An interesting article came up this week from ZDNet relating to device anarchy and corporate sanctioned computers in the business environment.
The article written by Darren Pauli refered to a decision by financial services firm Suncorp allowing users to work from personal devices. Amazing right? Interestingly Suncorp is one of the first firms to do this in the major corporate world, citing a friendlier workplace, among other reasons for the move.
I believe this is the beginning of a huge cultural shift in the IT market place. Suncorp will be using a combination of Citrix and open-source tools to allow their users to use their own devices in the workplace, without any productivity or security issues. How you ask? Well, from an IT perspective within Suncorp it'd be super hard to manage all the various devices connecting into the network - let along taking time to test them and secure each device. Let's imagine that Suncorp wanted a full notebook fleet refresh arcoss their 20,000 workforce - the IT team would be responsible for testing and deciding on the most suitable notebook, organising and releasing a tender for the pricing from suppliers, whilst that's happening decide on the most suitable corporate image for the notebooks and organize the financing for it. This kind of project would typically take months, if not a full year - with staged deliveries and all sorts of IT problems that come along with any form of change management.
Instead, imagine a world where each user brings to work their own devices. That might include a Mac, a PC, your iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry or other mobile device all of which come into the network and can work immediately. The IT team only needs to set security policies and rely on the users in controlling their own devices and individual settings. Any support on the users device would be handled directly between the user and their supplier / manufacturer through a normal warranty procedure - effectively removing the IT team from level 1 support, freeing up time for application support and development, which means productivity gains and cost decreases for Suncorp.
As you'd know from your own workplace, users becoming more savvy will connect mobile devices or home devices into the network regardless of security policy. Suncorp's come to the realization of not fighting this, but embracing this market change - whilst ensuring their network is set up for these changes in device usage.
This is the beginning of a major cultural shift in large organisations. Not only is it going to be a long time removal of large overheads (companies won't be responsible for mass device purchases), it's also going to mean a more device friendly workplace.
With this change I'm sure we'll see a large growth of open-source applications and remote PC / cloud solutions from various vendors, both in the market and in development at the moment. My advice? Watch this space....
http://www.zdnet.com.au/tight-security-needed-in-device-anarchy-339312308.htm?ocid=nl_TNB_31032011_fea_5
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Seven Practices of Successful Organisations - Pfeffer
Here's a really fascinating read. Granted, it's not completely IT related, but it is business related, so if you'll indulge me and continue I'm sure you'll find it most worth your while.
The article is titled "Seven Practices of Successful Organisations" by Jeffrey Pfeffer. Pfeffer is one of the best HR / Management authors I've read in the last few years. He's got some really interesting, ground-breaking ideas which put into perspective management and HR techniques being used in modern businesses today.
Essentially Pfeffer's article is on 7 key areas where a business can turn management of their people into economic performance.
I won't go into a great deal of detail on this particular article, suffice to say READ IT! You can get a copy off Google Scholar or from the California Management Review journal on request. The article is well worth reading as it's got some excellent insight into managment approaches to staff and the business outcomes of having a high performance team. Here's some of the key points;
1. Employment Security; Pfeffer describes how some organisations decide to re-deploy their workforce instead of making redundencies during time of economic hardships. One particular organisation hasn't had a lay off since 1948! The overall result was greater market share and market penetration due to the dynamic nature of their workforce.
2. Selective Hiring of New Personnel; One organisation described hired one out of every 50 candidates! Obviously they had a pretty large pool of applicants, but remember word from your employees spreads pretty quickly if you're a good company to work for! Combined with remuneration and training, an employee referal program can ensure you're targeting the right applicants of similar calibre to the ones you employ currently.
3. Self Managed Teams and Decentralized Decision Making; Pfeffer's article describes research proving self-managed teams can consistently perform with better results over two decades. Interestingly enough employees are more likely to let a supervisor down than one of their team mates. The case studies and businesses being assessed all have similar results - greater profits and higher revenues with self managed teams.
4. Comparitively High Compensation; Pfeffer describes in this portion of the article how organisations seek to hire the very best of employees but intend to pay them below the median wage in that industry. Pfeffer's belief is that this makes employees feel devalued by the organisation.
