tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77752412000296892042024-02-19T14:29:43.352+08:00 The World According to MeNathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-21004047281447438722021-11-05T09:41:00.004+08:002021-11-05T09:41:47.688+08:00To Be or Not To Be - Digital<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">I had to step away from my role for a period of time and as such did more reading than I have in a while and realised that businesses are going through the hardest changes and decisions that they have seen in a long time. Most businesses have realised they need to change, in fact in a recent survey by BCG</span><a href="http://file///C:/Users/Nathan/Documents/Telstra/Articles%20for%20Blog/to%20be%20or%20not%20to%20be%20digital.docx#_ftn1" rel="nofollow noopener" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-link-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); font-weight: 600; margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); text-decoration: var(--artdeco-reset-link-text-decoration-none); touch-action: manipulation; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);" target="_blank">[1]</a><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">it was shown that 89% of Managers globally are involved in digital transformation. The challenge we face is transformations are often compared with any other business decision we take, linear, a or b, left or right. A true transformation is just that, ceasing to be what you were before to become something new. Think about the Caterpillar who becomes a butterfly, this is what business leaders should have in mind when they are seeking to transform, at the end of the initial transformation (because once you start to evolve, your team should continue to keep looking at how that journey can continue), you should be able to see the marked differences from how you operated before to what you are doing now.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">Lets stay with that Caterpillar analogy, if a business decided to glue wings on the caterpillar, change its colour, it would not be a transformation, it would still do what it did before, it might look interesting, but actually we would have just made things harder by bringing new complexity to an organism that was built to do what it does (crawl and eat). Many businesses are stuck in this pattern, looking at new technologies, bringing in exciting consultants, however the way of working and the processes and roles and responsibilities all remain exactly the same. Whether there is a new app or website, without these broader changes those businesses – like it or not – will remain a caterpillar. A caterpillar who spends a significant amount of money and whose Board, Senior leaders start asking why are they not becoming a Butterfly.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">This brings me to my question – “To be or not to be digital”. Many people will say that being digital is having digital channels to engage with your customers, or having an app to support your employees, these in all honesty are the cosmetics. Imagine a butterfly racing a caterpillar to get to the next branch above, now the caterpillar can eat more but how long will it take to get there and is it worth eating when it does? When we look at Digital native businesses – i.e. those who were born digital, the way they work, they way they create and continue to evolve, just think about some of the apps you use. How many of those are the same as they were a year ago, or even 3 months ago?</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">Being Digital requires the thinking within an organisation to change, a rewiring if you will, its really hard, but hard things done well is what will effect real change going forward for an organisation. If the organisation can go digital, then the technology can follow. Its amazing in fact there are so many technology options that if a business can transform itself it will realise that it can test ideas, and then decide what works or doesn’t as they continually evolve with low risk and high reward through a fail fast and continually learn approach.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">The caterpillar puts in a lot of energy to first builds its cocoon then expends so much energy through its transformation that it loses nearly half of its weight in the process. The same is for businesses, when you are truly transforming you need to ensure it has everyone’s focus and commitment to make the change, if one part of a cocoon wasn’t ready then perhaps the transformation might not look complete or could be eaten by predators crawling in.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">Ok I know enough about the caterpillar, but it is a great example for us to consider as we all seek to “Be Digital”. Use it as a measure of how much is actually changing within your organisation, are people taking on new roles, are teams working in different ways? Are outcomes being realised incrementally faster? It isn’t easy, but big changes should never be easy, choosing to be digital brings with it, risks, challenges, emotions, learnings and a commitment that many won’t have experienced before. Hence when you are thinking about embarking on your transformation, think about what it will look like on the other side for your people, your customers and yourself. How bold will your transformation be, because at the end of your journey only you can decide whether you will choose to be or not to be digital – as likewise for any transformation that remains the ultimate question.</span></p><p style="--artdeco-reset-typography_getfontsize: 1.6rem; --artdeco-reset-typography_getlineheight: 1.5; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 3.2rem; margin: 3.2rem 0px; orphans: 2; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></p><p style="--artdeco-reset-typography_getfontsize: 1.6rem; --artdeco-reset-typography_getlineheight: 1.5; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 3.2rem; margin: 3.2rem 0px; orphans: 2; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://file///C:/Users/Nathan/Documents/Telstra/Articles%20for%20Blog/to%20be%20or%20not%20to%20be%20digital.docx#_ftnref1" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: var(--artdeco-reset-link-background-color-transparent); border: var(--artdeco-reset-link-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--color-action); font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); font-weight: 600; margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); text-decoration: var(--artdeco-reset-link-text-decoration-none); touch-action: manipulation; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);" target="_blank">[1]</a><span> </span>BCG Global Survey on Digital Transformation engagement <span style="font-size: var(--font-size-large);">-</span><span style="font-size: var(--font-size-large);"> </span><a href="https://www.bcg.com/press/3july2020-digital-transformation-survey" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: var(--artdeco-reset-link-background-color-transparent); border: var(--artdeco-reset-link-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); font-weight: 600; margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); text-decoration: var(--artdeco-reset-link-text-decoration-none); touch-action: manipulation; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);" target="_blank">https://www.bcg.com/press/3july2020-digital-transformation-survey</a></p><!--EndFragment-->Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-53227611796570017792021-10-18T20:01:00.003+08:002021-10-18T20:01:17.708+08:00Confessions of a Neophiliac<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">First of all yes that is actually a real word, but don’t be frightened just yet. I didn’t know what this was </span><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">until I started to try and understand what some of the traits of a Digital leader are and the first trait listed was that Digital leaders are Neophiliacs. I was like what in the world is a neophiliac? ... well, apparently it is someone who has a “love of or enthusiasm for what is new or novel”. This immediately resonated with me, I have a good friend who always referred to me as the “Blue sky boy” his take I guess on always coming up with something new, whether a new way to solve a challenge, a new product idea, new partnerships or simply a new idea to be discussed and assessed for consideration to execute. I love the fact that this has a definition, I can see myself introducing, “Hi I am Nathan Bell and yes I am a neophiliac”. On second thoughts that might simply scare the hell out of people as they take two steps back. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">Over the years I have learned that the “guy” with the new idea can quickly be side-lined if they haven’t thought through the implications, the value and investment required to see it through, simply identifying something as being “cool” is not enough when you are dealing with the continual constraints of time, budget and resources to execute with. Sometimes I reflect that this lesson for me took a while to sink in as I was fortunate to work with teams who were willing to see my ideas through, whether related to a product, customer segments, customer experience or even designing organisations.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">As leaders it's important that we are always open to new ideas, these ideas can come from anyone, those with a fresh perspective, voice of the user / customer, or those facing the challenge they have a solution to on the frontline. As I shared though the idea alone is not enough, in fact, having a great idea is like showing someone a picture of a car I have drawn when I was five and the response being, “well yes that’s nice but how is it actually going to work?”.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">When we are supporting our teams with the ideas they bring to us as leaders it is a joint responsibility. Challenging the individual or team to come up with the answers to how the idea would be executed and the value that would be realised, equally important is your commitment as a leader to see through the execution of that idea either with funding, resources or time. Many businesses today talk about ideation, and how any idea can be brought forward, however without the commitment to see it through or sharing a framework that team members can understand, collaborate around and ultimately realise the personal satisfaction of driving change within their own business, will only lead to frustration, disillusionment, and negativity. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">Therefore it is important that while we want to encourage our neophiliacs to engage with the business, leverage them to help solve problems, drive real change, without the right framework to support such thinking, we can end up with neophiliacs becoming pessimistic. Hence let’s think through the framework for ideation, how will we encourage people, teams to thrive but in a way that is transparent and drives accountability and ultimately hope in how change within a business will be driven from within rather than top down or externally.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">Hopefully this has given you some ideas, and if not at least given you pause to consider how you could help guide your idea people to their full potential.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">Your truly,</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">A Neophiliac</span></p><!--EndFragment-->Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-2197885764259745642020-07-09T21:45:00.002+08:002021-10-06T21:54:30.965+08:00How to stay agile while working remotely<p> <span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large);">Like most teams across Singapore, M1’s staff members made the shift to working from home during the circuit breaker period. Whilst it was a significant adjustment for all of us, it has been an exercise that has proven the importance of digital tools, cloud technologies and creative collaboration while social distancing.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif;">To support our teams in continuing to work towards our goals, we’ve encouraged them to use a variety of technologies, including online collaborative tools that help staff members stay nimble through cross-team ideation and problem-solving while working remotely, and have provided educational workshops on remote working methods and techniques, such as SCRUM, which encourages teams to “sprint” while working on different aspects of a project together and ensure achievements are seen in weeks rather than numerous months.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif;">In addition, all our teams working from home were equipped with hardware that included the software suite available at the office. Though a critical piece of technology for everyone, few software suites are a perfect fit for every employee and situation – especially when working remotely as a complete organisation for the first time. To bridge the new gaps our teams were experiencing in working from home, they worked together to tackle how best to fill gaps and communicate with each other. Through this, they have found innovative and fun solutions and share them with the wider team.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif;">For example, our Digital Apps & Platforms team, led by Nicole Cheah, has adopted a hybrid approach to enable her team’s mode of communication, track work progress and drive remote collaboration by using a blend of enterprise suite of software and social apps.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif;">Still, teams are experiencing some challenges while working remotely. “I’ve received feedback that people felt as if they were trapped in a borderless time and space realm where they were unable to logout from work,” Nicole said. “The lack of division of ‘on work’ and ‘off work’ status because people were at home ultimately prolonged their working hours.”</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif;">To help her team balance their time more evenly and work sustainably, Nicole has encouraged everyone to work the usual office hours – which includes taking a lunch hour and respecting everyone’s time by not scheduling meetings outside of work hours as much as possible.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif;">Beyond the challenge of balancing work and life when always at home, Nicole’s team also misses the social aspects of the office. “I do miss face-to-face interaction and informal conversations,” Lau Seng Keat, a team member from the Digital Applications and Portals team said. “I feel like in-person communication really helps to uplift the team spirit.”</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif;">To recreate the feeling of in-person interaction while social distancing and working remotely, Nicole and her team check-in with each other every morning to chat about work. They also have a dedicated channel for sharing non-work thoughts, articles, and memes, get together virtually on Fridays to wind-down the week, and have held birthday celebrations online.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif;">This is just one example we can share and overall, Nicole and her team feel as if they are working well together and have been able to remain productive while working remotely over the circuit breaker period. “Our team is passionate about digitalization,” Nicole said. “We are adopting a growth mindset, and we believe in being the digital change agent to inspire our M1 teams to develop, grow and win as one team.”</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif;">We know there are still aspects we need to improve and therefore we won't be viewing these achievements as completed but merely providing insight for our next steps. Our new objective is that when we are able to all work in the office again many of the collaboration and productivity tools will continue to be used so that we realise a “win-win” outcome of personal interaction with some exciting new digital capabilities to support our team members and realise achievements on a more regular basis for the foreseable future. Our new approach to collaboration and transparency on productivity might have started from being “stuck” at home, however it will be one of the positive new capabilities for our team when we are back collaborating together as physical instead of only virtual teams.</span></p><!--EndFragment-->Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-45487106277843440582020-05-20T21:38:00.007+08:002021-10-06T21:44:56.347+08:00 The Achilles’ Heel of the Digital Era is…Us<p><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Wow, so there we all were in early 2020, across the globe, slowly embracing digital (yes, some faster than others) and accepting that every aspect of our lives was going digital. But with the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital is now the “norm’. It’s how we are consuming content, buying products, and ordering meals and “party packs” (apparently these are a thing now!). </span><w:sdt id="-1237324814" sdttag="goog_rdk_0" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">At a time when physical connection has become impossible in many ways, digital businesses are enabling our lives and our connections in new ways. </w:sdt><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Though businesses in our global economy have sought to optimise supply chains, </span><w:sdt id="339509237" sdttag="goog_rdk_1" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">many</w:sdt><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> assumed that call centres, and logistics and distribution centre operations were fine as they were. The human dependency for all of these could not be more visible than it is today. Now, people’s lives are impacted by whether or not they can quickly receive the products they order through digital channels, and businesses have had to adopt digital capabilities fast in order to adapt to new ways of working.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">I was initially surprised –<w:sdt id="-2115514833" sdttag="goog_rdk_3">and later</w:sdt> realised I should not have been – when seeing the breadth of this impact even on digital native businesses. Digital native firms were informing customers that the usually responsive customer service they provide would not be available as the call centre locations were closed. Equally laptop demand could not be met because so many firms were looking to specific markets that develop chip sets to keep costs as low as possible, this<w:sdt id="710844324" sdttag="goog_rdk_6"> has</w:sdt> impacted the <w:sdt id="-1252737494" sdttag="goog_rdk_7">availability</w:sdt> of not only laptops, but servers and other digital-supporting infrastructure. Additionally, many businesses rushed to enable staff to work from home to minimise productivity losses whilst also seeking to implement security measures and the ability to measure staff performance. <w:sdt id="-888345071" sdttag="goog_rdk_9">Rapidly doing this in the context of a crisis</w:sdt><w:sdt id="1673982240" sdttag="goog_rdk_10"> </w:sdt>has proven a significant dilemma that is still ongoing for many businesses even today.<br /><br />All of this goes to show that the current COVID-19 restrictions have demonstrated for any business looking to “be digital” that the human factor has proven to be the Achilles’ heel as evidenced by degradation in service, the impact on productivity and, in some cases, complete shut downs.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">What is interesting to note is this type of global disruption does not usually sit high on the radar for digital transformation, transformation is usually about enabling the next wave of growth, not protecting existing business flows. The likelihood of there being a global pandemic is so rare that the need for a call centre to close, or for a distribution hub to ramp down, or for businesses to diversify their supply chain was near zero – until now. That said, the warnings about global pandemics have been shared with us previously, and particularly in a great 2015 TED Talk presentation by Bill Gates about how the next battle would not be on a field but actually in a Petri dish (yes, I am paraphrasing here). I’m sure the implications of this were never fully appreciated by many of us (me included).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">So where are we now? Well, many people are talking about a “new normal”, where we will change the way we connect as humans and where digital enablement of businesses will occur faster than ever before. The diversification of supply chains, the virtualisation of call centres, and the permanent setup for work from home minimises future risks, but also potentially mitigates future costs as many businesses realise large offices may no longer be needed and instead just offer touch down zones when people “visit” from their home office.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">I am not sure going to these extremes permanently is the right thing to do. Whilst I do encourage businesses to look at digital holistically so they can be ready for future impactful events, its important that we don’t lose <w:sdt id="-655921041" sdttag="goog_rdk_11">sight of the</w:sdt> most valuable aspect of being human: our ability to connect. This human connection is something that is feeling disrupted now and while Video calls are trying to fill the void, in my opinion they can never replace the real world value of connecting with others.<br /><br />At M1, we had already started our digital transformation journey<w:sdt id="1406884596" sdttag="goog_rdk_13">, though </w:sdt>the path we set for ourselves is no longer about preparing for the future but also the new normal. Hence, we need to keep driving our transformation outcomes as fast as we can with the knowledge that the gradual transition we expected is likely to happen a lot faster than we thought. We must become a digital telco so that we can serve our customers, partners and our people in the best possible way. This doesn’t mean everything becomes driven by a machine –<w:sdt id="1123273297" sdttag="goog_rdk_15"> it means all our people </w:sdt>are in roles that are adding value to our customers and to each other as colleagues. <w:sdt id="1711148079" sdttag="goog_rdk_17">It means we are</w:sdt> creating capabilities that strike the right balance between empowering our customers to live in the digital era with the right support tools; and ensuring that we leverage the value of human interaction where it makes sense.<br /><br /><w:sdt id="380450437" sdttag="goog_rdk_19"></w:sdt>When we exit these pandemic restrictions, we need to ensure that we do not end up with a mantra of digitalising all aspects of our lives. Instead, let’s make sure we are ready to respond when disasters strike so that businesses, governments and all of us as individuals can continue to be effective. In fact it is the collaboration across business, government and the public at large that can ensure we are aware, have the right framework to respond and people have the right working environments to continue to support our economy. We must always ensure though that any intervention, preparation or change in working environments, should always be temporary and that human connection is what will ensure digital adds value to our lives rather than meaning we spend the rest of our lives looking at screen(s).