by Adam L Stanley | Feb 25, 2015 | Technology, Vendors and Partners
Those famous four corners of a Gartner Quadrant
New Gartner Magic Quadrant for BI and Analytics Platforms is more evidence of my point about these quadrants from my blog post “Mind Your Quadrants”. Technology solution leadership changes at the speed of technology. By the time these quadrants come out, they are already dated!
Here is the quadrant>
Qlik
Here is the blog post>
Mind Your Quadrants
Be Well. Lead On.
Adam
Adam Stanley
Adam L. Stanley Connections Blog
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by Adam L Stanley | Sep 30, 2014 | Technology
Thousands of years ago, traders of meat, skins, and grains met each other in open and transparent marketplaces. Quality was key to repeat business, and pricing driven by supply and demand. Winners in the market listened to the needs of the people they met and found new sources of raw materials and methods of production that better met these needs.
Today, I have joined Oracle for Open World 2014 in San Francisco. DTZ is here to co-present with Oracle some of the work we have done with Google Glass integrated with JD Edwards, our global property service. Sitting in this room amongst hundreds of technology leaders, I find myself struck by how quickly things changed and yet how much remains exactly the same as it was in ancient times of the cavemen.
Sure we talk about Internet of things, big data, digital transformation, the cloud, and other buzzwords. But the most fascinating disruption factor to me is the most basic element of commerce. And it is an element that has been important since the very first days when hunters traded their fresh game for vegetables and grains. Quite simply, it is the customer.
Every exciting trend, every new innovation, the growth of crowd funding, crowd sourcing, crowd planning, crowd protesting… All of it relates to a renewed focus on the consumer. Whether the consumer is an individual or a group of individuals, companies succeed based on their ability to meet the constantly evolving needs of the consumer. And they fail when they forget that the consumer is everywhere.
The consumer is your customers, more globally and digitally connected than ever. And unlike the traders of the early days, they can find your competitors within seconds versus months or years. And they want access to your products and services wherever they are and however is most convenient to them at any particular time.
The consumer is your employees, who are diverse in their backgrounds and their preferences for how to work. They want to have an experience at work that is better than or at least compatible to their experience outside of work. And they want to be able to move on when not challenged.
The consumer is your investors, who instead of putting all of their money in banks now have access to dozens of new currencies like Bitcoin. They need to be convinced that giving you their money is better than micro lending, kickstarting, crowdfunding or doing their own thing.
At the end of the day, perhaps disruption is a lot more simple than we make it seem at these mega conferences like OpenWorld. Perhaps disruption is simply a relentless focus on consumers: your clients, employees and investors. Dream every night of how you can better meet their needs and there is no way you can NOT disrupt your industry. Perhaps the only way you will get left behind is if you leave your consumers behind. Perhaps disruption is simply about a return to the past.
Be Well. Lead On.
Adam
Adam Stanley
Adam L. StanleyConnections Blog
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by Adam L Stanley | Jun 9, 2014 | Social Media, Technology, Vendors and Partners
Technology Changes … Get Over It
Hello. My name is Adam Stanley and I have a problem. I get excited by new technology. All the time. Well, I guess that’s not really the problem. The problem is that I get bored by the constant debates about which is better. And, with all due respect to Gartner, the technology quadrants REALLY bore me.
- In 1996, there were debates about which search engine was better: AltaVista or Excite. Google didn’t exist. Now those prior leaders are defunct.
- In 2006, the battle royale in mobile phones was between the Nokia 1600 and the BlackBerry Pearl. IT departments were trying desperately to stem the proliferation of mobile devices caused by Blackberry while a little known player Samsung was barely noticed. Apple iPhone did not exist, nor the Android phones that now account for over 75% of the smartphone market. Windows Phone didnt exist (some might say they still don’t …. but they are now #2 in UK market.)
- In 2007, MySpace had more users in the United States than Google, Facebook, or any other social networking site. Today a re-birthed MySpace has circa 1 Million users while Facebook has 1.2 Billion.
- In 2009, CTOs and CIOs were negotiating with telephone carriers to help manage telephony costs by cutting some of the ridiculous charges for text messaging, especially while roaming in other countries. Today, only my Dad still uses text messaging. OK, I’m exaggerating a bit, but the big phone companies lost over $32 billion in revenue last year as users flocked to Whatsapp, kik Messenger, and WeChat.
Quadrants?
Who is the shiny red ball today?
My point? I don’t think we need to be debating which tool is the Gartner winner. We need to discuss and determine which tool can best help us answer specific questions at the optimal cost to value ratio for our current and immediate future needs. We should not care whether CurrentTech Inc fails or succeeds unless we own part of them. And our customers don’t need to know what specific technologies we are using to provide predictive or prescriptive analytics to them so long as they are helping them make better decisions.
Don’t get me wrong, here. I LOVE technology battles. Anyone that follows me on Twitter sees this regularly with my #techwars tweets. Those battles drive innovation via robust competition. And those battles are precisely why quadrants are difficult. Companies no longer provide one major release a year. Many push out improvements daily. Thus, the days of choosing a tool and sticking with it for ever are long gone. And when an IT team tells an internal client they shouldn’t explore an option simply because it is not the standard or the current leader in a Quadrant? Shame! Is it time for Gartner and others to update their comparisons daily or change them to visualizations that allow you to change the matrix based on your specific requirements and point of view?
Be Well. Lead On.
Adam
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by Adam L Stanley | Mar 3, 2014 | Leadership, Quotes and Inspiration, Relationships, Teamwork
A New Beginning
Every day is a new beginning. All of life provides opportunities for new beginnings. Whatever has gone wrong, or right, in your life, you can begin again.
