Mordecai Holtz is the Co-CEO of Blue Thread Marketing (www.bluethreadmarketing.com), a boutique digital marketing agency working with a range of clients from startups to cities. With each client, our goal is to weave a unique digital narrative that provides maximum engagement, quality content, and optimal management across all digital channels. Mordecai serves as a mentor to the local startup scene and is an active contributor on several industry blogs serving the global social media community.
What else captures the imagination than artificial intelligence?
In the past, the very idea of human-manufactured intelligence stood as an allegory from anything from the pitfalls of mankind itself to the dangers of playing god. Today, however, AI is very much a reality and perhaps shows how well early science-fiction writing predicted a future of digital intelligence. What remains is a tremendous responsibility on the shoulders of us humans to create intelligent, yet ethical, technology – but not everyone sees it that way.
In the wrong hands, AI capabilities become an incredible weapon to fuel social unrest, political instability, support propaganda of authoritarian regimes, and even build an autonomous battlefield. In China alone there are over 200 million active surveillance cameras – nearly four times more than in the US. Utilized by the Chinese police along with high-tech facial recognition eyewear, law enforcement is able to scan the faces of every citizen, picking our criminals and gathering enormous amounts of data along the way. In some ways, AI seems to understand us better than we understand ourselves, for better or for worse, and while our lives may not always be on the line, our data sure is. AI phishing tools for hackers can hyper-target specific victims and quickly sift through datasets identifying the most vulnerable victims. Customized malicious links, nearly indiscernible from authentic links, can be generated in the blink of an eye targeted to individuals or entire databases.
Dr. Fei-Fei Li, director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab described a hope and noble intentions for AI – “Whether breakthrough occurs in Silicon Valley, Beijing, or anywhere else, it has the potential to make everyone’s life better for the entire world.” Where some leaders would see AI as a tool of mass control, this isn’t a sentiment shared by every forward-thinker. In 2017, Google built a project known as PAIR, or People + AI Research, with the simple yet deeply complex goal of building an AI that treats everyone equally. Tackling our own human biases, prejudices, and problematic thinking, this project begins with the good that evaluate and improve on the datasets that train AI itself, taking it right to the source.
From any perspective, it’s clear to see how powerful AI is. Early in 2018, Amazon opened its completely cashier-less grocery store that is still a successful operation today. A living example of AI in service industries and a small glimpse into a possible future of full automation, more and more service jobs may be on the chopping block in the coming years. By the mid 2030s, artificial intelligence and automation is predicted to hit 38%, potentially eliminating many US jobs. Industries like manufacturing, retail and construction are at the forefront of being hit the hardest. All told, millions of jobs could be lost to the cold hand o robotics but it’s what needs to happen in the meantime to reach this reality. Whilst 37% of people are concerned about automation cramping their positions at work, 73% of people say that technology will never replace the human mind, further reminding us that AI is only possible and will only go as far as we allow it to.
An automated future doesn’t necessarily mean more robots – if done right, it could mean more humanity. What does the future of AI look like to you? Detailed in this infographic are the current capabilities of automation, both for good and evil, and what responsibilities we all have to ensure that this technology works with us and not against us.
Just in time for CES 2019, Chinese tech leader Huawei, strategically unveiled the Kunpeng 920, the industry’s highest-performing ARM-based processor. At Huawei’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China, Huawei released the impressive CPU, intended for handling applications like big data processing and distributed storage.
William Xu, Director of Huawei’s Board and Chief Strategy Marketing Officer, said during the press conference that “Huawei has continuously innovated in the computing domain in order to create customer value. We believe that, with the advent of an intelligent society, the computing market will see continuous growth in the future. Currently, the diversity of applications and data is driving heterogeneous computing requirements. Huawei has long partnered with Intel to make great achievements. Together we have contributed to the development of the ICT industry. Huawei and Intel will continue our long-term strategic partnerships and continue to innovate together.”
William Xu, Director of Huawei’s Board and Chief Strategy Marketing Officer (credit: Huawei)
Kunpeng 920: High-Performance ARM-based CPU
Huawei’s high standards of leading the industry are very clear with the release of the new Kunpeng 920. The new CPU, similar to Huawei’s HiSilicon Kirin 980 (launched in October 2018), was designed in-house and manufactured on a 7-nanometer processor. According to Huawei, the gain in performance between these two CPU’s emerges from a series of optimized branch prediction algorithms and an increased number of OP units, along with an improved memory subsystem architecture. The Kunpeng 920 provides both higher computing performance for data centers while decreasing overall power consumption. The Kunpeng 920 is packed with 64 cores, clocking an impressive 2.6GHZ, and paired with 8-channel DDR4 memory allows the Kunpeng 920 to score over 930 on the SPECint Benchmark, 25% higher than the industry benchmark. For the sake of comparison, the previous industry leader was the Fujitsu 7-nanometer A64X. Beyond its speed is the CPU’s power efficiency, which performs 30% better than its competitors.
Kunpeng 920 performance (credit: Huawei)
In terms of system integration, the new CPU has increased with two 100G RoCE ports. Kunpeng 920 also supports PCIe Gen4 and CCIX interfaces, and provides 640 Gbps total bandwidth. In addition, the single-slot speed is twice that of the incumbent offering, effectively improving the performance of storage and various accelerators.
TaiShan Series: Huawei’s ARM-based Server Built to Perform
To complement the Kunpeng 920, at today’s press conference Huawei also released its TaiShan series servers, powered by the company’s new CPU. Aimed at tackling three distinct issues, storage, high-density, and balancing both requirements, the Taishan series designed three unique models. Powered by the Kunpeng 920, the TaiShan servers are built for big data, distributed storage, and ARM native application scenarios. These unique scenarios are ideal for the ARM architecture offering many advantages in many-core and performance per watt. The TaiShan series are ideal computing platforms for enterprises with high performance and low power consumption. Designed especially in big data scenarios, the TaiShan servers are tuned for optimal many-core high concurrency and resource scheduling to deliver a 20% computing performance boost.
As Mr. Xu stated at the press conference, “The ARM industry is seeing a new development opportunity. The Kunpeng 920 CPU and TaiShan servers newly released by Huawei are primarily used in big data, distributed storage, and ARM native applications. We will work with global partners in the spirit of openness, collaboration, and shared success to drive the development of the ARM ecosystem and expand the computing space, and embrace a diversified computing era.”
TaiShan server (credit: Huawei
Open and Collaborative ARM Ecosystem is Geared for Mutual Success
For years, Huawei has continuously promoted industry cooperation and collaboration among its industry partners in terms of hardware, basic software, and applications. The company’s unique approach is predicated on the growing trend that an intelligent society, with all things connected, and sensing, is well underway. In light of these industry trends and application requirements, a new era of diversified computing is emerging. The ability to process multiple data types and scenarios are the driving force behind optimizing computing architecture.
