This blog has moved to justindavies.com.au

Hello, and thanks for visiting my blog.

I have now moved to a new address justindavies.com.au and that is where you will find latest posts and more.

I am still using WordPress, great blogging software (thanks WordPress!), and I look forward to your feedback soon.

Best regards

Justin Davies

 

Is Web 2.0 creating innovation – or is it happening because of it?

Isn’t it an exciting time to be alive? There has never been such a volume of innovation – or information for that matter. And by the time you finish reading this post, there will be plenty of others you can also dig into.

Right now we are seeing innovation in so many areas – biotech, renewables, medicine, engineering. Technology underpins the capacity to innovate – and Web 2.0 is also a seething hotbed of new ideas with a new commercial bent. But is Web 2.0 the source of innovation, or is it happening because of the innovation around us?

Well, both are true – but the demand for technology tools to help us collaborate continues to grow.

 

Presentation on Web 2.0

Please see the box widget below for the presentation on Web 2.0 Collaboration’s New Frontier, as presented for the Institute for Information Management http://www.iim.org.au/national/html/wa_20070529.cfm

Stay tuned!

 

Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 – Collaborations new frontier and its profound impact on information management in your enterprise.

There is a great deal of hype and mystique surrounding Web 2.0 and myriad of 2.0 terms that now exist as a result, such as Work 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Office 2.0 and so on.

The hype is as loud and as significant as the last dot com boom where 2.0 has replaced “e”.

However, what is different today is that this revolution is focussed squarely at collaborative technologies and information sharing, as opposed to primarily transaction exchange of the dot com era.

Are you in a capacity to provide a leadership role in the emergence of Web 2.0? For it is as certain as night follows day that your staff are using these technologies without you knowing or seeking your consent – all in the name of getting the job done quicker.

Over the next series of posts I will outline the following:

• Outline the facets of Web 2.0 and compare and contrast to dot com
• Explain some of the technologies that underpin Web 2.0
• Show you some great tools you can take advantage of new technologies
• Explain a myriad of terms used including RSS, Mashups, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, blogs, wikis and you show you tools such as 37 Folders and tagging approaches
• Outline how you can start to incorporate these types of tools and approaches into your Information Management Strategies
• Outline some of the moves the larger vendors are taking to support these types of collaborative technologies

Could this be EDRM nirvana – an opportunity to tap into content – or is the animal out of the cage threatening everything done before it?

I look forward to your feedback…..

 

Venture Capital – The E2B experience (still smelling like dot com to me)

Back in March 2000, I discussed the idea of setting up a First Tuesday group in Western Australia with Stuart Hope, then CEO of Software Engineering Australia (SEAWA). We also brought in Peter Morris of Telesis, and got ourselves underway.

First step was to review the licencing model for First Tuesday – which read something like – “bear all liability personally, but we can take your assets – database, networks, dealflow and anything else for that matter – without recourse”.

We said, “I don’t think so” and set up our own meeting group called Entrepreneurs2business. The group was established as a dynamic meeting place for entrepreneurs, advisors and investors, with a view to commercialisation of these technology ideas to bring business growth, export revenue and to further grow the technology industry in Western Australia . Nothing particularly new in these types of forums other that the financial fuel of IPO fever.

The group was founded in May 2000 and held its first event on July 4, 2000. The group went on to hold 30 events, meeting monthly using the format of a speaker with commercialisation experience sharing their knowledge with the group. First Tuesday had long since died by the time we closed E2B.

Some interesting observations:

1. In networking events like this, the VC’s lean against the bar waiting to get picked up

2. The advisors all talk to each other and tell each other how well they are doing

3. The entrepreneurs stand nervously in the corner refusing to divulge their IP to anyone

(This is a little exaggerated of course – but seeing this in action the only thing you can do to get interaction is introduce people to each other and make sure they both understand why you are trying to connect them together).

Do you feel the market feels like that again? Fueled this time by trade sale and private equity, booming economies, and escalating salaries and expectations? Smells like it to me, love to get your feedback

 

What? Is that a dot-com smell in the air? It’s all about eyeballs again….

The interesting change with Web 2.0 has created a sense that the internet is all new again. There are some truly amazing success stories – witness www.utube.com as the largest, most recent couple of guys and an idea turned into millions. And may similar success fall to www.wordpress.com – this is truly a great offering.

But there is something in the air that smells funny…. and it seems we have a new generation of people coming through who have:

• Never witnessed a recession
• Never seen businesses lose a f…ing frightening amount of money
• Never been paid so much for so little experience
• Starting discussing “eyeballs” as inherently adding value

Am I cynical (or jaded as it didn’t work out last time – I was supposed to be driving a Ferrari to my own private golf course right now!) or does something smell funny?

Today, as it did at the time of the crash, it stills comes down to “show me the money”. At least now, advertising models are well established and easily quantified.

