Human Strategies for Digital Transformation: Views from Stockholm

In this video commentary filmed in Stockholm, Sweden, I walk the streets pondering globalization, competition, the human impact of digital strategies, and then propose some winning strategies. Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/BJab7lKr2jM?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw


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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst
Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube 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 companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict Interviews CCS Insight's Nick Mcquire on 2015 Enterprise Mobility Trends

I had the honor of meeting up with my friend Nick Mcquire this week in Stockholm, Sweden at the EMM World conference.  This enterprise mobility management conference located in the high tech capital of Sweden, Kista, featured many speakers including Google at Work, Intel, Pega Systems, Cognizant, CCS Insights, Red Hat's Feedhenry and many more.  In this interview we discuss what we learned at the conference and the trends we see in 2015.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/XnvBy8wtMjE?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst
Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube 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 companies mentioned in my articles.

IoT Sensors Extend Our Physical Senses Beyond Our Physical Reach

IoT sensors extend our physical senses beyond our physical reach and communicate the results  from afar.  3D modeling, 3D printers, and sounds, vibrations and colors on your smartphones can then provide tactile experiences augmented by real-time status data to bring a digital version of reality to you, anywhere in the world via a standard smartphone. 
Wireless M2M or IoT sensors and 3D modeling and visualization tools enable you to see and monitor conditions at distance - in real-time.  Visualization tools like those from SVS Innovations make it possible to digitally model in 3D, with great accuracy, an object or a building and to see the sensor data in real-time.  Visualization and tactile feedback tools can then be used to quickly inform you of changing conditions, alerts, patterns or variations in activity or data patterns.  Sensor data, visualization and tactile feedback tools can truly augment your reality all on your smartphone or tablet.  

Combining sensor data and 3D visualization tools can even take you beyond 3D (longitude, latitude and altitude).  With the addition of time/date, tactile feedback and real-time sensor data,  you can begin adding more dimensions.  Instead of simply viewing a static 3D model of an object, changing colors and other means of visualization can begin communicating actual real-time events, activities and behaviors on the 3D model.  This is powerful and all real today.

Digitally modeled realities enable experts, from anywhere in the world, to work and manage factories, farms and other kinds of operations from distant locations.  The obstacles of the past, lack of information and monitoring capabilities, that resulted in operational blind spots are quickly going away as more sensors are put in place.

I can image near-term scenarios where entire factory floors are digitally replicated and real-time operations can be viewed and managed from great distance.  Every component of the operation can be monitored via sensor data.  Aberrations, out of compliance data, and other faults would instantly cause alerts, notifications and remedies to be implemented.

In the military space, acoustical sensors can now pin-point the location of incoming bullets, rockets, missiles, etc., in real-time and activate various instantaneous countermeasures.

We live in crazy times.



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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst
Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube 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 companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict Walks Around Rome Talking about Digital Transformation and Mobility

Again I embarrass my friends and family by walking around cool places talking to myself about digital transformation and mobility.  Enjoy! #JustHavingFun #DadIsEmbarrassingMe #GetThePopCorn

Video Link: http://youtu.be/qQXghyxnEH4?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw



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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst
Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube 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 companies mentioned in my articles.

Information, Analytics and Speed are the New Mandates

The reality of information is entirely contained in the speed of its dissemination. ~ Paul Virilio

Information has a shelf life.  Its value diminishes quickly with the passing of time.  In a world of moving customers, employees, vehicles, subcontractors, materials, suppliers, etc., knowing what is happening at a precise time is critical for decision-making, scheduling and planning.  If some information is 90 minutes old, others 45 minutes old, and more available in real-time - you are going to have a real challenge integrating that information and forming an accurate and clear picture of reality!

Optimal efficiency and accuracy, in the scenario above, can only be achieved when the speed of information collection and dissemination is coordinated and real-time.  This means having mobile data communications and sensor technologies in place and integrating it to present an accurate impression of reality in real-time.

