Business models: cloud-based vs cloud-enabled

A cloud-based business model is a business model that is completely aimed at, reliant on, and based on a cloud computing environement.
E.g. End-users applications are entirely hosted in a cloud. End users can access the applications or data they need simply by providing a username and a password.

A cloud-enabled business model uses some components of cloud computing to achieve beneficial results in terms of how the business operates.
E.g. use a virtual cloud server for data storage.

Gartner predicts PaaS revenue will reach USD 2.9bn by 2016

Global revenue for platform as a service (PaaS) will grow consistently for five years to reach $2.9bn by 2016, up from $900m in 2011, according to research firm Gartner. But as the PaaS delivery model grows, it will intensify the competition between large cloud service providers and enterprise software suppliers which look to capture the growing market, Gartner predicted.

Source : ComputerWeekly.com

PRINCE2: Stage, Exception and Boundary

PRINCE2 is a structured and adaptable project management method for planning, managing and controlling any type or size of project.

Stage: At any one time, a Project Manager (PM) manages one section of a project, called stage. At the end of the stage, the project Board reviews the status of the
project to date and decides whether to continue to the next stage

Exception: An exception is a situation where it is forecast that there will be a cost or schedule deviation beyond the project's planned tolerance levels set by the Project
Board. The Project Manager prepares an Exception Report, which describes the exception situation.

Boundary: The term boundary is used in the context of Managing Stage Boundaries, a PRINCE2 process. PRINCE2 provides a mechanism for defining the boundary of a project
and its relationship to other projects. in defining the boundary of a project, as with a stage, the emphasis is always on the products that the project is required to deliver.
As a project nears a stage boundary, or end of a stage, the Project Board, assesses the information produced from the current stage and makes a key decision on whether
to continue with the project or not.

What is a good project management methodology?

A good project management methodology has these benefits:

- defines quality requirements: when quality requirements are defined in the plan and controlled throughout the project, the product meets customer expectations.

- provides adequate planning and co-ordination resources: proper planning and co-ordination of resources ensures deliverables are completed on time and on budget.

- provides an adequate definition of project roles and responsibilities: when project team members understand and accept their roles and responsibilities, they have more direction and make better decisions.

- provides adequate planning and monitoring for sudden, unexpected changes: a good project management methodology provides controls and techniques for dealing with change during the life of the project.

- defines the required outcomes: at the end, the required outcomes are met because the plan was built around them from the outset.

Don't wait to strike out on your own behalf

The real barrier for most of us is not external. It is our own psychology: we overthink decisions, fear eventual failure, and prioritise near-term, visible regards over long-range success.

Thinking about ideas during week-ends, holidays and evenings by moonlighting can be an excellent rehearsal.

As with most vital decisions, no one should wait for the perfect moment. That is simply an excuse for procrastination.

Cloud Definitions

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) Special Publication
800-145, “The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing,” defines the cloud as having
five essential characteristics:
1- On-demand self-service
2 - Broad network access
3 - Resource pooling
4 - Rapid elasticity
5 - Measured service

The publication also specifies three service models:
1 - Software as a Service (SaaS)
2 - Platform as a Service (PaaS)
3 - Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

And the document defines four deployment models:
1 - Private cloud
2 - Community cloud
3 - Public cloud
4 - Hybrid cloud

The NIST standard is freely available for use and remains the best definition of
cloud computing today, in part due to its simplicity and brevity. NIST has published
other cloud standards that are primarily aimed at departments and agencies
of the US Government, as well as cloud architecture document Special Publication
500-292, “NIST Cloud Computing Reference Architecture.” Larger enterprises might
find this document useful when planning adoption of the cloud.

European Commissioner Neelie Kroes speaking about Cloud Computing

Commissioner Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Digital Agenda speaks about Cloud Computing after the release the European Commission’s cloud computing strategy document titled Unleashing the Potential of Cloud Computing in Europe on 27.9.2012.

FULL VIDEO HERE

European Commission: Unleashing the Potential of Cloud Computing in Europe

The European Commission’s cloud computing strategy document – titled Unleashingthe Potential of Cloud Computingin Europe - has outlined the obstacles to establishing a vibrant
market for cloud computing.
The main obstacles are:

1. a lack of clarity on rights, responsibilities,and liability; 
2. insufficient data protection; 
3. and insufficient standardisation, particularly across jurisdictions. 

