http://crosstechpartners.com/blog.html CrossTech Partners is a Second Circle Technology solutions company delivering a comprehensive set of platform technology and services for digital marketing, event technology, collaborative networks, and audience intelligence. We provide products and services that use Second Circle Technology. Second Circle Technology is driving innovation today. In the mid-1990’s the Internet was the new driving force for innovation. Today, these technologies include New Media Strategies and Implementation, Mashups and Composite Apps, Virtualization, Enterprise Collaboration (social media), Web Oriented Architecture (SaaS), Fabric Computing (virtualization plus networking), and Unified Communications. 7/10/2009 10:01:55 AM Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:01:55 GMT Subscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with Pageflakes Use new technologies to enhance your education and information delivery strategy!I think we all agree that education and learning is critical - for students, educational institutions, corporations, and governments. An educated workforce delivers competitive advantage of nations, and our educational institutions and information resources must deliver the best possible learning experience.Corporations and governments need to [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/89ZYJYKNv5g" height="1" width="1"/> <p><strong>Use new technologies to enhance your education and information delivery strategy!</strong></p><p>I think we all agree that education and learning is critical - for students, educational institutions, corporations, and governments. An educated workforce delivers competitive advantage of nations, and our educational institutions and information resources must deliver the best possible learning experience.</p><p>Corporations and governments need to address the full spectrum from concept education to on-demand learning, information delivery, and electronic performance support. These organizations need to educate their audience with new concepts, processes, policies, procedures and products on a continuous basis and deliver insights and help at the point of delivery and execution. The traditional classroom education paradigm is no longer adequate to ensure students receive the education and learning insights they need. We know there is significant value in the face-to-face, instructor led educational experience, but the traditional model needs to be enhanced with new information delivery models that take advantage of the new second circle technologies available today.</p><p>What are some of the challenges we experience with the traditional model?</p><ul> <li>It is difficult for educational institutions to deliver a compelling and accredited educational experience to students while under increasing cost pressure</li> <li>Students learn at different paces and preferring different learning styles and media and need to balance group learning with individual study to avoid distraction</li> <li>The classroom schedules are not always convenient or accessible when restricted to specific times and locations - especially with the competing classes, sports and extracurricular activities</li> <li>Not all instructors are created equal (see <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_unplugged.html">Bill Gate's talk at TED</a>) and with Virtual Learning, we can scale our very best instructional talent</li> <li>Companies need to continuously educate their rapidly changing employee base and inform customers and partners on new products, procedures, policies and processes - these programs must satisfy the full spectrum from learning broad concepts to gaining tactical content at the point of customer interaction.</li> <li>Employees move rapidly between companies, positions and roles while procedures change; companies need on-demand learning and support solutions especially for high turnover positions</li> <li>The costs of traditional in-person classroom education is high and with increased pressure to manage the cost/value equation for students and meet difficult budget constraints, new models must be considered</li></ul><p>I worked with a large insurance company with a non-captive agent workforce spread broadly across geographies. They needed a solution that delivered critical insights at the point of client delivery and communication, but they also needed to deliver a broader educational foundation for these agents. Delivering formal educational programs to an audience this diverse was prohibitively expensive and couldn't support the day-to-day support needs. They needed both a performance support solution AND an online teaching solution.</p><p>Increasingly educational institutions need new sources of income while providing the services that are being demanded by students. Major online education providers are signing up well over 20,000 new online students a month - I think we can confirm the demand is here. Prestigious educational institutions should naturally preserve the integrity of their educational brand and foster the complete on-campus educational experience that includes personal relationships, but they can also begin to more effectively compliment their delivery model with enhanced delivery methods and media.&nbsp; Tufts is working on programs that will deliver the Tufts-brand of education through distance learning to places like Dubai.</p><p>In another business example, a leading retail bank needs to better leverage their expert knowledge about innovative products and services across the branch store network. Why lose a valuable product cross-sell or adoption because branch platform personnel were not yet up to speed on key product features and advantages?&nbsp; Use experts to deliver content on-demand at the point of sale. They need both a broader educational content foundation and live video services that deliver &nbsp; real-time branch to branch and web-based video conferencing and delivery services.</p><p><strong>Education and learning delivery should blend traditional classroom learning with new on-demand virtual teaching and information delivery models.<br /></strong></p><p>New virtual education and information delivery technologies provide the mechanisms to deliver education at the pace students need and provide critical knowledge content on-demand to a company's customers, employees, partners and students. One example is <a href="http://www.panviva.com/">Panviva</a>'s Supportpoint solution which is being used by companies that need a performance management solution delivered at the point of delivery. The technology integrates with existing applications to provide context-sensitve help and educational performance support.</p><p>Another compelling solution is being delivered by <a href="http://www.retrieve.com/index.html">Retrieve Technology</a> in Henniker, NH.&nbsp; Retrieve's vBook technology delivers rich educational content in video /multi-media on-demand to governments, corporations and educational institutions. Teachers and publishers can record their content/classroom using green screen technology and&nbsp; blend text book, assessments and evaluation structures. The teacher can collaborate with students both on-line and in person using collaborative web 2.0 services to deliver a rich educational experience.&nbsp; These technologies can be applied in a wide range of contexts - including traditional education, corporate and government training and individual eBook authorship.</p><p>Some of the features to look for in a winning new media education solution include:</p><ul> <li>Deployment flexibility using either cloud-based or installed platform</li> <li>Human factors oriented design (e.g. using familiar and proven metaphors: books, chapters, sections, book shelves, index, FAQ, etc)</li> <li>Efficient online course creation and delivery with user/ content owner controls</li> <li>Powerful Boolean Search and browse access methods to gain access to the full range of content and zero in quickly on what you need to see</li> <li>Full multi-media - text, graphics, images, audio and video - to enhance the learning and engage audience</li> <li>Tools that facilitate grading and evaluation and certification</li> <li>Branding flexibility to allow institutions to control the learning information and content assets and distribution</li> <li>A balanced approach that facilitates a blend of virtual and live instruction</li> <li>The ability to manage individual content segments and manage version control</li> <li>Notification for students and users for changes to subscribed content</li> <li>Asset and content manageability for individual accounts and groups with full accounting and tracking</li> <li>The ability to track detailed usage and apply custom commercial models with maximum flexibility</li></ul><p>Take a look at the new second circle solutions that are out there - the industry is changing quickly, and solutions - like Retrieve Technology - are transforming how we educate and learn. Please comment at <a href="http://www.revenuearchitects.com">Revenue Architects</a> or contact <a href="mailto:jcstone@revenuearchitects.com">me </a>if you want to learn more about these exciting technologies and the economic value they create!</p><br /><br /><a href="http://www.revenuearchitects.com/2009/05/changing-education-information-delivery-paradigm/"><small>Link To Original Post</small></a> John Stone http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/89ZYJYKNv5g/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Changing-the-Education-and-Information-Delivery-Paradigm/9fd4a8a2-158a-4112-a35c-6f2f96e2d963 Sun, 31 May 2009 01:00:00 GMT 5/30/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Changing-the-Education-and-Information-Delivery-Paradigm I am looking forward to visiting some friends in Napa Valley over the weekend of June 30-31 where I will get to see how the other half lives! After that, I will be heading to San Francisco to facilitate a workshop at the Gilbane Conference on June 2-4. My topic: Social Media and the [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/FdvTp_KVOLQ" height="1" width="1"/> <p>I am looking forward to visiting some friends in Napa Valley over the weekend of June 30-31 where I will get to see how the other half lives! <img src='http://www.revenuearchitects.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> After that, I will be heading to San Francisco to facilitate a workshop at the <a href="http://gilbanesf.com/index.html" target="_blank">Gilbane Conference</a> on June 2-4. My topic: <a href="http://gilbanesf.com/workshops.html#workshope" target="_blank"><strong>Social Media and the Digital Marketing Platform</strong></a>.