I tweeted a few statistics live about the event itself:

Here are a few more interesting stats:

• Oracle spends $4.3 Billion a year on R&D
• Has 340,000 customers
• Oracle Partner Network sells $3 billion in software licenses
• 4,300 transactions equaling $1 Billion of software licenses are co-sold in North America in the Oracle Partner Network

But clearly if your like me, we didn’t attend the Open World event because of the big numbers and the party. We attend the conference because it’s one of the most important conferences in the business tech world. Open World lay’s out the roadmap for the future and is a place where the big Silicon Valley players can have a debate on things that matter to the tech sector. This years debate was exceptionally fun, riveting and highly entertaining. I’m re-publishing a segment published by IDG which articulates Ellison’s view of the cloud. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a clip where Larry promotes Marc Benioff’s book “behind the cloud” which he retitles “Way behind the cloud” (if you find a short clip on Youtube – let me know, I’d love to share it)

Here is Marc Benioff of salesforce.com counter opinion on cloud computing

The cloud debate will continue to go on.  My belief is that there is no one size fits all, which makes me partially side with Larry Ellison.  A platform is more flexible than an application and allows for much more customization and functionality that meets my business needs.  And no matter how you look at it, salesforce.com still needs to be hosted on big server’s somewhere.

The Iron age revolutionized the way society functioned through productivity gains by way of better tools, agriculture methods and weaponry. Like the iron age the information age is advancing productivity improvements, enhancing interaction and changing the way our society wage’s war. Yet, just like in King David’s time the Iron Age never did solve all of human’s problems. Technology will never solve:

1. Human Evil
2. Human Suffering
3. Human Mortality

I encourage you to watch this video or download the podcast and reflect. Consider Thomas Edison who once said “When you see everything that is happening in the world of science and in the working of the universe, you cannot deny that their is a captain on the bridge”

In my current role as Director of Sales & Marketing, I serve as a principle in the various projects that we run and am ultimately responsible if the project succeeds or fails. From my vantage point the biggest reasons for failure is lack of communication which leads to missing the mark on meeting customer expectations.

Managing all of the stakeholder’s expectations is critical and great care should be used in communicating often. This includes listening, asking for feedback and constantly asking each and every stakeholder what their overall goal’s of the software project are so that those expectations are met. The following video is a discussion on what defines an IT failure, perhaps it will give you some ideas on what to do to avoid an IT project failure.

What do you do to avoid IT Project Failures?

I’ve developed a 9 stage framework that I assist my customers with when looking to implement enterprise software.  Depending on the size of the engagement or software investment I often scale up or down on the level of activity I conduct during the selection phase.  I’ve embedded my presentation below for your use and review.

13rh Century Clock - Photo care of RockN on Flickr

But what about Clocks?  As both a lover of history and technology I found myself pondering if the invention of the clock in 13th Century Europe is an example of an early Information Technology development.  The clock has allowed us to use information and accurately record and monitor what we do.

Here is a brief list of other benefits of the clock:

• Accurately tell time and depend less on the sun and moon
• Provide the possibility to order our day
• Measure the cost of labor more effectively
• Track the number of hours that go into a specific project

The clock gave us information that allowed us to make time a measurable value and it altered history forever.

What other older taken for granted Information technologies can you think of?

For the full post click here

Did you just attend an interesting lecture and want more information on the speaker?  Take a picture of him/her and use face.com to learn more about him/her from his social networks.

Be blown away and check out Nan’s post over here. Join the conversation on his blog on whether this technology is fun or will push the end to our sense of privacy?

It’s back to the regular grind for me!

Here are a few shots of the Oracle Open World event taken with my Blackberry (it’s not the best camera, but you get the idea)

A Simple How To Guide for Gathering Business Requirements

Is the recession over and are you investing in Enterprise Software?

Reasons for implementing enterprise software

Here’s the Strategy Lab Video

Reasons to implement and Upgrade Software from Scott Van Dam on Vimeo.

Having breakfast with over 700 “nerds” and “technology executives” is not only nourishing for the stomach but also for the brain. When Steven Wozniak appeared at the keynote at this mornings Tech-working breakfast in Waterloo you can be assured that everyone left feeling full of delicious advice.

Mr Wozniak (aka “The Woz”) offered up a buffet of advice on design,  and technology. Here’s  a summary of a few tips that I picked up.

• Build products that behave and interact in a way that is intuitive by the way we move, touch and feel.
• Try not to fit technology into a product because it exists – instead focus on making the experience intuitive (make it great)
• Where do you get the best design ideas from?  Parachute into a project and try to re-engineer it.  Try to put yourself in the shoes of a person that has been parachuted into how computers work today with out having any prior knowledge or experience to the technology.  Are the way things are done really that efficient?
• Don’t assume the way you’ve done it before is the best
• Be an engineer that is also an artist – just make it beautiful!