Summarizing the company’s vision of serving as an industry leader across all verticals, from telecommunications to servers to handsets, Mr. Xu noted that “With Kirin 980, Huawei has taken smartphones to a new level of intelligence. With products and services (e.g., Huawei Cloud) designed based on Ascend 310, Huawei enables inclusive AI for industries. Today, with Kunpeng 920, we are entering an era of diversified computing embodied by multiple cores and heterogeneity. Huawei has invested patiently and intensively in computing innovation to continuously make breakthroughs. We will work with our customers and partners to build a fully connected, intelligent world.”
What do the tech companies of today and digital-born organizations all have in common?
Yes, Amazon, Google, and Alibaba all had a keen understanding of the sheer power of digital technologies. Dig a bit deeper. Many of the digital companies of today disrupting legacy industries are based on platforms.
The success of these unicorn companies are based on some core elements: the technology platforms they’ve built, and perhaps more importantly, the innovative business models these platforms enable.
As digital businesses shift away from the traditional business models towards interconnected ecosystems, technology is responding in a similar manner by progressing from siloed technical infrastructure to an ecosystem of enabling platforms.
Platform Takes Center Stage
Digital is increasingly the agent of disruption to the old commercial order and in the hyper-competitive digital economy; enterprises that excel are those that are harnessing the power of platform economics. Google, Apple, Amazon, and Airbnb are all platform companies. In fact, in its 2018 report, Gartner ranks digitalized ecosystems among its top five trends. So, as emerging technologies continue to develop, they will require support from more dynamic ecosystems that are based on new business strategies and platform-based business models.
These platform-based business models are quickly becoming the foundation of business innovation, with emerging technologies providing the means to develop increased value and create new business models performing at optimal levels of efficiency.
While all of these companies have thrived, the challenge has been to define the platform. Third-party analysts give various descriptions of the platform. Traditional and ICT manufacturers have launched a variety of “platform” models, but the industry, as a whole, lacks a clear definition.
Huawei is positioned as the digital technologies enabler and initiator in the digital platform and uses its digital platform to support the partners’ platforms.
In an effort to define and enable a clearer model of successful transformation, Huawei Technologies recently presented the company’s “power of the platform” approach at Huawei Connect 2018 in Shanghai. Huawei’s new digital platform strategy will enable governments and enterprises to accelerate digital transformation and achieve new levels of innovation and growth.
The X Factor in Digital Platform
Digital transformation cannot be achieved with any one single technology, and the value of the cloud cannot be realized without other technologies. To capitalize on the value of the cloud, terminals need to collect vast amounts of data and utilize networks for transmission. For Huawei, it is this collaboration that is dependent on its cloud-pipes-devices collaboration ability. It also represents the company’s most powerful capability.
With the goal of offering customers a long-term strategy to accelerate digital transformation, Huawei offers a “Digital Platform + X + Ecosystem” approach. This unique method puts the digital platform as the foundation, with new capabilities (the “X”) such as AI, IoT, Big Data, security, ICP, and videos.
Lu Qi, President of the Marketing & Solution Sales Department of Huawei’s Enterprise Business Group, stated at the event that the company’s digital platform offers three core advantages. “It is full-stack, open, and supports enterprises across multiple industries; our digital platform can be used in a wide range of scenarios, as it supports both private cloud and public cloud.”
By incorporating their products and solutions with those from other providers, Huawei is actually able to create an open, win-win ecosystem that offers customers the freedom to use the best solutions for their unique requirements.
Huawei’s Digital Platform Enabling Growth
At Huawei Connect, Yan Lida, President of Huawei Enterprise Business Group, said: “Digital transformation is a complex process which requires a systematic approach and convergence of various technologies to integrate the physical and digital worlds. Huawei is committed to enabling our customers’ platform-based businesses with an ICT platform that allows partners to integrate industry-specific applications. In this way, Huawei’s platform serves as the ‘fertile soil,’ enabling the growth of the industry ecosystem, and promoting digital transformation of various industries with our ecosystem partners.”
Partnerships and Design Thinking
For several years, Huawei has been at the forefront of digital transformation. Huawei is committed to working with customers in the long term and takes a future-oriented approach to drive enterprise digital transformation through the power of the platform. So far, 211 of the Fortune Global 500 companies (including 48 Fortune Global 100 companies) have selected Huawei as their digital transformation partner. This list includes SAP, Accenture, Deutsche Telekom, Volkswagen, Oracle, Honeywell, GM, ABB, Intel, Sony, the Russian Federal Savings Bank, and more.
In the digital transformation journey, Huawei has embraced the vision that partnership and collaboration will be a bigger driving force than the technology itself. By partnering and guiding its customers in their digital transformation journeys, Huawei is strategically guiding each enterprise to their destination. The goal is to be connected, intelligent and cloud-based. Huawei is uniquely positioned to take enterprises on this journey because the company is able to provide a holistic suite of solutions from devices, to infrastructure, to services based in the cloud equipped with artificial intelligence capabilities.
Huawei teams up with customers and partners to create a vibrant ecosystem, meeting customers’ requirements in increasingly complex application scenarios, creating value for customers, and achieving a win-win situation for continuous growth.
Customer-Driven Digital Platform
Achieving positive digital experiences serve as the foundation for successful transformation. Customer experiences serve as the impetus for businesses to innovate, create and measure its overall digital platform strategy.
Designing a successful digital business needs to focus on innovating and attaining new business value, aimed at creating an optimal user experience. Consumers today, demand a faster, simpler, and enhanced digital experience that provides the best product and combines it with stellar service and most advanced technologies. These are all digital platforms that can provide enterprises for agile innovations.
Conclusion
In the next three decades, digitization will reshape every industry, and intelligence will have a profound impact on every enterprise. Digital transformation constantly impacts the way in which companies approach and operate their business. The speed and agility that attract many companies to shift towards digital platforms – which Huawei has done – have spawned new business models that have disrupted the way companies approach the consumer, delivering consistent value to the customer, inspiring enterprises to see beyond short-term gain, opting for long-term value.
In the coming years, the digital platform will continue to revolutionize traditional businesses models. While the digital platform model is still young, it is forcing enterprises to make strategic decisions that will undoubtedly impact the future success and viability of their business.
Disclosure: The author is a Huawei Key Opinion Leader and has benefited from their products and services. The opinions of this article, however, are completely his own based on experience.
Companies seeking to achieve digital transformation success must place the customer back at the center of their strategic efforts.
Digital transformation is no longer an option. Over the next three decades, digitization will reshape every industry and will have a direct impact on every global enterprise.
