Two of my favorite subjects are technology and business. It was, of course, destiny that an article on this subject would transpire. The idea began with a keynote presentation that I gave to a room full of CFO’s and IT Directors. It just made sense to share with a larger audience.
Already Impacted?
Yes! Let’s look at a morning in the life of me…
First thing in the morning I virtually contact my global business connections through the use of Google Apps, Web 2.0, and Cloud Computing using social media. Some of these tools consist of LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and Facebook all of which have storage and applications on the cloud. I then finally check my Google analytics, which of course is on the cloud, to see how my articles are doing on my website which uses virtualization.
“50% out of the 500 CIO’s surveyed plan to use virtualization.”
As I start my commute a potential client calls my office VoIP/SIP phone and through presence, location based services, and virtualization connects instantaneously to my Android Smartphone which I now can answer a few last minute questions before arriving at the office. As I arrive at my office I seamlessly finish the call back on my office phone without any interruption. I then receive an efax, using the cloud, signed contract and the deal is closed.
As you can see new technology has a tremendous impact on how I do business and my guess yours is similar.
Why should You Care?
Simply put… philosophies have changed. Instead of the IT Director asking for more technology to get things done they are now asked to get things done with less. Budgets are gone or much smaller than ever before. In other words no longer can companies get by with “do more with more” but now have to “do more with less”. So how does this work?
In a recent Morgan Stanley report they stated that 50% out of the 500 CIO’s surveyed plan to use virtualization. They also reported that that same amount planned on expanding their cloud applications. Why? Their reason was that they could “do more with less” with these business technologies. Instead of buying the typical suite of applications like Microsoft Office, Goldmine, Adobe, QuickBooks, etc. loaded locally, with upgrades, licenses, and compatibility issues, they now could have one application on a web based interface.
A great example of this is using Web 2.0 or rich internet applications like Google Apps to create, edit, collaborate, word processing, spreadsheets on the cloud. You now have much easier administration and up-times, lower server loads locally, and definitely less PC needs. Do more with less.
With cloud computing can come fear, uncertainty, and doubt for some business owners. If having local control is a requirement you can still do more with less. Let me explain…
Virtualization is beginning to play a huge role in corporate IT planning. Using products like VMware you could take as many as 63 applications and put them on one server. One customer case study saw their 70 servers go to 5. If that wasn’t big enough they saw a 45% reduction in their electric bill! Do more with less.
Another big break through is you can now house your voice (communications) system on a virtual server as well. This obviously has a tremendous impact on the bottom line. So everything is great right? Not necessarily.
Disruptive Technology
Disruptive technology is “innovations that improve a product or service in ways that the market does not expect” – Wikipedia.
How about the web? No longer can your website be a business card. Now everyone’s a competitor and small businesses can look larger and SEO better than their mightiest competitor.
Open source changed things overnight with Linux and Asterisk as examples. I know in the communications world this changed most company directions literally overnight.
“Cloud-based mobile applications are expected to rise 88% between 2009 and 2014”.
The combined consumer and enterprise market for cloud-based mobile applications is expected to rise 88% between 2009 and 2014, according to a study from Juniper Research. Gartner Group recently stated that “Enterprises in North America will be supporting more mobile phones than desktop phones by 2011” and we’re seeing this come true. Always on devices such as iPhone, iPad, etc. are changing enterprise plans instantaneously. And if that’s not tough enough to plan for… “The rate of obsolescence is outpacing the pace of change” – altimeter. What do you do with that information!
Holistic Approach
Holistic Approach, what is it? Well I can tell you Jerry Garcia didn’t dream it up and Al Gore didn’t invent it. It’s an answer to reactive company technology direction and purchases. Companies continue to buy PC after PC, server after server, and software after software, without long term thought to future costs and compatibility. Should a company expand their building or hire telecommuters? Should they buy more PC’s or look at thin clients? One case study I recently read stated that replacing PC’s with Sun Ray thin clients gave them a 1 year 70% ROI! Wrong decisions can cost thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars.
So what’s needed? A proactive, all encompassing holistic approach. You can’t expect your data guru to know everything about, cloud computing, virtual servers, communications and always on devices. Just as you need a business posse, attorneys, accountants, and advisors, you need a technical posse of field experts, consultants, internal managers and users. This technical posse needs to understand and participate in your 1,3,5 year plan. They need to understand that all new technologies affect all current technologies and all departments.
Here’s a real life scenario. A company’s sales department was tired of the downtime with their email, Word, Excel, etc. They started using Google Apps. They also had Droid based phones which integrated seamlessly and easily. The sales department had never been invited to the technology planning meetings. Now the IT group was out of the loop. They had no idea this had happened and they had budgeted for a different much more expensive solution and no mobile integration. Not good.
Your technology posse needs to understand the long term business philosophy as well. Technology needs to enhance and help achieve business success. It should be part of the company PEST (political, economic, social, and technological) and SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis.
I was involved in a sale where a particular customer had outsourced appointment confirmation and billing. At the eleventh hour they decided to get some advice (technical posse) and we were chosen to help. Bottom line… I was able to save this company almost $5,000 dollars a month with technology that they didn’t know existed.
Future Impact
Here’s something to think about. In 2014 “Worldwide mobile data traffic needs could increase to as much as 40 exabytes – Cisco”. That’s 40 billion gigabytes! In 2020 work and leisure will be seamlessly integrated. “Individuals will find themselves most productive when using the same tools for both work and personal purposes… – Forrester Research”. In 2045 “computers will vastly exceed human intelligence” – “The singularity is near” by Ray Kurzweil. In my case that’s not a big challenge.
It is speculated that technical advances are growing exponentially. One hundred years of accomplishments, twenty years from now, will only take one year!
It is important to understand how technology impacts business, today and tomorrow, by using a proactive, all encompassing holistic approach. By doing so you can do more with less and keep your bottom line healthy and your internal user’s happy.
© 2011, Chris Lott and SalesBlog!. All rights reserved.
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