The Knowledge Light [Line56: B2B News]

Like many early CRM adopters, Itron failed to make the technology pay off. "We hit that bump in the road," admits Paul. "We viewed CRM as a technology, not a process. And it became a hindrance tool, not a benefit." Undaunted, Itron pushed onward and formed an information technology advisory board to oversee its knowledge-based efforts. During the summer of 2000, the board recommended that Itron work directly with Siebel and expand CRM initiatives to include marketing-campaign management and call-center support that would work in conjunction with existing sales-force software. In other words, Itron was beginning to think of knowledge as borderless and pervasive.

Good mini-case of CRM implementation with a segue into an internal portal for employees focused on providing similar information to what was contained in the (Siebel) CRM.

8:07:49 PM •  • comment  

Anyone in Manhattan's financial district last week may have noticed a dozen or so twentysomethings sweeping the area armed with clipboards and wireless handheld computers. They weren't market researchers. Rather, it was a troupe of techno-warriors from the Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA) scouting and mapping the locations of surveillance cameras. Their goal: to create a digital map of electronic eyes to let New Yorkers instantly discover what the group calls "the path of least

For example, to get from the corner of Wall and Water streets to the intersection of Broadway and Fulton Street in the Financial District, the shortest path is a half mile. In that distance, a pedestrian will be recorded by an astonishing 21 cameras. By using the group's I See software program, I know that I can take a 1.62-mile route and entirely avoid being caught on film. The IAA is also working on a wireless application for PDAs that will let privacy activists report newly discovered cameras directly to the database.

[ ... ]

That's peanuts compared to some other metropolitan cities. In London, where the government began installing cameras in the mid-1980s to deter IRA terrorists, there are 10,000 cameras in the one-square mile "City of London" financial district alone. Across Britain, there are 2.5 million cameras. By some estimates, Londoners are caught on film 300 times per day.

That's what privacy advocates, including the IAA, want to avoid in the U.S. Since Sept. 11, fears of terrorism and ever-cheaper cameras have prompted government officials and private corporations to ramp up video surveillance in public spaces. In Washington, for example, the police are in the process of setting up a centralized surveillance center where officers will be able to view video from schools, neighborhoods, Metro stations, and prominent buildings around the city.

3:08:03 PM •  • comment  

Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA) - i-SEE "Now more than ever.". [Privacy Digest]

Check it out, then think about it.

3:05:46 PM •  • comment  

Rand Corporation In Athena's Camp: Preparing for Conflict in the Information Age. "The thesis of this think piece is that the information revolution will cause shifts both in how societies may come into conflict, and how their armed forces may wage war. We offer a distinction between what we call "netwar" -- societal-level ideational conflicts waged in part through internetted modes of communication -- and "cyberwar" at the military level. These terms are admittedly novel, and better ones may yet be devised. But for now they illuminate a useful distinction and identify the br [snowdeal.org | conflux]

Yet one more thing to read and yet another example of the fascinating things you find out about once you plug into the power of collective networking (blogging).

10:52:56 AM •  • comment  

Technography: Meeting Checklist. Major competitive advantage for companies that follow the items on this checklist!Evaluate the "intelligence" of your meeting system by exploring each stage of your meeting process. There are a total of 23 measures, each of which could lead to more productive communication. [Roland Tanglao's Weblog]

As you go through this list, it's worth reflecting on the opportunities for great leverage in revisiting mundane processes in organizations and thinking about how to make them better.  While the opportunity is great, there is also a major barrier in getting people to adopt new practices, particularly in areas where they are unaware of their practices to begin with.

Why bother to make meetings more productive? How do you help people see how changing what they do in a meeting today might greatly simplify their life three weeks from now? How do you help them care enough to do something about it?

10:50:28 AM •  • comment  

Whitepaper: The Importance of Information Architecture. Found over at Christina's, this whitepaper promises "Answers to the 10 most critical questions". Here's the blurb from the NavigationArts site

With the overwhelming quantity and demand for information, organizations are starting to think about the nature of their business's institutional knowledge, content and information and its increased burden on today's organization to find an effective means of collection and distribution. To best meet this need, information architecture helps to organize, prioritize and manage the generation, capture and distribution of information. This white paper addresses the ten most critical questions about information architecture in respect to its value in today's evolving business environment. [ia/ - news for information architects]

Yet another thing to get around to.

10:42:53 AM •  • comment