Digital Discourse / Software

SIIA’s Third Annual Marketing Survey is Open

October 1, 2013 By

SIIA opened its third annual marketing survey to gain insight on marketers’ goals and objectives for 2013.

Asking valuable questions that look into social media use, top marketing focuses, mobile marketing, and marketing communications, marketers will learn the metrics their peers and competitors are watching to determine the ROI of marketing activities and the areas where marketers continue to face challenges.

The previous reports show that technology is playing a significant – and in many cases, growing – role in corporate marketing. While nearly all companies have embraced social media marketing, other platforms, especially mobile, have only limited appeal for digital marketers. Last year, executives had yet to invest significant resources in their digital marketing efforts – though many appear ready to increase their commitment of both time and money. Will this be the year the results shift?

I encourage you to take the survey today and be a part of the ever changing industry. All survey respondents will receive the full comprehensive results and will automatically be entered into a drawing for an Amazon gift card.

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SIIA Makes Policy Recommendations to Realize the Economic and Social Value of the Internet of Things

October 1, 2013 By

We are at a key inflection point in the history of information technology (IT).  The last decade has brought about significant advances in IT, representing an evolution for IT from a specialized tool into a pervasive influence on nearly every aspect of everyday life.

This new Internet-enabled environment, often referred to as the “Internet of Things,” presents tremendous economic and social value, and is capable of transforming the way we work, communicate, learn and live our lives. Consumers, citizens and society as a whole stand to benefit greatly from innovative uses of data to improve health outcomes, streamlining and enhancing financial services, enhancing education and learning, and improving and maximizing our physical infrastructure.

SIIA proposes the following five recommendations for policymakers to maximize the beneficial outcomes of the Internet of Things:

  1. Policymakers should promote technology neutrality and avoid technology mandates.
  2. De-identification often provides an opportunity way to balance the needs of DDI and privacy protection.
  3. Uniform rules cannot be applied broadly to the role of notice and choice.
  4. The principle of data minimization should be re-interpreted.
  5. The Internet of Things requires a policy framework that provides for an evolving view of privacy rights based on risk and societal benefits.

I will participate in a panel discussion at the National Press Club today about building trust and confidence with regard to the Internet of Things.  The 2013 M2M & Internet of Things Global Summit, hosted by Forum Europe, will take place in Washington DC today and tomorrow.

David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.

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Filed Under: Content, Policy, Policy - Privacy, Software Tagged With: , ,

Mike Marchesano Named Managing Director of SIIA’s American Business Media Division

September 30, 2013 By

SIIA today announced that media industry executive Mike Marchesano will join  as Managing Director of the American Business Media (ABM) Division of SIIA. ABM merged with SIIA on June 30.

Marchesano most recently was President and CEO of Aequor Media, a consulting firm dedicated to providing strategic, customized technology solutions for B2B and consumer magazines, newspapers, and Fortune 1000 companies.  Marchesano was also Managing Director at the Jordan Edmiston Group, an investment banking firm, where he led the sale of Congressional Quarterly to the Economist Group. Before that, he was Executive Vice President & Chief Transformation Officer at The Nielsen Company; President and CEO at VNU Business Media;  President and CEO at Bill Communications (an operating company of VNU), and President at BPA International (now BPA Worldwide).  Marchesano was an ABM board member from 2001-07, serving as chairman in 2006-07, and a SIIA Content Division board member from 2007-11.

SIIA President Ken Wasch said:

“With changing business models, new delivery platforms and new competition, the business media industry will benefit enormously from someone with Mike’s perspective and experience. With Mike at the helm, the ABM division will develop new programs and services that help to advance the business media industry.”

Marchesano said:

“With the merging of ABM and SIIA, the opportunity to showcase the unique and powerful role business media and information provides its audiences and marketers is very exciting. I am thrilled to take on this responsibilty for our industry and privileged to lead the organization.”

Neal Vitale, Chairman of ABM and President & CEO of 1105 Media, Inc. said:

“We are immensely fortunate to have been able to recruit an executive of Mike’s expertise and stature. I am looking forward to working with him as we grow ABM.”

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Content, Education, Policy, SIPA, Software Tagged With: ,

Women In Tech Profile Series: Liz Pearce, LiquidPlanner

September 27, 2013 By

Women In Tech Profile Series

Tech has historically been a male-driven industry. While statistics show women are still underrepresented in tech, emerging trends are paving the path for women to, not only be successful, but even dominate the future of technology. SIIA is proud to have many successful women leaders in our community. In our all new series, “Featured Women in Technology,” we will introduce you to these industry leaders and the lessons they have learned throughout their successful careers.

This week’s SIIA’s Featured Woman in Technology is Liz Pearce, CEO of Liquid Planner. Liquid Planner provides online project management software combining social collaboration with distributed planning. Read my interview with Liz Pearce below.

