The Casa del Libro case is polarized in two extreme possibilities: maintain and redesign the platform that were acquired vs. develop a new and cheap platform.
Well, does it make sense to keep investing in a costly and hard to deal with platform, complex integrations, adaptations, training the personnel, or, instead, just forget it and start everything from scratch?
To evaluate the alternatives we should consider the following:
(1) Casa de Libro reputation: the store cannot compromise its reputation, earned over all these years in the business, by the use of a poor sales channel.
(2) the time to develop and test the new sales channel. It should consider the time necessary to train personnel.
(3) time frame that the system can be used, i.e., how long the system can be used for without becoming outdated.
In my opinion, it would make more sense to invest in the cheaper system. Specially because within a couple of years the system will be obsolete and, consequently, the company will have to invest in a new type of technology.
Imagine if the company has opted to carry on with the previous system. More financial resources would be spent for something that will be outdated the same way.
In conclusion, before betting entering in the internet book selling market, the company has to make a risk assessment about to where the book sales is going, how to face competition from other companies that have been on line already. Once the decision to sell books on line is taken, the company should perceive a system less coslty, easier to implement, easy to deal with, easy to up date, even if this means to incurre losses from past investments made on the past.
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Do tesco enjoy IT competitve advantage? Where does ITcome from?
Let’s talk about supermarkets now. Tesco, more specifically. I have never stepped in one, but I have heart great things about the largest UK’s supermarket chain.
In my modest view, Tesco love technology. IT allows this supermaket to process and store data in a very effective way. Therefore, IT has brought Tesco a competitive advantage in logistics. Tesco is dedicated to provide food and other services (telecom, financial among others) for consumers. They have gigantic operations on line (second retailer after Amazon).
They integrated RTI (Sysrepublic Real Time Integrator) with Microsoft BizTalk and SQL servers. This integration has brought real time overview of the sales data from Tesco’s shops. This was rare when it comes to supermaket industry at the time they introduced in the supermaket industry. Tesco values so much IT that it appointed as it new CEO (starting as of March 2011), the head in the IT department, Philip Clarke.
Tesco takes advantage of data from its costumers stored on Clubcard loyalty membership program. So, it can monitorate the buying behavior of its consumers. So they can observe closer the seasonality of its products.
In my modest view, Tesco love technology. IT allows this supermaket to process and store data in a very effective way. Therefore, IT has brought Tesco a competitive advantage in logistics. Tesco is dedicated to provide food and other services (telecom, financial among others) for consumers. They have gigantic operations on line (second retailer after Amazon).
They integrated RTI (Sysrepublic Real Time Integrator) with Microsoft BizTalk and SQL servers. This integration has brought real time overview of the sales data from Tesco’s shops. This was rare when it comes to supermaket industry at the time they introduced in the supermaket industry. Tesco values so much IT that it appointed as it new CEO (starting as of March 2011), the head in the IT department, Philip Clarke.
Tesco takes advantage of data from its costumers stored on Clubcard loyalty membership program. So, it can monitorate the buying behavior of its consumers. So they can observe closer the seasonality of its products.
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Enterprise Resource Planning
Well, honestly, because of my background in law , I have never interacted (or heard about) with ERP. Certainly, the back office of law offices must work with it to organize accounting, finance, human resources, etc.
Working for law firms, I have experience with a software that organizes and systematizes all documents such as agreements, companies’ by-laws, law suits, indentures, etc. The fundamental objective of this kind of software in the law industry is to make it fast and easy for the lawyers to locate documents in the data base. These intra-search storage software must ‘’speak the same language’’ of other systems of these companies. The installation and fine tuning of the new software were not very easy and cheap. The license of the software is about 1 million dollars, and another thousand dollars are necessary to fully integrate the new software to the old stuff there.
I imagine that with ERP would work the same way. So, companies buy the ERP and struggle to implement it in their own business. In fact, it is a good opportunity for IT specialists to make the systems talk to each other and smile with the fat billable hours. Answering the question whether companies should adapt to ERP or it should be the other way around, I believe companies would be better off if ERP were designed to fit each companies, i.e., the designer of the EPR should be in charge of developing this system in a way that make the life of their customer easy. It is not fare to sell a product half ready to be implemented by a entity that is not an specialist on the IT field.
Working for law firms, I have experience with a software that organizes and systematizes all documents such as agreements, companies’ by-laws, law suits, indentures, etc. The fundamental objective of this kind of software in the law industry is to make it fast and easy for the lawyers to locate documents in the data base. These intra-search storage software must ‘’speak the same language’’ of other systems of these companies. The installation and fine tuning of the new software were not very easy and cheap. The license of the software is about 1 million dollars, and another thousand dollars are necessary to fully integrate the new software to the old stuff there.
