Today's CIO Better Know What's in a Name
Do you know the name of the marketing associate handling targeted email campaigns with Marketo? How about the name of the human resources assistant with the Workday account?
Do you know the name of the marketing associate handling targeted email campaigns with Marketo? How about the name of the human resources assistant with the Workday account?
'Tis the holiday season, but how will you be spending it?
A typical business executive fires up a half-dozen iPad productivity apps -- Salesforce, Office 365, Yammer, Zendesk, Workday, among them -- to get through the day. Opening and closing apps every few minutes, though, can become tedious and annoying.
In the world of tech press releases and Silicon Valley executive speeches, certain buzzwords abound. There's the tried-and-true "scalable and robust" solution, the ubiquitous "multi-platform," and, of course, the claim to be an "industry leader." Most tech reporters simple glaze over these words -- they don't even register anymore.
The online world has spawned a virtual content creation and aggregation boom. Digital marketers flood online channels with YouTube how-to videos, Instagram photos, Tweets, Facebook posts, Web pages, graphics, blogs and more. In turn, consumers rely on Google search to help them sift through the rubble and find nuggets of useful information.
Unlike most technology trends, the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon is tied closely to culture and norms. As a result, BYOD adoption varies widely country by country, as a recent Dell study on global workforce trends shows.
During a roundtable discussion on the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend, a tech leader candidly offered this bit of real-world insight: "My wife is a nurse. There is no BYOD policy at the hospital. But all of the nurses communicate with each other via SMS, because that's the most efficient way to do their job."
If a CMO signs contracts with ad networks and tag management vendors that collect user data, essentially giving third-parties access to the company website, the CIO had better be involved. When the site slows down or online customers start receiving sales-killing content warnings or security gaps widen, the CMO will be lost and confused in the Tower of techno-Babel.
It's shopping season, the great American tradition when we brave crowded malls, wander aimlessly from retailer to retailer, hoping for a little inspiration on what to buy our friends and family. Our experience will no doubt be the same as every other customer, complete with awkward run-ins with teenage salespeople telling us anything to make a sale. We'll probably end up buying the same outfit worn by the mannequin in the showcase.
The future of the CIO is perched precariously on the branch of relevance. In other words, the CIO can soar on the wings of massive transformation, helping companies become world-class digital businesses. Or CIOs can topple under this pressure and be "usurped" by a CIO capable of leading this transformation, says Forrester.
Imagine that a CMO at a hospital delivers an emotionally powerful television commercial touting wellness. Because many consumers watch television with a tablet in hand, the CMO also runs a Twitter campaign as the commercial airs. The commercial sparks a Twitter conversion.
Smartphones aren't cheap, but they've become our window to the world. We use them to run our lives, stay plugged in and even get some work done. We can't live without 'em. And so we dig into our pockets every month to pay a huge phone bill despite our shoestring budget.
Consumers cast their eyes on many screens, from the smallish smartphone to the widescreen television. They watch primetime shows, tweet on tablets and chat with friends online. Yet companies are just now realizing that these digitally savvy consumers often do these activities at the same time.
At a New York banking firm, a couple of executives lost their jobs because they didn't report lost phones within 24 hours, in violation of a draconian BYOD policy. At a California law firm, the CIO knew every time one of its lawyers slipped away to play golf, exposed by watchful BYOD management software.
Bill Clinton's run for presidency nearly derailed when rumors surfaced that he had smoked marijuana during his time in England. In an effort to control the damage, Clinton admitted that he indeed experimented with the illegal drug but "didn't inhale." Imagine how history might have changed if a video of a glassy-eyed Clinton with a joint between his lips had shown up on Youtube (which, of course, didn't exist at the time).