Latest News from Hollis Tibbetts

ARM Server to Transform #BigData to #IoT | @CloudExpo #IIoT #AI #ML #DX

Wed, 17 May 2017 19:45:00 EDT

A completely new computing platform is on the horizon. They’re called Microservers by some, ARM Servers by others, and sometimes even ARM-based Servers. No matter what you call them, Microservers will have a huge impact on the data center and on server computing in general. Although few people are familiar with Microservers today, their impact will be felt very soon. This is a new category of computing platform that is available today and is predicted to have triple-digit growth rates for some years to come - growing to over 20% of the server market by 2016 according to Oppenheimer ("Cloudy With A Chance of ARM" Oppenheimer Equity Research Industry Report).

Internet of Things and Wearables in 2015 By @SoftwareHollis | @ThingsExpo [#IoT]

Thu, 08 Jan 2015 13:00:00 EST

To date, wearables have been such a disappointment in the market. The market is rife with ugly and semi-functional wearable devices that rarely manage more than a 3-star rating on Amazon. Will 2015 be any different? Thirty days into my Pebble experience, I'm somewhat hooked - and eagerly look forward to a more advanced generation of wearables. Perhaps the "iWatch" will be it. My ownership experience has hardly been perfect - the functionality and the apps are pretty limited, and the link between my iPhone and the watch can be a bit fussy every now and again. Personally, I think the Pebble looks clunky (although quite a few people have commented that it's "sleek" or at least "interesting"). For what it's worth, nobody ever comments on the Swiss timepieces that I used to wear.

SaaS and Cloud Sprawl By @SoftwareHollis | @CloudExpo [#SaaS #Cloud]

Sun, 12 Oct 2014 22:00:00 EDT

The proliferation of SaaS and Cloud applications has a dark side - the disconnect between IT and the application owners. IT is aware of only about 1 in 7 of the Cloud applications in their organization, raising issues ranging from compliance to security to backup and recovery.

To Heck with 'Big Data,' 'Little Data' Is the Problem Most Face | @BigDataExpo

Sat, 04 Oct 2014 10:30:00 EDT

"Big data" gets all the press - but for the vast majority of people who work with data, it's the proliferation of "little data" that impacts us the most. What do I mean by little data? I'm referring to the proliferation of various SaaS and Cloud-based applications, on-premises applications, databases, spreadsheets, log files, data files and so forth. Many organizations are plagued with multiple instances of the same applications or multiple applications from different vendors that do essentially the same thing. These are the applications and data that run today's enterprise - and they're a mess.

Sorry - no longer available

Sat, 06 Sep 2014 12:00:00 EDT

No longer available.

ARM Server to Transform Big Data to Internet of Things (#IoT)

Wed, 06 Aug 2014 07:15:00 EDT

According to Chris Piedmonte, CEO of Suvola Corporation - a software and services company focused on creating preconfigured and scalable Microserver appliances for deploying large-scale enterprise applications, "the Microserver market is poised to grow by leaps and bounds - because companies can leverage this kind of technology to deploy systems that offer 400% better cost-performance at half the total cost of ownership. These organizations will also benefit from the superior reliability, reduced space and power requirements, and lower cost of entry provided by Microserver platforms".

Should Cloud Be Part of Your Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan?

Sun, 20 Jul 2014 12:00:00 EDT

The introduction of the Cloud has enabled the fast and agile data recovery process which is effectively more efficient than restoring data from physical drives as was the former practice. How does this impact Backup & Recovery, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity initiatives? Cloud backup is the new approach to data storage and backup which allows the users to store a copy of the data on an offsite server - accessible via the network. The network that hosts the server may be private or a public one, and is often managed by some third-party service provider. Therefore, the provision of cloud solution for the data recovery services is a flourishing business market whereby the service provider charges the users in exchange for server access, storage space and bandwidth, etc.

Flourishing ARM Server Market Creates Opportunity – for Software

Sun, 25 Aug 2013 12:00:00 EDT

ARM-based Servers are poised to shake up the traditional Server market. This will also shake up the software market – creating opportunity for new vendors who choose to specialize in delivering solutions for this emerging computing platform. "There's a new class of technologies poised to shake up the Server market - the Microserver, sometimes called the ARM Server. But the Microserver will do more than shake up the X86 server market. It is going to shake up the software market as well." That's the message software and technology executive Chris Piedmonte, CEO and founder of Austin, TX-based Suvola Corporation delivered as we discussed the topic over coffee earlier this week.

A New and Innovative Computing Platform: the ARM Server

Mon, 19 Aug 2013 01:45:00 EDT

A new and innovative computing platform has arrived - the ARM Server, often referred to as a "Microserver".

