VOLUME ONE

IN THIS ISSUE:

Approaching & Embracing SMAC SMAC Dened How CIOS Use IT Partners The Cloud Goes to Washington SMAC in Marketing NFC and Augmented Reality Are Changing the Shopping Experience Social Collaboration BYOD by the Numbers Machine-to-Machine Connectivity

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3 Editors Letter
Forecast: What Can We Expect?

4 11
1

5 Approaching & Embracing SMAC

SMAC Defined

14

IT Partners Help to Strategize & Implement CIO Business Mobility Plans The Cloud Goes to Washington

17 22 25

20 Googles New iOS App for G+ Making G+ Easier

S hould IT Sit at the Helm of Social Media Initiatives?

23

Technology Gives Marketing Wings LinkedIns Secret to Becoming the Go-To Professional Social Networking Site is in the Analytics

29 Whats the Deal with LGs New Smartphone? 30

STAFF
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Robert H. Steele MANAGING EDITOR Androniki Bossonis COPY EDITOR Katie Petito COORDINATOR Pamela Vega

NFC and Augmented Reality: How Companies Are Creating Memorable Consumer Experiences with New Technologies

34

The Social Collaboration Aspect of SMAC

36 BYOD by the Numbers

2

38 To Know Your Customers You Must Know SMAC 39 The Rise of

Machine-to-Machine Connectivity & Opportunity

WRITERS Brian Hall Sarah Roullard Melissa Rudy Stacy Ranta Androniki Bossonis Robert H. Steele Dhru Desai Tim Peterson ADMINISTRATOR Charisma Cabal ART DIRECTOR Nancy Ruzow ADVERTISING DESIGNERS Pamela Vega Phu Michael Luong Alex Bash BUSINESS DIRECTOR Robert H. Steele MARKETING MANAGER Androniki Bossonis The SMAC Report Q4 Mobile 17300 Red Hill Ave, #100, Irvine, CA 92614 www.smacreport.com smac@smacreport.com The SMAC Report is a Q4 Systems Corporation publication.

42 How is Twitter Positioning Itself

by APPs

to TV Advertisers?

44 Your Next Car Will Be Powered 46 Thoughts on Google Fiber, Part 1

EDITORS Letter
We are excited to introduce and make publicly available The SMAC Report, which is a printed version of the newsletters we originally created to keep our client base informed of trends and changes in the fast-evolving IT landscape. What we consider to be important or gamechanging news in the market, we hope will be important to you. We hope to be able to give you an idea of what your competitors may be doing and how to stay one step ahead of them. We bring together some of the brightest minds in the industry, knowing all will benefit from the mind share. As a company, Q4 is just emerging from a period of aggressive expansion in the Healthcare, Financial Services, IT Consulting, and Retail sectors, as we gear up to enter a phase of wider deployments of our SMAC (social, mobile, analytic, and cloud) platforms across these industries. Obviously, keeping our customers up to date can only help them derive revenue and gross margin growth from these technology solutions; however, it seems in keeping with our advancements toward cloud and open source structures that we also share our thought leadership universally as well. We look forward to having you as regular subscribers, either to our quarterly print or online editions, and welcome your questions and feedback. We want to make this the magazine you turn to for everything SMAC. Lets get SMACing.
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FORECAST:

What Can We Expect?

CRMS ARE Trending Mobile

According to information technology research and advisory institute, Gartner, Inc., mobile CRM apps will increase 500% by 2014, a sign of the shift toward getting work done in the coffee shop more so than at a desk. This prediction is reinforced by Gartners news that SaaS providers will represent more than 50% of CRM market profits by. So the forecast is rather cloudy, wouldnt you say? Gartner reports there are 200 apps now in app stores. By 2014, there will be 1,200. Mobile apps will come in a variety of flavors, attacking specific aspects of the CRM experience. Gartner, citing a CIO survey of more than 2,000 people, predicts that vendors will need to build mobile apps around their specific strengths. (Gartner, Inc., 2013)

BYOD. Really.
Gartner has put forward that 70% of mobile professionals will conduct their work on personal smart devices by 2018. Currently, 82% of companies allow their workers to bring their own devices to work, but by 2017, 82% of employers will require all of their workers to bring their own devices, as IT departments shift their focus from configuring and maintaining workstations to device certification and advanced security measures. (Gartner, Inc., 2013)

Mobile is the WAY TO PAY

Forresters U.S. Mobile PaymentsForecast2013-2017 Report announced that Mobile proximity payments (in-store payments) are predicted to reach U.S. $41 billion by 2017, a considerable spike from just U.S. $549 million in 2012. Mobile peer-to-peer payments (remittances), totaledU.S. $709 million in 2012, which was a surprisingly higher total than the more anticipated mobile proximity category. Forrester predicts it will hit U.S. $4.2 billion by 2017. Forrester breaks mobile payments into a third category: mobile remote commerce or mcommerce. This category includes Internet shopping via phone or tablet. This segment is predicted to grow more slowly than the mobile proximity segment, but still be the largest. It could hit U.S. $45 billion by 2017. The total of all three mobile payment categories is expected to total $90 billion by 2017. (Forrester, 2013)

 BY ROBERT H. STEELE
There has always been a debate whether great leaders are born or made. There is discussion about how the ability to adapt defines a true visionary. The ability to reinvent yourself, either as an executive or a company, is what will ultimately define your true success. This is unquestioned, whether the leader is standing on the sideline of a playing field or occupying the corner office.

SMAC has been defined as A new master that IT architecture social, blends

are priced in the triple digits. It is obvious that current SMAC strategies are not working for many companies. Like any entity, a business is oriented toward the what produces

mobile, big data analytics, and cloud technologies . . . emerging to catalyze organizational tiveness. There is certainly no shortage of information available about SMAC from those peddling its benefits in the information technology industry. But, as has been demonstrated in recent waves of new information technology, this does not lead the way to success, or even survival, for an industry. Ironically, those in the information and hightech sector have suffered the most: productivity and busines competi-

most profits. Generally, that is not the way that SMAC is currently being regarded. This is due for a change, which is obviously too late for the shareholders of Kodak, The Los Angeles Times, and possibly even Xerox. Each failed to embrace new technologies that came to dominate the industry even though all had huge institutional advantages. But for other entities formulating a SMAC strategy, and more importantly one oriented toward producing profits, there will be great benefits. More satisfied clients, more sales resulting in increased revenues, and a more robust bottom line with a higher net profit margin awaits those who create a SMAC strategy that works for their business. For that, a strategic sourcing decision must be made for all SMAC matters. That has been structured by
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As Winston Churchill once counseled, you must prepare for change or prepare to be changed.
As Winston Churchill once counseled, you must prepare for change or prepare to be changed. That is happening across the corporate landscape with the new digital technology imperatives of social, mobile, analytics, and cloud, often times referred to collectively as SMAC.

The Los Angeles Times is bankrupt, along with many other newspapers, despite an explosion of news; Kodak has gone out of business, even though more pictures are taken now than ever, and it invented digital technology; and Xerox is trading in the single digits, almost a 50% drop from its 10-year high, while other high-tech concerns

some as requiring four sourcing mandates from the C-Level management team: Sourcing that may involve embracing new software and new software development approaches; Sourcing that entails a detailed analysis of the market; Sourcing for mobile technology that involves the entire network of its engagement apparatus where BYOD (Bring Your Own Device to work) is fully engaged; and Sourcing for cloud services in information management.

GOODBYE TO THE PAPER CHASE AND HELLO TO THE DIGITAL EXPRESSWAY!

From the corner office down throughout the entire corporate hierarchy, it must be determined how a SMAC strategy will impact the sourcing regime. For overall technology, there is what is now known as the SMAC Stack, which is the defining architecture created for the new product. This is now considered to be the next target for enterprise information technology, based on its role in the overall corporate structure. Business models must also be account-

seminated throughout the ranks. That, regrettably, is where so many companies are falling short today: a failure to understand how the SMAC Stack is altering the marketplace. Eventually, it will be realized. But that will be a costly lesson, courtesy of the market. When this happens, in the words of one Wall Street executive, it will be, crude, rude, and effective.

