Customer Reviews

Anywhere: How Global Connectivity is Revolutionizing the Way We Do Business

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book hits the pluses and provides an optimistic view of emerging connectivity, but it's weak on addressing the downsides and reality of it. So, I'll begin by pointing out a few things this book overlooks. Then I'll sum up what it addresses.

What the author doesn't tell you
First, there's the productivity cost. It's huge. I used to carry a cell phone everywhere. Now, I don't use one. In fact, I rarely answer my regular telephone. Sometimes, I unplug it for hours at a time.

I don't like being interrupted, especially when I'm trying to do something productive. A business that inflicts constant connectivity on its employees has a highly distracted workforce. Ms. Green makes it sound as though the Twitter-averse among us are like the e-mail-averse of times past. But this is an apples to oranges comparison.

Second, there's the attention cost. E-mail is asynchronous. Texting and tweeting are "immediate response" activities. Can anyone who's chained to a frequently-interrupting device really pay attention to any worthwhile activity? Any technology that interrupts you simply because it can is just too costly, unless you aren't the kind of person who does anything that matters.

Third, there's the subscription cost. If you have a mobile data plan, ask yourself what you are really getting for all that money. If it's just interruptions and the ability to send/receive throwaway photos, then it might not be all that good. For a business, a mobile data plan may be essential. But how many people are paying $99 a month or more for something that they probably would not miss if they stopped using it? If you have one of these plans, is it making your life better or is it an addiction?

A fourth problem is the devices are insanely small. It's not convenient to carry around a pair of reading glasses just so you can take a phone call. I have a PocketPC that I don't use because I can't read the screen in daylight at all, and indoors I need reading glasses to read it. The manufacturer's solution to this problem was to make the next generation even smaller.

Ms. Green also indicates that older folks just don't get it and will eventually be replaced by their hipper, more tech-savvy younger counterparts through retirement. What she overlooks is the reason older people are far less adoptive of this technology than younger people is presbyopia. We have reams of data showing that humans need larger fonts as we age. That's just the way it is. When the devices are explicitly designed for people under 25 and consequently exclude people beyond a certain age, the adoption rates by age are quite predictable.

So, we have some huge barriers to "anywhere" connectivity. For the vast majority of us, it just isn't workable. Does that mean we aren't going to see vastly increased connectivity that is far more mobile than today? No. But it does mean the connectivity needs to serve the users rather than make them servile to it, and it must not rely on unreadable screens or gadgets that seem designed expressly to annoy the users. Until those requirements are met, connectivity will fall far short of its potential.

What the author does tell you
Ms. Green addresses this topic of ubiquitous connectivity in 250 pages. The book consists of four Parts:

Part I: Welcome to Anywhere. This consists of three chapters, and in these she outlines and describes the "Anywhere Revolution." I think these three chapters give the reader a good feel for where we're eventually heading and why.

Part II: The Anywhere Consumer. This consists of three chapters, and in these she presents four basic category of consumer. I'm not sure about these categories. I have fit into three of them at one time or another, and don't see where I fit presently.

I don't have her research data, but it seems to me there is a fifth category that has a higher population than the other four combined. I call it "Annoyed Consumer." We get tired of Windows memory problems, crap that pops up when you're trying to type, screens we can't read, interruptions we don't want, high bills from service providers, and just a host of usability issues. We are not amused.

Part III: The Anywhere Enterprise. This consists of two chapters. I think it needs a third. Ask hiring managers about what bugs them today, and you are going to hear "Kids texting during interviews." There is a difference between productive connectivity and counterproductive connectivity. The author doesn't explore this, at all. A chapter on how businesses can properly address this difference seems essential to me.

For example, do you really want your sales people texting during a sales call instead of focusing on that customer? Of course not. But at the same time, it would be wonderful for a sales person to be able to answer a question for the customer to close the sale. Shortening the sales cycle can accelerate revenue, and that's generally a good thing. Insulting a customer through rude behavior, however, is generally not advantageous. The rudeness factor is a big problem with today's so-called "hip generation" and it's something business needs to be able to rechannel into positive behaviors.

