Amid the panic of investors, brokers, and analysts, world equity markets plunged 20 percent in one week. IBM presented signs of survival as the company prepares to release a full earning report on October 16 that will show a 20 percent jump in profit. The enormous impact of sickly stocks, broken banks, credit crunch, cascading consumer confidence, and the reeling real estate market will continue to affect the world economy for several more fiscal quarters. However, some companies will use this incredible period to rise to the top, gaining market share and profitability, despite adjustments in overall revenue. What can be learned from those that survive and thrive during a time of economic crises?
The Economic Crisis
Governments around the globe are investing in businesses and banks in an effort to avoid a complete collapse of affected institutions. However, the general public is not convinced that the government will be able to effectively run the businesses it has acquired with any better dexterity than existing mismanaged government budgets. Furthermore, although the infusion of funds may temporarily secure investments, it does not alter the effectively alter the transactions that instigated the decline.
Inflated values of derivatives, fueled by ambitious speculation and fortunes amassed by paper transactions rose to catastrophic levels. Derivatives are commitments to purchase commodities or financial instruments at a fixed price, with an agreement to take profits if the value of the asset rises. In recent years, mortgages sold at subprime rates were bundled into securities. Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch created offsetting credit derivatives to protect investors in the event that these securities defaulted. Credit derivatives benefitted from profits derived from the increased number of subprime loans and home sales during the real estate bubble. When housing prices dropped and interest rates rose, many adjustable-rate subprime mortgage owners were unable to keep up with the higher monthly payment. Mortgages defaulted, demand for houses cooled abruptly, and the suddenly above market rates of credit derivatives collapsed. AIG was the biggest investor with US $527 billion in these bonds.
World markets also fell prey to a pin-stripe financial pyramid schemes, suffering similar consequences on a global scale. In the first week of October, Tokyo fell 24.3 percent, Frankfurt fell 21.6 percent, London fell 21.1 percent, and Wall Street fell 19.8 percent. What was originally dismissed as merely a problem in the United States has shaken the foundations of financial institutions around the world.
Meanwhile, a little closer to home and possibly your own personal savings, you should be aware that mutual funds commonly contain derivatives in the portfolio. If you have investments in mutual funds, then you should consider investigating to determine if your holdings contain derivatives that regulators cannot control or even monitor. You can investigate your prospectus and the listing of holdings, or switch to a safe government bond fund. If this is the case for you, it may be time to replace your regular coffee with decaffeinated.
What this means to Manufacturing and Retail Sales
Mount Gibson Iron Limited of Perth, Australia acknowledged that it has received requests to delay iron-ore shipments from many manufacturing clients in China. The manufacturing facilities in China have already realized the decrease in demand and are making arrangements to adjust production schedules accordingly. Consumers are cautious about increasing personal debt, and carefully considering many more concerns before making purchasing decisions. The automobile industry was not only impacted by credit and loans, but sales are also influenced by alternative fuels, hybrid cars, and the rising cost of gasoline. Production and sales of luxury items, upgrade items, and new technology will start to slow down. Business budgets will be slashed to reduce costs, affecting commercial channels. Consumer commerce will not stop, but it will look both ways before crossing the street. Circuit City Stores reported a US $239 million loss and has already warned investors that holiday sales are expected to be disappointing. Acting CEO James Marcum, who replaced Philip Schoonover, promised a new marketing campaign to "bolster the company's holiday performance".
Fortunately, this slow down of luxury items and replacement products creates new opportunities for other markets and innovative suppliers. Many consumers will be more willing to make a small investment on a service plan or extended warranty to maintain the life of a product, as opposed to the alternative of investing in new product. Although luxury items will loose luster during this period of tight purse strings, discount goods will have greater appeal and renewed interest. Consumers will spend a little more time to look for a better deal, and those companies that offer the better deal will have a bigger piece of a smaller pie. When entire markets slow, it is time to replace revenue targets with goals for increasing profit or a bigger share of the remaining market.
Consumer cost cutting leads to higher demand for lower cost items. There is a sense of satisfaction and personal reward associated with the ability to conduct a purchase. While transactions for expensive garments may decrease, sales of lipstick and make-up may rise. Small price items provide an opportunity to experience the sensation of a rewarding purchase, without experiencing the regret or possible return of a more expensive item. This is particularly true when there is less disposable income in the pocketbook.