Each one of these new endeavors will bring new risks to any organization. Through proper planning, these risks are minimized and controlled. All must
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ed for in any formulation of SMAC strategy. It is absolutely critical here that the impact of the SMAC Stack on old-school business models is fully controlled by the corporation and its affiliates. Should it fall under the dictates of the market, then the company will soon find itself out of control, and quickly going the way of Kodak, Xerox, and The Los Angeles Times. It must also be identified and then understood where the SMAC process results in change for the company. For a company to successfully transform itself, it must first define what exactly is the goal of acquiring the new technology network. It is not enough to just state more mobility as that is not a strategy. That is defining how a customer or exchange is engaged. How the SMAC Stack is changing the world as it relates to the business model of the enterprise much be ascertained first at the corporate level and then dis-

At this time, corporate America is looking at the fifth wave of the information technology tsunami.
But that does not have to be the case. First, an honest and comprehensive assessment of your company must be performed at the highest level. If the business is more than a decade old, the information technology structure is more than likely ill-suited for todays business environment. While those in C-Level suites may not realize it, employees certainly do, as do investors, and more importantly, customers do or soon will. Eventually, the bottom line will make that point when it is much too late. As one observer termed it, yesterdays world of widgets are floundering in todays onslaught of digits. This business transition from widgets to digits is forcing a massive change in the business paradigm of many industries:

move forward with a SMAC strategy, or a tremendous competitive advantage will be ceded to rivals. After all, the definition of an entrepreneur is a risk taker. Even many law firms, among the most risk-adverse of all business, are moving to a completely paperless regime by 2016 as a result of SMAC technology components, according to a recent study by Iron Mountain.

Business models must also be accounted for in any formulation of SMAC strategy.

 More movies and television shows are being watched at home, but the show is over for Blockbuster as the new program features Netflix being one of the best performing stocks in the market; Book sales have increased, but Borders and other book shops have decreased in number while the share price of Amazon has soared; and In a burgeoning development that will also disrupt the market, business software is becoming so powerful that hardware firms such as F5 have recently been downgraded.

Iron, mainframe computers were produced by a number of companies from the 1950s to the 1970s. At that time, the mainframe computer industry was known as IBM and the Seven Dwarves. Eventually, the companies died off due to more powerful small computers, even laptops. As for the fate of the mainframe computer: NASA shut down its last one in 2012. Next was the minicomputer. These are computers that lie in the middle between workstations and mainframe computers. Minicomputers are multiprocessing systems that can support between 4 and 200 users at any one time. As the market has evolved, the distinctions between these various types of computers has become even more blurred . . . count on the smaller, more mobile ones to prevail! After the minicomputer came the client/ server. This is an application structure

from research commissioned by the U.S. Government to create a secure means of communication. While there is no single date for the advent of the Internet, it is generally considered to be in the 1980s. Its commercial applications are still evolving and appear to be boundless. About one-third of the worlds populace uses the Internet, an increase of more than 100 times since 1995.

At this time, corporate America is looking at the fifth wave of the information technology tsunami.
TRENDS THAT WILL ONLY ACCELERATE.
What will also continue and increase along with those trends is the role of SMAC Stack technologies. That is the history of information technology: one of change and disruption that floods the marketplace, wave after wave. It is also the nature of the business when profits are realized and wealth created for the owners. At this time, corporate America is looking at the fifth wave of the information technology tsunami.

We are now in the midst of two more waves. One being the SMAC Stack. The other is more capable open- source software making its impact felt.
We are now in the midst of two more waves. One being the SMAC Stack. The other is more capable open-source software making its impact felt. An article a short time ago in Barrons by Terrian Ray supported this new view. So powerful is this software that it is performing many of the functions that were previously handled by network solutions. In Rays piece in Barrons, As Software Takes Over, Network Gear Could Be in Jeopardy, it was noted that . . . as general- purpose computers become more powerful, they could absorb functions that previously required specialized computer

that partitions workloads and duties to the providers of resources or service, or the server. The client/server model was developed at Xerox PARC in the 1970s. Portending its decline, Xerox, like Kodak with digital photography, lost control of the technology it founded. Eventually, the market took over and the end result was crude, rude, and effective. Current examples of client/servers are email systems and network printing. The most recent wave to swamp the

The first was the mainframe computer.Commonly referred to as Big

world was the Internet. The Internet can be traced back to the early 1960s

hardware, the way many functions can be performed on PCs today that once required mainframes. So much for the fate of the first wave! Each of these waves has lasted about a decade in market disruption and dominance. All resulted in increasing business productivity much more than had ever been expected. Each focused initially on essential business processes. All resulted in new developments never before expected, resulting from the genius of the individual. Every wave, after greatly increasing productivity and profits, was eventually confronted by diminishing returns, however, due to the unyielding forces of competition. That is the basic fundamental of free market economics.
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When a new good or service is introduced, profits soar as buyers rush in to gain an advantage. Competitors quickly enter the market to capture the profits being generated by the market dislocation, narrowing the margins. Eventually, through the principle of substitution, a better or alternative product is produced. Then, what was once a growth company in the hightech sector becomes one that is attractive for its healthy dividend payment, like Apple, Intel, or Microsoft. At present, SMAC Stack technologies are engaging in severe displacement in the marketplace. From that inefficiency, there is a tremendous opportunity for businesses to establish a competitive advantage over rivals. Based on the history of the previous waves of technology disruption, this should last about a decade. That is an eternity in the universe of high technology and some executives careers. That is also a tremendous opportunity for companies to profit from a superior SMAC Stack technology infrastructure. It does not matter how firmly entrenched rivals are in the industry. In all the previous waves of technology advances, the brick-and-mortar regime had seemingly insurmountable advantages. Take SalesForce, for example. No one believed that any company in their right mind would trust their most sensitive asset, prospect and client data, to be held in the cloud. SalesForce executives and all of their shareholders are laughing all the way to the bank.

The end result is that the digit winners all created a new insurmountable advantage in the free market.
The end result is that the digit winners all created a new insurmountable advantage in the free market. Each had a value chain that was harmonized with the demands of the market: crude, rude, but effective in enriching these digit firms while driving the widget companies out of business.

At present, SMAC Stack technologies are engaging in severe displacement in the marketplace. From that inefficiency, there is a tremendous opportunity for businesses to establish a competitive advantage over rivals.

A major advantage that the companies in the previous waves of information technology had was that the C-Level executives were at the front line. The early billionaires from the high-tech era were all graduates of the Home Brew Computing Club from Silicon Valley in the 1970s.

Although it would be nice, the next Bill Gates is not required to sit in the corner office. Business will prosper from advancing a new aggressive SMAC strategy and embracing related aspects of the new open-source technology craze.
The circle is now complete, once again, with SMAC Stack technology. applications. It should also always be remembered that Bill Gates was ostracized from the Home Brew Computing Club for pushing for the commercial development of intellectual property. Although it would be nice, the next Bill Gates is not required to sit in the corner office. Business will prosper from advancing a new aggressive SMAC strategy and embracing related aspects of the new open-source technology craze. Executives at all levels must focus on: SMAC Stack technology both within the corporation with employees, and outside with all business associates, ranging from clients to vendors to any partners or affiliates.

A company today must recreate itself so that it benefits from the SMAC Stack disruption in its business sector.
A major advantage that the companies in the previous waves of information technology had was that the C-Level executives were at the front line. The early billionaires from the high-tech era were all graduates of the Home Brew Computing Club from Silicon Valley in the 1970s. Those were computer geniuses who ate, breathed, and lived in code. As a result, their companies did not just meet the need of the market, the goods and services they produced created the market. There were no corporate layers separating the customer from the corporate chief. Here it should never be forgotten that the genius of Bill Gates was in realizing the previously unappreciated capabilities and potential of software

3. FOCAL POINTS
Each firm has what Clausewitz termed the center of gravity. These are critical areas where the knowledge functions intersect that will benefit the most from a SMAC strategy. Focusing on these segments will result in the greatest profit potential for any business entity seeking to gain from advanced information technology applications. There is only one Bill Gates. But that should not stop the C-Level executives at a company from recognizing the profit potential in SMAC technology. Approaching SMAC and embracing SMAC as a profit center will change a company for many years to come. In addition, it will render to your firm a decade-long advantage before history repeats itself with the next new wave of information technology advances that disrupt the marketplace once again.
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1. TECHNOLOGY
So that the downstream impact of the SMAC Stack results in a transformation of the business that results in a substantial competitive advantage in the marketplace. Remember, there is about a decade to complete this before the next information technology wave of change arrives to offer more opportunities.

2. BUSINESS MODELS
A company today must recreate itself so that it benefits from the SMAC Stack disruption in its business sector. If it is a decade old, it is at a disadvantage. The firm must endeavor to create a business model that maximizes the impact of

 TIM PETERSON

Think back a decade. We had just come out of the Y2K crisis, the Internet was in its infancy and we were on the brink of a significant stock market correction with the dotcom bust. We could not know then that these events would lead to todays massive SMAC opportunity. SMAC, short for social mobile - analytics - cloud, represents the confluence of mobile devices and enterprise mobility, social media, cloud services, and analyzing the Big Data each of these generates. To fully understand SMAC, we need to go back to the original promise we saw in the Internet more than 10 years ago. The Internet was touted as the thing that would change everything. In many ways it has. Its hard to imagine life without it. There have been bumps along the way, however. We were promised an age of total connectedness. We drooled at the prospect of revolutionary and immediate improvements in productivity, collaboration, and integration. Perhaps more importantly, we were convinced that these improvements, like the Internets reach, would be widespread, inclusive, and easy to attain. Reality has proven to be quite different from our initial expectations. IN THIS ARTICLE, WE WILL: Review Internet technology expectations and past promises Align past and current market conditions with two well-known and one lesserknown Technology Laws Explain why it has taken more than a decade for the original promise of the Internet to become an achievable reality Define SMACs value as a disruptive group of technologies
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TECHNOLOGY LAWS

Most of us in IT are familiar with Moores Law. The doubling of integrated circuit capacity (performance) every 18 months has enabled the Internets supporting infrastructure to expand to accommodate the explosion of digital information and supporting technologies. In fact, todays move back to centralized computing aka The Cloud would not exist without the technological advances Moores Law correctly predicted. Just as important is Metcalfs Law what many believe to be the Internets guiding law. Metcalfs Law states that the value of a network rises exponentially relative to square of the numbers using it. In other words, each new connected user adds power or value to those already on the network.