Part IV: Profiting from Anywhere consists of four chapters. In these chapters, the author basically says you need to max out your anywhere quotient as fast as you can. This isn't quite the way things really are. Companies that still operate on paper processes and/or have very low connectivity do need to modernize. And some companies that are current with technology, processes, and connectivity do need to be working on upgrading as the bar rises. But these are the outliers on the bell curve.

Most of us would do well to assess, based on the information presented here, and plan for staying reasonably current. I think this book is helpful toward this purpose, because it gives a good view of what is coming. But the real challenge for profit-minded businesses is going to be properly restraining connectivity to the scope of the business.

A couple of years ago, we were in the midst of blogomania. The big advice was that businesses must blog or die. Following this advice has proven to be a colossal waste of resources for most businesses, and in 2010 this realization even dawned on some business journalists. Blogs and banality have come to be synonymous, with few exceptions.

Facebook appears to have peaked out and to now be declining in its influence and popularity. People can take only so much blather, meaningless detail, and banality before wanting to have a life.

Similarly, companies can divert only so many resources to nonproductive activities before seeing their customer service, productivity, and profitability slide. The issue isn't one of having enough connectivity. It's one of having the right connectivity.

A solution seeking a problem generally does more harm than good to a business. If a business has a problem that specific types of connectivity can solve, then it needs to look at adopting those kinds of connectivity. And quickly, before the problems metastasize. But a business must also look at the potential risks involved with that adoption and develop a plan that properly addresses those risks. Otherwise, the cure might be worse than the disease.

The SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is a core business tool for evaluating new ventures, proposed projects, and other things a business might wish to evaluate. I think if the author had used this framework for Part III and Part IV, the book would have been far more useful.

An important point the author drives at again and again is every business must look at the connectivity issues that are here now and the ones that are emerging. I think this book definitely helps identify and define many key issues in that arena.

Anywhere describes a revolution in global connectivity that enables all people and the things they care about to be connected at all times. Written by the President of a four-decade-old technology research and consulting firm, Anywhere, gives a compelling look at the current and future state of connectivity and what it means for you as a consumer and how to make profit from it as an enterprise.

What's the Anywhere Revolution? The author summarizes it like this:
1. A transformation taking place due to common digital network, increased broadband capacity, and wireless economics. (Think: iTunes and WiFi)
2. Which is producing huge shifts in power, behavior, and money all over the world. (Think: call centers in India)
3. This gives rise to new forms of goods and services that depend on connectivity. (Think: what you can do with your iPhone)
4. The rate of connectivity isn't equally advancing around the globe. (Think: China vs Africa)

As a result, there is tremendous opportunity for those who get connected and operate in connected ways.

Anywhere means: Our customers are anywhere, ordering from a smartphone as well as a PC. Our workers are anywhere, IBM saves $110m because a third of their staff work from home. Our products are available anywhere, replacing physical with digital or using digital to track physical.

For those who are regular readers of Fast Company or Wired Magazine you won't be surprised by what you read in Anywhere. As a coach and trainer I was challenged by how the new realities of Anywhere could apply to my work. I'm a big thinker, but Anywhere helped me think even bigger - to an Anywhere audience, in Anywhere ways.

I recommend Anywhere to anyone who wants a summary of where the digital revolution is currently, where it's going, and how you can profit from it.

Imagine a pill bottle that can track when medicine has been taken, or a vending machine that automatically sends a message to corporate only when it needs replenishing. These are just some examples that exist today in the evolving global technology world that connects us. Anywhere provides a glimpse into the near future where people and technology converge on a scale we've not seen before.

In fact, Nagle refers to it more as a revolution. Based on her years of research on several technologies including broadband and internet as CEO of the Yankee Group, she is an authority on the changing connectivity landscape and what it means to individuals and businesses. In fact, Nagle estimates the "Anywhere Network Economy" will generate $1 trillion in global revenues by 2012. This is the heart of what Nagle refers to as "ubiquitous connectivity" that connects us and the things we care about.

