White House Cyber Security Summit Misses The Point

Steve Wilson

Former Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Steve Wilson is former VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, leading the business theme Digital Safety and Privacy. His coverage includes digital identity, data protection, data privacy, cryptography, and trust. His advisory services to CIOs, CISOs, CPOs and IT architects include identity product strategy, security practice benchmarking, Privacy by Design (PbD), privacy engineering and Privacy [or Data Protection] Impact Assessments (PIA, DPIA). Coverage Areas: -  Identity management, frameworks & governance-  Digital identity technologies-  Privacy by Design -  Big Data; “Big Privacy”-  Identity & privacy innovation Previous experience: Wilson has worked in ICT innovation, research, development and analysis for over 25 years. With double…...

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This is Part 2 of my coverage of the White House #CyberSecuritySummit; see Part 1 here.

On Feb 13th, at President Obahama's request, a good number of the upper echelon of Internet experts gathered at Stanford University in Silicon Valley to work out what to do next about cybersecurity and consumer protection online. The Cyber Security Summit was put together around Obama's signing a new Executive Order to create new cyber threat information sharing hubs and standards to foster sharing while protecting privacy, and it was meant to maintain the momentum of his cybersecurity and privacy legislative program.

The main session of the summit traversed very few technical security issues. The dominant theme was intelligence sharing: how can business and government share what they know in real time about vulnerabilities and emerging cyber attacks? Just a couple of speakers made good points about preventative measures. Intel President Renee James highlighted the importance of a "baseline of computing security"; MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga was eloquent on how innovation can thrive in a safety-oriented regulated environment like road infrastructure and road rules. So apart from these few deviations, the summit had a distinct military intelligence vibe, in keeping with the cyber warfare trope beloved by politicians.

On the one hand, it would be naive to expect such an event to make actual progress. And I don't mind a political showcase if it secures the commitment of influencers and builds awareness. But on the other hand, the root causes of our cybersecurity dilemma have been well known for years, and this esteemed gathering seemed oblivious to them.

Where's the serious talk of preventing cyber security problems? Where is the attention to making e-business platforms and digital economy infostructure more robust?

Personal Information today is like nitroglycerin - it has to be handled with the utmost care, lest it blow up in your face. So we have the elaborate and brittle measures of PCI-DSS or the HIPAA security rules, rendered useless by the slightest operational slip-up.

How about rendering personal information safer online, so it cannot be stolen, co-opted, modified and replayed? If stolen information couldn't be used by identity thieves with impunity, we would neutralise the bulk of today's cybercrime. This is how EMV Chip & PIN payment security works. Personal data and purchase details are combined in a secure chip and digitally signed under the customer's control, to prove to the merchant that the transaction was genuine. The signed transaction data cannot be hacked; stolen identity data is useless to a thief if they don't control the chip; a stolen chip is only good for single transactions (and only if the PIN is stolen as well) rather than the mass fraud perpetrated after raiding large databases.

It's obvious (isn't it?) that we need to do something radically different before the Internet of Things turns into a digital cesspool. The good news for privacy and security in ubiquitous computing is that most smart devices can come with Secure Elements and built-in digital signature capability, so that all the data they broadcast can be given pedigree. We should be able to know tell for sure that every piece of information flowing in the IoT has come from a genuine device, with definite attributes, operating with the consent of its owner.

The technical building blocks for a properly secure IoT are at hand. Machine-to-Machine (M2M) identity modules (MIMs) and Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) provide safe key storage and cryptographic functionality. The FIDO Alliance protocols leverage this embedded hardware and enable personal attributes to be exchanged reliably. Only a couple of years ago, Vint Cerf in an RSA Conference keynote speculated that ubiquitous public key cryptography would play a critical role in the Internet of Things, but he didn't know how exactly.

In fact, we have have known what to do with this technology for years.

At the close of the Cyber Security Summit, President Obama signed his Executive Order -- in ink. The irony of using a pen to sign a cybersecurity order seemed lost on all concerned. And it is truly tragic.

In 1998, Bill Clinton and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern signed an US-Ireland communique on e-commerce. At that time, the presidents used smartcards. Then in 2003 -- still early days -- Bill Gates espoused the importance of chip technology for authentication.  Within weeks, several notebook computers were released with integrated smartcard readers, but service providers chose not to use the stronger security options. Instead of leading a new wave of decent security, banks and governments muddled through with passwords and then password generators or text messages. Mainstream e-business missed a huge opportunity through the 2000s to embed smart authentication in the day-to-day user experience.

We probably wouldn't need a cybersecurity summit in 2015 if serious transaction security had been built into the cyber infrastructure over a decade ago.

The Future of Data – An Ultra Brief Summary

I wrote a lengthy report on the future of data… due to several reasons I never got around to publishing it  (yet — I’d like to eventually, but now needs some updating).

I would like to share some excerpts from this report – such as the one below.  Please let me know your thoughts and it might encourage me to publish it (might, might, might… might).

Data has been touted over the years as many things: the blood the corporation, the main asset, the most valuable part of IT’s responsibilities – and lately as “Big Data”: a vast collection consisting of real-time data that comes from all walks of life and technology.

Regardless of how it is viewed, labeled, or categorized data remains the most important component of organizations finding and defining value for interactions between stakeholders and customers.

There are, however, two aspects that merit notice and make this very different from any other time: analytics and experiences.

The Value of Analytics

Without any processing, analysis and understanding of the hidden value inherent to data it actually is nothing more than a collection of one-and-zeroes in a storage device (or transport, if it must be interpreted life from the network as opposed to picked up from storage).  The purpose of data is to be combined with other elements, mixed-and-mashed in myriad ways, and its secrets unhidden.