KAOS LAW

Theres a hidden or lesser known Internet Law that ties Moores Law and Metcalfes Law together and encapsulates what we have long hoped the Internet would deliver: Kaos Law. Kaos Law states that the power of a network increases exponentially by the diversity and divergence of those connected to it. In other words, as more users (and devices) are able to connect to a network and add their unique perspectives, the more powerful the network itself becomes. And theres the rub: Kaos Law assumes that there are no barriers preventing this diversity to be absorbed by the network in a timely and meaningful way. This has not been the case. The barriers encountered in integrating the disparate devices,

software programs, and individual networks used by diverse businesses, industries, people, and applications has long since limited the promise of Kaos Law.

UNDERSTANDING SMAC

The reason SMAC is so powerful is because it finally allows us to integrate each of these disparate parts solving the integration problem, and thus enabling the optimum value of the network to be realized. To understand this we need to break each element or pillar of SMAC down individually to arrive at a collective SMAC value. We will also explore the internal and external impacts on business and clarify some common misconceptions about the roles of each pillar in an organization.

One of the most easily misinterpreted areas of SMAC is the Social element. In fact, there are actually two components to the Social pillar of SMAC Internal and External.
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At the risk of oversimplifying, we are Internally Social every day by collaborating with our coworkers, customers, and partners. Bear in mind theres a big difference between the unstructured information explosion in Instant Messaging and email, and the structured information contained within integrated enterprise collaboration software tools, for example. In addition, for Kaos law to fully apply, the Externally Social diversity layer must be accounted for. Understanding how a companys products or services are being received by the market has an entirely different look in todays world. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn allow the consumer to become an integral voice, and a companys ability to harness the massive volumes of social data relating to their brand and distill it into meaningful data can be crucial to brand management. Internal and External components also apply to the Mobile aspect of SMAC. Internal Mobile needs include integration with legacy enterprise software solutions, sign on, security, and workflow routings. These are all examples where integration barriers have fallen, collaboration has increased, and reveals the diversity available in a SMAC-enabled network. External Mobile solutions allow the consumer more access to a companys product or service, and offer them new levels of convenience. The emerging trend toward mobility enables internal and external diversity across our network, and allows participants to contribute on devices they choose, often strengthening brand loyalty. Companies today need to allow both internal and external participants to contribute to or access their platform. Initiatives such as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) highlight the flexibility necessary for todays business climate. This also reveals how we are moving closer to realizing Kaos Law and the full promise of the Internet.

So far we have covered the impact of removing integration and collaboration barriers. A byproduct of these barriers coming down is an exponential rise in the amount of information created and available to the network itself. Storage Area Networks (SAN) are one of ITs fastest and most steadily growing market segments. To keep pace with the Big Data explosion, many companies embark on massive Data Mart and Data Warehouse Business Intelligence (BI) projects. While these projects have paid some dividends, settling on a BI architecture that meets current demand while remaining flexible and elastic enough to meet constantly shifting future requirements is challenging and expensive. Companies need options. Think about the radio telescope and how creating an array of smaller telescopes and linking them together has allowed scientists to hear further into space than ever before. The future of BI seems to be following a very similar path. The ability to quickly and accurately mine an ever-increasing universe of decentralized information is perhaps the Holy Grail of Analytics. Solutions are emerging that address this need and SMAC architectures of the future will embrace these new paradigms. Cloud computing is the common term used to describe the services and applications available when multiple computers and servers are connected to one another in real time. The Internet itself is a massive cloud computing architecture. Despite this, five years ago, one of our most innovative and successful IT executives called the Cloud water vapor. Weve come a long way since then. Virtualized environments are everywhere, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is commonplace, and cloud initiatives are a strategic goal for CIOs around the world. Scalability, redundancy, and cost are primary concerns. Without the cloud, mobile services and social media platforms cannot function. The value of cloud computing truly comes into focus when you consider that it allows us to increase capacity or add capabilities and features on the fly without investing in or implementing additional infrastructure, training personnel, or paying for software upgrades or licensing. Cloud computing includes any software as a service (SaaS) or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends the existing capabilities of IT.

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SUMMARY
While SMAC has its roots in the very underpinnings of the early days of the Internet, its potential and that of Kaos Law can only now be realized. The rapid growth of smartphones and social media, and the expansion of cloud computing, have all led to an amazing opportunity. Everyone is connected, every business is connected, and these connections are not only increasing the value of the network but leading to new ways of discovering and extracting that value. SMAC will impact every business. Those who embrace its potential are likely to leapfrog their competition.

Strategize & Implement CIO Business Mobility Plans

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IT PARTNERS HELP TO

he job of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) is to oversee all of the technical equipment and latest software for their companies. In the last 20 years, CIOs have seen the industry change from one gigantic computer to machines so small and affordable that everyone carries them. Previously, corporate equipment and software have lasted anywhere from three to five years until there was enough advancement to warrant an upgrade. But as new software and technology are released once or twice a year now, companies are finding it necessary to update more frequently. In todays business world, CIOs are partnering with IT specialists to develop and implement business plans that embrace the latest trend: mobile communication and control.

CIOs & IT Partners Devise & Initiate Mobility Plans CIOs that are already working with a mobility plan face more business challenges than ever before. Mobility plans are expensive. Between new equipment, new software, and initial IT hours spent upgrading, the costs can exceed $100,000. This is the first challenge faced by CIOs and their IT partners when strategizing a new mobility plan. Depending on the industry and how much confidential information is required to conduct business, one of the most cost-effective plans has been to allow CIOs and IT partners to upload only the most basic applications to an employees existing tablet or laptop. While the information will always be encrypted to protect against hacking, mobility plans present another challenge: security risks. Business servers and computers have always been at risk from internal and external influences intent on stealing personal information or wreaking random havoc. While this is stressful enough, mobility plans introduce many new levels of potential security breaches. The best solutions so far have been to keep track of every login time and length, from which device, what tasks are completed, and what data is accessed. For more efficient monitoring, there are apps available to install on each mobile device connected to the server. Its in the actual implementation phase that CIOs most rely on the support of their IT partners. Whether the company decided to buy all new mobile devices but are allowing employees to use their personal devices, it is important for CIOs and IT partners to determine exactly who will have mobile access to secure server data. Working in part with business management, CIOs and IT partners will need to have mobile access to the server beyond that, only a handful of key employees should have that responsibility. This decreases the security risks CIOs will have to deal with, while the IT partners help non-mobile and mobile users resolve everyday issues.
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Working in part with CIOs and IT partners access to the server

business management,

will need to have mobile

How Mobile Devices Shaped the Business World In todays technology-driven age, its difficult to find someone who doesnt have some kind of mobile device. Cell phones presented the biggest breakthrough in business communications since the invention of the computer. The first versions were massive and barely worked, but quickly grew in popularity as the general public clamored for more portable and affordable versions. Cell phones introduced technology as a daily norm and mobile technology exploded quickly, continuing to advance about every six months. Now, every employee from the temps to the CEO has a cell phone, laptop, or tablet on which they can communicate with customers, from anywhere.

. . . mobile technology exploded quickly, continuing to advance about every six months.

The Cloud Goes to Washington

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loud computing is taking IT by storm, including in Washington and throughout government agencies, large and small. Cloud computing is a means of allowing organizations to access server capacity, IT services, and functions on-demand. With cloud computing, large data centers can offer a range of customers, everything from a small start-up to a massive government agency, quick access to low-cost IT infrastructure. Pay only for the services and capacity needed. Of course, one major factor driving adoption of cloud computing is the fact that employees bring their own mobile devices to work. The combination of smartphones, apps, and personal cloud services, such as Dropbox, for example, or Gmail, lead staff (and customers) to demand like-services from government IT.
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can take years and cost millions of dollars to complete. Cloud-based services should allow for rapid provisioning, implementation, growth, and changes as necessary get what you need when you need it.

