Business

  • Could the Adoption of the iPad Really Be as Significant as the Adoption of the Internet?

    A small software company, started by a friend of mine, just did something that surprised me. It bought a new iPad for each of its employees.

     

    110501 iPad2 Image

    Some companies will justify purchasing an iPad for key executives as a consumption tool. Other companies may justify purchasing an iPad for a developer, as a way to get them used to the form factor. Still other companies may purchase iPads as an incentive to recruit or retain employees and to foster a sense of a "cool" environment.

    This Time It Is Different.

    What strikes me is how fast this wave of tablet computing is taking-off. Yes, I remember how many times companies have tried non-traditional PC initiatives. In fact, my attic is an electronics graveyard for many of the earlier attempts. However, this time is different. I see 60-year-old men in McDonald's using and iPad to play Scrabble. I see 50-year-old business-people doing their work using iPads on an airplane. Moreover, I see data being formatted for easier consumption on those devices.

    The result is that this probably represents a fundamental change.

    Back in the 90s, the Internet finally took off. Early adopters talked about how long they were doing similar things with AOL, CompuServe or Delphi. Yet, when the Internet finally took off something changed.

    Would you have guessed that a decade later electronics chain stores (like Circuit City) or bookstores (like Borders) would be casualties? Think how it affected the U.S. Post Office, telephone companies, etc. The list of winners and losers from that shift can be a lesson or an example.

    A Different Look at the Same Issue.

    I grew up with LP records. In high school, I watched eight-track tapes give way to cassettes. Then CDs gathered market share. After that, MP3s came along. Something funny happened along the way though … An MP3 file is just a song; but modern MP3 players allow you to carry your entire music library with you wherever you go. It's not just a linear progression; something happened and the whole value proposition transformed.

    We are watching a similar technology shift happen right now. To borrow a line from Sun Microsystems, "the network is the computer".

    More of our data, applications, and services are moving to the "Cloud". And a tool like the iPad can become much more significant than merely the device itself. It becomes the portal giving you access to everything on your company's private computers, as well as what's available on the public Internet. Again, the whole value proposition transforms.

    A decade from now, there will be a whole new list of beneficiaries and casualties from this quantum shift.

    Something to think about; who will be the big winners and losers?

    Related articles
    Enhanced by Zemanta

  • Great Video – “The Race” is an Uplifting Reminder of What’s Possible

    Worth watching.
     
    Heather Dorniden, from the University of Minnesota, races the 600m at the Big 10 Indoor Track Championships. What happens reminds what a race really is about … and, perhaps, what life is really about.
     
    Here is the video.
     

     

    We will fall. We can rise.  It is a choice.

    Enhanced by Zemanta

  • Great Video – “The Race” is an Uplifting Reminder of What’s Possible

    Worth watching.
     
    Heather Dorniden, from the University of Minnesota, races the 600m at the Big 10 Indoor Track Championships. What happens reminds what a race really is about … and, perhaps, what life is really about.
     
    Here is the video.
     

     

    We will fall. We can rise.  It is a choice.

    Enhanced by Zemanta

  • Here a Few Links for Your Weekend Reading Enjoyment

    My week flew by.  Meetings, site visits, too many business meals at restaurants seemingly conspiring to make a 300 pounder out of me.
     
    Here are some of the links that caught my eye or attention … hope you find something interesting.

    Business Posts Moving the Markets that I Found Interesting This Week:

    • Why Record Corporate Profits Might Not Be Good for the U.S. Economy. (Slate)
    • "Something's Brewing" Behind These Fascinating Financial Times. (HL)
    • 24 Signs Warning Something Is Wrong With Our Economy. (BusinessInsider)
    • Hong Kong & Singapore Closing in on NY as Dominant Hedge-Fund Hub. (efinance)
    • Creative Destruction: Japan and the Economics of Natural Disasters. (NewYorker)
    • More Posts Moving the Markets.

    Lighter Ideas and Fun Links that I Found Interesting This Week

    • Four Reasons Any Action Is Better than None. Makes Sense. (HBR)
    • Genetically Modified Cows Produce 'Human' Milk. (Telegraph)
    • College Grants for Vegans? Students Tap Unusual Sources for Financial Aid. (WSJ)
    • Why the Cloud Is Actually the Safest Place for Your Data. (Mashable)
    • Guess Who Doesn't Tweet? 87% name recognition, But Only 7% Use It. (MediaPost)
    • More Posts with Lighter Ideas and Fun Links.

     

  • Do You Get Too Much E-Mail? Here’s How to Handle it.

    Am4-boxbanner Auto-Mate is a Microsoft Outlook add-in that automatically organizes your inbox and other mail folders. It  makes it easy for you to focus on the items that are important or related to a topic you choose.

