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Saturday, July 31, 2004Lighting the GE Way via FCGE is working as hard as it can to kill off its lightbulb business -- before someone else does.A cross-disciplinary team of scientists at the GE research center in New York wants to develop a new kind of electric lamp using an emerging technology called organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), most easily thought of as light-up plastic.What's most striking about GE's renewed interest in innovation is not so much the technologies themselves, but how the company gets them from lab to market. "As a scientist, you have to figure out what makes this place tick. And it's not just technology," Duggal, a scientist at GE, says of GE's research center. "If you can't sell a project, then you're going to have a hard time here." So OLEDs may not be GE's most cutting-edge research project -- that might be its nanotechnology or molecular-medicine efforts. But it is a technology that may one day save GE's flagging lighting business by, ironically, driving a stake through the lightbulb as we know it. So OLEDs provide an intriguing window onto how the company integrates long-range research into today's strategic planning and how new ideas get through the system without getting thwarted, blocked, or worse. Amazing spirit behind this research idea, funding and execution - the GE touch is obvious. |IT Architect: Metaphor or Oxymoron by Jeff TashTraditional architects in industries like construction have more authority compared to an IT architect. Business tend to look at IT architect as a support service provider and this limits the ability of IT architects to provide best value to Business says Jeff Tash in this article.Traditional architects play a “central” role in construction projects. They’re in charge of creating multiple different layers of blueprints. The individual subcontractors doing the actual construction work only need to see their portion of the big picture. Each one is only interested in their individual set of blueprints. But, in the end, it’s the architect’s responsibility to make certain that everything “works” -- that the final structure does not collapse under its own weight.Now, by contrast, turn your attention to IT. These architects are “self-driven.” In other words, IT is driving the architecture process -- not the client. Furthermore, unlike traditional architects, IT architects have almost no authority. They must operate chiefly from a bully pulpit -- hoping to rally support for their ideas and methods. IT is burdened with an unreasonable responsibility. Business management perceives IT as purely a support function. And unlike with construction projects, IT architects rarely get to respond back with regard to what can or cannot be accomplished.Nothing is going to improve until this gap between IT and business people is bridged. Before IT architecture can begin to emulate traditional architecture, a solution must be found so that business people can understand what their choices are and what the costs are going to be. Only then will IT architects possess real authority like their brethren in the construction industry.| The Myth of Disruptive Technology by John C. DvorakIn the latest PC Magazine, John Dvorak attacks "The Myth of Disruptive Technology."One problem in our society is the increasing popularity of false-premise concepts that are blindly used for decision making. The amount of money squandered during the dot-com era because of "paradigm shifts" and "new economies" is staggering. People actually believed that all retailing would be online and that all groceries would be delivered to the home as they were in the 1920s, despite changes that make delivery impractical. Who cares about reality? We have a disruptive technology at work! John Dvorak writes,"In the Harvard Business School alumni bulletin highlighting this nonsense, there is a list of supposedly disruptive technologies. Not one is disruptive. At the top of the list are electric cars supplanting gasoline vehicles. On what planet? Internet sales supplanting bookstores. Hmm, Barnes & Noble is packed with people. Restaurants are being affected by the disruptive technology of grocers' takeout. Are you laughing yet? Motorcycles being affected by the disruptive technology of dirt bikes—does anyone see a pattern here? Is this an April Fools' gag? James Burke's marvelous PBS TV series Connections offers a better explanation for disruption. When there is true disruption, it comes from inventions, regulatory and social change, complementary technologies, coincidence, and demand".Dvorak concludes,"There is no such thing as a disruptive technology. There are inventions and new ideas, many of which fail while others succeed. That's it. The concept of disruptive technology is not the only daft idea floating around to be lapped up obediently by the business community. There are others. But the way these dingbat bromides go unchallenged makes you wonder whether anyone can think independently anymore". |Craig Venter's Epic Voyage to Redefine the Origin of the Species via Wiredhe cracked the human genome, now he wants to collect the DNA of everything on the planet. Wired writes, "A lot of people wonder what happened to J. Craig Venter, the maverick biologist who a few years ago raced the US government to sequence the human genetic code. he's in the midst of a scientific enterprise as ambitious as anything he's ever done. Leaving colleagues and rivals to comb through the finished human code in search of individual genes, he has decided to sequence the genome of Mother Earth.What we think of as life on this planet is only the surface layer of a vast undiscovered world. The great majority of Earth's species are bacteria and other microorganisms. They form the bottom of the food chain and orchestrate