Technology Revolution: The Future of Now

The buzz: Social. Social media is the new way of doing business: always on, available, working for or against your company and brand. With vast data at their fingertips, buyers simply click a mouse to show support or disappointment. If your company is still debating the value of social media, the better question to ask is whether you know how to use social in ways that create measurable business value. The experts speak. Hilary Carter, InTune Communications: "The reason we love our parents is because they loved us first. Every single company should take this advice" (Gary Vaynerchuk). Chris Boudreaux, EY and Social Media Governance: "The greatest opportunity in social business lies in connecting social data and processes into the rest of the enterprise: we need to hold social to the same levels of accountability and integration as any other channel. Malin Liden, SAP: "In the social economy, everyone carries a quota!" Join us for Social Business: Creating Measurable Business Value.

The buzz: Partners. Small businesses today must deftly manage business partnerships without risking IP, valued talent, or worse, in a business milieu where the lines can blur between cooperation and competition. And in the networked economy, supply chains can shift and transform seamlessly. How can a small business owner shore-up enough protection to avoid getting squeezed out? How often should they re-examine business agreements? What red flags signal that it's time to start looking for a new business partner? The experts speak. Susan Wilson Solovic, 'THE Small Business Expert': "Failure is the key to entrepreneurial success. If you aren't failing, you aren't doing." Morgan Browne, IIS Group: "Partnerships are always a gamble – but what choice do we have?" Carrie Maslen, SAP: "I believe the best business policy is the golden rule … this is a small interconnected world, and what goes around comes around." Join us for Small Business Insights: Sustainable Collaboration – Part 1.

The buzz: To life! With over two billion people expected to be 60 and older by 2050, chronic illness and diminished wellbeing are fast becoming major global public health challenges. The solution to aging gracefully, managing chronic diseases, and minimizing impacts? Not cure, but treatment. But if we turn to smart technologies and data—a "Connected Care" continuum—to support aging populations, will one Robo-Doc replace multiple human MDs? And is Connected Care just for the wealthy—no iPad or Smartphone, no health? The experts speak. Avner Halperin, EarlySense: "Technology is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral … It is our thoughtful and ethical implementation that can help improve and save lives" (Melvin Kranzberg). Dr. Oliver Haferbeck, Roche Diagnostics Germany: "A DJ is always listening for what's next (Grandmaster Flash). Dr. David Delaney, SAP: "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink" (Aphorism). Join us for MD in the Palm of Your Hand: Connected Care.

The buzz: Engagement. Baylor University and SAP researchers found employee engagement alarmingly low worldwide, with just 13% of employees feeling actively engaged. Wondering if complexity in organizations could be a root cause, they explored whether simplification, engagement, and trust together contribute to better-functioning companies. The experts speak. Dr. Ann Mirabito, Baylor: "Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler" (Albert Einstein). Lauren Moser, Baylor: "Hell isn't merely paved with good intentions; it's walled and roofed with them. Yes, and furnished too" (Aldous Huxley). Josh Arnold, Baylor: "God help those with open hands, may they never feel burden again. Yeah I'll stand up for those that can't. I'll close the distance" (A Day to Remember). Deb Stambaugh, SAP: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference" (Robert Frost). Join us for Employee Engagement: Simplification at Work.

Today's buzz: Risk. Supplier risk management is the fastest growing discipline within supplier management. Why? When a key supplier disrupts the supply chain, your costs of doing business increase along with perceived and unperceived risks for the buying enterprise. Do you have a solid strategy in place? Think technology. The experts speak. Dr. Van Gray, Baylor: "As our world becomes increasingly connected and multicultural, supply chains and their good management will be important fuel to the elimination of poverty, eradicating diseases, and to increasing rates of literacy with freedom of thought." Sarah Hill, Baylor MBA: "Failures, repeated failures, are sign posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success." (C. S. Lewis). Aaron Peavy, Baylor MBA: "The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them" (Ernest Hemmingway). Eric Coker, SAP: "Chance favors the prepared mind" (Louis Pasteur). Join us for Supplier Risk Management: Time to Get Serious.

