Below is a 15 minute video which encapsulates Altimeter’s themes on the Dynamic Customer Journey and the Sentient World.
I’m really proud to have taken an active role in the first ever LeWeb outside of Paris. This one, which was featured in downtown London across the street from Westminster Abbey was sold out. If you’ve not heard of LeWeb, this is a global Internet conference hosted by Loic and Geraldine Le Meur, a power couple that stem from Paris but are also living in Silicon Valley, this is one of my favorite conferences to connect with brands, technology innovators, investors and friends.
Altimeter was able to play a minor role in suggesting the theme for the event “Faster Than Real Time” which stems off previous LeWebs that focused on the “Real time web”. In this radical state, companies are able to anticipate the needs of their customers by using data, technology, and devices and deliver meaningful experiences before customers even know they need it. I explore two of three of Altimeter’s research themes, the Dynamic Customer Journey, and the Sentient World in my speech, but due to time, did not focus on Adaptive Organization.
In future posts, I’ll share some of the videos from the social business track, in which I co-hosted with Cedric Giorgi, and also, sign up and register for LeWeb Paris, this December, 2012. Thanks to the Altimeter analysts, researchers and partners who helped to shape these research themes, this is a culmination of many people’s work beyond myself.
I look forward to your feedback on the themes, we’re actively linking (over 15 to date) to those who thoughtful add their thoughts about the themes, starting with Dynamic Customer Journey, if you blog your thoughts, we’ll link back.
Update: Drew B blogged about the keynote, as well as Timo Elliott of SAP and on the SAP blog.
Many critical challenges are proposed here. Maybe I’m reaching too far out from what you are discussing, but it triggered some science fiction ideas from me. The fear that machines will replace humans is a frequent theme in science fiction. I think technology will replace many of the tasks that humans can do, but the machines and technology are still created by humans, who will also advance. The assumption is that change is occurring so quickly that humans cannot keep up; yet, we see new innovations each day from humans using technology. Humans are not sitting still while technology is changing. Humans have the capacity to grow and change as well.
Yes, the methods we use to complete our tasks, roles, work or pleasure acts will change and technology may be able to evolve and learn, but we are still needed for it all to be successful. I think the greatest challenges will be in the ethical and legal uses. Technology has no ethics. Humans can choose behaviors that are ethical and legal or vice versa. We can teach animals to behave in certain manners. Some animals can think and decide based upon cues. Can we teach them to think ethically? Movies appear to support that sentient beings can do this. Aren’t they really mimicking humans who would like to have advanced technology to aid them?
Technology does what it’s programmed to do. Even if it has the ability to evolve, it is still not human. It may be far beyond what we imagined it could do. What we are really exploring is what it means to be “human” and how we fit into the complex and rapidly evolving world of technology. How we choose to use the technology is the real question we have to answer.