the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients through the ecosystem. They are the dark matter of life. They may also hold the key to generating a near-infinite amount of energy, developing powerful pharmaceuticals, and cleaning up the ecological messes our species has made. But we don't really know what they can do, because we don't even know what they are. Venter wants to change that. He's circling the globe in his luxury yacht the Sorcerer II on an expedition Venter and is capturing the DNA of varioys species on filter paper and shipping it to be sequenced and analyzed at his headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. The hope is to uncover tens or even hundreds of millions of new genes, an immense bolus of information on Earth's biodiversityHe certainly talks big. "We will be able to extrapolate about all life from this survey," Venter says. "This will put everything Darwin missed into context." | Collaborative Innovation Networks: Peter Gloor via Bill IvesBill Ives points to Peter Gloor’s new book, COINS @ Tipping Point – How to Convert Organizations into Collaborative Innovation Networks. It defines COINs as “self organizing cyberteams of intrinsically motivated people who get together around revolutionary new ideas and concepts.” Peter uses the development of the internet as a prime example of a COIN in operation. The book also looks closely at the experiences of the Swiss sailing team that created and then raced the Alinghi to victory in the America’s Cup. The book explores three main questions:• What are Collaborative Knowledge Networks • Why are Collaborative Knowledge Networks better than conventional organizations? • How can my organization become a Collaborative Knowledge Network? Peter was the former e-business practice lead for Deloitte in Europe and draws on his many relevant experiences there, as well as prior industry experience. Examples come from companies like DaimlerChrysler, Novartis, Intel Deloitte, UBS, HP, and IBM. It makes good reading and the COIN movement looks interesting. | Imitation is the Sincerest Flattery by Grady Booch on MicrosoftGrady Booch says, "Its been fascinating to watch Microsoft try to follow the very path that Rational forged a lifetime ago, namely, the creation of a suite of tools that support the software development lifecycle, not just the activities of coding. The latest brick in this well-worn path that Microsoft is walking is their vigorous pursuit of patents, something which will require a bit of catchup since IBM has led the world in patents for the past 11 years (and shows no signs of letting up)".Grady is the author of six best-selling books and has published several hundred articles on software engineering, including papers published in the early '80s that originated the term and practice of object-oriented design. He says, this represents a subtle yet significant recognition of the critical importance of improving the activity of software development by teams - not just individuals - and the protection of essential software intellecual property as a means of driving innovation and economization, says Booch and adds that there's still a lot of exciting stuff we'll get to do in the coming years. |Friday, July 30, 2004A perspective on supply chain managament and product life cycle managementMohan Srinivasan, Leader of SCM practice of satyam talks about SCM and PLM Mohan articulates in his own unique way about the drivers of SCM and PLM solutions and elaborates the need to have a robust methodology for implementation for lasting business value. The ability to relate sophisticated IT system benefits to business performance is the key linkage for generating value out of consulting and creating competitive advantage to business. |Thursday, July 29, 2004Europe Suffering From Productivity Paralysis? via Bweeksince 1995, Europe has trailed America in productivity.Boosting labor productivity is the key to creating higher profits, improving living standards, and keeping prices stable. For decades after World War II, Europe kept pace or even surpassed the U.S. in productivity growthThe gap is even widening. This year the U.S. should record productivity gains of 3.3%, according to Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union. That's almost twice the rate of France and Germany and well above the British rate (yes, even dynamic Britain is struggling in this area). Europe now has an hourly output per worker some 20% below American levels.The productivity numbers have become so alarming that European Central Bank boss Jean-Claude Trichet warned about the problem in a July 1 speech. The Dutch, who have seen their once-robust economy stumble, are getting worried. "Future economic growth will require a substantial increase in our productivity," says Economic Affairs Minister Laurens Jan Brinkhorst. Patricia Hewitt, the British Secretary of State for Trade & Industry, has made improving productivity a top priority: It's the only way Britain can close a still-considerable gap in living standards between British workers and their U.S. counterparts.Europe is not seeing the same productivity bang from information technology that the U.S. has enjoyed over the past decadeUniquely European factors -- from stiff job-protection codes to hidden barriers against competition -- amplify the problem.Europe also simply doesn't have as large a tech sector as the U.S. That matters because fast-growing technology companies are themselves major contributors to productivity growth. According to McKinsey & Co., the IT sector generates 2.3% of total GDP in the U.S., but only 1.3% and 1.5% in France and Germany, respectively. McKinsey says that the U.S. tech sector accounts for more than a quarter of the entire economy's productivity growth. (Some studies suggest it is much higher.) In contrast, a smaller IT sector generates less than 20% of productivity growth in Europe.Only a systematic surge in IT spending, increased focus on R&D,coupled with serious labor-market reforms,would change the dynamic in Europe.