While most large companies are currently engaged in a business transformation initiative, study after study reveals that more than 70 percent ends in failure. It may be tempting to blame immature cloud technologies or unwilling rank and file staff; however, the real cause of this failure likely lies in the leadership suite.

As sports and entertainment venues explore their options for engaging with today’s hyper-connected consumers, strategic planners in the industry are exploring the impact that the trend toward “all things digital” is having on fan expectations for live events.

Organizations that are unable to see the exact disposition of every item in their supply chain will be unable to compete effectively in an increasingly real-time world driven by today’s ecommerce market. So says Mahesh Veerina, CEO of Cloudleaf, a Silicon Valley-based company that is using digital technologies -- including internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) -- in the cloud to transform supply chains.

Analysts have flooded the market with reports and perspectives foretelling the arrival of the streaming wars. Serving as the industry’s own “winter is coming” mantra -- à la Game of Thrones -- the streaming wars were portrayed as a great competition for discrete household content budgets. 

As organizations look for ways to deliver data-driven customer experiences, many executives have focused on building out their data infrastructure to capture, store and share the explosion of structured, unstructured and telemetry data being generated today. Infrastructure alone, however, will not be enough to develop and implement effective customer engagement strategies, according to Jason Davis, co-founder and CEO of New York-based Simon Data, in a thought leadership interview with BizTechReports​.

As individuals bring more connected devices into their work environment while increasing the number of days worked from remote locations, many companies may be underinvesting in mobile and remote device security. So says Darrell Laffoon, Chief Technology Officer at Sontiq (www.sontiq.com), a security and identity protection company based in Nottingham, MD.

Red Cells -- also known as Red Cell Teams -- are made up of interdisciplinary experts that engage in focused alternative analysis in order to help organizations break from intellectual ruts and blindspots that often accrue over time. Their mission is not just to think about the future, but to highlight the potential for unlikely events to derail -- or enhance -- an organization’s position. 

Artificial intelligence, machine learning and other enablers of predictive and prescriptive analysis have laid the foundation for customer-centric network assurance strategies that will help define successful network service providers (NSPs) as we enter the next decade.

In an ongoing effort to identify the metrics that matter for improving customer engagement, companies must leverage the latest technologies to monitor and measure the key elements that affect the user experience.

In an audio interview for journalists covering Mobile World Congress 2019 in LA on October 22-24, Tiran Dagan, Chief Digital Officer for Media and Communications for Cognizant, and Chris Menier, Vice President and Transformation Strategist for Vitria, discuss how Digital Operations and Artificial Intelligence supported operations (AIOps) can enable network service providers (NSPs) to improve the experience of their subscriber bases by mining data to gain better insights from operational activities.

Given the massive amount of change to which consumers are being exposed -- especially when it comes to their mobile lives -- the ability to carefully track the complex evolution of customer sentiment is emerging as a critical discipline among leading players in the different sectors of the automotive industry.

While the emergence of internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and next generation cloud computing technologies are creating new opportunities to capture deep insights into the driving and vehicle ownership experience, the automotive industry must take care to ensure consumers have a high level of comfort and trust in Voice of the Vehicle (VOV) initiatives, says Dave Sargent, Vice President of Global Automotive for J.D. Power, in an interview prepared for the upcoming J.D. Power Auto Revolution event in Las Vegas on October 23-24.

The automotive industry must engage in a comprehensive and high-profile discussion on the implications of intelligent vehicles to ensure consumer trust and adoption, according to Bernardo Rodriguez, Chief Digital Officer at J.D. Power, in an audio interview for journalists covering the Auto Revolution 2019 conference Las Vegas on October 23-24. 

While the jury is out on what percentage of large digital transformation initiatives are successful, projects that focus on digitizing and improving specific operations have a proven track record of delivering tangible cost and efficiency benefits in 90-, 60- and even 30-day timeframes, according to Mike Rossi, Senior Vice President for Menlo Park, Calif.-based Vitria.

Modern marketing has changed dramatically in the last few years as marketing technologies (martech) enable organizations to better know and understand their customers' journey by utilizing advanced analytics.

Organizations seeking to leverage the latest technologies to digitize their business processes must carefully consider how to integrate operational processes all the way from the back end to the front end, says Chris Menier, Vice President and Transformation Strategist for Vitria, in an audio interview for journalists.

The availability of real-time analytics is driving new and enhanced services in many industries as organizations leverage the ability to contextualize experiences for customers in real-time.

The role of Hybrid LTE solutions that support fixed broadband services to the home took center stage at the recent 2019 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as network service providers (NSPs) grapple will be explored in great detail.

The number of devices relying on Wi-Fi access within the home is exploding. Along with the increase of devices, rising streaming needs are also creating conditions where Network Service Providers (NSPs) must focus on improving Wi-Fi connectivity within the home in order to provide the highest quality of experience subscribers expect.

The arrival in 2019 of 5G wireless wide-area networking technology promises to leave an indelible mark on any industry that stands to gain from the rapid evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT), and will place network service providers in an ideal position to serve this market.

This year will see more Network Service Providers (NSPs) around the world embrace "managed services" as a core strategy for generating new recurring revenues and competing with retail offers, says Luis Martinez-Amago, President and General Manager for Technicolor's Connected Home Division, in an audio interview for journalists.