Digital Lifescapes

The introduction of Artificial intelligence (AI), and the emergence of Generative AI   (GenAI), are now resulting in two key focus areas for Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and their IT leadership team. "GenAI is not just a technology or just a business trend. It is a profound shift in how humans and machines interact," said Mary Mesaglio, VP Analyst at Gartner . "We are moving from what machines can do for us to what machines can be for us." AI platforms are evolving rapidly from being our tools to becoming our teammates. Gartner predicts that by 2025, GenAI will be a workforce partner for 90 percent of companies worldwide. CIO Leadership Market Development CIOs have a major role in how they shape AI and how AI shapes us. According to recent Gartner surveys of CEOs, enterprise CIOs are their number one choice to unlock the value of GenAI tools. In fact, CIOs and IT executives will prioritize two areas to unleash the possibility of AI over the next 12-24 months – ...

CEOs are requiring their Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) to reimagine the HR charter to focus more on enabling the organization to achieve strategic business outcomes through superior talent development practices. As a result, 49 percent of HR leaders named "Innovating for Success" as one of their top three priorities for 2022, according to the latest survey findings from Gartner. Despite HR leaders prioritizing innovations, a Gartner survey of more than 3,500 employees found that only 46 percent of employees agree that their organization encourages creative thinking. HR Innovation Market Development "The survey results show that an organization’s actions directly impact the ability of employees to be creative by 25 percent," said Emily Rose McRae, senior director at Gartner . "In fact, an organization’s actions have more than double the impact of an individual's personality when it comes to driving employee creativity." According to the Gartner a...

The creative talent of independent software developers has helped to make the smartphone and media tablet into a global phenomena. International Data Corporation (IDC) has released new estimates for the worldwide software developer, plus the closely related Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skilled worker population. The numbers of software developers and ICT-skilled workers in the world are important for a variety of resource allocation and investment decisions -- and because they are the gating factors to addressable market calculations for many software and IT services providers. So, how big is the current talent pool? Heading into 2014, IDC believes that there are 18.5 million software developers in the world, of which 11 million are professional software developers and 7.5 million are hobbyist developers. According to the IDC assessment, there are 29 million ICT-skilled workers in the world -- including professional software developers and 18 million operations ...

I recall when I first met Kam Star at the SXSW 2012 Festival, he shared his aspiration to make the Digital Shoreditch Festival as successful as the now infamous annual vent in Austin, Texas. After I attended the UK event that his team organized in 2012, I offered some suggestions for his consideration. I still believe that the creative culture in London is different -- and that's a good thing. London's creative digital talent strengths tend to be focused on the fashion, architecture and design sectors. The financial services sector also has a renewed focus on technology-enabled innovations. Digital Shoreditch Festival 2013 is expected to double in size, bringing together a community of 15,000 digital creatives to showcase and debate the latest advances in digital and technological innovation. The event held in East London last year attracted over 6,000 delegates with support from more than 40 sponsors and partners. This year the event is even bigger -- reflecting Lon...

How do you prosper in a highly competitive world where talent, creativity and imaginative ideas are the most important commercial currencies? Can spawning new digital technology start-ups act as a lasting stimulus in an otherwise ailing economy within a developed nation? These are questions that are top-of-mind for me. It’s an intriguing topic for others as well. It seems that supporting high-tech entrepreneurs is now viewed by many political leaders, from all parts of the globe, as a potent public policy remedy that may help them solve their local economic development challenges – particularly a lingering high unemployment rate. As I walked through the exhibits on the South by Southwest ( SXSW ) trade show floor, I wondered what all these national and regional public sector agencies hoped to achieve with their presence at this year’s Interactive festival in Austin, Texas. From my own trend-spotting perspective, what was the big attraction this year? Once again, the “SXSW Start...

I wasn’t able to attend the full Digital Shoreditch Festival, just a few days from the second week of scheduled events. That being said, I’m really glad that I witnessed part of the second annual festival of creative, cultural and technological developments within this evolving East London community. I had mentioned – before my visit – I believe that London, England has some things in common with the emerging tech and digital creative clusters in Austin, Texas. But based upon what I saw and heard during the insightful Digital Shoreditch activities, I’m now thinking that there are more similarities with the New York City clusters. London has a wealth of creative talent focused on the fashion, architecture and design sectors of the global networked economy. Few places in the world can likely match this amazing combination of artistic assets and intellectual capacity. Besides, the local higher-education and professional mentoring opportunities are clearly more attuned to the app...