Production and sales of luxury products will slow down. The Santa Claus index indicates that there will be fewer and more economically priced presents under the Christmas tree this year. While that is bad news for some industries, it poses heightened opportunity for mobile phones, gaming devices, Wii TM, and Kindle TM.
When Sales are Down, Service goes Up
During tumultuous times for production and sales, demands for services increases. Organizations are already aggressively searching for partners to outsource services. In transferring the cost for service and support off the books, organizations are looking for partners that provide best practices. This allows the client to adjust organization size, manpower, warehousing, planning, and assets by transferring the burden to a trusted vendor. The vendor provides a service to the client and uses expertise, efficiencies, or the combined consolidation of multiple clients to provide lower cost service solutions. Furthermore,really creative vendors will help the client to identify ways for the client to resell the services, thereby generating new revenue streams and shared opportunity for profit. It is by looking at opportunities to lower the bottom line and simultaneously raise the top line that vendors advocate for their clients.
It is important for companies to differentiate the financial value of services. Service vendors that demonstrate an ability to help reduce client cost, preserve client profit, and address the many related needs of a client will have an opportunity to increase business and market-share. Third Party Service Providers, logistics providers, repair, and professional services that result in lowering client costs will be in high demand. Extended Service Plans and Maintenance Contracts create opportunity for shared profit, and enable the client's customers to extend the return on investment. Organizations that leverage this economy will not only gain new business, but also has the opportunity to develop a long lasting relationship with the client. Service vendors should seek long term commitments and corresponding long term contracts. The assumptions regarding profit and associated investments must be precisely documented, and flexible enough to adjust when the temporary economic crises turns into new growth markets.
Many types of services provide a fluid environment that can be rapidly adjusted to maximize profit. The term "services" typically implies utilization of manpower resources that can be rapidly adjusted to accommodate changes in market conditions. The same can be said of software as a service (SaaS). Have you ever thought of e-Bay as a service? The online auction company provides a service for consumers to connect with one another. Some consumers benefit by generating some revenue from otherwise unwanted items. Other consumers benefit from access to lower cost alternatives for purchasing items, thereby saving money. Some businesses use the online auction to augment liquidation. The ease of this service, the value associated with lower cost alternatives, and the desire to expedite cash flow will continue to grow this online service during an economic crises. The overhead cost and relative investment expense for e-Bay clients is negligible in comparison to the number of transactions and the cash flow. Are there services that you can provide that offer low overhead, low investment, and high yield?
What did IBM do?
International Business Machines third quarter income amounted to US $2.8 billion, or US $2.05 per share. That is 20 percent higher than the US $1.68 per share as compared to the same quarter last year, and it surpasses the US $ 2.02 per share predicted by Thomson Reuters. IBM is predicting that it will achieve 22 percent earnings growth for the year.
Many will remember IBM as the company that brought computers to a global stage. From punch cards and gas tubes, to PC's and mainframes, the roots of the computer family tree invariably include IBM. Since licensing the brand name to Lenovo, a business strategy that bolstered both organizations, IBM has relinquished production and sales of computer hardware devices in lieu of a diversified portfolio of software and services. IBM emphasis on long term service contracts now accounts for more than half of it's current revenue. As the economic conditions place strains on clients, the rate of growth is expected to slow, but is not expected to negatively impact the overall percent of profitability. By growing services as a percent of the company, and by offering highly profitable software solutions, IBM has increased profit margins from 41.3 percent to 43.3 percent gross margin as compared to the same quarter last year.
What can you do?
The news about economic crises can be unsettling. However, for the creative and the courageous, there are new business opportunities.
- Look for services that can augment your profitability with minimum overhead or investment costs.
- Develop business opportunities that have the most flexibility of resources.
- Focus on opportunities to use your business in a manner that augments the cost reduction or enhanced profit of your clients. By helping your clients to succeed, you enable them to invest in your relationship and success.
- Don't be distracted by the mantel of the crisis, but rather look below it at the opportunities that are being exposed. As a trusted advocate for your clients, they will help you uncover the opportunities so you can do more than survive. You will thrive.
