Digital Discourse / Software / Cloud Computing

Interview with New Member: LiquidPlanner

December 12, 2012 By

SIIA is delighted to welcome new member LiquidPlanner. I had a chance to speak with their CEO, Liz Pearce, to learn more about the company and the project management market.

Rhianna: Welcome to SIIA! Tell me a little about LiquidPlanner and what makes you unique in the Project Management market.

Liz: LiquidPlanner is unique because it is the only project management software to offer a bold new approach to scheduling. We call it “priority-based scheduling,” and it’s not only easier, but also far more accurate than traditional project management solutions based on the Gantt chart. Our robust scheduling engine actually automates much of the manual work that traditionally falls to project managers. In fact, our customers report their teams save an average of 16 hours a month from the automation benefits provided by LiquidPlanner.

Here’s how it works. In LiquidPlanner, you give tasks “best case / worst case” estimates and put them in priority order. Then LiquidPlanner automatically calculates for you an expected completion date for each task and for the project as a whole, based on who the work is assigned to and how much availability they have. Unlike other project management solutions, LiquidPlanner does not allow you to overbook a team member, so the results are based on real world availability of resources. Because projects and tasks are prioritized in rank order, you can instantly see when a change to one project impacts another – something that is impossible with most other tools.

LiquidPlanner also offers time tracking, collaboration, analytics, mobile apps, and more, all delivered through the cloud. We launched the company in 2008 and have over 1,200 customers in 50+ countries worldwide, many of whom are software, IT, and creative organizations.

Rhianna: How do you think the Project Management space has evolved in the last 3-5 years and what trends are driving that evolution?

Liz: The general proliferation of SaaS-based business tools has been transformative for the project management industry. Shared, collaborative systems are now the norm, in contrast to the time just a few years ago when the project manager alone held the keys to the castle. It’s resulting in a new “democratization of project data,” where information on workload, estimation accuracy, and tracking is now available to all members of the team. That means team members can get a barometric read on their own performance relative to others, not to mention better insight into their own contributions, areas for improvement, and roadmap of responsibility. Now, the onus is on vendors to provide solutions that are easier to use, so each team member themselves can update the project workspace without the need for a specialized project manager in the IT department. The trend of SaaS-based project management also means executives are getting unprecedented visibility into capacity and their ability to deliver products and services. I think you’ll see more and more businesses reporting internal cost savings from smarter project management tools.

Rhianna: You do a lot to ensure security and support with your solution. Can you tell us a little about the measure you take to ensure overall security and support of your solutions?

Liz: One of the great things about the SaaS model is that software providers live and die by the quality of service they offer. Naturally, we go to great lengths to ensure end-to-end security and reliability, from authenticating every user account via email to using SSL technology for server authentication and data encryption. We manage our own servers at a world-class data center here in Seattle. In addition to tight physical security measures, it’s architected to protect against hardware and software failure with redundant power and internet connections, hot failover servers, nightly off-site data backups, and 24/7/365 monitoring.

Rhianna: You recently took over the CEO position, having previously held the COO role at LiquidPlanner. What is your vision for the future of the company?

Liz: It’s an incredibly exciting time at LiquidPlanner. We’re really entering the second era of LiquidPlanner’s life as a company. The first five years were dedicated to R&D – we set out to tackle a really big, hard problem and disrupt an old and stagnant market. During this period, we essentially bootstrapped the company to profitability and established a loyal customer base around the world. Today, LiquidPlanner has more than 1,100 paying customers in 50 countries across multiple industries and the company was named one of “Washington’s Best WorkPlaces” by the Puget Sound Business Journal. The next phase for LiquidPlanner is all about driving the company’s growth and extending our platform. We see so many opportunities to help teams tackle increasingly complex projects in today’s competitive business environment, and we are investing heavily in social productivity innovation to meet this growing demand. My vision is that LiquidPlanner becomes a component of the must-have business software toolkit for businesses of all sizes, alongside industry leaders like Salesforce, Zendesk, and Box. We’re lucky to be doing business in a time when innovation, quality, and service are rewarded – on those grounds we are very solid. I’m extremely bullish on the future.

 

Rhianna Collier is VP for the Software Division at SIIA.

Share|
Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Software, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Webinar – Shaping A New Era of Computing and Business Innovation

November 20, 2012 By

CloudNOWIn partnership with CloudNOW, the SIIA and CloudNOW webinar series features thought leadership and best practices from some of the greatest minds in the industry.

 

 

 

Companies are looking for ways to drive lasting marketplace advantage, with innovation becoming the key driver of business success. In this pre-recorded webcast, Vanessa Alvarez, Cloud Thought Leader & Director of Product Marketing at Gridstore talks with Lauren States, Vice President, CTO, IBM Corporate Strategy in an interview format.  They explore how cloud and this new era of computing is fostering innovation and changing the structure of businesses and markets, and how the use of cloud technologies can enable IT to move out of the data center and into the fabric of the business.

 

About the Presenters:

Lauren States
As Vice President, Technology Strategy, Growth Initiatives and CTO for Cloud Computing on the IBM Corporate Strategy team, Lauren is responsible for the technology strategy for IBM’s growth initiatives, including cloud computing, Smarter Planet, business analytics and emerging markets. In her previous role in the IBM Software Group, Lauren engaged directly with clients to deliver leading edge cloud solutions globally. She joined IBM as a systems engineer after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.

Vanessa Alvarez
Vanessa Alvarez is the director of product marketing and an accomplished technology professional. Alvarez focuses on the go to market strategy for Gridstore’s award winning solution, the Grid. Previously, Alvarez was an analyst with Forrester Research, focused on next generation enterprise infrastructure and emerging technologies. She advised Fortune 500 enterprises on how to best leverage their IT environment to enable their competitive advantage, through the deployment of emerging technologies and operational models.

Share|
Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Software, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

How the Election Will Impact Federal IT

November 7, 2012 By

Now that the campaign is over it’s a good time to take a look at what the future holds for federal IT. Here are a couple basic things we know: There is continuing pressure on federal agencies to deliver better services to citizens, while reducing the overall cost of government. IT has and will continue to play a role in this effort. We also expect to see moderate overall cuts to federal IT spending, somewhere in the 5 percent range, so agencies will have to reprioritize some ongoing IT initiatives.

All of this bodes well for “innovation” and we expect to see a continuation of the effort to move agencies to cloud computing, consolidate the existing data center infrastructure and better leverage government data. We also expect to see a continued focus on performance and mission-oriented goals and increased attention paid to the need to reform federal IT procurement.

As for federal IT personnel, we know there will be changes at the agency CIO level and probably at other places like GSA and OMB where federal IT policy is driven – we just don’t know what they are yet. All indications are that Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel is planning to stick around for a while as should Federal CTO Todd Park (pure speculation on my part, but I haven’t heard anything to the contrary). We know that President Obama will have to appoint a permanent OMB Director sooner rather than later and that could trigger a reshuffling of some responsibilities and priorities at OMB.

On Capitol Hill, there will be a significant change to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee leadership, as current HSGAC Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-CT) retires and current Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-ME) has to step down as RM because of term limits. Tom Carper (D-DE) appears to be in line to be Chairman and Tom Coburn (R-OK) to be Ranking Member. Both Carper and Coburn have focused in the past on reducing government waste and maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of government, so we can anticipate some focus there. Sen. Carper’s ascension to the Chairmanship, along with Sen. Coburn’s new role leaves vacancies on the Federal Financial Management Subcommittee. Sen. Brown’s (R-MA) reelection loss and Sen. Akaka’s retirement leave a couple of other subcommittee spots to be filled. Other members of the Senate who can play a key role in government technology are Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and newly elected Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), both of whom represent the tech heavy Commonwealth of Virginia.

