Executive Insight

The Connected Consumer Era is No Longer on the Way; It Has Arrived.

A new IBM study of the media and entertainment market reveals that as consumers adopt an increasing number of digital devices, four distinct new "digital personalities" are emerging. This shift is compelling companies to adopt more innovative business models that deliver personalized experiences.

The "Beyond Digital" study paints a portrait of a rapidly changing audience that is adopting a wide range of digital devices at a dizzying pace. And, contrary to popular belief, most are not college students. For example, sixty-five percent of respondents aged 55 to 64 report surfing the Web and texting with friends while watching TV. Of those over age 65 watching TV, 49 percent surf the Web and 30 percent are texting. Eighty-two percent of surveyed global consumers aged 18 to 64 are embracing connected digital devices.

Moreover, consumers in China and the U.S. are moving away from traditional forms of media, with more than 50 percent using online sources for breaking news.

The New Personalities
Today's connected consumers demand instant access to personalized content on their own terms. With the growth of digital devices, one-way communication and distribution of content is no longer feasible. According to the IBM study, most users fall into one of four emerging personality categories:

Efficiency Experts

With 41 percent in this category, these respondents use digital devices and services to simplify day-to-day activities. Efficiency experts send emails rather than letters, use Facebook to communicate with others, access the Internet via mobile phones, and shop online.

Content Kings

Are generally male consumers, who frequently play online games, download movies and music, and watch TV online. This audience represents 9 percent of the global sample.

Social Butterflies

Place emphasis on social interaction – they require instant access to friends, regardless of time or place. Fifteen percent of consumers surveyed reported they frequently maintain and update social networking sites, add labels or tags to online photos, and view videos from other users.

Connected Maestros

35 percent of those surveyed take a more advanced approach to media consumption by using mobile devices and Smartphone applications to access games, music, and video or to check news, weather, sports, etc.

According to the IBM study, media and entertainment companies' payment infrastructures need to be flexible and scalable to allow a variety of innovative pricing approaches to attract consumers with different preferences to their content. The need for payment option flexibility, even for the same set of consumers, is apparent by looking at those most active in adopting new devices. This group's preferred mode of payment to watch a movie on a website is by viewing advertising that is included with the movie (39 percent of this segment chose this option), while they prefer to see movies on a tablet by purchasing a subscription (chosen by 36 percent). But to watch movies on a smart phone, they prefer to pay per use (the payment choice of 36 percent).

IBM surveyed 3,800 consumers in six countries – China, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States for this study, and also met with global representatives in broadcasting, publishing, as well as media service agencies, and telecommunication providers, to evaluate digital consumption behaviors.

Read the study

Source: IBM

Salesforce Rypple - Social Performance Management for Every Employee

Salesforce.com unveils the next generation of the social enterprise at CLOUDFORCE 2012.

Its new Rypple acquisition will enable companies to engage and align people across their enterprise and in effect create an employee social network that can continuously connect and interface throughout a workforce. In a news release that accompanied today’s glitzy – and social media streamed – announcement at the CLOUDFORCE conference in San Francisco today, the company reports:  

“The way people work has changed. It's less hierarchical, and more social and collaborative. But the tools to manage people and process at work were designed before the age of social and mobile cloud computing. They automate antiquated processes, and don't enable companies to transparently manage performance across an employee social network.

Social enterprises and progressive HR leaders are embracing Salesforce Rypple, which focuses on the inherently social nature of performance management. Salesforce Rypple allows companies to engage and align every employee -- to set goals, manage objectives, and provide feedback and recognition -- all from within their employee social network. Designed for users, Salesforce Rypple thoughtfully incorporates badges and other social gaming concepts to keep them engaged.

Thousands of companies including Facebook, LivingSocial and Spotify are already using Salesforce Rypple's web-based social performance management apps to liberate performance management from a once-a-year, top-down process and integrate them into daily work, where they can finally make a meaningful impact on performance.”

While the Release contains plenty of marketing hype, this has the potential of being extremely disruptive – in a positive way – to how we manage workforce engagement and interaction in the future.

