Sunday 20 January 2008
More ID thefts occuring
Tech Corner:The only thing to be thankful about here are the new laws requiring this be exposed. Otherwise you can bet most business entities will simply keep quiet on this front. [link]
On another front, Nicholas Carr is releasing a new book called the Big Switch [link] It will be interesting to read, certainly. Carr created an uproar in 03 with the release of a book called "Does IT Matter?". In it he made a number of claims such as IT becoming a commodity like electricity and trains to where companies can not count on IT to create a competitive advantage over their competitors. This is true, but he is also wrong fundamentally to call IT a commodity like electricity. Instead it is a commodity more like wine or whisky where the mixture and flavor create their own ambiance. In his new book, he is predicting the end of the IT data center in business. Just from reading some of the excerpts, again he is right in some ways but having not read it yet (I have it on order through Inter-Library loan), I can't tell how on target he is.
His first book, despite the title was not that good from my viewpoint. In other words, he doesn't say anything new, or have any thought I had not already had. However he did have the advantage of being a former editor of the Harvard Business Review, so people did listen to what he had to say.
Of course IT will become a commodity in the future. However, it is the electronics and physical realm that will be the true commodity. Software will continue to be a differentiator in many respects, but it will not be at the level it has been previously. After all, Business procedures and methods have not changed terribly much over the centuries, and soon software will be able to replicate a good portion of those. Strategy though, will still remain in the province of humans, and will be just as important as ever. IT is just a tool. That is really all it ever has been. Why this seems to be an enlightening theory to some and upsetting to others, is amusing to me.
Now the new book apparently outlines how the data center will go away. Not all data centers, but most common data centers in most businesses. How much of this he is predicting, I can't say yet. It is a true prediction, and one again one that is quite obvious. What you will not see is Banking, Finance, Health or Military records hitting the clouds. Due in part to laws (HIPPA) and security of that data. Sure, it could be encrypted, and transmitted, but that is not a sure thing. It isn't now and won't be then. Just as the story above goes to show, even storing backups off site with a third party (or even internally) has it's own hazards.
Those areas may utilize some commodity software as a service functionality, but the Internet is not a safe place, nor is it a reliable one. It may get more reliable in the future, but more safe? This is where Carr sometimes fumbles the ball both in his original book and I feel he will repeat the mistake in this one. After all, Carr is basically a business weenie, not an IT weenie. He has done a very good job of research, and can quote statistics and stories to back up his points, but he had missed the boat last time in a number of areas,and I don't expect his new book to be an exception this time.
My nickel and two minute take.
Posted by Wildhair on Sunday 20 January 2008 - 17:07:13 |
