these institutions.
Heidy (left) with a classmate at Brown working the U-FLi Center's welcome back block party at the beginning of the fall semester. Heidy Mejia-Puerta
It isn’t only scandals that continue to make students question their sense of belonging, but it’s everyday reminders that you are in a world much different from the one you grew up in. It’s always hard when you are constantly bombarded with anonymous messages from your peers saying, “Have you guys thought about where ur *financial aid* money is coming from? If you didn't have us, you wouldn't even be here to begin with.” But the online attacks aren’t the only form of harm U-FLi students are forced to deal with while in college. When you overhear your peers talk about purchasing an $8k dollar plane ticket home, or taking vacations when the weather is too cold to bear, or claim that U-FLi students receive “handouts”, it serves as a reminder that your existence on this campus is not valued and that you don’t exist in the same world as your peers.
The truth is, university communities can and should do more to ensure U-FLi students feel like they belong on campus. Here's how you can help:
Educate yourself. The first step is to recognize that diversity is important, but the students who come from diverse backgrounds are not responsible for teaching their peers everything. U-FLi students are constantly called upon to share their experiences and challenge the status quo of the institutions they attend, which can be an extremely taxing and harmful experience. All students should be given the opportunity to learn and grow during college, but it should not come at the expense of exploiting the experiences of their “diverse” classmates.
Create space. Give students a space to exist, like the Brown U-FLi center, a space of comfort where they don’t have to deal with the constant reminders of being in uncharted territory. It’s important that this space is uniquely designed for and with U-FLi students and not something that feels like an afterthought or that can be easily invaded by other students. Students also need to be able to create safe and welcoming spaces when they live on campus and a bad roommate can very easily be the reason why a student would not choose to return, especially when it feels as though there are so many things against you.
Be intentional. Universities need to educate their administrators, work to hire specific administrators to support these students, and bring in more faculty who are representative of their diverse populations. If we continue to have administrators who clearly favor legacy and wealthy students, there is no way that we can truly create a sense of belonging for U-FLi students. Supporting U-FLi students looks different than supporting other students, and if your faculty is unaware of how to handle these issues, it can damage the student’s relationship to the university and their education. When universities realize it is up to them to change the systems and the cultures of their campus–they will begin to foster a true sense of belonging and community for underrepresented students like myself.
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dbe78f6570d2ea61a81f5843115ddfbd | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2020/06/16/3-lessons-we-learned-engaging-student-voters-in-the-age-of-social-distancing/ | 3 Lessons We Learned Engaging Student Voters In The Age Of Social Distancing | 3 Lessons We Learned Engaging Student Voters In The Age Of Social Distancing
Illinois Campus Compact and America’s Urban Campus are partnering with the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge to launch a Chicago and an Illinois Campus Voting Challenge to ensure every Illinois college student is registered and turns out to vote in 2020. College student voting rates have made some recent gains, but there is still much room for improvement. In the 2018 midterm election, only 40.1 percent of eligible college students voted.
I have the privilege of working with college students every day. The assertion that young people are not politically engaged is a fallacy. My students are organizing, leading protests, and creating mutual aid projects to serve their communities. The students’ political engagement is often impeded by voter suppression and unprecedented social and political challenges. Our fall 2020 efforts will need to simultaneously address the challenges of socially distant learning and involvement, public health concerns, and the renewed organizing against anti-black police violence. I invite you to join the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. I know that through this community, we can work to ensure that every young person's voice is heard in the electoral process.
My campus, the University of Chicago, navigated a few of these challenges in the spring of 2020. Below are some lessons we have learned along the way, and issues we are continuing to grapple with to inspire and mobilize our students.
Lesson 1: Voting is an essential part of a healthy campus
The University of Chicago is one of several university sites in Illinois that hosted an early voting polling location. Early voting was scheduled for the same week that states and municipalities began their shelter in place orders. The day before early voting was set to begin, UChicago banned gatherings of more than 100 people.
Our team realized that even without clear social distancing guidelines from the Board of Elections, our in-person early voting site-was essential to promoting democratic engagement amongst our students. Some of the strategies that we implemented are now the norm in public spaces. We provided hand sanitizer, latex gloves, and disinfecting wipes to keep people safe and voting machines clean. University of Chicago students marked social distancing spots on the ground to help people understand what six feet looks like in a queue, and we posted signage to remind people of their social distancing obligations. Support from our campus leadership was essential to ensuring the site could still function. A commitment from our campus partners and the Board of Elections helped us serve nearly 1,000 voters.
Lesson 2: Networks and community across campuses are crucial
In the lead-up to operating our early voting site, members of our team reached out to colleagues who were hosting polling locations in Missouri and Michigan—both states had primaries scheduled on March 10, the day before our early voting site was scheduled to open. The ability to lean on the relationships that ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge provided me was an invaluable resource. In late winter, as it became more clear the danger the coronavirus posed in the U.S., we received contradictory guidance on how to keep our students safe. Reaching out to colleagues in different states helped ensure that we were operating using best practices. I am so grateful that I could pick up the phone and chat with people at the University of Illinois Chicago, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Michigan within a day—shout out to those colleagues. Cultivating networks of support amongst colleagues outside of our respective campuses will be crucial as we navigate uncertainty in the coming academic year.
Lesson 3: We must directly engage the skepticism that students have about the electoral process.
My students have been pretty consistently asking: What is the point of voting? Is the electoral process worth it? We have all been haunted by video footage of Black people being brutalized and murdered with staggering frequency. The last five years of Black Lives Matter organizing has taught me that no city, state, or party affiliation keeps a community immune from state-sanctioned violence. Accountability through formal legal processes is rarely, if ever, realized.
Our Institute understands that voting is a vital part of creating lasting and meaningful social change and that other work—including protest, journalism, and public service—is crucial to sustaining that change. However, we cannot dismiss the skepticism around voting, and we must engage with it directly. We are working with our student leaders in UChiVotes to facilitate community conversations where students can grapple with the limitations of voting and why they would or wouldn’t vote. Our students are also working to ensure that our get-out-the-vote efforts are not narrowly directed toward presidential elections but also emphasize the importance of down-ballot races.
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge can help our campuses develop the tools, resources, and networks necessary to increase voting amongst our students. Join us to build local networks of support, and coalitions for democracy. Together we can ensure our students' voices are heard.
More than 650 colleges and universities currently participate in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. Learn more about the Challenge and donate to advance our work here.
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623d99cd20cfca4a9427aa8dc0e6490d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2020/10/23/what-would-it-take-to-ask-every-student-on-campus-about-participating-in-our-democracy-local-leaders-are-on-it/?sh=5779f59237c4 | What Would It Take To Ask Every Student On Campus About Participating In Our Democracy? Local Leaders Are On It. | What Would It Take To Ask Every Student On Campus About Participating In Our Democracy? Local Leaders Are On It.
Maddie Wolf is the Social Designer for the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition and a Steering Committee member for Ask Every Student.
When it comes to supporting student voters, there’s nobody more prepared and invested for the long term than local campus leaders at higher educational institutions. These trusted voices are faculty, staff, administrators, and student leaders who are united by the nonpartisan goal of educating students to participate in our democracy– as people, not just as transactional votes. Local leaders are doing the work of making voting accessibility a reality for the campus communities that they know best.
Knowing that fact, leaders in the student voting space, the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, the Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project, NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, and the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition, have come together to create Ask Every Student, a new and innovative program that centers local leaders’ needs by working directly with them to build strategies and tools to achieve full student voter participation, on every campus, in every election. Ask Every Student is built off the research-backed framework that full student voter participation comes down to integrating individualized conversations about voting and democratic participation into existing processes that reach every student. Each campus has its own context and ideal processes within which it can apply this framework.
126 campuses currently participate in Ask Every Student either as a Codesigner Campus or Commitment Campus - all who were eligible to apply for funding this year to support their Fall 2020 work. While both types of campuses commit to incorporating full-participation strategies into their campus democratic engagement action plans and receive support from nonprofit partners, the Codesigner Campuses work with the Ask Every Student team in designing tools and resources to be shared with the whole student voting network through a human-centered design process. After many ideation sessions, rounds of prototyping, and hours of active collaboration, the 2020 Ask Every Student Toolkit was developed and launched in August.
