AniBlurbs (Column)

Weave Identity is a very interesting component from Mozilla Labs (of Firefox fame) and a possible disrupting one for the Facebook Connect’s, OpenID’s and OAuth’s of this world:

“Offering a single sign-in solution for the web is currently a hot topic. Google, Yahoo, Facebook, MySpace and countless other sites are all offering to host your identity for you. Many of these key players on the social web are also offering tools to allow third-party sites to let you log in using the identity you have hosted with whoever your provider is – Google through FriendConnect, Facebook through Facebook Connect and Twitter through its recently debuted OAuth-based system. But in the end, who knows how long any of those sites will last? It seems to make more sense to hand these duties off to something more permanent than the hot site of the moment.

That’s where Mozilla’s latest implementation of Weave starts to make sense. You can store your credentials anywhere, including on Mozilla’s servers or your own web server.”

Source: WIRED’s Webmonkey

If the Weave add-on is implemented as a standard feature in the next version of the 2^nd largest browser in the world, it stands a reasonable chance of becoming THE default Online Identity Manager/Social Media Passport; allowing you to safely and seamlessly log in to your favourite Social Networks, blogs and communities, across multiple platforms (Windows, Mac OS) and various devices (think Mobile, Netbooks, Thin Clients).

All the while giving you complete and FULL control over your online identity (you can even store your Weave login credentials on your own server!), which positions it directly opposite of the Walled Garden approach that Facebook is fast becoming notorious for.

The ease of use, combined with the fact that your average internet user hasn’t even heard of Google-, Facebook- and Twitter’s Online Identity Management solutions make Firefox Weave a serious threat to the aforementioned parties. After all: Wouldn’t it seem more logical and feel safer for her to let the browser take care of her online identity?

“Something that often goes unsaid in the discussion about online identity is that while most websites right now require usernames and passwords, many people actually use the password manager feature in the browser-effectively turning their browser into a limited identity manager.”

Source: Mozilla Labs

By offering this One-Log-In-To-Rule-Them-All^TM feature as a standard option in the browser, much like Yahoo’s- or Google’s toolbar, a lot of the hassle and security issues associated with web based ID alternatives are removed from the user’s table:

“User experience in general suffers as protocols for federation (e.g. OpenID) involve complex redirects which jump the user from page to page and leave them open to phishing attacks…”

Source: Mozilla Labs

And there’s another major USP that promises a bright future for the Weave project: Firefox is an Open Source initiative, and even though OpenSocial, OpenID & OAuth are Open Source projects as well, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Google and Microsoft are commercial parties with a deep interest into becoming your single sign-in partner, so they can monitor the sites you visit and the time frame in which you did: pure data mining for marketing purposes. In a time where privacy issues are within everyone’s crosshairs, this could become Mozilla’s trump card in the battle for your Online Identity.

Of course, there’s nothing stopping Google (note that they have 300 Million accounts!) from implementing such a feature in Chrome -it’s very own browser- using Friend Connect, or Microsoft from doing the same with their Live toolbar/Live Passport and Internet Explorer. The point is that the former hasn’t yet managed to get any serious foot in the browser market. And though the latter is the current incumbent in browser market share (for now), it has failed for almost 10 years to make it’s .NET Passport/Live ID efforts a true cross-web success, even as younger initiatives from the likes of Facebook and twitter have taken off in the past year or so.

All in all, it’ll be very interesting to see how the developments around Identity Hosting continue to evolve…

[Update: Netlog now accepts Google FriendConnect, more on TechCrunch.]

Alain Thys at Marketing & Strategy Innovation weblog on your TRUE core-business:

“no matter what books or gurus may say, customer-focus is a top-down game. from childhood we have learned to follow the example of those that lead us, and that means that customer-centricity should be mindset of all c-level executives. not in words, but in actions…”

“…of course, no self-respecting CEO will reorganise a business around the customer without a solid business case… …the CMO’s second step on the customer-centricity ladder is therefore to demonstrate the financial benefits of “happy customers” to the organisation…”

“to really focus on the customer, companies will need to… …tear up the detailed customer interaction and scripts. show staff and vendors how to listen and care. not only in the front lines, but at every level of the organisation. every department eventually affects the customer experience…”

He goes on to mention five steps to make your organization truly customer- (and prospect!)-centric:

• Step 1: start at the top
• Step 2. show them the money
• Step 3: start with the people
• Step 4: help them do the right thing
• Step 5: make it clear you mean business

Now, the real problem addressed here by Alan, of course, is “isle-thinking” or Department Silo Mentality Syndrome^TM -a state of mind inherent to the way we humans are hardwired by evolution/mother nature, as any anthropologist worth his salt could tell you.

