The technology news supply chain

My friend Brian Sommer recently pointed out “On 5/14/2012, SAP, NetSuite, Plex Online, Host Analytics and other vendors(?) are all having their user conferences.” Clearly, that will be a busy news week. But it made me think about the news supply chain and how it mirrors the volatile technology supply chain.

In an interview for my upcoming book with Tony Prophet, a senior vice president, overseeing hardware purchasing and logistics for HP, discussed the complexity of demand and supply chain planning. It is a massive operation -  HP churns out two personal computers a second, two printers a second, and a data center server every 15 seconds.  While there are thousands of wrinkles, broadly he talked about:

a) Long term shifts

Absorbing the various acquisitions HP has made – removing redundancies that Compaq, 3 Com and others brought. Adjusting to product transitions – PCs to laptops to tablets. Buy versus build transitions and global manufacturing shifts

b) Short term blimps

Increased demand around back-to-school campaigns, Black Friday
promotions, or regional holidays like the Chinese New Year

c) Unplanned events

He described the acrobatics HP had to go through after the Eyjafjallajokull
volcano explosion and the Japanese tsunami.

Now about the technology news supply chain and how I see it feed content for my books, blogs, consulting and speeches and how it has similar long term and short term patterns.

a) Long term shifts

As Intel rolls out its Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, and Haswell processor families over the next couple of years, as Microsoft rolls out its Windows 8, and manufacturers like HP and others roll out various thin and light form/factors we are about to witness an epic battle between Ultrabooks and Tablets. That story will, however, take years to develop. As I read Dr. Michio Kaku’s Physics of the Future, he lays out a roadmap for countless technologies all the way through 2100. There are countless long term stories to explore.

b) Short term blimps

Beyond the week Brian talks about above, there are so many more year round. Every January, the Consumer Electronics Show and the President’s State of the Union bring plenty of science and technology news. February brings the Super Bowl and the Oscars, which year after year become  richer in technology application and content. This year’s Presidential race is bringing focus on polling and forecasting technologies, growing influence of social media, and the candidates’ positions on science and technology issues.

c) Unplanned events

In updating edits of my last two books, I have been amazed at how many major and minor technology news items break on an everyday basis. Some are major like Steve Jobs’ passing, others are more localized -  people I had profiled who changed jobs, companies made acquisitions, lawsuits were filed, and countless other events most of us would not notice on a routine basis.

A challenge for technology marketers

Companies spend marketing dollars heavily at their events, analyst tours, and product launches. Most, however, rarely consider the other news they are competing with. It may sound like noise, but it often drowns out what they are trying to present. In many cases they would be better off with a more constant stream of news rather than heavily concentrated bursts in the form of their events or tours.