A recent McKinsey article talked about the future of retail with eBay, and part of the future was the demise of mobile as a separate strategy - subheaded "Beyond mobile". As I read it I thought this is actually true with respect to the whole "digital" thing which has reached the point of Boardroom obsession. I've simply replaced "mobile" with "digital and to me this makes sense: The latest trend has been that digital is very important. I think we’re already past the digital tipping point, where digital is increasingly not a meaningful concept. It was only a few years ago that there were no tablets and there weren’t any smartphones. Now we’re very quickly moving to a world where we... Continue reading

In this series of "why I saved" I'm explaining why I archived various tweets - in this case I didn't keep the tweet but the link to Facebook developing a "Linkedin rival" called FB@work. The article says Facebook internally uses Groups for work and that they are thinking of upgrading and offering this commercially. This actually means that it is nothing like Linkedin but could possibly be a Yammer-like offer. I kept this link because: The fact that Facebook uses its own Groups for in-house corporate collaboration is quite fascinating and I for one had little idea that they did this with such purpose (see this Communicating Effectively at Facebook for a mind-blowing insight). It reinforces one of my pet themes... Continue reading

I'm turning over a new leaf! *ANNOUNCEMENT* - instead of longer brain-crunching posts which only appear when the brain is on full power I have decided to write shorter comments based upon the several tweets which I archive for myself each day. I archive these tweets because they (the content of their links) prompt a thought usually connecting other ideas, and I keep the reference for building into a potential bigger story elsewhere e.g. the KINSHIP blog. So using the idea of Seth Godin and keeping things short and sweet I will add a little commentary around one selected "archived tweet of the day". Google Unleashes More Big-Data Genius With a New Cloud Service | Enterprise | WIRED Sometimes I don’t... Continue reading

A year ago today I emerged from 4 1/2 hours of cancer surgery. I am happy to say that I'm well recovered and free of that threat, subject to the latest test results. I'm fortunate in a couple of ways which might also help you if you're ever facing this juncture in your life. As banal as it seems the first gift you can give yourself - right now - is to get fit. Going from the ridiculous to the sublime my second piece of advice is to view the infliction itself as a gift. I only stumbled upon both of these and I'm advancing these to you not as my prior wisdom but as two important things that I have... Continue reading

On the one day I came across two snippets of insights from totally different perspectives that surprised me when I realised that they are connected. And speaking of "connected" that's what they were both about. In The 5 New Rules That Will Change The Way You Run Your Business Greg Satell explains how technology now shapes our enterprises in contrast to just enabling business processes within. His theory is that building and defending assets is no longer a sustainable strategy and will be a liability. An indeed that although we are mostly still learning what Drucker's 1966 prediction of the "knowledge economy" means Satell says that we're already moving from the Knowledge Economy to the Information Economy. How does that work... Continue reading

Late this afternoon it started to rain lightly. "Daddy, Google said rain not expected why is it raining". "Ah, we can ask Google now, maybe it changed." Ask Google: "Will it rain today?" "No, rain is not expected in Sandringham." ! "Google is wrong!", says Misha. [Bit tricky now, I don't want to disillusion her about Google!] "Daddy why is Google wrong?" "Well sometimes Google is right but the weather is wrong." [Did I just say that?] "I mean the weather changes quickly and Google is still learning." "Why?" "Because the weather is very clever and teaches Google." "Oh". "Ask Apple." "Good idea". [Me to Siri] "Will it rain today?" Siri: "No, it is fine and 18 degrees in Sandringham". [Somewhat... Continue reading

Walter Adamson featured on B2B Big Plays by Kimon Lycos in Marketing Magazine: discussing B2B moments, challenges, futures and the role of social media, and my personal favourite B2B choice of company SAP. Continue reading

Late in 2011 Google launched Authorship home page and Author stats within Google Webmaster Tools. It's widely used, and also not necessarily wisely used based on the few articles I see about the Authorship stats. In this post I'll just cover the basics, because to be honest I'm no expert. But what I have found for my own use I will share. (You can find expert diagnosis from people such as AJ Kohn and here from Mark Traphagen.) Presuming that you have set up Google authorship and let's explore a little. First thing that you'll see is the search statistics for pages for which you are the verified author. Learn more about verifying authorship. For example for me you can see... Continue reading

