Industry Commentary

Whether in Sports or Biz, Make Your Opponent Defeat You

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 EST

Using American football metaphors to illustrate business strategies and tactics is a timeworn and tiresome practice. Monday morning quarterbacking is another. However... I was glad to see in yesterday's Super Bowl the use of a tactic that has been yammered to death over the past few years on sports radio (to which I listen far, far too much) – whether to allow a team to score if there is little time left in the game and you think you can score in the precious seconds that remain. I've heard many people who should know better advocate this tactic, although until yesterday, I'd never seen it in practice at any level. It does not behoove most of us to criticize people who are working at the most elite levels of their profession. For every “dumb” decision a coach of a professional team makes, there were thousands upon thousands of other decisions along the way that were correct – in building a staff and roster, implementing the way things are done, preparing for games, and making split-second decisions in front of millions of people who think they can do your job. And yet... The decision on Sunday by New England Patriots' coach Bill Belichick to let the opposing New York Giants score, in order to give his team enough time to score once more and win, violated one of the cardinal principles of sports, business, and life – force your opponent to defeat you. In Mr. Belichick's case, had he told his team to keep trying to prevent the Giants from scoring, perhaps the Giants would've missed the short field goal that seemed to be in its future, perhaps a penalty would've pushed the team back and made said field goal more difficult, perhaps someone would've fumbled. And perhaps the Giants would've scored with almost no time left and won the game. As Belichick said, there was a 90-percent probability that the Giants were going to score while running out the clock, so he pushed all his chips to the middle of the table and bet on the cards he was holding, weak hand or not. It was admirable in a sense to see someone at the absolute peak of his profession to make a move that about 99.9% of us would fear to make. But it didn't work. He gave the game to the other team. My guess is that no coach will ever make this move again, as very few people have the job security to do so – and because we have now seen that it didn't work. So we can all learn that sometimes the fundamentals are the fundamentals. Prepare your best. Create the best products and services you can. Meet your competition head-on at all times. Play to win. But if you lose, be sure your opponent defeats you – don't simply give someone the lead (whether market share, product superiority, or the potential to disrupt) on the chance that you can create a miracle. Doing so may seem like a good, clever idea. But remember, when actually implemented at the highest level of a profession, it didn't work.

The Automation Paradox

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:00:00 EST

Look how far we've come with software and how many devices these days rely on generic software to run a multitude of devices. The question comes down to the level of rigor that has been applied in the testing and quality assurance processes, and the relevance of the technology to the task at hand. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find technology that doesn’t rely to some extent on a homogenous platform and in fact the use of a platform brings many benefits like scale, total cost of ownership etc. The idea of moving away from discrete things built to perform discrete actions is very appealing.

Steadying ‘Information Optimization’ on a Moving Walkway

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:45:00 EST

Ask any technology evangelist worth their salt roughly when the ‘next big thing’ is likely to arrive and they will typically say about five-years from now. It’s a safe bet; so-called ‘paradigm shifts’ in technology tend to occur roughly every half decade – or at least they have for the last quarter century or so. The pressure that results from constantly evolving technology shifts has a direct impact upon us as users and, very crucially, the data we consume, manipulate and interact with beneath the innovation curve. Although innovation is great and we all enjoy product development, being able to optimize information across the various forms of data we touch is becoming more complex. This complexity is then compounded and exacerbated given the constant forward momentum produced by subsequent innovation waves.

Are You Doing Enough For Free in 2012?

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 06:00:00 EST

About a year ago, I wrote a post about do'ers vs. did'ers, where I highlight that the most important people to identify during an industry transition are those that are doing new things. The people taking chances, learning new things and sharing them back with communities.

It's Not Just the Cloud - The Re-invention of Everything

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:45:00 EST

Look around and be amazed, everything is being re-invented. From the tablet computer to the thermostat, from cars to enterprise software, from incubators to light-bulbs. We are living in an amazing time. Opportunities abound to capitalize on the biggest industrial change since electricity. We are at the the convergence of 6 megatrends, some new, some old, that when taken together create this incredible rush of innovation and opportunity.

Finance "Friends" the Cloud in 2012

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:30:00 EST

No doubt about it, cloud is winning the popularity contest for the 21st century. Once shunned for irrational concerns, it's become friends with nearly every industry and changed the way countless numbers of organizations do business. There are, however, a few remaining "friends" that the cloud has yet to meet - specifically, finance, ERP, and business intelligence. Below are my trend observations for 2011 and also some predictions for 2012. The benefits of using cloud are pretty straightforward-cost reduction, quick deployment, lower implementation risk and higher ROI. With SaaS, the barrier of technical expertise on the end user's side is eliminated as well, allowing the business user to drive its configuration and use within an organization.

Hybrid Cloud Takes Off: Top Ten IT Predictions for 2012

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:00:00 EST

In 2011, we saw an explosion in devices, data, mass adoption of software-as-a-service, and a hype cycle for cloud-based IT services move through concept to reality. Despite uncertain economies around the world, there is a great deal of excitement and optimism leading into 2012. In 2012, we’ll see more organizations embrace cloud computing, taking advantage of an OpEx approach to IT. As such, outsourcing will become more commonplace and services such as cloud storage will become more popular. Armed with the insight from direct conversations with our growing base of more than 16,000 customers, we here at Riverbed have created our top 10 IT predictions for 2012.

i-Technology in 2012: Five Industry Predictions

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 06:00:00 EST

Cloud Computing Journal asks a variety of members of the ecosystem, from CIOs to independent consultants to marketeers, about where the i-Technology industry is headed next...here are their views on what's in store in 2012, starting with Nigel Dunn, Principal at Calx Europe – a European Business Acceleration Company specialising in working with vendors, service providers and channels in developing and implementing plans for growth in the Cloud market.

Big Data = Big Storage Needs

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 07:00:00 EST

Imagine you had you a 1,000-square-foot home and in just a few years you added 800 times more belongings to your space? You would need to move into a house that is at least 8,000 square feet. Well, the lid is about to be blown off of storage. According to analysts, unstructured data – such as documents, emails and videos – is expected to grow more than 800 percent in the next five years. What does this mean for an organization? Two of the biggest concerns are compliance and data governance. Are the people accessing your data the appropriate personnel? Even if they are the right people, the company needs to ensure that correct security policies are in place to avoid the penalties associated with non-compliance should an audit be required.

Build Your Own Integration Stack?

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST

"DIY", "homegrown" or "hand-coded" is the most commonly used method of data and application integration. It's also almost always a terrible idea. I remember back in the mid/late 1980's talking to IT departments about the concept of a relational database, and why having one on their VAX would be a good idea. In many cases, my recommendation was met with some head scratching, brow furrowing and comments along the lines of "why would be buy one of those, when we can just build our own data storage system using RMS records?" 100 years later, it's a pretty rare occurrence that someone would decide to build their own data storage and manipulation system - if they do, it's because of some unusual requirement. As far as I know, nobody considers "build" as the default strategy in this area.

Startups: Making a Dent

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:57:08 EDT

It's not that I don't like business...I can't stand boring businesses that have no intention of making a dent in the world...or improving it. They are just "getting in the way of the money" with the hope of being chosen. Usually, it's a dearth of creativity/courage, either one - it's boring because there is no adventure to be found. Just holiday parties where they slap each other on the back like something really happened. Startups have a responsibility to be different. Not just because they're a startup, but there is a necessity to stand out for the buyer. Make a dent or come up with a new plan.

To Win the Cloud Computing War - Become the Platform

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EDT

Steve Yegge, a Google engineer, recently posted a long rant on Google+ about how Amazon does everything wrong and Google does everything right. Probably the most traffic generated for Google+ since they launched, which is why he most likely still has a job. While it was painfully excruciating to get through, I wanted to make [...]

Klout Crisis Leads to Tough Questions for PROskore Founder Bill Jula

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 05:00:00 EDT

Klout.com has taken a lot of heat lately - lack of transparency, revisionist history, lack of opt-out, inability to remove profiles once created, and so on. The list of "social media sins" is quite long. I've taken this opportunity to grill PROskore's founder/CEO Bill Jula with some very pointed questions. His answers might surprise you. With Klout acting so badly, I really couldn't care less that they have 8 Ph.Ds working on their magic algorithm, as the Garth Holsinger, VP of Global Sales and Business Development proudly stated on Mashable the other day. "Sound science" isn't enough - ask the residents of Bhopal India if they care whether Union Carbide's "science is sound". You can't hide behind an algorithm if you're acting irresponsibly.