Name: Liz Pearce
Title: CEO
Company: LiquidPlanner
Home town: Indianapolis, Indiana
First job: Graphic designer

Bio:

Since 2007, Liz has helped more than 1500 project teams overcome scheduling and collaboration challenges through the use of best practices and better tools. Before joining LiquidPlanner, Liz ran her own successful marketing consultancy where she worked with a diverse set of clients. She also held management positions at Amazon.com, Google, and Sony Computer Entertainment America. Liz holds a B.A. in Political Communications and an M.A. in Telecommunications from The George Washington University, where she was awarded the Presidential Administrative Fellowship. Liz is an active member of the startup and technology community and is always looking for opportunities to learn, participate, and give back.

What are you currently reading?

Nate Silver’s The Signal and the Noise. Silver is the now famous statistician who accurately predicted the last two Presidential (and most of the Congressional) races by analyzing the meta trends aggregated across numerous national surveys. Ostensibly it’s about applied statistics but really it’s more about how many of the decisions we make on a daily basis are often based on faulty information and cognitive bias. It’s given me good food for thought when thinking about the decisions we make in our business and how we rationalize them – does it simply sound like a good idea or do we have the right data to support one investment over another? Highly recommended!

What is your next (dream) career?

I honestly can’t think of anything I would rather be doing than what I am right now. However, if I had to choose, I could envision starting a technology school specifically for young women. Women are sorely under-represented in the software industry, which is a shame on a number of fronts. I’m particularly inspired by the work being done by Hadi Partovi who co-founded Code.org with the goal of providing every student with the opportunity to learn computer science. Despite the great work that Hadi and others are doing, there’s so much more to be done in terms of making computer science and technology in general more appealing to young women.

Hobbies:

Who has time for hobbies? Beyond running a growing software company, I have two small children and a major home remodeling project in the works. It’s a good week when I can get to the gym! If I have a few spare cycles, I invite some friends over and cook up a big pot of soup. Chopping vegetables is cathartic.

What do you think is the hot button issue for the software & services industry in 2013?

Enterprise organizations are starting to seriously question their investment in expensive and unwieldy enterprise software. Of course, this is hardly a new trend but I do believe we’re at an  inflection point of sorts in which a new generation of lightweight, cloud-based applications can provide a realistic alternative to bloated legacy-ware. Not only is the price structure more appealing (especially from a Opex perspective) but employees are simply growing tired of having to use bad software to do their jobs.

What drove you to pursue a career in tech?

I worked as a project manager in the marketing department at Google in its early days – I think the company was at around 500 people at the time. I had the opportunity to learn about all of the different products Google was offering, and I definitely got bit by the tech bug. The tremendous growth we were experiencing and the buzz we were getting was infectious. The trend continued in my next role at Amazon, and that sealed the deal for me: I knew tech was where I wanted to be.

Do you feel you faced any particular hurdles being a woman in tech? What were they and how did you overcome them?

I’ve been lucky in my career to have worked for great female leaders at great tech companies all along the way. That said, I have sat in countless meetings and boardrooms where I was the only woman in the room. I wouldn’t say I’ve been blatantly discriminated against, but the phrase “boy’s club” exists for a reason. I’ve made my way this far with old-fashioned hard work, a direct communication style, and a thick skin. Now I work hard to pull more women up along with me through mentoring and coaching.

What advice would you give to young women who want a successful career in tech?

Never stop advocating for yourself! While women are climbing the ranks across industries, technology very much remains a male dominated industry. Whereas men are taught to be aggressive in asking for raises and promotions, too many women remain mired in entrenched societal norms in which they don’t vocalize their self-worth or promote their individual contributions. I always tell the young women that I mentor that no one will be a better or more persuasive advocate for their careers than themselves.

Rhianna Collier is VP for the Software Division at SIIA. Follow the Software team on Twitter at @SIIASoftware.

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How NSA Revelations are Affecting the Tech Industry

September 24, 2013 By

Revelations about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance efforts are continuing to pose serious business challenges for the tech sector. SIIA is tracking the repercussions closely. Here are a few important developments to note:

Market Backlash: Studies and surveys have suggested a possible backlash against cloud providers and technology companies generally.  Here’s a summary of some of them:

  • CSA Survey: In July a survey from the Cloud Security Alliance reported  that  “10% of 207 officials at non-U.S. companies have canceled contracts with U.S. service providers following the revelation of the NSA spy program last month…the survey also found that 56% of non-U.S. respondents are now hesitant to work with any U.S.-based cloud service providers.”
  • ITIF Study: By comparing projected growth of US cloud computing sales with a variety of hypothetical sales losses, ITIF suggests that US cloud companies could miss out on as much as $35 billion in additional overseas sales over the next three years.
  • Forrester Study: Forrester thinks the potential impact could be as high as $180 billion by 2016, taking into account the reactions of U.S. and non-US companies, the impact on non-US cloud providers and the effects on the rest of the hosting and outsourcing market.

