SXSW 2013 Sampler

viii Foreword
today: to connect business clients with the whole of the developed
world using social media, engage deeply with customers and partners
in potent new—yet unfamiliar—ways, and innovate and cocreate
a more effective way of working that’s not just novel but more
satisfying, richer, and, yes, profitable for all concerned.
Uncertain economic times can have a chilling effect on innovation
and the readiness for the bold moves required to lead an industry in
this century. Many companies also have a hard time making the leap
to new digital business models. For every SAP, IBM, or Amazon, a
hundred companies are struggling in the shadows. But the writing
is on the wall. I can read it clearly as a CEO, as can most of my
peers in organizations large and small around the world: as you read
this, the way we run our organizations is in the midst of changing
dramatically.
The implications for social business transformation are writ large.
Customer engagement is moving from relatively isolated market
transactions to deeply connected and sustained social relationships.
This basic change in how we do business will make an impact on
just about everything we do. It affects where sustainable creativity
and ingenuity are sourced. It defines how productive and rewarding
results are created in the form of break-out new products, services,
and operational constructs. And for the CxO in all of us, it also
means that we now possess major new ways of driving growth,
revenue, and margin. Distributed technologies operating in an open
ecosystem and placed in the hands of constituents can be leveraged
to create and capitalize on emergent outcomes.
It’s clear to me that social media have moved far beyond a means
of staying in touch with old friends and colleagues. They have become
how business gets done. They have also created a highly competitive
weapon in the arsenal of those who want to achieve dramatically
better marketing, sales, customer service, product development, and
worker productivity. The comprehensive vision that Dion and Pete
lay out in this book explains exactly why organizations need to