5. Extensive Training; this article describes how employee training results in high performance work, where front line employees are given the skills to identify and resolve problems, essentially saving money on the organisations behalf in lost work time. Mostly these examples provided by Pfeffer relate to production / assembly line workforces, but the same principles might apply to your own small business.
6. Reduced Status Distinctions; this assumption here is interesting. The article describes how many companies seek to reduce status distinctions, in terms of job title and dress when embarking on self managed team projects. More recently some of these status destinctions being reduced can be seen in employees freezing or reducing bonuses during the GFC.
7. Extensive Sharing of Financial and Performance Information; Pfeffer;s insight into organisations leads him to describe here how organisations who share their financial and performance results with their staff will find their employees feeling more trusted and relevant to the organisations overall goals.
Whether you subscribe to Pfeffer's ideas or not, they are really interesting reading. I'd suggest taking a look at the article as it'll certainly make you think about you own employees and work groups within your organisation. Pfeffer in my opinion really is a bright spark. The article is worth reading to get a better insight into how larger organisations run - and particularly if your organisation could gain a competitive advantage through your human resources.
Pfeffer, J. California Management Review, Vol. 40, No. 2, Winter 1998
The article is titled "Seven Practices of Successful Organisations" by Jeffrey Pfeffer. Pfeffer is one of the best HR / Management authors I've read in the last few years. He's got some really interesting, ground-breaking ideas which put into perspective management and HR techniques being used in modern businesses today.
Essentially Pfeffer's article is on 7 key areas where a business can turn management of their people into economic performance.
I won't go into a great deal of detail on this particular article, suffice to say READ IT! You can get a copy off Google Scholar or from the California Management Review journal on request. The article is well worth reading as it's got some excellent insight into managment approaches to staff and the business outcomes of having a high performance team. Here's some of the key points;
1. Employment Security; Pfeffer describes how some organisations decide to re-deploy their workforce instead of making redundencies during time of economic hardships. One particular organisation hasn't had a lay off since 1948! The overall result was greater market share and market penetration due to the dynamic nature of their workforce.
2. Selective Hiring of New Personnel; One organisation described hired one out of every 50 candidates! Obviously they had a pretty large pool of applicants, but remember word from your employees spreads pretty quickly if you're a good company to work for! Combined with remuneration and training, an employee referal program can ensure you're targeting the right applicants of similar calibre to the ones you employ currently.
3. Self Managed Teams and Decentralized Decision Making; Pfeffer's article describes research proving self-managed teams can consistently perform with better results over two decades. Interestingly enough employees are more likely to let a supervisor down than one of their team mates. The case studies and businesses being assessed all have similar results - greater profits and higher revenues with self managed teams.
4. Comparitively High Compensation; Pfeffer describes in this portion of the article how organisations seek to hire the very best of employees but intend to pay them below the median wage in that industry. Pfeffer's belief is that this makes employees feel devalued by the organisation.
5. Extensive Training; this article describes how employee training results in high performance work, where front line employees are given the skills to identify and resolve problems, essentially saving money on the organisations behalf in lost work time. Mostly these examples provided by Pfeffer relate to production / assembly line workforces, but the same principles might apply to your own small business.
6. Reduced Status Distinctions; this assumption here is interesting. The article describes how many companies seek to reduce status distinctions, in terms of job title and dress when embarking on self managed team projects. More recently some of these status destinctions being reduced can be seen in employees freezing or reducing bonuses during the GFC.
7. Extensive Sharing of Financial and Performance Information; Pfeffer;s insight into organisations leads him to describe here how organisations who share their financial and performance results with their staff will find their employees feeling more trusted and relevant to the organisations overall goals.
Whether you subscribe to Pfeffer's ideas or not, they are really interesting reading. I'd suggest taking a look at the article as it'll certainly make you think about you own employees and work groups within your organisation. Pfeffer in my opinion really is a bright spark. The article is worth reading to get a better insight into how larger organisations run - and particularly if your organisation could gain a competitive advantage through your human resources.
