Brave New World: Preview

February 28 - March 3, 2009

The Inn at Spanish Bay
2700 17-Mile Drive
Pebble Beach, CA 93953
(831) 647-7500

Preview

At the Diamond Exchange, we pride ourselves on seeing what's next. If you joined us two years ago, you heard Bill Strauss, co-author of The Fourth Turning, opine on the future. From his research of the repeated cycles of U.S. history, he predicted that our nation would soon head into calamitous, uncharted economic territory, bringing the possibility of great peril, or "the opportunity to enter a new golden age." He believed that a political candidate would emerge who had a strong message that resonated with today's young people, and that this group-which is more socially conscious than the generation before them - would turn out in mass to vote, electing a new generation of leadership, and a new approach. At the time, he went as far as saying that Barack Obama was the only candidate he saw who would resonate with young voters, and that he believed that if Obama ran, he would win by a wide margin. Regardless of your political stripes, Strauss was amazingly accurate in his prognostications.

In the same spirit of bringing the future to our members, we believe that the companies that will compete effectively in the Brave New World rising out of today's crises will possess information superiority. That is, they will collect more accurate, timely and complete information than their competition, and they will analyze, process and act upon it rapidly, using it to their advantage in the marketplace. At this DiamondExchange, we will examine both the promise, and the steps in building an information advantage.

We will begin our trek with scientist Dr. Larry Smarr, who will share his breakthrough work on vast information networks, and sophisticated data visualization. The large displays he and his team have created can visually depict such complex data as genetic code, or fault line stresses in earthquake zones. Such advances improve the efficiency of global scientific discovery by reducing redundant efforts and provide a far richer environment for collaboration and communication. More broadly, we believe that leading firms will make significant advances in how they analyze and display information next five years to help them see their customers, markets, or products in new ways. There is much to learn about your near future from Dr. Smarr.

Next, John Sviokla, Diamond's vice chairman, will showcase Diamond's work in Johannesburg, South Africa that was performed jointly with the Department of Health and investment firm Blue IQ, to create an entirely new broadband information infrastructure that provides the province with a clear information advantage. Depending on the target segment, 40-60% of the cost of providing broadband to the citizens of the province is offset from savings from diabetes treatment and management alone!

We will show how Blue IQ went through a process of assessing the value of new information, modeling its financial implications, creating experiments to test the value, scaling the experiments, and institutionalizing the benefits. To make this approach even more practical, we will take these lessons on how South Africa created an information advantage and apply them to a section of the US healthcare system, and a critical problem in our financial system to demonstrate how your company can approach creating an information advantage.

After our deep exploration of information advantage, we will explore another very practical, leading edge example - the creation of digital customer service representatives who are solving real customers' issues. Liesl Capper, CEO of MyCyberTwin, has spent her career helping companies change their cost curves by using artificial intelligence more intelligently. Liesl will present a virtual alternative to call centers - one with lower turnover, greater personalization, improved customer satisfaction, and lower costs. Liesl is currently working internationally and domestically with companies in banking, transportation and insurance to help them "outsource the outsourcers" by automating online customer service functions - a true information advantage!

Lastly, we will turn to three other vital areas of information advantage - risk management, customer management and human capital management. The best firms are using new methods to model and manage risk in new ways - to create more value and less volatility. They are using information and analysis to learn new things about their customers, and to manage relationships in new ways. Likewise, companies are effectively using social networks to find and keep the best talent to meet their market needs. All of these vital areas - risk, customers and talent - are moving toward the more effective use of information and those firms that understand how to craft an information advantage, will benefit both in the short and the long term. We will hear from Doug DeSchutter, vice president of strategic development at Broadridge Financial, and Ellen Levy, vice president of strategy at LinkedIn, among others.

As Miranda exclaims in Shakespeare's The Tempest, "O Brave New World that has such people in't!" We are fortunate to have such an accomplished group of speakers, inventors, scientists, thinkers and senior executives. We hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to collaborate, debate, discuss and refine ideas about how to achieve information advantage with your peers, the Diamond Fellows and Diamond hosts at the upcoming DiamondExchange. The underlying uncertainty in today's economy will result in great riches for some, and extinction for others. The winners will be those who can survive and thrive in an information world.