To create rich, technologically enabled experiences, enterprises need close collaboration between marketing and technology. Converge explains how the merging of technology, media, and creativity is revolutionizing marketing and business strategy. Ray Velez and Bob Lord, give their unique perspective on how to thrive in this age of disruption. Sharing their first-hand experience working closely with global brands—including Unilever, Mercedes-Benz, Staples, and Kellogg—to solve business problems at the collision point between media and data, technology, and marketing.

With in-depth looks at cloud computing, data and API-enabled creativity, ubiquitous computing, and more, Converge presents a roadmap to success.

Converge explains how to organize for innovation within your own organization by applying the principles of Agile development across your business; details how to create a religion around convergence, explaining how to tell the story throughout the organization; and outlines how to adapt processes to keep up with and take advantage of rapid technological change.

A book by practitioners for practitioners, Converge is about rethinking business organizations for a new age and empowering your people to thrive in a brand, new world.

"Creativity, technology, and media all serve to enrich the consumer experience. They have always done so in their, hitherto, largely separate ways. But the convergence that is so well described in this book makes us challenge traditional assumptions about what we do, how we do it, and how we are organized."
Keith Weed, Chief Marketing and Communication Officer, Unilever plc

Why read Converge?

Digital technologies have significantly changed customer behavior. In order to be successful in today's increasingly connected world; corporate structures, communication paths and customer experiences must be radically rethought. The customer must be at the heart of all company activities. However, there are many limitations that first need to be overcome: traditionally siloed business units and mindsets can hinder the delivery of truly unique customer experiences. The ultimate goal is the creation of a strong ecosystem in which all parts of an organization are concentrated on one central goal: a customer experience that engages customers in the long-term and fosters business success.

Why convergence?

With decades of experience between them at the forefront of digital marketing and commerce, Ray Velez and Bob Lord have worked alongside many internationally renowned brands. This compact guidebook encapsulates and shares key learnings they have garnered through their careers. Converge helps any organization understand how the business environment has changed and explains step-by-step how companies can adapt. The basis of convergence, in this context, is bringing together data, marketing and technology to create successful customer experiences.

What’s inside?

The principles of convergence reevaluate commonly held practices. At the same time, they are far from theory. Through the usage of detailed, real-world examples; Converge describes how business transformation can be successfully implemented by any organization; no matter the category, size or culture.

The 5 principles of convergence:

Put the customer at the center: do not adhere to a long-established organizational charts. Instead, focus your entire structure around your customers’ journey.
Think of your brand as a service: meet the needs of customers instead of setting goals to sell more.
Reject silos: collaboration among disciplines such as marketing, technology and creative can become convergence catalysts for successful business transformation, allowing resulting innovations to be dispersed throughout the organization.
Act like a startup: Positively impact technology and organizational structures with fast and flexible elements such as cloud computing, open APIs and Agile methodology.
Embrace diversity: promote collaboration across functions and disciplines through proactive incentivization.

About the authors:

Bob Lord, Chief Digital Officer, IBM
Bob Lord, is IBM's first Chief Digital Officer where he is now missioned with bringing together the IBM Digital Business Group. He is responsible for overseeing the Digital Sales organization, Digital Platforms, Digital Marketing, Routes to Market, and IBM's Ecosystem.

Bob has had an incredible career and brings a wealth of technical and marketing experience to the role as IBM Chief Digital Officer. He held leadership roles at Razorfish, one of the early web design and digital agencies, helping them manage through the internet bubble and ultimately rising to be the Global CEO. During this time, he honed his understanding and vision for the convergence of marketing and technology.

In 2013, Bob joined AOL as CEO of its flagship technology group, AOL Platforms - used by over 2,500 brands and agencies and over 40,000 publishers rely on to drive convergence. From January 2015 through January 2016, Bob served as President of AOL, overseeing the Company's unified global advertising operations.

Bob holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in engineering from Syracuse University. He is an active member of the TED community and a founding member of The Nantucket Project.

Ray Velez, Global Co-Chief Technology Officer, SapientRazorfish
Ray Velez is the global co-chief technology officer for SapientRazorfish a role in which he is accountable for all Practices, including the shaping of market propositions and key technology alliances.

Prior to being elevated to his current role, Ray served as global chief technology officer at Razorfish, where he was responsible for the strategic direction and management of a global technology practice spanning the Razorfish, Rosetta, Level, Nurun Quebec and Expicient brands. Since joining Razorfish in 1998, Velez has built a strong track record in software technology architecture and engineering, working with and deploying a wide spectrum of intelligent platforms. Ray has applied his expertise to several of the agency’s largest implementations, and has trained and developed curriculums in various technologies and Agile methodologies. He has also led product incubation work for clients like Citibank, NFL, and MLB.

Ray’s experience includes 20-plus years in technology, spanning senior technology consulting in web and enterprise systems, strategic IT planning, and industry leadership. Most recently, Ray was named to the executive leadership team of the Publicis.Sapient platform, where he drives strategic technology partnerships.

Prior to joining Razorfish, Ray served as a senior architectural consultant at Scient and Cambridge Technology Partners. His selected client list includes: Ford Motor Company, Mercedes-Benz, Intel, AT&T, and Citibank among others.

"We’ve worked together for more than a decade, which is several lifetimes in technology years. Now, as chief executive officer (CEO) and chief technology officer (CTO) of Razorfish, we want to share what we have learned about the present and future of technology, creativity, and marketing."
Bob Lord & Ray Velez, authors of "Converge"

CONVERGE

Ray Velez · Bob Lord