What does SaaS really mean for business as we move forward with this technology approach? Is it really something new or just a modern re-invention of the shared computer time model. I am not old enough to have been booking time on a time-shared computer system, however if I consider the following "In the 1960s, several companies started providing time-sharing services as service bureaus" it would seem that we have really only come full circle. Is SaaS only a new way to put spin on a paradigm that already existed in the technology arena.
I am not trying dispel any benefit that an SaaS or service bureau approach can have for our business environments if applied correctly. I am more trying to point out that the concpet that we call refer to as SaaS has existed for many years, almost as long as computers have been in existence. I firmly believe that we need to think very pragmatically how we would go about applying an SaaS approach to our businesses. I think the most important thing we can do when considering an SaaS approach is to give the same sort of thought we would to any technology approach, will this make my business faster, more profitable, more attractive to my clientele and or reduce my costs.
Whilst I believe that in my career there have been some water shed moments where technology is concerned, like server based computing (citrix), wintel virtualisation (vmware), accelerated low bandwidth performance (riverbed) I am not convinced that SaaS equates to one of those. SaaS is really only a natural progression like VoIP has been for basic telephony. The next real big paradigm shift, I contend, is the reality that "convergence" brings making our businesses go faster, become more profitable and more attractive to our clientele. If we are able to realise the "convergence" of multiple technology disciplines, like IT, IS and T, in our businesses then we reap the benefits of enhanced productivity which will increase our revenue, decrease our costs and improve our profitability.
More to come on how I think "convergence" can influence our productivity in the age of information and conceptualisation.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Monday, September 3, 2007
Magpie Syndrome
Is it so difficult for us Technology people to let go of the bells and whistles of technology? I say not when we take the time to understand how a technology solution may impact a business. The sooner us "technologists" start to listen and talk the language of business people then the bells and whistles will mean less. In a session with with John Zachman a couple of years back we discussed the merits of Enterprise Architecture and what this means for a business. When you consider the Zachman Framework (http://www.zifa.com/) it becomes painfully obvious that technology is only about 20% of it.
At Gen-i since, since Telecom purchased Computerland and Gen-i, we talk about ICT (Information Communication Technology) all of the time. I put it to you that if you look at those three words you get nothing by themselves until you start to consider how the convergence of their meaning can have an impact on your business. "Convergence" is where it is at and this construct, if I can put it like that, is where all the difference will be made. It is about how these aspects work together to make our businesses more effective in producing output for whatever our client base so desire.
The "magpie syndrome" I refer to in the title, is when we forget about the business objectives and just focus on the "shiny things" that IT can do itself and not what it can do for our businesses.
More rants to come.
At Gen-i since, since Telecom purchased Computerland and Gen-i, we talk about ICT (Information Communication Technology) all of the time. I put it to you that if you look at those three words you get nothing by themselves until you start to consider how the convergence of their meaning can have an impact on your business. "Convergence" is where it is at and this construct, if I can put it like that, is where all the difference will be made. It is about how these aspects work together to make our businesses more effective in producing output for whatever our client base so desire.
The "magpie syndrome" I refer to in the title, is when we forget about the business objectives and just focus on the "shiny things" that IT can do itself and not what it can do for our businesses.
More rants to come.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
IT and Business Alignment
It is so important that if you are using ICT in your business that you understand what that ICT solution is doing or not doing for your business. It is important because it is so easy to spend money on all of the "Magpie" features of an ICT solution and not get any benefit for your business at all.
Why do we need to consider this? When making a business successful we have to take measured risks when investing to grow that business. Is saving money on ICT always a wise thing to do when the power of an ICT solution may not be fully realised? How do we know when an ICT solution's potential is fully realised? I put it to you, that it will be close to being fully realised when we know what it is that is being achieved by that "solution". We will know what is being achieved by that "ICT solution" when we are able to get results from it that can be directly linked back to our business objectives.
If we consider a managed "Common Operating Environment" which is often touted as best practice in the ICT Industry, simply put this is about reducing cost mainly. However, I believe that this can also be attributed to driving revenue increases as well, simply because if a COE is done right (many will ask what is right, that is another line of thought) it rmoves a whole lot of pain from the user experience so that a user is able to more effectively produce output relevant to your business.
This is quite a simple concept that is often over complicated because the features of the technology are dived into without considering why the business may or may not need them. Lets for a moment consider the need to use a policy to enforce your web browser to default to an internal intranet site that is not updated often enough or is static adding no value to the user experience. The time and effort to make this work is pointless if the intranet site or indeed internet site is not adding value to the end user experience. I know that this is a small thing, but all of the small things that attract us "ICT Magpies" add up over time which can translate into a large amount of effort and in turn "cash" to implement with no real business driven value.
Consider this, does the simple printer queue that was created for you to print out that proposal or product design actually make sense to you? My print queues, last time I looked, meant absolutely nothing to me or lacked a desciption that aided me in getting to the right printer for the task that I had to do. I then had to speak with the helpdesk who coudln't even tell me what I was looking for, funny that. This is a great example at a simple level of how the technology implementation didn't give any consideration to how the business may have needed to interact with it. How do we overcome this and make even the simple things line up with a business requirement????
Why do we need to consider this? When making a business successful we have to take measured risks when investing to grow that business. Is saving money on ICT always a wise thing to do when the power of an ICT solution may not be fully realised? How do we know when an ICT solution's potential is fully realised? I put it to you, that it will be close to being fully realised when we know what it is that is being achieved by that "solution". We will know what is being achieved by that "ICT solution" when we are able to get results from it that can be directly linked back to our business objectives.
If we consider a managed "Common Operating Environment" which is often touted as best practice in the ICT Industry, simply put this is about reducing cost mainly. However, I believe that this can also be attributed to driving revenue increases as well, simply because if a COE is done right (many will ask what is right, that is another line of thought) it rmoves a whole lot of pain from the user experience so that a user is able to more effectively produce output relevant to your business.
This is quite a simple concept that is often over complicated because the features of the technology are dived into without considering why the business may or may not need them. Lets for a moment consider the need to use a policy to enforce your web browser to default to an internal intranet site that is not updated often enough or is static adding no value to the user experience. The time and effort to make this work is pointless if the intranet site or indeed internet site is not adding value to the end user experience. I know that this is a small thing, but all of the small things that attract us "ICT Magpies" add up over time which can translate into a large amount of effort and in turn "cash" to implement with no real business driven value.
Consider this, does the simple printer queue that was created for you to print out that proposal or product design actually make sense to you? My print queues, last time I looked, meant absolutely nothing to me or lacked a desciption that aided me in getting to the right printer for the task that I had to do. I then had to speak with the helpdesk who coudln't even tell me what I was looking for, funny that. This is a great example at a simple level of how the technology implementation didn't give any consideration to how the business may have needed to interact with it. How do we overcome this and make even the simple things line up with a business requirement????
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