Firstly let me wish you and yours a very happy, prosperous, healthy and safe new year 2012. I wish you and your business will reach greater heights this year. As you make your new year resolutions and set business goals for the new year, here are some thoughts to consider.
In this ever changing world of technology how do you keep yourself and your business relevant and at the top of the game? Seismic changes are happening to business models and technology stacks with the growing adoption of the 5 forces i.e, mobile, social, cloud, analytics and big data. Your core competency and work are no longer safe from the threat of a new kid on the block or even established ones like Apple, Google or Amazon. In this knowledge economy it is what you know (that others do not know) that sets an entry barrier for others to catch up with you and eat your lunch. So do a favor to yourself and ask yourself a few questions.
What do I know about myself /my business that others dont know / cannot easily find out without experience in my field for many years?.
Note that with bigdata (see bigsheets from IBM) anybody can mine the web for intelligence that you might have spent years accumulating. Hint: Your secret sauce /trade secrets are not just how you do your core-business! Your business probably has decades worth of transactional data that reveals usage patterns, customer behaviour, and insights into how a business works in your field. Think of that as your latest addition to your crown jewels. Google, Microsoft and several others are collecting all the possible data in the world and are most likely collecting this information as well.
So how can I monetize that information before they catch up? (perhaps with a combination of the following)
Can I web enable by placing it in the cloud it to create an eco system and a dependency for others on my business? No, I am not suggesting you expose it completely so somebody else can down load it or spider it out. Make sure you establish controls to prevent that.
Can I help provide this data in a location aware context on mobile devices?
How can I use the data in a social context to increase the dependency of customers on my core data?
Can I enable this data for researchers in an aggregated form (without disclosing PII-Personally Identifiable Information of my customers) ?
Would Apple’s siri control the gates to my business? What can I do to fight it and /or join it?
The answers to these questions are very unique for each situation. If you need help to get the answers for these for your specific situation and turn this into an actionable roadmap, do let me know.
Happy new year again!
-Prasad
P.S. 2012 is not the end of the world (period) – Well, If you dont agree, my offer open to anybody is a bet – for any amount that you are willing to put in writing, that I will sign too – that the world will not end in December 2012. Any takers? 🙂
tvprasad 