Google is winning

It appears that Google is winning the traffic war. It's not surprising, since even novice web users are inclined to "Google" things, drawing traffic to that sight. The graphic to the right was pulled from an article on C-Net, which cites research conducted by Nielsen Online.

Will this mean that Google can firm up their advertising rates? Will Microsoft ever have a website that draws real traffic? To be honest, the only reason I go to their site is to fix problems with their software! But I use Google to publish my blogs, to chat with colleagues around the world, and to research products and solutions. I use Google Earth to verify driving directions. I use Google Maps on my cell phone to do the same, and use their SMS capabilities to get information downloaded to my PDA in under 10 seconds.

I believe that Microsoft's period of dominance is coming to an end.
I believe that Google is just getting warmed up.

The link to the C-Net article: Google wins over more Net users in June

The next competitive frontier .... again

Some industry analysts are predicting an increase in demand for Customer Relationship Management systems over the next few years. A report by AMR Research concludes that new CRM's will need to be deployed in order to meet the growing expectations of consumers and corporate buyers. These expectations a basically centered on an improved shopping and buying experience, including product research, buying history, and things as mundane as easy-to-use shopping carts. Also fueling this resurgence is the fact supply-chain management and other back-office logistical improvements have already wrung the most dramatic cost savings out of the system. While there are efficiencies yet to be gained, they will become more and more difficult to achieve. That leaves the customer experience as the next competitive differentiator.

If this sounds familiar, it's because we were at this same place not too long ago. Products and, to a lesser extent, services are becoming commoditized (a new word!) with astounding speed. Personalized service using people is terribly expensive to deliver. The solution we have at our disposal today is to apply technology to make our companies easy to do business with.

For a consumer-oriented product, this means managing preferences and maintaining privacy. For business-to-business, the issues are very different. The corporate buyer wants to ship to multiple locations, include accounting information, set up frequently purchased items and track ordering and pricing trends. These are pretty easy for the common CRM systems. And therein lies the potential for the industry.

An important obstacle is, of course, finding the budget in these uncertain times. It will be hard to justify the investment based on an increase in sales, but the risk of customer attrition is very real (if difficult to quantify). Plus, we all know that CRM implementations don't always succeed. But notice that I'm really not referring to sales person use of the system. Rather, the next benefit that CRMs can deliver will be their incorporation into customer-facing applications, with direct order entry and management. Using the CRM to handle this gives the salesman a consolidated view of what the customer is really doing, instead of just a place to tell his boss what he's been doing all month.

Here is a link to the CIO Magazine article: The Future State of the CRM Market

Security still tops the list

CIO Insight, in yet another survey, has found that 41% of "IT Pros" consider that device security is the biggest challenge in the Enterprise Mobility space. No other choice captured even a third of the responses. And the list even included such basic concerns as Containing costs, Integrating applications and Multiple platform support.

Unfortunately, I don't believe that users sense that this is such a big deal. Think about "your" phone. Did the company provide it? Do you password protect it? Are you more concerned about the inconvenience of not having it than you are about securing the data that is on it?

Now consider these same questions as they relate to "your" laptop. Unless the end user truly cares about the consequences of device security, then the IT security guys are fighting an uphill battle.

Here's a link to the survey results at CIO Insight --
Enterprise Mobility Survey

The pressure might be mounting

I didn't realize this until today, but there wasn't a single U.S.-based IPO launched in the second quarter of this year. That hasn't happened since Carter was in the White House and only a few people even knew were Iran was. Obviously, people are waiting for conditions to be better than they are now, hoping to stretch their current dollars out before looking for new money. But someone is going to take the leap. Some company is going to decide that they need to expand and that even a less than spectacular IPO is better than nothing. And word will get around about how they did... I suspect the first one in will come up a bit short of hopes, but a little better than expectations. Then a few more will make an attempt, and they'll do better than they had expected. And then momentum will start to build, and the general market will start to turn around.

How long? That's anybody's guess, I suppose. My guess is that we're looking at the first brave IPO will come along about mid-third quarter. A few more will pop in before the end of the year, and then the first quarter will show some major activity. That means the housing market recovery is still about 9 or 10 months away, and in the meantime the employment market will go through ups and downs, but nothing all that dramatic.

I welcome your opinions! Please comment.