Seeing over the horizon

Entrepreneurs, Investors, Management, Strategy

Is Cloud separating the quick from the dead?

A recent research study by Accenture surveyed some 4,000 executives and concluded that their companies fell into two categories : those that viewed Cloud as “…a launch pad for innovation and new operating models.”, and those that see it as a tool for cost saving and operational efficiency. What caught my eye was that they…
Organisation

Ask the CFO about the right Cloud architecture

My BMW is ok, but it’s not new. It’s now of an age that gets me thinking about replacing it, but for the last too many months my marvel of German engineering has hardly moved. I’ve realised that for three months it’s only been used to go and get a takeaway of a Friday evening….
Covid-19, Entrepreneurs, Investors, Management, Strategy, Trend Spotting

Everything is normal already

Last week’s first in-person business meeting came and went, and Friday’s “first evening dinner at a restaurant with friends in ages” did too. Family round for lunch in the garden yesterday was very good, and today’s Sunday lunch with different friends at another restaurant will be, as well. Next week is already full of scheduled…
Organisation

Covid-19: The UK lags far behind

The majority of significant changes are a worsening of the rates of fatality, and this can be seen here, in this chart of movement over the last seven days. Daily fatalities in the UK lag far behind those of the leaders in this grim race. In fact fatalities per million in the UK are almost…
Organisation

Solving the operational problems of Cloud delivery

Cloud held out great promise – “All you can eat, whenever you’re hungry, you only pay when you’re eating, and you don’t have to own the kitchen!”. This is often still the dominant message. These things are all true but as dependence on Cloud usage has deepened, the practicalities have emerged and are becoming unignorable…
Entrepreneurs, Executing, Investors, Management, Organisation

Face to face meetings are a whole new thing

I’ve just agreed my first face to face business meeting for almost fourteen months. I’m looking forward to the familiar, productive push and shove that you get when you get into open debate and press the search for the right idea or solution. None of that stuttering audio as Zoom or Teams tries to make…
Covid-19, Investors, Management, Strategy, Trend Spotting

The Five Forces of Endemic Covid-19

It’s becoming clear what the future will be like. We know what we know, we know what we don’t know, and the main features are now coming into focus.  It’s going to be a balancing act. The first thing that we know that is highly unlikely to change soon, is that Covid-19 is endemic, globally….
Covid-19

Covid-19 Insights: Europe and other places are heating up

There’s a growing list of sizeable countries with significant fatality rates and infection growth. Many of them are in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe.  South America also has a growing problem and the Middle East is starting to figure strongly, too. The UK is low on the list, while more and more countries in Continental Europe…
Entrepreneurs, Investors, Management

Why astute Tech Start-ups have the edge on success

Language does lose its way from time to time.  We all knew that Uber wasn’t a start-up; well, it was a start-up but it isn’t one now, even if the tag has stuck.  Sifted, the well respected group of journalists backed by the Financial Times to report on start-ups, lists a load of firms they…
Covid-19, Management, Strategy

Covid-19: The Northern Hemisphere looks like a problem

In the last week of February, daily fatalities in the Northern Hemisphere broke the downward trend that it had been following with the rest of the globe, and punched upwards, and this upward move has become stronger in recent days. Daily fatalities per million of population in northern countries is now higher than at any…
Covid-19, Executing, Investors, Management, Organisation

Managing occupational health issues in the new normal

Few businesses would doubt that the pandemic has had a challenging impact on the way businesses and sectors have needed to revise how work is undertaken, not only in the UK but across the world. Probably one of the most far reaching changes in this regard is the increasing use of technology platforms in the…
Entrepreneurs, Executing, Management, Strategy

Why Cloud now matters for the CFO

Back in the day, Cloud was just a technology for technologists. It had some business benefits, maybe, but they came anyway, regardless of the Cloud solution. The design choice was a technical one. This picture is changing as the use of Cloud has extended through deeper and wider penetration across the organisation, and as the…