- Consider options to use Software as a Service to reduce costs for your organization, to offer cost cutting options to your clients, or to create new revenue streams with flexible resources.
- Consider how your cost cutting measures and flexible resources can be outsourced to your clients. If you successfully implement innovative responses to economic changes, how can you share these benefits with your clients, or even use the creative ideas to create new market opportunities?
- You are not alone. The obstacles encountered as a result of economic turmoil present the same challenges to your competitors as they do to you. Your strategic response to protect profit, acquire market presence, and solidify brand awareness during the challenging period are the foundation for positive growth when the market returns. Rally around the core competencies and competitive values of your company. Be prepared to outsource or sell the portions of the business that do not contribute to profit, share of market, or the brand name.
- Create an internal think tank of individuals specifically organized to monitor the impact of the economy on the organization. The think tank should include individuals with experience from previous economic challenging periods, as well as individuals with bold new ideas. If possible, include representation from finance, sales, operations, marketing, service, and human resource departments as applicable to create a comprehensive report on potential company impact and several suggested plans of action. Response plans should include worse case scenario planning, as well as response to current conditions, and several alternative action plans. By considering the options for response to crisis, and preparing plans to take advantage of rapid growth when the crisis subsides, the organization will be poised to respond quickly, accurately, and aggressively to each positive or negative change on the roller coaster ride.
This article is not intended to render legal or financial advice. If you require legal advice, you should seek the services of an attorney. If you require financial advice, you should seek the services of an accountant or licensed financial advisor.
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Words of Wisdom
"The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger - but recognize the opportunity."- John F. Kennedy
"Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death."- James F. Byrnes
"Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.”- Henry J. Kaiser
"There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity."- General Douglas MacArthur
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Recommended Site Seeing
Robert J. Reby & Co. Inc: "Conservative Wealth Preservation"http://www.robertreby.com/
Bui Financial Advisory: "Financial Planning, Retirement Planning, Investment Counseling, Tax Advice and Planning"http://www.buiadvisory.com/
The Executive Connection LLChttp://www.executiveconnectionllc.net/
The Trusted Advocate: Accelerate Success with Authenticity and Integrityhttp://www.Trusted101.com/
Showing posts with label software as a service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label software as a service. Show all posts
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Trends in Technology
Garter, Inc analysts highlighted the top ten strategic technologies and trends for 2008. Gartner defines a strategic technology as one with potential for significant impact on enterprise in the next three years. Take a few moments to get familiar with the definitions of technology trends that will impact your business.
1. Green IT
According to the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, e-waste is the fastest-growing part of the waste stream, and the Environmental Protection Agency estimates e-waste accounts for 2 percent of the municipal solid waste stream in the United States. More than 1,000 chemicals are used during electronics production, such as lead, mercury, and cadmium. In addition to manufacturing materials, going green means focus on power consumption. IT departments spent 17 cents per dollar to power and cool servers in 1996. Ten years later, by September 2006, IT departments were spending 48 cents per dollar to power and cool servers, according to IDC research. IDC predicts that this cost will grow to 78 cents per dollar by 2010. The focus on green is as much about cost reduction as it is about the environment.
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition estimates that there are 500 obsolete computers in the United States, and 130 million cell phones thrown away every year. It is no wonder that e-waste and Green IT are topping the charts as the primary initiative for technology and trends in 2008.
According to IDC, over 50% of customers consider a vendor's green initiatives and capabilities when selecting a supplier. One third of customers already consider it very important that suppliers have "green offerings". 80% of Executives say that e-waste and Green IT is growing in importance as an initiative in their organization. The number one (#1) driver for Green IT adoption is economic, to reduce operational costs.
What company is setting the pace with Green IT initiatives? ZSL Inc
2. Unified Communications
20% of the installed based with PBX has already migrated to IP telephony, and more than 80% are already conducting trials and preparing for the most significant shift in telephony since the adoption of cell phones. Voice over Internet Protocol, VoIP, is also known as IP Telephony, Broadband Telephony, and Voice over Broadband. A rose by any other name, the appeal for low cost is what smells so sweet. A single network can carry voice, data, video, and mobile applications on fixed and mobile networks. Get ready to rethink networks as completely integrated communication of voice, video, and data. You will be surfing the Internet, accessing data, and sharing video on your cell phone. You will be making international calls from your notebook computer. Hardware is interchangeable, it is just a matter of the adoption rate for new technology.
