Depending on who you read, we are in the fourth or fifth wave of computer technology development.  In 2005, Om Malik and Michael Copeland published The Fifth Wave in Business 2.0 Magazine.  They defined their waves as the eras of mainframe, mid-range, PC, Internet and networked computing. Written six years ago, their premonition preceded smartphones by many years.

In 2009, Forrester Research VP Andrew Bartels cited US Department of Commerce data showing that we are in the fourth wave of technology investment.  Specifically, the four waves are:

• 1951 – 1976: Mainframe computing
• 1976 – 1992: PC computing
• 1992 – 2008: Network computing
• 2008 – 2016: Accelerated innovation

Each of the waves experiences two phases – innovation and growth followed by refinement and digestion.  The current phase of accelerated innovation is in the innovation and growth phase, coinciding with the global economic recovery cycle.  Bartels substantiates his position by analyzing the US IT investment to GDP ratio CAGR for each phase.  The average ratio for the growth eras is 4% while the average for the refinement eras is -1.13%. (more…)

This post is in continuation of the earlier post on HTML5. Before looking into the day-to-day benefits HTML5 will offer, let’s do a quick sanity check:

• HTML5 is monolithic, but browsers are not. It is misleading to divide browsers into “Supports Vs Not”.  Instead, individual HTML5 feature support should be evaluated in terms of browsers.
• HTML5 is fully backward compatible. You can simply upgrade your doctype to HTML5 without changing any underlying code; the page is still valid and will still work. There is no need to panic or to throw away any page! (more…)

The last few years of the millennium have seen old business models giving way to new ones. Customer needs are transitioning from those of pure consumption-oriented to those of convenience-oriented with the coming of age of the digital native. Organizations big and small are being affected by the onslaught of myriad of factors including enlightened and demanding customers, newer modes of communication, technology advancements with user dependence on mobility and small form factor devices, and the power of collective intelligence – blogs, wikis, user generated reviews and feedbacks, etc.

So has the meaning of value literally changed from what it was in the earlier days to the present? Or has Value in its representation evolved to “Value 2.0” i.e. becoming more user-oriented, keeping in line with the changing times? How are businesses upgrading themselves to meet the evolving juggernaut of customer needs and wants?

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This post marks Virtusa’s fiftieth blog posting.  Starting in April of 2010, Virtusan’s have offered their insights into a wide variety of technology issues, trends and business challenges.  It seems fitting that our half century mark should come at the end of calendar year 2010.

The year 2010 saw the arrival of the mobile app as an indisputable force to be reckoned with.  With iPhone and Android app stores carrying hundreds of thousands of applications each, there is no denying that apps have arrived.  As we watch new mobile devices, new social sites, and slick new apps being released with blinding speed we are quite possibly witnessing an inflection point in human history.  Consider this time the dawn of the true technology era.  Like the Italian Renaissance, we have our artists and visionaries.  Instead of Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Galileo in Italy we have Gates, Jobs, Berners-Lee, Metcalf, Joy, Torvalds, AT&T Bell Labs, Xerox PARC and Silicon Valley.  One hundred years from now historians may look back at this time and declare this period of time the start of the technology revolution.  Star Wars and Matrix are our Mona Lisa and statue of David?  Scary.

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Last week’s ITxpo Symposium in Cannes drew more than three thousand attendees, over half of which were senior level IT executives.  The conference agenda offered insights into future trends in typical Gartner fashion – high impact, broad sweeping trends combined with business imperatives.  There were three themes that were repeated many times – application retirement, a new era of enterprise application and innovation.. (more…)

One would certainly categorize predictably ill-fated ventures as irrational.  Why would a rational individual undertake an initiative that is almost guaranteed to fail?  Is application rationalization one of those initiatives?  Perhaps it is and that is the reason John McCarthy used the word “courage” to describe the emotional trait necessary to pursue its goals.

Recently, I spoke with Mike Vizard of IT Business Edge.  We discussed many compelling reasons why an organization would pursue application rationalization.  Cost reduction, increased business agility and business transformation were at the top of the list.  But, even with those stakes most organizations are reluctant to give it a try.  There are many reasons why, some legitimate, others not. (more…)

The exercise of application rationalization is certainly complex.  Reconciling the needs of many constituencies within an organization and reconciling those needs against a large and byzantine IT portfolio is a daunting task.  In an effort to eliminate waste, streamline the IT estate and create a more “lean” environment to support, this kind of software engineering project must evaluate the needs of the business and assess a harvesting of the best components of the current application population.  Common service layers can be created and new application support can be created in technologies like BPM.  This is one facet of a business transformation process.

What about the financial justification for this kind of project?  Is the cost an expense or an investment? (more…)