Credit : Kevin Lim

As you know I love to research and share my thoughts around Mobile market trends. My quest to find out if mobile trend is truly a billion dollar market has been successful. I spent last 2 weeks doing research to find out what companies are building and why they are building them.

I could not believe the solutions that were available today in our marketplace. I think they are very impressive and attractive for consumers. I think the next 5 years will be a life changing experience for all of us. Mobile solutions will truly change how we interact, share and collaborate with each other. In addition, they will also save time, money and resources.

What I am planning to do is share my research on Mobile Killer apps in 3 part series. This will help me share killer solutions that will either help you save money, time or resources.

With future due, here are my top 5 killer mobile apps that focuses on saving you time.

1. Diacarta : I was mesmerized when I saw the video on Youtube . Imagine an app that helps you plan your day more visual. It not only helps you make right choices but also helps you drop appointments that are not good for our health.  You know what I am talking about! This app allows you to create a picture of your day by adding an icon for each activity.  They have 50+ icons to make your day amazing!
2. PaisaGate : Would you like to track your expenses at the time of your purchase. Now, lets go one more step further, would you like to plan and manage your budget & expenses any place, any time in a centralized way. Paisa Gate is a blessing for mobile families where you spend track budget and expenses easily. It is a money management service that helps users with budget planning and expense tracking using SMS, mobile application or online interfaces.  The service enables users set up a budget e.g. home budget, family budget or project budget and track expenses against that budget – thus helping users increase their net monthly savings each month. For me it is my time that is maximized!
3. Roadify.com : Have you ever been frustrated to find parking and public transit nearby. Not anymore! Roadify is a new mobile platform that will let you know about parking and public transit in your close vicinity. All you have to do is send a text message and you will receive specific traffic and transit information. What a time saver solution! Download today..
4. ScanBizCards.com : Do you remember the time spent on finding the business card? I do, I spend way too much time looking for business cards. Personally, I am always looking for the right solution that can help me manage my contacts easily. Now we have a mobile app solution which takes scanning your business cards one step further. You can act on the new contact in more ways than one (twenty five, to be exact). For example, you are allowed to send the new contact an email introducing yourself the moment that he has been added to your address book. You can also invite the new contact to catch up with you on LinkedIn. When you add a contact number, email address and URL will become highlighted, and you will be able to use such data by merely tapping it.  If you had agreed to phone or get in touch at any specific date when you first met the person and you exchanged cards, you can always add a calendar reminder in order not to forget doing so. What a great interaction!
5. Ubercab.com : We all have been waiting for cabs and they don’t stop for you. I always imagined why cannot we have a mobile app where we can easily request a car service. Ubercab actually read my mind. The basic premise of this app is letting you hire a vehicle (a high-end sedan) using your iPhone. An app is designed for us to request a black car limo service within a reasonable amount of time (IE, a couple of minutes) for about half the cost of hiring a cab. Isn’t that cool! I have not personally tried this service. Waiting for an opportunity to give it a try!

This is just a start! Keep your eyes open for killer mobile applications that will dazzle your life. Share your thoughts!

Picture Credit – Scoobie 1993

Few weeks ago, I started reading the book ‘Head, Heart & Guts‘ by David L Dotlich, Peter C. Cairo, and Stephen H. Rhinesmith, which focuses on building complete leaders. Chapter 5 caught my attention because it was dedicated to “Getting Things Done”.

Well, to get things done you need to make many decisions! Don’t you? I wanted to understand the art and science of decision making. To make it an interesting learning experience, I reached out to my favorite Linkedin Group called Leadership ThinkTank.

They are an active group of leaders who voice their opinions and insights to make a difference. I posted my discussion topic: “Decision Making – Why it is not easy” and got 35-plus comments. I personally want to thank Randy Pound, Jeff Hoffman, Bill Frazier, John Haran, John Prpich, David Knowles Leak, Navneet Nayar, Graham Courtney, Naved Khan, Michael Redpath, Amulya Kapoor, Fiorenza, Laura Eardone, Chandan Singh, Olga Hengi, Kirk John Larson, Amanda Bouch, Galen Tom, Bogdan Motoc, Lynn Ferrari, Dr Mark Kilgallon, El (Rick) Beets, Joseph Noone, Gaurav Gupta, John Manning, Rajiv Lochan, Carole Lalonde, Russ Cheeseman and Jose Luis Romero for sharing their deep insights on this topic.

All the comments I received were great, but these two struck a chord with me and got me thinking:

• Indecisiveness is fatal. Go for the 70% rule: 70% assuredness, 70%confidence, 70% due diligence, 70% consensus, by Joseph Noone
• The best decisions are made with the heart, or the intuitive mind, by Laura Coldone
• What separates the inspirational decision versus the emotional decision versus the intellectual decision ? It is all relevant to the mind set and the setting of mind focus in the process of making the decision. The complexity of the simplicity of this process is fascinating, by David Meeker
• Decision making required , trade skill set, knowledge, experience analytic power and a cool head by Arun K Singh

Here is a summary of results on the topic from some of the best leaders on the planet. I recommend following the tread on this topic.

Top reasons for identified for Indecisiveness:

• Very few of us were taught “how” to make a decision, so most of us struggle with the process of making a decision
• Do not want to take responsibility
• Not sure whether it’s the right decision
• Avoid a possible disaster
• Habit to delegate decisions
• Does not want to say “yes” or “no”
• Does not make decisions at all
• Unclear about the Change
• Clarity on outcomes and priorities. Decisions can have scary, painful, unexpected and unintended consequences.
• Fear of failure if you make a bad decision or things just turn out badly.
• Many people actually end up solving the wrong problem, which guarantees disaster.
• Not knowing what decision making tools to use in a given situation
• Not knowing where to get the information needed to support or disprove propositions
• Not knowing who to involve in the process

If you look there are so many reasons, that can stop us from making decision. The statement that made total sense to me was Randy Pound’s take: “Decision making is an art only until the person understands the science (process).”

Here are some strategies the community shared that will help make decisions and getting things done easily!

• Define clearly what the “decision making” is to the decision itself. The definition should include the entire process, including understanding the need, engaging key stakeholders, ensuring effective communication, assessing alternatives, developing consensus, making and planning the decision, communicating, executing, and following-up on the decision. In other words, decision making is a process . . . not an event. (Quality of Data – By Randy Pound)
• Getting quality advice from people you trust and respect
• Go for the 70% rule: 70%assuredness, 70%confidence, 70%due diligence, 70%consensus
• Get out of your comfort zone
• Become accountable and answerable to you and your team
• Identifying the “stoppers” in my life has made the act of decision making much easier.
• Implement a easy process : Define Problem:Develop Alternatives:Evaluate Alternative: DECIDE: Implement & Mointer: Adjust (start the process all over again)
• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s simply rule: If you have consensus on an important matter, don’t make the decision. Adjourn it so that everybody has a little time to think.
• When there is a committed focus, decisions come easier as the internal computations are quicker, sharper and to the point in regards to the goal vision.

Getting things done is easy if you make decision making easy. Let me know what you think?

Related Articles:

• Corporate Decision Making
• Decision Maker Org

Picture Credit : Soul Motor
When I hear about mobile, the conversations are all about the market opportunity size is in Billions.  It is really true and amazing to see such a great opportunity ahead of us. Here is my summarization of “Billion Dollar”  market opportunity data facts from many data sources.

• About 2.4 billion mobile phones have been sold around the world last year, and globally there are more mobile phones than PC’s – source: GSM World
• Worldwide over 350 billion text messages, are exchanges across the world’s mobile network every month – Source : GSM World
• In 2010, nearly $1.3 billion mobile phones will ship globally, and $250 million of them will be smartphones – Source : Computerworld
• In 2010, mobile advertising is forecast to grow 45% to $3.8billion, with the breakdown being $3.2 billion SMS Advertising, $253 million mobile display and $321 million mobile search – Source: Tech Crunch
• By year-end 2010, 1.2 billion people will carry handsets capable of rich, mobile commerce, providing a rich environment for the convergence of mobility and the web – Source: Gartner
• By 2013, mobile phones will overtake PC’s as the most common web access device worldwide. The combined installed base of smartphone and browser-equipped enhanced phones will exceed 1.82 billion units – Source: Gartner
• Total  U.S. Spend on mobile marketing will grow from $1.7 billion (2009) to $2.16 billion in 2010 – Source: Media Buyer Planner
• 5 IP based products are growing: 3G Adoption + Social Networking + Video + VOIP + Impressive mobile devices-source: Morgan Stanley
• 2010 will see 500,000 mobile phone applications, setting up, a “developer war like you’ve never seen” – Source: IDC

This research atleast helped me crystallize the opportunity size. It is truly in billions. Just imagine if your product/service potential is able to capture slice of this market share, how will the revenue look  like for your business.  I would love to hear your thoughts and research insights.

Related Articles:

• Cell Phone Overshare
• How mobile phones are changing social media

Picture Credit : Respres

Do you ever wonder what people around the world are talking about? Do you wish to participate in social conversations? If there was a way you could find out what people are conversing about, I bet you’d like to know about it.
So, imagine that you are in a place where you can listen, engage and easily participate in a variety of social conversations through a real time search.
Well, I have some good news for you. You can now easily tune into social conversations that interest you. Many companies such as Sency, WhosTalkin, etc. are foraying into this space to provide us with real time search solutions, to bring social conversations to us!
Today, I have the privilege of featuring CEO of Sency, Evan Britton. When Evan reached out to me to share his story, I was really amazed by his capabilities and the solutions he had to offer. I had an opportunity to test his solution and learn more about what people are conversing about now. I felt powerful as a marketer and strategist! Let’s give it a try, shall we?

Celebrity Apprentice - Sency Search

Sency – Search
I have been following the “Celebrity Apprentice” and wanted to engage in a social conversation. When I ran a quick search on Sency, I was impressed with all that I could follow. For the last two hours I’ve followed many conversations and I am thoroughly enjoying what I can see and listen. I feel connected and empowered! As a blogger, it is one great research tool in your toolkit.
I think Sency is a research candy for marketers, researchers, and bloggers to learn about the market, people and products all at the same time. I had a great pleasure interviewing him, so here are some excerpts:

Chaitra: Evan, Can you share your story about your transition into social media and mobile computing!

Evan: I went to the first ever Twitter conference in LA in September 2009.  I felt empowered after learning that Twitter gives out their data – via its API – for free to websites. As an entrepreneur, my next step was to continue to add more functionality to the site to entice users to come back to the site again and again.

Chaitra: What is the story behind Sency and what do you plan to achieve with it?

Evan: I believe there is value in real time data. It is great to be able to get an unbiased look into the publics’ thoughts and opinions on any given topic. The next step for us is to allow the user to see what people are saying on their sites along with popular places across the world. 

Chaitra: What capabilities are changing the future and how does Sency plan to solve it?

Evan: More and more users are geo-tagging their updates on social networking sites such as Twitter. This means that a lot of the real time data can be searched from a specific place. So, if you want to know how people feel about an event, person, business, product etc. – in a particular city – you’ll be able to figure that out by running a Sency search.

Chaitra: Who are the ones who’ll benefit from your product and how can they use it to drive their marketing?

Evan: Anyone can benefit from a real time search. Businesses can benefit by seeing how people are reacting to their new product or commercial. During a breaking news event, users can benefit by seeing what people are saying at that time.

Chaitra: How is your solution aiding mobile computing?

Evan: As users update information from their phones, and also include their location, it will benefit our real time engine, so that we can let the user dig deeper and sort out information to see results from a particular place. Also, users can, of course, search on Sency from their mobile devices.

Chaitra: Any tips on how one can use your product to enhance individual productivity in the social space?

Evan: Get more familiar with the type of data you can now get from social conversations. That way, down the line, when you are seeking data and comments from various people – you’ll know how to get that info from Sency.

Chaitra: Any advice for my readers who’d like to become Sency Savvy!

Evan: Experience is the best way to become Sency Savvy. Do a lot of searches, for different types of things to figure out those types of searches, which will be of benefit you. The tips mentioned on this website can be of great help while you search on Sency: http://sency.com/tips.php
Thanks Evan for reaching out and sharing your story with us. I wish you good luck in your future endeavors.

Whether you tweet or not, Facebook or not, you still have a place to follow any kind of conversation. Sency makes that possible and empowers us to learn/connect with people easily through real time search on social conversations. I suggest that you give it a try and share your ideas to improve Sency’s experience. Evan is listening!

 I met Elisabeth two years ago at the IAMCP board meeting. I was mesmerized with her intelligence and passion to build technology awareness among women. She has inspired me and many women across the world. She not only runs a successful company, but she is also a wonderful woman — made of gold.

Today, I would like to introduce Elisabeth Vanderveldt, Co-Founder of Conamax. Elisabeth started the ‘Women in Technology’ (WIT) movement with IAMCP and by 207 made it a global movement. Today she shares her journey and passion with all of us.

Chaitra: Elisabeth, can you tell us something about yourself? 

Elisabeth: I was the first Microsoft MVP for what is now known as Sharepoint Workspaces. I helped internalize the use of what was then Groove with some of the executives at Microsoft, which was actually in use at the Gates Foundation. I was also the first female SBSC Partner Area Lead (there were two of us globally). I started the WIT movement with IAMCP and took it global in 2007 along with the community and citizenship chair. I was the first female international board member for IAMCP and have stayed on there.

I appeared on the cover of January 2009 Redmond Channel Partner Magazine and I am on the cover of Computer Dealer News Canada this month, as one of the top 20 women in IT to watch. What I am most proud of is the fact that my daughter saw fit to step into the IT world at a young age of 15, as an MCP and MCTS. Now at 16, with my help she is working to create a digital channel for youth and technology, especially for girls. And we just finished interviewing James Cameron at Microsoft’s Imagine Cup. 

As some people would know, since my days as an MVP I’ve been a keen martial arts enthusiast. In fact, I’ve been a world competitor in forms and combats. One of the most passionate sessions at an MVP conference was my mobile platform session a few years ago. I was the only woman among 50 men there. They let me have the floor when I asked for it.