Roach Motels, "Privacy Third Rail," Bad Decisions & Klout

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:44:00 EDT

Taking people's privacy away from them without their consent is a BAD BUSINESS DECISION. Sure, a company might benefit in the very short run, but they will pay the piper for such a decision, and pipers are very expensive. Klout.com has committed a raft of social media and privacy sins - are you aware of how they impact you?

Apple in the Post-Jobs Post-Modern World

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 06:00:00 EDT

While Steve Jobs deserves full credit for incredible achievements not only at NEXT and Pixar, I believe what enabled Steve Jobs to succeed at Apple was his application of the "Apple Brand" to the iPod. Apple Computer always had a cult-like group of followers who were willing to pay a remarkable premium for Apple's Macintosh line of PCs. Moreover, such people (and I was one of them) would not hesitate to vehemently evangelize the Apple vision and brand to any poor soul foolish enough to approach or befriend. For example, when I moved to New York City in or around 1993, I told a friend that I would simply not work for any company that had not chosen Apple as their computer platform. As a result I worked for firms like Ernst & Young (at the time Apple's financial auditor).

Yet several years later I found the burden of wearing the Apple "hair-shirt" too great and decided to defect to the world of PCs and UNIX and all thing outside the narrow little world of Apple. Yet the point I'm trying to illustrate is that Apple always had the ability to capture people's imagination and spirit and that this has been a characteristic of Apple that endured well beyond Steve Jobs's departure. What I believe is the event that unleashed the Apple "idea-virus" (to appropriate Seth Godin's most excellent phrase) is the iPod. Before the iPod a person needed to have a very very high level of faith and independence in order to join the Apple cult. To buy a Mac in 1987 I think the cost was in the neighborhood of three thousand dollars. The number of people at that time who were interested in computers was very small. And within that small group, the number of people who were rich enough to buy a Mac was even smaller. And among that group of the rich, only a subset subscribed to the Macintosh Way (Guy Kawasaki's title for his book on the Apple brand and marketing strategy).

So the problems Apple faced early on never involved the brand itself, the loyalty of the followers, nor did the fervor or loyalty dissipate quickly after Jobs's departure. Rather, the issue was that when selling products to consumers, the "network effect" remains powerful and manifests itself even more acutely in consumer products than it does in business to business products. The real genius of Steve Jobs was to translate what was essentially a misguided approach to market expensive business machines to an approach to selling consumer devices such as the iPod and the iPhone. In other words, the entire winning strategy had been in place from the beginning, it was simply that the number of followers and the pool of people who could potentially be converted was too small.

One could argue that Steve Jobs was ahead of his time, and yet this misses the point. The vision which endures beyond Steve Jobs is that of how to design user experiences. When Jobs applied that vision to a market for business machines, he failed in every case (Apple, NeXT). Yet when Jobs applied his vision to a true consumer market (iPod, iPhone) his vision resonated and brought into sharp relief the difference between the status quo and Apple. Once infected with Steve's vision his iPod users and iPhone users could no longer defile themselves with "unbeliever" desktop, laptop, or tablet computers. So in my opinion once, realized and unleashed in the consumer space, wild horses cannot return the masses to a world where Apple does not thrive and grow.

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EDT

In building, marketing and selling software, the biggest enemy isn’t the competition. Or “rivals” at work. It's YOU and the people you trust the most. Your biggest enemies are smart - sometimes blindingly smart. They're confident, and convincing. And incredibly dangerous - because you trust them, and you think they're helping you succeed. They may not be guiding your boat right into the rocks, but they're probably not taking you where you need to be. And the difference between survival, success, and phenomenal success can come down to very slight variances in navigation over time.

Software Innovation from the Ground Up

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:30:00 EDT

One of the things that struck me was how much innovation was being driven by very small groups of software developers – and how those innovations are enabling even more innovation by lowering the technical and financial barriers to the creation of new software. There's some very exciting research out there by a Harvard professor I met with a few weeks ago named Dr. Karim Lakhani on the topic of how innovation happens with software development. He is possibly the world's foremost academic expert on how innovation happens. One of Dr. Innovation's key conclusions is that innovation is driven by a combination of diversity and parallel paths. By lowering the barrier to entry for the creation, we create both diversity and parallel paths. Innovation is the result.

