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mjpatterson

mjpatterson

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Member since: March 2010

Bio: I am a technologist and writer located on the West Coast. For over twenty years, I have been developing software, implementing applications, and running IT shops.

I maintain the "Business Software Soup" blog here on ITworld.com, where I discuss issues and information about ERP, CRM, Financials and other business software. Business Software Soup's URL is http://www.itworld.com/blog/6124

My professional blog, http://techcleaner.wordpress.com, is where I make comments about general technology trends and provide advice about Information Technology and productivity.

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Activity

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote Back to basics: The difference between SaaS and Cloud Computing

    What is the difference between Cloud Computing and Software as a Service (SaaS)? Is there a difference?

    …

    1 year 37 weeks ago

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote What problem are you trying to solve?
    Here are some scenarios you may have experienced if you own a company or run IT for a company:

    Your sales manager comes up, points to an article in a trade magazine, and says "we must put in CRM!"

    Your finance manager comes in and demands "we need budgeting software!"

    Your HR manager cries "we need web filtering software!"

    Your IT system administrator comes in complaining that you don't have "remote administration software!"

    Your marketing manager starts a whole social networking campaign using Twitter, Facebook, and Ning, and now requires you to support it.

    Whether you run a company, or run IT for a company, you get these demands, followed by some complaint about being really far behind the technology curve.

    The magic question to ask when presented with one of these? "What problem are you trying to solve?"

    The real problem here is not the demand for technology. The real problem is that you are being presented with a technology solution to a problem that may or may not exist. You are being asked to assume the problem exists, and the presented technology is the answer to it. The proposed solution may make all the sense in the world, but without identifying the real need and looking at possible solutions with the whole company in mind, the solution is more likely to end up a waste of time and money.

    The proper way to approach this is in a collaborative manner. The person asking for the solution obviously has a need that needs to be addressed, otherwise he or she would not have brought up the solution. So, ask questions about what challenges they are running into, and flesh it out. Understand the problem. Then, look at who should be involved in the problem's resolution. Implementing a web filter, for example, can make HR's (and Legal's) life a bit easier, but it can hamper research, sales, and other departments in the company. Internet abuse can be a serious issue for a company, but the solution should be balanced as well as effective. When the issue is explored fully, looking at the full impact to the company, then, and only then, can potential solutions be identified and reviewed.

    All business projects need to be justified. Companies have wasted lots of time and money by implementing solutions that have been decreed but not justified. So, ask. "What problem are you trying to solve?"

    See also:Some thoughts about SaaS and cloud computingByDesign Upgrade Means SAP is Serious About SaaSThe Three Rules of Reports

    1 year 37 weeks ago

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote Some thoughts about SaaS and cloud computing

    In my last post, I mentioned that Software as a Service (SaaS) is the direction applications are going. I want to elaborate a bit.

    …

    1 year 37 weeks ago

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote ByDesign Upgrade Means SAP is Serious About SaaS

    SAP indicated this week that they are getting serious about Software as a Service (SaaS), and announced an upgrade to their Business ByDesign ERP package offering. They are marketing the software at their version of "mid-tier," companies with one-hundred to five-hundred users (and even more employees), which means revenues in the range, probably, of $100M up. The article SAP co-CEO: Business ByDesign 'is not a fantasy' covers the details well.

    …

    1 year 38 weeks ago

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote Why would SAP buy Sybase? Hint: It's not for the database.

    I have to admit that when I heard that SAP announced their proposed acquisition of Sybase, my first reaction was: "Why?" followed by "Sybase is still around?"

    …

    1 year 39 weeks ago

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote When a software system fails: Should it stay or should it go?

    Everyone was excited about the roll out. Expectations were high - all the users were trained, the consultants were happy, and after months of work and a pile of money, the budgeting system is finally ready to be rolled out. The executive who was pushing and pushing for completion finally smiled. Final cost: $3 million.

    …

    1 year 39 weeks ago

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote In-memory Databases Do Not Excuse Fat, Bloated Applications

    InfoWorld reports that Hasso Plattner, SAP's CEO, is going to push for increased adoption and use of in-memory databases. He states that using in-memory databases will create a revolution in new applications, especially in the area of business analytics.