Today, enterprises view digital transformation as an indisputable imperative that is constantly disrupting existing business models in noticeable ways. In order to achieve digital success, the enterprise must harmoniously orchestrate their various technologies to work together and further drive innovation. Digital innovation has become an essential catalyst and a driving force of economic growth.
Digital transformation requires a massive undertaking, especially for larger, established companies. When executed properly, it has the potential for any business to be more aligned to meet its customer demands and increase the overall resilience of the enterprise. Embracing digital transformation at the enterprise level demands a strategic approach that factors in all of the goals, people, technologies and required integration to form a proper strategy.
Shifting the Digital Transformation Journey Back to the Customer
As enterprises are constantly striving to attain new business value, the speed of innovation is crucial.
Companies need to be swift, agile and leverage all aspects of technological innovation. A truly digital enterprise integrates emerging technologies as part of an overall strategic plan to be agile and enhance the business analytics of the enterprise. A digital enterprise relentlessly searches out, identifies and develops new digital business models, always ensuring that positive customer experiences are the foundation of digital innovation.
Designing a digital transformation framework for success is focused on innovation and attaining new business value, aimed at a creating an optimal user experience. To the point that the needs of the end-user need to be integrated into the service model. Consumers today, demand a faster, simpler, and enhanced digital experience that provides the best product and combines it with stellar service and most advanced technology.
Customers seek a deep experience far beyond the most basic product. They are eager to forge a connection with the brand, well before they even commit to buying anything. With the dynamics of businesses shifting back to customer experiences, it is imperative that brands identify every aspect of the consumer journey to meet customer’s expectations before enhancing their technological repertoire.
The Digital Mastermind: A Holistic Framework for Navigating the Digital Transformation Journey
For several years, Huawei has been at the forefront of digital transformation. In fact, 197 of the top Fortune 500 companies and 45 of the top 100 companies have chosen Huawei as their digital transformation partner. This list includes SAP, Accenture, Deutsche Telekom, Volkswagen, Oracle, Honeywell, GM, ABB, Intel, Sony, the Russian Federal Savings Bank and more.
How can a brand discover the customer’s expectations in order to adopt the correct technology? How can a company or enterprise plan their digital transformation strategy to ensure a positive customer experience?
In order to answer these questions, I reached out to Jonathan Hopkinson, Head of Analytics Solutions for Huawei’s Digital Transformation Practice Development, to answer several questions about the company’s new Digital Mastermind Playbook. Briefly, the playbook outlines and provides a logical framework that brings the best practices from different industries into one cohesive customer centric model.
When it comes to putting together a plan, the best method of planning out a successful digital transformation is to view it through customer journeys—that is, the sum of an individual’s interactions with a brand across all channels to accomplish a task.
How can a brand, enterprise stay focused and ground their transformation process to ensure that their efforts are effective?
A key component of the Digital Mastermind framework is to use Design Thinking techniques to unearth the true needs of the enterprise’s customers, and then construct customer journeys and supporting value streams to meet those needs or “Jobs to be done”. This process will reveal which customer journeys are the most important to address – there is not a one-size-fits-all answer. Transformation investments can then be targeted at delivering the higher priority customer journeys, which should then deliver value to the customer and hence to the enterprise – thereby delivering a quick and positive ROI. A quick return on investment is a key part of helping leadership keep faith in the transformation activity.
How important is the data of various tests and trials in the mapping out of a successful digital transformation? If so, what can of data sets should an enterprise be seeking? Data is crucial to track transformation progress. Digital Mastermind recommends that for each customer journey (and internal value stream) to be delivered, the key outcome and operational KPIs are determined, defined and tracked. “Outcome” KPIs are selected which show the business impact – these are items which have direct linkage to improved business performance. Operational KPIs may be less directly linked to business value, but nevertheless can track the operational improvements delivered by the transformation.
In fact, the Open ROADS Community has defined several hundred operational KPIs with a core of 20-30 most significant operational and Outcome KPIs. The specific KPIs to be tracked will vary with the digital maturity of the enterprise. For example, an enterprise which is just starting, may track the number of information elements which are digitised, rather than paper-based. A more developed enterprise may focus much more on time-to-market for new services.
With digital transformation being a buzzword today, how can companies strive to achieve such a critical milestone avoid the often siloed and compartmentalized corporate structure?
When constructing the “value streams” required to deliver the desired customer journeys, part of the process is to define the responsible functions/departments for each stage in the value stream, together with customer-centric outside-in KPIs which measure the performance of the overall journey. Having cross-domain KPIs, and tying employee and leadership incentives to these KPIs, is an effective way to remove silo’s, since co-operation becomes essential to achieving a healthy bonus.
Legacy Technologies vs Agile and Digitally Minded Disruption
Traditional industrial sectors continue to sustain their current business efforts by using existing legacy technologies embedded in their enterprise, it’s these sectors that are standing idle as new, agile, and digitally minded companies disrupt the entire industry.
With enterprises striving towards digital transformation, there is often a challenge that the brand’s legacy tech is operating in a methodical process, while the newer innovative model is to be agile and quick in response. How can an enterprise merge these two approaches to keep the transformation on course? The burden of legacy is usually the key item which prevents Digital Transformation from being successful, and often from even beginning. For example, The MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) has identified a number of different strategies to handle this.
In the extreme case, with a large legacy burden, it is often better to establish a completely new business using green-field operations, then gradually move customers over to the new business. A less-radical approach, where feasible, is to encapsulate legacy systems within APIs, and then gradually replace such systems with typically cloud-based, virtual, replacement functions. Again, there is not a one-size fits all approach, but the frameworks exist to guide the best approach.
Digital transformation is clearly not achievable if a company isn’t equipped with a guide or map. Understanding the customer experiences will drive the digital transformation efforts for any enterprise.
Digital transformation can be defined differently by stakeholders. Developing a new mobile app might fit one group’s definition, but an enterprise-wide effort to rebuild competitive advantages might also apply. While the presentation offers a detailed assessment of each brand, what do you think the core factors that make a successful digital transformation actually work?
I would not consider that a new mobile app in isolation constitutes a digital transformation. In fact, a piecemeal approach like that is primarily why such transformation efforts fail. The approach advocated by the Open ROADS Community is that Digital Transformation should be holistic, driven by a realistic business ambition which the enterprise is seeking to achieve.
This ambition should answer such questions as:- What business do you want to be in? What customers do you want to serve? and What are you going to offer them? There are many frameworks and consultancies out there to help companies determine this strategy and ambition. This can then determine the target for the Digital Transformation activity. Without a well-considered target, transformation investments risk becoming ad hoc, based on wishful thinking.
Because technology is so integrated in today’s business landscape, almost every business is a digital business to some extent. Old systems and processes have to be rethought, and new technologies have to be put in place in order for businesses to stay competitive within their industry. Companies are faced with many challenges as they navigate their way through this digital transformation. These hurdles can range from limited budgets for new technology to lack of the expertise or know-how required to roll out new digital initiatives. But the one challenge that is crucial to overcome is creating an effective digital strategy.
