A Kind of Holodec from the 90s

In the 80's we built a kind of Holodec, but were not patient enough to finish it with the tools of the times.   Now we Have more of those tools.     Called them a 'Business Sphere' back them  ...  Click to the right for more on that.    -  Franz Dill

Cisco Blogs / Learning / “Beam me up to the holodeck!” How holograms are becoming a reality for experiential learning

May 18   Beam me up to the holodeck!”

How holograms are becoming a reality for experiential learning

Huma Hamid

The popular 1960s American TV show, Star Trek, featured a fictional device called a “holodeck,” that used holograms. Star Trek used these 3D simulations in both real and imaginary settings to allow its characters to interact with the environment, objects, and other characters. Not only that, but the show’s characters use holodecks for tasks, such as scientific simulations or tactical, covert training.

What’s a hologram? you wonder.

Holograms are projected light and electromagnetic energy that create the illusion of solid objects.

Fast forward to modern times, and that work of fiction is becoming a reality. Today, holograms are becoming a reality for experiential learning. Read on to explore how the rise of immersive technologies, such as holograms, is having a fascinating impact on the digital learning space; namely, in the promise of offering us new ways to approach learning challenges.

Experiential learning boosts learner engagement

Experiential learning encounters give learners a chance to use their direct experiences to build their knowledge.* Research from the past 70 years shows experiential learning effectively grows students’ active engagement in their learning.** What’s more, learners are more inclined to reflect on newfound knowledge gained from experiential learning, which results in even more learning and growth.***

Holographic technology has gained popularity in other industries because it offers an exceptional representation of the three-dimensional world around us. And interest has grown in combining experiential learning and holographic technology as practical approaches to education.

By using holographic technology with digital learning, we can transform the upskilling of today’s workforce into a collaborative, reflective, and engaging experiential learning experience.

Holographic technology can also enable tutors to be present in 3D in remote locations, adding depth to the learning experience. For instance, it was easier for Professor Steve Limberg, University of Texas at Austin, to notice students’ reactions—whether they were distracted or wanted his attention—during his executive MBA class, which he taught as a live, 3D image during the COVID-19 pandemic. He says the experience was much closer to teaching in person.****

Holograms can be social and educational equalizers

Holograms can simulate face-to-face interactions, removing geographical barriers so learners can share their diverse cultures through live projections and 3D presentations. Such an interactive environment, even from around the world, can improve collaboration, build community, and instill a sense of belonging as a class, all of which are critical for a memorable and effective learning experience.

Using holograms to create an experiential learning experience can also meet the social justice and equity needs of learners from marginalized and underrepresented communities. Learners can practice their skills through these immersive experiences, building their career and economic opportunities and confidence in accomplishing career-related skills.***** 

Cisco Blogs / Learning / “Beam me up to the holodeck!” How holograms are becoming a reality for experiential learning

Emerging AI Attached to Business Meetings and Process Management.

Some of the work we did in the enterprise a dozen plus years ago was to improve executive decision making based on visualized data.   Especially useful when it needed to focus complex, expensive  and difficult to obtain expertise.    And results that further need to be linked to known and developing process.  At the time we were also working with strategic AI approaches, but it had yet to mature.   It comes to mind now that methods like GPT make this easier, especially when integrated with data visualization and large data base exploration.     Exploring further .... 

Here is a set of posts:   from this blog about the work then.  

Connect to discuss ...     Franz   

MS Teams with Colaborative Apps

 Makes good sense.   Especially apps that aid in bringing in multiple opinions, decision and task oriented views.  See some of the work we did in this space, well before the focus now being seen with apps like Teams and Zoom.  See 'Business Sphere' tag.

Microsoft wants Teams to be your go-to for collaborative apps  in Engadget

What if Teams could be the Windows for real-time apps?

