Forrester Research Inc. vice president and principal analyst Nigel Fenwick thinks social media technologies will create a new societal and business paradigm despite concerns in the executive suite over corporate intellectual property and employee productivity.
While marketing and branding executives have eagerly embraced the use of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, the current tide of opinion among many c-level decision makers, including chief information officers, is that of skeptical awareness.
Swimming against that tide is Fenwick, who researches technology trends and their impact on competitive advantage for Forrester, the global research giant.
“There is certainly a great deal of hype around social media … but many people believe it’s got limited value for the business,” he said. “Let me be clear, I am not one of them.”
In an audio Q&A with Nation’s Restaurant News — part of a new, growing series “Key Thoughts from Keynotes” — Fenwick suggests that the information technology forces amassing to shield businesses from the perceived threats represented by social media will lose. Fenwick will touch on those topics, among others, in his keynote address, “Positioning IT to Drive Growth & Differentiation,” at FSTEC 2010 on Feb. 23 in Long Beach, Calif.
Click here for the full interview.
FSTEC, the foodservice technology conference and showcase presented by Nation’s Restaurant News and Robert N. Grimes of Accuvia, is Feb. 21-24 at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center in Long Beach. In a first, this year’s event features Forrester as a conference research partner.
At Cambridge-based Forrester, Fenwick’s duties include working with client chief information officers on their roles as business leaders. Among past endeavors, he was CIO for Reebok UK, where he was part of one of the first initiatives to offshore applications development to India; was involved in the startup of a niche research firm supporting Internet retailers; and had a business that supplied GPS tracking tools for vehicle fleet owners.
Fenwick has a computing business degree from the University of Huddersfield and a master of business administration from Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick – both in the United Kingdom.
Contact Alan Liddle at [email protected].
