Thinking Bigger

By Denis Pombriant
 CRM Buyer
 05/28/08 4:00 AM PT

Dealing with customers is partly a social science that relies on probabilities more often than certainties. Nonetheless, companies can do better with customer-facing applications by taking a bigger-picture view, writes columnist Denis Pombriant.

 

Full story  Thinking Bigger

nGenera's Don Tapscott explains how he is working to create government Web sites intended to get American citizens engaged in democracy. He says the Internet can make government more open, participatory and efficient — and maybe even smaller and cheaper, too.

Tapscott is the author of Wikinomics and chairman of the nGenera Innovation Network.

Click here to play the recording

 

May 21, 2008, by John Ragsdale

"I'm thrilled to see Talisma acquired by someone thinking ‘outside the box,' instead of another acquisition for customers and marketshare."

Read John's full post here.

May 21, 2008, by Barney Beal

"This industry definitely needs some new blood and new life," Ragsdale said. "They're coming from the Web 2.0 aspect, and having the author of Wikinomics is a good sign." 

Read the full article here:

May 21, 2008, by Lauren McKay

"[nGenera] certainly has a vision and they are very quickly acting on that vision," says Chip Gliedman, principal analyst with Forrester Research.

Read the full article here.

BSG Alliance Changes Name to nGenera Corporation, Releases Business Innovation Platform for Next Generation Enterprise The solution suite—powered by software-as-a-service and community-driven innovation—includes nGen Talent, nGen Customer and nGen Leadership, available now

BSG Alliance today announced it has changed its name to nGenera™ Corporation to spotlight its mission to transform companies into Next Generation Enterprises. nGenera also unveiled its groundbreaking nGen Platform for business innovation and the first three end-to-end offerings delivered on the platform:  nGen Talent, nGen Customer and nGen Leadership. The profound business changes brought about by the combination of globalization, the talent crunch and Web 2.0 technologies are reshaping the economy at an astonishing pace. Companies must begin to operate and create customer value in entirely new ways. The nGen Platform offers Global 2000 companies a game-changing combination of software-as-a-service, talent and knowledge–—packaged into category solutions and delivered using Web services–—to address fast-traction areas of transformation. The nGen Platform:  World’s First On-Demand Platform for Business Innovation The nGen Platform enables the company to design and rapidly deploy configurable solutions for growth and innovation to its customers–—globally and on demand. The platform further allows total flexibility and agility to evolve and extend each category solution as technologies, markets and business dynamics change. nGens of Innovation:  High Traction Areas for Next Generation Transformation nGen Talent™ enables enterprises to identify, source and retain key resources anywhere in the world, and to provide an attractive, compelling work environment for the new workforce. Major capabilities include recruiting and on-boarding, learning and development, performance management, total compensation and collaborative culture. nGen Customer™ gives companies the means to turn customer insight into compelling, differentiated products and services—to co-create complete customer experiences. Key capabilities include customer experience assessment, emotion mining, community-driven innovation, customer experience design on demand, multi-channel interaction, knowledgebase management, and Web monitoring and analytics. nGen Leadership™ gives companies the strategy, frameworks, techniques and tools to innovate, grow, plan and realize their transformation into a Next Generation Enterprise. Capabilities include: on-demand strategy, collaboration, simulation, operating model design and analytics, as well as the creation of an "edge" for innovation and experimentation. Strategic components that make up the nGen Platform, deliver its transformational power, and underpin each nGen category solution include: The nGenera Innovation Network™:  the world’s leading executive-membership research and educational organization, pioneering new business designs, models and strategies for the global economy. The nGenera Innovation Network is led by Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics and 11 other business books, and one of the world’s foremost authorities on management issues. Software-as-a-Service:  the on-demand, always-growing software-as-a-service-based environment that powers nGenera’s solutions. It provides a reliable, secure, standards-based, multitenant environment for a rich ecosystem of composite Web-based applications that work together at the user interface, workflow and data model level. Community-Driven Innovation™:  the heart of the Next Generation Enterprise—collaboration—is embedded in every nGenera offering. A powerful suite of collaboration components enable applied Web-based collaboration environments, including simulation on demand for business scenario modeling, community-based analytics and Management Chain Automation™ to drive the complete innovation loop. Each nGen category solution is available now on an annual subscription basis.