What company is setting the pace with unified communications? Cisco.
3. Business Process Modeling
Business Process Modeling is the structured comparison of how things really work, how we want them to work, similar processes with measured results, and planning to move from current state to future state. In IT, business processing modeling requires system and application architects to work with programmers, designers, and analysts to coordinate the design theory, the development, and the institutionalizing of the systems and applications. In other words, the individuals who design the systems and applications will work with the people who build it, and with the ones who fix the bugs.
In some environments the collaboration of architects, developers, and analysts is already accepted as common practice. However, it is uncommon enough to actually make the top ten list of future trends for the next three years. "The beauty and the curse of system architects and programmers is that they are just like the applications that they design based on your specifications. They do exactly what you tell them to do," said John Mehrmann, "so you better make sure that it is exactly what you want them to do."
4. Metadata Management
Metadata management is critical to a information infrastructure, it is the relationship and usage of data. There are three primary segments of data in Enterprise Information Management (EIM) strategy. These three segments are customer data integration, product information management, and product management. Metadata management is less of a technical challenge and more of an organizational process. Simply defined, metadata management uses data from complex structured data sources and databases to create models (schemas) and mappings. Import data to rapidly identify patterns, commonalities, differentiators, and create models. Use design patterns, solution templates, and operators to simplify development of metadata applications.
How is metadata being used today? Metadata captures customer registration to model buying habits, returns, peripheral purchases, and warranty extensions. Metadata is used to track warranty failures, customer contact through multiple channels that include call center and service, and it can be used to selectively offer marketing materials and sales incentives.
What company is setting the pace with metadata management? SAS
5. Virtualization 2.0
Virtualization technologies are infrastructure improvement enablers to improve IT resource utilization and increase flexibility. Automation technologies can improve resource efficiency and automate flexibility based on requirements and services managed holistically, with high levels of resiliency. IT resources adapt automatically to changing workloads and reduce cost. Expect to hear more about virtualization as technologies and trends impact the holy grail of Green IT, better management of resources, and lower costs.
6. Mashup & Composite Apps
Composite Applications are the assembly of existing components in IT with Web based applications, typically using older generation program language languages and developed by professional programmers. On the other hand, mashups are remarkably simple and basic infusion of web services with browser-side java, to connect things together. Mashups simply gather existing data from multiple web resources to either present the data together, assemble and calculate the information to create new data, or create new functionality. Mashups are small pieces of data, loosely joined. There are five types of mashups:
i. Presentation Mashup gathers data from multiple sources and lists the data together.
ii. Client-side Data Mashup gathers data from remote web sites or data feeds and processes the data in a client database or application to analyze it or create a new result.
iii. Client-side Software Mashup uses code in the client side web browser to create distinct new capabilities for gathering and utilizing data captured through the browser.
iv Server-side Software Mashup is already very common as evident by the thousands of open Web APIs currently available. The server collects data from the client.
v. Server-side Data Mashup is the linking and connecting of data between servers. It is already very common to share data between servers and databases, but the fascinating new trend is that this type of data collection and manipulation is happening at a much higher level.
As client-side applications enable users to access data with web browsers and to mashup data without professional programmers, the evolution changes from how to gather diverse data into how to compare, analyze, and use the data. Once immediate access to mashup data from diverse web resources becomes commonplace, metadata management becomes even more crucial to identify trends, recognize commonalities, and develop predictive applications for accurate forecasts and customer-centric customization.
What company is setting the pace with mashup & composite apps? Google
7. Web Platform & WOA
Emerging web applications provide Software as a Service (SaaS) as a viable option to access infrastructure services, information, applications, and business processes though simple and easy to use web browsers. The web based "cloud computing" environments may access a single source for data, applications, or resources for client queries and reporting. However, as metadata management and mashups become more sophisticated and commonplace, web platform Software as a Service will increasingly enable the recombination of data from multiple data sources, applications, and resources. This evolution enables real time data collection, comparison, analysis, application and resource allocation through web portals, reducing direct data or service connectivity, and allowing significantly greater user flexibility.