Source: Salesforce.com

New Supermarket Scanner Recognizes Objects. Will Barcodes Become Obsolete?

The latest supermarket scanner developed by Toshiba Tec may make conventional barcodes in supermarkets obsolete.

Currently, at most supermarkets, a laser scanner is used to recognize barcodes, but the newly developed Object Recognition Scanner instantly recognizes the merchandise itself, be it fresh produce or packaged goods, by identifying it directly via a camera.

This scanner utilizes pattern recognition technology being developed by Toshiba. By recognizing the difference between merchandise and other objects and discarding the latter as noise, the scanner can operate at high speeds.

As well as fruits and vegetables, the scanner can recognize printed items, such as beer cans and coupons.

Source: DigInfo Tv

The Future of Global Energy

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author and global energy expert Daniel Yergin sees rising demand from the East spurring innovation.

Yergin is the author of The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World (Penguin, September 2011).McKinsey Publishing’s Rik Kirkland conducted the interview at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, in January 2012.

Source: McKinsey Quarterly

Drivers and Impediments to Innovation

A new study of global innovation from GE confirms the increasingly recognized belief that innovation is the main driver of prosperity, competitiveness and job creation, and reveals how challenging and uncertain economic and political environments hinder companies’ ability to deliver meaningful innovation.

The GE Global Innovation Barometer seeks to identify drivers and deterrents of innovation and to analyze perceptions around innovation opportunities and challenges. Nearly 3,000 senior business executives in 22 countries were surveyed on their companies’ innovation strategy and decision making for the report.

The continued uncertainty of the global economy has had a marked impact on companies’ ability to innovate, with nine out of 10 executives reporting increased difficulty accessing external funding or a conservative shift in appetite for risk. Specifically, 88 percent of respondents saw increased challenges accessing venture capital, private investment and government funding, while 77 percent reported a reduction or reevaluation of the company’s willingness to take risks.

The study focused on 13 indicators of an innovative environment:

1. The level of government support
2. The efficiency of government support
3. Trade regulations
4. IP and patent protections
5. The efficacy of public-private partnerships
6. The support of private investors
7. The preparedness of tomorrow’s innovators
8. The value the public places on innovation
9. The public appetite for innovation
10. The societal acceptance of risk-taking
11. The level of public support for business
12. The ease of partnership with academia
13. The speed of innovative products to market

Findings include:

• 92 percent of executives said that innovation is the main ingredient for a more competitive national economy, and 86 percent agreed that innovation is the best way to create jobs in their country.
• 88 percent of executives believe that the way companies will innovate in the 21^st century is totally different than ever before.
• 77 percent of executives acknowledged that individuals and small- to mid-sized enterprises have the ability to be as innovative as large companies.
• 73 percent agreed that innovation will be driven by people’s creativity over scientific research.
• Markets where business is most satisfied with the perceived political and social environment for innovation delivered higher GDP growth (5.19 percent average) than those markets where business feels anxious or threatened by policies (2.32 percent average).
• The survey showed that companies’ internal investments in innovation, from research and development budgets to the pursuit of new products or business models, are particularly at risk when the business community perceives a negative shift or deterioration of government policies that support innovation.
• 71 percent of executives that reported an unfavorable change in external policy or government budget priorities as a result of the global financial crisis also reported cuts in their own company’s R&D spending.
• Globally, business reported the least level of satisfaction (42 percent) with the efficiency and coordination of government support for innovation.

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Source: GE

Lemonade Detroit – Resilience, Human Spirit and Hope

“It was the most successful city the world has ever seen…that’s the comic tragedy”

“It’s like everyone had a great party and then they left.”

“The world just changed; it was almost like you were on a treadmill and someone hit the stop button. It went down hard and fast.”

“It became sort of a war zone.”

“Lemonade Detroit” is a powerful and inspiring film by Erik Proulx that portrays the spirit of a city that sank but hasn’t died. It’s a story of human courage, personified through cameo performances from community members who are fighting through hardship to reinvent the city.

