An unbelievable, yet true story:
A family member was going through a severe medical situation requiring a daily life saving treatment. Treatment took place at the hospital using an expensive medical device. After two weeks of therapy he was asked to skip the next couple days of treatment. Sounds a bit strange given the fact it was a life saving procedure, doesn’t it? Confused, he inquired for the nature of his doctor’s request and was given the answer that device is down for two days due to a software upgrade (of the equipment).
Can you believe it? Critical (life saving) medical infrastructure is down for days due to software upgrade!? It must be a bad joke…
This story is an indication of the criticality of software applications in our lives. Recently there was a big discussion about the impact of a cyber terror attack knocking down the internet. Without getting into a lengthy debate I feel we are past the turning point. Software has become critical part of our lives, especially with regards to some commercial/enterprise applications. Based on the story above it can even be a life saving medicine.
Despite the importance of software, in many cases the overall quality of the package is lacking. We have all heard the stories about vendor locking and challenges some customers have with upgrading commercial software (as well as enterprise software). It always looks like install and upgrade are an afterthought rather than a core capability (similar phenomenon with security and even management capabilities). Occasionally the approach is “once it is up and running - you will get all this great functionality…” This phenomenon is much more common with large software vendors with stronger leverage (i.e. bargaining power) over their customer base.
So how can we align quality with criticality to improve this situation?
A major benefit SaaS vendors bring to the market has to do with their state of mind as companies. Unlike the common perception of SaaS companies as software companies, they are not. SaaS companies are actually SERVICES companies, which happens to develop\market\sell a product. Their state of mind is of a services organization. A CEO of such a company recently told me: “if the service we provide is not good enough, we can (and will) be fired every day”. This refreshing perception of the role of software applications (and software providers) keeps these companies close to (and dependent on) their customers and might be the panacea for the quality (or lack of) delivered. I believe it might even have a positive impact on more traditional software vendors.
So if you are a software vendor, keep in mind the “services state of mind”. But most important – stay healthy!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
We are all Consumer Employees
Like many others I anxiously await Apple’s latest iPad/iSlate/iTablet/i(“Apple’s new Tablet which is going to change our lives and blow away the competition”), one more week to the announcement (most likely).
A quick disclaimer - I love Apple technologies. My household members are proud owners of several iPods, iMac, MacBook. If it was not for AT&T I would have an iPhone... I have even invested in Apple’s stock.
Unlike the iPhone revolution, this time the competition is not planning to be caught off guard, playing to the hands of Apple. Thinking they understand Apple direction, everyone (Google/HTC, Sony, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Nokia, Motorola, ASUS, etc.) is rushing to release a tablet message to the market followed by what seem at times pre-mature products. Eventually Apple will release their hyped device taking the market by storm…
Though a gadget freak, I wonder, what does the new tablet era have to do with the title of this post?
Well, there is an interesting phenomenon we are experiencing. Enterprise infrastructure has opened up to support remote access of employees (travel, home, remote office, etc.). In addition, mobile devices have become more powerful and many of us are getting these devices for their personal use.
Now is the time to introduce a term I’ll be using quite often I believe in my posts - “consumer employee.” In this era the line between employees and consumers is very blurry as most of us are employees at day and consumers at night. We are going to continue purchasing (and thinking) as consumers while demanding open connection to our work environment, as employees.
You don’t need to be genius to connect the dots. If you (a consumer employee) had a personal fancy/cool yet powerful device (e.g. iPhone) wouldn’t you want to use it to access your work environment (e.g. email)?
This plays nicely to Apple’s brilliant strategy. They found the secret sauce to eventually master the enterprise mobile world. Instead of battling head to head from day one with the enterprise SW/HW vendors they came up with a different approach.
Apple’s strategy is very simple:
1. Create a cool device with a relatively small number of really great features (e.g. iPhone)
2. Sell this device to consumers and dominate (not in number but in hype) the market
3. Add the necessary capabilities (again small number of features) for enterprise use (e.g. Exchange integration)
4. Leverage the satisfied/hyped customer base to create a reverse pressure from inside the enterprise (i.e. “we want to use these devices to connect to our working environment”)
5. IT/Security will try to push back but eventually will have to compromise and support these devices
The consumer employee phenomenon is not limited to mobile devices, they also want to use social networks and other “always connected” consumer mediums during the day time when they act as employees. These new challenges are not limited to security and have to be addressed. By the way many of the IT guys responsible to watch the milk are by themselves geeky consumers (and I mean it as a positive virtue).
Am I missing something? Are you convinced by now? I’ll be happy to hear your take.
A quick disclaimer - I love Apple technologies. My household members are proud owners of several iPods, iMac, MacBook. If it was not for AT&T I would have an iPhone... I have even invested in Apple’s stock.
Unlike the iPhone revolution, this time the competition is not planning to be caught off guard, playing to the hands of Apple. Thinking they understand Apple direction, everyone (Google/HTC, Sony, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Nokia, Motorola, ASUS, etc.) is rushing to release a tablet message to the market followed by what seem at times pre-mature products. Eventually Apple will release their hyped device taking the market by storm…
Though a gadget freak, I wonder, what does the new tablet era have to do with the title of this post?
Well, there is an interesting phenomenon we are experiencing. Enterprise infrastructure has opened up to support remote access of employees (travel, home, remote office, etc.). In addition, mobile devices have become more powerful and many of us are getting these devices for their personal use.
Now is the time to introduce a term I’ll be using quite often I believe in my posts - “consumer employee.” In this era the line between employees and consumers is very blurry as most of us are employees at day and consumers at night. We are going to continue purchasing (and thinking) as consumers while demanding open connection to our work environment, as employees.
You don’t need to be genius to connect the dots. If you (a consumer employee) had a personal fancy/cool yet powerful device (e.g. iPhone) wouldn’t you want to use it to access your work environment (e.g. email)?
This plays nicely to Apple’s brilliant strategy. They found the secret sauce to eventually master the enterprise mobile world. Instead of battling head to head from day one with the enterprise SW/HW vendors they came up with a different approach.
Apple’s strategy is very simple:
1. Create a cool device with a relatively small number of really great features (e.g. iPhone)
2. Sell this device to consumers and dominate (not in number but in hype) the market
3. Add the necessary capabilities (again small number of features) for enterprise use (e.g. Exchange integration)
4. Leverage the satisfied/hyped customer base to create a reverse pressure from inside the enterprise (i.e. “we want to use these devices to connect to our working environment”)
5. IT/Security will try to push back but eventually will have to compromise and support these devices
The consumer employee phenomenon is not limited to mobile devices, they also want to use social networks and other “always connected” consumer mediums during the day time when they act as employees. These new challenges are not limited to security and have to be addressed. By the way many of the IT guys responsible to watch the milk are by themselves geeky consumers (and I mean it as a positive virtue).
Am I missing something? Are you convinced by now? I’ll be happy to hear your take.
Taking the plunge
I have finally decided taking the plunge and write my own blog where I can blabber about everything, especially technology and how it impacts life. Since my day job revolves information security (and has been so for quite some time), as a bonus from time to time I will provide my security takeaways.
I plan to enjoy the ride, hopefully you will as well.
Without delay – let the games begin!
I plan to enjoy the ride, hopefully you will as well.
Without delay – let the games begin!
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