</p><p>Everyone is talking about social media. Social networks are growing by the day with more and more people joining. New networks are popping up all over the place. Companies are challenged with building out community platforms around their products and services. Corporations are trying to figure out what social media is and how to integrate both the corporate communities and public social media platforms into their businesses.</p><p>Where do you start? Should you be on Twitter? What about Facebook? How do you go about building out a platform solution? This workshop will teach new media techniques, including blogging and social media as well as how all of this ties into business strategies and goals. The session will provide a roadmap for building out and integrating these solutions.</p><br /><br /><a href='http://www.revenuearchitects.com/2009/05/at-gilbane-san-francisco-june-2-4/'><small>Link To Original Post</small></a> John Stone http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/FdvTp_KVOLQ/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=At-Gilbane-San-Francisco-June-24/7c2c4acc-00eb-4c17-872e-ced55d96f60d Fri, 22 May 2009 13:53:31 GMT 5/22/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=At-Gilbane-San-Francisco-June-24 T.J. O&#8217;Connor and I are looking forward to speaking on June 25-7:Ritz Carlton-Lodge Reynolds PlantationOne Lake Oconee TrailGreensboro, GA 30642Abstract:Companies are undergoing a massive shift in investment away from traditional media toward online media. New web sites and social networks are accelerating brand awareness and audience engagement. Customers are making their product purchase selections and [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/LBodHs5mkC8" height="1" width="1"/> <p><a href="http://tj-oconnor.com/" target="_blank">T.J. O&#8217;Connor</a> and I are looking forward to speaking on June 25-7:</p><p>Ritz Carlton-Lodge Reynolds Plantation<br />One Lake Oconee Trail<br />Greensboro, GA 30642</p><p><strong>Abstract:</strong></p><p>Companies are undergoing a massive shift in investment away from traditional media toward online media. New web sites and social networks are accelerating brand awareness and audience engagement. Customers are making their product purchase selections and engaging brands online. While they follow a familiar buying process, the selling process needs to adapt to a more dynamic online environment that you can't fully control. How do you capture customer value in a complex online environment? The answer is to use new online marketing strategies to nurture and engage your direct and indirect audience across the buy-sell process.</p><p>opei_newsletter09_spread</p><br /><br /><a href='http://www.revenuearchitects.com/2009/05/opeis-57th-annual-meeting/'><small>Link To Original Post</small></a> John Stone http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/LBodHs5mkC8/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=OPEI’s-57th-Annual-Meeting/156c5d93-194c-455e-9ef3-bf860f0ade29 Tue, 19 May 2009 18:00:15 GMT 5/19/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=OPEI’s-57th-Annual-Meeting When setting out to develop an Internet Marketing strategy, you need to connect the dots between a wide range of business, marketing, technology and project elements. An Internet strategy today involves a lot more than your web site. In the late 1990s it was very much about defining your branded online presence via the web [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/B6f2RCkzs74" height="1" width="1"/> <p><strong>When setting out to develop an Internet Marketing strategy, you need to connect the dots between a wide range of business, marketing, technology and project elements. </strong></p><p>An Internet strategy today involves a lot more than your web site. In the late 1990s it was very much about defining your branded online presence via the web site and related web services and online applications. Today, with the important roll of Search and Social Media, your brand presence must now consider delivering impact and engagement across the broader social web and involves a far more sophisticated strategy for inbound marketing and lead capture. With that in mind, if you are about to embark on a comprehensive Internet Marketing Strategy, you might want to get answers to a range of questions. So, here is a list, but let&#8217;s add to the list- what have you found as critical success factors and key issues that should be addressed in developing your internet strategy. Comment at my <a href="http://www.revenuearchitects.com" target="_blank">Revenue Architects blog</a>.</p><p><strong>1) Market, Audience and Sales Model - </strong>You need to define the underlying business model for marketing and sales so that you can tie your Internet Marketing Strategy to business goals:</p><ul><li>What is your revenue generation strategy?</li><li>How will you capture market share?</li><li>Who is your customer and what are their needs, intents and values?</li><li>What are the major market segments we wish to target?</li><li>What defines these segments and what are their major characteristics?</li><li>What is the typical customer life cycle for each segment?</li><li>What are the various dialogue needs across the life cycle chain and what implications does that have for the business operations model?</li><li>What are the demographic, psychographic, and channel preference factors of the targeted audience segments?</li><li>What capabilities will be needed to meet this targeted audience's needs?</li><li>Who is the competition and what are their strengths, weaknesses?</li><li>What is the overall differentiating business strategy to capture market share?</li><li>What is the closed-loop marketing model and funnel process?</li><li>What opportunities are being created by the emergence of new media and technologies?</li></ul><p><strong>2) Functionality and Services - </strong>Now that you understand your core business model and your audience, what are the capabilities that your audience will be seeking to engage your brand online - both at your site(s) and across the social and mobile web?</p><ul><li>What segment needs and intents will be addressed?</li><li>What is the unique functionality required? (transaction, database, content, syndication, lead capture, community, collaboration, forms, Configurator, eCommerce transactions, search, customer service, eNewsletters, events, eMail database, browser requirements? Privacy and Security? Accessibility?</li><li>In addition to basic site requirements, will the project seek to include interactive web platforms (such as logins, BLOGS, Forums, and Q&amp;A chat rooms) in aims to enhance outreach tools?</li><li>Have you considered strategies regarding mobile devices/ web / social media?</li><li>Do you currently have any site utilization monitoring tools in place?</li><li>What role will your supplier play in determining the audience analysis?</li><li>Design concepts development and selection</li></ul><p><strong>3) Branding and Design - </strong>maybe you already have a brand identity - including logo marks and look and feel -but you may also need to develop a &#8220;brand architecture&#8221; that ties together all your related product and services into a unifying identity - both on and offline.</p><ul><li>Do you have an overall brand strategy? Offline and Online?</li><li>Have you a set of creative concepts under consideration?</li><li>Have these creative concepts been mapped to specific audience needs and/or business strategy drivers?</li><li>Which existing sites best approximate the desired look and feel? functionality?, info architecture?</li><li>Do you need a logi, brand architecture or single mark?</li><li>What are the various branding concepts that will suit our identified target segment?</li><li>Is the brand achieving Completeness, Transparency, Flow and Dialogue with the user?</li><li>How will we roll out the branding?</li><li>How will it be represented and communicated to the market?</li></ul><p><strong>4) Content and Information Architecture - </strong>How do you arrange your content into a clear information architecture that your audience can understand and access?</p><ul><li>What content will the business will deliver (media types?)?</li><li>Do you have readily available content?</li><li>What effort is needed to design and develop the content? Initial? On-going?</li><li>Are there content partners and providers/ syndication that we have to consider?</li><li>Is there an archive of photos or other art that might be used for the site?</li><li>If appropriate, would the company commission original illustration or photography?</li><li>What is a representative site map?</li><li>Is their a wire frame model outlining envisioned experience?</li><li>How do the navigation scheme and content schema function?</li><li>are we considering tagging models? taxonomy? semantic models?</li><li>How should the content be organized for usability? What IA works best given known constraints?</li></ul><p><strong>5) Marketing and Promotion - </strong>After you build out your sites, Internet presence, content and services, how are you going to attract the audience?</p><ul><li>What are our traffic growth estimates and how do we intend to achieve them?</li><li>What is our awareness strategy, advertising strategy?</li><li>What are the SEO/ SEM marketing requirements?</li><li>Are their viral or velocity marketing opportunities?</li><li>How are you engaging the social web and online influencers?</li><li>Do you have a print and media marketing plan?</li></ul><p><strong>6) Technical Architecture Design - </strong>Once you have defined an overall business and functional blueprint, it will be a lot easier to select the right technology foundation to handle your needs.<strong><br /></strong></p><ul><li>Do we need to address an existing systems/ technology assessment, existing technology?</li><li>Are there preferred technology standards?</li><li>What content management and web services platform is required?</li><li>What are the hosting and managed services requirements?</li><li>What kind of user volumes will you expect at the site?</li><li>Do you need listening platforms to gauge sentiment on the broader web?</li><li>How effective is your audience intelligence platforms and data management skills?</li><li>Do you need specialized technology for mobile deployment, database marketing?