Envesage

Steve Jobs Steps Down as Apple’s CEO

Masood Khatri — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:56:11 +0000

It’s been a long journey for Steve for starting one of the most admired company in the world and then turing it around from the brink of bankruptcy to being the company that delivers most innovative products.

Today Steve’s resignation as CEO raises many question about the future of Apple. But looking at where Apple has come after Steve took the charge again in late 90′s, its totally different company today.

Even though Steve is stepping down from day to day role, we hope that he would provide the leadership and supervision for more amazing products in years to come.

We wish Steve good health and all the best for his new role at Apple.

Steve’s Letter

Version Support in Mac OS X Lion

Masood Khatri — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 05:35:21 +0000

Apart from the iPad like Launchpad, Mission Control and other cools features, one feature I am sure that everyone would find very useful is versions. Currently this feature can be seen in action with Preview and iWorks and I am sure others will follow.

To use this feature in preview just click on the Filename on the title of the window, select the option “Browse All Versions”. Upon doing that you will see a time machine kind of interface where you would be able to glance through all the prior versions of the document, with an option to restore.

Mac OS X Lion – Disabling Natural Scrolling

Masood Khatri — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 02:08:42 +0000

Apple Released MAC OS X – Lion yesterday, since it was released most of the complaints are related to the natural scrolling feature. This feature reverses the gestures that we are used to for scrolling up or down the page.

We noticed this as well when we installed Lion yesterday. This feature could be disabled by following the steps below:

1. Click on the Apple Icon on the extreme top-left to go to System Preferences.
2. Go to TrackPad or Mouse Options.
3. Un-Check the box where it states Scroll direction: natural.

and you are good to go.

iOS App Store to hit 10 billionth download

Masood Khatri — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 04:26:08 +0000

It’s not been too long since the iOS App Store hit a billion download mark. Now with iPad and more iPhone users worldwide it’s about to hit 10 billion downloads.

If you are the lucky one to download the 10 billionth App, you could win a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card. I would say if that happens, you pretty much can have all the apps and music that you want.

Elements of the Mobile Strategy for an Enterprise

Masood Khatri — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:53:31 +0000

The theme at CES was clearly focused on Mobile, Tablets, Video and Mobile Broadband. The timing is right , this article goes through the key elements that the executives should think about when forming a mobile strategy for their Enterprise. The applicability of each of these factors could differ based on the business domain.

Below are a few key elements that should be considered in drafting a Mobile Strategy for your Enterprise:

Identify Target Audience: Identification of the target audience is a key starting point for enterprise’s mobile strategy development. Mobile could be beneficial to both your employees and your existing & potential customers.

Select Business Process: The Next Step would be to select a feasible business process or processes that could benefit most from going Mobile. Mobile also could be used as a marketing and customer relation tool as well.

Identify Target Devices: Mobile Devices have been growing at a rapid pace, they come in different resolutions, sizes, operating systems, and features, mainly categorized into Smart Phones or Touch Enabled Tablets. Ideally, you would want your mobile presence everywhere. But th right approach would be to start with the device that you foresee is being used the most by your target audience and phase the roll-out to other devices later.

Usability and User Interface Design: Usability and UI design on the mobile device is most crucial. Mobile experience is different from the standard UI experience. User’s interaction is limited and it could be interrupted periodically by a variety of factors, e.g. a phone call. Paradigm shift from CLICK to TOUCH needs to be kept in mind.

Systems Integration Planning: One of the most critical exercises is adopting web 2.0 technologies to make integration of the existing system(s) easier with mobile technologies. Use of widgets, gadgets and other frameworks make it easier to integrate. The effort for the integration will depend upon the flexibility and technology used by the targeted systems.

Risk Management: Exposing information on new platforms presents new risks. Mobile or Social Media both are vulnerable to risks related to data and security. Balancing and mitigating these risks is a crucial part of the Mobile Strategy.

Implementation Planning: All the pieces must now work together for the implementation phase, from writing requirements to prototyping to development/testing to deployment. Mobile Strategy should include the details of a phased implementation approach for the mobile presence.

Training: Creating awareness should also be an important part of the strategy, this includes training the existing staff and along with other staff members whose systems are planned to be integrated with the mobile platforms.

About Us

Envesage is a woman owned Technology Enterprise. Mobile Strategy and Development are our core offerings, following factors differentiate us from other firms:

We have over 50+ years of enterprise development, integration and support experience.
We understand the enterprise environment, and have strong management experience.
We have the technical expertise on Mobile Platforms.
We are familiar with deployment, development and support processes for most of the mobile platforms.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for a free consultation about how we can assist your enterprise in going Mobile.

