Frequently, CIO’s and primary project sponsors ask a tough question. How do we sell the business (the system) to the business users? These businesspeople have been habituated to the current ecosystem. They are accustomed to doing their tasks in a certain ways. A new system disrupts those patterns. Most likely, people will be resistant to learning new things and modifying their existing behaviors.
Read MoreMy sister-in-law, who recently graduated from university, is trying to get her career off the ground. As we all know, though, getting that first real job is hard when your experience is limited to stints in the service industry. That’s when my wife stepped in. She came up with a way to describe working at the snack bar of a local Cineplex Odeon as something far more important. All it took was a title: “ambassador of first impressions.”
Read MoreThe user experience doesn’t get much better than credit or debit cards. You hand over the card, you swipe, you sign or punch in a PIN, and you go. Compared to a lot of other transactions we make through technology, that’s pretty fast. Most people outside the industry probably have no idea the snail’s crawl at which the industry behind those cards is moving to protect them.
Read MoreBy: Sandford BorinsIt’s on to Saskatchewan for the November 7 election. I’ve been watching the Web sites of the three major parties – NDP, Saskatchewan Party, and Liberals – and I’m favourably impressed.The Web campaign in Saskatchewan is being waged at a level at least comparable to the recent Ontario election, despite the fact that Ontario’s population is more than an order of magnitude larger. Web-based tools do not display economies of scale: anyone can play at a sophisticated level
Read MoreTo tell the truth, I wasn’t paying 100 per cent attention when Irving Frydman at Fujitsu offered to send along the new LifeBook U810 for review. I thought he’d be sending one of the slim, shiny laptops I’ve grown to covet over the years for their impossibly light weight, sexy form factor and richly detailed LCD displays (not to mention their correspondingly hefty price tags).
Read MoreOne of the biggest concerns currently affecting CIOs and IT managers is staff retention. This is particularly noticeable when it concerns younger employees coming into the market with loads of ability and little patience for the traditional frustrations associated with climbing the corporate ladder.
Read MoreIt’s an image of the past that might have been: an enterprise employee buys a new PC, brings it to work and asks the IT manager to set it up for them. Not for their home use, for the office. They got to pick out the machine, but they expect the IT manager to worry about its image, the applications and the all the security. Of course it sounds like nonsense. But that’s exactly how smart phones are entering the enterprise today.
Read MorePop quiz: Which would you rather spend more time with, your boss or your e-mail?
Read More“To err is human, but to really mess things up takes a computer,” runs a modern version of the old Pope proverb.
Read MoreTool & Gadget is an organization that helps startups with the commercialization of their scientific or engineering-based research and innovation.
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