J.D. Power And Associates Ranks Verizon Wireless Highest In Satisfaction For Small-/Mid-Sized Business Customers

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – May 3, 2011 –

Verizon Wireless has been ranked highest among wireless providers in small- and mid-sized business customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Business Wireless Customer Satisfaction Study(SM) released last week. The study found that Verizon Wireless outperformed its competitors and was the only provider that ranked “significantly above segment average at 95% confidence level” in the following categories: performance and reliability, sales representatives/account executives, billings and offerings and promotions. Home-based business customers who participated in the study reported that they were most satisfied with Verizon Wireless’ performance and reliability and sales representatives/account executives.

“Small businesses rely on mobile devices and wireless networks to move their companies forward,” said Mike Lanman, president, Enterprise and Government Markets, Verizon Wireless. “Our strategy for these segments is to offer customers high-performing products and reliable services that provide game-changing productivity improvements and revenue opportunities.”

The study’s performance and reliability category addressed areas including call quality, timeliness of voice mail and text message notifications, ease of connecting calls on the first try, freedom from dropped calls and ease of making calls from various locations. Verizon Wireless small business specialists and sales representatives were rated on knowledge, courtesy, concern for customer needs, responsiveness to requests and questions, and effectiveness of communicating new services, promotions and changes.

The study’s billing index ranked providers on usefulness of information on the bill, variety of methods to pay bills as well as timeliness in receiving statements. The offerings and promotions rating was determined by: wireless plans variety; additional services offered and incentives that recognize loyalty; effectiveness of informational and promotional materials; diverse portfolio of phones and equipment to choose from; and geographic coverage area.

Small- and mid-sized business customers in industries such as financial services, healthcare, construction and transportation can benefit from Verizon Wireless’ products and services including:

The nation’s fastest, most advanced 4G network and largest, most reliable 3G network*An expanding lineup of wireless devices, including Android™ and BlackBerry® smartphones, tablets, netbooks, laptop computers, Mobile Hotspots and USB modemsCost-saving wireless solutions such as Push to Talk, Field Force Manager and Fleet AdministratorMachine-to-machine services that support asset management and telematicsSupport from small business specialists in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores throughout the country and technology support 24 hours a day, seven days a week

J.D. Power and Associates surveyed wireless service decision makers at more than 3,100 U.S. businesses between November 2010 and February 2011.

For more information about Verizon Wireless’ products and services for small and mid-sized businesses, visit www.verizonwireless.com/smb, call 1-800-VZW-4BIZ or see a small business specialist at any Verizon Wireless Communications Store.

* The company’s “most reliable network” claim is based on network studies performed by test men and test women who conduct more than 3.5 million voice call attempts and more than 19 million data tests annually on Verizon Wireless’ and other national wireless carriers’ networks while traveling more than one million miles in specially equipped, company-owned quality test vehicles. For more information about Verizon Wireless testing, go to http://aboutus.vzw.com/bestnetwork/reliability.html.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s fastest, most advanced 4G network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves 104 million total wireless connections, including more than 88 million retail customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 85,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

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Is That You, Santa Claus? Verizon Business Teams Up With NORAD to Track His Global Trip on Christmas Eve

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – December 16, 2010 –

From Paris, France, to Paris, Texas, finding Santa Claus on Christmas Eve will be as easy as making a phone call.

Verizon Business will team with the North American Aerospace Defense Command to provide and answer the NORAD Tracks Santa hotline so children of all ages can follow Santa Claus' trip around the globe.

Starting Dec. 24 at 2 a.m. Mountain Time, to 3 a.m.  on Dec. 25, children across the U.S. and Canada can call 1-877-HI-NORAD to determine Santa's exact location. (Callers outside North America can reach the hotline by dialing the local Colorado Springs number at 719-556-5211, using the appropriate country code. International charges can apply.)

In 2009, more than 74,000 calls were answered at the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center at Peterson Air Force Base.

This year, more than 1,200 volunteers representing military personnel from Colorado Springs, their families and friends, and NORAD Tracks Santa corporate sponsor team members -- including members from Verizon Business -- will be manning the NORAD Santa tracking hotline to inform children of Santa's whereabouts during his yuletide journey.

