What Does “Data-Driven Company” Mean for a Developer?

At Pivotal Software, we frequently pitch about a virtuous cycle of of data-driven app development where:

1. A cache of data is collected and stored.
2. A team of analysts or data scientists discovers an insight or optimization opportunity
3. This affects the app development which generates more data.
4. The company continues through the cycle more and more agilely.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

However, the story above is more of an analytics story than a developer story.  This became clear to me while sitting with some crack developers at dinner at the Spring One 2GX conference.

One of my table mates asked me, “I understand what Pivotal is saying about the virtuous cycle, but what exactly happens between analytics and apps stages?”

On Cloud Transformation vs. Disruption

Originally posted on Oct 22, 2013 at SAPHANA.com…

In Silicon Valley, many of the start-ups birthed or relocated here are out to replace incumbent technology companies and disrupt entire industries. Venture capitalists only invest when they think they’ve found those new companies who have the chance to shoot for the moon, even if it’s a big challenge. They mitigate their risk by betting on several companies at the same time.

“Disruption” isn’t the kind of conversation that SAP has with it’s customers. Instead, SAP speaks of “non-disruptive evolution” in terms of lower order change and “business transformation” in the case of higher order change.

Business transformation is a high-value retooling of existing business models allowing companies to realize new opportunities.
[SOURCE] © Elvert Barnes, used according to Creative Commons License

Labor is Obsolete

“He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”

St. Francis of Assisi

Labor as we knew it is obsolete. It has been for a while. Sure, vestiges of its greatness still exist in certain sectors, especially in civil service. We all still enjoy many of the workforce customs and regulations that organized labor helped put into place – people-friendly perks governing how employers treat workers. But the sway Labor enjoyed from the 1950’s until the 1980’s has lapsed.

Female workers in an H. J. Heinz can factory stamping out end discs (the discs that fit on either end of each can).
[SOURCE] Public domain.

Adding on New Capabilities with SaaS – Part III of Turning Cloudy Chaos into an IT Strategy

Cross posted from my blog at the SAP Community Network…

This blog continues the discussion started in Part I of Turning Cloudy Chaos into an IT Strategy and Part II – Retreading Existing Systems to Leverage Cloud Technology.  In this blog we examine how Software as a Service fits into a hybrid IT Strategy for cloud computing.

If your company has extensive investments in on premise ERP such as SAP Business Suite, then pursuing an add-on approach with Software as a Service can be an agile way for your company’s departments to roll out new systems of engagement to users. Such a strategy should consider the business needs being solved in relation to other needs within the company such as information management and integration of business processes.

Figure 1: SAP’s vision of end-to-end business processes supported by both on premise and cloud-based applications.

[Source: SAP]

Is “Customer Experience” the Only Business Value Measure That Matters?

Cross posted from my blog at SAP Community Network…

Is “Customer Experience” the Only Business Value Measure That Matters?

If you attended the recent SAP Customer Experience Workshop or were following the tweets from #SAPcx, you might get the impression that this is what Lior Arussy of Strativity Group was asserting.

Focusing on customer experience sounds nice, you say, but is it really the most important? Lior points out that one of the biggest problems any company faces is the commoditization of its offerings. It’s a matter of time before some competitor comes along that can provide a similar or substitute product or service at a lower cost, eroding your company’s margins. In the end, a superior customer experience is the only long term way to differentiate your brand from your customers.

Indeed, focusing only on enhancing customer experience is a transformative way of thinking: if an initiative or activity by the company or an employee is not directly contributing to improving the experience of customers, then why are we doing it?

Three Obvious, Frequently Forgotten Axioms of Business Innovation

Cross posted from SAP on the Cloud

Innovation has become one of the most overused words in the corporate-speak lexicon. In fact, many of us have stopped understanding what it really means. Being in the IT industry or trade, you probably receive promotional content from enterprise tech companies with exciting headlines such as “Achieve Business Innovation Now!” It might seem that marketers are grasping for new adjectives to modify the world innovation to make it more impactful, but business innovation has an important meaning that many executives, product engineers, and IT folks don’t pay enough attention to in their work.

Business innovation is adding new unique abilities to a company’s business practices to deliver competitively differentiating value to customers. What follows are three obvious axioms for achieving business innovation that people often fail to remember.