Whether you like it or not we are all contributors and users of crowdsourced data on a daily basis. Examples are all around us, whether it’s: voting on TV talent shows; product ratings on Amazon; or traffic on Google Maps; or mobile phone coverage maps collated by RootMetrics from user supplied data. Whilst the first…
In an interview for CBS’ ’60 Minutes’ program, Bill Gates talked about his relationship with Steve Jobs. In it he talks about tablets, “We did tablets – lots of tablet – well before Apple did” he states, before conceding “they put the pieces together in a different way that succeeded.” In the world of tablets,…
When most people hear the words ‘hacker’ or ‘hack’ they probably conjure up an image of a teenager trying to hack into a government mainframe or a hardened criminal trying to get into a banks computer network. Such an image is of course only one interpretation of those words and over the weekend TechCrunch hosted the Disrupt…
Competition is acknowledged as a core tool for procurement and whilst suppliers often decry it there are even upsides for them. Often the fact that a buyer is running a competition shows intent to purchase, gives a finishing line to aim for, and boundaries to work within. A well run competition, through focus and by…
I was recommended to a TED lecture called ‘use data to build better schools’ given by Andreas Schleicher. Andreas is from an OECD funded organisation called PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment). It was a great use of 15 mins and gave some great insights into the difference between access to education and equality of…
When we think of Facebook we often think of it as a social networking site. Yesterday, for a period of time, people trying to log into other, 3rd party, sites which use their Facebook account for authentication were redirected to an error page. At this point it became clear to them that services such as…
With many countries struggling with tough economic times there has been much focus on the issue of taxes, who should be paying, and what is the right balance. In the UK last week it was the turn of three global companies to come under the interrogation of the UK’s Parliamentary Accounts Committee which I briefly…
Increasingly in relation to business models we are seeing the use of terms such as ecosystem, keystone, and networks. This is not in itself new, as we have been used to the concept of supply chains more many years and they have been used throughout history. What we are seeing increasingly, is many organisations adopting…
When we think of subscriptions we usually think of magazines and health clubs. From a business model perspective they both operate a similar model where we agree to commit to pay a periodic fee for a period of time in return for access to an often perishable service or product. When we dig beneath the…
As anyone who has worked in a consultancy, law firm, accountancy practice, or the like will know only too well, to keep your position you have to bill as many hours as possible. Managing a firm that runs a consultancy or partnership model relies on balancing order intake, sales, utilisation, and margin. Order intake and its…