The House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee will be more stable than its Senate counterpart with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) remaining Chairman and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) remaining as Ranking Member of the full committee. The key Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement will continue to be led by Rep. James Lankford (R-OK), with Gerry Connelly (D-VA) likely to remain as Ranking Member.

The Government Reform Committees are going to play a significant role in the look and shape of federal IT over the next two years as Chairmen Issa and Lankford move forward with legislation to reform federal IT acquisition. The bill, known as the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) which has yet to be introduced seeks to empower federal CIOs and speed the acquisition process. This bill will likely draw a lot of the federal IT community’s attention next year and I expect Rep. Connelly to play a key role in this debate, with his newly drawn 11th Congressional District heavily populated by tech contractors.

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG.

Share|
Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Cloud/Gov, Government, PSIG, Software

CODiE Awards Judges: A Conversation with the Coordinator

October 31, 2012 By

Nominations have closed for the 2013 CODiE Awards, and I am definitely excited about the variety and caliber of products in this year’s program. I know our judges are looking forward to reviewing the products as well. Our first round review is the core of the CODiE Awards. It is also the portion of the program that gives me the most interaction with the judges and nominees. I am constantly in contact with both groups, ensuring that everyone has a great experience.

What is the first round review?

For the first round review, two judges review each product in each category. For example, products nominated in two categories will be assigned four judges. During this first round, judges participate in product demonstration s given by the nominees. Two options are available for the products demonstrations:

– Live product demonstration: Nominations walk through their product webinar-style with the judges participating as they do the walk-through

– Recorded product demonstration: Nominees may already have a video product demo that can be sent to the judges to watch.

We recommend that the nominees keep the demos to under an hour. If it is a live demo, remember to leave time for Q&A with the judges.

The first round review also includes product access. It’s beneficial for the judges to get a feel for the product on their own, as a supplement to the guided demo. Product access can happen in several forms, including temporary online login information or by sending the physical product to the judge.

I also suggest sending as much additional information as you would like to the judges. This can be additional links to PDF’s, videos, news releases, etc.

Who are the judges?

We take great care in selecting the industry experts who volunteer as judges. Each division reviews every judge application to determine if he/she is qualified. We want to ensure there are no conflicts of interest.

For our software and content categories, the judges consist of industry executives and analysts, members of the media, bloggers, investors, and even some customers.
For our education categories, we use educators and administrators as our judges. They are the users of these products and can best determine what products may work the best in their classrooms.

Judging is a great experience because it gives the customers a chance to review the products and provide feedback that the companies can use to make improvements.

How can you help?

We are still looking for judges in several of our categories in Content, Software, and Education. If you are interested in judging or can recommend a colleague please complete our brief judge application.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wendy Tanner Wendy Tanner is CODiE Awards Coordinator. Follow the CODiE Awards on Twitter @CODiEAwards

Share|
Filed Under: All About the Cloud, Cloud Computing, CODiEs, Content, Content Events, Ed Tech Industry Summit, Education, Education Events, Finalists, Information Industry Summit, Mobility, Personalized Learning, Social Media, Software, Software Events, Uncategorized

Cloud Computing and Its Green Lining: Responses to James Glanz and the New York Times

October 17, 2012 By

Author James Glanz created a stir in September with his New York Times article, when he wrote that cloud computing and Big Data are actually big energy wasters. I have written about this controversy previously for the SIIA and have found that not to be the case. In fact, data centers are environmentally friendly for three reasons:

  1. Large data centers are more efficient than small and medium-sized data centers, so regardless of this looking negative at first blush, the electricity/unit of computing is less.
  2. Devices themselves are using less energy especially as  desk tops and laptops give way to tablets and smartphones,
  3. Cloud data centers can and will drive to renewable energy, as detailed in this report. Companies like Oracle, Adobe, and  IBM are devoting their considerable resources to sustainable computing practices, and this trend will only increase as they continue to work to make data centers more efficient and clean.