Strategy is what gives businesses the framework they need to effectively utilize the digital tools they have on hand. And without it, efforts and funds can go wasted.
With customers driving enterprises towards digital innovation, positive digital experiences become the foundation for successful transformation.
It is customer experiences that serves as the impetus for businesses to innovate, create and measure its overall digital strategy. Regardless of industry or business, the Digital Mastermind enables any enterprise to plan their customized transformation pathway and identify the required business capabilities that are predicated on consumer satisfaction and positive customer experiences.
Disclosure: The author is a Huawei Key Opinion Leader and has benefited from their products and services. The opinions of this article, however, are completely his own based on experience.
Augmented reality might be fun for now, but the technology has a serious future.
Virtual and augmented reality are growing technologies, and not just in the video game industry, where they are projected to make an annual revenue of $11.6 billion. From healthcare and real estate to live events and education, AR and VR are changing the way we live, work, and learn.
As Forbes journalist Charles Fink says “We’re still 5 to 10 years from everyone walking around with AR/VR devices, but the technology is accelerating at a huge pace.”
VR allows potential home buyers to tour properties through a headset before the property is even finished being built, while AR allows those building homes to look at what a certain type of cabinets would look like in their new homes before they are ever installed. The “Street Peak” realtor app lets users point their smartphone at a home and access all MLS information, a breakthrough in property data accessibility.
AR and VR are entering the retail space, giving brick-and-mortar shopping a run for its money with open-air pop-up stores where users can view products. Clothes shopping is less of a headache with the FX Mirror and Memory Mirror, AR mirrors that simulate what you would look like in an outfit. There are even nail polish manufacturers using AR to allow people to try on a shade before buying.
Healthcare is also being revolutionized by AR. With the help of products like Accuvein, doctors and nurses will be able to find veins and insert IVs on the first try, a task that medical professionals only get right 60% of the time.
Travel and leisure are also seeing surges of innovation with the rise of augmented reality technology. Google Expeditions bridges the gap between education and travel with virtual field trips to anywhere in the world without leaving the classroom. Travel apps like Wikitude are the future of vacation optimization, recommending the best spots to eat and stay.
Learn more about how augmented reality is reshaping industries with the infographic below, provided by Lumus.
Yan Lida, President of Huawei Enterprise Business, Huawei Connect 2017 (credit: Huawei)
We live in an era of unprecedented technological innovation.
According to Forrester Research, only 12% of the Fortune 500 companies from 1955 remain Fortune 500 companies today.
Why?
Most likely because, as Forrester research discovered, only 27% of businesses have a coherent digital transformation strategy for creating customer value in place. Yet, many companies are placing digital transformation at the center of their strategies through 2020.
Over the last few years, digital transformation has become an industry megatrend. Legacy enterprises are forced to embrace this critical shift out of fear of becoming obsolete.
Innovation and growth are no longer optional to the enterprise.
Today, enterprises use ICT technology to improve working efficiency, create business innovations, and provide better customer service.
For many of these Fortune 500 companies, the challenge is to develop new business models that increase connection and engagement. What’s needed is a digital transformation platform that connects intelligence, data, and devices, enabling them to increase engagement with partners and develop applications that foster innovation.
Cloud computing, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and other new technologies are driving the human society into the smart era. The most striking feature of a smart society is the connection and fusion of the physical world and the digital world. The problems of the physical world are now being solved by the digital world.
As enterprises are constantly striving to attain new business value, the speed of innovation is crucial.
Companies need to be swift, agile and leverage all aspects of technological innovation. A truly digital enterprise uses emerging technologies as a strategic effort to go leaner, focus on agile business processes and enhance the business analytics of the enterprise. A digital enterprise relentlessly searches out, identifies and develops new digital business models, always ensuring that customers and employees are at the center of its innovation.
Digital Transformation
Digital innovation has become an essential catalyst and a driving force of economic growth. It’s a journey, not a sprint.
Designing a digital transformation framework for success is focused on innovation and attaining new business value, aimed at a creating an optimal user experience. To the point that the needs of the end-user need to be integrated into the service model. Consumers today, demand a faster, simpler, and enhanced digital experience that provides the best product and combines it with stellar service and most advanced technology.
The Digital Transformation Journey for Enterprises
Digital transformation is a massive undertaking, especially for larger, established companies. When done right, it will result in a business that is more aligned with customer demands and resilient in the fast-moving digital future.
Embracing digital transformation at the enterprise level requires a strategic approach that factors in all of the goals, people, technologies and required integration to form a proper strategy.
Digital Transformation, Disrupt and Innovate
A core function of any business is to continually advance and improve its operations, products, and services. Enterprises that adhere to a digital transformation framework are not only focused on improving, they are the key drivers of innovation and disruption. Equipped with disruptive and innovative strategies, these companies can compete in today’s fast-paced market that is being driven by consumer demands, new technologies, and new business models.
Why Embark in Digital Transformation?
Many legacy enterprises have built their business on certain methods of operation. It is these operating systems that have enabled the company to prosper and survive until today. The digital realities of today, however, are forcing these companies to reconsider and reimagine the fundamental systems that have been the keys to their success. The technological environment is changing, highlighting how ill-equipped these companies are to adapt and change.
Speed is essential in digital transformation.
While the speed of digital transformation may vary with industry, stagnation is the antithesis of the digital mindset. A company maintaining a static mindset in the digital era is paving their path to failure.
With external pressures – customer demands, emerging technologies, lean startups and disruptive business models- pushing the business towards innovation, the classic methods of operation are no longer delivering the expected results. As the impetus for change increases the need to design a strategic path towards digital transformation becomes inevitable.
While many companies may opt to slowly tweak specific inefficiencies, a true digital transformation requires a revolutionary approach. An all-encompassing digital revolution can revitalize an enterprise and pave the road to future success.
A digital transformation framework will guide the leaders and direct the business towards a path of progress. Businesses need to be in a state of constant evolution. Building a momentum and a rhythm reflects a shift in the mindset. It is a sign of a new reality and creates a paradigm shift for the entire industry.
Breaking the Silos
Digital transformation with its customer-centric marketing and business processes requires the ability to work across business verticals and silos. In fact, digital transformation focuses on cross-vertical collaboration, restructuring the organization to create methods that break down the silos. In a digitally focused enterprise, the goal is to encourage cross-department interface and to create an environment that is fertile for consumer-focused innovation.
Huawei: Strategic Digital Transformation Partner
Huawei Connect, Shanghai 2017
Over the past six years, Huawei has quickly developed into a global leading digital transformation facilitators. The rapidly changing digital landscape has enabled Huawei to take advantage of the new realities by providing new ICT solutions to customers, creating best practices for digital transformation, public safety, finance, electricity, transportation, education, and media.