Quotes   Steve Papermaster Chairman and CEO nGenera Corporation Insight from hundreds of customer relationships has informed our knowledge of what it takes to reinvent historic business structures. We co-create solutions with our customers – partnering with them every step of the way to help them perform and compete better in the global market. Don Tapscott Chairman nGenera Innovation Network The launch of the nGenera Innovation Network creates nothing less than a business innovation powerhouse. The Network will continue the groundbreaking work done by its originators -- my former company New Paradigm and also The Concours Group -- but with enormous new resources and capability. For business and government leaders who understand the power of the new Web and new business models for innovation, performance and competitiveness, the nGenera Innovation Network is an unprecedented ally. Ciara Smyth EVP and Chief Human Resource Officer Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Our business and industry are changing–and in a post-merger environment, our culture is changing too. We know that our future success in part depends on our ability to identify, develop, engage and retain our highest-performing employees. nGenera, as our key leadership-development partner, is enabling us to engage our highest-potential employees in new ways with Web 2.0 technologies. We’re having global dialogues between our top talent and executive management on key issues. This has been very exciting and effective—a real change in communication methods and content.   Rob Carter EVP, Information Services and Chief Information Officer FEDEX The integration of New Paradigm and Concours Group into nGenera is a very noteworthy development. This is powerful–translating superior thought leadership into an execution capability and a new collaborative platform to enable companies like FEDEX to innovate new business models and stay ahead of the competition.

Multimedia   Steve Papermaster Chairman and CEO of nGenera Corporation link to bio link to photo     link to high-rez logo     How the Next Generation Enterprise (nGen) Is Different   download white paper

About nGenera nGenera Corporation is an on-demand platform for business innovation that provides a suite of subscription-based offerings to enable the Next Generation Enterprise. Powered by software and people, nGenera’s on-demand offerings give organizations sustainable, breakthrough capabilities in leadership performance, talent management and development, and customer experience. Customers that subscribe to the company's on-demand solutions include a marquee list of Global 2000 companies in a range of industries. For more information, please visit http://www.ngenera.com.

For a text version of this release, download the pdf: nGenera Corporation Launches Business Innovation Platform

Media Contact: Jessie Brumfiel for nGenera JB Labs, Inc. jb@jb-labs.com 805-686-2718 (office) 805-350-1674 (cell)   Las Vegas, Software 2008 – April 29, 2008

Wikinomics author Don Tapscott outlines 10 issues, many centered around the potential of Web 2.0, that he'll discuss at the World Economic Forum

by Don Tapscott

The theme of this year's annual meeting of the World Economic Forum at Davos (Jan. 22-27) is "Collaborative Innovation." Important developments in information technology, demographics, business, and society are enabling new paradigms in collaboration in the global economy and leading to profound changes in every institution.

Companies, governments, educational institutions, and others can now orchestrate capability, innovate, and create value for their stakeholders in new ways. Collaborative innovation may hold the solution to many of the vexing problems facing our shrinking planet.

As a Davos fellow, I'm looking forward to discussing a number of issues at this year's events. Below are some of the big issues I'm anxious to explore:

1. Collaborative Democracy

Democracy is in trouble in many countries. Most citizens are passive observers of government, becoming engaged only at time of elections. Is the current model inappropriate for the global "Net Generation" that has grown up collaborating and interacting and participating in social communities? What new models are emerging to engage citizens?

2. The Wikiversity—Collaboration, Learning, Pedagogy, and the Schools

The current model of educational pedagogy hasn't changed for centuries. Based on the lecture, it is one-way, one-size-fits-all, teacher-focused and isolated. The student is a recipient, not a creator of knowledge. For a new generation of young people who have grown up interacting online rather than watching TV (as their parents did), this model is no longer appropriate. A new model is emerging—one that is interactive, customized, student-focused, and collaborative. Schools, colleges, and corporate learning programs that can change along these lines will experience breakthroughs in learning.

3. Collaborative Marketing—Consumers of the World Unite

Collaborative buying communities, predictive markets, new exchanges, and market-extending technologies are shifting power to consumers, with enormous implications. What are leading companies doing in response? Every business school graduate and marketing manager has learned the four P's of marketing—product, price, place, and promotion. The paradigm was one of control—simple and in one direction: Companies marketed to customers. Businesses created products, defined their features and benefits, and set prices. Companies selected places to sell products and services and promoted aggressively through advertising, public relations, direct mail, and other in-your-face programs. They controlled the message. Is marketing changing fundamentally?

4. Changing the Weather—Mass Collaboration and Climate Change

Mark Twain famously said about the weather "Everyone's talking about it but no one's doing anything about it." That's changing. We're in the early days of something unprecedented. Thanks to Web 2.0, the entire world is beginning to collaborate—for the first time ever—around a single idea: changing the weather. For the first time, we have one affordable, global, multimedia, many-to-many communications system, and one issue on which there is growing consensus. Climate change is quickly becoming a nonpartisan issue and citizens, businesses, and governments each have a stake in the outcome. Indeed, the global consensus emerging on climate change is that solving the crisis will require leadership from every country and every sector in society. The killer application for mass collaboration may be saving planet earth—literally.

5. Collaborative Science—When Great Minds Collide

Just as the Enlightenment ushered in a new organizational model of knowledge creation, the technological and demographic forces turning the Web into a massive collaborative workspace are helping transform the realm of science into an increasingly open and collaborative endeavor. In just about every discipline, plummeting computing and collaboration costs are encouraging the formation of large-scale research networks. Collaboration in collecting data, verifying discoveries, and testing hypotheses is not only speeding things up; it's improving the veracity of scientific knowledge itself as a much greater proportion of the scientific community engages in the peer-review process. Projects such as MIT's OpenWetWare are already doing this and showing the way forward for a new era of collaborative science.

6. Global Civil Society—Power to the People

People outside the boundaries of traditional institutions have at their fingertips the most powerful tool ever for organizing collective action. But the so-called "smart mobs" and "wise crowds" of the past are being superseded by movements for social change on an unprecedented scale. This is not simply occurring within nation-states, where the third pillar of society (after corporations and governments)—the civil society—has historically addressed the needs of communities not met by the market or government. Increasingly, "the people" are organizing across borders and exerting their power and influence on the global scene.

7. Mass Collaboration and Evil

Past technological paradigms—the printing press, broadcast media, and the centralized model of the computer—were hierarchical, immutable, and centralized. As such, they carried the values of their powerful owners. By contrast, Web 2.0 is interactive, enriched with services, and control is distributed. As such it possesses an awesome neutrality—reflecting what is good and bad in society. Religious fundamentalists, terrorists, hackers, and criminal networks have harnessed the power of mass collaboration to promote hate and commit heinous acts. The key to global security and freedom may lie in harnessing this same power.

8. The Net Generation Grows Up

The largest generation ever—ages 13 to 29—thinks differently due to its exposure to interactive media. They have grown up bathed in digital bits and do not fear technology. As they enter the workforce and marketplace, they are a huge force for transformation in every institution. But are we ready? How are they different? What do companies, governments, educational institutions need to do to embrace them?

9. Radical Transparency

Transparency is a new force that can be harnessed for innovation, growth, and success. More than compliance with regulators, new research shows companies that share pertinent information about themselves with stakeholders can perform better, build trust, and develop sustainable business models. Employees of open enterprises have greater trust in one another and their employers—resulting in lower costs, improved quality, better innovation, and loyalty. Transparency is critical to business partnerships—lowering transaction costs between companies and enabling collaborative commerce. Transparency with customers builds trusting relationships. But how do you win in this new world?