Mozilla FirefoxOS – a Classic Marketing/Technology #FAIL

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:32:55 EST

In a world of iOS, Android, Windows 8 – who needs another Mobile Operating System? One has to wonder what the folks over at Mozilla are thinking with their newly announced Firefox OS for mobile devices. According to the latest IDC Research reports, Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows and Linux accounted for 98.7% of all smartphone shipments in Q4 2012 (IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, 2/14/2012). That leaves scant market opportunity for anyone trying to get into this market. The top five players have already established their positions in the market - with each owning a segment of the market that has substantial (and perhaps insurmountable) barriers to entry.

Why Infrastructure Technology Is Challenging

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 05:00:00 EDT

One of the most challenging things about being an advocate for a broad horizontally applicable technology is that it does not solve a particular business problem. Instead, it solves about 100,000 business problems. That means that everyone is impacted by it, yet nobody is particularly interested in it. What's the solution? Perhaps it's to reframe the discussion around specific business or technology problems that people face - like Legacy Application Modernization, Quote to Cash automation, the Recruit to Retire process or Procure to Pay.

The Power of Technology (and People) in Customer Service

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:14:56 EDT

Last week, I was the "victim" of a technology-induced Customer Service disaster - the result of powerful technology being improperly used. This week, customer service guru Micah Solomon comments on the situation. Here's a quick re-cap: I bought a semi-expensive electronic gadget - a $400 radar detector. When it arrived, it wasn't working properly. I went to the manufacturers' website for an answer and found none. I clicked on the "Chat" button to speak with a support person, and was told that the support center was closed, but if I detailed my problem, someone would get back to me. I spent the time to type in a long and detailed description of my problem. A couple of days later, I got the following email response "It is good to hear from you! Please feel free to give us a call and we will be glad to help. Thanks for your interest in Beltronics!"

Legacy Modernization

Fri, 11 May 2012 09:45:00 EDT

IT exists to support the business - and in best-of-class IT departments, this truism is embedded deeply into the departmental culture. Yet in so many cases, this self-evident truth gets lost in the mayhem of building, maintaining and supporting the myriad of complicated and brittle legacy application systems that have been put together over the years to support the enterprise's business. Legacy Application Modernization is a transformative initiative that has the potential to not only change the way IT supports the business, but to change the very nature and culture of IT.

Are Your Online Support Tools Ruining Your Business?

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 09:00:00 EDT

Guns are dangerous - as well as useful weapons. Online customer support tools - such as Chat can also be useful... or dangerous. Here's one example of what NOT to do. This same principal needs to be applied to Online Customer Service tools. Customer Service is one of the most important - and certainly the most "delicate" thing that impacts the customer (or ownership) "experience". And the "ownership experience" is what shapes the Brand. And companies live and die by how well their Brand does (just ask Apple). Companies have the ability to acquire numerous and excellent Customer Service "weapons". Online Chat. Automatic "problem resolution" engines. Social Media filtering and dashboards. Multi-channel helpdesk. Moderated Forums. Knowledge-bases. And so on.

Technology Marketing "Done Right"

Mon, 14 May 2012 09:48:00 EDT

Most technology companies - especially Software companies do marketing all wrong. They make marketing all about "them". I call it "me-me-me" marketing. Marketing for technology should be about "the customer" - and how to make the customer successful. There are a few examples of software technology marketing done right - and one of them is Zendesk with their "Customer Hero Tour". Zuora is also high on my list. Zendesk has set the bar for technology companies on the most critical marketing "best practice" of all.

Modernization of IT: Solving a Legacy of Business Problems & Applications

Thu, 10 May 2012 09:30:00 EDT

I talk to a lot of CIOs. I met with one recently who oversees the IT operation of a $6 Billion yearly entertainment-related company with about 7,000 employees. This top-notch exec was all about transforming a huge investment in existing IT infrastructure into a new dynamic, extensible and agile platform that would propel the business forward - not hold it back. This guy is busy figuring out how to keep a Boeing 777 up in the air while simultaneously re-fitting aircraft to make it best-in-class. That's what IT should be all about.

Gartner Research VP Pezzini - Rare Live Discussion on Integration

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:20:49 EDT

If you want a chance to hear what Gartner VP and Fellow Massimo Pezzini has to say about Integration - and ask questions (without having to pony up big big bucks for a Gartner Research subscription), now is your chance. I have not been a big fan of the various research reports that have come out of Gartner Research lately on the topic of Integration - in particular the "iPaaS" series of reports. In fact, I have been quite vocal in my suggestions for improvement - with three articles on the topic on ebizQ alone.