I imagine that with ERP would work the same way. So, companies buy the ERP and struggle to implement it in their own business. In fact, it is a good opportunity for IT specialists to make the systems talk to each other and smile with the fat billable hours. Answering the question whether companies should adapt to ERP or it should be the other way around, I believe companies would be better off if ERP were designed to fit each companies, i.e., the designer of the EPR should be in charge of developing this system in a way that make the life of their customer easy. It is not fare to sell a product half ready to be implemented by a entity that is not an specialist on the IT field.
Monday, 14 June 2010
Dell Hell
The Dell Hell case in few lines is about the American blogger Jeff Jarvism that hads bought a Dell computer with an all-inclusive insurance. Shortly after the purchase, the computer crashed and post-sales service of Dell was very unhelpful and the problem extended to the manufacturing department. The issue for Dell has started when Jeff made public its displeasure in diary. When Jeff published an open letter to Michael Dell, things started to get big and relevant, but Dell continued silent.
If I were Michael Dell, even if Jeff were not a big-shot client back at that time, I would have given more attention to it. I would have tried to make my costumer service more diligent and would have researched more about the case for assessment of the risks of image and odds of a loss in a law suit. Although in 2005 blogs were not as popular as today, I would face this open letter potential lawsuit. In short, apart of resolving the technical problem with the computer, I would have done better due diligence to see the ''caliber'' of the unhappy customer, and act accordingly to change the impression of this customer.
If I were Michael Dell, even if Jeff were not a big-shot client back at that time, I would have given more attention to it. I would have tried to make my costumer service more diligent and would have researched more about the case for assessment of the risks of image and odds of a loss in a law suit. Although in 2005 blogs were not as popular as today, I would face this open letter potential lawsuit. In short, apart of resolving the technical problem with the computer, I would have done better due diligence to see the ''caliber'' of the unhappy customer, and act accordingly to change the impression of this customer.
Sunday, 30 May 2010
“Big Brother is watching you”
Google’s primordial misson is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” However, the company has been criticized by infringment in privacy, intellectual property and censorship.
Google was ranked as Hostile to Privacy by an entity called Privacy International in its report in 2007. The entity affirms that “a centrally-located, widely popular data warehouse of millions of Internet users' searches, and how under controversial existing U.S. law, Google can be forced to hand over all such information to the US government. So it analogously to medical and legal practioners who may be obliged to disclose intimate information to government, Google datacenters could be requested by government regulation to provide sensitive information about its users. The site Google Watch (www.google-watch.org) raised several questions about privacy issues regarding the storage of cookies cross referred with ID, so that Google can creat a user data log. Additionally, Google Watch has also criticized Google's page rank algorithms, saying that they discriminate against new websites and favor established sites. This web site nominated Google for the Big Brother Award.It is reasonable to say that George Orwell was unaware that the technology would allow the implementation of some parts of the concept. Due to the avalanche of criticism of breach of privacy policy, Google provisionally decided to postpone the launch of a new technology of facial recognition.
Google is also criticized by violation of copyrights. The New York Time has complained that the search tool provided grants users access to information that readers must subscribe and pay to access. On September 20, 2005, the Authors Guild, a group that represents 8,000 U.S. authors, filed a class action suit in federal court in Manhattan against Google over its unauthorized scanning and copying of books through its Google Library program. Google states that it is in compliance with all existing and historical applications of copyright laws regarding books. Finally, Google has been criticized of censoring its search results, most notably in cooperation with the government of places such as China.
Google was ranked as Hostile to Privacy by an entity called Privacy International in its report in 2007. The entity affirms that “a centrally-located, widely popular data warehouse of millions of Internet users' searches, and how under controversial existing U.S. law, Google can be forced to hand over all such information to the US government. So it analogously to medical and legal practioners who may be obliged to disclose intimate information to government, Google datacenters could be requested by government regulation to provide sensitive information about its users. The site Google Watch (www.google-watch.org) raised several questions about privacy issues regarding the storage of cookies cross referred with ID, so that Google can creat a user data log. Additionally, Google Watch has also criticized Google's page rank algorithms, saying that they discriminate against new websites and favor established sites. This web site nominated Google for the Big Brother Award.It is reasonable to say that George Orwell was unaware that the technology would allow the implementation of some parts of the concept. Due to the avalanche of criticism of breach of privacy policy, Google provisionally decided to postpone the launch of a new technology of facial recognition.
Google is also criticized by violation of copyrights. The New York Time has complained that the search tool provided grants users access to information that readers must subscribe and pay to access. On September 20, 2005, the Authors Guild, a group that represents 8,000 U.S. authors, filed a class action suit in federal court in Manhattan against Google over its unauthorized scanning and copying of books through its Google Library program. Google states that it is in compliance with all existing and historical applications of copyright laws regarding books. Finally, Google has been criticized of censoring its search results, most notably in cooperation with the government of places such as China.
Restructure of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Cellphones divisions and company’s market value.
Entertainment and Devices division President Robbie Bach will retire in the fall, allowing two lower-level executives report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer. The decision comes as the largest software maker in the world is facing increasingly strong competition from Apple's iPhone and the Android operating system, Google, aimed at the smartphone market.
Member of the team at Microsoft for 22 years, Robbie Bach, 48, led the entertainment and devices unit of the company since 2005, and was responsible for launching the original Xbox console in 2001. From July 1, the two senior vice president responsible for the areas of video games and cellphones, Don Mattrick and Andy Lees, respectively, will report directly to Ballmer.
"Maybe it's time for new leadership," said analyst Matt Rosoff, an independent research company Directions on Microsoft. "They have really struggled to get traction in the area of mobile phones for some time."
Last quarter, the division contributed 11% of Microsoft sales and 3% of operating profit. The unit has successfully developed the Xbox, but so far failed to impact with the Zune digital music player and is losing ground in the arena of smartphones. Only 10% of smartphones sold in the United States in the first quarter running Windows, according to market research firm NPD Group. Meanwhile, Apple had 21% stake, Google 28% and Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, with 36%. Across the globe, Android surpassed Windows as the fourth most used smartphone platform during the first three months of the year, according to research firm Gartner, behind Apple, RIM and Symbian, Nokia.
Recognizing the problems, Microsoft announced earlier this year a completely new operating system for mobile phones, called Windows 7 Phone, which should reach the market by year's end. If mobile phones equipped with this system will not take off, says Rosoff, Microsoft may start looking for acquisitions in the mobile segment
In this context, analysis has also attributed Microsoft inability to capitalize on new products particularly those in the wireless space and, yesterday, historically Apple’s market value surpassed for the first time Microsoft’s. In numbers, more precisely, Microsoft's market value declined to $219 billion at the close of Wall Street trading yesterday, down from $556 billion in January 2000 when Ballmer took over the helm from Bill Gates. Meanwhile, Apple's market value was $221 billion at the close of trading Wednesday, up from $15.6 billion in the same time frame. Nevertheless, Ballmer said Microsoft is focused on launching new products and increasing profitability. Thus, Microsoft’s challenge is to change market's first impression that the new organizational structure will not be able to innovate in wireless space by bringing new valued added products and/or by shopping in the mobile segment.
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/microsoft-ceo-downplays-apples-lead-market-value/2010-05-27
http://venturebeat.com/2010/05/26/apple-now-at-99-9-of-microsofts-market-value/
http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=MSFT
Member of the team at Microsoft for 22 years, Robbie Bach, 48, led the entertainment and devices unit of the company since 2005, and was responsible for launching the original Xbox console in 2001. From July 1, the two senior vice president responsible for the areas of video games and cellphones, Don Mattrick and Andy Lees, respectively, will report directly to Ballmer.
"Maybe it's time for new leadership," said analyst Matt Rosoff, an independent research company Directions on Microsoft. "They have really struggled to get traction in the area of mobile phones for some time."
Last quarter, the division contributed 11% of Microsoft sales and 3% of operating profit. The unit has successfully developed the Xbox, but so far failed to impact with the Zune digital music player and is losing ground in the arena of smartphones. Only 10% of smartphones sold in the United States in the first quarter running Windows, according to market research firm NPD Group. Meanwhile, Apple had 21% stake, Google 28% and Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, with 36%. Across the globe, Android surpassed Windows as the fourth most used smartphone platform during the first three months of the year, according to research firm Gartner, behind Apple, RIM and Symbian, Nokia.
Recognizing the problems, Microsoft announced earlier this year a completely new operating system for mobile phones, called Windows 7 Phone, which should reach the market by year's end. If mobile phones equipped with this system will not take off, says Rosoff, Microsoft may start looking for acquisitions in the mobile segment
In this context, analysis has also attributed Microsoft inability to capitalize on new products particularly those in the wireless space and, yesterday, historically Apple’s market value surpassed for the first time Microsoft’s. In numbers, more precisely, Microsoft's market value declined to $219 billion at the close of Wall Street trading yesterday, down from $556 billion in January 2000 when Ballmer took over the helm from Bill Gates. Meanwhile, Apple's market value was $221 billion at the close of trading Wednesday, up from $15.6 billion in the same time frame. Nevertheless, Ballmer said Microsoft is focused on launching new products and increasing profitability. Thus, Microsoft’s challenge is to change market's first impression that the new organizational structure will not be able to innovate in wireless space by bringing new valued added products and/or by shopping in the mobile segment.