What company is setting the pace with Web Platform, API, and Software as a Service initiatives? Amazon
8. Computing Fabric
In the evolution of servers as storage devices, we witnessed the progression of big iron from tape drives to hard drives, and the management of all data on one drive to storing data on an array of drives as a means to expand storage and recover from catastrophic failure. In other words, multiple devices shared access and resources to store data. This concept evolved into blade servers, enabling the networking of multiple efficient devices. The next evolution of the computing fabric is the introduction of technology to treat the network of blade servers as the sum of the components from each of the blades. Rather than manage each blade server as a whole device, the new technology will treat memory, processors, I/O cards and components as a pool of resources, combining and recombining these resources as necessary to appear as an operating system on a fixed single server.
Managing the computing fabric will take the smallest measurable pieces of the networked hardware and recombine resources to achieve Green IT low cost power consumption, better use of hardware resources, and treat hardware combinations in much the same way that mashups converge diverse small pieces of data into single serving results on demand.
9. Real World Web
The term real world web refers to enabling information applicable to a particular location, activity, or context relevant to the real world. Unlike virtual worlds that can be created and manipulated for a particular purpose or entertainment, real world web is intended to augment reality with real-time and real world situations. GPS Navigation, for example, can provide real time directions that react to movement and direction. Airline updates, for example, can alert a user to on-time availability or delays associated with flight departures or arrivals.
Now imagine that you have a flight to another city, real time traffic updates and GPS to bypass congestion, and this schedule is mashed up with web based reservations at a preferred restaurant to entertain a valued customer. Your reservation could be automatically adjusted to accommodate flight or traffic delays. The restaurant would be automatically alerted to the change in schedule and may adjust seating accordingly. The GPS may provide alternative routes to avoid heavy congestion or accidents. The value customer would receive a web based calendar alert to unexpected flight delays, enabling your valued customer to occupy time with other important tasks while you are still in flight. The directions, navigation, reservations, and customer clients updates can be managed automatically with real world web.
Another use for real world web integrates posted gasoline prices with GPS navigation devices. This enables the user to identify and select from gas stations with lower posted prices using the real world web.
What company is setting the pace for delivering Real World Web applications? Microsoft
10. Social Software
The term social software is typically associated with a wide range of web applications that enable users to interact and share with other users. YouTube, MySpace, and LinkedIn are some examples of social sites. Social software typically facilitates a more egalitarian community development in which membership is voluntary, reputation is earned by winning the trust of other members, and the mission and governance of the community is defined by the members of the community. Social software reflects the asymmetrical traits of social networks, and a mutual link between users. You can choose to accept or not accept content or connections.
Social software and social networks are evolving at an astounding pace, and are as diverse as human interests. Social networks exist for business, career guidance or changes, on line gaming, common interests, entertainment, hobbies, staying in touch with contacts, and meeting new people.
What companies are setting the pace with Social Software? YouTube, MySpace, and LinkedIn
Summary
So what is happening? There is so much data, information, applications, and individual contact available through web connections that it has become necessary to break things down into the smallest components and categorize these components in such a way as to maximize efficiency, access, collaboration, recombination, and real time application. Green IT seeks to identify the components of hardware and resources to maximize efficiency, reduce e-waste, and reduce power consumption. Unified communications is breaking down data, voice, and video into streams that can be shared by mobile and web based devices. Business Process Models organize the small bits of data, applications, and resources to design future architecture and integrate analytics are users and clients become a part of the development process. Metadata management identifies commonalities and creates smaller models to organize the data. Mashups take these diverse pieces of data and present them or process them in a manner that produces a new understanding or result. Web platforms and Software as a Service empower mashups and data access. Virtualization 2.0 and Computing Fabric apply the same concepts to the hardware that store, access, and serve up this data, voice, and video. Real World Web integrates all of this with our environment and surroundings. Social software makes individuals a part of the process, identifying and connecting smaller pieces of personal interests with individuals that share similar experiences or interests.
