Given it’s been possible for consumers to erase virtually all unwanted cookies, advertisers have argued to regulators that the public can easily decide to opt out of being tracked by simply taking the overt action to erase cookies between sessions. Now, however, a new type of cookie has emerged called the “Evercookie”. According to Jim Rapoza in his article titled, “The Cookies You Can’t Remove“, the Evercookie works by “…placing cookie data in several places within the browser, including the standard cookie cache, browser history, even within a specialized image file. Evercookie also utilizes new data storage features in HTML 5.” The evercookie ignores all browser requests by the end user to delete thereby eliminating consumer opt out options. You opt in simply by choosing to use the web. This has the public and regulators extremely concerned over privacy issues.

In my opinion, here is the quandary that companies and consumers are faced with: as web users we have grown to expect web content (and our consumer-based applications) to essentially be ”free”.  However, companies that produce content and consumer applications have to make  a profit.  To date, this quandary has been resolved primarily through the advertising business model. Over time, though, we have learned how to increasingly ignore web-based advertising. Consequently, web-based advertisers are demanding increasingly better results from their ad network spend. 

In response, ad networks have had to become better and better at providing demonstrable results. They are doing this by capturing more and better data about the individual and serving up ads that are targeted towards that individual based upon their behavior as captured over time.

As a result, the lowly browser cookie  – which according to Wikipedia was “originally created by Lou Montulli at Netscape…as a solution to the problem of reliably implementing a virtual shopping cart” – has become the main protaganist in the nefarious plot. And, the evercookie promises to be its mega-steroid amp’d up ”super villain” cousin.

Where this all ends, it’s unclear. One thing is for certain though, advertisers are getting better and better at targeted advertising (not just via the web — look at what companies such as Invidi are doing with TV). And, as long as consumers continue to expect something for “nothing”, they can expect the hidden costs of “nothing” (e.g. privacy erosion) to increase.

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I remember the mid 80′s when Unix entered its hype phase. Traditional proprietary OS companies, seemingly overnight, developed competitive offerings for the Unix market. As a hardware vendor, if you didn’t have a Unix-based solution to offer – even if it was weak – you were toast. Similarly, today, if you’re a high tech vendor it is highly likely you have some sort of Cloud-based offering – even if you’re an incumbent and even if it’s weak.

It hit me last week at the Cloud Connect Conference in San Jose that Cloud Computing may have officially reached its hype phase.  What was my epiphany? When I received an invitation to form a group to discuss “Optical Character Reading In the Cloud”. Seriously? OCR in the Cloud?

I’m sure it was a legitimate invitation to a legitimate discussion but I just had to laugh. It reminded me when my kids were younger and they demanded my wife and me to add the words “in bed” at the end of reading our paper fortune inside our Chinese Fortune cookies. I’m sure it was amusing at first but after repeated readings, it grew a little tiring – at least for the grownups.

With every company adding the words “in the Cloud” to their every marketing pitch and product position it is beginning, for me at least, to feel the same as adding those words “in bed” at the end of those fortunes in the cookies; somewhat wearisome.

Cloud Computing is a great evolutionary business model and technology transformation. It provides an innovative way to deliver new solutions at a much reduced price for consumers/businesses. However, I hope the hype starts to get dialed back soon…just a little…in bed.

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At that point, I stop listening and start thinking about how I can end the meeting on a professional note. Like the mythical Unicorn, I don’t believe in the mythical VP Sales & Marketing. Actually, I am more likely to believe in Unicorns than a VP Sales & Marketing.

Why? Simple. Sales and Marketing are vastly different functions that require substantially different personalities, skills, and decades of experience to master. In my 30 years of operating experience, I have found very few people - I mean less than a handful – who are experts at both functions. And, for that rare individual, in my experience I do not believe it is possible to head up both functions simultaneously.

A CEO who doesn’t understand this basic fact, or doesn’t believe it, is not a CEO I want to invest in. Here is why.

Someone who is a head of Sales must have an in depth understanding of current key deals in the sales pipeline,  a deep sense of the probability of whether those deals will close, and what it will take for them to close. This is a 1:1, short-term focus game and success is predicated upon a career of working closely with buyers. In many cases, it also requires someone to travel and meet with prospects to gauge for themselves whether or not a deal is really a deal. It is the realm of oral communicators.

The head of Marketing, on the other hand, must develop and maintain an in depth understanding of the overall market and the company’s brand in that market. To do this, he/she must constantly work with industry analysts, the media, execute tradeshows, keynotes, and the web. Perhaps even more importantly, today’s head of Marketing must be an excellent demand creator (the “owner” of future revenue) through sales-ready leads.

Marketers must know how to generate those sale-ready leads for the lowest acquisition cost and ultimately nurture any sales-ready leads that fall out of the sales pipeline. This is a 1:many game and requires constant refinement through analyzing campaign, market and customer data. It requires continuous meetings with internal staff including the CEO, Product Marketing, Sales, etc. It is the realm of verbal/written communicators.

A CEO who has combined the Sales and Marketing functions, indirectly but undeniably, telegraphs me that he/she does not truly understand the diverse nature of these positions and the fact that it is impossible to execute both functions simultaneously with excellence. In most instances, I have found that the CEO who makes this serious mistake hasn’t worked with someone who is an excellent Marketer and therefore discounts the role it plays.

So, if you ever come and present to me and think you are going to show me a “real” VP Sales & Marketing,  don’t be surprised when I look at you as though you’re trying to convince me there are Unicorns and excuse myself early from the meeting.

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