It’s always a remarkable feeling when you realize that a prediction you made has come true. Even better when that translates into business success.
Happily, part of my work involves watching for industry patterns and trends that affect our clients and ensuring those things remain on our collective radar. I spend time with them trying to understand and help them articulate their pain-points and organizational/IT goals. We have a great feedback-loop happening in our ecosystem: as client business needs evolve in response to social and economic forces, the IT Weapons solution offerings have to stay in step and keep the clients safe. Read more…
Love ‘em or hate ‘em … the monolithic Microsoft has some pretty impressive tactics when it comes to the way they deal with their competitors. We’re all familiar with stories of their hostility toward open source software initiatives. But that hostility is actually quite targeted and deliberate. Microsoft doesn’t hate all things “open source” – Microsoft targets their cross hairs on all things “competitor.” That’s why they have (for years) been pouring money into various open source projects. Why? To commoditize their competition’s product and service offerings; essentially sucking the value out of a market that their competitor dominates. Whatever your stance on the ethics, you have to admit it’s a clever strategy. You don’t try take Goliath head-on, you undermine his footing and rob him of his strength. This is precisely what Microsoft is doing with Google Maps to help bolster it’s Bing Maps product.
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This past weekend we took the team up to the Kempenfelt Conference Centre near Barrie, Ontario for our 11th annual weekend of team building and strategy. We also hand out a series of awards to honour great performers on the team. With nearly 60 Wepz in the Arsenal, we’re almost too big for this venue. As the company continues to grow, the planning for Summit starts earlier each year, more people are involved, it costs more, and the impact of the event itself becomes more significant. Does your company do something similar?
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I just completed a very interesting 2 day experience as a member of the judging panel in this year’s Brampton Outstanding Business Achievement Awards. The City of Brampton has been running this competition for over 10 years now. It starts with an online application, the City then creates a shortlist of finalists, and it all ends with an annual gala where they acknowledge local innovators and business success stories in a range of categories. As a member of this year’s judging panel, I joined a group of local business leaders visiting this year’s finalists and conducting interviews with their owners and executives to help determine the winners. Why was I involved? I was asked to take part because ITW was honoured last year in the Information and Communications Technology category (see here and here). It was pretty cool to be on the other side of the table this year – recognizing the excitement and nerves bubbling up in the finalists during the interviews and office visits. Read more…
Napkin Visio
I love Tim Hortons. IT Weapons was born in a Tim Hortons on Dixie Road in the Spring of 2000. That coffee shop was our base of operations and the source of our inspiration for the first few months. To this day, my time at Timmies, however fleeting, is always filled with nostalgia. This weekend, Tim Hortons felt like my office again. Here’s my story. Read more…
