SAP and Risk Automation
May 27, 2011
SAP information continues to flow to me. An attention grabber was the story “Who’s the Top Innovator: SAP or Oracle?” I scanned the article and wondered why the author ignored Apple? With the set of innovators limited to a relational database company and an IBM-influenced traditional enterprise software company, I concluded, “PR. Skip.”
However, the news release “Proviti Teams Up with SAP Labs U.S. to Enhance Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Analytics for CIOs and IT Executives” contained information that surprised me.
Proviti will be designing some automated controls to be employed in conjunction with SAP’s newest analytic application, BusinessObjects Executive IT Reporting.
The desired outcome is to give those at the top a well-rounded picture of the risks plaguing their businesses through a whole slew of buzz-word themed tools such as IT dashboards and key risk indicators. I like “well rounded” as a way to explain business fixes.
We found the following passage by the senior director of SAP’s IT strategy group to be particularly interesting:
Today, in many companies, IT controls and risk-management activities are at best manual, subjective activities. By automating these activities and linking them to business processes, we can allow customers to simplify their compliance and risk management activities, protect value by anticipating common losses, and create more value by taking on more calculated technology risk.
Do we sense an admission that when humans use software they create a content disaster? What took so long for that revelation?
The challenges of implementing enterprise solutions using IBM-style and SAP-like solutions are significant. The buzzword “governance” means that costs are tough to control and users often must adapt to systems, not the other way around. Governance is a signal to me that information chaos exists. So governance and other content-free words are used to cope with intractable issues. Are traditional enterprise software solutions to be to be subject to “governance”? Just an engineer’s skepticism at work.
What happened to TREX and Inxight? Search is apparently not an issue.
Sarah Rogers, May 27, 2011
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Protected: A Guide for Planning SharePoint Projects
May 25, 2011
Google’s Hiring Practices: Additional Thoughts
May 24, 2011
Teambox blog praises Google for its top-notch search and apps but takes a shot at their hiring processes in “Why Google’s Hiring Process is Broken.” The gist of the article nails one of the often overlooked behaviors that ultimately make or break a company. Who is hired ranks next to executive compensation policies as the secret ingredients in a successful or unsuccessful recipe.
The write up suggests that Google has missed the forest for the trees as their recruiters repeatedly appear to be seeking mathematicians/engineers instead of designers who are in touch with the pulse of consumers. Citing difficulty with their Google Buzz, Google Wave, Gmail/Google Apps to name a few, we learned:
…those failures are not about users complaining about an algorithm being bad, or a system being slow. They are about products being poorly designed or poorly marketed. They are about hurting usability so badly that users move away from them.
The author feels Google needs to evolve or lose consumers, saying that it is the designers that offer the “unique point of view and understanding of the problem” to be solved. But hey… we’re thinking, if you hire engineers, engineers do what engineers do. They engineer. What’s wrong with that? Google is obviously doing something very right and we’re confident they’ll figure it out…maybe even mathematically.
Stephen E Arnold, May 24, 2011
Freebie just like those Google tsotchkes at trade shows
AOL: Polishing a Older Online Service
May 24, 2011
The America Online brand polishing continues. That’s no easy job, even for the “real” public relations professionals. PR is a stellar occupation. The Facebook initiative demonstrates how reliable certain “real” PR can be.
I enjoyed “AOL’s Chief Upbeat on Rebooting the Brand.” At a time when Apple is the top brand and Google a lesser top brand, maybe AOL sees an opportunity to climb up the brand rankings. Brand rankings, like the inclusions in those college league tables, are entertaining but often disconnected from reality.
The passage I found memorable was:
Q: …you mention a Web site AOL owns like tech blog Engadget, some people say, “Oh, they own that?”
A: Right. I think a lot of it was just that old perception. If people used our services, they usually had a lot of complaints about them. But about six months ago, something started to change. The difference between the last six months and probably two years ago is when people stop me now, they say: “Oh, I’m addicted to the front page of AOL. I love it. I love the new way the e-mail’s been designed.” Forget about the financial industry and forget about our stock and all that other stuff. Our number-one lead indicator of this company being successful is the people who touch our products and services actually physically seeing the level we care about internally translated externally. I think that’s starting to happen, and that’s eventually what is going to change the AOL brand.
To check the addictive aspect of AOL.com’s front page, I visited it for the first time in quite a while, maybe five or six years. Here’s what I saw:
There must be something wrong with my chemistry. Not only was I not tempted to click, I was puzzled by the skull and cross bones and the “You’ve Got: Checklist All Women Must Know.”
My hunch is that Ms. Huffington will end up running the show. Googlers with soft degrees and a few years in the land of controlled chaos are not the stuff of “reboots”. Top line revenue growth, an increase in stakeholder value, and traffic are the components of a successful reboot. PR not so much. The search experience was enhanced by Lady Gaga, which looked like Lady Gaga results on the new, consumerized Google. Maybe Google should buy AOL so there is a reunion of Googlers and a more seamless integration of that old time instant messenger magic?
