"The Year of the Machine" is here. This might be a subject you're afraid to really accept - but it's reality - machines (really intelligent software) are taking over and if you're not both accepting that and implementing it in your own company, you will simply be left behind. There is no alternative. You will be assimilated.
In the military we now have self-directed drones.
On Wall St. we now have automatic trading.
On Main St smart retailers like Wal-Mart and Kiva Systems now have automatic inventory forecasting and ordering and even robotic warehouses.
At Norfolk Southern, you have a Princeton team (go Tigers!) effort to control trains remotely
It's here - get on board - we can help.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Creating A Legacy Park
So last year you took in $22 mil in compensation. Sure, the govt. took it's share, and you have your houses to maintain, and a lot into investments, but really, what are you doing towards a legacy ?
Today I'm hiking the trails in the Laurence Rockefeller Preserve in Jackson Hole. It's on the site of the JY Ranch, the Rockefeller homestead surrounded by the Grand Teton National Park mostly created by John D. Rockefeller. It's simply some of the most beautiful, spectacular property in the world, attracting millions of tourists from all over the world.
But rather than keep their property bottled up for their own family's enjoyment and privacy, Laurence has not only donated the property, but a visitor center, meeting and restroom structures, utilities, trails, bridges, and an organization to maintain it. And with sufficient money and attention to the architecture, all the structures blend beautifully into the woods environment. Even the restrooms are beautifully designed buildings.
The preserve is free for the public to enjoy. And as I'm hiking along to Phelps Lake, I hope I meet Laurence at an alumni function or some event, so that I can say a huge thank you for giving me one of the most enjoyable days of my life.
Now isn't this a true legacy? Does your legacy compare to this ? If not, it's time to get on it. Leave a wonderful park for the public to enjoy at whatever location appeals to you the most. It could be centered around beaches, woods, mountains, or maybe a downtown cultural center. And spend enough money to do it right - cut no corners.
You can afford it. Just Do It!
Today I'm hiking the trails in the Laurence Rockefeller Preserve in Jackson Hole. It's on the site of the JY Ranch, the Rockefeller homestead surrounded by the Grand Teton National Park mostly created by John D. Rockefeller. It's simply some of the most beautiful, spectacular property in the world, attracting millions of tourists from all over the world.
But rather than keep their property bottled up for their own family's enjoyment and privacy, Laurence has not only donated the property, but a visitor center, meeting and restroom structures, utilities, trails, bridges, and an organization to maintain it. And with sufficient money and attention to the architecture, all the structures blend beautifully into the woods environment. Even the restrooms are beautifully designed buildings.
The preserve is free for the public to enjoy. And as I'm hiking along to Phelps Lake, I hope I meet Laurence at an alumni function or some event, so that I can say a huge thank you for giving me one of the most enjoyable days of my life.
Now isn't this a true legacy? Does your legacy compare to this ? If not, it's time to get on it. Leave a wonderful park for the public to enjoy at whatever location appeals to you the most. It could be centered around beaches, woods, mountains, or maybe a downtown cultural center. And spend enough money to do it right - cut no corners.
You can afford it. Just Do It!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Are You BP Ready ?
Stuff happens.
It's only a matter of time and to what degree.
Can your company withstand a BP type accident? Or maybe a Tylenol scare? Or a Bohpal toxic gas leak? Or maybe a helicopter crash which sent the Trump empire reeling? Or a financial crisis which wiped out AIG? Or even a personal scandal?
Okay, maybe your company has been diligent and has run a set of disaster scenarios and have prepared responses. But what about the unknown crisis ?
In planning meetings for the 2002 Winter Olympics, we were told by the Atlanta Summer Olympic staff to prepare for the unknown accident. Their "unknown" was the Metro derailing and shutting down the prime transportation link - who guessed that would happen ?
When a crisis hits, you will not have time to select a team and then have them take over your conference room, study your company, and build business models to assess your response scenarios. You need to already have all of that in place and running. You will need results in hours and all done discretely - after all, predicted outcomes or even the recommended approach might be an even bigger political disaster if leaked to the press, or maybe worse, your biggest competitor.
At Tiger Nassau, we cannot prevent your firm from having a crisis, but we do help you handle a crises by having intelligent systems in place, running 24x7. A midnight phone call will have you prepared for a morning press conference.
We believe in the old Boy Scout motto: "Be Prepared".
It's only a matter of time and to what degree.
Can your company withstand a BP type accident? Or maybe a Tylenol scare? Or a Bohpal toxic gas leak? Or maybe a helicopter crash which sent the Trump empire reeling? Or a financial crisis which wiped out AIG? Or even a personal scandal?
Okay, maybe your company has been diligent and has run a set of disaster scenarios and have prepared responses. But what about the unknown crisis ?
In planning meetings for the 2002 Winter Olympics, we were told by the Atlanta Summer Olympic staff to prepare for the unknown accident. Their "unknown" was the Metro derailing and shutting down the prime transportation link - who guessed that would happen ?
When a crisis hits, you will not have time to select a team and then have them take over your conference room, study your company, and build business models to assess your response scenarios. You need to already have all of that in place and running. You will need results in hours and all done discretely - after all, predicted outcomes or even the recommended approach might be an even bigger political disaster if leaked to the press, or maybe worse, your biggest competitor.
At Tiger Nassau, we cannot prevent your firm from having a crisis, but we do help you handle a crises by having intelligent systems in place, running 24x7. A midnight phone call will have you prepared for a morning press conference.
We believe in the old Boy Scout motto: "Be Prepared".
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Why IT's BI or Die (Part II)
"...it's really simple: companies that are automating and using intelligent systems are growing, those that aren't are dying."
This expression sounds "pat", like a cliche. Yet, it's amazing that maybe 1/2 of established organizations are not really using intelligent systems.
There are 3 main reasons why intelligent systems are necessary for survival:
1) Global Competitiveness
With firms like McDonalds where 60% of sales are outside the U.S., most organizations have to operate in a global context - that means currency flucations, tax implications, vastly different labor costs, and varying shipping rates. In short, firms are now totally dynamic operations which requires real-time smart systems to handle and optimize the variables.
2) Productivity, Leanness, Adding value, Innovation
To compete, firms must automate not only for reducing labor costs, but to maintain quality consistency, be able to scale up, and quickly adapt to new innovation Automation requires intelligent systems - period.
3) Speed of Change
Call it Moore's Law or Kurzweil's Age of Singularity, but either way, technology is advancing exponentially. In many cases, technology is advancing faster than people can implement it. Yet, intelligent systems, such as machine learning, have no problem advancing along with the technology.
The answer is so simple, it's ignored by many organizations: Apply intelligent systems or die.
This expression sounds "pat", like a cliche. Yet, it's amazing that maybe 1/2 of established organizations are not really using intelligent systems.
There are 3 main reasons why intelligent systems are necessary for survival:
1) Global Competitiveness
With firms like McDonalds where 60% of sales are outside the U.S., most organizations have to operate in a global context - that means currency flucations, tax implications, vastly different labor costs, and varying shipping rates. In short, firms are now totally dynamic operations which requires real-time smart systems to handle and optimize the variables.
2) Productivity, Leanness, Adding value, Innovation
To compete, firms must automate not only for reducing labor costs, but to maintain quality consistency, be able to scale up, and quickly adapt to new innovation Automation requires intelligent systems - period.
3) Speed of Change
Call it Moore's Law or Kurzweil's Age of Singularity, but either way, technology is advancing exponentially. In many cases, technology is advancing faster than people can implement it. Yet, intelligent systems, such as machine learning, have no problem advancing along with the technology.
The answer is so simple, it's ignored by many organizations: Apply intelligent systems or die.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Why IT's BI or Die
Geez, another week of talking with a few execs who don't get it. Their eyes glaze when I mention Business Intelligence and say it doesn't apply to them. They are like the walking dead people in "Dawn of the Dead". And their companies will pay the price. Conversely, the real smart execs I've met ask a lot of IT questions. And the real upstart companies, (the ones the "walking dead" are so scared of), they're past asking questions, they're asking to get more of intelligent systems in place, yesterday!.
Because it's really simple: companies that are automating and using intelligent systems are growing, those that aren't are dying.
Wal-Mart has a super sophisticated IT approach. They optimize their sales per floor space down to the square inch. Their predictive systems have the right products being restocked on a just in time basis. They know when to discount.
On the other hand, GM still sells cars with "Joe the Sales Guy" pushing overstocked cars off the lot. And they thought it was cheaper to have expensive union labor put on hub caps than robots because they couldn't get the robots to work. I guess Rick Waggoner never visited Blue Bunny's ice cream factory where automation does work.
Well, here we are, this blog went off topic from what I originally wanted to write about - yet, the lack of technical understanding of the power of business intelligence in key executives is so prevalent, it needs to be broadcasted. If you are sitting on a Board, you need to raise this question. For if the firm or organization is not adopting BI, it will surely die.
Because it's really simple: companies that are automating and using intelligent systems are growing, those that aren't are dying.
Wal-Mart has a super sophisticated IT approach. They optimize their sales per floor space down to the square inch. Their predictive systems have the right products being restocked on a just in time basis. They know when to discount.
On the other hand, GM still sells cars with "Joe the Sales Guy" pushing overstocked cars off the lot. And they thought it was cheaper to have expensive union labor put on hub caps than robots because they couldn't get the robots to work. I guess Rick Waggoner never visited Blue Bunny's ice cream factory where automation does work.
Well, here we are, this blog went off topic from what I originally wanted to write about - yet, the lack of technical understanding of the power of business intelligence in key executives is so prevalent, it needs to be broadcasted. If you are sitting on a Board, you need to raise this question. For if the firm or organization is not adopting BI, it will surely die.
Monday, February 15, 2010
CEO - CIO: Bridging The Chasm, Part I
When talking to CEO's and CIO's, I notice a big difference in outlook. The differences seem to fall into 3 key areas:
1) CEO's want change - CIO's tend to resist it. Most CEO's I've talked to are keenly aware of the global competitive landscape and know they have to change to stay relevant in the marketplace - they at least say they want change. But many CIO's are running by their business goals of "keeping the lights on" or more appropriately, "keeping the servers running", with less money. Thus, any large scale or maybe even any change at all is not high on many CIO's list.