A number of voices have come out in support of cloud computing’s environmental benefits for these very reasons. The New York Times hosted quite a few on their Room for Debate page. Here is a short sampling.

Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President for Technical Infrastructure at Google, knows from personal experience how data centers work, operating Google’s servers, networks, and data centers. He writes on the New York Times website:

“Because of our obsession with efficiency, we’re able to help others be more efficient as well. Small and medium data centers use two-thirds of the total energy because it’s much harder to run them efficiently, so the trend of replacing on-premise servers with efficient cloud services will reduce the amount of energy used to run the same workload.”

Similarly, Jonathan Koomey, research fellow at the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford University refutes Mr. Glanz:

“Modern cloud-based data centers are much more efficient and have much higher utilization levels than standard data centers, giving them substantial economic and energy-related advantages. And the shift to mobile computing promises big efficiency gains for users as well. For example, laptop computers, which typically use a third to a fifth of the power of desktops, outsold desktops for the first time in 2009 (according to IDC data). Sales of tablets, which are even more efficient, are growing much faster than those for laptops.”

Gary Cook, the senior I.T. sector analyst for Greenpeace International’s Cool IT campaign,  also provides cautious optimism, writing:

Customers need companies to be more transparent about their energy choices so that they can understand the true environmental performance of their Internet and cloud use and make more informed choices. If given the information, people will choose a company that chooses clean energy. We can – and should – be able to feel good about our likes, tweets, photos and music, but it’s up to these companies to take the bold steps to make that possible.

Charles Babcock of Information Week summarizes the other side thusly:

“Everyone is doing a lot more computing, as the story notes. But as we do so, the amount of electricity consumed per unit of computing is going down, which the story somehow misses. Nowhere does the Times address this salient point. Instead, it concludes we are doing a lot more computing and, therefore, we are all guilty of driving environmental degradation. If you’re going to reform the world, you need to build a better soapbox than this.”

Tracy Carlin is a Communications and Public Policy Intern at SIIA. She is also a first year graduate student at Georgetown University’s Communication, Culture and Technology program where she focuses on intersections in education, video games and gender.

Share|
Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Cloud/Gov, Policy - Cloud Computing, Software

The European Cloud Computing Strategy: A Promising Step

September 27, 2012 By

Today, the European Commission announced the release of its long-awaited cloud strategy in a communication entitled “Unleashing the Potential of Cloud Computing in Europe.” The Commission clearly recognizes cloud computing’s capacity to allow people, businesses and governments to rent services and data storage for much cheaper than buying new equipment and software. Indeed, combined with the emergence of big data analytics, cloud computing represents a sea-change in the business and technical opportunities for the information technology industry and its myriad customers, business and consumer, large and small. The Commission’s strategy report is a major step forward by policymakers in coming to grips with the policy thinking needed to foster this new development and to deal with its many challenges in Europe and around the world.

SIIA particularly welcomes the Commission’s focus on the use of cloud computing in government. The Commission’s encouragement of the use of cloud computing is the counterpart of the US government’s Cloud First approach.

Unfortunately, some parts of the Commission’s communication go in a direction SIIA warned against in its report to policy makers last year. In places, the communication treats cloud computing as a discrete entity that is potentially subject to specific government regulation. In reality, cloud computing is a variety of evolving business and technical developments that share only a rough similarity. NIST has described three different service models for cloud computing (Software as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Infrastructure as a Service); and four different deployment models (private, community, public and hybrid). There is also the enormous difference between consumer uses of cloud computing and its business uses, and within the latter, still further important differences between uses by large organizations and by small and medium sized businesses. Cloud computing is used in industries ranging from financial services, to energy to telecommunications.

The European Commission’s cloud strategy document recognizes this issue, noting that cloud computing has a “range of defining features (which make a general definition elusive)…” Despite this it goes on to propose a series of government regulations that can be effectively implemented only if there is a reasonably precise legal definition of cloud computing.

