To the Cloud, Gently

As a member of Generation X (born in the early 70’s), and as the middle child of three, I have come to accept, perhaps even embrace, my  professional positioning between the Baby Boomers and the Millennials – the two that really matter (IMHO) in the socio-economic dynamics of the day. The spending power of corporate leading and actively retired boomers, coupled with the almost innate “wiredness” of today’s young adults, bodes for a future of even more integrated technological experiences across platforms and devices that actually do make life easier and better.

I am in-between. I have a certain old school way of thinking and approaching life that comes from being a “tween” during Reagenomics. I remember, with fondness btw,  first getting cable TV  and sitting on the floor up close to turn stations because the 33 channel plastic slide box was tethered to the TV by a 3 foot, brown plastic cord.  In college, I first saw the internet in action when a friend placed  his telephone onto a physical modem to “log-in” and register for a class. The rest of us stood in line.  I remember what it was in the human disposition that compensated for things later to be replaced by conveniences in personal computing.

On the other hand, greying temples aside, most people mistake me for being 10 years younger than I am. For whatever reason, my personal and professional lives have kept me in touch with what is going on at the edge – at least in terms of technology and the way it is affecting social dynamics. Beyond being a consumer, I have been an interactive production lead for over 10 years. My experience is from the data management to cross-platform front end-interactions and content.  I understand the power of full,  seamless connectivity – even though a part of me remembers a different way of being.

It is because of this perspective that I often provide professional value  by bridging the gap between the established way and the innovative way. The ability to see and appreciate both sides helps me create win-win scenarios that make sense to varying stakeholders who differ in, amongst other things, seniority, professional role and generational perspective.

The practical difference usually manifests in a decision to adopt a cloud based, SaaS application to replace client side installations of business application software.  This also means paying attention to which cloud solutions offer the best potential integration with other applications to promote ultimate connectedness.  It also shows up as analytical decisions of what success metrics can indicate positive ROI from social media campaigns, and how to define lifetime value for CRM marketing to a new breed of wired consumers. From the strategic to the tactical,  I constantly find myself in the middle of decision making processes that pit corporate momentum against the ever changing interactive landscape.   This is also the case with a number of known advertising agencies that started off in print and are now “doing digital.”

But don’t get me wrong, this is not a case of “out with the old, in with the new.”  As was true in any generation preceding ours, the younger must learn from the older. Wisdom of experience is not a quaint bygone of the pre-Ipad  era, and sometimes the best solutions, whether they use technology or not, are best assessed by people who know what it means to only know life under the cloud. All you need is someone who has been there and back.