Code Halos

Code Halos sounds like the name of a sci-fi movie but it's defined as ‘meaningful connections between people, organisations and devices in a business context’. Halo is referred to as the data that accumulates around people, devices and organisations. My first thought was that this was going to be yet another book on big data, but the authors have shared some interesting thoughts and observations that provide a different perspective.

Technology-led businesses such as Amazon, Apple, Google and Netflix are considered examples of experts in creating and managing the Code Halos that surround their customers, products and services who use this wealth of information to achieve new thresholds of performance. 

These companies are part of the Trillion Dollar Club in terms of market value which is in stark contrast to the likes of Nokia, HMV and Blockbuster who are considered as companies that missed out on the opportunity to create and manage Code Halos effectively.

The ability for companies to create highly personalised digital experiences such as those in the Trillion Dollar Club is attributed to what the authors refer to as the SMAC stack – social, mobile, analytics and cloud need to work together as an integrated technology stack. The authors make a rallying call for companies to embrace this form of technology architecture or run the risk of being left behind and ultimately become extinct. To provide some further context, there will be more than 75 billion devices connected to the web by 2020 and corporations will be managing 50 times the data they currently manage by this date. Amazing statistics of which there are plenty more that you will find in the book.

The authors provide some great examples further on in the book with regards to how you can create a Code Halo economy.  However, I particularly enjoyed reading their observations on the influence that Code Halos will have in the working environment. Companies have traditionally been managed through a command and control hierarchy but a major shift is required. This is already being demanded by the Millennials who want to work in a different way which is described in the book as heterarchies -  dynamic networks of connected nodes free of predefined priorities or ranks. Members of this network earn status through knowledge and willingness to share as opposed to a clearly defined structure which exists within a hierarchy. Clearly there will always need to be an element of hierarchy but I wonder how many companies will start to incorporate elements of the heterarchies approach.

It will be fascinating to see how this evolves in future.

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