Chaitra: What got you interested in technology?

Elisabeth: My introduction to technology, other than a friend’s compulsion with Pong, was as a ‘booth babe’ at a computer show in Toronto, where I met my eventual business partner and husband. Since then, I’ve taken the most aggressive steps by challenging myself to run everything from business development to cabling and even a network admin and technical writer. I am an MCDST and MCTS Sharepoint as well as a certified Software Asset Management specialist. Before that, I came up with the software concepts for four lines i.e. accounting applications that were acquired by Computer Associates in 1998. They wanted my company, too, but we politely declined because by then we’d seen where Microsoft was heading and we liked what we saw.

Chaitra: Helping women in leadership is your passion, what drives you?

Elisabeth: Oh that is so simple. I have lived through the perceived glass ceiling for almost two decades. Frankly, many of the stereotypical issues women face are true. I had people who’d ask for my boss and display utter shock when I’d point out major electrical flaws in their network infrastructure. With so few women at technical events and those that did show up, feeling a little out of place, it felt important to get the industry leaders together to find a way to not only bring these women together, but also discuss industry issues and increase the pipeline of young women in IT. I can honestly say that the network has grown beyond my wildest expectations and whether it’s IAMCP or dozen other organizations, women are just making great strides as leaders and innovators. 

And now I get to share that with my daughter, who on her own terms has dug into the industry with both heels.    

Gen Inc - Women in IT

Chaitra: What do you plan to do to assist women in IT globally, are your plans for the next five years? For the next 5 years, what are your plans to help women in technology globally?

Elisabeth : Gen INC was started recently by myself and my daughter. The purpose is to make young people aware of the industry, their options and to do as much social awareness around the benefits of technology in dealing with serious global issues as much as the consumer aspect of IT. We have a particular element that focuses on young women.  Its already evident that the interest in motivating girls (and boys) to engage in this industry is a priority of more than just women but men as well. We absolutely need more skilled IT resources and soon.  By engaging young people as role models, especially ones who have take the certification path, the stage is set to start recruiting youth to consider IT as an exciting career option. My role here is to help mould the format and then content of the channel we are building and to use that to reach the North American market but with the ability of 2 additional languages (French and Spanish) reach global markets as well. With women in the industry I will continue to promote and develop events like the upcoming WIT sessions and networking events at WPC. As I engage with more WIT organizations globally I hope to see a greater synergy amongst our groups to better broaden the breadth and depth of women professionals and leaders and encourage them to take a leadership role in mentoring the next generation of women in this industry. My last goal  would be the technology center in Bangladesh myself and another wonderful Microsoft partner have dreamed about building along with my daughter upon which she based her decision to become certified.   

Chaitra : Teaching Smart Partnering is integral to helping WIT. Why did you choose this strategy?

Elisabeth : Women by nature like to share and are great social networkers so why not put those two things to work as the foundation of Smart Partnering for women in IT. It’s that simple. What isn’t evident is that women don’t always know how to utilize those connections. I spend a large amount of time introducing women to each other and love watching the sparks fly but nowadays I try to choose women who I know are very strong leaders and try to match them up with others who feel “intimidated” in this industry even though they themselves are successful business people. What they soon learn is their own value via these relationships and they step up their game.  They also learn that there are still issues to be resolved around things like work/life balance but they realize they are not alone. From this interaction they often turn around and do the same for the next woman which in fact strengthens the foundation of WIT and allows for their own careers to blossom while setting the stage for the next person. As with all the relationships I am just as much on the receiving end of some great advice and learn new strategies that help me do a better job as well in my own careers. The benefits go both ways.     

Chaitra : Share few ideas how other can learn to implement Smart partnering to help women in business?

Elisabeth : I would strongly urge women to take an active role by participating in associations like IAMCP where many chapters have a strong female board presence. For women who are looking for great partnering opportunities with a strong global network that advocates educating partners to grow their business then IAMCP is a great first choice. Geek Girl Dinners where the informal format is a ideal for a wide range of speakers and topics helped me learn about areas of the industry and how I might adapt some of their best practices or engage some of these women to work together with me on some of my projects. Already I received a great deal of help to prepare for events this July and to get some marketing materials last minute for a major presentation.  WPC in July in Washington is also a must attend event because it allows a global face to face with many strong women leaders in our industry. It’s important to reach beyond your physical geography. Some of these women have been my greatest assets and I hope vice versa. That show also lets women connect with so many women within Microsoft and other major vendors, women who can help connect them with opportunities they might otherwise be too shy to pursue. I am never surprised by the willingness of these ladies to reach out and help one another. Chaitra you are a perfect example.

Chaitra :  What do you want people to remember after reading this feature?

