Sunday, March 16th, 2008
I was perusing BPM Strategies magazine and came across the term “applistructure “. Applistructure has to do with the convention of combining enterprise infrastructure and enterprise business applications. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) refers to a web centric / web focused approach to technology. According to the “SOA and Application Infrastructure” article by Mike Rosen, this applistructure trend was hot a couple of years ago. Can you relax? Or, as Mr. Rosen suggests, can you take comfort in knowing that solving management and business process issues are more critical to enterprise success than the actual technology?
I attended the Atlanta AFCEA (Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association) February 2008 meeting. The speaker, Mr. Joe Capps talked about the subject of moving to enterprise level systems and procurement processes. Instead of haphazardly developing technology in an “after the fact” manner, he advocated a more proactive approach – as in developing a strategy to move toward enterprise infrastructure, enterprise business applications and enterprise technology in general.
Additionally, a key imperative of the Department of Defense (DoD) is to change and accelerate the requirement to solution process. What’s known as Moore’s Law (based on Gordon Moore’s predictions about semiconductors), says that technology is rapidly changing. Probably about every 18 months. Where there is a need for the latest technology, Moore’s Law has financial, logistical and feasibility implications. The government and the DoD are known for red tape and cumbersome processes. But our country’s ability to respond to immediate threats requires current, accurate information delivered to those needing it in a timely fashion. He suggested the criticality of providing our war fighters with decision making data on how to even respond to five guys running down a street in Iraq. Wow!
Moore’s Law has implications in the private sector as well. Large scale technology projects often take 18 months or more to implement. That time is in addition to the time required to budget for, select and procure the software, hardware, and implementation partners. While ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) and the like, may not be obsolete, there are sure to be upgrades, patches (corrections and fixes to software problems) and new feature by the time the system is finally rolled out.
So, what can be done? Knowledgeable consultants with system expertise can help companies and public sector entities develop a strategy and select the right software in the first place. Then, the right implementation partners can accelerate and provide Independent Verification and Validations (IV&V), project management and governance throughout the implementation process. If none of these things were in place or addressed during the course of the technology project, then you’ll probably need the cure for the “Post Implementation Distress” that is sure to occur.
You’re spending millions of dollars for enterprise initiatives. Wouldn’t it be worth spending a small percentage on ensuring that you get what you paid for? Perhaps you need a technical advocate to help you navigate through the planning and implementation process.
Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC
Tags: AFCEA, applistructure, Atlanta, blog, BPM, Business, Business Over 50, businessover50.com, Change, Consultant, consulting, CRM, Department of Defense, DoD, enterprise, ERP, Finance, Implementation, infrastructure, IV&V, MES, Moore's Law, Noble & Associates Consulting, Noble Finances, Post Implementation Distress, Process, Process Improvement, Requirements, Sandra Noble, SOA, Software, Strategy, Technology
Posted in Business, Finance, Process, Requirements, Software, Strategy, Technology | 2 Comments »
Monday, March 10th, 2008
What’s wrong with talking to a human? Apparently it costs too much to talk to a human. And companies are about reducing costs. Companies focus on the bottom line – profits. Businesses don’t consider the fact that the top line, revenues, might be enhanced if their customers had better experiences when interacting with the company.
I recently had another birthday. Thus I’ve even further distanced myself from the working people pack. When you consider that most people work for about 40 years, those over 50 are in the last quarter of their working lives. And, with all the early retirements, there are not many people older than me still working. Or some, as one lady I know, are focused on counting the months and days until retirement.
But let’s consider those who retired 10 or more years ago. Most of them are impacted by technology because their children and grandchildren are “keeping up with technology”. The teens of today have never been without computers and cell phone technology and satellite TV and the list goes on. They are totally comfortable with technology.
One pet peeve of many people, irrespective of age, is dealing with telephone voice prompts. It’s difficult to get through to a person. When I’m calling for help, I never seem to fit into any of the options numbers. There are still people with rotary phones, as in my uncle. I admit I sometimes cheat and follow the rotary phone option. But many times I just tough it out. After all, my career has been in and my company, Noble & Associates Consulting is focused on Information Technology. Technology does not scare me. So, I can do this.
Nevertheless, I was delighted to know there is a website that has the secret to getting to a living, breathing person – without punching 50 buttons. Check out http://www.gethuman.com/.
Sandra Noble
President/CEO
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC
Tags: Atlanta, blog, Business, Business Over 50, businessover50.com, cell phone, computer, Consultant, Finance, information technology, Noble & Associates Consulting, Noble Finances, Profit, retirement, Revenue, Sandra Noble, Senior citizen, Technology, telecommunications, telephone
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Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
I keep finding myself drawn to this 2.0 stuff – whether Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0. Atlanta appears to have large following and fan base of these concepts and techniques. I’m still working on getting the terms straight. At times, I’m not sure whether I should be using “social media” or “social networking”. One thing I do know: I need to keep tabs on what’s going on with Web 2.0.
The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) is an umbrella group consisting of technology special interest group communities / societies. The newest society is called TAG Enterprise 2.0, and its focus is to explore and educate on Web 2.0 technology movement. Perhaps this phenomenon could be better described as a revolution and societal paradigm shift. It’s already second nature to the under thirty crowd. The wave is spreading to the over 30, over 40 and over 50 populations. And, this technology is being embraced more and more by the business community.
The first TAG Enterprise 2.0 meeting (March 5, 2008), featured Puneet Gupta, CEO and Founder of Connectbeam. Connectbeam’s product is used behind corporate firewalls for searching, tagging, social bookmarking and social networking. What they add to typical Google searches, is the ability to see
1) Who else in the organization has searched on the same thing?
2) The intent, context or tags associated with the prior searches.
3) The ability to connect with others doing similar searches.
Finally an application and strategy that makes sense for businesses of all sizes. Connectbeam already has an impressive list of clients, starting with Honeywell as their first customer. The implementation of this product enables companies to control their data, integrate with existing IT infrastructure, and incorporate data access and security requirements. Connectbeam’s product allows companies to measure the rate of adoption and increases in productivity as a result of implementing an Enterprise 2.0 framework.
I guess it’s innovate or be left behind.
Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC
Tags: Atlanta, blog, Business, Business Over 50, businessover50.com, Community, connectbeam, data security, Enterprise 2.0, Finance, Google, Implementation, infrastructure, Innovation, Noble & Associates Consulting, Noble Finances, Sandra Noble, Senior citizen, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Network, Social Networking, Strategy, TAG, TAGent2.0, Technology, Technology Association of Georgia, web 2.0
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