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Showing posts from April, 2017

Winning Strategies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

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For executives, transforming an enterprise is always difficult, but when an enterprise is highly profitable - digital transformation is even harder. The temptation to follow the maxim, “Don’t fix what isn’t broken,” is just too compelling.   "When you average 8% same-store sales [growth] for 35 years, it can breed a sense of, 'Why do we need to change? Things are working,'" John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, said in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal.   Today, however, Whole Foods is struggling to compete with other lower priced grocery stores that have embraced organics and healthier foods.   If you take your eye off the game for a second, consumers will change directions on you. The challenge enterprises are faced with today is that digital technologies are changing the way consumers behave faster and in different ways than executives have ever seen before.   Today’s profits can hide or mask the serious problems of tomorrow. Competitors can’

Digital Transformation - Mindset Differences

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One of the biggest epiphanies that emerged from our research for the report, “ How Digital Thinking Separates Retail Leaders from Laggards ” is the difference between leaders and laggards. Digital leaders see digital transformation as a positive, while digital laggards express far more fears and concerns related to digital technologies. In fact, almost 72% of digital laggards are concerned they are wasting money by investing in digital technologies, but only 25% of digital leaders share those apprehensions. In our analysis, the worries expressed by some digital laggards are justified, as they may be the result of existing IT environments that are incapable of delivering a real-time, contextually relevant and personalized digital shopping experience. These concerns may also stem from leadership’s unwillingness to adopt a digital mindset or invest in the required upgrades, technologies, doctrines, strategies, skills and business processes to elevate their organization’s digital wher

Digital Transformation and Time-Space Compression

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Speed impacts us in many different and unexpected ways.   It can alter how we perceive the world.   For example, a person might say they live 5 minutes from town.   Five minutes of walking is a third of a mile.   Five minutes by automobile is 5 miles - b y airline it could be over 40 miles.   Our perception of five minutes, and the distance and space that can be covered, changes as technologies advance.   Our expectations about what can be accomplished in 5 minutes are transformed.   Instead of one hour of shopping in a brick and mortar store, we expect to accomplish the same in one minute online.   Dr. Paul Virilio a “philosopher of speed” wrote that increasing speeds destroy space, compress time, and alter the way humans perceive reality.    Time-space compression occurs as a result of technologies that seem to accelerate speed and reduce distances.   Digital technologies such as broadband internet, IoT, smartphones, social media, webcams, Skype, mobile messaging apps, satel

Chatbots Rising - Learning from Oracle's Suhas Uliyar

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I had the privilege today to interview Oracle's mobile and Chat Bot expert, Suhas Uliyar.  In this video interview we discuss the four components of Chat Bot development, how they utilize mobility platforms, sentiment analysis, APIs, personalization, decision-trees, AI and much more.  Enjoy! Video Link:  https://youtu.be/2A8oaJr1dcY    Follow Kevin Benedict on Twitter @krbenedict. ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Senior Analyst, Center for the Future of Work, Cognizant View my profile on LinkedIn Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict Subscribe to Kevin's YouTube Channel Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies ***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the compan

Analyzing Retail Through Digital Lenses

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In 2016, total worldwide retail sales reached $22 trillion, of which digital commerce makes up $1.9 trillion, or 8.7% of the total. While the majority of retail sales still occur in brick-and-mortar stores, overall growth is predominantly driven by digital commerce, which was expected to expand rapidly worldwide at a 23.7% growth rate in 2016, and by 2020 to represent 14.6% of total retail spending of $27 trillion.  Of course, digital commerce numbers vary depending on the product category. Online sales penetration for many product types – electronics, apparel, furniture, home improvement, etc. – are significantly higher than worldwide retail sales projections, while categories such as petrol, convenience and grocery have a much lower penetration. In the U.S., sales at department stores fell almost 6% in 2016, while online retail sales rose 11%.  As a result, bricks-and-mortar retailers have been forced to re-evaluate their business performance, and many, such as Sears, Macy’s, Ae