Where OSS meets Smart Grids

“It’s less about boxes and bases stations; it’s now a lot about software analytics, capability of reconfiguration and all that. It’s a very big shift from what we have seen in the last years.” Professor Mischa Dohler here. In the video in the link above, Prof Dohler suggests there are two major disruptions happening in […]

Cisco invests $21m in STEM

“Cisco Systems Australia has announced a five-year investment program expanding to train over 100,000 Australian tertiary and school students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills. AUSTEM 2020 is a new program, which builds on Cisco Australia’s long-term commitment to tackle the STEM skills shortage and help create an innovation economy, boost productivity and […]

16 root causes of OSS problems

“The Toyota production system has been built on the practice and evolution of this scientific approach. By asking and answering ‘why’ five times, we can get to the real cause of the problem, which is often hidden behind more obvious symptoms.” Eric Ries, in his book, “The Lean Startup.” Some time ago, I prepared a […]

More complexity

“Most systems deal with complexity by adding more – more systems, more measures, more internal meetings, more units, more custom products, more unique processes, more new initiatives, more coordinators at the interfaces, and on and on. Our belief is that for more companies, the antidote to escalating complexity – and to the greater distance between […]

Jumping into the explosion

“A while ago our world exploded. The environment and the world of towns and cities and families and communities blew apart, along with the world of ideas and information, of entertainment and communication, of politics and diplomacy, and of course the world of businesses and organisations. It’s hard to date when the explosion started, but […]

Front line management

“I don’t have any easy answers to the time management dilemma. For me, it works best if I divide my week into 10 half-days. My guess is it would take much less than half a day a week to coach your team on the messages and vision the CEO is passionate about.” Rob Davidson, here. […]

The end of network engineers?

“Our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.” M. Scott Peck. I was recently discussing the […]

Selling something you don’t own

“Creativity’s about ownership.” John Maeda. The biggest profit you can make is from repeatedly selling something that you don’t own. Some versions of this model will send you to jail. Other versions can make you rich. John Reilly has proposed the value fabric concept, where third-party organisations become interwoven into the supply chain. In the […]

OSS as a lifestyle brand

“Google did a great job hacking the Web to create search – and then monetizing search with advertising. And Apple did a great job humanizing hardware and software so that formerly daunting computers and applications could become consumer-friendly devices – even a lifestyle brand.” Douglas Rushkoff. Okay, so OSS probably won’t become a lifestyle brand […]

How quickly can you respond?

“You are in the business of testing your guesses, not convincing yourself that you are right.” Nathan Furr, in his book, “Nail It then Scale It” The speed of implementation of OSS projects tends to be quite lengthy (months/years on tier-one CSPs), so we’re not exactly as responsive as some other industries by example. However, […]

Lumpy revenue streams

“A manufacturer or retailer that responds to changes in sales in hours instead of weeks is no longer at heart a product company, but a service company that has a product offering.” Bill Gates, in his book, “Business @ the Speed of Thought.” How often does an OSS vendor win a new sale? Is it […]

Digital exploitation

“To be successful, the Chief Information Officer must be seen as a peer level thought leader, partnering with other C-level executives to visualize and drive the digital agenda for each company. They need to combine vision, strategy, technology governance and talent, to exploit digital opportunities and move the culture toward a digital business viewpoint.” Annie […]

Telco as a Utility (TaaU)

“Utility is when you have one telephone, luxury is when you have two, opulence is when you have three – and paradise is when you have none.” Doug Larson. Will there come a time when telco services are simply like every other utility – a unit of service (ie Mb) that a residential user (and […]

US Govt. rakes in $44.9B

“The FCC’s latest wireless auction brought in far more money than anyone expected. The Chairman, Tom Wheeler, set a goal of raising $10.6 billion by selling off 1,600 licenses to blocks of wireless spectrum. In the end, the government not only blew past its goal, but also its previous record of raising $19.1 billion in […]

Customised learning for every customer

“Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.” Brian Tracy. I often talk about the need to provide training and learning opportunities for customers […]

Products or services?

“A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.” Chinese Proverb. It seems logical that OSS vendors want their products to reach a critical mass, whereby they no longer rely on their own marketing efforts alone. They want to reach a point where other people / organisations are selling their products. There appears […]

OSS self-analysis

“A lot of people asked me if it was frustrating not having a clear specific diagnosis, but I didn’t mind, I just chose the most optimistic diagnosis.” Karen Duffy. Predictive analytics has become a bit of a cliche for the OSS industry, one which I’ve succumbed to using too (see these previous blogs as but […]

What do your customers actually use?

“My goal is no longer to get more done, but rather to have less to do.” Francine Jay. A few questions for all the vendors out there. Do you know which applications within your suite that your customers actually use? Do you know which features of these applications they use? Do you know which features […]

Customer Experience – Customer Experience

“The more you engage with customers the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing.” John Russell. You must be wondering whether the heading above is a typo? It’s not. Let me explain. This is the fifth post in my Customer Experience series. The previous four have been […]

A balance of two rare OSS assets

“Every company’s greatest assets are its customers, because without customers there is no company.” Michael LeBoeuf. When a vendor is seeking growth (and that’s most!), they focus on building up a strong customer base. As Michael LeBoeuf states above, an OSS vendor’s greatest asset is its customers because of their relative scarcity. It makes sense […]