Children, their parents and the young-at-heart also can visit the NORAD Tracks Santa Web site (www.noradsanta.org), which provides real-time information on Santa's exact location.  The information is available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Chinese -- along with radar maps and streaming "SantaCam'' video images from cities along Santa's journey.

Santa also can be tracked through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and TroopTube.tv.

"The tradition of NORAD tracking Santa has evolved over the years - expanding to a website and adding social media bells and whistles," said Jamie Graybeal, NORAD's deputy chief of staff, communications.  "But the Santa hotline remains at the heart of our efforts to make it possible for the children to call NORAD to speak to a live operator to find out where Santa is on Christmas Eve."

This marks the 55th year that NORAD, the binational U.S. and Canadian military organization responsible for the aerospace defense of both countries, has tracked Santa around the globe. The tradition started by accident in 1955 after a local newspaper misprint prompted children to call the Continental Air Defense Command (NORAD's predecessor) instead of a special Santa hotline phone number.

After hearing youngsters ask if they could speak to Santa, the colonel on duty at the time told the children he could see Santa on the radar screens, heading south from the North Pole - and a tradition was born.

"We are proud to do our part and donate time and network resources to a tradition that warms the hearts of children at Christmastime," said Susan Zeleniak, group president, Verizon Federal. "Helping NORAD track Santa reflects Verizon's commitment to helping people stay connected around the world.''

About Verizon Business
Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ), is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. We combine professional expertise with one of the world's most connected IP networks to deliver award-winning communications, IT, information security and network solutions. We securely connect today's extended enterprises of widespread and mobile customers, partners, suppliers and employees - enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency and help preserve the environment. Many of the world's largest businesses and governments - including 96 percent of the Fortune 1000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions - rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com.

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Amazon Will Do Everything It Takes To Kill California's New Sales Tax Law - Business Insider

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Amazon is backing a referendum to overturn California's sales tax law, the New York Times reports.
Here's what's going on: states -- deep in the hole these days -- want e-tailers, and in particular Amazon, to collect sales tax on their affiliates. Amazon and others say, correctly, that they don't have to if they don't have a presence in the state. This debate has been going on for a while but has new urgency given the budgetary troubles of most states.
Affiliate marketing is one of the big ways Amazon generates incremental sales, so it's a big deal for them.
Recently California demanded the sales tax from Amazon. In response, Amazon shut off its affiliates. California then said, in essence, too bad, you still owe us all the sales tax from before you shut them off. And then Amazon gave them the one-finger salute.
So here we are.
Now Amazon is fighting back with the tools it has, a referendum to change the law in California.
A couple things are worth noting here.
Amazon is in the right here. The law and constitutional jurisprudence say it doesn't have to collect sales tax in states where it doesn't have nexus.Amazon supports a federal-level solution which is backed by 40 states called the Streamlined Sales Tax Initiative.And finally, anyone who messes with Jeff Bezos is in for a big fight.
JEFF BEZOS: Here's Why He Won ?
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Microchip Sinks on Lowered 1Q View - Fox Business

By Matt Egan
Published July 12, 2011
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Shares of Microchip Technology (MCHP) tumbled nearly 10% Tuesday morning in response to the company’s gloomier guidance about the current quarter.
After Monday’s closing bell, Microchip, which makes microcontrollers and analog semiconductors, cut its fiscal first-quarter guidance amid “broad-based weakness.”
The Chandler, Ariz.-based tech company said it now sees first-quarter non-GAAP EPS of 53 cents to 55 cents on a 1.5% sequential decline in sales. Previously, Microchip forecasted non-GAAP EPS of 58 cents to 62 cents on a 1% to 6% sequential rise in revenue.
Steve Sanghi, the CEO of Microchip, blamed the weaker-than-expected preliminary results on a range of factors, including weakness in its auto business in the wake of the Japan earthquake, high unemployment, lofty oil prices and high unemployment.
In response, analysts at UBS downgraded Microchip to “neutral” from “buy.” JPMorgan slashed its price target to $29 from $36 and maintained its “neutral” rating.
“While we are obviously disappointed with our June quarter results, we continue to see excellent design win traction in our microcontroller and analog product lines and maintain a strong competitive position,” Sanghi said.
Looking ahead, Microchip warned it expects its September quarter revenue to be down low to mid-single digits sequentially.
Shareholders punished Microchip for the disappointing guidance, sending its stock dropping 8.97% to $37.48 ahead of Tuesday’s open.
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How Google+ Will Beat Facebook: By Spamming You - Business Insider

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Google+ is an impressive social effort from Google but what Facebook has that it doesn't is being a platform. Right now, outside developers can't build apps on top of Google+, though that functionality is in the works.