Elisabeth. I want people to remember 3 simple ideas to become engaged in WIT : 

1. There has never been a better time to be in this industry as a woman
2. We have a global responsibility, women and men alike, to mentor and engage young people to take IT seriously as a career option.
3. Gender is no longer an issue in this industry so get out there and network! 

 Thanks Elisabeth for enlightening and inspiring us. I sincerely hope we meet soon in Seattle for a great  dinner and share our experiences and stories. I really enjoy every conversation we have to improve lifestyle of women in technology!

Join the Facebook : GenINC

Related Resources:

• CIPS interview
• Interview with SIKH Geek

Picture Credit : nDevilTV
Yesterday was an incredibly exciting day!  Microsoft launched Wave14, one of the coolest products to increase your productivity experience across a PC, phone, and browser and it is going to be available in 26 languages across 60 countries.  Now, let me share why Wave14 is so cool….and not because I work at Microsoft, it’s because I have been using this amazing product for the last 9 months.  The  Wave 14 Launch includes Office, SharePoint, Project and Visio 2010 and offers new technology, simplified ways to purchase, new ways to sell and of course it helps you transition to the CLOUD very easily. 

Here is what I think about Wave14 launch: 

• Products capabilities are amazing:  Products Capabilities are Amazing:  I  love the variety of features offered including the Office web apps, the conversation management features like “clean up” and “ignore” in Outlook, slicers and power pivot in Excel, co-authoring in Word, cinematic transitions, broadcast slideshow and video editing in PowerPoint, social networking, enterprise search, the ribbon, a slew of BI features, and huge improvements in SharePoint.  There are a lot of great features to explore!
• Simplified SKU’s: Licensing is complex however in this case it is very simple. Download the pricing and licensing powerpoint to get familier. 2 Key changes are :
  • From Simplified Office VL line-up’s SKUs to Office Pro Plus & Office Standard Office
  • Web Apps included as part of Office 2010 licenses (SA not required).
• Freemium version is available: Now that is what I call a cool way to test the coolest product on the planet. Download it now and tell us what you think.
• Excellent Solution for Voice Over IP:  OCS provides a fantastic voice solution for many customers and helps them save a tremendous amount of money by implementing it.  If you are doing VOIP implementation using other products, it is a good time to look into it.  You may not want to miss out on this great opportunity!
• Vendor Consolidation is Now Possible:  Most enterprise customers usually pay between 6 and 10 vendors to try to stitch their solution together and SharePoint is at the heart of this.  Why pay one company for enterprise search, a different company for BI, a third company for enterprise content management, a fourth for social networking, a fifth for internet sites, a sixth for conferencing, a seventh for email archiving and voicemail, etc.?  Well, now you don’t have to as you have a solution that can help you consolidate vendors and save money!
• Millennials are attracted to Social Media Friendly Companies:  Young people who are entering the workforce need a social media interaction to be a part of their daily ritual.  With SharePoint 2010, implementing social media within a company is very easy which means attracting millennials becomes much easier.

I hope you share the same feelings as I do…please let me know your thoughts on Wave14! 

 Here are some related blogs:

• Office Productivity by Simon Mackie
• The Digital DoorMat by Digital Dive
• Office 2010 : What does it mean for your business by Kebabman
• Big Ideas for Small business by Microsoft Small Business
• Office 2010 Case Studies from Microsoft Partners (you need be registered Microsoft Partner)

Picture Credit : Pedro Laboy

Understanding and figuring out the SMB market is usually hard. It remains a mystery for technology vendors to provide solutions that resonate with SMB owners. As per the SMB 2010 trends, this market remains a unique revenue opportunity for many technology vendors.

Now, if you want to capture this market, you need to develop a small business strategy. It usually starts by knowing the market segmentation. The current segmentation model that I have come across is usually done by “# of computers they own”, “Industry they belong”, “Type of solution/service they want”, “Pain Points” and few more. All these models are good to some extent but they don’t provide a clear way to segment this market.  We need segmentation that connects with people. Right!

Well, I recently came across the article from Forrester “Targeting Small Business Tech Buyers: The Power Of Owner Personalities” a people approach to segment the SMB market using “SB Owner Personality Model”.  I found it very interesting and compelling because it resolves the segmentation challenges we face in the current segmentation model.

