deal architect

People! More Government is Not Good!

There has been spirited debate (read the comments in particular) about SOX and SAP's GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance) in the last couple of days at Thomas Otter's and Dennis Howlett's

The debate to me goes way beyond arcane sections of the law. Every dollar spent on compliance IT - and by some estimates in the last few years it is up to 15% of IT budgets - sucks oxygen that could be used towards innovation. It is frustrating for my firm to save clients on utility spend, only to see that money not go towards innovation but compliance.

Even more bothersome is we may be glamorizing government regulation.

As I commented on Thomas's

"I cannot believe so many of you think government policy has caused the stock market stabilization(or improved investor confidence in the last few years)

Or that SAP which has mostly private sector customers is continuing to push the “compliance is good” agenda.

Here’s Fortune’s take (about perceptions of business versus government) from the same article I quoted (in my post Shambala)

“For all that business has done to rehabilitate itself since, a significant factor has been what government has failed to do. It did not become the hero the public wanted. In the fight against terror, polling shows, just over half of Americans think the Iraq war made the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorism, not less so. Washington scandals - the Jack Abramoff lobbying mess, the Mark Foley sex mess - reminded voters that politicians can be every bit as sleazy as any executive.

One episode did more than any other to turn attitudes around. That was Hurricane Katrina, when government at nearly every level looked utterly incompetent while businesses became the heroes. FedEx delivered 440 tons of relief supplies, mostly at no charge. Wal-Mart meteorologists informed managers that Katrina was headed for New Orleans more than 12 hours before the National Weather Service told the public; the company later hauled millions of dollars of supplies into the worst-hit areas days before FEMA showed up.”

Local Delivery Model

NY Times writes about the "Dabbawallas" of Mumbai, India. It is a supply chain optimization marvel.

Made me wonder what Indian firms which talk about global delivery models while struggling with wage and rate inflation and rampant staff turnover at home, could do to emulate the dabbawallas and their Six Sigma local delivery model.

No hype, just hot results day after day.  For under $ 5  a month

Surface Computing: a Killer app?

I bitched recently about MS's lack of innovation for the corporate customer...and so along comes its launch of Microsoft Surface. Three corporate customers - Harrah's, Starwood Hotels, T-Mobile - are early adopters all for high traffic location applications.

When I saw pictures this afternoon I had sense of deja vu. About a year ago I was discussing  interactive chess sets at a kid's tournament and how such a surface  device could automate notation of their moves and how it could be used to pipe the game  to a hotel room so parents could watch in the comfort of their rooms their kids play.  That had introduced me to Mitsubishi's DiamondTouch.  But they have only sold 100 tables in 6 years. I expect Microsoft will do a bit better.

Apple's iPhone will soon bring a fluid UI to the small screen. Are the days of the keyboard and the mouse finally numbered? Not surprisingly Gates and Jobs are in the midst of the action again.

The ITILity Delivery Model

It's been a long time coming. IBM had yellow books for data center operations decades ago. The world got much more complex as we moved to laptops, mobile devices, IP infrastructures. And now back to SaaS and other centralized models.

So it is good to see ITIL gather momentum across a wide range of IT disciplines:

Service Level Management
Security Management
Financial Management
Incident Management
Availability Management
Problem Management
Capacity Management
Change Management
Continuity Management
Release Management
Service Desk
Configuration Management

These standards homogenize expectations around processes and service levels and form a fundamental building block for utility computing. Now if outsourcing vendors - including IBM - would just resist temptation to customize rather than deliver the scale from their plants and grids, the real payback from ITIL will really come through.

SaCS baby steps

A few weeks ago,  Lawson announced its version of "SaaS". Ok, so it is not multi-tenant, and it is only one application, but I was impressed with IBM's pricing of $ 75 per user per month for the hosting and application management services.

I have written before incumbent customers of SAP, Oracle, Lawson and other enterprise apps cannot just toss their existing implementation and just move to a NetSuite. They would be better off with what I call SaCS.

Of course, in the same announcement Lawson says customers would need to "purchase maintenance contracts as they do currently". My definition of SaCS includes significantly lowered maintenance.

In the end what Lawson and IBM charge together has to be competitive with the single consolidated price of NetSuite or salesforce.com.

Still a ways to go.

The Final Days of Peyton Manning...

