It's with great excitement that I'm announcing the addition of three new partners to Altimeter Group. Joining me will be Deb Schultz, Ray Wang, and Jeremiah Owyang (read their thoughts) â€" three bright minds, true professionals, and most important of all, great people. (Read the press release.)
Our Mission - Providing A Strategic Approach to Emerging Technologies
Together, we are taking on the mission of helping clients understand and adapt emerging technologies into their strategies in a holistic way. Note that we emphasize "emerging" â€" today, the focus of many organizations is on social technologies, but we also believe trends like mobile, location-based devices and cloud computing can and will be disruptive to companies.
Most organizations struggle with emerging technologies because they lack the time and resources to follow them closely. And when they do decide to adopt they move too slowly. As Ray Wang puts it, "The rate of obsolescence outpaces the rate at which companies change."
We want to provide an integrated and strategic approach to integrating emerging technologies, one that is centered around the strategic goals of the company. We'll do this by bringing together a rich, diverse, and ever-changing ecosystem of technology vendors and start-ups, service providers like agencies, and business end users
A Holistic Approach
Take for example social networking sites. For example, most organizations look at Facebook as a new way to engage with customers. Jeremiah Owyang will continue his thought leadership on how to do this in his role as our Customer Strategy practice lead, providing examples and advice on how to best connect with these fans.
Deb Schultz will tap her deep connections in the tech start-up world and create opportunities for companies to experiment with new technologies like OpenID â€" which can help tie social networking profiles back to company CRM systems. This is just one of the ways that Deb will be helping clients with our Innovation & Best Practices offering.
Ray Wang will contribute his understanding of the inner workings of companies, in this case by advising how a company needs to transform their traditional enterprise systems to handle "social CRM" data. In his Enterprise Strategy practice, Ray will also help organizations understand how to tap into the power of their employees and partners with new social enterprise apps and cloud computing technologies.
And I will focus on helping the leaders of these organizations figure out what kind of culture and structures need to be in place to ensure that these fledgling efforts gain a foothold and not be swept away by the urgencies of day-to-day operations. In the case of a Facebook page, giving employees the permission to speak on behalf of the company â€" in an official capacity or not â€" calls into question organizational hierarchies and power structures. The Leadership & Management practice that I will run addresses many of these issues, and will be supported by the research and writing efforts of my next book.
Altimeter Group's Four Practice Areas
Continuing The Discussion
We humbly acknowledge that we are but one part of a larger strategy and emerging technology ecosystem that encompasses technology vendors, service providers, and business end users, as well as many other thought leaders, consultants, and agencies. The world of emerging technologies is so big and so ever-changing that we all benefit from greater, not lesser sharing.
To facilitate the discussion, we are launching "The Hangar", a physical space in San Mateo, California, where we will host events, training, community gatherings, and un-conferences that bring together parts of the emerging technology ecosystem. It's one thing to meet and collaborate online â€" it's another to see potential partners face-to-face, or to see a demonstration of a new mobile technology in your hands.
Altimeter Webinar: The Future Of Business And Virtual Open House
Please join us in for an upcoming Webinar to discuss "The Future Of Business." We'll kick off the discussion with perspectives from each partner, provide some background on how Altimeter works, and then open it up for discussion with anyone who cares to join us. And of course, we'll cover it live on Twitter as well as with follow up posts on our blogs.
When: Thursday, September 10, 2009 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PDT
To register, please go to https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/725944010
And A Big Thank You
From providing thoughtful advice and constructive criticism to being supportive readers and friends, you have been there for me â€" and for that, I am deeply grateful. As I transition from being a sole practitioner to a partner in a firm, I hope that we will continue the dialog. Our success will be due in no small part to how well we can keep the conversation going.
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