WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation
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WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation
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Curated by Farid Mheir
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Target will spend more on technology than on stores in 2014 via @wsj

Target will spend more on technology than on stores in 2014 via @wsj | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it

In an effort to catch up, Target this year is spending about as much of its $2.3 billion U.S. capital budget on improving its technology, developing mobile apps and modernizing its supply chain as it is on opening and remodeling stores. Next year, the company will spend more on those investments than on stores, an acknowledgment that future growth will increasingly depend on digital sales.

Farid Mheir's insight:

2.3B$ in technology to try and increase its online sales (now at 2% of 73B) is proof of the need by retailers to transform their ways or disappear. Then again Target used to let Amazon run its website.


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Amazon's 1,263 Patents Reveal Retailing's High-Tech Future and how it will transform retailing via @forbes @mit

Amazon's 1,263 Patents Reveal Retailing's High-Tech Future and how it will transform retailing via @forbes @mit | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it

In a recent article for MIT’s Technology Review, I argue that Amazon is approaching retailing as an engineering problem — not as the old-fashioned domain of inspired hunches and showmanship. After all, Amazon doesn’t have three crucial ingredients of a traditional store: showrooms where customers can touch the goods; onsite salespeople to talk up the wares, or an ability for customers to take purchases home with them instantly. As a result, I wrote, “everything that Amazon’s engineers create is meant to make these fundamental deficits vanish from sight.”

Farid Mheir's insight:

A glimpse into some of the reasons why amazon may in the future be known more for disrupting physical stores than for leading the eCommerce revolution.


In a nutshell, Amazon works hard to make the traditional brick and mortar store irrelevant, which in turn will force traditional retailers into doing two things:

1- embrace eCommerce, and remove all the non value adding aspects from the physical stores (replenishment, staple items, etc.)

2- transform the physical stores to make them useful again, probably with a focus on some of the aspects where Internet has limitations: showrooming electronics, cars, etc., or educating customers on ways to use their products, making recipes in grocery stores or training newbies on new iPads.


By the way, this is exactly what is now happening at Walmart and other retailers.


Also see this

Amazon warehouse & operations and Apple stores trace the future of brick-n-mortar stores via @bi http://sco.lt/5pCgBl

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Digital Books- Google can legally scan books - protects copyrights in the digital world via @lapresse

Digital Books- Google can legally scan books - protects copyrights in the digital world via @lapresse | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
La justice américaine a tranché jeudi en faveur de Google dans une bataille sur les droits d'auteurs vieille de huit ans autour du projet de numérisation de livres du...
Farid Mheir's insight:

Major win. With this finally we'll be able to leverage google to search within books. This will also, over time, bring to the digital world all the books that have been printed but will never be edited digitally.


AFAIK, google also uses this to improve its google translate accuracy. And I assume other as well. 


This win also is a major step for user privacy: it means that the web is not a free for all place where anyone can do anything. With proper rules, we can leverage digital without leaving on the table copyrights. I believe this will also be true for personal information and privacy. Over time.


One small step for google, a giant leap for mankind!

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Amazon’s now shipping on Sundays - will rescue US Postal Service + disrupt shipping industry? via@washingtonpost

Amazon’s now shipping on Sundays - will rescue US Postal Service + disrupt shipping industry? via@washingtonpost | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it

For most people, waiting at home for a package to be delivered is largely infeasible during the workweek, leaving Saturday as their best hope for catching the parcel truck. But thanks to Amazon, consumers can now get their e-commerce shipments on Sundays, too.

Farid Mheir's insight:

I've been writing about this trend of same-day or next-day delivery, making the point that most customers are not willing to pay for same-day delivery but that affordable or free next-day delivery could make inroads into brick-and-mortar business, forcing them to transform the way they sell and what they sell.


7-day a week delivery is part of this essential service that a store-less, online pure play must make if it wants to fight without opening physical stores. 

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Human Centered Architecture- a simple solution to a hard problem via @jpascenci @CityInnovation @UCEnterprise

Human Centered Architecture- a simple solution to a hard problem via @jpascenci @CityInnovation @UCEnterprise | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
Christine Outram, a human-centered smart city and big data strategist, wrote a very keen blog post about What Starbucks Gets that Architects Don’t. …
Farid Mheir's insight:

I find this post and the one it refers to by Christine Outram to capture full well some of the issues we have with technology and the people that architect and design the solutions, applications and software.


I am personally guilty of some if not most of the rants in this paper but I try, I try real hard, to change. And listen to people and speak in their language...

