Enterprise hits & misses - January 6
- Summary:
- Jon's cheeky weekly review of which articles hit (or didn’t) on diginomica and beyond - for the week ending January 5, 2014.
A cheeky end-of-weekly on which articles hit (or didn’t) on diginomica and beyond.
diginomica hit: BYOD or CYOD – an international divide across the Pond? by Stuart Lauchlan
quotage: 'For global companies, will there be a need for multiple policies? BYOD for staff in the US, CYOD (or the Wild West of ‘turning a blind eye’) in Europe?'
myPOV: Stuart forges through mobility buzzwords to get the year started right, juxtaposing BYOD with the less familiar CYOD (Carry Your Own Device) acronmym that seems more suited to European sensibilities. With a review of recent findings by Forrester and other data points, Stuart makes a convincing case that BYOD in the classical sense is not going to work in Europe.
Why? Two reasons: one, eminently practical: employees don't mind bringing in their own devices but they (understandably) don't feel like paying for them as work devices. Next: the European regulatory environment is not a very good dance partner with the informalities of BYOD. I'd agree, and go so far as to predict that CYOD will carry the day in the US as well - mostly due to the unwieldy vulnerabilities of multiple Android systems (CYOD would allow employees to pick a device from a list of sanctioned choices).
diginomica pick: 2014 – the year of the subscription crunch or massive growth? by Den Howlettquotage: 'Some years back I was concerned that the cost of additional services would become too burdensome but as time has gone on I’ve realised that the ability to try before you buy and/or use month to month plans is an effective way to not only test services but assess their value. And it is that value which dominates the way we make decisions.'
myPOV: Drawing on both enterprise and personal notes, Den ruminates on the subscription economy that is impacting how companies spend but individuals even more so - especially when you consider the data from the millenials and their broad disinterest in ownership of big ticket items like houses or cars. Like many of us, Den got fresh experience of the younger set's iron-grip attachment to their devices and apps over the holidays.
The misconception I see about the subscription economy is that it's a definitively cheaper way to buy software and services. In my experience that doesn't always hold up, for enterprises or individuals. Companies selling on subcription should also make it a heck of a lot easier to cancel services, particularly during disappointing trial periods. That said, the reduced risk and comparatively frictionless means of buying subscriptions looks to be a major theme of 2014 and a big factor in the dominance of cloud and mobile.
Also recommended: Stuart posted a well-crafted narrative of some of his diginomica 2013 pieces,
The year that was – bromance, naked ambition and the NSA, and Phil posted the second part of his: Retrospective: cloud, Europe and frictionless enterprise.
Best of the rest
I'm not singling out any one piece for special merits this week, but here's some pieces (and bloggers) that stood out:- Chris Kanaracus does a vendor-by-vendor preview in Enterprise apps in 2014: What's in store, touching on Oracle, SAP, Workday, Salesforce, NetSuite - the usual suspects and their plans for world domination. Kanaracus also looked at the so-so IT spending outlook for 2014 in: Global IT spending outlook 'better but subpar' for 2014, Forrester says.
- SAP's Jonathan Becher does an editorial/statistical review of his own blog's performance in MBWA 2013 in review. Incidentally Becher's solid traffic numbers (on his own self-made platform) are a good example of the results a software exec can get by blogging and, here's the kicker: sticking with it.
- Bob Ferrari continues his own content evaluation in Report Card on Supply Chain Matters 2013 Predictions- Part Two.
- PaaS expert Krishnan Subramanian (now with Red Hat) makes a welcome return to the blogging game, surveying the PaaS field in PaaS 2013.
- IDC Analyst and fellow Enterprise Irregular Michael Fauscette continues his series on the art of data-driven decisions in Making Better Business Decisions - Part Three.
Also worth a look: Enterprise Apps Today posted a useful review of Top Business Intelligence Trends For 2014. (I'm particularly interested in how that 'agile BI in the cloud' thing fares). Citeworld scores with an in-depth piece called Owning the API experience: Microsoft, Salesforce, and the new war for developers - we're going to hear a lot about the API Economy and APIs as a competitive advantage in 2014. Stackdriver's visual geoview (is that a word?) of where the data centers of most of the leading cloud vendors are located (to the best of their research) is interesting.
Whiffs
It wasn't an outstanding week for Robert Scoble, consumer tech guru and Rackspace Startup Liaison Officer. Over on his old stomping grounds, Google Plus, he called out readers who are (understandably) skeptical of the business value of Facebook, namedropping his Facebook friendships with VIPs like Google's Eric Schmidt in the process. (I'm not sure I agree with Schmidt's decision to openly participate on Facebook from a PR standpoint given the ongoing struggle for relevance going on over at his own social network, but that's a different debate).
Then Scoble gave into to linkbaiting with his blog title 'Why Google Glass is doomed' when he knows full well Glass isn't doomed whatsoever (it's simply an Alpha product with plenty of time for course corrections), nor does he have any plans to stop wearing his own glasses, though it's possible he doesn't wear them in the shower anymore, I don't know. But Scoble is far too savvy to continue wearing a product he truly feels is doomed.
Scoble knows full well that the future belongs to wearable devices, something he basically concedes by the time his piece is done (which is a sensible review underneath the linkbaiting bombast, which is supposedly a form of satire if you are willing to go down that rabbit hole). Why critique Scoble? Because I'm drawn to the opposite: authentic connections with people who have my back, online relationships that defy geography - NOT the spreading thin on countless platforms, the scattershot 'conversations' with thousands of followers, flaunting/seeking of VIP connections - it's just not my Internet (though to be fair, that is Klout's Internet).
Scoble is right about living openly (he co-authored a book called Naked Conversations) but I think there will also be a backlash, as some of us realize that privacy and, indeed, mystery, also have a place - one well worth fighting for.
Consumerization and the heightened demand for cutting edge user experience means Scoble's views are increasingly relevant to the enterprise (which is why I check in on him from time to time), and I should say I'm thoroughly impressed by his determined interaction with hundreds of commenters - another example the enterprise could learn plenty from.
Scoble's use of Facebook is mind-boggling to me (example: he reserves his Facebook page for tech news streams, having meticulously segmented his friends on a series of custom lists). I'd rather use Facebook for my friends and my newsreader for what it's best for (monitoring tech news), but his use case is fascinating, no arguments there. He's evidently turned Facebook into a well-heeled pooch by training its newsfeed algorithm. I have yet to successfully potty train Facebook myself, so perhaps a tip of the cap is in order.
Officially off-topic
I was also disheartened to learn that an Internet search for time travelers turned up nothing, but it's good to know to learn that Stephen Hawking actually threw a party for time travelers in 2009 (alas, nobody came). For diabolical business models suited for our times, we can expect airlines to not only charge for cell phone access on planes, but also for 'quiet zones' where such calls are not allowed.
The NSA has evidently made its own New Year's Resolution, now intent on a quantum computer than can crack most kinds of encryption. Other interesting big data use cases include Netflix reverse-engineering Hollywood and an algorithm that can predict hit movies.
I regret reading about Winnipeg's temperatures being the equivalent of life on Mars, as it has muzzled my ability to whine about toe-biting weather conditions in the northeast US. I can, however, vent on other topics, such as the bizarre determination of a woman who lived for a year on food only from Starbucks. If she directs her energy towards a culturally useful endeavor, look out.
Not sure anyone can top Canada's ex-defense minister this week though - he recently informed us that aliens would share more tech with us if we would just stop it with the military skirmishes. Since that can't be topped, I'll leave you on a thoughtful note - I was impressed by Evernote CEO Phil Libin's thoughtful and detailed response to a customer critique. Well played, and see you next time.
Which #ensw pieces of merit did I miss? Let us know in the comments.
Most of these articles are selected from my curated @jonerpnewsfeed. “myPOV” is borrowed with reluctant permission from the ubiquitous Ray Wang.
Image credits: Cheerful Chubby Man © RA Studio, Happy Children © Anna Omelchenko, Waiter Suggesting Bottle © Minerva Studiom, Overworked Businessman © Bloomua, Loser and Winner © ispstock - all from Fotolia.com
Disclosure: SAP, Salesforce, Workday, and Oracle are all diginomica premier partners as of this writing.