Kevin Custis, Global Leader Mobility Services, IBM Global Business Services
By Kevin Custis
The rise of mobile computing and social business is transforming information technology (IT), yet neither is being led by the IT industry itself. The tools and capability to exploit this shift will come from providers like IBM. But the precipitating event is actually the decisions and actions of regular people — tens and hundreds of millions of individuals and their expectations for how they will engage with all the institutions of the world.
With 10 billion mobile devices, and multiples of that of connected sensors, forecasted by 2020, the proliferation of mobile technology is fundamentally changing the way people think, work, act and interact. For example 4 out of 5 consumers use smartphones to shop, and within five years, half of today’s smartphone users will be using mobile wallets as their preferred payments method.
Smart mobile devices have become so seamlessly integrated in our lives, consumers don’t think twice about completing any kind of transaction with a phone or tablet. Whether making a purchase, updating a social media status, banking, consulting with doctors or getting directions, they simply expect that their devices will work in real time. Continue Reading »
Patrick G. Childress, Program Manager, Real-Time Events, Global Business Services, IBM
By Patrick G. Childress
One of my favorite parts of summer, much to my wife’s chagrin, is watching golf on Sunday afternoons. Sometimes it’s on in the background while I’m tending the grill, and other times I’m parked on the sofa seeing who can sink that 30-footer to win the tournament. I enjoy watching the pros hit shot after shot that I can’t ever seem to pull off myself.
Working at IBM, I am fortunate to be able to combine my love of golf with my day job of managing and designing new mobile applications as part of the IBM Interactive design team. Over the past 15 years, this team has been developing unique digital experiences for clients. Most recently, we were tasked with designing and building a new iPad app for the United States Golf Association (USGA), to launch in conjunction with the 2013 U.S. Open, the largest golf tournament in the U.S. Continue Reading »
Jane Munn, Vice President and Business Line Executive, Cloud, IBM Systems & Technology Group
By Jane Munn
When mapping out a cloud infrastructure, one of the first things that becomes clear is the bifurcation between low-end, commoditized products and enterprise-class solutions.
But even within that second category, a quick look under the covers of certain solutions often shows a patchwork of proprietary products that lack integration and optimization – a little server virtualization here, some specialized apps there, and a little “something-as-a-service” somewhere else – with no real thought to the enterprise as a whole.
For clients to gain the full advantages of this technology, a strategic cloud solution should include virtualization, standardization and provisioning for efficiency, cost-effectiveness, ease of management and fast deployment. Just as important, that solution should cover software, servers and storage, with deep roots in open standards, to ensure that clients can take advantage of cloud’s benefits today while beating a path to the future. Continue Reading »
Thomas Erickson, Social Scientist, IBM Research
By Thomas Erickson
What do we mean by “smarter?” Most of us have technology in mind. Sensors gather data, networks aggregate it, analytics process it, and the result is that systems are able to act more efficiently. Traffic flows more smoothly. Energy is distributed more effectively. Healthcare is delivered more economically.
I have a different view of “smarter.” In my view, people can enhance digital smartness. Just as sensors can gather information, so can people. Just as digital systems can analyze data, so can people. Just as control systems can act in the world, so can people. Because people do these things very differently from the way digital systems do them, it means they can add layers of value, interpretation and innovation. “Smarter,” in my opinion, means human intelligence and digital smartness working together, in a complementary fashion
Just as advanced technology has enabled digital smartness, it has also enabled what I call social intelligence. Continue Reading »
Elizabeth O’Brien, Worldwide Sponsorship Strategy, IBM
By Elizabeth O’Brien
Big Data is a term we hear a lot about in the business world. But these days, thanks to the insatiable hunger for player, team and league stats and analysis, it’s also becoming widely used in the world of sports.
In tennis, for example, Big Data includes tournament, match and player stats, things like serve speeds, rally counts, winners and aces. But more important than what Big Data includes, is how it is used to enhance and, in many ways, transform how we experience and enjoy the sport of tennis.
This week marks the 28th year of IBM’s partnership with the French Tennis Federation in support of Roland Garros (also known as the French Open). IBM brings a suite of solutions to Roland Garros, all centered on real time and historic Grand Slam data. We capture, analyze, secure, store and distribute the data—in fact Big Data is the heart of our collaboration with the FFT. Continue Reading »
Jeffrey Rhoda, General Manager, Global Government and Education, IBM
By Jeffrey Rhoda
Governments have always been great at collecting data. From the smallest regional municipality to the largest country in the world, public sector organizations cull vast amounts of information to balance the needs of their residents and businesses and ensure ongoing economic growth.
