Digital-News on Scoop.it today

One of the most ominous expressions I hear in talking with prospects is "I just need something simple." In my experience,  there is an inverse relationship between perceived complexity on the part of the customer and actual complexity in terms of our software. Having an interactive Web browser still doesn't fail to thrill an IntuiFace user. "Wait! We can browse the Web?!?" But then we'll be asked, "That's awesome! Now, tell me about the search functions you supply for identifying customer information in our backoffice..." Well I won't even finish that sentence.

IntuiFace can't be in the business of creating prepackaged business logic. There are infinite varieties and even subtle conceptual differences could have a huge impact on the underlying code. It would be crazy for us to even try. However, we get that today's modern experiences may very well need to access external business logic to process user input and/or return updated information.

To solve this disconnect - people need access to business services while IntuiLab can't be in the business of building them - we created the "interface" concept. An "interface" acts as a bridge between your IntuiFace experience and external business logic. Any REST-based or C# DLL-based business logic can be called. (We also support Excel using the same concept.) How? By using public APIs exposed by those services. For more information, see http://bit.ly/15fqyPI

In the spirit of this scooped article, you now have another reason why APIs are important!

Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at the Altimeter Group, has published a valuable presentation outlining the key traits characterizing sustainable business models in the near future.

The key takeaways include: 

1. The market sees purposeful brands that stand for something specific
    
2. Local and personalized wins always over global
    
3. Crowds are becoming like companies - bypassing 
   inefficient intermediaries
    
4. On-demand wins always over standardized offerings
    
5. Business models may need to be changed along the way 
    
6. Partnering with your customers is the key to the future 

Excellent trends analysis. Owyang is right on target with his future of business models identikit. 

Check the full presentation here: http://www.slideshare.net/jeremiah_owyang/the-future-of-business-models 

(HT to Giuseppe Mauriello)

The new type of enterprise

Great find by Robin Good and timely as we just had a session with Rita McGrath (author of the End of Competitive Advantage) emphasizing the impact of disruption and the need for a different mindset around resilience. This preso by Jeremiah Owyang gives some great tips for thinking about the types of shifts in business models we should be thinking about. 

Slide 13 captures these shifts well:

1. Purpose (start with why) is key

2. Glocal wins - Global reach and mindset delivered locally (relationships)

3. Personalize everything possible

4. On-demand 

5. People make and share - collaboration and co-creation with your customers

6. Empowered people

This is important for CPAs to understand as they advise and support their businesses (clients and employers). Business models are no longer stagnant or as Rita would say, sustainable over a long-term. Thus we need to be constantly re-examiming our competitive advantages.