Topic: Business
Microsoft is a platform company and they are eager to redefine how business practices are automated. Simon Witts, Corporate VP of the Enterprise and Partner Group at Microsoft, discusses the company's new People-Ready campaign, which aims to change the formal definition of business practice and empowers people to make decisions. As keynote speaker at the Software 2006 Conference, Witts describes the Microsoft strategy for customer relationship management.
At Microsoft, 'cooperative competition' is a well known strategy for success. As commercial open source continues to drive changes in the software industry, coopetition - between open source and commercial software companies alike - will be a defining factor in determining further business success and meeting customer needs. Jerry Fishenden explores the principles of coopetition in nature, in gaming, and at Microsoft, in order to make the case for a new software business strategy.
On July 20, 2006, Nielsen Analytics released a report entitled "The Economics of Podcasting," which suggests that audio and video podcasting has entered the mainstream and that large corporate advertisers are taking notice. Speaking with Behind the Mic host, Michael Geoghegan, Larry Gerbrandt discusses the findings of Nielson's report, what trends can be inferred from their research, and what needs to be happen in podcasting before companies like Proctor and Gamble begin buying significant ad space.
As one of the oldest and largest technology companies, IBM must continually transform itself to stay on the cutting edge of innovation. To lead this challenge, Linda Sanford draws on the experience and advice of CEOs and experts from across the disciplines to gain a global innovation outlook. In this talk, she shares the "six degrees of innovation" which can keep a company sharp and ensure that technology is combined with leadership to help solve real world problems.
Next generation web applications will be built by business owners, managers, and users who do not consider themselves to be software developers. IBM's Rod Smith explains how technically savvy users can "scratch their own itch," using technologies, such as PHP and wikis, to develop their own business applications.
PHP, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2005, has surpassed ASP to become the most popular Web scripting language. Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski, key contributors to PHP, are two of the founders of Zend Technologies, which provides PHP-focused products and services. This opening session from the 2005 Zend/PHP Conference details the growth of PHP in business.
As we enter the next era of software, market leaders are faced with a dilemma. Early innovators can soon become victims of their own success, bound by the demands of a large customer base. Meanwhile, startups and upstarts gain the edge in the innovation space. In this talk, Mark Bregman shares his insights and Symantec's vision for maintaining leadership while driving innovation to face the challenges of Security 2.0.
With proprietary software companies spending more than 50 percent of their budgets on sales and marketing, open source's alternative appeal continues to expand. Customer relationship management (CRM) software and services is one newly-affected market. Use of SugarCRM is growing despite the current dominance of proprietary solutions from Oracle and Salesforce.com. Listen to John Roberts talk about SugarCRM's origins and business model.
Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems, sits down with Supernova host Kevin Werbach, to discuss the technology industry and what he views as the key opportunities for his company. He says Sun will differentiate between those who view IT as a cost center, and those who will use IT as a means of growing their business. Sun wants to focus on the latter, and with the proper investment in R&D, provide the products these companies will rely upon to connect themselves to their communities of interest.
The information age is wreaking havoc on the way we measure and manage our businesses. Many of the new, "intangible" assets, created by our state-of-the-art technologies, will never appear on an old fashioned balance sheet. And new ways of working are scrambling the traditional managament hierachy. In this MeshForum 2006 session, Verna Allee says the concept of "Value Networks" can give us the metrics and perspective businesses and individuals need to thrive in the 21st century.
