One of the things that Mr Murphy discusses is ‘introducing an IT-led product or service’; a term he does not actually define. In this context if he means that IT should be leading business focused change initiatives, then that is agreed. However this is not the context this reader interpreted it as. If what is meant by this statement is the introduction of technical tools, or even the technology department dictating change then I would disagree.

Recently I argued that IT leaders need to be contributing to revenue generation or assisting to reduce costs by being involved in business led initiatives. It is automation or rapid solution deployment that can often contribute to that overall success. It is the business that needs more effective tools in order to assist overburdened staff in all areas of the business, and this involves the business processes as much as any technical solutions.

If there is to be any imminent return to growth then IT’s role is in transforming business to a smarter more collaborative organisation, and not simply as provider of technical components. Part of this is about improving efficiencies across the business, by looking for opportunities to automate tedious manual processes. Each of these areas will make the organisation more effective and more economically savvy.

As much as we would all like to see a return to growth as soon as possible, it is unlikely to happen on a global scale before 2012. There is no individual industry, or even country, that is taking a real lead at this time, the belts remain quite tight for the forthcoming period. Right now the challenge seems to be about doing more with less resources, those that are in a job are often overworked, yet at the same time there are too many talented people looking for work.

Virtualization of services is of course perhaps the only exception to this rule, yet at the same time this should be considered a part of a corporate cost saving initiative, with providing more effective use of existing resources.

Budgets for IT departments may be on the increase – they had to from the severe restrictions faced in 2009 and 2010. No matter how far, or how deep cuts go it is a fact that business will always subsequently find it necessary to replace certain aging capital assets, or respond to stimulus from outside the business’s control. It is this that is driving any spending right now rather than expansion in response growth.

If hiring is still frozen then it is unlikely that major budgetary growth will occur. It is unlikely to allow room to expand the number of staff, or contractors that can be engaged.

It is good to see that technology leaders feel they have a role to play in driving new products and services to market. For too long there has been too little involvement in this process for IT leaders, with many only being told of release plans only days beforehand – necessitating bolt-on’s to existing systems instead of proper impact assessments.

Where we can agree on is the need for corporations to better leverage data in order to drive revenue and aid growth. This is one of the basic aims of business intelligence; and sadly one misunderstood by many corporations. Understanding the natural flow of business can aid both when to release a product to market and optimisation of production schedules. Sizable investments can be put into context by proper use of BI. For one corporation this meant a saving of over $30 million as they discovered that changing production schedules for existing manufacturing facilities abrogated the need to build a new factory. It also saved layoff’s in at least two sites. All possible because of leveraging readily available information.

Data driven revenue and savings opportunities abound across the average corporation, their is either insufficient expertise or training available to recognise available options.

Despite the change to the mega corporation this rule is still an important aspect of marketing. It is perhaps even more important today than at any time in the past because it impacts products that we cannot yet purchase and can impact a prospects future buying behaviour. In the social media world this rule also applies. When the iPhone 4 was released it was only available within the USA, yet people in Canada, UK, France, and in other places wanted the product before it was available on the shelves in their local phone provider. This demand was fueled by Social Media and people’s ability to tell their friend’s around the world about this product through Facebook, Twitter etc.

Saying that in the social media world this rule still applies, it is crucial to understand there is one crucial advantage that can be leveraged, the ability to monitor what is said and reward people if appropriate. People trust their friends (whether off-line or on-line) the most; they even have a tendency to trust the word of a stranger on-line, when that voice seems both genuine and authoritative. What is said can impact future marketing plans for any product.

Most products do not achieve a viral global demand, yet social media is one of many methods by which we can get your message spread out to a wider audience than ever before. As a general rule when someone says something good about your brand then it is appropriate to thank them for their kind words. On some occasions a valuable reward may be appropriate; e.g. a discount airline ticket for a future flight. Generally though the simple thank you carries a lot of mileage; especially from a well respected, global, brand.

It is not just customers we need to thank. The online world is full of contributors and the independent review can become a superb sales asset provided it is timely and focused. The word of a well respected industry expert can be a powerful ally.

Finding these articles is a part of building a social media intelligence capability. With blogs of course the pertinent information can be hidden behind the headline. Most major corporations employ people to analyse press coverage, a natural extension to that role is to peek behind the covers of blog articles.

