| | Estimated reading time: 5 minutes | Business Technology
Apps for the Enterprise – The Super Obvious and the Generic-Specific

Yesterday I commented on the fact that the first thing I have realized in recent months discussions with customers and colleagues about what apps we should build for our enterprise applications suite, is what apps we should NOT build.

In all fairness I guess I should also explain what I have realized that customers DO want and what I think we should build.

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| | Estimated reading time: 4 minutes | Business Technology
Apps for the Enterprise – Blame iPad for the Confusion

Before the iPad when there was just the iPhone, BlackBerry and various Android smartphones, things were a lot easier. The phone was (and still is) the thing you always carried with you. In business it was used for sending messages and checking e-mails. On the phone we had apps, and these apps were designed for tasks you could do in a short space of time. For business use we were discussing apps to quickly review and approve purchases, to have a quick look at some KPI:s. Then came the iPad and confused us all.

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| | Estimated reading time: 1 minute | Creativity & Innovation
How to Generate 60 Innovations in 2 Hours

I don’t know if you’re familiar with Dragon’s Den, a reality television series featuring entrepreneurs pitching their business ideas to secure investment finance from a panel of venture capitalists. We used that concept at our R&D event last week—and the result was 60 ideas in 2 hours. Do you want to know how?

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| | Estimated reading time: 1 minute | Business Technology
Out of Office, but Still in the Know

It has been predicted that within the next few years a quarter of the global workforce will be made up of mobile workers. Although the bulk of this growth will occur in traditional established markets, non-traditional markets will also show a significant increase in mobile workforce.

There are five key drivers behind the mobility revolution.

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| | Estimated reading time: 2 minutes | IFS Labs
Nobody Does It Like Bezos

On September 28, Amazon CEO and techie extraordinaire, announced their latest creation in the Kindle Series – The Kindle Fire. Usually, I wouldn’t be too excited over yet another pad-release, and certainly not one built on the Android OS, but when Bezos does something, it is usually quite good. So, did he succeed?

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| | Estimated reading time: 2 minutes | Creativity & Innovation
Attention Addiction Helps in the Creativity Process

Every now and then I update my Facebook status. Afterwards I can see myself falling into the trap of measuring my personal success based on the number of comments or “Likes” my post received. Sound familiar? This incentive of getting people’s attention is a very powerful tool to use in a creative process. It can make wonders.

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| | Estimated reading time: 4 minutes | IFS Labs
Attending Windows 8 Developer Conference
Windows 8 Metro Start Screen

Let me paint the picture for you. Los Angeles. High 70s and all sunny, 5,000 geeks arriving from left and right, with about 60% of us coming equipped with one or more Apple products. The iPhone is, to this observer, in nearly everyone’s pocket at this event. Those without iPhones had to make due with Android devices and the assorted BlackBerrys. Very few (actually, I did not see anyone) had a Windows Phone. Microsoft has got to be asking themselves what to do?

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| | Estimated reading time: 2 minutes | Business Technology
The Difference Between Usability and User Experience

In software a good user experience requires excellent usability. On top of that it also needs an appealing visual design, high quality, good performance. But most importantly it needs “it”. The “it” that creates the “must have” and “love to use” desires.

And therein lays the problem. What really is “it”? How could we describe what we are looking for?

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| | Estimated reading time: 2 minutes | Creativity & Innovation
Employees are Good – Customers are Great!

Great innovations doesn’t necessarily translate into large investments. More importantly is a clever design that exactly solves a certain problem. That’s why the creativity process needs knowledge and inspiration from your customers and stakeholders. The problem however is to get the information from the customer of exactly how they work and what their challenges are. You normally don’t get such information in a conference room with a Danish pastry and a cup of coffee. You have to look elsewhere.

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| | Estimated reading time: 4 minutes | IFS Labs
Microsoft Windows 8 – New and Old Mixed Together
Windows 8 Metro Start Screen

In Los Angeles, using one of the bigger venues available for these kind of events, some 5,000 developers were gathered on Tuesday Sep 13, 2011, for a full day of keynotes from VP’s and Senior VP’s from the Microsoft development departments, showing the latest version of the Windows operating system; Windows 8.

It is clear from the start that Microsoft has a lot riding on this.

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| | Estimated reading time: 2 minutes | Creativity & Innovation
Will your business survive without innovation?

Creative performances results in more innovation – and innovation increases a company’s competitiveness long term. Ask yourself – will I or my company be more creative in the future than we are today, and if so, how will it happen? Researchers have identified four dimensions as the distinguishing signs of creativity, to understand the intrinsic qualities of creative performances.

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| | Estimated reading time: 3 minutes | Business Technology
The cloud: all swings and roundabouts?
The Cloud

A couple of weeks ago I was moderating a lunch time discussion called “The cloud – myths and realities”. Invited key speakers were Graham Taylor who is the CEO of OpenForum Europe, and Mikael Bäck who is responsible for strategy and portfolio management for Ericsson’s fixed and mobile networks. Unlike cloud talk of late this discussion was refreshingly free from over-hyping, striking more of a “swings and roundabouts” tone.

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