| Wednesday, July 28, 2004South Korea leads the Broadband wave via News.comSouth Korea has made significant progress with many forms of digital technology. Citizens can get "video on demand" online, often even with high-definition video, for less than Americans pay to rent a DVD. Low-income students use high-speed Net connections to take free tutorials for the national aptitude test, an SAT-like exam that can determine college admissions and future job paths.Online gaming is a massive cultural phenomenon, with three TV channels dedicated to the subject and good players attaining the fame of American sports stars. In addition, South Koreans spent more than $1.6 billion shopping online in the first quarter of 2004, or about twice as much per capita as U.S. residents .South Korea has launched the equivalent of a space program in technology, with an aggressive strategy in broadband and online industry.South Korea is the global role model for deploying broadband technology. |Intel CEO wants an employee attitude check via News.comBarrett, who is known to often speak his mind on topics ranging from politics to the PC industry, turned his attention to Intel's own employees last week in a memo that addressed the string of product delays and production problems."I recently spoke to Intel's senior managers about our execution," Barrett said in the memo, e-mailed to company employees on July 21. "Yes, I spoke bluntly and directly, because to me, there is nothing more essential to Intel's success than its culture of operational excellence and our performance to values such as discipline, results orientation and customer orientation. I spoke bluntly also because it is part of our culture to address our problems with honesty and to resolve to fix them." "Our business is complex, and we have set high expectations for ourselves. Therefore, it is critical that everyone--beginning with senior management but extending to all of you--focus intensely on actions and attitudes that will continue Intel's strong track record of technology leadership leading to outstanding company performance and satisfied customers," Barrett said in his memo. "Finally, I was direct because I wanted senior managers--whose job it is to set expectations to all of you and to provide direction and coaching--to have no doubt about the need to improve our performance." Craig is trying to change things internally inside Intel as many planned product launches have not materialised. | As It Goes Public, Google Says It Is Worth Up to $36 Billion via NYTimesThe popular Internet search company, which is attempting to sell shares to the public in an unconventional auction, said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday that it expected its shares to sell for $108 to $135 each.That would value the company at $29 billion to $36 billion, putting its market value just below the $38 billion value of Yahoo, a larger and far more mature Internet company. The most valuable Internet company, eBay, is worth $49 billion.The company will use what is called a modified version of a Dutch auction, in which prospective investors indicate how many shares they want and the maximum price they are willing to pay. In a classic Dutch auction, the final price would be set at the highest price that will allow all the shares to be sold.Google with a revenue of $1.47 billion last year shall command a marketcap of 29-36 billion dollars , a tad lower than Yahoo marketcap.At this price, Google is more valuable than Mcdonalds and SONY!!Crazy!!!| EDS - Tough times via BWeekAny rebound at the ailing tech-services giant is likely to be slow. Even management is pointing to 2006 as a return to growth.The 20 billion dollar giant is struggling to grow and is losing marketshare to its rivals IBM and Accenture regularlyFor more than a year investors in ailing Electronic Data Systems (EDS ) have nurtured hopes of a turnaround even though the technology-services giant's sales kept sliding and it posted loss after quarterly loss.Investors are probably in for more blows in the coming months.EDS's management doesn't foresee growth until 2006.EDS needs to refocus its sales strategy, analysts say. For months, it has concentrated on grabbing midsize, single-function contracts of less than $1 billion, partly because while "larger contracts look good [on the balance sheet, they] take longer to transact.EDS needs to focus not only on grabbing these larger contracts but also on convincing potential customers that its current struggles won't hurt its ability to provide solid service. Yankee Group surveys show that large corporations perceive EDS as not stable. Given this, they might hesitate to send it business or could ask for concessions to account for the added risk.Tough job at hand for the EDS top management.Service companies can sustain wins only by better business models, high class management talent, dynamic corporate culture and delivery excellence - EDS is widely perceived to be scoring poorly in most of these parameters -it is not scoring the highest in any compared to its peers. |Tuesday, July 27, 2004Music in the Digital Era - Using Econometrics to Model via emigroupThis paper is attempting to model statistically and quantify the music business, modeling rigorously the various determinants of CD sales, investigating, using state-of-the-art econometric techniques,the likely reaction of music consumers to new, legitimate on-line musicservices. The paper captures the trends and shifts in the music industry and evaluates the market impact of alternative strategies in the legitimate on-line world. The model correalates among other things music industry's growth with increased braodband penetration. GDP growth and more importantly