Five modes of innovation

OK - brace yourself. Bit of a long post coming up here... "Innovation". Many people talking about it. Not that many people understand it (I include myself there). Hard to do. Easy to talk about and so let's add to the kerfuffle... Let's start with the etymology: So, innovation - doing new things, or doing … Continue reading Five modes of innovation

Book Review: Disrupt IT by Ian Cox

Over a decade ago I was introduced to a book that had a major influence over my subsequent career. Strategic Planning for Information Systems by John Ward and Joe Peppard constructed a model of IT management driven by business outcome rather than technology. It's also one of the most impregnable books I've never finished. Ian's new book … Continue reading Book Review: Disrupt IT by Ian Cox

Gender imbalance

In the way that only social networks allow, I got into a brief conversation this morning with Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission and the person spearheading digital initiatives in the EU, and Martha Lane-Fox the digital entrepreneur. On Saturday it's International Women's Day, and Neelie tweeted: https://twitter.com/NeelieKroesEU/status/441501736147378176 My response was that, whilst … Continue reading Gender imbalance

Outsourced innovation

There is news this week that retail giant (and flagbearer of alternative ownership models) John Lewis is launching its own tech accelerator initiative into what is an increasingly competitive market for helping companies with ideas. Having spent some time on the periphery of the Tech City hub in East London, it strikes me that this … Continue reading Outsourced innovation

Misnomer

  I'm currently reading Ian Cox's new book Disrupt IT, a book that outlines his views on how IT departments need to restructure and refocus themselves to be fit for purpose in 2014 and beyond. I'll dig into that in more detail when I've finished it, but it's provoked one thought that's so bloomin' obvious … Continue reading Misnomer

Phone 18

  A couple of weekends ago I took delivery of my 18th ever mobile phone - a LG/Google Nexus 5 (you can see the history of the rest here). A couple of weeks later, and in the bubble of noise coming out of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, I can only conclude one thing: … Continue reading Phone 18

Reducing risk

Insurance is an interesting game. Essentially it's an activity of risk  management: attempting to find things of concern to a large number of people that are relatively improbable. The gap between the insurance premiums and the payouts is the profit margin, and at the core of the whole proposition is the unknown risk. As a … Continue reading Reducing risk