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Blog: Claudia Imhoff« October 2005 | Main | December 2005 » November 29, 2005Dashboards - They are no silver bullet eitherI read an article recently titled "Dashboards: The Key to Breaking the Dependency on BI" by Steve Ricketts. In it, he claims that you don't need to build data warehouses -- they are complex and hard to implement. All you really need is a dashboard to present "vital information in an at-a-glance graphical format..." First off, let me state that Mr. Ricketts is the VP of Marketing for Bowstreet, a dashboard vendor. That should be enough to cast doubt on his article but I will continue...
November 17, 2005November's Weird News StoriesHere it is -- the long awaited weird news stories for November (OK I do have too much time on my hands). And there are some doozies in here. I hope you enjoy them... Have a good Thanksgiving Holiday! I will be back blogging the week of November 28th. 1. First up -- "IT Firm Bans Whinging" I believe the word "whinging" is a British one -- pronounced with a soft "G". According to my dictionary, it means to complain peevishly, annoyingly or continuously about something relatively unimportant. In a German company, whinging about the food in the cafeteria or the broken printer can get you fired... Apparently employees at Nutswerk LTD, in Leipzig have to agree to be in a good mood as part of their employment contract -- or stay home. According to a manager there, "We made the ban on moaning and grumpiness at work official after one female employee refused to subscribe to the company's philosophy of always smiling." Maybe they should just hire Barbie dolls -- they have the ever lasting smile painted on their faces... 2. Then there is the story about a Tarzan wannabe - A Romanian man ended up in the hospital after he tried to swing from tree to tree to escape his wife and go drinking. The man, age 66, had been locked in the bedroom by his wife when she got sick of his drinking with his buddies. He tried the vine swinging routine but slipped, falling 15 ft to the ground. He broke his arm, an ankle and a leg. Sing it with me now: I wanna D-I-V-O-R-C-E... 3. Pilfered Parrot Used to Pad Bra" Talk about animal cruelty. A woman was arrested for padding her bra with a stolen rare parrot. She hid the Greenwing parrot in her bra after taking it from her employer, a pet store, police said. When the woman tried to trade the bird for a vintage car, she told the car’s owner how she got the animal, according to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Unfortunately for the "thief", the car’s owner is friends with the man who owns the $2,000 bird. Help me out here -- wouldn't you think the bird would have been kicking and screaming to get out... 4. And, sadly, one that is local to my part of the world "A big ‘but’ arises in toilet-seat story" A man who sued Home Depot last month claiming a prank left him glued to a toilet seat made a similar allegation about another restroom more than a year ago, an official told a newspaper. Bob Dougherty’s lawsuit alleges employees at the local Home Depot store ignored his pleas for help on the day before Halloween because they thought he was kidding. But a former director of operations for the town of Nederland (just west of my home town), told the local newspaper that Dougherty told him in the summer of 2004 he was glued to a toilet seat in the town’s visitor center but pulled himself free. That's gotta hurt! Dougherty’s lawsuit said officials at the store near my home called for an ambulance after he had been stuck for about 15 minutes. Paramedics unbolted the toilet seat, which separated from his skin, leaving abrasions, according to the suit. I don't know about you but I can usually tell when I sit on something not quite right... 5. "Dog Shoots Hunter" - A 35-year old man was hunting quail in Bulgaria when his dog, who had retrieved a bird, refused to drop it. When the hunter tried to dislodge the dead bird from the pointer's mouth with the butt of his rifle, the dog jumped on him, jarring the trigger and filling the guy's chest with bird shot. Guess that will teach you to be nice to Fido... 6. Ever been caught by those speed cameras? Here's what not to do. A Swiss driver flew by a speed camera and was captured on film for his offense. He decided to take matters into his own hands and attacked the camera with an ax. Then he ran over it and finally threw it off a cliff. It would have worked too -- the camera was definitely destroyed -- but unfortunately, the driver was spotted by police as he threw the camera off the cliff. He was arrested and faces a hefty fine of $22,300! The speeding ticket was a lot cheaper... 7. And the last one for November and so timely with the upcoming release of the latest Harry Potter movie. Currency experts have determined the value of galleons in JK Rowling's books. In case you ever wondered, they figure that each gold galleon is worth about $8.60, which makes an education at Hogwart's rather pricey. Harry Nimbus 2000 would set you back about $2,580 and a magic wand about $60.20! And I am not making this up -- the currency experts claim, "Magic money is a very study currency that could assert itself on the international money market". Yeah -- I can't wait to get my paycheck in galleons. Well, there you go -- this month's strange and wacko stories. Sometimes it is good to just be a normal, boring person... If you have any you would like to share, feel free to post them in the comments section. I can't wait to see what we get... Yours in BI success, Claudia