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><w:sdt id="642771076" sdttag="goog_rdk_22">Humans are the reason businesses exist - it's our needs that create demand and markets to serve. While many businesses will see the human factor as the </w:sdt>Achilles’ heel of digital<w:sdt id="-2084906539" sdttag="goog_rdk_24"> – that is to say a dependency - when we look to the future let’s ensure that</w:sdt> the Achilles’ heel<w:sdt id="1180777909" sdttag="goog_rdk_27"> </w:sdt> actually becomes the strength that allows us, businesses and the community to leap forward and see the true value of digital through human eyes, not machines. #staysafe #stayhealthy<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31956344"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31956344</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><w:sdt id="-1390258592" sdttag="goog_rdk_29"><a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_the_next_outbreak_we_re_not_ready?language=en"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_the_next_outbreak_we_re_not_ready?language=en</span></a> </w:sdt><o:p></o:p></p>Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-38809082713328666062020-01-07T21:33:00.006+08:002021-10-06T21:35:58.145+08:00 How Fragile is Agile?<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I have been reading a lot of articles lately about whether Agile actually works, or whether it’s simply a dream for businesses looking to accelerate business outcomes. Ultimately, the growing view seems to be that Agile doesn’t work – that it is a hype that consulting firms are thriving on, and we’re actually better off going to traditional delivery methods that provide predictability, consistency and the ability to hold someone accountable to get things done.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This debate stems from a need to find the ‘magic answer’ – the silver bullet to take all of our worries away, especially when we are looking to transform. We like Waterfall because we can allocate responsibility to someone else, whereas Agile requires us to get more involved through evolving design, constant prioritisation, showcase presentation, and ultimately owning the outcome (scary stuff). Waterfall means I can document everything I want and then point to someone else to deliver the outcomes. Any delays, errors or increased costs are totally on them, right? (<i>ahem</i>). However, with Waterfall delivery we tend to forget the wonderful concept of change request, where it tends to have a growing number of change requests over time, and then finishes with a resignation of taking what can be delivered with the remaining budget. Now, some might say that if you plan things right you don’t need change requests, but in today’s era of constant change, avoiding it is challenging, to say the least. Historically, in a market where market change was measured in years and for the most part manual (or at best, half yearly) the scale of change was manageable, today however, we are faced with two types of businesses: those that were born digital and those that aspire to become digital. In this dynamic, the extent and scale of change is huge and the challenges this brings to Waterfall delivery means we constantly ask for changes to our delivery plans to evolve with the market.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">On the other hand, Agile provides a degree of unpredictability and tends to shift directions based on the priorities set by the business and, more specifically, the product owner themselves. The timing of when a specific capability is completed can be a little vague, as the definition of ‘done’ comes down to when the product owner is actually happy with the capability, and whether they feel it’s fit for purpose. While there can be a desire to go fast with Agile, the concept of minimum viable is always in the eyes of the product owner and thus velocity is determined by the business. For those looking to test in-market quickly, you could achieve a faster launch, but with the knowledge that there might be errors or adjustments to make ongoing. For others who like a capability to be holistic and low risk, it can mean numerous sprints are necessary before it is deemed “done” and as such ready to share with colleagues and / or customers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I am not going to say that Agile is faster or cheaper – in fact, it can be more ambiguous, frustrating, and lack accountability, which ultimately means there’s no one to point the finger at in pushing toward an outcome. However, this is also why I believe Agile is our future.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Agile represents the cultural change a business needs to go through. We need to be comfortable with a degree of ambiguity and we need to share ownership of the outcome. One aspect that Agile does outperform Waterfall on is the ability to learn faster – and if a business is willing to learn through quick tests and recognises that early failures ensure a program is on the right track overall, then Agile can be a great vehicle to achieve business outcomes. My concern is that Agile has been branded in the tech market as a vehicle to move faster, which means the expectations are wrong from the get-go. Agile <i>will</i> help you learn faster and pivot as the needs of the business evolve or the market drives change, which can create a sense of speed, however it is simply an ingredient in the recipe for broader business agility.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The challenge we keep facing is that our world is not the stable working environment it was before. The predictability of having a three-year outlook that could merely be followed through with minimal disruption is rapidly diminishing, with software that felt more like hardware because it was very much standalone and constant. Today, change doesn’t happen in a two or three-year cycle; it’s happening in months and, if you are really unlucky, in weeks. This is why Waterfall is struggling, as the changes we need to make means we would need to constantly raise change requests and our costs keep going up.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This doesn’t mean I have suddenly prescribed to Agile as being the answer to everything, but it’s about knowing what has the right outcome for your business. If you are doing a migration to the cloud of premise-based applications with fixed scope and deliverables, then Waterfall is likely a better path. On the other hand if you’re developing capability that you know will continue to evolve, then Agile can actually help drive a better outcome.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So, to answer the question in the headline of this article, Agile can appear fragile because it means accepting that we are all accountable for its success. When we struggle to accept ambiguity, the need to change the way we work, or accept joint accountability in partnership of realising outcomes, we make the process fragile.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">All of this is simply leading to one key reason - <i>We</i> are the reason why Agile is fragile. We don’t like change, we don’t like being responsible for things which in a traditional IT world was always the ownership of others. In fact, I remember my first project with Agile ways of working, I was constantly asking the delivery partner if this is going to work. My big realisation was when one of the team leads from the delivery partner turned to me and asked me back, “I don’t know, you tell me.” After my heart skipped a couple of beats, I realised this was the difference, and what I didn’t like was that there wasn’t the same clarity that I felt I had before. On the other hand, following our initial delivery, I realised it was that constant ability to keep improving, evolving our tools and external facing systems that was giving us the ability to continue to evolve.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I look at Agile as being a reminder that the business needs to take accountability for the delivery of projects. The time of simply pushing the problem to someone else is over. The introduction of Agile has added another tool to our bag to support our business in become increasingly digital. In doing this, we can enable the business to be less fragile and more adaptable, innovative, disruptive, and, well, agile.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-34607867697946948482019-03-13T19:13:00.008+08:002021-10-06T21:38:09.096+08:00Climbing the transformation mountain<p><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">Two years have passed since someone suggested to me to work with them on transforming Telstra’s B2B business. In those two years we have been on an amazing journey of understanding what it means to perform a heart and lung transplant on a patient running a marathon while also leading the pack.</span></b></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"> </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">In two years, we have not only established a set of end-to-end integrated systems, from product definition to customer billing, we have also launched what is one of Telstra’s most holistic offers to market as a true paperless proposition –it has been awesome to see the positive impacts to our customers and partners.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">To many of the team, delivering all of these aspects in our transformation program has felt like we have climbed a mountain. That said, we have a long way still to go to realise the scale of change that will ensure a sustainable change for the business.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"> </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">There have been many examples of change that our transformation program is bringing, including the automatic flow of information between systems without any human intervention. This might seem obvious, but any business or IT person involved in managing system handoffs, will appreciate that it’s these integrations that are the hardest. Hearing from one of the team how data is now populating automatically between systems without any need to request it is music to my ears.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"> </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">One of our key realisations is that while a digital transformation is enabled by software, it is very much a business transformation and not just a technology transformation. Digital transformation needs to guide a business to actually change the way it works - the support of all of these new capabilities will be the real validation of a sustainable change.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoCommentText" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">This was reiterated by Telstra’s recent Disruptive Decision-Making report, which found across the globe businesses are too focused on the role of technology in digital transformation programs. </span></p><p class="MsoCommentText" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"> <br />Transformation does not mean only internal business change, but also change in the way a business engages with its customers. It is interesting to see the way we embrace digital interactions for our personal needs, but when it comes to businesses, we are more comfortable in using traditional channels of calling or emailing someone from a service desk. It has been inspiring to see what teams have achieved in the past two years in building our first native business app, co-developed with customers to realise a new digital-first strategy to serve their customers.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif;">Why on earth am I talking about these achievements, though?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif;">Simply put, for us, these achievements were more of a realisation that we tend to be so focused on <i>what is next</i> that we don’t pause to learn from what we have achieved, struggled with, or missed delivering.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif;">It is very easy to forget about accomplishments to date as we reflect on how far we still have to go. Recognising these outcomes both within our program and in the broader organisation are important - it highlights that progress is being made toward the top of the mountain, and acknowledging and reviewing progress, ensures continual learning and improvement as we move closer to the summit.</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">As we start with the next phase of our climb, there are three key challenges that now arise: scale, customer migrations, and data.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"> </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">Scale </span></b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">in the form of ensuring the majority of the business’s transactions to support B2B customers are enabled on a new digital stack. Without this volume of transactions, the efficiencies targeted to be realised through this new capability won’t materialise. The work to date has demonstrated the scale of change that is possible, but our business won’t feel it until volumes are reached that result in true business change. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"> </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">Customer migration</span></b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"> might sound obvious, but when a business engages with its customers in a certain way for a long period of time, introducing a new way of working can be disruptive - collaborating on that journey with customers to understand the value of the change for their businesses is critical. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"><br /></span><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">Data</span></b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"> is the most critical element of any transformation program. I always find it interesting when people talk about data scientists or big data, but for me personally, I would just be happy with a single source of data that ensures our teams are not having to double or even triple check that data between systems is consistent. As we learned with our first orders, without accurate data we create unnecessary work for ourselves and we lose the value from the integrated systems we have established.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"> </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">On the flipside, where we know data is accurate, teams can quickly focus on high-value tasks with customers. Workflows can become highly automated from opportunity through to in-life service management, driving efficiency to levels previously not seen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">Of course this is in the future - to achieve these next wave of outcomes we need to climb this mountain, bring all of our people, partners and customers into this new world of integrated and digitised capabilities.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"> </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Telstra Akkurat", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">Sometimes that new world can seem challenging given how high we need to climb, but it is the diversity and strengths of a team that can achieve the outcomes a business is looking for - just like those climbing the highest mountains. With the right team in place, any peak is possible. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-30999988221841584152018-09-03T18:54:00.001+08:002021-10-06T21:28:39.983+08:00I want to be an Imagineer<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU">Before you think I am off to Disney to design rides or other attractions – which would be a very cool job, by the way - I am not referring to Disney’s coining of the term, re their designers needing to be able to engineer what they are coming up with in the latest amazing customer or digital experience (interesting side note, whilst Disney own the trademark to Imagineering, it was not the first to use this term<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="color: #0563c1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px;">[1]</span></span></span></a>). I am instead talking about how this concept is now moving into mainstream digital businesses as they seek to compete in an ever-changing world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU">The drive toward Digital is changing our business culture and our business resourcing needs like never before. The era of Digital businesses has provided opportunities to create and evolve internal and external facing business capabilities to improve efficiencies, whilst at the same time as the need for businesses to establish digital capability has become a necessity to compete. Simply outsourcing or partnering the development of digital capabilities is no longer a viable option because the ability for businesses to adapt and evolve within dynamic market(s) at a cost they can afford means the profile of roles within and equally those outsourced is shifting.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU">The era of having roles that are specifically shaped as those who define their requirements (business users) and those who implement those requirements (IT) is coming to an end. With rogue IT being greater than ever (Business units looking to establish their own IT capability), the need for the model to shift couldn’t be more important. Why? Well simply put, when each part of a business looks to do its own thing we lose sight of who is accountable for stitching the various components together. Not to mention the impact of competing priorities, insular or siloed benefit realisation and the misalignment of resources not working together to achieve the greater good.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU">Enter the Imagineer, a new species of employee who not only has a clear vision for the business that he/she works in but also has an understanding of the tools/platforms/software that their business uses now and in the future. This new role profile will not only help to reimagine what a particular part of the business looks like, they will also have an understanding and an accountability to ensure that whatever they create actually works with a business’s broader organisation. For example in this role they make it possible for marketing tools to work with a Customer management platform, or an ordering system to communicate with billing. This may seem obvious but history tells us our traditional ways of working have created extensive human glue as we seek to create the best widget to solve a particular problem instead of seeking to understand the broader business implications of decisions we may make in isolation from other parts of the business.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU">The Imagineer has a “T” shaped understanding of the business, an understanding of the end-to-end architecture and business flows combined with an in-depth knowledge on a particular domain with both the business requirements and expertise on how the software they will use works. The result being a common understanding of how teams can succeed together and realise ownership and innovation in their part of the business at the same time.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU">I see this in my current role where we are exposing business people to the systems that will form the future of our business with an ask of them to know and manage those systems/tools in the future. It is not as easy a transition as having a traditional define and deliver model (Business vs. IT) for many years and then hope we will change the model overnight. It just doesn’t happen that easily, changing the model requires mindsets and behaviours of those involved to also change. The exciting aspect of this is the journey, partnering with our business owners who are keen to embrace this change and also become Imagineers themselves as we seek to redefine the customer, partner and employee experience in a newly imagined digital world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU">Being an Imagineer is merely an example of where the collision of worlds from business and IT will create new opportunities. These new roles are merely a representation of the shift that all businesses have made, where items are increasingly less about hardware and more about software, where services are no longer bought they are leased. The traditional barrier of business and IT is dissolving rapidly; I am not talking about start-ups but mainstream businesses where those who are going to be successful will need to have a blend of expertise<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU">Imagineers will become a new role in our Digital Era, a role where people are needing to not only understand the technology and tools they are leveraging but also to have the vision of what the future can hold when we reimagine a digital world, a world where the limitations are only defined by our imaginations. It is this world I am excited to work in and bring an understanding to business leaders on the art of the possible through Imagineering<sup>TM</sup>, where the knowledge of system and tool capabilities combined with a vision for what the future can hold will empower business to disrupt themselves and remain relevant for the future.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU">To that end, I will sign off.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU">Nathan Bell<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><span lang="EN-AU">Dreamer, Technology enthusiast, Digital Imagineer.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1"><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0cm;"><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="color: #0563c1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-AU"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagineering" style="color: #0563c1;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagineering</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div>Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-50582990453889880812018-02-15T10:21:00.000+08:002018-02-15T10:21:22.628+08:00When failure takes too long<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a digital world, new ways of working are becoming
increasingly common. One of these is Agile, which broadly refers to how we
deliver solutions in an iterative and incremental manner, through collaboration
between self-organising, cross-functional teams. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This can seem very exciting – an opportunity for rapid
development, co-creation and evolving requirements, as the business adapts to
learning's and change.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With Agile fast becoming mainstream, this may not be new for
those of us already on-board. Nonetheless, where businesses tend to struggle
with the introduction of this new way of working is the cultural change that it
needs to represent as well. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, when I talk about culture here, I’m referring to our
fear of failure. In a society that celebrates success, it’s human nature for us
to not want to fail. Failure suggests we
didn’t plan, didn’t consider the options and ultimately let down our
colleagues, managers, customers or even family. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Consider for a moment the last time you failed, what did
that feel like? How much were you willing to share that failure with others?