The European Commission (EC) has requested that the European Telecommunications Standards
Institute set-up a Cloud Group to look into the needs for cloud standardisation and conformity with interoperability standards. The EC also says it will work with relevant bodies to assist the development of EU-wide voluntary certification schemes in the area of cloud computing and plans to publish a list of such schemes by 2014.

Source: European Cloud Computing Stragety web site

Lamborghini web site takes advantage of Cloud Computing technologies

Supercar maker Automobili Lamborghini has migrated its legacy servers onto Amazon Web Services (AWS), halving the running cost.
The car company has replaced an outdated website and infrastructure with AWS. The new website was built in less than one month.
The old website infrastructure was not scalable, preventing the company from supporting new online initiatives as well as the increasing number of  visitors to the site. Lamborghini wanted to be online with an updated website in a very short time.

The car maker considered an on-premise datacentre, which would have cost more than AWS. It also considered a  local hosting provider, but this did not offer scalability. The firm eventually decided it needed cloud computing to support the required scalability and flexibility on its website, and chose AWS based on recommendations from analysts who rated Amazon as the best-in-class infrastructure-as-a-service (IAAS) platform.

Lamborghini has deployed the new website on AWS using various services including Elastic Load Balancing (ELB), Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Relational Database (Amazon RDS), Amazon Simple Shared Service (Amazon S3), Amazon CloudFront, and Amazon CloudWatch.  It also followed AWS Architecture Center for implementation guidance and best practices.

Roberto Ciacci, digital marketing manager at Automobili Lamborghini, said: “We reduced the cost of our infrastructure by 50%, while at the same time achieving better performance and scalability. Today our time-to-market is close to zero."

SOURCE (Computer Weekly)

Are highly rational individuals more sucessful?

In my humble opinion, no. Here is why, I think a strong emotional quotient can matter more.
Successful people knows that the core of any achievement will depend on personal relationships.
The most successful people are frequently unreasonable people who refuse to give up, even when evidence and odds are very much against them. In conclusion, human skills are more important than cold rational logic.

Good enough is always better than perfection

You must under no account dedicate your entire life to mastering a skill.

Showcasing Canadian Government Cloud Computing

In the report Building Canada's Digital Advantage (download the 40 page PDF here), the Canadian Government identifies that an under-investment in new technologies by Canadian CIOs is one of the root causes of the dreaded 'Innovation Gap'.

 “Governments can play an important role in promoting private sector innovation and driving ICT uptake by acting as model users and leading by example, by being an early adopter and demanding purchaser of emerging and next generation technologies like Green IT and Cloud computing.”

They also describe that the key to addressing this situation is for public sector CIO's to lead by example and encourage more adoption.

Imagine Yourself Succeeding by José Ferreiro

Highly successful people will often tell you that one of their secrets is visualization. In their mind’s eye, they see themselves succeeding. They imagine the situations they will
face, and they imagine themselves handling those situations beautifully. Visualization is a very powerful tool. It’s a way of telling yourself that you believe you can do it. The power of this kind of belief is staggering. If you believe you can accomplish something, you are far more
likely to accomplish it. Likewise, if you believe you can’t do something, you are far more likely to fail to achieve that goal. Positive visualization will make it easier for you..
Anyone can use the power of visualization.

CMS also stands for Course Management System

Most of us know about the so called Content Management System (CMS) such as some wikis, drupal, DotNetNuke, Sharepoint, OpenText, umbraco, drupal, Joomla, Typo3, Django and many others in all the programming languages flavors: JAVA, PHP, PYTHON, PERL, MICROSOFT ASP.NET.

A derivation Content Management System was started by Martin Dougiamas to help educators create online courses with a focus on interaction and collaborative construction of content, and is in continual evolution. The first version of Moodle (abbreviation for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) was released on 20 August 2002. Moodle is an Open Source Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a Free (open source) web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites.

More here

Business Traveller Tips by José Ferreiro

For people who prize efficiency, what are the potential time-saving alternatives in order to avoid wasting time?
 1- Use public transportation: In many cities if you take a taxi to go to a place, it may take you longer than using public transportation.

