Execs Views on IT - Importance, Efficiency, and Innovation

The IT Governance Institute (ITGI) recently released the survey An Executive View of IT Governance. The survey was conducted by interviewing 255 non-IT executives across 22 countries. There are some interesting general conclusions in the results despite the lack of focus on a specific geographical area or an industry.

IT is considered to be very or somewhat import to the organizations, as indicated by 87% of the execs. IT is also perceived to contribute to efficiency and effectiveness on equally high levels, rated at 87% and 81% respectively. The same standard is, however, not maintained when it comes to contributions to innovation. Only 59% of the execs consider IT to make very or somewhat important contributions. Of this number, the very important contributions is a dismal 22%.

The consensus is somewhat reassuring - that is, IT is important and it makes important contributions to efficiency. However, the low rating in the area of innovation should be call for concern especially for organizations operating in a particularly competitive or technology intensive environment.

Innovation is a different animal and it takes a mix of using analytical skills and thinking outside the box. This is different from making sure the lights are on at all times and optimize system performance and peoples interaction with IT systems. Clearly, more work needs to be done in IT innovation and the best approach is to try different solutions based on the assets available.

Community-source Development

IBM's success with community-source development provides much needed metrics to illustrate the effectiveness of this model. In community-source, the traditional means of using employees for software development is combined with open source collaboration.

The community-source approach is more focused on solutions to needs compared with the traditional open source model. Additionally, the concept attempts to capitalize on sharing code across different kinds of project in a more seamless and integrated way than traditional open source.

Community-source is the result of open source combined with Web 2.0 thinking and a strong project management component. It's not really new, IBM started in 2002 but it took a few years before it matured. IBM's community-source effort currently have more than:

• 31,000 users
• 1,400 projects
• 2,400 instances of direct reuse of components

The potential for large savings in development costs and avoiding vendor lock-in comes at the top of the list of specific characteristics of community-source development that may be particularly appealing in the current economic climate.

Ultimately, community-source allows organizations with shared business challenges to collaborate. This surely means lower costs but they have to be mindful and keep an eye on the competitive edge of the value proposition especially when direct competitors are involved in the process.

Top 10 Security Technologies

This top ten list may not appear on Letterman's Late Night Show but it's interesting for the enterprise computer environment - the ten most popular security technologies have been identified in Deloitte's 6th Annual Global Security Survey, as referenced by Baseline magazine:

1. Anti-virus software
2. Firewalls
3. Spam filtering
4. Virtual Private Networks - VPN
5. Web content filtering/monitoring
6. Intrusion Detection Systems - IDS
7. Anti-spyware software
8. Directory servers
9. Encryption
10. Intrusion Prevention Systems - IPS

In sum, no big surprises on the tally and the four are predicable. 96 % of the organizations in the survey have anti-virus software and firewalling remains a necessity but it's alone not enough. Spam filtering has become necessary in order to keep the junk-mail at bay and VPNs are used to connect networks and allow employees and others access to the corporate network.

The Google Goof

You may have heard about the snafu at Google on Saturday morning when all items showing up on Google search were listed as potentially harmful sites. It was, literally, a small error - a slash was added to a file by mistake. News about the glitch spread fast and it showed up on my Twitter within minutes and the rumors where flying during the 40 minute malfunction.

Obviously, Google needs to modify that procedure and add a review and maybe use technology to analyze how the new paths impact the search results. Hopefully, some changes have already been made. The incident illustrates, however, how incredibly dependent we are on this one company. I must confess - I am an avid consumer of Google's services but this dependence is not good.

Unfortunately, it will probably be a long time before any company can seriously challenge Google. Microsoft will not succeed - they have proven to be ineffective in the web space. Yahoo is sinking. Microsoft will get it for a better price now but it's still a sinking ship.

Changes in the Web CMS Market

The year started with a surprise in the CMS market - Autonomy acquired Interwoven. In a way, it makes sense because Autonomy wants to add Interwoven's WorkSite to its compliance products. But the acquisition drastically change the dynamic in the competition between between Interwoven and Vignette in the web CMS space.

It looked like Interwoven had a leg up on Vignette before the acquisition and it was openly talking about going after Vignette. The biggest question in the wake of the acquisition of Interwoven is how Autonomy will manage the integration of the new entity and its long-term plans (or lack thereof) in the web CMS market. It's hard to ignore that it doesn't have a stellar track-record when it comes to integration of new entities.

Amazon Sales - Like a Rocket

Good news from the corporate world is almost news itself these days and Amazon's 2008 fourth quarter sales report is cheerful reading.

The sales for the quarter increased with 18%. Such an increase is, of course, huge in the face of struggling retail sales but Amazon also outperformed the US e-commerce sector which is estimated to have suffered a 3% decline for the same period.

Examining the Case Against Web Apps

Web based applications have been on the raise for many years and the trend is embraced without much exception. So, it's only healthy to consider the opposing point of view in Neil McAllister's piece "The case against Web apps".

The article is a five point critique of browser-based web apps:

1. It's client-server all over again.
2. Web UIs are a mess.
3. Browser technologies are too limiting.
4. The big vendors call the shots.
5. Should every employee have a browser?

Neil fails to make a convincing make the case that the drive towards web apps are fundamentally not sound - he fails on two accounts. First, many of his concerns, while valid points, are pain points and challenges in the development of web apps and not evidence of structural shortcomings in the concept. Second, he disregard the overall developments in the computer industry and assumes technology as static.

For instance, Neil points to the challenges of maintaining datacenters. It's a challenge to shoulder capacity for services with a large number of users no matter what kind of applications is used, web apps or not. The challenge of scaling computer power is something that is addressed with technology such as clustering and cloud computing. So, it's a valid point but not really an issue of web apps or not.

The author criticizes the inherit thin-client approach of web apps and points to the fact that a lot of client-side computer power is left under-utilized while the application is running on the server. The development of netbooks and smartphones contradicts the assumption that there will always be powerful client-side CPUs but the fundamental problem with this argument is an underlying assumption that web apps, as a technology, is static. I think it's likely we will see more work pushed over to the client in web apps. Actually, the modest attempts to provide off-line functionality for some web apps is actually a step in this direction.

Again, the author has a point - there are strengths to a more traditional client application architecture but it's narrow minded to assume applications would be limited to the traditional desktop application. The iPhone and G1 phones demonstrates this by using applications as a centerpiece in the customization of those devices. We can have a resurgence of applications in some contexts and it just doesn't contradict the web apps concept.

The bottom line is - the web is already a vital media channel, and all content and service providers will have to maintain some offering on the web. Consequently, moving some applications into the web space is an inherit streamlining of technology.

Looking at the big picture, one of the biggest benefits with web apps is that it provides a widespread platform allowing for new applications to emerge without the traditional barriers.