Pfeffer, J. California Management Review, Vol. 40, No. 2, Winter 1998
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
A View from the Cloud
Following up on previous blogs of cloud computing, I thought I'd point readers to an interesting article from a variety of different academics which relates to Cloud Computing. These academics are associated with the UC Berkeley Reliable Adaptive Distributed Systems Laboratory (RAD Lab) and have written a report on cloud computing which was published in the Communications of the ACM journal published April 2010.
To summarize the journal article the authors describe cloud computing; "cloud computing refers to both the applications delivered as services over the Internet and the hardware and systems software in the data centers thatprovide those services. The services themselves have long been referred to as Software as a Service (SaaS)". The authors make some really valid points about why cloud computing is so prevelant and why it's worth taking note of;
To summarize the journal article the authors describe cloud computing; "cloud computing refers to both the applications delivered as services over the Internet and the hardware and systems software in the data centers thatprovide those services. The services themselves have long been referred to as Software as a Service (SaaS)". The authors make some really valid points about why cloud computing is so prevelant and why it's worth taking note of;
3. The ability to pay for use of computing resources on a short-term basis as needed (for example, processors by the hour and storage by the day) and release them as needed, thereby rewarding conservation by letting machines and storage go when they are no longer useful.
Makes it seem pretty straight forward right? Good news, is that cloud computing is quite simple! You don't need to understand IT to understand cloud computing and it's deliverables to your business.
Makes it seem pretty straight forward right? Good news, is that cloud computing is quite simple! You don't need to understand IT to understand cloud computing and it's deliverables to your business.
Moving onto cloud economics is quite interesting too. Cloud offerings from IT business partners and Software as a Services (SaaS) providers are most useful when a business has;
1. Fluctuating demand for resource requirements (in IT speak; provisioning). Cloud computing lets a business pay for IT resources on a monthly, weekly or hourly basis. This means overall cost savings as provisioned resources are always at optimum utilization.
2. Unknown demand for services in advance of projects. Some businesses, especially those in the growth phase can't know demand for their services without expensive market research. "Pay as you go" best describes the benefits of cloud computing.
3. Elasticity of demand. Simply put - IT resource can be provisioned within minutes instead of weeks using a cloud computing service. Cloud computing can match workload to resource allowance much more closely, meaning that at peak times provision can be made quickly for demand.
Here are some notes on considerations whilst I've got your "head in the clouds".
Businesses need to consider the following when looking at a cloud solution.
1. Business Continuity and Availability of Service; most businesses worry about their IT availability, scalability of service levels, service outages etc. All valid concerns, but you'll note that most SaaS cloud providers provide such good service, any small outage (no matter how small) is often jumped on by the news media. The most simple solution is to use multiple cloud providers to ensure service. Otherwise, get details from your SaaS provider about their outages and "uptime" guarantees. Any SaaS provider worth your business will be willing and able to provide this information.
2. Data Confidentiality; with the increased desire of society to make businesses transparent and accountable, the need for data confidentiality and auditability of IT services is at an all time high. The most simple solution to this is go with a SaaS provider who can talk to you about your specific IT security requirements. This means discussing the need for VLANs, Firewalls, Encryption of your data and perhaps even using the Sarbanes-Oxley and Health and Human Services Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations as a guide when choosing your SaaS provider.
3. Software Licensing; as anyone who's implemented an IT project in their business will know, software licensing can be a large part of the overall project cost. With a SaaS cloud solution the need for software licensing is not negated, it's just handled in a different manner. Fortunately most software licensing vendors have cloud solutions in place for their clients and can offer provisioned licensing solutions. The best question to ask your IT provider is if they are able to offer pay-per-use licenses.
Finally, email me if you've got any questions about cloud computing or would like to give comment.
Here are the details of the authors and the journal details for the full article. It's a fascinating read if you've got time and absolutely worth taking a look at.
Armbrust, M. Armando, F et. al. A View of Cloud Computing, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 53, No. 4, April 2010
2. The elimination of an up-front commitment by cloud users, thereby allowing companies to start small and increase hardware resources only when there is an increase in their needs. 1. The appearance of infinite computing resources available on demand, quickly enough to follow load surges, thereby eliminating the need for cloud computing users to plan far ahead for provisioning.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Business Recovery and Hosted Solutions
Thought I might share an interesting article from David Markus which is featured on the HP Technology at Work newsletter.
