CTO Blog

Voicemail

“… Hi, this is John’s voicemail. I am currently unavailable. You see, we have our annual strategy session with all of the IT management and the leaders of the business units. And it seemed perfect timing to make a change this year. Think about it: IT strategy is more crucial than ever. The wolves are howling in the deserted, grey streets of the economy and we are in desperate need of creative ideas. And not only about how to save money on the IT department. We are also looking for fresh, new ways to use technology to tackle the downturn and find a path forward.

Oh, by the way, this year we are not in that luxurious neo renaissance chateau. Instead we are in this nice little motel. Very convenient, just near the motorway and all.

Anyway, IT strategy. If it is so crucial to the success of our company, why are we so careless about it? Last year, it was difficult enough to get all of the major stakeholders together for one lousy day at the chateau. Well, nearly all of them, that is. Even when I was on my way, I received a hurried cancellation. Something about an emergency client tender, although I have never heard anything about that one ever since. The rest of the attendees sort of trickled into the room during the course of the morning and actually it was already 11 AM when we were really up to speed. Just before lunch, actually (they served an excellent Californian Chardonnay, come to think of it).

What Happens Next? EU and Obama ask the same question

The European Commission hosted what it claims to be Europe’s biggest research event for Information Communication Technologies, ICT, in Lyon during the 25th to the 27th of November with an expected 4,000 plus attendees. The main site gives the following explanation as to the theme;

The next ten years will see major transformations in the technological, industrial and business landscapes surrounding information and communication technologies, or "ICT". ICT 2008 will set the agenda for ICT research and innovation in Europe during this crucial decade.

I contributed my own presentation to the event entitled ‘From the Common Market to the Virtual Market; From National Citizen to Web Citizen’ and my point was that though research on technology topics is well advanced in solving identifiable, and commercially oriented, problems, we seem to be completely lacking research on what happens in a change of this scale to society, in this case at the level of the EU, as a whole. This has to be government driven research, or perhaps more particularly research using simulations and models to understand the scale, but that throws up the whole question of what to model. I will take a bet that not many people know of the science of Social Simulation, but as Enterprises become more and more focussed on people as the driver of the markets for their products I think this might become the next field for the marketers to understand. Wikipedia offers a useful first starting point to learn more.

Tech Predictions 2009: Slow IT

When I first read Carl Honoré’s bestseller ‘In Praise of Slow’ I was devastated by his now famous example of speed-parenting. A few years ago, he was so obsessed with speed and efficiency that he actually liked the idea of One-Minute bedtime stories. Honoré read about it in a newspaper, impatiently standing in line at an airport gate. While figuring out how to get the complete series as fast as possible through Amazon, he suddenly realised that things had gone way too far. Being a father of a two-year-old son, he already found himself involved in nightly confrontations, his son fancying long, carefully told stories and Carl trying to find the shortest stories and the most efficient way to tell them (you know, why not have Snow White and the 3 Dwarfs...?). All because emails were waiting, calls had to be made, decisions had to be taken and every minute seemed to count.

The experience changed his life and since then, Carl Honoré has been one of the proponents of the Slow Movement: people that believe that the important things in life need to be done at the right pace, with careful dedication and a genuine love for foundation and quality. Where slow is already having a profound influence on cooking and dining (Slow Food actually started the whole movement), industrial design, travel and parenting, I predict that 2009 will be the year of Slow IT.

Here’s why.

The Incognito Banking Corporation and the Fairy Godmother 2.0

One of the greatest privileges in any field is working with the next generation, and specifically, listening to their perspectives on the issues. A little while ago I met one of Capgemini’s ‘BTC-ers’, Sham Mitra. (BTC stands for Business Technology Consultants, and is Capgemini UK’s technology graduate intake and development programme). Sham was keen to engage in the next practice work and I asked Sham to provide his perspective on the Web shift.

