Managers in these organizations think, and behave consequently, that porting existing applications into mobile devices is great and the way to go. In some cases these actions are helpful but they are far from reaching their maximum potential. Being able to do a task or gather the same information that I can get from my laptop in my mobile device (smartphone, tablet, etc.) is a nice touch but that’s it. I live in a college town, Madison (Wisconsin), with a great university and a great community. Those in charge of the information technologies have developed “Mobile UW” a mobile application, graphically well designed and that provides useful information (directory, campus maps, news, buses routes and schedules, events calendar,…). This a nice first step that many organizations embrace but now it needs to be taken to the next level if we are really serious about transforming the organizations and consequently their impact.

The real value of mobile strategies surfaces when it transforms the way the organizations function as well as the way the organizations interact with their stakeholders (customers, suppliers, employees, etc.). Porting existing applications to mobile devices might be a nice way for developers to learn and master their programming skills. Transforming organizations does not start within the departments of information technology. It must come from within the rest of departments and units, that together with stakeholders, agree in a new way of doing business. It is after that when we develop the means to put it in practice. Continuing with the same example: the University of Wisconsin – Madison has wonderful spaces available to students, citizens, employees,… such as the Memorial Union, The Wisconsin Institute of Discovery, Union South, etc. that can be used for more and bigger things. I was reading on-line comments and feedback regarding the student orientation, advising and registration service which seems to be great but it seems clear that could be taken to a next level while providing a more personalized and even better service without the constrains of a limited office space. These ideas do not have to come from the department of information technology but from employees, students, etc. of those services (those who do the work every day know it better than anyone) and then it is the IT department the one who has to implement it.

We have to make sure that information technology departments are there to provide services to the organization and not to drive the way business should be done. A mobile strategy, as strategies in general, are designed to achieve a particular goal. Being able to use my mobile device instead of my laptop is not really a goal (it alleviates my back though). A real mobile strategy will redefine the way we work, the way we interact with ours stakeholders, the spaces we work in, the way we live our lives…..it will provide a real transformation.

In the last years we are also noticing a migration from traditional services such as voice and cable TV to internet based services. It is not uncommon the people who do no longer have the traditional phone service and it is becoming more popular those who, together with a cell phone or not, use services such as Vonage or Skype. Regarding TV services, we are more and more migrating to services such as Hulu, Amazon, Netflix or iTunes which also use internet as the main distribution channel. The traditional pre-scheduled run of TV shows or movies is being replaced more and more by a model of TV a-la-carte or on-demand.

With that in mind it is not a surprise that the consolidation of services’ movement that we saw in the early 00s seems to have been reached its peak and new steps are being taken to move forward.

We watch TV and movies more frequently in the non traditional way, we watch what we want, when we want and where we want. We also talk and communciate with friends and colleagues with services that are also new, such as Twitter and Facebook. In that regard we can mention that Europe has seen in the last 18 months a drop in the number of SMS messages sent and received, which had become a great source of revenue for the phone industry in the last few years. People communicate more than before but thru new tools and some of what had had become cash cow services are on the decline.

How are these companies reacting to this new challenge? The wrong way, late and negatively:

a) The traditional unlimited data plans that we grew up used to are disappearing
b) The network neutrality principles we thought were embedded in the industry are vanishing

Those reactions represent obstacles to the new ways of, for example, watching TV and movies. Streaming movies using Netflix or Amazon services will get us into trouble with internet plans that have a limited amount of data transfer included. Also, providers could slow down access to sites or protocols that affect some way or another their interests and partnerships.

Despite all of that, and surprisingly enough, Skype hasn’t been bought by any major telephone conglomerate (AT&T, Telefonica, Deutch telecom, etc). All of them could have easily afforded that expense. Their strategy seems to go more to fight these threats rather than embrace them and transform them in opportunities: “There is nothing better than owning the pipes and what goes thru them”. Providing internet access and also VoIP provides them with economies of scale in regard to their current technology investments.

Microsoft can keep running Skype as now but that it will only provide marginal income. Integrating a service like Skype in Windows and Office applications can make those products attractive and prevent customers for trying alternatives (OS X, Linux based-systems,….). Windows and Office are cash cow products for Microsoft. Whatever it takes to keep those two products that way can make the investment worthwhile. Another thing to see in the near future if if they are able to take advantage of it.

Although I became a Mac user and lover a few years ago, the truth is that I cannot eliminate completely my relationship with PCs and Windows. Almost every person I work with as well as the clients we deal with are PC users. For that reason, I decided to give a netbook a try and experience for myself the wonders and misfortunes of them.

I got a Samsung N110 which at the beginning of summer 2009 was one of the hottest netbooks on the market for two main reasons: an almost full-size keyboard and a promised battery duration of over 8 hours. The fact is that a netbook is as good as your expectations are about it. If you try to use your netbook as if it was a fully powered PC (notebook or desktop) you might end up very disappointed. On the other hand, if you understand that a netbook is a computer dedicated to providing basic features such as email capabilities, web browsing, word processing and videoconferencing, you will be very pleased.

Because of my work I fly regularly on domestic and intercontinental flights and I find that I can work on my netbook easily for about 8 hours with no worries. When I need to move around the city from meeting to meeting, I can carry my netbook without the charger for a whole day and easily have 40 percent of the battery left at the end of the day. Obviously, one has to learn a few tips and tricks to maximize battery life but I have to say that netbook makers have done a reasonably good job at creating battery management tools that help with those tasks. For example, when in battery mode, I have my netbook setup to run at the lowest possible brightness, to turn off my screen and hard drive after a few minutes of inactivity and even to go to standby or hibernation mode a few minutes after that if inactivity continues. Those tools, together with the incredibly easy option to turn off/on the wireless card, make a huge difference in battery life.

I am running my netbook with Windows XP as well as with Microsoft Office 2003. Yes, I am running Office 2003 instead of 2007 because I find it lighter in terms of power needs while I can get basically the same features. For videconference, I have found that applications such as Skype run very well both with voice only as well as with video.

New netbooks, lighter and with longer battery life, keep entering the market. The fact that you can get a very decent netbook that costs between $300 and $400 is still keeping that market niche growing.

The main conclusion is that a netbook is a very good second computer for those who travel regularly or spend their days going from meeting to meeting around the city. If you do not try to play high end games, edit video or photographs, but instead just perform the basic tasks mentioned above (email, word processing, web browsing, etc.) you can be very satisfied with a netbook.

Published also in the front page of Infonomia on November 30, 2009.

A pesar de que mucha gente critica sus productos por excesivamente caros, sobre todo si los comparamos con la competencia, se siguen vendiendo. La verdad es que Apple nos sorprende con productos innovadores en el diseño y en la funcionalidad, que son atractivos para el público. Tan atractivos que se siguen vendiendo, en números extraordinarios, a pesar de la crisis que nos azota a todos.

Los resultados del último trimestre (Abril-Junio 2009) son los mejores de su historia (sin contar campañas navideñas). En tres meses se han vendido 5.2 millone de iPhones, 2.6 millones de ordenadores y, a pesar de la caída, ni más ni menos que 10.2 millones de iPods.

Mucha gente se preguntaba acerca de la influencia de Steve Jobs en los resultados. Su ausencia de los últimos seis meses prueba que aunque la figura del CEO es importante, la estrategia y su implementación marcan la diferencia: Productos innovadores, continuas mejoras, control férreo sobre la marca, marketing diferenciado, canal de ventas propio, etc. son elementos de la estrategia que le han dado la razón.

No cabe ninguna duda de que muchos quieren imitar a Apple y de momento no lo consiguen. Apple ha conseguido lo que muchos sueñan: que usuarios de sus productos, todavía funcionales y válidos, compren los nuevos nada más salir (somos numerosos los que tenemos, por ejemplo, más de un iPod).

De todas formas no hay que olvidar que, poco a poco, Apple va ganando cuota de mercado en los ordenadores. La mitad de los ordenadores vendidos lo han sido a personas que nunca antes habían tenido un Apple.

Parece que Apple, con o sin Steve Jobs, acertó con su estrategia y no parece que vaya a cambiarla.

Periódicamente, y con el fin de acabar el informe que empezamos en la oficina y que tenemos que acabar en casa durante el fin de semana o para acabar la hoja de cálculo de Excel con el último presupuesto, tenemos que ir cargando estos dispositivos y además hacer el ejercicio de saber en cada momento cuál es la última versión del mismo sin equivocarnos. Estos dispositivos portátiles USB también son utilizados en cierta forma como almacén de copias de seguridad e incluso, con aplicaciones como U3 Smart, como soporte para nuestras aplicaciones más comunes que podemos utilizar en ordenadores sin dejar rastro.

Durante los últimos años numerosas iniciativas han aparecido (y desaparecido) con el fin de ayudarnos a tener nuestros archivos sincronizados en más de un lugar. Desde hace unos meses he venido utilizando Dropbox que pienso que es la mejor de estas alternativas hasta el momento. Dropbox es la solución para sincronizar (y obtener copias de seguridad) archivos y documentos en múltiples ordenadores y en las tres plataformas más comunes (Windows, Linux y Mac).

