Becoming a Digital Business

An organisation cannot become a social business without first, or at least concurrently, becoming a digital business. Delegating digital roles to untrained, unmotivated or unwilling staff does not make a digital business. This common practice yields an inefficient retrofit rather than the transformation required to compete in today's digital world.

Organisations must review their structure, capabilities and resources allocated to all facets of digital integration across the organisation. This ranges from strategy, to development and production, brand, content, and creative, data, analytics, and CRM, media, mobile and social. Redesigning the organisation structure and processes and the change management associated with shifting the corporate culture to adopt to the connected and empowered consumer is an essential step in the evolution of today's businesses. Look upon it as developing a basic digital operating system for your organisation.

Social Media Behaviour

Social media and social tools are transformational both within and external to an organisation. Developing and nurturing relationships with consumers on social platforms has played a major role in fueling the resurgence of digital brand building and consumer engagement. Likewise, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing within organisations using "social business platforms" is changing the way we work. However, many businesses have a difficult time changing their culture and workflow and therefore struggle to actualize the benefits of cross-functional involvement in consumer engagement, nor the formal collaboration platforms available today. As companies mature digitally, this will change, and social tools will facilitate effective collaboration and workflow within organisations of all sizes. There is clearly a need for social business tools and processes and this can only increase inline with mobile technology.

The Technical Creative - A new breed?

As a software developer colleague of mine with decades of experience said to me yesterday when I quizzed him about the cost of building an app for a client,
"If you had asked 4 years ago the application may have been a challenge. Now nearly all the pieces of the jigsaw are available easily and mass marketed."
The challenge, today, is to bring together the digital elements and create that seamless cross over between technical and creative. The combination of marketing consultancy and technical consultancy has never been in more demand. Even traditional methods of project management are being challenged as a new breed of specialist evolves in the digital arena. The route to market for any software development now has to embrace the existing channels laid open to it that were never there previously. Only a few years ago, as much consideration would have been given to the development of the infrastructure and hardware to facilitate the solution. Now the high speed communication link and hardware is in the palm of your hand.

Conversion Rate Optimisation

Looking around the digital industry you could be forgiven for thinking improving conversion was simply
a matter of buying the latest technology. This is simply not true. Improving conversion requires both technology and people. It is people that make things happen. People are your strongest asset and your greatest tool. In fact, being in control of conversion, having someone directly responsible for conversion and incentivising staff based on conversion are the three variables most highly correlated with improved conversion and sales. These are all people issues. Technology can only take you so far, the rest comes down to people.

The need for a culture to embrace innovation

Not all companies have a culture that embraces innovation because there is a perception
of risk. To change a culture means securing buy-in at all levels of the business. If senior
management is not on board, you will not get the support you need to make the change across the
business. If the employees are not interested, you will not get the execution you need to
fundamentally change the way the business works. Effective leadership can overcome these
barriers.

Smarter Cities 2012

Holyrood's Smarter Cities 2012 is bringing together leading thinkers, practitioners and industry leaders to discuss the Smart City agenda, and how it might meet the complex challenges facing Scotland's cities.

In 2011 the government published its Agenda for Cities, and established the Scottish Cities Alliance between the SCDI, government and Scotland's cities.

Cities will be expected to achieve sustainable economic growth, reduce carbon footprints, and improve the efficiency, responsiveness and effectiveness of public services while facing shrinking budgets. Harnessing technology and multi-stakeholder partnerships  is promoted internationally as the Smart City answer to these pressing challenges, with the smartest cities benfiting from :

Numerous, distributed and sustainable energy sources

Energy efficient buildings supplied by 'smart-grids' and meters

Intelligent, low-emission transport that avoids congestion and meets demand

Citizen participation in service provision

'Open data' and innovation

Informed planner and decision makers

Integrated, efficient and intelligence utilities such as waste and water systems

Optimised private sector, academic, third and public sector coordination and cooperation

National, regional and international competitiveness and a low carbon footprint

Why attend?

At this event you will participate in debate, share experiences and network with influential researchers, analysts, and public representatives who are actively engaged in meeting these challenges.

The conference will focus on 3 areas:

Smart Cities and Scotland
What is a Smart City thinking?
What is being done, and what should be done in Scotland?

Aspects of a Smart City
Energy
Transport
Building
Services and more

Making Smart Cities a reality
Citizen engagement
Planning and infrastructure
Alternative funding sources
Coordinating and leveraging the private, academic, third and public sectors

Additionally delegates will benefit from interactive 'Breakout' sessions that provide delegates with the opportunity discuss aspects of Smart City thinking in detail.

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