Episodes

The buzz: Ready. Set. Wait! You're a woman entrepreneur ready to start or expand your own business. Now what? You need to know that while women are the fastest growing segment of U.S. business owners, they tend to have smaller companies, generate less revenue, and employ fewer people than men. Is this due to fear of success, short-sighted planning, weak business processes, leadership insecurity – or all of the above? Learn the critical factors holding women back and solid advice to enhance your ...

The buzz: Get a shiny quarter.If your Finance function is like most organizations’, it has traditionally focused on expense control, spreadsheet-driven accounting and management reporting, mostly past tense.

The buzz: Ready. Set. Wait! You’re a woman entrepreneur ready to start or expand your own business. Now what? You need to know that while women are the fastest growing segment of U.S. business owners, they tend to have smaller companies, generate less revenue, and employ fewer people than men. Is this due to fear of success, short-sighted planning, weak business processes, leadership insecurity – or all of the above? Learn the critical factors holding women back and solid advice to enhance your ...

The buzz: Verb: To friend. Over 1BN of us use Facebook and other social media mainly for personal communication. Many businesses see sales gold here, too. But their ‘pixels-vs-people’ approach isn’t working so well. How can B2C and B2B companies market effectively to FB and other social platforms – and what is the potential payoff? It's time to learn how to master authentic social engagement to capture the exciting possibilities for your company.The experts speak. Yvette Lui, Facebook: “It alway...

The buzz: Climb in. Buckle-up. Your connected car is leaving the garage.Just as radio, PCs and smartphones changed our world, connected vehicles will, too, as the automotive industry advances toward a fully autonomous connected vehicle. Not to worry. It WILL be safe, courteous, green, shared, tailored for purpose – and driverless. And it will be the business platform of the future. How? The experts speak. Joe Barkai, Industry Analyst: “'I can’t believe that!’ said Alice. ‘Can’t you?’ the Queen s...

The buzz: Hyper is a good thing. As individuals, organizations, and machines inter-connect in real time, the resulting always-on hyper-connectivity is reinventing the world’s economy. If your organization is serious about competing, you need to capture the transformational power of digital across your business. The pay-off: a potentially dramatic increase in productivity and economic value. What do you need to transform quickly and win? What will you risk if you’re too slow? The experts speak. C...

The buzz: Yes or not yet? “There are only two types of companies today: those that have been breached and know it—and those that just don’t know it yet,” noted John Chambers. As a retailer’s networked connections expand and firewalls grow porous, added scrutiny is needed on security inside their IT landscape, as well as within their partner and consumer environments. What risk do “ethical” retailers face if sensitive collected data is breached? Do regional/national retailers have an advantage ov...

The buzz: Now! Attention, manufacturers. If it's a surprise that we’re mid-way into the 4th industrial revolution, here’s a news flash. Your manufacturing facility needs to take advantage of the exponential advances in technology, big data and innovations – or you’ll soon be out of business. How can you catch up? Harness the power of in-memory computing, IoT, wearable technologies, additive manufacturing and predictive capabilities. And stop underestimating customers’ evolving expectations (your...

Performance Management (PM) began informally around World War 1. By the late-1950s, many companies adopted formal, personality-based PM practices without a self-appraisal component. Complaints arose about their effectiveness. Fast-forward to today. Most organizations are using a PM strategy intended to drive the right behaviors toward a specific outcome, but 80% believe it’s not delivering. Is your PM maximizing or hurting your employees’ productivity? It’s time to examine the good, bad, and ugl...

The buzz: Drug supply risks. Today, more often than is acceptable, a required antibiotic or chronic disease drug cannot be delivered on time. What will happen tomorrow when personalized medicine tailored for one or a small patient group must be secured? The experts speak. Dr. Josef Packowski, CAMELOT Consulting Group: “Detective Del Spooner: ‘You are just a machine. An imitation of life. Can a robot write a symphony?’ Sonny: ‘Can you?’” (I, Robot). Julian Amey, WMG: “Gentlemen, we can rebuild hi...

The buzz: Connected health systems. Wearable devices can track and automatically report body traits, therapy adherence and lifestyle to patients, doctors, and more. But if taken to a new level, they could have more dramatic impacts. How? Individuals would change their health thinking and behavior, health insurers would pay per outcome vs. cost, and life sciences companies would focus on prevention as well as cure. Is this the impossible dream? The experts speak. Harry Greenspun, MD, Deloitte: “I...

The buzz: Hurry! Calling all manufacturers! We’re mid-way into our 4th industrial revolution. If your manufacturing facility isn’t taking advantage of the exponential advances in technology, exploding big data and amazing innovations, the handwriting is on the wall: you’ll soon be obsolete. What will it take to catch up? First, learn to harness the power of in-memory computing, IoT, wearable technologies, additive manufacturing and predictive capabilities. Next, stop underestimating the changing...

