In 1996, at Gartner I observed that consultant travel expenses on many ERP projects often exceeded the cost of the core software. While things have improved somewhat since, and the industry has moved to remote delivery models from around the globe, consultant travel and related impact on project productivity and morale continues to be a major waste in many IT budgets as I wrote here.
So it is good to see Accenture adopt telepresence in a big way. It is a perfect application for a global, people intensive business. But the usage seems internal, not on client projects. It would be nice to hear how Accenture is planning to cut client specific travel.
Then I see Scoble interview Chandrakant Patel, HP Fellow about the Data Center of the Future. He is bristling with ideas on energy savings, and other data center efficiencies. As I wrote in Data Center Makeover, it is fascinating all the innovations happening in DCs.
It is fine for HP to talk about this and their internal global data center consolidation project, but these do not really describe the older, much less efficient infrastructure the majority of clients get their services delivered from.
Be nice to see Accenture and HP and the rest of the outsourcing industry pass along the efficiencies of these innovations.
