Advertisers, Executives and Lawyers look #in to promise of Predictive Analytics

Advertisers, executives and now eDiscovery lawyers attracted to the promise that predictive analytics will help them influence the future would learn much more by studying the link between Chanel No5 and predictive analytics tools.  

Let’s start with Predictive Analytics and get to Chanel later.

Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics is an outcome delivered by the application of tools and techniques that provide insight today to what might happen tomorrow, much like the gypsy in a tent.

The attraction of predictive analytics story to executives is quite high as it promises to ease their struggle to align future products to constantly changing customer needs.  Indeed Predictive Analytics may also be seen as a relief to leaders of E-Discovery teams as they search for numbers and stories embedded in huge data pools to help them prevail in their stewardship of typically high cost, low value eDiscovery projects.

Let’s now look into the core of Predictive Analytics — numbers, stories and scenarios to understand its value.

Shell Scenarios, Stories and Sufi

Pierre Wack, a Shell employee and Sufi, raised the practice of Scenario Analysis honed at Rand for the US military to a high commerical art.  Pierre Wack future-proofed Shell and used Scenario Analysis to help lift Shell from a third tier oil company to a global energy giant.

Numbers & Stories Predict Future Events

As a fully recovered accountant I learned to use stories to magnify the value of analytics as I delivered services with Microsoft, Cognos, Business Objects or other technologies to global corporations.

Currently we use these tools to accelerate or magnify the value of predictive analytics projects; 

A. ‘Story or Perspective Lens’  —  Story | Process | Software or Idea | Brand | Numbers or KPIs

1. A story aligns People, Content & Purpose
2. Tell a story twice and it becomes a Process.
3. Tell a story three times and Software is made.
4. Tell a story four times and you create a Brand value.
5. Tell a story five times and accountants craft KPI measures.

With a little practice, almost anyone can point a Perspective Lens to a corporate value chain and receive some insight to what is happening today and what is likely to happen in the next 6 to 12 months.

Two simple tools to magnify the value of a story lens:

B. Personae–build key personae with a focus on behaviours
C. Scenarios–gather stories at the core of financial forecasts across a corporate value chain

Predictive Analytics, Personae & Scenarios

1. Identify the Personae across a corporation’s global value chain and use Predictive Analytics to determine how their behaviours may change over the next 6 to 12 months.

2. Target and understand the relationships of key stories embedded in the corporation’s financial forecast.

3. Modify some original stories according to anticipated changes in Persona behaviours or add new stories to reflect unforeseen events such as Barrack Obama being elected as the next US President.

4. Label the first story cluster Scenario1 and the new cluster of stories Scenario2.

5. Use measures to determine which Scenario is active and pre-plan reponses accordingly.

Scenarios & Future-Proofing 

Future-proofing is a concept that uses scenarios to avoid disaster or exploit opportunities in the future.

Consider how you would manage and align the business if the world unfolds according to the stories in Scenario1 or what might be done if the world unfolds according the Scenario2 Predictive Analytics, Perspective Lenses, Personae and Scenario analysis help us deal with the future now.

Chanel No5, Stories and Numbers

All storytellers intuitively understand that numbers and stories are complementary and as a storyteller I must point out that at one time stories and numbers were one and indeed even today a number evokes many stories–the numbers 7 or 4 in the Chinese culture or even the number 5 in our own.

Africa and Predictive Analytics

In the Yoruba tradition of Nigeria the deity of love, sexuality and finance is OSHUN and her number is 5.

Coco Chanel must have known about the mythical connection or was extremely lucky to have named her iconic scent No5 though either way the connection of stories and numbers is important.

Numbers, Stories and Behaviours

Studying Jung’s protégé  Marie-Louise von Franz offers researchers more resources in the exploration of the links between numbers and stories though I suggest starting with;

On Divination and Synchronicity: The Psychology of Meaningful Chance 

Originally Presented As Lectures at the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich

(Studies in Jungian Psychology) (Paperback)

by Marie-Louise von Franz

Storytellers

Stories are the core of what we are and what we do, and for those with an unclear understanding of the expertise offered by a storyteller, allow me offer this view—Storytellers perceive by measuring differently and have the ability to magnify any Predictive Analytics effort. 