Before enterprises choose an appropriate digital transformation strategy, IT and CT are now converging and transforming enterprises. There is no single technology alone capable to execute the digital transformation.
What is different about Huawei’s ecosystem?
Yan Lida, Enterprise Business Group, Huawei Connect 2017 (credit: Huawei)
During my experience at Huawei Connect 2017, I was able to learn about some of the company’s strategies and gain insights into how Huawei is developing this platform and ecosystem.
During his keynote speech, Yan Lida, President of Huawei Enterprise Business, highlighted Huawei’s ecosystem that is based on three primary characteristics:
Huawei wants to become the customers’ most trusted partner. Huawei’s commercial model chooses to rely on the monetization of technology and services; it does not monetize user data. This is the biggest difference between Huawei and traditional Internet companies.
Huawei abides by its own business boundaries and is committed to becoming a platform for the platform. There are many companies that through their own experience in a specific industry have transformed into an enabler platform for that industry. It is very common to see companies such as GE, which is now providing an industrial cloud platform for the aviation and manufacturing industries. Huawei believes that it must create an open, secure, and reliable ICT infrastructure platform within its business boundaries to become the platform for its customers and partners’ platforms. Huawei’s platform is a cloud-pipe-device collaboration full-stack ICT platform; it provides all-in-one ICT services for customers and partners. The upper layer platform does not need to bother with the lower layer’s complex software and hardware systems; it can focus on its own service optimization and innovation.
Huawei is committed to becoming the ecosystem’s soil (the platform) to help customers grow quickly. This is why its plan for developers is called the ‘Developer Enablement Plan.’ This platform is the presence of Huawei in over 170 countries around the world. Developers and partners could use this platform for their global marketing and services.
In order to enrich this ecosystem, Huawei has laid out the plan of establishing OpenLabs, which cover all areas of jointed innovation with customers and partners across industries: public safety, finance, power electric, and manufacturing.
In the next three years, Huawei will continue to invest $200 million to build and operate OpenLabs (currently 13 and grow to 20) in Asia, Europe, Middle East and Americas.
Huawei provides a one-stop cloud-side collaboration infrastructure platform that integrates all new ICT technologies to help businesses stay competitive in the digital age. Huawei’s business has achieved rapid growth via industry-leading customization solutions for government and associated industries.
By carrying out joint innovation with partners centering around the business needs of customers, Huawei focuses on creating a win-win ecosystem.
In the transformation process, customers, partners, and Huawei each have their own unique advantages: customers understand their businesses, partners know how to transform the business needs of customers into industry-relevant applications, and Huawei knows how to utilize hardware and software ICT infrastructures to deliver effective business support to customers.
Partnering on the Digital Journey
In the digital transformation journey, Huawei has embraced the vision that partnership and collaboration will be a bigger driving force than the technology itself. By partnering and guiding its customers in their digital transformation journeys, Huawei is strategically guiding each enterprise to their destination. The goal is to be connected, intelligent and cloud-based.
Huawei is uniquely positioned to take enterprises on this journey because the company is able to provide a holistic suite of solutions from devices, to infrastructure, to services based in the cloud equipped with Artificial Intelligent capabilities.
According to Mr. Lida, “Huawei’s business positioning is to be a pioneer of digital social and intelligent social development processes, the industry’s digital enabler, and the best partner. In 2016, Huawei’s Enterprise business grasped the historical opportunities of digital transformation by focusing on infrastructure”.
Road to Digital Transformation Isn’t Smooth
Of course, the road of digital transformation from traditional ICT manufacturers to the enterprise market isn’t easy, even for Huawei.
Backed by six years of hard work, Huawei focused its ICT infrastructure and carefully chose partners with complementary strengths. By working together with its partners, Huawei has been able to deliver key industries with true digital transformation. The combined results have been to help public safety and government, finance, energy, and transportation enterprises to achieve digital transformation while still generating sales revenue of 40.7 billion yuan (about $5.9 billion) – a 47% increase from 2011 when the business was formed.
Smart Cities
In the field of smart cities, Huawei delivers ultra-wideband network, cloud computing, large data, Internet of Things and other facilities and technologies for cities to create a “nervous system” that enables all things to be interconnected in a smart way. Huawei has also been widely recognized for their participation in the smart city project through the “one cloud- two network- three platform”.
During the 2016 Barcelona Global Smart City Expo, Huawei was also awarded the “Southern Innovation Award” for the construction of a digital health system in Kenya.
To date, Huawei Smart City solutions have been successfully applied to more than 40 countries around the world and more than 100 cities.
Huawei Smart City (credit: Huawei)
At HUAWEI CONNECT 2017, Huawei and the Shandong Weifang Municipal Government ushered in a new generation of information technology. By including Internet of Things, cloud computing, and large data, Huawei is creating a NB-IoT city network and establishing the first city level based on the company’s OceanConnect IoT platform. Huawei has also used the Internet of Things to integrate various types of sensing devices to achieve data collection and management.
Public Security
In the field of public security, Huawei has continued to apply new ICT technologies such as cloud computing, large data, mobile broadband cluster, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence to the public security field. By working together with partners to build solutions to help cities achieve digital transformation, public security has improved and cities become more secure. Currently, Huawei’s safe city solution has served 80 countries, more than 200 cities and more than 800 million people in Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America.
Technology and the Competition
As traditional industries enter a critical period of digital transformation to drive business innovation and growth, the cloud is at the foundation for enterprise digitization. To meet this growing demand, Huawei has launched a number of industry-leading ICT products and solutions.
Huawei IT products continue to innovate thereby expanding their role as a digital transformation leader.
With Huawei’s IT products and solutions serving more than 170 countries and regions worldwide, the company is setting a new standard for the future of digital innovation and outperforming its competition.
So far, 197 of the top Fortune 500 companies and 45 of the top 100 companies have chosen Huawei as their digital transformation partner. This list includes SAP, Accenture, Deutsche Telekom, Volkswagen, Oracle, Honeywell, GM, ABB, Intel, Sony, the Russian Federal Savings Bank and more.
In today’s computer market, it’s hard to disrupt an entire industry. Laptops may get faster, the visuals will get sharper, but at its core, the product is the same.
That was until two days ago, when Huawei shook up the laptop market. On Tuesday, the Chinese tech company launched their new MateBook series and changed everything. Huawei did it with one simple design change- the power button!
For years, the industry viewed the power button as serving one function. Within the limited real estate of a laptop, why is there one button for power and another for finger scanner?
Ever think of that? Me either.
Well, that’s what Huawei was thinking when they launched their MateBook.
