The Future of Work: One CIO Checks In

Within hours after writing about the fact that “It’s Time for New Office Tools,” I got an e-mail from a CIO who was in violent agreement with my perspective. When I asked if I could publish his comments, he agreed as long as I withheld his name and that of his company. Here’s what he had to say:

“Bruce,
 
Good column on the need for more useful office applications.
 
The functionality that I think is most required is a tool to help severely multitasking people stay organized. For example, in my role (CIO), I have to track information about a zillion projects, issues, tasks, problems, requests, notes, questions, suggestions, and ideas. I have things that I need to do, and things that I need to make sure that someone else does. I also have a lot of information that I better be able to quickly find when necessary. Outlook/Exchange task management is a joke. The right tool needs to be seamlessly integrated into Outlook so incoming and outgoing messages get logged to the appropriate place.
 
I raised this issue to Ballmer, which led to a detailed discussion with one of the lead MS Office architects. I don’t know if they were just being polite or actually considered what I was suggesting. I think the need is real.
 
I actually developed something a couple of years ago that I use on a daily basis. It was a good start, but the program is quite limited due to the limited time I have to work on something this ambitious. If Microsoft or Google would put some serious developers on this sort of functionality, they might just have a home run. I think there is a lot of professionals, like myself, that struggle to stay on top of so much stuff on a daily basis.
 
Your column did bring back some memories from the past. NBI was always my favorite company name. At least they had initials that really meant something!”
 
In reading the CIOs letter, I especially liked his last line about NBI. If you knew the Boulder, Colorado firm, you know that the acronym stood for “Nothing But Initials.”

Uncovering Counterfeit Drugs

Did you happen to read “Using Scientific Tools in an International War on Fake Drugs" in the science section of last week’s The New York Times? 

It turns out that scientists are using mass spectrometers and other tools to determine the legitimacy of the product being inspected. While effective, the instruments cost $150K per unit.

The article also noted that some scientists are actually analyzing microscopic pollen grains that are embedded in the medicines or packaging. They can link the grains to specific parts of the world to determine where they were produced. One scientist has determined that many fake drugs are being manufactured in the border between China and Vietnam and the shared borders between Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand.

Unfortunately, the medical counterfeits are spreading well beyond drugs. Interpol has found a wide range of fake medical supplies, including bandages, blood bags, contact lenses, and syringes. Nice, huh,

What’s Next for Amazon?

While I have yet to make my first purchase on Zappos.com, I remain fascinated by the company’s growth. And, like many of the site’s fans, I was disappointed to hear that Amazon was acquiring the company for $850M in stock and cash.

Xconomy is one of my must-read daily news sources. On Tuesday, the site featured a map of Amazon’s acquisitions that will instantly remind you of the London Underground transit system. As Xconomy points out, Zappos is Amazon’s sixth acquisition this year.

When I interviewed Zappos’ Amanda Nevins on stage in Scottsdale at our annual executive conference, I asked her what we might see next on the Zappos site. I’m anticipating that the company will continue with its planned expansion into sporting goods. Given that there seem to be few golf specialty stores, this would be a logical move. The Kiva robotic system can easily manage the handling of these items.

Remembering Tom Glaza

Last night I received an e-mail from Joe Phelan telling me that Tom Glaza had passed away on Saturday morning after a lengthy battle with cancer. Sadly, just yesterday I had made a calendar entry on my BlackBerry to call Tom at 9:00 a.m. today.

I first met Tom in 1993. At the time, I was running marketing for a small software company and he was the vice president of business development and strategy for MAPICS Corp. Our mutual goal was to build a supply chain planning application that MAPICS would resell through its global network of distributors back to its 10,000+ active customers. While the deal never came together because of economics, Tom and I stayed in touch until he retired in 2000.

Tom was one of the early pioneers in the MRP II and ERP markets, dating back to his days at IBM. While at IBM, he was chartered with finding a way of spinning out MAPICS from Big Blue. This resulted in the takeover of Marcam, one of the early leaders in providing ERP applications for process manufacturers.

In addition to his love for software, Tom was very passionate about Michigan football. He earned his MBA and BBA from Ann Arbor in the 1950s. In 1994, I joined him there for a Michigan-BC game. The following year he came to Chestnut Hill for the rematch. In both cases, his team came out the winner. 

The ERP market has lost a legend. Go Blue!

Wal-Mart To Require Suppliers To Provide Eco-Ratings

Today’s newspapers are abuzz with Wal-Mart’s plans to have its 100,000 suppliers provide labeling on the carbon footprints of all products sold on its store shelves. The retail giant plans to work with a group of academics, suppliers, and environmental groups to create a scoring system. The company is hoping that other retailers will adopt the same system. While some newspapers reported that the program will take up to five years to implement, others said that it could be in effect by 2011.

