The Death of Place?

MOBILOCRACY: Spreading the Wealth of Mobile Connectivity

Evan Kaplan, President and CEO, iPass, predicts we're about to see a"destruction of place."

Subtitled THE INALIENABLE RIGHTS OF THE MOBILE WORKFORCE, Kaplan's presentation at GigaOm's Net:Work 2010, maps out a world where mobility or mobile work is the rule, rather than the exception that it was just a decade ago.

"Today's average mobile employee is 46 years old and lives outside of Silicon Valley," said Kaplan, whose research is based on the Mobile Workforce Report, a quarterly survey of about 2,000 of the 2.5 million iPass users.  "Main Streeters are catching up with the technological elite, many have multiple devices, and their embrace of smartphones and tablets are creating the largest workplace disruption since the PC."

Trends from the iPass Mobile Workforce Report include:

1. Security and cost / productivity imbalance
2. Hyper-connected workers are becoming a norm: only 6% of workers totally disconnect on vacation
3. Post PC - the device stack that lets me work across multiple devices [simultaneously]
4. Multi-generational and global dissemination of the mobile workforce continues.
5. Multiple devices: 50% have three devices

"A highly mobile lifestyle come certain habits," says Kaplan, "which is both highly beneficial and also potentially risky to the enterprise."

"For instance, devices are cheap, but the networks are expensive," said Kaplan. "Just look at the recent LTE high-speed mobile data announcement by Verizon, where a 5GB subscription at $50 per month, can be drained in less than two hours of video viewing."

According to Kaplan, whose company works with mobile enterprise customers, enterprises need to strike the fine balance between data security protection and mobile employee productivity.

"The dirty secret is that the most of these mobile devices are more secure than the PCs or laptops we provision," said Kaplan.

Finally, Kaplan discussed what he calls the Mobility Bill of Rights:

I have the right to stay connected, to access the best networks and services, choose what device I want to use," said Kaplan, "and I want to personalize it (make it my own)."

"I want to be free of security threats and not be deprived of IT support," he continued. "I am one person, so I want one account for all my devices, not one per device."

Through it all, Kaplan talks about the "death of location" as a norm, but says that location is even more important than it was before.

"We see the cropping up of co-working, including the local CitizenSpace [here in San Francisco]," said Kaplan. "We see Starbucks and other coffee shops positioning themselves as 'third space' locations, since the need to meet with a group—and even to be around others while you work on your own thing—is still a key factor."

Is Nimble Cool Again?

"Entrepreneurs used to brag about the size of their funding round; now they boast about how little money they need."

http://www.sanfranmag.com/story/on-the-wings-of-angels


iPhoned

Innovation meets KOSBE's Small Business and Entrepreneurship Program

The recent inclusion of a small business banquet for KOSBE, the Kingsport Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, has been a great success under KOSBE's first full-time executive director, Aundrea Wilcox.

Like the small business awards of the past, several winners in established categories were announced.

This year, though, the judges also awarded a new award, the  Innovation Award, to a company I helped in the past define its strategy enhance product marketing.

From the official press release:

The new Innovation Award was presented to RLH JR Inc a/k/a Patient Scrubs (Nancy Hart, et al.).  In April 2003, Nancy Hart’s husband was admitted to the hospital for heart surgery.  It was there that she observed the medical staff and other patients, and discovered a need for a new level of function in patient attire that also offered more dignity.  She stitched her first Patient Scrubs prototype for her husband to wear as an alternative to the traditional hospital gown.  After many iterations, she has developed a product that is delighting her customers at their time of greatest need.

It's great to see two startups I've been heavily involved with—KOSBE and PatientScrubs—come in to their own. Both are run by determined visionaries who have a passion for what they do.

A win for transparency

Having lived in the world of journalism—albeit only tech journalism—for more than a decade, I've encountered a number of companies that claim one thing publicly and another thing privately. Often these private companies are, at best, perturbed if one questions the claims, let alone publishes an article on the disconnect.

In the world of economic development, similar issues arise, where claims are made and then verified or questioned. Most are covered by the private side of the public-private partnership, even though the public desire is to have an accounting of where the funds are spent on a frequent, transparent basis.

From time to time, though, the hand of law must be applied to crack open the window so that the light of transparency can shine in.

Such was the case in mid-November in Kingsport, TN, when the parent company of the local newspaper filed suit against the county under the "open records law" that is often

“We take no pleasure in filing suit against Sullivan County for what the county’s own attorney agrees are clearly public records,” said Ted Como, managing editor of the Times-News, at the time of the lawsuit's filing. “But we have been given no choice due to the continuing refusal of Mayor Godsey to release information that is the property of county residents."

Turns out the saber-rattling worked: today, the newspaper announced a two-fold win for journalistic integrity: first, the records had been released shortly after the lawsuit's filing and public announcement; secondly, that the county mayor himself had covered the legal fees of the newspaper's parent company, so that the suit cost would not fall upon the county taxpayers.

Hats off to the newspaper for taking the unflinching high road in a matter of public record. In the days of WikiLeaks, it's nice to see the system work swiftly and correctly. And kudos to Sullivan County Mayor Steve Godsey for taking personal responsibility for the issue at hand.