When bands of humans grow past the dunbar number, things (read: the consumer) tend to slip out of eye-sight or get dehumanized quickly; this is bad thing for your brand advocacy hopes, so this challenge requires a thorough rethinking of your Service Strategy and maybe even a restructuring of your organization chart…

The above is probably going to require some serious change management (skills) -see point 5 mainly-, effort and lots of lots of passion, training, coaching & patience. Lots. Of. Patience…

Read the whole post over at FUTURELAB: Future Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog.

The only way is up! Bijna 1500 managers en teamleiders bij de Belastingdienst moeten op ICT-bijscholingscursus! Met de onlangs door staatssecretaris De Jager aangestelde Wim Sijstermans als CIO erbij kan het vanaf nu alleen maar beter gaan met de dienstverlening en innovatie bij de grootste Leuker-kunnen-we-het-niet-maken Club van Nederland.

Tip: koppel het slagen voor de cursus aan baanbehoud; extra fear-of-loss voor het (midden)kader om er ook echt daadwerkelijk voor te gaan!

“Zeven op de tien managers en professionals zoeken via internet naar informatie over leveranciers. De helft gebruikt internet voor het opvragen van offertes, het plaatsen van orders en het vergelijken van leveranciers.”

Bron: Ernst & Young ICT Barometer (PDF)

70% van de beslissers in B2B: Rendeert jouw website?

Mashable has a sweet and short hand-out on how to communicate with your customers using social media. As usual don’t overlook the complementing links and tips in the comments.

“Corporate social networking: Why should HR embrace it?” on HR Zone, courtesy of Jeremiah Owyang, Sr Analyst at Forrester Research: Social Computing.

Net via een nieuwsbrief van TNO terechtgekomen bij dit artikel op de website inzake media en innovatie:

“De wereld van media en communicatie is sterk in ontwikkeling. Dit proces heeft invloed op de mensen die werkzaam zijn in deze sector. TNO heeft de veranderingen in de sector in kaart gebracht, de gevolgen daarvan en waar de innovatiekansen liggen voor de marktpartijen. Door technologische innovaties, vergaande digitalisering, nieuwe kanalen, en mobiele toepassingen zullen de kennis en vaardigheden van de werknemers mee moeten veranderen. Dat gaat niet vanzelf.”

Nu een toch wel gerenommeerde partij als TNO haar gewicht hierachter gooit, ben ik erg benieuwd wat hiervan het effect in zowel onderwijsland als het bedrijfsleven zal zijn…

Automatisering Gids rapporteert: “Bedrijven zien IT-afdeling bij innovatie niet staan“. Vanson Bourne Research ondervroeg 500 Europese bedrijven:

…Uit het onderzoek blijkt ook dat de CIO vaak pas bij strategische processen betrokken wordt als zakelijke keuzes al gemaakt zijn. Slechts in 10 procent van de gevallen wordt de bedrijfsstrategie pas vastgesteld als de IT-organisatie zich eraan heeft verbonden. Dit is opvallend, omdat volgens de ondervraagden in Nederland 40 procent van de businessstrategieën een IT-element bevat…

Hoe kunnen we hier in Nederland een duurzame, efficiënte Kenniseconomie opbouwen als er geen sence of urgency is bij de top in het bedrijfsleven? Stelling: We moeten het onszelf nu echt snel gaan aanleren om belangrijke, strategische IT- en innovatiebeslissingen op een verantwoorde manier te nemen door die professionals en experts erbij te betrekken die daadwerkelijk en minutieus van de hoed en de rand weten.

Begrijp me niet verkeerd: De betrokken organisaties zullen vast niet allemaal (grote) verliezen draaien, sterker nog er zal eerder sprake zijn van best aardige winstmarges, maar dat hun ROI vooral op het gebied van klant- en werknemerstevredenheid significant hoger uit kan vallen door het anders aan te pakken is iets wat zeker is. Zonde.

Inspiring and reaffirming Innovation/Business post and ensuing discussion on the 37Signals blog; sometimes the very (seemingly) far-off things we’re looking for are right under our nose.

