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:
The Future of Advertising and NFC (PART 2 OF 2)
Written by ray.silva on December 2, 2011
What’s On the Horizon
Last month this blog gave an overview of near field communication (NFC) and how it can drive highly personalized marketing. This month we take a closer look at the benefits of NFC and how visionaries see it being deployed for marketing and advertising.
Earlier this year, Google quietly dropped QR codes in favour of NFC, launching Google Wallet, an Android app that allows smartphones to store credit cards, loyalty cards, and gift cards so that consumers can make mobile payments by phone. On October 5 Canadian mobile development company Gauge Mobile and media company NewAd teamed up to develop North America’s first Near-Field-Communication Ad Network starting with NFC-enabled advertising displays on college campuses. What next?
Let me be the first to say that slicker technology does not guarantee successful marketing campaigns. When campaigns fail, the problems are likely more to do with marketing strategy and execution than technology. NFC won’t solve such issues. However, given its many business benefits, I’m hopeful that companies will plan for NFC more carefully in order to deliver valuable information, maximize brand engagement, strengthen sales, and harvest deeper metrics.
Deliver information on-demand
Have you ever seen an advertisement and wanted to know more about the product or company? Then forgotten about it in the next moment? With NFC, users can tap/point their mobile device to an advertising display or product tag and receive information instantly. Not only could information include topics such as product benefits, ingredients, usage directions, and where to purchase, but users would be able to save the information for later action; or the retailer could include a ‘call to action’ such as a coupon or the opportunity to purchase online. NFC enabled media tells a brand’s story more effectively and captures the customer’s attention by providing valuable information when they need it most – at the point of impression.
Read more…
Our Marketing Grand Prix Event Reported on Reuters and Yahoo! News
Written by Martin Wong on February 7, 2011
The word is starting to spread about our world-class marketing event in Vancouver on Friday, February 25th. Our press release announcing the event was released today and quickly picked up by global news agency, Reuters, as well as Yahoo! News. The full press release follows:
Vancouver Web Agency to Attract Over 100 B.C. Marketing Executives to ‘Grand Prix’ Event
PR Newswire
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 7, 2011
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Vancouver Web agency MarketingSmartt announced today some of the top B.C. executives that will be attending its exclusive “Grand Prix 2011″ marketing management conference on February 25th. The list includes companies such as IBM, Houle Electric, Sierra Systems, Blenz Coffee, Accent Inn, DNA Data, and Hemlock Printers.
MarketingSmartt Grand Prix 2011 is an exclusive 1-day conference delivering Web, Social and Mobile marketing strategies. Signup is by invitation only, admission is by donations, and all proceeds will go to MarketingSmartt’s charity partners — Union Gospel Mission and A Loving Spoonful.
The Company contributes the popularity of the event among B.C. executives to several reasons.
“Companies want to keep up with the speed of change in an era of Web 2.0, mobile marketing, and localized search results,” states company CEO Saleh Tousi, “Plus, it’s not often you get to schmooze with other top executives next to racecars and a pit crew. This event will really bring together the local business community.”
For media inquiries about the event, please visit www.emarketingbc.com or contact Agata Szymaszek at (604) 473-9700.
About MarketingSmartt
MarketingSmartt is the only Web agency that helps marketing managers of ambitious companies utilize the latest technologies to build tribes around their brands in an era of Web 2.0, mobile, and localized marketing. For additional information please visit our website at www.marketingsmartt.com.
