Google Glass: Where is it at?

Ever wondered what happened to Google Glass?

Well wonder no longer!

According to recode, Google glass has been re-branded as project Aura. As noted in this Fortune article, the company decided to focus on the business potential of the project as the consumer oriented device had lackluster demand. According to Fortune, Google glass is being used by industries such as healthcare, energy and manufacturing.


What does this mean?

It yet again gives credence to the trend that IT is being repatriated to the enterprise, as predicted Deloitte's 2015 TMT predictions. On a previous post, I had noted that the Intel's growth area was in support of data centres instead of consumer products - giving kudos to Duncan Stewart and team. But this serves as another evidence of their prediction being right.

Interestingly, Google has been able to procure the services of employees used to work on Amazon's Kindle tablets. Will this breathe in the consumer savvy that Amazon has been bringing to US customers?

Although the sources cited earlier say that this will be hitting the consumers some time in the near future, I still think that the privacy concerns I raised on a previous post on Glass still exist. Specifically:

"The issue, however, with Google Glass is that it is integrated into one's person's physical body and, unlike a smartphone, video camera or that ancient camera with smoke and all,  it inherently lacks the social mechanism to communicate that the interaction is being recorded. Even with social media, it is well understood that the communication is occurring in a medium that can be easily shared, so those that engage in such a communication understand there is a possibility that their conversation is not private and may not be kept confidential. In other words, precisely because Google Glass is integrated into the moment, it inherently lacks the ability to gather:

• "Notice. The entity provides notice about its privacy policies and procedures and identifies the purposes for which personal information is collected, used, retained, and disclosed."
• "Choice and consent. The entity describes the choices available to the individual and obtains implicit or explicit consent with respect to the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information."

(This was taken from AICPA-CICA Generally Accepted Privacy Principles, see page 7)"

Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a GRC Strategist that is working to transform the engagement experience for accounting firms and their clients. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent UWCISA, UW, Auvenir (or its affiliates), CPA Canada or anyone else.

Re-corporatification of IT? TMT Tech trends continue to prove true

Came across the coverage of Intel's first quarter results. According to the Australian:

"The Silicon Valley giant, which said last month that revenue would suffer in the first quarter due to sagging PC sales, reported net income for the period grew just 3 per cent on overall revenue that was flat with the year-earlier ­period."

However, not all is bad. The article also noted that:
"Intel’s data centre group, which includes chips for server systems, posted a 19 per cent jump in revenue."


The shift in growth confirm's the Deloitte TMT Predictions for 2015:
"Consumers don’t always lead the way: The pendulum swings back to enterprise adoption
Historically, new technologies, like PCs and cellular phones, were adopted by the enterprise and then by the mass consumer market years later. In the last decade, it’s been the opposite. Tablets and smartphones with large screens were adopted widely by consumers first, but the pendulum will start to swing back. In 2014, consumer uptake of wearable technology like smart glasses was modest, signaling a shift away from the consumerization of IT. Enterprise adoption of wearables, 3D printing, drones and the Internet of Things (IoT) will have a bigger impact generating more economic value in goods and addressing business needs than the consumer market for those technologies"

Although not specifically mentioned in the press release, Intel's increased revenues is a confirmation that the shift from consumer IT to corporate IT is something that can't be ignored.


Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a GRC Strategist that is working to transform the engagement experience for accounting firms and their clients. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent UWCISA, UW, Auvenir (or its affiliates), CPA Canada or anyone else.

TMT Predictions: Innovation heads back to the Enterprise?

One of the key trends in the recent years, has been the consumerization of IT.

What is the consumerization of IT?

In the first few decades of computing device, the focus of technological innovation was the enterprise. For example, mainframe computers were something only businesses could and would buy. However, that changed in the past decade. The focus of innovation became the consumer. With Moore's law eating away at the price of laptops, and the mobile device revolution with Apple & Google, it became easier for consumers to afford the latest and greatest device. Carrier subsidies for these devices also fueled the availability of the device. The culmination of this trend was the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), where companies allowed employees to bring the Macs or iDevice and attach it to the network. This made the employees happy (even though they had to support their own device) and the companies happy because they paid for less devices and saved around the administration and maintenance of these devices.

As an independent consultant, I experienced this trend first hand: I had better technology by way of laptops and mobile devices than multi-billion dollar clients.

In previous posts, (e.g. this one) we noted how this was one of the key factors in terms of eating BlackBerry's lunch: the corporate mobile device market.