The trend for the next three years is to break down data, voice, video, applications, hardware, and individual interests into the smallest denominators and then to identify and recombine based them on user defined requirements and commonalities.
Companies should factor these technologies into their strategic planning process by asking key questions and making deliberate decisions about them during the next two years,” said David Cearley, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “Sometimes the decision will be to do nothing with a particular technology. In other cases it will be to continue investing in the technology at the current rate. In still other cases, the decision may be to test/pilot or more aggressively adopt/deploy the technology. The important thing is to ask the question and proactively plan.”
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Words of Wisdom
"Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons." - Popular Mechanics, March 1949
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."- Arthur C. Clarke
"Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand."- Putt's Law
"Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done." - Andy Rooney
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Read the details of Gartner's predictions for the top 10 strategic technologies for 2008.http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=530109
You may distribute this article freely, print it, sell it, or include it as part of a package as long as it is intact, unchanged and delivered in the original format with acknowledgement to Executive Blueprints Inc.
About the Author:
John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving business practices and developing human capital. www.ExecutiveBlueprints.com provides resource materials for trainers, sample Case Studies, educational articles and references to local affiliates for consulting and executive coaching. http://www.InstituteforAdvancedLeadership.com provides self-paced tutorials for personal development and tools for trainers. Presentation materials, reference guides and exercises are available for continuous development.
1. Green IT
According to the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, e-waste is the fastest-growing part of the waste stream, and the Environmental Protection Agency estimates e-waste accounts for 2 percent of the municipal solid waste stream in the United States. More than 1,000 chemicals are used during electronics production, such as lead, mercury, and cadmium. In addition to manufacturing materials, going green means focus on power consumption. IT departments spent 17 cents per dollar to power and cool servers in 1996. Ten years later, by September 2006, IT departments were spending 48 cents per dollar to power and cool servers, according to IDC research. IDC predicts that this cost will grow to 78 cents per dollar by 2010. The focus on green is as much about cost reduction as it is about the environment.
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition estimates that there are 500 obsolete computers in the United States, and 130 million cell phones thrown away every year. It is no wonder that e-waste and Green IT are topping the charts as the primary initiative for technology and trends in 2008.
According to IDC, over 50% of customers consider a vendor's green initiatives and capabilities when selecting a supplier. One third of customers already consider it very important that suppliers have "green offerings". 80% of Executives say that e-waste and Green IT is growing in importance as an initiative in their organization. The number one (#1) driver for Green IT adoption is economic, to reduce operational costs.
What company is setting the pace with Green IT initiatives? ZSL Inc
2. Unified Communications
20% of the installed based with PBX has already migrated to IP telephony, and more than 80% are already conducting trials and preparing for the most significant shift in telephony since the adoption of cell phones. Voice over Internet Protocol, VoIP, is also known as IP Telephony, Broadband Telephony, and Voice over Broadband. A rose by any other name, the appeal for low cost is what smells so sweet. A single network can carry voice, data, video, and mobile applications on fixed and mobile networks. Get ready to rethink networks as completely integrated communication of voice, video, and data. You will be surfing the Internet, accessing data, and sharing video on your cell phone. You will be making international calls from your notebook computer. Hardware is interchangeable, it is just a matter of the adoption rate for new technology.
What company is setting the pace with unified communications? Cisco.
3. Business Process Modeling
Business Process Modeling is the structured comparison of how things really work, how we want them to work, similar processes with measured results, and planning to move from current state to future state. In IT, business processing modeling requires system and application architects to work with programmers, designers, and analysts to coordinate the design theory, the development, and the institutionalizing of the systems and applications. In other words, the individuals who design the systems and applications will work with the people who build it, and with the ones who fix the bugs.
In some environments the collaboration of architects, developers, and analysts is already accepted as common practice. However, it is uncommon enough to actually make the top ten list of future trends for the next three years. "The beauty and the curse of system architects and programmers is that they are just like the applications that they design based on your specifications. They do exactly what you tell them to do," said John Mehrmann, "so you better make sure that it is exactly what you want them to do."
