The Gilbane Advisor

Curated for content, computing, and digital experience professionals

Month: June 2013

Don’t miss the Gilbane Conference call for papers deadline

June 28, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Every year we get a last minute rush of speaking proposals for the Gilbane Conference, and then… we get tons of emails asking when the deadline is, and then we get requests for an extra day or two, and then we get requests to consider proposals weeks after the deadline has passed. We have been extra diligent in getting the word out this year because there are always some late proposals that we wish we had seen sooner.

The deadline this year is June 30th July 7th, so don’t delay.

[button link=”https://gilbane.com/speaking-proposal-form/” variation=”red”]Submit Your Proposal[/button]

Here are the relevant links:

 

Gilbane Conference tracks:

Content, Marketing, and the Customer Experience
Designed for marketers, marketing technologists, growth hackers, web and mobile content managers, strategists and technologists focused on customers and digital marketing.

Content, Collaboration, and Employee Engagement
Designed for content, information, technical, and business managers focused on enterprise social, collaboration, intranet, portal, knowledge, and backend content applications.

Re-imagining the Future: Technology and the Postdigital Experience
Designed for technology strategists, IT, and executives focused on the future of content and internal or external digital experiences.

Digital Strategies for Publishing and Media
Designed for publishing and information product managers, marketers, technologists, and business or channel managers focused on the transition to digital products.

Press Release: Gilbane Conference Announces Dates for the 2013 Event in Boston and Partnership with Information Today, Inc.

June 18, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Gilbane Conference 2013, Banner, Content and the Digital ExperienceThis premier industry event was created to help enterprises build agile, sustainable digital experiences through the use of compelling content

Boston, Mass. (June 18, 2013 – BUSINESS WIRE – The Gilbane Conference 2013 (http://gilbaneconference.com) is set to take place December 3–5 at the Westin Boston Waterfront.

Now in its 12th year, the Gilbane Conference recently announced a partnership with leading publisher and technology conference organizer, Information Today, Inc. “We were thrilled to be approached by Frank Gilbane about partnering on this event,” said Information Today, Inc. president, Tom Hogan, Sr. “As publishers of a number of magazines covering web content management, content marketing, and customer experience management, we’ve admired the Gilbane Conference for years. We’re very excited to be a part of it this December.”

“We believe the synergies between the Gilbane Conference and Information Today, Inc. will assist us in quickly growing the brand by reaching out to an even larger audience of potential attendees,” added Gilbane Conference founder and chair, Frank Gilbane.

This year’s event will focus on educating enterprises on how to maintain competitiveness, grow market share, and support new models and products through the use of compelling content that enhances customer, employee, and partner digital experiences. “Now more than ever, enterprises need to make the connection between the information they’re providing and the needs of the customer in order to create an ideal customer experience,” Gilbane noted.

To speak at this event, submit your abstract by June 30 at http://gilbaneconference.com.

Gilbane Conference’s Technology Showcase will once again provide attendees with the opportunity to meet face-to-face with industry-leading companies on the show floor. Sponsorship opportunities are now available on the site.

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About Bluebill Advisors and Gilbane.com
Gilbane.com was launched in 1996 by Frank Gilbane and is a Bluebill Advisors Inc. site and the home for Gilbane conferences, seminars, and related activities. Bluebill Advisors, Inc. is a technology analyst firm focused on disruptive information technologies and their potential for strategic application. The firm has advised hundreds of organizations representing a wide range of industries, including government and other nonprofits, technology, manufacturing, publishing, financial services, investment, software, and pharmaceutical, and has helped executives responsible for a variety of functions including corporate strategy, marketing, investment, product development and support, engineering, and publishing. Bluebill complements services from firms that provide technology acquisition or market research services. Bluebill has created the program and chaired the Gilbane Conferences since their inception in 2002. Bluebill also operated as The Gilbane Group until 2010. https://gilbane.com, http://bluebillinc.com.