</li></ul><p><strong>7) Operating Model - </strong>This is a key step to your strategy - defining a core business and process model that will ensure your digital assets and systems are well managed and that your content and services are up to date.</p><ul><li>What are the operational procedures that will need to be in place to deliver the Internet Marketing Strategy?</li><li>What are the staffing skills and capability needs? Content? Service?</li><li>Do you understand what the potential impact on your existing organization will be?</li><li>Is there a team currently in place for site management? Do they require continuing training and support?</li></ul><p><strong> <img src='http://www.revenuearchitects.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif' alt='8)' class='wp-smiley' /> Implementation Plan - </strong>With all the core business, marketing and technical elements framed out, you can now better layer in an overall project time line driven by critical business commitments.</p><ul><li>Is there a compelling event or critical implementation date? What is the required time line/ milestones?</li><li>Is there a project charter?</li><li>Is there a Business Case in place? Benefits? Investments?</li><li>Is there budget to match ambition?</li><li>Have stakeholders &amp; team members been identified?</li><li>What are the key assumptions, constraints and risks?</li></ul><br /><br /><a href='http://www.revenuearchitects.com/2009/05/internet-marketing-strategy-checklist/'><small>Link To Original Post</small></a> John Stone http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/B6f2RCkzs74/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Internet-Marketing-Strategy-Checklist/3f445572-7d29-4f83-b71e-db1129dd8cf1 Thu, 14 May 2009 02:33:14 GMT 5/13/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Internet-Marketing-Strategy-Checklist Here is a quick update. We spoke at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium and the feedback was positive. Tushneem posted a review of the panel talk here. Also, you can find more discussion at the MIT CIO Corner.The issues confronting the adoption of a virtual organization are many, but with the right culture, business systems, [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/x0bkM0eo_ZM" height="1" width="1"/> <p>Here is a quick update. We spoke at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium and the feedback was positive. Tushneem posted a review of the panel talk <a href="http://tushneem.wordpress.com/2009/05/24/why-is-the-concept-of-virtual-organizations-all-encompassing-an-analysis-from-technology-business-and-culture-pov/">here</a>. Also, you can find more discussion at the <a href="http://www.mitcio.com/blog/">MIT CIO Corner</a>.</p><p><strong>The issues confronting the adoption of a virtual organization are many, but with the right culture, business systems, and technologies companies can really benefit.</strong></p><p>We have all seen it - organizations adopt virtual working models and productivity falls. Management is unable to manage teams effectively and workers can&#8217;t collaborate with colleagues. The result can be a drop in productivity and a lack of customer innovation. With careful consideration, companies can successfully adopt flexible working models to reduce the real-estate footprint and contribute to a more green economy. On May 20th, I am joining a discussion at the <a href="http://www.mitcio.com/aboutus.php" target="_blank">MIT Sloan CIO Symposium</a> along with some great Panelists:</p><ul><li>Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Chairman Emeritus IBM Academy of Technology and Visiting Professor of Engineering Systems, MIT;</li><li>Ms. Lorie Buckingham, CIO Avaya</li><li>Mr. Simon Crosby, CTO of the Virtualization and Management Division Citrix Systems</li><li>Mr. Bilal Husain, Director of eServices Projects Saudi eGovernment Program, Saudi Arabia</li></ul><p><strong>Here is the abstract:</strong></p><p>The Virtual Organization</p><p>Flexible, dynamic, and mobile, organizations are no longer constrained by traditional barriers of place and time. Business leaders are looking at virtual organizational structures to address critical resource, personnel and logistical issues. This session will examine the ways that technology is helping business leaders implement optimal models to gain competitive advantage.</p><p><strong>Considering the Opportunity:</strong></p><p>There are real opportunities to both retain great employees who need a more flexible working model that delivers work-life balance, lower costs and better remote working models. With changing demographics and an increasingly global workforce, virtualization is no longer an option, it is a critical need. However, we have all seen it - organizations adopt virtual working models and hoteling models and see productivity fall. Often, management is unable to organize virtual teams effectively and workers can&#8217;t collaborate and coordinate with colleagues. The result can be a drop in productivity and a lack of product and customer innovation.</p><p>At the same time, changing demographics and an increasingly global workforce suggest that succeeding in deploying a virtual organization model is no longer an option. For key segments of the workforce, global virtual working is the norm and must be delivered with the right technology and business systems. Companies can successfully adopt flexible working models to reduce the real-estate footprint, retain great employees, increase employee satisfaction and productivity while contributing to a more green economy.</p><p>The value of a virtual organization is particularly strong for knowledge workers and those workforce segments that are working with global distributed teams and are on the road with clients and customers. R&amp;D teams and developers can benefit from follow-the-sun strategies for continuous development and delivery. Obviously, it is far more challenging for production workers or call center staff to work in a virtual organization. Today&#8217;s broadband networks, telephony and computing capabilities to offer a secure collaborative environment for virtual workers. The results can be lower costs of occupancy, a happier workforce, and a green environment.</p><p><strong>A wish list of the technology enablers for a virtual organization (please add to this list!)</strong>:</p><p><em>Core Office</em></p><ul><li> I am not ready to give up traditional desktop office applications like MS Office PowerPoint and Word applications but I will also use emerging cloud models like Google Documents</li><li>Advanced Calendaring and synchronization (MS Exchange for the enterprise, Google Calendar is getting better, but it can still be difficult interacting outside our firewall)</li></ul><p><em>Communications</em></p><ul><li>VOIP - I use Skype to communicate with a team in Portugal and Kiev ... great!</li><li>The perfect PDA - I use an iPhone, but enjoyed my blackberry before. Why can&#8217;t iPhone work well with Exchange calendaring? It is a fun media toy, but not yet a powerful tool for virtual working</li><li>eMail - &#8216;nough said</li><li>Electronic scheduling across networks - including people and resources of all types</li><li>Synchronization of my calendar (e.g. Google Calendar Sync) and someday my contacts with LinkedIN? Plaxo? (not really there yet)</li><li>Presence and interoperable collaborative secure chat (Which chat service is everyone on? How do I connect?)</li></ul><p><em>Collaboration</em></p><ul><li>Knowldege Management and Expertise Location - we have had this for a while, but collaborative systems and communities are improving and we can now begin to get access to valuable information - if tagged and stored in the right shared spaces!</li><li>Videoconferencing ( I use a free service, but everyone needs to dial a toll number - not too bad)</li><li>Virtual Whiteboards and collaborative workspaces (Everything from Google Docs to the Groove Application MS Live)</li><li>Adobe Connect vs Webex (these are getting better all the time, but can still be a bit awkward to use)</li></ul><p><em>Broadband and Infrastructure</em></p><ul><li>I am always in search of speed and the coffee shops are still behind the times</li><li>Secured Shared File Storage - We need trusted identity solutions that will help ensure authentication and protect our critical assets. What about those really big files?</li><li>Auditing technology - how can we ensure remote workers are using their collaboration tools appropriately without being a big brother?</li><li>Organizations need continuous operations and better service management using ITIL standards - this is particularly important for un-tethered workers engaging in critical business activities.</li></ul><p>Share your thoughts on <a href="http://www.revenuearchitects.com" target="_blank">www.revenuearchitects.com</a> I look forward to hearing your views.</p><br /><br /><a href='http://www.revenuearchitects.com/2009/05/technologies-for-virtual-organizations/'><small>Link To Original Post</small></a> John Stone http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/x0bkM0eo_ZM/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Technologies-for-Virtual-Organizations/c618bfaa-ead1-4701-a722-28e9a8825c23 Tue, 05 May 2009 15:31:54 GMT 5/5/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Technologies-for-Virtual-Organizations Here is an event you might want to attend in Boston - and if you do, use CTP2009 to get a special rate of $150! Check it out here.New Marketing Labs and our sister company CrossTech Partners are working with the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium team to build out new innovations in the event and [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/_RW3U7BmKrg" height="1" width="1"/> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Here is an event you might want to attend in Boston - and if you do, use CTP2009 to get a special rate of $150! Check it out <a href="http://www.mitcio.com/">here</a>.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">New Marketing Labs and our sister company CrossTech Partners are working with the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium team to build out new innovations in the event and community experience. We are introducing new technologies and community strategies to help evolve the event into an increasingly valuable on-going community and educational experience for CIOs the senior technology officers. We see this experience evolving over the next few years. Come check out the event in Cambridge, MA on May 20.