A Company Of One

My favorite tech writer, Robert X. Cringely, once told me over a plate of kung pao chicken, that predicting the future was easy; the hard part is predicting the time frame in which it will happen.

In other words, flying cars will become a reality; the only question is: "Will happen in this century or the next?"Computer pundits and tech writers have been making claims that PCs will change the way companies do business for as long as there have been PCs - and they have.

They have all but eliminated secretaries, first class mail, paper tape calculators, letter headed stationary, and celluloid overhead projectors in most firms. But an even more profound change is coming in the next five years - a change that will revolutionize corporate structure, exponentially increase worker productivity, and launch a new era of efficiency and prosperity for those firms that embrace it.

I have literally grown up with PCs. Although there is some argument regarding the "first" true personal computer, or "PC," Edmund C. Berkeley's GENIAC, introduced in 1955 (four years before I was born) is widely regarded as the first.

It didn't do much except play tic-tac-toe and solve simple addition problems. But it was affordable, digital, and user-programable.In 1959, the year I was born, Heathkit introduced the EC-1 in, of course, kit-form. The EC-1 was relatively small (the size of a bread box without keyboard or monitor) and inexpensive - a true desk top.But these first "PCs" were little more than hobbyist's novelties and really didn't do anything in the way of personal productivity. The birth of the revolution - the first PC to have a real impact on personal productivity was introduced in 1977 - the year I graduated from high school.

It was the Apple II and the program that launched the personal productivity revolution was written by Dan Bricklin. The software program was called VisiCalc and is widely regarded as the first "spread sheet" program. As every accountant, financial planner, and engineer knows, spread sheet programs (like today's Excel), empower individuals to play "what if" games with complex matrixes' of numbers. What if I changed this number to this number?" How would that effect the overall outcome? The program's impact on personal productivity was profound because it empowered individuals to do in seconds what used to take many, tedious, hours with pencil and paper.But what's really significant here is the year - 1977.

Generally speaking, anyone older than forty eight at the time of this writing was an adult at this moment in history; anyone younger was an adolescent. The reason for this significance is that adolescents have a lot of time to play, and playing is what spawns innovation and creativity. Playing is what leads to real learning and understanding. When you play, you find your own way and the lessons you learn stay with you forever.

It is my contention that people younger than forty eight years old have had significantly more time to play with personal computers and are therefore much more savvy with regard to their use, limitations, and capabilities.Again the significance is the age - forty eight. These are exactly the people who are now ready to move into top management positions at major corporations - directors and CEO empowered to make sweeping changes with regard to how technology is used and deployed in companies.This realization came upon me over my years in corporate america.

I was always astounded at the technological void between my age group and the group as little as five years ahead of me, which represented most top level managers. Those senior managers were already out of college at the time of VisiCalc and the Apple II. They were struggling with new careers and climbing the learning curve of older entrenched corporate procedures. They were getting married, starting families, and had little time to "play" with technology.

For sure, many of them bought PCs as status symbols, or for vertical applications, but how many really stayed up late at night to explore the capabilities of complex software applications?In addition, many peoples' significant learning stops after college or grad school. How many of us take the time to "dig in" to learn new unfamiliar technologies after we've established careers and families? How many VCR clocks are still blinking "--:--" in our parents homes?

Also, I was also astounded at how much better my personal technology was at home than it was at work. At home, I could do anything I wanted; I wasn't "locked" out of my computer. I had every capability. I could try new things, I could play with new software, I could design new procedures, I had a faster internet connection, I could manipulate graphics and video, author DVDs, build databases, and use software that worked the way I liked to work.

At my office, I had, well ... Microsoft Office.The outgoing class of CEOs are generally complacent with regard to personal technology. They relied on Information Technology or "IT" departments to make recommendations and administer systems. Quite naturally, IT departments have no incentive to push personal productivity forward or deploy new applications as doing so would make their job much harder.