And top Facebook developer Chris Turitzin writes in a post that the one thing that would make him move to Google+ is "viral channels."

In other words, the ability to spam you. 

When Facebook opened up its platform, it left as many viral channels open as possible to draw in developers attracted by the hypergrowth possible on the platform. Then once the platform was established -- and because there was no competition for developers to speak of (Twitter is also a social platform but the usecases are very different--FarmVille for Twitter?) -- Facebook started turning down those viral channels one by one. Facebook did that both to benefit the user experience and also because once viral channels are less powerful, developers have to buy Facebook ads to get distribution. 

Now developers are frustrated and ready to bail for a platform that would open up those viral channels. 

While that's potentially great news for Google+, it's potentially bad news for users, as that would mean tons of spammy notifications overnight. (Which, in turn, would be bad for Google+ because it would turn off users.)

After a bit of experimentation, things should settle around some equilibrium at some point.

Don't Miss: Skype's Stylish Stockholm Office ?

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News of the World ends: Will Murdoch's News Corp BSkyB bid follow? - International Business Times

With the News of the World newspaper's phone hacking scandal still fresh in the public's mind, British government lawyers have reportedly begun planning ways to block Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB bid.

The lawyers activities were revealed in a report from the Independent. The news came just after opposition Labour part leader Ed Miliband promised that he would try to force Parliament to vote on the BSkyB take-over this week, should acting Prime Minister David Cameron fail to take measures to stop the take-over bid.

The bid would see the Murdoch owned News Corp bid $14 billion for the remaining 61 per cent of BSkyB it doesn't currently own.

If taken to vote Reuters analysts have speculated the end of the new Liberal Democrat, Conservative coalition. Citing the Lib Dem's hostile relationship with many of Murdoch's news outlets, which have tended to portray the party in a less than favourable light.

The calls to halt the bid come just after a slew of phone hacking allegations against the now discontinued News of the Wold newspaper. The News Corp owned paper was accused of hacking into the phones of numerous individuals including celebrities, politicians and murder victims.

The case came to a head when the paper was accused of hacking the phone of murdered school girl Milly Dowler.

The scandal lead to a public backlash against both the paper and News Corp. In response Murdoch personally discontinued the paper -- choosing to keep the head of News Corp's British newspaper division, Rebekah Brooks.

Though Downing Street has declined on the future of the BSkyB bid, the Independent has quoted a senior government source as revealing to it that, "We [the government] are working on a plan to suspend the deal while the police investigation is taking place."

The News of the World's phone hacking activities were first reported in 2007 by the, also Murdoch owned, Sunday Times. The paper reported that its own internal investigation had discovered News of the World staff paying police for information to aid them in the hacks.

In its report the Independent indicated that the government had hoped that the U.K. broadcasting regulator Ofcom would block the BSkyB takeover on the grounds that News Corp directors were not "fit and proper" to run the company.

The alternative strategy, would see lawyers from the department of Culture work to block the deal using the country's competition criteria laws.
The news comes just after PM David Cameron finally joined the cacophony of voices calling for Brooks to step down. A public enquiry has already been ordered.

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NYC 'Artist' visited by Secret Service - International Business Times

Jul 09, 2011 06:09 PM EDT

A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service this week.

Kyle McDonald used the built-in cameras on Macbooks and other Apple products to capture images of about 1,000 people as they examined new Apple computers.

His computers, iPod and digital storage devices  were confiscated as authorities conduct their investigation.

"@secretservice just stopped by to investigate peoplestaringatcomputers.tumblr.com and took my laptop. please assume they're reading any emails you send me," McDonald said via Twitter Thursday.