The SB Owner Personality Model provides a simple way to understand the owner personality, their attitudes towards technology and how they use technology to support their business.  Below is a clear representation of the model: 

SMB Owner Personality - Segmentation Model

The article also described the SMB Owner personality and provided 7 Owner Personalities that we can apply to develop a SMB strategy. They are:

1. Second Careers:  They are hobbyists and utilize technology for direct business value. They experiment with technology and are in preparation to launch their real business. Demonstrating a “start small, get big” technology roadmap is key to their acquisition.
2. Digital Extractors: They are lifestyle businesses and seek technology innovation to keep up with their customer demand. They are relatively stable with established customer base.  Demonstrating an innovation is key to attract them.
3. Entrepre-nets: They are aggressive adopters of technology and are growth businesses that utilize technology for direct business value. Technology is critical to achieving their growth objectives. They know what they need and will proactively seek out information and solutions that demonstrates continued innovation, web2.0 frameworks and agility in technology.
4. Side-lites: They are running their business as a business. They utilize technology primarily to manage/minimize operational costs and increase employee productivity.
5. Minimalists: They are lifestyle businesses with few direct competitors. They utilize technology primarily to manage/minimize operational costs and increase employee productivity.
6. Grow-lites : They are penny pinchers and/or operating on a constrained budget. They are growth businesses because technology is underutilized. Providing solutions that reduce operation costs, increase employee productivity, grow their business and provide business insights will attract them towards your solution.
7. Technology Sidelined: They don’t consider technology to have an important role in their business. Going after this segment needs to heavily assess against People, Resources and Revenue.

When you combine this segmentation with how much money they plan to spend on technology hardware & software it will help you to develop the strategy and solutions to capture this market. 

To gather SMB owner personality data, you can leverage your current profiling or feedback mechanisms on websites, partners or helpdesks to gather insights about them.  For example: AT&T Small Business Insite and Verizon Small Business Center have applied this model as part of their online customer profiling.

Are you using any SMB segmentation strategies that are unique to capturing the SMB market. Please share your insights on how you are using your model to capture SMB market.

Related Articles:

• SMB Owners : Are you segmenting your customers?
• SMB Marketers Segment Emails by Preference, Behavior

Picture Credit : Seven Morris

Cloud computing is referred as the Next BIG Switch because the influence it will have on our community may be close to “Bringing Electricity to the Mainstream”.

Cloud is here whether you like or not. So, what am I doing about it?

Cloud is the current buzz in the IT sector. The reasons are Cloud provides a set of pooled computing resources such as Hardware, Servers, Software, application etc. that can be delivered over the Internet, scale dynamically and increase your resources on demand.

Isn’t it cool that we add IT resources at our fingertips? Well, it is the current direction for the CLOUD computing trend and it will evolve in sophistication as we move
forward.  If you are planning to keep a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace it requires you to evolve with the technology trends.

Here are my 12 reasons why I am considering CLOUD computing part of my business strategy:

• Reason#1: Prerequisite for Mobile Transformation: The Mobile workforce needs to access information from any device, anyplace, anytime. To enable mobile computing, cloud services offers scalability of IT computing resources easily.

• Reason #2:  Scaling computing resources is easy: Cloud computing offers scalability and agility to meet your business needs such as responding quickly during peak periods, provision new services and applications or innovate easily to have a sustainable competitive advantage.  David Linthicum says it well: “Mixing and matching private and public clouds is a good thing for information control, scalability, burst demand, and failover needs”

• Reason #3: Mobile Workforce is the future: With the convergence of generations such as Baby Boomers, GenX, GenY and GenZ into our workforce, mobile will become a necessity to keep them engaged. Cloud’s offering provides flexibility to meet the generation requirements.
• Reason #4: Infrastructure Elasticity: Knowledge management and storage are growing at a record speed and current infrastructure management strategy is expensive and not scalable. Cloud offers elasticity to grow and shrink your infrastructure needs as per business demands.

• Reason#5: Reduce Operational Expense: Operational expenses are reduced because you pay for what you use and costs are directly proportional to your requirements. This also helps you move your costs from capital expenditure to operational expenditure.
• Reason #6: Innovate Easily: In the era of Zero growth for IT, innovation is hindered significantly.  Cloud computing makes it easy to do rapid deployment of new software and hardware for new innovation.
• Reason #7: IT Organization as Heroes : If you are feeling the pain dealing with IT organization, cloud may be a great remedy. Cloud provides solutions to help reduce overhead on IT workforce, increase automation to help release important internal resources for other high-priority work and reduces management overhead and dedicated staff to manage systems.
• Reason #8: Green IT: Cloud computing helps you to reduce your environmental footprint since your organization will use less physical resources.
• Reason #9: Crowdsourcing becomes easy : Implementation of IDEA cloud to harness crowd intelligence becomes easier because employees, vendors, customer and partners can all engage at the same time to shape an idea.
• Reason #10: Advertising: Cloud computing and advertising go hand-in-hand. With mobile advertising on rise, we need a scalable platform that is available 24X7 to meet business demands.
• Reason 11: Smart Partnerships between Vendor and Customer: The idea of smart partnerships between vendors and customers in only a concept,
  but with cloud, all relationships will come together to provide the right offering and to ensure customers are satisfied.
• Reason 12: Limited Risk: Many of the Cloud vendors are offering 30-day trials or open to provide pilot programs to assess if the solution meets their needs. This puts customers in charge of their delivering the vision.