Nagle separates these changes into the key components of a common digital network, broadband demand, and wireless ubiquity. Each of these areas represent key puzzle pieces that allow the sharing of intelligent content instantly and rapid response as the norm. Her analysis and examples of how the process is already changing every facet of our lives is amazing. Every second breakthroughs propel people and systems forward in the evolving digital era. If you're looking for a unique overview of how the technology you use today will impact you're your everyday life, Always is a must read.

Anywhere examines recent technological trends: cloud computing and the flat world and its long tail and wikis and wireless and atoms and bits. Then Anywhere ties them together into a vision of what life will look like when all people and devices are inevitably connected, all the time.

The useful bit is that Anywhere goes beyond describing current trends and predicting the future. It offers concrete metrics to quantify how prepared I and my company are for this world. Thought exercises and quizzes helped me identify the specifics of what an Anywhere world means to our business.

"It's got Cosmo quizzes?!" scoffed my cynical colleague. Well, yes, sort of. But even if the quiz results aren't hard science, I still find it helpful to think about where my plans lie on a spectrum of possibilities.

I found this book observant and eye-opening, forward-looking and maybe a little frightening. It shows that universal connectivity and immediate, unfettered data are coming, and in some surprising ways are already here. Ultimately it left me excited to be navigating this moment in history and confident I can manage what lies ahead.

I'll buy another copy to circulate among the leadership team in our Engineering group. I'm hanging onto mine.

ANYWHERE: HOW GLOBAL CONNECTIVITY IS REVOLUTIONIZING THE WAY WE DO BUSINESS provides important business keys to a new era where all people and things are connected at all times. In the Anywhere economy, location will be much less important than global branding - and ANYWHERE discusses how this might be achieved, and the opportunities and challenges of global connectivity. Any business library needs this.

I don't believe most businesses and/or individuals realize how profoundly the world is going to change because of ubiquitous, unthethered broadband access. In Anywhere, Emily Nagle Green builds a compelling case for how quickly the change will occur and the challenges and opportunities it presents. Anywhere is insightful, provocative, prescriptive and engaging. I found it very easy to read - just enough information to make/illustrate a point without getting bogged down in superfluous detail.

I highly recommend this thoughtful, well-organized and extraordinarily useful book.

Businesses are at a tipping point where the largest technology change in our lifetimes is about to completely revolutionize the work we do and the way we work. That's because the convergence of the Internet, the cell phone, and the digital camera is quickly morphing the world into a vast global village where everyone is instantly connected to each other. The sudden emergence of global networks is redefining the relevance of "place" as more of us discover that it's no longer necessary to physically be together to work together. Unfortunately, most business leaders are nowhere near prepared for a world where their employees can work from anywhere.

In "Anywhere: How Global Connectivity Is Revolutionizing the Way We Do Business," Emily Nagle Green paints a clear picture of how tomorrow is going to be very different from yesterday. Green asserts that connectivity will dramatically change our lives in these first decades of the 21st century in much the same way that electricity revolutionized society in the early 20th century. Just as electricity provided the spark for the mass production enterprises that brought large numbers of workers under one roof, connectivity is creating more efficient mass collaboration platforms where all of us can work from anywhere - and we can do it smarter, faster, and cheaper.

No company will be spared as connectivity revolutionizes the way businesses do business. Green asserts that by the end of this decade, fewer employees will work in traditional offices and many workers will be free agents, serving multiple companies at the same time. Those business leaders who see what's coming will have a tremendous opportunity to profit from the change. For, example, Green notes that IBM saves over $110 million per year by allowing 100,000 employees to work from home. Unfortunately, most business leaders are behind their consumers in embracing the new technology, and consequently, are not poised to take advantage of the efficiencies of the connectivity revolution. While consumers, in increasing numbers, are networking on Facebook and other mass collaboration tools, when it comes to incorporating new technology, businesses have not ventured much beyond the electronic memos of their e-mail systems. In other words, as Green poignantly observes, "People are changing faster than their organizations."

There once was a time when electricity was a luxury, and most people could get along without it. But just as that condition soon changed, so will the notion that connectivity isn't really all that necessary. Before the end of this decade, connectivity will redefine the work we do and the way we work. If you want to be prepared for the new world of working without walls, "Anywhere" will do the job.

