Business Technology Roundtable

The World Economic Forum annual meeting is a high-profile gathering that brings together leaders of global society. The heads and members of more than 100 governments, top executives of the 1,000 foremost global companies, and numerous others collaborate at the beginning of each year to define priorities and shape agendas. The theme for Davos-Klosters 2019 is "Globalization 4.0: Shaping a New Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution." A key component of the international debate will be about how the transformation is introducing technologies at a speed and scale unparalleled in history. Meanwhile, digital business innovation is enabled by access to essential telecom infrastructure. The internet combines thousands of public and private networks from around the world, which together are the key foundation for the Global Networked Economy . And since its inception in 1984, more than 4.7 zettabytes of internet protocol (IP) data traffic have already flowed...

The Global Networked Economy is fueled by readily available and pervasive broadband internet access. Tapping this amazing worldwide resource for socioeconomic advancement continues to transform the way that we work, live, play and learn. The latest Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast (2012-2017) projects that global Internet Protocol (IP) traffic will grow three-fold between 2012 and 2017. Global IP traffic (fixed and mobile) is expected to reach an annual run rate of 1.4 zettabytes ― more than a trillion gigabytes per year – by 2017. On a monthly basis, global IP traffic is expected to reach nearly 121 exabytes per month by 2017, up from about 44 exabytes per month in 2012. "Cisco's VNI Forecast once again showcases the seemingly insatiable demand for bandwidth around the globe and provides insights on the architectural considerations necessary to deliver on the ever-increasing experiences being delivered. With more and more people, things, processes and ...

European business leaders believe their companies are more vulnerable to IT-enabled market disruptions than companies in other parts of the world, according to a new market study by McKinsey & Company . McKinsey found that 74 percent of European business leaders believed their company was 'very' or 'extremely' exposed to IT-based market disruption. Regardless, only 18 percent of European IT executives believed their companies were 'very effective' at introducing business technology faster and better than their competitors. According to the McKinsey assessment, European companies need to grasp the opportunity to make bold, transformative moves to ensure their business continues to thrive within the " New Normal " environment of ICT-empowered borderless commerce. A significant number of businesses have recognized the need to adapt, with 31 percent of European executives saying the development of new products and services in response to changing consu...

My conversation with Jonathan Nguyen-Duy, Director of Product Management for Verizon, ended up being very thought-provoking. We were supposed to talk about a new security offering, a backbone-based solution aimed at stopping Internet-based attacks even before they hit a company's network. (I'd spoken previously to Nguyen-Duy about Verizon's risk-correlation service .) Nguyen-Duy is a fount of knowledge about the changing landscape of international cybercriminals. Verizon is expanding its denial-of-service (DOS) detection and mitigation capabilities into eight network management centers serving 24 countries with new levels of scalability -- in part because of an increase in international cybercrime, according to Nguyen-Duy. "Our customers are telling us that the frequency and complexity of DOS attacks has grown. We're now seeing cyberattacks based on social and political activism. We're also seeing less sophisticated hackers getting access to attack methodologie...

All business has become global. Companies of any size can now market products and services worldwide over the Internet. At the same time, competition has intensified because customers can investigate global competitors with ease. To compete effectively in the global networked economy, companies need new capabilities: Global procurement and sales 24 hours a day. Integrated internal and external business processes. Up-to-the-minute access to sales, order processing, production, and other business critical information required for informed decision making. Flexible processes that can adapt dynamically to changes in the business climate. The application of Business Technology is now a primary enabler of strategic advantage. However, chief executives have become impatient, as their companies have failed to keep pace with these advances. There are alternatives, for those who choose to act. The managed services model can be applied to accelerate this much needed change. Review the following ...

Thousands of small businesses in the United States have already embraced managed services. Now, thousands of additional businesses across the globe are climbing aboard the managed services bandwagon. Consider the following data points: Asia Pacific organizations will spend more than $10.25 billion on hosted and managed services by 2010, up from $6.47 billion in 2007, according to Frost & Sullivan. Australia's managed security market will grow roughly 20 percent annually through 2013, the same research firm predicts. Small and mid-size enterprises will drive nearly half of Europe's managed services revenues -- jointly spending nearly 11 billion euros in 2008, estimates Forrester Research. Small business managed services spending will reach $5.4 billion in 2008, according to Techaisle. The data covers the US, United Kingdom, Australia, China, Brazil and India. In the US alone, small business managed services spending will hit $1.5 billion this year, Techaisle predicts. Ques...

The trend of globalization, and the need to connect remote employees, now touches nearly every segment of American business -- regardless of organization size or industry. Here’s a case in point. Founded in January 2001, Illinois-based Kirix began as a data analysis specialist for the recovery audit industry. They've done a lot of data analysis and software development work in that time and have had a particular specialty in identifying duplicate payments and other overpayment errors in large corporate accounting systems. More recently, by generalizing their tool set and incorporating Web connectivity into their software, they apply that analytical firepower to all kinds of data -- regardless of where it is located -- even data that's on the Web. The Borderless Communication Challenge Benjamin Williams, one of the company founders, had been planning to relocate to Germany. As a valuable asset to their corporation, Kirix wanted to retain his services, but wasn't sure how th...