Enterprise Architects and BYOD Watch

It has been a really interesting past few weeks in the mobile world, and to watchers of Bring your own Device (BYOD) the trends spell interesting challenges and opportunities.

A lot has been happening in the smartphones world - iPhone 4S is continues to gain popularity, increasingly price-competitive Android smartphones, improving Windows smartphones are enticing consumers. And iPad continues to be the tablet of choice for consumers. Though I am hesitant to use clichés, I think we are at a strategic inflexion point in mobile computing and BYOD. Perhaps the began in 2007-08 when the Apple iWave began upending Blackberry as the de-facto device for mobile workers. iDevices helped consumers visualize how smartphones could help mobile workers do a lot more than just read emails-on-the-go.
A few interesting happenings just in the past couple of weeks are worth analyzing in greater depth (beyond a blog like this):

• Microsoft announcing Surface is trying to bring tablets to information workers traditionally used to working at their desk using PC’s and laptops. It promises users “Create, collaborate, and get stuff done with Office. Explore your world with fast, fluid Windows 8 apps”
• Google’s announcement of Nexus 7 tablet yet another push by the tech giant to extend into social media and hardware

While the two tow tech giants make moves extending their reach in the hardware space, Research in Motion (RIM), maker of blackberry announces a delay in launch of BlackBerry 10 mobile OS (and other financial challenges the company is facing)

What does this mean to us? While the employee-and-tech-consumer in us wants a broader, faster corporate push towards BYOD, the Enterprise Architects are going to try and address the ROI and TCO questions around such a moves.
Several recent reports are pointing to BYOD and how it is pushing up IT costs. The question to be weighted: Is whether the increase from BYOD just another cost of doing business or a cost of convenience?!

Power of loyalty, frequent flier status, and losing it all

Listening to NPR radio last week, I heard an interesting interview with Jacques Vroom on his experience flying over 40 million miles using “unlimited first-class” travel pass.

With a transient, nomadic life, it is natural for consultants to crave the few perks available to them: the “elite” status at airlines and hotels, and the miles and points that come with the status; kind of like George Cloony’s character in the 2009 movie Up in the Air (re my blog)

Mr. Vroom’s story of travel, status and the fall-from grace fascinated me all the more since I too had enjoyed elite status with a few airlines (Platinum Medallion with Delta and United Airlines) and hotels (Platinum status with IC Group and Marriott) and rental car companies (President’s circle with Hertz last year)

There is another aspect of Mr. Vroom’s story that former-frequent-travelers including self can relate to: the abrupt end to perks when one loses the an elite status. In the past six months since transitioning from a consulting role, I have seen my travel reduce drastically. With that comes the gradual erosion of my elite status with Airlines and hotels. (graph above).

I still have hundreds of thousands of points in my accounts which are sure to fizzle away soon...

• The frequent fliers who flew too much - LA Times
• American Airlines' Lifetime Pass: How a Marketing Ploy Turned - The Blaze
• American Airlines Cracks Down On Ultimate Frequent Flyers - HuffingtonPost

Blogs and links

Facebook fizzle does not dampen Developeronomics … because not every code coolie is an Über coder

As we enter the middle of 2012, the global economy continues to stagnate and even the erstwhile darling of stock market – tech sector – begins to flounder. The butterfly effect seems to be hitting technologists at both ends of the spectrum - entrepreneurial and software services.

Last month it was the Indian software services darling (my erstwhile employer) Infosys, warning of severe headwinds in the global technology services sector. Then it was technology giant Hewlett Packard announcing massive job cuts. And then came the mother of all IPO’s of tech darling Facebook and its spectacular post-IPO-stock-fizzle, leaving most of us in the globalized IT world wonder whatsup?

While the macro-economic factors play out in the business of technology management, interesting conversations on Developeronomics continues to stir among the Digerati. The debate was triggered by Marc Andreessen’s essay in Wall Street Journal: Why Software Is Eating The World. Marc espouses the theory that “we are in the middle of a dramatic and broad technological and economic shift in which software companies are poised to take over large swathes of the economy.” The techie in me loves this argument though I still wonder if we are really seeing a Technology Lead Innovation around us or Technologists playing catchup? (my earlier blog)

Marc ends his essay with key challenge facing software economy “Qualified software engineers, managers, marketers and salespeople in Silicon Valley can rack up dozens of high-paying, high-upside job offers any time they want, while national unemployment and underemployment is sky high.” Although he doesn’t say it in as many words, the challenge Marc highlights is more about the dearth of Über coders, while the world – or at least the offshoring world – continues to produce thousands of code coolies.

Although the use of term code coolie may sound a bit derogatory, it really is intended to drive home the point that vast majority of coders are developing software as a means to earn a living. They do it as a vocation rather than with a passion to enable software to “change the world” in a significant way. Remember the storm in a teacup when the Indian writer Chetan Bhagat tweeted on "Narayana Murthy runs a body shop?" Of course, graduating a hundred thousand techies in a decade is no mean feat. And that is just Infosys. Add TCS, Wipro et all and one can see the challenge is really not about the ability to get a critical mass of coders.

Then there was an interesting piece on “The Rise of Developeronomics” in Forbes, which took a broader perspective on IT development and developers stating “If the world survives looming financial apocalypse dangers at all, this is the one investment that will weather the storms. It doesn’t matter whether you are an individual or a corporation, or what corner of the world you inhabit. You need to find a way to invest in software developers.”

Businesses have already taken note of the importance of software developers though many leaders are trying to crack the core problem: bridging the long tail of code coolies to the few Über coders around. To create a successful eco-system where thy can not only coexist but can also thrive. To take an anology from another domain, it is akin to identifying the right general to lead the army to battle.

This question of variance in productivity between the best programmers and average coders has been debated ad infinitum by the software community. However, it is not just about recognizing variance in productivity but to ensure the right mix. As the Joel Spolsky blogs “it's worth hiring Angelina Jolie for your latest blockbuster movie, even though she demands a high salary, because that salary can be divided by all the millions of people who see the movie solely because Angelina is so damn hot.”

What does all this mean to us?

• For IS leaders it is a continuum of trying to find the right teams to develop the right solutions for their business stakeholders. Techniques include outsourcing, hoping the vendor will crack our business problems with a team of uber coders from across the globe (there is always hope). Hiring uber coders is always an option but it involves competing for talent with Facebook or Google (tough luck doing so!).
• For enterprise architects - self included - it means working with technologists and business stakeholders continually tweak proposals to bridge the divide
• And for business stakeholders: Empowering your technology leaders and Enterprise Architects to help with Developeronomics
• And for the mass of code coolies? Try and morph into an Über coder. And if you discover that is not your calling, well we shall cover that in another post

Blogs and references

• A candid note from Infosys' Sales Head
• Hewlett-Packard to Cut 30,000 Jobs - NYT
• The Rise of Developeronomics - Forbes
• Why Software Is Eating The World Wall Street Journal

Technology Lead Innovation or Technologists playing catchup?

There is a fascinating article on innovation that appeared in the Wall Street Journal yesterday “You Call That Innovation?”

The article quotes Scott Berkun, the author of the 2007 book "The Myths of Innovation," which warns about the dilution of the word, says that what most people call an innovation is usually just a "very good product." (He prefers to reserve the word for civilization-changing inventions like electricity, the printing press and the telephone—and, more recently, perhaps the iPhone.).  

Even with the recent hoopla over the 100 billion valuation of the much hyped “innovative” technology company of our time – facebook - architecture and technology lead innovation remains the Holy Grail for most Enterprise Architects.

Besides the hype over iDevices and Social media, we have been witnessing seismic innovation in the technology, especially when it comes to realizing the value and mobility of data! Just a couple of examples: In consumer music Cassette Tapes to the Cloud (though growing up, I also fondly recall my dad listening to LP records …)

Or the way I have been carrying my “personal” and work data while I travel the globe

One is left to wonder how much of the “innovation” we see around us is actually technology lead versus innovative business models implemented with the right technologies (including Information Technology).

