When I sat down for lunch last week at Fincastle’s on Elm Street, I noticed a QR code on the tabletop. A QR code is a square graphic symbol that leads to an Internet link, so I pulled up a QR app on my iPhone and focused it on the code, and a graphic popped up asking if I would like some Greensboro Grasshoppers tickets. I thought I might want those tickets this spring, so with two iPhone clicks I created a new folder and named it Grasshoppers on my Box cloud and then moved the file to that folder. From that moment on I have been able to access that link from any device as long as I’m online. Microsoft Office and PCs were not at the table at that restaurant last week.
From that moment on I have been able to access that link from any device as long as I’m online. Microsoft Office and PCs were not at the table at that restaurant last week.
ggg
It’s near the end for the PC-Microsoft era. The tired old model is not on life support yet, but it’s getting there. There are a lot of people sitting in the first class section right now that don’t want to hear this kind of talk. Heroes and villains will be publicly dethroned; the market doesn’t discriminate. Some people like disruption and some don’t, but no one can opt out of this global upheaval. The new kid in town is the App Internet. It is changing the tech world from the “one-size-fits-all” PC-Microsoft model to very personalized and specific apps for all of your business and pleasure needs, with all devices having a seat at the table. This is disruption with a capital D.
Business IT decision makers are enabling and in some cases exploiting this unprecedented digital disruption. For the most part IT didn’t ‘get’ the iPhone in 2007 and the market proved that to be a bad decision. Four years later, superior technology is creating a huge competitive advantage for businesses, many of the Fortune 500 included.
Proctor and Gamble, known worldwide for strategic innovation, recently purchased 18,000 cloud licenses from Box, formerly known as Box.net. Box is a very successful “App Internet” product that enables data access anywhere, anytime from any device. Box has integrated over 150 major Apps into its platform. As a Certified Box Reseller and as a customer running my own business on Box, I’ve been enjoying following Aaron Levie, CEO of Box for the past year and a half. He and his team have an impressive track record of making amazing business decisions. Don’t take my word for it; check out podcasts of Levie discussing Box and cloud technology produced by Stanford’s “Entrepreneurship Corner.”
From Fortune 500s to minor league baseball ticket marketing, the game is changing. We’re now experiencing the beginning of the end of the PC-Microsoft era.