Foundational Beliefs in an Age of Personalization

Foundational Beliefs in an Age of Personalization

FountainBlue will turn 9 in January, so we are going into our second decade of facilitating leadership and innovation, and doing our part in ushering in an Age of Personalization. It’s curious that the prior decade, my focus as founder and CEO of a web consultancy was facilitate the adoption web 2.0 elements – interactivity, communications, community, security, workflow, and more.

This web 3.0 phase is about all of that and more. The foundational beliefs we have regarding the Age of Personalization and web 3.0 are that:

1. Technology is making it possible to create and deliver personalized products and services to increasingly discerning customers.
2. Technology is connecting and empowering customers.
3. Customers want and expect personalized solutions.
4. Companies need to understand and deliver on what customers want.
5. Understanding why customers want what they want will help companies plan for the future.
6. Back-end operations, management, infrastructure and processes need to be integrated and aligned in order to sustainably deliver what the customers want cost-effectively.
7. Company leaders need to plan and strategize with all stakeholders to deliver what customers need.
8. Local vendors, partners and providers may become an integral part of delivering products and services to the door of customers.
9. Only the right vision, strategy and execution, delivered by the right leaders will succeed.
10. Success is a moving target, for solutions must continually evolve to serve the needs of the customer and to reflect new market trends.​​

The big picture is that CUSTOMERS RULE, and companies and leaders who get that, leveraging technologies and processes and people to show that they get that will wind up on TOP.

Those are our thoughts. What are yours?

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The Business Case for Diversity

FountainBlue’s November 14 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series event was on the topic of The Business Case for Diversity. Please join us in thanking our speakers for taking the time to share their advice and thoughts and to our gracious hosts at Symantec. Below are notes from the conversation.

We were fortunate to have a wide range of perspectives and experience represented on the panel. Our panelists had different educational and professional backgrounds and experiences, but they shared a wisdom about the importance of diversity for the individual, team and company perspective. They each shared personal stories of how they were different than others around them, and how that actually worked well in supporting their personal and professional goals. Each panelist had somebody who cheered them on and inspired them to embrace what was different about them, and nurture that diversity and strength.

Collectively, they shared the benefits of having diversity within a team: 1) the ability to reach out to a broader range of partners, customers, and other stakeholders, 2) the ability to better keep pace with an increasingly social, increasingly global world, 3) the ability to recruit and retain more diversity within the organization, 4) the ability to add to the bottom line and decrease ROI, and 5) the ability to incorporate different approaches and perspectives in solving problems.

Each are experienced and exceptional managers who provided advice on how to integrate people-who-think-differently into a team, how to communicate in a style that works for the other party, how our unconscious biases are limiting our own performance, how to move executives forward in their own journey around diversity, how to communicate the importance of diversity to people and teams, how to focus on meritocracy and cut through the subtle biases, and most importantly, how to see the value from people who think and act differently than the typical white male we might find in a technology company.

In the end, our panelists encouraged women to support other women and others who embrace diversity. But they warn that it’s not about gender or ethnicity just to be different – it’s about leadership and performance of the individuals themselves, and putting a diverse range of people in the roles where they can best perform and deliver results.

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Please join us in thanking our panelists for FountainBlue’s November 14 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series event, on the topic of The Business Case for Diversity, as well as our hosts at Symantec:

Facilitator Linda Holroyd, CEO, FountainBlue

Panelist Hillary Barnhart, Senior Director, Business Operations, AGS Equipment, Applied Materials

Panelist Preethy Padmanabhan, Sr. Manager, Solutions Management, Marketing, Dell Wyse

Panelist Sheri Rhodes, VP of IT Global Applications, Symantec

Panelist Olivia Shen Green, Manager, Business Operations. Engineering Talent & Culture | Stanford Management Science & Engineering, Cisco

Embrace the Age of Personalization

If the 60s brought on the decade of semiconductors, the 70s the era of the personal computer, the 80s, the prominence of networks, the 90s, the rise of the modern internet, and the 00s the prominence of social networks, what will the next decade bring? It’s that Age of Personalization, with the technology, data, sensors, hardware and software advances that come with it, serving the individualized needs of the customer. The companies who will dominate and succeed as we emerge from the Age of Information to the Age of Personalization have much in common.

1. These companies are technology-driven, leveraging the hardware, software, networking and other advances to deliver personalized services to demanding users sustainably. They have followed and even led the evolution of the internet, and have applied the concepts and the technologies in delivering products and services to their customers. For more information, read our past blogs: The Evolution of the Web
2. These companies are data-driven, and leverage data from applications, sensors, and volumes of information to better understand what their customers need so they can deliver and even predict precisely what they need, maybe before they even realize it themselves! Moreover, the data is integrated into the operational processes, to ensure the precise production, manufacturing and delivery of customized solutions, tailored to the needs of the customer. What’s Leading To Personalization for the Masses,
3. These companies will be well positioned to take advantage of Google’s project on the Physical Web, announced in October 2014, envisions that people can walk up to any smart device, whether it’s a vending machine, a poster, a toy, a bus stop, a rental car, and support the search needs of the user without first the downloading of an application. The volumes of data from these integrated sensors will be astronomical, and the successful company will know how to leverage that data real-time to deliver real solutions to their customers. IoE = Integration of Sensors + Big Data + Supply Chain
4. Companies with the edge will know how to process the information real-time, leverage that information to fuel internal and operational processes so that products and services can be efficiently customized and delivered to the door.The Tech, Logistical and Business Innovations of Internet 3.0
5. The data and information handles the science side of the personalization, but integrating that data into what’s actually delivered to the door is no easy task. To-the-door delivery hurdles include security, scalability, manufacturing, standards, and many other factors. Serving the Last Mile
6. 6. Companies that are customer-focused in vision, strategy and action will have an edge. They partner with customers to understand and anticipate their needs. They develop communities to connect their stakeholders and keep them engaged. They tailor their offerings and features based on the feedback of customers. Being Customer-Centric
7. Understanding the broader ecosystem of the business helps companies become more customer-focused. Working with a range of stakeholders across the value-chain, company leaders can understand better what customers want in the short term and long term, and develop win-win collaborations that help deliver personalized solutions to the door. Choosing Collaborations, An Ecosystem Approach to Engaging the Right Customers
8. Key to the success of customer-oriented, collaborative programs is a sales mindset for everyone across the organization, no matter what their roles and responsibilities are. With that said, it’s not the old connotations around sales but someone who is more collaborative, more informed, and more tech-savvy.The New Sales Professionals
9. Corporate leaders who facilitate innovation in words and actions will reward those that innovate, and attract those who want to be more innovative to join. But innovation is not just a way of thinking, it’s also a way of doing something well and something that makes a difference, embracing people, thoughts and ideas that *are* different. Innovation and Diversity: Two Sides of the Same Coin
10. But the bottom line is that it, as always, comes down to leadership. Who can do the pivot from what’s worked before to what will work in the future? Who can inspire others to follow and lead in a new direction? Who can envision, strategize *and* execute? These will be your leaders. Next Generation Leadership, Leading Beyond Complacency

This is the final post in FountainBlue’s Age of Personalization series. Future posts will focus on how the Aging are Leveraging the Age of Personalization.