David looks at what he expects IT teams will need to know in the near future as businesses recover from recent financial setbacks. This article is mostly directed to US clients of HP, so a little bit of analysis is needed to make it relevant to the Australian market.
Essentially David's pointing out that cloud based solutions are going to be a major focus for all companies in 2011. As we've all seen, there's been a lot of hype around "cloud computing". Cloud computing, without getting into it's definitions (see Wikipedia), promises to deliver to businesses of any size cost savings and a chance to move IT projects into an operational expense - where previously many larger projects would have meant capital outlay.
The reason cloud computing is so important for Australians to come to terms with, is due to the way it's going to change our IT landscape. Cloud, hosted offerings now mean applications and infrastructure don't need to be owned or managed by a business any more. The cost effectiveness of cloud offerings also means that enterprise applications from large organisations like Salesforce.com, Oracle, Microsoft and SAP are now available to small and medium businesses on demand, without the percieved cost barrier.
David's article also describes how IT teams need to be looking into cloud offerings from their traditional IT suppliers to ensure their suppliers are able to provide a hosted cloud solution, should that be part of the businesses plan during it's recovery.
Where once upon a time a small IT partner might have offered hosted solutions as a point of difference over their competitors, cloud offerings are now becoming standard - so the competitive advantage of a traditional IT supplier will be maintained through providing a quality of service, security and products from the right enterprise providers; Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce.com being examples.
My advice to Aussie small business would be to consider a cloud hosted alternative to any major project being undertaken. Consider the pros and cons of each offering - cloud or physical - and decide what's best for your business. Ultimately you'll want to ensure your IT provider knows what they're doing when they're moving you onto a cloud based solution, so there's a seamless transition for your applications, data and users on the network.
As business picks up for 2011 the demand for IT is only going to increase. Projects shelved for lack of funds during recovery are now being revisited and it's absolutely opportune timing with the growth of cloud computing.
David's original article can be found at; http://h30458.www3.hp.com/au/en/smb/1050641.html?jumpid=em_taw_AU_feb11_across-bg_1116016_hpgl_gb_1050641_27&DIMID=1130782636&DICID=null&mrm=1-4BVUP
If you'd like more information on Cloud Computing, Hosted Solutions or have a question relating to the blog, feel free to email me at peter.malone@hotmail.com
David looks at what he expects IT teams will need to know in the near future as businesses recover from recent financial setbacks. This article is mostly directed to US clients of HP, so a little bit of analysis is needed to make it relevant to the Australian market.
Essentially David's pointing out that cloud based solutions are going to be a major focus for all companies in 2011. As we've all seen, there's been a lot of hype around "cloud computing". Cloud computing, without getting into it's definitions (see Wikipedia), promises to deliver to businesses of any size cost savings and a chance to move IT projects into an operational expense - where previously many larger projects would have meant capital outlay.
The reason cloud computing is so important for Australians to come to terms with, is due to the way it's going to change our IT landscape. Cloud, hosted offerings now mean applications and infrastructure don't need to be owned or managed by a business any more. The cost effectiveness of cloud offerings also means that enterprise applications from large organisations like Salesforce.com, Oracle, Microsoft and SAP are now available to small and medium businesses on demand, without the percieved cost barrier.
David's article also describes how IT teams need to be looking into cloud offerings from their traditional IT suppliers to ensure their suppliers are able to provide a hosted cloud solution, should that be part of the businesses plan during it's recovery.
Where once upon a time a small IT partner might have offered hosted solutions as a point of difference over their competitors, cloud offerings are now becoming standard - so the competitive advantage of a traditional IT supplier will be maintained through providing a quality of service, security and products from the right enterprise providers; Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce.com being examples.
My advice to Aussie small business would be to consider a cloud hosted alternative to any major project being undertaken. Consider the pros and cons of each offering - cloud or physical - and decide what's best for your business. Ultimately you'll want to ensure your IT provider knows what they're doing when they're moving you onto a cloud based solution, so there's a seamless transition for your applications, data and users on the network.
As business picks up for 2011 the demand for IT is only going to increase. Projects shelved for lack of funds during recovery are now being revisited and it's absolutely opportune timing with the growth of cloud computing.
David's original article can be found at; http://h30458.www3.hp.com/au/en/smb/1050641.html?jumpid=em_taw_AU_feb11_across-bg_1116016_hpgl_gb_1050641_27&DIMID=1130782636&DICID=null&mrm=1-4BVUP
If you'd like more information on Cloud Computing, Hosted Solutions or have a question relating to the blog, feel free to email me at peter.malone@hotmail.com
Sunday, February 13, 2011
iPhone Mini - Apple Prepares Launch
An interesting article popped up this morning from Carrie-Ann Skinner with the ARN magazine. It's in relation to the reported release of a low-cost version of the iPhone, according to Bloomberg.
Apparently the iPhone Mini is to be around two-thirds the size of the existing iPhone and lack the distinctive iPhone "home" key for navigation. The smaller Apple handset will allow for a universal SIM so users don't have to remove and replace SIM cards depending on the carrier they're using. It's also been reported the plans will be on a pay-as-you-go basis instead of a contracted 12, 18 or 24 month term.
Now, let's assess a few things with relation to this article. First and foremost - what's Apple's strategy here and ultimately, how does that affect an Australian consumer?
To address the first question - Apple's strategy appears to be two-fold. They're looking to gain market share and market penetration. That's not to say Apple won't even open up new markets previously untouched - though that's pretty unlikely. Apple's strategy is going to be redesign of their wonderful (dare I say unmatched) iPhone to remove some of the more costly features in order to remarket it as a new product with a lower price point for more cost focused consumers - who don't neccessarily see the benefit of some of the iPhone's current features, or can't relate the cost to direct benefits. Apple with the release of this new product, will be able to prove to cost conscious consumers that this product is indeed the right product for them - both in terms of price point to purchase and product features.
How does this affect the Australian consumer? Well, in my opinion, it's not a bad thing. Firstly it's going to introduce a new product onto the smart-phone, mobile phone market allowing the consumer more choice. Secondly it'll broaden the horizons and give business opportunities for retailers, Apple distributors and Apple themselves. More money, means more jobs, more jobs and a healthy economy overall. They're pretty broad strokes, but in general terms, the consumer will have more choice in the market, allowing them to make the best possible decision for their purchase - based on the wider available options. From Apple's perspective, they've just gotten another client (user) in a very sticky market. Recent data shows that the technology take-up rate with Australians is far ahead the rest of the developed world. Think about it - how many people do you know who have more than one phone?
Congratulations to Apple on this market / product strategy. I'm looking forward for the first release of this product and looking forward to see how they'll release the product locally. I'm sure like the iPhone currently it's going to be in super high demand!
Check out Carrie-Ann's original article below;
http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/376430/apple_readies_cheaper_iphone_mini_/?eid=-100&uid=26651
Apparently the iPhone Mini is to be around two-thirds the size of the existing iPhone and lack the distinctive iPhone "home" key for navigation. The smaller Apple handset will allow for a universal SIM so users don't have to remove and replace SIM cards depending on the carrier they're using. It's also been reported the plans will be on a pay-as-you-go basis instead of a contracted 12, 18 or 24 month term.
Now, let's assess a few things with relation to this article. First and foremost - what's Apple's strategy here and ultimately, how does that affect an Australian consumer?
To address the first question - Apple's strategy appears to be two-fold. They're looking to gain market share and market penetration. That's not to say Apple won't even open up new markets previously untouched - though that's pretty unlikely. Apple's strategy is going to be redesign of their wonderful (dare I say unmatched) iPhone to remove some of the more costly features in order to remarket it as a new product with a lower price point for more cost focused consumers - who don't neccessarily see the benefit of some of the iPhone's current features, or can't relate the cost to direct benefits. Apple with the release of this new product, will be able to prove to cost conscious consumers that this product is indeed the right product for them - both in terms of price point to purchase and product features.
