Dilbert does outsourcing …
Given we’re in the middle of negotiating a big outsource contract, this made me smile.
5 Technologies that CEOs intend to invest in next year
Amid all the CIO and vendor hype about where the next round ou IT investment should be focussed, it was hugely refreshing to read on Silicon.com the 5 technologies that CEOs will invest in next year. Not a mention of cloud computing, virtualization, web 2.0 > enterprise 2.0 and all that jazz, just some very basic fundamentals that will driver their businesses forward
- Better data collection and retrieval systems… to directly drive business growth and find more savings as well as new business opportunities’.”
- Home and remote working… to get more performance from their existing workforce whilst reducing travel overheads at a time when unemployment is on the rise.
- Mobile commerce… CEO’s are starting to believe that, after 10yrs of hype, this might just be ready for prime time
- Business intelligence… track and responding to customer behaviour – if you’re not doing it then you competitors sure are and implied customer loyalty is long gone.
- E-discovery systems …. “In difficult economic times, legal challenges tend to increase” … so how good are your retrieval and analytical systems ?
Now clearly I’m not saying that cloud computing, virtualization, web 2.0 > enterprise 2.0 et al don’t have a part to play in many of these priorities but shouldn’t we be focussing on the problems – as articulated by our most important customers – rather than the technologies and their somewhat abstract labels
JMHO
I work for free …
Sometimes “GapingVoid” just nails it !!!!
CNN do cloud …
The power of Apples brand ??
One-fifth of buyers interested in Apple’s unseen tablet.
According to AppleInsider - in a survey of more than 3000 people (presumably all Apple owners ??), over a fifth said they were interested in Apple’s long-rumored tablet device. That’s more than the 9 percent that said they were interested in the original iPhone back in April 2007.
The survey also assumed that the product would be priced between $500 and $700 for its question.
So something no-one has seen, with dimensions and functionality that no one can describe, is wanted by over 20% of potential buyers !! I bow to the friend how told me that great marketing trumps great technology every time – he was so right
In the land of the blind ….
…. the one eyed man is king
So goes the famous saying and its particularly appropriate when it comes to IT outsourcing.
According to a report from Warwick Business School for IT Services firm Cognizant, the majority of CIO’s AND CFO’ s interviewed claimed that they lacked the tools and methods to effectively measure business value and the return on investment (RoI) from outsourcing activities despite spending between $5m and $100m (£3m and £61m) each year on such initiatives.
The old adages of “never outsource simply for cost”, “never outsource a problem” and “never outsource something you cant manage and measure yourself” have never been more true and ignoring these fundementals has lead to a well trodden path of outsourcing disasters. With that in mind, the finding from this report must raise surely some eyebrows. Our industry has been at this for almost a decade now so shouldn’t we be alarmed that this report concludes that management and measurement disciplines remains so vague ?.
One thing is certain, the outsourcers know how to make money and how to measure ROI on their side so a customer has to line up comparable (or better) skills and expertise on their side if they are going to see the business benefits and make the relationship work.
As usual, JMHO so all comments welcome
Sorry for the absence of posts recently ….
….. but the process of starting a new job has taken up a huge amount of time however I’m back now and will try to catch up on things.
Spotify for iPhone – it had to come but …
…. will it be crippled
Spotify have confirmed their iPhone application and a short video demo is sitting on my favourite trusted resource TrustedReviews.
With offine modes, sharing facility (with other Spotify users) and multi device sync this looks a really interesting development in the current streaming vs downloading debate. It also now creates a reason for you to pay for the premium spotify service as the iPhone app will only be available to premium subscribers.
However the big issue here is whether those nice folks at Cupertino will certify it and more importantly ever allow it to run over HSDPA/3G connections. What ?? Simply protecting their iTunes franchise in the face of competition from the streaming market ?? Surely not ??
Lets wait and see.
My favourite free apps
As the world of free applications continues to grow almost exponentially, I’m often asked what’s the best “free stuff” you can load up on a spanking new laptop. Well, as always, there’s no definitive list of what’s best because “best” is all down to personal opinion and preference. Well, not being one to sit on the fence, here’s a list of free stuff that sits on some of my machines
Spotify – I’ve blogged on this just about anywhere I can – if you’re into music you must have Spotify which is free so long as you’re happy to put up with a few adverts. Quite simply the best quality music streaming out there and simplicity itself
Mozilla Thunderbird – remarkably there are people out that that hate both Microsoft (so no Outlook) and Google (so no Gmail) – go figure. Anyway, if you fall into that camp then take a look a Thunderbird. Its had a checkered past but now seems to have a new lease of life with powerful tools and extensions from the Mozilla family
OpenOffice – another one for the anti MS/Google brigade but actually its a really powefull (and MS compatible) suite of office applications.
MediaCoder – a superb video encoding and transcoding application with specific solutions for all the popular device types that can be downloaded as separate modules. ave to be everywhere at once, and are happy to be signed in automatically by a 3rd party app, then this is for you.
Paint.Net / Inkscape – excellent Photoshop and Illustrator clones. They may not have all the features of their grown up cousins but they’re freeeeeeeee
Comodo AV/Firewall – the Comodo Internet Security suite was recommended to me by a colleague and it knocks the free competition as well as the more established brands for six. Simple to set up, ad free and low performance overhead.
Picassa - even the anti Google fraternity have to give Picassa a go. Simple way to organise, share and edit your photos
Slingplayer – I know its not exactly “free” because you need a slingbox back at home but the player is a fee download. Full control of my SKY+ and other attached media devices from anywhere in the world with a broadband connection – don’t leave home without it.
I’ll add more as I remember but that’ll do for starters
Anyone wanna recommend some others – go for it
Windows XP – the OS that refuses to die
This one might have slipped by a few folks – I missed it originally – but it seems that XP is set to remain the OS that just wont die
Microsoft announced yesterday that it would contnue to offer the option to downgrade from Vista or Windows 7 (…. though I’m not really sure why anyone would want do that ) for either the first 18 months after Windows 7 is launched or until its first service pack is released
As reported in trustedreivews.com ….. “Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate customers will have the option to downgrade to Windows XP Professional from PCs that ship within 18 months following the general availability of Windows 7 or until the release of a Windows 7 service pack, whichever is sooner, and if a service pack is developed,” confirmed a Microsoft company spokesperson to ComputerWorld.
So, who’s gonna be the first netbook manufacture to ditch XP in favour of Windows 7 and start the funeral procession ? Anyone ?? No ???