So far this article has looked at the positive aspects, yet in the real world we also know that people say bad things about us, or even worse take action with their feet. It is the corporation’s response to criticism and bad things that are said on-line that is perhaps more crucial. This is where a slick marketing response is probably the worst approach; it is better to have one of the product designers offer to help the customer. A simple apology often goes a long way, but frequently it is necessary to contact the customer outside of the social media channel in order to turn the situation around. This has the advantage of turning a potential critic into a loyal customer, because some mega-corporation took the time to resolve his specific issue. Remember we live in an increasingly cynical world.

Analysing social media activity about our brand or product should become part of our business intelligence capability. Yet analysing social media has a more personal side. If someone is talking about your product you should be prepared to open a dialogue with that person. They may assist indirectly in your on-line marketing efforts. Flattery will often get you everywhere with people, have the head of production talk to them rather than a marketing person. It is a case of appropriateness. Essentially it is important to create an ongoing relationship.

What is deplorable is when it is used in a corporate setting. In the case this morning one software company calling another something that should not be repeated.

Now, we all know that businesses are in competition with each other, but even the fiercest of competitors should always be civil to each other in public. Yes, we all know that internally there are slang names for the other organisation and they are well known to each group. Despite temptation these details should be kept private. There is never a reason to use such names in public under any circumstances. To do so on social media is to let the world, including, of course, your customers, know that you have no respect for the decency of others. How can your customers trust you if you are publicly disrespectful to the competition?

Was this morning’s post a slip of the tongue? Most are, yet that matters little as most things on the web tend to be permanent, especially when posted on Twitter or Facebook. So this little rant about etiquette is over, will people listen? That is questionable but undoubtedly it will make future articles too.

The last article in this series covered “The Corporate Architecture and Complexity of Data Links“. This builds on out business understanding that impacts the selected solution. You should walk away from this series with an impression the selecting a BI solution is not merely about software selection, but about a whole range of factors that require a more holistic vision about how the corporation will be leveraging its business intelligence capability. Yes we do need to measure profitability, but ultimately we also need to measure a range of other factors.

So, what makes our business unique?

Each business has a set of products or services. Many of these may also sold by the company’s competitors, at a similar price in a similar format. There however is always some distinguishing feature that ensures customers buy our product or service rather than our competitor’s. This may be as simple as undercutting the competition’s price or may be some unusual aesthetic feature. Knowing the factors of uniqueness is essential for each business. This has been described as many things over the years, but it is generally known as the unique selling proposition, or USP.

Each business, of course, has its competitors. One of the reasons for implementing business intelligence solutions is to identify ways to take advantage of prevailing market conditions. Thus it necessary to understand the ebb and flow of the marketplace; how this industry sector(s) function. Marketplace goals will also be a driving factor.

One of the major reasons for introducing Data Warehousing technology is to identify and measure factors that distinguish this business from all of its competitors. Pre-packaged solutions are rarely capable of doing this. They concentrate on general business goals, or maybe that of the market sector. Uniqueness will always need to be added to any pre-packaged solution.

Note: the author has identified two factors that need to be considered:

►  Factors that are common within the particular industry sector. This may be all insurance companies, or alternatively may be insurance companies operating in the life and pensions sector, where specific rules have to be met.

►  Factors that make our specific business unique. E.g. the brand name – Coca Cola, the reputation for quality workmanship – Rolls Royce.

When I work with corporations to deploy BI solutions I have created an assessment form that allows these factors to be both defined and assessed for your corporation. If we take an example of a corporation involved in the travel sector some of the generic industry factors may be:

◊ Declining corporate travel market

◊ Buoyant executive travel market

◊ Growth of no-frills airlines

◊ Growth of on-line sales

◊ Reducing costs

◊ The impact of terrorism on the marketplace

Factors making our specific business unique may include:

◊ Guaranteed lowest price whether booked on-line of in store

◊ Value customer service and retention (follow up call after trip)

◊ Wide variety of sales channels, even active on Social Media

◊ Active in all areas of the world

◊ International free-call help line

◊ Links airlines and corporate customers.

Understanding these factors and classifying both their mission criticality and their complexity are both important to the financial decision making process. Some factors here may be regarded as complex because such data is not currently recorded within the company.

As a general observation the more unique the business the less likely it will be a candidate for using a pre-packaged Data Warehousing solution and the more likelihood that the corporation will have to define their own database model or make changes to an ‘industry focused template’.

Next “Suitable Analytical Applications”

This is part of a series on communications and links to other articles on this site…

There are several types of communication that are important to the average business today:

◊ Direct one-to-one, a dialogue

◊ One-to-many, broadcasting

◊ Many-to-many, such as in a meeting

On a “One to One” basis we communicate directly or through another medium. There are differences in how we communicate but there is generally a dialogue that occurs in any conversation. Our approach may be different say for a letter (if anyone writes these anymore) or an email than in a conversation, but it is a dialogue nonetheless. In a conversation we will deal with one point at a time, whereas in a letter we tend to put in all of the related detail before sending it.

Email differs from a normal letter in that it is not purely a one-to-one messaging tool, it allows us to send that same message to multiple people. We developed the ability to broadcast early in human history as well – remember the smoke-signals used by Native Americans were almost certainly used in other ancient societies; even 16 century England had a fire warning system used to send messages rapidly across the country in order to prepare for an expected attack of the Spanish Armada, allowing them to muster forces at a time when sending a message by traditional means was agonisingly slow.

“One to Many” messages are used in a multitude of ways, like a newspaper article, telegraph, radio, television. The ‘presenter’ prepares their statement and makes it via the appropriate medium. In the modern world we are putting a lot of this information on-line in the form of blogs or websites, but the majority still follows the process of one person posting for all to see.

“Many to Many” communications don’t really exist through any of the traditional communications media. A meeting may give everyone an opportunity for everyone to speak, but it is in reality held through a series on one to many communications. Us humans are simply not able to handle multiple simultaneous conversations; so we have developed a protocol that enables us to achieve the effect of a many-to-many conversation.

Computers on the other hand are able do multiple things at the same time more effectively and they can communicate with other computer at a speed allows messages to travel the globe in an instant.

The changing world of business communications is largely about empowering collaboration between people who are interested in a particular outcome. In business relationships matter and have always been vital for success, in fact it plays on another basic part of human nature. The need for a crew to work together for the success of the voyage is as vital in a trawler facing a ferocious storm as it is in your business.

Each person involved brings with them something unique that helps the team succeed. Yet today we are able  to contribute in so many ways and continue contributing. With the use of Social Media it is even possible to have our customers make a contribution to our product development which can be a vital part of our success. Collaboration is a very personal thing. Each and every person has a sphere of collaboration, which is about them, their team, the department they work for, the company, customers, suppliers, third-parties, industry experts, etc. Even their friends perhaps have a role to play.

Ultimately the changing world of business communications is about improving out ability to collaborate. It is about bringing the right people together, cost effectively, to solve a specific problem, then moving on.

We work with YOU to guarantee your business is ready to face the next generation of challenges. Not Social Media ready? We can make it happen!

This video is by Peter B. Giblett, Co-Founder and Chief Ideas Officer of P3 Social Media.

This presentation is designed to give you an overview of how to implement Social Media solutions that work for YOUR business.

Peter is a Senior Business and IT Executive with over 25 years experience delivering successful solutions. Contact him at peter.b.giblett@gmail.com or call in the office at 646 875 4556 (New York) and 905 371 3908 (Toronto).

Almost the first aspect of this newly developing media that hit the streets was the way that it was being used by those in their teens and twenties as a new means of communication, that their parents know little or nothing about. These youth were the generation after text messaging. From the social aspect this new media is all about:

♥ Thoughts

♥ Feelings

♥ Tastes

♥ Preferences

♥ Building friendships

First and foremost this new media is about having fun with like-minded people. This media initially appealed to youth we have heard the comment made a couple of years ago by one youngster “If you’re not on MySpace, you don’t exist”. Today the site may be different, but the sentiment remains the same. Hundreds of websites, created for and often by young people, encourage and facilitate youth involvement in everything from voting, to school and community improvement, to journalism, to political activism, music selection any anything else you care to think of. Yet it is a different style of involvement than many other people think of. Taken together, they constitute an emerging genre on the Internet that could loosely be called e-citizens. What is interesting about e-citizenship is that it has rapidly become a global community.