This is actually one the most valuable advances of the recent years: the speed of processing, the understanding of the data, the advances in storage and management, and the better knowledge of how to manage data yielded amazing advances in real-time analytics and the use of predictive analytics (or, better yet – anticipatory analytics).

Now all we need are the tools to use it properly.

This is where most of the analytics vendors that get it are working on: data visualization, data-prep, data-scrubbing and more of those tools are losing their IT-centric, consultant-deployed models and embracing the rise of the citizen programmer.  Indeed, letting the stakeholders and the users directly access the data they need to conduct analytics and manipulate the data via graphical driven interfaces is removing the need for the “data scientist” and letting more and more organizations use their data better.

This is translating into better insights, better results, and better processes being deployed in organizations – and all this is the tip-of-the-spear for the digital transformation investments that will explode in the next few years.

All They Want is Experiences

The era of the customer is upon us.  Customers are more empowered and better prepared now that at any other time in history.  Armed with online communities, other customer’s reviews, and access to infinity resources via the internet they are smarter, better educated, and more knowledgeable than organizations.  As a result, they are calling the shots in the interactions between organizations and them: deciding when and where they interact, and (more importantly) what they want to get form the interaction.

This last point is critical: most organizations are not prepared to deliver those outcomes (in the form of experiences) because they don’t have access to the right information.

Information management I shaping up to be the critical investment priority for organization in the next decade and the three elements that make up information (data, knowledge, and content) are shaping up to get generous budgets allocated to them.

Of course, it is not simply about having the right information, or knowing where to find it, but also of making sure the right data is matched with the proper content and complemented with the necessary knowledge to provide a complete, personalized, and optimized answer to the customer’s question or inquiry.

The understanding of how information is created (how data is analyzed, knowledge generated, and content maintained at the very least) is what is going to be driving infrastructure investments for IT in the next 2-3 years (and longer) as they adjust to the new reality of having to manage information using technology.

What do you think? Am I way off?

Capgemini – all about making innovation a habit

pending

Guy Courtin was formerly Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research covering Matrix Commerce and how the Internet of Things drives the evolution of commerce.  Guy has over 15 years experience in the technology space and specifically in the supply chain space. Most recently he was the Vice President of Research at SCM World. Where he focused on the service providers that empowered supply chains. Prior to SCM World, Guy held numerous senior positions. He was responsible for product marketing at RSi, a retail supply chain solution provider. There managed RSi’s go to market strategy around their leading cloud based supply chain solutions. He also spear headed Progress Software’s supply chain group. Where he was responsible for driving revenue and market share as well…...

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Last week I decided to escape the snowy and brutal winter that has blanketed Boston and head to a sunny and warmer location – Chicago. Ha, clearly I am suffering from cabin fever. The reality is Chicago was warmer and had barely any snow, but enough about the weather.

What brought my colleague Ray Wang and me to Chicago was to visit Capgemini and attend their well-organized analyst day. The theme over the two days was pretty clear – innovation is the future for Capgemini. Easy to proclaim, difficult to execute. So can Capgemini live up to their lofty proclamation? Only time will tell but here are three take-aways that indicate they are on the right path:

• Instilling the closed loop process to innovation: Innovation cannot be a one time event, something that falls into a to-do list that we can check off as complete and move on to the next task. Being able to innovate must be something an organization takes on as a habit. Similar to exercising – going to the gym or for a swim is okay as a one-time event, but making it a habit is where we draw the greatest benefits. Capgemini emphasized the importance of infusing a habit of innovating with not only their clients but within their own organization. They highlighted work they did with many of their customers to constantly seek and execute on innovative needs. One such customer is one of North America’s largest agriculture co-operatives, who highlighted two large-scale workshops they had leveraging Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment facilitated process. These resulted in some important changes as well as greater innovative process for the companies 17 divisions. The framework from Capgemini is simple but requires discipline and rigor to stay with the process:
  • Discover – These are where the in person sessions are vital to flesh out where the needs are and what can be implemented.
  • Devise – Think of this as the fail fast segment. Implement quickly and learn quickly as to what works and will not.
  • Deploy – Take the successes from the prior stage and begin to deploy across the board.
  • Sustain – This is the key closed loop element. This cannot be a one-time project but must constantly build on itself. Sustain brings you back to the Discover phase.
• Failure is just as important as success: It could be argued that failure is the foundation of success. The whole notion of “fail fast” is what allows you to get to the successes sooner. Capgemini highlighted an example of working with a large CPG to exploring greater efficiencies via using Google glass. Unfortunately, the project did not achieve the goals. But fortunately for all the parties involved they absorbed plenty of learning from the experience. As Capgemini stated, just because the project did not catch on, does not mean it will not resurface down the road. The use of the technology for the original goal did not get adopted, but the learning that came from the process was successful. Capgemini’s customer shelved what would have been a large expenditure, Google was provided with the feedback to improve their product and the findings from the experience provide the basis for potential similar projects in the future. As a client stated during the conference “The toe stubs are where innovation comes from.” Which is why the next take away is crucial to the innovation journey.
• Long term relationship, not speed dating: Capgemini clearly displayed that their mind set is to develop and maintain long-term relationships with their customer base. They truly want to be seen as a partner for their customers and not only as firefighters being brought on to put out fires. Capgemini highlighted a number of clients Hydro One, Syngenta, Jamba Juice and Coca Cola to name a few. Wanting to create a long term business relationship is the goal of most companies, regardless of their industry. But it is clear for companies such as Capgemini, Accenture, KPMG and TCS to name a few, the days of large one off projects to implement large package applications are dwindling. That revenue stream cannot be sustainable. Becoming a trusted advisor to navigate the continually shifting technology and business process landscape could provide a more reliable revenue stream. It certainly will not be easy, but marriage never is!