In a time filled with uncertainty and a rapid pivoting of tactics, Ask Every Student has fostered a space for these dedicated and passionate campus leaders to share, create, and connect on a regular basis. In a non-pandemic year, orientation might normally be the go-to spot for systematically engaging student voters. Many campus leaders had pre-pandemic plans to integrate voter registration into processes like ID card pick up and orientation sessions. However, with nearly all new student orientations turned virtual and orientation staff having a lot on their plate as is, many campuses needed to pivot to the one place where students showed up no matter what: the (most likely, virtual) classroom.
With that in mind, the Faculty Champion Toolkit was designed to strategically and tactfully engage faculty at scale through a customized menu of democratic engagement activities, a rewards and recognition program for participating faculty, and a systematized outreach process. This Toolkit structure was based on the University of Texas at Austin’s original faculty engagement strategy, but through ideation sessions with campus leaders from Mesa Community College, University of Michigan, University of Nevada, Reno, Arizona State University, Sarah Baston (UT Austin, ‘22) and members of the Ask Every Student team refined the tested model into scalable design products any campus could adapt and utilize.
A preview of the Ask Every Student Faculty Champion Toolkit Ask Every Student
At Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, Leah Weber, Academic Director, Walker Institute, and Teresa Martinez, Student Engagement Coordinator, Student Involvement and Leadership, have expanded the Faculty Champion model by strategically encouraging a variety of campus stakeholders to engage students in different democratic engagement activities. In this program, faculty members, students, staff members, campus affiliates, and departments all receive a tailored menu of activities with point systems and awards corresponding to the different activities.
Angeline Vuong, Assistant Director, Public Service Programs, at the University of San Francisco, has been strategically asking student leaders to reach out to every professor they’ve ever had to coordinate “popping into” over 200 Zoom classes. During the time they have in the class, student leaders can answer questions on the spot and direct the students they’re speaking with to follow up over email. This peer-to-peer model has proven successful. Not only does it increase student engagement and connection to their campus, but at the University of San Francisco, it has also increased student voter registration rates.
At Rogers State University, leaders from the Civic Engagement Project have collaborated with the Director of First Year Experience (FYE) to access 10 minutes from every FYE class. During that time in class, student leaders speak directly to pertinent Oklahoma-based issues and register every eligible student to vote. They know that after 4 years of this, they’ll be able to reach 100% student voter registration.
Beyond the classroom, many campus leaders have found success in leveraging their access to student lists from the registrar and mobilizing student leaders to reach out to every student. The Ask Every Student Conversation Guide was created with Clark Atlanta University, the Maryland Institute College of Art, Johnson C. Smith University, the University of Texas at Austin, University of Central Florida, and Cuyahoga Community College. The Conversation Guide provides a framework to help student leaders have these conversations with their peers.
Teri Platt, Associate Professor of Urban Politics and Research Methodology at Clark Atlanta University, is leveraging the registrar’s list of students to strategically ask every student about their voting plan. By using students' emails, phone numbers, and mailing addresses, CA Votes’ Democracy Fellows are able to reach out to students where they’re at, provide one on one support, and share reliable, state specific information to ensure their vote counts this Fall.
Monica Clarke, Service and Learning Communities Coordinator at Alabama A&M University, used the Ask Every Student Training Template to train 47 residential advisors to have conversations with their residents about voting, ensuring that every eligible student is registered to vote. These trained RAs have also gone on to register the entire band, athletics department, choir, and honors program. Through this process they’ve been able to register 1,000 new student voters (on top of supporting the hundreds of students already registered to vote). Now that the registration period in Alabama is over, the RAs have been chaperoning bus rides of 100 students a day to their jurisdiction’s early voting site.
The work is happening, and it’s been happening. The people behind the scenes– faculty, staff, administrators, and student leaders– are the folks making it happen. These leaders are invested in helping students actively participate in our democracy this year, next year, and every year following. And with a deep commitment to engaging their campuses in the democratic process and a unique understanding of the distinct challenges and opportunities within their communities, these local leaders are ideally positioned to implement solutions most helpful to their specific contexts. The Ask Every Student program is prepared to support campus leaders through the next month, but is invested in supporting these leaders in institutionalizing their transformative work in 2021 and beyond.
