IT Related

A bit of 1771, an alternative Babbage quote, Roosevelt, Kennedy and Reagan.
By Thomas Otter on December 13, 2010
Note: This is my personal view. Andrew McAfee has come out quite strongly against wikileaks and Assange’s principles and motives in particular. We disagree. However, like Andrew, I’m a fan of computer and political history and I often use ancient quotes to make an argument. This post will be no different, and I may ramble […]
Posted in Trends & Concepts | Tagged Charles Babbage, IT Related, Julian Assange, Libertarianism, life, Wikileaks

O’er lawyers’ fingers, who straight dream on fees
By Thomas Otter on November 27, 2010
Shylock: Most learned judge, a sentence! Come prepare! Portia: Tarry a little, there is something else. This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; The words expressly are “a pound of flesh.” (painting by Alexandre Canbanel. The Merchant of Venice) The jury has decided. SAP owes Oracle 1.3 Billion dollars. I’ll leave others […]
Posted in Business | Tagged copyright, gartner, IT Related, judgement, Law, oracle, sap

The iPad and the Enterprise
By Thomas Otter on September 10, 2010
(photo cc attrib. pntphoto thanks!) I have seen several keynotes from software executives lately. I recollect that all of them had iPads in them. Seasoned software executives have been getting positively giddy about the iPad. It has given Steve Jobs a sales force that he didn’t know he had. It seems without really planning for […]
Posted in Business | Tagged apple, design, enterprise software, erp, iPad, IT Related, sales, ui | 1 Response

On innovation
By Thomas Otter on August 29, 2010
(image of Scott Berkun presenting via Chasingfun cc attribution. Thanks!) In this interview on the O’Reilly blog Scott Berkun nails it. How do you define “innovation”? Scott Berkun: I strongly recommend people use this word as little as possible. It’s mostly a distraction. Many great ideas and breakthroughs were achieved without people worrying if they […]
Posted in Trends & Concepts | Tagged Berkun, books, design, innovation, IT Related, life in general, marketing

The World Cup and HR analytics.
By Thomas Otter on June 23, 2010
Several vendors have sent me links to World Cup related versions of their analytics tools. Some of them are really clever. I can drill down into skills, real time results and so on. Neat stuff, mashing up data sources from all over the place, with compelling charts and stats, and good social sharing features. Easy […]
Posted in Technology / Software | Tagged Africa, analytics, design, FIFA World Cup, IT Related, marketing, Soccer, Sport, world cup

More Shakespeare. This time on the software sales pitch.
By Thomas Otter on November 23, 2009
No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change:Thy pyramids built up with newer mightTo me are nothing novel, nothing strange;They are but dressings of a former sight.Our dates are brief, and therefore we admireWhat thou dost foist upon us that is old;And rather make them born to our desireThan think that we before […]
Posted in Business, Technology / Software | Tagged IT Related, life, sales, Shakespeare

Shakespeare groks in memory databases
By Thomas Otter on November 8, 2009
I’ve been trying to get to grips with in-memory databases. Seems the bard beat me to it.
(image via wikipedia, thanks)
Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brainFull charactered with lasting memory,Which shall above that idle rank remain,Beyond all date, even to eternity:Or, at the least, so long as brain and heartHave faculty by nature to […]
Posted in Technology / Software | Tagged databases, IT Related, Shakespeare, sonnets

Flowers and HCM systems architecture.
By Thomas Otter on September 28, 2009
I’ve tried this metaphor on several client calls recently, so let me inflict it on you too.
Cactus
via Flickr, the cc licence of Rodolfo Cartas thanks.
In this architecture, everything is from one vendor, and integration with third party applications is rather difficult. Typical ERP /HRMS pitch of the mid-nineties. Why do you need other […]
Posted in Business, Technology / Software | Tagged HCM;HR;Architecture; ERP;SaaS, HR Technology, IT Related