Maintaining legacy systems is always easier than implementing "bleeding edge" technologies. So, for the most part, Corporate America, has been using the same personal technology for the past twenty five years - word processing, email, presentation, and spread sheet applications. But all that is about to change.The incoming class of Directors and CEOs understand fully the opportunity costs of limiting technology use with regard to personal productivity. This issue came to a head recently with the introduction of the Apple iPhone.

I watched with amusement the press interviews with IT managers as one after another denounced it as "insecure" and too hard to administer. After the first wave of bad IT press, it was reported that top level executives were extremely enthusiastic regarding the functionality of the device and were simply ordering IT departments to "make it work."

For the first time that I can remember, the attitude among top executives seemed to be: "We'll make the policy decisions - we want it, you (IT) just make it work."This is a major paradigm shift. In the coming years, tech savvy knowledge workers will grow increasingly belligerent with regard to their personal technology. They don't need anyone to "help" them with their PCs. Their attitude toward IT will increasingly be: "Just give me the proxy server address and leave me alone."So the first part of my prediction suggests that a new class of "tech savvy" CEOs are about to take the reins of Corporate America. The second supporting piece of my bold prediction was inspired by the U.S. Army.In the face of global terrorism, the Army has had to re-think it's strategy with regard to resource deployment.

In the past, the main threat was primarily the Soviet menace and the Army seemed to prefer complex, and expensive weapons systems to combat it. Weapons systems like the A1A Abrams battle tank, the Apache helicopter, and the Patriot missile were in vogue.But the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of the global terrorist threat put the "kibosh" on expensive weapons systems development. The Army has come to realize that expensive weapons systems do little to combat the threat of terrorism and make fantastic targets for rocket propelled grenades. Consequently, the Army has adopted a "decentralized" strategy and decided to improve the capabilities (personal technology) of the individual foot soldier.Today's foot soldier sports body armor, night vision, state of the art small arms, and, most importantly, an up link to head quarters that ties him to every other soldier and weapons system on battlefield.

This personal technology empowers each individual soldier to communicate and call on every support element in the field instantly. The result is that a modern day soldier wields the power of a company of WWII soldiers.To inspire new recruits, the Army adopted the ad slogan: "An Army of One," which emphasized their new commitment to empowering the foot soldier.Technological de-centralization was the right decision for the Army and it's the right decision for Corporate America.

Empowering individual workers will leverage the modern corporation and propel it forward in unforeseen ways. By allowing workers to "play" with their personal technology and invent new systems and procedures, the modern organization will grow organically.Imagine, for example, an organization that issued a technology allowance instead of a PC. What surprises might emerge as empowered employes develop imaginative solutions to age old problems? The attitude might be: " These are the results we want, this is how your predecessor did things, these is what he achieved, here's your budget, do it anyway you want, but you'll be held accountable for your results.

"But most importantly, just as the new threat in the military arena will come from individual terrorists armed with "high tech," personal military technology, the new threat to large corporations will be small, fast, hard to spot, tech savvy, "terrorist" firms of only a few people. Large institutional data systems and lethargic procedures, make easy targets of opportunity for these individuals armed with "state of the art" personal technology. Think Google (founded by two guys).So if not by choice, then by necessity, expect American companies to become exponentially tech savvy, much flatter, much more efficient, more productive, and the power and role of IT to diminish in the next five years as a new class of tech savvy CEOs take over.

Expect each employee to become: "A Company of One."
By: Basil Anthony Beighey
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Five Good Reasons For A Business Objects Migration Project

Is it time for a Business Objects migration project at your company? If employees use business intelligence (BI) tools from Business Objects to slice and dice enterprise data and produce reports and metrics on corporate performance, the answer is likely to be a resounding ‘Yes'.In less than a year, the company will end support for older versions of its software, including BusinessObjects versions 5 and 6 and Crystal Reports versions 6 to 10.

From June 2008, in fact, the latest version of its technology, BusinessObjects XI R2, will become the only supported version.