Today's buzz: Empowering managers. Want to improve your organization's performance management? If you're focusing on HR processes, but not your managers' POV or day-to-day style, listen-up! SAP and Baylor University researchers studied best practices, tools, and processes that empower natural manager behavior to make better performance-based job assignments, promotions, and pay decisions. The experts speak. Dr. Gary Carini, Baylor: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard…" (John F. Kennedy). Hannah King, Baylor MBA: "Nothing is more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people" (Thomas Jefferson). Kevin Mitchell, Baylor MBA: "The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge" (Daniel J. Boorstin). Dr. Gabriela Burlacu, SAP: "When you win, sometimes it overshadows a poor performance" (Duke's "Coach K"). Join us for Employee Performance: Empowering Managers.

Today's buzz: The Journey. Customers are changing the rules of the marketplace. Digitally connected, socially networked, better informed before making a purchase, they jump between web, mobile, in-store, and phone and expect it to happen seamlessly in a personalized context. Whew! What is their POV on personal data privacy, advice for competing retailers, and definition of the best-ever customer experience? The experts speak. Prof. Chris Pullig, Baylor: "It's not rocket science, but it can get complicated." (Kevin Lane Keller and Chris Pullig) Arnold Bueso, Baylor: "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." (Maya Angelou) Akin Oladipo, Baylor: "If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?" (Jeremiah 12:5) Bill Hou, SAP: "It's more fun to be a pirate than to join the Navy." (Steve Jobs) Join us for The Buyer's Journey: What Do They Really Want?

The buzz: Breached again. Forbes.com's "The Big Data Breaches of 2014" include Neiman Marcus, Michaels, P.F. Chang's, Dairy Queen, Goodwill Industries, Affinity Gaming's 11 casinos, Albertson's, plus "22.8 million private records of New Yorkers." Breaches cost merchants dearly in lost customers and profits, a tarnished reputation, and substantial fines. Are merchants waking up and becoming proactive about PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance and security standards? How easy is it for hackers to gain access via merchants' unprotected vulnerabilities? The experts speak. Richard McCammon, Delego: "Look wide, and even when you think you are looking wide – look wider still" (Lord Robert Baden-Powell). Hillel Zafir: "If it happens once, it's ignorance; if it happens twice, it's neglect; if it happens three times, it's policy" (Anonymous). Gerlinde Zibulski, SAP: "The forecast is cloudy with a chance of security." Join us for Data Security in the Age of Credit Card Breaches–Part 2.

The buzz: Safety first. After record vehicle recalls in 2014, automakers are under intense pressure from consumers and regulators to be proactive about product quality and safety issues; protect consumers; and minimize the duration, scale, and cost of recall events. How? Advanced analytics. The experts speak. Mark Gardner, Deloitte: "Anyone who sits on top of the largest hydrogen-oxygen fueled system in the world, knowing they're going to light the bottom, and doesn't get a little worried, does not fully understand the situation" (Space Shuttle Commander John Young). Josh Greenbaum, EAC Consulting: "Beware the unintended consequences of advanced analytics in the automotive sector. Saving lives is unequivocally a good idea, but big data analytics will have other impacts that might not be as well-received." Derek Snaidauf, Deloitte: "Better three hours too soon than a minute too late" (William Shakespeare). Join us for Time for a Tune-up: Advanced Analytics and Auto Safety.

The buzz: HR here and there. HR practices in Western countries can differ significantly from Eastern countries in terms of organizational structure, motivation, communication and conflict resolution. Whose are the most successful? According to professor Dr. Michael J. Marquardt, American companies think they're the keepers of the best management practices. Consequently, they don't try to learn as much as they can from other places. Is it time for U.S. HR leaders to take a page from other countries' HR playbooks? The experts speak. Patrick Heffernan, TBR: "With malice toward none, with charity for all…" (Abraham Lincoln). Allan Krans, TBR: "Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to" (Richard Branson). Thomas Otter, SAP: "When we hold a World Championship for a particular sport, we invite teams from other countries to play, as well" (John Cleese of Monty Python). Join us for HR Makes the World Go Round: Global Practices – Part 2.