Today’s edition of The New York Times showed a sample of the sustainability index score used by Faded Glory. This provides an overall product grade and rates the apparel relative to environmental damage, climate impact, water usage, energy usage, pesticide usage, air pollution, water pollution, and size of carbon footprint.

Wal-Mart has prepared a list of 15 questions that it plans to ask suppliers about their sustainability plans. It plans to start with its largest domestic suppliers first.

The natural question is how much will the new labeling cost suppliers? The Associated Press quoted retail consultant Burt Flickinger III as saying that new labeling and redesign can add 1% to 3% to the cost of a product.

In addition to the added cost, there is some question as to whether consumers will understand the new labels. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Len Sauers, vice president of sustainability at Procter & Gamble noted that similar initiatives in Europe “have been quite difficult, because they have not really provided the consumer with information that makes sense.”

As for how suppliers feel about the new initiative, I think Michelle Harvey said it best in the same Journal article. She’s with the Environmental Defense Fund and part of the new Wal-Mart program: “A lot of suppliers are scared, but there is an opportunity here for them. I think the most significant improvements will come before the consumer ever sees a score.”

What do you think? Would knowing about a product’s carbon footprint impact your purchase decision?

ClickAndGo Wayfinding Maps: “MapQuest for the Blind and Deaf”

A few months ago I got a call from Joe Cioffi. Joe is an old college classmate of mine who has spent the last 30 years teaching deaf and blind students. He was thinking of starting a software company and was looking for some help.

We reconnected recently after the untimely death of another friend who had lived in our dorm. At the end of the call Joe asked if I had time to review his brochure and to look at a demo of his product.

Joe started InTouch Graphics in December with Phil Agee, a former Wall Street software developer. In March, they released their first version of ClickAndGo Wayfinding Maps, and have been out meeting with prospects ever since.

When I saw the demo, my first reaction was “MapQuest for the blind and deaf.” The directions are very precise and designed for pedestrians. I tried to get a screenshot so that you can see them. I trust Joe or Phil will post one to this blog.

When Joe and I were in college, we had a blind student in our hall. In those days, schools would hire a mobility instructor to show a student around campus. Over time, the student would accumulate mental maps of all of the key facilities on campus. As Joe explained to me, “This can be very challenging at a campus like the University of Minnesota, which has 200 buildings. In addition, sighted people don’t know how to give directions.”

Here is how it works for blind students. They can access the maps via their cell phone or download them to an MP3 player or to their PC and read the maps with a Braille converter. Each map includes a starting landmark and a destination landmark. The intention is to compile routes and have the database grow like Wikipedia.

The plan is to provide the maps for free to deaf and deafblind students and travelers. Over the last few months, Joe has been meeting with universities and government agencies. He plans to target museums, hotels, airports and public transportation agencies to see if they are interested in buying his software so that he can add to the maps.

I suggested that he might also look for sponsors. While now might not be the best time, socially-minded companies like Starbucks might be interested in this as a public service.

Joe has a pretty cool idea. He serves as another reminder that one or two people can make a difference. If you want to know more, the website is www.clickandgomaps.com.

Servigistics’ Next Step: Enter the Broader Supply Chain Planning Market?

When I first got the phone call from Servigistics’ founder Mike Landry telling me that his company was being acquired by Marlin Equity Partners and would be merged with another Marlin property—Click Commerce SNS—here was my initial reaction: 

The combination of Click Commerce SNS and Servigistics brings together the pioneer in service parts planning with the leader in strategic service management. This pairing also brings strong vertical expertise. Click Commerce SNS dominated aerospace and defense, while Servigistics owned high tech and automotive. Together the two will be a strong force in the emerging opportunities in life sciences, consumer goods, retail, and logistics.

As for the standalone market, there should be some cross-selling opportunities to promote Servigistics’ software for pricing, knowledge management, workforce management, and command center back into the Click base. At the same time, Servigistics customers can use Click’s applications for warehouse management, returns and repair, and network logistics. 

In terms of new sales, the combination of the two provides this market with a clear leader. This status should help pull the company into significantly more sales cycles. There is a lot of growth left in the core industries, and more opportunities are being created in retail, consumer products, industrial products, logistics, and energy. 

Yet, at the same time, I’m willing to wager that Servigistics will ultimately move into the broader supply chain planning market pioneered by i2 Technologies, Manugistics, and others. If the company is going to successfully engage in hand-to-hand combat with Oracle and SAP, I think it will need a broader footprint. It won’t need to do this right away. I would be surprised, though, if we did not see some sort of announcement over the next 12–24 months.