A few years ago, I would have expected that Apple might have attempted such a bold redesign. With their eyes laser focused on beating Apple and Microsoft, Huawei simply disrupted the laptop market. They merged two functions and upgraded the power button.
Simple and convenient.
Clearly, this new power button/ finger scanner isn’t where Huawei stopped. All of the other aspects of MateBook X’s hardware are similarly impressive.
In their product launch, Huawei boldly showed who their competition in the laptop market is. Apple. In fact, the MateBook X and MacBook are so similar that Endgagetcould barely distinguish between the two.
Huawei took them to task and clearly stated their position.
The MateBook X comes in rose gold.
Sound familiar?
In typical Huawei fashion, they focused on the user. What do all laptops users want? A powerful device, that’s simple and has a long lasting battery.
So, that’s exactly what Huawei created in the MateBook.
The MateBook X is a 13-inch Windows 10 ultra-portable is designed as a traditional aluminum clamshell, instead of the original MateBook 2-in-1 configuration. Customers can choose from either an Intel “Kaby Lake” Core i5 or i7 processors instead of the less powerful Core m series. The MateBook visuals are super strong too by offering a 3:2 aspect ratio at 2K resolution with a 4.4mm bezel, which is pushing the bezel to the max.
The Huawei MateBook comes in either 256GB or 512GB SSD options. Sure, the RAM could be a point of contention since the laptop will only come in either 4GB or 8GB options. I’m rather certain that most laptop users will be forgiving considering that the device is so light, thin, and portable. Honestly, to the average user, 8GB will suffice.
Battery
At the launch event, Huawei claimed that the MateBook can run 1080p video for 10 hours on a single charge. That’s serious.
It’s also not surprising.
Huawei has been improving battery life on all of their devices, like their Mate 9. In my review of this AI infused device, the phone lasts almost an entire day.
Once again, like their phones, the Huawei MateBook X has a unibody aluminum design, which is optimal design for making the laptop super thin and super light.
At its thickest point, the Huawei MateBook X measures 0.49 inches- thinner than the MacBook (0.52 inches) and the MBP (0.59 inches). In terms of weight, once again, Huawei out-designed the competition by scaling down the MateBook X to only weighs 2.31 pounds compared to the MacBook Pro’s 3.02 pounds.
Photo Credit: Huawei
Untouchable?
With all of these impressive improvements and features, there’s some talk about the MateBook X not coming with a touchscreen. Personally, I don’t think it will deter users. When asked, Huawei responded that “they wanted to put their best foot forward…” I think that most users are still acclimating to the touch screen feature on a laptop. Keep the laptop simple. Don’t confuse the user.
Fanless?
Under the hood, the Huawei MateBook X is going fanless. That should insure that customers won’t worry about their device overheating.
Sound
In their ongoing focus on outperforming their competition, Huawei announced their partnership with Dolby. The MateBook comes with Dolby Atmos Sound inside. While many devices have Dolby Atmos software, Huawei is the first to integrate both software and hardware solutions. By placing the speakers above the keyboard and including software that optimizes the quality of the sound for movies and music, the MateBook will give users a true listening experience that offers quality both via headphones and speakers.
The MateBook went minimal on the ports. With only two USB C slots, one for power one for everything else, this may be an issue. Hopefully, most users will appreciate the dock offering HDMI, USB A, USB C and VGA that comes with the MateBook. A microSD card reader could have been a valuable addition.
Huawei’s first real attempt in launching a sleek, powerful, practical laptop seems to be a solid competitor in the market. With the MateBook series, Huawei is clearly boasting their ambitions to play with the big boys in the laptop market.
New Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is slated to disrupt the hi-tech industry and impact many other industries. The future of ICT lies in its ability to enable developers to take advantage the new technologies like Cloud Computing, Big Data, Software Defined Network (SDN), Internet of Thing (IoT) and Mobile Broadband to innovate their products and improve enterprise agility, efficiency and work in a more collaborative environment.
This revolution will only be possible when developers leverage the open platform and ecosystem to build their own solutions and realize their innovations under these technologies.
An ICT ecosystem is a business network that’s aligned among ICT vendor and solution partners to help enterprises work in an efficient manner. The business-driven ecosystem is lead by the enterprises who define their needs and look to solution providers to supply the relevant resources to enable their success.
Take supermarket shopping as an example. In the current system, the supermarket owners attempts to meet the needs of the consumer, often tweaking the solution without a clear vision or focus. The future will bring a personalized consumption model, in which customers choose products, identify purchase and delivery methods, and in real time their optimized shopping experience will be enhanced for future purchases.
Elion Resources Group in China is already testing this model out. The company uses the IoT technologies to bridge a connection between the farmer and the consumer, thereby fostering a collaborative environment that connects various relevant industries. In this new process, customers are transformed to active partners, allowing them to select the type of food that farmers should grow, allows them to track the growth of the produce, and allows the consumer to select the idea e-commerce platform and delivery service.
Similarly, banks are leveraging the new ICT ecosystem. Cloud computing allows omni-channel banking services, which manages customer data to reduce unnecessary steps in the banking process. Rather than going to an ATM or bank to withdraw cash, the connected consumer will be able to search for a vendor and process payments directly to the merchant. The streamlined process reduces any unnecessary steps and fosters direct communication between merchant and consumer.
The banking industry has always depended on data and security. With the new ICT, Big Data becomes an extremely powerful for the larger ecosystems that require responsive analysis of important data. It develops a variety of innovative services and improves the bank’s service accuracy, real-time performance and customer satisfaction. Banks such as the China Merchant Bank are benefiting from upgraded big data platforms, which can provide analysis of detailed queries and offer direct results. This increased accuracy enables a faster investigation of credit history and other important financial data and can provide accurate information in a matter of minutes.
In addition to showing the actual credit score, this data will highlight consumer patterns and behaviors to identify any risk factors. In China, the People’s Bank of China’s credit system uses data from other ecosystems and sources, including carriers and utility companies, to offer a complete overview of consumer behavior. The comprehensive data analysis enables the bank to look across systems and determine an accurate credit rating that is focused and responsive to specific customer trends.
Clearly, new ICT technologies are paving the way for new forms of cross system collaboration, agility and efficiency. This innovative approach is only possible when open ICT platforms and ecosystems are formed. Driving the New ICT technology forward is Huawei Enterprise Business. Their mission is to provide an open ICT platform and ecosystem where developers can benefit from building their solution using new ICT technologies. Once a specific industry has developed an application, it can be easily replicated and deployed on a global scale.
This new process is being accelerated by Huawei, who is working on driving innovation forward by creating strategic partnership with relevant companies. The ultimate goal of these strategic alliances is to develop an ecosystem that is sustainable and mutually beneficial to all partners. As the new ecosystem is formed, other industries including government and other complex enterprises will benefit from its success.