Amazon Fire – A Good Move for Amazon

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EDT

Amazon Fire is small and inexpensive, but is it enough to push Amazon into the forefront of the tablet market? Tablets are surely changing mobile marketing and the way consumers use the Web. The iPad 2 is the obvious current gold standard, though many other tablets are being released that rival the iPad in in various aspects. Amazon is entering the game with its upcoming Fire tablet, a 7-inch tablet that will be available for $199 this holiday season. Some people have criticized the move. According to Business Insider, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimates Amazon will lose $50 or more per tablet, once marketing and production costs are factored in. However, this short term loss could be a huge long term gain for Amazon. Let's look at some numbers. According to Forrester Research, conversion on tablets is 4-5%, compared to 3% for PCs. Tablets also produce 10-20% larger carts than PCs. So, consumers are buying more, and more often, using tablets than PCs. Therefore, if Amazon gets its own tablets in the hands of consumers, it's a good bet that those consumers will make future purchases at Amazon as opposed to other sites.

Is Netflix Having a "New Coke" Moment? Not So Much

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:30:00 EDT

All over the Internet - "Netflix Having a New Coke Moment" - but are they really? Netflix is being compared everywhere to Coca-Cola Corporation and their famous "New Coke" fiasco back in the 1980s. Sam Craig, professor of marketing and international business at the Stern School of Business at New York University, pointed to what he and other marketing experts have long considered the critical blunder that Coca-Cola made - “They didn't ask the critical question of Coke users: Do you want a new Coke?". So Coca-Cola backpedaled very quickly and re-introduced "old Coke" (calling it "Coke Classic") and over time, phased out "New Coke". Thus, Coca-Cola fans everywhere where made whole - they could get "old Coke" at the "old Price".

Want to Be Featured in "Software Execs Who Should Be Fired" Article?

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:31:20 EDT

In a few weeks, I'll be writing an article entitled "Software Executives Who Should be Fired". I'm looking for executives at ISV companies who want to be featured in that article. Not everyone can be featured - there are certain requirements. Read on. I'm looking for executives at companies that make "business" software. Executives at SaaS/Cloud software companies as well as on-prem software vendors are fine. Specifically people with C-level titles, VP titles, or people that report to the CEO. Does that describe you? Great. There's still one more hoop to jump through - it's key that you reject some (preferably all) of the six following benefits as desirable for your product lines:

The Verdict - Did I Get "Crowdsourcing" All Wrong?

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 07:00:00 EDT

After attending the 2011 TopCoder Open and having a chance to observe, listen, talk and discuss things with all sorts of people, I feel like I got a 360-degree perspective on things. I definitely learned a lot – not just about Crowdsourcing but also about how innovation and creativity “happen”. What is Crowdsourcing all about? Were all my opinions and assumptions wrong? How has my perspective changed?

Stupidest Technology Category Award for 2011: "Crowdsourcing"

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:44:49 EDT

We are a society obsessed with labels. When applied to similarly functioning software, a label that "sticks" becomes a category - like Business Intelligence software. Categories are supposed to help us make sense out of things. Good categories do. But some categories just confuse things. Back in 1985 there were "trucks" and there were "cars". If you drove a Chevy Impala, you drove a car. If you drove a Chevy Blazer, you drove a truck. Those were the two categories. By 1995, if you drove that same exact Chevy Blazer, you drove an SUV.

Will Data Virtualization Work for Me?

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:15:00 EDT

Data virtualization enables IT to deliver this information to business with greater agility and lower costs than traditional data integration approaches and technologies. But how does data virtualization apply to my situation? What Is Your Strategy for Data Virtualization? described data virtualization as a versatile data integration solution that can be deployed to solve a wide range of data integration challenges. With nearly ten years of successful data virtualization implementations underway, several common usage patterns are available to guide an enterprise's data virtualization adoption strategy.

Question: Why Is IT Project Failure Always an Option?

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT

If you are not spending more time understanding your customers—and developing tightly scoped requirements to make great software to meet their real needs, not some imagined “needs mash-up” cobbled together by the squeakiest wheels in your organization—you’re part of the problem, and you’re accepting failure as an ever-present option.

