Deborah Schultz

Social and Open Web Advocate

BIG IDEAS

• Forging A New Social Contract: The Impact of Digital Technologies on Business, Culture, and Society
  The social web is now a teenager—awkward, arrogant, sarcastic, fearless, experimental, and open. It's shaking things up and having a major impact on our business, culture, social dynamics and etiquette.
  
  In the past decade, the Internet has evolved from an information driven network into a more complex web that combines data, social media and real time collaborative tools. This power mix is driving a re-examination of our most ingrained civil structures. Individuals are empowering themselves and engaging with government, business and each other in new ways. The traditional top-down command and control hierarchies are being usurped by an emergent collective and participatory intelligence.
  
  The result is a fundamental change in our assumptions of how society and business work. This shifting participatory world is forcing a renewed focus on human skills and a new focus on a collaborative and connected framework for success. In this talk, Deb takes a more nuanced view of the issues, and addresses the combination of design, technology and human skills needed to operate in this new environment. She examines the new social contracts being forged in today's digital economy and provides a framework for how to address and examine our shifting expectations.
• Smart Data: The Struggle to Enhance Customer Experience in a Digital World
  In this talk, Deb Schultz integrates the current forces of social media, big data, open innovation and design thinking to shift your vantage point and spark novel thinking to develop successful experiences for the connected consumer.
  
  In a new age no longer defined by mass production of goods and services, but rather by a greater emphasis on societal and community needs, we have been transitioning from traditional command and control hierarchies into a networked, participatory world.
  
  In this increasingly connected environment, we need a new set of skills to create customer experiences that excite, engage and catalyze users. If information and data themselves are commodities, we must learn how to engage our customers in new ways. Innovative products and services cannot be developed behind closed doors anymore--they require an inclusive, collaborative approach.
  
  Some of the questions covered by Deb include:
  
  • Framework of Design Thinking: How to approach designing products and services with a holistic, process and service driven model in a competitive, innovative way.
  • Big data: How can new methods of visualizing data provide greater insight for customers and potentially new business models and services?
  • Personalization & Customization: What does a customized product look like? What are the new technologies, challenges and opportunities for delivering a personal experience?

SNAPSHOT BIO

Deborah is an Internet industry veteran who merges expertise in design, marketing and innovation to bring fresh approaches to business. She is widely recognized for her impact on the social web and how it impacts society and business. Her work architecting a Social Media Lab for P&G focused on customer relationships, reinventing the nature of the company’s customer connection. Her current work focuses on the importance of real-world experimentation, open-innovation and the new human dynamics required for both startups and large organizations to succeed in an always-on, connected world.

She speaks and consults on innovation and the business impact of the Internet, specifically on the impact of the social web. She currently serves on Procter & Gamble’s Digital Advisory Board and is a Senior Fellow with the Altimeter Group. Deborah has consulted with and advised Fortune 50 companies including Pepsi, General Mills, and GE, as well as numerous Internet startups and VC firms. She is a regular keynote speaker at tech and business conferences and is a co-host of the popular podcast Tummelvision.tv

Previously, Deborah was the Marketing Director at Six Apart, ran her own technology consultancy firm, was a management consultant at AnswerThink and spent five years at Citibank where she developed many of the global bank's first internet initiatives. One of her proudest accomplishments was launching the Downtown Info Center, a lower Manhattan community center & online hub to revitalize lower Manhattan after the attacks of September 11th. Deborah is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University.

The former Manhattanite is now a tireless road warrior and can be found in SF, NYC, or Tel Aviv. But wherever she is, she's always 'connected'.