Twenty Trends For The 2010s | Digital Rules | Rich Karlgaard 01/27/2010
Posted by thaadsma in business intelligence, government, healthcare, tangents, web.add a comment
GR Press photo of Rich Karlgaard at Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, Jan 2009
Rich Karlgaard is the editor of Forbes, a prolific witer, and talks all over the country, and isn’t always right. However, he’s one of the brightest business leaders out there in the publishing world.
Last January he spoke at the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce annual lunch and went out on a limb by saying that already he saw signs of recovery from The Recession– when most everyone else was still in shock, fearful and reeling from the financial meltdown of the preceding months.
Rich has an intriguing list of predictions for the coming decade, and all are worthy of a read.
Me, I’m thinking over number 9:
“9. One Cloud Company Or Another Becomes the Most Valuable Company on Earth
“Moore’s Law continues at the pace of 2x every two years. Bandwidth improves 3x every two years. These trends predict ubiquitous cloud cover for planet earth. Who will own the giant fog machine? Google? Cisco? Microsoft? Amazon? Huawei?”
via Twenty Trends For The 2010s « Forbes.com: Digital Rules By Rich Karlgaard – Forbes.com.
New Year’s Resolutions – Goals & Priorities 12/26/2009
Posted by mritsema in web.Tags: Business, entrepreneurial, Leadership, Management, Productivity
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It’s that time of year. It’s the end of another year. I’m pondering my occasional or annual goal message. Will you sign up for the challenge?
Now, many of you know that I’m the ‘goal’ guy. Set ‘em & hit ‘em. If you don’t set ‘em, you won’t hit ‘em. This is a good time of year to reflect, assess, tweak the course or direction. You know, the old definition of insanity … is doing the same thing over again & hoping for a different result.
Not that there’s anything wrong with consistent, steady execution delivering consistent, steady results. Yes, I do think that’s the essence of life: embrace the day. Carpe’ Diem. Don’t get so lost in the future that you miss the wonder of each day. Oh, yes, that resonates with me. Sign me up for the wonder and awe of each day.
I think that we should each have written and specific goals for general areas of our life. In fact, if they’re not written and specific – then we still have the goals. They’re just mental and general. They’re essentially who we are. Nothing wrong with that. I think that written and specific goals deliver timely and measurable results.
So, I’m looking for goals in these areas of our life:
- Mental
- Spiritual
- Physical – health
- Financial – business
- Relational – emotional
- Service – giving
How am I going to grow mentally in a post structured educational world; how am I going to grow my relationship with God this year? How am I going to maintain or improve my physical well-being – my health; how am I going to improve my financial performance; how will I improve my relationship with myself and others; how will I stretch myself emotionally; how will I give to others this year – financially and physically?
Am I satisfied with everything in my life? Can I grow, mature, improve, move forward?
Well, I’m challenging all of us this year specifically in the mental & financial – business area. In a post college – “gettin’ to work everyday” world, what are you going to do this year to improve your person-hood? What are you going to do to grow, stretch, challenge yourself? Lebron James said about the whooping they put on Los Angeles last night in the NBA, “It wasn’t about sending a message to them, it was about sending a message to ourselves and seeing how we match up with the best …”
What message are you sending to yourself this year?
How about picking some mental, educational, business type goals like:
- How many books will you read this year – in what areas
- What certification will you pursue – which requires study and another … test
- What class will you attend with the completion award – like Toastmasters, Dale Carnegie, Chamber courses, etc.
- What personal goals will you set to drive up personal performance and earn more money
- How will you improve your net worth – by how many dollars – what %
- What daily or weekly activities will you change in order to change your results
- What reward will you assign to yourself that you’ll enjoy upon hitting your desired objectives?
That’s it. As we approach 2010, I am challenging each of us to reflect on ourselves and the last year. How am I going to turn the crank? What am I going to change in order to improve my results? What course correction will I make so that I hit my desired target?
How will I challenge myself to personal growth and improvement?
God bless your new year.