Over the course of three days, McDonald installed his homegrown software, which captured photos every minute and sent them to his server.

 Reports said that McDonald did this across computers at nearly 100 stores. He said he had the permission of Apple security guards.

In early July, he arranged an unauthorized exhibition at two Apple stores where customers were first shown a picture of themselves and then photos of other Apple store visitors.

"We have this expression on our face [when we use computers] that basically says that we're not interacting with anybody, we're interacting with the machine," McDonald said of the project.

"Even if there are a lot of people in the room at the Apple store, you're not interacting with them. If something weird happens, you don't say, 'Hey, did you see that?'"

Regarding the case itself, McDonald, said that he had been advised not to comment on the case by the online freedom group the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

See a sampling of the photos below, or click here for a slideshow of all the works

A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr A New York City "artist," who installed spyware onto public computers to snap photos of customers in Apple stores was visited by US Secret Service on week.

Source: Tumblr

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What HTC's Thunderbolt means for the iPhone 5 - International Business Times

With the next generation iPhone 5 on it's way from Apple, enthusiasts and analysts are looking to glean any clues as to what will be packed into the anticipated phone.

With regards to a few important aspects, clues have come from a surprising source -- Apple rival HTC with its Thunderbolt 4G phone.

With its fast 4G advantage, the phone sports the highest component costs of any other smartphone, and even rivals some tablets.

But it's that same 4G technology that allows industry watchers to understand some of the challenges that Apple is facing as it builds out its iPhone 5.

The 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless chips required for the faster speeds in the Thunderbolt cost an extra $39.75, according to industry researcher IHS.

This presents a problem for Apple, which observers believe is mulling adding the capability to its forthcoming iPhone 5.

There are some options.

Apple could forgo 4G technology all together. Indeed some analysts have predicted just as much, given the current chips are relatively new technology that haven't been 100 percent proven.

The company has already dropped hints, saying at a Verizon press conference in January that it will be conservative with the implementation of LTE, primarily because of battery and other concerns that didn't meet Apple's demands.

On the other hand, there are already three models of LTE phones on the market from competitors Samsung, and LG, as well as HTC's Thunderbolt.

To combat, Apple would certainly need a 4G offering, but would need to make some sacrifices given the size and cost of the chip.

"First, the iPhone's minuscule printed circuit board (PCB) will have to grow in size in order to support the first-generation LTE baseband processor as well as all the supporting chipset," explained firms senior analyst, Wayne Lam.

"Second, the next iPhone's BOM value certainly will increase substantially compared to the iPhone 4 if LTE is implemented in the same manner as in the HTC Thunderbolt."

The current iPhone 4  costs $171.35 to make, meaning the addition would run costs up to roughly $211 per unit, cutting down on Apple's margins, which could be passed on to the consumer.

But seeing that Apple executives have publically complained about the poor designs of current LTE chips, Apple could opt to use someone else entirely.

Enter the Qualcomm's "SnapDragon MSM8960." The chip is the newer version to the 4G chip in the Thunderbolt, and features a number of advantages over standard 4G implementations.

It combines LTE, the "EVDO" standard for existing CDMA networks, and the GSM standard used at AT&T, in one chip, allowing Apple to sell one iPhone 5 that can run on multiple networks.

Currently it sells one for AT&T and one for Verizon.

Given the iPhone 5 is expected to ship a lot more units than HTC's Thunderbolt, Apple has the advantage of pushing down prices even more.

"I would imagine the caveat would have to be added that strict cost of components may vary between Apple and HTC, given Apple's purchasing power in the semiconductor market," Lam says.

The iPhone 5 is expected in Q4 this year. 

MUST READ: Apple iPhone 5 versus top 10 Android super smartphones (the ULTIMATE smartphone war)

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Could Ratings Firms Become Irrelevant? - Fox Business

Europe wants to do what the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill so far has not – curb the influence of the big three credit rating firms.

After issuing a sharp chorus of criticism of Moody’s Investors Service for downgrading Portuguese debt earlier this week, European bankers on Thursday said they would accept Portuguese-backed debt regardless of its rating.