CORE CLOUD SERVICES

In government, the primary services or applications moving to the cloud are: Storage Conferencing and collaboration On-demand computing resources Messaging services Business process applications Office and productivity applications

SECURITY
For the government, in particular, cloud computing security issues are a major concern. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is a government-wide program tasked with creating a standardized approach to security issues. Security issues for cloud computing are many and include: Security policy of the cloud provider Security policies regarding information access and storage Change control processes Physical access to and protection of infrastructure Data destruction Security policies related to third-party vendors Backup and encryption Data segregation, as cloud providers support many organizations Disaster recovery Audits Compliance certification (as needed) Licensing

Major government agencies in the U.S., UK, Canada, and elsewhere are migrating computing services to the cloud. This is good news as now even small agencies with limited budgets can access capacity as needed and take advantage of skilled IT management and best practices. The federal governments Federal Cloud Computing Initiative (FCCI) is tasked with driving the adoption of cloud computing throughout the federal government. The goals for the FCCI are to help agencies increase efficiencies, optimize common IT-related services across agencies and boundaries and foster a more unified approach. The FCCI creates standard cloud computing contracts and teaches agencies the benefits of cloud computing solutions. The hope is that the FCCI will help government leverage the same advanced, lowcost IT services available to the private sector. One major barrier in government is its inability to react quickly and effectively to changes in technology. By some estimates, the average IT effort in government

The cloud market is red hot growing at a compound annual growth rate of 26% and garnering an increasing share of IT dollars. Given the size of government, it is no surprise that many vendors are clamoring to offer cloud-based services, infrastructure, and support. It will be interesting to watch the U.S. government (and others) restructure and relocate their operations to the cloud.

razor

QR codes and NFC tags

Cloud-Based Platform for

when aQRacy matters

Mobile Engagement.

QR codes and NFC tags are being used everywhere, including print advertising, product packaging, signage, television advertising, internet advertising, and in-store product and display labeling. QR Codes and NFC tags can initiate Click to Pledge, Click To Buy, Click To Like On Facebook, click to perform a function, display a url, launch an app, etc. The applications are endless. Adobe InDesign Plug-In for easy QR Code creation and integration.

www.QRazor.com

 BRIAN S. HALL
Google has been steadily gaining traction with its Google+ (G+) social networking platform. Thanks to a recent update, iOS users (iPhone/iPad) can take advantage of the services newest features, which had previously been available only on Android. With the new app update, iPhone users now have the same automatic photo enhancement capabilities, along with the ability to create animated GIFs of their G+ pictures. Thats not all. While offering a much more robust photo upload, sharing, and enhancement experience, there are some other ease-of-use enhancements to the Google+ app as well. These include a series of automated hashtags to assign to status updates and new features to make organizing photos simpler. Other improvements to the app include: Ability to use hashtags to discover new content. Ability to edit comments. More text features, such as strikethrough. Profile edits made from within the iPhone. Google+ is considered a social network as users can freely post items of interest, share photos and videos, and chat with friends and followers. It is also an identity service as all a registered users activity across all Google services are linked back to Google+. Favoriting a YouTube video simultaneously posts it to within Google+. Or, for example, clicking on the red G+ button on a website is a way to instantly tell friends on Google+ that you liked the page. Google touts this as a social layer across all its services, making for a more seamless

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Google+ is the second-largest social networking site in the world, behind only Facebook. Google claims 500 million registered users, about half of whom actively use the service in any given month. Google+ was launched two years ago, on June 28, 2011. Like Facebook and similar services, Google requires Google+ users to provide their real name and gender.

For iPhone users unaware of the service, Google+ is much more than a social network.

Stay Connected with Googles New iOS App

Chat using Messenger Video chat using Hangout Set up events and include real-time

experience one that competing platforms just cannot match. Along with the Google+ website, users can interact with the service via their Android or iPhone app. The iPhone app is fairly easy to navigate. This is especially useful considering the robust feature set of Google+. The social networking tools in Google+ allow you more opportunities to connect with friends and professional contacts. From within the app, you can use Messenger to chat with connections, browse friends photos, set events, and include real time, event-related information, and join various Communities. These include communities for car enthusiasts, photography, programming, and more. In this way, Google+ combines elements of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

event-related information Join Communities Group connections in Circles

Google+ also includes some innovative multimedia features not found elsewhere. Circles is a simple way to group friends and followers. A user may want to share some information with their Family circle, for example, or Upper Management or Professional Colleagues circle. There is no real limit. Privacy settings can be managed for each circle. Another unique feature is Hangout. Hangouts let any Google+ member initiate or participate in a video chat. There is a limit of 10 people within a Hangout. Note that while Hangouts is a part of Google+, on iPhone it is accessible only within a separate (standalone) Hangouts app. The sheer volume of features tends to scare away some users. That said, taking a bit of time to learn Google+ can prove a boon to your personal and professional life.

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As of this writing, Google+ has a 4.5 star (out of 5) rating, with approximately 1,500 reviews. Hangouts has a 3.5 star rating with 1,000 reviews. Both are free.

Best Practices
Melissa Rudy Here are ten best practices your business can follow to develop and implement a secure and consistent mobile business environment that encourages productivity.

Top 10 BYOD

1. Determine your companys needs

What are the specific mobile needs of your company? A business with employees who are frequently on the road will need a more complex policy than those where employees work mostly in the office. The preferences and behaviors of your employees should be a consideration as well. Determine what devices they already own and use for business purposes to help determine security requirements and acceptable devices.

mobility features such as integrated voice, messaging, app and document sharing, video, conferencing, and single number reach in a familiar interface. These tools use a private network, which also helps to improve productivity.

6. Establish a deployment strategy

While most BYOD programs are employee-funded by definition, you may choose a company-funded or shared funding model to help employees offset the costs of personal devices used for business. Before you implement a formal BYOD environment, decide what costs, if any, will be underwritten by the company.

2. Onboard your whole team

Since BYOD programs are issues of policy, you should make sure to involve more than just your IT department. Alert key personnel such as communications, chief security officers (CSOs), legal departments, and CEOs that a BYOD policy is being developed, and be open to suggestions, concerns, and other input.

7. Plug potential security holes

Your mobile device policy should cover virtual private network (VPN) access and Wi-Fi security, and have requirements to guard against malware through approved third-party applications. For highly regulated industries or situations where security is a top priority, the policy might include two-factor authentication and remote wiping capabilities for additional security.

3. Decide policies for acceptable use

Since the same devices employees are using for business are also engaged for personal use, it becomes vital to include acceptable use policies for BYOD that help to curb risky behavior. An acceptable use policy should cover apps that are allowed and restricted, security requirements, and any other specialized restrictions you need to protect your business. Have employees sign an agreement regarding acceptable use before their devices are connected to the corporate network.

8. Designate management and enforcement policies

Mobile device management (MDM) tools are a popular solution for BYOD programs. MDMs are third-party software solutions like Sybases Afaria, Fixmo, and Microsofts InTune that allow you to manage and monitor usage for multiple devices from a centralized location.

4. Ensure network readiness

With application-rich platforms that feature video, voice, and high definition graphics, most personal devices today consume a lot of bandwidth. Before you implement a company-wide BYOD program, its important to make sure that your network can handle the increased demand. Inspect your switch and router networks, wired and wireless access, remote location connections, Internet pipe size, and other important elements of your infrastructure, and make any necessary adjustments to increase capacity and speed prior to your BYOD rollout.

9. Roll out your program

Depending on the size of your organization, you may be able to launch your BYOD program all at once, after your policies are set. Larger corporations often opt for rollout phases, initiating a smaller pilot stage before full-scale program deployment. Youll also need a plan for program removal when employees leave the company.

10. Update as necessary

Ensure that your IT team has the resources to stay up-todate with any upgrades that will affect your employees personal devices. Monitoring employee usage and the current state of mobile technology will allow you to run a secure and successful BYOD environment for your business.

5. Invest in collaboration tools

Enterprise level software such as Yammer, Jive, Salesforce Chatter, and Yammer will give your employees powerful

 ANDRONIKI BOSSONIS

Marketing is a more complex discipline than ever. By successfully utilizing technology, marketers have an opportunity to create distinct advantages over their competitors.
Successful marketers are working in pairs with CIOs to navigate change and build more effective, efficient organizations. Marketing efforts are now entirely organized around technology, implementing systems and mining data and the cloud to be more relevant to consumers over an increasing number of channels.

With buzzwords such as social enterprise popping up, we can see why social media has become a game changer for organizations
With buzzwords such as social enterprise popping up, we can see why social media has become a game changer for organizations. A poorly performing competitor can jump through the ranks by unleashing waves of SEO-optimized content, and good business can suffer from a few bad reviews. Social media is now woven into the purchase decisions of buyers, and consumers can contribute to the success or failure of a brand just by discussing it on social channels. As social media continues to rapidly flourish, brands lose more and more influence over buyer perception. Managing the social aspect of marketing has become a critical corporate function, and as our team of writers and number and size of social channels continues to grow, it is easy to see how a company might struggle to keep track of its own social presence. Fortunately, there are tools available for marketing automation, social media optimization, and social intelligence that can help tame the social beast.

