PixelMEDIA

Ah, the dreaded trend word. In the B2B space it’s a scary issue. They come and go before most even get a chance to embrace them. With Gartner and other “influencers” at the helm, tossing new fangled ‘everything’ around, it’s a genuine OMG issue.

I read earlier this year that 2007 was the year of Social, and 2008 is the year of Mobile. Holy crap. Are you serious? What happened to Web 2.0? Or is that now Enterprise 2.0, because anything that finally makes it into the enterprise took so long we needed a new name? I think we can thank Gartner for that - the new names for the stuff that needs some new focus.

And where is Next Generation Internet (NGI), or is that Web 3.0 (yes, I’m being a little sarcastic)? You think O’Reilly thought coining Web 2.0 would be such a wildfire. It’s like we’re starving for something to attach to. Anything. And the open source movement; at one time thought of as a trend too. Props to that movement. We’re glad see that it was not. We rely heavily on open source tools here at PixelMEDIA, like Subversion, Trac and Wordpress to name just a few.

How about Googlzon? Anyone heard that little gem yet? If you’ve been to an Enterprise 2.0 conference you may have. Gartner - your freaking people out. Stop it. And AJAX, oh ya, gotta get me some of that. Jesse James Garrett coined that term, and for good use, a few years back. I’ve met Jesse, and have a book from him. Brilliant man, and a great firm, those Adaptive Path folks.

Regarding AJAX - I was on a call recently with a group that wanted their site “ajax-enabled”. When I probed as to the reasoning there was a long silence. They knew it could do cool stuff, and they wanted to be cooler. Cool huh?

The funny part of that statement is that AJAX is an incredibly powerful tool. Look at Google Maps. It’s like a potters wheel though - in the hands of a professional one can create amazing pieces. Otherwise, well, those of us with kids probably have an ashtray that won’t hold cigarettes. It’s like that. Mantleware. Something to show the in-laws. Which is fine, because smoking is bad.

So many of these trends (and there are dozens more I’ve not mentioned) are just now making their way into the enterprise. And by enterprise I don’t mean the fortune 100, the progressive brands, or ‘trendy’ consumer goods, I mean the meat of businesses - the $10M to $500M folks - you know, the one’s that are the most freaked out, yet stand to reap the greatest rewards from these advances.

My point is a simple one; what seems old to many is new to most, especially in the context of the B2B space. To jump on a trend is OK, but do so with caution, as most of them were largely immature in their prime of media coverage, relatively unproven, and expensive. Sound ideas will always win, and it’s how you choose to use these ideas that define your success, not if you use them. I have clients that are just starting to embrace the supposed trends of old; like social software, web 2.0, and to some extent, using the web to it’s fullest potential within their businesses. Mobile, which we do a ton of, is still an aspiration for most folks.

For some of us, the proving period is measured in years not weeks. It’s not when you embrace the tools that makes you successful, it’s how. My goal is to recommend what I think produces the best outcome, and not what gets the most press. At times that may mean flying in the face of hype for the greater good of the business. It’s worked for nearly 18 years. I suspect it’ll work for another 18.

Peace. -t

Tags: trends

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 5:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.