Five levels of storytellers expertise;

• Hear a story
• Repeat a story
• Tune a story
• Create a story
• Live a story

Join us to explore the application of Predictive Analytics to Advertising or E-Discovery.

Cheers,
Nick
nick@scenario2.com @SpeedSynch @eDiscovery_@ResonantView

Two Great Rules offer Insights #IN Opportunities and Risk

“Partners are like horses that wildly gallop as a group to what looks interesting.  Me, I think very briefly about why I would want expend the energy to go there…”  — Advice offered me at PwC from the President’s Octogenarian advisor.

Opportunities and Risk are Inseparable

In its heyday Nortel represented a significant value element of the entire Canadian economy and was very good at risk reduction and contracting forward with suppliers to avoid the component part shortages that plagued the telecommunications industry–until their competitors started compressing the time to introduce new products.  Later competitors would speed up new product introductions even more and Nortel’s inventory ballooned. 

Risk Measures May Increase Risk

The risk reduction strategy of contracting forward may have exposed Nortel to huge self-inflicted risk and eventually contributed to its collapse as current risk measures didn’t adequately reflect the future risk associated with long term supplier contracts.  

Nortel was one of the horses that ran to the green meadow without adquate scenario analysis that reflected their reality.

Cheers,

Nick @SpeedSynch  @ResonantView  nick@scenario2.com

Risk and Opportunity Perception #IN Social Media

Accurate perception of risk and opportunity is important to most businesses and critical during this financial crisis.

 

Scenario Analysis, Risk and Opportunity Perception

I highly recommend Pierre Wack’s “Shooting the Rapids” for two reasons; the fascile conversational way in which Pierre Wack describes scenario analysis as he helps us conclude that it is a high value re-perception tool and the hidden reason–his inference that there is room for innovation in perception measures within scenario analysis.

Wack starts by gently offering us a brutaly brief though elegant synopsis of the prior state of forecasting and scenario analysis — “Things could go this way — or that”.

From “Things could go this way — or that”, a simple truth that is still evident today, Wack gently reveals the simple and unique innovation that raised scenario analysis to a high commercial art; Wack helped executives and managers use scenario analysis to re-perceive their complex daily reality. The re-perception required “rooting” where executives acknowledged the current state of their world and contributed stories from which two or more future worlds would be constructed.

Scenarios Focus Attention

Scenarios, story clusters or future worlds help executives anticipate and prepare for future events and align people, content, assets and processes very quickly once they understood which worldview would manifest.

“Shooting the Rapids” offers a unique opportunity In the age of Social Media platforms like Twitter and Linkedin to executives charged with navigating the current financial crisis by exploiting the Social Media platforms as perception, story and scenario generation platforms.

Social Media Resonance and Scenario Analysis

In my experience Social Media stories are critical to understanding the current state of any busiiness, and scenario resonance is crtical to understand how things evolve and when things change as while executives typically know where to go in the market, on arrival they sometimes find themselves quite far from from their original destination.

Wack’s “Shooting the Rapids” will inspire and help you re-percieve where you are and help you know where to go .

Shell reaped huge rewards with scenario analysis and so can you.

Join us to see how SpeedSynch Resonance Maps facilitate scenario analysis.

Cheers,
Nick Trendov @SpeedSynch  nick@Scenario2.com

Your Success Depends on Your Customers Learning Faster

When there is chaos in alsmost any social or commercial situation it is the fast learners that succeed, those who can quickly assess the current state of affairs and determine where to focus their resources, skills, time and attention.  It is no secret that your success depends on your customers learning faster and if they succeed by learning faster, then you will succeed too.

Change, New Products, Mergers and Acquistions

Whenever there is market change or chaos it is important to understand that customers will demand new value from products that they consume and the producers or re-sellers that provide them.  This is natural and in order to accomodate the needs of your customers you will have to tune existing product or deliver new products or buy a company or merge with another company.

Any or all of these processes demand high levels of learning for success.

An idea requires that its creator learn and in order for an idea to be assessed and manifested in a commercial form more people must learn about it and how to blend it into their existing processes, structures and relationships.  Indeed the process of manifesting and idea into a product and taking it to product requires more time at learning than manufacturing. 

The process of marketing and sales is actually the trasmission of learning from seller to buyer.