Data-crunching platforms break down the massive volumes of data from various marketing and social channels, informing marketers as to how they can tailor their approach
Big Marketing:

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As we search, socialize, purchase, and congregate online, we leave behind a trail of trackable data. The demand to utilize this data for the purposes of intelligent, targeted marketing has resulted in the development of sophisticated, algorithm-based platforms designed to provide meaningful big data analysis and significant insights, thereby bridging big data and marketing. These data-crunching platforms break down the massive volumes of data from various marketing and social channels, informing marketers as to how they can tailor their approach in response to what their target audiences are doing and saying online. Comprehensive social listening platforms can automate sentiment analysis, provide demographics, pinpoint and interact with influencers, and even establish a social CRM to help understand and manage our share of voice. Emphasis must be placed on the quality of the data that these tools find and use. Spam postings present a challenge to accurate filtering. Also, if your brand name contains a common word such as apple or market, then the code must discern which mentions of those words actually pertain to you.

By embedding tracking code in social media, email, and web pages, we can monitor the behavior of anyone interested in a product to determine level of interest.

Marketing Intelligence:

By embedding tracking codes in social media, email, and web pages, we can monitor the behavior of anyone interested in a product to determine level of interest. Intelligence tools can record which social media group or thread they followed, which link was clicked on in an email, or which search term was used to access a website. Multiple link analysis can then track buyer behavior. This allows more accurately targeted response and the development of a nurturing program specifically targeted toward their interest and vertical market.

keting automation involves multiple areas of marketing and is really the marriage of marketing technology coupled with a highly structured sales process.

Task automation, such as automated social posting tools, can significantly save time while improving social reach.
Marketing Task Automation:
Facilitates automation of marketing processes and tasks to help marketing teams manage all the moving parts and marketing assets without being overburdened by repetitive processes. These include everything from budgeting and resource planning to the marketing calendar to automatic social commenting, posting, and scheduling. Task automation, such as automated social posting tools, can significantly save time while improving social reach. We can see that the role of marketing has evolved to not only understanding customers, but to respond to customers as individuals. Marketing can only do this if they can mine and organize vast amounts of unstructured data, and generate predictive insights on an enormous scale. In order that they connect with individual customers at each of several touch points effectively, they must employ an engagement system that provides value with each interaction. Thus, the entire process of marketing and how we understand its impact relies completely on the intelligent pairing of Marketing and IT.

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Prospects are rated based on their tracked activities, and then presented scheduled campaign messaging via email and social and mobile channels, thus nurturing them from initial interest through to sale.
Marketing Automation:
Usually linked to a CRM, marketing automation tools focus on nurturing and moving leads from the top of the marketing funnel through to becoming hot leads at the bottom of the funnel. Prospects are rated based on their tracked activities, and then presented scheduled campaign messaging via email and social and mobile channels, thus nurturing them from initial interest through to sale. Mar-

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to Becoming the Go-To Professional Social Networking Site is in the Analytics

LINKEDINS SECRET
SARAH ROULLARD

inkedIn is a recognizable force in the professional world. Career-driven individuals use LinkedIn to job search, submit job applications, interact in professional groups, and consume work-related content. The popularity of LinkedIn.com translates into a global Alexa web traffic rank of 14, beating search engine giant Bing, which sits at a global rank of 16. LinkedIns success as a leader in the social networking world resulted from smart first steps, most notably the companys initiative to implement analytics to identify

popular features on the site and convert those to premium offerings. LinkedIn is an example of the strength in social, analytics, and even mobile focuses components of SMAC.

LinkedIns Beginnings
Entrepreneur and investor Reid Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn in 2002. Hoffman, a former PayPal Executive Vice President, used his own money to start the new venture, pulling together a team composed of former classmates and colleagues. Linkedin.com launched in

May 2003. The site offered the LinkedIn Personal account, which the company promised to always provide free of charge.

Data from LinkedIns own analytics also distinguished opportunities for focused advertising, prompting the company to develop Targeted Recruiting Advertising opportunities.
announced three premium accounts, starting with LinkedIn Business Accounts for recruiters and researchers. Business Accounts provide users with powerful search tools to more efficiently discover job candidates and experts. The company wrapped up 2005 with the announcement of Pro and Personal Plus Accounts, providing job seekers and networkers with the ability to connect with more members and better identify job opportunities through increased search result volume. In 2006 LinkedIn announced its first profitable year.

Linking In Analytics with The Professional Social Network

Throughout its first five years, LinkedIn raised millions of dollars in funding from various venture capital groups. This funding allowed the company to invest in advancing the sites infrastructure, which included implementing analytics on user activity. LinkedIn used these analytics to determine the most valuable features for users. The social networking site quickly grew to become a huge database of professionals who interacted with each other, consumed content, and searched for jobs and job candidates daily. This large collection of user activity provided the company with a great opportunity to monitor hot spots within the site and identify valuable features. The findings identified key areas of value including recruiting, research, and networking.
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In March 2005, LinkedIn announced its first premium offering, LinkedIn Jobs, a relationship-powered job network that connects job applicants with hiring managers, HR professionals, or recruiters. Later that year LinkedIn

LinkedIn Milestones
December 2002 Reid Ho man cofounds LinkedIn March 2005 The social networking site announces LinkedIn Jobs, a relationship-powered job network March 2006 LinkedIn reaches protability

May 2003 LinkedIn.com launches

August 2005 LinkedIn launches Business Accounts

LinkedIn currently boasts 225 million users across more than 200 nations . . .
Data from LinkedIns own analytics also distinguished opportunities for focused advertising, prompting the company to develop Targeted Recruiting Advertising opportunities. According to a 2011 Forbes article, LinkedIn reported that profit from corporate customers utilizing job listing and advanced recruitment tools contributed 50% of the companys revenue, emerging as the companys most profitable income source.

al recruiters and employers, and Recruiter for enterprise recruiters. These accounts can range from $20 per month to thousands of dollars a year.

In Q4 2012 LinkedIn reported its highest revenues yet, boasting $303.6 million.
In Q4 2012 LinkedIn reported its highest revenues yet, boasting $303.6 million. LinkedIns Premium Subscriptions brought in approximately $61 million, Marketing Solutions advertising services contributed approximately $82 million, and Talent Solutions recruitment tools achieved more than $161 million. On the surface LinkedIns social networking features may appear to be the driving force for its success; however, the companys efforts in incorporating mobile, and particularly analytics into their technology mix distinguish it from other services. The companys successful use of social, mobile, and analytics exemplify the advantage in incorporating SMAC components into a modern business model.

LinkedIn Today
LinkedIn currently boasts 225 million users across more than 200 nations, providing LinkedIn.com in a wide variety of languages. The social network provides members with a mobile site as well as free iOS and Android apps. LinkedIns premium account product offerings have expanded even further to serve more types of users. The social network offers the following accounts: Business for general business users, Job Seeker, Sales Navigator for sales professionals, Talent Finder for individu-

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June 2008 Bain Capital Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and other venture capital rms purchase a 5% stake for $53 million, valuing the company at ~ $1 billion

May 2011 LinkedIn celebrates its IPO and trades its rst shares on NYSE

March 2008 LinkedIn announces company proles

March 2011 LinkedIn reaches 100 million members

January 2013 LinkedIn reaches 200 million members

WHATS THE DEAL WITH LGS NEW SMARTPHONE?

ALYSSA BURRIS
In April of this year, LG announced it would provide consumers with a revolutionary technology in its latest smartphones by the fourth quarter of 2013. Vastly different from other mobile devices on todays market, LGs latest version will have flexible OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screens. This means that the screens are bendable and, as a result, less prone to damage. You might be curious how LG could present such an unusual type of smartphone. The answer is quite simple. Because the companys proposed screen is apparently thinner and lighter, it has flexibility like no other device available to consumers. So this smartphone will easily distinguish itself from the competition. Furthermore, the most appealing part of this pivotal step in smartphone technology is that users can be less anxious about smashing this device due to drops, falls, and other types of accidents. However, as nice as the new OLED screen sounds, it will not be ready at the end of the year. Kim Wong, vice president of the European division of LG Mobile, just made it clear that the flexible display screen wont be on the market after all. Wong explains that the technology is not mature enough yet. Industry experts think that the delay is occurring because technology hasnt been able to fulfill the concept at this juncture. While the idea is to make the entire device flexible, theres no direct solution to make this goal come to life right now. So the devices are forced to remain rigid for the time being. In addition to the technological issues, cost is another problem that has yet to be overcome. Its hard to create flexible screens at a low cost, mostly because materials are at such a high price. So the manufacturing process must find cost-effective solutions in order to launch flexible screens for the general public. This obstruction, though, may not prevent competitors from supplying flexible smartphone screens in the near future. Companies such as Samsung are concentrating on becoming the first provider of this groundbreaking design. Its intriguing to monitor which manufacturer may lead the market with this upcoming technology. Whichever company wins this fight, OLED screens are destined to change the face of smartphones forever.