It is clear that Capgemini recognizes the needed to move from being an integrator to a trusted advisor. They provided some thoughts and some voice of the customer that seems to point to Capgemini being on the right path. However it will be interesting to see if they can make this innovation partnership a large enough chunk of their business. They did mention during the session that they did see lots of business from merger and acquisitions. These feel like firefighting opportunities. Companies need to consolidate systems and processes after a business event, but does that translate to long-term partnerships? To be determined.

The new model for innovation is about delivering a stream of innovation not just one great idea. The right strategic direction for the company, but the journey will not be without major difficulties. But nothing worth achieving is simple.

On pure maths and innovation: An open letter to the editor of The New Yorker, February 2015.

Steve Wilson

Former Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Steve Wilson is former VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, leading the business theme Digital Safety and Privacy. His coverage includes digital identity, data protection, data privacy, cryptography, and trust. His advisory services to CIOs, CISOs, CPOs and IT architects include identity product strategy, security practice benchmarking, Privacy by Design (PbD), privacy engineering and Privacy [or Data Protection] Impact Assessments (PIA, DPIA). Coverage Areas: -  Identity management, frameworks & governance-  Digital identity technologies-  Privacy by Design -  Big Data; “Big Privacy”-  Identity & privacy innovation Previous experience: Wilson has worked in ICT innovation, research, development and analysis for over 25 years. With double…...

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An unpublished letter to the editor of The New Yorker, February 2015.

My letter

Alec Wilkinson says in his absorbing profile of the quiet genius Yitang Zhang ("The pursuit of beauty", February 2) that pure mathematics is done "with no practical purposes in mind". I do hope mathematicians will forever be guided by aesthetics more than economics, but nevertheless, pure maths has become a cornerstone of the Information Age, just as physics was of the Industrial Revolution. For centuries, prime numbers might have been intellectual curios but in the 1970s they were beaten into modern cryptography. The security codes that scaffold almost all e-commerce are built from primes. Any advances in understanding these abstract materials impacts the Internet itself, for better or for worse. So when Zhang demurs that his result is "useless for industry", he's mispeaking.

The online version of the article is subtitled "Solving an Unsolvable Problem". The apparent oxymoron belies a wondrous pattern we see in mathematical discovery. Conundrums widely accepted to be impossible are in fact solved quite often, and then frenetic periods of innovation usually follow. The surprise breakthrough is typically inefficient (or, far worse in a mathematician's mind, ugly) but it can inspire fresh thinking and lead to polished methods. We are in one of these intense creative periods right now. Until 2008, it was widely thought that true electronic cash was impossible, but then the mystery figure Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin. While it overturned the conventional wisdom, Bitcoin is slow and anarchic, and problematic as mainstream money. But it has triggered a remarkable explosion of digital currency innovation.

A published letter

Another letter writer made a similar point:

As Alec Wilkinson points out in his Profile of the math genius Yitang Zhang, results in pure mathematics can be sources of wonder and delight, regardless of their applications. Yet applications do crop up. Nineteenth-century mathematicians showed that there are geometries as logical and complete as Euclidean geometry, but which are utterly distinct from it. This seemed of no practical use at the time, but Albert Einstein used non-Euclidean geometry to make the most successful model that we have of the behavior of the universe on large scales of distance and time. Abstract results in number theory, Zhang's field, underlie cryptography used to protect communication on devices that many of us use every day. Abstract mathematics, beautiful in itself, continually results in helpful applications, and that's pretty wonderful and delightful, too.

David Lee
Sandy Spring, Md.

On innovation

My favorite example of mathematical innovation concerns public key cryptography (and I ignore here the credible reports that PKC was invented by the Brits decades before but kept secret). For centuries, there was essentially one family of cryptographic algorithms, in which a secret key shared by sender and recipient is used to both encrypt and decrypt the protected communication. Key distribution is the central problem in so-called "Symmetric" Cryptography: how does the sender get the secret key to the recipient some time before sending the message? The dream was for the two parties to be able to establish a secret key without ever having to meet or using any secret channel. It was thought to be an unsolvable problem ... until it was solved by Ralph Merkle in 1974. His solution, dubbed "Merkle's Puzzles" was almost hypothetical; the details don't matter here but they were going to be awkward to put it mildly, involving millions of small messages. But the impact on cryptography was near instantaneous. The fact that, in theory, two parties really could establish a shared secret via public messages triggered a burst of development of practical public key cryptography, first of the Diffie-Hellman algorithm, and then RSA by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman. We probably wouldn't have e-commerce if it wasn't for Merkle's crazy curious maths.

A Great Initial User Experience Is Critical

Alan Lepofsky

Vice President & Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Alan Lepofsky - VP and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research. With almost two decades of experience in the collaboration software industry, Lepofsky helps organizations improve the way their employees work together to get their jobs done. Lepofsky’s primary research area The Future of Work, focuses on: integrating collaboration and business processes (Purposeful Collaboration), structuring work via Social Task Management, leveraging analytics and digital assistants to work more productively, the strategic impact of mobile computing on business transformation, and measuring workforce culture based on Digital Proficiency instead of age. Twitter: @alanlepoLinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alanlepo     , Title: Big IdeasIntelligent Collaboration: The Intersection of…...

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As they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression. 

Well, spreadsheet/database vendor Airtable gets a 9/10 for creating an amazing first time user experience that helps guide you through getting started. To help you successfully use their product, they:

• Start you off with a virtual user manual complete with short training videos
• Pre-populate your home page with a few default databases
• Display pop-up guides as you work that highlight key features and functions
• Provide incentives/awards for running through the tutorial, installing mobile applications and inviting colleagues

Airtable provides one of the best first impressions I've ever had with a product. All software vendors, from startups to enterprise software giants should strive to emulate this level of user experience.

PS: Why not a 10/10... because the Guide Book does not (currently) resize with the browser.

