Oct 4, 2023 | AI, Blockchain, Innovation, Transformation
My Journey at the Intersection of AI and Blockchain in Business
Delve into a firsthand exploration of the powerful fusion of AI and Blockchain in the business landscape. Learn from personal experiences, understand the synergy between scarcity and abundance, and witness the democratization of AI. From enhancing compliance and transparency to redefining sectors like service and manufacturing, discover how these exponential technologies are reshaping business paradigms. Join this transformative journey to future-proof your enterprise.
Introduction: A Personal Reflection on Exponential Technologies
I wrote an article for ExO Insight Exponential Technologies in May: The Intersection of Blockchain and AI. Since then, I’ve witnessed an unprecedented acceleration in technological innovation. The merger of Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) has brought about a revolutionary shift that’s too compelling to ignore. If you’re a CEO of a mid-size business like many of the colleagues I’ve spoken to, you’ll find that the union of blockchain’s unparalleled security and transparency with AI’s intelligence creates incredible opportunities. These opportunities can transform your focus on growth, innovation in operational efficiency, and future-proofing your business.
Navigating the Duality: When Scarcity Meets Abundance
I recently tuned into an Ark Investment Bitcoin podcast, where a fascinating concept caught my attention: “The scarcity of Bitcoin is hitting the infinity of AI.” Think about it. AI can mass-produce endless content and analyze data sets that are virtually infinite. Meanwhile, the scarcity inherent in blockchain—especially visible in Bitcoin—brings value to each piece of data or content. This interplay between scarcity and abundance can be a strategic lever for decision-making. For instance, you can use blockchain to certify the quality and origin of products in your supply chain. Simultaneously, AI algorithms can streamline shipping routes and reduce transportation costs, enhancing operational efficiency.
Are Blockchain and AI Rivals or Teammates? A Case for Synergy
One of the questions I frequently consider is whether blockchain and AI are competitors or collaborators. What I’ve found is they are most effective as allies. For those focused on innovation, imagine blockchain enabling a new democratization of AI algorithms. Your organization could offer specialized AI services in a blockchain-secured marketplace, opening new revenue streams and making high-end AI services accessible to the masses.
To me, one of the most transformative applications of AI is around governance and compliance. Let’s say you operate in the healthcare industry. Smart contracts powered by AI algorithms could automatically enforce HIPAA regulations or GDPR compliance, thereby mitigating risks associated with human errors or oversight. This is a tangible solution to the constant struggle to ensure regulatory compliance.
I find the ability of blockchain to audit AI behavior nothing short of groundbreaking. This level of transparency is incredibly empowering for CEOs who need to report to stakeholders and regulators. Your company could, for example, maintain an immutable ledger of all AI-powered financial transactions, implanting an unparalleled level of trust and operational efficiency.
My Personal AI: A Lifelong Learning and Defensive Tool
The rapid developments in AI have made me realize that each of us needs a personal AI—not just to foster a growth mindset but as a defense mechanism. With platforms like ChatGPT evolving to include real-time internet browsing capabilities, we can leverage AI for a plethora of business functions—from quick market research to instant customer service responses. For example, you could use a personal AI to perform a sentiment analysis on customer reviews. This can offer valuable insights into your product’s strengths and weaknesses, helping you make data-driven decisions. But with great power comes great responsibility—it’s our duty to ensure that we utilize AI responsibly, mitigating the risks of misinformation.
Making it Real: Practical Applications Across Sectors
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I’ve found that applying AI and blockchain technology in the service sector can transform customer experiences. For example, an AI algorithm could predict customer needs based on past interactions, and thanks to blockchain, these transactions can be securely and transparently recorded. This paves the way for efficient, personalized customer service that can significantly impact your bottom line.
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If you’re in manufacturing, consider the profound implications of integrating AI and blockchain in your supply chain. I’ve seen AI applications that can predict machine failures while blockchain can verify the authenticity of replacement parts. The two together enhance the supply chain’s reliability and integrity, effectively augmenting operational efficiency.