2 - Study your holtel location: Look at your meeting(s) in a map and choose your hotel strategically.

3 - Travel off-peak:  Do not travel in rush hour, this will save you time and above all stress. Go one day earlier to your meeting and
Stay in a hotel overnight and arrive at your meeting relaxed and ready to work :-)!

Capital Insights - Cloud 360° view

The Figure shows how companies can overcome the challenges of cloud computing. The inner circle show the four key challenges:

• Cloud Assurance
• Cloud Positioning
• Cloud Provisioning
• Cloud Realization

While the outer circle outlines 16 specific areas within those challenges that corporates need to focus on to effectively manage their journey through the cloud.

Source: Ernst & Young (Capital Insights)

Using Mobile Technology in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) by Jose Ferreiro

Integrating mobile technology into an organization's CRM systems enables the organization to increase its responsiveness to customers. There are three key concepts to consider before creating a strategy for integrating mobile technology into an existing CRM system.

Key concepts of mobile CRM

 

Mobile devices build CRM databases

Customer information received through mobile devices can add to CRM databases. A part of Knowledge management (KM) and CRM integration is the constant addition of information to the searchable repository.

When you develop mobile CRM, you can use every mobile device as one more point of contact with your customers. So, for every query made via a mobile device, customers provide data which gets added to the CRM bank.

 

Customer opt-in leads to CRM penetration 

Many mobile providers require customers to choose to opt-in when subscribing, or to give their permission to receive offers and advertisements via their mobile devices. This additional point of contact allows for deeper CRM system penetration. In other words, more information can be passed back and forth to your customers.

This new channel for customers to receive messages, offers, deals, and ads can quickly add up in sales figures or brand recognition.

 

Personal technology increases CRM value 

 

Many mobile device users regard their phone as a much more personal device than, for example, their e-mail or their television. That's why the one-to-one personal nature of mobile technology increases its value.

Receiving a message through a mobile device taps into that personal nature of the technology. People are less likely to immediately dismiss a message via their mobile device. This enables mobile CRM to make a personal connection with the customer.

Keyword: Customer-focused Interaction

My first QR code by Jose Ferreiro

Visit a free online QR code generator and type your URL. Just save the image and use it on your document or website.
I used this website : http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

Microsoft's Surface tablet: an iPad-killer?

Microsoft unveiled the Surface table on 18 June 2012. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's executive chief dit it! The device will for the first time containg both hardware and software engineered by a company (Microsoft). The device is thin and light, with specifications very similar to the newest iPad, which went on sale in March. With the Surface, Microsoft's Mr. Ballmer sait it built its tablet as a way to show off its new Windows 8 operating system can do.It has to be noted that until now the smartphones and tablets have received the most consumer attention. The Surface will be released later this year, leading the charge of computers and touch-screen tablets built using its new Windows RT and Windows 8 operating systems.

Customs System through the Cloud: Trans-Kalahari Corridor (TKC)

The Trans-Kalahari Corridor is a paved highway corridor that provides a direct route from Walvis Bay and Windhoek in central Namibia, through Botswana, to Johannesburg and Pretoria in Gauteng province in South Africa. The corridor also includes railway lines from Walvis Bay as far as Gobabis in Namibia, and from Johannesburg as far as Lobatse in Botswana. It was officially opened in 1998.

Last year (2011) at the World Customs Organization IT conference in Seattle (USA), Microsoft announces the launch of a pilot "cloud computing" project based on Azure technologies between Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. A pilot programme to link the ASYCUDA systems of Namibia and Botswana via Microsoft’s Cloud Computing technology. Both Microsoft and USAID are partners in this initiative seeking to enable the two customs systems to communicate with each other through a secure portal.

This year (2012) at the World Customs Organization IT conference in Tallinn (Estonia),
progresses about this pilot cloud computing solution have been shown at Microsoft's booth.

Also, FTW Online recently published an update on recent developments occurring along the Trans-Kalahari Corridor. It suggests that customs systems throughout the SADC region could soon be talking to each other through the Internet, if the pilot project between Namibia and Botswana is successful.