I’ve previously shared a summary of observations during my attendance at the 2012 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive events earlier this year. What I didn’t mention was that I had the opportunity to briefly meet Kam Star, while he was in Austin, Texas attending SXSW. As the founder, Kam explained his aspirations for the Digital Shoreditch Festival -- to replicate some of the success of the SXSWi legacy within the London marketplace. Why should this bold goal matter to the British public. For starters, it’s about the potential economic impact. Case in point: for the second straight year, in 2011 the SXSW Interactive attendance fueled the impressive increase in event attendance -- although SXSW Film and SXSW Music also enjoyed banner years as well. The City of Austin’s hospitality industry benefitted from the outside visitors with two very profitable weeks. SXSW’s direct booking of more than 10,500 individual reservations totaling 47,500+ room nights -- that was an in...

Many companies in technology-centric industries like to believe that they employ lots of thought leaders, when in fact they don't. Why are they mistaken? They confuse product subject matter expertise (SME) with real thought-leadership. It's not the same. Moreover, informed people understand the key differences. What is Respected Industry Thought Leadership? According to Craig Bading , who wrote a book on the subject, "Thought Leadership is establishing a relationship with and delivering something of value to your stakeholders and customers that aligns with your brand/company value. In the process you go well beyond merely selling a product or service and establish your brand/company as the expert in that field and differentiate yourself from your competitors." Are you still confused -- does your company employ recognized thought leaders? Let's consider some of the common characteristics of corporate SMEs who are likely NOT industry thought leaders: You a...

Growth in wireless data spending by U.S. businesses will slow, moving down from an annual growth rate of 5.2 percent during 2009-2010 to 2.5 percent during 2013-2014, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . Overall, In-Stat expects that U.S. businesses will spend close to $27 billion on wireless data in 2010. "The strongest growth comes from the Administrative and Support Services, and the Education and the Professional Services verticals," says Frank Dickson, VP Research, Mobile Internet at In-Stat. The mining vertical segment will have the steepest percentage decline, dropping from a 10 percent growth rate for 2009-2010 to a (-2 percent) contraction in 2013-2014. I believe there's still a considerable upside opportunity in the U.S. market, but that growth will require significantly more creative -- enterprise user-centric -- market development activities. The current marketing approach, to let the customers define the value prop and promote the serv...

According to the latest survey from Reardon Smith Whittaker (RSW), the economy has had a negative effect on the business of 87 percent of U.S. advertising and PR agencies -- and 91 percent of their clients. Could this actually be a good thing for Digital Marketing professionals? In the first half of 2009, 55 percent of clients had spending decreases of 6 percent or more. In addition, 35 percent expect to see marketing spending fall by 6 percent or more in the second half of the year. Fifty percent of agency clients spent more on e-mail marketing than the previous year. Almost one-third of clients increased their commitment to search engine optimization (SEO), while 56 percent and 28 percent did the same for social media and online display, respectively. "If you don't have a good grasp of new media, you had better get on it," recommended RSW analysts in their report of the apparent survey results. Creative talent and business savvy is in demand, regardless of the current e...

As the South by Southwest Festival of 2009 comes to an end, let's acknowledge the open unConference events -- as people from all over the world connected together and joined their Indie Music or Independent Film "community of interest" while in Austin, Texas. I've launched the GeoBrava Media project, in celebration of all the independent talent that stays true to their art-form -- passionately creating new digital media content -- regardless that their work is considered unCommercial by the legacy big-media companies. Free and Open Distribution Models The rise of the unLabel music production and open distribution model is a revolt in response to the traditional record label's business practices. Ditto, with the rise of the unStudio video production and open distribution phenomenon. A multitude of social media networking sites are creating the new open marketplace online, where the vast market supply is freely exposed to the awaiting eclectic market demand. The ...

Based upon an expected 28 percent increase in 2008, the worldwide broadband service delivery platform (SDP) software and integration services market is forecast by Infonetics Research to top $3.5 billion in 2011. Mobile and fixed line service providers are deploying SDPs, or working with integrators to streamline how they create and deliver new services. The upside for innovation is significant -- for those Broadband Service Providers who dare to be different. Beyond transitioning existing OSS and BSS systems into Web services environments using XML, Java, and BPEL, service delivery platforms are being deployed to help integrate third-party services, especially on the mobile side. These include third-party services such as ringtones, SMS and MMS services, location-based services, mobile advertising, mobile TV services, rating and charging based on individual applications or subscriber parameters -- and social networking services from MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Ning, etc. SDPs decrease ti...

Since the beginning of time, storytelling was considered a core human trait for conveying events by combining gestures, expressions, sounds, images and words. Sharing stories was an essential part of culture and a means of instilling tribal knowledge. In fact, prehistoric cave drawings demonstrate the early use of symbolic figures representing the elements of simple storylines. As language skills evolved, oral stories were passed from generation to generation primarily by human memory. Later, with the development of writing, stories were recorded, then transcribed and shared more broadly. In the classical cultures of the world, the act of storytelling was believed to be inclusive -- everyone has stories to tell. Moreover, while some people were recognized for telling stories in a more engaging way than their peer group, the basic ability is innate to all humans. However, as civilizations progressed, communication of a narrative evolved into an art and science. Chronicled events...