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    1 year 40 weeks ago

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote The Three Rules of Reports

    There is a lot of information locked up in your ERP system. Your ERP usually has all your customer orders, all the POs to your vendors, your G/L, A/R and A/P, inventory information, manufacturing information, but getting to that information in a meaningful way can be very difficult.

    …

    1 year 40 weeks ago

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote Third Party Software Support: Yes or No?

    In January, Oracle sued third party "software maintenance" provider Rimini Street for allegedly stealing Oracle's software and related support materials.

    …

    1 year 40 weeks ago

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote Palm's Business Software Legacy

    On Wednesday, HP announced that they are acquiring Palm, Inc.. This is a significant milestone in mobile computing. Both HP and Palm were pioneers in the mobile device market. This is an end of an era, and also a new beginning.

    …

    1 year 41 weeks ago

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote Death by Powerpoint?

    The New York Times has an article called We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint which reports on the extensive use of Microsoft's PowerPoint in the military and how some are complaining that (in the words of General James N. Mattis) "PowerPoint makes us stupid." The key complaints against PowerPoint are that you cannot reduce complex military issues down to a series of bullet points, that PowerPoint "stifles discussion," and that junior officers spend all their time creating slides.

    …

    1 year 41 weeks ago

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote Information Security Must Underlie ERP

    As noted in the article Hacker conference to address emerging Web threats, the Black Hat Europe conference is underway in Barcelona this week. Black Hat conferences are one of the venues that information security pros attend to learn about and discuss the latest security issues, bugs, and vulnerabilities and how to counteract them. In a world where even sovereign nations are using "hacking" techniques to penetrate and disrupt computer systems, information security is a big deal.

    …

    1 year 43 weeks ago

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote Does your ERP system run your business?
    People who use large ERP packages will describe how they use the software as "We use Oracle to run our business," or "SAP runs our business." It sounds tempting, doesn't it, to be able to install a monolithic software package and turn it on, and watch as it manages your entire company?

    Of course it's not true. Software does not run your business, your people do. ERP software is a tool - a large tool, true, but still a tool - that your people use to run your business. ERP facilitates taking orders, managing inventory, managing shipments, recording revenue, etc. You can do all these functions without software, but it would be a lot more work, and would take a lot more people. Business software helps your people do their functions faster and more accurately.

    …

    1 year 43 weeks ago

  • mjpatterson mjpatterson wrote The Double-Edged Sword in Business Software

    Software is some pretty amazing stuff. Its very name tells you that it is flexible, changeable, and that it can be molded into all sorts of shapes and sizes. Everything electronic that exists today -- from computers to iPods, electronic ignition systems to jet airliners -- are told what to do by software. Every electronic device is essentially a blank slate that awaits someone to write software for it to tell it what to do. The iPhone has this really cool interface that has changed how mobile devices are used -- but, the really cool interface is not hardware, it's software. Apple could just as easily have made the iPhone act like any other.

    …

    1 year 45 weeks ago

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Comments

mjpatterson's Comments (8)

  • Commented on Third Party Software Support: Yes or No?

    Thanks, Boris. Do companies who go to third-party support lack a long-term vision? Well, rather than address that, perhaps we can look at some legitimate uses:1. They expect to phase out of the package over the next year or two, and they are going to another vendor.2. They are a very stable company with zero need for any new functionality, and a good internal team.Reason 1 could be that they are going out of business, are looking to sell themselves to another company, or are just not happy with the software package and want to move to something else.Reason 2 is a rare beast, but companies are out there that fall into this category, especially for JD Edwards, which is a very mature application. In this scenario, software and technology are not strategic at all for the company, so the argument that the newest release would fix some issues falls on deaf hears - they don't care.In both cases, the companies see value in the yearly tax and regulatory updates provided by the third party.But, if you are in business to grow, going out of support from your software vendor makes no sense at all.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Palm's Business Software Legacy

    Bryn, you are right - what makes mobile computing work is centralized technology like web-based applications and remote access utilities like GoToMyPC.

