July 21st, 2008
Innovation-Infrastructure Design: Addressing the Challenges of Green Initiatives
It seems like everyday another article comes out about the negative economic impact of global warming and/or climate change. Readers have been asking, “How can we enable P2P Economy success in green initiatives?” We, at ebTDesign, suggest being prepared to develop comprehensive solutions. Next, reinforce innovation-infrastructure designs as quickly as possible. Lastly, we advise them to be very careful of tourists (industry experts) carrying silver bullets.
Comprehensive solutions will require that architects work with at least three international standards organizations: ASTM International, IEEE, and OASIS. ASTM International is important because they deal with material standards like recycling of post-consumer plastics. The IEEE provides access to knowledge communities which concentrate on renewable power generation and smart power grid technologies. Readers would also be well-advised to look to OASIS for guidance on development of electronic marketplaces and power management.
Nothing is worse for green initiatives than not having enough innovation-infrastructure resources available to handle an increase in bright ideas. IT Investment Vehicles or contingency plans should be in place to acquire or lease more innovation-infrastructure assets. Most organizations cannot afford the kind of influence loss that occurs if the management team doesn’t appear to care about the suggestions made by rank and file employees. Everyone must be heard.
Tourists are industry experts who move from industry to industry spreading commodity thinking or best practices. These gurus are often brought in because they claim to have the silver bullet for easily solving every complex challenge. They tend to look for problems in the most popular spots because they are more interested in generating case studies than fixing problems. These people can be very destructive because they refuse to reexamine their assumptions.
Architects have to be prepared to go beyond the obvious tourist traps and seek out unique solutions. They must push for resources to do P2P Economy transition planning because centralized budgeting processes may be too difficult to navigate when only goodwill and influence are at stake. A large amount of economic value is lost because organizations are quick to make decisions to change and slow to commit to an innovation-infrastructure design to monitor the effects.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: assets, design, Innovation-Infrastructure, P2P Economy, touristJuly 17th, 2008
The Fortress and the Ghosts of Smoot-Hawley
This is the second episode in the ebTDesign Audio Series called “A Walking Tour of the P2P Economy.” In this episode we will concentrate on the P2P Economy from ground level and interpret some of the local folklore. Please enjoy this new feature.
The IT Investment Architect®
July 14th, 2008
Watching the AMPTP Meltdown in the P2P Economy
On Friday, the AMPTP was accused by Deadline Hollywood Daily of “gross manipulation of information about Hollywood labor negotiations.” Allegedly, the big media companies are trying to freeze out journalists/bloggers who attempt to share an impartial view of the AMPTP lockout. These kinds of tactics might have worked in the last economic age. But in the P2P Economy, they simply undermine the entire Hollywood film system.
After the failure of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, there are no doubts that members of Hollywood film community are wondering if the AMPTP is capable of operating in the P2P Economy. It has been reported that five hundred unaffiliated film producers have decided to sign the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) film completion guarantees. This number will grow as independent producers begin to see new media as their only avenue for getting their films made.
As we said back in May, the AMPTP strike strategy will fail if a single prominent producer agrees to the SAG contract proposal. The prominence of the independent film producers may be suspect. However, the sheer number of willing participants speaks volumes about the fairness of the SAG position. Like many bad sequels, this unnecessary drama may still have many acts to go before it is done. Please stay tuned for periodic updates.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: AMPTP, New Media, P2P Economy, SAG, WGAJuly 11th, 2008
Introducing: A Walking Tour of the P2P Economy
This is the first segment in the ebTDesign Audio Series called “A Walking Tour of the P2P Economy.” Please enjoy this new feature.
The IT Investment Architect®
July 9th, 2008
P2P Economy and the Greening of the Convention and Meetings Industry
This month, we are going to continue our travels in the Hospitality Region of the P2P Economy by way of the Convention and Meetings Industry. Readers are advised to pay particular attention to the economic value chain and innovation-infrastructure designs while on this month’s trip. We apologize in advance for the constantly shifting terrain. It may have something to do with Global Warming.