What piqued me to write this was a pic of Malcolm Gladwell on the front of the Australian Financial Review with him saying that business needs to get over itself and recognise the power of snap judgements.

I have read the Tipping Point, and did find it an interesting read. Gladwell may well be onto something – and I share a view that making snap decisions in the heat of business is often very sensible. You are closest to the action, best in the position to make the decision – so you should be able to make it without having to engage in endless email / other approvals – and analysing it may make you change your mind against something that makes sense.

However I also remember vividly hearing similar tones around the time of the dot com crash along the lines of, “if you are looking for a standard business model, you just don’t get it…”. You should be very concerned if anyone wont be specific on:

1. Who wants it?
2. How much for?
3. Who says so?

At the end of the day business is about the exchange of value. Part of value creation is really thinking about things.

For more about thinking, please see my posts Talk to me in numbers and 3 Reasons why smart people in organisations do stupid things

So, what do you think? I look forward to any feedback….

 

Your time is your life

I’m sure you have read time management and other business quotes where the dialogue starts. “imagine you are at your own funeral….”

This week I attended the funeral of a friend that died of cancer. Many beautiful things were said about his success in his career and business interests, his devotion to his family and his love of cooking – and his vege patch. He was universally liked by everyone that met him.

Tragically his decline from good health took a very short 6 months. For those people whom work tirelessly seeking a way to treat and avoid cancer I wish you the best in your endeavours.

What can we learn from this? Live life, love your family as much as you can, enjoy everything you can, and make sure you end your day exhausted not bored.

 

The Superhuman Boss – unrealistic expectations and how to manage them

Unlimited capacity – wouldn’t it be great to be able to deal with immense volume without experiencing stress or conflict?

Much of the challenge exists from pressure below and above – pressure below comes from a multiple of staff that need to direct information to or access information from their boss. From above, the challenge is “I deal with twice the volume you deal with, so cope”. It presents an unhealthy scenario for all parties, and increasingly I believe provides risk to organisations in terms of the negative health effects of these kinds of jobs.

However, how can you progress if you can’t deal with stress? Can you be Superhuman – it seems that the leader must be someone with greater appetite to work hard, and must be really smart in solving problems.

How do you fix it and focus? Concentrate on a bunch of things you will not do any more – cut, cut, cut and focus on those things that deliver the results that you are measured on. Share the challenge on priorities with your boss and make sure your relationship with your boss stays strong. Take some time out to breathe. Push back on requests for your time – if they don’t add to the goals you have been set, then avoid doing them.

This is partly a time management question, and partly a question of negotiation.

If you have had a scenario where you felt you had to be the superhuman boss, please share your experience – or if you feel your boss seems to be superhuman and your admire them for it – or are worried about them – then share that too. I look forward to your feedback….

 

Portal Smortal – Sharepoint, Websphere, Oracle – what are we trying to achieve here?

Hi, I have moved this blog to www.justindavies.com.au and you can read this post at the new blog here as well as accessing new posts. Thanks for visiting!

When someone suggests they want a portal the very first question to ask is, “what does a portal mean to you”.

Portal, like CRM – and many other terms in IT – tend to be all encompassing words designed to solve a complex raft of problems.

“We can’t get to our information easily” “I spent ages trying to find a document that I know is here somewhere and gave up” “We have heaps of copies of the same document” “I want a dashboard or traffic light to let me know when problems have emerged so I can immediate action” “I am sick of signing in to lots of different systems”

There is actually a fair bit of complexity in this – but the answer seems to be Portal (or intranet / new enterprise content management system – take your pick).

Same with CRM:

“I can’t get a single view of our customers” “..no one understands who is doing what with whom” “I was trying to cross sell and they already told us they can’t buy it” “The client told me that they were already dealing with another of our divisions and our company should already have a heap of information on them already”

Again, complex issues – people, process and technology at play again.

So what do we do? Start with the business problems to be solved, then resolve the process issues – and then the technology solution becomes much more simple – and effective.

Any experience good or bad? Do share….

 

Service – I’m not getting any – the dangers of implementing CRM software without understanding the need first

I was speaking with a friend today who was feeling pretty frustrated. You see, he had purchased a CRM product for his business, but it wasn’t doing what he wanted. The vendor had considered that he had done his part – sell the product, install it on site, provide the user documentation, all thumbs up….

What the client actually needed was:

1. Assistance to clearly understand how to implement CRM as a strategy

2. Get the people on the bus committed to the approach

3. Define the new processes, and define these into an agreed requirements document

4. The vendor to configure the application to meet the defined requirements

5. The vendor to train the users and the administrator in exactly how to make CRM technology deliver on the CRM strategy

6. The vendor to come back and check / realign things after staff have been using it for awhile

My recommendation to you – be very, very wary of buying any software that runs across your business without buying implementation services (not just technical ones, but solid business analysis).

So, what is your experience? Please share the good, bad and the ugly, I’d love to get your feedback….

See my post on people, process and technology for more on getting software implementation right.