Monthly Archives: September 2007

27/09/2007 Posted in Business, IT Leave a comment

Honest tech…

By Ben Kepes

Hat tip to Zoli for finding this pic; Look closely at the red circle! Zoli also wrote this…… “it reminds me of *my* manager a decade ago, VP at a Very Big Very Blue company, who had his secretary fax his incoming email after him to whichever hotel he stayed

27/09/2007 Posted in Business, Economic Development, Efficiency, New Zealand, Society 5 Comments

Two dinosaurs to merge?

By Ben Kepes

And I’m not talking traditional software companies here! News that the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) and the National Distribution Union (NDU) are in talks about a merger. I’ve always been dubious about unions – my experiences have largely revolved around loud mouthed pommie imports (and some of my

26/09/2007 Posted in Design, IT, SaaS 2 Comments

What it would take for me to ditch MS Office….

By Ben Kepes

I work in an office with some pretty committed open sourcies that, in my opinion, are prepared to sacrifice functionality for actively not using a MS product. This isn’t neccessarily a bad thing, it’s just that for mission critical requirements (and for me given my multiple roles – email and

26/09/2007 Posted in Business, IT, SaaS, Strategy Leave a comment

Another point of view on the ISV to SaaS connundrum….

By Ben Kepes

Over on Smoothspan, Bob interviewed the CEO of SaaS expense claim and business travel booking automator Concur, Steve Singh. It is an excellent interview but the defining moment for me came in the following excerpt; Do you think SaaS is an inevitable bridge that every ISV has to cross in

26/09/2007 Posted in Business, Design, IT Leave a comment

Apple is smart (sub title – don’t screw with Steve)

By Ben Kepes

News that a new release of iPhone software will/might/could brick unlocked iPhones. I’d be surprised if it was a completely frivolous claim, but on the other hand Apple need to appease AT&T somehow. My advice – don’t install the new software till others utilising the same unlocking technique as you

26/09/2007 Posted in Business, Design, Economic Development, IT, New Zealand, Society, Strategy Leave a comment

A broadband strategy for New Zealand…

By Ben Kepes

As posted previously, the NZ institute has put together a ginger group) including Rod to look at the issues surrounding broadband infrastructure in New Zealand. Their draft report has just been released. I’ve given it a quick read – some of the figures used in terms of potential benefits from

26/09/2007 Posted in Business, New Zealand Leave a comment

Another ex-Telecom exec moves on….

By Ben Kepes

News that Kevin Kenrick, ex Telecom COO will be taking on the newly established position of CEO at House Of Travel early next year. Normally execs wait until the new CEO starts before jumping ship – I think the top echelons of Telecom realise that there are some serious changes

25/09/2007 Posted in IT, SaaS 1 Comment

You don’t say?

By Ben Kepes

From SaaS week; IDC has released a study on the emerging SaaS channel in which it concludes that Software-as-a-Service may have a serious impact on traditional partner revenue streams. In the press release, senior analyst Erin TenWolde said, “Two big wrinkles for partners are obviously the subscription revenue stream associated

25/09/2007 Posted in IT, SaaS 2 Comments

Larry Ellison and SaaS…

By Ben Kepes

In InformationWeek’s CIOs Uncensored blog, Mary Hayes Weier reported that Larry Ellison has no interest in the SaaS trend because “there’s no money to be made there.” Now either; Ellison has way too much money or His investment advisors are misleading him or He’s going senile Why do I say

25/09/2007 Posted in Business, Coffee, New business 2 Comments

Co-working in Christchurch…

By Ben Kepes

Marek and I had coffee this afternoon and talked about co-working. We’re both firm believers in the collaborative business model and Marek is keen to explore this and look at setting up a co-working arrangement here in Christchurch. Plans are pretty fluid at the moment but it’d be good to

The Author

Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. More on Ben

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