Career Positioning Strategy: Success & Fulfillment

Two key learning from industrial restructuring:
1. Do not take a job you cannot afford to lose. Otherwise you will make everything to stay that could be bad for your carrier and health.
2. People are hired thanks to their technical skills but are fired because of their soft skills.

PC is less central to our daily life

The growth of web-based services, and storage of personal data online rather than on hard drives, has made PC less central to our daily life!

Organizations are no longer asking “if cloud,” they are asking “which cloud?” by Jose Ferreiro

The Ultimate Cloud Battle: Public Vs. Private Vs. Hybrid - White Paper (see document below)

Organizations are no longer asking “if cloud,” they are asking “which cloud?”
Determining which type of cloud solution is becoming increasingly difficult with the myriad of choices available today.  Selecting the right cloud solution requires thorough analysis regarding the level of security, control, customization and support your business requires.
This eBook will give you insight into which cloud delivery model is best suited for your needs whether that be public, private or hybrid cloud.

Organizations are no longer asking “if cloud,” they are asking “which cloud?”

View more presentations from José Ferreiro.

What is an application owner by José Ferreiro?

I was wondering this week about 'Application Owner'. An application owner holds ultimate responsibility for a specific system or application. They are accountable for incidents, problems, and changes that impact the system or application and they need to understand system capacity and capabilities.  They are also required to research and provide management with recommendations toward business objectives or deliverables.  In some cases they are commonly referred to as subject matter experts (SME) but don’t be fooled by the technical complexity.  An application owner needs to know how to communicate to all levels of management, put a face to their application, and politically support customers or end users.

Business Skills and Mindfulness

Business schools are beginning to embrace a practise that has grown popular in the corporate world; teaching and studing mindfulness, the originally Budhist approach to increase awareness of oneself and one's surroundings.

For CEO's "It's the smallest things that they do have huge ripple effects. Because their lives are so busy... they miss too many opportunities to make either themselves or their organization different."
- Professor Ben Bryant of IMD (http://www.imd.org/)

Is there a difference between managers and leaders?

Yes:
- Managers are tasks focus
- Leadership is about encouraging people following a vision

The higher you are in your hierarchy the less technical skills (finance IFRS, software development...) you need and the more soft skills you need to learn. Soft skills are conceptual (design, overview...) and human.
Human skills are:
- Personal honesty and integrity
- Building commitment and confidence
- Keen interest in a long term development of others (human capital)
- Work of CEO: Make every other jobs possible
- Capacity to manage their emotions
- Ability to communicate a compelling vision to others

The whole idea of leadership is to have a sustainable success.

Two Screens aren't Better Than One

Because it folds up, the Tablet is much more portable than iPad-size tablets.
Portability is a virtue, but in my point of view the two screen tablet doesn't cut it.
Battery life is also weak.
The price is very high.

Circular Housing: Sun City, Arizona, USA

Sun City was launched January 1, 1960, with five home models, a shopping center, recreation center and golf course. The opening weekend drew 100,000 people, ten times more than expected, and resulted in a Time magazine cover story. The future retirement community was built on the site of the former ghost town of Marinette.

All houses are concentrated around a shopping center.

More info here: http://www.suncityaz.org/

How coud success be defined? (by Jose Ferreiro)

- Helping others realize their goals while pursuing ours.

- Success is the progressive realization of personal, worthwhile, pre-determined goals.

- Progressive realization means that success is not a destination, it is a journey and you start being successful the moment you take the first step. Personal means that my goals will not motivate you, and your goals will not motivate me. Worthwhile means that goals must have an ethical quality or they won't have the power to attract you to them. Pre-determined means that goals never happen by accident, always on purpose.

- Success is a continual journey!!!

- A success is someone who gets up one more time than he/she gets knocked down.

- You can not succeed unless you have failed. Failure is not a bad thing it is a growing experience.

- Success is a PASSION!!!

- Success is a personal goal-oriented concept, in which an individual generates and strives to reach. The end result can be attained by luck or self-motivated ambition. One could argue that luck is a nonfactor, but the essence of success is the end result and not the facets of the journey of which one arrives. 

