Entries by Ross Dawson

Creating a Return on Investment (ROI) calculation for Enterprise 2.0 and internal social media

A major challenge for organizations that are considering internal social media initiatives is that a business case including a financial justification is frequently required. To be frank, I think ROI calculations for social initiatives are in most cases a waste of time, because so many of the benefits and costs are unknowable before the initiative. […]

Entrepreneurial migration: It’s not brain drain, it’s global network formation

I was recently interviewed by ABC TV for a segment on Australian entrepreneurs moving overseas. My key message was that we absolutely shouldn’t see this as “brain drain”, but the formation of rich networks that are enormous enablers for the economy and entrepreneurial opportunities in the future. The same messages apply to any country, but […]

[VIDEO] The world’s first full motion-graphics presentation

In late April I gave a keynote at TheNextWeb 2012 conference in Amsterdam on The Future of Crowds. I have for many years intended to develop a full motion graphics presentation. I have long used highly visual presentations to accompany my keynotes, often including numerous videos without sound as well an array of full screen […]

Disruptive innovation in professional services: the value in expertise

The concept of disruptive innovation is now well-recognized in business. It was originally described by Clayton Christensen almost exclusively in terms of products – often technology-based – such as storage devices. Disruptive innovation can happen in any industry, however it can need translation and interpretation for other domains such as services. I recently I ran […]

Designing content for the reality of multi-screen access: smartphone, tablet, PC, TV

The relatively recent rise of smartphones and tablets has changed how we use tech and how we consume news. However, while they have eroded usage of the long established interfaces of PCs, laptops, and TVs, they certainly haven’t supplanted them. This has lead us to the dawning of new phase in which a large proportion […]

The law of requisite variety: Why flexibility and adaptability are essential for success

I first came across the law of requisite variety almost 20 years ago. Ross Ashby proposed the idea in his 1956 book An Introduction to Cybernetics (see p.202-218), and expanded on it in his paper Requisite variety and its implications for the control of complex systems. The idea became one of the foundational concepts of […]

Prediction: Video-conferencing will help drive increased business travel

Yesterday I gave the opening keynote at Global Business Travel Association Australia/NZ’s annual conference, on The Future of the Global Economy: The Opportunities. My keynote focused on the major economic, technological, and social shifts under way and how they impact business travel and how it is managed in organizations. Clearly a particularly pointed issue in […]