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Amazon warehouse & operations and Apple stores trace the future of brick-n-mortar stores via @bi

Amazon warehouse & operations and Apple stores trace the future of brick-n-mortar stores via @bi | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
200 packages a SECOND.
Farid Mheir's insight:

This informative but shallow post (as is often the case with BI.com) nevertheless made me realize how much amazon warehouse and fulfillment process will transform physical stores in the future.


No more will we go to stores for the mundaine and the repetitive shopping (replenish peanut butter or buy a computer cable). We will go to stores for the "experience": we will be entertained, trained, or pampered. Visit an Apple store today and you'll get my point. You do not go there to buy a cable (this can be done online) but you go to see a new product, try it, get help and explanation from the genius bar or get insight from sales persons. The store is small and already has the highest sales per square feet of any store in the US


What does this mean for brick-n-mortar retailers? Move all the non-value-adding sales real estate (all those middle aisle with shelves full of non-descript low margin products) to online eCommerce store (with low cost fulfillment and delivery/pickup), then transform the freed-up store aisles into customers-focussed training, entertaining, pampering, etc. areas.


This represents a huge challenge for organizations as they will need to transform their merchandising, store operations, marketing, HR, etc. into a digital world (customers will expect online and in-store experience to be seamless) where customer service will become more important (sales clerks will need to know more about their products and not only be shelf stocking low paid employees).


Fun times ahead!

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Just updated the "Enterprise Architecture examples" with improved references to NIH and FEA

Just updated the "Enterprise Architecture examples" with improved references to NIH and FEA | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
(last edit 10nov’13)
I have been an EA for the past 10 years and I have produced a number of Enterprise Architectures for clients and employers.
For an EA University class I am preparing (HEC Montreal...
Farid Mheir's insight:

This post is a reference to different EA deliverable sample documents that I find useful. I've just updated it to be more specific about NIH deliverables and added references to the US FEA models.

BESRI KENZA's curator insight, December 3, 2014 5:29 AM

good examples for EA in sevral  firmes 

 

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Real-life Solutions that can be developed with @Grok

Real-life Solutions that can be developed with @Grok | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
Farid Mheir's insight:

This page presents some solutions that can be built on top of Grok, a new service that will be demonstrated in 2 days at the Amazon re:invent conference


I believe there are many more applications that those listed here. In Retail, for eCommerce prediction and fraud prevention. In Finance, for anomaly detection in the price of stocks or fasat changing data. Medical applications, weather applications, etc. etc.


For those like me that were impressed with the book "On Intelligence" and are fans of the theory behind "Singularity is near", then this feels like another small but major step in the direction of intelligent machines.

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Grok Technology explained via @grok @numenta

Grok Technology explained via @grok @numenta | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
Farid Mheir's insight:

This is detailed explanation of the algorithm that powers Grok, a new service that will be demonstrated in 2 days at the Amazon re:invent conference.


This is not easy reading but well worth the effort for those like me that were impressed with the book "On Intelligence" and are fans of the theory behind "Singularity is near", then this feels like another small but major step in the direction of intelligent machines.


Follow links in the grok website to the CLA algorithm whitepaper which presents the geeky version of this algorithm.

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Palm Pilot Inventor Wants to Open Source the Human Brain- real world applications from the book "On Intelligence" via @Wired

Palm Pilot Inventor Wants to Open Source the Human Brain- real world applications from the book "On Intelligence" via @Wired | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it

Computer scientist and entrepreneur Jeff Hawkins -- best known as the inventor of the Palm Pilot -- has a unified theory of the brain's inner workings and has created algorithms for applying this theory to computer science. 


After leaving Handspring, Hawkins founded the Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience to study the brain full-time, and he co-authored On Intelligence with Sandra Blakeslee. In 2005, he co-founded Grok, originally known as Numenta, to turn his intelligence research into a marketable product.

Farid Mheir's insight:

A very high level introduction and review of the work that led to Grok, a new service that will be demonstrated in 2 days at the Amazon re:invent conference


For those like me that were impressed with the book "On Intelligence" and are fans of the theory behind "Singularity is near", then this feels like another small but major step in the direction of intelligent machines.

Farid Mheir's curator insight, January 14, 2017 2:03 PM

A very high-level introduction and review of the work that led to Grok, a new service that will be demonstrated in 2 days at the Amazon re:invent conference

For those like me that were impressed with the book "On Intelligence" and are fans of the theory behind "Singularity is near", then this feels like another small but major step in the direction of intelligent machines.