About Information Today, Inc.
Information Today, Inc., (www.infotoday.com) is a leading publisher and conference organizer in the field of technology and technology applications in today’s enterprise. In addition to producing the KMWorld, CRM Evolution, and Customer Service Experience conferences, Information Today, Inc. publishes KMWorld magazine, EContent magazine, CRM magazine, and their corresponding websites (www.destinationCRM.com, www.econtentmag.com, and www.kmworld.com). The company also publishes Streaming Media magazine and Speech Technology magazine and organizes several other technology conferences.

Contact:

Information Today
Misty Simms, 859-278-2223
msimms@infotoday.com

The Analyst’s Lament: Big Data Hype Obscures Data Management Problems in the Enterprise

June 17, 2013 / / 0 Comments

I’ve been a market and product analyst for large companies. I realize that my experiences are a sample of one, and that I can’t speak for my analyst peers. But I suspect some of them would nod in recognition when I say that in those roles, I spent only a fraction of my time in these analyst roles actually conducting data analysis.  With the increase in press that Big Data has received, I started seeing a major gap between what I was reading about enterprise data trends, and my actual experiences working with enterprise data.

A more accurate description of what I spent large amounts of time doing was data hunting. And data gathering, and data cleaning, and data organizing, and data checking.  I spent many hours trying to find the right people in various departments who “owned” different data sources. I then had to get locate definitions (if they existed – this was hit or miss) and find out what quirks the data had so I could clean it without losing records (for example, which of the many data fields with the word “revenue” in it would actually give me revenue). In several cases I found myself begging fellow overworked colleagues to please, please, pull the data I needed from that database which I in theory should have had access to but was shut out of due to multiple layers of bureaucracy and overall cluelessness as to what data lived where within the organization.

Part of me thought, “Well, this is the lot of an analyst in a large company. It is the job.” And this was confirmed by other more senior managers – all on the business side, not in the IT side – who asserted that, yes, being a data hunter/gatherer/cleaner/organizer/checker was indeed my job. But another part of me was thinking, “These are all necessary tasks in dealing with data. I will always need to clean data no matter what. I will need to do some formatting and re-checking to make sure what I have is correct. But should this be taking up such a large chunk of my time? This is not the best way I can add value here. There are too many business questions I could potentially be trying to help solve; there has got to be a better way.”

So initially I thought, not being an IT professional, that this was an issue of not having the right IT tools. But gradually I came to understand that technology was not the problem. More often than not, I had access to best-in-class CRM systems, database and analytics software, and collaboration tools at my disposal. I had the latest versions of Microsoft Office and a laptop or desktop with decent processing power. I had reliable VPN connectivity when I was working remotely and often a company-supplied mobile smartphone. It was the processes and people that were the biggest barriers to getting the information I needed in order to provide fact-based research that could be used to solve business-critical decisions.

Out of sheer frustration, I started doing some research to see if there was indeed a better way for enterprises to manage their data. Master Data Management (MDM), you’ve been around for over a decade, why haven’t I ever encountered you?  A firm called the Information Difference, a UK-based consultancy which specializes in MDM, argues that too often, decisions about data management and data governance are left solely to the IT department. The business should also be part of any MDM project, and the governance process should be sponsored and led by C-level business management. Talk about “aha” moments.  When I read this, I actually breathed a sigh of relief. It isn’t just me that thinks there has to be a better way to go, so that the not-cheap business and market analysts that enterprises the world over employ can actually spend more of their time solving problems and less time data wrangling!

That’s why when I read the umpteenth article/blog post/tweet about how transformative Big Data is and will be, I cannot help but groan.  Before enterprises begin to think about new ways about structuring and distributing data, they need to do an audit of how existing data is already used within and between different businesses.  In particular, they should consider MDM if that has not already been implemented. There is so much valuable data that already exists in the enterprise, but the business and IT have to actually work together to deploy and communicate about data initiatives. They also need to evaluate if and how enterprise data is being used effectively for business decisions, and if that usage meets compliance and security rules.

I suspect that many senior IT managers know this and agree. I also suspect that getting counterparts in the business to be active and own decisions about enterprise data, and not just think data is an IT issue, can be a challenge. But in the long run, if this doesn’t happen more often, there’s going to be a lot of overpaid, underutilized data analysts out there and missed business opportunities. So if you are an enterprise executive wondering “do I have to worry about this Big Data business?” please take a step back and look at what you already have.  And if you know any seasoned data analysts in your company, maybe even talk to them about what would make them more effective and faster at their job. The answer may be simpler than you think.

