Month: August 2016

Microsoft: Nadella Interviewed by Bloomberg

Microsoft CEO Satya NadellaMicrosoft CEO Satya Nadella was interviewed by Bloomberg on the topics of cloud computing, Azure, the LinkedIn acquisition, culture change at Microsoft, and the globalization of technology.

Here is a subset of what he said about tech changes:

Is the cloud the big technological change that we’re going to see over the next five years?

I think the big move that is happening today for sure is the cloud move and the mobile move. They sort of go together. And when I say mobility, it’s not the mobility of one device, it’s the mobility of the applications and the data across all your devices, because it’s about the ability of the human experience, not the device.

But I see three other broad platform shifts. One is what I’ve called conversations as a platform. If we can teach all our computers human language, can we democratize computers even more so than we have done today? Think about it. The model today of, “Well, I’ve got to learn the shell, learn to download 20 apps, and navigate between these apps to get stuff done”—what if none of that was a cognitive load on me, but I was able to simply talk, text, or voice and get my things done?

That’s a much more natural way for computing to surface. It’ll work for an 85-year-old person in China, and it’ll work for a 5-year-old in Bellevue [Wash.]. That, to me, is the next frontier and what we’re doing with [voice-enabled personal assistant] Cortana, what we are doing with our bots.

I’m also very, very bullish about making AI capability or machine learning capability available to every developer, every application, and letting any company use these core cognitive capabilities to add intelligence into their core operations. So that’s something that we’re doing with Azure and our Azure cognitive services.

The third one that I’m also very excited about is what’s happening with mixed reality.

Image Credit: Satya Nadella from LinkedIn

US-EU Privacy Shield

EU LogoThe US and EU finalized a new Privacy Shield agreement to replace the recently invalidated Safe Harbour agreement concerning data privacy.  The new program allows firms to begin self-certifying their compliance as of August 1st.  As part of the agreement, the US Department of Commerce will begin conducting regular compliance reviews.

“We have worked hard with all our partners in Europe and in the US to get this deal right and to have it done as soon as possible,” Andrus Ansip, said vice president for the European Commission’s Digital Single Market initiative. “Data flows between our two continents are essential to our society and economy – we now have a robust framework ensuring these transfers take place in the best and safest conditions.”

The US government will also implement “clear limitations, safeguards and oversight mechanisms” concerning the handling of European data.  Furthermore, The European Commission has assurances that bulk data collection would only be conducted “under specific preconditions and needs to be as targeted and focused as possible.”

A complaint mechanism is in place for Europeans which would be handled by the US Department of Commerce or the US Federal Trade Commission.  Mechanisms also exist for an independent ombudsman where national security questions come into play.

While tech companies applauded the new agreement, European privacy advocates contend the deal still fails to protect European citizens.

DiscoverOrg: TiLT Sales & Marketing Certification

Conviction is one of the ten "micro-burst" training modules in the Sales Development certification program.
Conviction is one of the ten “micro-burst” training modules in the Sales Development certification program.

Technology Sales Intelligence vendor DiscoverOrg formally launched a sales and marketing training program called TiLT.  The certification program is available at no charge to DiscoverOrg clients.  Three programs are planned for sales development, marketing, and account executives with a ten module sales development program now available.  The marketing program should be available by early Q4.

“DiscoverOrg’s mission is to provide actionable sales and marketing intelligence that enables our customers to open the door to growth like they’ve never experienced, and we are leading by example. Our experience as one of the fastest growing companies in the country over the past decade gives us a unique perspective, and the TiLT training program is grounded in real-life, practical examples of what works and doesn’t work in today’s incredibly tough sales environment,” said Henry Schuck, CEO of DiscoverOrg.

The training sessions are platform and sales methodology agnostic and allow the sales rep to engage in “microburst learning” with a combination of videos and curated content.  Each module includes a recorded challenge with students self-reporting their level of sales-skill confidence along the way.  Course metrics are then available to sales managers for tracking the progress of their staff.  Thus, a new sales development rep might take two sessions per week over the course of five weeks.

DiscoverOrg is looking to improve the success of its sales clients, many of whom have devalued the value of good salesmanship.  “Conversation is a lost art due to the advent of technology,” said DiscoverOrg’s Senior VP of Customer Success David Sill.

Sheri Schiffman, Director of Inside Sales for WatchGuard, commented on a recent new hire TiLT training session for their Inside Sales team, “We were looking for a way to decrease ramp-up time for new sales employees, and give them new techniques for converting leads to sales. The TiLT training was relevant and provided immediately applicable information and sales skills. Their commitment to our success is outstanding, and we are looking forward to running other new employees through the training in the future.”

The ten-part sales development program contains the following modules:

  1. Improvisation
  2. Engagement
  3. Relevance
  4. Trust
  5. Conviction
  6. Authenticity
  7. Persistence
  8. Persuasion
  9. Creativity
  10. Storytelling

When LinkedIn acquired Lynda last year, I expected they would quickly integrate Lynda training tools into Sales Navigator, but they have yet to do so.  The Sales Navigator training and tools section is provided by Cornerstone OnDemand, not Lynda.  When searching on Lynda, there are five Sales Navigator courses, but four were five to seven minutes overviews and one was a seventy-eight minute Sales Navigator Basics class.   Thus, it appears that DiscoverOrg has stolen a march on LinkedIn with respect to professional sales development.

Historically, the sales intelligence vendors have avoided formal training programs.  They usually provide a set of short training webinars, both recorded and live, but these have tended towards tool training.  DiscoverOrg is going beyond mere tool training to certification training in “the art and science of sales and marketing.”