Content is embedded in every business process and in every industry! What may vary is the relevance/impact it has on the execution of the business process. Over the last decade or so, the degree of digitisation of content has increased significantly and it seems to be the way to go. This is good news as dissemination and consumption of information has become easier and more manageable. Omni channel content helps extending the reach across geographies and roles. However, we still have a long way to go before digital content becomes mainstream and is taken seriously by business!
One of the big cribs around digital content is that its behaviour is still quite similar to printed text – still very passive with limited interactivity! It doesn’t change it’s rendering/form basis the “consumer” of the content or the changing demands of a business process esp. in a VUCA world! For e.g. as Communication Service Providers (CSPs) become Digital Service Providers (DSPs), telecom networks are becoming more and more programmable. Now, if the network itself is becoming software designed and programmable and where network apps are virtualised and containerised, all supporting assets/artefacts should become programmable as well for smooth execution. Reliance on manual intervention for the changes will result in delays and potential misalignments and confusion across the chain – a huge risk to the business! For e.g. something as simple as “detailed work procedures” will have to change if the network configuration/type changes and if the changes are not done in real time, then it is quite likely that the process will break and outcomes will suffer; can potentially bring the entire business to a halt! While I have painted the case of a DSP, similar scenarios exist in most industries – the key ones being Life Sciences, Automotive, BFSI and Retail.
Now, this can be avoided if the content becomes smart and is able to adapt to the changes in the eco system. It’s a no brainer that technology will have to power this. However, this is an area that has not seen much focus apart from some work done by DARPA which has still not reached maturity. Attempts are on by various entities, including by Primed Talent, and various algorithms are being tried. While basic adaptiveness has been achieved in the B2C world, it’s still a far cry in the B2B /Commercial world as the potential risk to business operations/outcomes thwarts trials. Experiments need to be encouraged on atomic content where advanced NLP, AI and Machine Learning ought to be applied on large volumes of “trained” statistical data to arrive at a potential solution. All this requires, deep pockets and high tolerance for failure – something that is relatively uncommon in the world of Content and esp. in Learning Content! Even large publishers/content houses have shown reluctance to walk the talk.
We have the design; waiting for a sponsor to help us take it to market! Anyone interested?
