Working Customers
"The organization’s governance rules the initial configuration
of platform and function: but after this comes the unknown, the interaction of the users. In general companies are finding that customers are happy with self service if they can achieve results directly by their own efforts. In back of this lies integration between systems across the organization."
The World Bank’s Knowledge Economy Index 2007
"In 2007, Sweden emerges as the world’s most advanced knowledge economy. Its rise to the top reflects strong advances in the economic incentive and institutional regime (rule of law), innovation (royalty and license fees payments and receipts, published journal articles and patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office), education (tertiary education enrollment rates) and the information infrastructure (telephone, computer and Internet penetration). Nordic countries, namely Denmark, Norway and Finland take up the next 3 spots on the KEI rankings. The United States has seen its KEI fall from 6th place in 1995 to the 10th position in the current 2007 rankings."
Making Enterprise Software Sexier: Repeatable Process Without Endless Boredom
"In part, I think there is a problem in that we continue to carry over a lot of the old 3270 Green Screen approach to Enterprise Software. We view that the job of the computer is to rigidly control the people using it and that this is the only way to ensure our perfectly concieved process will be accurately carried out. Much of it has extremely rigid workflow. Such user interfaces are extremely modal, and frankly, they feel awful. They force their users to act in a pre-defined play like marionettes. There are endless “screens” that have to be dealt with, and sometimes a key piece of information is on a screen that we can’t quite remember how to get to. The track is extremely rigid, and usually make no sense at all to a newcomer. It might also be less than ideal for achieving the best possible results. After all, people are not marionettes.
"It’s a case of self-service, offerings choices, and loosening up a process until people can participate and imporve the situation for everyone. By completely rethinking the problem instead of paving the cowpaths (i.e. automating existing manual processes), it’s possible to provide radically better solutions. Enterprise Software can be sexy, but only if you think of the people more than the process."
IT Analysis Paralysis
"Do IT leaders struggle with innovation because they're too analytical? A new study suggests that leading too much with one's head might have something to do with why many companies struggle with innovation."
Coping with Disruptive Technology Trends
"Don’t expect to write a few memos and get this situation, or Enterprise 2.0, under control. This is a problem that may take generations to solve – in fact, it may require a new generation of managers, accustomed to working in a world that allows instant publishing and the free flow of information.
"Company that allowed each division to post its own information to a wiki platform intranet, but then had a board that reviewed the content.
"Obviously, the review board pointed out problems — broken links and such — but after a while, it became a resource that the internal divisions sought out. They learned that by using the review board as an internal expert, they could avoid rework by doing it right the first time. This strikes me as much more effective than reviewing everything pre-publication or sending out memo after memo on standards."
Illuminating cities: Cisco's grand ambition
"Much of the discussion of the emerging new computing grid has been dominated by upstarts like Google and Amazon Web Services. We shouldn't forget that there are other, very large and powerful businesses - Cisco, IBM, HP and the world's big telecommunications carriers, to name a few - that have a big stake in the way the infrastructure of the new computing utility is deployed and used. Cisco's move to network entire cities, illuminating them with optical fiber, gives a hint of the competitive battle on the horizon. 2008 will probably be the year when the big boys start to flex their muscles."