HP acquires Aruba – The wireless networking provider – not the Caribbean island

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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On the morning of March 2nd 2015 the long rumored acquisition of Aruba Networks by HP came through with the official press release (find it here). 

 

So let’s dissect the press release News Analysis style:

PALO ALTO, Calif. and SUNNYVALE, Calif., Mar. 2, 2015 — HP (NYSE: HPQ) and Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN) today announced a definitive agreement for HP to acquire Aruba, a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise, for $24.67 per share in cash. The equity value of the transaction is approximately $3.0 billion, and net of cash and debt approximately $2.7 billion. Both companies’ boards of directors have approved the deal.

MyPOV – This marks the first acquisition under CEO Meg Whitman, who previously prescribed a ‘pause’ on the acquisition side. We have been a critic of the strategy as HP clearly needed more R&D and product innovation, due to the lack of innovation production under the long tenure of former, former CEO Mark Hurd. The on / off though has hurt e.g. the Software group that has not been growing organically as it should.

Aruba is a Sunnyvale-based industry leader in wireless networking with approximately 1,800 employees. The company had revenues of $729 million in fiscal 2014, and has reported compound annual revenue growth of 30 percent over the last five years.

MyPOV – Aruba Networks (going forward just Aruba) – has capitalized well on the need and convenience of Wifi in the enterprise world. In the ‘cloud only’ enterprise we see only a need for Wifi on premise, as the whole networking market and market place will be transformed. It is good to see HP capitalizing on this trend early. How the market has changed is that HP acquired the venerable 3COM back in 2010 for 2.7B. And that included 3COM IP from 30+ year’s history, including network security and more.

Aruba boasts a highly regarded innovation engine and specialized sales, marketing and channel model, complementing HP’s leading networking business and go-to-market breadth. Together, HP and Aruba will deliver next-generation converged campus solutions, leveraging the strong Aruba brand. This new combined organization will be led by Aruba’s Chief Executive Officer Dominic Orr, and Chief Strategy and Technology Officer, Keerti Melkote, reporting to Antonio Neri, leader of HP Enterprise Group. With this move, HP will be uniquely positioned to deliver both the innovation and global delivery and services offerings to meet customer needs worldwide.

MyPOV – Good for HP to keep the Aruba team in play, but life will be different than ever before for the former Aruba employees. The way how they adopt and make either life better (and hopefully not worse) is going to be key to watch in the next quarters. Aruba related revenue should grow as HP gives Aruba access beyond what the (estimated) 300+ Aruba sales team could reach.

With the shift to mobile, enterprise networking needs are exceeding the capabilities of legacy infrastructure. At the same time, organizations are shifting rapidly to mobility-centric workplaces for their employees, guests, customers and students. The next-generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard is critical in enabling this trend. This new technology will support the faster speeds and access to cloud applications that end-users expect. Enterprises need comprehensive, integrated and secure networking solutions to help them transition legacy systems to the wireless edge. Today’s announcement directly addresses these market trends.

MyPOV – Agreed – we only see new buildings and forward looking clients skipping the wired LAN infrastructure for complete wireless network setups. Wireless networks usually pay in a few quarters when measuring ease of use and productivity gains for employees. More nifty ROI strategies exist with offloading corporate mobile plans over to Wifi as needed.

“Enterprises are facing a mobile-first world and are looking for solutions that help them transition legacy investments to the new style of IT,” said Meg Whitman, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of HP. “By combining Aruba’s world-class wireless mobility solutions with HP’s leading switching portfolio, HP will offer the simplest, most secure networking solutions to help enterprises easily deploy next-generation mobile networks.”

MyPOV – HP needed to bring some value to the acquisition – but I am not sure how much value the HP (former 3COM etc.) switch technology can add as the wired past required very different switches than the mobile / Wifi consumption presence. Start to think about load…

“Together with HP, we have a tremendous opportunity to become an even greater force in enterprise mobility and networking,” said Mr. Orr. “This transaction brings together Aruba’s best-of-breed mobility hardware and software solutions with HP’s leading switching portfolio. In addition, Aruba’s channel partners will have the opportunity to expand their businesses with HP offerings. Together, we will build on Aruba’s proven ‘customer first, customer last’ culture, creating an innovative, agile networking leader ideally positioned to solve our customers’ most pressing mobility, security and networking challenges.”

MyPOV – Great plans, good luck with that. And kudos to mention the partner network – will be interesting to see how the new HP / Aruba will deal with overlaps, capacity, conflicts etc. – see below in the implication section.

HP and Aruba believe that by combining complementary product portfolios and go-to-market approaches they will be able to accelerate revenue growth and strengthen the financial performance of the combined HP Networking business, and create a leading competitor in the $18 billion and growing campus networking sector. Overall, HP expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings in the first full year following close.

MyPOV – Well congrats today – the work starts tomorrow. HP will have to make sure it does not break Aruba culture and drive and Aruba needs to learn to be part of a large mega enterprise. Both obvious things at hand – but way too often broken in the high tech takeover world.

Implications, Implications, …

Implications for Customers

As usual with acquisitions customer needs to look at securing existing build out and roadmap commitments. We advise to quickly look at the acquisition nature for the individual plans – they could be beneficial or a threat. In the case of a threat quickly go back to both vendors to commit to roadmap product plans, services. For a roadmap commitment make sure the right executives from HP are in the room to make the commitment. If advantages can come from the HP portfolio, quickly negotiate switch outs and replacements at defined conditions to long term purchase plans.

Implications for Partners

Partners to both vendors are in a good spot, but make sure to bring in the synergies and chart the value proposition accordingly. Reach out to HP for partnership re-assurance.

HP Partners only – Understand your Wifi strategy and reach out to HP to determine your partner contract. As a fallback look for replacement product strategy for Wifi.

Aruba Partners only – Make sure HP understand the unique value your organization brings to the table and make sure that is seen and understood by HP executives ASAP. As a fallback look for competing products.

Implications for Competitors

Time to chart the future Wifi strategy, there are a few – but not too many vendors left. As of now they will likely command a premium, so plan and move shrewdly. Also expect more entrenched partnerships to be created and use that to your advantage.

Implications for HP / Aruba

HP will have to make sure the two company cultures merge well and remain an agile and key player in the Wifi market. Easier said than done. Aruba will have to make sure to retain key employees to make the acquisition a success. Not every Aruba employee will be ‘thrilled’ to become a HP employee.

MyPOV

Kudos to HP and Whitman to go back out on the acquisition trail, something in my view the company has abstained for too long. If they company was able to execute them given all the work management has with the separation into Enterprise and Consumer, is of course something Whitman needs to make the call. But in my view HP cannot wait longer for getting a more attractive product portfolios in place that it does not have the time (and in networking even maybe not the talent) to develop organically. The challenge now moves from having eliminated whitespace to make the acquisition work.

And finally- why was this an enterprise and not consumer acquisition? If every HP printer is a wifi terminal powered by Aruba… ok heading for the Caribbean now.

 

An Aruba beach (not part of the acquisition...)

Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here.

----------

More about HP

• News Analysis - HP acquired Eucalyptus - Genius or Panic on Page Mill road? Read here
• News Analysis - Today's Billion in Cloud Investment is HP's and goes to Helion - read here
• A tale of two cloud GAs - Google & HP - read here
• The cloud is growing up - 3 signs from the news - read here
• To HAVEn and have not - or: HP Bundles away - read here

2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 (C) Holger Mueller - All Rights Reserved

Five Life and Leadership Lessons From The Billionaire's Club

R "Ray" Wang

Principal Analyst and Founder
Constellation Research

R “Ray” Wang is the CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He co-hosts DisrupTV, a weekly enterprise tech and leadership webcast that averages 50,000 views per episode and blogs at www.raywang.org. His ground-breaking best-selling book on digital transformation, Disrupting Digital Business, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2015. Ray's new book about Digital Giants and the future of business, titled, Everybody Wants to Rule The World was released in July 2021. Wang is well-quoted and frequently interviewed by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, and Bloomberg. Short Bio R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Founder, Chairman, and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He…...

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Over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with 19 billionaires.  I took the opportunity to ask them for their life lessons and leadership advice.  Because these uber successful individuals came from varied backgrounds and industries, I was expecting many different answers.  However, I was proven wrong.  In fact, the majority of their conversations fit into five common nuggets of wisdom:

Insights Remain Consistent Among The Uber Successful

1. You can never think big enough.  Despite how big you think or how large a problem you hope to solve, there is always a bigger one ahead.  Don’t let the challenge keep you back.  More importantly, don’t let yourself go unchallenged.
2. Do not settle for second best.  Life is short.  Don’t be a maniac but expect more from yourself and others around you.  If you keep high standards, you’ll be surrounded by others who keep high standards in business and life.
3. Remember all you ever have is your health.  When you realize you are on borrowed time, then you’ll change how you live.  Health should never be taken for granted.  Start thinking about how to prolong and improve your quality of life in your 30’s and 40’s not your 60’s.
4. Invest in your offspring and next generation.  Many wish they spent more of their times shaping the next generation including their kids.  Most felt they did not do a great job while focused on their career. Some even suggested that you not have kids unless you are ready to invest the time.
5. Find out who your real friends are earlier than later.  Many mentioned that you only know who your real friends are when you are poor, sick, and unemployed.  Surround yourself with people you can trust with real friendships, not business or social interests.

Do these resonate with you?  What do you think?

Your POV.

Got some nuggets of wisdom to share?  Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationR (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) org.

Resources

The post Quips: Five Life and Leadership Lessons From The Billionaire’s Club appeared first on A Software Insider's Point of View.

Enterprise Healthcare Management (EHM): Healthcare Meets Analytics

R "Ray" Wang

Principal Analyst and Founder
Constellation Research

R “Ray” Wang is the CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He co-hosts DisrupTV, a weekly enterprise tech and leadership webcast that averages 50,000 views per episode and blogs at www.raywang.org. His ground-breaking best-selling book on digital transformation, Disrupting Digital Business, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2015. Ray's new book about Digital Giants and the future of business, titled, Everybody Wants to Rule The World was released in July 2021. Wang is well-quoted and frequently interviewed by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, and Bloomberg. Short Bio R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Founder, Chairman, and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He…...

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The Healthcare Affordability Crisis Can Be Addressed With EHM Solutions

An affordability crisis has created chaos in the employer-provided healthcare market. With $620 billion in employer-paid costs to U.S. healthcare in 2014 and an annual increase that ranges from 4.7 percent to 10.3 percent a year, employers seek both improved utilization of programs and cost reductions. In addition, 55 percent, or more than half of all Americans, receive healthcare benefits from employer-sponsored programs. 

While early solutions provided transactional management and benefit design, newer solutions have incorporated insight and analytics to improve not only the efficacy of healthcare for employees, but also identify new opportunities. These opportunities not only reduce costs, but also create new programs based on usage patterns, identify opportunities to improve health and wellness, and allow employees to balance out the cost versus quality equation.

Enterprise Healthcare Management (EHM) is a new category of software that helps organizations select, deploy, manage, and influence the outcomes of their healthcare investments to align with business goals such as incentivizing employees to make responsible healthcare decisions; guiding employees to obtain and maximize available benefits; improving visibility into healthcare efficacy for employee and employer; reducing unnecessary or inappropriate care; and revealing usage patterns that could result in new programs.

