Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business

Chapter FourThe Anatomy of a Winning Code Halo Solution

It’s tempting to look at a product or service that you have in place or are developing and declare it a Code Halo solution if it contains one or more SMAC Stack elements such as mobility or analytics or an element of social media technology. But the presence of some of the parts of the stack does not constitute a total Code Halo solution. The five essential elements that form the anatomy of a Code Halo solution are outlined in Figure 4.1—and they must work in harmony to thrive and deliver the desired result.

Figure 4.1 Five Elements of a Code Halo Solution

Halo Element	Role
Amplifier	Any device that can capture, generate, and manage Code Halo information.
Application Interface	How the device, solution, and user intersect—crucial to the user experience.
Algorithm	This decodes the rivers of data that flow through a Code Halo.
Data	The raw material of analysis and meaning-making.
Business Model	This defines how companies “monetize meaning.”

Individual implementations balance these elements in different ways. Some Code Halo solutions, like Google for example, may have massive amounts of data and highly complex algorithms, with standard amplifiers and simple application interfaces. Others require customized and sophisticated amplifiers and application interfaces, yet thrive on simple algorithms, like Nike+ FuelBand. Whatever the solution, all the elements need to be there, working together.

The Amplifier: ...