For many industries the quality of their information logistics systems is the new competitive playing field.  In history many of the greatest battles were won or lost based on the accuracy and timeliness of the information used to decide how best to maneuver armies, navies and air forces.  Enterprises today are in a similar position.

Legacy IT systems that are incapable of supporting a real-time information collection, communication, processing, analyzing and disseminating environment will be the reason many companies will no longer remain competitive in 2015.

In the past long-term planning was the ticket to success.  As the tempo of business increased, short-term planning became more important.  Today, nothing short of real-term is good enough to compete in a hyper-competitive global market.

Today the efficient and real-time coordination of multiple moving parts is mandatory in many industries.  That means mobile communications and sensor technologies have become an absolute requirement on the front-end, and IT systems that can support real-time on the back-end.  What needs to change in your IT environment in 2015 to support real-term planning and real-time decision-making?

For more on this subject read: http://web.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Virilio/Virilio_ArtoftheMotor2.html.



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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst
Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube 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 companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict's Connected Globe News Weekly – Week of January 11, 2015

Welcome to Connected Globe News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile devices.  I aggregate the information, include the original links and add a synopsis of each article.  I also search for the latest market numbers such as market size, growth and trends in and around the M2M market.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Cyber Security News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

Looking for an enterprise mobility solution?  Read the Mobile Solution Directory Here!

Earlier this year, GSMA in its Intelligence Study Cellular M2M report said there will be more than 1 billion M2M connections by 2020. Read Original Content

According to a new report from the research firm Berg Insight, shipments of connected wearables reached 19 million in 2014, up from 5.9 million devices in the previous year. Read Original Content

Over the next few years, Samsung will ramp up its already aggressive efforts in the booming Internet of things, ensuring that within five years all of its hardware will be able to connect to the Internet and investing $100 million this year in its developer program. Read Original Content

B2M Solutions’ mobile software delivers valuable insight and actionable analytics for enterprise customers. Business leaders and managers within the mission critical, rugged mobile enterprise now have operational views of key business and technology analytics affecting performance and productivity. B2M software is developed with specific functionality to help organizations identify and unblock mobility problems as soon as, or even before, they occur, allowing customers to sustain critical business processes and gain competitive advantages. To Lean more visit www.B2M-Solutions.com.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by B2M Solutions

Market watcher 451 Research reported on January 6 that IoT-related mergers and acquisitions were north of $14 billion in 2014 as more than 60 companies were snapped up by Google, Samsung, Intel, Cisco, Qualcomm and others. The spending spree represented an eight-fold increase in IoT-related mergers and acquisitions over the previous year, 451 Research estimates. Read Original Content

By 2017 Samsung Electronics co-CEO Boo-Keun Yoon has said 90 percent of Samsung products will be IoT devices, and the company will hit 100 percent within five years, according to GigaOM. Read Original Content


The China Smart Meter Industry Report says the advancing smart grid construction in China spurred the constant growth of smart meter demand. By the end of 2013, 370 million smart meters had been accumulatively installed in China, and the figure is expected to hit 500 million in 2015. Read Original Content

A new report forecasts global revenue from smart meters will increase over the next decade from $5.1 billion in 2014 to $6.6 billion in 2023. The data from Navigant Research examined the worldwide market opportunities for smart electric meters. Read Original Content

By 2024 there will be an installed base of nearly 1.1 billion smart residential meters worldwide, or 57 percent market penetration according to a new dataset published by Northeast Group, LLC. Read Original Content

In Europe where a European Union directive requires 80 percent of households to have smart meters installed by 2020, penetration stood at 22 percent at end-2013 and is expected to rise to 60 percent by 2019, according to a Berg Insight report. Read Original Content

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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst
Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube 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 companies mentioned in my articles.

Code Halos, Hyper-Personalization and LinkedIn

I write often here about "Code Halos" trends today in mobile apps, websites and across many other channels.  Code Halos are the data that surrounds each of us that includes all the data collected about our clicks, swipes, preferences, transactions, etc., and then used to provide a better and more personalized experience on websites, mobile apps and across many other channels.  In this short video we discuss how Code Halos strategies can be embedded into websites to provide personalized experiences.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/3Bc-xs_nuRw




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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst
Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube 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 companies mentioned in my articles.

The Future of Work and You

I have the unique opportunity to work alongside some very smart people where we conduct research, collect data, analyze and write about it.  Our focus tends to be on technology and its impact on people, businesses, societies and economies.

As a result of many discussions with technology and industry leaders, it is my firm belief that it has never been more important to engage in a lifelong pursuit of education and skills development. Education is not something you complete, rather it is a lifelong activity - a lifestyle.  Technology innovations, fast changing business models, transforming economies and evolving markets mean it is highly likely you will have multiple careers, with different companies and in different industries during your working life.  In order to enter and remain in the economic winners' column you will need to constantly prepare and train to compete for new career and emerging business opportunities.

I understand that many people don't like change, and many more would rather not invest in continual education.  Change is often uncomfortable, stressful and distracts from more pleasant pursuits.  I share many of those feelings, but those feelings don't change reality.  The blustery winds of change are  in the air, and they forewarn of global economic transformation and turmoil.  Transformations that can open up many doors to opportunities for those prepared, but pummel those that are not.  There will always be winners and losers in a competition, and the global economy is most definitely a competition.  In a global economy with finite resources and jobs, the winners will be those prepared and with the best playbook to compete at the highest level.

Today entire industries are emerging, while others are disappearing.  Everything is in motion.  Workers must recognize this as the new norm, not an exception.  Jobs, markets, companies and careers are temporary.  Competition for jobs is not a local competition, but a global competition.  Factories, service companies, retail stores, call centers and businesses of all kinds are competing for business against companies in the Philippines, Malaysia, China, India and in many other regions.  Your skills, work ethics and education, and those of your peers, are constantly being considered and compared with other competitors in the global work force.

It is important to think globally today.  Jobs, careers, opportunities and competition are global.  This is great news for those educated, trained and mobile, but a real challenge for those that are not.  In a relatively free and capitalistic global economy you are able to compete for business and jobs globally. Your skills can now be marketed, sold and utilized in a far bigger market.  Your opportunities to make money are greatly expanded. There are far more employment and business opportunities to consider, but the numbers of competitors are also greater.  This is welcome news if you are prepared to compete, but discouraging if you are not.

College graduates must recognize this new reality and plan accordingly. The financial plans and career strategies of your parents are no longer applicable.  Careers and incomes will likely be far more volatile thus requiring one to save more and spend less.  Workers need to constantly monitor industry trends and job markets and be prepared to move and retrain to remain competitive.

In the past your employer managed your career, in the new reality you must "own" the management and development of your career.  You must hone your skills, share your knowledge, and build your personal and career networks.  Never before in history has the ability to write and communicate been more important.  In a digital age, your reputation and presence will be framed by your ability to effectively represent your knowledge, skills and character using digital ink.

Many have scoffed at social networking as a waste of time, or even worse a narcissistic pursuit, but your ability to both discover, and compete for emerging employment and business opportunities in the future may be directly determined by your skills, proficiencies and investments in these areas.


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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst
Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube 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 companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict Interviews Corning Inc.'s Digital Transformation Expert Grace Alcivar

When most of us think about digital transformation, it is in the context of how mobile devices, mobile apps, big data, Code Halos, the Internet and the IoT (Internet of Things) are impacting businesses, markets, industries and economies.  Seldom do we think about the communication infrastructure that also needs to be transformed in order to support all of these changes and innovations.  In this interview, Corning Inc.'s digital transformation expert Grace Alcivar, discusses specific technology transformations and upgrades required to support these changes, and shares the details of a digital transformation project at Texas A&M's football stadium.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/DoMasHpEBiY?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw


************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst
Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube 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 companies mentioned in my articles.

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