Jonathan L. Huie
New beginnings can be nerve wrecking. You spend years building a team, finding the people you can trust to get things done and do so in a values based manner. You drive strategy and create value for shareholders. And you check off so many boxes, proudly getting to a point where you can finally rest and look at the great things you and the team created …. and then you move on to the next challenge.
YIKES!! So much for resting.
“Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time” Arnold H. Glasgow
If I’m honest with myself, I will admit that I will likely never get to truly resting until retirement (target TBD). The fact is, I love gnarly, complex, global challenges and am thankful I have found that in my new role.
Leaders at All Levels
I am incredibly excited about this new adventure and will enjoy getting to meet the new teams around the world. One concept I have constantly addressed that I expect will be highly relevant here is the fact that everyone in today’s technology organizations must be leaders. From time to time, everyone will be called on to make decisions, act independently, and respond to crises without time to go up the chain for days.
You can’t always wait for the guys at the top. Every manager at every level in the organization has an opportunity, big or small, to do something. Every manager’s got some sphere of autonomy. Don’t pass the buck up the line.
Bob Anderson
I blogged about this a while back with “Leaders at All Levels”
Chicago
I LOVE Chicago, the place I have called home for so many years. And I love having the opportunity to give back to the community in which I love. Living in London over the past two years was an amazing adventure, the opportunity to more deeply explore another great city, and to work with colleagues in other European cities. While my prior role required that I moved to London for a while, I am confident that the relationships I built in Chicago will continue to grow. And, of course, I hope to see many of my friends from London throughout the year. Visit!!
As Marilyn Monroe said, “A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.” So I expect my friends to trek on over to see me from time to time, share a lager or a cup of coffee, and warm my heart with their presence!
Let’s Go
Two great quotes come to mind as I contemplate the week ahead and my new adventure:
“If your work is becoming uninteresting, so are you. Work is an inanimate thing and can be made lively and interesting only by injecting yourself into it. Your job is only as big as you are.” George C. Hubbs
“You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.” Henry Ford
I’ve enjoyed my time to reflect on the good and bad aspects of my prior leadership role, and the opportunity to give back via non-profit and civic consulting. But it’s time to go back to corporate, tackle this new and exciting challenge, and meet a new batch of great people with whom I hope to build something great.
Adam Stanley
Adam L. Stanley Connections Blog
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This blog is a revision of a prior post.
by Adam L Stanley | Jan 5, 2014 | Social Media, Technology
Are we there yet? Facebook and the next big thing.
I’ve enjoyed reading lots of the analysis out there about Facebook and whether or not their attempt to buy Snapchat is a sign of desperation. Reportedly, an offer of three billion was made by the company and rejected by Snapchat ‘s young leadership. Everyone immediately said Facebook was doomed. Now, snapchat has been hacked and Instagram Direct is trying to fight back, under its new parent of course, Facebook.
A few quick thoughts :
1) I cannot begin to imagine the conversation where I decide to turn down 3 billion dollars but I can understand why snapchat would do what they did. It is entirely possible in this rapid change environment that investors would place value on snapchat that is comparable to the value placed on Twitter . Now, to be clear, I do not feel that the value on Twitter is appropriate nor do I feel that investors would necessarily be making the right call to place such a value on Snapchat. That said, whether you believe it to be a bubble or not investors are putting a significant premium on social media applications, especially those that are highly focused on mobile.
2) Facebook is falling into the trap of many large companies. It is scared to let go. In today’s hyperpaced communication overloaded society, users will flock from one platform to the next with little transition time or switching costs. Perhaps Facebook Inc strategy should be to intentionally kill Facebook.com. Build the tool users will go to after Snapchat loses its luster. Building for the future almost means building amazing, but disposable, products for today. This is more than just pushing video ads to mobile phones. If they are good, they should be able to churn out new products and services much faster than competitors. If not, they will cease to be relevant like MySpace before them.
3) Some people are arguing that instagram, including the new instagram direct functionality, are Facebook’s answer to snap chat and their way of the remaining relevant for young people. I’ll offer an alternative theory. The reality is that, like Microsoft has done several times in the past, Facebook bought the popular photo sharing company because they thought it was the next big thing. But was it really the old next big thing? Facebook may have become the “late to the party” juggernaut that it would never have desired to be. Just as the lucrative 18 to 25 market has been leaving Facebook in droves, the same market will begin to leave instagram. Watch TLC, Bravo, A&E, and CNN and note how often they reference Instagram. Face it, when people over 35 start to use something, their children stop.
The bottom line is I don’t necessarily believe the Facebook is in its final days. I do believe, however, the company must drastically rethink their strategy and consider alternatives for growth in the United States. If they truly believe that growth in other markets will counter dramatic drops in USA, I believe that is misguided. Other markets will eventually follow the same path of the United States. Younger users will leave; older users will join the platform at a much lower level of engagement; upstarts will create the next next big thing and advertisers will be tempted away.
For now, I have sold my Facebook holding and bought a small Twitter holding so I can enjoy a brief ride on the wave of the current big thing. And I patiently await the next next big big thing. Oh wait! There it is….
Note: I am sure there are lots of Facebook fans out there that would tell me that I have lost my mind and perhaps I have. But, of course, I’ve heard that before. Post your comments below. I would love to hear from you.
Be Well. Lead On. And may the consumer be the ultimate victor of these fantastic #techwars.
Adam
Adam Stanley
Adam L. Stanley Connections Blog
Technology. Leadership. Food. Life.
AdamLStanley.com
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Hello. My name is Adam Stanley and I have a problem. I get excited by new technology. All the time. Well, I guess that’s not really the problem. The problem is that I get bored by the constant debates about which is better. And, with all due respect to Gartner, the technology quadrants REALLY bore me.
A few quick thoughts :