Archive for February, 2011

Best Practices: Applying The Seven Deadly Sins To Successful Gamification

Published on February 23, 2011 by R "Ray" Wang

The Seven Deadly Sins Draws On The Dark Arts

Conversations with game designers and gamification experts over the past month highlight how important design should appeal to the human spirit.  Intrigue, reward, status, community, and challenge drive 5 key areas of engagement.  However, some of the masters of gamfication have revealed some dark arts that touch on connecting with human psychology to engage (see Figure 1).  One approach is applying the seven deadly sins.  Strategies on adopting the seven sins can be summarized as:

Figure 1.  Applying The Seven Deadly Sins To Gamification

  1. Lust appeals to lack of self control and attraction. Engage the user through intrigue.  Find what attracts the user through incentives.
  2. Gluttony refers to excess, over-consumption, and over-indulgence. Focus on the desire to accumulate, acquire, and contribute.
  3. Greed calls on the desire for power, status, and wealth. Use non monetary incentives such as immediate recognition to drive engagement.  Provide scarcity in rewards.
  4. Sloth attracts laziness, indifference, and complacency. Keep designing the system to be uber convenient for the user.  Privacy falls aside when convenience wins out.
  5. Wrath calls out anger, impatience, revenge, and rage. Draw on the desire for immediacy.  Reward for rapidity.
  6. Envy fuels a need to desire what others have. Highlight the success of others.  Improve transparency on the spoils and rewards.
  7. Pride draws out vanity and narcissism. Foster healthy competition.  Incentivize the pursuit of excellence.

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Monday’s Musings: Reflections On Obama And The False Hope For A Tech Halo

Published on February 21, 2011 by R "Ray" Wang

President Obama’s Visit Reflects The Importance Of Silicon Valley To The US Economy
By now everyone’s seen and re-seen the photo showing the tech-centric dinner at John Doerr’s house in Woodside, CA on February 17th, 2011 (see Figure 1).  With a guest list that included most of the “Captains of the Tech Industry” it would have been great to be a fly on the wall that night to hear what was the secret to innovation and how we could improve education.  On many levels, the dinner and the publicity surrounding the visit did emphasize:

  • The President’s desire to rub off the tech halo. For the White House, here was a chance to highlight an area of the economy that has managed to survive the global meltdown by out innovating the competition.  President Obama’s State of the Union talked about how a tech led job creation would be a key component of recovery.  The valley served as a great backdrop to show where this was already happening.
  • How lobbying does pay off for the Valley. For tech leaders in the valley, here was a chance to bend the President’s ear on a number of policies and reap the benefits of all the money spent lobbying.  In fact, among the 10 guests, MAPlight.org showed $735,000 given to the President’s party among the overall $913,000 contributed to all political candidates.  I would expect more official economic delegations and trade missions to come from the renewed focus on tech.  Many tech firms pondering the need for strong government affairs teams regained religion.
  • The state of Steve Jobs’ health. Good news!  Steve seemed healthy enough to dine with the President. After all the trash talk in the papers, a picture proved enough to quiet the critics.  Yes, that wasn’t a stunt double like Kim Jong Il!  In fact, the picture quelled all rumors.

Figure 1. President Obama’s Tech Centric Dinner Photo Op

Credits: White House Press Office.  Attendees include: Carol Bartz, President and CEO, Yahoo!; John Chambers, CEO and Chairman, Cisco Systems; Dick Costolo, CEO, Twitter; John Doerr, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Larry Ellison, Co-Founder and CEO, Oracle; Reed Hastings, CEO, NetFlix; John Hennessy, President, Stanford University; Steve Jobs, Chairman and CEO, Apple; Art Levinson, Chairman and former CEO, Genentech; Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google; Steve Westly, Managing Partner and Founder, The Westly Group; Mark Zuckerberg, Founder, President, and CEO, Facebook

Success In The Valley Stems From The Hard Work And Investment From…<GASP> Other Countries

One can only imagine the reasons punted around that night on why Silicon Valley is successful in delivering on concept to cash.  It’s true – the valley enjoys many of the assets that bring out innovation and helps the US lead with high tech jobs.  We have a top notch workforce.  We have several great universities.  We have a history of entrepreneurship.  We have access to funding and capital.  Many would think these elements were endemic to Silicon Valley.  Unfortunately, that’s not true.