More than 765 colleges and universities currently participate in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. Learn more about the Challenge and donate to advance our work here.
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8183e7e0ec49c4384b39c45473664580 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2020/12/18/how-creativity-became-essential-to-getting-out-the-youth-vote-in-2020/ | How Creativity Became Essential To Getting Out The Youth Vote In 2020 | How Creativity Became Essential To Getting Out The Youth Vote In 2020
It started on a brisk New York City morning in November 2019. A small group of my colleagues and I traveled around downtown Manhattan to meet with a few members of The Creative Alliance — a collective of ad agencies, production companies, designers, marketers, and a slew of other creatives who have signed up to donate their time and resources to the initiatives that live within Civic Nation. As a member of The Creative Alliance, these partners help shape the many campaigns and activations we run for initiatives like The United State of Women, It’s On Us, and in this case, When We All Vote. We engage our members by starting with a brief.
The brief, this time, was to make voting cool to young people. Don’t worry, we were quickly informed that trying to make something cool innately made it uncool. After a full day of meetings, my colleagues and I were confident in the partners we chose to help us achieve this lofty goal.
Six weeks later, from the sunny Los Angeles office of award-winning agency Anomaly, we briefed our agency team on the objective at hand. We no longer claimed to want to make voting cool — we hoped to make it matter by creating currency around voting to our target audience. We knew that When We All Vote already had a powerful platform — with co-chairs such as Michelle Obama, Lin Manuel Miranda, Shonda Rhimes, Kerry Washington, Faith Hill, and more — but we were aware of a gap in trusted messengers for young people, a demographic we knew would carry significant weight in the 2020 election. The sheer numbers alone (in Florida, the share of the youth vote almost doubled what it was in 2016) coupled with the impressive increase in youth turnout in the 2018 midterms drew attention to the potential this demographic held.
Despite their reputation for apathy, young people today are passionate about the causes that are important to them. According to a survey done by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), 83% of young people believe they have the power to create the change they wish to see in the country. Based on the strategy Anomaly developed, we believed that by connecting issues proven to be important to this demographic — such as concerns around the environment, healthcare, student loans and more — to voting, we could convince young people to take ownership of their vote and see it not just as a civic duty but a form of activism. And out of this strategy, we created Vote Loud.
Another six weeks later, our plans and tactics for the campaign and as an organization slowly but surely crumbled as the reality of COVID-19 set in. Political campaigning and marketing — and life as we knew it — had been turned upside down at a time when it felt like the future of our nation hung in the balance of the success of strategies and plans that had been developed months, if not years, prior.
We knew we had to pivot fast, but making such decisions at a time when we couldn’t anticipate the week ahead was paralyzing. Luckily, we had a brilliant team of creative experts to help us navigate those decisions, as they were doing for existing clients across a variety of industries. Taking that contextual experience, we were quick to leverage new trends and realities of life in quarantine by inserting voter registration messages into baking recipes, 12-step skin care routines on TikTok, and even through a new and unexpected yet wildly popular messenger: Leslie Jordan. Beyond capitalizing on quarantine trends, we were pleased to realize that our campaign strategy remained compelling throughout the ups and downs of 2020. With COVID-19 highlighting the compounding effects of the injustice that underserved communities have experienced in this country for years, and the tensions of racial inequity reaching a boiling point, connecting specific issues to voting felt more apt than ever. I attribute this not so much to luck but to the genius of our team at Anomaly.
When it came time to produce the content, shooting 13 actors and artists in five different cities over the course of four days with new COVID safety guidelines and remote production technology was, again, paralyzing. By August, our production team at Pulse Films had perfected the art of remote shooting. I sat in the virtual “video village” in my home office watching a live feed of what the camera, being operated by these actors and artists and their very helpful friends and family, was capturing in locations across the country. After we got the last shot and the directors yelled “that’s a wrap!” we collectively cheered in our own little boxes on zoom.
