A View from the Top on Web 2.0

A View from the Top on Web 2.0

The recent publications of surveys on Web 2.0 usage by McKinsey, The
Economist or Forrester Research present interesting information on how
managers and CIO see the new technologies that have conquered the Web these
recent years. Let us look at their content before trying to analyse what
they could mean.

The McKinsey Quarterly

In January of this year, The McKinsey Quarterly conducted a survey on the
usage of Web 2.0 techniques with 2847 participants worldwide. Web 2.0 is
defined as a collection of technologies: Web services, collective
intelligence, peer-to-peer networking, social networking, RSS, podcast,
wiki, blog and mash-up. The most used technology was Web services (80%),
followed by collective intelligence and peer-to-peer networking with a
percentage close to 50%. Those three technologies were also the one the
most cited when participants were asked to identify the three technologies
the most important for their business. Few participants say that their
companies are using more than two Web 2.0 technologies.

As far as satisfaction is concerned, 16% of the participants said that they
were very satisfied of the financial return on their investment in Web 2.0
technologies over the past 5 years and 35% were somewhat satisfied. Only 6%
were dissatisfied. For most of the respondents, the Web 2.0 tools were
mainly used to manage collaboration internally (75%), then to interface
with customers (70%). Interface with suppliers and partners concerns only
51% of the participants. In the discussions with participants included at
the end of the paper, blogs and RSS are the most mentioned tools to
communicate with customers.

The Economist Intelligence Unit

The report "Serious Business: Web 2.0 Goes Corporate" was produced by the
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The survey asked 406 senior executives
for their views on Web 2.0. The vast majority of respondents (79%) said
they saw potential of blogs and social networks to improve revenues and
reduce costs. In spite of this desire to cash in, many businesses cited a
lack of understanding of the technology as a barrier to using it. Over a
quarter of respondents said their IT departments lacked the competence
level to implement Web 2.0 applications effectively. While there may be
barriers to embracing Web 2.0, the study found that businesses expect it to
play a key role in how they communicate, both internally and externally.
The report found that 68% of executives considered it to be the single
biggest factor changing the way their company interacts with customers
while 49% said it would be the biggest factor affecting how employees
interact with each other and the business.

Forrester Research

A majority of IT buyers see Web 2.0 in a positive light, but CIOs would
prefer to buy the emerging technologies from larger incumbent vendors. That
is the situation according to a recent survey by Forrester Research of 275
IT buyers in June on Web 2.0 technologies. About 16% said they are hearing
about Web 2.0 from vendors all the time, and 50% said vendors pitch Web 2.0
technologies to them from time to time. Close to all respondents, 97%, said
they were familiar with Web 2.0, which is defined as a category of
technologies that includes wiki, blog, RSS, podcast, content tagging and
social-networking tools. Forrester says as the market grows it will
consolidate, which could please enterprise CIOs. Earlier this year, the
poll of about 120 enterprise CIOs on the Web 2.0 market found consolidation
is ideal for their plans with the technologies.

"Overall, 61% of respondents indicated that they would prefer both a suite
solution and a large incumbent vendor," Forrester concluded. "The deck
appears to be stacked against small pure-play vendors. Integration issues,
longevity concerns and the occasional lack of polish send CIOs looking for
other options." Survey respondents also want the technologies integrated
into their back-end systems, which leads them to want to see Web 2.0 suites
from incumbent vendors. Forrester found that 93% of the CIOs survey using
six Web 2.0 technologies would rather get the products from such vendors as
Microsoft, IBM or Oracle than from smaller, pure-play vendors, such as
Socialtext, NewsGator or MindTouch.

So what?

Many managers and CIO have a distant view from the Web 2.0 technologies.
Some adopted these tools just because it is "cool" or their manager has
read in the last edition of "Business Week" that they should do it. These
organisations tend to see Web 2.0 as a technological issue, but the real
challenge is to provide valuable content and modify interaction with users.
Installing a blog or an RSS feed is not really difficult. It is however
another aspect when you have to blog regularly, provide interesting content
and manage the feedback created by the posts. It is also interesting to see
that Web 2.0 is seen by the business as mostly a new way to interact with
customers or inside the organisation. It is not yet considered as something
that could be used in B2B relationships or in internal business
applications. This explains also why you can read about the "technological
gap" of traditional IT departments versus these technologies and the fact
that buyers will prefer solutions by large vendors. In large IT
organisation, there is a hesitation to let developers use "new" technology
from new vendors, this can be linked to the time it took to open source
technologies to be widely adopted.

Sources:

The McKinsey Quarterly (March / July 2007
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_page.aspx?
ar=1913&L2=16&L3=16&srid=17&gp=0
free access with registration)

Web 2.0 baffles businesses, says survey @ theregister.co.uk
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/24/web_2_baffles_businesses/

IT buyers positive on Web 2.0, survey says / itbusinesss.ca
http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=44248

courtsey: Methods and Tools August Newsletter article

Manifesto for Realistic Software Development

After participating to and observing many software development projects in recent years, we have reached the sad conclusion that there will never be better ways of developing software on this planet. While the principles of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development may look appealing for inexperienced developers, serious professionals know that the real world is not similar to the "Little House on the Prairie"

Our experience has taught us to value:

* Processes and tools over individuals and interactions
* Comprehensive documentation over quality software
* Contract negotiation over customer collaboration
* Following THE initial plan over responding to change

That is, while you could be very lucky to work in a project with the items on the right (intelligent developers and customers working together, what are these agilists smoking?!?), you will never be fired for applying items on the left (or if you are, this is very unlucky).


Source: http://www.waterfallmanifesto.org/

People's movement??? What people's movement????

Now now now, the Maoist supremo has announced a new schedule for people's movement against the current government of which the maoist is also a part. This, to me, is a joke actually. If Prachanda is talking about people who they have tortured, extorted and affected in any negative way, then it sure is a people's movement - a movement to completely wipe out Maoist/Prachandist from Nepal. Actually, I have supreme regards for the great leader Mao, but not for the Maoists of Nepal. They are a bunch of simple people disillusioned by some top notches who have misinterpreted the philosophy of Mao.

The maoist city contact office is just few houses away from my home. What I see there everyday is quite a shocking news. The leaders of Maoists come and go chauffeured in air conditioned SUVs like Bolera, Pajero, Landcruiser etc whilst the commoners of the party are still walking on the pavement. They still do their "morning routines" i.e. shouting their war cries and waking the neighbours in wee hours of the morning. They still have a difficult time meeting their daily requirements. The maoist leaders, on the other hand, have 50 guards for their security, live in an ultra apartment, drive in air conditioned SUVs and still they get to pose their authority on the commoners.

There was a news few days back about the lifestyles of the Maoist leaders nowadays in the valley. They are cleanshaven, wear pressed and new clothes and have all the modern luxury items at their disposal. Surprisingly, they are taking "gifts" from businessmen and people who were accused of wrong doings by the court.

Well, if I see all this, I think of one question - where has all those ideals and philosophy gone in the maoist leaders which they preached did during their decade long war?

And there is YCL (Young Communist League), a subsidiary wing of Maoist. This term has become quite a common name in the media nowadays. Everyday, in the news, there at least one news about YCL. The news about them get hardly positive at all. They are extorting businessmen, kidnapping, asking for ransom, holding off the daily tasks in the government offices in the districts and so on. Moreover, they think as they are above law and order and enforce some kind of terror in the people. It is happened that if I join YCL, then I can escape any imprisonment even if I committed a murder.

As I think, all is pointing to the early demise of Maoist. If there will be any people's movement next, then it will be to wipe out the Maoist from the face of Nepal. There is a saying : enough is enough. Maoists are getting extremes nowadays making demands of all sorts both in the government and outside on the streets.

It is high time that all the people come together and launch a "people's movement" as suggested by the Maoist Supreme, but this time it should be against them.

Maoists attack police post in Nuwakot; MPs denounce attack

A tiger never stops to eat flesh. This holds true for the maoists. They are used to blasting off infrastructures and looting.
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Maoists attack police post in Nuwakot; MPs denounce attack

A group of around 30 Maoist cadres attacked a police post at Fikuri of Nuwakot district Thursday afternoon and got away with two rifles and a pistol.

The Maoists beat up three policemen who were at the post when their colleagues went out, reports say.

They also looted 114 bullets from the police post.

The district police office has deployed a police team to Fikuri for investigation. Other details were not immediately available.

Meanwhile, lawmakers have denounced the Maoist attack in the police post.

Speaking at the parliament this evening, MP Prakash Saran Mahat said the Maoists were trying to disrupt constituent assembly polls by engaging in violent activities. He asked the government to investigate the incident and punish those involved in it.

MP Rajendra Lohani said the attack on police post in Nuwakot indicated that the Maoists had not fully renounced violence.

Maoist lawmaker Hit Bahadur Tamang said his party would launch investigation into the incident before anything officially. nepalnews.com mk/ ia Aug 09 07

Maoist dissidents accuse leadership of abandoning revolution

Problem with leadership??? Or too much exposure in media??? Politiocos/so called revolutionists turning into Paris Hilton type celebrities????

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Maoist dissidents accuse leadership of abandoning revolution

A group of Maoist dissidents have started coalescing accusing the leadership of abandoning the revolution.

“If the current attitude persists, this will mean abortion of revolution,” claimed Laxman Tharu aka Roshan, who is said to be the coordinator of CPN-Maoists - United Rebels Front. He had earlier defected from the Maoist party where he used to head the Tharu wing.

Claiming that his group will continue the revolution, Tharu boasted in his talks with Kantipur TV that he has army strength of three battalion at his immediate disposal. Saying there are 4000 workers with him, Tharu added that PLA fighters in cantonments are also in his contact.

“Most of the deserters have come into our contact,” he further claimed.

The front has given a month long ultimatum to the Maoists to walk out of the government. It has demanded destruction of India-constructed dams, which have caused flooding on the Nepali side. It has also demanded action based on Rayamajhi commission report and has threatened to take “people’s action” if the government does not pay heed to their demands. nepalnews.com sd Aug 04 07