Top Six Attributes of an Ideal End User Monitoring Solution

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 09:45:00 EDT

As someone whose job it is to look after user and customer experience management products, I have an affinity for websites that are available, performing and provide a great customer experience. So imagine my disappointment when I heard the website of a well-known retailer crashed during a major product launch. According to a company spokesperson, the resulting “mayhem” was unprecedented. When any organization puts in the tremendous amount of work required to successfully launch a new, in-demand product, launch day is when all that hard work finally comes to fruition. If that launch is via your website, the day may be a big party for everyone but the IT team. That’s because user experience is paramount to the success of a major launch, but, for most IT organizations, user experience is a blind spot – a metric not illuminated by traditional monitoring tools. If customers or users have a poor experience, there is a strong possibility you’ve lost them for good – and that’s a metric the business can track… in cold hard cash.

How to Ruin Your Business in One Move - "Pull a Netflix"

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EDT

Bank of America appears to think that Netflix has done a good job lately - imitating Netflix customer management practices. Let's face it, Bank of America hasn't exactly been the paradigm of good decisions lately - they purchased Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch, two boat anchors that almost sunk the B of A ship. Countrywide in particular turned out to be the posterchild of "toxic assets" and bad mortgages. But that's not what this article is about. And I'm not a banker, so I'm not in a position to authoritatively write on those particular topics.

Why Data Centers Need SSAE 16

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 07:00:00 EDT

SSAE 16 is one of the most widely known tools for providing assurances to data center customers. It is demanded by customers and there is no substitute for it. And yet, a myth that the SSAE 16 standard is not applicable to the industry persists. This article provide the facts about SSAE 16 and its applicability to the data center industry. The technical guidance for SSAE 16 has two major components which are the SSAE 16 standard itself and the related guide titled “Service Organizations –Applying SSAE No. 16, Reporting on Controls at a Service Organization (SOC 1)”. The very first paragraph of the SSAE 16 standard states that it is applicable when reporting on “controls at organizations that provide services to user entities [i.e., customers] when those controls are likely to be relevant to user entities internal control over financial reporting.”

Stupidest Technology Category Award: "Crowdsourcing"

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:23:00 EDT

Why Crowdsourcing Is Stupid

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 13:00:00 EDT

After talking to dozens and dozens of people and companies, I've come to the conclusion that "Crowdsourcing" is stupid. It's simply useless. As you might know from some of my previous writing, I've been on a bit of an expedition to uncover the true meaning of "Crowdsourcing". I'm by no means finished, but I've: Just returned from TopCoder's TCO11 competition, where I spoke with so many people I can't count them all. Read so many web pages, analyst reports, white papers, case studies and PDF documents my eyes hurt. Emailed back and forth with a bunch of people, and worn out more than one battery talking to people over the phone on this topic. In fact, I just got off the phone not 30 minutes ago with the VP of Marketing at a prominent San Francisco-based "Crowdsourcing" company who gave me an overview of their company, their value proposition, the use cases for their product, etc.

The Verdict: Did I Get Crowdsourcing All Wrong?

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:15:00 EDT

No Fragile, “Cobbled” Solution Need Apply

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:39:00 EDT

The number of vendors vying for the application performance management space has exploded in the last year. Almost every vendor in the space comes to it from a specific strength and has expanded its core offering to provide some level … Continue reading →

Is Everything I Know About Crowdsourcing Wrong?

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:00:00 EDT

A lot of people have preconceptions about what Crowdsourcing is. What are these common preconceptions? Are they wrong? If you haven't heard about Crowdsourcing, you will soon. Crowdsourcing is increasingly in the news, and if you take stock in Google Trends, interest in the topic is increasing at a phenomenal rate. I've been around for a while now, and I'm used to technology trends coming and going. In some respects, the more things change, the more they stay the same. I remember the “outsourcing” years where the big trend was to outsource the data center to companies like EDS. Or outsource application development to Andersen Consulting, or “Y2K” to E&Y or a mainframe re-hosting project to some other consulting giant. Same or better quality, less effort, less money. Or so the pitch went. Then the trend evolved and the big buzz was to outsource everything to India - offshore outsourcing or “offshoring”. Many people jumped onto that bandwagon – proclaiming it as the same quality software at a huge discount. A lot of companies got burned on that one. Others did well.

Netflix: Terror at the Top?

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:45:00 EDT

Along with most of the nation, I shook my head at Netflix’s recent announcements and thought “what were they thinking?” Netflix has a reputation of paying well above average, and they can afford the best and brightest. How could they do such clumsy ham-handed blundering? A look at Netflix corporate culture reveals much. Except for the 60% price increase, nearly everything that Netflix needed or wanted to do could have been done more or less transparently to their customer-base. Instead, Netflix demonstrated what many people believe is a lack of respect and an absence of concern for their customers.

