[there are nine news stories in this post.]
CIO :: Analyst Corner - IT Does Matter
By Margaret Tanaszi - Program Manager, IDC
...An interesting debate has been engaging the attention of many in the business community and IT industry, sparked by an article by Nicholas Carr in the May 2003 Harvard Business Review, IT Doesn't Matter. On his website, Carr further explained his argument in the article that IT has become a commodity, and although essential to competitiveness at the regional and industry level, "it is no longer a source of advantage at the firm level - it doesn't enable individual companies to distinguish themselves in a meaningful way from their competitors." (Nicholas G Carr.) The article said,
The rapidly increasing affordability of IT functionality has not only democratized the computer revolution, it has destroyed one of the most important potential barriers to competitors... The opportunities for gaining IT-based advantages are already dwindling. Best practices are now quickly built into software or otherwise replicated... Their very power and presence have begun to transform them from potentially strategic resources into commodity factors of production. They are becoming costs of doing business that must be paid by all but provide distinction to none."
Carr's thesis is built on the notion of scarcity. He says that what makes a resource truly strategic-the basis for sustained competitive advantage-"is not ubiquity but scarcity," and notes that the core functions of IT have now become available and affordable to all."
However, the same notion about the value of information (the "information is power" principle) was firmly disproved by the now common diffusion of information by networks and the Internet. One of the key tenets of knowledge management, for example, has been that the value of information increases by its use, distribution and transfer to create new forms and configurations of knowledge, which go on to create new kinds of value, and as history shows, value that can be translated into currency.
Few would argue with Carr's point that "most companies can...reap significant savings from cutting out waste." That is a perennial problem for most organizations, and they are trying to address it as best they can. Many companies can also count themselves in Carr's assertion that "companies have been sloppy in their use of IT," citing inessential volumes of information on corporate storage networks. That too is an ongoing challenge for most organizations.
It is when Carr claims that corporate IT spending studies "consistently show that greater expenditures rarely translate into superior financial results" that he exposes the space in which IT can truly matter. The disassociation between spending and results sheds no light on what was done with the IT investments to lead to those disappointing outcomes. Similarly, Carr cites a 2002 Alinean study, comparing those same parameters for 7,500 large U.S. companies, which found that "the top performers tended to be among the most tightfisted." Again, what is missing is how those top performers used the IT investments to their advantage...
KM Europe 2003 - creating, exploiting and retaining Knowledge
Now in its 4th year and already enjoyed by more than 10,000 visitors, KM Europe is the largest Knowledge Management (KM) conference and exhibition in the world. Growing every year, this event is a driving force behind KM development in Europe. KM Europe 2003 takes place from the 10-12 November at Amsterdam RAI and will be the biggest and best event yet.
TenLinks :: iManage Releases CADLink for iManage WorkSite
...FOSTER CITY, California, November 10, 2003 - iManage, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMAN), a leading provider of collaborative content management software for global enterprises, today announced the release of CADLink for iManage WorkSite MP, a solution that integrates leading computer-aided design (CAD) applications into the iManage platform. Designed to help engineers leverage content management functionality from within their native CAD environment, CADLink for iManage WorkSite MP is being introduced under an OEM agreement between iManage and McLaren Software, the leading developer of content-based enterprise applications for companies in the process manufacturing, utilities and engineering, design and construction sectors.
The introduction of CADLink for iManage WorkSite MP will combine the power of iManage's collaboration content management solution with the CAD capabilities of industry-leading products like Autodesk AutoCAD and Bentley MicroStation. CAD drawings and the intricate network of references between the CAD files typical of complex designs, are all stored, accessed and controlled through iManage Worksite MP, enabling engineers to work concurrently and improve design cycle time. Engineers using the solution can access drawings directly from the iManage repository through the familiar menus of their CAD applications, speeding the adoption of content management practices. Combined with the powerful extranet capabilities and tight security model of iManage WorkSite MP, CADlink enables businesses to collaborate across their value chains on design and construction projects at significantly reduced time and cost...
...The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), the regulator of federally registered financial institutions operating in Canada, will implement a new system to streamline, standardize and re-design internal processes and improve the management of information across the organization. OSFI will work with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGE&Y) as its systems integrator for the initiative, and will utilize software solutions from Formark and Open Text(TM) Corporation (Nasdaq: OTEX)(TSX: OTC). The solution will be based on Open Text's Livelink(R) software suite.
Called the Business Systems Integration Initiative (BSII), the project will allow OSFI to enhance its effectiveness in an increasingly complex and rapidly changing financial services industry. The BSII project will provide a new level of automation, so that OSFI employees can quickly and more efficiently manage regulatory processes, improve risk management supervision and speed responses to key stakeholders...
Endeca Announces Formation of Government Advisory Board
...CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 10, 2003--Endeca, the leading provider of advanced search and Guided Navigation(SM) solutions, today announced the formation of a government advisory board. The founding members of the Endeca Government Advisory Board bring long experience and expert knowledge of public sector and government technology applications to the company. Founding members include: Roger Baker, former CIO for the Department of Commerce, Alan Balutis, former executive director for the Federal Government Information Processing Council (FGIPC), and Charles Battaglia, former staff director for the Senate Select Intelligence Committee.
"We are very pleased and honored to have such an experienced and successful trio of individuals form the nucleus of our advisory board," said Steve Papa, CEO and founder of Endeca. "These board members exemplify integrity and public service and have been entrusted to provide leadership across the wide spectrum of government including national intelligence, military, and civilian agencies. Their association with Endeca is further validation of Endeca's potential to revolutionize the way the public sector finds, discovers, and analyzes information, and we plan to augment the board with equally distinguished members in the coming months." ...