You may not have noticed, but Microsoft Teams is slowing evolving from a Slack-like workplace chat app to a collaborative platform of its own. In addition to just talking with your coworkers, you can also install apps within Teams to manage Asana projects, or build a custom app that's specifically tuned to your company's needs. At Build 2021, Microsoft is making a bigger push to make Teams a platform for collaborative apps.  ... " 

Getting Data to Drive Decisions

Some of the earliset work we did was to engineer ways we could get data to decision makers.  Visually if possible. And to groups of people that could formulate key decisions.    And get feed back to these same people/groups to tailor a decision, and track its outcome usefully.   There is still lots of work to do to link process, decisions and driving data and analytics.

Data Engineers: The C-Suite’s Savior       By Richa Dhanda in DataNami

Today’s competitive marketplace requires companies to be data-driven. Why? Because data has become the fuel for organizations to deliver better and faster decisions, quickly respond to customers, and analyze, understand and act on new opportunities (or threats) ahead of the competition. However, becoming a data-driven organization is not easy.  As highlighted in a recent Gartner report,  “despite massive investments in data and analytics initiatives, nearly 50% of organizations report difficulties in bringing them into production.”

That’s where data engineers come in. Their role is to help the company make the best use of data to accomplish business objectives. And, as demonstrated by a recent survey of Fortune 1,000 decision makers, this role is absolutely critical as established companies are being disrupted by technology-savvy new entrants.

Surveys say 80% of big data C-suite executives acknowledge the potential threats of technology disruption and displacement, yet only 7.3% of them feel confident that they were well-prepared for the future.  .... " 

Looking Back at Forecasting in Support of Analytics

Forecasting is an important part of any kind of analytics or predictive AI.    Ultimately you have to use predictive systems not only in their current contexts but also for needed future contexts.  In other words the world,  the data it provides,  and much metadata,  is always changing.

This led me back to work we had done with forecasting methods in the enterprise, notably using the work of Wharton Prof:  J Scott Armstrong, the editor of The Principles of Forecasting   .. "

Ultimately this work led us to better forecasting methods that could be linked to some of our approaches, like the 'Business Sphere',  mentioned a number of times here.

We were particularly interested in how domain knowledge could be used (without bias and with transparency) to validate and improve such forecasts for the use as an assistant for multiple decision makers.   Including human and machine data and agents.   In real time and not.   Early on we examined rule bases to directly integrate domain knowledge.  Now we could integrate detected  'pattern knowledge' as well.    Here is a paper about using rules in forecasting.

AI Platforms Extracting Corporate Knowledge

Quite a considerable claim.   Can we extract all the knowledge of a company for easy use? We developed and tried systems with similar goals.  Looking further.

Can This AI Platform Make You A Better Leader?
Half of executives fail within the first 18 months of being promoted or hired. Could software fix the problem?  By Lydia Dishman in FastCompany

A robot might not directly take your job, but chances are that automation will force you to learn new skills. In fact, according to experts at McKinsey, as many as 375 million workers globally may need to switch fields and learn new skills soon. That’s because at least a third of tasks in about 60% of jobs can be automated.

High-level thinking and creativity are beyond the capabilities of artificial intelligence. So how can a software platform claim to make executives and managers better at leading? After all, aren’t qualities like optimism,  empathy, and emotional intelligence rooted firmly in human behavior?

They are, but there are others that plenty of people struggle with like setting and keeping individual and organizational priorities. Enter Indiggo, a platform powered by a proprietary AI tool called “indi” that launched earlier this month.  According to Indiggo’s CEO and cofounder Janeen Gelbart, indi is a brain that has consumed all the knowledge the company has gathered in its 15 years of operation. That’s a massive data set of situational analysis, advice, and guidance for different types of leaders that Gelbart says is quite powerful and can provide a “return on leadership” much like ROI. .... " 

Amazon Releases Ideas for Alexa in Business

Nicely done overview as part of the announcement.  Thought provoking.  Though could also be done with other assistants.   I would further like to see 'business skills' classified, and the ability to construct them easily from component 'micro' skills.  Will be following some of the examples mentioned.

