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The war for talent!

Posted by beyond438 on Jul 7, 2008 in Business, HCM, SAP | 0 comments

Even with all the news about a slowdown in the US economy and the dark outlook on jobs, it seems that for the most part it is still difficult to find good people. The war for talent is still raging. These SAP sponsored reports by the Economist give an interesting overview of the supply of talent in both the developed world and emerging economies. To quote the Economist report: 

Finding and retaining talent is tough and is going to get tougher. While a global economic slowdown—with its attendant lay-offs—may provide temporary respite in some industries, falling birth-rates, an increasingly demanding workforce and greater competition for talent from emerging-market firms will continue to pile pressure on companies in the developed world. 

Download the Economist reports here.

The Integrity Advantage

Posted by beyond438 on Jun 20, 2008 in Business, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life | 0 comments

I recently finished reading a 100 page book entitled “The Integrity Advantage”. The authors, Adrian Gostick and Dana Telford, describes 10 characteristics that defines Integrity. They claim, and I agree, that how taking the High Road (Integrity) creates a competitive advantage in business. I encourage you to read and study this little book. Integrity, that I define as being honest in all our interactions with ourselves and others, is one of my company’s principles. I like this book’s broader definition of integrity.Gostick is the co-author of the recent book, The Levity Effect.How would you rate yourself on each of the following 10 integrity characteristics:

1. You know the little things count: Businesspeople lose their integrity a little bit at a time. To have the Integrity Advantage you do not lie or cheat on the small things.
2. You find the white (when others see gray): You do not make tough decisions alone. You ask questions, receive counsel and take a long-term view.
3. You mess up, you ‘fess up: Open and honest disclosure, e.g., Tylenol scare.
4. You create a culture of trust: You reinforce integrity through principles, controls and personal example and you reward those employees who display personal integrity in their actions. I think it is time for me to read, The Speed of Trust by Covey.
5. You keep your word: It’s walking the talk and setting the example.
6. You care about the greater good: What goes around comes around. “Be generous: Invest in acts of charity. Charity yields high returns.” — Ecclesiastes 11:1
7. You’re honest but modest: Sounds like what Jim Collins calls a level 5 leader. Humble, quiet leaders are also considerate and courteous. They do the little things that win friends and admirers. They: smile and greet coworkers every day, they reflect on how their decisions will affect others, they praise and recognize their employees and even their bosses, they control their tempers, and they allow others to be kind to them.
8. You act like you’re being watched: I once heard that the definition of character is what you do while your alone. Btw, if you are a leader you are being watched.
9. You hire integrity: Key business principle according to Jack Welch and Warren Buffet. “Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without the first, you really want them to be dumb and lazy.”
10. You stay the course: You have ethical consistency and predictability. Your life demonstrates wholeness and harmony between your values and your actions.

Silver bullets and the Basics

Posted by beyond438 on Jun 11, 2008 in Business, Technology | 0 comments

I met Don Swann, former Deloitte partner and currently principle of Don Swann Consulting LLC, on a Brand Velocity project in Irving, Texas. Don is one of the most productive and smart project managers that I’ve had the pleasure to meet. After one discussion regarding the “Business of IT” Don mentioned that in 1989 he wrote an article on the topic of Silver Bullets. He sent it to me and although the context is manufacturing the truths that Don shared in this article still applies today. Usually technology projects fail because of the “Basics”. What do you think?