Announce it to the world? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some brave souls would have stood up straight away and said,
“Well got that one wrong, let’s have another go!” Now, think about the idea of failing
on a regular basis. No – I don’t mean every day, but how you may have to keep
changing directions while working on a project, as you become more knowledgeable
on the pertinent challenges, to meet a projects objectives. How long would it
take before your manager or even other senior leaders start to question what
you’re doing, and wonder whether you’re the right person to be leading the
project? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve had some spectacular failures in my career as we sought
to try new ways of working, introducing new capabilities or launching new
offerings into the market place. However, I’ve also been fortunate enough to
have some amazing support from my managers as I sought to pivot, recover or
simply stop what we were trying to do and take a different approach (You know
who you are and thank you for your belief!). <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The biggest thing I have learned from these failures is
simply to find my courage and highlight the risk or failure early, however
uncomfortable this is, and no matter what the consequence might be.
Unfortunately, not everyone has been as fortunate as I have in having some
amazing managers – who understand that in the pursuit of some exciting goals,
sometimes we get it completely right and other times spectacularly wrong!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s not uncommon that when a risk emerges within the
business, an early view may be to classify it as “Amber” or even “Green” on the
wishful basis that it will probably sort itself out before it becomes an issue.
Unfortunately, it’s equally likely that with the passage of time, that
initiative may not recover and in fact results in the risk becoming compounded
due to collateral impacts. <o:p></o:p></div>
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These compounded risks can reach the point that they start
to jeopardise the entire project. Given people’s natural tendency to want to show
a project is performing well in its early stage, flagging this as an issue can
make many folks nervous. Then one of two things will happen: either they will
call out the bigger risk and wait for the bombshell of a response, with everything
put on hold while a post-mortem takes place; or break down the main risk into smaller
components, with the goal to resolve them individually and show that it is
being managed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m sure many managers who read this will say that they’re
always supportive of their teams – and that all the team needs to do is raise
the concern for the manager to help them solve it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now put yourself in your team’s shoe: when you wanted to be
successful and prove that you could solve things on your own, how willing were
you to call out issues on a regular basis without being seen as incapable of
delivering on the outcomes?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At this point, I can anticipate the question many will be
asking: what in the world does this have to do with Agile ways of working? Simply
put, failure is a core aspect of Agile. In fact, you will meet many Agile
coaches who say that the Agile methodology cannot be truly successful without
failure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Agile methodologies can let you achieve outcomes faster, by
breaking deliverables down to their smallest component or feature you’re
looking to develop. The Agile way of working requires teams to be empowered to
define what they should prioritise to build first, to realise new and exciting
outcomes without being encumbered by a fear of failure. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two words leap off the page for me now – empower and failure.
Both are important and intrinsically
linked to each other. What level of decision making would you be prepared to
cede to someone in your team, who is leading a development project? How often
would you insist on them checking in with you? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Insisting that failure is necessary for Agile to work
doesn’t mean we simply sit back and watch teams continuously fail. Sometimes, intervention
or a change of team member is required. Even as we empower our teams, it’s
equally important that they know the standards expected of them – whether it’s the performance of individuals or
the overall team.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In setting the expectations and standards while providing
the right coaching, we enable the teams to grow in the direction the business
needs. I like to refer to these as the guardrails – giving people the
reassurance and sense of security they need in the early days of Agile, that early
failure is acceptable in the development of new capabilities. As those teams
mature, these guardrails become less necessary as the team knows what is
expected, and more importantly start to set their own expectations of the
business as well.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To be clear though, giving greater flexibility and autonomy
to teams doesn’t mean development paths look more like a bowl of spaghetti, with
new capabilities created all over the place. Development teams still work to a
roadmap and continue to have a prioritised view of what the sequence should be
in the development of features. This lets them achieve an end goal, whether it
is a new offer to market, a new system deployment or even customer deployments.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a nutshell, Agile can be an exciting path for businesses
to embark on, but it is merely a set of instructions for business leaders to
follow. Simply following the said instructions doesn’t always translate to the
desired business changes or accelerated outcome. For this way of working to
thrive, it is imperative for business leaders to change their culture by providing
the bandwidth for teams to learn, iterate and grow, without the fear of
failure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We need to recognise that without taking on the
responsibility ourselves in driving this change in business culture, we will be
left with teams that have been asked to embrace a new way of working that will
ultimately lead to failure. This comes about when teams try to manage every
risk scenario themselves, avoid the “bad news” conversation and try to be all
things to all stakeholders. The result? A
workplace fixated on risk avoidance, which eventually leads to demotivated
teams, increased cost of change and missed objectives – all because failure
took too long.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-39738318175769540742017-08-07T22:08:00.000+08:002017-08-07T22:09:47.307+08:00Surviving a Digital Transformation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
So let’s cover off the first question; “Why would I say surviving?”
Let me put it as simply as this. Anyone that has experienced a digital transformation,
or started to build digital capability within a business, will know that
realising transformation through a digital lens is like operating on a patient
to replace their heart and lungs while they run a marathon at the same time. (There
is a building a plane while flying it too but I prefer the marathon analogy!).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, anyone in their right mind is going to say “Why on
earth would you want to do that?” Again, simply put, it is out of necessity. No
one transforms their business simply because they woke up in the morning and
thought it was a good idea. It is born from an urgent need to evolve their
business either from cost, competition or changing market dynamics. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Likewise, I am intrigued by the fact that many leaders feel
going digital is as easy as building a new app or making a website interactive.
However, when their shift to digital commences, they quickly realise it is a
lot more than this, and actually that shift to digital is more about their own
business’ way of working, instead of the technology they decide to deploy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is why a digital transformation makes sense. The move
to a digital way of working, combined with the need to transform, makes for a
common foundation because to realise either goal requires a business to
actually change. However, if a business is not willing to change and make the
proverbial “leap” into the new world, then the change that a business is
embarking on will simply fail. It is irrelevant how much a CEO or business head
is eager to change or evolve their business as it will always be the weakest
link which will ultimately determine the degree of success. The weakest link
could be a business leader who doesn’t support the change, a legacy supplier
seeking to latch on worried they will lose their business, or it could also be
the business setting guide rails so tight that it gives the program no chance to
fail.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes that’s right – fail. In my experience, if you don’t fail
you won’t learn what works for your business. It doesn’t matter how well you
have planned your strategy for digital transformation, part of the excitement
is trying new ways of working and new ways of serving customers. Some will work
and others won’t, but this is all about designing your business for the future.
At this point, there will be many senior executives who are reading this and
say “Ah yes Nathan, learning is fine but my business can’t afford to fail. We
need to grow and, as such, we will seek to leverage the expertise of
consultants and System Integrator’s as they will already have gone through
these learnings with other businesses and then my business will simply leverage
from those … right”?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Naturally, there are many organisations out there offering
to help businesses realise this digital change, with amazing stories on how
they can realise the change and all of the places where they have seen it or,
for the lucky ones, realised it for another business. Hence, it is an option
for you to have someone transform your business and receive the end product,
but as any digital native business will tell you, it will come down to your
ability to not only go through one transformation, but to actually realise a
greater degree of business agility and hence an ability to evolve your
organisation to adapt to the true constant in our business world today, change.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is very hard for any organisation to simply say we will
do this on our own, change our way of working, retrain teams, create a new
structure and introduce a whole new suite of technology and platforms. Hence,
it is reasonable to be asking partners, integrator's and even software partners
for support in realising the digital transformation outcome. The important word
here is “support”, because the challenging aspect in this transformation is
back to the business change that it is targeted to realise. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what am I saying? Basically when you are embarking on
your digital transformation, a) make sure you have identified the leaders in
your business who are going to own this change, b) identify partners who can
help you make that transition with a clear goal of having the ability to continue
on with your transformation, independent of any partner as you establish a
greater degree of maturity in the business. The objectives of a transformation
will take time to realise. Putting a specific timeline on the deliverable can
result in assuming a business has changed, but with a trail of destruction
behind and a long tail of capability still in the old world. It’s like having
had the heart and lung transplant and thinking everything is fine, but then realising
you are bleeding internally which can lead to a slow painful demise.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, by ensuring you build the capability within your
business, the pace of that change can be constant, holistic and ensure no-one
and no capability is left behind. Most importantly, that new internal
capability will bring you a greater degree of agility as your business and/or
the market continue to evolve. Hence, while you go through that heart and lung
transplant, it won’t matter if that marathon evolves into a steeple chase or a
cross country ski race, you and your business will have the confidence to front
into that change, knowing the team has evolved to a new skill set. When I say
skill, I am not referring to a digital skill, but an agility skill. To the
point at which you may cause other businesses to look at their own heart and
lung transplant as you go from being disrupted and merely surviving a
transformation, to becoming the disruptor and ultimately start leading the
marathon!<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-52899644049719096612016-12-09T00:01:00.000+08:002016-12-09T10:47:14.587+08:00One million reasons to do business in Indonesia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">No, this isn’t going to be a list of the
one million things, but as my time in Indonesia comes to an end, I thought I
would sit down and provide my perspective as to what it has been like working
in the Indonesian market. Well put simply, it has been an amazing experience. </span>Well of course I can’t just leave it at
that! It has been an amazing journey and learning experience from both a personal
and business perspective, learnings that I expect I will carry with me for some
time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Indonesia is an incredible place with high
growth potential both for local businesses, as well as businesses and
individuals from overseas looking to invest into Indonesia. There is so much
happening in Indonesia and for the joint venture that Telkom and Telstra have
established, we have had our own journey in navigating the business environment
in this market. Like everything else, (including the traffic), establishing the
joint venture in Indonesia was very much a journey, and to understand how best
to navigate your path to maximise the opportunity, you need to first understand
the market itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Indonesia is going through a significant
growth phase at the moment, and Indonesia’s demographics are a great starting
point to suggest they will continue to see this growth continue through a
digital lens. With a population of more than 250 million people, and the
average age being 28<a href="file:///C:/Users/d624478/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/OUFIZLNA/A%20Million%20Reasons%20to%20do%20business%20in%20Indonesia_marks%20up.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>, there
is a rapidly growing and eager young working population. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As such, this also means a growing desire
to leverage new found purchasing power to determine lifestyles. This has been
best represented by the penetration of mobile phones into Indonesia standing at
121%<a href="file:///C:/Users/d624478/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/OUFIZLNA/A%20Million%20Reasons%20to%20do%20business%20in%20Indonesia_marks%20up.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
and Smartphones accounting for almost 1 in 4 of those. Indonesia, as of 2014,
was the third largest “Twitting” nation and the second largest Facebook nation<a href="file:///C:/Users/d624478/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/OUFIZLNA/A%20Million%20Reasons%20to%20do%20business%20in%20Indonesia_marks%20up.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
This to me demonstrates a population that is highly connected and, with only a
21% Internet penetration rate, there is clearly further opportunity for
Indonesia to expand the digital aspect of their lives for both public and
business services. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The reason why I view these figures as
important is that, as for any market to achieve success in our digital era, it
needs to be connected and have a population which is digital savvy. Indonesia is
clearly rapidly moving in that direction. With the fourth largest GDP in Asia
(closing quickly on Japan),<a href="file:///C:/Users/d624478/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/OUFIZLNA/A%20Million%20Reasons%20to%20do%20business%20in%20Indonesia_marks%20up.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> combined
with a Government under President Jokowi, which is clearly striving to create a
market open to investment and value creation, Indonesia is on its way in
positioning itself as a growth centre for many years to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So Indonesia is a growth market and
becoming highly digital, well pack your bags and head over, right? … Ok, well
glad it sounds exciting but before you do head for the airport let me share my
journey with you so as hopefully you can realise that success you seeking. Prior
to moving to Indonesia, I had travelled to Indonesia many times - and no not
just Bali before you ask – I believed I had experience in knowing what
Indonesia would be like, the culture, what it meant to do business, and
managing the joyous travel times between meetings. I was clearly only scratching
the service when it came to understanding what it means to work in Indonesia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Well one of my first learnings is that
“jetting” in to visit and experience the working environment is simply not
enough from which to draw experiences. In
fact it comes down to the actual experience of living and breathing the market,
and connecting with the people to understand the real opportunity and likewise the
challenges faced by the teams on the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In establishing our business in Indonesia
we knew there would be challenges, but we had underestimated the breadth of
these challenges, as well as the amount we would need to adapt to ensure we
established a path for success. As we landed on the ground to establish our
business we quickly realized what we had hoped would be a few bumps in the road
ended up being some obstacles in the road that would need to be navigated:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US"> 1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">As we were working with the
largest telecom provider in Indonesia, doing business would be easier. Of
course we all knew it would be different to other markets, but that was why we were
there to enter new markets and create new value. Shortly after we arrived
however there was a change in Government, which led to a change in our partners’
leadership. This was apparently the norm given it’s a state-owned business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"> 2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">The supply chain we were
familiar with from Australia, or other parts of the world, would already be in
place in Indonesia, with the recognition we would need to adjust some terms regarding
language and local terms and conditions. The supply chain proved to be very
different to our expectations, with vendors engaging with their distributors
differently. In addition, the responsibility of managing the hardware supply
chain proved to be very much the providers’ responsibility, especially given
the proactive service that we were seeking to provide our customers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;"> 3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;">Given we already had the
support of our joint ventures partners executives, it would simply be a matter
of being open for business would immediately start to drive the opportunity. Of
course, given we were going to a new element of the partner’s business, there
would always be some people not totally happy with our approach but that was ok
as “they would simply adapt to us”. We
soon realised as the new kid on the block it was up to us to build those local
relationships, establish trust and ultimately demonstrate our value to our
partners and customers to encourage those partners to collaborate with us
instead of seeing us as a new threat to their existing business models.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;"> 4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;">Business engagement would be
transparent as it would be the same as many other places in Asia. It would
simply be a matter of re connecting with the local representatives of our
global partners and we would be ready to go. We quickly learned that many of
our technology partners already had their own local partnerships established
with in country System Integrators and telecom divisions, and in matter of fact,
we were disrupting a model that was believed to already be working well.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
Now with all of
this said the path to securing our business license took longer than we had
expected, but this ended up being a hidden benefit in as it gave us the time to
understand these challenges and many others as we were establishing this
business. That proved invaluable as the time we gained gave us the window to
understand how we could set ourselves up for success. Whether it was building
one of the largest stakeholder management maps I have ever seen, or
establishing a supply chain across a nation from zero, through to redefining
the localised product set we would need to demonstrate relevance, all of these
developments helped to shape what our business is today. Through these
learnings, and the business’ ability to adapt to them, we have realised the
results that I have previously shared in earlier blogs.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
The message I
hope you take away from this blog is that there are a few key critical
considerations when establishing your business in Indonesia:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"> 1)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US"> Ensure you have a <b>clear target and plan</b> – don’t assume you know what it is as soon as
you step off the plane but make sure you understand the environment you are
looking to operate in and then start to shape your plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"> 2)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Make sure you <b>have a solid partner</b> you can work with
who understands the market you are seeking to address and more importantly is
able to help you navigate through the challenges, and equally help you to
identify new opportunities you may not have originally identified in your plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"> 3)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-US">Be agile.</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> Things won’t work out the way
you expect them to, so you can sit there and get frustrated, or actually look
at what you can do differently to navigate the challenge or incorporate the new
challenge into your plans and make it part of the goals you are looking to
address.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"> 4)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Lastly, - and in my view this
was one of the hardest things I had to do personally - <b>be patient.</b> There is a different sense of urgency in Indonesia,
what I learned was that whilst I can get frustrated that things weren’t moving
fast enough. I needed to find a different approach, share the goal that I was
trying to achieve, and leverage the local team around us to understand how we
can best reach that outcome in the fastest time possible without the
traditional voice like the kid in the back seat of a car, “Are we ready yet?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
I am sure other
people who have worked in Indonesia will share other challenges from their
experiences in Indonesia and ultimately some of their own critical
considerations but for me this is what gave me increased confidence in our
ability to succeed. With these considerations in mind, I believe businesses
have a great chance to realise the opportunity that is Indonesia. An
opportunity that has over one million registered businesses of different sizes,
an opportunity that if approached with eyes open can result in businesses being
part of an exciting growth market, all of which surely must be enough of a
reason to want to do business in Indonesia … right?</div>
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<br />
<div>
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<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/d624478/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/OUFIZLNA/A%20Million%20Reasons%20to%20do%20business%20in%20Indonesia_marks%20up.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Source: worldometers.info/world-population/indonesia-population<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/d624478/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/OUFIZLNA/A%20Million%20Reasons%20to%20do%20business%20in%20Indonesia_marks%20up.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span> GSMA Intelligence<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/d624478/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/OUFIZLNA/A%20Million%20Reasons%20to%20do%20business%20in%20Indonesia_marks%20up.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Sating Silang &
BBh Asia Pacific<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/d624478/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/OUFIZLNA/A%20Million%20Reasons%20to%20do%20business%20in%20Indonesia_marks%20up.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>CIA Factbook 2015<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-73720970257162301662016-10-06T11:11:00.000+08:002016-10-06T11:11:15.843+08:00Telkomtelstra - We are One!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s official. This little joint venture that went live in
2015 is now one year old! The day that we opened our doors to prospective
customers, shared with them the immersive experience that they would have using
our managed services through our Customer Experience Centre - and activated our
first customer, is a day that will stay with me for a long time. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To have reached our launch day, it had already been an
amazing journey from sitting in the basement of a hotel with a group of Telkom
and Telstra folks asking ourselves what exactly this joint venture should look
like. From those humble beginnings to get to where we are now is simply
amazing. It’s exciting to consider that
since that first activation a year ago we have now contracted over 50 customers,
recruited over one hundred employees and developed a suite of services across
Managed Networks, Cloud Infrastructure and SaaS. All of this being built on a solely
cloud enabled architecture across the operations and business systems,
providing us with the ability to scale. However, equally important, was to
ensure systems could be integrated and thus avoiding unnecessary rework or risk
of inaccurate data.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I remain excited for the customer experience that we have
been able to provide and the ongoing self-awareness that we can never stop
improving our customer experience. We must always ensure that we hear the voice
of our customers clearly. The
introduction of the telkomtelstra Infinity Portal has provided our customers
with the first end-to-end view of the real time performance of their ICT
services, in the form of an easy access web platform. I look forward to the day
where we can leverage the value of Artificial Intelligence to inform customers,
in a business language, of proposed actions, that seeks to continually improve their
services. This means responding at a pace that will ensure ICT remains a
business enabler for companies in an every changing economic landscape.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I am very proud to have been part of this team to establish
a culture of collaboration, accelerated innovation and customer centricity. I
am excited to see what the future holds for this joint venture – one which has
overcome start-up challenges, sought to address customer challenges and provide
both of its parents with a view into the possible, when it comes to Managed Services
in Indonesia. I look forward to seeing telkomtelstra continue to set the
standard on what managed services should be in a growth market like Indonesia.
The validation of that is seen in the voice of our customers who remain our
best advocates!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a 1 year old, we have now learned to walk, we have had a
few stumbles but we are on our feet. Now we are starting to show what we can do
in a dynamic market like Indonesia and hopefully prove our value to both
parents. My personal hope is that as managed services in markets like Indonesia
over the years to come become more common, the market will continue to look to
the likes of telkomtelstra as to what the next evolution of managed services could
look like in these rapidly growing markets. So with that, I wish telkomtelstra
a Happy Birthday and look forward to seeing it celebrate many more to come.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-29041933056501470112016-09-20T14:43:00.000+08:002016-09-20T14:43:00.836+08:00A Bridge Too Far<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="center" class="MsoTitle" style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: left;">If you haven’t seen the film, it’s a
classic and although the film is about a group of soldiers being dropped at a
bridge further than they are supposed to, the part I relate most to business
these days is the scene when they are asking what is on the other side of that
bridge. No one knows, but someone is going to have to go over there. Of course
no one wants to, but eventually a brave soul takes the steps to cross the
bridge </span>ready to try and blow up the bridge but<span style="text-align: left;"> fully expecting to be shot before they get there so he goes in with guns
blazing. You will now be asking what does that have to do with people and
technology. Put simply, the way we work can sometimes feel like that bridge too
far.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In my own journey, I have worked in sales
functions, led products and marketing teams and most recently, headed up operations
– all disciplines that have a unique view on the business that they are tasked
with supporting. </span>From my time in sales, we focused on
ensuring we could get the deal done and ask the products team to figure out how
we build a product around it. In a products and marketing capacity, our focus
was very much on understanding how we could best define the product and throw
it over the wall to operations who will figure out how to build it. And in operations,
it is the task of figuring out what has been requested and how this is going to
actually work with the systems, tools and people a business currently uses.
When an operations team then hands it back to sales – proud that they have been
able to deliver the customer requirement with a marvelous “Ta-da it’s ready” to
which sales may responds with a “That’s not what we asked for”. This is kind of
like playing Chinese Whispers as a kid and giggling at how the message became so
fragmented when it reached the start of the circle again. But in business we
don’t tend to giggle – well not as much anyway!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">For those of you familiar with the film “A
bridge too far”, and equally familiar with these functions, you may be thinking
a bridge crossing a river doesn’t do these differences justice. I would agree
in fact that we sometimes view these as worlds apart instead of merely crossing
a river. So let’s extrapolate this analogy. You aren’t merely trying to cross a
bridge between functions, but actually we are asking people to don a spacesuit,
board a rocket and cross a space bridge not knowing how they will be received
on the other side or even if they will understand us. But don’t worry we are
armed and dangerous with our own knowledge of how things should work in the
business in order for us to do our job, right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Start-up businesses provide a great
learning for established businesses, in start-ups you simply don’t have a
choice. You have to cross that bridge or otherwise see your start-up fail. And
often in start-ups, it requires people who are working across functions in
order to keep the business moving at pace. If the business loses momentum,
market confidence can rapidly decline and in turn customers may be lost,
resulting in a negative position for the business. Employees of a start-up have
no fear because there is simply no time to be fearful or worry about how
requirements will be misinterpreted. A start-up ensures these worlds overlap so
as decisions are made quickly and together to ensure the business is on board
with the outcome we are looking for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I am sure there will be many of you out
there thinking, but a start-up is easier they don’t have the scale we do, they
don’t have the complexity of services and systems. Well who put that complexity
there, or the systems that you are using? What if we could sit together and
redefine what that way of working could look like? Forget who was the person
who made the decision or who created the complexity, imagine a world where you
could change the business model you work in, below are a few of my suggestions
on how you can improve that collaboration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Stop focusing on the customer and think
about the one element you have in common no matter what your function is – the
customer. It doesn’t matter if you are the lawyer, IT manager, finance manager,
marketing manager or sales manager, this is the one aspect that any function
will have in common. I would challenge anyone to identify a function that
doesn’t impact a customer directly or indirectly. If you are going to say janitor
then my answer is first impressions are everything – what if your customer
visited a messy office or overflowing bins? What would that perception mean for
your initial conversation?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Take a walk in the other team’s shoes – I will
always remember a quote from my coach (you know who you are). In any discussion,
no matter how much we disagree there will always be at least 10% truth in what
the other person is saying. Pause for a moment and reflect on that concept,
what could be that 10% from the other function, once you start there you may
quickly find there is more truth or more importantly more alignment between
your functions you are merely looking from different lenses toward the
customer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Define what is truly important. I am always
amazed at the resolute stand we can make between functions to say we can’t
change this or this is a deal breaker, with people left scratching their heads
wondering where did that come from? Consider as a cross functional team what
are key factors for success as well as failure for any activity undertaken. Agreeing
these as a group provides guidance to a business and encourages ideation to be
brought into a forum seeking to help realise the benefit vs. attending an
episode of Dragons Den (Don’t know what it is … watch some of the video’s
gulp!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">These are just a few examples based on my
experience and I am sure there are many more suggestions from people out there,
but the purpose of these examples is to get you thinking, looking out beyond
your realm of influence and seize the opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">What I am saying is this is a call for
volunteers, volunteers to cross the bridge, unarmed, vulnerable and open to
helping the other-side achieve their outcome with the knowledge of not what
your world needs but what your world can provide. Take the leap and move to a
role where you can challenge yourself to help another function succeed based on
your diverse skills. In time, this bridge crossing will be two ways so when you
are volunteering you will need to encourage others to follow your example and
cross the bridge the other way. This mindset of adding value to encourage
collaboration and ultimately drive the outcome the business is looking for
namely sustainable growth and serving your customer, all of this resulting in a
business realising that no bridge is too far. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-63565389134245279402016-09-05T12:00:00.000+08:002016-09-05T12:00:00.180+08:00There be gold in them hills!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
A new gold mine has been established, okay not a traditional
one, but it is yellow at least! “Pokemon Go” has started a global craze similar
to what we saw with games like “Angry Birds” and “Candy Crush”. It’s not
uncommon to see people randomly walking around the streets or parks with their
phones held up looking for monsters! So where is the gold in that you ask? Well
how about the 200 million USD of Net Income that Nintendo saw from the game in just
the month of July and this was even before the game opened up into some of the
biggest gaming markets like China and Korea!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But this blog is not about Nintendo’s success – that is
pretty evident. What I am more interested in is the amazing appearance of the
ecosystem around “Pokemon Go”, which is very similar to the pop- up towns that
appeared at a new gold rush location. The game itself has been running for
roughly three months and, in that time, we now have dating applications so as
you can hunt monsters with that someone special (seriously!), or get access to
maps showing key locations where monsters hang out and even go to online stores where you can buy Pokemon clothing so you stand out when hunting for monsters. I didn’t realise until my
kids were running around an airport that apparently Pokemon monsters are trying
to now even board planes! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have truly moved into a digital era, one where
entrepreneurial individuals are ready to respond to the latest craze and set up
their own version of a bar, tailor, supply store or even more mature entertainment.
Our world has clearly shifted from the physical to the virtual and these pop up
ecosystems are testament to that. What is interesting though is that unlike the
gold mining towns of old, these digital pop-up ecosystems will disappear faster
and leave almost no evidence that they even existed. This is because the
technology of our era has caught up with our childlike behaviour when it comes
to our digital lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think Bill Connolly said it best with “I want it now, I
want it yesterday and stay awake because I will change what I want tomorrow!”
We have always wanted immediacy and, as adults, we grow to accept and
understand we can’t always have what we want. However, the digital world
changed that with information, collaboration, games and shopping. Hence
businesses have always been keen on capturing this market, but much like a
child, our interests tend to be brief before we will move on with something
else (don’t believe me? Well did you know the average use of an application you
download is only 4-5 days? – brief indeed).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For businesses to be able to leverage this opportunity they
need infrastructure to be available to spin up and spin down. They also need
access to high speed connectivity to ensure their temporary services are always
accessible and lastly they need to access both of these elements all over the
world in order to ensure they benefit from the breadth of interest these
opportunities bring albeit briefly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fortunately, our word has never been more connected and as
such these pop up businesses can thrive profitably for short periods of time
and then quickly pull back on the throttle when interest starts to wane. Of
course there is no guarantee of success with these pop up businesses, but
because of the elastic availability and pay-as-you-use commercial engagements,
they can afford to fail and that confidence can help to increase a willingness
to experiment with different types of services. Imagine if you tried to do that
in a gold rush town – how many unused buildings or wasted supplies thrown out
the back of the building as they tried to forget what hadn’t worked!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In today’s day and age it is all about the here and the now,
and I believe it will become increasingly common to see businesses where there
purpose is to build capability akin to running a short term project. Their
success will also be determined by how long they can ride the coat tails of
disruptive market developments by being agile and relevant and equally how many
of these initiatives they can run in parallel before scale becomes a burden to
their agility. The digital boom town has arrived and I am sure it won’t be long
before we start seeing a map of the digital gold mines that exist in our newly
created digital world to provide budding entrepreneurs with directions on how
to find the nearest pop up town and set up their own shop. Ultimately, where
there is gold, there is business to be done – albeit in the virtual hills!<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-2152936244662053832016-08-23T08:50:00.000+08:002016-08-23T08:50:05.144+08:00Disruption Starts at Home<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
The word<b> </b>“Disruption” has become a powerful concept of many executives
across all industries today as they seek to lead their businesses to growth in what
is an increasingly competitive and ever-changing market for us all. However,
what is interesting is that for many businesses it tends to be about the outward facing
disruption – to disrupt key competitors with innovative services or commercial
models, introducing new technologies particularly with a focus on digital.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As such, many businesses can be left frustrated because in
their attempt to disrupt the market they can actually have hit the “destruct
button” on themselves. Let me explain why….Disruption just sounds exciting right? Think about your next
meeting and starting with, “Okay team, we need to disrupt the market to drive
our next phase of growth!” I sincerely doubt there will be one person who will tell
you that it sounds like a bad idea. Compare this with the concept of an alternative start to a
conversation – “Okay team, we need to run some efficiency programs to cut costs
and drive our next phase of growth!” Now if you are managing that team you may
have people worried about being the target of that efficiency and, as such, you
may end up with only a few murmurs of support.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Being disruptive
relies on our employees <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So why not turn that disruption initiative to be internally
focused to drive employee satisfaction, business efficiency, margin
improvements and who knows perhaps even customer growth? We tend to forget
sometimes that it is the people of our organizations that actually makes it a
business, who determine the culture of the way we work and most importantly,
represent the business to our customers. If they cannot be positive about their
place of work and products or services they offer, then what chance does your
business have in seeing sustainable growth?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are in an era of rapid innovation, where many aspects of
our business can be digital in the way we work whether that is for
collaboration, building products or solving customer problems. Many people look
at their path to digitisation as simply being the next step of the evolution of
their business, build an application, put more documents online, provide
collaboration tools to staff and customers. However, these elements are more like
the partial ingredients of a cake, and if the ingredients are not complete nor
added with the right measures, the resulting changes can actually prove to be of
detriment to the business.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>A shift in how we
operate<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The path to digitisation within a business therefore needs
to be looked at from a business disruption perspective, what will be the impact
on people, processes and existing systems? A disruption in fact is where the
digitisation can be the agent of change, but actually represents a fundamental
shift in how the business operates. A disruption agenda in the market seeks to
drive competitors to figure out how they will adapt to catch up with this
change and the same can be said for an internal disruption – however positive
it may be. Leaders will need to consider the broader impacts of this change on
the way a business operates today and how digitisation will require a change in
the way teams work as well. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is where I believe it will be smaller businesses that
will succeed at internal disruption faster as part of their path towards
digitisation. The reason being is that smaller businesses can’t afford to
customise, request developers to change their software or build something from
scratch that fits their needs. Smaller businesses need to leverage available
functionality and if that means a change in a process or the way a business
operates then so be it. Smaller businesses are like speed boats. They may not
have the scale to impact an industry as much as large businesses can, but it is
a lot easier to change speed, direction and possibly even the shape of their
business.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A large business on the other hand is more like an oil tanker
as any decision taken will have an impact on the waters around that vessel and
the wake it leaves can result in faraway beaches being impacted by unexpected
waves. However the time it takes for decisions to actually have an impact can
be a lot longer and therefore much like an oil tanker the route needs to be
planned, impacts understood and the action plan to realise that outcome. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Digitisation of a business is no different and like an oil
tanker many large businesses will believe they can simply use their weight to
push for outcomes they are looking for so that the digital components they
select work within their existing business model. This is much like asking a
ship engine provider to simply strap the new engine into place where the old
one used to be. We already know it wouldn’t work as the new engine will probably have
different controls, interfaces, locking mechanisms and so on. Asking an engine provider to change all of these elements to
simply fit in with the needs of the ship will most likely result in the engine
not delivering the same output as was originally hoped and could actually mean
the ship is worse off. You will therefore have simply paid for an expensive
piece of hardware with no benefit to the business. Digitisation is very much
the same, there are some exciting capabilities out there, but the more a
business forces changes of the tools it uses the lesser the benefit that it
will bring.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Digital disruption
requires organisational change<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Digital disruption can be a powerful tool for a business, as
long as it is considered simply as that - a tool – the broader change within the business needs
people to engage in changing the processes, ways of working and evolving the
culture of an organisation. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If your vision is delivering customer excellence that of
course doesn’t change, but your goals as to how that is achieved may need to
evolve. There are many partners that a business can work with in driving its
own digital disruption, but I would recommend you consider for a moment that
the functionality they are developing is based on understanding the needs of
many businesses across our increasingly connected world. As such, if there is a
feature or functionality that you are looking for that doesn’t exist, consider
first if it is the way you are running
your business that needs to change BEFORE trying to customise the software
thousands of other companies have been able to work with as is.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now of course if we follow this journey on its natural
course many will say “well, that’s all fine and good Nathan, but actually you
have just found another name for business efficiency”. Efficiency which will
still result in roles being lost or teams being made redundant. Of course this
can always happen, but I believe this can actually be reduced, by digitising
the workforce. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>A shift to digital<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A shift to digital doesn’t mean roles simply disappear, it
means different types of roles are required, I am sure there will always be
some roles that are made redundant, but that isn’t about becoming digital those
are more to do with efficiencies within a business that most likely already
needed to be changed. We live in a world where we have three unique working
generations; those for whom email and mobile was the biggest development of
their time, those for whom social media was a significant change and our
youngest workforce where the perceived challenges are more about reverse
integration into a business that doesn’t seem as technology driven as their
personal lives. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Collaborating with
different generations<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I view these different generations as an exciting time
because it will require all three groups to make any digital disruption
possible, for the moment one of these groups doesn’t embrace the change then
the disruption is doomed to fail. We need to ensure that we have diverse groups
helping to define and evolve the digital capabilities of a business so as they
are usable by all, for both internal and external customers. We need these
groups to aid in the coaching and guiding of others in how to make the change
from a user’s perspective and lastly we need to ensure we have the cross-functional
engagement that no one is left behind. For this reason I view that more roles
will be created and with training and encouragement it becomes more a change of
role than an outright “your job has been replaced by a computer!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Disruption remains an exciting concept and I believe when
brought into the business and adopted as part of a change vehicle on the path
to digitisation, it can drive significant business value. We tend to associate
disruption with something that can have a market impact, which it definitely
can, however having a business that can disrupt itself into driving change,
that will lead to sustainable growth will ultimately establish a business that
is then set to disrupt the market with a business able to support. This
will be executed through creating a culture of collaboration, understanding and
most importantly employee pride, because an organization that sees the value in
the disruption it brings to itself will quickly become your biggest sales and
marketing engine when it comes to disrupting beyond your businesses home.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-46731530349422629682016-07-15T09:17:00.000+08:002016-08-01T13:37:33.015+08:00News Flash – Innovation is dead!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is a theme I have heard a few times in the last few weeks,
at a technology forum recently, in a BBC article and on a tech forum. So have
we become so comfortable with our technology these days, that we are no longer
pushing ourselves to innovate? Have we reached the peak of our technological
achievements? Is the supposed tech bubble finally going to burst? Well it sure
got me thinking, especially when I have set up this blog to understand the
impact of people and technology on each other, I mean if it really is the end
of tech I might need to close my blog … (dramatic silence). Shock! Horror!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Seriously though, it did get me thinking about what is
driving this growing theme of technology stagnation? In the amazing world we
live in, why would people feel we have reached a period of innovation
stagnation? I learned from a development coach recently that there is 10% truth
in anything someone says (yes you know who you are!) and hence felt that this
was a good place to start. We have had some amazing technology developments
over the decades; The Mobile Phone, Putting a Probe on Mars, The Internet – and
I am sure many more I could mention, but are these really representing the end
of our recent technology improvements? I mean if people are saying it, some
aspect of it has to be true, because as we have also learned in our
increasingly connected world, perception can quickly become reality.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have seen some amazing developments recently, but it is
not so much the developments themselves. Rather, I find something amazing has
happened in the realization of these developments; they are no longer referred
to as ’technology innovations’ but more simply as ’industry innovations’. The
ability for doctors to operate using a virtual operating room, using robotic
hands and cameras as if they were really there. Or for Manufacturers to now use
3D printers for manufacturing, or my personal favourite to have driverless cars
on our roads – despite some of the recent incidents. Now these are all quite
recent innovations – in my view anyway – but there are two things happening in
our society that we need to be aware of. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. Technology has now reached a point where it is infused in
every industry, whether traditional or new, to the point that new jobs exist
within these industries that are no longer ONLY about the core discipline (whether
that be Medicine, Manufacturing or Engineering), but about how technology is
being embedded into that industry. I love for example that IT managers in a hospital
are not there to make sure the network remains connected, but to ensure the
systems directly supporting Health Care services are running at peak
performance. Or the Programmer working on self-driving vehicles, who needs to
ensure the code used to speak to the ‘road aware devices’ are running properly.
I believe this development has moved forward so much that the jobs of the
future, for those seeking roles in the technology space, will rapidly evolve
into multiple specialisations across industries. For example, you could become
a Medical Engineer or a Manufacturing Programmer. I have previously talked
about the concept of the changing profiles of roles, but that was merely from
within an IT perspective. Where we are headed with cross disciplines - with
technology and innovation playing a lead role, is even more exciting! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. The lifecycle of innovation is actually now moving so
fast that we are no longer seeing the leaps that we have in the past, in fact
in many areas the life cycle of innovation is now occurring in months and no
longer years, which could have led to the perception that innovation has simply
stagnated. Technologists now have access to platforms and tools which help to
rapidly reduce the cycle of innovation from the drawings on the back of a beer
coaster, to a working model - whether software or even these days hardware.
Many innovations failed to see the light of day, because our ability to promote
those innovations was limited to what we can see - and the era of social media means
that our world has never been smaller. What I mean by that is Innovations are
no longer successful based merely on who has physical visibility of them in the
real world, but now they are successful based on who can view them in our
digital world. Platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo are creating the
funding enablers for people, anywhere in the world, who share a common interest
or a belief, to connect. Kickstarter alone has supported over 100,000 creative
projects raising over two billion US dollars to date a figure which I am sure would have some VC's envious! This to me, raises the
view that innovation is being realised faster, broader and with a greater
chance of success, because these crowdfunding platforms are not only bringing
in funding, but also evidence that there is interest in that creative idea,
whether it be technology based or Fashion or even food! I share this with you
as I believe this growing crowdsourcing trend is accelerating our innovation
journey - and businesses are starting to catch on that crowdsourcing is not
only a great source of ideas, but when an idea is supported it can immediately
translate into customer demand, as Lays found out when developing a new chip
(Hmm Cheesy Garlic Bread)!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These two factors of technology now being embedded in
everything we do, along with the speed with which new ideas can be realised are
in my view, key drivers for this perception of innovation stagnation. In fact I
think it is the speed with which we now see innovation occur, that gives us
this perception that it has become stagnant, much like looking at a wheel that
is spinning so quickly that it appears to be standing still., Technology
innovation is occurring so often that we are now forced to filter out what is
relevant to us. I spent an evening looking through some forums and came across
some exciting products such as Evadrop, Seatylock and Phree (I should note
these are ones I picked out at random, but there are many more). These are exciting
innovations, which on the surface can seem small and without the impact that
the arrival of the mobile phone did, however if these innovations realise their
ambitions, they could change the world we live in and hopefully encourage
others to open their minds to the possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So to answer the question ‘is Innovation dead’, well in my
view… no, but I can understand why people would see that it is. The era of huge
technology leaps has past and the era of constant innovation has arrived - an
era where technology is embedded in every industry and where the speed with
which concepts and ideas can be realised, is faster than ever. So fast in fact,
that it can seem we are viewing simple development steps. Yet it is the development
platforms now available, that are creating the opportunity for innovations to
be developed quickly and either realise their potential or fail fast and avoid
the risks of high cost failure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ultimately we have entered an age where we are embracing a greater appetite
for risk - in trying out new ways of working or other concepts, knowing that if it
doesn’t work the first time we can try, try and try again, as we continue to
refine our innovations in an iterative process across days or weeks instead of
years. I look forward to the next era where innovation merely becomes a class
you take in school and where you learn to create new concepts and new ideas
with the platforms that start-ups and other businesses are using today, so that
Innovation doesn’t die, far from it, it simply becomes a way of life.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-43622809470909907692016-03-04T09:56:00.002+08:002016-03-04T09:58:18.413+08:00Who's watching now?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
With recent news topics covering the “standoff” between the
FBI’s ask for access to `the San Bernadino Killers’ phone and Apple seeking to
stand up and protect the privacy of its customers with concerns this could
quickly become a default ask for all devices, ironically, I am getting a sense of
déjà vu from almost 15 years ago when operators were facing the same debate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
15 years ago, governments and their security agencies were
asking telecom operators to share their voice and data information for people
deemed a security risk or to investigate a person’s activities prior to an
event that happened - criminal or otherwise. At that point, the world was up in
arms as to what this would mean for personal security or for that matter
privacy as governments were able to
track what people were doing and where they were going. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, over the years this has become a norm and, although
not always accepted, a balance has been established where the operators report
to the public on how many times they are asked to share information by the
relevant government agency. What is interesting here is that this data is quickly
becoming irrelevant as we move to digital and start to reduce our use of mobile
platforms like traditional voice and SMS. With these traditional platforms, operators
have had visibility of the activities of individual’s voice and messaging communications,
whilst in our digital world all communications are increasingly moving to IP or
Internet based services. This makes it incredibly difficult for operators to
keep track, if they can keep track of the information at all.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I recognize that it is not only telecom operators being
asked for end user information, but also the over-the- top players like Google,
Apple and Facebook among others, and that they report on these regularly to the
public. However, we need to recognize that there is increasingly ony one common
source when it comes to telecom services, over-the-top services and other
applications and that is simply our mobile phone. A little like our wallets
used to be with our ID, credit card information, loyalty cards, receipts etc,
with all of this now digital it is the mobile phone, which will increasingly
become the centre of security discussions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is therefore not surprising that in recent surveys when
people are asked what they would be most worried to lose the “mobile phone” is
becoming increasingly prevalent<a href="file:///C:/Users/D624478/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/WJ41L40N/Look%20who%20watching%20now_clean.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>,
versus a decade ago when it was their wallet. The simple reason for this being
we store more of our lives in our phones and online that anywhere else these
days. Government agencies can approach credit card companies or operators and
even online providers to ask for data about an individual, but the one area
they are still trying to gain access to remains the phone. The documents,
photos, message exchanges all have a common source instead of trying to debate
access rights with all of the individual platforms.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I raise this because at some point the “national security”
card will get played by government agencies and businesses could end up being
forced to comply, similarly with what telecom operators have been through
already. I would like to suggest to these handset manufacturers and over-the-top
providers to start collaborating together about how they can protect the