Michael Ritsema i3 Business Solutions, LLCHow’s it going? “Well, it’s been a pretty rough … decade.” 12/22/2009
Posted by mritsema in government.Tags: Business, Capitalism, Wealth
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If you or your friends had a pretty tough year (or decade), you’re not alone. Actually the entire US economy had a rough run for the last ten years. The stock market delivered the worst ten year run in … history – according to the Wall Street Journal!
- ABREAST OF THE MARKET
- DECEMBER 20, 2009
Investors Hope the ’10s Beat the ’00s
Since End of 1999, U.S. Stocks’ Performance Has Been the All-Time Clunker; Even 1930s Beat It
But wait, there’s more. By almost any measure, the average American is worse off than the decade of the ’90s.
- Personal Income is up a meager 5%
- Net Worth is down 14%
- Gross Employment is up .5%.
That delivers the worst performing decade in my lifetime and then some - 60 years actually. Again the Wall Street Journal:
DECEMBER 22, 2009
The Dimming of a Beacon
Riding High at the Start of the 2000s, the Nation’s Economic Model Had a Rocky Ride
Good news though: I believe the next decade will be fantastic! We will bounce back!
Michael Ritsema i3 Business Solutions, LLCA Ring Tone Meant to Fall on Deaf Ears | NYT 11/24/2009
Posted by thaadsma in mobile web.1 comment so far
My daughter and I were talking Friday night and she clued me in on the latest cellphone secret in her high school… Teenagers have started to use a high-frequency ringtone that, apparently, adults are unable to hear:
“In settings where cellphone use is forbidden — in class, for example — it is perfect for signaling the arrival of a text message without being detected by an elder of the species.
“When I heard about it I didnt believe it at first,” said Donna Lewis, a technology teacher at the Trinity School in Manhattan. “But one of the kids gave me a copy, and I sent it to a colleague. She played it for her first graders. All of them could hear it, and neither she nor I could.”
The technology, which relies on the fact that most adults gradually lose the ability to hear high-pitched sounds, was developed in Britain but has only recently spread to America — by Internet, of course.”
Click here for a recording of the sound. I’m way over the hill, cause I can’t hear a dang thing.
COMMENT if you can hear anything!
via A Ring Tone Meant to Fall on Deaf Ears – New York Times.
Innovation, Healthcare & Future Answers 11/22/2009
Posted by mritsema in healthcare.Tags: Business, entrepreneurial, healthcare, Technology
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I remain adamant that the answer to the majority of our societal and economic problems lie in entrepreneurial innovation and private sector free market competition.
Here’s another example of individuals taking personal risk and innovating with new ideas to deliver value to mankind. Apply economies of scale to healthcare and deliver superior quality at lower prices. Read about it in the November 21, 2009 Wall Street Journal:
The Henry Ford of Heart Surgery
In India, a Factory Model for Hospitals Is Cutting Costs and Yielding Profits
Six million people are expected to travel outside the United States to acquire innovative and less expensive medical care. Costa Rica, Mexico and soon the Cayman Islands will offer high quality low-cost procedures. These procedures can cost as little as 10% of the cost in the United States!
No, I wouldn’t risk my health to save $100,000 on heart surgery … but if I believed I could get a Lexus quality procedure for one quarter the price of an AMC quality USA production, I might consider this alternative.
Apparently a whole lot of people already are.
I repeat, private sector and free market options do have answers for many of our toughest problems.
As we say on the golf course, let the big dog hunt.
Michael Ritsema i3 Business Solutions, LLCSteak & Storage Lunch ‘n Learn | All Beef and No Bull – December 2009 11/19/2009
Posted by mritsema in web.Tags: Management, Technology
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Sink your teeth into some “meat” at our steak and storage lunch |
Join i3 Business Solutions and Compellent Technologies for a steak lunch at the location most convenient for you:
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Tuesday, December 1, 2009 - Grand Rapids
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Louis Benton Steak House 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
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Wednesday, December 9, 2009 – Kalamazoo
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Kalamazoo Country Club – 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
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Wednesday, December 16, 2009 – Traverse City
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Park Place Hotel – 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Looking to lower storage management costs? Looking to reign in the explosion of data storage creep? Looking for a state of the art storage solution?
