June 30th, 2009
Failing with online backup
Seeking to back up 350GB in safe, reliable, off-site storage, I tried Carbonite and Mozy, two of the most respected names in the online backup market. Both products failed miserably to achieve my goals, each one in a perversely different way.
Carbonite offers a simple, set-and-forget solution that should make life easy. In my case, something bad happened along the way because I can no longer restore files reliably. This screen capture shows what happens when I try to restore files using the company’s remote access feature:
As you can see, Carbonite can’t find my selected file. Would this message inspire confidence that your backup is safe?
Carbonite tech support was quite helpful trying to diagnose and solve the problem. However, my luck ran out after support submitted the issue to the developers for further research and fixing. At that stage, support essentially said the developers will handle my issue when they want, with no time horizon and not even a pat on the back.
Based on that interaction, I decided to try Mozy instead.
Mozy takes a somewhat more configurable approach to its backup software, which I like. I transferred the first 200GB of data to Mozy with no problems and reasonably fast upload speeds of 1.5Mbps. Recently, however, my upload speed decreased to a level where large backups are no longer practical. This dialog box shows my current upload rate, which is slower than a dialup modem:
June 29th, 2009
Enterprise 2.0: The Kumbaya irony
Last week I attended the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston. It’s one of my favorite events, primarily because so many online friends attend from around the world and I enjoy their company. Despite overwhelming good will among participants, the conference exposed gaps between expectations and reality that continue to plague the Enterprise 2.0 world.
Enterprise 2.0 aspirations. Enterprise 2.0 suggests a network of organizational activities involving collaboration, cooperation, and engagement as part of a broader ethos of social interaction in business. Professor Andrew McAfee, formerly of Harvard Business School and currently with MIT, coined the phrase Enterprise 2.0. Andy recently blogged about implications of this new system of thought on managing organizations and leading teams.
Andy’s blog elaborated on a piece in the Wall Street Journal by Gary Hamel, which describes “12 work-relevant characteristics of online life.” The post provides a convenient summary of an Enterprise 2.0 view of management:
June 22nd, 2009
HP connects IT investment, value, and transparency
Last week, I attended HP’s Software Universe 2009 conference to participate on a panel discussion around success strategies for deploying project portfolio management (PPM). I used the opportunity to speak with HP executives about their vision for the future of PPM and its relationship to enterprise value creation.
To understand the company’s PPM product direction, I spoke with four folks representing HP’s views on features, strategy, and customer implementation:
- Paul Muller, VP for Strategic Marketing
- Ken Cheney, Director of Products, IT Financial Management
- Bruce Randall, Manager of Product Marketing, PPM
- John Wills, Practice Principal for HP’s Business Intelligence Solutions group
HP’s primary strategic message about the future direction of PPM involves helping IT departments improve their ability to quantify project costs, benefits, and derived value, which Paul described this way:
We automate the spreadsheet Kung Fu that IT often uses to analyze financial data. Our goal is reducing decision-making cycle times and creating transparency that quantifies the business value of IT operations.
Ken Cheney elaborated on this message:
Many organizations find it difficult to get an accurate handle on IT costs. We link IT with the business services it delivers and assign value to help IT appropriately price these services. The future of PPM is helping organizations clearly see the total cost of ownership of all IT services.
HP’s strategy positions PPM as a building block in a broader IT financial management offering, as the following diagram illustrates:
June 15th, 2009
Pentagon kills $6.3 billion missile technology project
The Pentagon canceled Northrop Grumman’s Kinetic Energy Interceptor program amid accusations by Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, that the system’s design would not accomplish key military objectives.
It’s not an IT failure, per se, but certainly a great example of poor fit-to-purpose between technology and business requirements, leading to project abandonment and failure. Northrop Grumman had completed approximately $1.2 billion of work at the time of cancellation.
The Pentagon said it terminated the project for the “convenience of the government” and not because of problems with Northrop.
Northrop Grumman describes the system:
KEI is the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) element that is being designed to destroy enemy ballistic missiles during their boost and early midcourse phases of flight. It is also the first ballistic missile defense weapon system to be developed without the constraints of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
Reuters said Gates stopped the program because:
June 12th, 2009
TechCrunch Research: Big deal or not?
TechCrunch, the opinionated startup-focused blog network, has launched a low-cost analytic research service. Given the company’s high profile, this research offering cannot be ignored. However, does this new TechCrunch initiative provide value to buyers or threaten established analyst firms?
TechCrunch describes its 1Q 2009 Report report this way:
[It] provides key take aways and statistical support for the major trends of Q1. The report covers trends in start-up foundings, products, financings and exits across a variety of technology sectors: consumer media and entertainment, social networking, cloud computing, mobile communications, search, advertising and ecommerce, consumer electronics and clean tech.
The report costs $149 and partially overlaps the outstanding, web-based MoneyTree Report, which is free and has been around for years. PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association sponsor MoneyTree.