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is the nation's premier CIO event bringing together information technology executives from around the world and leading faculty from MIT. The annual event offers a day of interactive learning and thought-provoking discourse on the future of technology, best practices, and business that is not available anywhere else. It includes presentations, panels, networking and a closing reception.</span></p><img width="1" height="1" src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/r/Stephensaber/4/ewDBGcTE2O8" /> StephenSaber.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/_RW3U7BmKrg/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=MIT-Sloan-CIO-Symposium-–-May-20/08b5baac-0e3a-41e3-8c5a-f303f97af8da Fri, 01 May 2009 13:45:00 GMT 5/1/2009 MIT Lead http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=MIT-Sloan-CIO-Symposium-–-May-20 We are working with a few clients to build and deploy solutions for Closed Loop Marketing. I was reviewing my materials and presentations in preparation for a meeting next week and thought I would scan the web to see what is out there.. I wanted to see a visual image - or diagram - that [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/VlAlOWtnRYs" height="1" width="1"/> <p>We are working with a few clients to build and deploy solutions for Closed Loop Marketing. I was reviewing my materials and presentations in preparation for a meeting next week and thought I would scan the web to see what is out there.. I wanted to see a visual image - or diagram - that painted a good picture of closed-loop marketing. I found a huge amount, bit very little that was on target with a good CLM vision and captured the key elements of both traditional and new media marketing.</p><p>Marketing is one of the last business functions to embrace integrated technology solutions to automate the management of marketing logistics. Unlike ERP and CRM, Marketing Automation is only now beginning to hit the growth curve. With the advent of new media and the business complexity in managing data and blending traditional and new media channels with CRM/ sales force automation, leading companies are now adopting more sophisticated solutions. New technologies and new approaches are make Marketing Automation more attractive.</p><p>My google search for images around CLM resulted in quite a number of images - few that made sense for my purposes:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-214 aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 1px;" title="new-picture-1" src="http://www.revenuearchitects.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/new-picture-1.bmp" alt="Google Search Results" width="403" height="135" /></p><p>So what is next? I am going to put together the story and make sure it includes a comprehensive view of CLM - in particular - for this client -from a B2B perspective. Elements of the model must include:</p><ul><li>Market Segmentation &amp; Targeting</li><li>Data Management and Cleansing</li><li>Campaign Management</li><li>Lead Capture</li><li>Scoring &amp; Routing</li><li>New Media, Web and Traditional Channels</li><li>Business and Audience Intelligence</li><li>Marketing Dashboard</li></ul><p>Wish me luck&#8230;</p><br /><br /><a href='http://www.revenuearchitects.com/2009/04/in-search-of-closed-loop-marketing-models/'><small>Link To Original Post</small></a> John Stone http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/VlAlOWtnRYs/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=In-Search-of-Closed-Loop-Marketing-Models/418e8e25-fb33-4879-bd16-3473693f019d Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:26:24 GMT 4/28/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=In-Search-of-Closed-Loop-Marketing-Models An incident occurred yesterday that got me thinking about the importance of branding. At our company, like many I am sure, we often deliberate about &#8220;where to brand&#8221;. Recently, there have been some great blog posts and great reads thinking through the question of personal versus corporate branding - the most recent of which I [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/2CEFoSwhbPw" height="1" width="1"/> <p>An incident occurred yesterday that got me thinking about the importance of branding. At our company, like many I am sure, we often deliberate about &#8220;where to brand&#8221;. Recently, there have been some great blog posts and great reads thinking through the question of personal versus corporate branding - the most recent of which I found compelling from a CEO who had tried to transition his personal brand into a corporate success. If you look at some of the models out there - they would tell you that there is success at every level.</p><p>Before I go into the more recent of these examples, let&#8217;s look at the well known examples. In terms of mixing personal and corporate branding, you need to look no further than Steve Jobs of Apple and Bill Gates of Microsoft. Most people see this model and think - that is it! But there there are other models which I think are very compelling. For instance, look at IDG. For the most part, what IDG has chosen to brand is the product - the business units and their solutions - not the personality and in many ways not even the parent company. And then look at CNET - that is a corporate brand which has then inspired personality brands beneath - but always kept the branding at the corporate level strong and intact. And finally, look at Rachel Ray and Martha Stewart - these are individuals who focused on building the personal brand and then leveraging that brand into a opportunity</p><p><strong>So how does a CEO decide?</strong></p><p>With the proliferation of social media, there is no question that personal branding is going to be an important part of every branding scenario. To that end, I would suggest that CEO&#8217;s do not resist it for themselves or for their employees, but instead encourage it. Ask as many employees as possible to blog, tweet, and promote their brand within the overall umbrella of the company and organization.</p><p>But then - there is a decision to make. The decision, I think, comes down to three option - 1) Brand yourself as the leader or 2) Brand the company or 3) Brand the products and solutions you offer. I would suggest that each CEO needs to decide a primary option and push on that. Few of us, if any, can push more than one option and be successful without being diverted. For me, all decisions need a clear focus and what I have focused most on it which will be the most effective in driving revenue and building value. To that end, a CEO can look at each of these options and work through the if-then analysis - if I choose this path where will the organization be whereas if i choose that path where will the organization be. With that in mind, the decision should rise to the top and be obvious to the CEO.</p><p>Are you thinking about branding? Are you struggling with the personal versus corporate versus product branding dilemma? What have you decided and why?</p><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/r/Stephensaber/4/ywVvNrrq-xo" height="1" width="1"/> StephenSaber.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/2CEFoSwhbPw/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=The-importance-of-deciding-what-to-brand--the-personal-versus-corporate-versus-product-branding-dilemma…/921bc7a0-d34d-40a1-a4f9-a5241f01f45c Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:59:53 GMT 4/22/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=The-importance-of-deciding-what-to-brand--the-personal-versus-corporate-versus-product-branding-dilemma… I was debating in writing this morning&#8217;s post which of the two titlesI should use for the post - so i decided to use both&#8230; What should McDonald&#8217;s do? What do you do when there is a public negative comment about your product??First let me set up the situationWatching &#8220;Morning Joe&#8221; this morning (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/), they [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/H9eW4cIR-8M" height="1" width="1"/> <p>I was debating in writing this morning&#8217;s post which of the two titlesI should use for the post - so i decided to use both&#8230; What should McDonald&#8217;s do? What do you do when there is a public negative comment about your product??</p><p><strong>First let me set up the situation</strong></p><p>Watching &#8220;Morning Joe&#8221; this morning (<a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/</a>), they were announcing the anniversary of the launch of the first McDonald&#8217;s restaurant. At that point, Willie Geist - (@WillieGeist1) - brought out a bag of McDonald&#8217;s breakfast food to &#8220;celebrate&#8221;. He handed out certain pieces to each commentator. At that point,Mika Brzezinski - (@morningmika) - quickly said &#8220;No&#8230;&#8230;&#8221; and refused to accept the food - citing that she would not eat it and &#8220;that food is bad&#8230;&#8221; (please note that these quotes are the closest to what I recall - not exact quotes but give the sentiment of the comment). If that was not bad enough, when Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) starting eating a McDonald&#8217;s hash brown, Mika reached over, urged him to stop, and told him that &#8220;if he were to squeeze the hash brown he would see fat and grease oozing out&#8221;&#8230;</p><p><strong>Now why do I care - what is the lesson</strong></p><p>I wondered the same question to myself. I have lots to worry about in my life - why did this bother me so much. Then I realized, it caused me to think - what is the appropriate reaction when someone makes a blanket, public, negative comment about your product? Any honest CEO will tell you that he / she has faced this problem at least once in his / her career. Sometimes they are grounded in fact. Other times, they are just perception - but perception that can drive a lot of momentum.In business school we studied in earnest the Tylenol case - a case in which they reacted &#8220;quickly and decisively&#8221; to the scare surrounding the issues around their pills in the drug stores. But we are also taught that sometimes ignoring the comment is the most effective solution. So how do you decide? Is it simply weighing the PR impact versus the opportunity and cost? Is it weighing the character of the person who made the comment and deciding that way? Also - has it changed now that social media and internet communications have become the backbone of viral communication?</p><p><strong>So - what is the appropriate reaction when someone makes a blanket, public, negative comment about your product?</strong></p><p>I think it is a combination of all of these that is factored into the decision as to what to do and how to act. Most important, I think, is to look at the potential opportunity cost if the perception were to spread out of your control and also the opportunity to leverage this into a win for your organization. To that end, if I were in McDonalds, I would seize upon this as an opportunity. There is this perception out there that their food is bad as represented by Mika Brzezinski on the show. Most people are aware of it, and I am assuming that McDonald&#8217;s is as well. To that end, why not capitalize on this poor exchange on TV to promote a new message about McDonald&#8217;s. In essence, take this negativity, surround it with truths about the value of the product and what McDonalds offers, and create a strong and supporting viral campaign. Here are some ideas -</p><ul><li>Turn it into a fun but valuable YouTube video - with real people commenting on your product surrounding the comments by Mika Brzezinski.</li><li>Launch a web site talking about the experiences of real people who eat your food and why they think it is good</li><li>Search out experts who can comment about the menu you provide and why it is not &#8220;bad&#8221;</li><li>Stress the other items on your menu on this site that are healthier in nature</li><li>Stress the good things that McDonald&#8217;s does for the community - with a slogan as simple as &#8220;Are we that bad when we do so much good&#8221; (or something much more savvy than that&#8230;)</li><li>Use Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and Youtube to your advantage to really rally people around your brand and your products - make this comment an example of the people who are driving tis mis-perception</li><li>And finally&#8230; offer a promotional program to people to havea coupon to get a hash brown for free or some very reduced price and encourage them to take a web video of themselves eating it and speaking &#8220;back to Mika&#8221;</li></ul><p>In this day and age, the times have changed. The proliferation of the internet and social media tools have afforded companies like McDonald&#8217;s to really launch into a viral campaign to send a message and drive its brand. In a recent interview on Ellen, P. Diddy stated that he liked Twitter &#8220;Because it allowed him to talk to his people directly without filters&#8221;. The same can be said for companies and their brands. My recommendation is to take advantage of this and to leverage this negative &#8220;perception&#8221; comment into a strong and positive viral communications program.</p><p>Am I off? Do you agree? Should McDonald&#8217;s take another approach?</p><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/r/Stephensaber/4/E5Mv6bl2fOA" height="1" width="1"/> StephenSaber.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/H9eW4cIR-8M/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=What-should-McDonald’s-do--what-do-you-do-when-there-is-a-public-negative-comment-about-your-product/cfe2e415-b466-47b8-aad8-f0f81b5b32bf Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:07:07 GMT 4/15/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=What-should-McDonald’s-do--what-do-you-do-when-there-is-a-public-negative-comment-about-your-product Recently, I have been debating with Chris Brogan (www.chrisbrogan.com) - president of New Marketing Labs (www.newmarketinglabs.com) about the difference between communities and channels and which will be the future of internet communications. While I believe &#8220;pure&#8221; communites have their place - particularly in social settings, I am becoming a firm believer that is the channels [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/fQW2nLXy_lQ" height="1" width="1"/> <p>Recently, I have been debating with Chris Brogan (<a href="http://www.chrisbrogan.com">www.chrisbrogan.com</a>) - president of New Marketing Labs (<a href="http://www.newmarketinglabs.com">www.newmarketinglabs.com</a>) about the difference between communities and channels and which will be the future of internet communications. While I believe &#8220;pure&#8221; communites have their place - particularly in social settings, I am becoming a firm believer that is the channels that are the true future of the Internet.</p><p><strong>First - the definition</strong></p><p>Before I explain my thinking, let me first explain the differentiation as I see it. Communities, in their truest sense, are made up of a large number of equally important individuals meeting each other, sharing ideas, and communicating with and amongst each other. While a community might havea community manager and / or a community leader, all people are - for all intents and purposes - treated equal. Channels - on the other hand- still have many of the same aspects of community - the ability to communicate, comment, share ideas, and connect - but they are focused on a certain, designated group of content providers who formulate the thought leaders of the group.</p><p><strong>Why I think Channels are the future&#8230;</strong></p><p>With that definition in mind, here is my reasoning behind Channels over communities. When communities were small and the sharing of ideas was concise, the ability to read all, identify the poignant ideas, and get the most value out of the community site was possible and very accomplishable. But now, as communities have grown, it is becoming increasingly impossible to discern who is providing quality content and who one should read versus the noise of the larger community. Take - for instance - Twitter. While most Twitter users are following hundreds of people, they are truly only following a select few people and paying much looser attention to the others. In fact, for new Twitter users - the first questions are always the same - who should I follow - who is worth listening to. They are readily admitting that while they will follow many, they will only listen to some. The same is true in most other community sites where the numbers are sizeable.</p><p><strong>Is this a new phenomenon?</strong></p><p>I would argue - it is not. For those of us who used to read the newspaper (and those who still do) - is this not a channel? By choosing which newspaper to read, were we not choosing who was &#8220;important to listen to&#8221;? And for those who watch TV - are we not making that choice all the time? Yes. It is not different. In fact - even in our social lives and school lives - we chose - amongst all of the people we have met - who to spend time with - who to share ideas with - who to &#8220;listen to&#8221;.</p><p><strong>So why is this important?</strong></p><p>I believe it to be important for the following reason - as everyone is trying to figure out the new communications mechanism that are arising with the proliferation of social media and social platform tools - those that choose to create these platforms and tool with a channel-centric perspective will emerge victorious. Their content will be considered the most useful, their site the most valuable, and their business the winners.</p><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/r/Stephensaber/4/cE_CBFMLc3I" height="1" width="1"/> StephenSaber.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/fQW2nLXy_lQ/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Communities-or-Channels--that-is-the-question-of-the-day…/c911d3ca-3a74-49cd-9e50-732cc113137e Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:03:05 GMT 4/10/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Communities-or-Channels--that-is-the-question-of-the-day… To succeed in marketing and communications, you need to tie digital communications channels together and understand your audience.There are a lot of discussions about social media today and my colleagues, Chris Brogan, and his team of pirates in the New Marketing Labs are paving the way with their leading work in this area. We are [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/fH9ZdN9JLR0" height="1" width="1"/> <p><strong>To succeed in marketing and communications, you need to tie digital communications channels together and understand your audience.<br /></strong></p><p>There are a lot of discussions about social media today and my colleagues, <a href="http://www.chrisbrogan.com" target="_blank">Chris Brogan</a>, and his team of pirates in the <a href="http://newmarketinglabs.com/index.html" target="_blank">New Marketing Labs</a> are paving the way with their leading work in this area. We are often asked how social media marketing fits into a broader strategy of digital marketing and communications. What is the new role of the corporate web site, newsletters and eMail? How do we tie in our event marketing and focus our strategic sales teams? How do we focus limited marketing resources and messages on the right targets?</p><p>Many elements of this new media landscape are easy to implement; the challenge is in tying them all together into a unified platform and using them to pursue an effective overall strategy.Let&#8217;s outline some of the communication channels and considerations you might have in using them effectively:</p><ol><li><strong>eMail </strong>- still a critical -if not over-used - channel for audience engagement. In particular, email is one of your key push communication channels that does not rely on your audience seeking you out. In general, I recommend &#8220;opt-in&#8221; or permission marketing models that engage users based on their intent, however, to inform your audience about an offering and trigger a conversion, email is a great tool. An approach that works well for me is when the sender recognizes my device and sends text-only to my handset (HTML is OK on my browser) and I like it when they make the communication very clear - with headlines and links to read more if I chose. As long as the opt-out features are clear, I don&#8217;t mind receiving emails, but the more I get the more I the messages get lost.</li><li><strong>eNewsletters </strong>- I like the newsletter approach. When I get one from a credible source, I know I may find some valuable content and insights. It is great when I the eNewsletter has web 2.0 tools that allow me to send to a friend or save a link to favorites. From a marketers point of view, all the clicks and links in the newsletter are trackable and I can see who among my audience are reading what items. This insight into the audience intent allows met to engage them in dialog about their interests.