Conclusion: The Time for Action is Now
As a CEO deeply committed to growth and responsibility, I see the convergence of blockchain and AI as a toolkit that addresses our common challenges.
From identifying growth opportunities to compliance oversight. As we embrace these technologies, we’re not just solving today’s problems but shaping the industry’s future. And in doing so, we’re actively future-proofing our business.
Mar 10, 2023 | Disruption, Industry, Telecom, Transformation
The Telecom industry is undergoing rapid changes; therefore, telecommunications and disruption management experts must embrace innovative and disruptive strategies to remain competitive.
The Telecom industry is projected to reach $1.4 trillion in revenue in 2023, as per Statista, highlighting the scale of the opportunity for businesses willing to take risks and be bold.
The shift to 5G, the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), and the increased use of cloud computing are three trends currently shaping the telecommunications industry. These trends provide exciting new opportunities for innovation and growth, and businesses that embrace them will be well-positioned to thrive.
According to a report by MarketsandMarkets, the global 5G services market size is expected to grow from $53.93 billion in 2020 to $249.27 billion by 2026 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31.9% during the forecast period. This growth is driven by increasing demand for high-speed internet connectivity, rising adoption of IoT devices, and the growing need for low-latency connectivity.
The IoT market is also expected to experience significant growth in the coming years. According to a report by Business Insider Intelligence, the global installed base of IoT devices is expected to grow from 7 billion in 2018 to 21.5 billion in 2025, at a CAGR of 14%. The report also suggests that businesses adopting IoT technologies could see a $1.6 trillion boost to their bottom line by 2025.
Mid-market enterprises must also conduct a competitive analysis to help them understand the industry’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. By identifying these key areas, businesses can develop targeted strategies that address their unique challenges. However, sometimes it is not enough.
The Exponential Organization (ExO) framework is one tool businesses can use to stay ahead of the curve in Telecom. It enables companies to create new markets and value networks by focusing on critical areas such as staff on demand, community and crowd, and algorithms. Adopting this framework can help businesses stay agile and respond quickly to embrace technological disruption.
Innovation in emerging technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, metaverse, and blockchain are essential to creating value propositions and enhancing customer experiences. Therefore, mid-market enterprises in the industry must remain customer-centric and stay on top of the latest trends to stay ahead of the competition.
Managing technological disruption is critical to achieving long-term success in the telecommunications industry. Mid-market enterprises must be proactive and willing to pivot quickly to stay ahead of the curve. They must also remain close to their customers, listen to their needs, and adapt to changing market conditions.
To validate this message, a study by Accenture found that companies that invest in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and the cloud can expect to see revenue growth rates that are up to 10 times higher than those of companies that don’t invest in these technologies.
Transformation is crucial for mid-market telecom companies to remain competitive and adapt to the ever-evolving market. Based on our experience, mid-market telecom firms must consider several principles to achieve successful digital transformation.
- Enhance customer, employee, and ecosystem stakeholder experiences!
- Identify the necessary insights, data, analysis, and operational models.
- Develop a platform strategy focusing on agility, speed, and data management.
- Create a comprehensive approach that fosters collaboration and innovative thinking!
- Improve internal and external company systems and processes’ resilience, security, and ethical technology.
Telecom businesses must have a precise strategic business aim for their transformation, analyzing their potential to adapt and succeed. Then, they can build a digital strategy and business model that aligns with their goals and evaluates each digital principle’s impact on their business.
Rather than beginning with technological solutions, mid-market telecom should consider the technology requirements aligned with the digital business strategy and how the business goals and required technology will impact operations and the workforce.
Conclusion
Mid-market enterprises in the telecommunications industry must embrace disruption, implement at least four exponential organization attributes, consider the five digital principles to remain competitive, and adapt to the constantly changing market. Being proactive and adaptable in the face of technological disruption is critical to long-term success. Therefore, the call to action is for businesses to embrace and implement disruptive strategies today to stay ahead of the curve. By doing so, they can create new markets, enhance customer experiences, and achieve long-term success.
*I used OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Grammarly tools to generate some of the content for this post.