arrives at an inflection point around 2004 for a major take-off of the digital music world. Interesting read. |Monday, July 26, 2004Jeff Bezos on Word-of-Mouth Power via BweekAmazon.com boasted one of the best-known brand names on the Internet almost from the time it opened its virtual doors nine years ago. But slowing growth and mounting losses as the dot-com wave crested in 2000 tarnished its reputation as a business. Chief Executive Jeffrey P. Bezos, however, never stopped pushing his obsession to please customers. Now, that persistence has paid off -- not only in recent profitable quarters and recharged growth but also in the value of Amazon's brand.According to the latest BusinessWeek/Interbrand survey, Amazon's brand ranking rose 22% last year. Very insightful Bezos views - "The right way to build a brand is by delivering a great service. Customers learn about who we are as a result of interacting with us. A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well. People notice that over time. I don't think there are any shortcuts. We don't do any television advertising, and we take all of the money that we would put into television advertising, and instead put it into things like free SuperSaver shipping [free shipping on most orders over $25], lower product prices, category expansion, and invention of new features.We take those funds that might otherwise be used to shout about our service, and put those funds instead into improving the service.If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful. Articulating the Amazon brand -It's about starting with the customer and working backward. And it's about invention. Our two very strong cultural attributes at the company are innovation and customer obsession. We don't want to start with an idea and work toward the customer. We want to start with a customer problem and then invent to a solution".Bezos talk is always interesting - this one focussed on Amazon is all the more so.| Why Fast Is in Retail Fashion via FCJust as the advent of the hamburger helped accelerate culinary and car culture, other aspects of retail -- from shorter product development cycles to "pop-up stores" -- are quickening.Hamburger - Invention mirrored a major shift in human behavior, the humble burger has come to symbolize our preference for a faster retail experience.This now world-famous quick meal was reportedly inspired by a harried customer who wanted to eat on the run.The need for speed quickly spread to other retail sectors, as well. Supermarkets added carts and fast checkout lanes. Malls gained instant photo kiosks. Drugstores began selling food. Department stores hired personal shoppers. Meanwhile, consumers had discovered yet another timesaver: shopping by catalog. Buyers, ever harried, wanted to shop faster still. That was made possible by the Internet. From nearly zero sales in 1985, online consumer transactions will rise to $92 billion in 2004, excluding travel, according to Forrester Research. The trend points to a future where most merchandise will be purchased online.Doing more in less time is also visible in other purchase patterns. In 2002, 23% of mall shoppers browsed compared with 37% in 2000, according to ICSC Research Quarterly. An interesting article.| Sunday, July 25, 2004Listen to your customers or risk losing them by GM's Tony ScottDon't like your car? In the future, says General Motors's CTO Tony Scott, you'll just download a new one.Tony Scott has a simple message for people who make hardware and software: Listen to your customers or risk losing them. As both carrot and stick, General Motors's (GM) affable chief technology officer wields an annual IT budget of nearly $3 billion. It's that kind of spending power that led many to credit Scott with prompting the recent détente between Sun (SUNW) and Microsoft (MSFT).It's maturation, standardization, and commoditization. The industry is going through a transformation -- one the auto industry and railroads and other big industries have already been through. I'll make a car analogy. Imagine if GM shipped you a car that you had to assemble yourself, and mechanics had to come to your house just to put it together, and it had no warranty. I think somebody would come along pretty quickly and say, "We've got a better idea on how to make and sell cars."When you go to a gas station now, you can stick the nozzle into the gas tank and it works. But in the early days of the auto industry, there were 2,000 car companies, nothing was standardized, and demand far exceeded supply. In that early era, you could do whatever you wanted. The tech industry has by and large been in that same mode. But that's now changing.People in the Valley are terrified of the idea that Silicon Valley might turn into Detroit. In that scenario, innovation and growth slow, and margins look more like -- well, GM's margins. The whole culture here has been built on startups and innovation. A very interesting interview. |Nokia and Ericsson: the contrasting tale of two Nordic mobile giants via YahooEriccson, once almost written off is rebounding and is expected to get stronger, while the once revered Nokia is losing significant ground.Just a week after Nokia reported a five-percent drop in sales and a weak forecast, sending tech stocks skidding and prompting economists to worry that the mobile phone giant played too dominant a role in the Finnish economy, Ericsson announced a forecast-busting second quarter, pulling stocks back up and giving rise to optimism about more jobs and a stronger Swedish economy. While the neighboring goliaths largely pursue different parts of the mobile market, with Nokia concentrating on phones and Ericsson focusing on networks, there is more to their contrasting fortunes than differing external factors.Analysts credit Ericsson, which only recently exited 10 consecutive quarters in the red, with having taken advantage of a market upswing to turn a sour situation into a booming success. At the same time they chide Nokia for letting huge opportunities lay fallow.