Episodes

Social and business. Will this marriage last? The experts speak. Prof. Jerry Kane: “We're only at the beginning of the revolution ushered in by and through social, mobile, and digital technologies. Businesses, societies, and governments will be so radically different in 15 years...we’ll barely recognize them.” Gabi San Martin: “Business...has quickly become a conversation between the customer and the company.” Rohit Ohri: “As social media becomes overloaded and ‘popular,’ the key skill will be p...

Reality check: Health matters. More than your job, social status, money, car, house. But health is elusive. So much so that 65 million U.S. caregivers provide weekly care to the ill, disabled, aged. How can technology help? The experts speak. Robert M. Miller, National Fragile X Foundation: “Technology will never replace the caring spirit, but technology can provide the necessary tools for caring to make a real difference in the lives of those with special needs.” Louise W. Gane, MS, M.I.N.D. In...

Today’s buzz: Should we pin our hopes for a vibrant global economy, sustainable innovation and job creation on high growth entrepreneurs aka small and midsized enterprises (SMEs)? The experts speak. Aviva Freudmann, EIU: “SMEs in developed and developing economies show surprising similarities in their goals and expectations. For all the challenges they face in their business environments, they are an exceedingly optimistic bunch...” Bryan Pearce, Ernst & Young: “Last year, our 650 U.S. EOY final...

Big Data dominates the business conversation. Of its “3 V” attributes – Volume, Variety, Velocity – the third is grabbing the spotlight. Bottom line: Are you getting answers fast enough to support real-time business? The experts speak. Lee Dittmar, Deloitte: “Analytics prowess will determine winners and losers. But even as we talk about Big Data and the importance of ‘predictive analytics,’ many organizations still struggle to accomplish basic reporting efficiently and effectively. As companies ...

Dizzy from all the hype around Small vs. Big Data, big picture vs. exact insights, real-time vs. right-time answers, and more? The experts speak. Evan Quinn, ESG Global: “We're entering a new world in which data may be more important than software.”(Tim O’Reilly) Marie Goodell, SAP: “Every day, 3 times per second, we produce the equivalent amount of data that the Library of Congress has in its entire print collection. But most of it is like cat videos on YouTube or 13-year-olds exchanging text m...

Business networks. You connect with people you know, want to know, should know on social networks. Should your company join, too? Tim Minahan: “Online social networking tools have transformed our personal lives by connecting us to people and information in new ways. Businesses are undergoing that same process. How many times did you check Facebook, LinkedIn, send a tweet, text, Instagram in the past 30 minutes?” Quentin Fisher: “’Ants aren’t smart, ant colonies are.’ (D. Gordon, Stanford Univ.)....

Today’s buzz: Airlines. New technologies are game-changing the data-intensive aviation industry – optimizing internal processes, sharpening competitive differentiation, innovating the customer experience. But is it enough, in time, and which airlines will survive? The experts speak. Michael Wm. Denis, InfoTrust Group: “Why pay billions for smart aircraft only to plug them into dumb IT? Peter Kearns, Accenture: “Airline industry business benefits related to IT improvements will be negligible unle...

Today’s buzz: The city. More than just your snail-mail address, the city is a vital entity with the power to impact local quality of life as well as national and global economies. How’s your city running? The experts speak. Dr. Theresa Pardo: “Running a city is a complex and challenging task. Running it well, even more so. The best run cities ... embrace the complexity of the task, see the opportunities that information and technology offer in managing that complexity, and seek out innovative ye...

M2M. Machines connected and talking to each other. By 2018, nearly everyone, everything, everywhere will be connected real time, affecting how we innovate, collaborate, produce, govern, and achieve sustainability. Think about coffee plants telling farmers how and when to irrigate, harvest, pack, tag, ship. Mmm. Miguel Blockstrand, Ericcson: “Unleashing the power of connectivity to all people places and things is inevitable.” Steve Hilton, Analysys Mason: “M2M is a jumble of technology thrown tog...

Customer experience. Have you figured out what each of your customers really, really wants? If yes, have you designed a personalized, easy, conversational experience they won’t perceive as intrusive or creepy? If no to either question, listen up. The experts speak. Paula Rosenblum, RSR: “The essence of precision retail is what I call ‘The Grand Unified Theory’ – combining the customer intimacy and knowledge of the very, very small (independents), with the economies of scale and scope of the very...

Mobility is becoming ubiquitous. Exactly as planned. Some burning questions: Will the iPad Mini deliver anything new for business? Where does the BYOD (bring your own device... to work) trend end? With Windows 8, is a mobile device different from a PC? When mobility reaches full stride, will you ever have to leave the house again? The experts speak. Maribel Lopez, Lopez Research: “Mobility is about apps and business processes, not devices.” Philippe Winthrop, VeliQ: “BYOD - at least for me - has...