..ok got your attention like Cringely did mine with his The Final Days of Google.

Come on, buddy, enjoy the moment. Of course, Peyton will retire some day. And Google may slow down and screw up. But for now, let's enjoy the fact it is built to delight, not worry about whether it is to last.

So don't give Google hell for coming up with too many ideas. Even if it cannot commercialize 95% of the ideas, it is keeping the industry on its toes. Not just software vendors like Microsoft and Oracle. If HP is not worried about Google - it should be. Google is a major server manufacturer in its own right. If EDS is not worried about Google setting the bar for SLAs with its up-time and response time, around the world it should be. If Verizon is not worried about Google with its municipal wi-fi, dark fibre,  click-to-call from Google Maps, it should be. As I wrote here - everyone's gunning for it - which means it is also in many, many promising markets. Along with Yahoo!, eBay, amazon and a bunch of start ups, it is redefining the technology landscape.

And may be, just may be this innovative company may have a clue or two on how to keep harnessing the talent pool it is putting together. A scenario Cringely does not consider.

But even if it screws up, I am glad I am watching history be made.  I know I will tell my grand children "I was there when ...."

Shambala

"Wash away my sorrows, wash away my shame..." Three Dog Night

Fortune's cover screams "Business is back".

"No CEO dares say it, yet it must be said: The shaming is over. The 5 1/2-year humiliation of American business following the tech bubble's burst and the Lay-Skilling-Fastow-Ebbers-Kozlowski-Scrushy perp walks that will forever define an era has run its course. After the pounding and the ridicule, penance has finally been done."

And Rep. Oxley of Sarbanes-Oxley fame  now says  ""Frankly, I would have written it differently, and he would have written it differently," he added, referring to Sarbanes. "But it was not normal times."

Wish he had said that 3 years ago - but sounds like we are back to "normal times" after pissing away billions on gun-to-the-head compliance spend.

So, I had to double check James Governor's post - SAP's Governance, Compliance and Risk (GRC) is the "new ERP" to make sure it was not dated 5 years ago. Like DUET - a bit after its time?

But then I read it's not just about SOX. He goes on to talk about exposure to pollution and a whole bunch of other emerging  social responsibility expectations.  And I go, may be GRC is 5 years ahead of is time.

I mean I would love to see SAP's GRC being able to pinpoint

- which of my balance sheet items are hiding slush funds?

- which of my suppliers are using sweat shops around the world?

- which of my factories are potential Bhopals?

- what is the carbon emission from my facilities, my fleet etc?

So, I could go the Google mirror on the wall and ask "What shall I do tomorrow?’" and next to the SAP GRC mirror and ask "What risks will I be taking tomorrow?"

And then expect insurance payouts from both for not protecting me from various risks and eager lawmakers like Rep. Oxley.

In the mean time, I am glad I see the flowers in the mirror in my brother and sister's eyes. On the road to Shambala. Not going to be easy to shame or guilt corporations in to buying stuff.

Let’s call a spade a spade

On this Memorial Day, I am even angrier with the Middle East. Last year I wrote "The snot faced child demands attention by throwing tantrums." And continues to claim our young. Without showing much gratitude for the sacrifice. The world and even many Americans blame our President,but  let's not forget what a mess that part of the world is. While there are clear exceptions like Dubai, that part of the world, endowed with so much wealth could do so much more positive.

So I am glad others are commenting similarly:

Courtesy of Sadagopan I saw The Middle of Nowhere

Colin Powell in a speech earlier this year said ""Six billion people are trying to move forward, and 150 million in the Middle East band are a cause of trouble,""

Let's finish up in Iraq and start moving away from dependence on their oil. Let's focus on the positive energy in other places in the world. Our young deserve better.

More Innovation

on my New Florence blog

Wikipedia and other eye candy
Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project
Tech Savvy Dogs
China's Instant Cities
DIY Technology
"The Internet of Things"

Technology and Indy 500

Last year I wrote about technology at Indy 500

This year, we move to all ethanol

We have it broadcast in HD

More fan games

We get to enjoy the Linux Penguin race around

And the winner gets to enjoy improvements in milk technology

Last year I wrote about technology at Indy 500

This year, we move to all ethanol

We have it broadcast in HD

More fan games

We get to enjoy the Linux Penguin race around

And the winner gets to enjoy improvements in milk technology