iAmDigital - Marketing. Innovation. Technology.

It's crazy that Amazon Alexa and Google Home still seem kinda new to many, the reality is though, voice technology dates back to the 1950s. However, it hasn’t been until the early part of the twenty-first century that we have really seen voice technology come into its own with huge leaps in computing power, vast amounts of data, advancements in AI and machine learning and investments from large enterprises. New innovative uses for voice-activated technology are seemingly ensuring a strong case for incorporating it in digital strategies. Being such a frictionless form of tech and improving all the time, it’s not hard to see why.  What do we mean by voice marketing? So, we know Alexa, Google Home, Siri, Cortana and their siblings have become everyday technology in the last few years, but voice marketing is about understanding how consumers use them. Currently, 50% of online searches are made via voice with almost 20% of browsing sessions being screenless! Businesses who want to remai...

“ Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light. ” Brene Brown - Daring Greatly Since Brene Brown gave her TED Talk “ The Power of Vulnerability ” almost a decade ago, her popularity raised as one of the most sincere voices about leadership, authenticity, and vulnerability. Defined as one of the top gurus for the emotions that nobody wants to talk about, Brown established the connection between how authenticity can affect your relationships with others. For her, authenticity is a daily practice and it's about the choice to show up and be real. In other words, it is about working on your daily personal brand that can allow you to beat the shame and the consequent dis...

It's no surprise that many companies are desperate to be seen as innovative, customer-centric or digital disruptor's within their industry. What is surprising (and disappointing) is that some think they can 'check the box' by simply creating an innovation team and updating their corporate presentation to include phrases like "innovative culture", "digital disruption", and "emerging markets", with very little actually changing. As you very well know, updating your CRM system, running a course on agile or replacing your marketing automation platform, doesn't put you ahead of the curb you're chasing. Most of the time, it's as deep seeded as a culture change and company ethos shift that that needs to take place. Most forms of innovation, are simply taking an existing problem that your customers or even staff have and solving it. Sometimes, that means solving problems they never knew they had to begin with. "Customers ...

While there is no shortage of claims of how there will be nothing a human will be able to do better than our AI counterparts in the future, the real question is, what is the actual overarching goal of technology today? I'm not addicted Whatever happened to technology enabling us to better live our lives, by keeping us better informed, connected and empowered? Instead, I feel we are heading down this path of acceptable addiction, where I download an app to help manage my apps. Where I use a SaaS (software as a service) that helps me use another piece of software as well as offer a service. Where I jump on Facebook to 'connect with loved ones' and find myself sucked into a number of rabbit warrens littered with cat videos, conspiracy theorists, memes, birds with arms and generally content design to keep me clicking, watching, consuming all while my details are pawned off to the next advertiser. Ok, I'm addicted Our addiction is so real but we can'...

Why are we so willing to surrender our time and personal data for free, online, to monopoly type companies like Facebook, Google, et al? To understand that, we need to understand why people spend so much time on sites like Facebook. 5 Drivers of Online Activity Anyone studying digital marketing, development of websites and/or apps, knows that there are five typical activities that drive online activity: Seeking information Interpersonal communication Self-expression Passing time Entertainment Is Privacy the New Cryptocurrency? These days, we tell ourselves that our privacy is sort of like currency that we trade with corporations in exchange for innovation and technology. Doesn’t help that those same corporations have a ravenous hunger for our data and to keep us in engaged, continue to collect more on us than we even understand. Nowadays, Facebook is one of the few sites that successfully delivers all five of the above, albeit it, information seeking...

" As long as consciousness and intelligence go hand in hand, which is more important, will always be a popular discussion point for philosophers. With the pace that technology at today, it's quickly becoming an urgent political and economic issue. " - Yuval Noah Harari, Author.  After watching a robust panel discussion about the future of work last week, it got me thinking... Is there enough of a debate, of the ethical impact of technology? We are not only developing intelligence but a form of intelligence that is no longer reliant on consciousness. Whether it's playing games or driving cars, a computer via machine learning can now evaluate patterns better than we can. This has the potential to make us and our usefulness, about as redundant as the horse and carriage. If intelligence is compulsory, is consciousness nonessential...? The fact is, companies all over the world are already valuing intelligence more highly than consciousness. Is it ...

So, I suddenly wake up and realise. I missed most of 2015. Not to mention all of 2016 and 17. My last post (here at least),  was mid-2015... In technological terms, that's about 3 decades. Like many things, life got in the way, yadda, yadda, yadda, now here we are about to sign off on 2017. Here are some of the events I missed, during that time: SpaceX  lands the Falcon 9 rocket - the first reusable rocket Scientists discover a previously unknown species of early human in South Africa known as  Homo naledi  Princess Charlotte of Cambridge is born while B.B. King, Jackie Collins and one my heroes Ron Clarke died Our smartphones started to sense pressure Driverless cars were being tested on our roads Apple Watch and Apple Pay is released Scientists culture brain matter in a lab 1 Bitcoin was worth about $500 and finally being accepted by some banks North Korea starts annoying the UN No ones thinks for a second, that Donald Trump ...