Small Business Loans: The Conundrum

Today it appears that a new $30 billion loan program will be signed in to law. Yet, as one article points out, it may not do much to unclog the engine of economic growth that is small business.

Why? Because most small businesses aren't expanding in uncertain economic—and regulatory—times.

"Our business customers are mired in uncertainty and are reluctant to invest in their businesses," said William Chase, who is CEO of a Memphis community bank, Triumph Bank, adding that he's got enough money to cover the very limited number of loans that are being requested these days.

What about the loan program? Apparently Triumph isn't buying into it.

"We have taken a strategic decision not to have our primary regulator, the government, also be a partner in our bank," Chase said.

Food for thought.

How about a few investment tax credits instead? While I've been wary of SBA loans (express or otherwise) and don't recommend them to struggling companies due to the strings attached, I often recommend taking advantage of tax credits tied to investment. 

Investment tax credits seem a less underhanded way of wealth re-distribution (or an easy way to free the flow of capital, depending on your perspective).

Fenley's Glass

Don Fenley, who heads up the Kingsport Times-News electronic edition, does a good job of comparing the numbers for the national recession versus Kingsport's version. 

Fenley uses numbers to show that Kingsport's faring better than most places, but he also points out that the perception locally is one of fretfulness.

Fenley worked at a variety of newspapers, primarily in the Southwest (including Huntington Beach, CA) and the Pacific Northwest, before joining as editorial page editor at the Times-News in 1993. As such, he has a good perspective on how things work in areas beyond the Northeast Tennessee region.

While he doesn't come right out and say "we're doing better than most" in his blog post, it's implied, and I tend to agree. For all those who think the local economy is bad, it's nothing compared to many other parts of the country. From Las Vegas to Huntington Beach, from Richmond to Asheville, the economic downturn is considerably worse than it is here.

In addition, since we tend to trail the national averages in many aspects, it's been a blessing to see a resilient economy in the local region mostly buffered against the large waves of layoffs, severe housing drops and genuine despair.

We may fret in Kingsport, but we've not yet come close to despair. Yes, housing prices have declined, but the housing market's still active; so is the commercial new construction market in the region. And so are entrepreneurial opportunities for those who consider timing right to start something new.

An entrepreneurial lord? Or just a sane business succession strategist?

"One of the greatest compliments you can be paid is that the organisation is big enough, good enough, and strong enough to withstand you going and embrace somebody else that will add value to your baby and not hurt it," stated Lord Digby Jones, former director general of the Confederation of British Industry, in a recent Financial Times interview. “What’s the point if it dies with you? It might do your ego a power of good if the world can’t go round without you but, I have to say, what was the point? What sort of legacy is that?”

 

Well played. Read the rest of the article, discussing the merits of succession planning on levels both great and small, at Yahoo! Finance or the Financial Times.

TechStar celebration - free to guests of NETTC members

In years past, the NETTC TechStar Awards event has been a luncheon that was, well, a bit pricey for those who didn't have corporate sponsorship - or skin in the game in terms of an entry in one of the TechStar categories.

This year, the price of admission can't be an excuse, not at least for the Northeast Tennessee Technology (NETTC) members or a limited number of guests of NETTC members. As of today, the EventBrite sign-up still shows 95 guest tickets available.

For free.

I've already recommended the event to an NETTC member, who in turn invited me to go as a guest. So I guess that means there are 94 free tickets left . . . 

In addition, back by popular demand, the TechStar awards will be also be accompanied by a tech symposium. It's the kind of event where short classes are held on a variety of topics. If I were a member, it's the kind of place I'd do one of my presentations on business streaming to the iPad / iPhone or how to convert old videos to BluRay, but the other presentations look equally as interesting ;)  

The tech symposium runs for a few hours prior to the TechStar dinner. 

NETTC TechStar Award applications available

In my local region, spanning the borders of three states, there's an award that really piqued my interest years ago. Started by Shelburne Ferguson, the TechStar Award is a celebration of technology, innovation and - to a lesser degree - entrepreneurship and economic development.

Hosted by the Northeast Tennessee Technology Council (NETTC) the TechStar Awards have continued Shelburne's vision for almost a decade now, and continue to be a big draw for the NETTC to recruit members and showcase the opportunities in the region.

According to NETTC president Lewis Cox, award applications are available now.

"Do not forget to apply for your own TechStar Award by September 10th," said Cox, in an email announcing the awards banquet. "We know many of you have been making good use of technology, and this should be recognized and shared. To apply for an award, to be an exhibitor or sponsor, visit www.nettc.org."

Small Business Role In Economic Development

The small business role in economic development is a paper by Kelly Dane Edmiston, who was with the Kansas City Federal Reserve branch when the document was written in 2004. Still highly applicable today.

Final thoughts on Kingsport Small Business CNN win

Hmm, well, the Kingsport small business debacle is soon to be over, hopefully: even though CNN never took down the errant rankings (leading me to believe there was never any contact with them from the City of Kingsport) the new rankings will be out in a few months. Let's just hope CNN hires a firm that know how to do math, beyond just counting!

The whole experience leaves a bitter taste in my mouth; still comfortable I did the right thing, and have to realize that others might feel compelled to win at all costs. Based on that, I'm going to take a break from posting content about Kingsport for a while, until there's evidence of a level of professionalism that seems lacking.