With the global economic recession lingering, government leaders are under continued pressure to make better choices, deliver results and demonstrate greater accountability.
Take, for instance, the data collected and utilized by government taxation departments. The reputation and integrity of an entire government can be at risk if the public questions the credibility of the data produced or processed by this department.
The Finance & Local Taxation Bureau of Ningbo, a seaport city in the Zhejiang province in China, was drowning in data – data that was mostly unreliable and varied. To remedy the situation, the bureau leaders instituted a new system that structures and extracts data in real time. Continue Reading »
Les Rechan, General Manager, IBM Business Analytics
By Les Rechan
Corporate finance is often thought of as the central support system of an organization. It is key to ensuring that the organization not only survives, but thrives. While the core function of the CFO has remained consistent, the responsibilities and approaches of the position are rapidly evolving.
Over the next five years, the role of the CFO will continue to transform under the influence of analytics. As the primary guardians of information across all lines of business, CFOs can and should foster an analytics culture to support fact-based decision making.
Some CFOs are already ahead of the pack, applying analytics to their data to uncover hidden pockets of profitability. As data continues to grow, those CFOs who uniquely capitalize on it can proactively set leading business strategies. In fact, Gartner predicts that the amount of data stored by enterprises will grow 650 percent by 2018. Continue Reading »
Dr. Glenn Omura, Associate Professor, Michigan State University, Broad College of Business
By Dr. Glenn Omura
Earlier this year I spoke with Manoj Saxena, General Manager of Watson Solutions at IBM, about developing a scale-to-measure customer engagement. We agreed that as businesses look for ways to retain existing customers and attract new ones, the question of what resonates with consumers and makes them loyal customers is increasingly top of mind.
In my research and work as a marketing professor, I’ve seen how organizations have succeeded in marketing to various population segments, and also how they’ve fallen short of their customers’ expectations.
The traditional way of marketing is no longer sufficient, particularly when dealing with a younger, tech-savvy digital consumer – the Millennial. Research shows that Millennials are optimistic, confident and pragmatic, are seeking more personalized attention and engagement. Smart businesses need to make sure they’re meeting those needs. As companies increasingly apply technology to satisfy the daily consumer demand for greater individual productivity and immediacy, they may be giving up relationship-building for the sake of efficiency.
Can companies have both? Continue Reading »
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Teddy Goff
Teddy Goff led a team of more than 200 people focused on digital media for President Obama’s re-election campaign. They generated more than 133 million video views, developed innovative tools to build grassroots communities, and raised more than $690 million. Recently, he and two colleagues formed a strategic marketing consultancy, Precision Strategies. Here, Goff talks about the importance of cultivating relationships and how President Obama’s re-election campaign ultimately relied on the effective use of predictive analytics.
What was the digital campaign’s key contribution to President Obama’s re-election?
It put supporters back into a primary role. We realized the most important thing we could do on the digital side was to cultivate relationships with the supporters on e-mail, Facebook, Twitter. We wanted to keep them inspired, engaged and informed. If we gave those people a reason to hit the retweet button every now and again, hit the share button, they could reach almost everyone in the United States more powerfully than we as a campaign operation ever could. President Obama on election day had about 34 million Facebook fans. Those people were friends with 98 percent of the U.S.-based Facebook population, which is more than the number of people who vote. Continue Reading »
Troy Kanter, COO of Kenexa, an IBM company
By Troy Kanter
Successful organizations typically recognize three critical facets of their workforce. For these companies, it’s all about capability (what the workforce already knows); capacity (what it has the ability to learn); and culture (what it can do collectively).
Understanding the three C’s is just the first step in the process of creating a Smarter Workforce. In my experience, it’s critical to answer five key questions regarding the design of the workforce to help ensure success, both for the employee and the organization.
1. What are the core components that are critical to the success of your organization?
Much like buying a car, what feature or capability denotes a successful purchase? Is it safety, gas mileage, speed or something else? It’s the same with business. For some companies, they need their workforce to deliver tailored solutions for customers. For others, it’s important to deliver top-of-line customer service, or expertise or creative ideas. Continue Reading »