Repercussions for Tech: The NSA revelations continue to have larger repercussions for tech companies in the form of localization requirements and new challenges to the multi-stakeholder form of Internet governance.  Here are updates on several of these challenges:

  • Brazil’s controversial new internet plans, calling for server and data localization, a local encrypted email service and a separate transatlantic cable connection to Europe that bypasses the US.
  • UN General Assembly Address: After canceling a US state visit over NSA spying, Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff issued an announcement called the interception of Brazilian communications “illegal” and said such a “grave fact” was an “assault” on sovereignty and “incompatible with a democratic coexistence between friendly countries.”  She then delivered the opening speech at the UN General Assembly today, rejecting U.S. government surveillance programs as inconsistent with human rights and a violation of national sovereignty, and calling for “multilateral mechanisms for the worldwide network that are capable of ensuring principles such as:
  1. Freedom of expression, privacy of the individual and respect for human rights.
  2. Open, multilateral and democratic governance, carried out with transparency by stimulating collective creativity and the participation of society, Governments and the private sector
  3. Universality that ensures the social and human development and the construction of inclusive and non-discriminatory societies
  4. Cultural diversity, without the imposition of beliefs, customs and values.
  5. Neutrality of the network, guided only by technical and ethical criteria, rendering it inadmissible to restrict it for political, commercial, religious or any other purposes.

She concludes: “Harnessing the full potential of the Internet requires, therefore, responsible regulation, which ensures at the same time freedom of expression, security and respect for human rights.”

Civil Society Calls for Principles: International civil society groups have issued a call for government surveillance principles consistent with human rights.

EU Response: Viviane Reding’s address in Brussels last week held up the Data Protection regulation as the EU’s response to the fear of US government surveillance, explicitly took privacy issues off the table for discussion in TTIP, and suggested the formation of an EU-area cloud that would compete globally on the basis of better privacy rules and streamlined government regulation.

Mark MacCarthy, Vice President, Public Policy at SIIA, directs SIIA’s public policy initiatives in the areas of intellectual property enforcement, information privacy, cybersecurity, cloud computing and the promotion of educational technology. Follow Mark on Twitter at @Mark_MacCarthy

 

 

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SIIA Alert: Government Shutdown Looming — How Government Contractors Should Prepare

September 20, 2013 By

With Congress and the President seemingly at loggerheads over federal spending, there is an increasing possibility that the federal government will shut down on October 1 when the funding for the current fiscal year expires.   While we’ve been down this road before, each of the last 3 years for example, prudent business planning suggests that government contractors should be preparing themselves in the event there is a shut down.

What’s the status?  Congress has failed to enact any of the 12 annual appropriations bills for FY 2014 and the current fiscal year funding is set to expire at midnight on October 1, meaning funding for the entire federal government is at stake.  On September 20, 2013 the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through December 15.  Also included in this legislation was language defunding the so-called Obamacare health care plan.  The Democrat-controlled Senate is expected to strip the language defunding Obamacare and send the bill back to the House.  This sets up a potential gridlock situation and it is unclear if either side is willing to budge.

Why does this matter?  As a government contractor you need to be prepared in the event of a shutdown, since funding for many if not all of your current contracts may be affected.  Your employees are reading the news and they know the potential and they want to know their leadership is making contingency plans.

What should you do?  OMB has sent a memo to government agencies telling them to prepare for a shutdown and prudent business planning suggests you need to be ready too.  Here’s a quick checklist of things you should be doing and thinking about related to a potential shutdown:

  1. Be Proactive:  Don’t sit back and let the rumors swirl, take charge of the situation within your company.
  2. Communicate:  Communicate honestly, early and often with your employees about what you know and what you expect will happen if the government shuts down.  Make sure your company speaks with “one voice.” This will keep misinformation (i.e. rumors of furloughs and layoffs) to a minimum.
  3. Understand Your Contracts:  Review your current contracts to understand which will be affected in the event of a shutdown and which will continue.  Projects funded by revolving funds for example won’t be affected.
  4. Gather Intelligence:  Gather as much intelligence as possible by talking to industry partners and trade associations and having your engagement managers talk to their contracting officers and COTRs, i.e. the client.
  5. Set Up a War Room:  Set up a formal process inside your company to monitor developments related to the potential shutdown, a “war room” if you will.  Be ready to kick it into high gear if a shutdown occurs.

Let’s all keep our fingers crossed and hope that Congress and the President are able to work out an agreement that keeps the government open and operating beyond October 1, while preparing yourselves for a potential shutdown through effective communication with your employees and smart business planning. Contact me at mhettinger@siia.net or (202) 789-4456 with any questions.

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG. Sign up for the Public Sector Innovation Roundup email newsletter for weekly updates.

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Filed Under: Government, PSIG, Software

Webinar: The Factors That Drive High Performance Product Teams

September 20, 2013 By

In early 2013, AIPMM, IPMA, IIBA Chicagoland, PDMA, and Planbox  with the support of the SIIA sponsored a global study of product team performance which was developed and conducted by Actuation Consulting. The survey examined the interactions of Product Managers, Project Managers, Program Managers, Business Analysts, User Experience Professionals, Engineers and others actively involved in product development projects.

Listen to this pre-recorded webinar to learn how to improve your product team performance.

Presenters
Greg Geracie
President, Actuation Consulting

Click here to view the executive summary or to view the complete report click here.

 

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