10. The Digital Conglomerates

Google (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), eBay (EBAY), Yahoo! (YHOO), and even Microsoft (MSFT) represent a new business species—the digital conglomerate (DC)—expansionist business engines that challenge industry incumbents from automotive to telecoms. In seeking to respond, traditional companies face hurdles ranging from legacy offerings and technologies to creaky cultures and embedded business models. Some seek anti-competitive regulatory protections such as the elimination of Net neutrality, but likely winners will be more adaptive: Digital conglomerates present both threats and opportunities to incumbent players. Strategies for exploiting the opportunities include partnerships, acquisitions, and adoption (or at least mimicking) of DC business practices.

Don Tapscott is co-founder and chairman of the think tank New Paradigm, a BSG Alliance company. He is the author of 11 books. Most recently, with Anthony D. Williams, he wrote Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. Tapscott teaches at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. He has participated in the Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum several times.

 Link to article: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jan2008/id20080116_730939.htm

Jan 2, 2008, by Tamara Erickson

I'm excited about the perspectives offered in several books that came out this year. In many ways, authors have been exploring the implications of the changing business environment -- new technologies, shifting workforce values, ever-growing globalization -- on various facets of corporate operations. In different ways, they all ask us to wrestle with a world in which the cost of communication is rapidly approaching zero, one where talent shortages will give capable workers increasing leverage to define when, where and how they want to work.

Read the full article:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tamara-j-erickson/2007s-business-books_b_79307.html

January 2, 2008, by Marty Toohey

Experts say younger workers are also choosing flexible schedules, autonomy and challenging work over the long-term job security often offered by government. Bob Morison, a researcher for BSG Concours, the Kingwood-based research and education arm of Austin's BSG Alliance Corp. and co-author of the book "Workforce Crisis," said government agencies have not adapted to those preferences.

"Most younger workers don't want their parents' careers," Morison said. "They don't want the eight-to-five office jobs where a boss is looking over their shoulder."

Adjusting to young workers' preferences, he said, could also help in retaining older workers and avoiding a brain drain.

Retirees enlisted as part-timers

Morison said the most common solution has been hiring retirees back as part-time workers. Federal law limits most people collecting a pension to part-time work, but the restriction does not apply to government employees.

Read the full article:  http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/02/0102braindrain.html

Four of the 19 articles selected for this "Best of.." list were produced by in full or part by Tammy Erickson and the BSG Concours team:

• Placing a Future Value on College Degrees
• What Makes Gen X'ers Tick?
• Eight Ways to Build Collaborative Teams

Read the full article:  http://conversationstarter.hbsp.com/2007/12/the_best_of_harvardbusinessorg_1.html

Building the next-generation enterprise—and maybe even the next-generation nation—will preoccupy most of us in 2008.

...In 2007, consultancy Monitor bought into innovation strategy specialists Doblin, led by Larry Keeley, while another large consultancy, BSG Alliance acquired research firm New Paradigm, led by Wikinomics co-author Don Tapscott.

Read the full article:  http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/dec2007/id20071213_733494.htm

...As the boomers begin to retire, finding younger workers to replace them will be critical, and making sure different generations can coexist in the workplace becomes increasingly important. If that doesn't happen, says Tammy Erickson, president of the Concours Institute consultancy and author of Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent, companies could find themselves without enough workers to keep the economy humming.

Read the full article:  http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1397,2232382,00.asp

Renowned Board Member of Multiple Fortune 500 Companies and Former Harvard Business School Leader to Help Guide World Class Governance and Strategy for Sustained Rapid Growth 

 

AUSTIN, Texas – December 20, 2007 – BSG Alliance Corporation, creator of a unique platform of on demand software and services that enable organizations to become next generation enterprises, today announced that James I. (“Jim”) Cash, Jr., PhD. joined the company’s board of directors this month. 

 

“Having Jim Cash join the BSG Alliance board is a real defining moment for us,” said chairman and CEO Steve Papermaster.  “Dr. Cash is one of the most accomplished leaders in organizational dynamics and governance, whose reach spans core blue chips in business, academia and beyond. His global profile, significant  fiduciary experience, wisdom and vision will be great assets to us as we continue our accelerated growth.”

 

Dr. Cash currently serves as director for a number of prominent organizations, including General Electric (NYSE: GE), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), Chubb (NYSE: CB), The Boston Celtics, and the National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation. He retired in 2003 as the James E. Robison Professor and Senior Associate Dean of the Harvard Business School, where he first joined the faculty in 1976. 

