March 24, 2013

Is IT an Agent of Mass Extinction?
The Maya had a curious habit of not rebuilding their pyramids, but making them bigger and better by building new layers on top of existing pyramids. This is not exactly analogous to what IT has done over various technical generations; IT has not simply added layers of new stuff on top of existing stuff, but has fused the whole lot together into one giant incredibly complex architecture. Loose coupling is a fine architectural principle, but invariably honored in the breach where it really matters.


Big Data Analytics Can Help Banks Stop Cyber Criminals Accessing Secret Data
"It's a bit like 'casing the joint'. If you are a cyber criminal you have to case the joint looking at all the little bits of information that companies expose, trying to find user names or passwords, or the technology that they run so that you can design an attack that will succeed from the outside. So the whole model [of bank security] has gone inside-out."


Adobe and Apple: Allies and rivals through the ages
Apple and Adobe have a long history of both agreement and opposition. They've been closely linked since the early days of desktop publishing, often with complementary product lines and common customers, but they've also often wrestled for the upper hand in their relationship. Among the clearest contrasts in the shifting balance between the two companies are two similar moments nearly a decade apart.


Teleworking requires good information sharing
Taken to its logical conclusion, opposition to teleworking implies that global operating models also don’t work given that the objection to collaborating electronically must apply equally to employees who are in different offices as it does to those who are working from home. ... Whether it is a single employee working remotely or a team operating virtually over the globe, there are five principles that are needed to make them successful. At their core they are about establishing a free flow of information.


Stop Wasting Your Time Solving Problems
Problems shake the confidence of new leaders/managers and make them forget they have what it takes. Instilling confidence in them is more important than solving problems for them. Don’t solve people’s problems give them confidence they can solve them.


Apple buys WiFiSlam, maker of tech for locating phones indoors
Digits notes that Google currently offers indoor mapping in airports, shopping centers, sports stadiums, and other locations. It's not known if WiFiSlam's technology will somehow be incorporated into Apple's Maps app. Apple, of course, tossed Google Maps as the default mapping service in iOS and launched its own mapping app, which, on its debut last September, was lambasted for its shortcomings.


Samsung Looks At Enterprise Users With Galaxy S4 Launch
Samsung Knox is quite similar to BackBerry's Balance system. It allows users to create an encrypted container that stores all the sensitive work related apps and information including e-mail, contacts and documents. All this data is kept separate from the user's personal apps and settings. According to Samsung, this allows secured data to remain intact even if the phone experiences a malware attack.


Queues – the true enemy of flow
In short, queues have a direct economic impact on the business. They increase inventory, stall valuable projects, which increases the risk of loss, delay feedback and impact on motivation and quality. Yet in spite of this, they are rarely tracked or targeted. A company that carefully keeps account of every hour of overtime is quite likely to be blissfully unaware of the cost of delay to a project caused by long queues.


Cloud Service Brokerage is the new Enterprise Architecture
No longer will architects perform such low level solution designs involving ‘nuts and bolts’ components, but they will leverage a portfolio of services available via the broker; and the IT engineer or system integrator is no better off as they will no longer rack and stack, but will merely configure the Cloud services available through enterprise connected models which can be provided by the CSB.


William Schiemann on Reinventing Talent Management
In this AMA podcast, Dr. William Schiemann’s talks about his book Reinventing Talent Management: How to Maximize Performance in the New Marketplace aims to put a tight process and discipline of measurement behind the annual report cliché that “Our people are our most important asset.” At the heart of Dr. Schiemann’s thesis is a provocative new talent management model he terms People Equity.



Quotes for the day:

"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy." -- Norman Schwarzkopf

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