April, 2009

Cloud Computing and thin client

Think client concept has been around for many years, not many users are aware of thin client technology, initially thin client was introduced by sun Microsystems to take advantage of the web, sun idea was to give client only the basic hardware to access the net and every application would be accessed over the net.

With Cloud Computing and virtualization becoming the new buzz words in the corporate world, I think thin client concept will take off again. On-line backup and on-line applications access will create less demand on hardware (except for faster processor speed and more memory); this will lead to faster but lighter computers.

Re-visit your Business Process often

As a manager, the best gift you can offer to your boss is to lower costs and improve efficiency. I try to make it a habit to re-visit business process in my company as often as my time permits. Employees tend to fall back on their old habits before the new process was put in place, as a manager, you may thing everyone will stick to the new business process that was put in place.

Constant review to the business process must be on going practice even in small firms, I am often surprised by the amount of money the company saves each time we re-examine a business process and find ways to cut costs.

Since most small firms don’t have to follow stringent legal requirements, they often under estimate the need for regular review for their business practices. Take few hours every few months and review your business practices, you will be surprised by the results.

Thoughts in Management and Cultures- Part 4

Most companies are family owned companies: large numbers of companies here are closely held by family members, either the founder or his family members are in control. Although there is a trend to establish more publicly held companies, the major players are large corporations run by families. Usually in this type of settings, in any company around the world for that matter, the change can only happen if the owner see the need for a change, managers or change advocate may face stiff resistance from top management.

Foreign companies and institutions who don’t know the culture of the region: another block in change management process is the lack of understanding by many foreign companies and teaching institutions of the local culture. The course that I am taking at Carnegie Mellon is being taught as if we were in the US, the organizers failed to address local business climate in the region. The course materials are based on the assumptions that students will face the same problems setting up their new ventures as would their peers in the US, which proof a lack of understanding of the region and its culture.

Thoughts in Management and Cultures- Part 3

Demanding quality from low skilled labor: the other area that of a big concern is the quality of labor, there is a big number of low skilled and poorly paid laborers in the region; most businesses want to cut cost by hiring low paid labor. Unfortunately, a change management that requires high skilled labor can not rely on this type of labor. There is a gap in the skills set, at one end, highly educated managers who demand quality and at the other end very low skilled labor force that can not deliver.

Pay rates based on nationality: other area where change management may have difficult time is pay rates. In this region it is a common practice to tie pay rate to the individual nationality and not only to his skill levels. This un-equality in pay create difficult situation inside the company, when the same level of work is required but different rates are paid

Labor movement is restricted: managers are not free to go head hunting, every foreign worker comes into the country with a work permit that is issued by his employer and only his employer can authorize him to work for another company, this restrictions on free labor movement limit the ability of managers to hire the best talent available on the local market.

Thoughts in Management and Cultures- Part 2

I believe in order for change managent to work, many aspects of the entire culture must change, from how people view change to how truly they are ready to embrace change. Change management doesn’t only happen inside corporate rooms, but there are many areas in the society at large must support that.

The mindset: change requires change in mindset, there are many advocates of change, but few who are willing to change the status que. As I mentioned before, the culture here doesn’t support innovations, it will only allow limited change that will not disrupt the balance of power in the organization. At the moment, most organizational decision making process is slow and centralized.

Local laws and local culture: although all the countries in the Arab world, especially in the Gulf area, are advocating transparency and encouraging foreign direct investment, the reality is bit different. Local laws still give preferences to local citizens in leadership positions, many foreign talents leave the region because of the glass ceiling that limit their ability to reach certain positions, change management make take years to produce results and the rate at which foreign talents are leaving the region will not help process.

Local laws and local culture still look at foreign investors and foreign workers as outsiders who are coming into the country to deprive the locals of their resources. In my class at Carnegie Mellon, most of the foreign students who are working on innovative projects are not comfortable to have any long time investment in the country, they don’t feel comfortable about how the local culture and the local laws view them.

Thoughts in Management and Cultures- Part 1

The United States is home for some of the best management schools in the world, many countries around the world have tried to implement American style management with limited success.