Cloud is very appealing, however it not as easy as you may imagine. The way I am approaching is to build a business strategy for mobile transformation and leverage cloud services as an enabler. This way I am able to take advantage of the cloud services to scale the solution while also meeting the business objectives.

So, how are you approaching the adoption of cloud services in your business? I would love to hear from you.

Related Resources:

1. Top 10 reasons to use SAAS
2. 2009- Year of Overnight Success
3. The Big Switch by Nicholas Carr
4. Top 10 reasons business should embrace cloud computing
5. Top 10 reasons why cloud computing is wave of future

Picture Credit: Leeks Photostream
Lately my time has been spent on developing a business plan for enhancing mobile sales force experience. I was doing research to understand sales people persona, motivation factors and work lifestyle, I stumbled upon Forrester article on 2010 Mobile Trends and related articles to make sales force effective.  I realized that Mobile solutions will be key to making our mobile sales force successful. 

During this research, what caught my attention is that strategic shift is happening  in mobile space and 2010 will be a key transition year for mobile decade.  I think Thomas Hussan said it all “A new mobile decade is opening up, and now is the time to start your journey. In the past 10 years, mobile phones have changed the way we communicate and live. In the next 10 years, they will change the way we do business.”  What this implies is the next decade everybody will have mobile data access and will become the norm for all users.  WOW!

Now imagine how the mobile world will transform in the next 10 years if 2010 is the key transition year.  I already feel productive with my current mobile device and I am looking forward to the amazing possibilities how our lives will be transformed. 

During this process I learned so much and decided to share my take on 2010 trends in mobile industry.  Here are my reflections on some of the changes:

• Everyone needs a mobile strategy in 2010 for the next decade to keep up with the new direction and keep up with the needs.
• Companies of all shapes and sizes as well as governments and local authorities will start integrating mobile solutions into their overall approach, rather than simply launching a few mobile initiatives. Smart partnering with companies that provide mobile solutions will be beneficial.

Now based on my understanding entrepreneurs and product strategists should move away from designing potential new phone to designing new innovative mobile based services that delivers value to consumers. Here are the top 10 trends everyone should consider:

1. Trend#1: Mobile DNA needs to instilled : It is time to embed mobile DNA in every conversation. Every entrepreneur or product strategist needs to think about Mobile powered services to deliver value added services, social commerce, mobile advertising and entertainment to consumers.
2. Trend#2 : Mobile market is bigger than we can imagine :  Mobile is one of the fastest-growing technologies ever. As per Forrestor “in the past eight years, global mobile penetration has grown fivefold — from 12% in 2000 to more than 60% at the end of 2008 — and there are approximately 4 billion subscribers around the world. The US is leading mobile Internet uptake, with about 15% of mobile phone owners using the mobile Internet at least once a month. If as expected, this grows to about 50% in the near future, mobile Internet research will enter a new phase. In Western Europe, at the end of 2009 mobile Internet penetration will reach 17% — the same adoption rate for the PC Internet in 1999 — and will grow to 39% by the end of 2014.”
3. Trend #3: Mobile will become integral part of Social interaction : Integrating social networking capability will become a standard phone feature.
4. Trend #4: Brand advertising will grow via mobile apps: Brands will use mobile platforms to build their reach.
5. Trend#5 : Mobile experience  and service innovation is critical : Developing rich media application will be key. Innovation will be accelerated by Mashups, Widgets, and Micro transactions types of services.
6. Trend#6 : “Net Neutrality” debate will continue : Operators will likely to play larger role in value chain and may redefine data access pricing. 
7. Trend#7: Mobile advertising to become the biggest ad platform:  Mobile advertising platform will exceed TV and internet by reach and by ad revenues.
8. Trend#8: Universal Translation is Common Place: Localization services that help us translate voices and text will be an area for big opportunity. Imagine, if  you point the phone at the foreign speaker, your ear piece will simultaneously translate as if you have a personal translator next to you.
9. Trend#9: Personal services to become a reality: As content, payments and calendars are integrated, concierge services such as virtual secretary, digital accountant, virtual personal trainers, virtual business managers capabilities will evolve. Imagine a phone that will help run our lives, answer our calls, send messages, order services etc.
10. Trend#10 : Business will redefine virtually every internal process : Internal processes will need to be redefined  that will leverage wireless access to information, contextual data to create new value and to reduce operating costs .

Here are some thoughful insights that I found:
Mobile Trends 2020

Hope this information was useful to you.  Please share your thoughts and feedback onhow  mobile trends have changed your business strategies?