What then developed was an idea for a potentially benevolent though definitely a little mischievous fairy godmother to visit a major fictitious organisation, and we’d love to hear your views…

The corporation and fairy godmother in the following post are purely fictitious and any resemblance to any real corporations or fairy godmothers is purely coincidental…

The Incognito Banking Corporation and the Fairy Godmother 2.0 – guest post by Sham Mitra

During a boardroom meeting at the Incognito Banking Corporation, a fictitious financial organisation employing 100,000 staff across 30 countries, a Fairy Godmother appears. And in our story, the Fairy Godmother is no ordinary Fairy Godmother, she is a Fairy Godmother 2.0.

She lays down what will happen to the business in exactly a month from today, and it doesn’t make for good listening.

The company will lose its entire IT infrastructure – everything will go – from desktops to laptops, servers to printers, mid-range to mainframes, comms cabinets to datacentres, office to core business applications, and all the data they have - and all they’ll be left with is one internet connection to a desktop computer, with a power connection to walled socket power supply, in the head office.

In one month from now - *poof*!

What happens to my product portfolio if …

Sun has been in the news a fair bit recently, and not always around their product portfolio either. We should all be watching Sun in the news as this is the company that ‘owns’ Java, one of the fundamental pieces of the current mix of technologies, and whose big servers have been used at the core of many web systems.

It was, as ever, the news that didn’t make the headlines that caught my eye. The quiet announcement was that Microsoft Search Technology will be included in the latest version of the Java Runtime Environment, in addition also included is an optional add on for an MSN Web toolbar that allows the use of Microsoft Web services such as Windows Live Hotmails and Messenger services. This should have made the big headlines! Alright maybe it was considered just ‘business as usual’ as Microsoft has had a relationship with Sun for quite a while over Java so in that sense maybe it’s not ‘new news’. However it wasn’t always a happy relationship if you can recall what happened.

But this is Microsoft not just having a license to use Java, but getting into the heart of Java with its own code and services. How far could this go? To me Java together with .Net equals control of two major development environments. It also begs the question as to what IBM who have based their whole strategy around Java think about this. Admittedly they have worked hard to enhance Java for their own use, but what happens to the ‘heart’ of Java controlled by Sun must be an issue.

Technology that Matters

I have written already two times about the XO laptop, an extremely important initiative of the One Laptop Per Child Foundation. But I think you should all know that the Give One Get One action has started again through Amazon. Just a case of very proper timing, I guess, with Christmas and a New Year coming. But also in a period of downturn that gets many people to rethink their position in a world that is dominated just a bit too much by greet, short-term success and shallowness. And if that is not even enough reason, the XO happens to be quite a juicy, contemporary device, with its solid state storage, mesh networking and open source software. This is technology that matters. Technology that can change the world. Have a look at it.

Apple/O2 versus Blackberry/Vodafone versus Google/T-Mobile

The launch of the Blackberry Storm, the ‘answer to the iPhone’, produced all the coverage you might expect. And of course it all centred on the features of the Storm, and the comparison with the other touch phones features, the old ‘speeds and feeds’ argument to differentiate. As I have commented before when all products have the same ‘tick the box’ features that doesn’t help, and these days it is more rewarding have a trial of the usability of the phone for what you want from it as that’s when the differences really show up.

What struck me was buried in all these comments was the fact that RIM, the makers of Blackberries, had worked with Vodafone to develop the Storm specifically to allow Vodafone to compete with O2, who have the exclusive rights to the iPhone in several markets. All very logical and obvious, but now add to this the tie up with T-Mobile and the Google G1 phone? I am not sure if this is just a fluke, but it means that three of the largest mobile operators have just changed the basis of competition between themselves, and at the very time of entering a new market phase around ‘touch phones’. (btw in the same direction 3 Mobile says it is planning to launch the INQ1 which is a Social Networking optimised phone (usability rather than features again), it may not be a touch phone, but it is very much in the same direction as the big operators are taking with specialised phone products).

Tech Predictions 2009: Bricolage IT

You probably won’t be stunned by my prediction that 2009 looks like a bumpy year indeed. No matter how we put it, many IT departments will need to cut down on their costs. Applications and infrastructure will be consolidated, innovative projects may be on hold and the rest of the budget – if any – is likely to be spend on risk management, reporting and regulatory compliance.

Interesting enough, this may lead to an even stronger push to the phenomenon of Bricolage IT, particularly at the business side of organisations. Let me explain ‘Bricolage’ first: this is a typical French word that describes the art of using whatever is available – in a pragmatic way – to achieve a goal. ‘Do it yourself’ describes the same, but misses a bit the semantics of making the most of what you have, even if it is not that much.

I predict that the business side of organisations in 2009 will need new IT solutions to deal with the requirements of the market, particularly alluding to the downturn. However, the same downturn makes the central IT department even less responsive than it used to be: with a decreased budget and even less headroom to innovate, it will act more and more like the central Nay department.

Left to its own devices, the business side will look for alternatives – outside the scope of central IT and within the limits of their own, local budget -. And it may be in for a surprise, because a new wave of on-demand, software-as-a-service solutions is readily available, covering a considerable number of new grounds. They will enable Bricolage style applications that directly address the needs of market-facing units (some would call it Business Technology solutions). All without costing a fortune.

Why Business Models need Cloud Computing

I have wondered for most of the last couple of years just how long ‘free’, meaning paid for by advertising, services on the web could go on for, and with a recession looming this seems to be the time that this could get cut back. However when I look into this a little more carefully I find that my impression of ‘free’ as a business model supported by advertising is perhaps already out of date as the successful players have used ‘free’ to reach either ‘freemium’ or ‘complementary’ models. Even more interesting it would seem that the ‘complementary’ models are an integral part of Cloud Computing.

Let’s start with ‘freemium’ as a business model, meaning give something away for free to create a market and demand, then charging those who are looking for more than the basic service. Adobe would be the grand daddy of this to me, just look at Flash, or PDF, to see what ‘free’ downloads have done to create a global market standardised around your technology, then consider what this has created in terms of a ‘locked in proprietary’ market for their professional products. Am I complaining? Well, no I am not, as in general I reckon we are all the beneficiaries of Adobe using the ‘freemium’ model. At one end as consumers and at the other by being able to build documents and graphics that we know people will be able to consume. In short ‘freemium’ models work when the balance is set to win- win.

The challenge is exactly how many areas can this work in? I mean is there an indefinite number of consumer end additions that a reasonable number of us are going to want? Take a look at Silicon Alley where they have compiled a list of companies who are working the ‘freemium’ model, try and see how many you are tempted to download from because it seems to offer reasonable value to you as a user. As this piece comments the interesting thing is some of the best known success stories such as Flickr and LinkedIn started as advertising supported and migrated into ‘freemium’ funding so perhaps I am thinking about this into too narrow a way and the model can apply more broadly to sites and services too.

Now, who's the President?!

You thought you got it all worked out. Used the Web 2.0 like no one else to mobilise a huge crowd of supporters. Announced to appoint a national CTO, in charge of using technology pro-actively to create new jobs and restore competiveness. Created an online dialogue with your citizens, even before your term began. Yes, you were going to be a geek in the best sense of the word, leveraging information technology to reach new innovative heights.

Then the IT guys at the White House told you that you can no longer keep your Blackberry. To start with. Unsafe, unreliable, uncontrollable. And besides, it is not a company standard.

What’s next? Probably handing in your MacBook.

Ah, some of these IT security experts (or should we call them the Innovation Prevention Unit?), they can put a damper on any new initiative. Their remedy against the dangers of the connected Internet: just pull the plug and don’t email ever again. Life is so simple, if you really want it.

Obama will soon face the same challenge that many frustrated business users already know all too well: to see your inspiring, new ideas being smashed to smithereens by the central IT department. Because these ideas don’t fit the organisational security policies and procurement rules or because the existing systems are too petrified to accommodate the change.

But unlike many of us, Obama is in the unique position to change this game. There is just one question he needs to ask. Let’s hope he does (and yes, he can).

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About the authors

Voicemail

What Happens Next? EU and Obama ask the same question

Tech Predictions 2009: Slow IT

The Incognito Banking Corporation and the Fairy Godmother 2.0

What happens to my product portfolio if …

Technology that Matters

Apple/O2 versus Blackberry/Vodafone versus Google/T-Mobile

Tech Predictions 2009: Bricolage IT

Why Business Models need Cloud Computing

Now, who's the President?!

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