App Stores - They're Not Just for Consumers Anymore

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EDT

What steps can businesses take to better manage mobile applications and develop their own versions of enterprise app stores? The skyrocketing popularity of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets has, on one hand, energized users, but on the other hand, it has caused IT and business leaders and CIOs to scramble to support these new clients productively and safely. How profound is the shift that we're in? Is this iterative, or are we in a real sea change? It’s definitely the latter. We're really at this rare moment in time for the technology sector, whether you're talking about vendors, end-users, or CIOs who are trying to manage all this. It’s not just mobile. It’s not just cloud. Software as a service (SaaS), smart computing, machine to machine, analytics, social -- all these things are spinning up together to create an accelerating array of change in the marketplace.

Netflix: Customer-Driven vs. Driving Customers Away

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 06:00:00 EDT

I’ve been writing about being customer-driven as a best practice. Today, I’m going to write about a different interpretation of that best practice – driving customers away. Arrogance as a Business Worst Practice. In past months, Netflix has been a poster child for so many "worst practices", I've lost count. In another change – although I usually write about software and software vendors, today’s example is a different kind of high tech company – Netflix. Back in August, Netflix announced that it was going to separate its video streaming and its rent-by-mail DVD services. Instead of paying a single price for a combined package, users would face as much as a 60% price increase for the same service as they had previously.

Mobile Web or Native Apps

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 09:45:00 EDT

Will native applications be dominant and preferred form of interaction or will new technologies like HTML5 make web apps preferable than native apps? These are the 2 major ways applications are supported in mobile platform: Native Application: It is essentially a bundle of software that can run on smart phone or tablet. Native apps are specific to particular mobile platform. Mobile Web: Refers to browser based experience on mobile devices. Mobile websites can essentially run across any platform with a built-in browser. Mobile presence is no longer an option for organizations so business and technology leaders need to decide on a mobile application development strategy to make best use of their budget. This article highlights the strengths of mobile web and native apps that will help make an implementation choice.

Maximizing Crowdsourcing Success

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:15:00 EDT

After the publication of “Crowdsourcing – A Best Practice or a Worst Practice”, I had some back and forth conversations with Jim McKeown and Jack Hughes (Communications Director and TopCoder founder, respectively) from TopCoder on the merits and the shortcomings of the article. They had some significant value to add in this area – especially where it concerned the “questions to ask if you’re considering crowdsourcing” – strategies for minimizing risk and maximizing sucesss. I invited Jack to give his perspective (and add additional detail) on the points raised in the initial article.

$3 Trillion Problem: Three Best Practices for Today's Dirty Data Pandemic

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EDT

Incorrect, inconsistent, fraudulent and redundant data cost the U.S. economy over $3 Trillion a year - an astounding figure that is over twice the amount of the 2011 Federal Deficit. In survey after survey, about half of IT executives consistently agree that data quality and data consistency is one of the biggest roadblocks to them getting full value from their data. I've long been a proponent of healthy software – but healthy software can only function properly in the presence of healthy data. Does quality software even matter if the underlying data are defective? Agreed – that’s pushing the point to the extreme. How much does this dirty data pandemic cost us? What can be done about it?

Three IT Trends Worth Watching

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 09:30:00 EDT

The IT industry is fascinating due to its ever-changing technology and markets. But like a pointillist painting, sometimes the best way to understand the big picture is to step back a bit. When I do that today, what do I see? Big data has made a big bang with massive "Web-scale" use cases at Amazon, Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, and others. And traditional enterprises are pursuing predictive analytics, customer behavior analysis, churn prevention, fraud detection, and other big-data use cases. And a plethora of new offerings providing drastically superior price-performance characteristics over traditional relational database management system (RDBMS) or data warehouses are readily available.

How Enterprises Can Tackle and Exploit Complex Challenges

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT

The adoption of technology now seems to be moving at the volition of the savvy consumer, not the IT director. The past several years have ushered in a changing set of expectations from users as they engage with technology and services as both consumers and workers. The sense is that they want to get as much ease of use and productivity from enterprise technology as from their smartphones, social networks, tablets, and cloud-based offerings. These deep rumblings of change mean that IT needs to rethink things a bit, to develop a "prosumer" strategy, whereby both the applications and services they provide to internal employees and their end-user customers increasingly bear the hallmarks of modern consumer services.