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a-ok
Working in groups is a skill that the C21st workforce will learn. Groups that are networked. Often around the world. Which means working with colleagues that you may never meet face-to-face. Working in virtual space. Working with multiple groups on different assignments at the same time.
There will be much too learn and many new opportunities and challenges to explore.
a-ok
The digital proposition we all have to consider is that that virtual spaces are becoming an integral part of our lives. Is the virtual becoming real? See http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662261/the-future-of-information-touchscreens-everywhere-video?partner=homepage_newsletter
a-ok
Digital strategy is the container. It shapes revenue models. Digital content shapes success. Does your content fit your container?
a-okThe world economy is in transition... As with most systems that are in transition - it is in a mess... If we look at it all through a C20th lens this mess is scary... This view of things would have you believe we are headed into a depression, yeah depression, not recession....
We get the prognosis wrong because we use antiquated tools of analysis... Simply put we get these fearful predictions because we have not changed our thinking from analogue to digital.
Analogue systems work in series - digital works in parrallel.
Send a message across an analogue communications system - it is simple. The message is a unit and it finds its way down a tube as quickly as it can. The noise in the system delays or distorts this unit. Send a message across a digital communications system. It is more complex yet more efficient. The message is split up into micro units that are pushed through the tube(s) in the best way that can possibly be found. So it is not one solid message - the digital message is broken up into micro units at its orgins and reassemble again at its destination. Digital messaging is quicker and less affected by any noise in the system.
The noise in the digital system today is our old habits, ways of thinking, and mindsets. We know that we are in trouble because we have never seen this type of global economic mess before. What we have not seen before we can not make head nor tail of because we always look at the current crisis through the lens of the past. In this case we are looking at a digital networked economy as if it is the continuation of the C20th Nation-State based global economy. It is not.
We are looking for one big message. We are looking for this message to come to us, through all the noise of the crisis talk, in one whole piece. We are not looking for a digital message that is fragmented into micro-units and can be assembled into a coherent message if we look at it as a new source of information or feedback about what is happening out there in the what economists refer to as the real economy. Where people are employed and earn their livings.
The digital message is fast and efficient. It is raw because it comes without the noise associated with analogue messages. So strap on your digital headset and start listening a new to the messages from the 'real economy'.
The real economy is in transition from an analogue world of carbon and people intensive systems to a digital world of information and technology intensive systems. The message is clear. What you do with it is up to you......
d'oh
The issue of security versus privacy on the net is certain to be a hot topic within 5 years. For example, as health care data moves from doctor's notes to electronic patient records (on the net) this issue will boil over. Most patients will perceive a security risk but what they will face is a privacy issue. Security of electronic records will be the equal if not better than paper records. Privacy however is a more subtle issue - who seeks what, when, and why? As we move into stem cell medicine and genetic based diagnosis and prognosis then more "outsiders" (employers, fellow workers, lovers, etc) will have a vested interest in breeching your privacy.
Can privacy be assured? Of course it can in most instances - but if someone is determined to find out your 'health' or 'other' secrets that are stored, sorted, and downloaded from the net then they probably will. Nevertheless for the net to continue to serve as a social positive in our world we need a 90/10 rule. We need to let everyone see 90% of the information on the net - 10% is held back because it is a 'secret'.
Under this system most 'secrets' belong to someone else and are held in trust. For example, a foreign nation provides us with information they deem 'secret' for some reason - it is not for us to dispute that fact rather it is our role to honour that provision as a matter of trust.
My 90/10 rule will enable most information to roam free - it will go a long way to ensuring 'net neutrality' in practice.
surprised
The flat world of the internet has produced a strange new era of customer demand. The web is delivered to a touch screen - its information is then transmitted by the Chattering Clusters to their Clans. Clans have mavens, pulsetakers, and other types of facilitators who consolidate trust through habits, mantras, and behaviours. Trust shapes demand - it is a by-product of a new version of 'group think' - this one is 'clan or cluster think'. Clans form purpose-driven groups and then transmogrify into Tribes. Tribes are long-term entities - they could help shape demand for a decade or more.
d'oh
We are now accustomed to dealing with viruses on the internet - we all use a firewall or an anti-virus software pack to protect us. But what can we use to protect us against the new social virus developing on Web 3.0?