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NFC and Augmented Reality:

How Companies Are Creating Memorable Consumer Experiences with New Technologies

nhancing the consumer experience has become the goal for many businesses, as technology continues to advance and consumers get harder to impress. Most people today own own at least one smartphone or other high-tech mobile device, and they often serve as the primary drivers for the latest consumer tech. Mobile devices have given marketers a whole new way to promote products and services.

Augmented reality: A whole new way to experience products

Along with a rise in devices, there has been a drastic increase in mobile commerceshopping from smartphones or tablets. However, theres still a consumer preference to physically try things before they buy, especially for products such as clothing or big investments such as vehicles. Augmented reality could shift those perceptions. Some companies are already bringing additional convenience and fun to consumers shopping experiences with augmented reality. The technology allows you to see how furniture will look in your home, virtually try on clothes, or even take a new car for a spin from your mobile device.

NFC and augmented reality are already being used by some companies to bring creativity and innovation to the consumer experience . . .
Augmented reality and NFC are two of the latest technologies to expand into consumer applications. Here are the terms briefly defined: Augmented reality projects real time enhancements, or augmentations, onto real-world environments using computergenerated data. An example of this might be map overlays onto GPS images or video. NFC stands for near field communication, which is a type of wireless technology with the ability to transfer data between two NFCenabled devices when theyre physically close togetherusually one inch apart or less. The data might be phone numbers, web addresses, or small application launchers. NFC and augmented reality are already being used by some companies to bring creativity and innovation to the consumer experience, from paying for purchases with a smartphone to virtually test-driving a new car. Here are just a few examples of these technologies in action.

While only a handful of the latest smartphone models are equipped with near field communication capabilities, the role of this technology in consumer marketing is expanding rapidly.
A few of the ways businesses are using augmented reality include: Augment This app for Android and iOS shows consumers how products will look when placed in the home or office. Through Augment-connected ecommerce sites, you can point your device camera where youd like to place an item and project an image of anything from household dcor to furnishings into place on the device screen. The app features controls that let you move items backward or forward, rotate them, or place them flush against a wall.

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Audi offers an augmented reality app that lets consumers drive the newest Audi models from a smartphone.
The webcam social shopper from Zugara lets shoppers try on new outfits with no need for dressing rooms, by turning computers or mobile devices into digital dressing rooms. In addition, Bodymetrics is developing full-body scanners to help Bloomingdales customers find clothes that fit perfectly, and Intel Labs is creating a line of in-store kiosks to allow consumers to virtually try on clothes, and also experience the fabric by simulating how an outfit would move while youre wearing it. Audi offers an augmented reality app that lets consumers drive the newest Audi models from a smartphone. The simulated driving experience also provides additional information about a vehicle, and sensory input like the way the engine sounds. Called Audi Vision, the app uses images from the companys 2013 manufacturers guide to offer virtual test drives on new cars. Try-it-out apps arent the only ways companies are using augmented reality. From Dutch brewing company Heineken comes a prototype for a new beer bottle outfitted with LED lights, sound, and motion sensors. The Heineken Ignite, now in the pre-launch phase, lights up when two bottles are tapped together or when someone drinks from it. In addition, the lights pulse and flash in sync with loud music.

NFC: Making smartphones smarter

While only a handful of the latest smartphone models are equipped with near field communication (NFC) capabilities, the role of this technology in consumer marketing is expanding rapidly. NFC is inexpensive to implement, easy for consumers to use, and comes with a wide range of potential.

Mobile payments are among the most talked-about areas for NFC development.
Mobile payments are among the most talked-about areas for NFC development. Shoppers will be able to pay for store items by waving or tapping an NFC-enabled smartphone on a sticker or label containing NFC data. Other mobile payment options, such as Google Wallet, are already gaining traction, but NFC mobile payments are poised to increase in popularity. But the biggest potential for NFC lies in programmable NFC tags. These are typically small objects, such as key fobs, plastic chips, wristbands, or stickers with an embedded NFC-enabled microchip. These tags can transmit a variety of data to NFC-enabled devices, such as discounts and special offers, virtual business cards, and additional product information. NFC tags can also launch actions or applications, signing up customers for a Facebook page, Twitter feed, or email marketing list. Augmented reality and NFC present an entirely new field of possibilities when it comes to creating memorable consumer experiences. Will your business tap in?

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While only a handful of the latest smartphone models are equipped with NFC capabilities, the role of this technology in consumer marketing is expanding rapidly.

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COMPANIES CAN USE SOCIAL COLLABORATIVE MODELS TO REACH NEW LEVELS OF PRODUCTIVITY
Not too long ago, communicating with your coworkers involved nothing more complicated than walking across the hall and dashing off an email or perhaps a quick phone call. As corporations have grown in size and technology has gotten more complex, many companies are turning to social media models and tools to increase productivity and make collaboration among employees faster and easier. Before we dive into how social collaboration tools can help companies, its useful to define the term. For the scope of this article, a social collaborative tool is software that encompasses a wide range of features that allow users to easily share information and work together as a team. They use a unified platform and may include file sharing, video conferencing, milestones, messaging, and time tracking. The software can be hosted on the companys intranet or a cloud-based service on a remote server. Popular examples include Basecamp, Teambox, TeamWork, and Zoho.

WHY DO COMPANIES NEED SOCIAL COLLABORATION?

Information contained in nonsearchable formats such as on an employees computer or in their email inbox forces coworkers to spend excessive amounts of time communicating with other workers and hunting the information they need. The McKinsey & Company report states highly skilled information workers spend an average of 28% of their work week reviewing and responding to email and another 19% gathering information. Only 39% of the workers time is spent on productive tasks specific to their role. Social collaborative tools turn this information into content that is freely accessible to others, eliminates whose got the ball update conflicts, and allows employees to easily share ideas and feedback. The report estimates if companies were to fully adopt social technologies, their employees could reduce time spent on email by 25% and information gathering by 35%. This would free up a total of 14% of their workweek for other productive tasks. For example, take a group of six employees working on a single project. Two of the employees work out of the office. Under the old system, managing the flow of information between all the group members was a challenge and valuable time and effort could easily be lost. If multiple members worked on the same aspect of the project independently, there was a potential for two people changing it at the same time in different ways. If the project scope changes, some group members might work on outdated versions with information that no longer applies. Using social collaborative tools, all of the project resources can be hosted on a page that any of the group members can access from anywhere on a range of devices. Members can leave messages and feedback for other members, and the latest version of the project is always available. When they need to collaborate in real time, workers can use instant messaging or video conferencing functions built right into the page. Its clear that social collaboration is here to stay, and companies are adopting social media tools to some degree. However, many companies could increase the productivity of their most valuable workers by doing more to apply the technology.

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WHICH COMPANIES SHOULD ADOPT SOCIAL COLLABORATION?

People found ways to connect online even before the Internet was available to the general public. The public has embraced social media faster than any previous technology. It took Facebook one year and Twitter only nine months to hit 50 million users. Companies have also jumped on the social media bandwagon. McKinsey & Company surveyed executives at 4,200 companies worldwide in 2011 about their social technologies and published the results in a July 2012 report. The companies ranged across a wide variety of industries, from aerospace to retail banking. According to their findings, 72% of the companies they surveyed were using social tools in some way, and 90% of those companies were experiencing benefits from the technology. However, only 3% of the companies were using social collaboration to the fullest extent and reaping significant benefits.* While many companies can benefit from social collaboration, McKinsey & Company estimated the ones that have the greatest potential for savings have a high percentage of knowledge workers and place a lot of value on brand recognition, credibility, and consumer trust.

* http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/high_tech_telecoms_internet/the_social_economy

The numbers are clear. BYOD bring your own device is a mobile revolution that cannot be stopped. And while BYOD may make for happier, even more productive employees, it comes with a host of security risks. A RECENT SURVEY BY INTEL REVEALS THE RAPID GROWTH AND PRESSING CONCERNS OF BYOD
However,

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of surveyed companies in 2013 allow some or all workers to use employee-owned devices but less than half the CIOs surveyed are ready to support BYOD.

of IT leaders believe BYOD can help our employees be more productive.

of all IT managers view cost savings as a benefit of BYOD.

of U.S. IT managers Strongly agree that BYOD improves worker productivity.

of all IT managers surveyed list Lack of compatibility with our IT infrastructure as a key reason for outlawing BYOD, but concerns vary by country and platform.

Security is by far the biggest BYOD objection worldwide: its viewed as the #1 BYOD concern in the U.S., Germany, South Korea, and Australia.

Bring your own device includes smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other mobile devices that employees may use to access and/or distribute privileged information, applications, and resources. However, it is the smartphone revolution that has spurred the BYOD movement. As employees may access, store, distribute, and/or download company data, services and applications on their personal mobile device, companies must respond to the potential security risks. These include:

INFECTED MOBILE APPS This is particularly a problem for Android devices, as there are a host of app markets available to users. Apps may be infected with viruses that can make it into the enterprise network or contain malware which siphons off important data on the mobile device some of which could be work data. PUBLIC HOTSPOTS Company data may be exposed when employees use their mobile device over an open Wi-Fi network.

