EVENT: 9 April 2003 – Business Innovation + Technology
Delivering Business Value & Sustainable Growth with Emerging Technologies

Business Innovation & Technology addresses emerging business issues related to Mobile, Web & Digital TV, helping you to ensure that new technologies can deliver business value to your company, service your customers more cost-effectively and contribute to sustainable growth.

In our forthcoming event, we’ll be addressing the following key issues:

• What’s the best way to approach new technology related business opportunities?
• Does your company take a lead in testing the potential of new technology or wait for others to prove market acceptance?
• How do you balance your investments between assessing major new opportunities, versus running your existing business?
• Do you mitigate risk by partnering and when you assess new opportunities, is this led by IT, marketing or strategy?

To help us, our lead case study comes from financial services company Prudential, who have taken a leading role in testing Digital TV concepts. Prudential will share the lessons it has learnt about the benefits and limitations of digital TV, what does and doesn’t work for the customer, how to effectively manage the mix of multiple customers & multiple channels, and getting marketing, business development and IT people working effectively together.

The case study presentation by Prudential will be followed by a round table discussion between Members. There will also be a second case study from leading pharmaceutical company Novartis, who have been piloting a fascinating & highly secretive SMS based service with medical patients and are now ready to share their approach & experience with the Community.

Join us for this initiative designed to help you, our members, to look beyond today’s pressing issues, and assess the potential business impact of near-future technologies.

Initiative: Improving Customer Relationships
Keep your Customers Satisfied

The fundamental goals of CRM – acquiring, retaining and extending customer relationships – haven’t changed much over time. But the strategies and tactics for achieving those goals are undergoing substantial change, largely through the utilisation of new IT based opportunities.

Knexus launches its latest Community initiative this week, looking at how companies are using the Web to get closer to their end users without dis-intermediating existing sales channels. With the benefit of new tools providing enhanced intelligence, companies such as Honda can use the web to both accelerate the speed and accuracy of new product development, based on feedback from customers, and more effectively convey their brand personality & values to end-users.

This initiative kicks-off with a Knexus ThoughtPiece, which assesses some of the corporate issues and successes and is available to our members.

On 26 February, we’ll be holding an offline gathering of Community members focused on this initiative. The event host is Honda (see EVENT below), who will share insights to both their new pan-European customer relationship strategy and the new web tools developed to help them achieve their objectives.

Host & case study from
 

EVENT: 19 March 2003 – Elevator
Managing your Project Portfolio to Deliver on the Strategic Vision

How do you ensure your project investments are delivering the maximum value for your business and providing the highest probability of achieving your strategic objectives? Is your company undertaking the right mix of projects e.g. core infrastructure, new products and channels.

These questions are not new, but some of the thinking on how to manage diverse project portfolios to meet strategic objectives is.

We’re bringing together a cross-industry group of senior management (members) to assess both the processes and techniques required to successfully undertake portfolio management, and how to overcome organisational barriers.

To set the scene, Standard Chartered will present a case study explaining their approach and demonstrating the tools and methods they have used to visualise and analyse the banks portfolio of projects. Following the case study, there will be a round table discussion to compare & contrast the methods and approaches being adopted by different member companies.

After our highly successful recent meeting at BAT, this event represents an excellent opportunity for the Community to continue the debate, enhance understanding & connect up with potential partners.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND
This event is likely to be of particular interest to senior management responsible for: Strategy, Finance, eBusiness, Change & Programme management

Feedback: Turning Strategy into Action

On February 5th, we held an event hosted by BAT to address the issue of how you turn strategy into action. The event kicked off with a case study presentation from BAT’s Enterprise Development team and was followed by a robust, roundtable discussion, set against the splendid backdrop of the river Thames and panoramic views of London’s most famous landmarks.

The room was full to capacity, with senior executive representation from the following member companies: AXA PPP, British Library, Britvic, Cadbury Schweppes, Coca – Cola Enterprises Ltd, Diageo, Direct Line, Marsh, Nestlé UK Ltd, Royal Mail Group, Sony & Standard Chartered Bank

Judging from the feedback, the high level of discussion and activity over drinks and canapés after the discussions, together with frequent exchanges of business cards, there are a significant number of follow-ups that have now been initiated within the Community. We identified at least five member-to-member meetings being arranged.

The following are some of the comments received through our feedback form:

   “Very good insight on how different cultures/styles impact
      potential income.”
   “Challenges our current solutions.”
   “Disciplined approach to achieve clarity & focus."
   “Good group discussion & insight into industry news and issues.”
   “Stimulating presentation which put some new thoughts on the
      table for me, but also reinforced some of my own views.”
   “Clear process I can leverage."


If you missed this event but are interested in the topic, or know colleagues who would be, we have a follow-up Strategy initiative starting in March, including an event at Standard Chartered (see Event information below).