Navtej Kohli Business Blog

Want to know the big business trends of 2008? Verizon Business makes some predictions. Check out Top 10 big business trends on Navtej Kohli business blog.

Below is Verizon Business’ list of ten hot trends for 2008:

Continued Globalization - Yes, globalization . . . as in strategically placing workers, offices and facilities around the world. According to Verizon, this can help companies keep costs down but there are challenges as well - such as maintaining a reliable communications infrastructure between locations. That means, according to Verizon, more high-performance networks

Securing the Extended Enterprise - Huh? This one refers to data - the data that’s shared between partners, suppliers and customers, the protection of data, the storage of data, the retrieval of data, archiving, etc., etc.

Global Greening - Verizon thinks that businesses will begin to do more greenifying of their business practices by using more audio, video and web conferencing rather than sending employees to get together (reduces carbon emissions), cutting back on paper and other efficiency-motivated moves.

Virtualization and On-demand Computing (a.k.a. Computing as a Service) - The green initiatives will carry over to the company infrastructures, according to Verizon. Not only will using things such as virtual servers conserve power, they will save companies money and take up less space.

Telepresence - So, more video conferencing, right? Well, Verizon says that latest technology to be employed will create very cool virtual meetings where it’s as good as being face to face. According to the list: “In addition to internal company gatherings, telepresence will enable meetings with customers, partners and suppliers, and, increasingly, high-end telepresence systems will be able to interoperate with traditional video-conferencing equipment.”

Outsourcing/Out-tasking - More companies will look at what tasks can be outsourced to third-parties to increase productivity and flexibility, as well as lower costs. ’nuff said.

Smartphones and Managed Mobility - More businesses will spend more on mobile devices like smartphones to ensure that employees are plugged in outside the office with mobile email, calendars, etc. Remember, it’s Verizon doing the predicting here. According to them: “Managed Mobility will become the next frontier, helping businesses track, monitor, secure and manage the mobile devices accessing their corporate networks.”

Unified Communications - This is aimed at unifying communications and enhancing collaboration in the workplace. Basically, VoIP will help businesses streamline communications — you know like one number reaches you where ever you are and whatnot.

Work-Life Balance - This one is a little counterintuitive — while there will be more communications, more smartphones, more connectivity, there will also be more emphasis on separating work and personal lives. Verizon says that it’s something that employees will struggle with and businesses need to address (along with security concerns, which they say Secure Socket Layer (SSL) based remote access solutions will take care of.

The CIO as Business Strategist - “CIOs will take on an even more pivotal role in determining how to invest capital most effectively to help their companies reduce costs, increase productivity and achieve a wide range of corporate objectives. CIOs also will be responsible for making supply-chain management decisions and environmental improvements.”

Mckinsey has given eight interesting business trends to watch. Here on Navtej Kohli business blog is a synopsis of the same. However, for your reference, the detailed version is available at the Mckinsey’s website (http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/).

Read on to know how these trends can benefit business and IT sector.

1. Distributing co-creation
2. Using consumers as innovators

These are old strategies. Usual story about Linux and user generated content. The ‘consumers as innovators’ cites the case of a T-shirt manufacturer leveraging user talent / creativity to create new designs. But I wonder if it can help an IT company in same way. How is an IT company going to leverage user generated strategies?

3. Tapping into the world of talent

Now this is quite interesting. Business and IT are most of the times fighting. Business, on one hand, alleges that IT is not delivering enough value, IT, on the other, claims business people don’t know what they want and they keep changing their minds. Most of the time, the issue is simply a case of IT holding business hostage. Let me explain. In most organizations, the IT department is usually is the sole provider of IT services. Business does not have a second “service provider” to turn to. As classic economic theory predicts, with no competition, IT’s service quality declines. Businesses should be allowed to engage several service providers.

4. Exacting more value from interactions
5. Expanding frontiers of automation
6. Separate production from delivery

I wouldn’t be surprised if Google or Microsoft starts doing this in a big way. Amazon has led this field by letting companies tap into its big investments in IT. EMC has announced their own move into the “cloud”

7. Putting more science into management

8. Make business from information

Navtej Kohli shares views on Business Process Experts which is the latest in business trends.

Have you ever wondered who is a business process expert and what are the ingredients to a successful business process expert?

Now, let us discuss what does a business process expert actually  do? BPXs specialize in looking at a business problem and modeling a solution that can be implemented through the use of technology. There are people who are Business Process experts and are not even aware of it.
Consider the following scenario:

It’s the beginning of a new week and you’re faced with a new task that must be completed by the end of the week. Your objective is to evaluate an existing business process and suggest recommendations for new technology that will support the process.
This is a common scenario for the business process expert – a situation that requires high- to mid-level business-side analysis and a quick but comprehensive set of solution recommendations as output.