THE PROJECT FAILURES ANALYSIS
TechCrunch keeps its finger on the pulse of startups, writing with a colorful (some say arrogant) tone and style. This formula has propelled TechCrunch’s popularity and influence among those following technology startups and investment.
June 6th, 2009
Field guide to interpreting CIO-speak
Do you need a universal translator to interpret and understand your organization’s CIO? Well, you’re not alone. Fortunately, blogger Thomas Wailgum comes to our rescue with a post explaining key CIO phrases.
I added quick reference categories to Thomas’ list and formatted it for convenient reading. Use this handy chart as a field guide to communicate more effectively with the CIO in your life.
One little note: CIOs are known to be a bit…shall we say, prickly, at times. Therefore, in the interest of politeness, and also not being fired, I suggest keeping this chart under wraps.
As a small mea culpa, I’ll share the words of Twitter user Mark O’Neill, who said to me, “I sentence you to be taken from this place and made a CIO. May God have mercy on your soul.“
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [Image via iStockPhoto] |
June 4th, 2009
Reviewing Sapphire, user interfaces, the Devil's Triangle, and IT success
This guest post was written by Jon Reed, an accomplished blogger, SAP expert, and author of the website jonerp.com. Jon interviewed me following SAP’s recent Sapphire conference, and we discussed a variety of topics that are of interest to readers of this blog. Listen to the recording by clicking the player at the top of this post and read Jon’s summary of our interview. Jon originally posted this as an article on his blog.
SAPPHIRE 2009, BUSINESS BYDESIGN, AND ERP PROJECT FAILURE (AND HOW TO AVOID IT)
Written by: Jon Reed
Interview Date: May 22, 2009
In the first installment of his “Sapphire in Review” podcast series, Jon Reed of JonERP.com welcomes special guest Michael Krigsman, President of Asuret and popular ZDNet blogger and Tweeter. Michael’s focus is evaluating the keys to IT project success and failure, so during this twenty-eight minute podcast, Jon gets Michael’s take on how project failure applies to ERP vendors and SAP specifically. Jon also gets the skinny on Michael’s investigations of Business ByDesign at Sapphire, and why he sees SAP’s focus on UI improvements and BI enhancements as important to ERP project success. In closing, Michael shares an inside view on what it’s like to be part of SAP’s Blogger Relations Program, mixing it up with SAP executives.
Podcast Timeline:
1:01 Michael’s work at Asuret and ZDNet, and how it all ties back into examining the dynamics of IT project success and failure. Asuret provides consulting and software on business transformation projects; on ZDNet, Michael analyzes case studies of IT project failure and evaluates why they aren’t achieving project objectives. He also looks at related issues pertaining to organizational dynamics, business and IT communication breakdowns, and the cultural issues that contribute to project success or failure.
2:32 The highlights of the keynotes from Michael’s perspective. Two things stood out: first, Michael got the sense that SAP was making an attempt to bring in more consumer-oriented, end-user interfaces into their software. This is way overdue, but an essential area of improvement. A more human-oriented enterprise will yield more successful projects. Michael also enjoy Hasso Plattner’s keynotes - all his years of experience have put him in a position “beyond reproach” where he can speak his mind and cover topics that interest him.
June 2nd, 2009
IBM: IT failure and social media disaster
IBM’s recent DB2 fiasco in the Philippines is a textbook case of Devil’s Triangle relationships causing conflict between a technology provider, third-party consultants, and a customer.
Although the situation is interesting, I never expected it to bubble over onto Twitter, demonstrating poor social media practice in addition to vendor/consultant arrogance.
The Twitter connection began when I tweeted a general request seeking an expert to explain technical aspects of DB2. IBM’s customer, a Philippine government agency, raised questions about DB2’s suitability to task, making the technical aspect relevant:
A consultant with DB2 expertise re-tweeted my request. So far, so good:
An IBM DB2 executive responded with the implication my request was somehow wrong, unethical, or not straightforward. Yes, the tactic definitely caught my attention:
May 29th, 2009
IBM's Devil's Triangle: An enterprise software soap opera
IBM faces lawsuits and public embarrassment in the Philippines over a failed government project involving the company’s DB2 database product. The situation offers a textbook example of the Devil’s Triangle, and demonstrates the tensions and conflicts that arise between technology vendors, customers, and system integrators.
Background. The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), a Philippine agency responsible for managing the pensions of government employees, installed DB2 in 2006. By early 2008, the system began showing signs of weakness. Local newspaper, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, describes what happened:
[GSIS chief legal counsel Estrella Elamparo] explained that the software started showing problems in early 2008, particularly in handling voluminous chunks of data.
“IBM upgraded its database system purportedly to enable it to handle unlimited volumes of data,” Elamparo said. “However, the reported upgrade only worsened the problem because instead of fixing the problem, the database began mishandling data and prevented the simultaneous use of data.”
The government threatened lawsuits in response, according to the paper:
May 27th, 2009
VC perspective: Can enterprise software companies do SaaS?
