EDITORIAL PAGE

e-BUSINESS ON DEMAND: PREPARE THREE ENVELOPES

    Years ago there was a joke whereby an executive was moving into a new job. Inevitably, he bumps into his predecessor in the parking lot and strikes up a friendly conversation. "As the new guy coming in, have you any advice for me?" asked the incoming executive. "As a matter of fact, I have," answered his predecessor, "I have even gone so far as to write out three envelopes which includes some tips for handling tough problems. I left them in your desk and marked them #1, #2 and #3. If you ever get hard-pressed on a problem, these envelopes should be useful to you."

    The two shook hands and parted. The incoming executive didn't really pay too much attention to his predecessor's remarks or the three envelopes until one day he ran into his first major problem. At a loss as to what to do, he remembered the three envelopes and opened #1 which simply read, "Blame your predecessor." Great idea! Which the executive does and gets him out of his first jam.

    Time goes by and eventually the executive gets mired in another problem which he doesn't quite know how to handle. In desperation he turns to envelope #2 which reads, "Reorganize."  Brilliant! Consequently, the executive reorganizes jobs and the chain of command, and orders new office furniture, thus alleviating the problem.

    More time passes until the executive is faced with a major calamity which he is at a complete loss as to how to handle. Frantically, he turns to the last envelope marked #3 which simply read, "Prepare three envelopes."

    When I hear of things like IBM's "e-Business On Demand," I am reminded of the three envelopes joke. Today, it seems that every time there is a change at the top of the corporate hierarchy, the incoming CEO looks to establish a new corporate identity to affix his/her seal to. You can either return to basics and concentrate on improving internal productivity or seek new avenues of income. But with eBusiness On Demand as touted by IBM's new CEO Sam Palmisano, all I smell is snake-oil. There was a good p.r. piece on Palmisano and his vision in the March 17th issue of BusinessWeek magazine, which spells out his vision.

    IBM makes a spirited analogy between computing and a public utility whereas, "Virtualized Companies will be able to access and pay for computing the same way they get electricity, telecommunications or water-by the flip of a switch, the push of a button, the turn of a knob or the click of a mouse. When traffic or transactions spike, capacity can be added automatically over the Net. When things are quiet, your company pays less, and capital is freed up to invest back into your business."

    This all sounds very intriguing on the surface. Some of the early developments resulting from e-Business On Demand research includes balancing the load on servers, which makes a lot of sense. But IBM is carrying the analogy perhaps too far by stressing that "on demand" is the manner by which companies should run in the future. I have a real problem with this. Basically, this theory would have computers supersede the business systems they are suppose to serve. Fundamentally, IBM is saying, "Don't worry about your systems; sign-up with us and we'll provide you with all the computing horsepower you are ever going to need." Instead of understanding the systems which runs a business, just throw as much computer resources as you need to solve a problem. As far as I'm concerned, this is putting the cart before the horse; very costly and unproductive.

    Although the utility analogy sounds cute, it should stop right there and be left at the door. Companies run on systems, not just on computers. Now to IBM's credit, there are some rather positive parts to e-Business on Demand, such as promoting open standards (something started by IBM even before Lou Gerstner's reign as IBM CEO), and a push for data integration. Other than that, I see it as nothing more than a means to sell more hardware and catapult IBM to #1 in computer services. For example, under e-Business, if a company's work piles up, they can ship excess off to IBM for processing (for a fee of course).

    To Palmisano's credit and to prove the viability of on-demand computing, he has directed IBM to adopt e-Business itself in its internal operations. But IBM itself is having trouble learning how to do it. The BusinessWeek article points out the problems IBM is having in implementing a simple "expertise locator" to find employees with certain talents and experience (aka a "Skills Inventory" as used in the old days). If IBM is ever going to be successful with e-Business, and credible with their customers, they will have to become the model of its use (if it is indeed possible).

    The press and pundits may be dazzled by Palmisano's vision, but all I can ask is, "When do we get to envelope #2?"

    OS/2 WARP 4 DEATH WATCH

    As mentioned in my February editorial regarding IBM's Withdrawal Announcement 902-274, IBM has, in fact, pulled the plug on selling OS/2 through its Software Choice catalog. The following listings are now defunct as of March 12th:

    Remarkably, there is no mention of any problems either in their main OS/2 Warp web page or their OS/2 Strategy for 2003. I guess the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

    Furtunately, you can still buy versions of OS/2 on eBay.

    Keep the Faith!

   

- Tim Bryce
Editor, OS/2 CONNECT

Please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail