Planning for Perpetual Connectivity

Dateline: January 25, 2013

Welcome the Friday WRAP – one thought-provoking idea to think about over the weekend.

Forrester analyst Melissa Parrish blogged about enterprise mobility and how “perpetual connectivity will change the world.”

She reported that more than ½ of US consumers own smartphones and 20% own a tablet, supporting the predictions of rapid proliferation of devices, and the impact they are having on how businesses work.  She predicted:

As more and more of us become perpetually connected and the level of our connectedness deepens, these changes will come more rapidly and be more transformational so that soon people will:

• Expect personal information of all kinds — financial accounts, health records, our kids’ school transcripts and extra-curricular activities, salon appointments, frequent-flier status, etc. — to be accessible from any device, in a specific device-friendly way, and in some cases to find us before we go looking for it.
• Want objects and products to cooperatively predict what we’ll need, learn our preferences, and make us an offer to fulfill that need as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.
• Lose the ability to manage our own calendars and agendas as we’re reminded, notified, alerted, and otherwise kept on track with anything that has deadlines whether they’re self-imposed or set by others.
• Get lazy about keeping others up-to-date about our own changing circumstances as applications work together to anticipate and notice changes in our lives, schedules, and habits and spread the word and fix discrepancies without our having to ask or act.
• Become increasingly impatient with longer lines, wait times, and delays as instant digital delivery of products and services become the norm.
• Be constantly connected to those we care about through digital mechanisms that feel increasingly real, both emotionally and physically.

She continues with the comment that

This is not a shift that will affect a single budget, process or department in your company.  Failure to adapt to these new market conditions will result in a drop of profits at best and at worst, make your company irrelevant, erode your customer base and ultimately force you to close your doors for good.

How can you prepare your organization for these disruptive shifts?  What will your plan be?

That’s a WRAP!  Have a wonderful weekend.