4. Metadata Management
Metadata management is critical to a information infrastructure, it is the relationship and usage of data. There are three primary segments of data in Enterprise Information Management (EIM) strategy. These three segments are customer data integration, product information management, and product management. Metadata management is less of a technical challenge and more of an organizational process. Simply defined, metadata management uses data from complex structured data sources and databases to create models (schemas) and mappings. Import data to rapidly identify patterns, commonalities, differentiators, and create models. Use design patterns, solution templates, and operators to simplify development of metadata applications.
How is metadata being used today? Metadata captures customer registration to model buying habits, returns, peripheral purchases, and warranty extensions. Metadata is used to track warranty failures, customer contact through multiple channels that include call center and service, and it can be used to selectively offer marketing materials and sales incentives.
What company is setting the pace with metadata management? SAS
5. Virtualization 2.0
Virtualization technologies are infrastructure improvement enablers to improve IT resource utilization and increase flexibility. Automation technologies can improve resource efficiency and automate flexibility based on requirements and services managed holistically, with high levels of resiliency. IT resources adapt automatically to changing workloads and reduce cost. Expect to hear more about virtualization as technologies and trends impact the holy grail of Green IT, better management of resources, and lower costs.
6. Mashup & Composite Apps
Composite Applications are the assembly of existing components in IT with Web based applications, typically using older generation program language languages and developed by professional programmers. On the other hand, mashups are remarkably simple and basic infusion of web services with browser-side java, to connect things together. Mashups simply gather existing data from multiple web resources to either present the data together, assemble and calculate the information to create new data, or create new functionality. Mashups are small pieces of data, loosely joined. There are five types of mashups:
i. Presentation Mashup gathers data from multiple sources and lists the data together.
ii. Client-side Data Mashup gathers data from remote web sites or data feeds and processes the data in a client database or application to analyze it or create a new result.
iii. Client-side Software Mashup uses code in the client side web browser to create distinct new capabilities for gathering and utilizing data captured through the browser.
iv Server-side Software Mashup is already very common as evident by the thousands of open Web APIs currently available. The server collects data from the client.
v. Server-side Data Mashup is the linking and connecting of data between servers. It is already very common to share data between servers and databases, but the fascinating new trend is that this type of data collection and manipulation is happening at a much higher level.
As client-side applications enable users to access data with web browsers and to mashup data without professional programmers, the evolution changes from how to gather diverse data into how to compare, analyze, and use the data. Once immediate access to mashup data from diverse web resources becomes commonplace, metadata management becomes even more crucial to identify trends, recognize commonalities, and develop predictive applications for accurate forecasts and customer-centric customization.
What company is setting the pace with mashup & composite apps? Google
7. Web Platform & WOA
Emerging web applications provide Software as a Service (SaaS) as a viable option to access infrastructure services, information, applications, and business processes though simple and easy to use web browsers. The web based "cloud computing" environments may access a single source for data, applications, or resources for client queries and reporting. However, as metadata management and mashups become more sophisticated and commonplace, web platform Software as a Service will increasingly enable the recombination of data from multiple data sources, applications, and resources. This evolution enables real time data collection, comparison, analysis, application and resource allocation through web portals, reducing direct data or service connectivity, and allowing significantly greater user flexibility.
What company is setting the pace with Web Platform, API, and Software as a Service initiatives? Amazon
8. Computing Fabric
In the evolution of servers as storage devices, we witnessed the progression of big iron from tape drives to hard drives, and the management of all data on one drive to storing data on an array of drives as a means to expand storage and recover from catastrophic failure. In other words, multiple devices shared access and resources to store data. This concept evolved into blade servers, enabling the networking of multiple efficient devices. The next evolution of the computing fabric is the introduction of technology to treat the network of blade servers as the sum of the components from each of the blades. Rather than manage each blade server as a whole device, the new technology will treat memory, processors, I/O cards and components as a pool of resources, combining and recombining these resources as necessary to appear as an operating system on a fixed single server.
Managing the computing fabric will take the smallest measurable pieces of the networked hardware and recombine resources to achieve Green IT low cost power consumption, better use of hardware resources, and treat hardware combinations in much the same way that mashups converge diverse small pieces of data into single serving results on demand.
9. Real World Web
The term real world web refers to enabling information applicable to a particular location, activity, or context relevant to the real world. Unlike virtual worlds that can be created and manipulated for a particular purpose or entertainment, real world web is intended to augment reality with real-time and real world situations. GPS Navigation, for example, can provide real time directions that react to movement and direction. Airline updates, for example, can alert a user to on-time availability or delays associated with flight departures or arrivals.
Now imagine that you have a flight to another city, real time traffic updates and GPS to bypass congestion, and this schedule is mashed up with web based reservations at a preferred restaurant to entertain a valued customer. Your reservation could be automatically adjusted to accommodate flight or traffic delays. The restaurant would be automatically alerted to the change in schedule and may adjust seating accordingly. The GPS may provide alternative routes to avoid heavy congestion or accidents. The value customer would receive a web based calendar alert to unexpected flight delays, enabling your valued customer to occupy time with other important tasks while you are still in flight. The directions, navigation, reservations, and customer clients updates can be managed automatically with real world web.
Another use for real world web integrates posted gasoline prices with GPS navigation devices. This enables the user to identify and select from gas stations with lower posted prices using the real world web.
What company is setting the pace for delivering Real World Web applications? Microsoft
10. Social Software
The term social software is typically associated with a wide range of web applications that enable users to interact and share with other users. YouTube, MySpace, and LinkedIn are some examples of social sites. Social software typically facilitates a more egalitarian community development in which membership is voluntary, reputation is earned by winning the trust of other members, and the mission and governance of the community is defined by the members of the community. Social software reflects the asymmetrical traits of social networks, and a mutual link between users. You can choose to accept or not accept content or connections.
Social software and social networks are evolving at an astounding pace, and are as diverse as human interests. Social networks exist for business, career guidance or changes, on line gaming, common interests, entertainment, hobbies, staying in touch with contacts, and meeting new people.
What companies are setting the pace with Social Software? YouTube, MySpace, and LinkedIn
Summary
So what is happening? There is so much data, information, applications, and individual contact available through web connections that it has become necessary to break things down into the smallest components and categorize these components in such a way as to maximize efficiency, access, collaboration, recombination, and real time application. Green IT seeks to identify the components of hardware and resources to maximize efficiency, reduce e-waste, and reduce power consumption. Unified communications is breaking down data, voice, and video into streams that can be shared by mobile and web based devices. Business Process Models organize the small bits of data, applications, and resources to design future architecture and integrate analytics are users and clients become a part of the development process. Metadata management identifies commonalities and creates smaller models to organize the data. Mashups take these diverse pieces of data and present them or process them in a manner that produces a new understanding or result. Web platforms and Software as a Service empower mashups and data access. Virtualization 2.0 and Computing Fabric apply the same concepts to the hardware that store, access, and serve up this data, voice, and video. Real World Web integrates all of this with our environment and surroundings. Social software makes individuals a part of the process, identifying and connecting smaller pieces of personal interests with individuals that share similar experiences or interests.
The trend for the next three years is to break down data, voice, video, applications, hardware, and individual interests into the smallest denominators and then to identify and recombine based them on user defined requirements and commonalities.
Companies should factor these technologies into their strategic planning process by asking key questions and making deliberate decisions about them during the next two years,” said David Cearley, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “Sometimes the decision will be to do nothing with a particular technology. In other cases it will be to continue investing in the technology at the current rate. In still other cases, the decision may be to test/pilot or more aggressively adopt/deploy the technology. The important thing is to ask the question and proactively plan.”
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Words of Wisdom
"Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons." - Popular Mechanics, March 1949
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."- Arthur C. Clarke
"Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand."- Putt's Law
"Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done." - Andy Rooney
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Read the details of Gartner's predictions for the top 10 strategic technologies for 2008.http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=530109
You may distribute this article freely, print it, sell it, or include it as part of a package as long as it is intact, unchanged and delivered in the original format with acknowledgement to Executive Blueprints Inc.
About the Author:
John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving business practices and developing human capital. www.ExecutiveBlueprints.com provides resource materials for trainers, sample Case Studies, educational articles and references to local affiliates for consulting and executive coaching. http://www.InstituteforAdvancedLeadership.com provides self-paced tutorials for personal development and tools for trainers. Presentation materials, reference guides and exercises are available for continuous development.
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