Context Is Key for 21st Century Mobile Experiences

It’s always nice to be with 100,000 close friends at a mega-event like Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona. With a career’s worth of trade shows under my belt, I’m still in awe of their size and scale – attendees literally need days just to make it through the building. Here’s my big takeaway: mobile is no longer just about apps. It is about enabling a single, cohesive value chain that begins and ends with empathy for the individual user on the device of their choosing.

Everything begins with the user because 21st century mobile experiences require user-specific context as the key ingredient. We can’t unlock the value of technology if we don’t understand (and use) all available information about that individual. Where in the world are they and where are they trying to go? What are they trying to accomplish? What are their interests, challenges, likes, and limitations? All of this information is as significant for a business traveler as it is for a field mechanic on the job. This information is context – and context is the fuel that drives the mobile experience.

Once the value chain is equipped with context about the user, this is when intelligent, real-time networks can unlock the full power of connecting users, devices, and businesses.

For that business traveler, the context-driven network effect offers the promise of a personalized and productive visit to anywhere. Barcelona is the prime example. Powered by innovation from Telefonica, SAP’s HANA Cloud Platform and Concur, visitors to Spain’s second largest city will soon have a context-rich mobile experience.

As visitors move around the city to experience breathtaking sites like La Sagrada Familia, businesses will have the opportunity to recognize each individual traveler based on their location and personalized itineraries. This will enable real-time, meaningful recommendations, promotions and other customized insights to help create a memorable experience. The traveler will effortlessly move from airport to hotel to meetings, and in the final act of simplicity, all of the associated spend shifts into a pre-populated expense report that can be automatically submitted at the end of the trip. This is the ultimate example of using the power of the network to improve people’s lives.

The same concept of contextually aware networks is fast becoming a reality in the workplace, as well. For the field mechanic, contextual information collected about her location, her expertise, and her supply inventory can help ensure that her time is maximized. The industrial equipment she maintains will communicate directly with the manufacturer, deploying early warnings about when service is necessary to prevent a breakdown.

The manufacturer, in turn, is able to identify the most conveniently located field mechanic to provide the service – but only if that mechanic has the necessary part and expertise to do the work. This mobile experience is a prime example of how the Networked Economy and “Internet of Things” are dramatically revamping business processes and reshaping business models. In each of the two examples, think about the sophistication necessary to deliver the outcomes. In both cases, the users, devices, and businesses are connected in that single, inherently mobile value chain. Data integrity, security, and privacy are all critical components in ultimately delivering an experience that, to the user, looks and feels simple.

For businesses, the sophistication goes a level deeper. To enable the this context-rich experience for the user, core business applications – like finance, point of sale, human capital management and procurement – all have to be integrated and extended into the network. We only know that the dispatched field mechanic has the right expertise if her employee profile from the human capital management system verifies that she does. For the Barcelona experience, businesses can only engage the traveler if their reservations, point of sale and social media channels are fully integrated. Both outcomes may appear simple, but the inputs are anything but.

So if you didn’t get the chance to take a casual stroll past the 2,000 exhibitors at the Mobile World Congress, mobile is the clear standard, and the expansive opportunities it offers to create a new world are endless. The focus now belongs on bringing together the platform, applications, and networks necessary to make “simple” real for every user on any device.

Source - http://blogs.sap.com/innovation/mobile-applications/for-21st-century-mobile-experiences-context-is-key-02418414

Technology Innovations You Have Never Seen

Everyday we are introduced to innovations that remind us just how much our world is changing and how technology is impacting every aspect of how we live. From the Internet of things to biometric devices, we are often left with our minds blown and thinking, “Is this real life?” Yes, it is real life and we need to get used to it.

So besides mind-blowing apps (they would warrant their own 2000 word post), here are three product innovations that may make you think that the hover board will be hitting store shelves and we will be hovering across country in no time.