We launched in September with 10 films, a variety of graphics and animations, a Vote Loud game on the Houseparty app, and a selection of innovative brand partnerships. From start to finish, six additional Creative Alliance members were brought into the fold to help us edit, color, execute and promote the campaign. Between launch and election day, we reached more than 400M people with Vote Loud. Our content was enthusiastically embraced by a number of celebrities and influencers, including Michelle Obama, and further amplified with a robust media plan that extended into additional programs and activations within When We All Vote. In a year when Americans’ everyday lives dominated the media cycle like never before, Vote Loud cut through the clutter to deliver crucial resources and information to eligible young voters with smart and engaging content.
When the numbers rolled in following the election, it was clear that young people answered the charge to take ownership of their vote. Youth voter turnout came in at a record-breaking 55%, a 10% increase from the 2016 election and the greatest increase in turnout across all age groups. Another CIRCLE study found that young voters were critical in deciding the election results in the key battleground states of Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania. Young people today don’t subscribe to older generations’ assumptions about them. They are loyal to authenticity and quick to call out artifice. They have full confidence in their ability to exceed expectations and defy precedent, and believe in the strength of their collective power.
Tapping into this demographic with a call to participate in elections has been a challenge this country has faced for decades. At The Creative Alliance, we believe that when we give our nation’s biggest challenges the same firepower we give to the world's biggest brands, we can create change for a more equitable future for all Americans.
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357731c1f90c1612d86d6380d95efc8a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2021/04/19/academics-athletics-and-accommodations-finding-your-right-fit/?sh=67dbc37c5d74 | Academics, Athletics And Accommodations: Finding Your Right Fit | Academics, Athletics And Accommodations: Finding Your Right Fit
Applying to colleges is a stressful, busy time and the pandemic hasn’t made it any simpler for students, especially deaf and hard of hearing students. I’m a high school senior, track and cross-country runner, and I have a hearing loss. I also recently completed my college search and am excited to be heading to Dickinson College this fall. I learned so much in my recent college search experience, and I hope my advice might help other students on this journey, especially those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
As a student with hearing loss who wears bilateral hearing aids, I have to weigh all the usual factors on top of assessing how well each school can accommodate my listening needs. This is not an easy task when you’re doing everything virtually. And as an alum of Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech, where they teach students who are deaf or hard of hearing like me to listen and talk, I learned how important it is to advocate for myself. I know I need to plan and be proactive. This includes:
doing research and asking questions requesting the technology I’ll need to access sound considering the physical spaces where I’ll study and live introducing myself to teachers and coaches
Max signing his Letter of Intent to attend and compete on the cross country and track and field teams at Dickinson College starting in the Fall of 2021. Max Collins
So first, I narrowed down my list of schools to those that felt like a good fit for my academic and athletic goals, as well as being able to accommodate my hearing loss. And I made sure that each school on my list had an easy-to-reach office of accessibility so that I could get proper accommodations. That meant I needed to start checking out colleges my junior year.
I was able to visit two colleges before most schools closed in-person visits. For the other schools, my visits consisted of a mix of virtual tours and Q&A sessions. Despite the change in format, I felt I gained a good sense of all the colleges. The colleges with virtual tours were actually better because they were able to individualize the information they shared in a way that wasn’t possible during in-person group tours. I wasn’t able to attend some of the traditional in-person events schools have for student-athletes, but I did reach out directly to coaches who put me in touch with other athletes in track and cross country. Talking with them gave me a feel for potential future teammates and their routines.
Here are my four biggest tips to have a successful college search:
If possible, schedule a socially distanced walk-through. Check out the physical layout of specific lecture halls and classrooms at a given school to get a sense of the acoustics. Then contact the office of accessibility and say you did a walk-through and would need X, Y and Z. Ask about accommodations ASAP. Some schools have a more complicated process to put them in place. If you get a negative vibe when you make requests, that’s a school you might want to reconsider or at least move down the priority list. Don’t forget life outside the classroom. Any student with hearing loss who will be living in a dorm should ask about safety devices for emergency events. Devices like bed shakers can be connected to the dorm’s alarm system. Similar devices are available to alert you if someone is knocking on the door. Start early. Even once COVID-19 restrictions have lifted, starting the college search early is always a benefit. If you’re someone who waits longer to narrow things down, you give yourself a short timeline and that can be stressful. Plus, you may end up making a choice that isn’t great for you.
