Gregor Petri

IT is an acronym crazed world. So crazy that sometimes - when running out of three letter ones - we simply  recycle them or add sequence numbers. Remember MRP, which used to mean Material Requirements Planning, but then became Manufacturing Resource Planning (called MRP II to avoid confusion), to only a couple of years - and a few trillion of investments - later, resurface as ERP. In that era the term BPR also became popular. BPR stood for Business Process Re-engineering (see for example Hammer, M. and Champy, J. A.: (1993) Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution), a movement that in my perspective*really gained steam from the realization that throwing new technology (ERP) at existing processes, only offered limited improvement potential. As Business Process Re-engineering often resulted in massive redundancies and layoffs, BPR got kind of... (more)

Is the Way to the European Cloud Paved Mainly with Good Intentions?

At the end of last month the EU released its plans for "Unleashing the Potential of Cloud Computing in Europe". But although the document (s) - just like EU commissioner Kroes in this video - do a good job describing in non-technical terms what cloud is and why Europe should care about having a competitive cloud position,  it kind of stops there. Even though it defines three key actions - around Standards, Terms and Public Sector taking  a lead role - most described actions  consist of softer items such as  "promoting trust by coordinating with stakeholders", "identifying best pr... (more)

Dear Apps, Why Can We Not Just All Get Along?

Ecosystem could be "the word" of 2013, if only vendors, providers, ISVs and other technology conglomerates stop acting in a "This Town ain't big enough for the both of us" way. As an App user* I am increasingly amazed, affected and annoyed by what in my view can only be described as turf wars between various technology providers. Increasingly cooperation - that originated by a desire to have a quick time to market - is being replaced by outright competition driven by a desire to own the full stack. Some recent examples: Phone manufacturers replacing perfectly good map application... (more)

What Happens in Barcelona…. Can Now Be Seen Here

Also this year cloud computing was a large topic at Gartner's annual symposium in Barcelona.  It shared the limelight with the other three forces of the Nexus (Social, Mobile and Information) but managed to pop into most conversations and presentations. For those who missed it - and for attendees that did not manage to be in all parallel sessions at once - video recordings can now be accessed at gartnereventsondemand.com (highlights available after registration of email, full sessions for registered attendees). Personally I did a couple of dozen 1on1's, seven larger sessions (p... (more)

The Spring of 2013 Is Off to a Cool Start

Even though today's crowning ceremony in Amsterdam enjoyed some modest sunshine, the temperatures across Europe are at an all time low. A more reliable indication that spring has started, are the annual Cool Vendor reports being published. For the first time this series includes a note dedicated to cloud activity in Europe. The "Cool Vendors in the European Cloud Computing Market, 2013" note describes four European vendor making a difference in the local and global cloud market. The report also points to several other European cool vendors featured in other notes. Such as in the... (more)