Many writers explore just one tech sector. Brian looks at the entire tech ecosystem to better understand the often conflicted relationships between software vendors, integrators, outsourcers and more.
Brian is currently CEO of TechVentive, a strategy consultancy serving technology providers and other firms. He is also a research analyst with Vital Analysis.
More than this book, does your services group have compelling IP?At a recent PSVillage event, a senior executive of Tenrox gave me a copy of Rudolf Melik’s book “The Rise of the Project Workforce” (Wiley ISBN 978-0-470-12430-7).
Good time for a new offering: When Wipro met FortifyWipro (one of the world’s largest outsourcers) and Fortify (a major software security vendor) are announcing today their plans to offer a new joint outsourcing solution. This solution combines Fortify’s software security tools with Wipro’s outsourcing and security personnel to create an application software security center of excellence called the Software Assurance Center.
EVM & PPM earning new respectIn the last few weeks, several vendors have made material announcements involving Earned Value (EV). Earned Value or Earned Value Management (EVM) is a key concept in project management.
Maturity of Great Service LeadersAt the recent OpenAir Leadership Summit, I had the pleasure of speaking with a number of service industry professionals. I also got to share speaking responsibilities with service industry experts David Maister (of “Strategy and the Fat Smoker” and other books) and Thomas Lah of TPSA.
Quick Trends in HR The HR Technology show is probably the most important HR technology event of the year. It attracts a significant number of vendors (approximately 225 by my count) and buyers.
Silver lining in a down economyThere were some interesting data points in the last week concerning the economy and its impact on the technology sector.Phil Fersht, a fellow blogger and AMR Research Director, just finished a web survey of spending in the US financial services market.
Primavera competitors see problems with the Oracle acquisition of Primavera. The biggest issues concern the path Oracle may take to deliver its vision of an "Enterprise" Project Portfolio Management solution. See what Primavera prospects should do now to protect themselves.
Gaming Incentive SystemsJoel Spolsky (www.inc.com/keyword/spolsky) wrote a nice piece in the October 2008 issue of Inc.
A Hurricane Ike for Tech Start-UpsVentureWire Alert (free subscription required) today reported that venture capitalists are advising their portfolio firms to prepare for a potential nuclear winter. One venture capitalist featured in today’s newsletter was quoted as telling firms “to slow down their burn rate, and not concentrate on pushing their valuations up”.
Why Oracle Bought Primavera Now ?(Note: I actually prepared this post 24 hours before the Oracle - Primavera announcement.