We will be exploring two similar neighborhoods in the Hospitality Region of the P2P Economy. The first is the “Green Meetings Task Force” of the Convention Industry Council (CIC). The second is the upcoming “World Tourism Day” sponsored by UNWTO. The theme for this year’s World Tourism Day will center on climate change and its affect on global tourism. Both examples lend themselves to creating value through distributed ownership.
Last month, we did not cover the benefits of disruptive innovation to P2P Economy Transition Planning or the process of changing economic value systems. Senior decision markers are invited to join us as we examine targeting on-demand consumers who want eco-friendly goods and services. These customers are not currently fully represented at industry programs because of their sense of higher-order arithmetic or enlightened self-interest. Serving under served customers is one of the primary strategies of disruptive innovation.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: CIC, disruptive-innovation, P2P Economy, transition-planning, UNWTOJune 23rd, 2008
Understanding Value in the P2P Economy
Culture shock is what happens when expatriates travel to foreign lands and encounter different value systems. We advise decision makers to pay particular attention to understanding economic value when developing their P2P Economy Transition Planning projects. Failure to do so can quickly derail any program.
Wikipedia describes economic value as “how much some desired object or condition is worth relative to other objects or conditions.” In the P2P Economy, the main object or condition is staying in business. The concept of longevity often causes the most culture shock for entrepreneurs bound for the next great economic age.
There are three forms of economic value in the P2P Economy. This first is called nuisance value. How much is it worth to take care of a small persistent problem versus some larger strategic challenge? Solutions that yield nuisance value can often be found in books or databases.
The second type of economic value can be referred to as commodity value. This value is also derived from explicit knowledge or information. It focuses on efficiency and money making schemes without regard to unintended consequences. Industry experts (tourists) like these kinds of solutions because they are comfortable holdovers from the last economic age.
The third form of economic value can be described as integral value. This is the most difficult to produce because it requires safeguarding the interests of on-demand consumers and value chain partners. It is the product of concentrating on enhancing the benefits of distributed ownership. This value is the most congruent and almost always presents the best opportunity for staying in business.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: distributed-ownership, P2P Economy, tourist, transition-planningJune 19th, 2008
P2P Economy Transition Planning: Part 4
In the P2P Economy, mobile applications will cause the concept of an online versus offline experience to disappear. Technology will be deployed all around on-demand consumers as they go about their normal workday and enjoy their favorite leisure-time activities. We recommend that decision makers anticipate this eventual online/offline border collapse in their transition planning process.
There are three technologies or group of technologies that will potentially undermine the online/offline borders. The first is WiMax or more importantly mobile WiMax. This technology will bring high-speed network connectivity to many previously unsupported physical places. It is already changing the balance of power between the big telcos and the big entertainment companies in the new media marketplace.
The second group of technologies can be collectively called embedded devices and sensors. This group will release computing power from the confines of the computer room and deploy it across the physical landscape. This will accelerate the emergence of the P2P Economy and distributed ownership. On-demand consumers and value chain partners will be expected to acquire their own infrastructure resources for future influence investments.
The third technology is a standard called IPv6 or Internet Protocol version six. This standard will increase the number of objects that can be individually addressed. The ownership of each object in an application can then be distributed across emerging business federations. Adoption of this standard has been in works since the early part of this decade but the sunk costs in legacy network gear has been a huge deterrent.
There is a lot of moving pieces involved in enabling P2P Economy success and the need for transition planning has never been more important. The imminent collapse of the online/offline border will make this process all the more valuable. We encourage readers to start their transition planning process early because the adoption of distributed ownership will only accelerate.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: business-federations, distributed-ownership, P2P Economy, transition-planning, WiMAXJune 17th, 2008
The P2P Economy and Developing American Sea Turtles
When we first started ebTDesign Forum, we talked about “sea turtles.” This term was coined by the Chinese to describe their young people who travel overseas to gain experience and build peer-to-peer business networks then return home to start families. In the past, students studying abroad would stay there after finishing their education. Now they are enticed to come home by preferential business funding practices.
