I know this is a technology blog but we all need to understand the “business” of our federal government.  This is a democracy which means “of the people, for the people”.  If you don’t like what you read here get involved – who are your congressional representatives?  How did they vote on this?  How do you contact them? [see this]

We all need to help steer our great country to a better tomorrow.

This information presented below is attributed to:

David Thomas
Chief Executive Officer
Equitas Capital Advisors LLC

Let’s put the 2011 federal budget into perspective:

• U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
• Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
• New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
• National debt: $14,271,000,000,000   [National Debt Clock]
• Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)

It helps to think about these numbers in terms that we can relate to. Let’s remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family.

• Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
• Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200
• Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
• Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
• Amount cut from the budget: $385

So in effect last month our Congress, or in this example the Jones family, sat down at the kitchen table and agreed to cut $385 from its annual budget.  What family would cut $385 of spending in order to solve $16,500 in deficit spending?

Now after years of this, the Jones family has $142,710 of debt on its credit card (which is the equivalent of the national debt).

The root of the debt problem is that the voters typically do not send people to Congress to save money. They are sent there to bring home the bacon to their own home state.  To effect budget change, we need to change the job description and give Congress new marching orders.  We need to start with a balanced budget.  All this does is simply prevent more debt from being accumulated.

Once we have a balanced budget we can begin to think about how to start paying down our debt.

In effect, what we have is a reverse mortgage on the country. The problem is that the voters (you and I) are still in the denial stage, and do not want to face the issue we all must face.   Please, please think about this and get involved.

That quote from William Gibson is one of my favorites.  It implies that we can know the future by perhaps doing a little investigative work.  To me it also hints at the possibility of inventing the future.

I’m sitting on a flight to New York and like most people I am using the time to catch up on some reading and some time to sit back and think and reflect. We are just wrapping our budget cycle for 2011 and this is where we have to anticipate the projects and direction we want to go with technology.

Of course with all the demands placed on IT I always have to try to keep my team focused on the “Top Line Challenge” – The highest and most important use of IT is growing the top line.  But I won’t blog about those activities as you can understand. 

However I have lots of other thoughts floating around that I wanted to write down to think about and it hit me that this would be a good blog post to potentially get some discussion started.  Like many CIOs I am being hit with the triple whammy – social media, mobility, and cloud computing.    (continue reading…)

Like many people in the Technology world I watched Apple’s iPad announcement this week with intense interest.  Unlike most people I am interested not in the consumer space  – but rather how could this device be used for business.  How could a new category like this be used?

Opportunities for the iPad in financial services:

Those who stand to benefit the most from the iPad are financial advisers who are constantly meeting clients on the go, says Doug Dannemiller, senior analyst at Aite Group.

For advisers, data visualization and presentation are key. And one of the most interesting aspects of the iPad is its zoom and flip page capabilities, which means it can be shared with a client more easily than a laptop, Dannemiller points out.

“I see the laptop as not a good collaborative tool,” he explains. A laptop computer acts as a barrier between the adviser and client, since it is only one person (presumably the adviser) who will handle the keyboard, hit the return key and flip the computer round to face the client. (continue reading…)

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.]  (continue reading…)

“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:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oACt9R9z37U

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?