November 16, 2005And You Thought Driving and Talking on Your Cell Phone Was Distracting!Ford Motor Company recently announced that it will soon offer a complete wireless office in its F-series pickup truck. I am not kidding... And what does this baby come with? Read on. A Ford F-250 Super Duty truck with a mobile office installed was shown at a car show in Las Vegas last week. It contained: -- a wireless-equipped computer containing a full suite of Office products (e.g., Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.) The system uses a flat Stargate Mobile computer, powered off the truck's battery and mounted on a stand between the driver's and passenger's seat. It has a touch-screen option eliminating the need for a keyboard or mouse - oh thank God for small favors -- and stays connected to the Internet via broadband wireless cellular technology. The cost? A measly $3,000. And here's an interesting snippet. According to Patty Dilger, Director at Microsoft (they are working with Ford to develop the mobile office), "It's super rugged. You can drop it in the dirt, pick it up, brush it off and you're good to go." Man, I wish my laptop could do that. One little fall from the airport security table and it's a goner! Just think -- now you can create that all important PPT presentation your boss just asked you for, bring up your email AND answer it, and take pictures of the car you just rear-ended, all with ease! I guess the only question left is -- Why a truck? Would not have been my first choice... Yours in BI success, Claudia
November 15, 2005Just Call Me CAComputer Associates has had a very troubled year - an accounting scandal that took out most of the company's management team as a starter. I guess they believe that the new name will help them get over the past... CA's CEO must believe that people will forget what happened in the past and that the new name and updated logo will push the company out of its doldrums. He used his keynote address at CA World (their user conference) last night to introduce the new name and his list of priorities for the company -- top items on that list were rebuilding damaged customer relationships and expanding CA's partner network -- both badly in need of repair (IMHO). The new slogan for CA is "Believe Again" -- OK, that may be a bit of hokey but with the introduction of 24 new products this week -- supposedly built on an integrated technology platform -- perhaps they can restore everyone's confidence over time. It will not be easy. One customer, Scott Bradshaw who was attending the conference, put succinctly what the new CEO wanted to accomplish with the new messaging -- to completely disavow CA's history. "It's really evident CA's new management is trying to distance itself from the old company..." said Scott. And rightfully so. Good luck to CA. I will be interested to hear from you -- their customers and partners -- as to whether the old tiger does indeed have new stripes. Yours in BI success, Claudia
November 14, 2005The Love Affair is Over - Pitney Bowes and FirstLogic Call Off the AcquisitionLast September 1, Pitney Bowes announced that it would acquire the remaining 95% of FirstLogic for $50 million. If you recall, I wrote in my blog that I thought it was not a particularly good deal for FirstLogic. Perhaps they agreed since the acquisition is now officially called off. Here's the exclusive news... A press release from Scott Humphrey will be aired today stating that FirstLogic and Pitney Bowes have verbally agreed NOT to extend their merger agreement when it expires November 15. Eric Lieberman, the President of FirstLogic says, "After reviewing the second request for information issued by the Federal Trade Commission, we mutually decided that it was in the best interest of all involved not to proceed further with the acquisition." I am sure that there is disappointment on both sides of the deal but I also think that FirstLogic is better off either on its own or looking for a better deal with another company. Good luck to FirstLogic with its new legs! Yours in BI success, Claudia
November 12, 2005Peter Drucker - Considered the Greatest Management Guru - Dies at 95How familiar we are with these phrases - "management by objective" and "knowledge worker" and we owe it all to Peter Drucker. Sadly this highly regarded business guru's voice has been silenced. Mr. Drucker died last Friday. Here are just a few of his accomplishments. Mr. Drucker, known as the "Father of Modern Management", was born in Vienna, Austria in 1909 and came to the US in 1937 as a freelance journalist. It was his third book, "Concept of the Corporation", published in 1946 that made him a household name. He studied General Motors for this book, digging into the company's inner workings. Interestingly, GM later disavowed the book. He wrote and advised companies of management for 7 decades. His seminal book, "Practice of Management", is still relevant today. He thought the purpose of business was to get customers and be profitable but neither was possible without the lifeblood of good employees. Good employees are worth their weight in gold to the organization. He constantly reminded managers to "listen first and speak last". He finished is 35th (!) book at age 94. He will be missed. Yours in BI success, Claudia