Travel destinations have always reflected the times. The first great economic age was based on developing liberalized trade and travel was focused on potential trading partners. The last economic age was based on globalization and restoring industrial capacity after World War II. The next great economic age will be based on the P2P Economy and travel must be dedicated to developing global P2P relationships.
If America wants to change course on innovation, then its lawmakers need to find ways to encourage and support international student travel. Students should be allowed to learn more about enabling success in the P2P Economy. International travel must not be limited to distressed regions of the world or predicated on enlisting in the military. In order to prepare young people for their place in the P2P Economy, international travel can’t be just for the sons and daughters of the rich and famous.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: globalization, international-travel, P2P EconomyJune 16th, 2008
Understanding Currency in the P2P Economy
Senior decision makers would be well-advised to start any transition planning program with a discussion of how influence currency works in the P2P Economy. Influence is the ability to get on-demand consumers to take action. Influence currency is the medium of exchange for payment during the acquisition of goods or services and repayment of debts in the P2P Economy.
Influence currency can be converted into or exchanged for monetary currency. Newcomers are encouraged to think of monetary currency as the kind of traditional currency that they currently use in their everyday life. Influence can be saved as trust. Influence is acquired through good deeds or influence investments. Just like any currency there is a holding cost which can diminish the value of the influence investment.
The P2P Economy uses a higher-order arithmetic because peers play a huge role in the ongoing user experience. This requires a different kind of currency like influence so steps can be taken not to alienate the interests of customers and other stakeholders. On-demand consumers and value chain partners must be willing to invest their infrastructure and/or assets to support the p2p application.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: influence, influence-currency, influence-investment, P2P Economy, transition-planning, trustJune 12th, 2008
P2P Economy Transition Planning Part 3
Almost all senior decision makers have felt the sting of leaving the familiar behind in search of greener pastures. The goal of the P2P Economy transition planning process is to lessen this pain and identify success strategies. We, at ebTDesign, advise executives that one of the best opportunities for increasing the potential for success is involvement in expatriate communities and sister city programs.
Expatriates are people who have learned to work in unfamiliar business cultures. In the past, expatriate communities formed where there was a high concentration of foreign born professionals working in a country’s economy. These professionals tend to be very accommodating to new comers because they can generally remember their introduction into this new business climate.
In the P2P Economy, sister cities are destinations which host expatriate communities. These networks generally have traditional beginnings in the last economic age and/or offline equivalents like tradeshows. These programs act as education vehicles and industry building activities. Their main purpose is to increase understanding across knowledge disciplines.
Everyone will come to the P2P Economy in their own way. Some will follow meticulously crafted transition plans. Others will book passage on the spur of the moment. But they will all face a business climate where using time-tested strategies from the last economic age may lead to negative unexpected results. We are here to help them be more successful.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: expatriate, P2P Economy, transition-planningJune 10th, 2008
Number One Question for P2P Economy Bound Entrepreneurs
Mass commoditization is always changing the business climate for premium products and services. In the P2P Economy, decision makers will most likely cope with this volatility in one of three ways. For now, large and established companies will tend to focus on how to make money. New entrepreneurs will obsess about how to raise funds and a third group will concentrate on putting their business operations first.
The most important strategic question executives can ask when transitioning to the P2P Economy is how to stay in business. Economic value is created for customers and value chain partners by executing the company’s mission. The majority of other strategies that were utilized in the last economic age destroyed much needed economic value and left stake holders out in the cold.
When executives spend their time focusing solely on money making activities, they can be distracted by brand destroying opportunities and diminish good will. The P2P Economy is based on the customer’s enthusiasm for investing infrastructure resources in applications which support their lifestyles or shared business interests. Reputation and influence matter more in the P2P Economy than at anytime in recent history because external stakeholders contribute more to the on-going user experience.
Constantly, obsessing about raising funds can obstruct vision while running and growing a company. Increasing perceived customer value often takes a backseat to financial engineering. This is one example of ignoring the cost structure benefits of the P2P Economy. If infrastructure resources are underwritten by on-demand consumers and value chain partners then less money needs to be diverted from product or service improvement projects.