Just don’t forget to include and prioritize the most important stakeholder of your business in your Cross-selling plans: the end user/customer/client: Neglecting to put them first, may result in your results ending up last…

Repeat after me: In connecting with the consumer there are no shortcuts. PR Week reports on Web ‘fakery’ law change.

In a nutshell it finally puts an end to sock-puppeting and astro-turfing, in the UK. Now the following is wishful thinking on my part, but wouldn’t it be nice if this law could be instated as a standard all across the world?

The only negative point I can raise regarding this new regulation, is the very fact that’s it’s a law and thus that the industry failed to be self-regulatory: Aside from the moral stance we can take in this as honest, progressive thinking digerati AND as a consumer -e.g. that it’s wrong for a company or organization to lie and deceive or manipulate the very people that they’d want to sustainably connect with- I find it actually almost unbelievable that there are still marketers/strategists and indeed organizations out there today who are willing to use such methods! Forgotten how for example Sony’s attempt to do so with a PSP-Blog backfired immensely on them a few years back?

Question: Do you enjoy it when you find out that someone you trust has cheated or lied to you and that they did this just because they thought they could and to selfishly further their own good? Thought so. As a human being you don’t like being cheated, nobody does, and since you’re trying -on behalf of your organization- to connect with other human beings, act concordantly. You’re the professional who knows what he or she is talking about when it comes to connecting with the consumers, so convince PR, Branding, Strategy, The Board, the CEO… Whoever gave out the order, why this is akin to shooting yourself in the foot with a bazooka and then show them the alternatives that do work.

“Oh so now it’s about 2.0 and connecting, and we’re a bit low on budget, so I have this great idea: Weblogs and forums are considered 2.0 and those flashy sites are about communicating, but people are posting all kinds of negative comments about our customer service and all, so why don’t we start a conversation there? The catch is; we’re the only participants and by “we” I actually mean “me”: I’ll post a topic and then I’ll post all the comments! This way we’re on the cutting edge of communication in the middle of our target audience AND we’re still in control of our brand.”
Sorry pal, but you’re not in control of your brand. You never have been actually, only now with the advent of the internet and social media this wisdom has become more apparent, a commodity.

“I’m talking zero investment here: Only a few man-hours to write the script and post it and maybe a little monitoring afterwards, the remaining budget can go to banner placements in context with the posts; surefire traffic I’m telling ya!”</Insert Sly Wink here>
Dude this is going to cost you and your brand more than just the low budget, especially in the mid- and long-term, you’re going to look at a negative ROI.

“Huh? B-but… We’re connecting right? We’re not just “sending” anymore and -and hey we’re broadcasting on the Social Media! …Err Right?”

Newsflash: It’s about communicating and connecting with your target audience in an authentic way and hopefully conquering their minds and hearts leading to the possibility that they may become, over time, your ambassador, so you can then empower them to do so in ways that they deem most fit. In all honesty and openness.

But of course to do that, you’d need at least two crucial things: First; an open minded, progressive thinking marketer/strategist and second; a product or service that doesn’t suck. And though you may not see the effects or end results immediately, if either of these two key components is missing, than your organization is in deep serious trouble. Thing is, the trouble doesn’t always come as a bang, but could just as well creep up as a whisper and no cheap postings on user-forum and blogs is going to silence or stop either of them…

As always a sense of urgency always comes when it’s either too late or unnecessary damage has already been done. A real shame, more so because thinking about authentic ways to enthuse the consumer is actually a lot of fun and, if it works, worth a whole lot more to brag about at birthday parties afterwards ;)

Please read this post on Seth’s blog first: The statesman, the lawyer and the marketer, or: how Seth Godin is hitting the nail on the head yet again and probably much to the chagrin of most conservative CEO’s, marketers and organizations.

His latest article represents, I believe, the fundamental challenge that awaits marketers and organizations here and across the Big Pond in the coming time. The problem here is, as Seth noticed in concluding his article, how to get your organization, CEO and shareholders behind this way of thinking, because in all honesty though it’s not a radical new philosophy on how to run a business and sell your product, it’s still not common practice.

The proof is in the pudding as they say, so my bet is as follows; should one or two leading companies or upcoming start-ups prove to successfully harness this mindset on how to run a business and manage marketing as a whole, others will have no choice but to start taking notice in order to be able to compete.

Unless of course we’re both wrong and marketers would rather be (or stay) lawyers…