| Outsourcing: Renegotiating for value via MckinseyquarterlyMckinsey Quarterly's article on renegotiation for value writes, "many long-term IT-outsourcing agreements fall out of sync with a company's business needs and technology costs. After all, an outsourcing contract reflects a five- to ten-year forecast of a company's IT needs and a fair price to pay a vendor for meeting those needs. The size of the gap between what many companies are currently paying for IT outsourcing and the potential savings is surprising, however".Companies can obtain much better terms from their IT-outsourcing vendors by renegotiating their agreements. The article says, given the plummeting cost of technology and recent innovations in systems-management tools and processes, that gap may be substantial, especially for deals signed in the past two to five years. In real life experience—with companies in sectors as varied as banking, insurance, media, pharmaceuticals, and telecommunications—this mismatch can represent as much as 20 to 40 percent of the total cost of the contract, or hundreds of millions of dollars a year, depending on the size of the deal.To capture the biggest savings, companies should focus on specific situations. Contracts with heavy infrastructure costs, for instance, are a good target, since prices for hardware and storage have dropped by 25 to 36 percent each of the past three years while software prices have stayed relatively flat. Corporations whose needs have changed or whose usage of wide-area networks, computer-processing capacity, or data storage has risen or fallen sharply should also revisit their contract terms. In addition, older agreements and outsourcing arrangements that were not open to competitive bidding are likely to have large gaps between what companies are paying for IT services and the actual cost of providing those services.The article highlights huge scope for cost reduction by outsourcing customers, if approached in a structured manner( Personally, I am not so convinced about this level of cost reduction) - Hope that India based Offshore service providers are factoring this line of thinking in devising their future strategies. | Microsoft's possible acquisitions and growth strategies via BweekEven after its huge dividend payout, Gates & Co. still have plenty in the till to fund expansion, especially through acquisitionsAfter it makes a onetime special dividend payment of $32 billion in December, it will still have more than $20 billion in cash. And thanks to its profitable Windows and Office monopolies, it's racking up $1 billion in cash every month.That's enough to buy a lot of growth -- whether through acquisitions, product upgrades, or new business expansion.Possible acquisition is Siebel Systems (SEBL ), a specialist in customer-management software. Even SAP (SAP ) remains a possibility. Though the deal is officially off the table, some analysts believe talks could resume if Oracle eventually buys PeopleSoft, putting pressure on Microsoft's server business.The most intriguing and dramatic deal would be for services giant Accenture (ACN ). The company, which has a market cap of $24 billion, is a powerhouse in the lucrative consulting and business outsourcing arenas. Already there are affinities between the two companies: Ballmer sits on Accenture's board, and the two companies co-own Avenade, a boutique consulting outfit that specializes in Microsoft technology. | The 9-11 commission complete reportThe 585 page well written report about the run up to the 911 events. The Sep 11 events have chabged life in America and elsewhere in the world. Many things have changed all over the world - form airport security to hotel check-in procedures. Sep 11,2001 - I was in Washington D.C having passed the Pentagon station 15/20 minutes before the pentagon mishap.I still remember the chaos and was witness to the american people reaction for several days after the event - many americans were busy taking video shoots of all prominent buildings, hoping to preseve the images for posterity. I still remember the eight hours that it took Santhana and me to return back to my place of stay - which usually takes less than 30 mts. My colleagues Elangovan and Shahul travelling in a different direction took almost 6 hrs to return back to their place. So many memories. |The Art of Strategic Innovation -Costas Markides via AsideconsultingCostas Markides,Professor of Strategic and International Management, London Business School defines strategic innovation as :The discovery of a new way of playing the game in your business, which is fundamentally different from the way most other competitors are playing the game. Strategy is finding answers to 3 interrelated questions:i. who will I target as my customer ii. what shall I offer to these customers iii. how can I do this in an efficient way Strategic innovation is the discovery of a new "who-what-how" position in the business - a position that all other competitors have missed. By discovery of this new position, we discover an untapped source of value in our industry. In this brilliant interview Costas Markides explains strategic innovation in detail, how this differs from Michael Porter's approach and finally identifies obstacles to strategic innovation as under: The greatest obstacles in my mind are our own mental models, the unquestioned assumptions, the stereotypes and beliefs that we individually and as organizations, have. They don't have to be explicit, they don't have to be written down but they are there nevertheless. They are like our genes, they control our behavior and we don't even know that they do so. Every organization has a lot of sacred cows which they are unwilling to bring to the surface