Hi there.  I'm Andy, the new blogger here.  I'm kind of the tech geek on the crew, but I try to mask that badge by applying innovation to help salespeople create brand ambassadors.

I was with Cingular/ATT for eight years contributing to retail strategy before joining EWI Worldwide.  While at ATT, I had the pleasure of working with a team of consummate professionals to realize the first worldwide launch of Microsoft Surface.  It had (and still has) the potential to change the way high-touch retail operates, so that shoppers who thought they just wanted a cell phone now fall in love with the brand.

So that's what I’ve got today.  The “Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies” as published by Gartner.  (Everyone listens to Gartner right?  If you need to get $8,000,000 for a project at work, cite Gartner.  If you’re screwing up at work, your boss will cite Gartner.)

Let’s try to stay out of the “Trough of Disillusionment” OK?  Home Health Monitoring sounds like something perfect for the same government who brought you Cash for Clunkers.  No reason for a doctor to actually see someone who is sick.  Human touch and interaction is overrated.  (Never mind that human interaction with a perceived product expert is exactly what changes a purchase opportunity into a chance to create someone who loves your brand.)

The “Slope of Enlightenment” is cool, but it’s safe as most of it has already been done.  For example, you’re visiting a corporate blog right now.  The Tablet PC was here with the Newton and it’s going to come back strong.  Speech Recognition is in many new cars and will be in your kitchen more effectively than it was for Jane Jetson.  (I think the 5-10 years is a little too far on that.)

What is really exciting for us, of course, is the upswing of the “Technology Trigger.”  This is where it takes guts to execute and brands still have an opportunity to create huge goodwill when applied appropriately.  We’ll discuss Microsoft Surface and what it has to offer in later posts.  But give some thought to what we can do with 3-D flat-panel displays, human augmentation, and augmented reality. 

There are some exciting projects at EWI Worldwide that I can’t talk about yet, but keep me awake at night because of our good fortune to push the envelope on things like this.  The burden is absolutely on us to move these technologies to the “Slope of Enlightenment” by having the courage to execute.  If we don’t do our jobs, we will fall into the “Trough of Disillusionment.”