Kevin Benedict

Digital technology innovations and advancements, and our adoption of them, have changed us. We are different consumers, employers and employees. Our expectations have increased. We have become mobile, impatient and demanding. We are global. We demand immediate, accurate and real-time responses. We use our technology not just for reading historic events and news, but also for predicting our future turn while navigating at 60 MPH. Today we want personalized and contextually relevant experiences. We want digital experiences that are beautiful, simple and elegant. We want instant access to all products, services, news, information and friends' status. We want to share our lives instantly and globally. We want to find things, buy things, move money and complete transactions from anywhere at anytime. We want to work from anywhere and have all the information we need instan... (more)

The High-Level Plan for Digital Transformation | @ThingsExpo #DX #IoT #M2M #Agility

The size of competitors and the longevity of their brands, are less predictive of future success than the quality and speed of their information logistics systems, and their ability to use it as a competitive advantage. More data is being generated today than ever before, and successful companies are investing in business analytics and big data solutions to mine competitive advantages.  There is a new sense of urgency today as businesses realize data has a shelf life, and the value of it diminishes rapidly over time.  In an always-connected world where consumers and their needs ar... (more)

Strategies for a Digital Age | @ThingsExpo #IoT #M2M #DigitalTransformation

Technologies help us deliver on a business strategy.  Without a strategy, there is no rationale for deploying technologies.  In addition, there is no rationale for digital transformation, unless there is a need for business transformation.  If you believe this as we do, then strategy development will be a priority.  Strategies, however, are developed under the guidance of a doctrine.  The purpose of a doctrine is to create a high level understanding of what we we want to achieve with our strategy, and the concepts that must be employed to achieve it. An organization's doctrine w... (more)

Mistakes Retailers Make in Digital Transformation | @ThingsExpo #IoT #M2M #DigitalTransformation

A key challenge that retailers face today is the difficulty of accurately judging where they are on the digital maturity curve relative to their competitors. There appears to be little expertise in making this assessment; for example, 79% of digital leaders don't know they are ranked as leaders, and only 56% of retailers ranked as average in our study believe they are at this level. The other 44% in the average category mistakenly believe they are either leaders or laggards. The lack of competitive clarity makes it even more difficult to develop an effective competitive strategy.... (more)

The Role of Digital Thinking | @ThingsExpo #IoT #M2M #DigitalTransformation

Digital leaders think differently about the role and value of digital technologies, including the ability of these tools to enable competitive advantage in the form of revenue growth, and positively impact work and jobs. As a result, leaders are developing more aggressive technology plans and strategies than digital laggards. The military strategist Colonel John Boyd wrote that success depends on three things, 1) People, 2) Ideas, and 3) Things, in that order.  People have to be trained to think and do the right things, using the right ideas (doctrines, strategies and tactics) a... (more)