Recent discussions (including a great summary by Bob Warfield) questioned the impact of established enterprise software companies in the software as a service (SaaS) market. Therefore, I decided to seek the views of an experienced venture capitalist, who is actively investing in SaaS, for another perspective.
Mike Fitzgerald, founder and Managing General Partner of Commonwealth Capital Ventures, has been around the VC block quite a few times. His firm’s conference room is lined with mementos of companies in which it has invested, including Aberdeen Group, Akibia, Centra Software, Compete, Constant Contact, Direct Hit, i-Logix, Tally Systems, Zoom Information, and many others.
I asked Mike whether he thought enterprise companies, such as Oracle, IBM, and SAP, could be successful selling SaaS software. His answer was definite and unambiguous:
These companies don’t get it, won’t get it, and never will. They are hooked on big deals and have a culture oriented around big deals. That culture can’t understand $1000 per month subscription fees.
Mike drew a comparison with previous generations of computing, describing the evolution from mainframe to mini, then to personal computers and smart phones:
Michael Krigsman is CEO of Asuret, Inc., a software and consulting company dedicated to reducing software implementation failures. Click here to discuss this post with him on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
Subscribe to IT Project Failures via Email alerts or RSS.
SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads
- The True Costs of Virtual Server Solutions VMware Discover ways to streamline and simplify your assessment of the total acquisition costs of a server virtualization environment. Download Now
- Why Isn't Server Virtualization Saving Us More? A Few Small Changes May Dramatically Increase Your Efficiency VMware Ever wonder why your company isn't saving more from its server virtualization? Making a few small changes could dramatically increase your efficiency. Download Now
- Advanced Java Memory Analysis with JProbe Quest Software Memory issues in Java applications can cripple performance and cost your ... Download Now
Recent Entries
- Failing with online backup
- Enterprise 2.0: The Kumbaya irony
- Computer errors in public places
- HP connects IT investment, value, and transparency
- Pentagon kills $6.3 billion missile technology project
Blogs From Our Sponsors
Most Popular Posts
- Pentagon kills $6.3 billion missile technology project
- Computer errors in public places
- Enterprise 2.0: The Kumbaya irony
- Failing with online backup
- HP connects IT investment, value, and transparency
- Field guide to interpreting CIO-speak
Top Rated
- Failing with online backup+17 votes
- Pentagon kills $6.3 billion missile technology project+7 votes
- Field guide to interpreting CIO-speak+6 votes
- Kill your dead horse failures fast!+4 votes
- TechCrunch Research: Big deal or not?+3 votes
- Senate IT oversight bill: Detailed analysis+3 votes
- Enterprise 2.0: The Kumbaya irony+2 votes
- IBM: IT failure and social media disaster+2 votes
Archives
ZDNet Blogs
- All About Microsoft
- The Apple Core
- Between the Lines
- BriefingsDirect
- Collaboration 2.0
- Community, Incorporated
- CRM 2.0: The Conversation
- Dev Connection
- Digital Cameras & Camcorders
- Ed Bott's Microsoft Report
- Emerging Tech
- Enterprise Web 2.0
- Forrester Research
- Googling Google
- GreenTech Pastures
- Hardware 2.0
- Home Theater
- iGeneration
- Irregular Enterprise
- IT Facts
- IT Project Failures
- Laptops & Desktops
- Lawgarithms
- Linux and Open Source
- Managing L'unix
- The Mobile Gadgeteer
- On Sustainability
- Rational Rants
- The Semantic Web
- Service Oriented
- Smartphones and Cell Phones
- Social Business
- Software & Services Safari
- Software as Services
- SOHO Networking
- Storage Bits
- Team Think
- Tech Broiler
- Technology and the Global Supply Chain
- Tom Foremski: IMHO
- The ToyBox
- Virtually Speaking
- The Web Life
- ZDNet Education
- ZDNet Government
- ZDNet Healthcare
- Zero Day
White Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads
- Building the Virtualized Enterprise with VMware Iinfrastructure VMware VMware virtualization software has been adopted by over 120,000 enterprise ... Download Now
- Why Isn't Server Virtualization Saving Us More? A Few Small Changes May Dramatically Increase Your Efficiency VMware Ever wonder why your company isn't saving more from its server virtualization? Making a few small changes could dramatically increase your efficiency. Download Now
- VMware Infrastructure: A Guide to Bottom-Line Benefits VMware Frustrated by the high cost of maintaining or building ever-larger data centers? Get the facts you need to formulate your Virtualization Action Plan. Download Now
SmartPlanet
- Thought-provoking progressive ideas on diverse topics that intersect with technology, business, and life, and matter to the world at large. Visit SmartPlanet
- More from IBM
-
- Innovate your business' process model, play against the market, compete against others on our scoreboards and WIN! Try INNOV8 2.0: A BPM Simulator
- Enabling Real-World Business Transformation through IBM Service Management Read the EMA Analyst Report
