Box掌门人：信息时代如何赢得竞争

    这种状态一直持续着，直到变化再次来临。

    现在，一场由技术驱动的革命正在悄然酝酿，引领这股潮流的是无处不在的移动设备、云计算和工作场合所需的一批全新软件。未来的经济状况如何，几乎将完全取决于我们是否能利用更好的信息做出更明智的决策，从医疗保健业到零售业，无不如此。在我们向这种经济形态进发的过程中，那些能最大限度地利用好这些趋势的公司将最终拥有最强的实力。

    在我们每个人置身其间的“企业”生活中，很容易感受到这种变化带来的影响。现在我们整天都要用手指敲敲点点，摁这摁那，工作地点和设备都比以前要更多样化。一旦公司管理层阻止一些关键数据的传播，或是某个重要观点被限制在大家无法获知的小范围内，我们的工作进度就会放缓。简言之，如果没法获得需要的信息，我们就会变得毫无用武之地。现在几乎各行各业都有适用的新软件，它们能让员工重新掌握信息的威力。比如用RelateIQ就能在手机上查看最新的预期销售情况，用Elementum就能了解供应链的瓶颈何在，用Zendesk就能随时随地查阅客户反馈，用Workday就能了解人力资源发展的趋势和差距。那种笨重的企业级软件无意间妨碍信息在企业内部共享的时代已经一去不复返了。

    个人电脑的革命让IT进入了每个办公室，而平板电脑和智能手机的崛起则产生了更加深远的影响，即它们能将信息传递给企业以外的各种人和各种场所。企业现在必须自问，如何用更好的数据来武装内部的每个人，让整体业务更具竞争力。化妆品连锁店丝芙兰（Sephora）让店员和顾客在iPad上就能方便地获取信息。通过社交工具，连锁餐厅Red Robin早在收入报告陆续完成前就能获得关于最新促销和菜单变化的定性及定量数据。无论是医生还是飞行员，几乎所有工作都会因为获得正确信息而提升绩效。

    从更宏观的层面来看，大家会发现信息技术已开始重塑各种产品。如果说上个世纪工业和信息技术在产品制造中主要起辅助作用，那下一轮革命就将是新技术对产品和服务同时进行重塑。

    保险业和信贷业的创业公司正在运用大量个人化信息及人口数据提供更精确的费率并为客户提供更优质的贷款产品。奈飞公司能战胜百视达，不光是因为它拥有创新的商业模式，还在于它能挖掘并利用好海量信息来为客户创造更相关的体验，甚至能对获得的内容施加决定性影响。在通用电气公司（General Electric），杰夫•伊梅尔特正在率领团队将软件和飞机引擎上的传感器收集的数据创造性地整合起来，最终能为航空公司节省上亿美元的燃油成本。近期被孟山都公司（Monsanto）以10亿美元并购的Climate Corporation公司深入分析了兆兆字节的气候模式数据，有望帮助农业更好地预测玉米产量并做出更好的耕种决策。

    That is, until everything changed – again.

    Now a new technology-enabled revolution is brewing, led by ubiquitous mobile devices, cloud computing, and a new wave of software confronting the workplace. And as we continue to move toward an economy that's almost solely defined by our ability to make better decisions with better information, from healthcare to retail, power will eventually concentrate in those companies that can take advantage of these trends most substantively.

    It's easy to grasp the impact of this change in the context of our own individual "corporate" lives. We now swipe, tap, and thumb our way through the day, working from more locations and more devices than ever before. We're slowed down when corporate hierarchy blocks the dissemination of critical data, or when a relevant insight is stuck in an inaccessible silo. Simply put, when we can't get to the information we need, our roles are rendered useless. New software is emerging for nearly every job type and industry that will put the power of information back into the hands of employees. You can pull up the latest sales prospect from a phone with RelateIQ, see where a supply chain bottleneck emerges with Elementum, check-in on customer feedback anywhere with Zendesk, and spot workforce trends and gaps with Workday. Gone are the days of clunky enterprise software that inadvertently throttled how knowledge was shared in a corporation.

    And while the PC-revolution brought IT to every office, the rise of tablets and smartphones has had the profound effect of delivering information to people and places beyond office walls. Enterprises now must ask how arming everyone in their organization with better data will make their overall business more competitive. Sephora empowers store associates and customers with easily accessible information about the latest products on iPads. Through social tools, Red Robin gains qualitative and quantitative data about the latest promotions and menu changes well before revenue reports trickle in. From doctors to pilots, there's almost no job function that can't be enhanced with access to the right information.

    Zoom out, and you can see how information technology begins to rewire the very products that are built. If the last century was defined by industrial and information technologies aiding the production of goods, the next revolution will be about new technologies redefining the goods and services altogether.

    Startups in insurance and lending are using extensive amounts of personalized and population data to more provide accurate rates and offer better loans to consumers. Netflix didn't triumph over Blockbuster simply because of its innovative business model; its power is in the troves of information it mines and leverages to create more relevant experiences for customers, and even to dictate the content it acquires. At General Electric (GE), Jeff Immelt is pushing a creative mix of software and data gathered by sensors on a jet engine, which will lead to saving airlines hundreds of millions of dollars in fuel costs. The Climate Corporation, which recently sold to Monsanto for a cool $1 billion, crunches terabytes of weather pattern data, helping the agriculture industry predict better crop yield and produce better farming decisions.