March 18th, 2007
IT integration is a critical problem in cross-border deals, according to a recent survey done by the Economist Intelligence Unit for Accenture. A failure to identify and properly address IT-integration issues can potentially wipe out a deal’s entire value, and yet many respondents concede they have yet to solve IT issues. Only 30% of the corporations surveyed pronounced the integration of IT a success for their most recent cross-border deal, compared to about 50% for their most recent domestic deal. Cross-border acquisitions were also more difficult to get right in the cultural, financial and operational areas. Respondents pointed to the early involvement of IT and adequate due diligence as the keys to successful IT integration - but many also admitted that they did not always involve IT as early or as thoroughly as they should have.
Filed under: M&A by admin
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March 18th, 2007
What have senior executives learned from their kids lately? In a survey for Google, we asked businesspeople to name internet innovations that they had discovered in the last 12 months by talking to their kids or other young people.
- Blogs, which took off in 2002, were the number one choice, with 50% of executives saying they had been pointed to them in the last year.
- MySpace and other social networking sites came in second with 44%.
- And in third place, with 38%, were virtual activity spaces like World of Warcraft, Second Life and Everquest.
Is the business world ready for the coming of age of this new group of c0nsumers? It doesn’t sound like it.
Filed under: Web 2.0 by admin
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March 18th, 2007
The EIU recently did a survey for FAST, the embedded search company based in Oslo, on how large corporations plan to use Web 2.0. Overwhelming majorities of big companies do plan to use it, and expect it to both increase revenues and reduce costs. But how they plan to use it differs by industry.
In most consumer-oriented industries, customer acquisition and brand-building via communities is the biggest draw. An example is Procter & Gamble’s Capessa community site for women: “Capessa is a gathering place for women looking to change their lives — from getting fit to finding love, changing careers to dealing with illness — and to share the wisdom they have learned along the way.”
In highly security-conscious industries like banking, the Web 2.0 focus tends more towards building internal knowledge through wikis and blogs. As one Japanese banker put it: “We’re a little nervous about putting ourselves out there on the internet. Some of our customers are more sophisticated than we are.”
Filed under: Web 2.0 by admin
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