1. 1. The Birth Control Chip – This is exactly what it sounds like – an implantable chip that releases hormones and works just like the birth control pill. This chip, developed by MicroCHIPS, a Massachusetts-based IT startup in the MIT lab, can be implanted and will continue releasing hormones for up to 16 years. The tiny chip is controlled by a remote control, which allows the implanted woman to turn the tool on and off, allowing her to determine when she will start ovulating and be able to get pregnant.  This device is backed by Bill Gates and is expected to head to preclinical trials next year – and could be available for use as early as 2018.
2. 2. FingerReader – The FingerReader prototype, produced by a 3D printer, is a ring equipped with a small camera that scans text and reads the text aloud through a synthesized voice. This tool is a great innovation for those are visually impaired, and gives them immediate and affordable access to printed words, allowing them to read documents, books, and other materials needed for daily living. If the visually impaired reader starts to stray from the text, the small device vibrates, which lets the user know they should slowly move the device to get back on track.
3. 3. SimSensei – This prototype, was launched by The University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies’ (ICT) within DARPA’s Detection and Computational Analysis of Psychological Signals (DCAPS), with the goal of using artificial intelligence to identify indicators of psychological distress such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Using a Kinect motion-sensing camera to monitor facial tics, the SimSensei software produces a computer generated diagnosis determining whether or not the person is depressed (and so far, they are boasting a 90 percent accuracy rate in the technology).

A Guide To Beat Complexity and Deliver Value

In today’s networked, always-on world, we are presented with more information and more challenges than at any other point in our past.  Complexity, which comes in all shapes and sizes, has emerged as one of our biggest challenges.  It can be the difference between success and failure; between being stuck in the weeds or using the massive amounts of information to our advantage.  And, as SAP’s CEO Bill McDermott says, “Only when you understand intense complexities can intense simplicity emerge.”

Our world, with the lines blurring between business and personal, is getting more and more complex. Within the next five years, 2.5 billion people will be connected on social networks.  And, an astonishing 75 billion devices will be connected. This presents a huge opportunity for companies, particularly technology companies.

Most executives – in fact according to a recent Economist survey, 90 percent of executives – agree that business is becoming more complex, specifically across three dimensions: management, business and technology.  Let’s first explore the three categories before examining ways to beat complexity and deliver value.

Management complexity

Mergers and acquisitions, new products and services, and expansion can create additional layers of management.  Some companies are known to have at least 20 layers of management, and that creates a distance between customers, employees, leaders, and managers.

Business process complexity

Often times, business processes have not kept pace with the way consumers engage outside of the office.  Employees want a simple experience at work.  And, too often, business processes are defined by complex workflows that limit or inhibit collaboration.

Technology complexity

We all know the challenges that technology complexity presents from the massive amounts of data (structured, unstructured, dark, soft and hard) to the multiple layers of IT systems.  Because many legacy systems run homegrown applications, companies often find it difficult to scale or work on different platforms and systems.  This challenge increases when multiple systems are integrated as a result of an M&A or consolidation across businesses and geographies.

So what’s the answer to all this complexity?

Companies can unlock real value by running simpler and delivering value with simple technology and solutions.  When companies easily consume technology, they more rapidly simplify their business processes and spend their time, money and resources on innovating.  Companies that innovate are proven to be more successful.

Tapping into partner expertise

While all of this may be simple in concept, simple doesn't necessarily mean easier.  However, the simple choice should be the smart choice.

• Partners are arguably the most efficient, effective and valuable way for a customer to acquire technology.
• Partners play a critical role in helping companies run their business in an easier, simpler manner, regardless of the company’s vendor of choice.
• By calling upon their industry and market knowledge, partners can help companies grow their businesses and improve their bottom line in a more personalized, localized way.
• Conversations with partners should go beyond deployment to a real understanding of how the partner can enable true business transformation.

With all this in mind, it’s important to understand the capabilities partners have developed, as well as the resources they provide.  It’s no surprise that our most successful partners are the ones offering consulting and software solutions to help businesses Run Simple, helping businesses beat management, business process, and technology complexity.

Working with partners is the smart choice.  I believe it’s the most efficient and profitable way for companies to grow and scale.  It’s how we can run simple, beat complexity and deliver value.

Source - http://blogs.sap.com/innovation/innovation/beat-complexity-deliver-value-02085037

A Guide To Succes Of Wining Team Building

Success of any organization depends upon the employees and their potential to work. No organization can reach the number one position without its employees working as a team. Therefore to build synergy employees need to work as team. By working as a team employees will be able to distribute their task efficiently.

Team Building via Cool Daily Infographics

Future Technology Predictions - Doctors Will Use Your DNA For Health Check Ups

Watson sifted four Terabytes of data to play Jeopardy! Now, it’s sorting even more healthcare data with the likes of WellPoint, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Cleveland Clinic. Next, IBM predicts that over the next five years, similar cognitive systems will help doctors unlock the Big Data of DNA to pin point cancer therapy for their patients. 

Source  -   Doctors will routinely use your DNA to keep you well