Como muchos, me enviaba desde la oficina mensajes de correo a mi mismo con el fin de tener acceso a determinados archivos desde mi casa. Igualmente tenía problemas para compartir con colegas, amigos y familia ficheros muy grandes. Esos y otros problemas los he resuelto, de forma gratuita hasta 2 gigabytes, con Dropbox.

Es una pequeña aplicación que se instala en los ordenadores deseados. Se elige la carpeta a sincronizar y a partir de entonces todos los ordenadores elegidos tendrán el mismo contenido en el momento en que se conectan a Internet. Por ejemplo, cuando guardo un documento Word en la carpeta de Dropbox este documento queda sincronizado de forma casi instantánea en todos mis ordenadores e incluso puedo acceder al mismo vía web desde cualquier sitio. Además de acceder a los archivos vía web puedo compartir carpetas específicas con las personas que decida.

Un gran añadido es la posibilidad de mantener versiones de los ficheros con los que trabajamos por lo que podemos recuperar versiones antiguas (hasta 30 días de forma gratuita) de un mismo documento en caso de que sea necesario.

PS. Este artículo no está subvencionado o patrocinado por DROPBOX en ninguna forma. Está basado en mi propia experiencia como usuario y no he recibido ningún tipo de favor, regalo o incentivo por parte de DROPBOX ni de nadie.

Publicado en la portada de Infonomia el 24 de Julio de 2009.

International donors and non-governmental organizations make efforts to reach these places and assist people on multiple arenas, ranging from basic health assistance and food programs, elections monitoring. It is common to see deployments of experts on particular areas but often they lack the equipment, and in many cases, the basic skills that today are needed for day-to-day communications activities such as creating and establishing an internet connection, setting-up a wireless network, set-up and configuration of email accounts, printers, etc. These are real needs that must be covered in order to streamline the work of these staff as well as for safety reasons. There is no longer the option of calling the IT guy to come up and fix these issues. Many of these skills are today as basic as learning to drive. No matter what position you are in it is needed.

In this white paper, I attempted to provide an explanation and a hands-on checklist of the basic equipment needed for these situations. The emphasis is on the ability to “hit the ground running” meaning that the need to be fully functional from the information technology perspective and be able to communicate starts immediately, often as soon as the plane lands. Because of that, all the examples, images and illustrations explained here are related to equipment that people can carry with them in addition to whatever other luggage they might travel with. It is based on my own experience in activities all over the world

Download the 480 Kb. PDF file

Often times, employees tend to perceive the staff that works on information technologies and systems as a “computer guy”, a “web guy” or a “techie”. This perception shows a lack of understanding of current organizational developments and frameworks and, more importantly, is a reflection of how they handle these matters within whatever organization they work (public or private, large or small, for-profit or not). Consequently, this perception is a reflection of how a modern organization is understood (not very well) and how it is run (most likely, poorly).

A Chief Information Officer (CIO) and an IT Manager are not the same. Of course, in medium or small size organizations you might find a single individual playing both the CIO and the IT Manager role and understanding very well the differences between each position. Unfortunately, it is not enough for the person filling this role to know what each role entails. What really matters is how the CEO and other senior staff members perceive this person, if they know which “hat” she or he is wearing at any particular moment and, most important, if her or his comments and contributions are part of the strategic decisions being taken by the organization.

When playing the CIO role, either full or part time, the focus should be on how information technologies and systems can help the business strategy and to make sure that there is alignment with that strategy. The IT manager, on the other hand, should make sure that all systems are up and running properly and that the different IT staff members are doing what they are supposed to.

It is true that you cannot be an admiral without a fleet and if you are just managing a handful of Help Desk guys you are not a CIO. CIO is a leadership position and an IT manager is a managerial position.

As we have seen in multiple business books, leaders inspire while managers measure; leaders guide and managers navigate; leaders envision and managers maintain; leaders talk and managers listen; leaders support and managers teach; leaders hope and managers direct; leaders expect and managers demand, etc. Obviously, success requires both.

If your business card says CIO but you do not sit at the senior staff meetings with CEO, CFO, Vice-Presidents, etc. you are not a real CIO. Obviously, organization size, type of business, etc. are key factors, but by no means are they founded excuses to not allow the CIO to sit in the key strategic meetings.

A real CIO is supposed to take a strategic view of the organization, understand the business requirements and facilitate interaction with the other departments. He will have to set the agenda for strategic projects and technologies. For this agenda to work, the IT managers have to make sure that the basic and support technologies are running smoothly.

Organizations that do not have anyone performing CIO activities, even if it is just part time, show a lack of vision and a lack of understanding about the role that information technologies and systems can play today. Information technologies and systems have the capacity to transform the way organizations do business. They are not just solution providers but, even more important, they are enablers. They solve problems but also create value.

Published at the front cover of Infonomia on May 8-11, 2009.