How we learned to Learn Fast

We learned about learning over seven years from self-directed adult learners who, in our experience, align objectives to content, tools and measures to learn quickly and effectively. We then we combined our learnings with commercial internet marketing software and techniques normally used to align customers, products and content.  

The SpeedSynch fast learning methodology that resulted from our work with self-directed adult learners focuses on aligning people, content, tools and technology when and as needed to facilitate learning.  

Alignment is the core value delivered by SpeedSynch software and techniques though the approach is unique to traditional academic learning methods as we avoid traditional command and control perspectives in order to facilitate self-directed learning.

 This is what we do. 

SpeedSynch Fast Learning

Since 2003 SpeedSynch’s fast learning classes have been delivered and refined into a proven process that consistently delivers high value learner results by explicitly using facilitators to broker expertise in learner groups.

It is our practice to encourage learners to learn our fast learning process to acquire new skills quickly and then deliver the same skills to other learners and three factors are at the core of the SpeedSynch fast learning methodology;

Brokering

SpeedSynch fast learning consistently delivers excellent results as facilitators broker expertise and content within groups to achieve desired outcomes while group members simultaneously learn and work.

Neuropersona

Neuropersona tools help learners view content, tools and measures from multiple learner perspectives to accelerate learning. Neuropersona perspectives employ semantic concepts combined with analytical perspectives that combine numbers and stories.

 Fractals

SpeedSynch internet marketing techniques employ fractal perspectives to increase the value of corporate performance analysis, business and competitive intelligence, product and business model innovation and scenario analysis to mitigate risk mitigation and broker value.  The unique element of SpeedSynch fast learning is the internet marketing software and internet marketing techniques used to align learners, content and tools to speed up learning according to their objectives and measures.

SpeedSynch Fast Learning is Proven

SpeedSynch delivers accelerated learning value by employing the principles of Andragogy formulated by adult learning pioneer Malcolm Knowles, who emphasized the self-directed focus and the tendency of adult learners to take responsibility for individual or group decisions.

SpeedSynch Learning Platform

This is a sample of what our learners achieve with our SpeedSynch learning platform, and this is an overview of our approach–

Facilitators help adult learning groups assemble according to need and introduce topic frameworks, content, tools and provide guidance as the groups simultaneously learn and work. Our facilitators provide ‘blended’ guidance on-site, telephone or via the internet and learners employ any facilitator reviewed tools and techniques according to their objectives and the content encountered during their group learning journey. 

SpeedSynch accelerated learning leverages Social Media platforms which are now the preeminent content creation spaces. Learners create content as they navigate digital spaces according to their objectives and perspectives. 

Technology employed during the learning sessions may be very simple such as sketch pads and white boards or complex like computers, browsers and other software applications or decision support systems available to or requested by clients.

SpeedSynch Learning Groups

Groups of 4 to 6 people may be combined in a cluster of 3 to 4 groups.

Learning Topic

Typically a topic is set externally for learners by employers or community organizations or learning services providers. The learning approach and content focus is set by learner groups created with members whose skills and experience complement each other, their objectives, content and tools.

Desired Outcome

Learner groups learn a topic framework, review content, tools, techniques and examine associated best practices related to the topic. Facilitators or other group members may contribute additional material as group learning proceeds. Groups simultaneously learn and work towards creating an analysis in the form of a document or material to support an oral presentation delivered at the end of the class sessions.

Topic Framework

The topic framework is a ‘sandbox’ or flexible container that holds examples of desired learning outcomes, reports or presentations, learning content, tools, resources, a learning process outline and class schedule. Learning presentations are delivered by groups to the facilitator and class members.

Learning Content

Facilitators deliver a learner value proposition for the learning topic and course objectives, the topic framework and help assemble learning groups. Facilitator guidance and commentary is offered as needed for content or tools to support group learning and ‘home work’ or other preparation.

Simple Focus, Superb Results

Our SpeedSynch fast learning approach has a simple focus, the learner, and the faster learning occurs the more value is achieved by the learning process.  SpeedSynch fast learning has achieved consistant and proven results over the past seven years.

Contact us to learn how SpeedSynch fast learning helps you or your customers learn, quickly.

Wired Exclusive, Google and Web Monitoring

Wired‘s recent exclusive article on new CIA investment in Web Monitoring and Google and while it is a short but interesting read. 

