Insight

Insight

16 September 2008

Knowledge Managers are sitting on a gold mine. When will they realise?

To prove your value to the business you are going to have to align yourselves with marketing and become more accountable.

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29 August 2008

The Dangers of Buying Lists

As a society we are becoming more impatient, we demand quick service, we expect results and we do not like waiting.

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28 July 2008

B2B Email Marketing Supplement

B2B Marketing Magazine has recently released an essential supplement on the future of email communications. The publication enquires whether the over-zealous use of this form of digital

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23 July 2008

Top 10 Tips for building a great new website

1.Begin with finding the right digital agency that you feel you can work with, that understands your business and your audiences

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The Digital Company 2013 - How technology will empower the customer

Concep, in cooperation and in sponsorship with The Economist Intelligence Unit, has actively participated in global workshop sessions with key business leaders on the state of technology and how it impacts business by the year 2013.

The sponsorship from Concep was more than just a monetary investment, key personnel attended the initial sessions in New York City and London. The attendees of these sessions were senior executives who were involved in technology innovations within their organisations. They had deep insights into what the world will look like from an operational and technical point of view within the next five years.

The main focus of the research was around how companies are changing in how they embrace and use new technology. Are they truly embracing these new technologies or are they holding back and maintaining the status quo? Another area was the issues that are arising around these technology transformations. Many professional and financial service institutions have issues, such as security and risk, which are regulated by federal governs. They hold strict to high standards which are often arbitrary in their design by these official governmental bodies.

Many of the elements of the research findings are things that Concep have been talking about for the past five years, one of these being Customer Insight and interaction. A deeper understanding of clients and their personal business requirements was rated as some of the highest requirements for many of the workshop participants and survey respondents by the year 2013. The one common theme, throughout each of the sessions, was detailed knowledge about their customers. In particular, how innovative technology will enable businesses, which invest in their infrastructure, the opportunity to take the lead in becoming Thought Leaders within their market sectors. This investment into customer relationship management technology offers their audiences the most relevant information in the format that they are asking for.

Elements of social networking are now becoming the norm for many individuals. These activities will become commonplace by the year 2013 and beyond when the Millennium workforce starts to become the majority. Previously, many large organisations resisted the allowable usage of these different media channels within their technology infrastructures. Businesses sighted risk and security as the main reason to ring fence access from office systems. The next generation workforce will begin to change these perceptions as they have grown up with these technologies. They are always looking for new ways to communicate with both their personal social networks, as well as business contacts, as the lines between personal and business lives are being blended.

Technology was supposed to be the liberator of the workplace but, as the research shows, technology has not reduced the complications in our lives. Instead, it has complicated our lives to such a degree that some of these devices are addictive and just too hard to turn off, even while on holiday.

So, what does this mean to the next generation of business professionals coming into the global workforce? The old rules apply, companies can either try to block these new technologies internally or accept the inevitable. By adapting the current rules and regulations and granting employees access to social networking sites, instant messaging solutions and any other new web 2.0 innovations that might come along in the next three to six months.

We believe that new technologies are here to stay. Smart companies are testing and investigating how to use these new technologies to their best advantage, without alienating the current workforce or customer base. Many B2B clients are looking into corporate liaisons with facebook and LinkedIn. In addition, they are encouraging customer communications through non-traditional communication channels, such as skype and googletalk.

While risk and security is something everyone needs to take seriously, finding ways to support a new generation of workforce in how they use technology is key to growth of new talent within organisations. This includes listening to these new fresh faces and their requirements in the future.

By Dwain Thomas

As sponsors of the EIU's research, Concep developed a microsite to show our integration with future technologies www.concepglobal.com/intelligence