    Back in the '90s, there was a lot of money spent by large application vendors like Siebel to develop very elaborate data synchronization schemes, so that the data on your laptop match that on your PC and in the central database. This proved to be such a difficult thing to do that that app vendors essentially punted and made it all "web-enabled." Personally, I feel there is a lot of wasted power out there in unused client-side CPU power, but wasted CPU cycles are a cost of business - it's better to waste some power than to lose or corrupt your data!

    SaaS and web apps are the answer to mobile computing. When it is in place (and it mostly is) you will be able to use almost any device you want.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Death by Powerpoint?

    Well, there is no doubt that PowerPoint is a large arrow in the business graphics and presentation quiver, but the archer still needs to know how to draw the bow and shoot the arrow! Having great content management tools surely is a boon, but business people can avoid a lot of wasted time creating and hunting for slides by learning the proper presentation (and graphics) skills.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Death by Powerpoint?

    Well, again, PowerPoint is just a tool, and like all tools, the value lies in the tool user, not the tool.If the goal is collaborative decision making, you are right, PowerPoint is not the tool of choice, except maybe at the start of the process to inform the team of the issues to be addressed. Brainstorming and Mind Maps are two of many great techniques that can be used by team to aid in decision making.In the case of strategic briefings, there is no reason PowerPoint could not be used, but I would expect a document packet with the detail behind the briefing which would be distributed beforehand. The briefing itself would be a summary with perhaps some drill-down into the key issues.If you can present something to a team, you can use PowerPoint or any other presentation tool to help you do it. If the presentation fails, it is not the fault of the tool. Which is really the point.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Death by Powerpoint?

    Digital Asset Management tools make sense not just for managing content for presentations but also for use in marketing collateral, ad campaigns, white papers, photographs and images, etc. You are right: it is a huge time saver. I've used Interwoven's MediaBin in the past to success, but there are others, of course. Some CRM tools have proposal and marketing libraries to draw from. And, of course, people pull and steal from every presentation they've downloaded to their laptop. Having a library of standard slides and a style guide helps tame the madness, but people still need to know how what content to use, how to pull it together, and how to present it effectively.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Does your ERP system run your business?

    I agree. I can add that people should know their tools, and know what they are buying. And, to extend the automotive analogy, if you buy a Yugo, you're going to be driving a Yugo. This does not let consultants and vendors off the hook - lots of vendors demo their products well but fail to deliver. But, due diligence is due for a reason. Better to spend the time up front validating the vendors than to deal with failed projects and litigation.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Does your ERP system run your business?

    Yes, ERP needs to be appropriate to the size and function of the company. There is a lot to software selection, and one of the things to consider is what it takes to support and maintain the software going forward. That said, Oracle or SAP are not necessarily too big for medium-sized companies. It all depends on the company.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Does your ERP system run your business?

    The whole point of my post is that it is foolish to expect the vendor's software to be responsible for your business - and by extension, you shouldn't rely on your vendor to take the place of your management team. Your first sentence says it all: "... somebody has blessed it and it's working..." Who blessed it? It should be the customer, which should include the users who will be using the system. User training and user acceptance testing is a crucial part of a software implementation. The responsible parties during this phase are all concerned: the vendor should insist that it gets done, the implementation partners should have a good team doing it, and the customer (especially its management team) has to let their people take the time to do the training. If the system is so vast that thousands of users are using it, there should be training materials and user guides (and a training process) in place to ensure that when people touch the system, they know something about it. But, look at this: what is the goal of a user training and user acceptance testing? It is to get the company able to use the software properly, and to ensure that the software will work for the company.At the end of the day, it is the customer who is using the software to run their business, and it is up to the customer ultimately to ensure they know what they are doing. If their vendors failed them by not delivering the services the customer needed, then that is a management and/or legal issue. But it does not absolve the customer from knowing how to use their systems. This is not a matter of blame, it is a matter of practicality - ultimately, it is the company that benefits from proper use of their software.

    2 years ago

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