Alexa for Business

" ... Today, people spend too much of their day on tedious tasks at work, like managing their calendars, dialing in to meetings, or searching for information. But Amazon Alexa can help solve this problem by acting as an intelligent assistant at work. Alexa lets people use their voice to interact with technology so they can spontaneously ask questions in a way that feels natural. Alexa can help people take care of these tasks just by asking. Alexa can help people stay organized and focused on the things that matter, whether they are working in their office or at home. Alexa can simplify conference rooms, allowing meeting attendees to start meetings and control the equipment in the room by simply using their voice. Alexa can also do things around the workplace, like providing directions to a conference room, notifying IT about a broken printer, or placing an order for office supplies. ... " 

Alexa in the Office

Have had many conversations about how Alexa and other skill/voice/attentive systems could be used in the office.    How could it have been used to link with our 'Business Sphere' data visualization space for executive decisions?  See link below about the plans as known.  Via Walter Riker.

In TechCrunch today:
" .... The interface is evolving. What has long been dominated by screens of all shapes and sizes is now being encroached upon by the voice. And while many companies are building voice interfaces — Apple with Siri, Google with Assistant, and Microsoft with Cortana — none are quite as dominant as Amazon has been with Alexa.

At the AWS reinvent conference, Amazon will announce Alexa for Business, according to the WSJ. The new platform will let companies build out their own skills and integrations for both practical and business use cases. .... 

Just as developers can build skills for Amazon Echo users, businesses can now build out Alexa skills for use within their own company. You could imagine voice access to an employee directory, Salesforce data on various clients and accounts, or company calendar information. .... " 

Bloomberg Terminal

Data Science in the Bloomberg Financial Terminal

A good example of how financial data is being analyzed and utilized in online, real time interactions. Mention of their current work using deep learning techniques.  Reminds me of some of our own attempts to track and visualize data and analytical results.   See tags.   You need strong buy-in and use cases.

Most Innovative Spaces

In the building of our innovation centers we took early looks at what it meant to be innovative.  I was in particular about what it took to be interactive with both your spaces and your data.   How can you tell an effective story, provide real value, by combining both of these?   We were successful, but not in embedding the two together for the right people.   Some interesting examples here:   FastCoDesign on the most innovative spaces and places.   Only a few seem to include the data aspect.

Executive and Digital

Interesting thoughts.  Our own work with executives showed that the good approaches were to give execs direct access to the capabilities that are part of digital.   That requires new design, access to data, integrated corporate knowledge, virtual assistants, 'Business Sphere' and more.   I have written about that here, see the tags below. And in the coming decades this will evolve towards augmentation by cognitive AI to be available at every level.

Executive Development Programs Enter the Digital Vortex: I. Disrupting the Demand Landscape
by Mihnea Moldoveanu and Das Narayandas

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY — The informational and computational “tectonic shifts” of the past decade—enabling sharing, transacting, collaborating, and learning online—have created new challenges for executive development programs, in part by making visible to both buyers and sellers the specific objectives of participants and their organizations. Drawing on interviews with sponsoring organizations and participants in executive education at Harvard Business School, this study examines what learners and organizations want from executive development and maps the sources of value and drivers of demand for executive development. ... " 

Innovation and the Language of the Corner Office

 Reminds of work we did to enhance executive information systems.   Back then and then later when we had more technology and live data to leverage.  Language is a big deal. And finally when we started to leverage AI concepts.   More digital now than ever.  Lots of threads in this blog on this, see tags below.   In Sloan Review:

When Innovation Meets the Language of the Corner Office  by Dave Rochlin

What are the best ways to tailor the language of innovation to the executive suite?

We have learned that innovation executives often feel poorly understood by their fellow executives. In turn, functional executives are often baffled by what they see and hear from their innovation teams.

This isn’t a big surprise. As with other business disciplines, innovation experts have their own language. Innovation processes now include journey mapping, need-finding, technology-scouting, business model canvasing, prototyping, design sprints, and more. While these processes and terms are becoming more widely used across organizations, they are not always fully embraced at the executive level. ... " 

Better Digital Work Methods Needed

Again, I would point to some of our work on this to first and foremost getting all the right data to people as they need it to both support decisions and make constraints clear.   Further supported by analytic/cognitive agents.