    Do you get too much e-mail?

    I'm amazed at the volume of information that passes through my inbox. It's a challenge to figure out what's important, what's relevant, and what deserves time and attention.

    That's where Auto-Mate shines. It watches your message traffic and takes action based on the rules and filters you've enabled.  Pergenex ships Auto-Mate with many pre-built tools and templates. In addition, it's easy to customize based on the way that you work and use mail. For example, it will automatically create folders for any contact that you have corresponded with, or it can put your mail into folders based on years and months.

    Personally, I use a different organization structure than that.  I prefer to sort items based on topics. So, I have a categories for business, hedge funds, family, internal company matters, etc.

    Here's an example of a screenshot of my folder structure. I've taken a before and after snapshot. Notice how many items are in my inbox versus the topic folders. The Auto-Mate rule engine puts things where they should be, so you can spend your time more efficiently and effectively.

     

    110423 Auto-Mate's Effect on Folders
    Why You Should Use Auto-Mate.

    Outlook comes with a pretty powerful rule engine itself. Auto-Mate extends these capabilities significantly. Some of the ways that Auto-Mate is better include the number of rules you can store and manage, the types of activities, actions, and exceptions you can use to customize your workflow. 

    Another key benefit is that Pergenex lets you take different action based on time.  That means Auto-Mate lets you run a rule on a particular message that has been in a certain folder for a certain period of time. 

    For example, I use my inbox as a point of focus … when I get an e-mail from someone important (like a direct report, key stakeholder, family member, accountant, or advisor), I want it to stay in the inbox for a period of time (so that I notice it, pay attention to it, and deal with it).  However, if it's there for over a week, then it makes sense for this program to automatically file it in the appropriate folder. That's just one example of how these rules keep your inbox as a productivity tool rather than a distraction.

    Am4-collage

    Here are some examples of what you can do with Auto-Mate.

    • You can create an unlimited number of rules and organize them how you want.
    • You can also easily to update your rules when it makes sense to do so.
    • Not only can you run rules when new mail arrives or when new mail is sent, but you can also run rules "on demand" or in the background to perform general cleanup and archiving.
    • Speaking of archiving, Auto-mate can easily reduce your mailbox storage size by extracting attachments and saving them to your hard disk or a network folder. It even leaves a link in your email messages so you can easily re-open the attachment.

     In addition, there are many features for advanced users, from auto-responders, auto-printing of certain messages, auto-compressing attachments in messages, and even executing other programs.

    Best of all, it works reliably and does great job.  All in all, this is a well-designed tool and worth a try.

    Here's a link to download a copy for yourself.

    Enhanced by Zemanta

  • Do You Get Too Much E-Mail? Here’s How to Handle it.

    Am4-boxbanner Auto-Mate is a Microsoft Outlook add-in that automatically organizes your inbox and other mail folders. It  makes it easy for you to focus on the items that are important or related to a topic you choose.

    Do you get too much e-mail?

    I'm amazed at the volume of information that passes through my inbox. It's a challenge to figure out what's important, what's relevant, and what deserves time and attention.

    That's where Auto-Mate shines. It watches your message traffic and takes action based on the rules and filters you've enabled.  Pergenex ships Auto-Mate with many pre-built tools and templates. In addition, it's easy to customize based on the way that you work and use mail. For example, it will automatically create folders for any contact that you have corresponded with, or it can put your mail into folders based on years and months.

    Personally, I use a different organization structure than that.  I prefer to sort items based on topics. So, I have a categories for business, hedge funds, family, internal company matters, etc.

    Here's an example of a screenshot of my folder structure. I've taken a before and after snapshot. Notice how many items are in my inbox versus the topic folders. The Auto-Mate rule engine puts things where they should be, so you can spend your time more efficiently and effectively.

     

    110423 Auto-Mate's Effect on Folders
    Why You Should Use Auto-Mate.

    Outlook comes with a pretty powerful rule engine itself. Auto-Mate extends these capabilities significantly. Some of the ways that Auto-Mate is better include the number of rules you can store and manage, the types of activities, actions, and exceptions you can use to customize your workflow. 

    Another key benefit is that Pergenex lets you take different action based on time.  That means Auto-Mate lets you run a rule on a particular message that has been in a certain folder for a certain period of time. 

    For example, I use my inbox as a point of focus … when I get an e-mail from someone important (like a direct report, key stakeholder, family member, accountant, or advisor), I want it to stay in the inbox for a period of time (so that I notice it, pay attention to it, and deal with it).  However, if it's there for over a week, then it makes sense for this program to automatically file it in the appropriate folder. That's just one example of how these rules keep your inbox as a productivity tool rather than a distraction.

