Scottsdale, AZ—For the second time in the last four years, attendees of the Executive Connection Summit were favored by the oratory skills of Joseph Bradley, vice president, Internet of Things for Cisco. OK, maybe “psyched” is a more appropriate description, as Bradley clearly kept his audience engaged during a 45-minute keynote address on the opening day of the fifth annual ECS gathering.
Joseph Bradley, Cisco
Maybe it was Bradley’s high-octane delivery or perhaps it was the central theme of the speech, “The Avant-Garde of Data Deliverance,” that had the crowd (and emcee Mike Stramaglio, president and CEO of MWA Intelligence) buzzing in anticipation. Regardless, Bradley did not disappoint, providing an overview of 21st-century business propensities while circling back to the central theme with humor, poignancy and forward-thinking perspective.
Bradley opened with a paradox regarding our desire to maintain privacy with the statistic that each day, the equivalent of 50 years of a human’s life is uploaded on YouTube. Privacy is contextually based, he said, and added that by 2020, a total gross internet volume of 142 million people will be streaming high speed.
Bradley followed up with a list of five observations that encompass how the 21st-century business climate and evolving needs are playing a role in the disruption that not only business but society at large is experiencing.
Real-time is too late. That suggestion raised a few eyebrows, for it wasn’t long ago that real-time data was the cause du jour that many businesses were extolling. As an example, Bradley cited Cisco’s work with a doctor who invented the IT bra to aid in early detection of breast cancer cells. Breast cancer victims have a 98 percent early detection survival rate, and the IT bra monitors for cancer via the temperature of the cells. “You want true predictability when it really matters,” he concluded.
When you cannot win, you have to change the rules of the game. Access to capital can stand in the way of business achieving their objectives, yet some of the newer platforms have knocked down those previous notions. One example is Kickstarter crowd funding initiatives that enable companies or individuals with an idea or product to gain immediate funding that might not be feasible through traditional funding.
“If you want to win, change the rules of the game, and that’s what data and digital will help you do,” he said.
Context is king, not content. It is the context of a situation that will drive many decisions we make. As an example, Bradley provided an example of a situation where he might forget to bring his Beats headphones on a flight. They are his salvation against the chattering children who always seem to be seated nearby, and in such a situation, he would gladly pay more money at an airport kiosk to secure a new pair rather than suffer through the constant commotion these darling kids may make during the flight.
“Context is everything, and big data allows you to provide context of the situation,” he added.
Platform. When one considers the shareholder value in all companies’ stocks, 40 percent of shareholder value is created and attributable to platforms. It is tough to discern what the customer wants, because in many cases, the customer doesn’t even know.
“You have to enable customers to discover the best way to interact with their services and include value for them because context is king,” Bradley said. “That’s what platforms do, they provide you with the enabling—how do I enable you to do things? How do I provide simplicity to allow you, to enable you to experience? That’s why all this money is being driven to platforms.”
Next week: Insight, the currency of the 21st century.
