Digital Transformation in the Enterprise

Helping our Community... Let me count the ways

Sometimes we forget just how fortunate we are. I'm lucky in that I have a roof to sleep under tonight, a warm meal will be on the table, and I'll be surrounded by wonderful and loving family. Damn I'm lucky.

Many can't say the same. It's so important to not lose cite of that.

I do my best to give back to the community, but can NEVER do enough. Whenever possible, I spend time volunteering at a wonderful place called 'Tony La Russa'a Animal Rescue Foundation' here in the Bay Area. These folks are the best of the best - taking dogs and cats scheduled to be euthanized and keeping them until they find permanent homes.

Yesterday during a discussion with global Marketing employees, EMC CMO Jeremy Burton issued the challenge to his global team - How can we help? How can you individually make a difference - and what can we do if we came together as a team with a more orchestrated effort?

Little Things Make a Difference

Watching the news is fun these days, huh? I usually follow it up by running full speed into a wall a few times. It adds to the overall experience.

Suffice it to say the new administration has the weight of the world on them. I've been using this of late to help put even my worst days in context. I'd much prefer deal with a site outage here and there versus having "Save the planet" on my To Do list.

All of this has me thinking - What can I do? Sure I wish I had a spare billion to throw into the kitty - but I don't. However, there are things I can personally do to effect change.

iCANN and the new TLD strategy

If the title drew you in, you already have context. If not, give a read to this WSJ article, this piece from ReadWriteWeb or visit iCANN's site directly.

This isn't a for / against post... Rather, I'm trying to learn more on the topic. This feels like a big and complex change, and I've been surprised by the lack of discussions across the blogosphere... I'd think this would be a rampant topic... Perhaps I'm missing the discussion. If so, links are welcome.

To date, we've been saddled with the same handful of TLD's (top level domains). You may not know the term TLD, but you use them everyday... Think .COM, .ORG, GOV, etc;. TLD's are complimented by geo specific domains (.FR, .US, .EU, etc).

In simplest terms, the change likely to be introduced next year will allow us to register *anything* as a top level domain - at a hefty cost.

So, we could set off to register the brand EMC as a top level domain for a projected cost of $185k. If I put on my brand steward hat, we absolutely need to do this. But, from a cost POV, is it imperative? And - does acquiring the EMC TLD truly protect the brand?

As I consider the explosive growth of the web, and from an ease of use perspective for the audience, there's clearly value in grabbing a brands domain. As example, it would enable new, more simplified urls such as 

EMC (as opposed to EMC.com)

Support.EMC 

Community.EMC

Product.EMC

I suppose the syntax of emails that we've known for years would also change... User@EMC  - no more .com.

Good stuff, right? But, consider all of the brand grabbing we've seen within the existing TLD's. I have to imagine this will be even more rampant under the new strategy. Beyond a rather hefty price-tag and some registration process issues to overcome, what prevents me from registering other brands? 

Even more importantly, how about more common terms - Storage? Business? Commerce? I'd imagine we'll see a mass rush to scoop up such TLD's  by those with very deep pockets only to subsequently sell them to the right bidder. In theory, if I owned support, as example, there's nothing stopping me from running EMC.support IBM.support, etc;.

Further complicating the issue is the geo aspect. While it's suggested that only legit government agencies will be able to grab TLD's like America, California, and Bulgaria, I think we've seen how that goes with the .TV domain from Tuvalu. The risk - Will EMC.California be a legit EMC site? Can the EMC brand now be used by 'Eddie's Muffins and Chowder" if they're based in California (assuming a legit agency picks up .California?).

This is complex stuff. We spend a significant amount of $$ each year protecting and managing the thousands of domains we own. Given ongoing global economic uncertainty, and what feels like a myriad of complicated and unanswered questions, I'm just not feeling comfortable with where all of this could go.

Again, not trying to take a for / against position... I see a need to evolve beyond the rather simplistic domain model in place today... Rather, am thirsty for more info and your POV.

 

Social Media, CNN and Gustav

Knock on wood - So far, 9:36AM PST, looks like things in Gustav's path are holding up relatively well... The images from Katrina help remind just why these poor folks don't need a repeat.

With regards to Social Media - it's been impressive to watch CNN adopt platforms like Facebook and Twitter to engage in real time discussions with viewers. It looks like the activity is isolated to a particular program with host Rick Sanchez - perhaps as CNN tests the waters with the medium.

CNN used this Twitter feed to engage with viewers in real-time. The whole thing felt quite dynamic, with the show basically taking and answering questions and comments from viewers throughout the program. What struck me last night was the questions coming from the audience. They were relevant to the story but loosely off topic at the same time - helping provide a much broader discussion around the impact of Gustav and the region.

There's plenty of discussion going on around this... Some good - some bad. I think the key point here is not about Rick Sanchez or CNN or Twitter... Rather the convergence of one way and interactive mediums and perhaps a preview of what's to come in the future. I noticed fellow Tweeter and SM advocate Pistachio was influencing the conversation last night and provided her thoughts on the topic.

Nice to see a major news outlet such as CNN engaging viewers in real time with Social Media.

The Candidates and the Community

I received a LinkedIn request today and followed the link to accept... And there he was, Senator John McCain asking me "What is the biggest challenge America faces?".

I've been impressed with the way the candidates have embraced Social Media to connect with the voters...