Constellation expects this category to play a key role in improving the future of work by improving the efficacy of health benefits programs while driving down cost through transparency.

Insights into the Future of Cloud-Based EHM

Signs the healthcare system is not working efficiently:

1. Steadily rising cost of healthcare. Healthcare costs increase on average from 4.7 percent to 10.3 percent a year. While costs go up, quality remains consistent to worse for some employees.
2. Massive underutilization and disproportionate usage of benefits. The lack of insight into program efficacy leads to underutilization and waste.
3. Increasingly complicated regulatory compliance. The Affordable Care Act (i.e. ACA or Obamacare) has created a complicated tangle of healthcare policies and services. Compliance becomes increasingly costly and difficult.
4. Growing complexity of benefits programs. Public and private benefits overhauls led to complexities. These overhauls add costs for or organizations that lack a platform to address the resulting complexities.
5. Rising number of integration challenges. More technology, more integration problems.

Enterprise Healthcare Management Strategically Addresses Health and Welfare of Employees

Recent Constellation inquiries and advisory discussions with clients reveal that both healthcare costs and efficacy of health and wellness programs remain top of mind for CEOs, CFOs, and Chief People Officers. Given the pending retirement of Baby Boomers, the changing business models across industries, and the increasing pace of change, the ‘war for talent’ has intensified across all industries in the United States.

Enterprise Healthcare Management (EHM) helps organizations select, deploy, manage, and influence the outcomes of their healthcare investments so they better align with business goals. Common business objectives of EHM solutions include:

1. Incentivize employees to make responsible healthcare decisions. EHM solutions enable employees to evaluate cost and quality when making healthcare decisions.
2. Encourage employees to maximize available benefits. The best EHM solutions will provide employees access to eligibility and benefit information in an intuitive UX. No more digging, no more ambiguity. Information is available anywhere, anytime.
3. Improve visibility into healthcare efficacy for employee and employer. The most beneficial EHM solutions deliver healthcare usage data to employers, so they may improve the health and productivity of the workplace.
4. Reduce unnecessary or inappropriate care. Using insight and analytics, organizations can identify where and when care was delivered and identify how care can be optimized and when care is excessive or unnecessary.
5. Reveal usage patterns that could result in new programs. Data, insights, and employee engagement can drive future programs based on patterns of use. Applying context that includes location, time, role, gender, relationship, marital status, and other indicators can proactively drive new programs.

Preorder Disrupting Digital Business, published by Harvard Business Review Press In Q2 2015.  Learn more.

The Constellation View: EHM Addresses the Healthcare Affordability Crisis

EHM is a critical technology that will enable organizations to not only survive the massive changes in healthcare, but also succeed as companies are making a shift from:

• Cost to value
• Employer-defined benefit to employer contribution
• Single carrier to multi-carrier private exchanges

The healthcare affordability crisis faced by employers impacts organizational productivity, creativity, and competitiveness. For example, many studies estimate that the average cost of healthcare for active and retired U.S. auto workers is around $1,700 a vehicle, while foreign companies operating in the U.S. pay only $250 per active worker. The lower costs come from not paying the healthcare of retirees.

U.S. healthcare spending was estimated at $3.1 trillion in 2014. Of that massive number, employers paid $620 billion. Add in the confluence of changing payment models, provider shifts, and consumer behaviors, and the private health insurance market faces massive disruption in the next 36 months. While ‘fixing’ the healthcare system requires systemic change, EHM will provide the technological support to organizations navigating the massive transitions ahead.

Resources:

Insights into the Future of Cloud-Based EHM

Your POV.

Ready to take on healthcare costs and improve health outcomes with technology?  Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationR (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) org.

Resources

The post Research Report: Enterprise Healthcare Management (EHM) – Healthcare Meets Analytics appeared first on A Software Insider's Point of View.

IBM InterConnect 2015 - The Power Of One

Alan Lepofsky

Vice President & Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Alan Lepofsky - VP and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research. With almost two decades of experience in the collaboration software industry, Lepofsky helps organizations improve the way their employees work together to get their jobs done. Lepofsky’s primary research area The Future of Work, focuses on: integrating collaboration and business processes (Purposeful Collaboration), structuring work via Social Task Management, leveraging analytics and digital assistants to work more productively, the strategic impact of mobile computing on business transformation, and measuring workforce culture based on Digital Proficiency instead of age. Twitter: @alanlepoLinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alanlepo     , Title: Big IdeasIntelligent Collaboration: The Intersection of…...

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IBM's newest event, IBM InterConnect is the combination of multiple conferences that used to be held separately throughout the year. In its inaugural run, IBM did an excellent job in telling a consistent story to their customers that spanned all of the IBM software brands. No longer is there one message about security, another about social, another about mobile, etc. Instead IBM is now combining the products and services of the entire company to creating solutions that leverage all of what IBM has to offer.

IBM Watson, BlueMix and Verse were the stars of the show from my perspective, but they were just a small part of what was covered.

Below are the highlights I posted to Twitter during the IBM InterConnect keynotes. Depending on your browser, you may have to scroll down to see all of them.

MWC15 Prep Guide: Disruptive Technology for the Enterprise

Steve Wilson

Former Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Steve Wilson is former VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, leading the business theme Digital Safety and Privacy. His coverage includes digital identity, data protection, data privacy, cryptography, and trust. His advisory services to CIOs, CISOs, CPOs and IT architects include identity product strategy, security practice benchmarking, Privacy by Design (PbD), privacy engineering and Privacy [or Data Protection] Impact Assessments (PIA, DPIA). Coverage Areas: -  Identity management, frameworks & governance-  Digital identity technologies-  Privacy by Design -  Big Data; “Big Privacy”-  Identity & privacy innovation Previous experience: Wilson has worked in ICT innovation, research, development and analysis for over 25 years. With double…...

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R "Ray" Wang

Principal Analyst and Founder
Constellation Research

R “Ray” Wang is the CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He co-hosts DisrupTV, a weekly enterprise tech and leadership webcast that averages 50,000 views per episode and blogs at www.raywang.org. His ground-breaking best-selling book on digital transformation, Disrupting Digital Business, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2015. Ray's new book about Digital Giants and the future of business, titled, Everybody Wants to Rule The World was released in July 2021. Wang is well-quoted and frequently interviewed by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, and Bloomberg. Short Bio R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Founder, Chairman, and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He…...

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Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Role: Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on the IOT of Customer Experience and how the cloud is driving more flexible, agile, and robust customer service and customer experiences. In-app or in device customer service is the future. Coverage Areas: Next Generation Customer, Digital Marketing Transformation Bio: As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Petouhoff works with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic customer experience (marketing, sales and service) solutions which engage customers, build brands and grow businesses. Combining her experience as a former Forrester software analyst, PWC systems integrator and change management consultant, Petouhoff leads executive workshops to discuss to not only…...

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Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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pending

Guy Courtin was formerly Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research covering Matrix Commerce and how the Internet of Things drives the evolution of commerce.  Guy has over 15 years experience in the technology space and specifically in the supply chain space. Most recently he was the Vice President of Research at SCM World. Where he focused on the service providers that empowered supply chains. Prior to SCM World, Guy held numerous senior positions. He was responsible for product marketing at RSi, a retail supply chain solution provider. There managed RSi’s go to market strategy around their leading cloud based supply chain solutions. He also spear headed Progress Software’s supply chain group. Where he was responsible for driving revenue and market share as well…...

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Alan Lepofsky

Vice President & Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Alan Lepofsky - VP and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research. With almost two decades of experience in the collaboration software industry, Lepofsky helps organizations improve the way their employees work together to get their jobs done. Lepofsky’s primary research area The Future of Work, focuses on: integrating collaboration and business processes (Purposeful Collaboration), structuring work via Social Task Management, leveraging analytics and digital assistants to work more productively, the strategic impact of mobile computing on business transformation, and measuring workforce culture based on Digital Proficiency instead of age. Twitter: @alanlepoLinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alanlepo     , Title: Big IdeasIntelligent Collaboration: The Intersection of…...

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Next week 86,000 people will attend Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. This conference strives to cater to EVERYONE--thus it's easy to lose your focus in the deluge of information. For those interested in disruptive technologies for the enterprise, Constellation Research's early adopter's guide to MWC will keep you on track. Keep these disruptive trends in mind while you're walking the floor, and have a successful MWC.

Mobile Workplace

Organizations Must Embrace Mobile Not Just As A Device, But As A Way of Working

By Alan Lepofsky

When people talk about mobile computing, thoughts usually turn to smartphones and tablets. While devices do play a role, mobile describes the larger topic of how people work in motion.

Although mobile transformation has clearly started, few organizations have completed a successful deployment. In a recent Constellation Research survey of 500 organizations, mobile transformation registered as a top priority for fifty percent of organizations, yet only thirty-six percent of organizations perceived their transformation projects as progressing satisfactorily.

Before attending MWC evaluate your organization's mobile transformation progress by identifying its position on Constellation's four-stage mobile transformation framework. Set your goals to advance stage by stage until transformation is complete.

Stage 1: Starting infrastructure (hardware and software) and resource (people and money) allocations to begin projects

Stage 2: Updating existing tools and processes to be accessible from mobile devices

Stage 3: Updating existing tools and processes to be leverage mobile specific features such as cameras, GPS, accelerometers, etc. and to work across a variety of device types

Stage 4: Implementing new tools and/or processes that change the core business (products, services, revenue models, etc.) of the organization

While browsing the floor at MWC remember that while devices are critical components of mobile transformation, devices themselves do not represent true transformation. Devices, including smartphones and tablets represent only the tangible side of mobility. Holistic mobile transformation a simultaneous implementation of devices with the changes in work patterns they enable.

IoT for Matrix Commerce

By Guy Courtin

This year's Mobile World Congress will heavily emphasize what else...the Internet of Things (IoT). Expect to hear a lot about connected homes, connected cars, and how IoT is spilling beyond these areas deeper into the supply chain.

Early adopters should keep their eyes peeled for next generation IoT applications in transportation, manufacturing, warehousing and other parts of the extended supply chain.

The IoT market for commerce isn't as solid as the futurists speaking at MWC will have you believe. Players are still jostling for position, making planning for IoT a little tricky. Try to get a sense for the direction this budding technology market is heading when it comes to standards and IoT platforms. Are we moving closer to standards that will make the connectivity between networks simple? Or is IoT continuing down the path towards specific platforms and standards for different parts of the IoT ecosystem?

Nextgen Apps

The proliferation of mobile devices coupled with advances in cloud technology will push the development of nextgen apps. Mobile devices serve as modern mobile computing platforms. To serve these platforms, enterprises must build new applications to satiate the growing demands of devices and users. Enterprises will experience demand to iterate at an accelerating pace. Embrace these new demands as an opportunity to evolve and innovate.

Holger Mueller describes how organizations can harness trends in mobile to drive innovation.

1. Understand Mobile is more than Mobile. Given that modern mobile applications run in the cloud, they are mostly also created and built with cloud tools. Realizing that these development tools should be more than mobile only tools, but help to craft an overall nextgen apps strategy is a key aspect selecting these tools.

2. Embrace UI Innovation. Enterprises should plan for 6-9 month UI innovation cycles. The pace of innovation of UI is mostly seen as a burden, but Constellation views this as an opportunity to achieve better and more engaging user experiences. The readiness of users to consume apps is phenomenal -embrace the change and leverage it to an enterprise's advantage or risk being left behind.