  See Business Sphere.   Sadly, I don't think this was taken forward very well,  It sits stagnant,  except perhaps in the financial industry.  I am struck by observations that we still start with a big pile of Lego blocks, looking for new data and new solutions, repeating this each and every time.   Done often even in 'modern' data science.   Very wasteful.

Can we achieve a better, more effective digital workplace?
As a confluence of new apps and devices steadily flow into the enterprise, they're encountering a growing sense that the digital workplace has become too complex and fragmented to be properly effective. What can organizations do? .... by Dion Hinchcliffe   ... 

AI Replacing Executive Decision Making?

It remains a big question what kinds of decisions AI will be able to replace in the short and longer term. For the executive, it is not too much different than other 'assistant' roles, but with different focus and scope of data.   Might be a time to look at some of the work we did with executive information systems.   More understanding of the risk behind decisions,   Better forecasts.  Better collaboration, inside and outside the enterprise.   Security.  Better simulation of choices.   Very clear explanation of analytics used. Clear measurement.

 MIT Sloan takes a look. .

Shrinking Organization Charts: Replaced by Data Patterns

Thoughts on the shrinking org chart.   Interesting and lengthy piece.   Key thoughts, yes, it is shrinking, but it is still as complex.  Parts of it are now being replaced by patterns in data.   All we need to do is find them.  Or at least know they might exist.

A pointer is made to the HBR article on P&G's Business Sphere effort.  Which is not quite on point to what was being talked about, but certainly could be.

See much more on the Business Sphere effort at the tag link below.

Speed of Marketing Automation

Consider in addition attentive or analytical methods to detect needed intervention.

Traveling at the speed of culture: can marketing automation keep up?
For successful brand campaigns that emerge based on real-time reactions to culturally relevant events, marketing automation capitalizes on these moments by driving consumer engagement.
Our latest marketing meme, driven by "war rooms" and 24/7 trendspotting teams, has data-driven marketers using insights to create memorable customer experiences that are linked to topical, cultural moments. These are not just a brand promise and not only singular interactions, but a combination of several relevant moments of truth (or MOTs) - the kinds of engaging moments of truth popularized by Google in 2011. Each touchpoint is personal, customized, and responsive of the actions and interests of the individual. ... " 

Cisco's New Headquarters

In our innovation collaboration with Cisco we visited their HQ many times.  It has now been rebuilt.   Much more about their facility.  " ... I want Cisco to be viewed as having the most innovative employee experience in technology or in corporate America - Chuck Robbins .... " 

P&G Control Tower for Holistic Optimization

In Forbes, by Steve Banker:  Further examination of the evolution of the Business Sphere.   The control tower metaphor is new to me, with an implication of more real time operations.  Interesting  numbers included.

" ..... They are looking for a “fully interconnected platform” that delivers “holistic optimization.”  If they can get to a “real-time instrumented supply chain,” P&G believes the upside is a 1-2% sales increase, 2-5% margin improvement, and 5-10% improvements in asset utilization.  (See Procter & Gamble Speaks at the 3PL Summit).

But what could a real-time instrumented supply chain actually be?  Some hints are starting to emerge. One thing it appears to mean is a cross functional control tower that exists in a “visually immersive data environment.”  P&G does not call it a control tower, they call it a Business Sphere. But if you read the description, and look at some pictures, it sure looks like a control tower environment. ... " 

Rich Fast Data, Focused Digital Enterprise Advisory Systems

A connection with a former colleague let me to take another look at Nestle's Digital Acceleration Center. Our Enterprise started similar efforts in Business Sphere.   I point to Nestle's work  here. 

This brings to mind that today any enterprise needs focus on data and focused expertise.  Linked to how this data can be leveraged with analytical methods.    And to multiple sources of expertise, human and cognitive.    Prescriptive and collaborative results delivered.  Example of job augmentation.

Nestle's Digital Acceleration Center

Via former  Procter colleague Pete Blackshaw: Video about the Second Nestle Digital Acceleration Team (DAT).  Very impressive work. Note emphasis on emerging markets.   Now this is where we were headed at one time.  Looking for more detail about this effort.

(Update) More from MIT Sloan.