So much has changed in the modern world and Social Media is facilitating this. I have equated the building of on-line friends to the pen-pals of yesteryear. The only difference being that with Social Media you tend to build more lasting relationships, not give up your pen-pals as most of us did when we left school. It can be argued that the relationships we are building through Social Media can be the strongest we ever have. There is a certain rush from being able to help someone on the other side of the planet in some tiny way.

The important aspect about Social Media is that whatever your personal aims, goals, aspirations, likes, dislikes, political views, religious views there is probably a site for you waiting for you to join right now. As a medium Social Media is so broad that for any person it can be ‘what you want it to be’.

If Facebook were a national state it would be the third largest country in the world with over 360 million users. The largest user community is, and has always been 18 to 25 year olds. Some of the things teens have done on this space include:

◊ Complain about teachers (or make fun of them)

◊ Made fun of other students

◊ Share intimate personal details or thoughts

◊ Created a fake identity or persona

◊ Used their friend’s account to post something without them knowing

◊ Pretended to be an adult

◊ Downloaded illegal files (e.g. music, or video)

◊ Posted something they later regret

Then again many supposedly responsible adults have also done much the same thing, including complaining about their boss or colleagues and pretend to be a child. Like their child counterparts they do plenty of things they later regret. There has been dramatic growth in all age ranges on Facebook, particularly each of the age groups over 40. Retirees are reconnecting with old friends. While many that are in their 40′s and 50′s are finding it a useful professional networking tool. There is still an element of fun, but with a large dose of professionalism.

I was recently talking with a college professor who does not give his students any biographical information, he simply encourages them to Google him. Furthermore he also watches the social media space in order to know what is being said about himself and find ways to improve his technique and how he delivers his lectures.

Every person right from when we first learn to talk till the day we die has their own thoughts & feelings, tastes & preferences, values, friends & circle of influence, loves to share, and wants to have fun. These are things we do in our personal lives and have done for many generations. Sure our definition of ‘fun’ may change from generation to generation, and location to location. Change is inevitable and as a society we simply deal with it and adapt to the new technologies.  If we look back to the mass introduction of the telephone it was both a useful tool for personal communications children could talk with their grand-parents continents away for the first time. The mobile (or cellular) phone brought its own challenges and benefits. Today they are a part of our every day lives – we simply use them wherever we are.

The point about social media is that it is bringing like-minded people together from around the world in a way that the telephone did not. It is a place for the cheer-leaders and the football jock to hang out as well as the goths and all the other cliques that can be found in high-school. You do not need to know another person’s phone number or email address in order to connect with them. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is immaterial as it is a fact of life today, as are the business opportunities that can be garnered from such a media.

The key aspect here is about building a community. Business can be as much a part of that community as any individual. If you have products that your target audience are interested in then there is every reason to be taking part in this arena. The music industry has for many year had its eyes and ears open in the streets listening for the thoughts and feelings of its consumers and listening out for talent to match.  The latest buzz on the music scene is now being talked about on Twitter, Facebook and other places. The record companies may even be able to find demos on-line for many upcoming artists.

In another direction projects my colleagues an I are working on today are opening up social medial solutions to communities that have never been thought about before. Once again it is about building communities. These communities may start as social and move into the business realm (as Facebook has) or may primarily be business focused but have plenty of social opportunities (one couple I know met on LinkedIn and have subsequently tied the knot).

We must always remember that humans are essentially social animals, it is what drives us. We have all heard and laughed at the saying “I work to enjoy my life” for many having fun is an important aspect of their life. Part of being that ‘social animal’ we prefer to associate with people who are like ourselves. It is about interacting, and opening up our lives a little, yet still stay safe behind the computer screen (we hope). Yet at the same time this media has brought us some compelling news stories from the people directly affected e.g. the Chinese earthquake where dramatic pictures were relayed on Twitter instantly to the world.

This brings up a question of “what exactly is personal any-more?” Sure chatting with friends is clearly personal, yet discussions on taste and choice can launch this discussion into the product realm, which is relevant to corporations with advertising money to spend, in fact the advertising that individual sees on their computer screen can be directly related to their personal focus (e.g. the TV shows talked about, perfumes, sports shoes, etc. can all be analysed and lend themselves to an instant advertising opportunity. The person posting the dramatic pictures of earthquake or air-crash victims is now a part of the news media, albeit without pay. The boundaries are now blurred.

