2011 Archive

It's 2011-Do You Know What All Your Machine Data Is Worth?

Last week, I had the pleasure of welcoming Doug Harr, CIO of Splunk, to the Harvey Nash webinar stage. In a presentation called, "The Big Opportunities of Big Data," Harr started off his talk by continuing a discussion that recurred at several of our Harvey Nash CIO Survey forum events this fall.

Harvey Nash and PA Consulting's final U.S. CIO Forum of 2011 was held in NYC this October and the focus of the night--without question--was cloud computing. It was a high-energy event where opinions were strong and insights uniquely New York. To give you an example of how animated and fun this cloud-centric discussion got, I will share with you one of my favorite quotes of the night: >"Cloud computing is like a beautiful woman that I would love to take out, but do not want to take home."

This Land Was Made for Innovation

This September was a big month for the Harvey Nash CIO Forum events as we visited both Denver and Chicago in our global road show dedicated to our annual CIO Survey. I have always noticed differences--some subtle and some glaring--in these two IT communities in my visits with clients and local technology groups. However, this year the mood in both cities was identical.

We are very proud of our Vietnam team for recently receiving two Gold Sao Khue Awards in the BPO service and software development categories. Created by the Vietnam Software Association (VINASA), the awards recognize the contributions of organizations and individuals to the Vietnamese technology sector. Vietnam's Vice Minister of Information Technology and Communication presented the awards in Hanoi on June 9. I was in Vietnam two weeks earlier on May 21 meeting with our client The Standard Media Index (SMI) and I had the fortunate opportunity to meet with a group of MBA students from Rider University that were visiting our software development and support services facility in Ho Chi Minh City.

My colleague Lance Hendrix, Practice Director, Technology Solutions for Harvey Nash and I kicked off our 2011 Harvey Nash Webinar series with a cloud computing presentation that had the chat room buzzing up until the last minute of the event. What was all the chatter about?

HDI's Annual Conference is an annual must-attend event for me because it's a knowledge-paloozah every time. This year was no exception, and I have the cramped hands from note taking and handshaking to prove it. To give you a sampling of the issues on the mind of IT leaders in attendance, I will quickly share three of the notable topics of discussion at the end of my conference presentation on "Multisourcing and the Message for Innovation."

Last week, I wrote a blog about how my road warrior business tools have changed pretty dramatically and in very good ways. The once pure PC me is now an iPad-toting Apple enthusiast, and I am all the more productive for it.

Last week Harvey Nash released research that showed the iPad to be far more than all the hype behind it. In a survey of 134 subscribers to Harvey Nash Online Appointments Magazine, 91% of participants said they believe their tablets increased productivity. And if that surprises you, join the club—75% percent of survey participants were 'surprised' by how useful the device was.

The news is full of stories of leaked information these days. Whether it's state secrets released by WikiLeaks or a product release slipping out early from a careless team member, information is supremely difficult to control in today's world of instant online communications.

Brazil is without a doubt one of today's brightest economic success stories. First country out of the Great Recession, rich in natural resources and economic growth at seven percent, Brazil will soon leap frog France and Britain to become the world's fifth largest economy.