Business Models for the Social Mobile Cloud: Transform Your Business Using Social Media, Mobile Internet, and Cloud Computing

Fully exploit new conditions and opportunities created by current technological changes

The combined impact of social technologies, the mobile Internet, and cloud computing are creating incredible new business opportunities. They are also destroying unprepared companies, transforming industries, and leaving behind workers who are unwilling or unable to adapt. Business Models for the Social Mobile Cloud reveals a compelling view from PwC of how the social mobile cloud and a combination of new technology changes are key players in a digital transformation in business and society that is moving more quickly and cutting more deeply than any technology transformation ever seen.

• Explores a road map to success through adapting to technological changes
• Written for businesses and leaders who want to understand how the coming technology changes will eventually impact their businesses

For companies to succeed, leaders must understand how to stay ahead of their competitors in adapting to the new conditions and opportunities. In Business Models for the Social Mobile Cloud, PwC’s Ted Shelton describes the tectonic changes currently underway—and to come—plus why they are happening, what to expect, and what you must do about.

Preface: There’s an App for That! xi

Introduction: Turning Inside Out 1

PART I THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE SOCIAL MOBILE CLOUD 5

Chapter 1 A Remote Control for the World 7

The Three Technologies 7

Lessons from the History of the Internet 9

The History Lesson: Big Picture Thinkers Survive the Game 12

Build for the Social Mobile Cloud 15

The Time Is Now 16

Social Networking Is the Fastest Growing Technology Ever 17

The Cloud: The Connective Tissue 18

Buy a Smartphone Now 20

Chapter 2 Social Means Connected: Compete with Yourself, Collaborate with Others 23

The Social Network 24

Co-Creation 28

Compete with Yourself 29

Sign Up for a Social Network Today—on Your New Smartphone 30

Your Employees and Business Partners in Social Networks 32

Chapter 3 Mobile: The Great Untethering 35

The New Technical Capabilities 36

Connectivity 38

Reality Redefined: The Physical World with Data Overlay 40

Life Streaming: Access to a Photographic Memory 41

Cyborg 42

BYOD and the Consumerization of IT 43

Chapter 4 Plug Yourself into the Cloud 45

Four Key Technologies 45

Benefits of the Cloud Are Heavenly for Business 47

Drawbacks of the Cloud—Just Like Any Grid 48

Leveling the Playing Field 49

Plug Yourself into the Cloud 50

PART II HOW BUSINESS WILL BE CHANGED BY THE SOCIAL MOBILE CLOUD 51

Chapter 5 ADAPT: Adapting to Change 53

Technological Changes 53

At the Core of Today’s Change: Transaction Cost Economics 56

Chapter 6 Persistent Digital Engagement: The New Digital Consumer 59

Customer Service Is the New Marketing 61

Connecting Digitally at the Physical Point of Sale 61

Embrace Transparency 63

Chapter 7 Digitization: The Rising Value of Information in Products and Services 65

Innovation Drivers 66

Wireless Sensors in Everything and Everywhere 67

Application Programming Interfaces for Everything 68

Software Is Everywhere 68

Chapter 8 Crowd Storming, Crowd Sourcing, Collaboration, Co-Creation 71

More People = Faster and Better Decisions 72

Group Collaboration = Faster and Better Outcomes 72

Extend Engagement and You Increase Value for Everyone 73

Chapter 9 Hierarchy Will Yield to Networks, Remaking Organizations 75

Seniority and Control of Information 75

Finding New Business Model Solutions 77

Chapter 10 How We Buy: Redefining Shopping and Payment 79

Business Model Shift 1: For Retailers, the Customer Is in Control 79

Business Model Shift 2: Pay from the Comfort of Your Own Phone 82

Business Model Shift 3: Corporate Currencies 85

Business Model Shift 4: Insuring Corporate Currencies 87

Business Model Shift 5: Accepting (Multicurrency) Mobile Payments 88

Business Model Shift 6: Transforming the Purchase Experience with Mobile Payments 89

Chapter 11 The Game of Work, the Work of Game 93

Business Model Shift 7: Turning Work into a Game 93

Business Model Shift 8: Data-Driven Decision Making and a Culture of Experimentation 97

Business Model Shift 9: Experience Is the Dominant Value 103

Chapter 12 Work and the Workplace Reimagined 105

Forces of Change 105

Business Model Shift 10: Dynamic Networked Social Sales and Support Staff 107

Business Model Shift 11: Workforce Collaboration to Improve Safety and Quality 110

Business Model Shift 12: Transparency and Openness 111

PART III UNDERSTANDING CHANGE: HOW TO ADAPT TO THE SOCIAL MOBILE CLOUD 117

Chapter 13 Understanding Change 119

Punctuated Equilibrium 120

Reinvention 121

Chapter 14 Undoing Our Resistance to Learning 123

HIDE 124

Trains, Phones, Record Players: The Cause of What ? 135

The Crucial Skills for Twenty-First-Century Success 136

Continuous Learning: You’re Either Growing or Shrinking 137

Chapter 15 Systems Thinking 141

Looking at the Whole 141

Shifts in Focus 144

Tools to Assist with Optimizing Details 145

Interactive Data Visualization 147

Steps to Systems Thinking 148

Chapter 16 Decision Making 149

SAFE 149

Committing to Adapting 151

The Continuously Iterative Business Plan 153

Chapter 17 Seven Steps to Adaptability 155

Step 1: Why We Resist Change 155

Step 2: Embrace Data and Analytics 156

Step 3: Understand the Power of Social Collaboration 156

Step 4: Why We Resist Learning 156

Step 5: Use New Learning Tools 157

Step 6: Learn to Use Systems Thinking 157

Step 7: Decision Making 157

Afterword: Digital Transformation: What Will You and Your Business Look Like 10, 20, 50 Years from Now? 159

Appendix: PwC Thought Leadership on Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud (SMAC) 165

About the Author 217

Index 219

Ted Shelton Managing Director, PwC Advisory, leads a social business consulting team focusing on the consumer, retail, and high-tech industries with PwC's Management Consulting Practice. He is an active blogger and industry thought leader on how corporations can better utilize social media and mobile technologies to manage and improve their brands, providing a deep understanding of the leading technology players currently changing the landscape of customer engagement for corporate America.