and question. And these sacred cows condition what an organization does, what the people in the organization do. The first thing we need to do is to question these sacred cows. These sacred cows have to be brought out, questioned and sacrificed before anybody can come up with any new ideas. Very refreshing and insightful interview. | Faster, cheaper, better via EconomistThe ability to build powerful computers cheaply, combined with growing commercial demand for high-end computing power, is creating a renaissance in the field of supercomputing.Two applications in particular have driven the development of supercomputers: the modelling of climate change and of what happens inside a nuclear explosion—the second of which is necessary because of the ban on actual nuclear testing that is obeyed by established nuclear powers.Supercomputers are also good for modelling the way proteins fold and, it has been thought, should be useful at helping to predict which drugs might work.For more than two years, the fastest computer in the world has been the “Earth Simulator”. Built by Japan's NEC, this machine is used for climate modelling. The two next-fastest computers are used to model nuclear weapons at America's Department of Energy.| Software ain't what it used to be by Nicholas Carr via IHTMicrosoft's decision to return $32 billion to its shareholders may be a wise business move, but it is also an admission of defeat: The company is confessing that despite years of trying, it has not found an attractive way to invest its cash reserves.The software industry's sluggishness is not just a reflection of the vagaries of the economic cycle. It is a manifestation of a fundamental, if often overlooked, characteristic of the industry's product: Software never decays. Machinery breaks down, parts wear out, supplies get depleted. But software code remains unchanged by time or use.For software companies to grow, therefore, they have to give buyers good reasons to throw out perfectly serviceable versions of programs and install new ones in their place. Until recently, that hasn't been a problem. The rapid growth in the power of microprocessors, combined with ever-shifting computing standards, forced companies to replace or upgrade their existing programs at a breakneck pace. The case for continuing to upgrade (both desktop software and hardware included) these programs is weak and getting weaker.The same trend is playing out in complex and expensive enterprise applications - the programs that underpin business processes like accounting, customer service and purchasing.Nicholas Carr concludes by saying, "Software companies are smart and inventive, and they will continue to come up with new, if ever more specialized, products. The industry will remain a large and important one, but it seems fated to resemble more and more a traditional, mature sector like manufacturing.It is no longer unthinkable to say that software's glory days lie in the past, not the future". Looks to me that Carr's facts are right but the inferences are debatable. I beleive that the areas untouched by modern IT systems and the global trade and heightened competition would make companies invest more and more in IT and contiune realigning processes and chasing different business models.| Saturday, July 24, 2004The Rumors of Email's Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated via MattThe future prospects of email analysed well |Friday, July 23, 2004Outsourcing Is In With IT via ITUPThe pace of outsourcing is not slowing down.If the results of a couple of recent surveys pan out as expected, we can expect plenty of IT outsourcing over the coming year—and on a pretty massive scale, too.TPI says that 18 to 20 "megadeals"—ones it defines as contracts that exceed a billion dollars—could close by the end of the year. The market-research firm adds that the second quarter of 2004 saw a 35 percent increase in the value of IT-outsourcing contracts over last year's second quarter, meaning that wider scale outsourcing of IT is already on the rise. TPI's findings, if accurate, basically confirm a recent trend toward long-term, full-scale shifting of enterprise-IT services from companies to outsourcing providers, complete with transfer of IT staffs to the service provider. A decade from now,the in-house IT department at large enterprises may not even exist. |Managing Personal Information and Knowledge - Tom Davenport via Stephanie CarlinDavenport says that the average worker spends three hours and 14 minutes a day using technologies to process work-related information—more than 40 percent of an eight-hour workday. The tools and technologies designed to make life easier often have the opposite effect and consume too much of an individual’s time and energyDavenport adds: “the idea of managing personal information to transform KM will take off for many reasons. First, people are swamped with information and knowledge. Few people today believe they do not get enough information. In fact, we get plenty of information, and we need to use it more effectively. Second, thanks to the Internet, Google, and other knowledge resources, there are greater expectations for information access. Third, because of self-service strategies employed by many large organizations, employees often feel they are on their own. Finally, devices and tools for personal information management are multiplying, and they do not always integrate well with other knowledge tools in an organization. Just when it seems like you figure something out, something else that is better and faster comes out, and you need to relearn a new technology or tool. As a result, there is a greater need to focus on managing personal information and knowledge.”| Thursday, July 22, 2004A guide to doing business in China via MckinseyquarterlyOne of the biggest hurdles is coming to terms with the real China, a land of great geographical, social, political, and industrial diversity. As a starting point, it's essential to cut through the thicket of misunderstandings and misinformation about doing business there. Clearing them up won't guarantee the success of investments, but it will at least increase the chances of getting the foundations right, particularly at a time when fears that the country's economy is overheated are further complicating decision making.China lends itself to sweeping statements. Here are a few making the rounds: China will be the next economic superpower; its economy is still state run; foreigners don't make money there; relationships count, so a partner is needed. These provocative claims can start a conversation, but they are hyperbolic, misleading, out-of-date, or just not true.Generalizations about China may be interesting conversation starters but are potentially dangerous distractions for companies considering investments there. The best advice is to focus on your own industry and operating issues. Performance in China varies greatly within industries, and the market operates on the winner-takes-all principle. The main concern is to become that winner by responding nimbly to fast-changing market dynamics and by relying as much as possible on skilled local managers, who are still rare in China. For companies operating in sectors that are not yet fully deregulated, the focus should be on creating a competitive advantage before the gloves come off. Merely transferring Western business approaches that fail to match China's reality won't work |Commonsense advise about Google IPOReasons Google Could Become a Penny Stock.Google is a great website, but a lesson of the dotcom bubble is that a great website is not always a great business, advises Dr. Steve Baba.Google’s expected IPO has attracted enormous, one-sided, positive buzz from Google fans, techies nostalgic about the boom years, and day traders hoping for quick profits. The article lists Google’s many potential business challenges, several of which could turn Google into a penny stock. While this may look a little far fetched -pl. remember Altavista's downfall and the rise of Yahoo in the search space. |Wednesday, July 21, 2004Photography Companies Try a New Approach via NYTFor several years, photography companies and retailers alike have watched desperately as sales of their favorite cash cow, camera film, were plowed under by the merciless juggernaut of film-free digital photography. The companies kept hoping that sales of in-store services to turn electronic images into prints would pick up the slack. They never did.Why not? Because, consumer research showed, a lot of amateur photographers did not realize that it was as easy to drop off a digital camera's memory card for processing as it was to drop off a roll of film. And those who did were often loath to give up control of an expensive card holding hundreds of nonreplicable photographic memories. The purveyors of photo printing services have certainly tried to get the word out.The industry's latest answer to the conundrum is to pepper stores with self-service kiosks where consumers can edit photos and make their own prints from digital memory cards. Tens of thousands of kiosks are now in drugstores and discount stores. So, with such critical mass finally achieved, the companies are rolling out the advertising cannons.Kodak intends to set up 20 wireless kiosks at the Olympics in Athens - the first time the company has set up a center at an Olympics site that serves amateurs as well as professional photographers.The pace of opening self-service kiosks is so heady that even owners of photo specialty stores - who, logic would dictate, would bridle at any suggestion that consumers do anything self-service - have stopped fighting the trend and are welcoming it instead.| Esther Dyson on Social Networks: The Good and the BadRelease 1.0's Esther Dyson examines the promise - and confusion - around social networks such as LinkedIn, Orkut and Plaxo in a useful article that appeared on July 15, 2004. She makes a great point:“In the end, the value isn't how many people you can link to, but rather how strong those links are. (There's a difference between business services such as LinkedIn, where the focus is mostly on increasing efficiency and limiting contacts to valuable ones, and the more social and would-be portal sites, such as Friendster or Orkut, where the focus is more on increasing the number of contacts. And, of course, some people use either kind of service for the opposite purpose, which only confuses things.)” Esther Dyson adds,"I went to the Plaxo site and there are over 2,500,000 members and counting with over 800,000,000 connected contacts. Soon they will pass the number of blogs. What does this mean?" Very interesting insight.| Another air show, another row via EconomistAirbus and Boeing are both forecasting a recovery in demand for aircraft after a three-year slump. Airbus is the more bullish of the two, having delivered more planes than its American rival for the first time last year. This ascendancy has led Boeing to renew its complaints about subsidies to Airbus.There are conflicting signs as to which way the airline industry is going. There is a rash of new low-cost airlines, many of which want nimble, short-haul Boeing 737s, or something similar. As for long-haul flights, some airlines value the number of seats above all, others fuel efficiency. On Sunday July 18th, on the eve of Farnborough, Boeing was able to boast that it had received downpayments for 200 7E7s—from Japan’s ANA, Air New Zealand, First Choice and Blue Panorama, among others. Two days later, Airbus crowed about a 24-strong order from Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, including four A380s.Overall, Airbus’s order book continues to look better than Boeing’s.