How does this affect the Australian consumer? Well, in my opinion, it's not a bad thing. Firstly it's going to introduce a new product onto the smart-phone, mobile phone market allowing the consumer more choice. Secondly it'll broaden the horizons and give business opportunities for retailers, Apple distributors and Apple themselves. More money, means more jobs, more jobs and a healthy economy overall. They're pretty broad strokes, but in general terms, the consumer will have more choice in the market, allowing them to make the best possible decision for their purchase - based on the wider available options. From Apple's perspective, they've just gotten another client (user) in a very sticky market. Recent data shows that the technology take-up rate with Australians is far ahead the rest of the developed world. Think about it - how many people do you know who have more than one phone?
Congratulations to Apple on this market / product strategy. I'm looking forward for the first release of this product and looking forward to see how they'll release the product locally. I'm sure like the iPhone currently it's going to be in super high demand!
Check out Carrie-Ann's original article below;
http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/376430/apple_readies_cheaper_iphone_mini_/?eid=-100&uid=26651
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
QLD Distributor Cellnet posts first-half profit
The ARN is featuring an article this morning reporting the first-half profit of Queensland based distributor Cellnet. "Cellnet has reported a 64% increase in net profit to $1.524 million for the first six months to December 31.
Firstly let me congratulate Cellnet on this outstanding turnaround and excellent profit. Cellnet in the past had faced some difficulty in their traditional IT market and had made some difficult decisions around the time of the GFC in order to return some good results to their shareholders. Cellnet's plan to reorganize their business to focus on key market segments and areas of traditional strength appears to be paying off well. Not only are the Cellnet management team to be commended, but their staff also. Posting a profit this high takes a lot of dedication from all areas of the business with a single minded focus on being the best possible. In a competitive distribution market in Australia, this is quite an achievement.
The other point to note is Cellnet released with their results information that their balance sheet remained debt free - WITH $19M IN CASH RESOURCE! As we all know, cash is king, and seeing the financial hardship many technology businesses have seen in the last two years, this revelation from Cellnet shows they're a forward thinking company and preparing for a big second half of the year.
Article can be found at; http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/375909/cellnet_displays_strong_first-half/?eid=-100&uid=26651
Firstly let me congratulate Cellnet on this outstanding turnaround and excellent profit. Cellnet in the past had faced some difficulty in their traditional IT market and had made some difficult decisions around the time of the GFC in order to return some good results to their shareholders. Cellnet's plan to reorganize their business to focus on key market segments and areas of traditional strength appears to be paying off well. Not only are the Cellnet management team to be commended, but their staff also. Posting a profit this high takes a lot of dedication from all areas of the business with a single minded focus on being the best possible. In a competitive distribution market in Australia, this is quite an achievement.
The other point to note is Cellnet released with their results information that their balance sheet remained debt free - WITH $19M IN CASH RESOURCE! As we all know, cash is king, and seeing the financial hardship many technology businesses have seen in the last two years, this revelation from Cellnet shows they're a forward thinking company and preparing for a big second half of the year.
Article can be found at; http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/375909/cellnet_displays_strong_first-half/?eid=-100&uid=26651
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Welcome!
Welcome and thanks for taking time to have a look at my blog!
This blog has been published to review different IT market trends, initiatives and movements of vendors, business partners and IT consumers.
I'll be looking to take readers through relevant articles from IT publications and academic journals including; the Harvard Business Review, CRN, ARN, Channelwire, ZDNet, IDG and TechRepublic.
Having been in the IT industry for over 7 years in Sales, Marketing and Management roles I hope my review of IT trends will shed some light and be insightful view on IT market trends as readers attempt to make sense of the changing IT landscape in Australia.
This blog has been published to review different IT market trends, initiatives and movements of vendors, business partners and IT consumers.
I'll be looking to take readers through relevant articles from IT publications and academic journals including; the Harvard Business Review, CRN, ARN, Channelwire, ZDNet, IDG and TechRepublic.
Having been in the IT industry for over 7 years in Sales, Marketing and Management roles I hope my review of IT trends will shed some light and be insightful view on IT market trends as readers attempt to make sense of the changing IT landscape in Australia.
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