Stephen E Arnold, May 24, 2011
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Managing Chaos: No Problem Allegedly
May 23, 2011
Quote to note: I read “Intel CEO on Android Chaos, Apple Order.” In the midst of corporate chatter, a heck of a quote surfaced; namely,
“I think there is some growing pains that Android is going through…How do you create order out of chaos?”
Stumps me.
Stephen E Arnold, May 23, 2011
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An Essential Guide for Information Professionals
May 20, 2011
Infonista has posted a review a wonderful book entitled The Information and Knowledge Professional’s Career Handbook. Full disclosure: Ulla de Stricker is a friend of ours, and we just love her and her co-author, Jill Hurst-Wahl.
Though we admit to a little bias, we’re sure we’d be recommending this book in any case. The Infonista review summarizes what you have to look forward to:
“In fifteen chapters, the authors provide detailed, practical career advice that comes across as a cross between coaching, mentoring, and okay, (in the nicest possible way), a bit of nagging. But it’s clear that their goal is to help readers avoid career potholes if possible. . . .
“Reading The Information and Knowledge Professional’s Handbook is like hanging out with two really smart, experienced, and wise mentors who aren’t going to sugarcoat any of their advice – because they know you really need the real deal. The information they provide is practical, actionable, and from this professional’s experience, spot on.”
This praise is no surprise to us, of course. We knew these ladies are at the top of their field.
Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy right away.
Cynthia Murrell May 20, 2011
Protected: Do You Need Requirements for SharePoint Projects?
May 19, 2011
A New Mr. Microsoft Platform Ecosystem in France
May 14, 2011
ITespresso announces “Microsoft France Has Found Its New ‘Mr. Platform Ecosystem’ at Sinequa.”
The former President & CEO of business search provider Sinequa, Jean Ferré, will be leading a team of 50 in his new position at Microsoft France. They will focus largely on building relationships with start-up companies. The article elaborates on the placement:
Aged 42, Jean Ferré finds himself in a strategic position in the organization of Microsoft France: platforms (software like Office and for Web 365, cloud with Windows Azure, Windows Phone), market places applications and tools development (Visual Studio …). And he joined the steering committee.
We wish M. Ferré the best of luck in his new position. Prior to joining MSFT, Mr. Ferré was the top dog at Sinequa, an enterprise search and solutions vendor. As for Sinequa, word is that Alexandre Bilger, formerly that company’s Managing Director, will be taking the reins. Good luck to him, too.
Stephen E Arnold, May 13, 2011
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Recommind Inserts Itself into Email Management
May 12, 2011
“IntApp and Recomind: A Quick & Easy Path to Industry Leading Email Management,” proclaims American Banking & Market News.
IntApp, provider of application integration software for law firms, has partnered with eDiscovery maven Recommind to develop law-specific email management templates:
“Working hand-in-hand with firms, Recommind and IntApp have developed pre-built templates to integrate [Recommind’s] Decisiv Email Management into an existing portfolio of systems and processes. The same level of automation that end users enjoy within Decisiv Email Management is also experienced by IT organizations through Integration Builder. With the help of Integration Builder rule templates, Decisiv Email Management can be quickly and seamlessly integrated into existing processes such as new business intake, user provisioning, and confidentiality management.”
Compared to custom software, such templates allow clients to implement solutions quickly and with less expense. They also provide integration between diverse management programs which may not play well together unsupervised.
Recommind, like other search vendors, is probing different markets from eDiscovery to enterprise search to email management. We think they are wise to distribute their eggs between multiple baskets.
Cynthia Murrell May 12, 2011
Patch: A Hobby Horse or a Derby Contender?
May 8, 2011
I found “Tim Armstrong’s Rambling Explanation Of What He’s Getting For Plowing $40 Million Into Patch” darned interesting. The magnetic pull of going local continues to exert a pull over former Googler Tim Armstrong. The write up features a long segment transcribed from an analyst’ phone call. I have read a few of these transcripts, and there are typographical errors. My hunch is that over time the revisionists will explain the comments. In that spirit, I want to highlight one segment and offer a couple of observations from the perspective of search and retrieval:
And job one is getting consumer traffic going. Job two is on the advertising front. And Patch is basically being monetized right now almost 100% by local zip code level advertisers or people.
The only hitch in the git along is that I don’t run across Patch in Harrod’s Creek. The local ad market is tough to reach, lacking in know how and resources, and generally interested in paper coupons to putting big mobile signs in front of the fish joint on the creek’s side. Local news, well. There’s not much. My hunch is that other services are serving the needs of the technically hip. Others in Harrod’s Creek are oblivious.
Searching for local information is tough, and I don’t see AOL becoming the go to way to find a pizza joint or a fried catfish sandwich.
Patch. Puzzling. More like a hobby horse than a derby contender. Just my opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, May 8, 2011
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