Well, according Duncan Stewart & Paul Lee (and the rest of the TMT Predictions Team at Deloitte), the new trend they see coming is the re-enterprization of IT:

As they explain in the video, the specific areas that they see this as a trend are:

• Wearables
• 3D Printing
• Internet of Things 
• Drones

Finally, as they note at the end, the shift of focus back to the enterprise is advantageous from a fit perspective - devices from the ground up will be created to  meet the needs of the enterprise. From IS and audit perspective, the move will likely enhance the information security and information integrity as these technologies will be easier to integrate into the security architecture and the actual processing environment. 

For more on the TMT Tech trends, see here. 

Technology and Audit: Rising tide of tech floats all boats

Norman Marks, evangelist at SAP, neatly summarizes  in this 5 minute video the implications of the how the recent technologies, such as cloud, analytics, and the like has implications on the auditing profession.

As he notes, "if it's good enough for our clients, it's good enough for us" (i.e. us being the auditing profession).  He mentions how individual analysts and other business professionals are using tablets and other devices to perform analytics. He also cautions that we should not make the same mistake as we did when analyzing the potential for desktop computing. In the video he narrates an amusing anecdote about the reaction of the accounting firm that he worked at to the nascent, desktop computer in the 70s.

Although I agree with his comments, I would say that this also extends beyond the corporate IT environment I have written in the past about cloud and mobile tech and what I see is that these technologies favour the small and medium sized business (SMBs) over the large ones. Basically, SMBs can now afford enterprise class technology and are probably using this technology within their personal spheres. Hence the term "consumerization of IT": advances in technology are focused in the consumer space not the corporate IT Department. As illustrated by the use of the iPhone within the corporate IT, consumers brought or demanded that IT let them use the iPhone instead of the standard  issue (e.g. BlackBerry) smartphone. Furthermore, widespread familiarity with these technologies allows SMBs access to employees who know how to use these technologies - without specialized training. The sum of it: it is much harder for auditors to justify being low-tech, when even the employee of the SMB has gone high tech.

Tablet: Who will challenge Apple - Google or Microsoft?

Microsoft: Enters with a tablet that it manufactures
On June 19th, Microsoft unveiled it's Surface tablet. Microsoft did its best to enshroud the announcement in secrecy creating a buzz in the press (attendees did not even know until the last minute where the location of the event was - they just knew it was in Los Angeles). Microsoft released the following promotional video of the device: 




The big surprise is that the company is following Apple's lead and getting into the hardware manufacturing game. Although Microsoft has experience successfully manufacturing hardware (i.e. the X-Box gaming console), the issue is that it is now competing with the OEMs that have been the key distribution channel for Microsoft's Windows OS. One key advantage of this approach is that they will be able to control the product end-to-end and seamlessly integrate the Windows 8 software and the hardware. The second key advantage is that they will have more control over the pricing, as they can effectively waive the licensing fee and just make profit off of the hardware. 

In a recent interview, Bill Gates attempted to quell OEM fears that have emerged as a result of this move. But to put things in perspective, Microsoft has been aware of the issues related to relying on the OEMs to produce a great Windows experience. In early 2011, they started Microsoft Signature program. For $99, Windows 7 user can remove the "bloatware" installed by OEMs and get Microsoft to install a suite of Microsoft software, such as Windows Security Essentials (but this has to be done in a Microsoft Store and there is only rumours of one to open at Yorkdale). Alternatively, users can buy a Signature certified PC from Microsoft directly from its web store. The result is a better performing PC. Consequently, the move to manufacture its own device is a good way to ensure that Microsoft is setting the standard for performance of Windows 8. That way if there are any issues it can be blamed on the OEMs and not the actual OS. 

Google's Regroups and Attacks with the Nexus 7 Tablet
Last week at Google I/O, Google unveiled its much rumoured 7 inch tablet, the Nexus 7:

Google, like Microsoft, is manufacturing the tablet itself and has already made it available for pre-order via the Google Play store (and yes, unlike Amazon's Kindle Fire, it can be bought in Canada!). 

Google's challenge is similar to Microsoft, with an added snag: they depend on the carriers to roll out their OS releases. This, speaking from personal experience, can be a tedious process. As an owner of the Samsung Galaxy Note, I am still waiting on Bell Canada to roll out Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) - even though Google has already moved on to the next relase of their OS:Jelly Bean (Android 4.1). With this wifi only tablet, they can reach the consumer directly and give the consumer access to the latest and greatest OS.  Similar to what Apple does with its iDevices and what Microsoft is attempting to do with the Surface, Google is controlling the hardware, so they can also create a seamlessly integrated product. 