We have have teamed up with Compellent Technologies to hold 3 “Steak & Storage” executive briefings across Michigan in December.
Compellent is a leading provider of enterprise-class network storage solutions that are highly scalable, feature-rich and designed to be easy to use and cost effective. i3 Business Solutions, llc is Compellent’s premier West Michigan partner for products and services.
Find out how Compellent’s innovative technology automatically manages block level data and is designed to significantly lower storage and infrastructure capital expenditures. We believe Compellent’s flexible Dynamic Block Architecture makes it the ideal data storage engine for a cloud computing environment, and it is also efficient in a more typical virtualized enterprise data center. Compellent features – like automated tiered storage, thin provisioning and thin replication – can optimize performance, lower energy costs, and provide a cost-effective storage solution.
To see if you qualify for this event, e-mail tslaughter@i3bus.com or call Tracy Slaughter at 616-719-4100 by 3 days prior to event
For other questions, please contact Tom Greening at tgreening@i3bus.com or call 616-719-4135
Michael Ritsema i3 Business Solutions, LLCTop Database Threat? Legit Users & Sloppy Company Policies! | bMighty.com 11/04/2009
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A report from Dark Reading, Protecting Your Database From Careless End-Users pins the data vulnerability tag on a handful of common problems and weaknesses:
User Ignorance: Employees who have access to company data may not have had security training; yet when employees are trained in basic IT security practices, serious security breaches decline.
Poor Password Management: Another familiar tune, password policies so strict that users write their passwords on a Post-It and post it on the back of their monitor (or, in tighter security environments, on the bottom of their keyboard) where it’s easily found; or policies so lame that passwords are easily cracked or even guessed. Password policy is balancing act,and many if not most companies are off-balance.
Rampant Account sharing: Data access accounts and log-ins get shared, sometimes widely and sometimes wildly, with everyone in the company, it seems, knowing how to access the sensitive stuff.
Unrestricted Access: The only people who require access to sensitive data are the ones who work with the sensitive data. And that tends to be a far smaller number of people than the number who can access the confidential files.
Excessive Data Portability: The amount of storage employees carry for personal, much less business purposes, has become staggering. High capacity thumb drives, iPods, phones, you name it and it has the potential to become a vehicle for transporting sensitive data out of the supposedly protected environment. Yet database activity monitoring and access controls and other security tools remain sparsely implemented.
UPDATE: Here’s a nice little eWeek checklist, 10 Essential Things Companies Should Teach Employees About Security.
In Case Of Disaster, Turn To Cloud | bMighty.com: Blogs For Small Business and Mid-Sized Business 11/03/2009
Posted by thaadsma in SaaS, infrastructure, managed services, security.add a comment
Still using tapes for backup? There’s a far better way to protect your data assets. At i3 Business Solutions we’ve been working with customers over the last 12 months to move away from unreliable tape to the the reliability of offsite backup and disaster recovery.
The bMighty blog has a nice summary of a Forrester report and what this means for you:
”How The Cloud Will Transform Disaster Recovery Services identifies a gap between old-school recovery from tape, which is affordable but doesn’t offer much in the way of continuity protection because it takes so long to restore; and very expensive, enterprise-targeted high-end recovery services.
Forrester foresees existing online backup providers plus new entrants into the market starting to leverage cloud storage to offer reasonably priced options with reasonably quick recovery times that might entice SMBs away from their tape backups.”
via In Case Of Disaster, Turn To Cloud | bMighty.com: Blogs For Small Business and Mid-Sized Business.
Clash of the clouds | The Economist 11/02/2009
Posted by thaadsma in Linux, broadband, ibm, infrastructure, managed services, microsoft, security, web, web services.add a comment
Cloud computing generates a lot of heated discussion, and through all the technical arguments, issues of security and trust, and battles over control, one topic keeps getting overlooked: cost.
