Phorum 2017: Digitizing the Enterprise

Phorum 2017: Digitizing the Enterprise

Thursday, April 27 | 8:30 AM–6:00 PM
SugarHouse Event Center
1001 N. Delaware Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19125

Written by Peter Coffee, VP for Strategic Research, Salesforce

Join us on April 27, 2017 for our annual technology conference that will focus on digitizing the enterprise.

An overall label like "digital transformation" can mean too much, or not enough. It can be such a broad term that it gives no useful checklist for the essential components of a strategy; it can be so vague that anyone can claim to be running the race, when perhaps they are merely getting to the point of being able to take their mark and get set to start.

We're proposing a four-pillar framework, all of whose parts are necessary to any future-enabled organization.

CONNECTED: the domain of engineers. This is the nuts-and-bolts of bringing in the bits, whether they represent customers' intentional communications or connected devices' event-driven data, with consideration of volume and latency and accuracy -- and probably, a stratified architecture that has enough knowledge at the edge to know what's worth telling the center. Are you connected? How, to whom, with what data points and streams being archived in what ways?

AWARE: the domain of business units. This is the everyday, increasingly 24×7 hard work of proving to served communities that the data they're contributing inspires prompt and effective attention to their needs. This is making sure that the Facebook posts get answered, that the Tweets yield quick replies, that the telemetry gets reliably classified as to normal operations versus anomalies needing urgent response. Are you aware? How are you demonstrating that in ways that your audience will value?

SMART: the domain of data scientists and algorithm developers. This is the necessary application of technology to leverage the hard work of awareness, in the face of the huge data volumes from connectedness, to enable personalized enlightened proactive interactions with your customers. Is your awareness making your actions smarter, or just busier? Are your connections yielding value in prediction and recommendation, or just improving your bookkeeping of the less enlightened things you've been doing too long?

TRUSTED: the domain of business leaders, or (if they don't take this seriously enough) of regulators and legislators. This is the creation and sustainment of a culture that says "We will collect data with respect, use it with consideration, and manage it with discipline." Are you treating the data that originates with your customers as if it were just another business record? Or are you recognizing that today's customer is increasingly prepared to pay someone else a higher price, if part of what they're buying is greater confidence in that vendor's or service provider's data stewardship?