Call Us: 732.058.0786 or Email me at: masood.khatri@envesage.com

How Verizon iPhone could make things better

Masood Khatri — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 03:56:12 +0000

According the rumors from last few days, it looks like Verizon would be launching the iPhone on their network at their press event scheduled for tomorrow. We believe that the Verizon iPhone won’t be different from the existing iPhone 4 except it would be capable for the CDMA network.

Verizon’s iPhone introduction could be beneficial for the consumers and Apple:

- Android users on Verizon now have an option to get an iPhone.

- Consumers could benefit from the competition. We can expect some good deals for the iPhone. The reduction of the price for iPhone 3GS to $49 seems to be the first move.

- Will the consumers see more data plan options, as Verizon is rumored to provide an iPhone Unlimited Data Plan.

- Apple is expected to benefit from the sales of CDMA version of iPhone, which is estimated to be about 11-12 million during 2011.

- Apple also would get a boost in the market share, competing directly with Droid and other Android based phones available from Verizon.

We shall see if these come true at the Verizon Press Conference that is scheduled for 11AM EST tomorrow.

About Us:
Envesage is a woman owned enterprise providing innovative and cost effective mobile platform development services. Contact us for a free consultation on how we can take your company mobile.

Ph: 732.659.0786.
Email: info@envesage.com

Golf Stroke Counter for iOS

Masood Khatri — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 03:23:04 +0000

Forget manual tap tap golf stroke counters available in the market, our Golf Stroke Counter App gives you the exact same functionality on your iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

The App tracks the stokes for your entire session of 18 holes. It provided you inward and outward subtotals as well. Features include ability to adjust the counter in case of error and reset once your are done.

Download this app now for only $0.99 from the iOS App Store.

Download Now

Full Screen Mirror for iOS

Masood Khatri — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 03:13:36 +0000

Mobile Phones and iPod Touches have never been so handy and feature rich. Our Full Screen Mirror App converts the front-camera of your iPhone and iPod Touch 4th generation into a mirror.

This utility comes in very handy when you are in need of a mirror, all you need is your iPhone/iPod Touch along with this app installed.

Why wait, download this App Now for just $0.99 from the iOS App Store.

Download App Now

Mobile in an Enterprise – The paradigm shift

Masood Khatri — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 06:32:35 +0000

Being this my first post on our new website, wanted to start this by sharing a few thoughts on Mobile in an Enterprise.

Having spent about 15+ years in advising and implementing enterprise technology platforms, Mobile has emerged as a strong platform that I am absolutely sure it’s on the list of initiative for 2011 for almost all the enterprises.

Adapting to changing technologies is a key and will always remain a critical component for IT in an enterprise, from Mobile Computing, Cloud Computing, Open Source to Web 2.0 technologies. One thing that has always been constant while managing a technology platform has been the evolving hardware and emerging technology platforms, as they always have been complimenting each other. The CIOs and CTOs are always challenged with balancing the risks v/s rewards for adopting the emerging technology platforms.

There has been a significant shift in terms of how consumers access, use information and computing. The areas include type of devices, user interface and the application distribution platforms.

Devices: Mobile in the last decade only meant Laptops. Mobile Phones, Tablets and eReaders have recently taken over the mobile market share. Small screens have become so powerful that today they can meet almost every computing needs. TV’s, Gaming and Broadcasting devices have become intelligent enough to become an alternative computing platform.

User Interface: Mobile has emerged as one of the powerful platforms, supported by more powerful hardware and mobile operating systems. Users have been addicted to their mobile screens which come in variety of resolutions. But one thing is common and the consumers tend to like the switch “user interface”. It’s time to move from click based devices to touch enabled UI’s. The bread of the user interfaces are easier to navigate and access.

Distribution: App Stores have become an important and convenient source for the distribution of the Applications. Apple introduced the concept of an App Store to start with for their iOS platform that has now propagated to all mobile platforms. The App Store has been a huge success and has become an integral part for both the consumers and developers. App Store for consumers facilitates finding the kind of applications that they need by just searching at one place. Developers and Enterprises benefit from this as well, for them this has emerged as one of the marketing tools to penetrate their consumer driving applications to large audiences.

So now coming back to the point of on how Mobile can be adapted by large enterprises? In fact this brings me back to the 90’s, where there were similar risks and challenges in transitioning towards the web technologies from client server. Following factors would be a key to a successful mobile strategy:

Target Audience
Business Process
Technology Platform
Usability
Data and Security
Systems Integration
Risk Management
Training

More to come on the mobile strategy in my next post, so stay tuned.