Reducing business cost is what’s really driving us toward cloud computing.
We will all eventually adopt cloud computing, simply because the current model of scaling servers up and down is very expensive. IT departments try to buy as many servers as they think they’ll need for computing power during estimated peak capacity. But we don’t need that capacity most of the time– so lots of servers sit idle.
Cloud computing can reduce costs, becauses it provides more capacity during the peak times, so we simply pay for it on-demand. When the peaks are over and less capacity is needed, the cost then goes down. From a business perspective, this allows a company to move much of its infrastructure costs from being a capital expenditure (CAPEX) to an operating expenditure (OPEX).
The Economist published an excellent overview of how industry giants are reacting to this massive trend:
Clash of the Titans
“The rise of cloud computing is not just shifting Microsoft’s centre of gravity. It is changing the nature of competition within the computer industry. Technological developments have hitherto pushed computing power away from central hubs: first from mainframes to minicomputers, and then to PCs. Now a combination of ever cheaper and more powerful processors, and ever faster and more ubiquitous networks, is pushing power back to the centre in some respects, and even further away in others. The cloud’s data centres are, in effect, outsize public mainframes. At the same time, the PC is being pushed aside by a host of smaller, often wireless devices, such as smart-phones, netbooks (small laptops) and, perhaps soon, tablets (touch-screen computers the size of books).
Although Windows still runs 90% of PCs, the fading importance of the PC means that Microsoft is no longer an all-powerful monopolist. Others are also building big clouds, including Google, a giant of the internet, and Apple, renowned as a maker of hardware, with a market capitalisation that now exceeds those of both Google and IBM, its original arch-rival (see chart above).
Granted, there are hundreds if not thousands of firms offering cloud services—web-based applications living in data centres, such as music sites or social networks. But Microsoft, Google and Apple play in a different league. Each has its own global network of data centres. They intend to offer not just one or two services, but whole suites of them, with services including e-mail, address books, storage, collaboration tools and business applications. They are also vying to dominate the periphery, either by developing software for smart-phones and other small devices or by making such devices themselves.”
Read the whole thing, of course… Cloud computing: Clash of the clouds | The Economist.
Andy Kaiser gives two thumbs up to new Motorola Droid | Digital Bits 10/31/2009
Posted by thaadsma in broadband, design, mobile web, multimedia, social web, user interfaces, web, web services.add a comment
Andy Kaiser and I and a few more of us at i3 Business Solutions have been patiently waiting for the first smartphone based on the Google “Android” platform to hit the streets, and compete head-on with Apple’s excellent iPhone.
Andy likes the iPhone. Andy really likes the new Droid from Motorola.
Read his excellent review written at his Digital Bits technology column. Here’s an excerpt:
“The Droid is an excellent phone. Google, Motorola and Verizon really knocked this one out of the park. I don’t even like baseball, and I’m using a baseball euphemism. That’s how impressed I am.
As of this writing, you can visit “DroidDoes”, Verizon’s promotional site for the Droid. The site starts you off with a few blurbs about all the things the Droid does that the iPhone can’t do or doesn’t have like having a removable battery, physical keyboard, multitasking, and open app store, etc. To my knowledge, this is the first cellphone that has had the guts to directly criticize the mighty Apple iPhone.
It can criticize Apple all it wants. The Droid holds its own. Easily.”
Find out why Andy likes this phone so much, as he fully describes its features and capabilities at his website AndyBrain.com.
Social Media: Rolling with the changes | Lunch & Learn at i3 Business Solutions 10/28/2009
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Thanks to the great group who attended our Lunch & Learn session today. (And it was a beautiful fall day to get out of the office wasn’t it?)
i3’s Mike Ritsema introduced the session with the theme that ”Things are changing” and that we all need to change and starting using this stuff to thrive and compete.
