Larry Marion

It’s time for some tough love about collaboration tools. Many users cling to the first- and second- generation toys they know and love, like email and cloud-based repositories. Furthermore, too many complicated interfaces and access schemes prevent effective use of more sophisticated enterprise-oriented tools by many users, especially partners, suppliers, consumers and other extramural players […]

While no one seriously disputes the value of business intelligence/analytics in business, government, education or other nonprofit organizations, the drivers of return on investment appear to be evolving.  Comparing the results of three recent surveys to a 2006 poll, I found a few perennial drivers of analytics RoI/value, but other technologies or initiatives have become […]

Now that cloud computing has reached maturity, some important long-term lessons learned have become apparent. New survey data reveal that some of the initial concerns about cloud and on-premises data and app integration, and unifying the user experience, continue to be significant challenges. Yet IT governance and the maturing of managing technology have led to […]

With apologies to Mark Twain, the reports of the upcoming demise of most enterprise IT jobs due to cloud computing is greatly exaggerated. New survey data and some discussions with leading analysts lead to a conclusion that public and private cloud will add new layers to the traditional IT architectural stack at large enterprises, and […]

When a new technology is prominently discussed on CBS TV’s 60 Minutes, you know it’s hit the peak of the Gartner hype cycle. So it goes with the Internet of Things (IoT).  In early February an episode narrated by veteran correspondent Leslie Stahl highlighted some of the promises and pitfalls of IoT,  with all of […]

Sick of hearing and reading the buzzwords du jour: Big Data and cloud computing? Separately they are touted as solving all of the world’s ills, including curing cancer and hunger, though many warn that massive shifting of internal IT systems to the cloud will be a hazard to the career of IT pros in the […]

Forget about the frenzy surrounding mobile applications development abating or stabilizing anytime soon. Instead, it is going to increase over the next few years. And all of those enterprise software vendor efforts to sell prepackaged mobile versions of their apps won’t make a big dent in your workload – internal development will continue to rule. […]

Also see: Choosing a Big Data Solution: Seven Steps Big returns are already being achieved by mid-market companies that have deployed Big Data projects. The Big Data package – heavy-duty storage, processors and analytics tools combing through huge volumes of varied data types in real time or near real time – has moved beyond early […]

Your marketing department will soon be pushing some new buzzwords down the throat of the IT department. The phrases “customer experience” and “customer centricity” are already commonplace in retailing and financial services, but they’ll soon hit utilities, transportation firms, government agencies and ultimately even B2B. As the economy slowly improves around the globe, selling more […]

It’s time for a Big Data reality check. All of the hype about the profound value and benefits of the ability of new databases, servers, networks and other ingredients to rapidly process and present massive amounts of data in the Big Data stew has risen to the peak of expectations made famous by the Gartner […]