Business Standard :: Managing know-how
...Winners of the IMA-American Express "India CFO Awards" write exclusive case studies on how they helped their companies overcome crucial strategic problems. In the last of this series, V Balakrishnan, CFO, Owens Corning India, winner, India CFO Award 2002 for Excellence in Information & Knowledge Management, writes about how he made information management more seamless and aligned it to the company strategies.
...The various initiatives that we have undertaken in the field of knowledge management have been recognised by Owens Corning. We had been engaged by the parent to develop a Six Sigma Tracking Tool that is used across some 60 sites worldwide. It is a prestigious project that has enhanced the image of the organisation.
One question that is asked is: what is a CFO's role in knowledge management? Knowledge Management is all about process and aligning strategy to what your company knows.
It is a process requiring appropriate corporate culture, good technology, metrics and an organic quality of growth, right information to right people and understanding of what needs to be retained. One would end up linking knowledge, business strategy and IT.
Given all this, a CFO is at an advantage of capturing the organisational knowledge which is into processes that are aligned well to the business strategy that he or she is aware of, and use IT as a tool for capturing this knowledge through a well-designed process.
This knowledge is mostly converted into business data and as the central repository, the CFO is able to leverage the knowledge availability across the organisation and channelise it through processes to drive superior business results.
In my role as the CFO of the company, I along with my highly-charged IS team, have been able to make information management more seamless than experienced earlier. Some of the initiatives or strategies might look small but these have contributed immensely to the productivity of the organisation...
...NEW YORK, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Executives and high level decision makers from the largest pharmaceutical and healthcare companies along with economists, strategists, and consultants will convene in Chicago, IL to address critical impediments to industry growth and profit, reports Strategic Research Institute.
R&D productivity, generic competition, pricing strategies, regulatory and policy concerns, as well as lack of innovation in global product marketing will be among the obstacles covered over the course of the two-day executive forum to be held in March.
The speaking faculty is diverse and comprehensive, consisting of industry executives from strategic planning, market analysis, licensing, federal relations, new products, business development, knowledge management, drug commercialization, medical affairs, health economics among others.
Key industry companies participating to date include: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Novartis, ISO Healthcare, Medical Solutions PLC, and Aventis Pharma US.
Audience interaction will be facilitated via panel and roundtable discussions, specifically in the integration of R&D and performance strategies...
Computerworld Singapore :: Search gets serious
By Cathleen Moore and Tan Ee Sze
...The content management challenges that enterprises face in Singapore are no different from those reported in other parts of the world: the electronic content that enterprises accumulate is growing rapidly and these would require good search solutions.
Moreover, in the Singapore context, enterprises may also have to grapple with a host of other issues. James Lin, chief operating officer of Mustard Technology, pointed out that there may be good technology but what is often lacking is local support in terms of cost-effective consulting and implementation skills. "For the global vendors, it is a challenge to support remote customers," he said.
...Mustard Technology's niche is in the area of fuzzy search that crosses language barriers – the fast and fuzzy transliterated search. Mustard uses patented fuzzy logic matching algorithms and natural language parsing capabilities that mimic the human approach to problem-solving. This enables the software to index high volume databases and suggest appropriate matches according to user-configured business rules and scoring thresholds. The software operates across multiple Asian languages and is tailored for Chinese (simplified and traditional), Malay, Japanese and Korean languages as well as English.
The company also has a patent for its version of the taxonomy search, and works closely with local research groups to incorporate other technologies such as concept search, text summary and text categorisation into its search solutions.
...One of the growing ways to put search to use is through search-derivative applications, in which core search functionality is pressed into service for specific processes such as knowledge management, marketing, sales force automation, help desk, and training.
Looking towards the future, enterprise search technology will continue to expand beyond its seek-and-find roots, blurring the lines between efforts such as business intelligence and knowledge management in an effort to present a full view of information assets within a company...
Yahoo PR NewsWire :: Virage(R) Announces VS Archive(TM)
...SAN MATEO, Calif., Nov. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Virage, Inc., a wholly owned division of Autonomy Corp. (Nasdaq: AUTN; LSE: AU.; Europe Nasdaq: AUTN) and a leading provider of rich media communication and content management software, today introduced VS Archive, its next-generation software solution to store, categorize, manage, retrieve and distribute video, audio and other rich media content.
Building upon the highly successful VS Production(TM)and VS Publishing(TM), this release expands the range of rich media business applications including those for marketing, sales, human resources, production and training. With this solution organizations can digitize, index, share and repurpose content departmentally or enterprise-wide thereby enabling multiple users distributed across locations to quickly find and review content and collaborate online. In addition, the solution automates the analysis and categorization of the original footage removing this once highly manual and time-consuming process. Companies making this investment benefit through improved communication, better advertising and promotion, increased productivity, accelerated learning and the security of knowing valuable corporate assets will be preserved for the future.
VS Archive manages all forms of unstructured content from the point of ingestion through archive creation and content access. Powered by Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL), video and rich media are now integrated at the center of other enterprise content and compatible with existing systems. IDOL Server(TM) capabilities include automated retrieval, hyperlinking, categorization, alerting, profiling, clustering and personalization. Other Autonomy technologies integrated into this release include Dremedia(TM) and SoftSound(TM) for scene change detection, transcript alignment and advanced audio and speech analysis.
In addition, Virage core products and technologies power the solution. The SmartEncode(TM) product line includes the award-winning and market-leading product VideoLogger® for automated indexing, analysis and encoding, and ControlCenter(TM) for monitoring, managing and scheduling multiple source feeds. Virage Solution Server(TM) provides the framework and underlying capabilities for rich media content management using Java(TM) 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE). The capabilities include security, user and group management, asset management, database and storage management, XSL template rendering, SOAP data import and high availability...
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