Even as someone who appreciates tech, coming from the West, the name Huawei is still a bit foreign to me. After testing their smartwatch, however, I’m starting to really notice their brand and their impressive value and attention to detail.
These guys are serious in the smartwatch, wearable market. They get it and know how to take the strengths of a good device and improve it, ten fold.
For the record, it’s my first smartwatch but having read about others and tinkered with Apple watch, the Pebble, and a few others, I can say that this is a solid watch.
Let’s start from the beginning, the Huawei watch came onto the tech scene and Mobile World Congress in 2015. At the point, most of the specs were simply rumours. It wasn’t until IFA 2015, that the official watch was released. That’s when the watch skyrocketed and earned its place as being one of the best Android wearables last year.
I agree.
Great watch, solid look and feel. Priced right.
Here’s my review of the Huawei watch after using it for about six weeks. It’s been paired with my iPhone 6 Plus with the Android Wear app.
The Huawei Watch gets lots of things right where most Android Wear watches have struggled, the design. Slick, sophisticated, simple and non-techy.
Great move for Huawei.
Running on iOS, the functionality is limited. Getting a text on the watch means you can view it but not reply. Essentially, using an Android Wear smartwatch with an iPhone is no substitute for an Apple Watch, at least not yet. Hopefully, at some point in the near future, Apple may consider opening its APIs for a more robust integration experience with iOS apps. Till then, Apple has one thing on its mind and its selling more Apple products.
Sorry Huawei.
Taking Unboxing to a Whole New Level
Huawei clearly worked hard on the packaging. The luxury feeling of this timepiece is clear, it makes the user feel impressively regal from the moment they open the box. The box, if such things matter to you, shows Huawei is making a concerted effort to mimic the higher end watch brands. The box is decked with embossed text and a soft interior.
It seems that unlike some of its competitors, Huawei gets that this is not just another tech toy.
This is a device that’s meant to be used and deserves the splash of class and luxury feel that is associated with such an investment.
Display
The watch has a round face with a full 360 display.
Well done.
This small change enables Huawei to outshine and out-display its competition- by executing on the one thing that can be a major pain point for tech gadgets—allowing users to read the display in full sunlight.
Critical and a big win for Huawei.
Pairing with Iphone
After downloading the Android Wear app, the process of pairing the phone and watch took about two minutes.
Really smooth and seamless.
Granted, functionality with iOS is limited but it’s ok. The whole idea of having notifications buzzing on your wrist takes some getting used to.
iOS Integration
Essentially, any notification that’s set up on your iPhone will come up on the Huawei. From Instagram to Snapchat to Twitter. Dismissing notifications is only a simple swipe away (it also gets dismissed on the phone).
Thankfully, Google Now is on board, so users can use the iPhone app to allow traffic, sports, reminders and much more straight onto the watch.
Runner’s Problem
Like any smartwatch, the Huawei will count steps and offer basic metrics.
For the common person, the fitness tracking is probably extremely appealing. While the Fitbit remains the preferred tracker, at least in the US, the Android Wear option will perform similar functions and will inspire most to get out and move.
Unfortunately, exercise nuts or running enthusiasts, like myself, will find it difficult to use the Huawei as a viable replacement for their sports watch. With no GPS or other more robust sports tracking metrics, the basic info just doesn’t cut it for me. Additionally, the leather band and exposed charging nodes (more on that soon) also make the watch a bit less sport, sweat friendly.
Hardware
This is probably where the Huawei truly stands out. The processor and memory are arguably the best around and the full screen display is an absolute pleasure. The AMOLED display offers a bright, crisp and sharp color.
Battery
Like every smartwatch, smartphone and smart device, the battery life is a big setback. That being said, the battery on the Huawei is pretty solid. On a full charge, I’ve been able to get about 30 hours, sometimes I was able to stretch a bit more. That’s good considering the number of notifications I receive daily. While the watch isn’t in multi-day-Pebble level, it gets impressively close and that’s commendable.
A photo posted by Mordecai Holtz (@mordecaiholtz) on
A photo posted by Mordecai Holtz (@mordecaiholtz) on Apr 27, 2016 at 6:21am PDT
Speaking of battery life, I think the issue isn’t the battery life but the actual way in which the device charges. The charger is a proprietary magnetic cradle that looks like a hockey puck. The fact that the charger doesn’t use more standard charging options is a bit annoying.
Pro tip: Be careful not to lose the charger, since replacing it isn’t cheap.
Summary
So, after almost two months of wearing the Huawei, I’d say it’s wearing well. No scratches on the sapphire glass, not knicks on the finishing, and no marks on the leather strap. While I haven’t tested the full waterproofing of the device, I’ve been caught with a few sprinkles on it with no damage.
Although it’s pricey, the Huawei Watch clearly earns its position as one of the best Android Wear smartwatches on the market. Its stunning design and impressive quality make it a watch worth wearing. With no GPS or NFC there’s certainly some room for improvement but it’s definitely a great step in the right direction.
All in all, Huawei joined the smartwatch arena a bit late but they caught up quickly. The Chinese mobile and technology company know what they’re doing. They get it. The company understands how to balance function with form.
They know how to work (or do a good job) on multiple operating systems.
The smarter the device the better the digital experience will have to be. Huawei gets that and is working hard on making the overall flow on devices better.
Well done.
Here’s a video review of the design concept of the Huawei Watch
Social media and digital marketing is everywhere. Any brand attempting to promote, engage, and connect with their target audience in today’s day and age is using social media to market to their constituents. While only 10 years old, social media has become a catalyst in restoring the one to one relationship between brands and consumers.
In its 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Social Media Examiner, a leader in the space, has provided invaluable insight as to how brands and individuals are using social media for marketing purposes.
Interestingly, the most important question (“What is the ROI of social media?”)remains to be answered in a concrete manner. Does that mean that social media will disappear? Probably not. What this report does seem to document is that, with the initial trend of social media integration behind us, companies and brands are now transitioning to a point requiring a more transparent and clearer reporting for concrete results of social media marketing.
The Highlights
After reviewing Top Rank’s analysis of the report, which enumerates five major benefits of social media on business, there are some additional findings which warrant discussion and should be raised for longer term consideration.
The Role of Video Marketing
While nearly 60% of marketers already utilize video in their marketing efforts, 72% indicated that video marketing is part of their short term goals to integrate into their digital strategy. Especially with recent changes on Facebook, video marketing is clearly an important channel for content creation and marketing.
In fact, in the study, learning to create videos is the number one area that marketers wish to increase their knowledge and expertise.
Growth of Podcasting in Digital Mix
To date, only 10% of marketers are using podcasting as a tool to create content and engage with an audience.
Why?