November 9, 2005"Sea Change" at Microsoft?The Wall Street Journal aired a story today revealing that, last October 30, Bill Gates urged his company's leaders to "act quickly and decisively" to move the software giant further into the business of Internet-based software and services sales. The memo is aimed at rally the Microsoft troops against these new competitive threats and to best their competitors in this new arena. In addition, he also warned the company to be thoughtful in creating the right technology to serve the right businesses and people. Yes, indeed. Mr. Gates has endorsed a radical reshaping of Microsoft in terms of developing software and services. Apparently he based his opinion on another internal company email from Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's CTO. Mr. Ozzie described some of the missed opportunities for Microsoft and gives credit to companies like Google.com, Salesforce.com, Skype Technologies, and other start ups for their accomplishments in using the Internet for the delivery of their services. For example, Skype is a program for making free calls over the internet to anyone else who also has Skype. It’s free , easy to download and use, and works with most computers. Just go to their web site, download their software and start talking. Just amazing... Mr. Ozzie's email seems to be the reason behind Microsoft's recent announcement in September to reorganize into three broad business divisions, and certainly highlights Mr. Ozzie's growing influence at the company since his company was acquired eight months ago. Says Mr. Ozzie in his email. "It's clear that if we fail to [get into Internet-based software and services], our business as we know it is at risk. We must respond quickly and decisively." It is clear that Microsoft is now turning its formidable guns on the threats created by this new generation of fast-moving Internet services. The Internet has spawned a whole slew of services and products that take the place of traditionally licensed software. Certainly Microsoft has already begun to move in that direction with its MSN online unit and services like Windows Live and Office Live. But, let's face it, the majority of their revenues still come from those of us buying their software packaged in boxes and delivered on CDs. If that revenue stream and model is threatened (and apparently they perceive that it is), then Microsoft could indeed be in trouble. I for one will be most interested to see what the company comes up with. They are still one of the most innovative and creative forces in our business. By turning their sights on this aspect, I am sure we will start to see major shifts in the traditional software model. I can only hope that they do for software licensing what Apple did to traditional music delivery -- iTunes revolutionized the entire music industry -- legally. I suspect that Microsoft could and will do the same for software delivery. So watch out software vendors -- the gorilla is awake and hungry. Yours in BI and business success, Claudia
November 4, 2005Protecting Your Personal Data - Not?I usually don't like to blog about the political wranglings that occur in our esteemed nation's capital but this one caught my eye -- mostly because it will have a significant effect on BI technologies as well as all of us personally. Yesterday, House Democrats and Republicans got into a royal fight over how best to protect consumers' personal data, as they moved legislation to reduce identity theft and fraud onto a fast track in Congress. What does this really mean? A subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill that requires information brokers to submit plans for safeguarding private data to the FTC for monitoring and review. The proposed legislation would require notification of consumers when "certain" breaches of data occur. It would also force brokers to submit to security audits if their databases are compromised. Note the quote marks. They are the cause of the dust up in the subcommittee. Democrats claim that the bill is filled with loopholes and would leave us poor consumers less protected than we are now. Under the bill, data brokers and companies that store our consumer data would have to notify us that our data was breached only when it was determined that a significant risk of identity theft or other fraud might result. And who would make the decision of "significant risk"? Why, the company whose data was breached, of course. Don't know about you but that leaves me less than warm and fuzzy inside. Just in this year, many millions of consumers have been notified of serious breaches at information brokers such as ChoicePoint Inc. and LexisNexis, financial institutions, government agencies, universities, online retailers and other firms. California and New York have already proposed laws that are much more proactive than the Federal bill. However, "No notices would have gone out under the standard put forth in this bill." said Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill). The data brokers, direct marketers, financial institutions and large technology companies supported the proposed bill. They argue that data thieves and hackers cannot always use the data they might gain access to. I would have to say that I certainly don't want to receive a barrage of notices every time a breach occurs (I certainly hope they do not occur that often, as well) but I also don't want to be kept in the dark. Seems like there ought to be a more impartial way to make the determination of whether a consumer should be notified or not. What if the company is wrong in its assessment of the danger? There is still time for a compromise before this bill is voted upon. Let your Representative know how you feel - either way. Yours in BI success, Claudia
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