Max Collins competing for his school, Spring-Ford. Spring-Ford Area High School
You have to be prepared and be willing to advocate for what you need. I learned this at Clarke and from my family, and it helped me take the necessary steps and start the process early. And keep in mind that we are all learning as we go—even college admissions departments! Be flexible, proactive, and willing to ask for help. This is an exciting step.
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26fcff4b9b094811c48d488899e721e9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2021/04/20/confronting-campus-sexual-assault-prevention-and-fall-school-reopenings-head-on/ | Confronting Campus Sexual Assault Prevention And Fall School Reopenings Head On | Confronting Campus Sexual Assault Prevention And Fall School Reopenings Head On
With the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in full swing, the possibility of students returning to full time, in-person learning in the fall feels imminent.
At It’s On Us, our national network of student organizers have shown incredible resilience throughout the last year of remote learning and organizing. They have enthusiastically joined and contributed to our virtual sexual assault prevention education programming, with more than 5,200 joining the 2020 Virtual It’s On Us National Student Leadersip Summit last summer. They have also continued to champion our mission of creating safer campus communities and supporting survivor rights through digital campaigns and remote peer-to-peer advocacy.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a new challenge for colleges and universities as it relates to sexual assault prevention and survivor support. It’s On Us is lucky to have had established relationships with partners to address this unprecedented moment in our movement. We worked with our partner Lyft to help promote free rideshare credits to individuals experiencing intimate partner violence during the pandemic to support travel to domestic violence agencies. Similarly, we worked with Tinder to address new challenges in the world of online dating and safety. Our friends at ICING continued to offer round up at the register to customers, with donations funding our virtual survivor support programming. Most recently, Uber Chief Legal Officer Tony West joined our Engaging Men Series to talk about the importance of male allyship and sexual violence prevention.
As the return to campus inches closer to becoming a reality, our students are expressing both excitement and anxiety. The possibility of finally being able to see their friends after more than a year apart is bringing them joy. They are also nervous about what school reopenings and a relaxation of social distancing policies will mean for campus sexual assault.
The start of the fall semester is already known as the “Red Zone” or the period of time when more than 50% of all college sexual assaults are statistically found to occur. This is by no means coincidental: the Red Zone coincides with countless parties celebrating the return to campus and the welcoming of first year students. Freshman are new to navigating campus life and lack a tight knit friend group who will look out for them, which renders them more vulnerable to sexual assault.
This fall, not only will schools be welcoming a new class of freshman to campus for the first time, they will also be “bringing back” sophomores who did not have a typical first year of college because of the pandemic. The majority of sophomores will have spent their freshman year in either a fully remote or a hybrid learning environment that severely restricted in-person socialization. It is unlikely either class of students will have had comprehensive sexual assault prevention education before they arrive in their dorms this fall.
Colleges and universities will also be grappling with the return of older students, who, understandably, feel like they missed out on a year of a traditional college experience. There will be a desire to make up for lost time, which may result in increased partying, heavier drinking, and more casual sexual activity.
These realities mean the reopening of campuses and the loosening of social distancing restrictions has the potential to drive up even higher numbers of sexual assault incidents this fall semester.
For It’s On Us, this means we will be spending our spring and summer gearing up for what will be our biggest prevention education campaign ever. We have set aggressive campus chapter recruitment goals, we are planning our largest National Student Leadership Summit to date for July, and we are working with our long-standing creative partner Mekanism to launch a large scale awareness campaign.
ICING, Uber, Lyft, and YSL Beauty have already signed on to support our 2021 Back to Campus programming.
ICING, one of It’s On Us’s oldest partners, will be helping to spread the word about It’s On Us and campus sexual assault awareness through in-store educational messaging and a round-up at the register donation campaign starting this summer.