Distributed ownership requires that the interests of on-demand consumers and value chain partners must be safeguarded at all times. Even competitors have to be protected because of their role in industry building activities. We, at ebTDesign, always say that the best way to succeed in the P2P Economy is to concentrate on operational excellence and staying in business.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: mass-commoditization, P2P Economy, value-chainJune 9th, 2008
P2P Economy and the Strategies for the 3rd Computer Age
A reader asked us to comment on why time-tested IT Investment strategies aren’t working and does the P2P Economy have anything to do with it? We would advise senior decision makers that many marketing gurus and even some futurist simply haven’t kept up with the state of today’s value chain. For example many of these subject matter experts use Moore’s Law as the basis of their web strategies.
We, at ebTDesign, call the first computer age or computer generation the Pre-Internet Economy. It was based on Moore’s Law and revolved around controlling processing power. Doing as many transactions as possible was the main goal of that time. Architects were rewarded for their capacity planning efforts and their ability to squeeze the maximum amount work out of every available resource.
The second computer age was the Internet Economy. It was based on Metcalfe’s Law. This computer age valued network access. Architects were rated by the number of computers they managed or paying subscribers they supported. This resulted in overinvestment in hardware and led to the collapse of the dotcom asset bubble.
The third and current computer age is built on Reed’s Law which shifts the concentration from nodes to sub-networks. We call this the P2P Economy and value is created through distributed ownership. On-demand consumers invest resources they own or lease to support applications they like. Users are not perceived as property by their service providers or prohibited from acquiring assets from anyone they choose.
In the P2P Economy, the ability to create business federations and scale operational capacity at will is the key to success. This is by definition a third generation application. Using first or second generation technology in a third generation applications will always yield sub-optimum and at times disastrous results. We suggest senior decision makers quiz their favorite industry experts about knowledge of today’s value chain before making their next IT Investment.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: business-federations, distributed-ownership, P2P Economy, value-chainJune 5th, 2008
P2P Economy Transition Planning Part II
We advise every senior executive that the transition from one economic age to the next is like planning for work in a foreign country. It is prudent to make a few business trips or maybe take a vacation or two before finalizing transition planning. Within the P2P Economy, we have discovered at least three destinations worth exploring: New Media, P2P Tech, and the Hospitality Industry.
New Media is the most well established destination in the P2P Economy. It is where the most direct results of distributed ownership can be seen. Like many great cities of the world, new media has its café scene with people who frequent the relevant blogs like paidContent and the Business of Online Video. Both discourse and volatility are on display almost every day.
P2P Tech is the most industrial region of the P2P Economy and has a complicated history. Many still remember when some early adopters took advantage of the property rights of others. Now this locale is poised to turn things around and become the infrastructure foundation that supports both content delivery networks and multiplayer gaming.
Hospitality is the industry least thought of as a P2P Economy destination and represents the future for offline growth. A place built by innkeepers and tour guides where decision makers have a healthy respect for peer to peer relationships and a very strong belief in the benefits of entrepreneurship. This sector has steadfastly held on to its past and only recently started to take its first steps into this next great economic age.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: entrepreneurship, Hospitality, New Media, P2P Economy, P2P Tech, transition-planningMay 29th, 2008
Will SAG take the AMPTP Road to Viral Marketing Servitude?
The AMPTP has embarked on what appears to be an effort to commoditize its film products. They are proposing that these entertainment properties be chopped up so that they are more easily consumable by search engines like Google and social media sites like YouTube without prior consent. We, at ebTDesign, think this form of “unprotected viral marketing” is wrong because it strips away the ability of SAG members to engage in responsible marketing activities. It erodes the collective bargaining process and places actors in employer dominated servitude.
