What do the top 3% of IT leaders know about workforce computing that you don’t? When will (or won’t) Windows 8 hit critical mass in enterprises? What about software-defined data centers and networks? How can IT support the mobile shopper?

If you’re an IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) professional looking for answers, read below. While I like to believe that www.forrester.com and this blog are your only two sources of information (wink, wink), I’ve handpicked advice and point of view from Forrester analysts quoted over the last two weeks in the The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, National Public Radio, InformationWeek, ZDNet, CIO, Computerworld, and others.

Some articles are very relevant for I&O leaders to act on (e.g.,workforce enablement, Windows 8, software-defined data centers, private cloud), while others offer important marketing and strategy insights for I&O leaders to be aware of (e.g., mobile shoppers, Google Glass, customer intelligence).

Is this useful? Let me know in the comment field below.

Thanks and enjoy your weekend,

Doug

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Very Relevant Business Technology News For I&O Leaders:

The Wall Street Journal
David Johnson
What The Top 3% Of IT Leaders Know About Workforce Computing
May 7, 2013

IDG News Service

My colleague Reineke Reitsma recently published a blog on the limited but growing uptake of QR/2D barcodes.

Let’s face reality. Usage is low and marketing execution is poor to date, with too many campaigns that lack a clear consumer benefit and that provide a bad user experience by not offering mobile-optimized content. Today, mobile bar codes are an interesting tactic to engage with early adopters.

However, moving forward, we expect QR codes to gain traction and to be increasingly mixed with other technologies (including radio technologies like NFC) to provide extended product packaging solutions. Bar codes do not have to be just cold, emotionless, black-and-white squares. Solutions now exist to personalize QR codes’ designs and seamlessly mix them into a logo or band chart – even merging QR codes and NFC tags, as in the example below from mobiLead solutions.

The 2D bar code market will follow the same path as the 1D bar code market: fulfilling the need for certified and scalable platforms dealing with millions of standard code generation. Mobile bar code vendors will have to move into scalable mobile engagement platforms, progressively integrating multiple access technologies, such as Near Field Communications (NFC) tags, image recognition, or audio tags such as Shazam, and offering deep analytical tools. Beyond the emerging role of 2D bar codes in sales, we expect a growing number of brands — especially in the nutrition and health space — to systematize the use of bar codes on product packaging. Consumers want access to more product information, and brands can leverage mobile technologies to create a consumer relationship.

I was encouraged to see that Huawei had a proper track session on its channel strategy during its 10th Global analyst summit in Shenzhen.  The track is another sign that the company’s enterprise division is maturing and taking the right steps to expand its activities in China as well as globally.

In 2012, Huawei recruited 1,289 distributors, VAPs, and tier 2 channel partners to reach around 3,789 worldwide, which represents growth of 52% in China, Europe, and 26 other key countries globally.  Huawei’s enterprise share of channel sales was around 55% (excludes Operator resale) of its total revenue in 2012, a 32% revenue growth through channels from 2011. Huawei is also starting to build its services and software ecosystems with 700 authorized service partners and 200 ISVs. 

Overall, three key things that stood out to me about Huawei’s partner programs are:  

• A more structured and well-defined partner program: The partner program has evolved considerably since last year and Huawei is working towards mapping its key accounts and streamlining the account management process.  Through the segregation of 5000+ named accounts (key accounts based on deal size) and defining the customer engagement model for high value accounts, Huawei can bring about the clearer channel architecture that will be required to build an open and successful channel ecosystem.

At our recent CIO Forum in D.C., I had a number of conversations with clients who either had gone through or were going through a business transformation. From our talks, one theme jumped out at me — most CIOs will either lead some part of this transformation or get run over by it. From their perspective, there was no middle ground. To paraphrase one CIO, “There’s no way you can just go along for the ride and not get hurt.”

 A little data first. In a survey Forrester performed for Tata Consultancy Services, approximately 30% of those surveyed responded that the CIO was the most important senior leader in driving or supporting a business transformation; CIOs were rated highest — even above CEOs! With about a third of the sample coming from IT, the numbers were slightly skewed, but follow-up interviews with both business and IT people confirmed the results. To paraphrase the leader of IT strategy from one meeting, “Once past the vision phase, 80% of the work falls to the CIO.”

So why is the CIO asked to do so much in what is essentially a business initiative?

Let’s use KPMG’s Value Delivery Framework to illustrate. In it are five stages of a business transformation — discovery, strategy, road map, implementation, and monitoring — and a number of activities such as program management that span the stages. Of the five stages, implementation requires the greatest effort. From talking with those who have been through it, the greatest implementation challenges are in data, enterprise process redesign, project management, and organizational change management. And for at least the first three areas, IT is the group that is required to commit the most resources to these areas because IT has the greatest depth of experience.

Of the many questions I get from clients, many center on the use of social media for customer engagement purposes — because sometimes IT staff are asked to block employees from using social media. But what should you do when the owners of the business take to social media?

Today, a small restaurant in Arizona is the hottest thing on social media. Their Facebook page has gone from 2,854 likes on May 14 to 74,687 on May 16. Was this incredible growth in “likes” the result of some incredibly successful social media campaign? Well not exactly.

The restaurant was recently featured on the season finale of Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares — a show my wife and I really enjoy as it happens. It seems the main reason why the owners, Amy and Samy Bouzaglo, invited the show to their restaurant was because business had gone downhill because of an Internet firestorm they themselves seemed to have not only started but also steadily fuelled.

Well one of the many, many lessons from the meltdown of Amy’s Baking Company (ABC) in Scottsdale, AZ is that owners should never try to use social media before understanding a few basic guidelines: