BIZTECHBUZZ in the world of social, cognitive, IoT and startups
Cloud is transforming entire industries around us! I recently caught up with Jason McGee, IBM Fellow and IBM Cloud CTO, who explains how cloud changes the way apps are being built and why this is the year of the hybrid cloud.
We’ll be discussing more of these topics at IBM InterConnect this week!
As you know, I’m a HUGE fan of growth hacking and content marketing. Businesses need to embrace the most powerful digital engagement strategies and make data-driven decisions!
And what’s a core ingredient to make this happen? Skills!
We need new marketers that understand how to mine data to build PERSONALIZED relationships. We need project managers that know how to run an EFFECTIVE content calendar. We need data scientists and developers that can build the tools to TRANSFORM industries.
How do we build these skills? Through partnerships and development of an ECOSYSTEM. That’s exactly what we are doing with the Nustory Project. We’re matching student teams with startups to work on real-world challenges building and executing on content marketing plans.
Recipes for success:
Pair students with living, breathing startups
For this project, we are leveraging two key components of our ecosystem: faculty and students from our Academic Initiative AND startups from our Global Entrepreneur Program.
Faculty realize the need to build content marketing skills. As Peter Cardon from USC’s Marshall School of Business says, “Social media has turned brands into publishers, and the pressure to produce quality content is growing.”
Startups realize the importance of building content strategies to differentiate themselves as digital engagement becomes increasingly important.
Give students access to the best tools and platforms
To create a culture of success, we need to give students and startups access to the best tools!
Again we leverage our ecosystem, bringing in Hootsuite, the world’s most widely used social relationship platform and a key IBM social business partner . Through Hootsuite’s Higher Education Program, students access the Hootsuite platform for sharing content across social media and measuring its effectiveness. Startups access the platform to validate content and provide feedback.
For a successful content marketing strategy, COLLABORATION is KEY! And when it comes to collaboration, developerWorks offers a best-in-class suite of tools, whether its wiki for posting challenges or the forums for sharing best practices across a number of student teams.
Use analytics and certification to drive performance
Today’s volatile business environment demands a flexible data-driven strategy to drive success. Throughout the Nustory Project, students assess the reach, engagement and action from the social content they generate. They use agile processes to constantly move in the direction of higher value for customers and the startups they represent.
It’s one thing developing skills, but how can students actually PROVE that they are knowledgeable in Content Marketing? All students in the Nustory Project have access to Hootsuite University’s Certification Program – one of the best in the business for social media and content marketing.
So remember, when it comes to successful growth hacking and content marketing, think SKILLS and think ECOSYSTEM!
Learn more:
1) Come see my presentation on Growth Hacking @ InterConnect!
2) Hootsuite University – Stay up to date in today’s rapidly changing media landscape through social media education and industry-recognized certification
3) Whether your are a student, faculty member or business, get involved in the Nustory Project
With a wealth of panels, speakers, networking and more the 2015 Partnership World Leadership Conference was a great success! Some highlights include the Women in Channels Luncheon, the Cloud Ecosystem Breakout Session, and the Cloud Deep-Dive Workshop. Check out this video recap of all the excitement:
By 2020, Millennials will be approximately 50 percent of the U.S. workforce, and by 2030, 75 percent of the global workforce. (Source: Forbes study)
I am sure you’ve seen some of the recent studies, highlighting how millennials will be a major part of the workforce going into 2020 and beyond. A Forbes study, highlights that Millennials will be 50% of he US workforce by 2020!
This creates a great challenge for leaders who are faced with managing a workforce across multiple generations namely, Millennials, Gen X (aged 35–49), and Baby Boomers (aged 50–60). At IBM, we see the importance of understanding the preferences and behavioral patterns of each of these segments.
Today, I will share a few of the datapoints from this study from IBM’s Institute of Business Value that was released today! Its a multigenerational study of 1,700+ employees from organizations across 12 countries and 6 industries
Here’s a few of our findings and actions for leaders in managing this multigenerational workforce:
One surprising finding is that Millennials want many of the same things their older colleagues do. While there are some distinctions among the generations, Millennials’ attitudes are not poles apart from other employees
50%+ of Millennials are accessing their personal social networks for professional reasons less frequently than Gen X employees.
While this finding may not be a surprise, we did find that Gen Xers use social networks more frequently (60%+) to communicate with colleagues, get industry information, and promote their companies products / services. Given today’s escalating concerns about privacy and security, it’s imperative for senior leaders managing a cross generational workforce to publish social computing guidelines and ensure all employees receive direction about what can and cannot be shared externally
3 Actions for Senior leaders managing a cross generational workforce – How to get started
1. Focus on the individual (employee)
2. Foster a collaborative culture
3. Make customer experience a priority
More coming!!!
Diabetizer is an IBM Partner solution built on IBM Bluemix that can help the lives of the 300m worldwide diabetes sufferers.
I am in Vegas and walked through a great museum with fun quotes and it made me think of the advice earlier from some of our Venture Capitalists!
1. Fish are the last to recognize water. Make sure that you are constantly evaluating the landscape. Sometimes startups fall in love with their products and don’t see poor product-market fit with a solid business model. Remember that the product must be desired by a customer — and there are many substitutes. At our last VC roundtable, the VCs said that they are always weary when someone comes in with an idea that has 0 competition While this seems basic, I have seen many entrepreneurs dive into creating a product that they think is totally unique, not thinking through other options.
2. It’s always better to be looked over than overlooked. Many start-ups think about scale and overlook the way to get to need scale. The priority should be on developer productivity and being able to deliver the features and platform that sets your product apart. Focus on scale when it actually becomes a problem. You’ll be better prepared with more information about what to fix and where and hopefully with more help to do it.
3. If you want the rainbow you better put up with the rain. Many start-ups put their energy into impressing their boards and investors instead of their customers. Of course you must work with your investors, but a great start-up filters those ides through the eyes of their clients and potential clients. Don’t get distracted focusing on the wrong group.
Join us for the SmartCamp finals with a set of AMAZING Entrepreneurs!
Monday, Feb 23
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
MGM Hotel
Rooms 312–317
http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/us/en/interconnect/devat/smartcamp/
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