As a result, XI migration is now a high priority for many companies, reports Mike Perks, senior consultant on the business information services team at Logicalis.But it is also a "substantial challenge", he adds. "In our experience, a Business Objects migration project typically involves purchasing and installing new hardware, migrating complex reports, and setting up new security models. Above all, you need an in-depth understanding of data management issues and the information needs of the workforce in question," he says.

For these reasons, Logicalis been asked to work with several clients, including a major high street retailer, to smooth the transition.Despite the effort involved, however, there are five good reasons to migrate:

1) Compliance - if you're not using BusinessObjects XI R2, you won't be supported and won't be able to take advantage of new technology and updates.

2) Improved functionality - the new product offers enhanced Web-based business intelligence, dashboard capabilities that present a simplified view of key performance indicators (KPIs), and integration with Microsoft Office, so that information can be presented to users via familiar formats such as PowerPoint, Excel and Word.

3) Future proofing - subsequent migrations to newer Business Objects technology will become easier if you're running the latest version.

4) Reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) - the new product combines both the popular BusinessObjects and Crystal reporting tools, so that companies can standardise on a single toolset, lowering TCO by reducing maintenance, hardware, end-user training and support costs. Also, because full reporting capabilities can be accessed via a simple web browser, there's no need for software to be downloaded onto users' PCs, which reduces desktop support costs.

5) Performance, reliability, scaleability ‑ the distributed architecture of the new product makes BusinessObjects XI R2 more robust, reliable and easier to scale vertically or horizontally than earlier versions..

By: The IT Sanctuary
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www.theitsanctuary.com/pages/71-business_objects_migration_xi_migration

The Executive Guide To Understanding Corporate Data

Business intelligence capability is becoming a key competitive driver in most major corporations. A key requirement in any business intelligence program is for the business, rather than IT, to accept ownership of corporate data.

This sends shivers down the spines of most corporate executives, already overloaded with information and decisions.

However, in a previous article “Using Business Intelligence To Power Jump Your Corporate Performance” we highlighted business ownership of corporate data as one of the three key requisites of a successful BI program.

This executive guide to corporate data will outline the key data elements that need to be understood by executives before the enterprise embarks on implementing a BI program.Corporate Data is defined in terms of:- Master Data- Meta DataMaster DataMaster data defines how the business operates – the business objects, definitions, classifications, and terminology that describe business information as well as the context for recording transaction data.

Master data reference information is key to the operation of business. Reference information includes data about customers, products, employees, materials, suppliers, etc. and is mostly non-transactional. Master data may however support transactional processes and operations. Master data forms the foundation of analytics and reporting and for this purpose, it is stored in a data warehouse or data marts, and is managed using the discipline of Master Data Management [MDM].

Meta DataMetadata is essentially data about data that is used to identify data in the data warehouse, making it discoverable based on queries that business managers enter into the BI application. In this way, Metadata is used to facilitate the understanding, use and management of data.

Types of Metadata include the name of the file, the file type, the data the data was created, the description of an image, scene descriptions within a video, Metadata is generally structured into a hierarchy - called a schema and is stored in a metadata registry, which can be accessed by multiple systemsDifference Between Data And MetadataIt is often difficult to distinguish between raw data and metadata because something can be data and metadata at the same time - the headline of an article is both its title (metadata) and part of its text (data).

Why The Business Owns DataIt is important that the business define what it considers master data, and with the guidance of IT, agree on how to define that master data, using meta data. If this is not agreed, and a formal schema and registry implemented, there will be no way of connecting data in different systems or at different locations together in a meaningful manner. And data only has meaning to the business users.

To IT, data is merely something that must be stored, kept secure and made easily available, only to permitted users.
By: Gail La Grouw
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Gail La Grouw is consulting director of Coded-Vision Consulting, architects of optimal corporate and marketing performance. She specialises in business intelligence and business performance technology