Mike introduced the main presenter Bill Chamberlin, Principal Consultant – Social Insights Practice and HorizonWatching Community Leader at IBM. As of 2009, Bill is part of IBM’s Social Media Insights practice. This new practice for extracting business insights and value from social media marketing and online communities. Bill covered a point of view on how IBM approaches the social media ‘communities space’, which tools and platforms that are of business use, and what strategic decisions have to be made to use social media tools for customer support, marketing & promotions, and product development.
Brian Dokter of Thinkbox Creative then pulled all these concepts together by demonstrating how ThinkBox has linked (or ‘federated’) all their firms’ social media tools so they can make one update and feed the update out throughout their website, blog, Blog, Facebook page, and more.
Setting it all up correctly is critical. Doing this takes time, experience and expertise, so we look forward to working with our customers and ThinkBox Creative to assist people interested in pursuing this in business.
Once again, thanks to all presenters and attendees.
Are you ready to get busy with it?
LinkedIn seems to be a clear winner for businesses interested in networking and marketing themselves online– without spending a lot of time and money. For those of you ready to jump in, I found this great introduction on how to set up a compnay profile: HOW TO: Build Your Company’s Profile on LinkedIn.
I Repeat: The Answer to our Healthcare Problems are in Innovation, Entrepreneurs & Technology 10/22/2009
Posted by mritsema in government, healthcare, web.Tags: Business, Capitalism, entrepreneurial, Productivity, Technology
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I am forever consistent & unabashedly a free market capitalist with conservative principles bordering on libertarian ideals. Most know that I posit that technology (my own & company’s specialty) ‘holds the answer to all our problems.’
Bold statement or prediction: the answer to our healthcare problem in America won’t come from the government – but will come from both technology and India, China, Mexico, Costa Rica & cheap overseas delivery.
There’s no doubt that healthcare in America needs repair. The availability of insurance to protect against personal financial ruin must be repaired. Spiraling costs to patients … and physicians must be remedied. Access to treatment must be improved.
Question: is the government option or fix the answer? Again, I submit that technology and innovation are the answer.
The Wall Street Journal October 20th, 2009 edition provides yet another innovative option. High definition video can connect physician specialists around the world to any location with high speed internet – instantly. Diagnostic results skyrocket! Read about the innovation at:
Doctor, Can You See Me Now?
More Hospitals Are Using Video to Connect Patients With Specialists Far Away, Speeding Treatment
And, by the way, I just read an online review about Logitech’s new PC or Laptop webcam that delivers high definition 720p 2-megapixel (8 megapixel photos) for $79.99. That’s a whole lot of image for not a lot of money!
Add to that the opportunity to acquire quality surgery by highly trained specialists for around 10% of the cost of US based healthcare systems and things get really interesting. Granted, regulation, quality of service and legal recourse are not the same in a foreign country. Read about off shore surgery at:
Read about Medical tourism options at:
Low Cost Hip Replacement While on Vacation
American Insurance Plan May Cover Cost of Major Surgery Outside US
So, much like the challenge to the American automotive industry came from overseas and the answer was in technological innovation delivering better quality cars, improvements to the American healthcare industry will come from both technological innovation and worldwide competition.
Find the right doctor with these online resources | Webware | CNET 10/20/2009
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Every fall millions of us employees are subject to new health plans from employers. That often means finding a new doctor.
This CNET post has a review of some great resources available online to gather information and make the right decision:
“As the health care debate rages on, we’re still left wondering which doctor is best for what we need. Asking friends is a good way to find out about personal experiences, but one person’s opinion might not be enough to go on. For those instances, you need some help from a Web site or two.
I’ve compiled a helpful list of services that will help you research doctors, and with any luck, pick a good one. Let’s take a look: Find the right doctor with these online resources ”
via Find the right doctor with these online resources | Webware – CNET.
Work Smarter – Not Harder 09/27/2009
Posted by mritsema in web.Tags: Capitalism, Leadership, Management, Productivity
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A friend in my peer group recommended the book:
Getting Things DONE – The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
As I start reading it, I ran into this article in the Wall Street Journal – Personal Journal | Work & Family section:
If You Need to Work Better, Maybe Try Working Less by Sue Shellenbarger
Bottom line:
- Focus on priorities
- Get ahead of deadlines through schedule management
- Remove the meaningless clutter
- Figure out how to relax & ’shut it off.’