</li><li><strong>Digital Video /YouTube/ Viddler </strong> - I love the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vW9gUmooFg" target="_blank">eTrade ads</a> and for a brand like eTrade, what a great way to syndicate and extend the views of these commercials. We are in a &#8220;video generation&#8221; and with the proliferation of products, syndicated video is a great way to learn about products and services. The web is a great way to distribute your infomercials and educational product information - both through your own channels and through web syndication.</li><li><strong>Webinars and Twebinars</strong> - One of the best ways we have to engage an audience is with Webinar channels. These are typically 1 hour educational programs and are great ways to engage an &#8220;opt-in&#8221; interested audience in a deeper level of content and conversation. These presentations and conversations demonstrate our expertise and also help describe the solutions we can deliver. Registration information gives me the list of attendees that I can nurture before, during and after the event. The audience has expressed their intent and given me &#8220;permission&#8221; to engage them in the dialog. As an example, we are planning a series of Webinars with the <a href="http://www.mitcio.com/aboutus.php" target="_blank">MIT Sloan CIO Symposium </a>as part of our strategic partnership and sponsorship of this event. An innovative approach that we often use is the Twebinar - a synchronization of a webinar and live Twitter dialog.</li><li><strong>Web Site and Landing Pages</strong> - This could easily have been the first item on this list and and a web site remains one of the most important vehicles for brand communications. Today, your web site is only one of the many touchpoints that your audience will use to see your content or engage in conversations about your brand, products and services. When you are communicating across the web through social media and communities, you (and others) will be sharing links to landing pages within your web site. Your web site needs to have a strong visual design that is consistent with your brand image, a clear and understandable user interface and information architecture, rich content to engage the audience and strong conversion points or &#8220;calls to action&#8221; with the ability to follow-through with what you are promoting, e.g. attend an event, buy a product, register for a service. With the right tailored content and web 2.0 features, your content will be extended across the web (e.g. with RSS feeds and technology) and your organic (non paid) search visibility can be particularly strong. For specialized search terms and offerings, you can also selectively use paid search terms and increase click results.</li><li><strong>Blogs and Wikis </strong>- A blog roll that combines your (and external) credible blog posts from your thought leader community can be a terrific way to maintain a fresh content approach on your site and engage your audience with some ideas and frameworks for discussion. You should encourage active blog participation with your team and extend the publication of blog posts based on their content and value. You can also use wikis to engage on the co-creation process for projects and product development.</li><li><strong>Social Networks and Communities</strong> - You should have a presence on the social networks, and stay engaged in the conversations. Set up a Facebook Group and fan page and manage it with content and links. You also can use a Twitter presence to communicate updates about opinions, events you are sponsoring/ speaking at, new blog posts, interesting conversations taking place in online community. LinkedIn is usually thought of as a tool for individual networking, and while it is excellent for that, it is also a great way to build a community. Check out the <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1719457" target="_blank">MIT CIO Symposium Group on LinkedIn</a>. Use LinkedIn and Plaxo profiles to share blog posts and news items that may trigger a dialog. If you want to move up the maturity curve, consider whether building an OpenSocial application on Facebook or elsewhere that can further engages your audience. Depending on your community, you may want to host and manage your own exclusive &#8220;velvet rope&#8221; space to engages your members with exclusive content, and provide member-to-member interaction, member profiles, and member publishing options that foster continued interest and engagement in the community.</li><li><strong>Mobile &amp; Smartphone</strong> - the popularity of the iPhone and Blackberry platforms are clear indications that you need a presence on these devices. While you can rely on individuals engaging your website directly from this smaller form factors using a WAP interface, a more advanced offering - a native mobile application - can provide your audience with a far better audience engagement experience. Apple&#8217;s AppStore has been a huge success and Blackberry and Nokia and others are now launching similar services. These capabilities facilitate easy downloading of applications to the device. If your audience is mobile and would like to engage you through mobile devices, you will need a comprehensive mobile delivery strategy.</li><li><strong>Event Registration</strong> - Live events remain a key element of a community engagement strategy. No digital network can fully replace the value of face-to-face meetings and dialog. Your registration systems not only must provide the right level of sophistication for event data management (show types, products, payments, on site badge printing etc. ) but it should also provide you the insights on your audience and their intent as well as a marketing list for your sales team to engage.</li><li><strong>Audience Intelligence</strong> - advanced data management and dashboards are important in pulling all the information together about your audience and gaining greater business intelligence about the performance of your campaign tactics and your audience channel, service and content preferences. Some of the online channels will not have personally identifying information - and you won&#8217;t have a complete correlation of your RSS subscribers, blog readers, web site visitors and your event attendees, however by combining advanced social media listening tools, web analytics, and your registered users/ attendee information, you will gain an increasingly strong picture of what is working and what is not working in your marketing programs.</li></ol><p>Good luck and let me know if we can help with your strategy: <a href="mailto:jstone@revenuearchitects.com">John </a>617 686 7305.</p><p><strong><br /></strong></p><p><strong><br /></strong></p><br /><br /><a href='http://www.revenuearchitects.com/2009/04/a-top-ten-list-for-digital-communications/'><small>Link To Original Post</small></a> John Stone http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/fH9ZdN9JLR0/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=A-TopTen-List-for-Digital-Communications/7dd814fb-143f-4936-9853-fc4c18d9427e Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:00:17 GMT 4/5/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=A-TopTen-List-for-Digital-Communications No question these days - Twitter is all the rage. You have to look no further than the presidential address the other day when the commentator ended the post-address comments by telling viewers that they were &#8220;continuing the conversation on Twitter&#8221;&#8230;But look at what is going on. Celebrties are pouring on to Twitter like crazy. [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/CHDrkAd0qTc" height="1" width="1"/> <p>No question these days - Twitter is all the rage. You have to look no further than the presidential address the other day when the commentator ended the post-address comments by telling viewers that they were &#8220;continuing the conversation on Twitter&#8221;&#8230;</p><p>But look at what is going on. Celebrties are pouring on to Twitter like crazy. P. Diddy stated to Ellen DeGeneris the other day that it was great because it was a celebrity&#8217;s way to push out his message in an unfiltered way to his fans. And that is certainly how it is being used. For sure celebrities are making Twitter even more mainstream and even more popular. But look at how they are using it. Most are following less than 20 people and are being followed by over 100,000. Is this important - yes. Is it bad -probably not. Even Twitter-celebrities seem to be doing the same thing - followed by lots of people but only being followed by some. Obviously - it would be impossible to follow 50,000 people so it makes sense that people only follow select people. But does this change what Twitter is and what it will become?</p><p><strong>What is the essence of Twitter?<br /></strong></p><p>It appears that is the key question. It is quickly evolving as a way for single - to - many short message communications with the ability for unfiltered feedback. This is different for sure from the concept of group communication and micro-messaging within a community. Is it a bad thing? No. But it certainly is a direction and certainly leaves an avenue for someone to come along and create the &#8220;New Twitter&#8221; which serves the exact opposite service - that of closer knit, online short messaging, instant communication. Will this new direction hurt Twitter - probably not. But will it leave an opening that will certainly benefit a newcomer - my bet is it will&#8230;</p><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/r/Stephensaber/4/AbyLt8sl9jM" height="1" width="1"/> StephenSaber.