This short video introduction provides as overview of how Bua Consulting helps clients understand our strategy and our approach to adding value to business by the correct adoption of technology.


 

The extract below is from an excellent article by Ann O'Dea which was in the recent University College Dublin Business Connections magazine. This extract is from http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/15074/special-events/basic-business-rules-still-apply

For clients wishing to read the full article please contact us and we will make our copy of the magazine available to you.

Readers in Ireland may be interested in attending the Digital Landscapes Conference in Dublin on 3 March 2010. For more visit www.ucd.ie/growingireland

Digital Landscapes: Basic business rules still apply

There can be no doubt that existing and emerging technologies can play a major role in business growth, but they are complementary rather than a replacement for sound business strategy and practice, says Prof Damien McLoughlin who chairs the Digital Landscapes conference in March.

Prof Damien McLoughlin of UCD School of Business will be chairing the Digital Landscapes event on March 3, and he cautions against losing perspective when tackling the seemingly complex world of new technologies and trends.

“The whole digital area is exciting and entertaining, probably in equal measure, but I think what is really important is to keep the excitement and entertainment in perspective,” he says. “I think it is changing the business environment in a very fundamental way, but it’s not changing everything, its not changing how we use core tools in management.”

That said, the new digital world has presented business with some fundamental challenges as well as positive changes, he says. “One key area is that it is absolutely impossible now for brands not to engage with the idea of integrity, so we continue to see all sorts of brands – Dove, Lynx, Coca-Cola, Nike, take your pick – being held to account by consumers who are dialoguing with each other about those brands.

“The big challenge for businesses as a result is how to engage in that dialogue. I think there are two ways of doing it. Firstly you have to participate, and secondly you can’t participate in a discussion where you have no credibility. That means that where brands have had practices that are not appropriate, or things they hoped in the past people wouldn’t find out, then they can’t engage honestly in that dialogue.

“That is something we have known for a while, but I think it will become even more widespread,” says McLoughlin. “The best example for me is the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. I think it was very courageous by Unilever to get involved in that. It’s a superb campaign, and it spoke to a certain segment of women in a very positive way. As a father of two daughters, I appreciated the ‘Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does’ message.

“However, today if you go onto YouTube and search for the Campaign for Real Beauty, you’ll find Unilever’s commercials, but you’ll also find a response by a guy called Rye Clifton, pointing out that, while Dove has put out this message about real beauty, the very same company uses a very, very different portrayal of women in their promotion of Lynx (Clifton ends his videos with the tagline ‘Talk to your daughters before Unilever does’). There is a contradiction there and Unilever needs to do something about that.

“Take another example. Innocent sold a part of its business to Coca-Cola recently, and the first thing that happened in a very, very public way was that customers of Innocent – not the shareholders, not the financiers, not the distributors, but the people who buy the product – called the company to account on a company blog where the founders of the company participate in a very real kind of way. I think that’s a good thing, and I think that is the future.”

A positive thing for business, says McLoughlin, is that this new type of dialogue imposes the need to learn new skills. “I’m thinking here about members of senior management whose assistant prints out emails for them to read at home in the evening, who own two mobile phones and that’s it. It’s very difficult for a person like that to appreciate things like Twitter, Facebook and so on. So that’s something businesses are going to have to grasp.”

Segmentation is key

The good news for sound businesses, says McLoughlin, is that many of the basic rules of business still apply. “Segmentation, the absolute core of marketing, and hence the core of growth strategies for businesses, is still as important now as it ever was.

“One of the perceptions is that more information means more power to customers, which means prices falling, but I think as the online phenomenon progresses we are actually seeing something of the opposite.

“We have a whole series of social networking sites – Bebo, Facebook etc – but those companies are not particularly profitable. One of the problems is you can have a Facebook page with your family, your friends and your business contacts on it. But do you necessarily want to have the conversations you have with your family online to be the conversations that you have with your business contacts? That for me is a challenge.”

McLoughlin points instead to LinkedIn’s business model. “What LinkedIn offers is a social networking site for people who wish to be connected to useful business contacts. And guess who out of these sites is making money? It’s LinkedIn. The reason for that is its segmentation strategy – it speaks to a particular need, which is to connect people to other business contacts.”