Twenty-Thousand Men Pregnant Because of Bad Data

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:30:00 EDT

Millions or even billions have been spent caring for tens of thousands of pregnant men in the U.K. For UK’s chronically underfunded National Health System, a few hundred million or a few billion is a very big deal. Especially given how easily this problem could have been prevented with properly designed applications, integration software, and diagnosis codes. Using manual data or application integration techniques; poorly designed codes that are easy to mis-enter; badly written applications that don't check for basic things like "If you're a guy, you're probably not pregnant" - all a recipe for expensive disaster. And all common place. Bad Data and Sick Applications. And simply unacceptable.

Will Gartner Research Clarify or Confuse Cloud-based Integration?

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:59:18 EDT

I have not been a big fan of the various Cloud-enabled Data and Application Integration ("iPaaS") Research Reports that have ome out of Gartner Research. In fact, I have been quite vocal in my suggestions for improvement - with three articles on the topic on ebizQ alone. But I'm looking forward to a live webinar on April 24, featuring the architect of iPaaS, in the hope that it will clarify the topic.

The End of Software? And That's a Good Thing

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:30:00 EDT

The age of Software might just be over. And I’m glad. It’s not that software will disappear forever, but increasingly, it will be difficult for the traditional software business model to compete against “Software as a Service” business models.

The Build vs. Buy Debate for Integration Continues...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:00:00 EDT

The build vs. buy debate for integration stacks continues unabated. Robin Smith from Virtual Logistics interviews Hollis Tibbetts to get to the bottom of this important issue. I had a great phone conversation with (SaaS Integration pioneer) Boomi founder Rick Nucci about a month ago on the build vs. buy topic - specifically why some continue to believe that building their own integration middleware stack is a good idea, despite the mountains of evidence that it makes no sense to do so. For the most part, nobody today thinks about building their own Relational Database (I remember when that was not the case) - yet people persist in wanting to build their own integration stacks.

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 07:45:00 EST

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.

Data Services: The Cloud and SOA

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:15:00 EST

Enterprises AND software companies seeking competitive advantage through IT innovation should be aware of this technology shift and actively defining strategies for capitalizing on it. The principles behind Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) were established long before the Internet became a force, and certainly before the appearance of Cloud infrastructure. Although many people consider SOA as well as Cloud to all about ways of building, deploying and managing applications, these technologies and methodologies are also important in making "big data" useful and manageable. Indeed, SOA and Cloud are increasingly becoming so intertwined as to cause major confusion in the marketplace. Let's be clear - there's SOA, and there's Cloud and there's the intersection of SOA and Cloud. That intersection is a very exciting place to be. I remember long discussions on things like CICS which embodied many of the principals behind SOA, and I'm sure there are technologies (and methodologies) older than that which similarly embody various principals of Cloud as well as SOA). Like so many things in this industry, the more things change, the more they seem strangely (though never entirely) similar. I suppose that's evolution for you.

Dell's New Software Division - Great News for Dell

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:30:00 EST

Some companies get it. Others wander around in the fog and think that it's a "Cloud". In case you've missed it, 2012 has been the year of some amazing strategic moves by Dell. If you think Dell isn't a software vendor, you're dead wrong. Dell "gets it" - SaaS, Software & Cloud. Dell is making some exciting waves in the "solutions" business. Building on the momentum as a result of the acquisition of Perot Systems some years ago and a buying spree where they acquired a host of best-of-breed software solutions such as Boomi (Cloud-based Integration Platform),Dell has just announced a newly created Software Division and has appointed veteran John Swainson as president, reporting to Michael Dell.

Story of a 'Bad' Category - Gartner's iPaaS for Cloud and SaaS Integration

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:45:00 EST

"Categories" are supposed to help. But sometimes they hurt. When they help, they reduce confusion. When they hurt, they cause confusion. Helpful categories is one of those "Best Practices" that is high on my list of important things. Gartner's "iPaaS" confuses. When properly applied, categories help us, mentally organize otherwise difficult, unfamiliar, new, abstract and sometimes seemingly arbitrary things into various discrete buckets in a way that is useful in making decisions - for example, what kind of Minivan to buy - all Minivans have a set of similar characteristics, and helps people by instantly identifying a set of similar vehicles to evaluate when buying a new car.

Is Your Integration Platform a Relic?

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:30:00 EST

As companies increasingly adopt more and more SaaS/Cloud based applications, as more and more data are cloud-based, and as social networking data becomes increasingly critical to sales, marketing and customer satisfaction applications, the "old style" integration stacks that were originally created to run on PCs or On-Premises Servers will be a non-optimal solution. This is the normal evolution of things. The mainframe-centric nature of computing gave way to Client/Server which in turn gave way to Internet and then SaaS/Cloud. Just like Mainframe-based applications could never really be retrofitted to be good client/server applications, or how non-relational databases never really worked well with SQL front-ends slapped on, Older architectures (Server or LAN-based application integration suites) can't simply been retrofitted or wrappered to become sky-based.

