The Wandering CIO

My assistant Kathy told me today about donating to Haitian relief efforts by simply sending a text message from my cellphone.  The Red Cross, via a company called mGive, has got the major U.S. carriers on board to allow people to very easily donate $10 to the Red Cross via a simple SMS text message. 

This led to an “unprecedented mobile response,” and has raised over $10 million in relief for Haiti.  With text donations peaking at a rate of 10,000 a minute, at $10 per donation, this is raising $100,000 per minute!

I had been watching the news about Haiti and was heartbroken at what they are going through.  I wanted to help.  But did I?  Not until I just spent 27 seconds sending a text message. 

Wanting to donate and actually donating are two different things.  Finding the right charity, deciding the amount, finding my checkbook, writing a check, finding an envelope and stamp, addressing the envelope, mailing it – well frankly it was exhausting just typing all those steps.  Not only that but I can’t even imagine finding 30 minutes in my day to actually do it!  This new process cut that time down to less than 30 seconds!

 [NOTE: If you want to donate simply text HAITI to the number 90999. A $10 charge will be added to your next cellphone bill.]

One of the reasons text messaging is so popular is because it’s so simple. Anyone with just about any kind of mobile device can do it. And that’s precisely why it is ingenious to use this mechanism for donations. 

By making things easy for people we overcome our natural human “inertia”.  This is the incredible power of “ease of use” (I really wish I had some great 2010 buzzword for “ease of use” – anyone want to suggest one?). 

This is exactly why I love shopping at Amazon.com.  Amazon is one of the greatest companies ever built.  They “get it” – and they are relentless in constantly improving to make things easier for their customers. 

I love Amazon’s perfect service and user experience.  Because of  their patented “one-click” ordering and Amazon Prime, which basically gets you products super-fast without worrying about shipping, I buy everything from Amazon (or Zappos, now part of Amazon), with rare exception–even when they are NOT the best price. Why?  I like shopping with them.  The experience is flawless, and few things in life are flawless.

Of course another great company comes immediately to mind – want to venture a guess? Apple Computer.  I’m a corporate technology person yet in our four person household we have 4 iPhones, several iPods, and three Mac Computers.   Why?  Mainly because it is much easier for their helpdesk (Me).  They can figure it out on their own!  One could make a strong argument that Apple “won” the MP3 player wars with two weapons – the iPod and its incredible user interface, and iTunes which made getting music on your device simple.  I consider it a hallmark of modern technology when we can create human interfaces that are so intuitive, like an iPod Touch, that a four year old could use it. 

What can corporate IT take away from this?  Well first of all how many corporate IT departments are known for making things easy for their clients?  There are huge opportunities here for corporate IT.  Just a couple examples to get your creative juices flowing:

Making things easier for our clients:

• How about “one-click” investing?
• Your account “Tweets” when the balance is low? 

Making things easier for our employees:

• How about sending a text message to get your password reset?
• How about implementing UI’s on corporate systems that are as well designed and easy to learn as an iPod?

None of this is easy – but ”ease of use” always wins in the end!

-         The Wandering CIO

 Sources:

• http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HaitiEarthquake/haiti-earthquake-donations-haiti-relief-efforts-text-message/story?id=9551199
• http://www.mgive.com/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com

I work for a large financial services company.  We take our responsibilities for protecting and enhancing our client’s wealth exceedingly seriously.  We are also one of the most highly regulated Industries – and of course we all expect that to become even truer in the aftermath of the recent recession.

When faced with new technology we always have to look at both how it can be used positively and also assess the risks it poses.  Social networking technology is one of those types of technologies that seem to have what I call a “bar bell” shaped profile: It has some incredibly strong benefits, and at the other end of the spectrum, some very big risks.  Technologies with these profiles are among the most difficult to manage because people really want to use them and the risks are very difficult to mitigate.

Since our industry is very risk adverse we always seem to focus on the risks first – so let’s look at the basic risks:

1. We don’t want other people to know who our employees are.  There are two main reasons:
   1. Corporate Recruiters – they are well known for using social networks to indentify employees to contact for job openings at our competitors. 
   2. “Bad guys” use social networks to learn who our employees are and then target them for phishing or social engineering attacks.  A phishing email is pretty hard to resist if they spoof your boss, who “sends” you an email with an embedded link and a message that says “take a look at this and get back to me ASAP”.  Check out the “Nightmare scenario” below for another frightening example.
2. We are concerned about Information leakage – there have a been a few examples already of corporate employees who felt so comfortable sharing with their “friends” on a social network site that they posted details of the “secret” project they were working on.  What would/do our employees post?
3. Alternative messaging platform – We generally have to monitor and archive employee’s email – this means we have to block access to alternative email systems.  Many (most, all?) social networks have the equivalent of email and instant messaging.  So our employees can communicate with other people outside our corporate email system and corporate controls – this is an issue.

 Now let’s look at some of the positives:

1. Great for networking and staying in touch with colleagues.  This is of course how most people use social networks and I think most people are at least somewhat aware of the risks.
2. Your companies brand can be enhanced through embracing the new tools – if your company has a Facebook page, or a sponsored company group, or is on Twitter you are seen as “progressive” – hip, now, cool, etc. 
3. Younger employees will grow up plugged into Social Networks.  My children (ages 13 and 15) won’t know a world without them.  Can you attract and hire these people if you shun their world?  Not only that but as a parent I know that we sometimes adopt to our children’s communication paths rather than the other way around.  Both my wife and I now use SMS to communicate with our children because that is the best way to reach them.   In the future maybe I will communicate with them via Facebook (assuming they accept my friend request).
4. Speaking of attracting new employees – Social Networks are proving to be very valuable for recruiting new employees into our organization (as opposed to being used to lure them away as described under the risks)
5. Attracting and retaining clients – this is perhaps the most exciting area for this technology.  For example shouldn’t we be linking social networking technologies to our CRM (Customer Relationship Marketing) systems? The benefits of linking the two areas of CRM and Social Networking are ensuring you have all the latest news (and gossip) available in your CRM system so you can be in a better position to talk to the client about things that are affecting them at that time. This would give them some confidence that you were taking time to understand their business. It may give you more information about their pain points and how your services/products could help. It may also generate ideas about how you can respond to market trends or competitive products. Even in this new world the old adage of knowledge is power remains key.

Other considerations:

1. Blocking the sites from work does not prevent the behavior – employees simply engage in it from home or elsewhere.

Here’s where things get really interesting – you can simply “forbid” the use of social networking at your company – and you can buy technologies that will even block it from your employees.  But can you really control it?  Facebook has an iPhone client, a Blackberry client, and is of course accessible to your employees everywhere they are not at work.  In other words you can’t put the genie back in the bottle. 

Not only that but companies are definitely behind the curve because there employees are already using this at work.

In my opinion the benefits of the technology outweigh the risks, but the risks must be addressed and mitigated.  I have always felt you stand a better chance managing technology by embracing it rather than shunning it.  The Internet itself is both one of the greatest tools invented by mankind and a cesspool.  How many companies have successfully “shunned” the Internet?

-          The Wandering CIO

================================

“Social media users believe there is protection in being part of a community of people they know. Criminals are happy to prove this notion wrong.”

Nightmare scenario: This is a perfect example of why Facebook is a nightmare to a corporate CIO:

We started the project by scouring all of the social networking sites for employees of our target company. Not surprisingly, we found numerous people who openly discussed what they did for a living. We also found numerous employees who openly discussed disappointment in their employer.

The majority of our [target’s] employees were using Facebook, so we created a Facebook group site identified as “Employees of” the company.  Using a fictitious identity, we then proceeded to “friend,” or invite, employees to our “company” Facebook site. Membership grew exponentially each day.  By creating a group, we were able to get access to employees’ profiles. We chose to use the identity of one of our Facebook-friended employees to gain access.

[NOTE: notice if the company had embraced social networking and already sponsored a legitimate company site this would have been much harder to pull off.]

On the day we intended to breach the facility, our guy was dressed with a shirt embroidered with our [target’s] logo, and armed him with business cards, a fake company badge, and his laptop. Upon entering the building, he was immediately greeted by reception.  

Our man quickly displayed his fake credentials and immediately began ranting about the perils of his journey and how important it was for him to get a place to check his email and use a restroom. Within in seconds, he was provided a place to sit, connection to the Internet, and a 24×7 card access key to the building. 

Later that evening, he returned to the empty office building to conduct a late-night hacking session. Within a short period of time, he had accessed the company’s sensitive secrets. 

Sources:

• http://www.darkreading.com/blog/archives/2009/12/using_facebook.html;jsessionid=DAIESQX2WP3SNQE1GHOSKHWATMY32JVN
• http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/jobs/31recruit.html
• http://www.cioblog.co.uk/

“The future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed.” -- William Gibson

Gibson’s line is one of those sexy aphorisms that crystalizes a whole theory of the relationship between technology and society.  What makes Gibson’s phrase so appealing is the idea that we can get a grip on what is to come if we just examine today’s cutting edge. To understand the future of mobile technologies, study how the hippest teens in Tokyo use IM. To see what ubiquitous broadband produces, go to Seoul.  To see the future of gaming watch this video:

Now imagine this type of technology in the workplace and not just in the home.

In my company we have spent millions putting in Video Conferencing all around the world.  Making a video call is actually easier than making a phone call because all nodes have a full directory of all the other nodes loaded so it’s just point and click with the remote.  However our employees are still intimidated by the technology and are afraid to use it, or call the help desk to initiate a call.  How many other areas are people intimidated by technology and therefore we aren’t getting the investment returns we expected?   How can this technology be used to lower barriers to adoption and yes, even make things fun in the workplace?

Kanye West is his recent online rant has perfectly and brilliantly put into words my feelings about Twitter in one sentence.   “Everything that Twitter Offers I Need Less of.” 

His main rant is about the fact that there are Kanye imposters out there that the service will not remove.  But along the way he hits a home run about the actual usefulness of the service. 

As a CIO I need to understand new technology and how to put it to commercial use.  It’s mandatory as part of my job that I understand new “cool new services” like Twitter.  So first I decided to see what my peers were doing.[1] They were Tweeting about conferences, new product announcements and new ideas.  While this was good information to share it was not as easy to find and not as comprehensive as what was on their blogs. 

For months I’ve scratched my head about Twitter.  I’m supposed to be the guy who understands and evangelizes new technology.  If I don’t “get” Twitter what’s wrong with me?  I personally found Twitter inferior to just about every alternative information delivery vehicle I compared it to and I gradually formed the admittedly self-serving view that something is wrong not wrong with me but with Twitter instead.  I think this video called the “Twouble with Twitters” clarifies it even better:

So I decided that I was going to write a really controversial post to the effect of “Twitter is just a fad – get over it”, or maybe even “Twitter: Pointless!” to goad you exploring this with me except almost all data points in the opposite direction.   Then Kanye’s post hit me like a lightning bolt. 

Here are my thoughts in a nutshell:

• Signal to noise ratio is way too low. The analogy that makes the most sense to me is overhearing people’s cell phone conversations -- Most the information is irrelevant to me, not really that interesting, and is delivered to me against my will. OK that last part is incorrect because you have to choose to follow someone on Twitter so it’s more like choosing to listen to other people’s cell phone conversations.
• People Tweet in real time and occasionally report “major” news way ahead of traditional news channels. This was the case with the recent terrorist attack in Mumbai. So what? I could Tweet right now that a major earthquake struck California and I’m buried in rubble. How do you know if it’s true or not?[2] (The signal to noise issue again…) I guess I could follow CNN on Twitter but it just seems a bit too similar to those people who like to sit home and listen to their Police scanners.
• Time is my most precious commodity. I actually believe it’s everyone’s most precious commodity -- we all get a finite amount of it and no deal with your divine entity of choice will buy you more. So why would I take time tweeting and following your tweets? The last thing I need on earth is another “inbox” to check or website to monitor.
• I don’t have anything interesting to Tweet. My thoughts generally range beyond 140 characters and most of the time they are directed at specific people where phone, email or IM are orders of magnitude more efficient. If I have a general thought worthy of sharing with the world I have a “real blog” for that. Actually it’s almost worse. Do people realize nothing posted to the Internet ever goes away? Those tweets that frat boys at UCLA are posting at this very moment will still be on the Internet when they graduate and look for a job and still there when they run for office. Personally I am very careful what I post online based on that knowledge.
• Twitter’s popularity is surging in part because of all the news stories about Twitter’s surging popularity. The real question to ask is how sustainable is Twitter? Fortunately people out there study this very topic. A report from Nielsen Online suggests that most users are tempted by Twitter’s novelty and then lose interest. Aha! For most of the last year, Twitter’s audience retention rate -- users who return the next month -- was below 30 percent. Put another way: greater than 70% don’t return. At similar levels of Internet reach, both Facebook and MySpace had retention rates of more than 60 percent.[3]

So what do I think about Twitter?  I actually think it will evolve into something useful.  I’m just not sure when or how.  “Following” someone on Twitter is like subscribing to a RSS feed of their blog, only less useful because the posts are limited in size and contain almost no useful information.  However the process is very easy to do, unlike actually using a RSS reader, signing up for an RSS feed, etc.  So if Twitter actually expanded the post size and the quality of the content improves (rather than “Just had pizza at Ray’s.  Mmmmm”) it could become something great.  In the mean time I’m down with Kanye.

As a CIO I am charged with delivering high quality, low cost IT services to our business units.  I know what it costs to build data centers, buy servers and storage and manage them – support, backup, disaster recovery and patching.  I know what it costs to buy electricity and network bandwidth, etc.

So when I was setting up this blog I found that I could buy services dirt cheap.  Frankly, I am still astounded at what I could get for less than $50 per year or <$5 a month!  2 years of hosting, and a domain registration for $65 USD*

• Unlimited diskspace and bandwidth
• Unlimited MySQL Databases
• Unlimited email accounts
• Unlimited Domains hosted (I have two)

This is the type of service and scalability that I’d like to offer our corporate clients. 

*Special Offer from Dreamhost (www.dreamhost.com)