“ICING is thrilled to continue our long standing partnership with It's On Us and Civic Nation. We share in their mission and support their efforts in combating sexual assault across college campuses nationwide. Through our round-up at the register campaigns, our ICING customers have helped to raise $200,000, supporting It's On Us programming and education efforts. We are incredibly proud to be a partner in raising awareness on sexual assault prevention and education, and we look forward to continuing our work together in the year ahead.” - a Claire’s spokesperson.
It’s On Us will be teaming up with Uber and Lyft to help educate our students on rideshare safety, how to leverage rideshare as a safety tool to get out of potentially dangerous situations, and to fund our back to campus programming.
“As students head back to campuses this Fall, it's important all of us — government, campus administration, advocates, companies, and students — continue having the difficult but essential conversations about sexual violence and what we can do to prevent it. Uber is proud to partner with It's On Us to tackle this issue together and bring it out of the shadows. Each of us can be part of the solution, especially men and boys who can become active allies and change makers on this issue." - Tony West, Chief Legal Officer at Uber
"As colleges and universities begin to reopen and resume in-person learning, ensuring the safety of students is more important than ever," said Jennifer Brandenburger, Head of Policy Development at Lyft. "We're proud to partner with It's On Us to amplify rideshare safety best practices and help students return to campus safely in the fall."
YSL Beauty is It’s On Us’ newest partner. With their support, we will be rolling out two new educational programs focused on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) awareness, prevention, and survivor support this summer. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in IPV, particularly among young people. We are thrilled to be teaming up with YSL Beauty on this timely and critically important project.
“It is thanks to the fundamental programming of our partner Its On Us, that college students have access to support services when they or someone they know is experiencing abuse. We are humbled to be a supporter of Its On Us and fighting this fight in the US with them. Together we can act to prevent intimate partner violence.” – Stephan Bezy, International General Manager YSL Beauty
By working together, It’s On Us and our partners are rising to the challenge of helping college students safely return to campus in the fall. It’s on all of us to ensure our nation’s students can return to school without an increased threat of sexual assault.
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0bc1fa0d9e4b9903cb73651afcdd53fa | https://www.forbes.com/sites/cjarlotta/2015/02/13/managing-chronic-pain-in-the-active-military-and-veteran-populations/ | New Recommendations For Pain Management Among Active Military And Veterans | New Recommendations For Pain Management Among Active Military And Veterans
Much of the conversation around managing chronic pain has been directed toward the general U.S. population. One specific group deserves a little more attention: active military and veterans.
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), this week delivered its recommendations for assisting military veterans with pain management. A working group from the center's advisory council administered the report.
The group's findings were prepared after a series of five meetings. During these engagements, the council listened to presentations by experts in various backgrounds: pain research, study design, complementary and integrative approaches. The Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) gave input on initiatives, practices and priorities. Leaders from several veterans organizations also addressed the group.
The working group recommended that large-scale collaborative research into pain management for U.S. veterans should do the following: assess the impact of pain on patient function and quality of life as primary outcome measures, with changes in the use of opioids and other drugs as a secondary outcome; evaluate an integrated package of non-drug treatments, an integrative model of care, or a holistic approach to care rather than focusing on individual complementary health approaches; focus on patients in the early stages of chronic pain; leverage natural experiments and existing resources whenever possible; and be pragmatic and embedded in the delivery of care.
"I think these recommendations are very important, and I sincerely hope the people who can bring them to fruition pay heed to them," said Bob Twillman, executive director of the American Academy of Pain Management, in an interview.
He believes the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Council and the NIH Pain Consortium should use this research "as a cue to see if there are ways to apply these ideas in a civilian population, as well."
Dr. Josephine P. Briggs, director of the NCCIH, told Forbes in an interview that additional research on chronic pain treatment for both the general public and within the military population is needed. A 2011 report conducted by the Institute of Medicine revealed that more than 100 million Americans are suffering from chronic pain. According to a study published last year in JAMA Internal Medicine, a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association, 44 percent of U.S. military members have reported chronic pain after returning home from deployment.