Uniquely, Proulx crowdsourced the film’s production – creating engagement as well as helping fund the project. He invited others to become co-producers by purchasing frames or parts of frames. So far, 2,395 producers have funded 67,914 frames.

The film threads a powerful, emotive performance by Detroit poet David Blair reading his poem, “While I Was Away”; Blair recently passed away prematurely due to heat stroke – a huge loss to the community though he leaves an inspiring legacy.

“Detroit is a tough city, not for the reasons that people think in terms of crime and things like that – they always equate that to toughness, no Detroit is a tough city because you can’t kill Detroit.”

“I wake up every day excited about the possibilities of what can happen in Detroit”

“It’s a city that has begun to realize that it’s really only gonna be lots and lots of small solutions.”

“One building, one block at a time, one person at a time, one life at a time.”

Read an interview with Proulx in which he shares the motivation behind the film and its crowdsourcing approach, and a few thoughts about the film's impact.

Source: Dowser; Lemonade Detroit

2012 World Class Summit: Focusing Greater Philadelphia

Over the past two years, more than 1,000 cross-sector leaders have brought their energy and passion for “Greater Philadelphia to World Class” conversations about what's most important for its shared future. Since the release of last spring's 2026: Future Histories of Greater Philadelphia report, the Economy League has been hard at work, drawing upon the expertise of regional leaders and conducting extensive research to develop a clear framework to help focus and guide strategic collaboration to better the region.

Swann Memorial Fountain. Credit: G. Widman for GPTMC; www.visitphilly.com

The Thursday, February 2^nd,  the Economy League debuts three overarching priorities for a World Class Greater Philadelphia, introduces aspirational goals that will drive the creation of Global Positioning Strategies for the region, and announce several exciting partnerships that will drive World Class collaboration in 2012.

Hundreds of engaged, cross-sector leaders uniting behind World Class Greater Philadelphia will attend this exciting event.

The Philadelphia region has undergone several dramatic transformations through its history. From Revolution-era mercantile center to manufacturing powerhouse to poster child for post-industrial decline to the current knowledge-based economy, global and national forces beyond its control have helped shape Greater Philadelphia. The question is not whether such changes will continue, but rather what they will be and how prepared the region and its leaders will be to respond.

With this future uncertainty as a backdrop, the Economy League used scenario planning, to develop four very different, but very possible, futures for the region. The stories projected into the year 2026 are not meant to predict the future with perfect accuracy; rather, they are meant to challenge, provoke, and stimulate conversation among Greater Philadelphia’s leaders about what the region must focus on in the years to come – no matter what the future holds.

Future 1: Global Village is a story about a global landscape where most of the once-labeled “emerging economies” in Brazil, China, India, and South Africa are rising to ascendency, and the world is swimming in cheap, abundant energy. Due to innovations in alternative energy and battery technology, unconstrained power is now available around the world. This rising tide has lifted many boats: across the globe, innovations related to these energy breakthroughs have improved people’s lives.  The US economy is stable, but it has been outpaced by the greater output of other countries in Latin America and Asia. Foreign investment dollars drive entrepreneurialism in the US as well as abroad. Stateside, the economic opportunities that result from this investment contribute to the growth of the middle class. The nation’s metropolitan areas reflect a mix of global influences. Family clusters, and all types of affinity groups based on ethnicity, skill types, and interests, populate regional production centers where they can thrive. World leadership is no longer ours, but our quality of life is stable, and most of us can buy what we need. 

Future 2: Tight Belts paints a picture of a world where power is consolidated within the hands of a few multi-national conglomerates, most of which are located outside of US borders. Rising energy prices make it increasingly difficult for smaller businesses to get established. The US is no longer a global economic leader but maintains symbolic leadership status in diplomacy and world affairs, consulting and professional services, and via the persistent glamour of its former glory. Prolonged decline and reduced consumerism have made American lifestyles simpler. A flat national economy and declining tax revenues forced many local governments to consolidate. However, as a nation we seem to be adjusting to the new status quo. 

