Sunday Feb 21, 2010
The C in ICT
This C of course stands for Communications, so in context of ICT it is Communications Technology. What exactly is it? and why is it being grouped with Information Technology?
From wikipedia Communication's entry, we have a definition "Communication is a process of transferring information from one entity to another. Communication processes are sign-mediated interactions between at least two agents which share a repertoire of signs and semiotic rules. Communication is commonly defined as "the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs"."
Many of us in the IT industry, I think forget and to a very large extent de-emphasize the communication component when it comes to things that are not related directly to two or more computers talking together or for IP based communications such as VOIP (Voice Over IP) or IM (Instant Messaging). However, the communications through web sites and in particular social media is becoming important, that is the expression of a persons or an organisations collective thoughts, opinions and information.
As I eluded in my post on Cup cakes and bunnies, the composite skill sets required to deliver these services has changed as the technology has changed. These composite skills now include a lot of those from marketing, communications and graphic design to name a few. Its getting the correct mix right for any given project that is critical for its success.
Yet we still refer to ourselves as the IT industry and not the ICT industry. It seems strange to me.
Sunday Nov 29, 2009
Giving up on Microsoft software for work - 18 months on
Its been 18 months or so, since I started on "Giving up on Microsoft software for work". It has been an interesting adventure, one fraught with skepticism from some, but with joy from myself. The big question I faced then was, "Was it possible to work without using Microsoft software?". The answer has been a profound "Yes", from a pure do things to get work done point of view, but "No" from getting billable work.
I'm still using a nice 17" Mac Book Pro and have been very impressed with it. During the time I've had it, a new version of Mac OS X 10.6 - Snow Leopard, has been released and the system is still performing fine with the hardware. I've had next to no trouble and everything is working great. Apple have even opened retail stores here in Australia.
This photo is from my recent Sydney trip (the store was extremely busy inside):
Our servers run linux of various flavours - SuSE Linux, RedHat and Ubuntu. Some are on-premise and some are off-premise on Amazon EC2. Email, calender, documents use Google Docs and our CRM is Salesforce.com. Its our intent, that unless it is a client end user machine, that as existing hardware reaches end-of-life, new hardware will not be purchased. However, cloud infrastructure will be utilised.
What has surprised me immensely, during this time, is even though we use no Microsoft software, how dominant it is on-premise. Even with the ill fated Microsoft Vista operating system, corporates aren't moving away from Microsoft in the vast majority of environments that I'm engaged with in my local state of South Australia. Sure there are a few linux servers but they appear to be the exception to the rule. Why?
Lets look at servers quickly. Why isn't linux deployed more often? The two main reasons appear to be that existing support contracts with the outsourcer doesn't allow it (well change the contract is my normal response) and secondly that there aren't enough trained administrators (it doesn't take long to train them). But its more then what I have just mentioned, its also somewhat religious. Its like a fraternity, an old school boys club to some degree, with the managers choosing the technology based on relationships and maybe not on technical merit to get the job done in an efficient & cost effective means. A large outsourcer here in Adelaide (anybody living here will know that it is HP Enterprise Services, formerly EDS) seem to promote Microsoft at the exclusion of Linux. Is this to keep others such as IBM out? Who knows!
Choosing Microsoft as the operating system on the server, invariable also means that only Microsoft development languages and tools will be used.
Lets look on the client. The desktops are running Windows 2003/XP etc in these corporates environments. There may be a few Macs, but they will be with marcomms people, if they have these in house. Whats surprising though, is that mobile devices, will be a mixture of different vendors, including Apple's iPhone. The iPhone is appearing in the hands of many executive managers.
What I have not looked into, in great detail, is besides Microsoft Office, what are the applications that are running on these desktops? Are they installed natively, are they supplied through a Citrix server or are they web based? The later, is how the majority of applications, that I interact with, have been deployed in recent years. They work in most of the popular browsers, independent of anyone type of desktop. Invariably, they will also have a desktop version that works on Mac, Windows or Linux desktops.
So what is going on with the desktop in these corporates? (Oh, I don't use Microsoft Office either and can write documents, do spreadsheets and prepare/present presentations.)
How old are these applications that only work on Microsoft desktops? Do they still satisfy the business requirements? Has the initial investment been written off? Why aren't they being modernised and turned into web based applications? Are the users complaining that they are unproductive because of the outdated interface?
Some interesting questions. To me if they aren't being asked, or when people ask them, they are being squashed. It suggests that the organisation is stuck in support mode, looking to preserve the status quo. Those that can drive the change, to innovate, to progress forward to the next paradigm will get frustrated and leave.
This is what happens with myself, when people say the solution has to be Microsoft based and linux, or other alternatives can't be considered. To me it is yesterday's thinking.
So even though, I myself have been very successful in giving up on Microsoft software for work, from an acquiring work perspective from potential prospects in my current geography, it is not presently a positive.
"When will it change?" is the question I've been asking myself a lot lately.
Monday Nov 09, 2009
The risky business of social media
This is an article that appeared on Australian Flexible Learning Framework websites in August 2009 from their e-newsletter. It is based on an interview that I gave and thought I'd share it with you.
