From the category archives:

IBM

Lately, I’ve been thinking about “passion,” what drives people and what leads them to be successful. Everyone says that you must do something that you care deeply about, otherwise there’s no chance in being happy. Does that translate to success? I think there’s more to that equation, and it typically involves hard work, perseverance, and attention to results. The last of which I find to be the most important piece.

Lightbulb.

This past weekend I was in DC for work and leisure, and I had the pleasure of meeting a director of a local DC organization whom I found to be incredibly driven and passionate about public health and policy. When he spoke of his passion, it was evident that this man will do wonders to change the world. He has a vision, purpose, and a dozen letters that come after his name. But, regardless of that, his vision drives him to get down and dirty and work hard at achieving his goals.

It’s awe inspiring when I have the privilege to talk to people about their passions. I know that when individuals follow their hearts, and when I hear that they back that up with pure unadulterated hard work and dedication to driving results AND holding themselves accountable to their mission, that they ultimately achieve their goals.

Technology.

What I also gained from this conversation was that I tend to think of things in terms of problem solving. When a system is broken, whether the way patient care is managed, how that information is stored, how that leads to policy issues, late and inaccurate data reporting, and healthcare overload.

Thinking about how technology can be used is innate within me. The way patient care is accomplished, and how a broken system can be restored has to happen with technology. Patients are really clients and clients are managed with CRM software–but how well do hospitals understand CRM? Which interactions do they log? How do they follow up and track progress?

I was excited that my training and background can someday enable me to help out in an area that my new friend was so passionate about.  I will someday be working on engagements that will allow me to influence these very real, and serious issues affecting the private and public sector, and that is exhilarating to me.

My major lesson learned was that having a vision, having a purpose, and being results oriented will allow one person to change the world.

My passion.

Deep down, I know what I am passionate about. I know what I am interested in, but I don’t think I’ve ever fully written down, in list form, what drives me. What is it that I want to accomplish? And how do I plan to get there? What in my professional life makes me happy, and how can I use this passion to accomplish great things for the companies I want to consult with?

  1. I am driven by technology. More specifically, I am driven by “Green Tech” because that is the future of business.
  2. I am driven by innovation, through process or machine.
  3. I am driven by sustainability. Investing now, will save time and money for cities, states, nations, and global enterprises.
  4. I am driven by ingenuity and problem solving. I thrive in fast paced environments that are dynamic and challenging.
  5. I am driven by delivering on results, and setting and exceeding ambitious goals.
  6. And I am ultimately passionate about people. Diverse people with incredible ideas and stories. People that want to change the world.

And this means?

I believe that technology is an important strategic level goal that most companies need to invest in. I believe that even at a local DC health organization, technology plays a major role in quality of care, and these tenants are scalable from fortune 100 to start ups. Technology allows the management of information, and we are in an age where information is key to where we want to go next as a civilization. The future of this industry is in the proper implementation of systems that will support and drive enterprises to the next level.

Green tech and sustainability are key to the future of business. It makes sense to have tech policies in place that can ensure high rates of return, and cost reductions. An eWeek article recently stated “This may be a bit surprising to some corporate executives: IBM figures that for every dollar saved in energy drawn from the wall, a company saves $6 to $8 in operational costs as a result.”

How do you save energy? You implement technology that can modernize the lighting systems. You recover heat from huge data centers to help heat and cool entire complexes. You look to innovation to change business processes and ensure adequate focus is on future change. You solve complex problems, and tackle exceptional issues with smart people, and you hold yourself and your team accountable to delivering results.

The company today will not last in a marketplace of tomorrow. And the thought of being involved in solving those problems within the private sector, well, that drives me also.

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News Roundup

by Erik on October 5, 2009

in Advertising, Apple, Economy, IBM, Interesting, Technology

I.B.M. Joins Pursuit of $1,000 Personal Genome: One of the oldest names in computing is joining the race to sequence the genome for $1,000. On Tuesday, I.B.M. plans to give technical details of its effort to reach and surpass that goal, ultimately bringing the cost to as low as $100, making a personal genome cheaper than a ticket to a Broadway play. [NY Times]

Datacenter energy costs outpacing hardware prices: It’s estimated that the power a server burns over its lifetime will soon cost more than the server itself. A panel of industry speakers discussed a lot of options for saving power, and described how institutional issues can block their adoption. [ars technica]

FTC to Bloggers: Disclose Freebies or Face $11,000 Fine: According to new guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), bloggers who fail to disclose that they have received freebies when they write about a product can now be fined up to $11,000 per post. [NY Times]

Report: U.S. Mac Households Rise to 12 Percent: Nearly 12 percent of U.S. computer-owning households now own a Mac, The NPD Group reports in its second annual Household Penetration Study. That’s up three percentage points from the market-research firm’s 2008 findings. [PC World]

Spending for interactive advertising fell again in the second quarter, making it two quarters in a row that the medium, which had been growing so robustly, fell victim to the economy. [NY Times]

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The current landscape of the enterprise information systems sector is one with a vast selection of software vendors armed with a seemingly endless number of proprietary software applications. In the typical business model, the users of these applications are charged large sums of money for licenses to run the programs, and at times, even larger sums of money for maintenance contracts. For many, the proprietary software model works well. We have seen exponential growth in companies like Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP to name a few.

Their enterprise software application divisions are hugely profitable and their support networks mean that long after a system is designed, configured, analyzed, tested and released, the vendors (and consultants) have been well compensated. And for good reason: the software is often times difficult to implement, extremely complicated, and typically needs proper configuration to meet the needs of most large-scale enterprises.

Note: This is in contrast to the standard application service provider (ASP) model, which can also be called SaaS or Software as a Service. In looking to the future, I believe the real evolution of software lies in cloud computing, and more information can be found here.

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There has been a very significant change at IBM,” says Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, who features the company among a handful of others in her upcoming book “SuperCorp.”Rather than merely making sales calls to push computers, Ms. Kanter says, IBM is showing customers how to revamp business functions. IBM “is back,” she says.

via Wall Street Journal.

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I.B.M. Profit Exceeds Wall Street Forecasts

18 July 2009 Economy

International Business Machines has long been viewed as a barometer for corporate technology spending. And its second-quarter results, announced after the close of the market on Thursday, provided another encouraging sign for the technology sector. Yet I.B.M.’s performance, analysts say, is probably an indication that the company’s strategic steps in recent years are paying off, […]

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Clean Energy and the Future

6 July 2009 Alternative Energy

photo credit: Ennor (computer problems)
Thomas Friedman is an interesting man. For one, his book on globalization: The World Is Flat was mandatory reading at Lehigh in an intro course to Information Systems, and caused a great deal of debate on the topic during many a class session. But, his current op-ed in the New […]

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Weekly Round Up

3 July 2009 Alternative Energy

For Modest Earners, Relief Repaying Student Loans – Repaying a student loan could soon be a little less painful. Starting this week, anyone with a federal student loan can apply for a program, run by the Department of Education, that caps monthly payments based on income, and forgives remaining balances after 25 years. Those choosing […]

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More from the IBM Archives: 1962 Marketing representative

29 June 2009 IBM

Ok, I don’t want to go overboard with the imagery from the IBM archives, but there is something very iconic with this photograph. The large steamer bag (I think it has a typewriter in it?), the summer weight suit, the standard IBM white-shirt with the “smart tie,” all add to the overall iconic feeling of […]

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More retro IBM images

28 June 2009 IBM

Los Angeles regional headquarters of IBM Data Processing Division
In July 1958, two years after the division was established, DPD opened this Western Regional Headquarters facility in Los Angeles, Calif., to serve 12 states, Hawaii and Alaska.
[via IBM Archives: Los Angeles regional headquarters]

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“Think”

28 June 2009 IBM

Found this great picture while browsing through the Life archives over at Google Images. It’s such an interesting photograph. Were they posing? The suits are wonderfully 1950s: a large lapel, white shirt and a “smart tie.”
The caption reads: Italian-American working as a clerk for International Business Machines Corporation with its motto on desk “THINK.”
I’m afraid I […]

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