Related Links:

• Trends
  • Social and Mobile Prediction for 2010
  • Top 5 trends that will change our lives
  • 2010 Major Trends in Mobile Marketing (Mobile Marketer)
  • 2010 Mobile Influencers
• Services
  • Top Mobile apps for creative entreprenuers (Meylah.com)
  • 20+ mobile internet apps (Mashable.com)
  • Groovr launches Mobile Social Network

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Dr. Petri Salonen Founder & CEO of Tellus International: An international organization providing management services for software- and high-technology companies that want to globalize their business. Tellus International provides an affordable alternative for companies to extend their offerings around the world.

2 years ago, I met Dr. Petri Salonen (usually called as Networking Rebel) at Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. I was impressed at my first interaction. What impressed me was his tenacity to give and partner with you to make you successful. What make him special and unique are his beliefs and values. He truly empowers people to become great by coaching and mentoring.

In my interview with him, Petri shares his vast experience about mastering Smart Partnership techniques to build global business.

Chaitra : Share something special about yourself that we don’t know.

Petri : People might not know that I have a passion for teaching. My mother is a retired teacher, my sister is a teacher. The more I look at my business, the more I see TELLUS role is to help organizations grow their business and become a coach for organizations to help them grow by doing workshops, seminars or being hired as management consultants etc…

My mantra is really that life is a never ending learning process and we have to get our kids to understand that as well… I have a passion for learning, and I guess my Master’s in Accounting and doctorate in information systems science demonstrates it. Also, my life after that has been to write books. third one in the workings.. second one coming out in May 2010…

Chaitra : Leading global business is your passion, what are reasons behind your passion?

Petri : I come from a small city (60k people) close to the Russian border and already as a young boy, I was looking at the ocean and telling  myself that one of these days, I will be doing something in the world. My passion never went away and in 1998 I made a decision to move abroad, leave everything and take my family to the unknown… This is also the foundation for my upcoming book “Boldly into the World- Balancing career and life”.

I love different cultures; I have a built-in interest to learn how people live their lives and how they do business around the world. I feel that most of the business laws and practices are similar, but the cultural differences make it both fun and sometimes challenging.

When I started my company, I wanted the name of the company to be something that means worldwide business… and that is how TELLUS came… TELLUS is latin and means “The Globe”. The funny thing is that most people think it means “Tell Us”

As a Finn, you had to learn languages, and I am native in Finnish and Swedish and have learnt German for 8 years and English since third grade in school.

Chaitra: Online growth is critical to organization success, how did you setup your global business in last 5 years?

Petri : My company was setup as a virtual company five years ago. I made a decision that we would not have a single server on site, everything should be run from the cloud. That is the way it has been since day one. I can be sitting in the Caribbean islands running my business or in my native country Finland without our client knowing about it. I am adding people to the TELLUS brand around the world and it takes us 30 minutes to get somebody into our cloud infrastructure. That is power that we did not have 10 years ago. People can be working from their homes, their offices and this mode also requires specific attitude from the people. The freedom and flexibility we give is endless. You are assigned with results and we do not care how you bring it home or where you do it. I can build TELLUS family easily and add people that have skills to bring to the table.

Chaitra : Smart Partnering is core to your business. Why did you choose this strategy?

Petri : Smart partnering is about admitting that you can’t be good in everything. Smart partnering gives you the flexibility to add resources when you need it and on top of this, they are the best resources that you can have. This model limits your exposure to risks of having people on the bench, this model also helps companies to grow and prosper on their own as well as together. This is the model that I believe in and have always believed in. This model does not work with people that have suspect motivations or are greedy. Partnerships are usually for years, not for short-term.

 Chaitra : Can you share few ideas that others can learn to implement Smart partnering?

Petri : I do simple things like:

• By joining IAMCP to learn what P2P means in real true sense.
• Connecting to other companies via social media, and learning how social media works in partnering space.
• Learning by doing.. is my mantra.. Do not expect short-term results in partnering, it is a long-term commitment.
• By reading your book, that includes many of the fine things that you can learn from partnering

Chaitra : How do you see Smart Partnering helping you grow your business in cloud computing

Petri : I see that TELLUS will grow as a company by having its own service in our research side that people will buy into. That is a big for us going forward. I also see that our reselling in cloud services will grow our revenue. We consult ISVs and SIs around the world and more and more of these companies need help in figuring out what to do and this is where TELLUS can be of help. We understand the ecosystem thinking, we understand how to build software solutions and we understand how and ISV works. This is a great educational opportunity for us going forward as I said in the first question.

 Chaitra : What do you want people to remember after reading this feature?

Petri : I would hope that they remember TELLUS as an organization that can help ISVs and SIs to figure out what types of opportunities there are in the new world of cloud computing and how these organizations should be thinking about it. I am in fact in the process of working on my third book and it will be about this huge transformation that is taking place. This book will first be a workbook for our ISV seminars that we are doing for ISVs and SIs and then eventually it will turn into a book.

Thank you Petri for incredible insight into Smart Partnering, writing foreword for my book “Partnertweet”and for sharing your wonderful story!