Management encompasses the study of many disciplines from history to behavioral science. A group culture plays an important part of what style of management would suit them best. I find it difficult, at this moment in time, to see the benefits of having a certain type of management style that would fit various cultures. In the Arab world, where I am working at the moment, the owner or the president of the company is usually the ultimate decision maker.

I am a firm believer in change management; management style must change regularly in order for companies to remain competitive. But the culture in this part of the world is not entirely supportive for change, you may hear officials talk about the need for change, but they actual steps taken are little.

Change management can not take place if the whole supporting infrastructure is not in place. I am at the end of a nine months course in corporate innovation and entrepreneurship, this course is taught here in Qatar at Carnegie Mellon campus. The main focus of this course is to bring the culture of innovations and entrepreneurship to Qatar, although the idea behind the course is excellent, many students voiced concerns over how the local culture doesn’t support change, which is the main ingredient of any innovative idea.

Business Community loves to cut cost; Cloud Computing will have a future

Sometime in 1995 I was talking to a small business owner about the importance of the internet and how will it revolutionize the way we do business, but he thought the internet was just a new toy; people will pay with it for a while and then move on. My views were different, I told him “the internet will cut the cost of doing business, it is almost free to send an e-mail to any place in the world and having a website that advertises for your business 24/7 is almost free too.”

One of the major factors that lead to the internet revolution as we see it today was the way the business community saw the cutting cost benefits the internet brought.

Today we have the same story with Cloud Computing, having various applications accessed via virtual servers will reduce IT budget, a cost cutting tool that business community loves. We still have loud voices against Cloud Computing, their main concern are “loss of control and data breach.”

I have my own reservations against Cloud Computing, seeing my data living my hard-drive stopped me from using on-line back up tools. But either we support it or not, Cloud Computing will be a part of the natural growth of the internet.

LinkScanner from AVG

AVG on April 20-2009 has officially unveiled LinkScanner as a FREE standalone product.
LinkScanner scans the Web URL before accessing it, deeming either safe or
infected, protecting the PC against Web threats. The product is compatible
with other competing software and is now available for download on the AVG
site. A LinkScanner demo can be found at http://linkscanner.avg.com.

To validate LinkScanner’s effectiveness, AVG has also issued a report today
comparing LinkScanner to products such as McAfee’s SiteAdvisor. For example,
over 60% of infected sites are on the Web for 24 hours or less. Of those
33,000 sites that LinkScanner found unsafe, SiteAdvisor only found that
1.26% were infected.

To download: http://linkscanner.avg.com/

Bill Gates keynote Presentation at ICTD 2009

I had the chance to attend ICTD 2009 in Doha, and listen to Bill Gate’s keynote Presentation. Contrary to our expectations as IT professionals, Bill Gates presentation focused on how to fight poverty and improve health care using technology.

He talked about how the advancement in technology in the health care industry helped reduced mortality rates in children in last 15 years more than it did in 50 years.

He also stressed on the importance of electronic governments in fighting corruptions and the internet can be used as a tool to monitor governments’ performance.

Then he went on to talk about Digital Green, a research project that seeks to disseminate targeted agricultural information to small and marginal farmers in India through digital video. The Digital Green system sustains relevancy in a community by developing a framework for participatory learning.

He also touched on the growing importance of cell phones in providing various kinds of services.

This is a short summary of his presentation.

Dogmas and Innovations

If it is not broken don’t fix it
This is how things are done around here
We have been doing this for generations
This is the American way
In Rome, do what Romans do

All the above are common phrases that we are all familiar with, if you notice one thing common to all these phases is the notion of doing things a certain way and never think of an alternative.

One of the biggest obstructions to a change in an organization are Dogmas, or the set of believes that certain things must be done certain way and no one ever questions that. An organization that fails to innovate will eventually die in the free market world.

If you think of great inventions, most of them were started with uncommon ideas and uncommon believes; great management theories stemmed from radical changes in common management practices.

A great mind is always inventing