"Many rely on opioids to manage pain," Briggs said. There were more than 16,235 deaths involving prescription opioids in 2013, an increase of 1% from 2012. These numbers are concerning to many, including President Obama. The president's drug control priorities for the 2016 fiscal year include reducing prescription drug abuse by allocating additional funding to states with prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), expanding and improving treatment for addicts, and spearheading efforts to make naloxone — an opioid antagonist — more readily available to first responders.
"While these drugs are key to managing certain types of pain, such as acute pain following surgery, the use for chronic, long-term pain can become problematic," Briggs said. "Thus, our research collaborations are focusing on non-drug approaches for managing pain."
Twillman in a previous interview suggested the following alternatives to ingesting prescription opioids for pain management: accupuncture, chiropractic, psychotherapy and physicial therapy. He believes expanding access and providing reimbursement for these alternative methods will bring down prescription opioid abuse. In order for this to happen, however, prescribers will need to become better educated on alternatives to prescription opioids for pain management.
Managing pain within the military population can be little more complex, Briggs noted. For example, many returning service members have co-existing conditions such as PTSD, traumatic brain injury, drug addiction and sleep disorders.
"The logical next step for NCCIH is to assess the feasibility of undertaking one or more large-scale studies in cooperation with the VA and the DOD to answer core policy and patient care questions about the use of integrative approaches in pain management," she said. "NCCIH has a growing intramural research program and a robust extramural portfolio in pain research and we have experience in real-world research through our work with the NIH Healthcare Systems Research Collaboratory and our work with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)."
Follow CJ on Forbes and Twitter for more coverage of end-of-life care and the culture of medicine.
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cdde4eb8333ed85118e6031608c1aac5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/cjarlotta/2015/06/24/naloxone-continues-reversing-opioid-overdoses-study-shows/ | Naloxone Continues Reversing Opioid Overdoses, Study Shows | Naloxone Continues Reversing Opioid Overdoses, Study Shows
As the medical community continues searching for ways to curb opioid-related deaths through treatment and management, the pharmaceutical industry proceeds with pushing for naloxone, a generic drug also known as Narcan — and the results are paying off.
A new Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that naloxone kits were responsible for 26,463 overdose reversals during an 18-year period.
The Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC), an organization dedicated to advocating for broader access to naloxone, an opioid antagonist used to reverse the effects of narcotic drugs, surveyed 136 organizations that provided naloxone kits to 152,283 laypersons from 1996 through June 2014.
Naloxone kits are assembled in a variety of ways, but they typically include the drug, written material about overdose prevention and using naloxone, and other additional safety items.
Previous research concluded that physicians have been reluctant to prescribe naloxone with opioid prescriptions. Some prescribers worried about bystanders using naloxone on someone who is experiencing an overdose.
Study author Eliza Weeler, DOPE Project Manager at HRC, said people can learn how to recognize an opioid overdose and use the drug, which is available in a nasal spray or an injectable form, in less than 10 minutes.
Naloxone only lasts between 30-90 minutes, which means it's possible for an overdose to reoccur. The HRC recommends that the administrator stay with the individual until the risk period is over.
(AP Photo/Mel Evans)
There are a variety of initiatives underway to assist with making naloxone more accessible to colleges and universities, public safety organizations and community organizations. President Obama has also made it one of his priorities to make naloxone more readily available to first responders.
Weeler believes naloxone kits should be made available at syringe exchanges, jails, drug treatment programs, any program that provides services to people who use drugs, parents and family groups.
Dr. Andrew Kolodny, chief medical officer at Phoenix House, a drug treatment provider, said in an interview that having naloxone readily available doesn't mean addicts will begin taking larger doses of opioids.
"The reason this isn't a concern is that getting rescued with naloxone is an extremely unpleasant experience — the naloxone causes opioid withdrawal symptoms," he said. "The person who gets rescued with naloxone feels awful when they regain consciousness."
The CDC earlier in the year reported that there were 16,235 deaths involving prescription opioids in 2013, an increase of 1% from 2012. There were 8,257 heroin-related deaths in 2013, up 39% from 2012. Total drug overdose deaths in 2013 hit 43,982, up 6% from 2012.
Follow CJ on Forbes and Twitter for more coverage of end-of-life care and the culture of medicine.
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