Earlier this month, the public radio program “This American Life” made headlines when it retracted an episode of its hour-long show. In doing so, it revealed how a healthy dose of transparency can transform crisis into opportunity.
jplcreative.com. Added by Susan Cort on March 28, 2012
Showing posts with label Turning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Turning. Show all posts
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Turning Big Data into business opportunity - CIOL Network
Solving Complex Storage Dilemmas
With today’s rapid advances in technology and the increasing popularity of unstructured data such as video, images and audio files, IT professionals face tremendous challenges in storage management.
The emergence of this fast-growing data deluge has also coincided with the increasing adoption of new technologies, such as cloud computing and virtualization, yet at a time when IT budgets are increasingly tight. All these factors combine to create complex new dilemmas for IT executives.
Fast-growing Big Data — According to IDC's Asia/Pacific Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker, in the first six months of 2011, the amount of storage disks shipped into the Asia Pacific region (excluding Japan) grew 74.2 per cent over the same period in 2010, to 1,824 petabytes.
Since the proliferation of Big Data makes data management more complex and difficult, it is not surprising that, in the same survey, Asia Pacific’s IT executives ranked “overall data growth” as their top storage management challenge.
The impact of cloud computing and virtualization — Cloud technology is now being adopted for a wide variety of functions in IT environments, from fundamental cloud infrastructure configuration and data-oriented content computation to information-driven service provisioning.
Yet, however it is being used, the IDC survey reveals that security is consistently cited as a barrier to greater adoption. The survey also reveals that many Asia Pacific organizations are only just beginning virtual server rollout and are finding server virtualization is increasing the challenges, complexity and workload of storage management.
As cloud computing and virtualization are major trends for the coming years, IT professionals must seek the right solutions to address these impacts.
Shrinking IT budgets — From a business perspective, many IT executives now find themselves in a difficult position. The global economy remains fragile and wracked with uncertainty. The IT budgets of many Asia Pacific organizations are also unlikely to grow, even though the demands placed on IT departments continue to rise.
More than ever, then, it is crucial for the region’s IT executives to develop a strategy that ensures their teams can harness the power of data and use it to deliver greater efficiencies.
Virtual Private Cloud Solutions
Obviously, more encompassing and intelligent technologies are required to help enterprises in the Asia Pacific turn challenges into opportunities. Employing a virtual private cloud solution (namely a private cloud solution managed by an external vendor) is likely a smarter strategy than an enterprise creating its own private cloud or supplementing its existing cloud infrastructure.
This is because many virtual private cloud vendors now offer exceptionally high performance and security, a fact that is confirmed in the IDC study. In many cases, a virtual private cloud is more secure than an internal cloud IT for the simple reason that it is subject to a robust business contract as well as service-level agreements that can include financial incentives tied to the service levels.
Virtual private cloud vendors achieve this by operating a converged system that integrates server, storage and networking onto one platform. With all components designed and engineered to work optimally together, the vendor is able to provide the highest levels of performance and security with a single management interface for all aspects of the system.
This enables unparalleled efficiency and economies of scale that directly translate into low-cost, high-quality cloud solutions for enterprise customers.
For more information
IDC white paper: “The Changing Face of Storage: A Rethink of Strategy that Goes Beyond the Data”, October 2011, was based on a recent IDC survey of 150 IT executives across some of the largest enterprises in Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore across 16 vertical segments, sponsored by Hitachi Data Systems. http://www.hds.com/go/apacwp.
The author is vice president & general manager, India, at Hitachi Data Systems.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Guest blog: Turning uncertainty into business opportunities
Andrew Ballard, product & propositions director of Experian Automotive explains how the current challenging trading environment could bring opportunities for dealers to strengthen their business.
Although the phrase ‘with challenges comes opportunity’ is frequently overused, it is an apt sentiment for the automotive industry in the current economic climate.
Concentrating on what can be gained from the challenges ahead could help maintain the confidence the automotive market needs to reassert its growth potential.
Despite new car sales having dropped in 2011 and endless speculation around the UK’s growth prospects and the fortunes of our Eurozone neighbours the recent new car figures from the SMMT presented a positive outlook for 2012.
New car registrations rose 0.03% to 128,853 units in January and diesel and alternatively-fuelled cars increased volumes, up 6.3% and 17.7% respectively.
Experian’s recent dealer survey also showed an encouraging level of optimism among car dealers who seemed confident about the year ahead and had a growth plan in place.
Experian’s research demonstrated that car dealers are adjusting to the changing market dynamics, and most are predicting that they would turn a profit and even see growth in some areas during 2012.
Tactics included specifically targeting the used car sales and aftersales business opportunities, reaching customers with the right offer and better managing the risks attached to their business.
62% of dealerships predicted that their used car sales activities would grow in 2012, and when you consider the strong used car sales of premium brands and the increasing popularity of fuel efficient diesel and hybrid vehicles, it is clear that growth opportunities exist for those that are able to optimally match their stock mix to the local market needs.
Using market insight data should encourage dealers and maintain confidence but the essential question is: how can dealerships best identify and exploit the existing profit opportunities and adjust to the new market dynamics quickly and cost-effectively?
A lot of dealers we work with have showed they are willing to invest time and resources in reviewing and seeking to build an optimal stock mix that is relevant to their immediate market as well as becoming savvier with the way their reach out to their customers and prospects.
Minimizing risks and having complete transparency on their stock’s history and re-sale value is also a high priority. Tough trading conditions mean dealers just can’t afford to make ill-informed decisions when acquiring used vehicles for stock and resale and waste hard fought marketing budgets by targeting the wrong customers with the wrong offer.
Looking at the challenges ahead as an opportunity to refocus and tighten business strategies will help dealerships stay concentrated on growth and improve the way they operate.
Communicating more effectively with customers and prospects, improving stock management processes and having a better handle on both customer and vehicle risk are critical for maintaining a profitable and sustainable business.
Whatever comes to pass economically over the coming months, many of the tough steps taken by dealerships over recent years mean that they are leaner, more adaptive and better prepared than ever before, having been forced by austerity to build upon their core strengths and clearly identify the best way to stay ahead of the game.
Many of the dealers Experian talks to are hugely focused on targeting profitable segments as well as looking for ways to improve their business practices. 2012 may well be a challenging year but by becoming savvier in seizing sales opportunities and more resilient to risk, it could also be the year when car dealers return to growth, become more profitable and prepare to make hay when market optimism returns.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Guest blog: Turning uncertainty into business opportunities
Andrew Ballard, product & propositions director of Experian Automotive explains how the current challenging trading environment could bring opportunities for dealers to strengthen their business.
Although the phrase ‘with challenges comes opportunity’ is frequently overused, it is an apt sentiment for the automotive industry in the current economic climate.
Concentrating on what can be gained from the challenges ahead could help maintain the confidence the automotive market needs to reassert its growth potential.
Despite new car sales having dropped in 2011 and endless speculation around the UK’s growth prospects and the fortunes of our Eurozone neighbours the recent new car figures from the SMMT presented a positive outlook for 2012.
New car registrations rose 0.03% to 128,853 units in January and diesel and alternatively-fuelled cars increased volumes, up 6.3% and 17.7% respectively.
Experian’s recent dealer survey also showed an encouraging level of optimism among car dealers who seemed confident about the year ahead and had a growth plan in place.
Experian’s research demonstrated that car dealers are adjusting to the changing market dynamics, and most are predicting that they would turn a profit and even see growth in some areas during 2012.
Tactics included specifically targeting the used car sales and aftersales business opportunities, reaching customers with the right offer and better managing the risks attached to their business.
62% of dealerships predicted that their used car sales activities would grow in 2012, and when you consider the strong used car sales of premium brands and the increasing popularity of fuel efficient diesel and hybrid vehicles, it is clear that growth opportunities exist for those that are able to optimally match their stock mix to the local market needs.
Using market insight data should encourage dealers and maintain confidence but the essential question is: how can dealerships best identify and exploit the existing profit opportunities and adjust to the new market dynamics quickly and cost-effectively?
A lot of dealers we work with have showed they are willing to invest time and resources in reviewing and seeking to build an optimal stock mix that is relevant to their immediate market as well as becoming savvier with the way their reach out to their customers and prospects.
Minimizing risks and having complete transparency on their stock’s history and re-sale value is also a high priority. Tough trading conditions mean dealers just can’t afford to make ill-informed decisions when acquiring used vehicles for stock and resale and waste hard fought marketing budgets by targeting the wrong customers with the wrong offer.
Looking at the challenges ahead as an opportunity to refocus and tighten business strategies will help dealerships stay concentrated on growth and improve the way they operate.
Communicating more effectively with customers and prospects, improving stock management processes and having a better handle on both customer and vehicle risk are critical for maintaining a profitable and sustainable business.
Whatever comes to pass economically over the coming months, many of the tough steps taken by dealerships over recent years mean that they are leaner, more adaptive and better prepared than ever before, having been forced by austerity to build upon their core strengths and clearly identify the best way to stay ahead of the game.
Many of the dealers Experian talks to are hugely focused on targeting profitable segments as well as looking for ways to improve their business practices. 2012 may well be a challenging year but by becoming savvier in seizing sales opportunities and more resilient to risk, it could also be the year when car dealers return to growth, become more profitable and prepare to make hay when market optimism returns.
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