 

Dr. Cash will join Mr. Papermaster, Warren Weiss of Foundation Capital and Mitchell Kertzman of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, all of whom currently sit on the company’s board. 

 

“I am delighted to join the BSG Alliance team in their quest to enable next generation enterprises, ” said Dr. Cash.  “It is clear to me that corporations are challenged to develop new business and leadership processes to thrive in today’s always on, global economy.  I am thrilled to be part of a company that is innovating a compelling new on demand business platform to meet those challenges.”

 

In November, BSG Alliance announced the acquisition of New Paradigm, the business innovation group led by internationally recognized thought leader and author of Wikinomics, Don Tapscott.  In little more than six months, BSG Alliance has:

·         publicly announced its formation

·         secured $20 million in  funding

·         acquired Houston-based The Concours Group, a high level strategy, research, and executive education company

·         acquired Kalivo Inc., maker of Web 2.0-based community software

·         acquired Industrial Sciences LLC, maker of sophisticated business simulation software;

·         launched a capital markets/ financial services industry team on Wall Street, and

·         acquired New Paradigm 

 

About BSG Alliance Corporation

 

BSG Alliance helps companies become next generation enterprises, through a unique, on-demand platform.  The BSG Alliance platform delivers the most innovative business research, executive development, applications, and information to forward-thinking companies and top C-level executives, as they seek to be sustainable leaders in today’s hypercompetitive global economy.  Headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA, BSG Alliance has offices in Boston, Houston, New York, London and Toronto, serving leading Global 2000 customers on four continents. Customers include American Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, and Marriott, among many others. For more information, please visit www.BSGAlliance.com.

 

Contact:

Steve Guengerich

SGuengerich@BSGAlliance.com

512/904-3405

View a PDF version of the news release:   BSG Alliance - Cash Board Appointment.pdf

Welcome to the BSG Alliance and New Paradigm live streaming customer panel and announcement event. Enjoy watching the recording below of the November 29, 2007 event, previously broadcast live.

For more information about this event, held at the Marriott Marquis-Times Square, New York city, please contact Jennifer Lake, 512-638-5313 or BSG@lpp.com.

PLEASE NOTE:  Quicktime 7+ is required to view the videocast, which you can obtain if you visit here to download the free player.  To test that your computer is ready for the videocast, try viewing the message from Veodia's CEO:  http://veodia.com/beta/veodiatv.php

For any technical issues, you can receive live online help.  Thank you and feel free to Reply below with your comments.

With financial clout provided by BSG Alliance 'we'll instantly be more of a global force,' author of Wikinomics says

Strategic Licensing Agreement of Innovative, World-Leading Education Offering Expands the Number, Locations, and Variety for Public and Private Attendees

 

Alexandria, VA and Austin, TX. – November 14, 2007 – Hinchcliffe & Company, creator of the world’s leading education offering for guiding business leaders through the revolutionary world of Web 2.0, and BSG Alliance Corp., the platform for Next Generation Enterprises, On Demand, announced a strategic licensing agreement under which BSG Alliance will bring a customized version of Hinchcliffe & Company’s Web 2.0 University™ to market beginning January 2008.

“Through BSG Concours, we are already known for providing world-class executive development events and research for IT, HR, and other senior executive for over 150 of the Fortune 500 today,” said Steve Guengerich, BSG Alliance’s chief learning officer. “Hinchcliffe & Company’s Web 2.0 University, through their unique relationship with O’Reilly Media, makes it the perfect addition to our foundation curriculum for Next Generation Enterprises and we are thrilled to be working with Dion and his team to bring it to market.”

Web 2.0 University™ participants gain a fundamental understanding of Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0, including core principles and best practices. All attendees receive current and relevant, real-world examples and case studies and an understanding of how to apply new these concepts, platforms, and technologies to transform their traditional businesses.

“Web 2.0 University has played a major role in establishing Hinchcliffe & Company as the world's leading Web 2.0 management consulting and education firm and we are delighted to