 WEB MONITORING FUTURES

The military funded the internet and eventually the technology was releases to benefit citizens which lead me to speculate about how corporations would apply the web monitoring technology and ask whether the public sector may already be more advanced.

 Radian6, Social Radar and other commercial products are adequate for monitoring social media and perhaps the best are still to be found in the laboratories of entrepreneurs or plain hobbyists.  The old school competitive analysis vendors also have a stake in the internet monitoring game and the concept of mutually assured destruction where the fear of competition entices some CEO’s to buy internet monitoring software as an insurance policy.

MONITORING SECRETS

Monitoring the internet is valuable if and when the analysis is act on and this in my experience is rare.  Look at your competitive analysis or monitoring software and do a simple calculation. 

Divide the number of words in the reports by the number of words in the database that the system stores.  Then multiply that number by the cost of buying the software, operating the processes that the software demands and the related infrastructure costs.

My guess is that your result is, more or less, $0 or probably close to the value delivered by the exercise, but there is hope!

PROFIT, MONITORING AND INTERNET MARKETING

Monitoring is good when there is a plan and the budget to move forward and get a job done and internet marketing is one very profitable opportunity that benefits from the right kind of web monitoring and here is how it might work.

1. Monitor extensively to identify web content with ‘buzz’–like the Wired post above.
2. Map keyword phrases in content to create a unique blog post–like this one.
3. Create links and backlinks to web or social media sites–SpeedSynch blogs or on Twitter

BACKLINKS, RANK AND PROFIT

The backlinks in this post were created by exploit the keyword phrases of the original Wired article as mapped by our SpeedSynch internet marketing software so as to show how Social Media blog posts have been able to overwhelm corporate search engine spiders and the visibility provides significant profit potential.  Here is the SpeedSynch keyword theme map…

Web Monitoring benefits Corporations more than Government

SOCIAL MEDIA, M&A AND ADOBE

Adobe’s recent acquisition of DAY Software provides corporations the ability to enhance the miniscule amounts of corporate content on internet sites to counter social media blogs and backlinks that currently overwhelm corporate search engine spiders.

INTERNET MONITORING AND INTERNET MARKETING SOFTWARE

A couple of years ago search engines were starting to be influenced by vast amounts of user generated content and people building backlinks which motivate people to build more content faster when they realized that a few hundred posts could make you a star or a lot of money.  The Faceboook, Twitter and LinkedIN really took off.

Th Social Media sites now generate more content than can be understood by search engines and for those who are looking for the next tool in internet marketing, tightly integrated micro sites is a blogger innovation that you must learn about.

People influence search engines by using keyword themes in blogs and product content to shape blog posts to boost page rank, the quality of links and backlinks and connect multiple blog posts for search engine visibility.

Web monitoring is good when you have a plan and the ability to boost your visibility to search engines and survive and profit from the upcoming corporate content deluge as global content generation factories come on-line are very good reasons to monitor.

Cheers,

Nick Trendov

www.speedsynch.com

Blogger Beware the Copyright Troll

COPYRIGHT TROLL

Threat Level shows an entrepreneurial lawyer buying copyrights and profiting by suing rights abusers, though I know that Social Media blogers and SEO professionals may not need to fear copyright trolls and can generate content that is better, faster and cooler.

CONTEXT IS KING

In the old days, before search engines, content was king and abuses led to the creation of copyright laws.  Today the internet, social media and search engines have crowned a new king, context.

 BLOG PROFITS

Google or BING any product name and you will see the Blog content links overwhelm search engine spiders and easily ranks above the miniscule content on corporate websites and the need to feed the blogs content constantly may be the motivation of the copyright troll though I believe it it a still born profession because of the ability to create context value quickly and effectively.

Look at the SpeedSynch keyword phrase map of the Wired article below:

Keyword phrases and relationships of Wired's Threat Level article about a Copyright Troll in the USA

The keyword theme map above is a derivative of a derivative work that was only partially inspired by the Wired artilce.

BLOGGERS, CONTEXT, LINKS AND SEARCH ENGINE RANK

In my analysis of Adobe’s acquisition of DAY software I look at how bloggers or rather the site owners that hold blogs can make considerable amounts of money.  Indeed some of the fastest and most innovative work on the internet is being done with micro sites that are ‘echo chambers’ that attract search engine spiders and the attention of the searchers that they serve.

Adobe’s acquisition of DAY creates a corporate content factory which can be sold to global business who lack the resources or creativity to compete with social media bloggers.  Another form of ‘mutually assured destruction’ with content rather than bombs.

So why the Copyright Troll?  We already know Social Media blogs overwhelm search engine spiders and thousands of entrepreneurs, a new intermediary class,  swiftly and deftly step between manufacturers of drills, hepa filters or other products and internet giants like Amazon, Ebay and Google.  They don’t need to rip off data and can easily offer context to create wayfinding value quickly and simply.

A BETTER WAY

Bloggers,  SEO professionals and link builders will immediately see the contextual value of  the map created by SpeedSynch internet marketing software.  All they have to do now is to create 300 word unique blog posts and place them everywhere, just like the newspapers do but don’t need copyrights and are unencumbered by revenue sharing deals, and this is simple and legal.

BLOGS, LINKS AND SEARCH ENGINE RANK

Once other social media site visitors see the unique 300 page articles they blog about them and link to them.  On Twitter it is a re-Tweet and on LinkedIN it is a backlink in a ANSWER or group or share–the possibilities are endless.  In a micro sites or WordPress blogs the keywords in the SpeedSynch map above are used for pages categories, navigation button links and blog keyword tags.

All of this naturally attracts the attention of search engine spiders how follow all of the back links to the unique 300 page article and people that type those keywords into Google or BING find the article too, and very fast.

There is no need to fear the Copyright Troll, Social Media has already made him unneccessary as it is easier and more profitable to behave and exploit the business models that place too much value on search engines and copyright.

Cheers,

Nick

www.speedsynch.com

No Risk ROI can’t be Sold.

There is a new breed of software that provides virtually instant ROI with little to no Risk that can’t be sold.

Customers do not believe it is possible and are actually very effective competitors to the new breed of software makers or innovators that can use old software in this new way.

Contact us to discuss the software that can be employed to address these topics:

Forecasting, ERP deployments or upgrades, Datawarehouses, Predictive Analytics, Web Analytics, Training or e-Learning, Research and Marketing.

Cheers,

Nick www.speedsynch.com www.neuropersona.com www.scenario2.com

Fractal Business Models and Analytics

Successful Business Model Innovation
You may be tempted to re-think how you view successful business models after reading here that the Philips and Samsung business models are idolized while Sony’s business model is shunned because of a perceived high value knowledge innovation strategy.

Sony appears to have subsequently added a high knowledge value strategy to create product differentiation.  In other words Sony competitors must spend as much as Sony on R&D and sell the same product volumes or they won’t be able to compete.  In my view Sony, Philips and Samsung employ a similar business model and there may be a better way.

The Fractal Way
Apple and Cisco compete by aligning energy and value created in their value chains with innovation on-ramps and controlled entry points to encourage and reward partners that add value.  This approach is fractal in that it mimics the way the firms innovate internally and scales externally across entire value chains or value streams.   This is a short explanation of fractals as applied to topography and weather though the simple patterns and perspectives are easily applied to business models and business analytics.

One of the natural limits to business model innovation is the ability to provide value across an entire value stream to buyers, sellers and other market participants.  This imperative is especially acute for companies that mimic the Apple and Cisco business models by competing with their entire value chain as it is a fractal approach.  While there is tremendous upside with the Apple and Cisco business models, there is also significant downside potential unless value can be quickly distributed to all value stream partners.  Innovative creation and speedy distribution of value is a new way of doing business.  We call it the fractal imperative.

Successful innovation requires the ability to measure and respond to markets which perform the critical function of distributing ideas and physical products.  Companies that understand their markets have a tangbile opportunity to employ fractal analytics to identify opportunities faster,  innovate and align their business models accordingly.  Fractal analytics is a way to measure from multiple simultaneous perspectives to help identify opportunities to adjust business models, objectives, products or how customers are served. 

What are fractals?

