From the Inside Flap
It would be too easy to attribute the rise of Netflix and Amazon, along with the demise of Blockbuster and Borders, to the digital revolution. In Code Halos, Malcom Frank, Paul Roehrig, and Ben Pring paint a more complete picture. The minds behind Cognizant's Center for the Future of Work show how organizations can thrive in the coming years. How did Facebook beat MySpace? How did Google beat Yahoo!? And how can more traditional businesses ensure their own success in a time of massive market shifts? The answer: by harnessing the power of code.
This book is an action-oriented framework for understanding and utilizing the blankets of code that surround every person, place, and thing. Every time someone likes, shares, reviews, purchases, comments on, or searches for a product, important information is generated. As people spend more and more time engaged with the online world, they create fields of data around and about them. These are Code Halos, and they are vital to success in a rapidly-digitizing world.
Code Halos gives a name to the phenomenon that is transforming how people interact. Thanks to new technologies, it takes only a few seconds to get a complex view of the individuals we engage with. Where do they live? Where do they shop? Who are their friends? What is their taste in music, literature, or other entertainment? A few decades ago, businesses would have given almost anything to have this level of knowledge. Today, we can have it quickly and at next to no cost. The only remaining issue is how to tap the enormous potential value buried in Code Halos. This book provides the model for doing just that.
This is more than just a Big Data story. This is about the next era of business. Anyone who thinks the data revolution is limited to IT or marketing is in for a real shock--and not the good kind. Companies such as Disney, GE, and Nike all recognize the potential of Code Halos, and traditional businesses in every industry would be wise to follow suit. The risk of not understanding Code Halos is growing every day, and examples like Blockbuster and Kodak show that this mistake is a one-way ticket to irrelevance. Managers everywhere are scrambling to understand the profound changes in the commercial landscape. So far, there is still no textbook solution, but Code Halos brings us one step closer to capturing the enormous opportunities that await us in this new age of business.
MALCOLM FRANK is the Executive Vice President of Strategy and Marketing at Cognizant, a leading Business and Technology consulting firm with over 175,000 employees. He has over 25 years of experience consulting on IT-based strategy with organizations around the world. He is a graduate of Yale University.
PAUL ROEHRIG is the Global Managing Director of Cognizant's Center for the Future of Work. He was previously a Principal Analyst at Forrester Research and held multiple roles with Hewlett Packard. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and has a doctorate from Syracuse University.
BEN PRING is the Director for Cognizant's Center for the Future of Work. He was previously a Research Vice President at Gartner. In 2008 he won Gartner's prestigious annual Thought Leadership award. He has a philosophy degree from Manchester University.