The buzz: Hurry! Connecting information, people, assets, and devices – on 3rd generation platforms that support social, mobile, cloud, Big Data, IoT – drives newly insightful business action. Can a long-standing industry like chemicals benefit? Yes! Embracing IoT can open opportunities to optimize efficiency, deploy radically new business models, and stay competitive. The experts speak. David Dunn, Rolta: “All right...but apart from better sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order,...

The buzz: Let’s get together, yeah yeah yeah! What does it really mean for you to have a connected business? Analysts estimate that by 2020, social networks will connect 2.5 billion people, the number of connected devices will total 75 billion, and the volume of global business trade between connected businesses will reach $65 trillion. As we move to an era of true hyperconnectivity in our digital economy, how can your company turn these challenges and your business networks into sustainable pro...

The buzz: Always better together. As the world becomes increasingly digital, your company’s survival will rely more than ever on co-innovation opportunities within your business network. How can you make this happen? Simply put, seek out and connect with collaborative partners who can help you achieve the solution edge that will keep you competitive and successful. But where do you look and whom should you choose? Guidance from Peter Drucker: “The best praise an innovation can receive is for peo...

The buzz: Spelling bee. Cybersecurity breaches in the headlines still strike fear in companies, governments and individuals worldwide. For businesses, the advent of the IoT can compromise secure access to critical infrastructures by connecting business applications with process/infrastructure applications, a traditional no-no. With today’s Advanced Persistent Threats and Zero Day Exploits, how do you protect access between 30-year-old sensors without Internet protocol support? The experts speak....

The buzz: Crystal ball. Yes, change is inevitable. But today’s unprecedented pace and scale of change presents unique challenges for the future of business. Futurists worldwide are examining and assessing potential business impacts of new and emerging paradigms, energy innovations, physical-digital boundary blurring, business decentralization, and other global drivers. What are the implications for future leaders? The experts speak. Frank Diana, TCS: “We are entering a world where everything we ...

The buzz: The secret’s out. So you’re a woman and you want to start – or expand – your own business. That’s great! Women are the fastest growing segment of business owners in the U.S. today. But here’s the rub: compared to men, women tend to have smaller companies, generate less revenue, and employ fewer people. What accounts for these differences? And what can you do about? Our panelists will reveal the key factors holding women back, plus solid advice for business success – for female and male...

The buzz: Honk if you love connected cars! The future is definitely connected and it’s already here. Consumers, especially millennials, living an always-connected lifestyle expect continuous access to personalized information and services from service and content providers of their choice – even while driving. They do not want to be restricted by the VIN of the vehicle they happen to be driving or in at any moment. How do they define their ideal mobile digital identity? What information do they ...

The buzz: It’s a small world after all. For today’s consumer, “the world” is just a few clicks away. Armed with anytime, anywhere information, they can (and do) find the best solutions for their lifestyle needs, often before walking into a store, restaurant, or service center. They’re actually maximizing their use of time, their most precious commodity. And they will punish providers who waste it. The experts speak. Brent Brown, HP: “100% of the shots you don't take don't go in...” (Wayne Gretzk...

The buzz: Roll-it! Big Data represents an opportunity for us to re-imagine our world, track new signals once impossible, and change how we experience our communities, places of work, and personal lives. After nearly two years of research and filming, interviews with 30+ data science, AI, technology and digital medicine scientists and entrepreneurs, The Human Face of Big Data documentary illustrates the promise and the peril in the growing Big Data revolution. The experts speak. David Jonker, SAP...

The buzz: One. Employee engagement is at its highest since Gallup started tracking it in 2000. Real number? Less than one-third (31.4%) of US workers were engaged in their jobs in 2014. Why? Success in our global, uber-competitive economy may be less reliant on strategic investments in technology, acquisitions, products – and more on how you treat your employees. Meaning? It may be time to change your corporate culture…big-time. How? Can one person make a difference? Well, that depends. The expe...

The buzz: The power to inspire. Executives and employees agree: leadership today is lacking. Who says so? A Workforce 2020 studied initiated by SuccessFactors, an SAP company, with Oxford Economics. Why? Because companies are not focused enough on developing future leaders. What does this mean to you? Think about the leadership characteristics at your organization that inspire you to come to work and do your best every day. Ultimately, how do you know who is worth following? Are you? The experts...

Employee engagement is at its highest level since Gallup started tracking this metric in 2000. That’s the good news. The truth? Less than one-third (31.4%) of US workers said they were engaged in their jobs in 2014. Success in this global and highly competitive economy may be less reliant on strategic investments in technology, acquisitions, and products, and more reliant on how you treat your employees. Does it help to create an atmosphere of fun for your employees on-site and virtually? Well, ...