Focus on Your Business Ecosystem – Learnings from SXSW 2012 Interactive
Written by ray.silva on April 9, 2012
Smartt’s social media and interactive technologies strategist Ray Silva has kindly allowed us to use a story from his own blog. Earlier this month Ray attended SXSW Interactive (South by Southwest), a conference for emerging technology.
This first post covers an MIT Media Lab panel discussion run by Joi Ito. He’s a pioneer in the Internet world, starting his career with technology companies in the 1980s. Now he is director of the MIT Media Lab. This discussion offered interesting insights into how the Internet is affecting the way we work and the future of business. The most important message was that the world is moving so fast that traditional business practices are becoming less effective. We’ll need to learn how to adapt in order to survive.
Avoid Overplanning
Ito opened by explaining some of what he’s seen since the beginning of the Internet. He’s noticed that in the past companies have time and time again resorted to massive time-consuming research reports in order to make the appropriate decisions. Although these are necessary for particular types of organizations such as government, others regrettably miss time-sensitive opportunities. As the world speeds up, over-planning becomes a larger problem. It now costs many organizations more to plan than just to dive in. The only way to capitalize on opportunity, and adjust to problems is to adapt quickly. This is why Agile Project Management has become increasingly popular today. Agile methodology was a large theme at SXSW this year, and Ito hit the nail in the head.
“It’s no longer about the product, it’s about the eco-system” – Joi Ito
Plan for Change as a Constant
Here’s what it boils down to: In order for organizations to survive the next 5 years of business we’re going to have to learn to adopt the idea of change. Change management isn’t just a one-time event anymore. It’s going to become a constant in the business environment. We can already see this trend in the technology start-up industry. Things move so fast that one day a business model works and the next – maybe not so much. Perhaps one model isn’t scalable. To survive and succeed we’ll need to focus on the business ecosystem.
Get Agile
Agile project management can provide some of what our organizations need because it works in iterations. Reviewing and planning faster allows important decisions and actions to happen at more appropriate times.
Focus on Environment
MIT has taken a proactive approach by opening the Media Lab division of their institution. It has a program that fosters improvisation and change. It provides a creative collaborative space to promote new ideas; funding and support for new technological discovery; coaching for individual education; and more. They focus less on individual products and more on the environment because those who work in these circumstances are more likely to reach successful outputs.
Conclusions
In reflecting on this session I’ve come to a few conclusions that are important for businesses.
Learn how Agile methodologies can improve our organizations. Every organization is different which means that they need to use different tools. Understanding the Agile frame work will give us a new tool for how to effectively manage our teams in the future.
Embrace change and improvisation. Communication is speeding up, brands are becoming more humane, and consumer demand is changing so quickly it’s hard to predict what’s next. In considering the idea of “survival of the fittest” humans and now businesses need to adapt to survive. Having the ability to proactively change and improvise under new and unknown circumstances is what will set successful businesses apart.
Be flexible with the long term. Planning is an expensive and time consuming effort. Make sure we understand when it is necessary and when it is not. There are always long term goals, but we need to be flexible in how we achieve those goals. The lessons we gain by jumping into a project and embracing serendipity may hold opportunities for the long term, so be prepared to adjust our long-term thinking.
Focus on the business eco-system (culture, space, resources, people, mentoring) not just the product. Trends and consumer demands change so quickly that it is difficult to predict how long they last and how popular they will become. Chances are that technology businesses will need to adapt, or in some cases pivot, in order to survive. Focus more on providing a team with the eco-system to succeed rather than a specific product so that when they need to they are more able to adjust.
Below are some of the cool MIT Media Lab projects that were presented after Ito’s talk:
Get Your Apps in Gear! A Smart Phone Application Review
Written by ray.silva on February 19, 2012
So you’ve had your smart phone for a while and now you’re thinking: “Where’d all the cool applications go?”. Perhaps you’re running a business and thinking “What’s next in mobile?”
Mobile is moving incredibly fast and with thousands of apps being created and discovered everyday it’s difficult to have any idea about what’s going on. That’s why we at Smartt wanted to make things a bit easier for you. It’s time to get your apps in gear and get up to speed with the latest and greatest applications in mobile.
Pinterest has to be the most popular, over-hyped, and shared picture-sharing network on the planet. As annoying as it is to constantly hear about it, Pinterest is actually a fun and easy-to-use platform with loads of opportunity for businesses. Pinterest works like a multi-faceted dream board. It allows users to extract, save, and categorize their favorite online pictures. The Pinterest mobile application even allows users to snap photos on the go. Businesses can tap into Pinterest’s high frequency of sharing to increase site traffic. It also allows businesses and users to add product details and links so that if you stumble across a gift you like, purchasing it is just a few clicks away.
Banjo ensures you’ll never miss a coincidental meeting ever again. By scraping all public geo-messages and check-ins Banjo will populate a Google map of all you near-by friends. If you’re particularly close to a friend you’ll even get a little notification to make sure you know there around the corner. The app also allows users to check-in using Foursquare and message to Facebook and Twitter. This makes sharing seamless. To some this, can seem like a stalker’s paradise while for others it’s fun and different. Users will be able to identify familiar faces in their area, or take advantage of local events they would have missed otherwise. It’s new, different, and definitely worth a download.
Zite takes the best of the best, of the absolute best online news and creates a customized digital-newspaper experience. Probably the best Flipboard alternative I’ve come across. Zite will actually learn your reading habits so that you don’t have to waste precious time sifting through countless irrelevant articles. Whether you’re into web design, technology, politics, art, or countless other categories, Zite has something for you. It’s really easy to use. To make things easier Zite has provided users with Twitter and Facebook sharing capability so users can continue to be social dynamos. If you’re anything like me do yourself a favor, download Zite and save your time.
TaxiNow makes grabbing a cab easier than easy. Say goodbye to being on hold and long, distorted elevator jazz music! Instead, say hello to just clicking a few buttons. It’s really that simple. TaxiNow will gather your geo-location, show you a map of all near-by cabs that are also using the app, and if you wish, alert them of a potential fare. If a cab accepts, the app will tell you how long you’ll wait, the phone number of the cab, and more. What I found best about this application is that it gives an idea of how many cabs are in the area and if there aren’t any will give you the phone numbers of popular cab companies. As a bonus, most cabbies using the application are interesting, tech-savvy gentlemen who can carry on a conversation about smart phones, apps, and tech. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have that than the awkward silent type. If you’re a frequent cab rider make sure to check this out – I promise it ‘ll be a breeze.
Finally, Path is a personal journal network that allows you to easily capture and share the best parts of your life. What I find most interesting is that Path identified a major problem with content capturing – it takes way too long! So they created a user interface that makes navigation fast and easy. To save even more time, it syncs with all the major social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc.) so that you only need to post in one place. You can capture and share locations, photos, notes, wake ups, good-nights, meetings, music with your closest friends. The problem I see with most networks is that they’re huge, cluttered and overwhelming behemoths. Path isn’t. It’s a small, mobile-only network that makes sharing with a group of friends much easier. Check it out, and start saving your time.
Social Media Policy Essentials
Written by ray.silva on December 5, 2011
With the rise of social media such as blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, there are countless opportunities for companies to build up their brand awareness. Even if your company does not use social media, your employees probably do and they can play a valuable role. However, they could also unintentionally damage the company’s brand. A social media policy helps mitigate that risk by giving employees guidelines on how to communicate the company’s message.
Social Media Policy
When to Create a Policy
You need a social media policy when:
- Your company deploys a social media strategy. Your social media policy must be referenced when you are drafting plans for content marketing, escalation procedures, approval procedures, and a company spokesperson.
- Your employees are active on personal social media. Your social media policy will provide best practices and define parameters for how they can talk about the company.Remember though, it’s not all about mitigating risk and crisis management. A social media policy is very helpful when employees want to promote your brand. After all, social media is about sharing information. In the absence of such guidance, the most well-meaning intentions will sometimes backfire.