Arthur C. Clarke Explains Fractals
1 of 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB8m85p7GsU
2 of 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gKOB6spCb8
3 of 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZsVrHCPOio
4 of 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXngUyOS-XM
5 of 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjdogjBxfco
6 of 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8Y6xpeQK-w

Apple Brokers Success
Apple helps partners deliver high quality applications and customers create valuable content while simultaneously providing a vibrant and engaging market space for their creations.

Cisco Defines Standards
Cisco buys Tandberg to own the global video conferencing standard.  

Indeed both Apple and Cisco have the ability to broker ideas to the market so fast that they have transformed value chains to parallel value streams and knowledge flows.  While Apple focuses on design because of the nature of its customers, Cisco’s focus is on setting techical standards to achieve ambitious corporate objectives.

Ideas vs Speed-to-Market
Like other forward thinking companies Mitsui, Sony and T-Gaia hold idea competitions to help identify current market needs.  This approach takes more time to manifest value than the Apple and Cisco business models and illustrates the philosophical value given to the generation of unique ideas or intellectual property compared to an emphasis on commercialization speed.  On the other hand speed to market is a relative measure and Mitui, Sony and T-Gaia only have to be a little faster than their competitors and associated value stream partners. 

Mitsui Ventures, the venture investment arm of Mitsui & Co., and T-Gaia Corporation are to hold the 2nd i*deal Competition (i*deal Competition 2010) with the support and cooperation of Sony Corporation and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. The competition calls on contestants to submit their plans for new business models and services, software applications and mobile technologies to operate under the next-generation, high-speed, mobile communications environment (3.9G-4G).  This year the invitation is also being extended to entrants from the USA.   i*deal Competition 2010 Official Website

Look Both Ways to Succeed
The Apple/Cisco Way, as a combined business model,  is a tremendous exemplar as it bridges idea brokering and accelerates the innovation of technical, design or marketing standards.  Apple’s iPod platform is the industry standard and it acts an on-ramp for new partner ideas and innovation.  Likewise Cisco is a fierce innovator but devotes proportionately more energy to standards to mobilize value stream partners.

Paradoxically the Apple/Cisco Way faces both ways–backwards (standards) and forwards (broker).

Standards face backwards as they wait for partners to innovate according to their direction and assume that the markets and customers will consume products that are created within the standard.  On the other hand brokerage business models take their cues simultaneously from customers and value stream partners.  While it is possible to have a standard based business model or a brokerage based business model without a fractal perspective, the Apple/Cisco Way is fractal as a change in one part of the value stream impacts the entire value stream very quickly.  This occurs whether the impact is related to the delivery of new expertise delivered via training or the almost instant employment of new technical standards across the entire value stream.  As a contrast typically Sony, Samsung and Philips spit out innovative products and lack the ability to mobilize partners or set standards as effectively as Cisco and Apple which currently dominate their markets.

Fractal Innovation
Understanding the impact of measures is critical to going to market successfully and we have employed fractal analytics concepts to support business model innovation and speed up new product introductions for companies engaged in mergers and acquisitions. 

Viewing business models through a fractal lens seems unusual initially but provides a clear focus on innovation and alignment opportunities that scale quickly for a positive impact on customers and partners, large or small, across the value stream.  Fractal analytics shifts our attention from solution points to wholistic opportunity perspectives.

Innovation in business models and metrics demands multiple perspectives of business performance.  A fractal perspective combined with flexible analytics helps analysts navigate data and relationships to find and promote combinations of products and customers whether transactions are small or large.  This is the fractal value concept.  

Once we identify a successful pattern we look for its ‘fractal’ or where it repeats at larger or smaller scale.  Looking for this repeating pattern permits us to re-define success regardless of scale, marke, product or customer.  We achieve maximum leverage of resources by offering similar but slightly different value propositions saving time and money. 

The fractal business model is supported by fractal measures.

To understand how the power of fractal patterns are applied in a customers context consider how we employ a ‘mask’ or ‘persona’ to approximate a customer ‘fractal’ to represent a small number of behaviours that we profitable serve.  We call this customer mask a Neuropersona that represents behaviours of a focused set of customers and likewise behaviours of groups of customers or behaviours of parts of an entire market.  Carefully selected behaviour sets are fractal and changes in those behaviours allow us to accomodate one customer, groups of customers or parts of an entire market if we can shift and align our value proposition accordingly.

