By Nitzan Shaer

On April 25, I had the pleasure to deliver the keynote address on mobile commerce at an event sponsored by the Boston Business Journal. You can review the slides here. I have also embedded them at the bottom of this post–and you can also view the video.

In this blog post, I wanted to offer a perspective on mobile commerce that highlights the magnitude of the disruption that mobile phones will have on retailers, banks, marketing firms,  and most importantly on our shopping behavior. Changes in consumer shopping behavior have already begun and will increase considerably in 2012-2013. To prepare for these changes, retails, brands and payment providers need to already be well on their way in defining and deploying an effective mobile commerce strategy. [Read the rest of this entry...]

by Nitzan Shaer

Our mobiles are taking on an ever greater role in our lives – impacting social, business and purchase behaviors.

This dramatic consumer shift, still in its infancy, is creating new opportunities for brands, retailers, advertisers and banks, many of which are only providing the first level of mobile solutions.

Together with BBJ, we have created a workshop dedicated to the shift in customer mobile behavior, best mobile solution practices and game changing opportunities for brands, retailers, advertisers and banks.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

by Joe Johnson

Gift giving season is upon us. You’ve finished all your shopping, right? Right?! Okay, so maybe not. But it’s not too late to find the perfect gift.

Musing over some spice cookies and mulled wine, it struck me that excellent gift shopping shares a lot of parallels with excellent customer research, which makes me a bit of an expert on the subject.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

by Alo Mukerji

Agile practices are everywhere now. Like the rest of the tech world, I have welcomed the many benefits that practicing Agile offers.

But there’s something missing in all the conversations about Agile: The impact it has not on development but on product management. Specifically, what does it mean for a product manager and how the requirements of that role may have changed due to Agile practices.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

by Greg Garson

When you take a step back and evaluate BofA’s current situation, you could potentially have sympathy for them.  The failing mortgage business (thank you, Countrywide); the under-performing investment business (thank you, Merrill Lynch); the Durbin amendment (over $2 billion in lost interchange fees) and the Reg E (another couple of billion in lost overdraft fees) (thank you, US government).  It is hard to be the big.  Is BofA the misunderstood Frankenstein monster stalked by the town’s folk?

[Read the rest of this entry...]

By Nitzan Shaer

Last week, High Start Group partnered with Allen & Gerritsen to host a half day summit on the future of Location Based Marketing: GEOM2.

The event was part of FutureM week held by MITX. GEOM2 was a uniqe opportunity to discuss insights about the ground breaking opportunities mobile location based services can offer today and over the next couple of years. [Read the rest of this entry...]

By Janet Muto

I recently attended a seminar on SaaS best practices. As an executive in the early days of SaaS, I wasn’t surprised by any of the lessons.

However, one speaker, Skip Besthoff, from Castile Ventures noted that “service is in the SaaS title” and that customer experience is everything.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

By Nitzan Shaer

These days there are few opportunities to reach across cultural divides in the Middle East. However, Babson Professor Ted Grossman’s program: “Bridging the Cultural Divide Through Entrepreneurship” provides a rare opportunity for young people from the region to leverage their entrepreneurial spirit to bridge such divides. This year, overcoming considerable roadblocks, Professor Grossman brought together 44 Israeli and Palestinian students to take part in this remarkable program, here in Boston.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

by Janet Muto

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m an innovation junky. I love being around it, participating in it, and pushing innovation myself. It’s why I do what I do. That’s why I was so excited to be on the panel at The BootCamp Ventures Israel Innovation Road Trip in Boston a few weeks ago.

We participated in a flurry of presentations from companies looking to innovate. They gave us their 30-second elevator pitches, deeper 6-minute presentations. And then the panelists provided on-the-spot feedback.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

by Nitzan Shaer

The MIT/ Stanford Venture Lab event Beyond Bricks and Clicks saw a great discussion earlier this week on the opportunities and innovations in mobile commerce for retailers, banks, startups, and brands. Most importantly, what it all means for consumers. It was yet another sold-out event for VLAB, attracting entrepreneurs and investors from all across the valley.

[Read the rest of this entry...]