DEVICE THEFT
Smartphones are relatively easy to steal. Policies must be put in place that all mobile devices used by staff include at minimum a four-digit PIN lock. There should be a means to track or at least wipe the device in the case of theft.

DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEES An unhappy employee and/or one leaving to a competitor may have vital company information stored on their personal mobile device. IT and HR policies must be in place to track this and prevent such exposure.

WHAT STEPS CAN YOU TAKE? How can employers safeguard data and maintain security considering the plethora of devices and OS versions employees may bring to the workplace? Employers are being proactive about having employees enroll their devices for certification, either by their own IT departments or by independent device certification and testing companies such as DeviceQA. Tools such as ActiveSync can notify IT if any non-certified devices try to connect. Some employers are also integrating geolocation tools to find and erase any lost or stolen devices that may contain valuable company data. There are also tools to prevent employees from jailbreaking their device, which can leave a device open to malware, to name just a few of the precautionary steps that can be taken to find harmony between company security and employee devices. BYOD causes security breakdowns, necessitates policy changes, and demands new tools to monitor and safeguard IT resources. Your business needs to take action sooner than later. Youll be glad you did.

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YOU MUST KNOW SMAC

Gartners recent annual survey of CIOs revealed the top tech priorities of larger companies throughout: business analytics was number 1, beating out mobile tech at number 2, and cloud computing at number 3. That should tell you the importance of being able to understand and analyze the data not just to capture and record data. These days, everyone has a smartphone, it seems. Everyone is on a variety of social platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Yammer. We are connected with one another, and with numerous data sources, in real time, and from any location. This alters how customers learn about products, react to company promotions, choose when and where to buy from, and which brands they trust. To understand their decision-making, you need to know SMAC. SMAC stands for social - mobile - analytics - cloud. Its not the most elegant of acronyms, though it does portend the massive, game-changing opportunities presented by the rapid rise of mobile computing, social media, and cloud services. But only those able to effectively analyze the data and the changes these trends represent will be the true winners. alytics, and cloud strategies to stay competitive, differentiate themselves, and provide a great customer experience. Those who fail to leverage SMAC could fall to the competition. A successful SMAC strategy requires that businesses become more like their customers collaborative, social, connected and able to operate and respond in real time. The best-run companies alter their technologies, training, and processes to leverage the potential of SMAC. In so doing, they differentiate themselves from the competition. To stay relevant and to trump the competition companies may need to redesign their internal processes to match the rapid tech-based changes occurring in their customers lives.

To Know Your Customers

THOSE WHO FAIL TO LEVERAGE SMAC COULD FALL TO THE COMPETITION.

According to Forbes, CIOs use a combination of social, mobile, an-

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THE RISE OF

Machineto-Machine
CONNECTIVITY ZOPPORTUNITY
Machine-to-machine connectivity, also called M2M, has begun altering how businesses function and flourish. Likely, this is only the start. It has been predicted that the M2M market for applications, devices, and services will top $1 trillion by 2018. Indeed, according to Cisco, the next nine billion devices connected to the Internet in 2020 will incorporate some form of M2M linking the physical world to the global web via sensors that will take continuous readings from their immediate surroundings and deliver that information to the cloud. SAPs prediction is even larger as they suggest that 50 billion devices will be connected to the global web by 2020. Wikipedia defines M2M as technologies that allow both wireless and wired systems to communicate with other devices of the same ability. Think of items at a grocery store, all with RFID tags, communicating to a warehouse or to every individuals refrigerator. Similarly, the homeowners refrigerator could be in contact with their smarpthone, updating the grocery list, for example. Or a homes energy meter could be in constant contact with the utility company, enabling everyone to optimize usage and minimize costs. Cars can be in contact with the dealer, and a service reminder sent to the car automatically based on the autos condition. Another obvious real-world example is the growing area called the Internet of Things, where every machine and device has connectivity, typically wireless, to the web. The hope is that the constant connectivity and data which each machine offers, while slight on an individual level, will in the aggregate enable greater insights. These insights should lead to an increase in productivity, efficiency, energy savings, convenience, and encourage better decision-making.
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TRILLIONDOLLAR MARKET

This lMachina Research report predicts the M2M market will grow from $200 billion to $1.2 trillion in 2022. According to Frost & Sullivan, the areas driving M2M growth will be primarily found in the automotive sector, with new smart cars, utility companies integrating home energy readers with their

SOME PROPOSED USE CASES INCLUDE:

Packages/products able to transmit their location in real time across the supply chain. Medical devices able to automatically monitor patients in real time and even dispense medications and/or advice or alert a professional. Smart meters in homes communicate information on energy and/or water usage. When combined with cost data, this can smooth usage spikes and reduce costs. Restaurants and food distributors can better monitor their stocks, as these can send information regarding temperature and atmospherics, for example, from a single container directly to a warehouse chief. Human monitoring is no longer required. smart grids, healthcare and security, as well as home automation. At the grocery store, this same technology could inform patrons of real time coupons or specials. Washing machines and dryers will text you when the laundry is finished. In fact, Samsung, the worlds largest maker of smartphones, and also a leading maker of refrigerators, washing machines, and other appliances, is actively pursuing M2M opportunities. The company is working on a suite of applications that will keep the homeowners appliances and smartphone connected with one another. The hope is that remote control, monitoring, and intelligence will improve overall usability and value. Roads can be embedded with devices that send out traffic data or notify maintenance workers when and where there is a pothole, for example. Along with connected cars, this could radically improve traffic flow and enable government to modify tolls in real time based on demand. Office equipment could notify IT staff when ink toner is running low. Connected building could provide continuous data on safety and ambient conditions, tweeting out air quality, energy use, HVAC problems, alarm issues, and more. Machine-to-machine connectivity will ultimately encompass billions of apps, possibly trillions of things, massive amounts of Big Data servers and analytics, and billions of dollars. Large communications carriers, such as Vodafone, are ramping up their M2M efforts.

NUMEROUS USE CASES

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The rapid spread and reduced costs of smartphones and wireless connectivity, SIM cards, and RFID chips, are helping to propel M2M applications. Suhas Uliyar, M2M expert at SAP, states that forward-looking businesses are realizing the tremendous potential of connecting the physical world to the Internet. M2M is opening up new ways of doing business, such as dynamic pricingand allowing new customer interactions to engage end users.

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How is Twitter
Positioning Itself

42

n 2006, the microblogging service Twitter came on the social networking scene. It was built to give users the ability to send and read text-based messages made up of 140 characters or less. The tweets, as theyve been called, have become very trendy over the years. Yet critics often cite that the companys business model is inadequate because it doesnt generate a sufficient amount of revenue. But that estimation may drastically change since Twitter has introduced a new advertising platform available to all businesses and individuals on its site. Companies can utilize to Twitters self-service ad tools for their own advertising benefit. Essentially, Twitter is trying to mold itself into a supplemental medium that exists between television and digital media.

Twitter and TV Shows

Not only is Twitter giving businesses a new form of advertising through its feed format, the company is offering an ad-targeting initiative that both monitors television and pays attention to tweets from users who are posting about a certain program. This unique technology then allows advertisers to run ads on Twitter that target people who probably saw their commercials during the television show. Also, Twitter presented another project called Amplify, which is comprised of multiple partnerships with a broad range of media companies. Through this enterprise, users can view more video clips in addition to real time sponsorships that link television ads to Twitter promotions.

to TV Advertisers?
However, its important to point out that this setup isnt just focused on television. Amplify will also include magazine publishers, sports leagues, and even music groups.

ALYSSA BURRIS

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Twitter feeds. Since television shows have 10 to 15 ads per half hour, it could frustrate users to see 10 to 15 tweets interrupting a chat stream. However, this possible annoyance isnt holding up Twitters momentum. Global ad revenues are expected to almost double this year, potentially reaching $583 million in 2013. Its important to note, though, that Twitters ad revenues are only a small slice of the $205 billion global television ad market. Yet Twitter should not be counted out of the mix either. The company is taking careful steps, situating itself as a television partner, not the mediums competitor. Twitter wants everyone to understand that its a tool designed to enhance the television experience rather than replace it.

Twitters Ultimate Objective

With the prevalence of social networking sites, Twitter wants to benefit from this trend. This is especially critical to Twitter since so many people now turn to their mobile devices while they watch television. A recent Nielsen study actually found that theres a powerful connection between the tweets for a particular show and its ratings. But not everyone agrees with this approach. Some analysts feel that users will soon tire of ads filling up their

44

YOUR NEXT CAR WILL BE POWERED BY APPS

BRIAN S. HALL

Your next car purchase might be decided as much by apps and computing functionality as engine size, gas mileage, or leg room. The connected car is no longer just an idea, its a new reality. As The New York Times recently reported, venture capital and start-up money is flowing into Detroit, of all places, in the hopes of creating the next generation of applications for cars.