2) The Fear Factor. In college sports, it's accepted that a new head coach brings in his/her team of assistants. I've heard teams will pay another $10 million or so in hiring and severance payments to give a new coach "his" team of assistants. Wholesale team changes are done in Washington with every new President. And even when Shirley Tilghman became president of dear old Nassau, there were suddenly a bunch of Dean changes. Yet, it's far less common to see new CEO's quickly bring in "their" IT team of a new CIO with maybe 1-2 levels of top execs below that. Thus, it appears many CIO's seem to be less secure about moving aggressively on IT issues because they are not that confident in their relationship to the CEO or other high level execs.
I recently had a nervous CIO explain to me that the "board would kill him" if he was to spend money on a consultant after the $x million purchase of large enterprise software - failing to even look at how with small additional consulting money it could make huge business differences with his purchase and help address the complaints I heard at several operational units. I heard one CEO say he would like to make more changes but had to deal with the team he had inherited - that sounds like a real recipe for losing and a severe disconnect between the CEO and IT.
3) The Black Hole Syndrome. You know the stories. How CEO's have watched tens or even hundreds of $$ millions go into some IT project fiasco. This leads to the "safer" but wrong action of hiring "cheaper" people to replace the automation. I've just witnessed where a CIO added expensive full-time staff to perform tasks that lend themselves to computerization - in an industry that is getting national attention for poor cost control. Possibly a short term cost savings, but almost always a devasting long-term business mistake. Little wonder that CEO's often shake their head with IT. But one CEO argued with me that it is always cheaper for him to farm something out to a "3rd world" country - you know what the arguments are - but he wouldn't hear it. Big and bigger disconnect.
Next we'll address how these "chasms" can be addressed.
1) CEO's want change - CIO's tend to resist it. Most CEO's I've talked to are keenly aware of the global competitive landscape and know they have to change to stay relevant in the marketplace - they at least say they want change. But many CIO's are running by their business goals of "keeping the lights on" or more appropriately, "keeping the servers running", with less money. Thus, any large scale or maybe even any change at all is not high on many CIO's list.
2) The Fear Factor. In college sports, it's accepted that a new head coach brings in his/her team of assistants. I've heard teams will pay another $10 million or so in hiring and severance payments to give a new coach "his" team of assistants. Wholesale team changes are done in Washington with every new President. And even when Shirley Tilghman became president of dear old Nassau, there were suddenly a bunch of Dean changes. Yet, it's far less common to see new CEO's quickly bring in "their" IT team of a new CIO with maybe 1-2 levels of top execs below that. Thus, it appears many CIO's seem to be less secure about moving aggressively on IT issues because they are not that confident in their relationship to the CEO or other high level execs.
I recently had a nervous CIO explain to me that the "board would kill him" if he was to spend money on a consultant after the $x million purchase of large enterprise software - failing to even look at how with small additional consulting money it could make huge business differences with his purchase and help address the complaints I heard at several operational units. I heard one CEO say he would like to make more changes but had to deal with the team he had inherited - that sounds like a real recipe for losing and a severe disconnect between the CEO and IT.
3) The Black Hole Syndrome. You know the stories. How CEO's have watched tens or even hundreds of $$ millions go into some IT project fiasco. This leads to the "safer" but wrong action of hiring "cheaper" people to replace the automation. I've just witnessed where a CIO added expensive full-time staff to perform tasks that lend themselves to computerization - in an industry that is getting national attention for poor cost control. Possibly a short term cost savings, but almost always a devasting long-term business mistake. Little wonder that CEO's often shake their head with IT. But one CEO argued with me that it is always cheaper for him to farm something out to a "3rd world" country - you know what the arguments are - but he wouldn't hear it. Big and bigger disconnect.
Next we'll address how these "chasms" can be addressed.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
2010: Decade of Intelligent Machines
It's happening - machines are running themselves. We've seen it in movies, now it's happening in real life. Predator aircraft, cars that park themselves, on-line credit approval. These are all examples of machine led operations that formerly required humans.
Applying Moore's Law or Kurzweil's Singularity, in the next decade we can expect gigantic advances in "intelligent machines". The entire IT department of today will start to look more like your data center - humming machines with a couple of employees hanging around to solve problems.
What does this mean to you today?
Applying Moore's Law or Kurzweil's Singularity, in the next decade we can expect gigantic advances in "intelligent machines". The entire IT department of today will start to look more like your data center - humming machines with a couple of employees hanging around to solve problems.
What does this mean to you today?
- Standards - both hardware and especially software need to be open standards compliant - not vendor driven. Many eyeballs will be the key to "safe" software.
- Decision Systems - In a 99% automated world, you will not have the time or breadth to analyze problems, you need the help of other automated systems.
- Outside Software - Decision problem solving software will need to be outside your main systems to avoid being compromised.
- Smarter Staff - IT departments will/should have fewer people, but they will have to be very smart & knowlegable to handle the complex systems.
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