Here is the full text:

Top 10+ Websites from Africa

Posted by beyond438 on Jun 6, 2008 in Entrepreneurship, South Africa, Technology | 0 comments

Martin Sacks – Visualizing companies around the world

Posted by beyond438 on May 19, 2008 in Entrepreneurship, HCM, South Africa, Technology | 1 comment

Martin Sacks and HumanConcepts just announced the release of OrgPlus Enterprise Blueprint, further solidifying the company’s position as leading provider of workforce decision support software.OrgPlus Enterprise Blueprint uses a Web 2.0 solution and allows executives and managers from across a company to collaborate on organizational changes and planning decisions.Martin has been the CEO of HumanConcepts since founding the company in 2000. He had been a regular user of OrgPlus while serving as CEO of another software company and, liked the product so much that he acquired the technology and created HumanConcepts.In an interview with Entrepreneur magazine Martin said he is convinced that the best way to create a great product is to build a development team that closely mimics the entrepreneurial environment of a startup company. “In a startup,” he was quoted as saying, “the founder answers support calls, talks to customers and immediately translates what he’s heard into features for the next release.” He feels most big software companies are uncomfortable with that model and suffer (or at the least, their customers suffer) because of it.Based on HumanConcepts’ success with its OrgPlus line of organizational charting and workforce modeling solutions, he apparently practices what he preaches. OrgPlus can count 50,000 companies as customers, including Verizon, Kraft Foods, JCPenney and Best Buy, along with government entities and nonprofit outfits.Blogger Thomas Otter, formerly with SAP and now with Gartner, sang the praises of OrgPlus on his site, especially the software’s integration features: “If a third party vendor does something better than we do,” he wrote, “we should embrace and help them…Connect them with our customers and deliver a better all-around solution.”HumanConcepts is based in Sausalito, Calif., with offices in the United Kingdom and Germany.Martin, who grew up in northern South Africa, holds finance and accounting degrees from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He began his career as a management consultant with Ernst & Young, one of the largest professional services (taxes, assurance, auditing) firms in the world. While there, he gained an interest in business process improvement. In 1983 he founded software company Milan Systems and brought precision-design software TurboCAD to the United States. Milan was acquired in 1988 by IMSI, the maker of TurboCAD, and Martin became its director. In 1990 he became president and CEO of IMSI.He is also a South African Chartered Accountant.A few weeks ago HumanConcepts launched (in the United Kingdom) an online savings calculator, where human resources and other professionals can tabulate how much their organization can save by automating chart creation, improving employee communication, and speeding up data collection and workforce planning.PS: This Martin is not Martin Sacks the Australian actor.

Feedback: 10 signs that you aren’t cut out to be a CIO

Posted by beyond438 on May 14, 2008 in Leadership, SAP, Technology | 0 comments

I sent the “10 signs that you aren’t cut out to be a CIO” post to some of my CIO friends and I received the following interesting feedback: 
A seasoned Fortune 100 CIO said:

I read the top ten list but haven’t read the whole article. I think the points are valid but thought the way the top ten things were phrased was not like a senior business executive would have stated them. But, that’s just a first impression.    

A very experienced Fortune 500 CIO remarked:

The blog and article are right on.     

and the following from a veteran former Deloitte partner:

Interesting perspective. I am not a CIO, and have always had an external perception of the role and the players. From that perspective, I have seen a host of CIO’s who contributed very little to the success of their companies in the 5 years they held the job prior to their termination. So, an internal perception of the CIO as “one in a million among IT professioals” is foreign to my perception, and probably to the perception of many C-level executives who hire and fire CIO’s. There are exceptions. My perception is that the exceptions did so because they were business-trained, and business-focused, and happened to fill a business role that included IT. If I were hiring a CIO, the last place I would look is at 25-year IT veterans. I would look for people who understand “business” then teach them the “business of IT.”      

and finally Jan, EPI-USE‘s CIO, made the following comment:

Thanks for sharing this Carel. One of the most profound standments regarding CIOs I heard in the last year were by Léo Apotheker, co-CEO of SAP, at last year’s Saphila conference. He said something like “The main focus of CIOs in future will not be technology, but optimising business processes”. Putting the focus back on the “I” in CIO!  

So, there you have it!

What is SAP Business ByDesign?

Posted by beyond438 on May 6, 2008 in Saas, SAP, Technology | 0 comments

SAP has its own TV channel and you can find numerous interesting videos on the SAP-TV website. I found this video describing SAP Business ByDesign. SAP released this video before the recent announcement that they are delaying the launch of Business ByDesign.   Also see SAP’s SAPPHIRE 2008 announcement that it will bring SaaS to large companies.

