ZDNet: Global Managing Director of Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work Talks About Generating New Commercial Models Based on Code Halos

“We are in the very early days of a major shift in commerce beyond a simple technology or business cycle shift," says Paul Roehrig, also the co-author of the book ‘Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business’, which is a result of research about the exploitation of data by businesses. “As we assessed what was happening, we began to conclude that the companies that are winning are in fact beginning to create an outsized level of value based on how they manage data and information around every person or device or organization.” Code Halos is the name given by Cognizant to fields of information that surround every person, device, process, and organization, and can be leveraged by businesses for competitive differentiation. Excerpts from the interview:

“Industry after industry, sector after sector, the winners in this new economy—and it’s still early days—are beginning to compete based on how well they manage Code Halos. In fact, the losers are demonstrating that they haven’t managed on Code Halos.

It is things that fit on your body, or in your body somehow, that are creating these fields of data that are quite extraordinary. So what’s key is not whether it’s your handheld mobile device or something embedded on your clothing, or it’s an RFID tag or a tattoo that’s communicating data, what matters is that is an amplifier and it’s the kind of data that it’s sharing and a company’s ability to harness that data.

Disney is trying to create a curated guest experience [with MagicBand] throughout the theme park. If I’m a college student who is going there, I may have a vastly different ideal park experience than I would have if I was a parent going there with one or two children. The MagicBand is designed to help Disney create that customized customer experience, which it would never be able to get just by looking at you.

Now in a Code Halo world, being able to create not only a beautiful customer experience but a beautiful partner experience and a beautiful brand experience—those are all critical elements of brand distinction. A company might struggle with where that design capability should go.

We think IT should extend its remit to be able to include a code halo solution. IT is in most cases really solid in managing the underlying technology of these systems but it should work with the relevant business unit on the creation of engagement in the value chain.

As Code Halos begin to gain traction in the market, begin to gain increasing relevance, the questions about security, privacy, and compliance come to the forefront. It’s going to go very quickly to a reality where the company’s brand will be predicated on how well they manage trust in a Code Halo world.

If you’re a bank or a retail firm or any other company that’s deploying these Code Halo solutions, the ability to be transparent with participants—whether it’s a consumer or another business in your supply chain—is going to be paramount to be able to maintain a brand promise in the market.

The first measure businesses need to take is to be transparent about the data they are collecting and why. Also vital is the ability to opt out of any data interaction and the return of any data if requested. Finally, it is important to be explicit about the give-to-get ratio. They should be thinking very clearly and have a clear articulation of what is that exchange, what is the value that I as a participant would get in return for exchanging that information with that company.”

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