    Am4-collage

    Here are some examples of what you can do with Auto-Mate.

    • You can create an unlimited number of rules and organize them how you want.
    • You can also easily to update your rules when it makes sense to do so.
    • Not only can you run rules when new mail arrives or when new mail is sent, but you can also run rules "on demand" or in the background to perform general cleanup and archiving.
    • Speaking of archiving, Auto-mate can easily reduce your mailbox storage size by extracting attachments and saving them to your hard disk or a network folder. It even leaves a link in your email messages so you can easily re-open the attachment.

     In addition, there are many features for advanced users, from auto-responders, auto-printing of certain messages, auto-compressing attachments in messages, and even executing other programs.

    Best of all, it works reliably and does great job.  All in all, this is a well-designed tool and worth a try.

    Here's a link to download a copy for yourself.

    Enhanced by Zemanta

  • Here a Few Links for Your Weekend Reading Enjoyment

    Looking for something to read?  Here are some ideas.

    Business Posts Moving the Markets that I Found Interesting Recently:

    • Man vs. Machine on Wall Street – How Computers Beat the Market. (Atlantic)
    • 5 Lies That Economists Are Feeding Us. (Money)
    • If Regulation Didn't Kill IPOs … What Did?  (Fortune)
    • Don’t Believe the Chart – Is the US Dollar Dropping Like a Stone? (ZeroHedge)
    • NSA Investigating Nasdaq Hack. Was a Nation-State Involved?  (Wired)
    • More Posts Moving the Markets.

    Lighter Ideas and Fun Links that I Found Interesting Recently:

  • Here a Few Links for Your Weekend Reading Enjoyment

    Looking for something to read?  Here are some ideas.

    Business Posts Moving the Markets that I Found Interesting Recently:

    • Man vs. Machine on Wall Street – How Computers Beat the Market. (Atlantic)
    • 5 Lies That Economists Are Feeding Us. (Money)
    • If Regulation Didn't Kill IPOs … What Did?  (Fortune)
    • Don’t Believe the Chart – Is the US Dollar Dropping Like a Stone? (ZeroHedge)
    • NSA Investigating Nasdaq Hack. Was a Nation-State Involved?  (Wired)
    • More Posts Moving the Markets.

    Lighter Ideas and Fun Links that I Found Interesting Recently:

  • Some Thoughts on the Budget and Government Spending

    This graphic highlights some of what is wrong with political discourse.

     

    110417 Everything Wrong With Politcs

    So, the government avoided a shut-down.  Is that a good or bad thing? 

    Understanding the Scope of the Budget Deficit.

    What were they really fighting about?

    Philip Greenspun puts the the budget deficit into easier-to-grasp context: just divide everything by 100,000,000.

    • We have a family that is spending $38,200 per year.
    • The family’s income is $21,700 per year.
    • The family adds $16,500 in credit card debt every year in order to pay its bills.
    • After a long and difficult debate among family members, keeping in mind that it was not going to be possible to borrow $16,500 every year forever, the parents and children agreed that a $380/year premium cable subscription could be terminated.
    • So now the family will have to borrow only $16,120 per year.

    If you are a visual thinker, here is different way to look at it.

    110417 The Budget Pie Chart Cartoon by Michael-Ramirez

    Government Shutdown Averted – Fiscal Crisis Assured!

    I saw this video and thought it made some interesting points .

     

     

    For a different perpective, you can watch the introduction video released by a new political movement called the Win+Win Revolution. 

    We do live in interesting times.
    Enhanced by Zemanta

  • A Business Book Based On The Story of Passover

    Passover is this week, so Jewish people are once again getting ready to teach the story of Exodus to their children.  This happens during the meal featured in DaVinci's Last Supper.

    110417-DaVinci_LastSupper
    Part of the tradition is to present the information in way tailored to the audience.  For example, the wise child, the wicked child, the simple child and the child unable to ask … each perceive the story and how it relates to them differently.

    Coincidently, I just read an interesting book, written by a friend of mine, that weaves the archetypical learners in the Passover Seder into a business fable about communication and persuasion.

    110417 ROAR The book talks about how you tailor your message to those four personality types.  For example, a business might look at creating different messages for wise, cynical,  simple and disinterested buyers.

    The book's title, "ROAR!", is an acronym for the persuasion model:

    • Recognize the type;
    • Observe from their perspective;
    • Acknowledge who they are;
    • Resolve their need.

    The book also provides a strong approach to bringing empathy and differentiation into your value proposition.  This is equally important in an elevator pitch or tough conversation with a stakeholder.

    It’s pretty good stuff and something worth thinking about.  You can check out a video and a couple free chapters here.

    Related articles
    Enhanced by Zemanta