The global business community has entered an era of fundamental transition, affecting individual organizations and entire industries.  Among the causes for this new fluidity are the explosive growth of new technologies, financial uncertainty, and the complex impact of economic globalization. 

In order to remain agile and competitive, corporations are using new tools to optimize their processes as they innovate, merge with and acquire new partners, or restructure their operations to meet dynamic competitive forces.  The mobile web, online social applications, and the internet itself can be of significant value for individual companies in connecting to and managing key constituencies, whether current employees, new employee groups, offshore business units, customers, or suppliers.

Business Issue:  How can companies use digital media technologies to optimize processes of change and corporate growth in a highly fluid and competitive environment?  This Knowledge Series is designed to discuss these issues in a forum setting with leading practitioners who are using digital media to transform their companies, engage their stakeholders and ease the transition to a new, more agile organization.

Audience: The series will be of value to executives responsible for organizational development, planning, operations management, corporate strategy, digital strategy, innovation, communication and brand management.

Series Host

Jim Lichtenberg Program Director, The Conference Board Council on Innovation and Digital Strategy Council Jim Lichtenberg's expertise is in e-business strategy. Lichtenberg has successfully completed business-building assignments for clients such as Prudential, Nestle, John Wiley, AT&T, and DuPont. His articles on technology and culture have appea... Full Bio

The Emergent Organization: Enabling Change and Growth Through Digital Media (Part 1)

PART 1: Embracing the Mobile Web For Business Transformation

15 July, 2010 | ()

One of the major transformations accomplished by the Internet, social media, and the mobile web, is the empowerment of consumers.    Organizations are transforming their business processes to take advantage of consumer input via media of all kinds, whether for purposes of marketing, content development, Beta testing of innovations, or new product and service ideas.

CNN, founded as a fulltime television news network, has successfully moved digital media to the center of its business model, transforming itself in response to a rapidly evolving challenge to its audience base and core technology.  The lessons learned in this transition have wide application for companies seeking to successfully implement a consumer-led strategy enabled by the mobile web.

Speakers

Jennifer Martin Director of PR CNN Jennifer Martin is responsible for the strategic development and execution of public relations activities for CNN’s digital networks, platforms and extensions, including CNN.com and the recently launched iReport.com, CNN’s first uncens... Full Bio

The Emergent Organization: Enabling Change and Growth Through Digital Media (Part 2)

PART 2: Social Media as a Force-Multiplier for Knowledge Transfer

22 July, 2010 | ()

The process of organizing and sharing knowledge within a company is critical at a time of intense change and challenge in the market place.   Only through adroit knowledge management, increasingly enhanced by the internal uses of digital media, can large companies remain agile enough to recognize and embrace new opportunities.  

In this session you will learn about these processes as well as key emerging trends:

• Wikis for a one-stop knowledge shop and collaborative development
• Twitter for sharing and transferring specific knowledge in real-time
• Virtual environments for experiential learning

As well as some of the key challenges,

• Learning in public
• Convening online conversations without controlling them
• Dealing with the pervasiveness of electronic content.

Speakers

Kent Greenes Program Director, Knowledge and Collaboration Council The Conference Board Kent A. Greenes is a program director for The Conference Board Knowledge and Collaboration Council. His publications for The Conference Board include two research reports, It’s Not Just Your Children’s Facebook Anymore: Using ... Full Bio

The Emergent Organization: Enabling Change and Growth Through Digital Media (Part 3)

PART 3: Increased Organizational Agility through Online Communities

29 July, 2010 | ()

Managing a geographically dispersed company, especially one with a relatively ‘flat’ organizational structure, requires a level of employee interaction and employee ‘buy-in’ that cannot be easily accomplished via the more standard management method of command and control.   The agility a company needs to react quickly to changes in the marketplace is greatly enhanced by the quick and rich information about colleagues which social media now make possible.

State Farm is actively working to make internal and external social networking available to all of its associates. Over the next year State Farm will deploy tools internally to help associates connect to each other, share knowledge, get assistance in solving problems, and find important information.

Speakers

	Carol Csanda Director, Knowledge Management State Farm Insurance Carol Csanda has enjoyed a 30-year career with State Farm Insurance Companies. She spent 16 years in claims and operations management in Illinois and on the executive staff of the Ohio Region as Division Manager.  At the Corporate Office sinc... Full Bio
	Sam Howard Director, Enterprise Internet Solutions State Farm Insurance Sam Howard has been with State Farm for 10 years with the majority of that time focused on Information Technology. Currently Sam is sponsoring the State Farm Information Workplace Initiative. Information Workplace is the next generation digital wo... Full Bio