Many are blaming new media for the problems in Hollywood but technologies alone cannot send a sector as large as entertainment into freefall. Our research has shown that industries don’t enter rapid decline without the concerted efforts of major players in the value chain. Like in the auto industry, employers have to be willing to abandon their own self interests and engineer destructive non-competitive activities like strikes. From the outside, the AMPTP seems enthusiastic about dynamiting a system that has delivered almost a century of outstanding economic value and leaving its partners out in the cold.
The industry experts (tourists), who are promoting this form of mass commoditization, obviously fail to recognize the power of the internet to destroy careers. A-List Actors would be destined to become unpaid bit players in viral marketing campaigns as they see their life’s work turned overnight into stock footage. Once the dominos start falling, industry partners will withdraw their money and look for other more stable influence investments. Have the tourists completely taken over the asylum?
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: AMPTP, film-industry, mass-commoditization, SAG, search-engines, social-media, touristMay 22nd, 2008
Does William Morris have a WiMax Surprise?
Yesterday, it was announced that the William Morris Agency is launching a new division called Agency 3.0. This separate operating entity will build upon years of talent management skills and explore new avenues in the new media space. The timing of this announcement raises many questions.
First and foremost, is this is a subtle reminder to AMPTP that things have changed since the WGA Strike earlier this year? At the beginning of the strike, the AMPTP set the agenda for both the film and television industries. After the strike ended, the talent agencies took ownership of the keys to their future. They could sit back and take whatever deals the members of the AMPTP offered or they could develop their own new media outlets.
Second and more troubling, does this announcement signal overwhelming support for more a dramatic shift in the balance of power between the big telcos and big media in the entertainment sector? It is being reported by paidContent that Agency 3.0 already counts Clearwire as one of its first customers. Clearwire is the $3.2 billion WiMax industry joint-venture that is tasked with deploying a next-generation wireless data network in the United States. This network will pose a clear and present danger to existing broadcast networks.
Third, does this indirectly show concern about the impact of potential revenue loss due to the AMPTP’s position on unprotected viral marketing? The Association of Talent Agencies has been oddly silent on the hot button issue of prior consent by their clients before clip inclusion in new media projects. They like all the members of the film industry value chain will incur extraordinary risk to their current and future brands if this measure is ratified.
We, at ebTDesign, had hoped that the new media industry would have been given more time to build governance systems to help stave off another dotcom-like asset bubble. Technology changes and/or value shifts can occur very rapidly but industries decline gradually unless stakeholders make a concerted effort to abandon their own self-interests. This summer will prove the soundness of this statement. Either the major industry players will find the benefits of distributed ownership or they will ride the rollercoaster of unrestrained industry upheaval and premature obsolesce.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: AMPTP, Clearwire, film-industry, New Media, WGA, William-Morris-AgencyMay 20th, 2008
AMPTP vs. SAG and WiMax Too?
Many strategic planners say that technology doesn’t drive strategy. They like to cite the purity of their thought process and trends in sustaining innovation. The decision by AMPTP to push SAG into corner and force a strike appears to be a product of just such an effort.
Strategic planners boast of having a long tradition. They claim their profession is descended from war planning throughout the millennia. They tell stories of how the best practices were handed down personally by the great generals. We, at ebTDesign Forum, would suggest the leaders of the AMPTP’s SAG Strike campaign appear to act more like tourists than generals.
These industry experts failed to consider the WiMax impact on the balance of power between the broadcast networks and the big telcos. Anticipating the details of the Clearwire deal may have been beyond the skills of most entertainment analysts. Not factoring in the impact of a $3.2 billion investment in WiMax by major competitors is pretty close to negligence.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: AMPTP, big-telcos, SAG, sustaining-innovation, tourist, WiMAXMay 19th, 2008
P2P Tech Companies versus Web 2.0 Companies
Many knowledgeable readers ask what the difference is between P2P Tech companies and Web 2.0 companies. At ebTDesign, we tell our clients that P2P Tech companies are built on distributed ownership where users invest resources they own or rent to support applications they like. Web 2.0 companies are based on repurposed centralized content repositories. They use graphic front-ends to disguise and extend the lives of antiquated legacy systems.
