Transforming Business - Friday, February 26, 2010 - Marriott Philadelphia Downtown
Transforming Business - Friday, February 26, 2010 - Marriott Philadelphia Downtown
The goal of this executive round-table panel is to focus on the transformation of the technology industry over the last few years and its expected evolution going forward. Specifically, we would like to examine the ongoing M&A activity and the increasing expansion of companies across the multiple parts of the value chain (e.g., Oracle’s acquisition of SUN, Dell’s Acquisition of Perot Systems) and potential implications for both the technology companies and their clients. We will also explore how these executives view the growth prospects in emerging markets; how they plan to take advantage of this growth and the unique challenges they face in this respect. Finally, given the prevalence of freelancing, user co-creation, and outsourcing, we will also discuss how these companies manage their human capital.
The exponentially increasing importance of online CRM tools and analytics over the past few years has given companies insight into how customers are interacting online with both companies and with each other. Technological advances and increased experience in the online arena have changed how businesses view and utilize their customer analytics capabilities. Improved processing of the information from these analytics has allowed companies to make connections between disparate data, and thus make more informed business decisions. Furthermore, predictive analytics has been important not only for discovering what customers want, but also for fostering long-term profitable customer relationships.
The changing face of the consumer in 2009 requires companies to optimize their data capabilities, especially in the online space, to maximize ROI in their CRM efforts to ensure future business success. This panel will address the following questions:
The global “greening” of political agendas and the increased cost of some fossil fuels has inspired the next wave of technology that will provide clean, renewable and efficient energy solutions for individuals, corporations and governments. The top players in the private equity and venture capital firms, as well as key players in government agencies are the main forces driving this innovation with their capital allocation choices. How do these players decide what technologies will be the next big thing in clean technology? How do they navigate through the regulatory changes and the account for all the risks? This panel hopes to uncover the evaluation process undertaken by capital funders when presented with an investment opportunity in a nascent technology.
No longer hype yet not quite mainstream, the market for cloud computing services is evolving and growing at breakneck speed. Gartner predicts the current $46 billion industry will explode to $150 billion in just 3 short years. As this new space gets defined, cloud services vendors face both incredible opportunities and significant obstacles. This panel will examine these issues from the perspective of cloud services vendors of all types: providers of software-, platform- and infrastructure-as-a-service. Join us as leading executives from cloud services vendors large and small discuss their views on adoption and emerging business models and find your place in the cloud revolution.
Given the long standing presence of online promotion, advertising and marketing on mobile devices is shaping up to be the next frontier. Google, one of the largest web advertising agencies, recently spent $750 million to acquire AdMob, an advertising company focused on the mobile space. This panel will identify the unique elements of mobile advertising and marketing and what role this channel should play in a company's overall media mix. We'll explore the challenges and advantages of mobile marketing and advertising and try to evaluate its value chain. Additionally, we'll take a look at the main players and they are trying to generate revenue.
Global uncertainties and the current economic climate have created tremendous volatility for outsourcing. Firms face ever-increasing pressure to continually search for new and innovative processes and technologies that will allow them to adapt to this constantly changing business environment. In recent years, the benefits of outsourcing—from business application development to maintenance—have moved far beyond the cost savings associated with labor arbitrage. Firms must create greater value in order to survive and this panel will address the ways in which firms can adopt outsourcing as a strategic option. We’ll also explore how firms can work together with service providers to align their business propositions to address the strategic goals of their customers.
Many business people see the social media frontier as the next marketing gold rush. Companies have been effectively using social media to grow their businesses. The three major players in the social media marketing domain are the technology providers, the creators of social networks, and the companies using social networks to market their products and services. This social networking panel will address the following critical questions: