Organisation

Entrepreneurs, Executing, Investors, Management, Organisation, Strategy

What Tim did after Steve

There were a lot of naysayers about the future of Apple when Steve Jobs died in October 2011. Few were confident about the Company he’d created and its future under Tim Cook, who’d just been promoted up from Chief Operating Officer to CEO. Even fewer had any idea about the rocket ship that the business…
Entrepreneurs, Investors, Management, Organisation, Strategy

Why business leaders must forget about normal and thrive in the unknown

I’ve been in business a long time, and big events have come and gone: the oil crisis and inflation of 1972; the crash of ’87; a couple of recessions and a few wars and 9/11, you get the picture. Sudden technology changes have done their bit as well. I’m not really sure when it was,…
Covid-19, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurs, Executing, Investors, Management, Organisation

How to stop Cloud costs strangling business

Once the tech is running, it’s the business that matters in the Cloud Once the devs have worked their magic and the tech is running and doing what it should, the challenges move to business: getting the service to customes and users reliably, at scale, and profitably. This is where the business challenges begin as…
Digitalisation, Entrepreneurs, Executing, Management, Organisation, Strategy

How Cloud creates business problems that can be solved

Business challenges begin once the technology is running Dev and test are all about getting new functionality to run to spec. Once it’s running and doing what it should, it must move to Production and get delivered to the intended customers and users. This is where the business challenges begin as the costs issues and…
Digitalisation, Entrepreneurs, Investors, Management, Organisation, Strategy

How stretched tech teams can raise their game in the Cloud

The pool of talent in ambitious tech firms always seems too thinly spread. We used to think it was like a small duvet: you can have your shoulders warm or your feet, but not both. Almost all ambitious tech businesses have too few tech specialists that have the depth of skills and a real understanding…
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….
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, 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…
Covid-19, Investors, Management, Organisation, Trend Spotting

Covid-19 insights: 21 February, 2021

The Global Picture Three charts give a clear picture of the global situation and the challenge ahead. Fatalities across the globe reached a peak in late January and have been in decline over the four weeks since then. However, at the same time, the number of countries recording significant daily fatalities has risen and particularly…
Entrepreneurs, Management, Organisation, Strategy

Why your independence matters in the Cloud

Change in the business world today is widespread and hard to predict. For business decision makers, freedom of choice and action are essential, now like never before. Hidden constraints and barriers conspire against the agility and responsiveness that allow successful navigation through the challenges and on towards achieving objectives and ambitions. Most firms now rely…