Business has changed.

This was the pure sentiment of my second book, CTRL ALT Delete, which came out this past summer (and, if you’re so inclined, I would love for you to pick up a copy of it today). A couple of interesting events have transpired since it first launched in late May of this year. First, it has received 120 positive reviews on Amazon (with a average rating of 4.5/5 stars). This past week, it was named by Amazon as one of the Best Books of 2013 in Business and Investing. Then, yesterday, Business Insider released their research report, The Future Of Digital – 2013, at the Ignition event that further validated the thinking in CTRL ALT Delete. While there is no direct correlation to the research of Business Insider or how I came to create the contents of the book, it is clear that there is a lot of validation from one piece of work to the other.

Business has changed.

Many business professionals will tell me that business is changing. I candidly reply that business has changed and that most brands are (sadly) not paying much attention to these massive shifts. If you’re going to look at anything today, I would strongly recommend that you review the slides from Henry Blodget‘s presentation on the future of digital yesterday. The crux of the five movements that have changed business forever in CTRL ALT Delete that most brands are doing little-to-nothing about can be correlated to a ton of the data that will – without question – leave you jaw dropped from Business Insider. Without giving away too many goodies from the presentation or the full-on depth of CTRL ALT Delete, it is becoming increasingly evident that most brands are

1. Still failing at developing a profound direct relationship with their consumers.
2. Under-utilizing the vast amounts of information, data and analytics that are available to make their marketing more effective.
3. Not truly embracing the reality that creating utility as an engine of marketing is the future of advertising.
4. Not understanding the true context of their consumer – not just their location, but everything around context.
5. Unsure about how to create engagement in what I define as the one screen world (where the only screen that matters is the screen that is in front of me).

The opportunities are massive and everywhere.

If you are interested in the future of digital by better understanding where the world is today, you should hop over and read through the amazing Business Insider slide deck: The Future Of Digital – 2013.  

If you want more CTRL ALT Delete…

Please feel free to watch this conversation that I had with Seth Godin about CTRL ALT Delete at the Google offices in NYC this past past June: