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.

Psst … You want to replace your office computer with an iPad? Sure. Do you want the SLA to go with it?

There was an interesting in Wall Street Journal that I was reflecting on over the weekend (Apple Macs Land on More Corporate Desks). The article chronicles how General Electric employees can now choose Apple over Windows PCs. Though the spotlight was on GE, the author adds “Apple has very little of the corporate computer market but is making progress, according to market researcher Forrester Research, which estimates the Cupertino, Calif., company will sell $9 billion worth of Macs and $10 billion worth of iPads to businesses this year, up about 50% from last year.” A tweet from Prof. San yesterday alerted me to another article, almost a corollary to the fist one titled “How management has failed at RIM.” The article chronicles the rise and fall of Canadian tech giant that that till few years ago was unstoppable.
These and other similar articles appearing in business press are a sure sign that business users are looking at adopting wider range of smart-devices at work. The popularity, ease of use and features of smart phones and tablet computers have been analyzed by tech analysts, digerati and bloggers but the Enterprise Architect in me continues to reflect on the implication of these technologies on business computing.

The shift towards personal choice of computing devices at work has interesting implications: Blackberry, that till recently was the standard-issue smartphone for business users is now losing ground. Business users who prefer iPhones or Android smartphones are tired of carrying two devices – one for personal use and another issued by their employers. Add to the mix the resurgence of interest in tablet computing devices, lead by iPad’s, Amazon’s Kindle Fire, BN’s Nook and several Windows based competitors.

Technology innovations in the space continue pushing boundaries of usability, restricted only by imagination. What began as a move from Personal Computers to Laptops a few years ago is leading to yet another seismic shift towards smartphones and tablet computers. The implication is clear: IT teams are increasingly getting requests from “IT user” communities to either expand the scope of computing devices that are approved for Personal (and Professional) computing at work. Most organizations still dictate a narrow array of devices that can be hooked to corporate networks for ‘business’ use.

Enterprise Architects, responsible for spearheading (and gate keeping) technology standards are coming to grips with the implications. However, for EA’s it is not just usability or “coolness factor” we have to weigh in while evaluating this push towards open computing. Security (of course), Support, Upgrades and updates, Integration and extensibility are just a few dimensions to evaluate while formulating an approach for corporate rollout.

 Traditionally, IS teams have been responsible for support of hardware, software and infrastructure required by ‘users’. This division of labor suited everyone well. Non-IT users could focus on their core competence - be it sales teams out in the field or bank tellers or reservation agents or nurses at hospitals monitoring patient records. For most system issues, users would call the IS help-desk that either walks them through the problem resolution or sends someone onsite to help. Service Level and Operating Level Agreements (SLAs/OLAs) were well defined and understood. By opting for personal choice of computing device, there are a few scenarios that begin emerge:

Scenario 1: Laissez faire Cafeteria style buy-and-bring-your-own-device to work. In this model, users will have to take on ‘personal responsibility’ for problem resolution for the devices they opt to acquire. For example, I opt to bring in an iPad to work (instead of my office issued HP/Dell/Whatever Wintel laptop) and just before an important client presentation, I encounter a problem with wifi and network access that I am unable to troubleshoot. Turns out it is a hardware problem for which I cannot call my IS tech support. I have to get in touch with Apple’s help desk and work through the issue.

Scenario 2: Expand scope of support with levels of service: IS team extends a list of “supported” systems to include emerging genera of desktops, tablets and handhelds. To control costs, one could contemplate level-of-service for device classes. For example currently serviced Windows desktops/laptops would get a “Platinum level” service that includes hardware, operating system and application support, Mac OS devices would get a “Gold level” service level and so on.

There are several other scenarios besides one can analyze but before that a few critical questions one would need the business users to answer: 

• How much of “ownership” is the typical business user willing to take in a Laissez faire model?
• What is the total cost(to organization) to be able to expand support and service levels for “All” devices - current and emerging?

Other interesting links on the topic

• Corporate users make the iPad connection -FT  
• Ready for work- Apple “Get secure access to email, calendar, and contacts via Exchange ActiveSync or open standards like IMAP, CalDAV and CardDAV. With support for IPSec and SSL VPN and WPA2 Enterprise Wi-Fi, users can also connect to private corporate networks.”
• iPad at Work: The Essential Guide for Business Users
• Kindle Fire Presents Challenges and Concerns for Corporate IT

Seasons Greetings from Fedex .. and power of viral videos

This morning I was intrigued to see the link to a video clip on Yahoo’s homepage.

 “It was the monitor toss seen 'round the world. FedEx has responded to a viral video that showed one of the company's drivers throwing a (now broken) computer monitor over a fence.”

With online holiday shopping and eCommerce – even in a sluggish economy – crossing allexpectations, the action by an (irate?) Fedex employee could come as a jolt to most of us. Fedex .. and UPS, DHL and other courier firms are the last mile in eCommerce, perhaps providing  the closest “human” face to an otherwise contact free shopping experience. And when an employee - even if it one of several hundreds of thousands of them in the supply chain business – goes rogue; and is caught on tape shamelessly doing so, the video is bound to go viral.

Not surprisingly, Fedex responded with swiftness and issued a statement “The situation has now been resolved to the customer's satisfaction, and we are handling the employee according to our disciplinary policies...While we continue to be surprised about the behavior shown, we know this is an aberration and is not reflective of the outstanding FedEx customer service that makes us proud around the world.”

Score +1 for bloggers and viral media and for speedy customer satisfaction response.  Season’s Greetings!

Any Lessons to be learnt from AMRI tragedy in Calcutta, India? Sure … But

It was shocking to read about the horror from the Kolkata #AMRI hospital fire that claimed 86 of 160 patients. (NYT)  Given the sense of public outrage, it is not surprising to see how the Government has formulated a “Special Investigation Team” to probe the “causes of the worst hospital fire in recent memory”.

Obituaries are being written and a lot of questions being asked by Digirati and Media and more importantly the Indian middle class, that is a key ‘consumer’ of private hospital services in India.

Non resident Indians, self included, are also closely watching the outcome of investigation though I am personally not holding my breadth on any meaningful change in attitude towards the value of individual human lives in a country with over a billion of them. Perhaps it is my personal  glimpse into human-crisis-management in India has made me a bit cynical (ref)
But I guess it is not just me. Santosh for Über Desi blog sums it up in a sentence “ Indian cities, over the last 20 years in particular, have sought to model themselves after the West; swanky malls, ritzy apartment complexes and state-of-the-art hospitals and medical care; for all this prosperity and opulence, safety and concern for human lives is still a “phoren” concept.”

If you ask most Indians and NRIs if there are any Lessons to be learnt from AMRI tragedy, most of us would say sure! But the real question is whether we have an appetite for changing the status quo. And can Indians afford the cost of safety that accompanies a concern for human life.