responsive innovation in a local context

Paul [email protected]

@paulwalkhttp://www.paulwalk.net

Responsive innovation in a local context

Contents

1.Usage data and analytics

2.Local and remote (SaaS, BYOD)

3.Residents and Visitors

4.Customer/Vendor relationship management (CRM/VRM)

5.Responsive innovation

5 topics, 30 slides, plenty of time for discussion!

1. Usage data & analytics

Library activity data

• The University of HuddersQield Library has been a pioneer in exploiting activity data:

• “We have collected 3.9 million library circulation records over 15 years.”

• “If you do not use the library, you are over seven times more likely to drop out of your degree. 7.19 to be precise."

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/reports/2012/activity-‐data-‐delivering-‐beneDits.aspx

Local context, expressed as activity data

• analytics are fashionable

• evidence-‐based service provision is the goal

• highly responsive service delivery is something to aim for

• predictive analytics are the holy grail


Local wins and strategic benefits

• make more use of available data in informing investment decisions

• the library is well-‐placed to provide data about some aspects of student/researcher ‘behaviour’

• plug into the wider institutional strategy, but Qind some opportunities for local service improvements


Usage data & analytics: recommendations

• look for opportunities to exploit data analytics locally, in the context of the wider institutional approach to this. If there isn’t yet a wider institutional strategy for analytics, be the pioneers!

• you need to get access to the skills and resources to process and exploit activity data if you don’t already have these

• if you can read the data, you have access to an important raw material to start to innovate & improve local services in a responsive way

• the ability to extract and use activity data should be a Qirst-‐order requirement in any procurement for a new system.

2. Local / remote

Next generation (library) systems

• the variety is increasing

• possibilities:• proprietary (closed)• open-‐source• locally installed• hosted -‐ Software as a service (SaaS)• cloud-‐provided

• most ‘next gen’ systems have moved to some arrangement of cloud and SaaS

• some open-‐source alternatives appearing

• there are several viable combinations of these possibilities:• e.g

• an open-‐source system offered as SaaS from a cloud infrastructure• a ‘locally’ installed & managed system running on your cloud infrastructure

The impact of the ‘cloud’

• where your infrastructure is outsourced

• pros• no need for local low-‐level systems-‐support(i.e. hardware, operating system)

• may still need to conQigure and maintain the particular system, even if it is running in the cloud

• elastic ‘hardware’ provision -‐ more Qlexible/responsive to rapidly changing requirements -‐ easier to budget for

• cons• not necessarily cheaper (contrary to popular opinion)

• some loss of control & data privacy/jurisdictional issues

The impact of Software as a Service

• where your system or service is outsourced

• pros• all the advantages of using cloud infrastructure, plus:

• reduced or no requirement to maintain/conQigure the SaaS system

• potential for continuous improvement -‐ “perpetual beta”

• cons• reduction in control, especially ability to customise to local requirements

• the ability to innovate locally is impacted. The provision of good APIs by the remote service may mitigate this.

• the con that might actually be a pro• good APIs offer a good opportunity for local innovation -‐ better than locally customising third-‐party software

Local / remote: recommendations

• consider the relative merits of local/remote systems on your ability to extract more value through local enhancement

• with any new system, whether local or remote, examine the affordances of any APIs offered• the API is your route to extensibility and customisation• it’s how you plug the system into your local environment• it’s how you might allow your users, with their own infrastructure, to plug into the system

• it’s where responsive, local innovation can happen

• ensure you have full access to your data in the system, including usage/activity data

3. Residents & Visitors

Web-users are residents or visitors

• “We found that our students could not be usefully categorised as Digital Natives or Digital Immigrants. i.e. This distinction does not help guide the implementation of technologies it simply provides the excuse that “some people ‘just don’t get it’ which is why your new approach has failed so badly…”

• “In effect the Resident has a presence online which they are constantly developing while the Visitor logs on, performs a speciQic task and then logs off.”

http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2008/07/23/not-‐natives-‐immigrants-‐but-‐visitors-‐residents/

Digital residents

• institutions are already wrestling with the implications of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

• but, digital residents -‐ almost by deQinition -‐ bring more than different devices -‐ they come with their own mix of infrastructure

• so, we might need to consider a strategy for ‘Bring Your Own Infrastructure’ -‐ it’s not just devices, it’s a plethora of remote services too

Gartner Says: the Personal Cloud will replace the Personal Computer as the centre of users' digital lives by 2014

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1947315

Context is king

• the user is at the centre of context• personalisation• Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

• remote services are becoming contextualised rapidly

• the social ‘graphs’ behind Facebook and Google are where the next phases of their development are concentrated

• major online services are starting to work better for digital residents than they do for digital visitors, due to personalisation and inter-‐linking

Residents & Visitors: recommendations

• build a picture of which of your users are residents, and which are visitors• analytics will help with this

• be mindful that users who are visitors in the library context, may be residents elsewhere

• consider how you might reach out to the residents in their wider ‘residency’. Does the library service offering force them into a visitor role?

• consider how library services (will) appear in each user’s personal ‘cloud’

4. CRM / VRM

Client Relationship Management (CRM)

• a better Qit than the normal phrase Customer Relationship Management perhaps?• is a ‘patron’ a ‘customer’, or a ‘client’?

• is there a ‘retail’ relationship, or is the library an agent, acting for the user?

• the library is the customer/client in a similar relationship with library systems suppliers, so:

• if the library system is an SaaS service, and it achieves a direct relationship with the user, then how does this change the role of the library?

• is the library’s role relegated to helping the service provider reach the user?

from CRM to VRM

• vendor relationship management (VRM) (coined by Mike Vizard)

• made popular by Doc Searls, who uses the example of a car

• a car gives the user a degree of control and privacy• infrastructure has emerged to support the use of the car• this infrastructure would never have come from the railway companies!

• Principles of VRM• Customers must enter relationships with vendors as independent actors.• Customers must be the points of integration for their own data.• Customers must have control of data they generate and gather. This means they must be able to share data selectively and voluntarily.

• Customers must be able to assert their own terms of engagement• Customers must be free to express their demands and intentions outside of any one company's control


VRM: fourth parties

• a new type of business on the net

• third parties who work for the user, rather than the service provider

• the fourth party represents the user’s interests

• in other words, an agent, or broker, or mediator

• a new breed of companies providing such services starting to appear

Jisc Collections and KB+

CRM/VRM: recommendations

• consider that the ‘C’ in CRM is ‘client’ rather than ‘customer’, implying an ongoing, bi-‐directional relationship

• be ready to anticipate a growing demand from our users that they control their attention data

• manage your vendors more actively -‐ organise with other customers/clients to achieve more control

• have a look at Jisc’s KB+ pilot service if you haven’t already

5. Responsive innovation

the perceived value of local developers

• DevCSI conducted a stakeholder survey:

• 495 respondents including developers, their managers, IT directors, vendors, funders, users (academics, librarians, researchers)

• 75%+ agreement that local developers understand the local context and act as a bridge between remote service providers, open source communities, and local end users, and add value by integrating into local contexts

• 75% agreement that local developers work closely with end users to deliver innovation (more work needed though)

• 70% agreement that local developers are undervalued as evidenced by short term contracts, lack of professional development or career opportunities and poor management

the value of the local developer

• can understand local conditions better than an external supplier

• is more accessible -‐ especially when adopting agile development techniques

• with DevCSI, is now backed by a thriving and growing community of peer developers working elsewhere in HE

• through web APIs, can tailor remote services to idiosyncratic local needs -‐ can make cheap services into good services

• can engage the technical people in an external supplier -‐ not just the pre-‐sales people!

• can engage with and exploit available open source developments

Use the local talent!

• Student as Producer at Lincoln University

• sourced developer effort and skills from the student cohort

• “demonstrated to us that students can have the requisite skills, enthusiasm and experience to enable us to innovate rapidly”

The strategic developer - a new role?

Strategic Local

Developer

Remote, (commercial)

technicalcontacts

User/Domain expert

End UserRequirements

TechnicalRequirements

LocalSystems

StrategicOrganisationalRequirements

this is where local innovation happens this is where the cost of

outsourcing is mitigated

} }local context remote context

Peer Developer

this is where the developer networks with peers

RemoteSystem(SaaS)

this is where economies of scale and cost reduction are

achieved

Responsive innovation: recommendations

• evaluate your capacity to do local, technical innovation to get the best return out of investment in turnkey or outsourced systems

• invest in this capacity

• don’t forget the supply of raw talent in the student cohort

Conclusion

• for local, responsive innovation you need data, skills and ideas• the data and skills are the most important. Ideas follow data and skills.

• you have a vested interest in improving your service offering

• you already have the data• you might need to do some work to access it in a useful manner

• you need the skills to exploit this data

• you need the skills to exploit APIs presented by remote services

Should responsive innovation be a strategic

concern?Paul Walk

[email protected]@paulwalk

http://www.paulwalk.net

responsive innovation in a local context

Education