Are really PCs (and Macs) going to disappear?

Not soon, I guess! But it is true that in the last couple of years, the innovation field on technology has moved from PCs (Personal Computers, Macs, x86, Linux, etc) to the mobile world. And it is logical… in the end, how many computers a household can have? In many cases we share computers at our homes. But what about cellphones? It seems that we need to have at least one mobile cellphone per person. And, besides the need, cellphones are even more “personal” than computers, a gadget you need to have turned on with you all the time, everywhere you go.
So yes, maybe the focus is changing a little bit from computers to mobile computing. I have an iPad a I won’t deny it, is the device I’ve been dreaming for several years now. Something portable, light, easy to carry around, that can take charge of all of your computing needs while on the go. You can argue with me about how the cellphone/smartphone was to occupy that place, but for me, small screens are not good enough. Although I have to concede Apple they have made a tremendous work on Mobile Safari, and the browsing experience is superb, the screen size it’s still a barrier for serious content consumption.
Imagine yourself reading an ebook on your cellphone. Even though Apple is releasing their iBooks app for the iPhone I don’t see it as viable (as much as Kindle or Kobo on the same platform).
But the iPad is just another thing! A touch interface really created from the ground up, not just an adaptation of a current platform (as Windows for Tablet PCs). This makes total sense, and makes the world of difference when you really understand what is the niche for this products/platform.
Would it be nice to have USB? Yes. Would it be nice to have a front-face camera? Wait ’til next year. Would it be nice to have more storage? Would you really need it?
Seriously, this is designed to address a different set of needs, and it’s just beginning! Remember the iPhone at the beginning? Just 10 apps? And everybody loved it at the time!
This kinds of evolution in technology take years. It is real that cycles are getting shorter now, more than ever, but notebooks have been on the market for more than 20 years now, and it wasn’t until three or four years ago than everybody switched to that. Smartphones are now in the market for over ten years (I remember the first Kyocera PalmPhone!) and people are just still catching up.
Apple is smart, focusing on things that are just starting… but things aren’t going to happen so soon. We will all see the change gradually, as always! So rest asured that your PC or Mac is safe for the years to come. You will need it to browse the web and buy that next gadget that will replace it.

Success and failure with CRM – Resistance to the new

When implementing a CRM strategy is fundamental to review how your organization is working. The main subject to focus on will always be the customer. We will want to check each sector and think how do customers relate to it, what do they bring and what do the organization give in return, how to improve this, and so on.

I’m sure most of this analysis will bring suggestions and new ideas to do changes in your processes and how do you work (how do you record meetings, phone calls, emails) and even in the way we communicate with customers (implementation of quality service surveys, additional personal information records). It is only logical that most of this changes will be faced with resistance from many of your organization team members.

This is why is very fundamental to always consider the major human factor always present in any project. One of the success factor in any CRM project will be tied to our skills to put teams on our side. If we are successful in including them with the attention they deserve, making them part of the project, always making training tools available to them, we will be able to mitigate this risk and shrink it to the point where it is manageable.

Resistance to change, the new (and fear) are feelings deeply tied to the fact of being human that we will not be able to completely eliminate. But when you consider this as challenges part of the project we will be able to have much more probabilities to end up with a successful CRM project implementation.

About the iPad (and why I love it)

Today I got my iPad. I’m really excited about it. I know this launch has received a lot of coverage on the media, but for me this is not just about a product. This is about a platform.
Many of you would think that “the iPad is just a large iPod Touch”, that’s nothing revolutionary about it. But when you think about the device and the platform as a whole new thing, you will see it all differently.
It is true that touch interfaces aren’t new: the iPod exists now for almost four years in the market. But one thing is a touch interface in a mobile phone, and something totally different is when you think about a mobile computing device. The things that you can do with this are tremendous! Think about just some applications to come: sales force automation, mobile technical support, e-learning, business intelligence. All are just like brand new in the light of a touch interface. All of those applications that are just normal on a PC are totally transformed by the touch interface.
Maybe it is because the “surprise” about touch interfaces was spoiled a few years ago with the iPhone, but I do think that this is completely new, and is going to change things in a lot of ways yet to imagine. So here I am, starting to compile my first projects on the iPad and trying to see how things work on it.
Is not that I enjoy products from a company (let this be Microsoft or Apple or whatever), I enjoy technology itself, and for the things that enables me to do. Just thinking about the years to come makes me so excited, and I can’t wait to be a part of it.

Uh oh, Apple released new MacBook Pros!

Following the story about my new notebook, that I bought just five days ago, it seems I should have waited! Apple just released new specs for all MacBook Pros, and they’re upgrading pretty much everything!

The processor is faster (2.4 GHz compared to 2.26 GHz), they have more RAM (4 GB compared to 2 GB, that’s twice the memory!), the hard drive is larger (250 GB compared to 160 GB) and the video chip is better (NVidia GeForce 320M compared to the NVidia GeForce 9400M). It seems to me this is the machine it should get!

Now, Apple has a 14-day return policy, but they have this little nasty thing they called “return fee”, if you opened the box, you get like 120 dollars less when returning the hardware. I guess that help them cover the cost of testing the machine and maybe repacking it to be sold as refurbished. The thing is, if I would have know that they were to release new machines, I wouldn’t have opened it! But having just called to the Apple Store, they told me (and I remember I read something about it somewhere…) that being the case that they made the change in their hardware specs, they won’t charge me with the return fee, and that I will get a new machine, no cost!

This is why I like Apple so much: they really have reasonable policies when dealing with this kind of incidents. So I have to keep calling the Apple Store to see when they will have the new models in stock, and get it exchanged.

If you have the case of being trapped in such a situation sometime (having just bought a new machine, and knowing about a new release two or three weeks after your purchase) don’t hesitate to call or visit your Apple Store and talk to them so you can get your new hardware

New MacBook: Pro it is!

I finally got my new notebook, is a MacBook Pro. It’s a 13.3 inch display, 2.26 GHz Core2Duo, with 2 GB of RAM and 160 GB hard drive. It doesn’t seem too much of an upgrade from my previous notebook, but I feel it more responsive, maybe not using it in an external display makes the difference. The older one had a Nvidia video board, and this has GeForce 9400M and also WiFi is ‘n’ (which means it can go faster than 802.11g).

One of the first things I want to do is buy a larger hard drive. I absolutely know for sure that 160GB is not enough. Although I have an external 500GB MyBook hard drive, is not the same as having all of your stuff inside your notebook, and not having to carry around more gadgets, cables and power adaptors. Everybody would want to avoid that!

So I’m off to BestBuy to get a 500GB internal hard drive and make the switch. I should probably get an external case for the 160GB that I would be left with, so I can use it as an external HD. I hope they have those at BestBuy too.

New MacBook: Pro or not?

I’m looking for a new notebook, and it has to be a Mac notebook. I had a MacBook Pro for almost three years now, but I sold it to a friend in Buenos Aires before coming to Canada. I had a 2.16 Core2Duo (64bit) with 4GB of RAM and a 120GB HD, but I’m looking for the new model of the MBP. The thing is, I’m still not decided if the MacBook would be enough or if I should get the Pro.
Both are pretty much the same (if you’re considering the lower MBP, as I am) but there’s still a difference: not just in cost but in performance. One of the worst experiences I had with my old MBP was with its video board. I used it with a 30 inch Dell monitor, and although it had enough power to run trivial tasks on such big monitor (lots of pixels to drive!) when you wanted to see HD video, there were some performance problems.
I guess one of the things I like more about the MacBook is its simple look. But when you think about the difference in price and features you get with the Pro… I’m gonna give it a few more days thought and tell you about my decission.

My Blog

This is a whole new project I’m starting today, in several different ways.

I arrived in Canada today, moving from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and hoping to have a brand new life here. I’m actually living in Toronto, and facing all the challenges moving to a new country has.
So this blog will help me share with you, some tech related personal views and opinions.
I will be posting about technology, development and business intelligence related topics, and also my personal view and business opinions about the technology industry. I have been working with computers for 20 years, and i’m still excited about the future as I was when I started.

I had two blogs in spanish, one about CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and the other to Technology and Business. I’m seriously thinking about translating those posts from spanish into english so you can read them from here.

Hope you read me and follow me in your blogroll!