Whether you should buy Anywhere: How global connectivity is revolutionizing the way we do business depends a lot on your experience and how much thinking you've done about all things digital and networked. I consider myself a person who's done a bit of both. Here's my situation.

In February, 1996, my first grandson, Theodore, was born. The Digital Age was just dawning.

So, rather than send a conventional birth announcement, I sent one via email. I asked friends all over the world to send me the newspaper from their town on the day Theodore was born.

I wound up with stack of newspapers that came up to my waist. Every continent was represented. A friend of mine was travelling on business and was in London when he got the news. He sent a copy of the Financial Times clearly stamped: "Do not remove from reading room."

That year I wrote an article on "Leadership for a Networked World." The next year Jeff Senne and I wrote Cyberpower for Business, which Inc. magazine called "a book every CEO should own."

Today I live a good part of my life online. And I read about and write about what's going on with technology and how technology, business, and human nature interact.

In short, I'm a citizen of the evolving digital world. If you're like me or if you like reading about technology trends and forecasts, give this book a pass. You probably already know most of what's in it and you'll be put off by the breathless "gee-whiz" prose.

But we're not the only kind of potential reader for Anywhere. Some of you are like my friend Jim.

Jim is the VP for sales of a specialty chemical company. He's got an engineering degree. He makes sure his Blackberry is within arm's reach at all times.

Jim uses technology, but he hasn't given the evolution of the Digital Age or its future much thought. He's been busy with other things, like helping his company grow and planning for its future.

When he told me that he'd read the book, I asked for his reaction. Here's what he told me.

Anywhere had a lot of things that Jim either didn't know or hadn't thought about. He picked up a lot of ideas that he wants to research. He liked the way the book sketched out how we got to where we are and suggested where we may be going.

Anywhere has several "quizzes" spread through the book. Jim thought he wouldn't like them, but he found them helpful.

He noted that most of the examples are either large companies or tech companies, so if you bend metal, mix chemicals or run a retail store, you're going to have to work to extract value. Even so, if you want an overview of what the connected world of the future might look like and ideas about how businesses will adapt, this should be a good book for you.

There's a third kind of possible reader who's different from me and from Jim. It may be you if you haven't really paid much attention to how things have been changing. It's certainly you, if you've been saying to yourself, "I really need to learn more about this digital revolution."

If you recognize yourself in that sketch, Anywhere is a great choice. It's well-written and it presents a knowledgeable view of how things may unfold that's as good a guess as anyone's.

No matter what kind of reader you are, there are some things you should be aware of. If they turn you off, this book is a bad choice for you.

This is an enthusiast's guide to the future. It's well written, but almost depressingly positive at times. Pesky issues like security, privacy, learning curves, and cross-border jurisdictional issues have no place here.

Nor do competing viewpoints. Because the book is a promotional piece for the Yankee Group, you won't find much here about what their competition thinks.

If you do decide to read this book, here's something to keep in mind. Peter Drucker said that there are only two things we know for sure about the future. The first is that it's unknowable. The second is that it will be different from today.

Length:: 6:08 Mins

If you are a company debating whether there are any consequences to avoiding preparing for global communications - then this book is a good foundation.

As a Gen Y digital consultant in London, I have used Emily's research (esp. the spread of worldwide broadband) to explain to clients why they need to prepare for worldwide communications. One of the things that I think will affect business is the increasing amount of employees working out of the office - this book helps address this evolution and how to prepare.

Feel free to connect with me on twitter, ANYWHERE you may be ;)
@filipmatous

I read this book on flight back from Mobile World Congress, the largest mobile communications event in the world. I borrowed it from a fellow traveler who had received it as a gift at the show.

This is a light, breezy, well written book you can get through quickly if you already understand the concepts, which have been around for 15 years or so. In fact Don Tapscott's comments in the foreword even reflect on dealing with these concepts as they emerged a decade or so earlier. The problem is that, more than a decade later, this book adds very little depth to the discussion.

If you are just learning about the communications industry, this is easy reading and a decent introduction to some of the concepts. If you have any experience, you are probably better off reading some of the better industry blogs; they have more depth, are more timely, and they are free.