| Cellular phones changing to become more big and versatile via NYTThe cellular industry's long pursuit of ever-more minuscule phones has shifted into reverse, giving rise to bulkier wireless handsets with larger color screens and small versions of standard qwerty-style computer keyboards to send e-mail and instant messages.The multifunction devices are beginning to find an audience beyond gadget lovers, according to cellular executives, who hope to put their digital wireless networks to use for more than voice traffic. We are also beginning to see deployment of RFID chips in mobile phones - This opens up many possibilities like - going to the airport with mobile phone and RFID tag instead of an eticket, restaurants making use of this technology in unique ways to identify and collect payments from customers etc.. |Cheap, Easy RFID? via InformationweekMicrosoft prepares to enter the radio-frequency ID market by tuning its products and collaborating with partners.For months, Microsoft has been ramping up development as it prepares to enter the RFID market in the first half of next year. Its engineers are coding RFID specifications into three of the company's enterprise-resource-planning applications--the Axapta, Great Plains, and Navision suites--and into BizTalk Server, which plays a central data-integration role in Windows environments.Windows may get an RFID injection next. The windows platform will be RFID-enabled.Within the operating system, RFID support probably would be akin to a device driver, the piece of code that allows a printer or a network device to work with a computer.Microsoft is sizing up the RFID market, from top to bottom, to see where it should push hardest. Microsoft's expanding activity will influence the broader market.Microsoft is expected to drive standards and influence how data is managed as it's transmitted from readers. |Tuesday, July 20, 2004Blog readers more affluent and mature via KathleenKathleen points to an interesting survey about bloggers that cites new information about blog readers being more affluent and mature than previously thought. Some of the survey findings :Far from being young kids with little money in their pockets and lots of time on their hands, the survey found that blog readers are older and richer than many people suppose. Exactly 61% of the blog readers that responded to the survey are over the age of 30, and 75% make more than $45,000 a year. In fact, nearly 30% of the respondents are between the ages of 31 and 40, and over 37% spanned the ages of 41 to 60. And nearly 40% have a household income of $90,000 or higher.A partial profile of blog readers reveals: • 54% of their news consumption is online • 21% are bloggers themselves • 46% describe themselves as opinion makers More importantly, from an advertiser's point of view, in the last six months: • 50% have spent more than $50 online on books. • 47% have spent more than $500 online for plane tickets. • 50% have contributed more than $50 to a cause or candidate online • 5% have contributed more than $1,000 to a cause or candidate online A full 67% of respondents claimed they have clicked on a blog ad. Asked what they did after clicking, 39.4% said they donated money, and 22.3% said they purchased a product or service. Without question blog readers are biased toward the Internet. On average they said 54% of their news comes from online sources, with newpapers running second at only 16.5%. But, according to the survey, blog readers suck up information from everywhere. They are media-mavens: 21% subscribe to the New Yorker magazine, 15% to the Economist, 15% to Newsweek and 14% to the Atlantic Monthly. Nevertheless, the survey found that " blog readers are united in their apathy about traditional news sources: 82% of blog readers say that television is worthless or only somewhat useful as a source of news and opinion. 55% percent say the same about print newspapers. 54% say the same about print magazines." | Monday, July 19, 2004Global services sourcing - A perspective via columbia university earth instituteAs the outsourcing wave progresses, the earth industry of columbia university has come with an assessment of the current practices,issues and roadmap for future. A comprehensive report co-authored by Nirupam Bajpai, Jeffrey Sachs,Rohit Arora and Harpreet Khurana - this report has been presented to the President and Prime Minister of India as well. A must read for all interested in outsourcing. |Scott McNealy Takes On His Critics via BweekTheir reasons for why we were doing so well [during the boom] were as wrong as their reasons for why we aren't doing well now, Scott Mcnealy says of analyst's views on Sun's current performance Scott says,"We're fundamentally focused, much more so than any company I see out there. At some point, I've either got to listen to the open letters or sit down and think through this stuff. I've never seen as much conventional wisdom in our industry as I see right now.I wanted to get our product lines fixed, and we did. We focused entirely on raising the quality levels, the support levels, price performance.... We've got all that laid into place. Now we're driving consolidation, labs consolidation, facilities consolidation. We're taking our back office and putting it into the front office of our key partners, which they certainly like, and they can run their business on Sun as they go to market.We just had a lot to do. The first year after the bubble, we took capacity out. The second couple of years, we've been working on getting the product lines organized. Quite honestly, we didn't execute all that well when we were growing 40% or 60% per year. What the analysts miss is we were making all of the mistakes four or five years ago, right at the peak of the bubble". Sun should survive - survive as a strong player to provide a credible alternative to IBM and HP in the high end server market. | |