Microsoft vs Google: Who will give Apple a run for its money?
The two offerings compete against Apple in two different domains: Microsoft is relying on consumerization to eat into Apple's domination, while Google is going after portability and price. 

The primary focus of the Surface tablet (as illustrated by the fancy ad, revealing the tablet in LA, etc) and Windows 8 in general is the consumer market. In the short term, Microsoft is hoping that their tablet offering will be appealing to Corporate IT because of its easier fit into the enterprise (i.e. in contrast to the iPad): executives and other employees that want a tablet can get an easier to integrate Microsoft tablet (e.g. Active Directory, etc) instead of the iPad. Furthermore, it has Microsoft Office - which is a key standard in office productivity that iPad users have to had work around. However, this is a minor aspect of the Microsoft strategy which is more about stopping the bleeding of their corporate stronghold to Apple. 

In the short term, the majority business users will resist the move to Windows 8 because it is so radically different. And according to Paul Thurrott, it appears that Microsoft has given up on the business users with this release of Windows 8. However, this may not be a bad strategy. Microsoft realizes that corporate IT was going to take a few years to switch to Windows 8 - even if it was not radically redesigned. During these years between when corporate IT would have migrated from Windows 7 to Windows 8, Microsoft is expecting users to become  accustomed to the new windows 8 interface in their personal lives. Once this occurs, Microsoft is hoping that trend of consumerization will play in its favour: home users who enjoy the Windows 8 Metro interface will put pressure over time for corporate IT to switch to the new version of Windows - just as the iPhone users put pressure on corporate IT to dump RIM in favour of Apple. 

This is coupled with the fact that users will no longer need to carry a laptop and a tablet: the Microsoft window 8 machines can act as a laptop when you are at work or at home and as a table when you are on the go. There is no need to sync files between the two machines. Of course, this assumes that Window Surface machines have a long battery life and will be as reliable as iPads. But the new Windows 8 is smooth and responsive (I had an opportunity to try it out on a Windows 7 Acer Iconia tablet), so there is a reason to hope that this will work out. 

Google's recent foray into the tablet market is a little different. Google is working off its previous failed attempts, specifically Honeycomb, to get something out there that will compete against the iPad. With the success of the Kindle Fire, Google has zeroed in on price and portability as key features of the tablet. Will the fact that it is WiFi only hurt its appeal? I don't think so. With the majority of smartphone (even BlackBerry!) being able to act as WiFi hotspots, this is not much of an issue. More importantly, users are not locked into 3 year contracts with cell phone providers.  From Google's perspective, it also removes the carriers as an obstacle to getting the latest-and-greatest Android OS to the end-user. Initial reviews of the device are positive. Although I was tempted to buy this, I realized that since I have the Galaxy Note "phablet" (a term that I despise) it doen't make sense to get a 7 inch tablet. Besides, I should save up for the Surface :)

It appears that Apple is aware of Google's strategy: they have lowered the iPad 2 by $100 (i.e. when they released the 3rd generation iPad) and rumour has it that they are preparing to launch a 7 inch tablet themselves.  But is the company underestimating Microsoft? Microsoft's Windows 8 Metro interface appears to be unique enough that Apple can't rely on its armies of lawyers to sue Microsoft (i.e. as it has done to "compete" with Samsung's products). The other problem is that Microsoft still dominates not only corporate IT, but also office productivity - people are addicted to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc and it is hard to let go. That being said, Microsoft is rumoured to have a version of MS Office for the iPad. If this is true, then Microsoft would be shooting itself in the foot as it would hand over this key strategic asset to Apple on a silver platter. On the other hand, Microsoft could become a dominant force for tablets when it comes to business users (anyone ranging from a business student, entrepreneur, or cubicle dweller). However, I think that Apple will continue to dominate the pure consumer market because they have been successful a the "toasterfication of IT": using the iPad is almost as easy as operating a toaster. Anyone with kids or older family members, can see how intuitive the device is. Microsoft is attempting to get into the space with the ARM version of the Surface Tablet. However, this is a long shot because they are behind in apps and, more importantly, the device is quite a bit more complex than a toaster.