Musing on Bank of America vs. JC Penny’s Fair and Square

To state that global economic downturn has taken its fair share of toll on corporate America would be an understatement. However, a few industries have been more impacted than finance and retail. Last year saw the bankruptcy of iconic Kodak and liquidation of ubiquitous Border’s book stores. While retail superstores didn’t see the same impact on their businesses, slowing foot traffic and an assault from online retailers has certainly taken its toll. Retailer Sears began closing many of its stores last year and any of us who have shopped in the remaining ones are bound to find the experience less than satisfactory.

Banks and financial institutions continue to struggle though many have begun to turn a corner after the blood-letting during the downturn. Much of this is at the cost of the average Joe/Jane customer. Just last week, J.P. Morgan created a buzz when it said that “70% of customers with less than $100,000 in deposits will become unprofitable for the bank”  (Bloomberg)

This is really ironic since interest rates are virtually at zero. I wonder how many customers who do happen to have 100K liquid funds would like to park it with a bank for little, no interest just to have the privilege of a “free” checking account?! 

(ref: metrolatinomagazine.com)
In this market, one customer facing business, that seems to be rewriting its playbook in a more visible way is JC Penny. I had read many articles on transformation at JCP after the new boss from Apple took over last year (Tech Giant's RetailChief Tapped to Remake Venerable Chain). On a weekend shopping trip at the local mall, I was stuck by the simplicity of the idea: fair-and-square pricing also means that the ubiquitous red “Sale” banners hanging all over the store are replaced by tasteful signage. Yes, one can still find the $5 shits tucked away in the a rack, without a large sign pointing to it: a much more pleasant and esthetic shopping experience if you will. And the brilliance of the idea is that it caters to the frugal deal seeking shoppers without putting off those seeking a better shopping ambience.  

Though it is extremely premature to eve speculate on how of JPM or JCP’s move will play out or whether it will slow the consumer shift towards online “deals,”  shopping and banking, it is certainly interesting.  One thing is for sure, banks and retailers that continue to focus on mining for high-net-worth customers at the cost of building a critical mass of loyal customers are going to loose out when the economic tide turns.

Musing on Globalization of English

I was on a brief business trip to Basel last week and on my way back, I read an interesting article on globalization and English (“Why the French are right to resist global English").  The author builds an argument taking the example of schools in Montreal, Canada wanting to introduce English to a predominantly French speaking environment.

I guess most of the resistance to English is towards preserving linguistic and cultural identity; there is a similar conflict in Europe over adoption of English. I had experienced first-hand the "resistance" to global English during the 6-months that I had spent in Switzerland sometime ago.  Most of Europe is economically connected thanks to being a part of the EU, but individual countries and regions still cling to their languages and distinct cultural identities. They do this while tacitly recognizing that English is the "link language." The younger generation is certainly keen on imbibing English, wanting to be a part of the global and regional economies where English is the lingua franca.  

This is a issue that Indians (and even non-resident Indians) continue to struggle with: being proficient in English while also maintaining one’s cultural identity. Case in point is the identity crisis being faced by politicians and others in my hometown Bangalore. The global hub of offshoring and offshore sourcing that depends on attracting millions of English speaking technologists to work for global clients out of call centers and IT shops. While benefiting from globalization and being a role model for other cities and regions trying to attract offshoring business, policy makers also want to look back on the roots, so much so that they decided on officially renaming the city to Bengaluru. Those trying to desperately hold on to Kannada culture also try to incorporate protectionist measures including restricting screening of movies from other regions in India. (ref)

End Of India's IT Services Success Story? Not yet.

For years, analysts, academics and researchers have been predicting the “End” of India's IT Services sector.

Fred Giron's Blog on Forrester.com (Is This The End Of India's IT Services Success Story?) is sure to generate some debate among those in the IT services sector but nothing more than that.

While one can debate if Innovation by Indian IT players is the silver bullet, the rate of growth of the sector has certainly tapered off in recent years. The rate of growth is nowhere near that we saw 5 or 6 years ago.  The reason for slowdown may be more due to sheer size of organizations and the linear nature of business model more than any other factor.

Is "innovation" the silver bullet? I guess only time will tell.