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Press Release: SAP User Group Executive Bridgette Chambers Joins Board of Advisors At Constellation Research

Published on February 15, 2011 by R "Ray" Wang

Constellation Gains Strong User Advocate

Chicago, Illinois, United States of America – February 15, 2011
08:00 AM (GMT -7:00) Central Time

Constellation Research Inc, a next generation research analyst firm helping clients navigate emerging and disruptive technologies, announced today the addition of Bridgette Chambers to the Board of Advisors. Bridgette currently serves as the CEO of Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG), a professionally-managed association of 85,000 business and technology professionals in the SAP community.

Constellation Research’s Board of Advisors play a key role in shaping the research agenda and providing advice and guidance to its members. Board members bring significant industry experience, represent the leaders in their field, and serve in 6 to 12 month terms. These esteemed individuals:

  • Guide research direction
  • Advise on business strategy
  • Maintain an outside-in perspective
  • Deliver mentorship from seasoned professionals
  • Garner input from clients and prospects
  • Grow the constellation of experts
  • Identify new talent
  • Maintain and exude the Constellation values in public

Advisory Board members do not have a commercial relationship with Constellation nor are they represented by Constellation. Board members do not have fiduciary responsibility.

Since joining the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group as CEO in June of 2009, Bridgette Chambers has led the transformation of ASUG from a volunteer-run organization into a professionally managed technology association that has become the largest independent SAP user group in the world. In her role as CEO, and also as a member of the ASUG Board of Directors, she works with the Board to direct the long-term strategy and growth of the organization. In addition to overseeing all of ASUG’s daily operations, Chambers has responsibility for creating value-added initiatives and services to help drive return on investment for ASUG’s 85,000 individual members who represent 2500 companies across 17 industries.

Prior to joining ASUG, Chambers was CEO at Voile Enterprises, a leading management consultancy, where she increased both revenues and profitability and successfully guided the organization through acquisition. Before that, Chambers served as vice president of Enterprise Business Solutions at Comsys, where she had global responsibility for the company’s Enterprise Resource Planning, Business Intelligence, and Analytics solution divisions.

Chambers received her Bachelors of Science from the University of Houston, her MBA from Texas A&M University, and developed her leadership skills while serving proudly in the United States Army Reserves and the Texas Army National Guard. She lives in Chicago, where ASUG is headquartered.

“I’m looking forward to reinforcing Constellation Research’s end-user point of view. In the analysis business, few companies have had so many experienced and credible individuals dedicated to end-user advocacy”, noted Bridgette Chambers

“Bridgette’s devotion to excellence, leadership skills, and support of the end user will play a major role in guiding and mentoring our team. We are fortunate to have such a talented executive and strong buy-side voice join our Board. ”, said R “Ray” Wang, Principal Analyst and CEO.

COORDINATES

Twitter: @BChambers
ASUG 
Website: http://www.asug.com/ASUG/PressRoom/MediaKit.aspx; www.asugnews.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bridgettechambers
Geo: Chicago, Illinois, USA

About Constellation Research, Inc.
Constellation Research is a leading research analyst and advisory firm guiding organizations and their leaders through the hype and buzz of the latest disruptive technologies. Constellation takes a holistic approach touching board members, and marketing, technology, operations, human resource, and finance executives.

The firm’s analysts deliver pragmatic, creative, and disruptive research focused on business value, profitability, and market differentiation. Research analysts bring real world experience, independence, and objectivity to our clients. Most analysts bring over 2 decades of hands-on experience in working with senior leaders in enterprise organizations.

Constellation serves the needs of buyers and end users who seek insight, guidance, and advice in dealing with a dizzying array of disruptive business models and technologies. The firm provides the bridge between legacy optimization and future innovation. Constellation also advises sellers from both the buyer’s point of view and how to deliver value to their customers.

Constellation builds partnerships with its clients. The client and their organization’s success is Constellation’s only mission.

Press Contacts:

Contact the Media and Influencers relations team at press@ConstellationRG.com for interviews with analysts.

Sales Contacts:

For more information on how to engage with Constellation Research, Inc. contact:

David Stanley, Vice President of Business Development and Sales
• Email: David@ConstellationRG.com
• Office: 719.357.7826
• Twitter: @kiwigate

Kieran Barr, Senior Director of Business Development and Sales
• Email: Kieran@ConstellationRG.com
• Office: 206.409.5009
• Twitter: @kierobar

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Monday’s Musings: Thoughts On How Indian Infotech Companies Can Lead Instead Of Follow

Published on February 7, 2011 by R "Ray" Wang

Disruptive Technologies Remain Top Of Mind Among Business Technology Leaders

It’s always a privilege and a pleasure to reach out to clients and prospects around the world.  For those tracking my location, I’ve been in London, San Francisco, and Mumbai over the past 9 days.  The conversations have ranged from social business and enterprise 2.0 tools while speaking at the Tibco tibbr launch; to CRM and social CRM strategies while keynoting at the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 San Francisco launch event.  Despite the range of topics, a few themes keep emerging among buyers:

  • Can you help me figure out what’s hype and what’s real among the disruptive technologies?
  • What technologies will support my new business models?
  • How do I pay for all this “stuff” if I want to go forward?

The good news – pent up demand signals new interest to spend among business technology leaders.  In fact, I’ve spoken with at least a dozen companies investing more into <gasp>… ERP!  The bad news – technology is moving so fast that many organizations can’t keep up with what’s new.  Most organizations can barely keep the lights on.   On my way to Mumbai, the conversations among buyers shared similar themes with one exception – the rise of India in global tech.

Conversations On The Way To Nasscom Focus On India And Its Role In The Global Tech Economy

Now, as many of you know, the trip to India takes almost 24 hours from San Francisco.  By the tenth hour, you and your fellow passengers have watched every movie you can see, poorly slept, eaten 2 meals, and more than happy to strike an intellectual conversation.  For me, trips to India, Brazil, China, and the UAE always provide good data points on disruptive and emerging technology adoption in fast growing economies.   This trip proved no differently.  Surrounded by techies, from the IT and bio tech world, we dove into heated discussions ranging from India’s place in the global tech economy; to inspiring innovation in Indian companies; to China vs India; to the future of outsourcing.

All in all, these conversations reflected the top of mind items in the tech community and mirrored many of the Nasscom agenda items.   Among the NRI’s, a lot of attention discussed the rebalancing of power from the United States to India and China in the tech community.  Among us outsiders, we expressed a respect and recognition for how much India has accomplished.  In fact, most infotech firms have made a shift from provider to catalyst (see Figure 1).  A few market leaders such as Infosys, HCL, TCS, and Wipro remained within striking distance of achieving advisor status in some industries.  Western firms such as Accenture, IBM, and Deloitte seek to move from advisor to innovator status.

Figure 1. Software Insider Stages Of Service Firm Maturity

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Press Release: Oracle User Advocate Debra Lilley Joins Constellation Research’s Board of Advisors

Published on by R "Ray" Wang

Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK – February 7, 2011
8:30 AM (GMT 0:00) Greenwich Time

Constellation Research Inc, a next generation research analyst firm helping clients navigate emerging and disruptive technologies, announced today the addition of end user advocate Debra Lilley to the Board of Advisors.

Constellation Research’s Board of Advisors play a key role in shaping the research agenda and providing advice and guidance to its members.  Board members bring significant industry experience, represent the leaders in their field, and serve in 6 to 12 month terms.  These esteemed individuals:

  • Guide research direction
  • Advise on business strategy
  • Maintain an outside-in perspective
  • Deliver mentorship from seasoned professionals
  • Garner input from clients and prospects
  • Grow the constellation of experts
  • Identify new talent
  • Maintain and exude the Constellation values in public

Board members do not have a commercial relationship with Constellation nor are they represented by Constellation.  Board members do not have fiduciary responsibility.

More…

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Trends: Influencers Aspire For Market Maker Status

Published on February 2, 2011 by R "Ray" Wang

Eight Major Influencer Types Exist Today

Analyst relations, public relations, influencer relations and other interested parties have witnessed the rapidly evolving and emerging buy-side and market influencer models.  In the past, eight influencer types followed five distinct traits (see Figure 1):

  1. Fame. Awareness, notoriety, perceived market status.
  2. Fortune. Billing rates, wealth, earnings.
  3. Market impact. Buy-side decisions making, sell-side product direction.
  4. Personal impact. Individual decisions, behaviour changes.
  5. Initial business model. Revenue drivers, monetization strategy.

Figure 1. Five Traits Of The Major Influencer Types

Influencer Types Converge As Firms Seek Survival And Maintain Relevance

However, changing influencer economics over the past 5 years have forced convergence among the eight major influencer types (see Figure 2.).  In fact, the traits among influencer types have blurred with increasing adoption of social media and rapid decimation of the ad-supported media model.  Peer to peer facilitators, user generated content, and bloggers have accelerated the destruction of legacy models.  As a result, influencer types have adopted and invaded adjacent business models in order to grow revenue.  Subequently, shifts in market forces have inspired others to create new business models.  For example:

  1. More…

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