Think Microsoft Vista's latest schedule slip doesn't matter? Think again. Sure, last week's announcement -- that the next version of Windows won't be out in time for holiday sales -- is more an industry sideshow than a big deal for corporate IT. It'll stunt PC sales at the end of this year and give Microsoft-haters something more to bleat about. But for most IT shops, that delay just means we'll start testing Vista a little later.
Think $US500 million is a lot of money? That's how much the FBI may end up spending over the next six years on its new case management system, dubbed Sentinel. Maybe you remember Sentinel's predecessor, Virtual Case File. The VCF project lasted four years and cost a mere $170 million. Of course, VCF was such a mess that when the project was killed one year ago this month, it was completely useless. Four years and $170 million later, the FBI had nothing to show for it. Now that's an expensive project.
Here's a secret of successful innovation: change big, not small. No, that doesn't just mean you should think big when it comes to innovations. It means literally that you should only make big changes. Leave small things the same, and you'll be better off. And your users will be much better off.
In the wake of Microsoft 's early release of its patch for the WMF problem, lots of Windows users are unhappy. They complain that Microsoft's patch is designed for Windows XP and 2000, not Windows NT, ME, 98 or 95, even though those operating systems are also vulnerable and tens of millions of copies are still in use. Of course, we all know why Microsoft didn't patch those older Windows versions: They're obsolete.
Sometime in the next few days, the heads of BlackBerry users will explode. Like zombies, they'll roam blindly, thumbs still twitching as their headless bodies wander the streets searching in vain for messages that never come -- all this because Research In Motion's addictive wireless e-mail service has been turned off due to a patent dispute.
A new study from Booz Allen Hamilton says there's no relationship between R&D spending and business performance. Amazing, huh? And it's true -- sort of. The study, by Booz analysts Barry Jaruzelski, Kevin Dehoff and Rakesh Bordia, does report that simply spending lots of money on R&D doesn't guarantee good business results -- which is not quite the same as saying there's no relationship between R&D spending and performance.
A new study from Booz Allen Hamilton says there's no relationship between R&D spending and business performance. Amazing, huh? And it's true -- sort of. The study, by Booz analysts Barry Jaruzelski, Kevin Dehoff and Rakesh Bordia, does report that simply spending lots of money on R&D doesn't guarantee good business results -- which is not quite the same as saying there's no relationship between R&D spending and performance.
Good news! IBM has a solution for your baby-boomer problem. You know, that one you've been losing sleep over: the fact that corporate employees born during the post-World War II baby boom will start hitting 60 next year, and once they begin to retire, you'll lose all their knowledge and experience.
Good news! IBM has a solution for your baby-boomer problem. You know, that one you've been losing sleep over: the fact that corporate employees born during the post-World War II baby boom will start hitting 60 next year, and once they begin to retire, you'll lose all their knowledge and experience.
"If Siebel is to survive, it will have to abandon old-school CRM, and reinvent it as a better way for people to sell to people. . . . Because CRM-as-we-know-it is dead -- and deadly. And it will take Siebel, and more than a few CRM customers, with it."
Who will survive in IT? That's a pretty grim way to frame the issue, especially considering recent good news. IT pay is rising again for some skills, according to staffing research firm Foote Partners. IT employment keeps inching upward -- not by much, but at least it hasn't dropped since March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What have we learned from the current stampede of Windows-infecting worms with names like Zotob, Esbot, Bobax and Spybot? First lesson: If you want to raise public awareness about a tired old subject like computer worms, just gore the oxes of reporters and editors at CNN, The New York Times, The Associated Press and ABC News. There's nothing like personal pain to freshen up a story. In CNN's case, there's nothing like having it happen on live TV.
Why didn't this happen sooner? Seagate Technology has just announced a hard disk drive for laptops and other mobile devices that automatically encrypts all data as it goes into and comes out of the drive. Result: Nothing on the drive is accessible unless you know the password. If you lose your laptop with a drive like this installed, that's all you lose. The data is safe from prying eyes -- a thief can't even boot it up.
Trust. That's the point of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act: making sure investors can trust our financial statements. Of course, for anyone involved in Sarb-Ox compliance projects, it feels more like trust has been hanged, drawn, quartered, electrocuted, run over by a steamroller, then stood up against a wall and shot, just for good measure. With Sarb-Ox, it seems as if nobody in the corporate world will ever be allowed to trust anyone ever again.
Is this the end for CRM as we know it? Now that Siebel Systems is sinking -- sales drifting down, big investors unhappy, no apparent turnaround strategy, CEO Michael Lawrie booted out the door after less than a year -- is customer relationship management headed for a fall too?