In Future 3: America in the Driver’s Seat, a few critical discoveries – a method of water desalination, new ways to use alternative energy, and new oil reserves – have helped the US reassert its position of global leadership. This leadership is grounded in a renewed commitment to international collaboration, represented by the numerous groundbreaking global alliances that have been orchestrated within US borders. No longer overwhelmed by energy and water resource constraints, countries around the world see greater peace and prosperity. Nevertheless, hostility toward America continues to grow in some regions of the world, and terrorism remains a threat within our borders. 

Future 4: Partners in Hard Times is a story about a world constrained by OPEC’s tight-fisted control over oil and concomitant rise in prices. Attempts to shift to alternative power sources failed due to lack of coordination across industries and countries. The global economy is sluggish. The US has maintained its position as the global leader through sweeping education reforms that have improved science and math rankings and by addressing seemingly impossible issues in transportation and healthcare through strategic public-private partnerships. 

Each future described presents an array of challenges and opportunities for US metropolitan regions in general and for Greater Philadelphia specifically. Prosperity is possible in each of them, but it isn’t guaranteed in any.

 As different as these possible futures are, however, there are some key factors for success that thread through all of them. These key success factors represent sound investments for Greater Philadelphia regardless of how global and national trends and forces play out. The following items stand out across all four plausible futures.

Business Creation and Entrepreneurship

Making the most of economic opportunities across all of the futures depends upon supporting business growth in industries where Greater Philadelphia has a competitive advantage. In the America in the Driver’s Seat and Partners in Hard Times stories, a culture of entrepreneurship is supported by US research and innovation in the former and by selling ideas to large international corporations in the latter. In the Global Village future, business creation is driven by foreign investors seeking access to US consumer markets. While high failure rates and scarce venture capital discourages entrepreneurs in Tight Belts, the most promising path to business growth in that future is via global acquisition. The sectors that drive US growth vary across the scenarios—services and advanced manufacturing in Global Village, innovation and life sciences in Driver’s Seat, professional services in Tight Belts, and government and nonprofits in Hard Times. Metropolitan areas’ ability to focus on their industry strengths and support entrepreneurship significantly increases their chances of success.

 Education and Talent Development

Just as being able to focus on the region’s most competitive sectors is crucial to success in each future, being able to provide quality education and a strong talent pipeline to meet business needs drives prosperity across the scenarios. In futures where the US has failed to significantly improve education outcomes, especially in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM ) fields, US economic growth stagnates and talent flees overseas. The Driver’s Seat and Hard Times scenarios that experience successful education reform see economic growth that, in turn, spurs immigration of talented workers. In the Tight Belts future, regions that are able to provide paths to opportunity for lower-skilled populations have an advantage. Conversely, regions that experience a mismatch between workers’ skill levels and available jobs strain under economic and social tensions.

Higher Education

Across all the futures, a well-established higher education base plays a key role in leveraging research and innovation, business growth, and a skilled workforce. Higher education institutions serve as major exporters, whether by attracting foreign students in the Tight Belts or Driver’s Seat futures or by establishing satellite campuses and online course offerings abroad, as in the Global Village future. In addition to tailoring educational and training offerings to meet industry needs, universities also can lead the way in partnering with secondary schools and lower-skilled workers to maximize economic opportunities in the Partners in Hard Times and Driver’s Seat futures. The region’s institutions of higher education are such considerable current assets that it is possible to still envision a robust role in the region’s economy even if research and development resources end up going overseas, as they do in the Global Village and Tight Belts futures. 

 Global connections and the international flow of commerce and workers figure prominently across all four scenarios. In particular in the Global Village and Tight Belts futures where the locus of economic power shifts away from America, connecting to international opportunities is crucial to economic vitality. Regions compete for foreign investment, US headquarters of global corporations, and immigrant workers. Several scenarios also emphasize the importance of international airports and seaports to move people and goods. Across all futures, those regions that proactively make the most of global connections fare better, and in the Driver’s Seat future, the US takes on a leadership role brokering major global alliances. Greater Philadelphia’s location on the East Coast and relative to European and growing South American markets presents a leg up in expanding these global connections.

Infrastructure

In the Tight Belts and Hard Times high energy cost futures, regions that are able to maintain strong regional transportation, and in particular transit, infrastructure are more successful in attracting and retaining businesses and residents. In the lower cost energy futures, the extent to which regions can manage congestion and modernize their infrastructure impacts their competitiveness. These investments also tie directly to metropolitan areas’ ability to make international connections. 

Efficient Government and Public/Private Partnerships

While the futures tend to focus on global and national economic forces and markets, governments play an important role in facilitating growth and quality of life. In the Driver’s Seat scenario, strong economic growth puts government in the position to innovate and provide improved services. Both in the resource-rich Driver’s Seat future and the resource-constrained Partners in Hard Times future, public-private partnerships drive advances in health care, education, and public safety. The more extreme economic challenges of Tight Belts force local government consolidation. In each scenario, governments that make the most efficient use of internal resources and leverage external ones help set the stage for success. 

Source: The Economy League of Greater Philadelphia

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Smart Cities – What Will Our Future Cities Look Like?

Many municipalities around the world are exploring the Smart City concept as a way to make themselves better places to live, work, and grow. ABI Research reports that the market for technologies that feed into and support Smart City programs and projects will grow on a global basis from $8 billion in 2010 to exceed $39 billion in 2016, accounting for $116 billion in cumulative spending during that period. In order to demonstrate some of the ways in which this money is likely to be invested, Cisco created an interactive infographic showcasing its smart, connected City of the Future.

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How will all that money be spent? ABI Research tells us that “these cities may be installing municipal wireless networks, implementing e-government initiatives by providing access to city departments and initiatives through websites, integrating public transportation with intelligent transportation systems, or developing ways to cut their carbon footprints and reduce the amount of recyclables consigned to the trash heap”. It adds that Smart City projects frequently share some of the following characteristics:

• A networked infrastructure;
• Information and communication technologies (ICT) to increase prosperity and competitiveness – for citizens and local businesses alike;
• Collective community intelligence based on effective planning for urban and regional development, and innovation management; and
• A focus on social and environmental sustainability through the participation of citizens in city processes, with the aim of balancing growth initiatives with the protection of valuable natural resources.

ABI Research’s new study, “Smart Cities: Municipal Networking, Communications, Traffic/Transportation, and Energy,” examines more than 50 actual Smart City projects around the world, providing data on the technologies that can make a municipality more efficient and more responsive to its citizens.

Source: ABI Research

Collective Innovation - Where Good Ideas Come From

Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From discusses nature and process of collective innovation...

Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation is an exploration of environments that lead to breakthrough innovation, in science, technology, business, and the arts. 

The Future of Families – A New Report from the OECD

Since the 1960s the social institution of the family has undergone significant transformation. In many countries, the extended family has all but disappeared, and the traditional two-parent family has become much less widespread as divorce rates, re-marriages, cohabitation, single parenthood and same-sex partnerships have all increased.  With rising migration, cultures and values have become more diverse, with some ethnic minorities evolving as parallel family cultures while others intermingle with mainstream cultures through mixed-race marriages. Families have seen more mothers take up work in the labor market, their adolescents spend longer and longer in education and training, and the elderly members of the family live longer and, increasingly, alone.  The repercussions of these changes on housing, pensions, health and long-term care, on labor markets, education and public finances, have been remarkable. Recent demographic projections performed by many OECD countries suggest that the next 20 years are likely to see a continuation and even acceleration of changes in household and family structures.  In particular, the numbers and shares of single-adult and single-parent households are expected to increase significantly, as is the number of couples without children.

A new report from the OECD explores likely future changes in family and household structures; identifies what appear to be the main forces shaping the family landscape between now and 2030; discusses the longer-term challenges for policy arising from those expected changes; and on the basis of the three subsequent thematic chapters, suggests policy options for managing the challenges on a sustainable basis.  

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Source: OECD