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/CHDrkAd0qTc/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Are-celebrities-changing-Twitter/00fe4b27-1baf-4976-ac3c-e30324d51f52 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:23:16 GMT 3/26/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Are-celebrities-changing-Twitter This is one article that I came across this week that really made me step back and pause. The link to the article is here. Is this really the right direction to be headed? I have been headed in the exact opposite direction from this CEO for the past 12 months and thinking that everyone [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/2TZEstQelaM" height="1" width="1"/> <p>This is one article that I came across this week that really made me step back and pause. The link to the article is <a href="http://www.foliomag.com/2009/source-ceo-pay-your-editors-charge-your-content?utm_source=bm23&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=Source+CEO%3A+Pay+Your+Editors%2C+Charge+for+Content&amp;utm_content=ssaber%40crosstechpartners.com&amp;utm_campaign=FOLIO%3A+Alert+03.19.2009">here</a>. Is this really the right direction to be headed? I have been headed in the exact opposite direction from this CEO for the past 12 months and thinking that everyone was seeing the light - that content needs to be free and that with the proliferation of social media, bloggers, and social &#8220;news&#8221; web site and the amazingly fast growth of Twitter, Facebook, etc the desire to pay for content was not jsut dwindling but disappearing. And then I saw this&#8230; I do not know Source Media CEO Jim Malkin's personally, have never met him, am not in a situation to say - I am right, you are wrong. But I caution him to look at the indicators.</p><p><strong>Reminds me of the HBO special</strong></p><p>In many ways this reminds me of an HBO special I watched some time back with Bob Costas that I often tell people about. He was doing a year in review program and was interviewing a Sports Journalist and then brought in a notorious Sports Blogger and had a debate between the two. At one point, the Journalist stated to the blogger that &#8220;you have no right to be in this situation, you have no training, you did not go to school for journalism, what makes you someone who can be an authority on sports&#8221; to which the blogger responded - &#8220;all I can tell you is I write and people read and follow me&#8221;. It seems that it is that simple. We are living in a time of choice - with many people out there writing, authoring, spreading news, delivering content. With so much free content out there, will people really pay? Would you pay for this journalist&#8217;s writing instead of the blogger just because he was trained in journalism? I would suggest not.</p><p><strong>My recommendations ...<strong></strong></strong></p><p>I think Mr. Malkin's theory that relying on advertising is a tough thing to do is accurate. But to then take it to a model of charging for content - that is going too far and possibly a suicide mission. The article concludes with the quote - ""If what we have isn&#8217;t valuable and no one wants to pay for it, maybe we don't have a business." - while bold and definitely defining, I think it is too risky an alternative and not rooted in the current climate for content. Instead, the real challenge needs to be in search of a new business model - one that combines advertising with content and education. It needs to acknowledge that free content is the way of the future and that to fight it is like trying to hold back a wave while standing at the beach. Do I know all of the answers - no. Does anyone - I would guess no. But someone, some group of someones is going to figure out and those people are going to emerge the winners in the next generation of media and content producers.</p><p>Thoughts?</p><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/r/Stephensaber/4/kDRyk3GV6_A" height="1" width="1"/> StephenSaber.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/2TZEstQelaM/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Source-CEO:-Pay-Your-Editors,-Charge-for-Content--B2B-@-FolioMag.com--really/9210274f-b28d-4d51-a42d-6336a62e743a Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:30:41 GMT 3/20/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Source-CEO:-Pay-Your-Editors,-Charge-for-Content--B2B-@-FolioMag.com--really I thought for this blog post I would post some interesting articles that I have come across lately - hope you enjoy.Article - Twitter: A fine &#8216;pre-business&#8217; but un-monetizable and a deadly acquisition target - http://bit.ly/3LK5YAInteresting - http://bit.ly/fPvAE - concerning &#8220;Three-quarters of marketers have $100,000 of less budgeted for social media marketing&#8221;Interesting article about the [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/nJWs_MlEGSQ" height="1" width="1"/> <p>I thought for this blog post I would post some interesting articles that I have come across lately - hope you enjoy.</p><p>Article - Twitter: A fine &#8216;pre-business&#8217; but un-monetizable and a deadly acquisition target - <a href="http://bit.ly/3LK5YA">http://bit.ly/3LK5YA</a></p><p>Interesting - <a href="http://bit.ly/fPvAE">http://bit.ly/fPvAE</a> - concerning &#8220;Three-quarters of marketers have $100,000 of less budgeted for social media marketing&#8221;</p><p>Interesting article about the &#8220;Future of Twitter&#8221; - <a href="http://bit.ly/gmc1K">http://bit.ly/gmc1K</a> - Twitter&#8217;s Future Looks More Social Than Commercial</p><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/r/Stephensaber/4/QLkYmrdW1_Y" height="1" width="1"/> StephenSaber.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/nJWs_MlEGSQ/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Interesting-articles-I-have-come-across/8e9c6a4a-e6ab-4949-8d6e-2c56049a9e2e Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:09:21 GMT 3/17/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Interesting-articles-I-have-come-across Semantic technology addresses the data-explosion problem by providing more intelligent ways to search, sort, and filter data based on business and user relevance.So, what is Semantic Technology? Here is what Tim Berners-Lee stated as a vision back in 1999:&#8220;I have a dream for the Web [in which computers] become capable of analyzing all the data [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=revenuearchitects.com&blog=4518606&post=122&subd=revenuearchitects&ref=&feed=1" /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/4dAF6QRT9YM" height="1" width="1"/> Semantic technology addresses the data-explosion problem by providing more intelligent ways to search, sort, and filter data based on business and user relevance.So, what is Semantic Technology? Here is what Tim Berners-Lee stated as a vision back in 1999:&#8220;I have a dream for the Web [in which computers] become capable of analyzing all the data [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=revenuearchitects.com&blog=4518606&post=122&subd=revenuearchitects&ref=&feed=1" /><br /><br /><a href='http://revenuearchitects.com/2009/03/10/semantic-technology-is-real/'><small>Link To Original Post</small></a> John Stone http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/4dAF6QRT9YM/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Semantic-Technology-is-Real/f0cb871a-b28c-485c-b987-957480e93420 Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:13:13 GMT 3/10/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Semantic-Technology-is-Real What are the key characteristics in a valuable business???By far, this is probably the most talked about topic that we discuss on a daily, weekly, yearly basis. As we are trying to build value, it is so important to clearly understand what is value&#8230;In reading an article recently published by the Jordan Edmiston Group (www.jegi.com) [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/RfBJqCkcZOQ" height="1" width="1"/> <p><strong>What are the key characteristics in a valuable business???</strong></p><p>By far, this is probably the most talked about topic that we discuss on a daily, weekly, yearly basis. As we are trying to build value, it is so important to clearly understand what is value&#8230;</p><p>In reading an article recently published by the Jordan Edmiston Group (<a href="http://www.jegi.com/">www.jegi.com</a>) I came across what is probably the most clearly delineated listing of what buyers would be looking for.The quote is from Philip Siegel, General Partner from Austin Ventures in discussion interactive and marketing acquisitions. He stated, &#8220;we&#8217;re looking for a company that combines two or three key aspects: a focus on proprietary information; a software application that the user embeds into their business process; and recurring revenue&#8221;.(Source - JEGI Client Briefing - January 2009) For a while I have been preaching the theme of &#8220;Locked-in / Recurring Revenues&#8221; as the model most appealing as value to customers. This is a combination of business model, technologies, business processes associated with these technologies, and a clear vision for growth.</p><p>Philip&#8217;s delineation, I believe, is a further and clearer and better definition then mine on the same theme. It clearly rules out many business models and avenues that people would go down to chase business and build out a company. However, as a roadmap and key guiding principles - it is very clear and should hang on the wall of every tech CEO and anyone looking to grow a value business.</p><p>Again - here they are -</p><p>1) A focus on proprietary information</p><p>2)A software application that the user embeds into their business process</p><p>3) Recurring revenue</p><p>Obvious - probably. Simple to understand - definitely. Easy to make happen - not so much. Worthwhile as a guiding light - DEFINITELY.</p><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/r/Stephensaber/4/Ujed2ugs0t8" height="1" width="1"/> StephenSaber.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/RfBJqCkcZOQ/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=What-are-the-key-characteristics-in-a-valuable-business/e54b73af-f856-4be3-8e07-3d8af3245e9e Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:48:08 GMT 3/2/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=What-are-the-key-characteristics-in-a-valuable-business Recently, I have been introduced to the segment of closeouts and remainder products. This is a segment of business that, to be honest, I was completely unaware of. And yet - it is an amazingly interesting and fascinating business. The amount of money that changes hands and the way that business is transacted is fascinating. 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mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; --></p><p><!--[endif]--><!