Dec 20, 2021 | Innovation, abundance, Transformation
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a reality; many industries feel the effects of technological and generation disruption. Airbnb is a prime example of a company that has effectively leveraged the Internet to grow from small businesses to disrupt the hotel industry. Today, founded in 2008, Airbnb is more significant than the world’s top five hotel brands put together.
Successful companies wanting to lead or at least stay ahead of their industry disruption embrace the rapid progression of technological advancements to explore with new approaches what it is holding for their industry. They must be ready to learn from inexpensive failures. They will need to learn how to connect and scale the abundance of opportunities in terms of, for example, talent, data, or capital.
We see fully tech-enabled experiences in traditional fragmented industries such as property management, health & wellness, and conference planning. Technology plays a pivotal role in streamlining the operational complexities of managing hundreds of properties, patients, or events/trade shows and disintermediating these industries by replacing middlemen with little value.
We believe for an existing business, the path is in transforming, not just innovating their industry. Successful CEOs will need to change their core business and build new edge business units simultaneously. This transformation is not a simple task, but it is possible. Moreover, it is the best way to combat the immune system of organizations. Amazon/AWS and Apple/iPhone are great examples of how large companies create new successful business units on the EDGE to drive top-line growth while adjusting their core business and culture to respond more rapidly to changes in the external world.
Exponential transformation is a detailed implementation handbook for becoming an Exponential Organization enabling organizations to speed up their transformation and overcome the obstacles to success. At Escalate Group, we have practical experience creating new exponential business units while transforming your traditional business.
It is possible to remove friction, pain, and cost from traditional fragmented industries, such as reimagining rental, healthcare, learning, or networking experiences and helping to improve the quality of service and increase the productivity of the participants in such fragmented industries.
Oct 13, 2020 | Innovation, abundance, Brainstorming, Collaborative work, Collective Intelligence, ideas, Mid-market, online event, Online Work, OpenExO, Opportunity, Sharing Economy, Small Business, Staff on Demand, Swarm, Teleworking, Transformation
Now more than ever, companies need fresh ideas, creativity, and critical thinking to overcome many of the situations that a world pandemic has pushed us against the wall. In many organizations, we encounter a significant amount of uncertainty when making decisions and face gaps in expertise within their workforce in certain areas that seem to be the right ones to explore for the business.
The power of collaborative work
We are aware there is an abundance of brilliant minds with the experience and talent that can collaborate temporarily as a pool of prequalified workers with availability to share their knowledge. To leverage these external workforces, we hired them for our customers on an as-needed basis to conduct innovation brainstorming sessions, to help companies evaluate and analyze ideas that have not been in-depth discussed.
With this concept in mind, we are addressing the power of Brainstorm Swarms. Brainstorm Swarms are online interactive sessions of two hours where a company team can pose questions on specific topics related to their industry. The inquiries are presented to a Global carefully vetted group of advisors and experts that will provide useful insights, contact, recommendations, and breakthrough solutions you can never imagine on your own.
The power of collaborative work and collective intelligence is a valuable resource to test ideas and explore opportunities from different angles provided by the experience of those who already went through that path.
How to engage in a Brainstorm Swarm
Before going into a Brainstorm Swarm session, we will assess our customers’ needs to gather a clear view of the strategic thinking that the company is willing to get insights and recommendations. Based on that, we will proceed to engage the best minds of advisors and experts who have the experience and knowledge of each field of action to align their inputs with our customers’ expectations.
The practice of Innovation Swarms has introduced companies to fresh thinking and disruptive innovation in a practical and customized way to tune up projects, concepts and recalibrate ideas from its conception to maturity.
If you are interested in knowing more about the revolutionary concept of Brainstorm Swarms, contact us to explore more and start the process of bringing on board brilliant ideas to re-imagine your organization.
Jul 7, 2020 | Small Business, Digital Transformation, Disrupcion, ExO Workshop, Exponential Attributes, Exponential Organizations, Exponential Technologies, Feria Virtual, Mid-market, Transformation
Due to Covid-19, and currently, the race riots, the most challenging hit sector in the global economy is the Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Leveraging the dramatic success of the ExO World Digital Summit, HealRWorld united with ExO World created ExO World: Small Business Summit to help small companies surviving 2020 and creating a thriving future.