10 Signs that you aren’t cut out to be a CIO

Posted by beyond438 on May 5, 2008 in Leadership, Technology | 1 comment

My friend, Matt Brown of CorData recently sent this article my way. Late in 2007 TechRepublic listed 10 things you should consider before applying for a CIO position. Here is the list of 10 signs:

1. You are uncomfortable working with senior management
2. The concepts of financial management totally elude you
3. You have no desire to participate in business strategic planning
4. Any kind of change drives you crazy
5. You think SOX is a garment
6. To you, asset management and building management are the same things
7. The idea of selling anything scares you to death
8. Indecision is one of your strong points
9. You’re really skilled in one key area of information technology
10. You believe that CIO stands for “career is over”

You can find the full article here, and I include the summary:

The job of CIO is complex on a good day. Only one in a million IT professionals can do the CIO job… and do it well. It is a job that requires a unique set of business skills as well as a strong understanding of IT technologies. However, the CIO is also in an exceptional position to have a major impact on the success of the company. So if you still think your want to become a CIO, you should be aware that you will gain membership to one of the most elite group of professionals on the planet.

I would be very interested to get feedback from my CIO friends.

Mr SMS – Pieter de Villiers of Clickatell

Posted by beyond438 on Apr 30, 2008 in Business, Entrepreneurship, South Africa, Technology | 0 comments

Seems like Pieter de Villiers is a good name for South African success stories. There’s the rugby player, the hurdler, the business consultant, and the IT whiz. De Villiers (the whiz) is the CEO of Clickatell, the first (and leading) global high-speed service provider of bulk SMS messages. Its 8,000 customers can connect in over 200 countries. (Company motto: “Any Message, Anywhere”) Clickatell allows a business to communicate with its customers, suppliers and staff using a variety of formats (fax, land-line phone, pager, IP connected devices, and of course, cell phone) through a technology that is easy to use. Pieter and three other businessmen founded the company in 2000 in South Africa. Since 2006 Clickatell’s headquarters have been in Redwood Shores, Calif., but it has an office in Cape Town and in the United Kingdom. Clickatell just announced that it was selected by several leading health care organizations to improve communication with their patients. The organizations are using Clickatell to deliver critical information by cell phone. For example, in the United Kingdom a user can text “stop smoking” into their cell phone, then receive relevant information on kicking the habit. In the United States, a Georgia-based health care company is using Clickatell to help doctors and patients interact. Hospital discharge instructions, delivered by cell phone, can be more readily complied with. Other doctor’s orders can also be delivered by cell phone. Pieter started his career in 1997 in the optometry field and has sales, new business management and product development experience. In 1999 he was hired by Micrologix to identify Internet opportunities and to manage the organization’s ecommerce. Pieter also participates in several forums including Wireless Internet Caucus, GSM Association, and Open Mobile Alliance. Information on Pieter’s personal life isn’t readily available but you may get a chance to meet Pieter and the Clickatell group if you are attending the African Banking Technology Conference in Lagos, Nigeria May 7&8, or the NACHA Payments 2008, being held in Las Vegas May 18-21. Clickatell is participating in both events. Clickatell also powers the messaging for the world assembly of 140 parliaments.

I am famous!

Posted by beyond438 on Apr 21, 2008 in Blogging, Entrepreneurship | 0 comments

OK, not really. Elance posted a nice article about the way I use Elance to source service providers for different projects. I recently contracted a design house to develop a new WordPress template for me. You are viewing the end product. What do you think? Here is part of the Elance article:

Meet Carel Bekker, a technology expert, business consultant and Elance buyer, who left a corporate job to start his own strategy consulting firm, Beyond438. Beyond438 helps European and South African companies start business operations in the U.S.   

You can read the rest of the article here.