Face IT - IESE Technology Blog

Get in With the Out Crowd

ekaganer — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:56:29 +0000

In conversation with IESE Prof. Evgeny Kaganer, the co-founder of Crowdspring Mike Samson talks about how crowdsourcing creates a community that goes beyond the mere marketplace. While the marketplace simply connects the seller with the buyer, crowdsourcing creates a community with an opportunity for growth and learning. Large companies use crowdsourcing to connect directly with their customers. LG didn’t use it for R&D but to hear the views of LG mobile users. Samson says that crowdsourcing gives people an opportunity to compete in industries in ways that they never could have before.

Too Much Information

jzamora — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:17:41 +0000

The data explosion is revolutionizing social science because it allows us to look at the individual and not just at the organizational level, says Prof. Javier Zamora. However, our databases aren’t designed to cope with these quantities and we need new data management tools as computers enter a domain previously only inhabited by humans.

Game is Over for TV

jvalor — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:22:24 +0000

Times are changing for TV channels, which have existed until now because they owned exclusive rights to broadcast content. Now anyone can broadcast content through the internet, which will make TV channels irrelevant and prompt new ways for content to be monetized and and “hits” to be discovered.

The Shift to Digital Content

ekaganer — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:46:33 +0000

What impact will a digital, paperless environment have on students’ learning experience? asks Prof. Evgeny Káganer. In an experiment providing half of Executive MBA students with paper materials and the other half with tablets, the main concern of the latter was the inability to view more than one document at a time. However, this was offset by accessibility, versatility and the ease of searching. The move to digital means that educational institutions face some major adaptations over the next few years, Káganer concludes.

The Age of Movement, Touch and Sound

ssieber — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:46:16 +0000

Text is essentially over and we’re moving into the era of movement, touch and sound, says Prof. Sandra Sieber. The importance of text will decline over the next five years as voice-recognition programs become more sophisticated and the technical obstacles to transmitting live video are overcome. Instead of writing we will talk and see. Meanwhile, with its technologies that eliminate the need for joysticks, the game industry has shown the possibilities of using physical movement.

All the Knowledge That’s Fit To Print

jzamora — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 08:43:49 +0000

The New York Times slogan of “all the news that’s fit to print” reflects a scarcity of knowledge and the need for an editorial filter, says Prof. Javier Zamora. The Encyclopedia Britannica, which has stopped publishing in book form after more than 250 years, cannot compete with the resources of Wikipedia which has 50 times more entries than the EB. What has happened is the cost of transaction – of search, coordination, transmission and storage – has been reduced to almost zero. “On the internet, all news is fit to print,” says Zamora.

Is this a Google Mis-app?

jvalor — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:58:59 +0000

Travel agencies are among Google’s most important clients and Josep Valor wonders if the search engine hasn’t shot itself in the foot with its application that allows users to search for travel bargains. Once users find the best offer they bypass the agent and go directly to the airline’s site to book it, allowing the airline to offer hotels and car hire, precisely the sort of business that has kept travel agents alive.

News in the Palm of Your Hand

ssieber — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:36:32 +0000

Rob Grimshaw, managing director of FT.com, believes that mobile devices are the future of newspapers and says the handset makers are the Financial Times’ partners in reaching readers. He adds that the HTML5 is the talk of the town and thinks it will open up the applications market and make it more diverse. He says there is stiff competition between the U.S., Europe and Asia to win leadership of the mobile market and points out that, while the U.S. was behind four or five years ago, it has now caught up. Europe can lead if its focus is right, he says.

Digital Driver for European Growth: Sandra Sieber talks to Christian Hernandez, Director of Platform Partnerships at Facebook

ssieber — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:16:09 +0000

“Europe is a center of innovation for social networks, for mobile and gaming,” says Facebook’s Christian Hernandez. “Good stuff is coming out of Berlin and Turkey and Finland. And innovation and entrepreneurship is what drives growth, so there’s hope for Europe.” He adds that, while many people see HTML5 as the future of the Internet, behind it there are some missing pieces of technology. However, Facebook’s apps are using HTML5 and the company is investing in its development.

Across the Digital Divide

jzamora — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:18:55 +0000

Much of the final day of the World Mobile Congress was spent talking about emerging markets, says Prof. Javier Zamora. We are on transition from connectivity to hyper-connectivity and we are not far off the figure 50 billion interconnected devices. Costs continue to fall and a smart phone that now costs $400 will soon sell for $20. However, only 2 billion of the 7 billion people in the world are connected and this has created a digital divide. Meanwhile, 4G telecoms will be able to work in real time, making it possible to design smart cars and smart cities.