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/microsoft-ceo-downplays-apples-lead-market-value/2010-05-27
http://venturebeat.com/2010/05/26/apple-now-at-99-9-of-microsofts-market-value/
http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=MSFT
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Foursquare: brilliant, but will it last for much longer?
In simple terms, Foursquare is a social network which enables its user to share their location with friends. The fun starts when the user subscribes to Foursquare, giving his phone number. After that, in a matter of few clicks in their smartphones, users let people know where they are, what are their impressions and/ or recommendations about the places that they happened to be. Users can also synchronize their Foursquare accounts to their Twitter and Facebook accounts, which can update when a check in is made. Whenever the users check in places, they receive points. By checking in a certain number of times in a given place, users can get some prerogatives.
In this sense, users who have checked in the most times at a given place will become “Mayor”. They will lose this status whenever someone surpasses their number of check in. A Mayor means, getting special offers or discounts depending on the businesses. So, Mayors eventually can get free drinks at pubs, special menus in their favorite restaurants, discounts in stores or complementary stay in hotels etc.
With almost one year of life, Foursquare has reached one million users. This social network has been growing in an astonishing rate. To get a flavor of it, Foursquare signed up some 120,000 new users in just 10 days and during peak times there are roughly 400,000 check-ins a day. The numbers review that not all users are using it on a daily basis.
Big brands started to look at the Foursquare. Bonin Bough, PepsiCo’s Global director of digital media believe that “from a broad strategy point of view, there's a huge potential with the ability to connect people to promotional experiences. We know where people are and can talk to them from a geo-located perspective -- that's a huge opportunity."
Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai, the founders of Foursquare are planning paid services for three types of business: small, private owned shops and multinational marketers. They could also leverage from Google’s search ads business model of cost per click. However, this fresh social network shall prove that it has a consistent capability of growth and retention of users.
A major threaten to Foursquare business model is that more mature and greater social networks could incorporate new features into their existing ones. For instance, Facebook, whose number of users are around 400 million worldwide, is developing a new feature by with users can make a new kind of status update on their profiles: besides the classic notes of thoughts, news, they will also be able to display their geographic location in real time to their contacts. In my view, the only chance to Foursquare won’t be swallowed by Facebook is to differentiate itself from whatever Facebook may come up with in the short term. Curiously, one of the founders of Foursquare, Dennis Crowley was the co-creator of the site Dodgeball, which was bought by Google in 2005 and which today is known as Google Latitude.
http://www.businessinsider.com/foursquare-plots-its-business-model-2010-2
http://www.businessinsider.com/foursquare-gets-its-local-ad-business-model-on-the-road-2010-4
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/facebook-will-allow-users-to-share-location/
In this sense, users who have checked in the most times at a given place will become “Mayor”. They will lose this status whenever someone surpasses their number of check in. A Mayor means, getting special offers or discounts depending on the businesses. So, Mayors eventually can get free drinks at pubs, special menus in their favorite restaurants, discounts in stores or complementary stay in hotels etc.
With almost one year of life, Foursquare has reached one million users. This social network has been growing in an astonishing rate. To get a flavor of it, Foursquare signed up some 120,000 new users in just 10 days and during peak times there are roughly 400,000 check-ins a day. The numbers review that not all users are using it on a daily basis.
Big brands started to look at the Foursquare. Bonin Bough, PepsiCo’s Global director of digital media believe that “from a broad strategy point of view, there's a huge potential with the ability to connect people to promotional experiences. We know where people are and can talk to them from a geo-located perspective -- that's a huge opportunity."
Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai, the founders of Foursquare are planning paid services for three types of business: small, private owned shops and multinational marketers. They could also leverage from Google’s search ads business model of cost per click. However, this fresh social network shall prove that it has a consistent capability of growth and retention of users.
A major threaten to Foursquare business model is that more mature and greater social networks could incorporate new features into their existing ones. For instance, Facebook, whose number of users are around 400 million worldwide, is developing a new feature by with users can make a new kind of status update on their profiles: besides the classic notes of thoughts, news, they will also be able to display their geographic location in real time to their contacts. In my view, the only chance to Foursquare won’t be swallowed by Facebook is to differentiate itself from whatever Facebook may come up with in the short term. Curiously, one of the founders of Foursquare, Dennis Crowley was the co-creator of the site Dodgeball, which was bought by Google in 2005 and which today is known as Google Latitude.
http://www.businessinsider.com/foursquare-plots-its-business-model-2010-2
http://www.businessinsider.com/foursquare-gets-its-local-ad-business-model-on-the-road-2010-4
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/facebook-will-allow-users-to-share-location/
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