majority and isolate any handset access to be limited to individual cases. Perhaps
there is a unique code that is created based on mutual compliance between the
vendor and a government agency for an individual handset, that is to say avoiding sharing access to all
phones through a generic override code or similar, which governments could
then gain access to whenever they should so choose. In combination with this,
then provide visibility to the public as to how many devices the government
agency requested access to and how many devices they were given access to. Now
this is just a suggestion and the important point here is for the digital
community to think through a proactive approach of how they want to engage
government agencies rather than being forced to comply with some all-encompassing
banner of national security.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our world continues to change and we need to remember that
our lives, which were once paper-based, followed by analog and mobile, are now
quite simply digital. Combine this with many governments that continue to fear
what they don’t understand, the result is raising concerns on information that
they believe exists, but are unable to see or control. In a digital world,
where the data we create and store is growing exponentially every day, of
course it is impossible to track absolutely everything. However, perception can
quickly become reality, as governments and their associated agencies will
continue to want to gain further visibility of our digital lives. So, we either
act proactively and educate through defining an engagement model which protects
the majority of people and addresses data sharing when only absolutely critical
for the protection of society, or digital businesses will rapidly become the
victims after a few cases under the banner of “National Security” become common
place.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I appreciate this is a fine balance and many people will be unhappy with
the idea of giving up privacy of our personal items, some will say this must
be defended at all costs, but there are precedents already and I fear simply defending will result in a outcome none of us are happy with. I for one would rather know there is an
understanding between digital providers and governments as to how this will be
managed in the future before it becomes a case of turning on my phone or tablet
and asking myself the question “Who’s watching me now?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div>
<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/D624478/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/WJ41L40N/Look%20who%20watching%20now_clean.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <a href="http://blog.zixcorp.com/2014/09/survey-says-individuals-would-rather-lose-wallet-than-mobile-device/">http://blog.zixcorp.com/2014/09/survey-says-individuals-would-rather-lose-wallet-than-mobile-device/</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-55167466472814056932015-11-17T09:46:00.000+08:002015-11-18T11:23:57.662+08:00Ctrl-Alt-Del<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
We all know what happens when we press ’Ctrl-Alt-Del’ on our
keyboards – well, at least I hope you do, otherwise you may find this article rather
uninteresting (now, I know a few of you just checked by doing it, so welcome
back to the story). When we perform this ‘three button miracle’, we get to see
the task manager, i.e all of the active applications we see on our laptop. Imagine
for a moment, that you have closed all of those active applications and you are
left with a desktop with no activity. Would you continue your work by simply
reopening what you closed, or would you think about how you would do things
differently? <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In today’s “digital world”, we are increasingly comfortable
to evolve our collaboration choices, social media, applications for our phone
(yes, both for fun and the more serious activities). This is often because
there is a better tool for us to use, or the tools we have aren’t working in
the right way, or we simply want a change. Interestingly though, most of us don’t
do this in our business environments. Think for a minute and ask yourselves, “Why
do we do the ‘Ctrl-Alt’Del’ magic combination”? Perhaps our application isn’t
working, or our PC or tablet is running slow? Are we worried that our device is
stuck within a loop and can’t move forward from? Now, consider the business
environments we work in. These reasons can seem very similar, yet our response
tends to be a shrug of the shoulders and we continue to push through. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As you read this, consider for a moment that you could ‘Ctrl-Alt
Del’ your business. Take a moment to pause and reflect on what is working, and
think about whether your processes, systems and tools are doing what you need
them to do? Which ones are consuming too much time or resource? As you reflect,
you may also sense a glimmer of hope – that idea that pops into your head of
the “What if?. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However. then the reality of how complicated or hard it can
be leaps to the front again and the hope is gone. I encourage you to force that
“What if” concept back to the front just for a moment – let it breathe and
consider a minor application or toolset in your business that could be changed
with minimal effort and would help your business start to realise the impact a
pause and change could have on your organisation.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, many of you will say, “But Nathan, we are already
doing this we, are going through significant change as the market evolves”, or “We
have tried it before and ended up in the same place”. I tip my hat to those who
have not only achieved a rethink, but equally to those who are continuing to
try. Without this commitment to change, then businesses will continue to plod
through using what they have. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In essence, businesses can’t simply pause and then create a
change. It needs to be embraced by the leaders of organisations. Congratulating
one another for doing something new, without understanding how to create the
right environment for it to be continually successful will simply doom it to
failure. One such example was for a start-up business unit which was a
business’s efforts to pause and use a fresh approach to change direction for an
area of their business where they were being challenged by competitors.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was fortunate enough to have a discussion with the start-up
business unit, working under a large parent company the other day (no, not
mine!), where they were being given conflicting direction – “Go forth and
conquer this market as a disruptive player!”. Sounds great, right? However,
this was followed by the second part of the conversation – “You must of course
remain within the architecture and capabilities of the parent business so as we
maximise our assets”. Now, after being ready to jump for joy, I was left
staring into my coffee cup hoping that my disappointment for their predicament
didn’t show. Unfortunately, this is very common for many incumbent businesses
seeking to jump on the start-up bandwagon, without truly understanding the
changes they need to make in their own thinking when considering what they set
out to achieve. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the case of this business unit start-up, that change from
the parent company needs to be in giving them the opportunity to be disruptive
or accepting that the goal in establishing the business unit is to disrupt the
broader organisation. The latter would require some serious commitment, and a
jump off a sizable cliff given the risks it may be perceived to have within the
business, particularly as in many large established businesses, the employees
are the culture, and they represent the way of working – hence changing this
overnight can be challenging. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In this case, providing that new business unit the
flexibility to define its market approach, its IT architecture and ultimately
its culture will help to define its success. Of course, we can say “But what if
it fails?” At least, if it stays within the way of working of the parent
company then the assets and people can be reintegrated into the business”. If
this is your thinking, then I’m afraid you will never know what success could
look like. We don’t see business start-ups wondering about how they might
mitigate failure, but how can then create the best chance for success. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Hackathons” are a great example of how businesses can
create the best chance for success, and to date have always been synonymous
with technology led businesses, and in particular start-up environments. The
idea of throwing a problem into a room with some really bright people to design
and develop with a new widget or code to address a bug in a platform is
increasingly common. I would however propose that hackathons become the tool of
choice for our ‘Ctrl-Alt-Del’ moment. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Once we pause our business, what are we going to do? How do
we ensure we don’t go back to our old ways of working? How do ensure our staff
embrace this change with us? In any organisation, there are lots of bright
people in their field who are keen to get more involved and with the right
tools, they can have a phenomenal impact
on helping to improve the way a business achieves its objectives. The people
that make up an organisation want their business to be successful; it’s what
makes it a great place to work, so leveraging their commitment and channeling
that willingness to succeed through these types of tools can create a great
environment for change.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: PMingLiU; mso-fareast-language: ZH-TW; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This for me is why leaders really need to ‘Ctrl-Alt-Del’
their businesses and have a serious think about the way they are running their
organisations. Can it be done differently? Yes, I hear some of you saying – it is simply impossible to change your
business given how long you have been working in that way, but I say give your
teams a chance to embrace change, a change made of their own interest,
engagement and outcome. It might start small – from how a team collaborates, or
how you engage with your customers, but ultimately if it gets the business
thinking about the “possible”, then that can only be a good thing … right?</span></div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-13209516307774792852015-11-05T15:43:00.001+08:002015-11-18T11:26:15.252+08:00We built a house!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ok, so it’s not a physical house but we have built a new
business in Indonesia. I can tell you, having previously seen my first home
being built, it feels very much the same. In any construction there are a number of key
factors to consider; managing the timelines for the project, ensuring
contractors don’t blow out the budget (this is a biggie), adapting to the
required changes as we learn what works best and above all ensuring the
customer is happy with the outcome. In the case of my first home, my customer was
my wife, and in the case of building this business, our customer was the
Indonesian market.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When building this business or “digital house” as I call it,
we learned there are a lot of great technologies in existence that can be leveraged
to build a business’ operations and business systems. And for anyone that knows
me, exploring these new technologies was like placing a kid in a candy store
and giving them some money to fill a basket – don’t worry I was well behaved,
for the most part. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ironically though, I don’t believe it is the strength of our
technology that will drive the right outcome for our digital house, but more so
the less predictable elements that will define the successful build of our
house - quirky people! Whilst quirky people are not necessarily sought to build
a physical house –in the event the
bathroom may end up in the kitchen and a shower in the study – we were
fortunate to have some amazing people on this project. It wasn’t just their
knowledge that assisted us, but their ability to think outside of the box, and consider
the unusual and unconventional ways to approach the deliverables for this unique
program. Simply put, they needed to be quirky!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were a lot of unknowns in the building of this house –
from how we could integrate into the
local operator’s business and operating systems and avoiding significant
upfront investment to ensuring we were compliant to local market regulatory
policies. Importantly we also needed to ensure that whatever we built would
support the business’ key goal in serving our customers in a new and
differentiated way. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can appreciate anyone who has worked in a start-up before
will be thinking, ”well Nathan, as a start-up that’s pretty straight forward
and common”. However, I would ask you to consider that this is a joint venture
between two incumbents that were running successful businesses in a prescribed
way for a long period of time with clear views on how they felt the business
should be established. This isn’t in line with a common start-up model. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The approach we took therefore may have appeared normal for
a tech start-up, but for two incumbents it was a leap of faith to change the
approach in addressing these challenges, whist driving the outcome that would
enable a new business to grow. It wasn’t possible to simply run through a check
list – what we needed was people who would adapt to the changing landscape as
we learned more about the market and business environment we were operating in,
and challenge what was possible (or equally not viable) and what was needed to
adapt to the needs of the local operator.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What was imperative in building this digital house was the
need to change our way of thinking, focusing on quick outcomes in small steps, empowering
our teams and accepting that failure could and would happen. It is very easy to slip into an approach of “that’s
what we have always done” as a reason as to why we shouldn’t try something
different, I can’t count the number of people who were happy to tell us “that
won’t work”, or “you can’t do it that way”. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is where we get to the next critical factor - you need
people that are committed, and almost stubborn, to ensure that they stay true
to the journey that is being defined. You also need an understanding boss who
will give you the flexibility to pull this together without losing faith in
what we are able to achieve (thanks Boss!). There were times when we would
question ourselves – “are we doing the right thing?”, and “should we back off
and simply accept that near enough is good enough”. I am glad we didn’t as the
outcomes we have started to realise are down to that commitment to the goal.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Equally, the team knew we would not make all the right bets to
address both our current and future requirements. As such, we needed to make
sure that we had some flexibility moving forward. By taking a cloud platform
approach to all the technologies that we introduced offered us the flexibility
to evaluate functionality, without feeling we were committed to the tools that we
were using in the long term. Yes, there would be a revised integration effort
if we changed out an element of our architecture. However, that was better than
being stuck with a physical platform for five to seven years that we would have
to keep customising to the point that it could no longer be changed out without
a complete new build.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The cloud approach
has also meant that our costs for the platforms are directly correlated with
the growth of the business. Yes, there is a case of initial capacity, however
this is minor compared with the scale we can grow these platforms to as demand
increases. Lastly, the hybrid nature of our cloud environment, which extends
from Indonesia across international markets, ensures that we can be compliant
to evolving regulatory requirements in Indonesia whilst leveraging the benefits
of different cloud platforms.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another key aspect has been the way that we have engaged our
suppliers. Every conversation has started with, “how do you interface into
other systems?”, “what use cases can you share about that integration”, and “what
best practices have driven the development of your systems?” The reasons for
these questions were because we knew that to maximise the value of the
technology we were using, it was more important to have systems that would
naturally talk to each other and had done so before, versus our own team having
to build a system to translate between two systems – as if we were trying to
help translate between two completely different languages. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To this end, it became clear to us we were building a “digital
ecosystem” or a collection of technology partners that would need to
interoperate to ensure we could serve our customers in a valued and
differentiated way. This ecosystem may evolve over time as we find different
technologies that will help us serve more effectively in the future. Fortunately,
by remaining true to the approach the team has taken, will help to ensure all
new members of the ecosystem understand the requirement for interoperability.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have now established a Service Provider in Indonesia with
no network assets, nor any voice infrastructure. Admittedly, we have had to
build a private cloud to meet local market criteria, however the majority of
our technology is cloud based. We are developing a culture where the teams
succeed or fail together, and where we do fail, we fail fast, dust ourselves
off, understand why we fail and then move forward again – but always as one
team. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are also now serving customers and gearing up to expand
our portfolio, but the house is clearly built. To that end, in building our
digital house; the operating license is our foundation, our walls are the
tools, platforms and processes we have created, the roof is the governance we
use to always make sure there are no leaks in what we have built, the windows
our experience centre to show customers a view of what we can provide, and the interfaces
connecting our systems together is the cabling. We can now see where we need to
improve the house - where the walls need finishing and where the roof needs to
be maintained, but none the less we now have a house! <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, our digital house is still just a shell. It’s the
people who work in it that are making the digital house our digital home, and
ultimately will be the ones who welcome our customers and partners in as we
seek to change the customer experience and serve the Indonesian market with our
version of kopi and thee.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>This article is dedicated to the Implementation team from the past year that
had the patience to work with us, the passion to drive us to
complete our goals and never accept near enough as good enough. We recognized that this success will always be bigger than any one person and that we all should reflect on the role we played in realising the building of this house. I would especially like to thank the team for putting up with my crazy ideas, passionate discussions and occasional singing in the corridor!</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-20523123471415373992014-07-04T08:28:00.002+08:002015-11-18T11:57:17.915+08:00Are we ready for Government 3.0?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
I always enjoy writing about what I am seeing in our
increasingly technology influenced world. I am sure you would agree that some of
the things are exciting and have improved our way of life while others a little
less so. This blog explores a subject that urgently needs to be examined and I
believe, action needs to be taken, before there becomes a gaping hole in the way
we live our lives. I know dramatic, but
read on.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As our world becomes more “technologically digital”, the
role of government needs to evolve. Of course some of you will say governments
are already on that journey, you only have to look at their efforts to have twitter
accounts or even a Facebook page (yes they exist and some are quite scary!) to
see they are at least trying! OK fine,
I’ll give you that, they are evolving. But
let’s call this “Government 2.0” and define it as: “governments providing
online services, as well as access to, information”. What they really need
though, is to evolve to the next stage, in the digital world and begin to
understand (and hopefully take action) there will be laws that need to be either
written or rewritten to support this evolution. Easier said than done, right?<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Think for a moment about how quickly we see new innovation
compared to what it was 10 or 20 years ago.
Today the rate of technological change means that governments are struggling
to keep up. Ultimately this has led to, or will eventually lead to, governments
establishing new ministries (state departments) focused on technology. Now, I
am not talking about evolving a telecom regulator, I am referring to the need
for dedicated ministries (not a shared government portfolio) focused on
protecting businesses, people and even government from digital conflicts or
disasters. This requires a rethink of existing laws, policies, education and
state run programs. Admittedly, some governments have started down this path,
but think about the Secretary of State, or the Secretary for National Security,
I believe it is time to introduce the Secretary of Technology as a core
government department to address the broader role Technology is playing in our
daily lives today.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s a thought for you - at the rate of change, to our
digital world, we are led by world leaders, Supreme Court judges and others who
have not been born during the digital age – not a bad thing but does place them
at a disadvantage. Also bear in mind
that governments have attempted to influence the digital world on their terms
by either blocking out online information, ignoring it, or feebly attempting to
engage through casual posts, etc. only to become very upset that someone has
the audacity to respond to something they have posted negatively, as if their
view is beyond repute (?). Now I want you to consider a Google vs. Apple court
case going to the Supreme Court in the US for resolution. How do you think this
will play out?<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trust me when I say that my aim here is NOT politics. I have no political stance other than to have
you, as my reader, appreciate that we do need to evolve our thinking. In fact,
I think we need Governments to evolve to a 3.0 operating environment similar in
a way that we now see the web moving into a Web 3.0 iteration. Consider for a
moment the briefings that government panels have on natural resource
availability, the environment, national security, etc. Shouldn’t there be one for technology updates?
Our technological world is evolving in months now not years, and soon I expect
that will be weeks. Consider thumb print technology identification, commercial
air drones, self driving cars, etc. all of which are already and will quickly become
common place. Do our air and road laws need to change? Does Personal security
need to be driven more by governments or global organizations to ensure
standards for personal devices?<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Don’t get me wrong, governments are attempting at different
levels to stay ahead of this but, as an example, do you think blocking an IP address to protect citizens from inappropriate content is enough? Should people
have the choice to have content removed if they don’t like it? Or chase down
that disruptive influence? Think about recent government interventions when
they have simply “disconnected” the web…really?
We all know astute web users who can find alternative ways to stay in
touch with the outside world, through satellite, mobile phone, remote vpn’s,
etc. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, it is not all doom and gloom. I have been impressed
(scary but true) with the Californian state government empowering individuals
to request their social media presence be deleted when they reach 18; or in
Europe where the European Union has legalized the right to request that search
results be removed by those who perceive their privacy has been or will be
breached. Lastly the growing debate around Data Sovereignty is seeing some
exciting discussions led by governments as to hat policies and laws are now
required. Of course these are great steps, but are we just painting over the
cracks. There is a bigger issue forming and that is the need for awareness and
education. This is going to be critical if we are all going to live in this
digital world. Would we need the Californian law if our children and even us,
as adults for that matter, were taught the power of the net and the
responsibilities for self that go with it?<br />
<br />
We need to educate the public and
create the appropriate laws for things like: stalking someone through the web. Does this have the same legal implications as
it does in the real world? In both cases
it certainly has the same damaging emotional toll on the victim. How about defamation? This is something we
are familiar with in print media, but it is more so now on the web than ever
before – especially in Social media circles. What if children and adults
understood that all acts online were actually treated in the same way as if
they were in the real world? (Imagine having to ask permission from your
friends each time you wanted to share something of theirs on the web … look out
Facebook!)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
I do hope this has given you some food for thought and I
hope that there are some government types or thought leader types out there who
will contribute to this discussion. I
would love to hear about a government who has formed a Technology Ministry or
department that is able to consider the rapid evolution of technology, the
increasing role it has in our daily lives and the need to protect and educate
everyone on what is and isn’t appropriate. Of course some will say the web is
an open place and should be self regulated, however we must always bear in mind
not everyone has the same level of technology understanding and education. To ensure the web is a part of everyone’s
life, we need to be able to provide people with the same level of safety and
self awareness they have come to know in the real world. I strongly believe governments and other such
institutions need to evolve hence it is not a question of if but more how long
we will have to wait for Government 3.0.</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-25573789278761651722014-06-23T21:58:00.000+08:002014-06-23T22:14:42.204+08:00The web is a highway; I wanna ride it all night long<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Ok I don’t mean literally but, I would like to know that I can access the internet for content, services and socializing, wherever, however and whenever I want. Doesn’t everyone? However, this reality is under threat from the growing relationship between Content and Service Providers in the form of a discussion called Net Neutrality.<br /><br />Net neutrality is a topic which I don't think is really going to go away and is something that almost everyone has an opinion on. Although, I don’t believe these views are really addressing the core problem. What I mean by that is, they are focused on demand for high capacity content exceeding the network’s monetary ability to supply along with its inability to dynamically scale to match the unpredictable nature of content. What we really need is a new approach, one which protects the customer experience in how they can access the internet both from usability, cost and prioritization, but doesn't get in the way of the education, commercial value and social aspects of the web. <br /><br />Just recently I read again that video is dominating the web, but what is interesting is video downloads are still not used by everyone. Despite these downloads growing in demand, there are always different profile requirements. People could simply want to read the news, access their online services such as banking, government services or simply communicate with friends. However, with high demand services in the form of online video, gaming and content sharing growing this can place high strains on networks. Now, currently the content owners are happy as they have the ability to monetize their services either through direct payment or subsidized through advertising. You could of course ask the question why now is this a problem? The likes of Google, Microsoft and even Baidu, have been around for a long time. Yes, but it is the acceleration of demand, for high volume video content, that has changed the game and what is elevating the topic of who should have access to the multiple highways making up the web and ultimately who should pay for it?<br /><br />Network providers would argue that everyone needs to pay for their content. Naturally, one would think, that it is a lot easier for an established player to pay an access fee on networks to reach their customers as compared with startup firms. As expected with startups, every dollar that leaves the company can detract from a dollar invested in their new solution or offering they have created, thus creating a canyon sized gap between the big players and those introducing new concepts and innovations. As you can assess, this then is not a viable option for the ongoing evolution of the web. <br /><br />The OTT (Over The Top) players would say well let's open the network and force operators to treat all content equally. This of course would leave the operators in a dilemma of trying to balance the scale of required support for the volume of traffic, the costs for managing that network combined with the prices that customers are willing to pay. The OTT option is simply not viable. Either operators would eventually be run into the ground or be faced with expensive customer service costs as best effort becomes synonymous with not good enough. <br /><br />I would therefore like to propose a third option. Associate price based upon the load on the network. We could do it the same way that many major European roads fees are, paid by drivers, based on the weight of their vehicles. By doing so, we will encourage the right behaviour, as they will all understand that I am getting what I am paying for. If a customer wants to watch something in real time, whether that is video or gaming, they either pay an incremental fee or the content owner allocates parts of its revenues to the operator carrying that traffic. This will encourage content providers to think with operators in solving the problems regarding how they can optimize traffic, avoid expensive replication of Internet live streams and ultimately think through the problem leveraging the creative force of the OTT community. Of course someone will say, there is already a mechanism to pay more when you want to download more, isn’t it as simple as paying a higher price for buying a faster broadband connection? This may be true when it comes to the local connection piece of the equation however, remember this is a mesh of highways and it is those who are pulling down the large files that can clog these highways. I believe we need to provide users with a choice, three choices actually. One, pick the slower lane and you will receive your file when it is ready (paying lower costs), or two, if you simply must have it now, pay for it be downloaded faster (pay higher costs). The third option is to have your content provider subsidize you for the download (costs vary). In the end we will all need to work out a model which protects the user experience whilst not inhibiting the access and personal choice on how to download content. This does not mean that network providers are let off the hook, network providers must be held accountable for the quality of the user experience to whomever is the paying party to ensure they are equally held accountable in driving innovation to improve the network experience for each customer, as well as maintaining healthy diversity in how we access content to ensure competition and therefore choice.<br /><br />We need to remember that the Internet has become a utility. It is one of our most important commodities and it requires, OTT players and network providers alike, to figure out how we can not only continue to ensure its survival, but also leverage it as a source of innovation and service creation. It is an innovation and resource that everyone can and should benefit from. Bottom line is it shouldn't matter whether you want to read a newspaper, watch a live football game or socialize content with friends. For all of us, the web has become the all important highway for information, collaboration and fun. The web is a highway and well, if you are like me, then you’ll want to continue to ride it all night long too!</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-91149023130323927592014-05-08T12:54:00.000+08:002017-08-29T12:00:55.729+08:00Lost in Translation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
I love technology, but if there is one thing I have learned
over the years, it is that it is really irrelevant how much you know about the functionality
of a particular widget. The decision to buy a service is no longer
about how “shiny” or “rich” a service is, but how it can be relevant. We have
reached a tipping point where the traditional buyers of procurement and IT are
no longer front and centre in the buying decisions. These individuals are being replaced by the
Business Unit owners and customer facing functions, a shift which requires a
fundamentally different type of conversation and one which is causing many challenges
for numerous ICT related industries.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Big bets”, or big changes, are increasingly a thing of the
past, especially as ICT services become more on-demand. This change gives
customers the ability to transform much easier than in years past. Therefore, businesses
need to evolve their thinking toward a new approach of differentiation…one
towards relevance as it pertains to the business and the new decision
makers. We need to shift our language
from the bits and bytes to understanding the challenges and opportunities that
exist and what it can mean for the business. As businesses start to become more
granular and focused, on tracking outcomes from individual initiatives, their
expectations from suppliers equally change.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the things I love about my job is the opportunity to
listen to business owners regarding their ambitions for their business, their
key challenges and where they would like help. In speaking with them, I begin thinking about
the role I can play for that person in translation and/or understanding of what
he/she is trying to achieve and the solutions out there that could help to
solve their business challenges. If you are going to be meeting new business
people there are three key tips I would suggest you do ahead of time. First, learn
about who you are meeting with, what are their priorities and key goals?
Secondly, how do they actually measure success for their business and industry?
Finally, how can you help them to bridge from your understanding of feature and
functionality with the insights of the above? <br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let me be more specific, I am not talking about simply
writing a script to accomplish what I’ve suggested above. You need to truly embrace
and understand these questions and make them part of your approach to doing
business. If you are able to do this and can then change the way you have a conversation,
this will leave you feeling like you have had a positive impact on someone’s
life and or business. Now this is not to say I will stop talking about
technology. I simply love technology, but I love it for the same reason I write
these blogs. I want to know the impact technology can have on people and to
understand how we as individuals can influence and shape the evolution of
technology. Technology plays a growing integral part of our daily lives, from
the watch on your wrist to the self driving car; our lives will continue to be
impacted hence the need to understand how we want technology to add value
versus trying to make the functionality of a new widget work for us.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am reminded by a
great Simpsons episode (stay with me now) where a techie is attracted by Homer
Simpsons offer of fast internet but when the techie asks: <i>“I'm interested in upgrading my twenty eight point eight kilobit
internet connection to a one point five megabit fibre-optic T-1 line. Will you
be able to provide an IP router that's compatible with my token ring ethernet
LAN configuration?”</i> – Now you could be forgiven for thinking and those
things are what? - but in basic terms he is looking for an internet upgrade and
one that will not require him to change any hardware at his home thus keeping
his costs low so as he can visit the comic book store and buy more magazines
(seriously!). Now of course the obvious question is, “well then why not say
that?” I often find myself having to remind people that functionality is great
but unless it has relevance to the person you are trying to sell to (or in the
case of this Simpson episode – buy from) then there is not much point in
starting a conversation.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the case of Homer Simpson and similar for many businesses,
there is a need for a new type of translator – one which can help people and
businesses translate features and functionality to demonstrable business
benefits, in the language of the customer or partner. This is something that I
love to do and moreover enjoy seeing that “light go on” when the translation
has been successful and everyone around the room gets excited about the outcome
they are then working towards. Without these translators of the future, it is
going to be akin to a meeting of two foreign countries, where gestures and
pictures is all that is able to be used to explain anything which will
ultimately result in a loss of translation moment and leave many people with
that Homer Simpson expression as their only answer … “Can I have some money
now?” </div>
</div>
</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-26494939121040510092014-04-16T14:29:00.000+08:002014-04-16T14:29:43.377+08:00Fail fast or suffer slow<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Telstra recently released its Connecting
Countries thought leadership report, which was based on a survey of some 4,100
executives across Asia capturing their views on best practices, challenges and overall
business performance in the region. It was exciting to read that there were a
number of management lessons that businesses can take with them as they seek to
invest into Asia as well as an insight into the profile of an Asia Business Champion
– one who doesn't only recognize best practices but also lives and breathes
them. While there were a number of
takeaways from the report, there was one
which jumps out at me particularly as it relates to driving success in an Asia
market place. One of the key management lessons for success in Asia was looking
at the need to move forward with multiple growth strategies concurrently.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Now I have always believed that a person cannot
multi-task (despite my numerous attempts to try!) hence this strategy could
only ever exist for a large size business and not an individual or SMB. But the
need to look at multiple strategies is important for international businesses
to consider in order to balance the potential risk of one failing due to
internal or market challenges. I must make clear though there are limits to
running multiple strategies. A couple of years ago for example, one vendor
shared with me their plans to run 25 new initiatives in parallel. Now I don’t
care how big you think you are or how mature your strategy execution process
is, but when you talk about multiple strategies to this degree it is simply a
death warrant for the strategy itself and puts the business at risk of losing
its way. I am glad to see that San Francisco based vendor has since realized this
and re-evaluated how many initiatives it takes on at the one time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Now when a business is looking at multiple
strategies it needs to understand the levers it can use, for example how
quickly a strategy decision can be moved into action and equally, how quickly it
can be shut down. These days it is increasingly common place that a strategy is
dependent on people, systems and communication. Now, we know we have the
ability to redeploy people to other projects and – as hard as it can be at
times – sometimes people choose or must move on , however for Systems and
communication platforms we often have to make investments that tend to have a
pay back only after 3-5 years,. This can cause a challenge as businesses then
need to assess how they can mitigate risks to drive a strategy to a positive
outcome. For this reason it is important for businesses to adopt what is
increasingly being known as a “Fail Fast” principle. The Fail Fast principle
looks at prioritizing initiatives that need an investment based on requiring
limited capex and leveraging platforms that can be turned up quickly and
equally turned off with very little delay post a decision, if it is not
working.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Take for example the idea of replicating a
solution into a new vertical, which might require assigning people temporarily,
adding system capacity for marketing
campaigns, tracking opportunities and managing customer deployed solutions. But
what if all of this could be set up within weeks and taken down even quicker?
Would that make you rethink your prioritization of business strategies and
equally consider additional initiatives, knowing your investment risk is
significantly reduced and not committing the business to years of investment?
Well hopefully the answers to both are yes, if not then perhaps a multi path
strategy is not for you (either that or you have money and resource to burn).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Historically this would have been a
challenge; however the virtualization of IT and communications means that
businesses are now more empowered than ever to introduce the Fail Fast
principle into their strategy decisions. Now considering the feedback from the
Connected Countries survey that businesses need to consider multiple strategies
in order to achieve success – at the beginning of this article it would be
perfectly normal to think this is only achievable by either very large
businesses or for those who have learned through expensive or painful
experiences of what strategies work and equally which don’t. However hopefully
now you are thinking about how your business could introduce a multiple path
strategy by leveraging the advancements of technology that exist today,
combined with the key principle in defining which strategies to go after based
on their ability to align to a fail fast approach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">We are not talking about transformation or
changing the way your business operates. This is very much about understanding how
a business can be successful in a market like Asia where the only constant is
change. But there are clearly multiple market opportunities and with the right
approach – as demonstrated by the Asia Business
Champions – combined with the right principles, businesses can create the environment
needed to succeed by failing fast, which ultimately has to be a better approach
than suffering slow and not reaping the rewards of a multi path strategy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">You can find the Connected Countries report at the attached link - <a href="http://www.telstraglobal.com/connectingcountries/?concountries=tgbanner">http://www.telstraglobal.com/connectingcountries/?concountries=tgbanner</a></span></div>
</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-60981162918239482052014-03-25T20:24:00.000+08:002014-03-25T20:24:27.717+08:00Leopards need to change their spots too<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
We associate Leopards with being fast, agile, and adaptive –
something many businesses would love to aspire to or believe they have already
achieved. However, think about that Leopard for a moment lacking the ability to
maintain a sustainable pace, using up all of its energy in a very short period
of time and spending a lot of its time resting to conserve energy. Now doesn’t that sound more like many
organisations you know of, expending large amounts of energy but finding that sustainable pace in a market of change?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In our work environment we increasingly find organisations that
need to adapt to the changing market around them. But, I would propose that it
is the constant adaption, customisation and “tinkering” of applications and
systems that really restrict a business’s ability to do just that. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Consider for a moment how many changes you requested from your
supplier to ensure your application or system would operate effectively based
on your current ways of working. And now consider how frustrated you were at
the supplier’s lack of understanding of your business needs. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next, consider what your company did when looking to adapt
to market changes or a shift in strategy. I am guessing – as tends to be the case – you
invited in your suppliers and told them there would be a number of change
requests required as updates to your applications and systems were needed to
ensure they evolved with the needs of your business. What happens next is the
response you receive from your suppliers is an extensive program of system
changes, which are significantly more expensive than what you had expected. At
this point the inevitable happens and we introduce that word that every
strategy leader hates … compromise. You are then entering a phase of your
business change where you need to balance the necessity of change with the
market need to change against the cost. The end result is that the costs
continue to increase, you don’t receive the changes you were hoping for and you
ultimately end up setting up the business to fail, not fast mind you, just a
slow and painful death.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I share this with you because, given the world we live and
work in, there is a need for a fresh approach to business. An approach which actually requires an
organisation to change, a change in the way it works and not necessarily by
overhauling existing systems and tools. As strange as it may sound it is
increasingly crucial for businesses to avoid customisation as much as possible
so they can adapt to the market quickly and avoid expensive system overhauls.
