The Next Big Thing with Clive Mayhew

Clive Mayhew was this month’s Lunchtime Learning guest speaker who opened his session at Alive’s campus on “The Next Big Thing” by saying:
“20 years ago Cisco told me many of the same things that I’ll be telling you here today. But this time it’s different’. Now the timing is right”
As a man who knows a lot about the good fortune of timing, Clive led the first browser battle of the 1990’s at the helm of Netscape during their market inception and domination. So what has changed this time around to make the fantasies of decades past, a commercial and social reality?
It all comes down to the convergence of technology, Clive states. Now more than ever, the network of connected people, devices and ideas is at a tipping point and is ripe for mainstream change.
The three ripest sectors
There are countless industries which are taking advantage of the modern, connected world but according to Clive, the biggest disruption will come from within:
1. Preventative Health
With an ageing and widening global population, we can’t afford not to invest in the future of our citizens or there will be more people in care than there will be able to provide treatment. Speaking from personal experience, Clive described what our unsustainable lifestyle cost him personally and professionally.
2. Crowdfunding
“When we needed the banks most, they turned their backs on us” Clive stated with conviction. He believes that the exponential growth of crowdfunding as well as the emerging crowd-lending services available will soon outweigh the traditional banking and government sectors who a holding their purse strings tight.
3. Software as a Service
As we watched Clive’s cleaner rake leaves from the lawn of his investment property up north from his Dropcam’s LIVE stream, Clive told us his views on how the devices making up the internet of things is driving the opportunities for cloud computing and software as a service. This area, he believes has been the most hyped (for over 20 years) however, in his opinion, is the most ripe.
Who cares about the next biggest thing?
Throughout Clive’s engaging presentation he made a point not to approach this topic as an investor or even an agency like Alive who will be designing the solutions made possible by what he was discussing. Instead, he carved the room into three groups representing self, organisation & society and stimulated the discussion from the users’ perspective and what all this will mean for the world.
Clive believes we are all affected by the next big thing and this is a truly exciting time where we will all see major shifts in the quality of lives we are able to lead.
The highlight video of Clive’s discussion can be viewed HERE and if you would like to attend the next Lunchtime Learning session at the Alive campus, please email your expression of interest to lachie@alivemobile.com