Fuat Kircaali

Between 1991 and 1994 I worked for the French company Rhône-Poulenc in its U.S. headquarters in Cranbury, New Jersey. Rhône-Poulenc is the biggest French company in the world and is owned by the French government. During those three years I designed, coded and delivered a state-of-the-art salesforce automation system for the company, with a support team of five. We spent roughly $2 million on hardware but the company saved an estimated $11 million in outside consulting fees. The best bid for the job would take roughly five years to complete and would have been inferior to what we developed. And it probably would never have made it out in five years anyway. With a five-year project, requirements change, and if the requirements remain the same then the people change. So a consulting company awarded such a contract gets paid but doesn't necessarily need to deliver the g... (more)

Mark Hurd and Steve Mills

This is more like a long Tweet than a short blog entry. Personal issues aside Mark Hurd was a brilliant CEO for HP and he will be remembered as one of the greatest CEOs HP ever had. Like the rest of the world, we were curious and watched him from the beginning. I knew he was off to a brilliant start when - within days of getting the job - he put together an internal group of PhD economists specialized in game theory who developed a system that saved HP billions of dollars in purchases. Wikipedia defines game theory as "attempts to mathematically capture behavior in strategic situ... (more)

Open Letter to the President of Syria Bashar al-Assad

Thursday, July 29, 2010 Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey   To the President of Syria, Mr. and Mrs. Bashar al-Assad Mr. and Mrs. President Bashar al-Assad: At the tender age of 17 months my severely ill daughter Sofia, an American citizen, was abducted by her mother on Monday, July 26, in Istanbul, Turkey, and taken to Syria. I was informed yesterday by Sofia's mother that she will not be coming back to the United States nor will she allow Sofia to return home. Sofia has been diagnosed with a severe medical condition that requires immediate treatment in the United States. It was schedul... (more)

SYS-CON Announces "iPad Summit" Colocated with "Cloud Expo" in Silicon Valley

iPad on Ulitzer Cloud Computing Expo - The debut of the iPad promises significant opportunities well beyond just Apple. The iPad promises to energize the emerging tablet PC segment, creating a potential semiconductor opportunity of over US$4.1 billion in 2014 reports In-Stat. Other component vendors will capitalize on the new opportunity for batteries and displays, as well. iPad Summit and iPad Expo by SYS-CON Events SYS-CON Events announced on Monday that the first International "iPad Summit" (www.ipadsummit.net), will take place November 1, 2010, at the Santa Clara Conventi... (more)

The Secret Behind The Incredible Growth of Cloud Expo

A few minutes ago I received an email questionnaire informing me that "The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) has once again partnered with George P. Johnson Experience Marketing to conduct this essential and timely research. This year's study is being co-produced with The Jordan Edmiston Group, Inc. and with support from the Event Marketing Institute." The first question of this survey is: Which one of the following best describes the role of "digital marketing" when you are planning an event? a)      A leading tactic b)      A vital component of the plan c)       Tak... (more)