Of course people will say “well hang on Nathan we need to customise those
systems if the market is changing.” Well, I would challenge that there are two
approaches businesses need to be taking to ensure sustainable growth in today’s
market.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first is by moving to standard components and interfaces. With this, you are then able to consider
vendor replacements. By forcing the use of API’s, or application interfaces,
you can replace components much more easily without the need of a potential
full rip and replace of all systems supporting a process. This equally ensures your business can
regularly validate the latest capability from CRM systems to Billing systems
and even, dare I say, communication systems. How often have you found yourself
frustrated just after launching a new platform, application or system that a
capability had just been added that would have benefited your organisation? Need I say more?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second key approach is to look in the mirror more often.
Instead of the levers you seek to adjust
being limited to third party components, look into your business at the people,
processes and ultimately ways of working that you have established and ask
yourself, how often have these actually changed over the years? I am not talking about rearranging the deck
chairs, I am referring to real changes in ways of working to ensure 1. that a
business can maximise the opportunities that change can bring; 2. to ensure
that sustainable growth is understood as the journey. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first approach is strengthened by the introduction of
cloud based architectures, which means you can consume what you need, and
equally adjust to new market developments quickly. I appreciate some elements
are more difficult to change than others but, by starting with a view that
everything can be changed, this will ultimately create the right environment
for success. Cloud capabilities have created new avenues for businesses to feel
more in control of the risks their business chooses to take and equally the
opportunity to leverage the latest technology at each step of the way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second approach is a lot more difficult because no one
likes change. Change can cause a stall
in business performance and ultimately comes with its own risks. However,
people will accept and equally embrace change, as long as you can articulate
the benefit to the business. Whatever those change may be, understanding the
business need first is the most important element.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Speed and agility are crucial business elements, but without
simplifying the tools and ensuring the business adapts to the market change,
all that an organisation will achieve is declining profitability and increasingly
demoralised employee engagement. I am always intrigued by business leaders who
share how confident they are about their business, but it is those businesses
who recognise that being as agile as a leopard is not enough. Sometimes you
need to change yourself in order to succeed and the tools round you may enable
part of that change, but unless you are willing to change your own spots you
may find that the speed you have is only enough to spin your wheels and not to deliver the continued momentum.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-60792940077065760872014-02-19T06:02:00.001+08:002014-02-19T06:18:46.295+08:00Time to get out of the box!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mobile Operators are at the crossroads of an exciting Journey.
They need to choose to become the best of breed connectivity player delivering Internet access, Talk and text services, OR become a
next generation services provider delivering multi-media and end user applications. Now I am not here to pass judgement or to say
which is better (ok I do have a view), however they must choose a path as trying
to dance between the two will only cause increasing prioritization challenges
and conflicts of investment strategies. My intent with this article is to open
the eyes of operators so that they may see an opportunity before them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In order to move forward Mobile Operators need to get back to what
they were known for, when Mobile Networks were the next best thing driving
innovation and service creation. Remember
when we couldn't send more than 30 characters in a message, or the first time
you viewed the Internet through your mobile? I mean, come on, how cool was
that! The status of Mobile Networks going “All IP” has finally arrived and
hence a new horizon has been reached! So,
what are we going to do differently?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Despite a growing view that Over the Top (OTT) players “own the
customer relationship”, I suggest you ask yourself this simple question: “Who do you call when you can’t access
certain content or make a Skype call or even view your Google maps?”…. The
majority of us first call our mobile operator, with a common statement of “Hey,
I can’t access my Apps, Content, or speak to my family whilst trying to avoid
your expensive long distance charges!” In my view, if the operator is being
asked to be accountable, then shouldn’t they leverage the role as a
differentiator as well? Operators have a great chance to remove demarcations
and show their customers a true value service, where predictability in end user
costs are provided – therefore reducing bill shock when accessing high bandwidth
services; and where customers can choose what type of content they want.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I believe, there are some very exciting services that Mobile
Operators should consider, if they haven’t already, offering to their
customers:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><u>Media</u>:</b> This is the most obvious avenue, given Mobile
networks are moving to an all IP network, they can now prioritize and
effectively optimize traffic to balance quality of experience whilst minimizing
loads on the network to minimize impact on other customers. There are equally
exciting opportunities to work with local content providers and/or
broadcasters. Operators provide significant value in that they can provide very
detailed information on the profile of the individual watching the content (no
this is not about selling information, but about profiling a customer base to
drive demand and more importantly relevance of advertisements and content to
the end user. This is something broadcasters fail to do today when we are
watching on our TV’s at home, Yes Broadcaster and Content providers can predict,
based on time of day but that is really it, to have the opportunity to know ,
who is watching what type of content and when would increase the granularity
and market insights. This means broadcaster could tell their advertisers that they
could increase the profiling of viewers for specific shows and ultimately
realize a better ROI for their programming. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><u>Applications</u></b>:
Yes we all know the demand and “stores” of applications are expanding rapidly, however,
they remain tied to specific Operating System stores and as such, remain
difficult to share amongst friends with different operating systems. Mobile
Operators are quite unique in that they don’t care if a customer prefers an
Iphone over an Android, or Nokia above Blackberry (hey it could happen).
Therefore, consider an application store, which is run by the Operator, where
customers are able to recommend applications to friends, create apps and share
them across a broader market without worrying what Operating System their
application is based on or what type of device their friends choose to use. And because of this, they then see the
relevance and value of a Operator enabled store that much faster! Equally,
local hosting of the applications improves customer experience for the
application owner – especially for the growing number of high bandwidth
demanding services, as well as localization of Internet traffic. For
Application developers, in local markets, it is always a choice of what app
store do you start hosting your application on. Yet, mobile operators have an
opportunity to help the application developer access multiple Operating Systems
and, at the same time, promote their particular application to a broader
audience. The value for the operator, as mentioned earlier, comes in
optimization of those access applications across their “all IP” mobile network
and I would suggest sharing the advertising monetization with the app developer.
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><u>Service
Bund</u></b><u>ling</u>: Historically we have looked at bundles based on a
mobile device, phone line and access to the Internet. But, these days, all of
these elements are a given. Why not change this to become: access your top
three social media pages, favourite content sources and/or applications? By
collecting all of this data, Mobile Operators can then share with the customer
what other content or apps may be of interest based on similar profiles without
divulging personal data! Equally in understanding these preferences for
customers operators can start to prioritize or optimize traffic to ensure
customers receive an exciting experience whilst also working with the content
or service owner to consider hosting high demand services with the operator to
reduce overseas Internet expense and improve performance.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><u>Advertising</u>:</b>
This has become a fact of life, whether you like it or not, it is here to stay.
We see ads everywhere on line and where the Mobile Operator can add value, is
to use this to help the customer gain access to content and services at a lower
cost. Before you skip past this idea, consider for a moment an option to buy
into Ad categories which are of relevance to you and use these as credits to
offset your new profile based service bundles or expand your bundle to other
services at little or no extra cost. We have tended to forget that the
Advertisers will consider all avenues to reach their potential customers as
long as they are more likely to view the advertising. Let’s face it, if you
know the ads being shown are of relevance and then you are more likely to click
on the ad. Combine this with basic profile data of Day, Time, location and
personal preferences to create the greatest likelihood of interest for both the
end customer and the advertiser. in the end it is the operator who is actually
facilitating the relationship and making it beneficial to both!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mobile Operators are at a cross roads, they have the
capability to redefine the customer experience through optimization,
prioritization and packaging. The “all IP” network means it is much easier to
introduce over the top services which could be viewed on laptops, mobiles or
tablets (and increasingly TV’s!) The traditional Over the top providers (OTT’s)
may become agitated with this approach, however, in my opinion; it is
ultimately what we have been missing for some time. A healthy competition and a realization that
mobile operators have more than one choice, when it comes to delivering a
content and service rich diversity and high quality customer experience. It is
up to the OTT players to excite the operators in how they are going to partner
in service creation, customer growth and end to end service assurance. OTT’s
have a choice to make as Operators are now in a position to shop around.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mobile Operators therefore need to identify the role they want
to play, build the above capability or identify the partners (not suppliers)
who they can work with to achieve the same. However, whatever the decision, the
end result MUST be that they take responsibility for the end to end customer
experience and that is only possible if they embrace the Over the Top model,
recognize that the era of talk and text is moving to all IP and OTT players are
increasingly challenging mobile operators for this space. Going all IP means
Operators can now leverage the growing standardization that Operating systems
for mobile devices have brought us and ultimately it is the OTT’s who have
provided the opportunity to Operators to create their own services, or as I
like to say perhaps now is the time for Mobile Operators to go “OTT to the
OTT!”</div>
</div>
Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775241200029689204.post-43533558541816360352014-01-20T08:28:00.000+08:002014-01-20T08:44:01.434+08:00Driving Change in 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The internet as we once knew it is no more</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The worldwide web used to be a “go to”
location for all our information needs, where we would consume online content and play games has now become
a recognised utility no different to electricity, transport infrastructure or water.
Over time however, the internet has also evolved to become a critical delivery
platform enabling a raft of new services. Where we once read news or simply
sent emails, we now use this “utility” to bank, shop, access business
applications hosted in the cloud, watch the latest TV shows and listen to music,
as well as interact with our friends, family and peers (ok and for me play the occasional online game!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">APAC is experiencing rapid growth of connected
devices. This proliferation of devices – such as smartphones, tablets and
laptops – allows us to connect to our networks remotely, highlighting the
fundamental alterations in how we use and interact with technology. So much so,
many of us haven’t even noticed it has taken place. For instance, consider the
younger generation (yes it seems I am no longer part of that group!) who no longer refer to “going online”, they are simply
accessing applications and services with little or no regard to how they get
there or where they exist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Given our changing relationship with the
online world and its growing importance to our general day-to-day lives,
businesses are increasingly looking at how they can maximise its value and the
consumer insight it delivers. This is driving significant technological change
within IT platforms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As organisations across APAC embrace the IT
transformations that are underway – particularly in cloud, big data and mobile
– and embark further along their journeys, there is a significant opportunity
for businesses to better serve their customers through technological change while
growing the bottom line. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A New Era of Cloud in 2014<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
We’re entering a really exciting era for cloud
technology. Over the past year alone, cloud providers have increasingly
discovered their individual and unique cloud plays – whether it’s supplying to
specific industries or public, private or hybrid platforms – and have expanded
their services accordingly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">One-size no longer fits all, and in 2014
businesses can expect to realise the benefits tailored cloud platforms deliver
as providers begin to offer solutions designed to individual customer needs. As
providers recognise their strengths, they will also identify partnership
opportunities with vendors offering complimentary technology to their existing
portfolios.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The progress we’re seeing in the cloud will
also filter into the business network itself in 2014, where we’ll increasingly
see networks being defined by dynamic needs of business functions and the introduction of
business process service level agreements (SLAs). For instance, cloud platforms
will be linked with traditional on premise applications, such as a CRM or SCM
environment. This will enable the network to reshape itself and categorise its
applications based on current activity levels so that network traffic and the
needs of remote workers can be easily managed and prioritised.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Innovate in the Cloud<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This year we’re also going to see a growing
number of applications developed by businesses, a trend enabled by the
fail-fast culture of cloud. Today, businesses are more willing to develop their
own business applications as they are educated on the flexibility offered by
the cloud. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They simply need to buy the
relevant computing space to test an idea, and then shut if off again when the
idea has run its course. This means less risk and the cost of exposure for the
business is greatly reduced when compared to the previous options and methods
available.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">With the cycle of applications being delivered
and created gathering momentum in 2014, t<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7775241200029689204&pli=1" name="_GoBack"></a>he Enterprise App
store will arrive on the scene as CIOs provide employees with a selection of
applications endorsed and supported by the organisation. Until now this has had
limited success, but with widespread adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
and publicly hosted secure applications it will be an increasing focus for
businesses seeking to enhance productivity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Collaborate and Share<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Businesses that deploy application programming
interfaces (APIs), allowing developers to design products based on an organisation’s
services, will also achieve success this year. For instance, businesses can
build their web conferencing capabilities into another web-based application,
such as instant messaging, enabling seamless collaboration and communication
between individuals. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The reality is that organisations rarely use
applications in siloes, meaning those vendors offering API solutions this year
that increase collaboration with complementary products and markets stand to
benefit from increased sales with their customers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Intelligent Insights Deliver Results<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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In recent times, big data has been more akin
to trying to drink from a fire hydrant - we can access a lot of it but have
little time to digest it. In 2014 however, businesses will start applying
different lenses to data sets so that they can identify what is relevant to
them or impacting upon their business. By focusing on the data that is relevant
to them, businesses will be well placed to optimise their services and customer
experience, similar to that same fire hydrant being attached to a water
dispenser allowing us to choose what type of water, colour, and temperature we
are interested in extracting at any point in time.</div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Looking further ahead into 2015, businesses
will start to use the data they are collecting to predict future activity or
the impact of unforeseen circumstances. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
will be driven by the ability of Smart Data platforms assessing patterns and delivering
forecast and trending data enabling improved business planning. For example, if
a customer pays for their movie tickets via near field communication (NFC), the
mobile operator could identify the most frequent days the user visits the
cinema, and send them discount codes for these dates. Over the coming years,
this approach to data analytics will become an extension of who businesses are
and their operations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Drive Change<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Today, businesses across APAC have access to an
unprecedented amount of tools and services from a variety of IT vendors, which
is driving greater confidence in identifying innovative ways to address
business challenges. Additionally, businesses are being forced to understand
and adapt to the way consumers use and interact with technology from the
devices we use to the ways in which we choose to engage with vendors and
service providers.</div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Encouragingly, businesses are being very
proactive and the next 12 months will be telling as more and more companies come
to grips with the technologies making a real difference to their operations. Ultimately,
the approaches being adopted will introduce increased business elasticity which
will aid in addressing the two biggest ongoing challenges of business today: risk
mitigation and bottom line profitability.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Well that's my view on the world, what's your's? Feel free to share by commenting on this blog!</span></div>
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Nathan Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617874470202762824noreply@blogger.com2