P2P Tech companies work with partners to maintain strong property rights and promote free market values. They are upfront about their desire to make money. Web 2.0 companies are ambiguous on property rights in the beginning and philosophize about the significance of user generated content. Once the user is locked in, then Web 2.0 companies shift to interrupt-driven ad supported models and discount the value of the previous consumer experience.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: distributed-ownership, interrupt-driven, P2P Tech, web 2.0May 12th, 2008
Will New Media Become the Next Tourist Destination?
As the SAG (Screen Actor’s) strike looms larger and larger, it is only prudent to talk about the business environment that will follow. There was a lot of commentary about the rise of investment in new media companies after the WGA (Writer’s Guild of America) strike. If the stakeholders who share ownership of the film industry value chain move their investments to new media, then there could be another dotcom-like speculative bubble and tourist destination.
At the ebTDesign Forum, we describe a tourist destination as an industry where barriers to entry are low and the potential for irrational investment is high. Industry experience is discounted because external market forces and heavy capital inflows drive advances rather than innovation and/or dedication to customer service. This generally happens in emerging industries where human resources are at a premium and the vetting process is ill-defined.
We call high priced experts “tourists,” if they view every industry as an example of a commodity market. They are the achievers who make their numbers without regard to the long term consequences. These gurus peddle commodity thinking as the next great example of “true” innovation. They roam from industry to industry looking to make a quick buck, most often, at the expense of the companies they serve.
These so-called industry experts waste a lot of money promoting sustaining innovation strategies in an emerging industry. Before there is a consensus of what jobs a product or service will be hired for, they make wild assumptions about market size and the timing of profitability. This can undermine investor confidence. Many young industries never mature because of the problems these experts cause. Then just like other tourist destination, tourists leave everyone else to clean up their mess.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: commodity-thinking, New Media, SAG, sustaining-innovation, tourist, WGAMay 8th, 2008
New Media and the WiMax Surprise
Tuesday, the AMPTP (mainstream media) walked out of talks with SAG (Screen Actors Guild). This almost guarantees that there will be another entertainment industry strike during the summer. Once this strike is over, the mainstream media guys will be surprised to find that have left the door open for the big telcos to use WiMax and new media to carve up their markets. WiMax is a high speed wireless network which will compete very nicely with broadcast television networks.
Instead of making influence investments to garner goodwill and protect their tenuous market relationships, AMPTP has decided to embark on yet another self-destructive strike. Once again, this is a fight they can’t win because if one prominent independent producer accepts the SAG contract proposal then the game is over. This is the same thing mainstream media did for talent agencies and independent producers earlier this year. By being intransigent on new media, they turned over the keys to the future.
The big telcos spent last year laying the groundwork for moving into the entertainment sector. Some, like Sprint, already consider themselves entertainment companies. But the SAG strike and the deployment of WiMax digital networks will leave the entertainment industry wide open to an unprecedented assault by the major telecom players. By September, on-demand consumers could be surprised to find a very different set of television and new media service providers from which to choose.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: AMPTP, big-telcos, influence-investment, New Media, SAG, Sprint, WiMAXMay 7th, 2008
Transition Planning for the P2P Economy
Many readers are in the process of leading transition planning teams in preparation for the P2P Economy. During this process, architects often ask us what will be the hardest lesson for decision makers to learn. We advise them that learning how to compete in a nondestructive manner is the most difficult skill to master in most organizations.
It’s difficult to promote internal competition and make influence investments at the same time. Most organizations oscillate between the two extremes. During the good times they create profit centers to compartmentalize knowledge and institutionalize internal competition. In bad times, the management team has very little influence currency available to pull the company out of decline.
The mainstream media romanticizes cutthroat actions and rewards commodity thinking. We encourage decision makers to view business in the P2P Economy not as a game to be won or lost but as a journey to be taken in the company of friends and colleagues. We suggest that they invest in innovation-infrastructures designs that will support continuous business incubation.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: commodity-thinking, influence-currency, influence-investment, internal-competition, P2P Economy, transition-planning