Privacy rules, security rules, intellectual property, and consumer protection rules apply when cloud computing is used, but there is no need for special privacy, security, intellectual property or consumer protection rules that apply just to cloud computing. Generalized rules, indeed, globally interoperable rules, are best suited to the global, borderless nature of cloud computing.

Some of the specific suggestions in the report are good in themselves. This is the case for example in the idea that security guidelines should be developed that take into account the special characteristics of cloud computing. But again there is no need for European regulations that mandate specific security requirements just for cloud computing. Security standards should be market-driven and global, not just European, in character

Another concern is the possible development of privacy rules just for the cloud. The Commission and the Parliament are working on a new data protection regulation that would apply across the board, but the cloud strategy suggests the development of alternative or competing privacy rules just for cloud computing.

The Commission also seems to be interested in mandating specific consumer protections such as data portability, interoperability and reversibility in standardized service level agreements. But it is a leap to jump from a concern for consumer protection to the conclusion that specific European consumer protection rules need to be incorporated into standardized terms of service. Industry groups, not European-wide regulators, are best situated to fill any perceived need for optional model contracts.

SIIA welcomes the Commission’s strategy and intends to engage in the process of working with the Commission to see that the benefits of cloud computing are fully realized in the European single market and throughout the world.

Mark MacCarthy, Vice President, Public Policy at SIIA, directs SIIA’s public policy initiatives in the areas of intellectual property enforcement, information privacy, cybersecurity, cloud computing and the promotion of educational technology. Follow the SIIA Public Policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPolicy

Share|
Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Cloud Computing: Education, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, Software Tagged With: ,

Nominations Now Open for the 28th Annual SIIA CODiE Awards

August 15, 2012 By

Nominations are now open for the 2013 SIIA CODiE Awards. This year’s CODiE Awards feature 27 new and updated categories, reflecting the dramatic changes in technology and business models impacting the software and information industries.

The CODiE Awards have been the premier award for the software and information industries for 28 years. The awards program has three tracks organized by industry focus: Content, Software and Education.

Highlights of this year’s program:

Content: The Content CODiE Awards showcase the information industry’s finest products, technology and services created by, or for, media, publishers and information services providers.

* Fourteen new and updated categories reflect new technology and business models in the content industry including: Best Crowd Sourced Solution, Best Editorial Outsourcing Solution, Best Semantic Technology Solution and Best Social Media Platform
* The Content CODiE Awards will be presented Jan. 31, 2013 during the Content Division’s annual conference for information industry leaders, the Information Industry Summit

Education: The Education CODiE Awards showcase applications, products and services from developers of educational software, digital content, online learning services, and related technologies across the K-20 sector.

* The new Best Personalized Learning Solution category highlights the major educational shift toward individual, tailored learning plans for students. Three new top-level categories will reward the best of the best of PK-12, postsecondary, and overall education nominees.
* Education winners will be announced in San Francisco on May 6, 2013 during the Ed Tech Industry Summit.

Business: The Software CODiE Awards showcase applications, products and services that are developed by independent software vendors (ISVs) for use in business, government, academic, or other organizational settings.

* Twelve new and updated categories reflect the continued growth and evolution of cloud computing, mobile, big data, and video. Highlights include: Best Cloud Platform as a Service Solution, Best Big Data Solution, Best Mobile Device Application for Consumers, Best Mobile Device Application for Enterprise, and Best Video Tool.
* Software winners will be announced in San Francisco on May 9, 2013 during the software industry’s premier ISV conference, All About the Cloud.

Learn more about the nomination process.

Wendy Tanner Wendy Tanner is CODiE Awards Coordinator. Follow the CODiE Awards on Twitter @CODiEAwards

Share|
Filed Under: All About the Cloud, Cloud Computing, CODiEs, Content, Ed Tech Industry Summit, Education, Education Events, Information Industry Summit, Mobile: Education, Mobility, Personalized Learning, Postsecondary, Social Media, Software, Software Events, Uncategorized
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »