On a recent plane trip I finished reading Ken Follet's historical novel The Pillars of the Earth, a mid-12th century story of the building of mammoth Gothic cathedrals in England. With two hours remaining in the flight I reached into my travel bag for more reading material and pulled out the most recent letter to shareholders written by Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.
Buffett's letter is a fascinating document. This year's version is particularly interesting because on page six he shares with readers in simple language his five pillars of business success.
The first is simplicity. Is your business and its value proposition easily understood by customers and prospects? Complexity is the enemy. If you cannot easily explain your business to prospects, how can you explain to them why they need your products or services?
Second on Buffett's list is "favourable long-term growth economics." Is your business in a market that is growing? Or shrinking? Do you even know?
Buffett looks next for businesses that have "able and trustworthy management." Fourth, he notes, Berkshire Hathaway rivets its focus on sensible pricing relative to the competition. Companies should figure out if their prices are too high or too low. If you have a business value proposition that is easily understood by customers, if you operate in a market with favourable long-term growth economics, if you have a great management team and if your prices make sense, congratulations!
But don't stop too long to celebrate. You surely have lots of competitors trying to assail your castle — which leads to Buffett's final criterion for a successful business. How easily can competitors breach your moat by commoditizing your business? As CIO, your job — like the builders of those 12th century castles — is to make sure your moat is wide, deep and unassailable. Unlike stones and mortar, technology is your key tool.
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Zones provide focussed content from CIO and leading technology partners.- White PaperJoin Lee Benjamin, a Microsoft Exchange MVP and Ryan Shipkowski, network administrator for Matthews, to discuss the process and ROI of implementing an email archiving solution, with emphasis on a case study from Matthews International.
- White PaperJoin industry expert Martin Tuip to discover best practice strategy for the archival and removal of .PST files using email archiving. Learn how to ensure long-term email records are there when needed, and reduce the risk to your business and clients.
- White PaperJoin industry expert Bob Spurzem and Chuck Arconi of Fox Hollow to discover how to reduce Exchange total storage and keep it at a manageable level. Learn how Exchange storage growth can be contained without sacrificing security and accessibility.
Discover how SOA can create smarter outcomes for your business.
Attend and learn:
- How SOA is helping leading companies to become more agile
- Where you should be applying SOA processes in your company
- The top SOA implementation mistakes to avoid
Click here for more information.
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CIO Live Podcast #79: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires Part II 05 October, 2007 06:00:00
For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders. - +
CIO Live Podcast #78: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires 28 September, 2007 17:34:25
For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders. - +
CIO Live Podcast #77: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part III 21 September, 2007 07:00:00
Part three in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance. - +
CIO Live Podcast #76: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part II 14 September, 2007 07:00:00
Part two in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance. - +
CIO Live Podcast #75: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part I 07 September, 2007 07:00:05
Part one in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance.
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TJX Maxx hacker banged up for 30 years 09 January, 2009 11:26:00
Key figure in the infamous TJX Maxx Wi-Fi hack of 2005 has been sentenced to 30-years in prison by a Turkish court.Maksym Yastremskiy, the Ukrainian accused of being a key figure in the infamous TJX Maxx Wi-Fi hack of 2005, has been sentenced to 30-years in prison by a Turkish court. - +
Data breaches rose sharply in 2008, says study 08 January, 2009 08:27:00
More than 35 million data records were breached in 2008, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center.More than 35 million data records were breached in 2008 in the U.S., a figure that underscores continuing difficulties in securing information, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). - +
Rogue SSL certificate exploit puts VeriSign on the spot 07 January, 2009 11:04:00
Wishes "white hat" researchers had notified VeriSign before public demo.Following the success of researchers last week in creating a false SSL certificate based on VeriSign's RapidSSL brand, the company is scrambling to explain how it happened, how it's preventing it from reoccurring, and whether its other SSL certificate-generation services are at risk. - +
With Gaza conflict, cyberattacks come too 05 January, 2009 08:03:00
Pro-Palestinian hackers have defaced thousands of sites following attacks in Gaza.The conflict raging in Gaza between Israel and Palestine has spilled over to the Internet. - +
5 ways to secure your Blackberry 18 December, 2008 12:58:00
What do Tom Cruise and the McCain campaign have in common? They have both been bitten by the loss of a Blackberry. Mobile expert Dan Hoffman gives advice on how to keep your cherished mobile device safe, even if it's out of your handsWhat do Tom Cruise and the McCain campaign have in common? They have both been bitten by the loss of a Blackberry. Mobile expert Dan Hoffman gives advice on how to keep your cherished mobile device safe, even if it's out of your hands.
IT industry veteran advises caution on outsourcing selection in light of Satyam problems 09 January, 2009 21:45:00
Research software developer appoints Susan Dart to new Business Development Director role 08 January, 2009 09:08:00
Research software developer appoints Susan Dart to new Business Development Director role 08 January, 2009 09:08:00
Anyware Introduce Two Powerful PCI TV Tuner Cards with S5 Power Up and Windows Media Center Remote 07 January, 2009 17:30:00
Fortinet Cures Mobile Phone “Curse of Silence/CurseSMS” Attack 07 January, 2009 16:30:00
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IT Service Management Needs and Adoption Trends: An Analysis of a Global Survey of IT Executives
IT executives face the need to improve service delivery with limited resource increases. Two common strategies for achieving this are network and systems management tools and datacenter consolidation. Read on to disocover how you can make a strong business case for IT Consolidation.