Gilbane Conference call for speakers and great presentation advice

June 11, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Gilbane Conference 2013, Banner, Content and the Digital Experience

 

 

 

 

We have our own set of speaker guidelines that are specific to our event that we ask all speakers to read. But last week there were two Harvard Business Review posts that provide some of the best advice you can find anywhere on giving a great presentation or moderating an engaging panel. These are must reads for anyone who cares about presentation or moderating skills, and strongly recommended for Gilbane Conference speakers. Even if you are already a speaking pro, each post is likely to give you at least one new idea. See:

Call for papers

Please review the conference and track topics below and submit your speaking proposal.

Conference description

Businesses and organizations of all kinds are struggling to keep up with the dramatic changes and challenges caused by current and near-term future potential of digital technologies. These challenges are enterprise-wide because everybody from customers to employees to partners expects an integrated and compelling digital experience that just works.

Accomplishing an engaging digital experience requires creating and managing compelling content, but also includes measuring how effective the content is, building interfaces that are consistent yet appropriate for multiple mobile channels, and integrating with e-commerce and enterprise systems. None of this should be news, but putting all the technologies and practices together is still largely uncharted or experimental territory for enterprises. Well-informed decisions on digital experience strategies require proactive dialog with experienced peers and industry experts.

At Gilbane conferences we bring together industry experts, content managers, marketers, marketing technologists, technology and executive strategists to share experiences and debate what the most effective approaches and technologies are, and how to implement them. Our theme this year is Manage – Measure – Mobilize, and we have tracks focused on the customer digital experience, employee digital experience, future technologies for digital experiences, and a track on digital strategies for publishers and information providers where we expand our theme to include Monetize.

 

Main conference tracks

Track C: Content, Marketing, and the Customer Experience

Designed for marketers, marketing technologists, growth hackers, content managers, strategists and technologists focused on customers and digital marketing.

Topics include:

  • Web content management
  • Customer experience management & engagement
  • Digital and postdigital marketing
  • Inbound & content marketing
  • Marketing automation
  • Measuring and analytics: Web, mobile, social, big data
  • Growth hacking strategies
  • Mobile challenges & channel priorities
  • Marketing technologist best practices
  • Responsive design
  • Localization & multilingual content management
  • Content strategies
  • Cross-channel marketing
  • E-commerce integration
  • Search engine strategies

Track E: Content, Collaboration, and Employee Engagement

Designed for content, information, technical, and business managers focused on enterprise social, collaboration, intranet, portal, knowledge, and backend content applications.

Topics include:

  • Collaboration and the social enterprise
  • Collaboration tools & social platforms
  • Enterprise social metrics
  • Community building & knowledge sharing
  • Content management & intranet strategies
  • Enterprise mobile strategies
  • Content and information integration
  • Enterprise search and information access
  • Semantic technologies
  • Taxonomies, metadata, tagging

Track T: Re-imagining the Future: Technology and the Postdigital Experience

Designed for technology strategists, IT, and executives focused on the future of content and either internal or external digital experiences.

Topics include:

  • Hybrid cloud content management
  • Natural language technologies
  • Haptic and gesture interfaces
  • Big data platforms and tools
  • Big data analytics
  • Visualization
  • The future of the open web and walled gardens
  • New mobile operating systems
  • Beyond desktops
  • Distributed data, distributed apps – mixing up code and data
  • Internet of things and digital experiences
  • Wearable content

Track P: Digital Strategies for Publishing and Media

Designed for publishing and information product managers, marketers, technologists, and business or channel managers focused on the transition to digital products.

Topics include:

  • Designing for digital products
  • Business models and monetization
  • Mixing owned, earned, and bought content
  • Ad technologies and strategies
  • App development strategies
  • HTML5 or no?
  • Multi-channel publishing
  • Ebook readers vs tablets
  • Tablets vs smartphones
  • Mobile publishing workflows
  • Matching content to platforms and devices

Submit your speaking proposal. [red]The deadline is June 30th 2013![/red]

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