“The future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet”
I get reminded of this quote from William Gibson all the time.
Almost everyday I’ll spot a situation where applying a technology that’s already available could make a difference, but the practicalities of cost, expertise or the logistics of making it happen mean the problem and the solution aren’t able to connect yet.
In business, the partnership announcement by IBM and Twitter yesterday brought those two things closer together.
Twitter is an invaluable source of insight for businesses of all shapes and sizes into market trends; what their customers think of them today – and are likely to think tomorrow – and a valuable early warning system to spot potential issues on the horizon.
Most businesses I encounter have some form of Twitter listening system in place; it helps them tailor their products to better suit customers, deliver greater value and be more successful as a result.
But they also use lots of sources of data to aid decision-making and a major challenge is integrating them – from market research material held in a structured database, to the unstructured conversation content that can be harvested from Twitter and other social platforms.
Twitter’s relationship with IBM means the two can be integrated, which is good news for businesses and I believe good news for customers too.
For business, it means better insight which can lead to new business models; attract and retain customers; transform processes and improve risk management.
And for consumers it means value, because if the businesses isn’t firmly focused on understanding its customers and the market environment to deliver value, then it will have a rocky ride indeed – no matter how good its data and analytics platforms might be.
Earlier this year Twitter acquired Gnip and now it’s partnering with IBM. I predict there’ll be more partnerships and alliances like this to come across the technology sector.
And bit by bit, the future gets redistributed.
Update (1 November 2014): I’ve just discovered that Google and PwC has announced a partnership, offering clients a combination of Google technologies and PwC consulting services. It will be exciting to see how these relationships play out in practice.
