September 04, 2008 | Author: Andy GreenBest of the Web
Relax. The economy is doing better than expected and technology spending seems to be holding its own. Sounds like a good time for a quick rundown of three interesting web sites.
Peter Abilla writes about customer experience and business processes at shmula.com. This former Amazon executive has a knack for making his posts on supply chains, Six Sigma, and queuing systems fun to read.
There are lots of blogs on VoIP, but VOIP Watch is the only one that made The Industry Standard's top 25 list of under-appreciated sites.
And Kathryn’s Blog is reality-based commentary on managing a contact center.
Posted by Andy Green at 14:15 on Sep 04, 2008
Andy Green said... Posted at 12:09 on Sep 16, 2008
With the bad news out of Wall Street yesterday, I'm wincing now when I read my soothing economic thoughts. However, it may not be that bad for technology. Listen to this interview with the cool-headed Bill Hambrecht, legendary Silicon Valley investor:
Jim Keenan said... Posted at 22:36 on Sep 20, 2008
Short term, it maybe OK for technology, however, with Inflation up 5% (excluding gas, energy etc., where it would be up even more), incomes down 3%, home prices down, and unemployment up over 6%, it is hard to see where consumer spending is going to come from. If the consumer has no money, it is only a matter of time before the ripple effect is felt in the enterprise and technology spending. EX: Avaya's financial sector will be hit hard this quarter and first part of FY09. This will drag Avaya's numbers down, impacting EBITDA, potentially causing more layoffs, etc., you see where I'm going. Until, we see some changes in the fundamentals, I am not sure we can say economy is not that bad, technology included.
Andy Green said... Posted at 14:05 on Sep 23, 2008
Jim,
We're all obviously still stunned by the financial news last week! But a long time ago in a far off place, America, July 2008, there was some silver lining when the Dept of Commerce came out with their numbers. Second quarter GDP was up over 3%. It was thought that cheap $s were a good thing for exports. CPI inflation was ahead over 5% (which does reflect energy and transportation costs), butit was felt that oil prices would come down, which they since have. And disposable income did fall in June, but that was because we all got those great free government checks in May that temporarily bumped every one up. Analysts I read were trying to find the underlying signal. It wasn't clear we were in a recession. That was then.
I offer the Hambrecht interview to showcase the optimism this technology investor has for 2009, and his point that there's still tons of money to invest in technology.
--Andy
