Archive for the ‘Management’ Category

Do we need global standards for cloud computing? And if we do, who will drive them?

Some years ago a supplier told me he never gives customers what they want, he gives them what they need.

It was, of course, a good marketing line which implied you were buying his expertise and insight as much as his skills.

But it does pose the question: who drives standards, the consumer or supplier – and it was that very question in relation to cloud comouting, posted on this forum by Alan Nance, which generated an interesting debate.

Remember when a business card simply had phone and fax numbers?

We are talking back in the early 80s and beyond, before mobiles and emails became commonplace, before ‘E’ and ‘M’ were added to ‘T’ and ‘F’. So where are we now? Email signatures have to include two ‘Ts” (telephone and Twitter) an ‘F’ (Facebook), ‘L’ (LinkedIn), ‘W’ (website), ‘S’ (Skype) as well as the M and if it’s a card, the E (at least for most the F has vanished in obscurity although many still find faxes highly effective because they are now so rare).

Is IT seen by some departments as such a black art that functional managers need to be coached into how to approach technology?

Do IT managers need to coached into how to link their systems and architecture to wider business objectives and goals?

It was a discussion on the forum started some months ago by Tom Fawls that sparked the debate. He asked forum members what the top five things were that non-technical managers should know about IT. It ended with comments suggesting ways IT teams can become more business-centric.

In the days of the suggestion box, employees offered their anonymous ideas in a one-way conversation that usually ended once the slip of paper was deposited.

As companies increasingly turn to staff to find efficiencies and savings, technology is making it easier to tap employee innovation by reaching out to a larger group and to sort through ideas.

“You’re not going to get the most brilliant ideas asking the same 10 people,” says Annie Lawrenson, vice-president of innovation for Spigit, a crowdsourcing company. “Companies are really keen to tap into the employee base.

It’s all very well having a virtual office, or staff working remotely. In fact many say productivity actually increases as a result. But how do you know?

That was the question posed by Rodolfo Torrallardona from Ericsson in Argentina, a question that sparked a torrent of comment. Clearly it’s a subject that is hot across the forum right now.