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booktag: technology

Ben McCarty

Cyberjutsu is a revolutionary approach to information security based on authentic, formerly classified Ninja scrolls. It synthesizes today’s infosec field with the tactics and techniques used by ancient Japanese ninjas – history’s original Advanced Persistent Threat (APT). Written by Ben McCarty, a former NSA developer and the U.S. Army’s first cyber warfare specialist, this essential handbook for cyber defenders draws fascinating parallels between the stealth warriors of feudal Japan and modern cybersecurity concepts, analyzing how real ninjas practiced information assurance, infiltration, and espionage requiring covert access to heavily fortified organizations.

Aimed at infosec experts and non-technical readers alike, the book teaches over a dozen ancient approaches to modern security problems. You’ll see why mapping your network like an adversary can be used to your advantage; you’ll discover the effectiveness of social-engineering techniques used by ninjas to slip into castles; and you’ll engage in “castle” thought exercises that will teach you to think like a true cyber ninja.

Seth Earley

“We know how we want our companies to work. Enterprises ought to be customer-focused, responsive, and digital. They should deliver to each employee and customer exactly what they need, at the moment they need it. The data and technology to do this are available now,” declares artificial intelligence expert Seth Earley. Nonetheless, AI continues to stumble when it comes to making this a reality. In his new book, THE AI POWERED ENTERPRISE: Harness the Power of Ontologies to Make Your Business Smarter, Faster, and More Profitable (LifeTree Media/April 28, 2020), Earley provides practical approaches for solving the data management problems that are at the heart of this disconnect, showing how organizations can truly deliver on the promise of AI.

“To create transformative AI solutions, we need a holistic, synergistic, and simultaneously integrated flow of information,” explains Earley, who has helped companies across industries to manage data to enable digital transformations. The problem is that, all too often, this foundational principle is ignored, given short shrift, or deprived of resources.

The answer, Earley says, lies in ontology – a consistent representation of data and data relationships that can inform and power AI technologies. In other words, ontology is “the master knowledge scaffolding of the organization.” Without it, any AI-driven transformation will be slow, costly, and less effective. In language accessible to a non-tech audience, Earley draws on examples from numerous client companies to describe what correct execution of data management looks like. He addresses how to manage this transformation, step-by-step, covering such issues as:

Customer Experience – Customer experience is hard to get right and easy to get wrong. “It’s a question of the proper integration of technology,” writes Earley. He explores the roadblocks that hinder a systematic approach to customer experience and offers a solution: a “high-fidelity journey map” that accounts for how technology represents and enables elements of the customer experience.

Marketing – Good marketing is about presenting the right content at the right time to engage the customer. Today, this means reading the online equivalent of physical body language: “the digital breadcrumbs, cues, and clues that tell us about what our customers need, how we can meet those needs, and how to best present the content most likely to engage the customer at that moment in their journey.” According to Earley, digital marketers must become knowledge enablers, champions of data quality, architects of digital systems, and keepers of the ontology that powers it all.

Ecommerce – ecommerce is where ontology-powered AI can have its biggest impact, says the author. Its success or failure depends on the quality of data. THE AI-POWERED ENTERPRISE addresses how to enhance this quality by improving both customer classification and product taxonomies (categorizations) based on features and relationships.

Sales Process – “AI technologies can improve every part of the sales process by freeing sales staff from routine tasks and making them more efficient,” Earley writes. He discusses effective use of AI-powered chatbots in customer interaction; machine learning to train AI systems to identify sales prospects, and sematic search to recommend the most productive approaches to sales leads.

In addition to these issues, Earley explains how having the right ontology and data structures can enable AI to improve supply chain dynamics and logistics – and can even have powerful impact on strategy and governance issues. Moreover, he outlines the basic principles that should guide leaders who are undertaking digital transformations of their organizations.

“The winners and losers of the next fifteen years will be determined by who best harnesses AI for solving business problems for employees and customers,” Earley contends. Combining a sophisticated explanation of how AI works with a practical approach to applying it to a range of business problems, THE AI-POWERED ENTERPRISE is a must-read for CEOs, CMOs and technology executives – along with anyone who wants to understand the role of AI and how to get a jump on the opportunities it presents.

Christian Kromme

Imagine being able to spot the next big trend, or being able to predict the next big wave of change. Imagine having a code that gives you the power to invent, predict or harness the next big technology. Humanification is going to help you unlock the DNA of innovation itself, so you can apply it to your life, your business and your community.

