If a key to success is learning out of your mistakes, Microsoft must be well positioned for 2014. This was an up and down year for Microsoft. January opened with Microsoft still licking wounds suffered the former fall, when Windows 8 arrived with a thud and the much ballyhooed Surface RT somehow managed to fare even worse. After holiday sales did not lift sagging computer shipments, many critics rang within the new year by blaming Microsoft for the computer industry’s woes. In retrospect, this criticism was somewhat overblown. Windows 8 didn’t do any favors for Microsoft and its partners, but falling PC sales have had more to do with consumer preference for tablets than with desktop users’ disdain for Win 8’s Live Tiles. Nevertheless, Windows 8 and its struggles remained the dominant Microsoft narrative for many of the year. In fact, the OS overshadowed the truth that certain Microsoft ventures were having one hell of a year. Windows Azure not just grew right into a... Read More »

The true value of mobility, big data, and the cloud emerges when agencies combine all three to assist employees work more effectively. 10 Wearables To look at At CES 2014 (Click image for larger view and slideshow.) One of my favorite television programs, the enduring 24, features fictional characters Jack Bauer, an excellent-agent, and Chloe O’Brian, a perfect-systems analyst. They exercise session of la for a fictional government agency called the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). The show, that is slated for a reboot in about a months, first aired presently after the 9/11 attacks, but its early portrayal of 2 technology forces — big data and mobility — still resonates today. A typical episode may need Jack, in imminent danger and with the civilized world hanging inside the balance, calling from the sphere (using a flip phone) and asking Chloe to drag up the electric grid of l. a. , analyze any anomalies, and superimpose known terrorist activity within the last 24 hours. “If i... Read More »

CIOs trying to expand services globally should take an extended, hard examine WhatsApp’s strategy, growth, and acquisition. Let’s face it: Delivering reliable service to 250 million people an afternoon over the worldwide Internet isn’t an engineering challenge most CIOs should cope with. But when your small business should tap the potential for the worldwide consumer market, you’ll likely serve customers in lots of of a similar high-growth markets where WhatsApp built their audience: countries like India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey, and Russia. Like WhatsApp, you will be counting on some unfamiliar service providers in each of these countries to give international and last-mile connectivity in your customers. And as you will soon realize, whether you’re blamed for his or her poor and unpredictable Internet performance is dependent upon a number of key infrastructure design choices up front. [Facebook’s $19 billion deal to purchase WhatsApp may raise eyebrows, but it is a good move. Read Facebook Acquires WhatsApp: 3 Key Benefits] Smart CIOs who’re planning for... Read More »

President Mark Hurd explains Oracle’s strategy on cloud, marketing, innovation, and people pesky startup rivals. Mark Hurd showed up 10 minutes early for our scheduled 9:00 to 9:30 a.m. interview, which we conducted earlier this month in a shut-down bar off the lobby of Manhattan’s Palace Hotel. Hurd, one in every of Oracle’s two co-presidents, was on the town partly to handle the invitation-only Chief Marketing Officer Leadership Forum later that morning. i used to be pleased to get 40 minutes to speak with Hurd about Oracle, in addition to industry and customer trends, as something of a primer for the on-stage keynote Q&A the 2 folks should be doing on the InformationWeek Conference in Las Vegas on April 1. The previous time I had sat down with Hurd was also in Long island, in October 2011. It was a year after CEO Larry Ellison had brought within the no-nonsense former HP CEO to guide Oracle’s sales and marketing efforts while the opposite co-president,... Read More »

IBM’s new Kenexa tool aims to assist HR and business professionals with recruitment, training, and function assessment. CES 2014: 8 Technologies To Watch (Click image for larger view and slideshow.) IBM has announced a SaaS-based product designed to assist human resources professionals and business managers use big data to enhance talent recruitment, employee training, and function assessment. The IBM Kenexa Talent Suite incorporates new and previously developed applications from IBM and Kenexa, which IBM acquired in 2012 for $1.3 billion. Using big data analytics, the suite evaluates employee information reminiscent of work experience, social engagement, skill development, and individual character traits to fine-tune the recruitment process and helps employers understand their workforce, the corporate said. This can foster such things as better targeted candidate searches through social recruiting sites resembling LinkedIn. “Organizations everywhere today are on a mission to spot and hire top talent,” IBM said in an announcement. “By hiring exactly the right employees after which arming them with... Read More »