One of the most common hesitations I see with businesses wishing to deploy more social techniques of engagement is their hang-up about making a video. This example from Google strikes me as the perfect example of a "social business" video i.e. the "casual" video for social engagement with an invisible professional touch. I see this reticence whether the discussion is about making videos for internal use (for enterprise social networks) or for external consumption somewhere on the social web. The argument is usually polarised and runs like this: "We need to professionally present our business and have it professionally made and that will cost us $3,000 per video, I know that because I have just spoken to the video people we... Continue reading

Just 19 words recently attributed to Grant King CEO Origin Energy portend the implosion of electricity network operators. Lost in a large glowing article on the benefits of solar energy those 19 words were simply washed away in the deluge of daily information flow. Learn below why those words were simply one step in ten steps towards the commercial demise of the power grid operators. It's not the electricity network failing but the commercial failure of the power grid business Firstly, let's set the scene. I did not say that the grid is headed for failure. It could fail, as the ultimate outcome, but that's not my point here. Firstly the private companies responsible for the electricity transmission and distribution grid... Continue reading

The Wave of Analog-to-Digital (A2D) Disruption brings a level of accessibility to a new level for the masses, and at rapidly diminishing cost points, and feeds that information back into the global digital networks with massive consequences for incumbents. Continue reading

Not I don't mean the drinking bar, but the legal Bar. When Chief Justice of Victoria Marilyn Warren recently appointed 21 new Senior Counsel to the Victorian Bar she gave some words of advice (Australian Financial Review December 7, 2012, p33). It is brilliant advice, and something which I think business leaders, political leaders in particular, and Association leaders should heed. She said "there are four matters which I ask you to remember": You have been universally recognised as a person of the utmost integrity. Maintain your reputation. Appear in cases or give advice in matters that warrant the involvement of senior counsel. There is an expectation underlying your appointment that you are needed for the more complex and difficult matters... Continue reading

When I received a note from my 2nd daughter asking me to delete all photos of her children from Facebook of course I agreed. there have been some really disturbing cases on FB recently of people taking other peoples photos of children and posting them on pages... She asked if I would be asking the same of others in regard to my newest daughter (aged 2 1/2), and I replied "based on what I know at this time - no". Here are three reasons that, based on what I know at this time, I won't be asking anyone to delete photos of my daughter, nor restricting who can see them. I'll start with the least contentious and "work up": Firstly, each... Continue reading

I was surprised today to see relatively little in the tweetstream in Australia about Facebook's achievement in reaching 1 billion users. I had to search to find comments as they weren't streaming through, and then I also discovered that about half the comments were sceptical or negative, which surprised me. It's a massive achievement, with big implications for business and enterprise IT. Here are 5 - off the top of my head. They are not very well researched - forgive me - but at least I'm putting out thought-starters about the implications of Facebook's achievement. 1. The power of the smartest combination of technology, technologists, business strategy and execution It demonstrates how dramatically the smart choice of technology and business models... Continue reading

When Harvey Norman founder and Chairman Gerry Harvey launched a barrage of criticism of the “Internet” at the release of his most recent financial year results I couldn’t help reading on. In fact I was intrigued to read on. Why was I intrigued to read on? Well there are a number of reasons. Firstly because having been labelled a “dinosaur” for his previous “Internet denial” e.g. online retail, and having now started an online store he now has real online experience, and yet still decries the potential of that mode of selling – I wanted to see why. Secondly, he IS a very successful retail business founder and owner – he’s often epitomized as one of the great Australian retail success... Continue reading

I was intrigued by two opposing views coming out of TechCrunch Disrupt this week - one saying that start-ups have an “unfair advantage” in the enterprise market and the other that "tech start-ups needed to find new opportunities away from traditional technology". Yammer founder David Sacks, the holder of the latter view, says that "technology is too mature for entrepreneurs to be trying to upset the big boys". "Don’t try to disrupt the redwoods", he told an audience at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. On the other hand Box co-founder Aaron Levie said in his view, the enterprise market isn’t just getting "sexy" today, but it's actually now a very attractive market for start-ups. The traditional enterprise vendors, after all, are... Continue reading