The European Central Bank’s decision to waive a minimum rating required to accept collateral for credit from Portugal is a clear slap at Moody’s, but also at the two other big U.S.-based rating firms, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s.

In effect, Europe is telling the firms that their services may no longer be required.

Germany, seeking to take things a step further, has called for the creation of a European rating agency.

It’s been a long time coming. Criticism of the broad influence wielded by the three firms has grown louder since the financial crisis of 2008. That criticism has now escalated to a full-throated roar in Europe.

“They don’t want to be held hostage by credit rating agencies’ decisions,” said Brian Dolan, chief currency strategist at Forex.com.

The pushback by European bankers is understandable for a couple of reasons. First, there was a widespread perception in Europe that the timing of Moody’s decision to downgrade Portuguese debt only served to exacerbate an already-bad situation.

Furthermore, the decision seemed to confirm suspicions held by many European fiscal decision-makers that the credit firms are harder on European-issued debt than they are on debt issued in the U.S.

“It seems strange that there is not a single rating agency coming from Europe. It shows there may be some bias in the markets when it comes to the evaluation of the specific issues of Europe,” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters shortly after the Moody’s downgrade.

Other European leaders described the big three U.S. credit rating firms as an “oligopoly,” defined as a market or society ruled by a small powerful group of elites.

European Central Bank President Jean Claude Trichet said “a small oligopolistic structure is not what is ... desirable at the level of global finance.”

James Gellert, CEO of Rapid Ratings International, explained that the firms have been targeted by critics in both the U.S. and Europe for several years, but “the rhetoric in Europe has been a little more emotional, and lately even more so.”

Indeed, the criticism in Europe borders on “xenophobic,” he said.

Gellert said he doubts the big three ratings firms are biased against European issued debt. Rather, Gellert sees “a greater speed to act on potential downgrades,” which he views as a likely reaction to criticism that the firms were too slow to downgrade ahead of the 2008 crisis.

Gellert sees some irony in calls for a European ratings firm that would ostensibly view European issued debt more favorably than U.S. ratings firms. Such a move would merely replace one form of bias with another, he noted.

The backlash from Europe seems to be bringing to a head an issue that has faded somewhat in the U.S. as the 2008 financial crisis has slipped further into the rearview mirror.

The U.S. credit ratings firms were widely cited as significant and active players in the years leading up to the collapse of the global housing market. Without their approval in the form of AAA ratings, Wall Street could never have packaged and sold trillions of dollars worth of mortgage-back securities chock full of loans that would eventually go sour.

To most bond investors, a AAA rating by Moody’s, Fitch’s or Standard & Poor’s is virtually a guarantee that the security is safe.

But they badly misjudged the subprime mortgage market and their critics believe it was no mistake. A lot of evidence suggests the firms knowingly rubber stamped risky securities with their highest ratings because it was profitable to do so.

Dolan said there is legitimate cause to wonder “why anybody should listen to them any more” given their failure to “detect the earlier crisis.”

He said skeptics of the firms point to their business model in which the firms are paid by the very companies whose debt they are rating.

“They get paid by the issuers of debt,” he said. “The ECB views that as a conflict of interest.”

So do a lot of other people.

A key aspect of the Dodd-Frank bill passed last summer was legislation that called for an overhaul of how debt is rated. Broadly, the bill sought to make the ratings firms more accountable for the accuracy of their ratings, making them potentially liable if they screw up again as badly as they did on the millions of subprime mortgages on which they bestowed their highest ratings. 

One idea floating around recently was to create a model in which the firms were paid by investors rather than issuers. The profits wouldn’t be nearly as healthy but it would eliminate obvious conflicts of interest and perhaps help prevent another financial crisis.

A curious aspect of the Dodd-Frank bill, however, is that it’s a fluid piece of legislation, meaning it set goals whose details still have to be wrangled over by regulators and law makers.

Not only has that dulled momentum in favor of reform but it’s given the ratings firms time to fight back against significant changes. All three have reportedly hired armies of lobbyists, and the SEC has since backtracked on some of its tougher rhetoric regarding oversite of the firms.

So is the current European backlash a watershed moment in how global debt is issued and rated?