The risky business of social media
Social media tools – such as Facebook, Twitter, wikis and blogs – are increasingly powerful and valuable for communicating, collaborating, retaining and harvesting knowledge.
However, despite the widespread use and popularity of social media, and its ability to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration in workplace training, privacy issues and fears of misuse continue to deter many organisations from adopting these tools.
Nick Hortovanyi, CEO of Toast Technology, says that the benefits of allowing staff to access social media in the workplace far outweigh the risks – and that resisting the adoption of social media will result in organisations losing their competitive advantage.
Comparing social media to a ‘steam roller’, Nick explains why it’s critical that organisations act quickly to get on board.
Why should organisations adopt social media?
An ageing workforce
A key factor driving social media adoption is our aging workforce: for example, 60% of utilities workers and half of the Australian public service are expected to retire in the next 10 years. A vast amount of valuable knowledge and experience will be lost when these workers retire – unless organisations act quickly to implement an effective system to retain, share and harvest their knowledge. As experienced workers leave an organisation, social media applications can facilitate flexible and effective training and retraining of remaining and new staff.
Attracting and retaining high quality staff
Within the vocational education and training system, training providers are already starting to adopt social media applications as tools for learners to share knowledge and collaborate, allowing them to undertake training in any location and at any time. This flexibility is something that younger generations, in particular, have become accustomed to and expect. If organisations don’t provide access to social media
infrastructure in the workplace, they risk losing high quality new applicants to replace experienced retiring employees.
Capability development
Social media applications can enable management to identify and address areas within a team that need strengthening. Social media can facilitate high-quality mentoring programs, enabling employees to access the most appropriate mentor to suit their requirements, regardless of location and distance. Similarly, organisations can engage specialists from remote locations on a just-in-time or ‘as needs’ basis, using instant messaging and videoconferencing tools (such as Skype).
Cost saving
There is a lot of great open source social media software – so getting started isn’t expensive. Social media can also save organisations time and money by enabling online – as opposed to face-to-face – training. This can reduce accommodation and travel costs, as well as the amount of time staff need to take away from their regular duties to attend training.
What are some of the risks of adopting social media, and how can they be overcome?
Not adopting it
The biggest risk for organisations is to ignore social media. If organisations take this approach, they risk losing relevancy as we move from a manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy. Social media tools will be a key part of this new economy – so if organisations can’t use these tools, they won’t be able to engage effectively in the knowledge economy.
Privacy and misuse
These are the most common concerns for organisations – however, they are relatively easy to overcome by implementing a social media policy.
An organisation’s social media policy should establish clear guidelines around privacy and acceptable use, as well as specifying how management should respond to infractions. An effective social media policy needs to be easy to understand and put into practice – so it should be ‘light’, clear, and concise. It’s imperative that this document is regularly reviewed and updated to keep pace with technological advancements. Check out IBM’s and Telstra’s social media policies online if you’re looking for some ideas on how to get started.
It’s also important to remember that firewalls can provide protection for organisations while they’re finding their feet and establishing what does and doesn’t work for them.
Inexperience
Not being able to use social media tools effectively is a significant risk. The only way for organisations to overcome this is to provide staff with access to the tools and time to experiment and develop their knowledge. Organisations need to ‘learn by doing’ – create a blog; create a wiki; experiment with tag clouds and learn how they work.
After you’ve tried out the tools and built up some experience, you will be well placed to become a social media ‘champion’ within your organisation, and start educating your managers and co-workers in a non-threatening way.
What’s your advice for a practitioner who wants to adopt social media, but their organisation won’t currently support this approach?
Start experimenting with the tools in your own time. Create your own personal blog (using TypePad or WordPress) or a Twitter account, develop your networks, and show your colleagues the responses and value that come from building connections using social media tools.
Tags business risk social+media implementation | Comments 3Thursday Oct 22, 2009
Cloud computing isn’t going to be vapor much longer, Gartner said Tuesday.
Gartner's top 10 Strategy Technology Areas for 2010
Via Annie Shum's blog entry at MIT CIO Symposium blog.
This is very interesting and reinforces the strong interest I've been observing with cloud computing. In addition, when you have access to computing resources that you can rent for the period that you require it, it opens up the potential for crunching large data volumes and numbers. Before cloud computing, you had to purchase all your own infrastructure and amortize it, over say a period of three years. This is now no longer the case.
It will be interesting to see what applications evolve!
Friday Oct 16, 2009
Where is the online market?
Every time someone views my actual blog page (as opposed to reading it in a feed reader), it records some statistics about the visitor. I'm using a widget located at the bottom right hand side of my blog from ClustrMaps, to create the following graphic.
As an Australian, what intrigues me is how little traffic actually appears to come from Australia in comparison to North America and Europe. Its the barrier of distance that we need to overcome!
The internet allows us to talk to, to reach, to communicate and to influence people and businesses across the globe. Yet us Australians, spend the fair majority of our time selling in the offline world, to the people that we can see and touch and not to those larger potential online markets.
Why?