Setting up a private cloud for academic environment with Open Source Software - jose ferreiro

Take a look of this interesting presentation performed by Zoran Pantic at the IT university of Copenhagen where he explains how to set up a private cloud using Open Source Software (OSS).

More information here: https://blog.itu.dk/MCLC-F2012/

https://blog.itu.dk/MCLC-F2012/lectures/ (lecture 7 of week 5)

Additional Links which Zoran briefly mentioned in the lecture:
http://ken.pepple.info/openstack/2011/04/22/openstack-nova-architecture/
http://ken.pepple.info/openstack/2012/02/21/revisit-openstack-architecture-diablo/

View more presentations from José Ferreiro.

US launches National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano unveiled  the Obama administration’s National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland yesterday (25 January 2012). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is committed to facilitating legitimate trade and travel, while preventing terrorists from exploiting supply chains, protecting transportation systems from attacks and disruptions, and increasing the resilience of global supply chains.





Download the PDF file at www.whitehouse.gov

Read more...

A super rematch - Super Bowl 46 - New York Giants vs New England Patriots

Four years ago in Glendale, Ariz., the New York Giants shocked the New England Patriots in what many rank as the greatest Super Bowl of all time. Next round on Sunday 5th February 2011 , they'll be at it again.

http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/46

Canadian Government Cloud Computing White Paper– Best practices

Here is the first version of the white paper : Best practices in Canadian Government Cloud Computing.

Download : 14-page PDF

The objective of this paper is to document all the standards and technologies that go into defining a framework for public sector Cloud Computing in Canada, covering key topics such as:

•     Understanding the baseline of the NIST Cloud Computing models

•     A big focus on ‘PaaS’ – Platform as a Service

•     Canadian standards for Identity and Virtualization Security

•     How to maximize success through Shared Services, and how to maximize the success of Shared Services Canada

Read more here ...

Canadian Federal Government Public Works CIO talks about "Cloud computing Roadmap"

In June 2010 the Canadian Federal Government Public Works CIO delivered this 18-page PDF presentation, which describes a roadmap plan for their adoption of Cloud Computing, acting as a template blueprint for an overall enterprise architecture and strategy for Cloud computing.

As a manager, do you delegate?

Here are some common myth about delegation:
1. There is not enough time to delegate
2. My employees are not competent enough
3. If you want it done right, you have to do it
4. People won't think you are on top of the job
5. You should not delegate what you are good at doing

Project Management and Webcasting using WebEx

The WebEx online meeting technology definitely helps to streamline project management with your partners remotely:

- identifying additional needs
- managing projects visually
- save money on meetings and/or traveling by using online technology
- speeding up the processes within the projects

WebEx recordings or live webcasts, note that recorded webcast can be posted and shared, getting your message out to more people, faster.

Vivek Kundra, former United States Chief Information Officer joined salesforce.com

Having promoted the cloud at the White House, Vivek Kundra is charged by Marc Benioff from Salesforce to develop activities to emerging countries.

Vivek promoted the cloud at the White House, he previously was the "United States Chief Information Officer", i.e. federal CIO, on the accession of Barack Obama as president.

He had worked at the White House promoting Cloud technologies and strengthening ways to fight against cybercrime. "Vivek Kundra is a visionary technological developments. He opened the eyes of millions of people to the processing capacity offered by cloud computing." said Marc Benioff.
All best wihes of sucess Vivek!

Measurement of ROI for EA?

ROI (return on investment) for EA(enterprise architecture) is too difficult to measure. We can probably measure nonfinancial or nontangible benefits like stakeholder satisfaction, but turning these to money is just nonsense. However, we can show the logic how EA contributes in company goals.

Swiss Authorities Cloud Computing Strategy - Cloud-Computing-Strategie der Schweizer Behörden - Stratégie Cloud Computing des autorités suisses

Experts from the Swiss Confederation, cantons, municipalities, business and education and research have developed a draft strategy for cloud computing. The project is in consultation with the mentioned groups.

Des experts issus de la Confédération, des cantons, des communes, de l'économie ainsi que de l'enseignement et de la recherche ont élaboré un projet de stratégie d'informatique en nuage. Le projet est mis en consultation auprès des groupes mentionnés.

Read more in French or German