Society is being transformed today by the major forces of COVID-19, technological advancements, and environmental and social challenges. Many organizations are ill-prepared to address these issues. Society is ill-prepared to adapt.
Empowering Small Business
Escalate Group cooperated with the 5000-strong OpenExO Global Transformation Ecosystem, X Prize Foundation, Abundance360, Vortex, HighVibe, Rokk3r, Fastrack Institute, ExO Speakers and Fluid Chains. Besides, the summit’s objective was to use this moment to inspire and empower global small businesses to transform the world with new disruptive technology and strategies that focus on serving and positively impacting their communities and beyond.
This July 14, 2020, Escalate Group co-founders Olga Calvache and Cesar Castro joined a selected group of speakers at the ExO World: Small Business Summit Online. Among the other featured speakers, we found Paul Polman, Salim Ismail, Michele Bongiovanni, Leslie Short, John Denton, Matthew Gamser, Anakha Coman, John Mackey, and Andrew Yang.
“Amazing… I have met amazing people and have a number of follow up conversations across the globe” Nicole Dreiske (ExO World Speaker – Screen Smart.)
The interactive workshop facilitated by Escalate Group partners, guided the participants to identify, adapt, and create new business opportunities coming out from disruption. Escalate Group’s recommendations to face the adversity and gain an advantage, relying on proven practices trusted by leading organizations around the world, helped small business to learn how to leverage the crises to come out ahead stronger.
“Escalate Group workshop was an awesome hands-on experience to re-imaging my organization,” said Felicia Santos, Philippine business owner in New York.
Mar 28, 2019 | Advisory Services, Business Coaching, Consulting, Digital Transformation, ExO, Growth, Mid-market, Small Business, Transformation
The combined effect of new exponential technologies is changing the world faster than before. Peter Diamandis’s 6Ds (Digitization, Deception, Disruption, Demonetization, Dematerialization, and Democratization) provide the best ideas on the “how” this is happening.
There is a clear need for transformation and re-inventing our organizations. As coined by David Rose “Any company designed for success in the 20th century is doomed to failure on the 21st”
Mid-market companies’ leaders should constantly ask two questions that can help them win in today’s competitive and disruptive world: 1) How do I always create new customer value? Also, 2) How do I always optimize and speed up the processes of my organization?
However, that’s not enough to keep up with today’s Fourth Industrial Revolution. The ExO attributes from Exponential Organizations by @SalimIsmail, are essential to connect not only Corporates and Unicorns but also mid-market companies to the abundance of opportunities in the new digital world and to help these organizations to manage that abundance.
The Massive Transformative Purpose (MTP) is the base of any Exponential Organization, and it serves as a guiding principle when critical decisions need to be made.
From our experience working with founders, CEOs and leadership teams in the mid-market segment, the MTP helps to identify priorities. Depending on the industry, geography and those priorities, the ExO attributes to implement varies for each organization, we have found the following as core attributes for several mid-market companies:
– Developing a Community that interacts with the core team of the organization via social media and mobile apps to for example get product feedback and find contractors and experts.
– Engagement to connect customers and their ecosystem to create network effects and feedback loops with extraordinary reach and a positive impact on the business and the participants.
– Real-time Dashboards to track and monitor data from critical processes, teams OKRs (Objective and Key Results) as well as from for example of a proprietary mobile app.
– Establish a culture of Experimentation, growth hacking and constant iteration through their teams. A culture where people is willing to fail, and pivot as needed with constant product iteration and LEAN approach.
Our involvement within the ExO ecosystem has shown that transforming an existing mid-market company into an Exponential Organization is doable but requires three things:
1. A company culture that can quickly adapt to rapid and often radical change.
2. A visionary leader who has the full support of the board and senior management.
3. A group of ambitious and motivated people ready to transform and scale the organization.
We have seen lots of companies passively being disrupted; people don’t see this coming. At Escalate Group, we embed ExO principles into pre-existing mid-market organizations—to help them to explode their performance.