Ultimately, consumers will engage in, and pay for, what they perceive to be of value, says McLoughlin. He points to the newspaper industry, which is struggling with the online model and how to monetise their content. “Yet you look at the Financial Times, which has little trouble getting people to pay €250 a year for an online subscription. It’s seen as a business expense for an important service. I don’t think in a month of Sundays people will pay that for a generalist daily newspaper. So you’re back to effective segmentation.”

It comes down to looking at the information consumers have, identifying specific needs, and charging accordingly, says McLoughlin. “People will pay for what provides value for them and that’s the same as it always was, whether it’s in the old economy or the new economy. Business should be reassured by that.”

The big technology news this week is that Google will launch Google Chrome as its operating system in the the coming weeks. Several commentators have been predicting Google Chrome would become its operating system and it looks like they were right.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8139711.stm

Google to launch operating system
By Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley


Google is developing an operating system (OS) for personal computers, in a direct challenge to market leader Microsoft and its Windows system.

Google Chrome OS will be aimed initially at small, low-cost netbooks, but will eventually be used on PCs as well.

Google said netbooks with Chrome OS could be on sale by the middle of 2010.

"Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS," the firm said in its official blog.

The operating system, which will run on an open source licence, was a "natural extension" of its Chrome browser, the firm said.

The news comes just months before Microsoft launches the latest version of its operating system, called Windows 7.

'Back to basics'

"We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you on to the web in a few seconds," said the blog post written by Sundar Pichai, vice-president of product management, and Google's engineering director Linus Upson.

So at long last Google is making its move. It is poised to strike at the heart of Microsoft's software empire.

Tim Weber, Business editor, BBC News website


Charge of Google's light brigade
Both men said that "the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web" and that this OS was "our attempt to rethink what operating systems should be".

To that end, the search giant said the new OS would go back to basics.

"We are completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates.

"It should just work," said Google.

Google already has an operating system for mobile phones called Android which can also be used to run on netbooks. Google Chrome OS will be aimed not just at laptops but also at desktops for those who spend a lot of time on the web.

'Truly competitive'

The announcement could dramatically change the market for operating systems, especially for Microsoft, the biggest player with around 90% share.

"This announcement is huge," said Rob Enderle, industry watcher and president of the Enderle Group.

"This is the first time we have had a truly competitive OS on the market in years. This is potentially disruptive and is the first real attempt by anyone to go after Microsoft.

"Google is coming at this fresh and, because it is based on a set of services that reside on the web, it is the first really post-web operating system, designed from the ground up, and reconceived for a web world," Mr Enderle told the BBC.


It's a few hours since Google used its company blog to announce its entry into the operating systems market, and already opinion is strongly divided

Rory Cellan-Jones

BBC's technology correspondent


Read Rory's thoughts in full
Last year Google launched the Chrome browser, which it said was designed for "people who live on the web - searching for information, checking e-mail, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends".

Stephen Shankland at CNET said the move had widespread implications.

"One is that it shows just how serious Google is about making the web into a foundation not just for static pages but for active applications, notably its own such as Google Docs and G-mail.

"Another, it opens new competition with Microsoft and, potentially, a new reason for anti-trust regulators to pay close attention to Google's moves."

Some commentators said Google's motivation in all this was pretty clear.

"One of Google's major goals is to take Microsoft out, to systematically destroy their hold on the market," said Mr Enderle.

"Google wants to eliminate Microsoft and it's a unique battle. The strategy is good. The big question is, will it work?"

At the popular blog, TechCrunch, MG Siegler said: "Let's be clear on what this really is. This is Google dropping the mother of all bombs on its rival, Microsoft."

Microsoft releases Windows 7 later this year to replace Windows Vista and Windows XP, which is eight years old.

The Redmond-based company claims that 96% of netbooks run Windows to date.

Out of beta

In a separate announcement Google also revealed that many of its most popular applications had finally moved out of trial, or beta, phase.

Gmail, for example, has worn the beta tag for five years.

"We realise this situation puzzles some people, particularly those who subscribe to the traditional definition of beta software as being not yet ready for prime time," wrote Matthew Glotzbach, the director of product management in the official Google blog.

The decision to ditch the beta tag was taken because the apps had finally reached the "high bar" mark, he wrote.

More than 1.75 million companies use Google apps, according to the firm.

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