Conclusion – It’s time for the large enterprises to start embracing the power of Mobile.

Social Media and Knowledge Management

Barbara Schiffman — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 17:36:07 +0000

The concept of “Knowledge Management” has been perhaps the most important phenomenon to emerge in recent years in the study of management. Knowledge Management has been defined as the process of “continually managing knowledge of all kinds to meet existing and emerging needs, to identify and exploit existing and acquired knowledge assets, and to develop new opportunities” (Quintas, Lefrere and Jones, 1997). Most companies are currently not in a position to consider knowledge management as a separate initiative. However, knowledge management tools and techniques can be incorporated into existing systems development life cycles.

Positioning the Need

The need to capture intellectual capital has evolved over the past several years:

Knowledge Management became a hot topic due to the aging of the working population. However, with the current state of the economy, baby boomer retirements are becoming baby boomer layoffs.
This results in the same problem: knowledge going out the door. However, there is now additional risk: rapid, unplanned knowledge loss, versus more gradual, potentially planned-for knowledge loss.
When the economy rebounds, this loss will continue to impact companies, well beyond the time when the need to cut expenses has been realized.

What needs to be addressed?

The need for knowledge capture/transfer can be instigated by retirements, layoffs, and/or outsourcing.

When determining a plan, a company must consider:

How immediate is the risk?
How difficult will it be to capture, document, transfer, etc. the knowledge?
What steps are necessary to capture the knowledge, particularly tacit knowledge (the knowledge inside people’s heads that allow them to solve problems)?

Components of a Knowledge Management Plan

Those performing the knowledge-required tasks don’t have the capacity to plan and also implement the knowledge transfer. This requires someone or a small team to plan/manage/measure the transition.

Knowledge to be captured includes the following:

What business processes does the technology support?
What is the key “need to know” information?
Who are the people with primary knowledge?
Who are the people with ancillary knowledge (those involved in problem solving)
What systems artifacts are available?
- Business requirements?
- Operational workflows?
- Systems requirements?
- Project Plans?
- Database schemas?
- Program code?
- And so on.

Knowledge Transfer implementations may include some or all of the following:

Real-time (synchronous) collaboration via:
- Wikis
- Instant Messaging
- Remote Meeting capabilities
- Remote “white board” capabilities
Asynchronous collaboration
- Blogs
- Email
Capturing the social network:
- Who has current systems knowledge?
- Who has current business/operations knowledge?
- Who needs to be involved in problem solving?
Content Management: Documentation gathering, storage, and delivery
- What to collect
- How to categorize it
- How to find it (e.g., full text search capabilities)

Other ways to enable knowledge transfer include the following:

Training:
- Remote learning
- Self-study (via video as well as documentation)
Job Shadowing:
- First learning by watching
- Assuming the task under the tutelage of the incumbent

Social Media and Knowledge Management

The emergence of social media tools has facilitated knowledge management in several ways. These tools can play a part in a successful knowledge management plan:

Facebook: Facebook allows for the easy connection of information (text, video, and images) and the people who have this information with those who need this information. This knowledge can be shared at the individual level, or at a corporate level, depending on how the network of “friends” is structured.
Wiki: This is most likely the single most important innovation for knowledge awareness, documentation, and knowledge transfer. A Wiki is a collaboratively created and iteratively improved set of web pages, together with the software that manages the web pages. Because of their unique way of creating and managing knowledge, Wikis combine the best elements of earlier conversational knowledge management technologies, while avoiding many of their disadvantages.
Blogs: Actually a weblog, a blog is a personal web page, kept by the author in reverse chronological diary form. It is a “log on the web” and a “log of the web”. Information is posted and readers have the opportunity to respond, creating a running dialogue on a particular topic.
Twitter: Twitter is a website, owned and operated by Twitter Inc., which offers a social networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read other users’ messages, called tweets. Users may subscribe to other users’ tweets—this is known as “following” and subscribers are known as “followers”. Thus, important information can be quickly disseminated, without having to go through emails to get at the heart of an issue.

On-going Knowledge Management

Once knowledge is transferred, knowledge management processes and tools need to be part of the standard systems development life cycle.

How Envesage can help

Setting up an effective knowledge management program is not trivial. Because it changes the way information is managed and shared, the changes encompass all aspects of the system development life cycle. The emergence of social networking tools, while highly beneficial, brings its challenges in how they are incorporated into the corporate environment. Envesage has experience with Knowledge Management planning, processes, and tools, and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your needs with you.