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Author Archives: cbate
Controlled Uncontrollability
Simon Caulkin wrote in the UK Observer recently that ‘inside every chief exec, there’s a Soviet planner.’ Talking about the credit crunch, Simon writes ‘…with exquisite irony, while central planning had been largely discredited at macroeconomic level, at microeconomic level it remains alive and kicking in organisations…veteran systems thinker Russ Ackoff is not alone in noting that while at the macro level the west is vehemently committed to a market economy, at the micro level …
The win-win-win of letting go of communication?
One of the most active debates at the moment is centered around what practical steps the CIO should take to provide the business with the essential access to the world of mass-communication which surrounds it today, while assuring cost, security and compliance of the company’s information systems. And all in the context of the downturn where budgets are being slashed. It turns out that there is a possible real ‘win-win-win’, which my colleague, John Schlesinger, …
The Enabling Layer; is it already out there through the White Wire?
I want to congratulate Andy on a most thought provoking post – The Enabling Layer; rapid change above and cost savings below. And I want to see if we can continue this thinking in a post and progess a little further. We know that a difference today than with the last power to the user cycle is that connectivity is the default, not the exception, and that as a result we are seeing genuine commoditisation …
What does externalisation really mean?
There’s a famous Douglas Adams quote along the lines of ‘Technology’s a word that describes something that doesn’t quite work yet’. For me, it’s been one of those quotes that was nice and gentle on the mind at first and then has proceeded to burrow its way slowly into the deep recesses, where it’s now made itself and home and is starting to throw up some interesting perspectives. Perhaps it’s taken a leaf from Adams’ …
The Mouse That Roared
Today sees the 40th anniversary of a rather special mouse (and my personal thanks to Chris Yapp for his encyclopaedic memory). On 9 December 1968 hi-tech visionary Douglas Engelbart first used one to demonstrate novel ways of working with computers. As well as the military, these days of course one can often look to the computer gaming industry to understand what the new innovations for the mass market might be. 40 years on and the …
Tech Predictions 2009: the end of the user
User. To quote Wikipedia ‘Users in a computing context refers to one who _uses_ a computer system’. Already we are lost. Already, we have a split between the user and the computer. Here, in the word user, we see the essence of the business/IT divide in all its perpetual wonder. Despite frequent calls for a replacement term – I particular like Jimmy Guterman’s ‘don’t call me a user’ request for a user-generated superior term to …
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 …
Digital Inclusion
Dr Chris Yapp has been working for some time with UK government on its Digital Inclusion agenda. As the digital economy expands, and its inter-relationships with the ‘real-economy’ deepen, the issues raised present important macro factors for our industry, the clients we serve and society at large. They also create some intriguing possibilities to enhance the general perception of the IT industry in this moment of downturn. I hope you find the read as thought-provoking …
Trust in Motion
Trust has been a word used quite a lot recently. The lack of trust in credit ratings. The lack of trust between banks. The need to rebuild trust in the global financial system. Stephen M. R. Covey has recently written a highly regarded book all about it called ‘The Speed of Trust – the one thing that changes everything’ – and the ‘Speed of Trust’ title provided one of the inspirations behind this post. In …
Time to introduce the tigers to the swans?
Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s bestselling ‘The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable’ has to be one of the most timely published books ever – and as a taster if you haven’t read it I’d suggest this excellent interview with the author by Bryan Appleyard of the UK’s The Sunday Times. Bryan’s summary is excellent – ‘The name of the book comes from the discovery of black swans in Australia. Before that, any reasonable person …
