Remembering New Orleans via Social Media

Our program office has put together an awesome program to take students this summer to New Orleans to help in the rebuilding efforts.  We are using social media to drive attention to the event.  Its an interesting experiment that companies around the world are trying to see how to leverage the power of the community.

The cool part about what we are doing is that if you download the Remember NOLA badge we will donate $1 dollar to a New Orleans Charity.  We have a goal of reaching $50,000 but it takes everyone you know to do this.

So my ask of you:  Please pass on:  http://www.remembernola.com to your friends and family and help us reach our goal of donating $50,000.

Thanks,

Kris

Leadership in 30 seconds

Its taking charge when the situation warrants and only then.
Its making others better - better colleagues, better scientists, better friends and better human beings.
Its making people uncomfortable but not in a vindictive way.
Leadership is always being that guy or that woman that people turn to when nothing else makes sense.

Some say its being a linchpin.

I bought 5 copies today for my leadership team because I believe they are linchpins and we deserve the conversation.

-Kris

Off balance sheet reports

Interesting video that is easy to follow - http://vimeo.com/9963640 

The author argues that there was a seminol event that occured during the Great Depression that triggered governmental reform.  One of the major fraudsters of the day was shot and killed and the ensuing trial and investigation of the Match King drove eventual reform.  

It begs the questions - do you think that things have gotten so bad in the great Recession that in order for us to trigger governmental reform of the finance sector some wall street fraudster needs to show up on CNN looking like someone from a Quentin Tarantino film got a hold of them?

In some ways we are a much more violent society and in others there is not as much of a pronounced gap between the have's and have-not's.  Talk to your grandparents if they are still around.  How did they act during the late 20's?  How did their parents react?  Have we reacted the same way?  Do we know how to save?  Do we know the pain of consuming less?  The obesity rates in America in the last ten years are good thought provokers that maybe we haven't learned any lessons.

I don't think the damage is real enough in today's world.  We have food banks, shelters, welfare, food stamps, unemployment, our parents, etc..  I don't think the pain is real enough to drive the type of reform that needs to happen.  To move from the fictional financial statements to something that is real.

Friday Fun - or why modern cars require more software than a Jet Fighter

Good clean fun.  http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/advanced-cars/this-car-runs-on-code/0

-Kris

Why Cloud vendors will continue to struggle to gain adoption

While I was at the public sector CIO summit for Microsoft last week there was a lot of talk about the cloud.  Microsoft has at least half a dozen cloud offerings with the most marketed being Azure.  Over and over again I heard CIO's ask the same question and one that I haven't found answered from any cloud vendor yet.

Amazon doesn't have it.
Google doesn't have it.
Microsoft doesn't have it.
Even Scoble's Rackspace doesn't have it.

Bandwidth.

Its great to put all of these applications and services in the cloud but if I have to rely on my existing crappy data connection to access it you really haven't solved anything.  It's like standing on one side of a desert canyon where you can see a paradise oasis on the other side but have no way of getting there.

I may have locations across the US or the world and not all of them will have fantastic data links with guaranteed quality of service.  The more I put in the cloud the more the quality of my service is reliant on the network bandwidth available.

Every online service in the world knows this.  That's why they buy completely redundant bandwidth from separate vendors to ensure uptime and performance for their customers.  That's why InterNap had a fantastic business model in the year 2000 but now are irrelevant because everyone does this now themselves.

As a CIO I'm interested in leveraging the cloud.  It can save me time and allow me to focus on other areas of the business instead of how to keep my servers patched or have the latest Exchange hot-fix applied at the right time.  Unless you are an online service these activities don't add value to the bottom line.

I'm waiting for a cloud vendor to start partnering with bandwidth providers.  That's when the game gets interesting for me.

-KB

Don't be a Logicalis

Today I received a package in the mail from Logicalis.  As is often the case in my position I get lots of cold calls or spam in the mail trying to sell me some service, bandwidth, CRM, Hardware, etc., etc.  My favorite until today was the Oracle rep calling me to renew my maintenance.  We are a MSFT shop and don't own any Oracle software...

Today was different.  Logicalis went to the trouble to include a USB stick with a case study on it from Johnsonville Sausage.  You know Johnsonville - good brand, full of MSG, available in every supermarket I've ever been to (e.g. household name).  The packaging was done up with a ton of hype to watch the video ("Best 5 minutes you will ever spend").  

The guys went to the trouble of sending me the video on a USB stick, so what the heck.

If you are going to focus your marketing message on one thing - in this case the video on the enclosed USB stick you should probably make sure it is compelling.

I'm an IT guy which means I deal with data all the time.  Numbers, formulas, Excel, BI - you name it I live in that world.  Not once in the 5 minute video were any numbers mentioned.  Did Logicalis help Johnsonville reduce their time to implement something?  Did they cut their IT maintenance costs?  Did they get them to market faster?  Did they help solve some supply chain issue?  The only number mentioned in the video was by some Logicalis exec talking about how many years they have been working with Johnsonville = 12!  

If you are working with an IT outsourcer for 12 years I'd expect a little more insight into their business than things like "We helped them move to a more flexible system."  wow.  for 12 years?

The content itself was also poor.  Everyone and I mean everyone was facing the side instead of the camera and clearly reading off of a queue card.  These were clearly IT guys trying to make a video and it showed.  

Probably the worst thing about the video was that there was only one Johnsonville guy on the video who was clearly reading off a queue card and was the highest manager they could find.  No execs, not even multiple IT folks saying how great the service is.

I know working in the IT market is tough but with companies like Logicalis as your competition you have no option but to succeed.  

And for the Logicalis folks - if you find this on Google - fire your head of Marketing.  If the only message you can conjour up is work with Logicalis because we have been working with Johnsonville for 12 years you need help.

I want my 5 minutes back.

-KB