If You Think Your Data Is a Mess Now...

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:00:00 EST

If you think your data is a mess now...just wait. It will get worse, if you're not careful. Maybe even if you ARE careful. That loud rumbling sound you hear isn't thunder, or an earthquake--it's the noise from an avalanche of exploding volumes of data, in places and formats that never existed before. This explosion is making a difficult situation even more challenging, and what's worse, it has a direct impact on business productivity. Only 21% of CEOs have the comprehensive information they need about their customers to make strategic decisions, according to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers CEO report. As with so many other data challenges (such as data quality), the best approach to managing exploding volumes of data--data in a multiplicity of new places and formats--is planning. The avalanche of disparate data, formats and applications has exacerbated a classic organizational challenge: critical data about customers stored in a myriad of different places and formats inside the enterprise, ranging from spreadsheets to databases to various enterprise systems (such as CRM or ERP) as well as various types of structured and unstructured data files.

Apple's Surprising and Disappointing Marketing Fail - Software Malpractice?

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 06:00:00 EST

Apple’s Surprising Marketing Blunder. Along with hoards of other people, I upgraded my perfectly good iPhone 4 for the new iPhone 4S. Am I happy? No. It's a Product and Marketing #FAIL. Shocking - coming from the best marketing and product development company in the galaxy. I "listened" to the iPhone 4S launch - from live blog streams. I was honestly quite disappointed. A faster processor? The iPhone 4 was fast enough for me. Same "defective" exposed-glass design that is guaranteed to shatter the first time you drop it (my first iPhone 4 lasted two days). Heck, you can't even show your new iPhone off because it looks identical to the old one. No crowds of people asking you "what do you think of your new iPhone????"

How to Wreck a Good Product in 90 Days or Less

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:00:00 EST

The purpose of this article is to tell you how to take a perfectly good (or even a great) product that you’ve potentially spent years and millions of dollars creating - and thoroughly and efficiently ruin it in the shortest amount of time possible. “Why would I want to do that?”, you might ask. Honestly, I don’t know why. But there must be a good reason because I see it happen with shocking regularity.

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.

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?

Klout.com: When Messing with People’s Lives, You’d Better Be Transparent

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:03:00 EDT

Netflix's most recent antics infuriated some, amused others and bored most. But one thing about Netflix - Netflix never tried to potentially impact your social and economic life (and not tell you about it). That's not true with Klout. Not familiar with Klout.com? Not all that many people are - I only signed up for it this week, more out of curiosity than anything else after I read an article on it on Engadget - curious about Klout giving away Windows phones that I didn't want anyways.

Netflix Shocker: Confidence Crisis

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:45:00 EDT

The last six months have been disastrous for Netflix and Netflix CEO Hastings. The latest surprise - spooking investors with projected losses into next year, and with results for the most recent quarter significantly lower than even bearish analyst expectations. Why are investors fleeing? Simple - they've lost faith in Netflix leadership. Netflix Inc. (NFLX) dropped the most in seven years after the video-rental service said it lost 800,000 U.S. subscribers in the third quarter, more than expected, and predicted more cancellations over a price increase. Netflix plunged 37 percent to $75.28 at 9:39 a.m. New York time, for the biggest intraday decline since October 2004. The stock closed at an all-time high of $298.73 on July 13, according to Bloomberg data. The outlook suggests Netflix has been unable to contain a subscriber revolt over a price increase and aborted plan to force subscribers into separate streaming and DVD services. The company now forecasts losses in 2012 because of costs to offer content in the U.K. and Ireland, and will delay further expansion until profitability is restored.

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.

Question: Why Is IT Project Failure Always an Option?

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT

Innovation to Shake Up the Software Industry: RedMonk's Analyst Conference

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:10:00 EDT

RedMonk's yearly analyst conference clearly sent the message that developers are driving change throughout the software industry. And the changes that they are creating are both technological and social. That was big takeaway that I got from Monktoberfest. We are talking about sotware innovation that is coming from developers - typically individual developers or developers who are self-selecting themselves to work on projects in small, medium or large groups. These projects are becoming the platforms, frameworks, enabling technologies and foundations that the rest of the world's software will increasingly be based on.

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".

RedMonk's Monktoberfest Conference: What You Missed

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:55:00 EDT

Please kill this article

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.

Why Is IT Project Failure Always an Option?

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:15:00 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. You'd think that we'd be smarter about IT projects by now. You think that we'd be tired of the horrifying rates of failure, and the crushing consequences of those failures. But 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.

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.

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

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.

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.