3. Empower the business user. Most modern development tools have become so easy to use that a business user can build pretty robust and functional rich mobile applications. Empowering the business user is the right strategy as it empowers the business user to make first hand decisions on the respective mobile application, without the delay and risk of 'loss on translation' when working with a technical team.

Mobile Identity

Steve Wilson makes the case for using mobile identification to phase out passwords.

One of the most important trends in the past 10 years is the adoption of smart mobile technology for identity management. The mobile phone is the ideal identity device. It integrates authentication directly with the apps that need it; it's a natural second factor; it's ubiquitous and you notice within minutes when it's lost or stolen; and a mobile phone's built-in cryptography provides smartcard-grade authentication. All those critical identity documents and credentials we carry around in our pockets will soon be managed in secure mobile wallets, with vastly improved privacy. All the major SIM card and mobile firmware providers have major plays in the identity management plumbing, including G&D, Gemplus, Oberthur and Trustonic. And they're all parlaying advanced SIM technology into Machine-to-Machine security in the Internet of Things.

Biometrics and mobile devices go together like strawberries and cream. Voice recognition leader and FIDO Alliance member AGNITiO will be demonstrating new technology to the "Showstoppers" press event on Sunday afternoon.

The GSMA has been collaborating in the past 12 months with the Open Identity Foundation - another sign of how identity and access technology is integrating in the personal device UX. So I'm looking forward to presentations from the likes of John Bradley from Ping Identity and David Pollington from GSMA.

Constellation likes to say that privacy is the inverse of identity: If identity management is what you need to know about someone, privacy management is what you don't need to know! And it's great that privacy gets its own sessions at MWC too. Check out the "User Centered Privacy" panel on Monday afternoon. A strong set of speakers will unpack transparency, choice and control over data in a connected world where information is being broadcast and absorbed more and more continuously.

Highlights:

• Ensuring User-Centered Privacy in a Connected World Monday 16:00 - 17:30
• Keynote: The New Mobile Identity Wednesday 9:15
• SIM: Subscription, Identity and Money Wednesday 11:30 - 13:30
• Navigating the Mobile Contactless Payments Landscape Thursday 11:30 - 13:00

And if you can't be there in person -- or if you just can't be in all places at once -- follow the privacy discussion on Twitter at #MWC15PRIV.

Customer Experience, Branding

Seamless customer experience means consistent branding (not to mention fulfillment of brand promises). Mobile means more channels to manage, but also introduces technologies that can efficiently deliver consistent customer experiences.   

In the digital era, customer experience determines winners and losers. However, as with marketing, analog methods will not work in a digital world.  Now is the time to embrace mobile customer experience.  Natalie Petouhoff explains how.

1. Evaluate your Mobile Customer Experience Strategy: Billions of people are going mobile, so consider how your company is (or isn’t) expanding it’s ability to use mobility to its advantage by examining how your customers will interact with your company via mobile. Strive to create ubiquitous customer experiences, be where your customers are, whenever they are there. Forget multi and omni-channel. Those are either company centric or not truly seamless. Invest in your customers where your customers are: in mobile ubiquity.

2. Prepare a Gameplan: Because some of the most innovative companies in the mobile space will be attending, you’ll want to really set your sights on exploring as much as you can over the four days. Prepare yourself by reviewing your current mobility strategies, set your mobile strategy goals, and then map out the gaps so you have a roadmap to advance from where you are today.

Is your company interested in app technology, cloud capabilities, sustainability or wearables? If you are not sure, there will be plenty of examples of leading brands, for example— AT&T, Jasper, KT Corporation, Oral-B, Sierra Wireless and Vodafone— demonstrating how to deliver fully-integrated, immersive experiences, and showcasing  technologies designed to make our cities a smarter, greener, and healthier places to live.

3. Consider new mobile-enabled realities.

The always-on, always-connected nature of mobile enables every employee to serve as a customer service representative, sales representative, or social media marketer. This shift, however, must run in the company’s DNA. Start planning your mobile transformation now so you can take advantage of this enormous opportunity to harness the power of mobile to transform your organization.

Post MWC Action Plan

Don't let all that inspiration go to waste. R "Ray" Wang explains how to translate inspiration into action.

Use Mobile As The Gateway For Your Enterprise Digital Transformation Projects

Constellation believes that mobile is more than just the device. While smart phones and other devices provide a key enabler, design in digital transformation should take into account how these technologies address the business value and business model transformation required to deliver on break through innovation. These devices provide the sense and respond, the interactivity, and the connectivity required for digital transformation. In applying mobile solutions to the solution design point, Constellation recommends that clients:

1. Assess how third generation enterprise mobile apps can change the business. Constellation recommends that clients seek the most common, cross-functional business problem that cannot be solved with linear thinking. Articulate the business problem and benefit. Show how the solution orchestrates new experiences. Identify how analytics and insights can fuel the business model shift. Exploit full native device features. Seek frictionless experiences.

2. Determine whether to build, buy, or modify. Given the scarcity of third generation enterprise mobile solutions, most organizations fear the need to staff up large mobile app dev shops. Where solutions have been developed, expect to take these solutions as a platform to expand from. Where solutions have not been developed, Constellation suggests that organizations who have strong app dev shops, standardize on a mobile app platform for development. For those who lack the resources or would prefer not to staff up for mobile app dev, Constellation suggests engagement with design shops and system integrators who have platforms that can scale for the rapid of pace of change in mobile development.

3. Plan for a mobile experience workshop. As part of the design thinking process, clients move beyond the inquiry or exploratory conversation to solidify objectives. The process starts with a proof of concept, road mapping engagement, and then the actual enterprise mobility project. The process often results in quick wins for the business side and cuts cost out of the IT budget.

Need additional assistance with your mobile strategy? Contact Constellation.