Dolan said there’s no question the credibility of the big three U.S. firms “was irreparably damaged” during the 2008 crisis. “But until a viable alternative is established, they’re still the primary voice on credit risk,” he said.

In any case, Dolan said the controversy will likely cause competitors to enter the market, which will be beneficial over the long-term but only after those new firms earn their stripes and gain credibility.

“In the beginning it could be cacophonous so we’ll need to find out later who the best reviewers are, and that’s probably a multi-year process,” he said.

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Introducing Web 2.0 Collaboration to your business

Every business relies on collaboration. Whether it's between colleagues, the management and other staff or with external stakeholders and partners we all have to work with other people. And anyone that's worked in systems development knows that the more interfaces you have between systems results in an exponential increase in complexity. The same applies when getting groups of people to work together.

For five years, I worked in the Australian utilities industry. Broad consultation, involving potentially hundreds of stakeholders were a fact of life. Essentially, the process started with a small group of experts drafting a paper. It was then released to the world for a limited period of time where comments were sought. At the end of that period, the comments were collated, workshops were held with stakeholders to go through the comments and produce a revised document. It would then be released again for a second, and hopefully final, round of comments before being approved and released.

Although the process worked, it was long and linear. If someone wanted to inject something for comment along the way, the process didn't allow it. The scope for injecting new ideas was limited as the process was limited to specific items under consideration.

Dr Mark Elliot completed his PhD in 2007, looking at large multi-user collaboration systems. That work led him to creating Collabforge. In particular, the impact on Web 2.0 processes meant that new ways of collaboration between large groups of geographically dispersed people were possible. This changed the way governments, in particular could interact with stakeholders.

His work started looking at the development of the City of Melbourne's strategic planning process. “This ended up re-engineering the city's 10-year planning process for collaborative participation and a collaborative outcome. This wasn't just about opening up the consultation process but also the consultation mechanisms. This lead to a wiki-type of method” Elliot said.

One of the big challenges for Elliot wasn't a reticence to look at new technologies but trepidation in how to use these new tools. Companies said to Elliot that they knew “that they needed to think about social media and Web 2.0 but we're really not sure where to start. It's relevant to us but we're not sure what applies”. So, a great deal of Elliot's work goes into talking with senior decision makers and taking them on the journey. When he first started, clients would often commence by asking for a specific technology rather than looking at the broader issues.

“It was probably one of the biggest challenges we faced early on as the conversation often started with an assumption that companies were asking for a piece of technology when, in fact, what they're asking for a reworking of the whole process and how the technology marries up and how it;s going to be supported by their culture, values and norms” Elliot explained.

Elliot's approach is to start by getting key stakeholders together into a room for a scoping exercise. “This is for us to throw up the big opportunities and for them to respond and generate a collaborative dialog”. This is a change scenario which brings up a bunch of change management considerations, innovation considerations and the need to deal with business as usual as well”.

One of the biggest challenges with introducing a new technology is that there's often an attachment to the old process. So the temptation is to try and fit the new technology over the old process. “There's an aspect of action learning or learning by doing in order to understand the impacts of the new technology and what it can do. We specifically engage in three different spaces: tools and technology, business and social process and people considerations such as culture, values and norms. We walk through all of those to tease things out” said Elliot.

The cultural issues are interesting, and something all CIOs need to face. The newest generations of employees are coming out of an education system where computers were ubiquitous. Elliot explains that “it often gets looked at in terms of 'digital natives' and 'digital immigrants'. There are definitely patterns such as Gen Y just expect to collaborate and share by default. For Gen X, they tend to be the bridge between baby boomers and Gen Y. Baby boomers see all this sharing as adding complexity but they see that their new staff want this”. Although these are clearly generalisations, Elliot's observation is that the senior managers, who are typically baby boomers, need that they need to plan for these changes.

Key points

1 – Introducing new, disruptive technology means looking at business processes critically and not just trying to shoe-horn the tech over the existing process.

2 – Start by identifying the problems, not the solution.

3 – The biggest hurdles are unlikely to be technical. It's managing the change with the people impacted that requires the greatest focus.

You can follow the writer on Twitter at www.twitter.com/anthony_caruana

This was first published in May 2011

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