SMAC4u

As school is back in session, parents and teachers meet again to discuss and decide how best to prepare our children to thrive in the world around us. And to make the challenge a bit more interesting, many say that change is happening faster and faster ( HBR ), leading professionals to learn new skills to be effective in their organizations, higher education institutions to adapt their curricula and even business models ( Georgia Tech MOOC ), and kids to learn how to code ( TED ). So, let us step beyond typical school programs and brainstorm what else we can do to better prepare our children to succeed over the next decade, starting by exploring what is going on around us. The world is changing Our Industrial Age workplace is changing ( Inc ). And here are a some other changes going on right now: The multi-generational workplace : as more generations continue to share the workplace ( Forbes ), it is important for newer generations to not only be able to collaborate, ...

This work by Marcelo Bernardes ( @marcelobern ) was originally posted on LinkedIn . Recently I was asked about my experience using proofs of concept to shorten the sales cycle of complex solution sales engagements. And the audience was surprised to hear that, in my experience, while proofs of concept should increase the win rate, they may actually stretch the sales cycle of a specific deal , rather than shorten it! And yet, it is possible for proofs of concept to shorten the overall sales cycle in complex solution sales engagements, when they are part of a wider solution showcase program. A Layered Approach to Your Solution Showcase Program In order to balance your ability to shorten the sales cycle and cover specific customer scenarios, it is best to devise a layered approach to your solution showcase program, where commonly asked scenarios can be readily demonstrated, while highly-customized scenarios requiring additional time can be built as needed. The layered ap...

This work by Marcelo Bernardes ( @marcelobern ) was originally posted on LinkedIn . According to Wikipedia : “the RGB color model is an additive color model in which red , green , and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors ”. So, what do colors have to do with the latest business and technology trends: social, mobile, analytics, and cloud (SMAC)? Well, like in the RGB color model, where its primary additive colors (red, green, and blue) can be combined to reproduce other colors; the SMAC technologies - social, mobile, analytics, and cloud - when combined can produce business value beyond the “ primary value ” inherent to a single SMAC technology. Primary value of Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud Social, mobile, analytics, and cloud definitions vary and so could the definitions of what their primary values are. These are some SMAC primary values I regularly come across: Social : a collection of user generated data w...