I’m attempting to apply these new skills to improve my productivity and work – life balance.
Consider checking out these resources and their potential personal impact in this “always on” world.
Productively,
Michael Ritsema i3 Business Solutions, LLCBing Pops With Visual Search | TechCrunch 09/15/2009
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Played with Bing yet? I was skeptical at first, but I’m fast becoming a fan of Binging things visually, instead of Googling things– and wading through a milion text links:
“There are more than 100 visual galleries ranging from movies, books, and cars to products, animals, and sports teams. The sorting categories change each time.
“So for movies, you can filter by release date, title, or rating. Cars can be sorted visually by make, price or mileage. When you resort, the images fly around the screen to find their new positions. The visual search acts as a showcase for Microsoft’s Silverlight technology, which makes the animations and visual rendering possible.
“The whole concept,” says Mehdi, “is that the world of search will change. There will be a more graphic way people will search, and it will pivot how people search.””
via Bing Pops With Visual Search. TechCrunch
Windows 7: The revenge of Windows Vista | InfoWorld 09/11/2009
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Tons of technical data in this ‘first look’ assessment of Windows 7… but how does ‘7 shape up from a usability perspective?
In other words, does it cure all the stupid and aggravating things we have to put up with in Windows XP?
Yup:
“… the new Taskbar is shaping up as one giant leap forward for Windows usability. Simply put, the version 7 Taskbar reinvents the Windows UI, with an embrace of the object-oriented ideas and concepts that inspired so many of today’s modern graphical environments.
The ability to pin your entire workspace to the Taskbar — including applications, documents, and utilities — and interact with them in a consistent, predictable manner makes the Windows 7 UI a revelation for many users. Add to this the beefed-up saved-search mechanism (that is, the new Libraries folder) and the myriad Aero gestures (Aero Peek, Shake, Snap), and you have what is perhaps the most compelling OS upgrade incentive in recent memory.
Bottom line: The Windows 7 UI is light-years ahead of both Windows Vista and XP in terms of overall usability and general operator productivity. Many users will likely upgrade based solely on this feature — it’s that compelling.”
Why Doctors Hate Electronic Medical Records | The Healthcare IT Guy 09/10/2009
Posted by thaadsma in design, development, healthcare, user interfaces.add a comment
We work with an increasing number of physician practices in Michigan, and a few have EMR systems. But most don’t– yet.
This article by a physician challenges EMR vendors to make their software products better before EMR goes mainstream. From Dr. Bill Cast:
“Physicians know that better exists. They have experienced Google, Amazon and e-Bay. Game lovers know that Electronic Arts’ “Tiberium,” now 15 years old, exceeds the capabilities of their professional health care software. They know from Yahoo and MSN the value of configuring a home page suited to delivering niche-information of their own preference. They know from using Word and Word Perfect that they can create precision documents merely by tweaking a template. They know they can use voice commands to make a phone call on their Blackberry. They know that they can find drug information more easily on Google than proprietary software. They suspect that if their EHRs and EMRs had physician-specific home page functionality, that they could drop and drag orders, answer FAQs, dictate letters, and save time with templates with many fewer clicks. Ordering medications should be as safe and uncomplicated as using E*Trade.
Today most EHRs and EMRs are invasive both to workflow and finances. While high cost is a significant barrier to physician adoption, workflow disruption remains the killer deterrent.”
via Guest Article: Why Doctors Hate Electronic Medical Records | The Healthcare IT Guy.
40 Years of Internet. Let’s have a recap… 09/09/2009
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Whoa. The Interwebs are reaching middle age!
“What better time to recap on the last 40 years and provide a brief history of how a technology that has changed our lives, came to be. Before you begin reading however, if you’d like a more visual representation, you may want to sit back and watch this wonderful video that will take you through the decades to today.”