Doug Devitre

It’s not always possible for you or your team to meet with a client face to face. Screen to Screen Selling reveals how meeting screen to screen with the latest technology can be a better alternative, saving both time and budgets.  Readers learn to effectively guide meeting participants with new computer skill sets, digital assets, and productivity shortcuts.  This book is jammed packed with checklists, tools, and processes to pinpoint opportunities and improve the performance of your organization. Lean how to:

• Make critical decisions faster with more accuracy and less expense
• Coach and train your team more effectively
• Decrease the sales cycle and cost to acquisition
• Decrease the service response while increasing customer satisfaction
• Increase engagement and collaboration with customers and team
• Minimize mistakes when communicating with technology

Steven Kotler & Peter H. Diamandis

Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World

Bold unfolds in three parts. Part One focuses on the exponential technologies that are disrupting today’s Fortune 500 companies and enabling upstart entrepreneurs to go from “I’ve got an idea” to “I run a billion-dollar company” far faster than ever before. The authors provide exceptional insight into the power of 3D printing, artificial intelligence, robotics, networks and sensors, and synthetic biology. Part Two of the book focuses on the Psychology of Bold, drawing on insights from billionaire entrepreneurs Larry Page, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and Jeff Bezos. In addition, Diamandis reveals his entrepreneurial secrets garnered from building fifteen companies, including such audacious ventures as Singularity University, XPRIZE, Planetary Resources, and Human Longevity, Inc. Finally, Bold closes with a look at the best practices that allow anyone to leverage today’s hyper-connected crowd like never before. Here, the authors teach how to design and use incentive competitions, launch million-dollar crowdfunding campaigns to tap into ten’s of billions of dollars of capital, and finally how to build communities—armies of exponentially enabled individuals willing and able to help today’s entrepreneurs make their boldest dreams come true.

Bold is both a manifesto and a manual. It is today’s exponential entrepreneur’s go-to resource on the use of emerging technologies, thinking at scale, and the awesome power of crowd-powered tools.

Phil Weinzimer

Based on interviews with more than 150 CIOs, IT/business executives, and academic thought leaders, The Strategic CIO: Changing the Dynamics of the Business Enterprise provides insight, success stories, and a step-by-step methodology to transform your IT organization into a strategic asset that drives customer value, increases revenues, and enhances shareholder wealth.

The book details how strategic CIOs from FedEx, Procter & Gamble, McKesson, and other leading companies transformed their organizations. It illustrates the methods these CIOS used to become strategic partners that collaborate effectively within their organizations to leverage information and technology for a competitive advantage.

The text will help you assess the key competencies and skills required by IT personnel to partner with your business teams to create new and enhanced products and services that create customer value, increase margin, and enhance shareholder wealth.

The book includes powerful methodologies, time-saving templates, proven best practices, and helpful assessments. It also details a four-phase methodology, along with the associated activities and tools, to help your IT organization successfully transform into a strategic IT organization.

Gain insight into the four domain competencies and twelve associated skills required to build effective strategic IT organizations. Build your roadmap to success using the transformation methodology described in the text and you will be on your way to making your organization a strategic IT organization.

Don Crawley

Now in its third edition, The Compassionate Geek by Don Crawley, was written by a tech person for tech people. There are no frills, just customer service best practices and ideas that actually work! Filled with practical customer service tips, best practices, and real-world techniques, The Compassionate Geek is a quick read with equally fast results. Each chapter includes a reflection and discussion section to help you improve your customer service skills. There are lots of personal stories and examples of mistakes made and lessons learned. This new edition adds an entire chapter on overcoming personal and professional obstacles. All of the information is presented in a straightforward style that you can understand and use right away. There’s nothing foo-foo, just down-to-earth tips and technical support best practices learned from years of working with technical staff and demanding customers and end users.

Shelly Palmer

Why You Need Digital Wisdom

The goal of this book is to give you a way to think strategically about how life and work are changing. Now you are a citizen in a connected world, this book gives you tools to become a digital leader, ready to tackle the new and sometimes troubling realities of a life in which all we are, all we do, and everything we own is expressed as ones and zeros – data that must be understood, managed, and safeguarded.

In an all-access, 24/7-connected world, how do we drown out the noise to keep contact and connections meaningful? In a blur of innovation, how do you pursue what matters and ditch the merely passing? What happens if the grid goes down? And why does the sleeper threat of cyber terrorism represent the real apocalypse? Everything from creating an unhackable password to understanding the governance of a digital democracy, Digital Wisdom breaks down the major themes and gives you a map to navigate a connected world.