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New survey of teens indicate concerns about fraud, security and Identity Theft

New survey of teens indicate concerns about fraud, security and Identity Theft | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
The Family Online Safety Institute works to make the online world safer for kids and their families by identifying and promoting best practice, tools and methods in the field of online safety, that also respect free expression.
Farid Mheir's insight:

Very useful survey of teens usage of Internet, social media and other digital technologies. They are, after all, digital natives, and looking at their behaviour may  show a little of what the future holds. Full of useful stats.


Thank you Diane Nault for the link!

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Granify startup improves conversion rates and claims 95% accuracy via @BetaKit @stephanegoyette

Granify startup improves conversion rates and claims 95% accuracy via @BetaKit @stephanegoyette | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
Edmonton-based startup Granify, a software as a service (SaaS) company that improves ecommerce conversion rates, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from several investors, including Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, iNovia Capital, Klass Capital,...
Farid Mheir's insight:

Not sure if this technology works but it sure sounds interesting. Not having to rely on coupons or price breaks to improve conversion sure sounds nice. The idea of digging through data to identify reasons why shoppers leave (such as return issues) and presenting them with messages that help sounds a lot like what a sales person will do in a physical store. Hmmm...

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NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say via @washingtonpost

NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say via @washingtonpost | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
Agency positioned itself to collect from among millions of accounts, many belonging to Americans.
Farid Mheir's insight:

This article shows very clearly how NSA and other government agencies have tapped into unencrypted links within companies (here Google but I expect they also did at other major providers. If they do it in the States, then they do it in other countries too. Fact of life.


I am a digital optimist. I think that we will be OK with both a) regulation to control information privacy as well as b) strong encryption for all data both in transit as well as in storage. Won't solve all issues but certainly will get us closer to safety and privacy we expect. I don't bellieve we should fall into the pessimistic view and stop using the cloud...

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Simple video from @BDC presents 4 simple actions every company should take today to benefit from Internet

Simple video from @BDC presents 4 simple actions every company should take today to benefit from Internet | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
Tirer partie de la révolution Internet.
Farid Mheir's insight:

Very simple 4 steps that can be done using free or very low cost tools:

  1. be online
  2. share content
  3. measure everything
  4. optimize
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Sendapackage.com Bills Itself as ‘New York’s Inmate Superstore’- talk about a captive audience via @nytimes

Sendapackage.com Bills Itself as ‘New York’s Inmate Superstore’- talk about a captive audience via @nytimes | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
Sending packages to loved ones doing time can be, as thousands of local families know, a Kafkaesque process. Sendapackage.com helps get the goods behind bars.
Farid Mheir's insight:

Sounds like a great niche. And everything an online commerce should be: well defined audience, real need, (rules, regulations, families not being inside, inmates not being outside, etc.), and long-term customers (in certain cases).


Makes me think of those special orders flown into northern territories from stores in the "South" where products are cheaper and airfare, in bulk, less expensive than the many intermediaries in typical retail.

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Online grocer Peapod shows Amazon, Walmart how it's done- I haven't seen so much hype since webvan days! via @cnet

Online grocer Peapod shows Amazon, Walmart how it's done- I haven't seen so much hype since webvan days! via @cnet | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
While WalMart and Amazon are just starting to see how tricky the online grocery business can be, 20-year-old Peapod has already figured it out. Read this article by Donna Tam on CNET News.
Farid Mheir's insight:

I have not seen so many papers and articles regarding online grocery shopping since the late 1990s when webvan was a big thing. And the angle remains the same (everyone needs to eat, the market is huge, just 1% is enormous, etc. etc.).


There is a huge difference however: now the Internet is real. With Peapod getting 30% of its orders from mobile, Ocado fulfilling 180K orders per week (yes per week), there may be now the right conditions to make online grocery a reality. We should know soon enough.


The real question is raised  here as well: what will be the role of brick and mortar grocery stores? Certainly they will remain but for what? High end and niche products, where low-cost staples get delivered from a warehouse (who needs to see the peanut butter before you buy)? Recipe demonstrations and culinary tips, with a focus on hands-on experience and expert recommendations? Where will technology fit in all this? 

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Staples expands e-commerce via marketplace sales 8k SKUs in store, 1M SKUs online via @internetretailer

Staples expands e-commerce via marketplace sales 8k SKUs in store, 1M SKUs online via @internetretailer | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
Internet Retailer - E-Retailers/Retail Chains - Staples expands e-commerce via marketplace sales
Farid Mheir's insight:

Great way for brick and mortar retailers with a known brand to leverage the Internet by creating marketplaces and act as an online "magnet" for consumers that go to their site to find everything they're looking for, often bypassing Google.