Like video, podcasting requires a significant investment in resources to produce a final product. While Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram represent platforms on which content can be automated or quickly shared, podcasting can only be distributed after the raw content has been edited and modified for optimal brand promotion. Unlike blog content, which can be edited in real time, the time and energy involved prior to distributing podcast content, dissuades many marketing teams from integrating this form of content.
Interestingly, the small group of marketers using podcasting praise its value and high engagement rates since the content is automatically pushed and syndicated to a user’s phone or desktop via a platform like Itunes. While content on a blog can be sent via email, the simplicity of podcast syndication and ability to listen at one’s leisure signifies a user controlled experience with which other forms of content are unable to compete.
The Secondary Benefits of Social Media Marketing
The report does indicate that those marketers involved in social media for over two years are actually seeing sales from the relationships and communities that they’ve established. To date, the secondary benefits (branding, exposure, partnerships, lead gen, cost savings, search rankings) outweigh the direct impact of social media on business revenue.
An intriguing development in the secondary benefits of social media is the ability for content writing and social conversation to enable a brand or personality to position themselves as thought leaders within an industry.
In today’s digital space, these secondary benefits are indeed significant, within the context of a brand’s ability to solidify the opportunities into concrete sales. Briefly stated, search ranking, for example, does help a brand gain advantage over its competitors on search engines. If, however, the user is directed to a site that is not optimized for conversion or otherwise confusing, the benefit of search engine optimization has proven to be insignificant.
Measuring the ROI of Social Media
One of the most significant results that emerged from the study is that only 42% of marketers can actually measure the direct result of their marketing efforts. While the number does show 5% increase from 2014, and 16% increase from 2013, the results still do raise questions in terms of return on investment.
Many of the marketers claiming this challenge are ill-equipped with the necessary reporting tools or do not invest the necessary time on social media as the primary factors in their inability to show direct ROI.
What are some of the most effective social media platforms?
An important aspect of the report was a list of the top seven social media platforms being used by marketers. In order of usage- Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram. Instagram did increase its position by 8% and, despite the common notion that Google+ is becoming more insignificant, the social media platform increased by 2% since 2014.
An important distinction made in the report is the social media platforms used by B2B vs B2C marketers. B2C marketers focus on Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram. These four are highly visual based platforms that resonate with consumers looking for visually appealing content prior to making purchase decisions.
For B2B marketers, the focus shifts to Linkedin, Twitter, Google+ and Slideshare. The reason for this differential is that B2B marketing efforts focus on establishing relationships, industry related content and understanding the employee within the context of his or her professional role.
As marketers prepare for future social media efforts, both B2B and B2C efforts are shifting their efforts to increase usage on Twitter, learning to leverage video marketing and integrating Instagram into their overall digital strategy. Again, while many individuals in the social media sphere shy away from Google+, the report indicates that 78% of marketers plan to maintain or increase their activities on this platform.
With regards to newer social media platforms including Snapchat, the report indicates a low rate of interest of marketers to integrate Snapchat or other new social platforms into their overall marketing efforts.
In terms of Snapchat, the reasons could be lack of interest, lack of familiarity with usability or associating Snapchat with an audience incongruent with their target audience. For other new platforms, marketers could be showing a sense of complacency to constantly learn and integrate new platforms or they could be more interested in proving value in the core, more commonly accepted, platforms before venturing into new ones.
For those marketers who are comfortable with being early adopters in new platforms or are willing to risk venturing into new territories, these platforms do indeed present significant opportunities.
Like Top Rank, I agree that a very important result from the 2015 Social Media Examiner report is the ability of marketers to quantify specific objectives and show results that meet these goals. With this report, an important question that remains unanswered in the social media marketing sphere is which benefits play a more significant role direct or indirect sales benefits?
There’s no shortage of options for finding a quality case for your iphone 6 plus. With a phone this big, finding a case that doesn’t interfere with design and sleek nature is critical. Especially with iPhone.
Apple is always improving their phones to be more attractive, lighter and functional. A protective case should not make them any bigger, heavier or disrupt the style associated to iPhones. InnerExile clearly understands these needs by creating a super sweet Hydra iPhone 6 Plus case.
It’s slim, stylish and self- healing.
What’s that last phrase? Self-healing. Yup you read it right. An iPhone case that magically erases the nicks and dings right off.
Let’s back up a bit.
It’s the first time I’m reviewing an iPhone case and the InnerExile is the perfect start. Since the 6 plus is my third Iphone, I’m familiar with the cases, skins and other protective options for Apple phones. I’ve actually never heard of innerexile but, honestly, I’m impressed.
Of course, what piqued my interest is the “self-healing” feature that erases all of the small scuffs. When I was introduced to the concept, I was weary of it. Even after watching their video, I questioned this feature.
How could a phone case just cause these common scratches wipe away?
Well I can honestly tell you it does. No joke.
Here’s the full review.
The Basics
The innerexile hydra looks like any standard Iphone 6 plus case that protects only the back of the phone. A simple plastic case that comes in three colors- transparent, pink or black (featured in the review). At 8.2mm, the case doesn’t interrupt the iPhone’s overall weight or design. The case clips right on and sits snug around the iPhone without causing any discomfort.
Unlike other cases, the primary function buttons are left fully open enabling easy access to these buttons and simple assembly/disassembly.
The innerexile Self-Healing case is only for the back of the phone so additional protection is necessary for the big Iphone 6 plus screen. Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of cases that only protect the back of my iPhones because back-only cases scratch easily. Well innerexile just took care of that problem.
Self- Healing Feature
As I said, I didn’t believe that this can actually happen. It’s like watching Tomorrow Never Dies, when the tires on Bond’s super stylish BMW get magically re-inflated thanks to Q who installed this amazing, almost unrealistic, feature.
Well, it’s no James Bond movie. It’s real. And it’s on your iPhone 6 plus case. What looks like a simple plastic case, the hydra is actually coated with a patented coat that causes basic scratches to disappear. Sure, a hacksaw, dagger or knife may pierce the case but for those every-day bruises (keys, coins), the hydra makes them vanish.
InnerExile boasts the cases super power by putting it under a bronze brush scratch test 1kg along with some serious bending in the lab.
So is the Hydra case really resilient?
To be 100% sure. I tested the case with two common objects – keys and safety pins. Then I rubbed some steel wool on it as an extra precaution. In all three scenarios (with serious trying), I could see the scratches fade away almost instantly.
Check out this video notice anything?
Me either.
The mark from the key remains but is definitely not permeable. No protrusion or diminishing of the case.
Conclusion
Overall, the innerexile hydra iPhone 6 / 6 plus case is basic in style but outdoes any of the more common plastic cases with its self-healing feature. So, while I can’t figure out the science behind the self- healing case, I’ll just pretend that in some way I’m James Bond with Q protecting my iPhone 6 plus.
