Application Portfolio Management

How many times have you read a book and realized that you can't recall a major character? Or, maybe you were left wondering how an important plot came to pass. The average novel contains 50,000 lines of text. Now, imagine a multimillion-line novel written by a team of authors over the course of decades that was repeatedly rewritten to the point that entire chapters were no longer relevant to the plot. That is the typical application portfolio of today.
Application Portfolio Management (APM) is a practice that has emerged in mid to large size Information Technology (IT) organizations since the mid 1990s. Application Portfolio Management attempts to use the lessons of financial portfolio management to justify and measure the financial benefits of each application in comparison to the costs of the application's maintenance and operations.
Application portfolios control your most central business processes. However, over time, they tend to become more complex, less manageable and less aligned with your enterprise goals. In fact, many core business operations are likely automated by applications that can't be efficiently adapted to support real-world business requirements.
APM solutions allow organizations to identify, prioritize and act on initiatives that realign the application portfolio with business goals. They do so by trending technical and business metrics regarding enterprise applications' value, cost and risk. This information is then presented back to the right level within your organization to facilitate decision-making and implementation, an APM solution can measure where weaknesses and value exist.
APM offers an approach to bring your application portfolio in-line with your business requirements. However, organizations should be careful when selecting an APM solution. They should look for solutions that create immediate value by quickly centralizing the right mix of business and technical metrics.

Want Less Holiday Chores? Invest in a Robot!

For years, robots have been used outside the home. They detect bombs on the battleground, build cars in factories and deliver supplies and visit patients in hospitals. However, the past few years have seen the rise of home robots. There are also robotic lawn mowers, duct cleaners, surveillance systems and alarm clocks. There are robotic toys for entertainment, such as Furby. Robotic companions, like Paro the harbor seal, comfort the elderly. It is said that by 2015, personal robot sales in the U.S. will exceed $5billion USD, quadrupling what they are now. We will see more and more robots that help maintain your home; they will pick up stuff from the fool, stock your fridge, carry stuff from the car. some can be instructed, they can be programmed, you can have software that is built upon by others.
What better way to enjoy the holidays than to spend more quality time with loved ones by letting the robot do the nasty chores..

Facebook-for better or for worse

Facebook has taken a keen interest in user privacy lately, for better or for worse! It's required users to review their own privacy settings following a system revamp. Privacy from app developers, though, is another matter. what started out as a college-kids-only social net has become for everyone, and its a serious enterprise. it is for this reason that the company decided to give a stern lecture to all of its members, reminding them to grow up and review their privacy settings,lest the photoes of their childish antics with the bottle of captain Morgan to be exposed to the world at large..
Facebook has not made it just a reminder to look at the setting.. but a requirement, this week users who sign on to Facebook are greeted with notices to review the new privacy options Facebook set up. if you ignore the notices enough times, you get locked out of your account until you go through the motions.
Those new settings include things like the elimination of regional networks and the ability to set more specific privacy settings for individual bits of content. These are useful adjustments, probably aimed at making Facebook more attractive for use in business settings
However, there does seem to be an implied message from Facebook that you need to be saved from your own social ineptitude. If you're annoyed by that, well, it's certainly not the first time the site has irked users with a slight makeover, and no matter how much grumbling goes on, Facebook just keeps growing.
All in all .. facebook began as one thing and transformed into another.. from a college social network.. to a business or matured social network.. i feel as though facebook is already to intrusive and by making more changes to benefit a more mature user is always a wise decision.. after all .. facebook is a virtual way of self exposure...as is myspace, orkut, bebo, hi5.. and if facebook users want .. they can always use the alternative.. and allow facebook to evolve into something more useful and purposeful

Coca-Cola and the Environment

Roughly 75 percent of plastic soda and water bottles end up in landfills, by some estimates. What a waste. We could argue about whether to blame lazy consumers, governments that fail to promote recycling, or the beverage industry. This is a growing problem that requires atttention. This is a continual issue that United Resource Recovery Corporation faces (URRC). The URRC. provides recycling services for the photographic film/silver recovery market. The company focuses on recycling plastic food and beverage containers made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). This week with the co-operation of Coca-Cola Co. a $60 million joint venture partnership with URRC in opening the world's largest bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Spartanburg, S.C. When fully operational, the plant will produce approximately 100 million pounds of food-grade recycled PET plastic each year the equivalent of nearly two billion 20-ounce Coca-Cola bottles. Coca-Cola has set a long-term goal to recycle or reuse 100% of its bottles and cans in the United States.
PET plastic beverage bottles are made with up to 30 percent of their PET material derived from plants. This process for making PET plastic bottles that contain a blend of traditional material and up to 30 percent plant-based material. Today, the plant-based material is made from sugar cane and molasses, a by-product of sugar cane processing.
So the question remains.. is this enough,? Is there enough environmental concern being addressed? In this case it is just to say that Coca-Cola is making a step in doing theire part to solve a big and needless waste problem. Now we need governments to do more to promote curbside recycling–maybe with “pay as you throw” programs, that charge wasteful people more money. And, of course, we need consumers to think twice before throwing a bottle in the trash or, worse, by the side of the road.

Video on How to Better the SCM

Video on Greener Supply Chain Management

Ten Steps to a Greener Supply Chain a great youtube video on how to increase the success of SCM on an environmental perspective..

The Green Supply Chain; Cutting Out Weak Links

As companies evaluate their carbon footprints, supply chains are one area of business that have come under increased scrutiny. Making the complex network of manufacturers, packagers, shippers, wholesalers and retailers greener, it protects the environment, saves energy, and ultimately reduces costs.
Ways in which cost is reduced and reduced carbon footprint: advancement of electronic network systems, thus making communications between all links in the SCM paperless and efficient.
Measuring Carbon Footprint
To green a supply chain, a company must evaluate the situation. This can be accomplished either by having a thorough walk through by an environmental consultant or other environmental experts.
To do a thorough investigation of a supply chain, companies can turn to software like Infor's SCM Network Design. The latest release of this supply chain management and modeling software includes the capability of analyzing the environmental impact of a company's supply chain. The software's sustainability criteria let companies evaluate the carbon emissions related to the production, storage and transportation of the goods they sell.
Green Communication
With the advancement of digital communications between companies and their suppliers and transporters it can make a big difference in the environmental impact of a supply chain. This reduces the use of paper, decrease unnecessary transportation, and cost as well as error rates. Verizon Business has partnered with GXS, a provider of B2B supply chain integration and collaboration products, to help clients communicate electronically with their manufacturers, distributors and shipping companies.
With the environment as a consideration, in the SCM it greatly impacts the advancement and success of a company.