A new type of virus is becoming a real presence on Facebook and MySpace where people are often not as they present themselves - they are older, younger, uglier, etc than they claim. Many have become very good at creating a pure fantasy as they spin their web of deception. For most it is a game, a bit of fun, and simply a creative outlet. But as with software viruses some of this behaviour is anti-social at best and laced with criminal intent at worst.
The most interesting facet of all this for me is the new culture that Web 3.0 brings to our virtual communities. Virtual communities are forming rapidly on MySpace and Facebook and with them comes new mores, new fads, and new ways of being in the world. As with the internet in general these virtual communities have rogue elements and they are throwing up new issues and problems. These rogues can become as intrusive as any software virus when they are powered by ideology, ego, deception, or fraud.
What protection can you mount against this new social virus? How do you protect yourself against people who become your virtual friend but are not being honest with you? How do you block out people who are always pushing themselves and their agenda into your virtual space? What does this mean for your internet-based business? How can these new social networks retain their freedom of expression and creativity when some people are intent on disruption not cooperation?
I don't have any answers right now - all I know is that there is a social virus developing on Web 3.0.
d'oh
Clusters are a new business instrument. Clusters of people who talk to each other, inform each other, and form very similar likes and dislikes.
Clusters of users make Facebook work. Facebook links individuals to form "social network" clusters. It was the brainchild of a college kid who wanted to keep in touch with his cohorts and to extend his social network. It started therefore as a college kids plaything. Facebook today has a market value of around $US15 Billion. It has grown from concept to major global business in just a few years.
Why are clusters so important to business today? The simple answer is that digital technologies are remaking economics and economies. The economics of mass production, value adding, and brand loyalty are subsiding. The economics of customization, use value, and experience-based spending is growing. The modern consumer is a user is locked into free goods, services , and infrastructure (Facebook) before he or she customizes wants and needs. Wants and needs are individual but they are influenced and supported by social networks and clusters. Consumer clusters are becoming a greater determinant of purchasing patterns than marketing.
Clusters are formed by people who think and act in similar but not identical ways. These clusters can be global. These clusters can span generations. These cluster can span cultural voids. These clusters can span economic status. These clusters form because individuals seek and need to decide on their purchase when they face an infinite choice in the new digital economy.
energetic
The digital network story is just emerging. This story is very different to what happened last century. The main difference is striking - the new plot is all about purpose not vision. The new resource is technology not people. The new principle is inclusion not exclusion. The new storyline is consumer experiences not brand loyalty. The new moments of truth are based on use value not price points.
This new story is so different it will take a few iterations to catch on. In many respects the digital network story is the opposite to the mass-production story. The network exists to serve users - they may or may not be customers. Even Bill Gates struggles with this new story because he still serves customers not users. He is not enthused by the notion of providing users "free" goods and services. He will only do it as a trial or to get them to a price point where they are forced to pay to connect to Microsoft to get the value add Gates claims to provide. The new release of Vista is the same story as when they released Windows and all its subsequent upgrades - commit to the new product and you commit to buying new software packages all down the food chain. Microsoft is the old story - Google is the new digital network story.
Google offers users free internet search. Everything they do to improve the outcomes of your Google search is free. Every new product they have launched, to this point, has been free to the user - this includes gmail, Google maps, etc. Google tells its users a digital network story based on inclusion - they actively encourage their users to invite others to also use Google tools. Google tells a story of increase from sharing.
The difference is that Google has separated its revenue model from its core product. They are associated but not bundled together. They are largely independent of each other. As a user you can run Google search for years and never earn the company one cent in revenue. Equally you can use Google search to enhance your online purchasing or to get more information about products before leaving home for your shopping trip to the local mall. This additional information comes to as paid advertising provided by Google's clients so the company makes a cent or a dollar every time your click through to the advertisers' domains.
The digital network story is about Google, Skype, eBay, Amazon, etc.
d'ohThe latest financial results from Google Inc contained a surprise for investors. The top line for revenue was strong but costs rose strongly too due to a 13% increase in staff. The costs associated with this huge recruitment drive adversely impacted the bottom line results.
This was no big surprise for me but it did provide some tangible evidence to support what I had suspected from the beginning of 2007 - Google is becoming a closed system. The hub of this closed system is the Googleplex in Mountain View.
The Googleplex is the problem. It is becoming a sheltered workshop. It has got ahead of itself. It is no longer able to move quickly, decisively, and creatively. It has slowed in its ability to deliver new "use value" for its ever growing band of Google users.
The Googleplex is an iron-clad cocoon from which the butterfly iGoogle has to somehow emerge. A smooth transition from Google to iGoogle is therefore nigh on impossible (see my earlier riffs on Google's struggle with its culture within the Googleplex - including from "a grub to a butterfly").
What can be done? In my view Google management must now network the Googleplex in some very smart ways if they are ever to realise the amazing range of social and economic benefits of iGoogle. Simply "sunkworking" within the Googleplex will not do it.
The way things are progressing Googlers can expect to see the Googleplex, in less than 2 years, become a smaller version of the Microsoft Campus at Redmond. Contrary to folklore these two entities are not free and open campuses - they are a series of "locked down" silos.
But it is not the physical dimensions of Google and Microsoft that is the biggest concern to me it is the mindsets within these silos at Mountain View and Redmond. Putting it bluntly my biggest concern is the emergence of "hubris".
Hubris is what got Apple and Microsoft into trouble in the 1990s. It is what got Xerox in trouble around two decades earlier. Hubris was the corporate weakness that Bill Gates exploited when he did his early software deals with IBM. Hubris is what Bill Gates saw as the chief cause of the decline and then the demise of Wang Laboratories.
Well is Google now Googleplexed? My best guess is yes......
loudDo you YouTube? Have you made a video to promote yourself or your business? Do you think YouTube is a "passing fad" or here to stay? Do you like the new Jame Bond? Do you like the things being raw and new like a Bond who has yet to get his license to kill - his 007 ranking?
See more on Bond at http://newcontinuities.blogspot.com
on fireBase your business on 'the inclusion principle'.
Provide 'intellectual property' free of charge.
Build digital connectors 'machine to machine'.
Provide 'use value' that is greater than dollar charge.
Ensure fast processing by deploying 'digital compression'.
Automate to facilitate self-service.
brightNetwork organisations are pervasive. They are “free for alls”. They are expansive. They are “undisciplined cooperatives” linking people (p2p), groups (g2g), machines (m2m), and systems (s2s). They are entirely new phenomenons based on new technologies. They are quick to form and also quick to fade away, unless and until, they find some “home grown” evangelists.
Evangelists bring a “culture of discipline”. They establish the purpose, values, and mindsets needed to make these networks a social and economic success. The purpose brings focus. The values form communities. The mindsets shape habits.
Evangelists provide the “sentience boundaries” that can help you define your favourite networks. Your experience is personalised. You are part of “an inclusive network” and yet you feel as if it exists for you alone.
brightThe new context for business today is 'facilitated group participation'. This 'loose confederation' between paid and volunteer labor is being forged by 'systems led people' – ie users and staff who are comfortable fitting into a purpose-driven system. These are 'open systems' that link groups to groups (g2g).
It is a new business culture based on shared values and commitments with:
decentalised control
parallel processing
semi-autonomous work groups
common sentient boundaries around users and staff
cooperative work practices
fast learning curve (prototype, simulate, testing regime)
results and outcome orientation.
These are partnerships built around purpose not profit. All involved seek to enhance the 'use value' of products and services. Community wide participation is being built through open interaction within and between groups. Members of these groups bond around a common purpose.
Want to build one of these g2g networks to extend the 'use value' of your business model?
Well here are four key activities:
focus on user need
build purpose-driven group within and beyond your business boundaries
form these groups into cooperative networks
use these group partnerships to anchor your revenue models.
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