Ifema’s decision to suspend this year’s edition of SIMO TCI forces us to consider the validity of the factors behind the rationale of physical shows, particularly those devoted to products and services such as ICT, for which the Internet is an excellent dissemination tool at a much lower cost.

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Study: Technology Managers Cautious of Customer Relationship Management Software
Source: Consultora Penteo
Date: October 2008
Synopsis: Technology managers recognize that customer relationship management (CRM) software offers many advantages but they also fear complex implementation processes. According to analysts at Penteo, this suspicion is well founded. “For the majority of Spanish companies, a 46%, it takes six months to a year for a project to reach its full operating capacity, and nearly an additional 40% need over a year to achieve a fully operational CRM. It is precisely the design and implementation stages that are the longest in this process,” they state. Another factor that hinders the adoption of these solutions is the fear of possible failures, which is also founded. “It is repeatedly noted that implementations, though technically impeccable, may be penalized insofar as the value contributed to the company due to inadequate change management processes.” And, of course, the current climate of economic uncertainty does not help matters. However, the study does value the maturity of the supply of CRM solutions aimed at small and medium enterprises and the existence of concrete experiences of profits and return on investment, provided such projects “are addressed from a strategic perspective, with the complicity and leadership of sales and marketing departments.” The study also underlines that SMEs give paramount importance to the cost of licenses and implementation and maintenance services, and that they prefer custom packages that are easy to use.

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Study: Internet Use Benefits the Brain Activity of Seniors.
Date: October 2008
Source: American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (publication pending)
Synopsis: Searching information online can help improve brain functioning in middle-aged and elderly people. A study led by Dr. Gary W. Small of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA shows that surfing the Web is beneficial for the brain activity of seniors. Research took into account the results of 24 people between the ages of 55 and 76 with normal neurological functions, who were divided into two groups, one made up of Internet users and the other of people without Internet experience. The tests, using functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, resulted in the same brain activity in both groups during reading tasks, while during Web searches the group with Internet experience showed additional activity in the areas of the brain that control decision making and complex reasoning. “Our most striking finding was that Internet searching appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry that is not activated during reading, but only in those with prior Internet experience,” explains Small in a press release on the study disclosed by Europa Press and published by Ecodiario.es of El Economista. Searching the Internet may “help stimulate and perhaps even improve brain functioning,” according to Small, coauthor of the book iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind, which devotes a chapter specifically to this study.

The concept of cloud computing has been successful to the point of threatening the future of major traditional applications installed on users’ computers. To summarize, it involves the use of information stored and processed on the Internet using lightweight applications or a web browser installed on a computer or mobile devices and phones. Therefore, albeit unknowingly, the formula is used by millions of users who view, share and manage a webmail or virtual hard drive, reference content on Wikipedia, images on Flicker, videos on YouTube, documents on Google Docs, e-commerce on Amazon, or profiles and activities on Facebook, to give some well-known examples.
Gartner states that it is one of the ten strategic technologies to appear in 2008, according to LaRepubblica.it. In the field of professional applications, this technology promises to cut costs and, above all, increase flexibility. Suppliers such as Salesforce and NetSuite that provide business management software over the Internet will soon face a wave of competitors. Baquia reports that IBM has presented products that combine collaboration tools and online social networks, and share documents, contacts, joint projects, meetings and communities using a Web browser. It also says that Microsoft is preparing Windows Azure, a new operating system designed “for the Web,” and that HP, Intel and Yahoo! are promoting a joint initiative to offer their own solutions. Meanwhile, Sun Microsystems expect their own data centers to be virtualized and hosted on the "cloud" by 2015.
Nevertheless, technology managers who are attracted by cost savings and interested in applying cloud computing to some of their companies’ services are advised to consider the risks. An article published by CIO titled "Los peligros del modelo cloud computing" ("The Dangers of the Cloud Computing Model") highlights a number of issues, including: a certain loss of data control; its diffuse geographic location, which makes it difficult to know whether or not one is complying with the laws of the countries involved; the lack of consolidated safety standards, and a rate of updates that is hard to keep up with. The most serious risk is the difficulty of ensuring the availability and integrity of corporate data. Some problems will disappear over time, while others only affect certain segments, such as security levels, which are generally higher among suppliers than SMEs, and sooner or later every IT resource or service will be available in cloud computing. The article concludes that it is therefore necessary to assess the risks and advantages offered by the formula in each specific case and involve the company's management in the decision. In short, computing can be in the clouds, but the professional cannot.

Articles in CIO (Spanish), Baquia (Spanish), Business Week, ZDnet.fr. (French) and La Repubblica.it (Italian)

Minibooks, the low-cost ultraportable computers aimed at facilitating Internet use, are changing the global laptop market. These machines, also known as netbooks, are midway between a mobile phone and PC, in a category of their own that will account for 10% of laptop sales in 2009, according to manufacturers. “Positioned between the mobile phone and portable PC, these new terminals have garnered a great deal of interest to the substantial benefit of operators,” explains French newspaper Les Echos. Equipped with low-power Intel processors and five to ten-inch screens, they were initially designed for students and users in developing countries. In practice, they have captivated professional and domestic users, many of whom already have a computer and mainly use them for Internet and email access. They do not usually weigh more than one kilo and cost around 500 dollars (300 euros), those equipped with Windows being approximately 100 euros more expensive than those with Ubuntu Linux. Another of their distinctive features is that all models are equipped with WiFi and 3G connection.
According to Gartner, five million users have discovered the appeal of these minicomputers in 2008 and another nine million are expected to do so in 2009, thus boosting sales in a market that appeared to be at a standstill. This acceptance has benefited from the agreements made by netbook manufacturers and operators and has brought about changes in the correlation of forces in the European laptop market. Asian manufacturers, particularly Asus, but also its compatriot Acer, Chinese Lenovo and Korean Samsung, have benefited the most from this new demand, being the first to place a significant bet on this range. In fact, Acer netbooks have helped the company overtake HP in European laptop sales, a market in which the latter had remained in the lead since 2002. 

Articles in Ideal (Spanish), El País (Spanish), Channel Partner (Spanish) and Les Echos (French)

What role should the CEO and CIO play in business strategy? In this article Sandra Sieber and Josep Valor, Information Systems professors at IESE, respond to this question and state that we are witnessing a paradigm shift. CIOs can no longer be limited to being good technologists; they should also develop negotiating and communication skills to become team players. Meanwhile, CEOs should know how to manage ICT resources and discover their competitive advantage.

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