Category: trends
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Platform Economics (2) – Network Dynamics
I thought I'd write some more about some of the basic economic fundamentals of platform business models (links to the other posts in this series are collected at the bottom of this post). It's worth delving a bit more into network dynamics and why (perhaps) the shift from more traditional market dynamics and approaches can…
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Platform Economics
I've been writing a bit recently about the shift from linear pipeline to platform business models, in part to help me be more precise in how I define and describe it (to clients), and in part because I think the degree of shift in the dynamics of scalability, ownership, data, and interaction is under-appreciated (particularly in large,…
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Google Firestarters 24 – Deciphering Digital Transformation – The Event
On Wednesday evening we had the 24th Google Firestarters which took digital transformation as it's subject. The event had been well oversubscribed within 48 hours of registration opening, demonstrating the high level of interest that there is around this topic in agencies right now (this was supported by the IPA Future of Agencies research that I…
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Agencies as Sensemakers
It seems fitting in the week when the ad community has decamped to Cannes, an event which seems increasingly dominated by the ad technology players, to write about agencies and technology. This is also the week of-course in which Publicis Groupe have announced that rather than spend money on flashy awards and events, they are…
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When Robots Bluff
Accepting the (current) limitations of machine learning (and some recent hiccups), it's still fascinating how AI capability is developing so fast despite the field being far from new. The 'AI beating humans' narrative (as Tom Chatfield talked about at last year's Google Firestarters on the theme of AI – describing it as the ‘usurpation narrative of human-machine interactions…a…
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The Limitations of Machine Learning
I don't claim to be an expert on machine learning and AI but there is certainly no shortage of hyperbole about it right now. But in this case for good reason I think. It's on every trends/prediction list you read but it is surely the comprehensiveness in which it will be integrated into organisational capability, customer…
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Labour Clouds
'By 2040, I’m pretty confident that every skilled worker will have their own signpost. You will be your own enterprise, in a much more meaningful way than the lip service of today.' Stephen DeWitt This was a pretty fascinating look at what the future of work could look like, featuring Stephen DeWitt of Work Market, the…
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Children’s Media Use
Lots of fascinating data in the new Ofcom research into UK children's media use which shows (amongst many other things) the continued importance of the TV set (although the amount of time spent watching it is in decline, content is increasingly device agnostic, and for the first time more time is spent online), the dominance of…
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Disrupting Logistics
I find it fascinating how far the tentacles of digital disruption are reaching now. Earlier this year I did a digital leadership workshop with a group of senior leaders from the logistics side of a global manufacturing business. I don't claim to be an expert in supply chain or logistics, but it was clear from…
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The Age of Subscription
In my last trends piece for Econsultancy I talked about the age of subscription. I think it’s really interesting how all the focus recently has been on so-called ‘unicorns’ (startups that have acquired a sizeable valuation in a short space of time) and yet much of the disruption in various sectors actually comes from a…