I’ve read wisps of ‘smart grid’ technology in documents describing upcoming enterprise software functionality (namely, PeopleSoft), but the macro market is clearly shaping up. Cisco – whose networking gear is heavily smattered across the internet infrastructure landscape – sees a $20B/year opportunity to give the aging, analog electrical grid a much-needed digital facelift. Cisco’s move
Read More...For many, the notion of Business Intelligence (BI) is simply means a reporting tool or the ho-hum ability to extract data from a source system. However, with today’s technology having moved way past BI’s introductory stigma, enterprise BI is another animal entirely. Certainly reporting is part of the equation, but there are key differences between
Read More...As many in the PeopleSoft world may or may not know, Oracle is on the verge of releasing PeopleTools 8.5 this year. This release is significant because of some of the advances that have been incorporated into it. Many of the enhancements are going to greatly improve the end-user experience, and rumor has it that
Read More...I keep going back to Robert Scoble’s essay about what businesses can learn from Zappos, especially from management, ethics and culture standpoints. Scoble was lucky enough to spend some time inside the company, including a good discussion with Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. This admittedly long post will eventually lead to what gives a company its
Read More...These days, almost all ‘traditional’ advertising equates to voluntary contributions to the ocean of ad noise out there that nobody pays attention to. It’s boring, wordsmithed into the ground, filed so that every possible catchy edge has been worn into dust. It’s been reviewed by legal and boundary-cased so that no possible negative impression can
Read More...Something we discuss all the time when talking to our prospects and clients, as consultants often find themselves facing myriad information: I learned back in the days when I was consulting that they give you more information than you could possibly read. So you needed to quickly step back and say, “What are the two
Read More...You can’t step inside an RSS reader or Twitter today without reading about the Oracle/Sun acquisition, so I’ll assume for a moment that most everyone knows that Oracle plans to buy Sun for $7.4B or $9.50 per share in cash. I’ll also assume that everyone has heard Ellison’s definite (and somewhat foreboding, especially if you’re
Read More...“We can afford to lose money. We can afford to lose a lot of money. But we cannot afford to lose one shred of our reputation. Make sure everything you do can be reported on the front page of your local newspaper written by an unfriendly, but intelligent reporter.” – Warren Buffett
Read More...AdAge has a smart piece in which Venture Capitalist Fred Wilson tells companies not to buy media but “earn” it: As a venture capitalist, Mr. Wilson said, he’s funding companies that address the new marketing paradigm, from earned-media platforms such as Twitter and social video site Boxee to next-generation ad agencies such as Federated Media
Read More...In my last post, I tried to lay the foundation for the value of aligning business metrics to make all areas of your business more strategic and value-rich. Let’s see if I can take it a step further by way of illustration. Let’s assume a scenario involving a roadway construction company. The top priority corporate
Read More...