Talent, talent everywhere, but they can’t find jobs. What is HR doing about it? The experts speak. Dr. Katherine Jones: “Businesses of all sizes have struggled to shift their resources toward growth markets, yet they find a shortage of talent and leadership holding them back. We call this the ‘talent paradox.’ Companies need skills, yet unemployment remains high. We do not really have a job shortage—we have a skills shortage. Why?” China Gorman: “The changing demographics within the workforce ar...

People vs. numbers. Which should matter more to your business success? The experts speak. Greta Roberts: “Numbers are the language of business. If employees want to be valued, they need to be measured in a way that business understands ... as numbers.” Haig R. Nalbantian: “Too many organizations give lip service to the people side, but fail to apply real discipline to workforce management. They rely instead on intuition, benchmarks or so-called ‘best practices’ to inform their people-related dec...

Glocalization. Does this “portmanteau of globalization and localization” (Wikipedia) describe your company’s growth? If yes, the dichotomy will challenge your HR team as they try to manage a mobile workforce and multi-country payroll. If not yet, your time will come. The experts speak. David Ludlow: “The world is ’glocal’ (play on the combination of think globally, act locally). Today's talent is global, connected, and mobile. New categories of solutions are required to leverage that talent to o...

Fraud. It’s 2013. Surely by now we’ve figured out how to catch the bad guys and gals. “Not”, say our experts: Jonathan Middup: “Corporate fraud is most often a product of good people in bad circumstances. Depending on those circumstances, we could all be fraudsters.” Jonathan E. Turner: “Over the past 15 years we’ve made great strides in understanding fraud, increasing technology-based tools, and created focused legislation – yet fraud losses are increasing and fraud schemes go longer before det...

CRM 2013: Remember me?If you thought your customers were very demanding in 2012, wake up and smell the coffee in 2013! Is your sales team skilled enough in the art and budding-science of social monitoring and sentiment analysis to handle it? Are you analyzing field-fresh customer data and giving sales the 360-view needed to make smarter sales? Do you know when and where to use push vs. pull marketing? Are your CMO and CIO equipped to lead the way? So many questions – and our panel has answers. B...

CRM 2013: Remember me?If you thought your customers were very demanding in 2012, wake up and smell the coffee in 2013! Is your sales team skilled enough in the art and budding-science of social monitoring and sentiment analysis to handle it? Are you analyzing field-fresh customer data and giving sales the 360-view needed to make smarter sales? Do you know when and where to use push vs. pull marketing? Are your CMO and CIO equipped to lead the way? So many questions – and our panel has answers. B...

Truth time! On a scale of 1 to 10, rate your corporate social responsibility program. If it’s below 5 (you know who you are), our experts may inspire you to raise the bar in 2013. Daniel Elliott: “International corporate volunteer programs are a win-win-win proposition. The host organizations gain access to pro bono world-class consulting services, volunteers gain a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience, and companies enhance their brand and increase exposure to new markets.” Rebecca Wang: “The ...

Your company’s Social Media IQ. Do you know the score?If you haven’t checked recently, or it’s embarrassingly low, do something now – yes, this second day of 2013.

Although 2012 holiday gift-giving is officially over, we’ve got another present for you: Game-Changers 2013 Predictions – Part 2. Yes, more than a dozen thought leaders (guests on previous Coffee Break and In the Cloud programs) will gaze into the SAP Game-Changers Radio crystal ball, joining our 14 experts from last week’s program. Their collective gift is a smorgasbord of insights into the technologies, strategies, people and trends that can help you grow your business and compete better in 20...

What’s on your holiday business wish list this year? If it’s a crystal ball to help you predict what 2013 will bring for your company, we’ve got the next best thing. Today and next week, more than two dozen thought leaders from previous Coffee Break and In the Cloud programs will gather to gaze into the SAP Game-Changers Radio crystal ball. Their gift to you: a grab-bag of insights into the technologies, strategies, people and trends that can help you grow and compete better next year and beyond...

Social entrepreneurship. Yes, good things do come in small packages. The experts speak. Alexandra van der Ploeg: “Donating money is easy, volunteering in the traditional sense is easy, but is it effective? Corporate social responsibility should not be about philanthropy, but about leveraging capital, technology or talent to truly create an impact in the communities we work in.” Anne B. Evans: “Social entrepreneurship is love and respect in action.” Patrick Furlong: “I believe in the importance o...

Banks and big data. Risky business, according to our experts. Simon Paris: “As reported more or less daily, banks continue to face multiple risk and compliance challenges – are they not willing or not able to do proper risk and compliance management?” Ralph Silva: “Banks have to find some humility and realise that retailers, auto companies and grocery chains are far better at managing and mining data than they are. Steal it if you can.” Jane Griffin: “It’s understanding the risks in the market a...

Corporate banking. If your treasury department is in a stranglehold with your bank, you’re not alone. Richard Walker: “For commercial banks, the imperative is on improving customer experience and becoming easier to do business with through ease of integration, data and process transparency...” Olli Kähkönen: “When you walk through a storm, hold your chin up high...At the end of the storm is a golden sky... (Lyrics: You’ll Never Walk Alone) Robert Grimes: “With everything from supermarket chains ...