-- /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; --></p><p>Recently, I have been introduced to the segment of closeouts and remainder products. This is a segment of business that, to be honest, I was completely unaware of. And yet - it is an amazingly interesting and fascinating business. The amount of money that changes hands and the way that business is transacted is fascinating. It is not something you learn in business school. In fact, if anything, it is something that you study in business school as if it is an &#8220;old school&#8221; way of doing business. But yet, there is so much to learn from these businesses.</p><p>Here are two of the lessons I have learned so far -</p><p><strong>Your reputation is everything</strong></p><p>In the world of technology, we often talk about reputation online and what it means to a company and a brand. No more is this self-evident than in this sector of business. Deals are done based on reputation. Loyalty far exceeds anything we could have ever imagined and respect for the individual and organization are tantamount to success. Preserving your reputation is potentially the most important key to success and survival.</p><p><strong>Products vary, buyers do not</strong></p><p>How can it be that there are loyal buyers to companies, when you cannot be 100% certain from week to week what products that company will be selling. The reason is - loyalty and reputation. Customers keep coming back - interested in what you might be selling this week. I see in it my folks - they are loyal shopper of the Christmas Tree Shops. I never understood why, but they would go there week after week - to look around and seewhat might be selling this week. What brings them there is not the products but the company itself.</p><p><em>So - what does this mean outside of this business segment ... </em></p><p>I think these lessons are ones that we can all learn from and use in our daily business lives. We often debate - is it the product or the people or the company that we should be stressing.<span> </span>We have seen lots of companies that have built success on the back of products and product brands.<span> </span>But now we are seeing companies built on the strength of the company itself and the loyalty to that company seems to be stronger in many cases than the loyalty to the products.<span> </span><em>In times like these, reputation and loyalty are everything.<span> </span>Think about that.<span> </span>Focus on that. Build a company with that in mind.</em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/r/Stephensaber/4/uIKbjkU9tJ0" height="1" width="1"/> StephenSaber.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/6WaawPJhyHA/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=An-interesting-business-model…/f179e0aa-483a-4641-a7fe-edd79a4e3ec0 Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:38:16 GMT 2/24/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=An-interesting-business-model… I am working with a global financial services company that needs to overhaul its portfolio of communications technology. These include their public/customer facing web sites to intranets and broadband communication services serving their internal associates across functional areas. To add further complexity, this is a global organization across time zones embodying different cultural norms and [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=revenuearchitects.com&blog=4518606&post=109&subd=revenuearchitects&ref=&feed=1" /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/i3qqongBi_A" height="1" width="1"/> I am working with a global financial services company that needs to overhaul its portfolio of communications technology. These include&nbsp; their public/customer facing web sites to intranets and broadband communication services serving their internal associates across functional areas. To add further complexity, this is a global organization across time zones embodying different cultural norms and [...]<img border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=revenuearchitects.com&amp;blog=4518606&amp;post=109&amp;subd=revenuearchitects&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" /><br /><br /><a href="http://revenuearchitects.com/2009/02/24/rationalize-your-communications-technology-cut-costs-improve-impact/"><small>Link To Original Post</small></a> John Stone http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/i3qqongBi_A/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Rationalize-Your-Communications-Technology:-Cut-Costs-and-Improve-Impact/b4bfe589-2f64-4848-8047-99ac34a2a8f0 Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:00:00 GMT 2/24/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Rationalize-Your-Communications-Technology:-Cut-Costs-and-Improve-Impact As I am waiting for a meeting to begin, I am left wondering - where is the focus? Where has it gone? In this current economic climate, it seems like everyone has lost focus. The spiral downward has been so fast and so deep that everyone is left wondering - should I [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/hy43aR9eB-g" height="1" width="1"/> <p>As I am waiting for a meeting to begin, I am left wondering - where is the focus? Where has it gone? In this current economic climate, it seems like everyone has lost focus. </p><p>The spiral downward has been so fast and so deep that everyone is left wondering - should I spend anything? Can I afford to spend anything? Where is the equilibrium point? I speak to clients on a daily basis and most are saying a similar thing at this point - I do not know enough at this point to commit for something in the future - even if it is the immediate future. </p><p>In a world of such uncertainty - focus is everything. Find it. Don&#8217;t lose it. And Don&#8217;t forget it.</p><p>My recommendations to anyone leading an organization or a team - </p><p>1) Make sure every member of that team has both an individual focus and a team focus<br />2) Make sure the focus point is clear, visible, attainable, and clearly understood<br />3) Make sure that you, as the leader, remove everything that could come in the way of that focus - gone are the days where distractions can be commonplace and &#8220;free time&#8221; is part of work time - focus is key.<br />4) Rid yourself of anyone who does not have focus or who detracts others from their focus.<br />5) Find the balance in your messaging. Team members are not oblivious to the current climate and situation - don&#8217;t try to hide it. At the same time, don&#8217;t paint such a picture that simply your messaging will cause people to lose focus.<br />6) Be transparent as much as you can. Let people know that the decisions you make will be self-evident and based on performance and focus.</p><p>Finally - make sure that focus is the topic of each conversation. Quickly intercept any conversation that loses focus and that starts to create any gray. More than ever, people need to be able to see black and white, and it is the job of every good leader to make sure the black and white point of focus is clear to each and every team member.</p><p>Have you found your focus?</p><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/r/Stephensaber/4/KtKKzNkEBzg" height="1" width="1"/> StephenSaber.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/hy43aR9eB-g/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Where-is-the-focus/cecd3568-85a5-412d-a441-7155dd5b3b27 Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:04:44 GMT 2/20/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=Where-is-the-focus Being both a platform and services company in IT and a media company servicing the IT sector, I am often in discussions about the new model for IT and services companies. There is no question that Wall Street has shunned the pur services businesses - and with good reason. While in the late 1990&#8217;s there [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~4/kYUbaD9sKZo" height="1" width="1"/> <p><a href="http://stephensaber.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/questionmark.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-19" title="questionmark" src="http://stephensaber.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/questionmark-199x300.jpg" alt="questionmark" width="199" height="300" /></a>Being both a platform and services company in IT and a media company servicing the IT sector, I am often in discussions about the new model for IT and services companies. There is no question that Wall Street has shunned the pur services businesses - and with good reason. While in the late 1990&#8217;s there appeared to be predictability in this sector, it is clear that at this point the businesses in that sector are not able to have long, predictable pipelines and in terms are always in a shaky position from a long terms perspective.</p><p>With that in mind, the apparent obvious answer would be to be more product centric and not service focused? But wait. Look at what is going on. There is no question that the open source movement is having a material impact on the IT product sector. Look at what has happened in the world of Web Content Management Systems. For sure, there are many excellent products out there that a company can purchase. But also look at the open source solutions. Not bad and getting better all the time. They have become a definite realistic alternative. And this is coming from someone who has invested a lot of money into the building of a Web Content Management Solution.</p><p>So - then let&#8217;s go to a Software as a Service model? Isn&#8217;t that the way to go? Not so fast. Look what is happening there? The low switching costs involved with a lot of these solutions make the long term predictability model very difficult to forecast.</p><p>So what is it? Our opinion, and the trend with a lot of companies these days, is that the model is some sort of equilibrium between all three. What is the combination, no one knows for sure. But watch and see and you will see product companies offering more services, service companies offering their services related to product solutions and product derivatives, and everyone testing the waters again in the SaaS model&#8230;</p><img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/r/Stephensaber/4/LRBMsGVWa9o" height="1" width="1"/> StephenSaber.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrossTechBlog/~3/kYUbaD9sKZo/article.html http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=What-is-the-new-model-for-the-IT-business/44f406ad-236d-4790-94f3-ba185e6d6bbd Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:15:05 GMT 2/18/2009 http://crosstechpartners.com/article.html?a=What-is-the-new-model-for-the-IT-business