Episodes

What’s in a name? Plenty, for today’s ‘CIO’. Given this tech leader’s dynamically evolving role, their “I” stripe could be earned for bravery as an astute Integrator, game-changing Innovator, Infrastructure guru, Intelligence master – or some of each. But perhaps the title itself needs a makeover: ‘CCEO’ for Chief Customer Experience Officer. Alphabet soup aside, who is best suited for this transformed and transformative function? What comes to mind are Superman / Superwoman traits, like a bold,...

Ready to grow your company through global expansion? Smart strategy, according to Emergent Research’s Steve King. “Almost three quarters of global GDP growth over the next 10 years is expected to come from emerging market countries. How can you not participate in that growth? But the road to profitable subsidiaries can be bumpy, cautions SAP’s Mike Morel. “Subsidiaries have been the stepchildren of the corporate world, always a second priority. If corporate organizations can put a strategy in pl...

Whether you’re a start-up or a seasoned company, you’re facing the hard facts of today’s customer experience: it’s a perpetual-motion target and it’s your new competitive battleground. Given these challenges – plus your tight time and tighter budgets – how can you slide the sensitive customer satisfaction needle in the right direction to motivate your employees and satisfy your executives? Tune in for 10 Quick Wins you can implement now and see benefits in the near-term – really! CRM experts Rez...

According to Jen McClure at Thomson Reuters, “In just a few short years, social media has evolved from being considered a fad, to a disruptive force, to a powerful new set of business tools that are being incorporated into every function of organizations as they strive to become ‘social businesses.’” Yes, social media has changed the voices of customers and the media – whenever they’re happy or not so happy with you – from a whisper to a shout. That means your brand value can soar or stumble at ...

With social media and smartphones fueling consumers’ expectations and enabling them to impact your brand, the customer experience is now your competitive battleground. Everyone has a customer experience horror story. What’s the buzz about your company? Are you prepared to put customers at the center of your thinking to transform them into your best advocates? Meet Reza Soudagar, Vinay Iyer and Dr. Volker G. Hildebrand, authors of The Customer Experience Edge: Technology and Techniques for Delive...

There’s a global financial crisis, and struggling companies are reducing staff, or worse, shuttering doors. If you’re out of a job, you’d be out of your mind to consider starting a business today. Right? Not true, says small business expert Susan Wilson Solovic. “We are entering a new era in which the majority of Americans will either own a small business or work for one....While it may seem counterintuitive, a recessionary climate can actually be an ideal time to start a business.” Need proof? ...

Your holiday gifts may already be unwrapped, but we’ve got more surprises for you. Ten former guests will predict the exciting game-changer technologies that could transform, disrupt and shake up your business status quo in 2012. Their conversation may spark ideas on better ways to run your company – or start a new one – and move you in amazing new directions. Since our October debut, you’ve heard business leaders, analysts, influencers and authors discuss diverse game-changing trends – Consumer...

Some things never change. “The customer is always right”, a slogan associated with Marshall Field’s department store in the late 19th century, and attributed earlier to French hotelier César Ritz, holds true today. Consider this: You do everything right – deliver the right merchandise at the right price, right terms and guarantees, at the right time and place – yet some customers loudly declare they’ll never buy from you again. Why? Perhaps a delivery person who doesn’t work for your company, or...

In our unwired world of business, millions of mobile devices connect the boardroom to the shop floor to the consumer across the entire supply chain. These laptops, tablet and smart phones – which aren’t tied down by a power cord and data cable – empower employees at every level and the companies that employ them. If you’re still on the outside peering into the window of today’s game-changing mobility, this show is for you. Meet Carolyn Fitton, co-author of Enterprise Mobility for Dummies, the gu...

Imagine such fast access to all of your data - even field-fresh information less than a minute old - that when you ask a question, you get an informed answer in milliseconds! Not minutes, hours or days like you’d get from spreadsheets on different computers. Milliseconds. Essentially “real-time”. Now think of the powerful intelligence this would give you in response to “I want it now” customers and do-or-die business decisions. You'd have immediate and deeper insights about sales, customers and ...

Whoosh! That’s the sound of data flying in and out of your company. Information today is indeed king. But if you’re not governing data flow and handling with solid policies and processes, you’re missing the boat on maximizing information business value and minimizing risk exposure. If this is on your perpetual to-do list or if tentative rules are scattered around the company, listen up! Today we explore the burgeoning world of Information Governance (IG): how bringing together the right people, ...

In our Era of Pervasive Mobility, most of us take the benefits of smart phones and tablet devices for granted. But it wasn’t so long ago that we didn’t have on-the-go connectivity to people, information, shopping, entertainment and work. On Nov. 23, two days before Black Friday starts the 2011 holiday season and the year’s busiest travel weekend, we’ll look at the social and business impacts of today’s ubiquitous personal mobility devices that connect people of all ages to whatever and whomever ...

Our Nov. 2 Breakfast with Game-Changers weather forecast predicted prevailing clouds disrupting business-as-usual in a good way far into the future, with bright stars lighting the cloud-filled skies. Of course, we were talking about “the cloud” as in “cloud computing” – and what it can do for your business, whether you’re a new or mature small, mid-size or large company. Still in the dark, you say? Just a lot of hot air, you protest? Too nebulous to be real, you challenge? We’ve invited our gues...

Facebook this. Tweet that. Blog something. LIKE this. FOLLOW that. Social media. Social networking. Social business. Whatever you call it, it’s here to stay. And it’s moved from the domain of y-/i-genners’ personal trivia to a new business sandbox where companies big and small play to win high-stakes customer relationships. The theory: “Be in the game or lose the opportunity.” So where is your company on the social business debate: waste of time or marketing brilliance? Are you peering from the ...

You’ve heard the buzz and hype about ‘the cloud’, but do you know what it can do for you and your business? While Sand Hill Group’s research saw a dramatic leap in cloud computing adoption in Q4-2010, it also found that many small to midsize businesses are still confused about the meaning of ‘cloud computing.’ Can you tell the cloud apart from high-tech trends like Web 2.0, social media, virtualization, Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS...

On last week’s Big Data program, we discussed how today’s massive data volume, velocity and variety are challenging the creative coping skills of companies around the world. Now we’ll examine how to shake, bake and serve your data in far less time than it takes Rachael Ray to cook-up her newest yummo recipe. Yes! In-memory, real-time data analytics are the newest game-changing tool that can boost your company’s cost-saving productivity by 4% in the next 5 years and help you win big in the new gl...

Big Data. The world of Three V’s. Gartner describes “big data” as a three-dimensional data growth model: Volume of data; Velocity or speed of data in/out; and Variety of data types and sources. When we do the math, “big” typically ranges from a few dozen terabytes to multi-petabytes or more in a single data set. The bottom line: Big data is waaayyy too much for common software tools to efficiently capture, manage and process within a tolerable length of time. This is a job for game-changing solu...

Look what’s walking in your door this morning with your employees: their ipads, ipods, iphones! Why? Because their on-the-go lifestyle requires continuous personal and work connectivity. But at the end of the day, they may walk out the door with your proprietary data on their devices. This rapid consumerization of IT is already a reality around the globe. Are you ready for this new fact of business life? Have you decided how to enable your workforce to optimize their productivity? Do you have a ...

Wondering who today’s business innovators are and what’s on their plate that can change the way YOU do business next? Pour a fresh cup of your favorite breakfast beverage and join our expert panel for the debut of Breakfast with Game-Changers, as we explore these timely questions: How do game-changers think? What inspires them to develop breakthrough technologies that disrupt, excite and improve companies everywhere — and even become the stuff of legend? How long before their next “Aha moment“ i...