This is what has been happening at Amazon for past few years, Amazon being top destination for searches related to books, videos, and other related items. Easy to understand when you consider Amazon has 600K SKUs in its warehouses but over 8M in its online catalog!

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Knowing demands doing: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines #mustread via @om

Knowing demands doing: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines #mustread via @om | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it

We rely on computers to fly our planes, find our cancers, design our buildings, audit our businesses. That's all well and good. But what happens when the computer fails?

Farid Mheir's insight:

Must read article by Nicholas Carr, who have us many good and insightful reads, from "IT doesn't matter" which made the case for cloud computing, to "Is google making us stupid?".


This new piece presents in very simple terms examples of our loss of expertise due to delegation of tasks to computers.In a recent conference I gave to surgeons, it is clear how much of their work is now being computer controlled but how little knowledge they have of computers or of digital field in general. Highly skilled and trained, the push for automation and productivity will certainly make them susceptible to the perils that Carr presents in this paper.


With my kids now learning to drive I can also see a future where they will not have had time to develop their driving skills sufficiently before google cars provide them with automation that let's them read emails and finish reports instead of driving their cars during morning commute. I can also see them not being prepared to take over the wheel when something happens with the automated controls.


Worth considering when I design new software systems: how can I keep operators involved? Is augmented reality and assistance to humans better than full automation?

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Staples and Walmart Chase Amazon in Ecommerce Space

Staples and Walmart Chase Amazon in Ecommerce Space | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
Staples acquired a firm that offers Amazon-like personalization features, the latest of several developments that show retail chains are feeling intense competition from Amazon.
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Walmart Labs’ Subscription Snack Service Goodies.co Will Shut Down via @TechCrunch

Walmart Labs’ Subscription Snack Service Goodies.co Will Shut Down via @TechCrunch | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
Last year, Walmart Labs jumped on the subscription commerce bandwagon in an effort to compete with a range of startups offering monthly boxes of goodies to..
Farid Mheir's insight:

Looks like subscription models from online retailers have limitations. Or is it because walmart has failed to deliver the products people really are looking for?

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New CEFRIO survey results- Quebec retailers continue to leave 75% of eCommerce retail $ to others #iceq

New CEFRIO survey results- Quebec retailers continue to leave 75% of eCommerce retail $ to others #iceq | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it

L’Indice du commerce électronique au Québec (ICEQ) a interrogé chaque mois, d’août 2012 à juillet 2013, 500 adultes de 18 ans et plus ayant réalisé au moins un achat sur Internet au cours du mois précédant chaque collecte.

  • 5 662 cyberacheteurs sondés
  • 13 576 transactions analysées
  • 2 273 sites transactionnels utilisés
Farid Mheir's insight:

An essential snapshot of Quebec's eCommerce market and maturity was presented this morning. Results are clear: retailers in Quebec are  leaving 75% of the retail spend $ go to other Canadian and US retailers. Apaling!

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@Gartner Identifies Top Vertical Industry Predictions for IT Organizations for 2014

Gartner Identifies Top Vertical Industry Predictions for IT Organizations for 2014
Farid Mheir's insight:

Always fun to read these predictions... 2 years later! ;-)

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Reference Designs for Big Data processing and insights via @Infochimps

Reference Designs for Big Data processing and insights via @Infochimps | WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation | Scoop.it
Farid Mheir's insight:

I have yet to put those reference designs / architectures to the test but the enterprise architect in me finds it a good thing when I find patterns like that!

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Survivre dans un monde numérique: mes “must” présenté par moi ce weekend

2hrs en compagnie de 90 chirurgiens spécialistes pour leur présenter un topo du numérique, tel qu'il est aujourd'hui et sera peut-être demain. Ensemble nous
Farid Mheir's insight:

The presentation I gave at the annual meeting of surgeons this weekend. In french but I think someone should be able to get the gist of it nevertheless.

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Presenting my 5 "essentials" to become 100% digital to 40 surgeons tomorrow @fmheir

Farid Mheir's insight:

I'll spend 90 minutes with 40 surgeon specialists tomorrow to show them what being digital means today and what the future may hold. I look forward to stimulating discussions as we look at how digital is transforming

- their lives

- their businesses (doctors are becoming business man)

- their security

- their personal information (and health data)

- every object around us


I will publish some of my slides after but already some background reading material is ready as a flipboard magazine here 

http://bit.ly/17ah9OB

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