General Motors, newly flush with cash after emerging from bankruptcy, is on a hiring binge, quadrupling its information technology staff and recruiting software developers to create a spate of apps for its 2014 model-year vehicles.
Its not only GM, of course. The final frontier of app development the car is now attracting tremendous innovation and opportunity from all auto manufacturers. Ford has a futurist who studies ways to make their vehicles more useful and enjoyable through communications technologies. Ford is even spearheading the Open XC project designed to help build apps for cars using open-source software and low-cost, pluggable modules. Audi, Benz, Honda, and other car makers have also embraced this notion, along with a slew of IT start-ups.

Detroit Labs, founded two years ago to create smartphone apps, is shifting to work with automakers to build in-vehicle apps. The company has grown tenfold since 2011, to 40 people, and aims for 60 workers by the end of the year.
Talking Cars
While the long history of telematics has yielded significant improvements to the driving experience, we are now on the cusp of a new age, where cars, like people, are always connected to the web, to each other, and to the Internet of Things. Just last month, officials from the U.S. Department of Transportation demonstrated a variety of new technologies designed to allow vehicles to share information in real time with drivers and other vehicles. In part, this flurry of activity is due to the growing affordability and use cellular communications, WiFi hotspots which BMW is heavily promoting and newer offerings such as DSRC (dedicated short-range communications). DSRC is designed primarily for the auto industry and lets vehicles exchange data with other vehicles, traffic signals, and even bicycles, within a range of about 1,000 feet. It functions similar to WiFi. Once connected, vehicles can send out and receive all manner of data. Car apps allow drivers to track mileage, engine wear, and costs. Soon, apps from our smartphones (or key fob) will not only start the car, but log the time, locations, and other meta data for every trip. Cars will be equipped with sensors that not only determine the pace of traffic, but send out data to other cars, alerting drivers to possible alternative routes or texting them to leave the house earlier because of heavy traffic on their path.

Near-Term Opportunities
Some of the very likely near-term uses of telematics include:

Location-based coupons special deals sent directly to your dash based on your location and time.
maintenance trackers.

Automated expense and

By including their position, direction and speed, traffic lights can be adjusted, toll booth fees optimized, and construction crews better dispatched. This should also help reduce car emissions. Given that 11-13% of commuting time in the U.S. is spent in urban traffic congestion thats 90 billion hours every year, the potential is massive. The hope is also that car-to-car sharing could also deliver safety benefits by alerting the vehicle, and possibly the driver, to nearby conditions in real time. For example, should multiple drivers 100 yards ahead brake suddenly, your car could react even before you do.

Payments services allowing you to pre-pay for drive-through meals, place an order while in your car, pay for bridge tolls, parking, and more. Car check-ins that could alert people nearby when your car is available, and thus can be temporarily rented, for example. Streaming media sent to the front dash or individual passengers. Roadside assistance.
bicycle coming fast on your left.

Object detection such as a Improved mapping services.

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The Department of Transportation says that 80% of road accidents that do not involve impaired drivers could benefit from vehicle-tovehicle communications.
It is assumed that whereas Googles driverless cars cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, embedding todays cars with low-priced cellular communications technologies and sensors, as in todays smartphones, could prove a very affordable workaround to achieve equivalent goals.

Even Apple is getting into this market, recently promoting their Siri. Eyes Free offering to help make drivers more productive while in the car. Using Siri voice commands, drivers can set up appointments, reminders, make calls, ask for the weather, ask for directions to the movie theater, and request that Siri purchase tickets for them. Siri should also be able to play your favorite songs, compose and send email and texts, and read select information out loud, ensuring the driver keeps their eyes on the road. Of course, very few will cede this massive opportunity to Apple. Expect more money and more innovation as people, smartphones, apps, cars, and the web all become connected to one another. After all, there are already about a billion cars on the road, and more are made every day.

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ANDRONIKI BOSSONIS

Lets talk about capitalism for a moment.

ets indulge in that oldest of American traditions: free trade. Free market trade where only the strongest survive. American history is littered with companies and corporations that rose and fell because of companies willing to work that much harder, design that much of a better product, and offer that product to the market at a lower cost. Sometimes, though, something funny happened. A company would get so big, corner so much of the market, that they would be labeled a monopoly.

Google Fiber network communities 1 Gbps network and download speeds. Yes, ou can see that the Google Fiber speed and the Google fiber network are heads beyond any of their competition.

As the regional monopoly in the area, Comcast, upon learning Google Fibers plans for Kansas City . . . took Google Fiber to court and began a public smear campaign . . .
47

The simple promise of Google Fiber: to deliver reliable, consistent, and reasonably priced, 100 times faster, Internet service.
That processthe process of a monopoly falling to a new competitoris happening right now. Its happening with Google Fiber.

It has to be noted, we put the word competition in quotes because with comparative speeds like the aforementioned, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner, Cablevision, etc., should prove to be no match for Google Fiber. But here is the thing, due to old bonds, legal battles, and friends on Capitol Hill, competition is exactly what is happening.

The Gaining Google Fiber Network

Over the past few years Google Fiber has been doing what every cable provider, phone provider, and Internet provider does not wantimproving service, lowering costs, and providing a more sound solution. The simple promise of Google Fiber: to deliver reliable, consistent, and reasonably priced, 100 times faster, Internet service. Yes, 100 times faster Internet service. With the majority of established providers currently offering network speeds and download speeds hovering around 300 Mbps, Google Fiber is consistently providing its

Google Fiber Sites and the Free Market

The first major case study of Google Fiber can be found in the city of Kansas City, Kansas. Before Kansas City received word that they were going to be ground zero as a Google Fiber test bed, the area received the majority of their cable, Internet, and land-line phone service from Comcast. As the regional monopoly in the area, Comcast, upon learning Google Fibers plans for Kansas City, did what any brand with a hold on the market would do. They took Google Fiber to court and began a public smear campaign against the encroaching and far superior service.

As noted in this Philadelphia Inquirer editorial by David L. Cohen, Comcasts Executive Vice President, said: As consumer demand grows for faster speeds,
a competitive marketplace of wired and wireless broadband providers will be ready to serve it. Today there is a cottage industry of critics who always want to tell us that our broadband Internet is not fast enough or satisfactory for one reason or another. The reality is that the United States is leading the way in speed, reach, and accessand doing so in a vast, rural nation that poses logistical connectivity challenges unlike any other country. In other words, because consumer-quality routers arent equipped to deal with that much bandwidth, making speeds like that accessible to users isnt worth it. June 6, 2013

want to expand their services to provide for 10-gig connections of 1 Gbps network speeds/download speeds. It isnt a matter of whether the people are ready for it or not (clearly, as nearly 1,100 towns and cities nationwide applied for Google Fiber). Its simply a matter of a company not wanting to do the work it takes to survive in the free market. So, instead of doing the work, increasing the solution capabilities, and providing better, faster, and more consistent Internet, cable, and phone services, Comcast opted to take Google Fiber to court. With their friends in Washington, D.C., they figured the court case would be open and shut. But that didnt happen. Google Fiber won the court case and is winning additional court cases across the country where legacy regional providers choose to take a legal route as opposed to an increasing solution route.

Read between the lines here. What the Vice President of Comcast is really saying is Comcast, due to the demand and expense it would take on their part, simply doesnt

With Google Fiber slated to arrive in more than 14 American cities across the country in the coming years, legacy providers are going to
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be forced to up their game or lose out on the free market.

A Word on Google Fiber Speed and Costs

When viewed through the eyes of capitalismagain, that oldest of American traditionsthere is no reason why Google Fiber wont trounce their competition. Take, for example, a cost and speed comparison of Google Fiber Speed and Google Fiber cost in the Kansas City area vs. local providers such as Verizon Fios.

Google Fiber Speed: 1,000 Mbps or 1 Gbps Google Fiber Television: 162 channels with Showtime, and DVR capabilities that record up to eight channels simultaneously and more than 500 hours of HDTV. Oh yeah, a Nexus 7 tablet to serve as a remote control. A Nexus Seven tablet for a remote!

Google Fiber Specs

Verizon Fios (and other similar providers) charge around $320 a month. Meanwhile, Google Fiber charges $120 a month for Internet and television service. It goes without saying, but Google Fiber blows its competition out of the water. With Google Fiber slated to arrive in more than 14 American cities across the country in the coming years, legacy providers are going to be forced to up their game or lose out on the free market. As the Google Fiber story evolves, we will be following the events and posting them in this space. More coming soon.

The cost?

Verizon Fios Speed: 300 Mbps Verizon Fios TV: 380 channels with Showtime, and DVR capabilities that record two channels at once and 60 hours of HDTV.

Verizon Fios Specs

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