Can you have fun in the business environment? You do not need Social Media to answer this question. We all do. Psychologists have for a long time stated that people build their most important relationships in the workplace, which is probably one of the reasons why telecommunting only meets with limited success, because people want to meet people and build relationships.

The boundaries between what is social and what is business are blurring. Business is becoming more social (or perhaps more correctly returning to its social roots). Social Media is connection based, it is about people helping people – and this is the basis of human society. Ultimately the social and business goals for this media are not so far apart.

Credit luck with many of your achievements

Personally I have had the viewpoint that luck has nothing to do with any of your accomplishments. Indeed in Think and Grow Rich Napoleon Hill talks about the ability to visualise, the thinking process, that is the catalyst for success. Many other writers have also taken the view that there is no such thing as luck. I would love to hear from my loyal readers on how they view the question of luck and the role it plays in your success. Either comment or email me.

To me the key elements of success are:

◊ An ability to visualise your goals

◊ Identify what needs to happen

◊ Look at what needs to be different than it is today

◊ What do we need to do right now?

◊ Review how we are going

I am not belittling any persons view on this but the key elements to me here are about visualisation and not luck. Do the right things fall into place at the right time? For me recently they have, and I have found ways to visualise better futures.

Confidence is an important factor and that is an element that can peak and trough during all of the things that you do. Yet with everything that we do it is important to take a level headed review of where we are and what can be achieved. Yet it is this thought that also leads me to think that big advances are generally taken as a series of little steps, and generally speaking a little step is easier to manage than a big one – it is the big step that can leave us with much fear. We all have to recognise when to say NO and we all have to learn how to take NO. NO is one of the most powerful words in business grammar yet few of us know how to use it well.

NO is rarely a flat out NO, usually it equates to “we do not know enough about the problem in order to know whether we can change it”. It is often associated with a ‘red-light reflex‘ or a startle response that we react to when our stable universe is challenged.

Leadership is largely about building trust. and confidence is an important factor. It is not you own confidence, but those of other that also need to be considered. Including:

◊ Articulating vision and goals

◊ Acting persistently and consistently is defining change

◊ Judging the feelings and views of those involves

◊ Being able to motivate those involved

◊ Providing feedback, being responsive or resilient.

Overall I think it is more than being adequate, but that is a phase we all have to go though during our chosen career.

I was asked the other day whether I thought gender has a role to play in an individual’s leadership? I have never though it has. Men and women may be physically different, but I do not believe that they are psychologically different. It is a pity however that there have not been too many female political leaders (this is the arena where leadership is at least publicly on display), but it is still worthy to note that 43 women have held the post of prime minister or president since the end of world war 2 and that is an important number.

The fact of the matter is that few people have thought about what makes a good leader in any field until very recently, which is very sad. Leadership is a skill that can be learned, although some people may have natural skills. In addition that is an old adage that people are promoted to the level of their incompetence – which should be nailed as a false statement immediately.

Here are some of the qualities within a person that can help anyone become leadership material (this list cannot possibly be definitive – please feel free to add you own via comments):

♦ Demonstrating a good track record – make things happen

♦ It is about understanding the needs of the business, not your technical brilliance

♦ You need a passion and belief in what you are doing

♦ Demonstrate that you can be trusted to get the job done

♦ Be a person other people want to follow

♦ Fit in

♦ Be a coach or mentor to others

♦ Listen more than you talk and when you talk make it significant

♦ Demonstrate your decisiveness

♦ You are willing to make mistakes and learn from them

♦ You can manage the set-backs and bad-news

♦ You are in control of your own destiny

♦ Make sure your personal life is consistent with your professional life.

Debra Benton says “right now, where you work, there are people behind closed doors desperately trying to find someone to promote or develop for a larger role”. It is true I have either attended or managed a few of those meetings and know how right she is. Leadership is about being a business enabler and being able to do what is necessary to get the job done.

Early in my career we went through an office move. I was the last person still working at the old location and the first person working at the new location. My boss wanted to know how in the midst of turmoil I was the only one working – I told him it was about being focused on the goals of the business. The important things, the key files, my PC, and everything I needed to start work first thing in the morning went in my car. The setup time was a few minutes once I found my desk and I had re-focused on the key problem of the day while many others were still trying to find their boxes. This was a trigger for being put on the leadership track in that firm.