Fractal business models and analytics applied to business model innovation are next practices and intangibles represent the most significant and quickest fractual value creation opportunity for any company. 

We welcome you to explore the fractal imperative with us.

 Cheers,

Nick www.speedsynch.com www.neuropersona.com

Go-to-Market Risk Free

This post may not be appropriate for everyone.

Arbitrage
The simultaneous purchase and selling of an asset in order to profit from a differential in the price.

This usually takes place on different exchanges or marketplaces. Also known as a “riskless profit”.

Risk Arbitrage Speeds Up Projects Four to Five Times

I ‘arbitrage’　risk when delivering services, projects or events by working with my client simultaneously on different　project elements.

While this seems normal for most project managers, let’s look at the risk perspectives and you may discover something unusual that you can exploit.

The Purist

The purist will look at the definition above and instantly notice that a delivery of services to one client obviously doesn’t meet the definition of arbitrage.

However, even when we both work on the same part of the project or in ‘the same market’ we work in ‘parallel’ in that both parties work and educate each other simultaneously.　 We are in the same ‘physical’　place BUT in different intangible markets or spaces.

The Expertise Trader or Broker

When I employ risk arbitrage with my client projectss we are trading expertise simultaneously.

My expertise is the problem definition, perspective orientation, technology training, deployment support and end user tuning and training.　 The client’s expertise is in the transactional systems, datasets, internal technologies, processes, metrics, external customer and partner requirements.

Risk Disappears Magically　

The movement of risk ‘away’ from the project happens because the client works in their ‘space’ and incur little to no risk in their knowledge zone.　 I minimize their execution risk associated to new technology or techniques. This is magical as I send risk to them which disappears when they work and they send risk to me which disappears when I work.

Tangible to Intangible Shift

The shift from the physical definition of arbitrage to intangible components defined in as expertise above allows me to　deliver 4 to 6 weeks projects that would take other firms 6 months to deliver.

Understanding Intangible Risk Pays Large

Even when other suppliers match my quote to keep the work their delivers are one sided and they put their best people on the projects to get the work done ‘fast’.　 This however invariably leads to distress as the client is ignored not to ‘slow them down’.

When this happens the entire project risk returns, both knowledge risk and execution risk.

How Risk Arbitrage Works

Why is my approach risk arbitrage?

Let’s begin with the arbitrage definition above–there is profit by its successful deployment.

There is a ‘transaction’ in that the client buys expertise and has the expectation of an outcome in one portion of the project.

AND

I ‘buy’ the client’s ability to deliver expertise and a positive outcome in another part of the project.

What about the price differential?

The client’s internal ‘price’ of consulting services is lower than my external price.

BUT

The client receives knowledge transfer and solution(s) in parallel.

Use It or Lose It

If you don’t arbitrage risk, it will bite and usually not your client.

An ‘expert’　may not　agree with my applying arbitrage to my project approach though　I　go beyond risk mitigation which is ‘playing defence’.　

My risk arbitrage approach is purposeful, positive in thought and taught to clients so that they can achieve future benefits.

No Project Plan

 

Did I mention that I deliver projects without a typical project plan?

This is where I lose the traditional project managers, actuaries and those who like black and white. 

My projects have objectives, tasks, deadlines and quotes but I work with clients to simultaneously deliver value in an integrated approach while employing risk arbitrage.

At the end of the week we determine where we are, where we must go and the balance of work.

We simultaneously design, build, train and tune because we employ off-the-shelf software with a flexible User Interface.

Sound fantastical?

Maybe, but I have plenty of references in Canada and the US.

Can I do that too?

Yes, use Risk Arbitrage.

I discovered this unique risk　relationship by accident while delivering Microsoft based analytical solutions 5 years ago.

On the other hand if I was not a story teller and fully recovered accountant I wouldn’t have noticed.

　

 

Out of Synch Analytics Hurt

Competing on Analytics is a common refrain in the executive suite but when analytics get out of synch, they hurt.

The most critical disconned happens when numbers and stories get out-of-synch.

SpeedSynch keeps numbers and stories in synch and with common Microsoft technology–GEMINI and FAST.

Visit us to see how we use Microsoft’s GEMINI to synch numbers and FAST ESP search to synch stories.

Cheers,

Nick Trendov www.adscenario.com www.neuropersona.com