Tim Herbert Posts

The Big Data phenomena shows no signs of slowing down, a trend confirmed by CompTIA’s Second Annual Big Data Insights & Opportunities research study. While the threshold for what constitutes Big Data continues to evolve, businesses of all sizes will seek ways to unlock additional value from the data that’s most relevant to them, be it on a large or small scale. As such, the Big Data trend presents a range of direct and indirect business opportunities for IT channel partners with ...

I recently participated in a session at the FOSE government IT tradeshow in Washington, D.C. My panel focused on the topic of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and how the trend continues to entice and challenge both private sector and public sector organizations. In the aggregate (federal, state and local), the U.S. government is one of the largest buyers of IT in the world. Some estimates peg government IT expenditures at over $190 billion annually. Like the private sector, governments at all level ...

For just about everyone on the outside looking in, the healthcare sector can be a strange and puzzling place. It raises big picture questions, such as how can the U.S. spend twice as much as other countries on healthcare and yet do worse on key metrics such as average life expectancy? There are also practical questions, such as why are so many paper forms still in use? Then there are head-scratchers, such as why do some hospitals that treat heart disease have a McDonald’s in lieu of a cafe ...

“The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable,” cracked economist John Kenneth Galbraith. Although said in jest (sort of), Galbraith accurately captures the sometimes questionable track record of prognostications. Yes, this applies to tech sector forecasting as well – I know, hard to believe! Nonetheless, no business can avoid thinking about the future. Even if imperfect, economic and industry forecasting serves a useful purpose in fram ...

Big Data, the buzzword du jour, has captured the IT industry’s attention with some truly impressive examples of what the future may hold. Consider just a few recent headlines: Tapping 'Big Data' to Fill Potholes Your Favorite Restaurant’s Secret Ingredient: Data, and Lots of It Big Data Tackles Longtime Salesperson Headaches Better Medicine, Brought to You by Big Data Big Data and the God Particle (Higgs Boson)While data has always been important to decision-making and problem-solving, something ...

I recently bought a bagel and a cup of coffee at my neighborhood coffee shop. Unlike most shops though, my wallet stayed in my pocket. Using the Square mobile payment app on my smartphone, I simply informed the cashier of my name, which populated the cash register (an iPad) with my account, confirmed by the proximity of my phone. I accepted the charge and that was it. On the way out, using my Belly customer loyalty app, I swiped my phone across a digital display to get credit toward future rewar ...

The ever-quotable baseball great, Yogi Berra, once quipped “the future ain’t what it use to be.” After several years of weak economic fundamentals and market volatility, getting excited about the future is arguably more difficult than it used to be.Many signs point to modest improvement in 2012, but it likely won’t be drastically different from the previous year. For those with the right product mix and business model, that’s probably not such a bad thing.Heading into Q1, CompTIA’s IT Industry B ...

The ever-quotable baseball great, Yogi Berra, once quipped “the future ain’t what it use to be.” After several years of weak economic fundamentals and market volatility, getting excited about the future is arguably more difficult than it used to be. Many signs point to modest improvement in 2012, but it likely won’t be drastically different from the previous year. For those with the right product mix and business model, that’s probably not such a bad thing.Heading into Q1, CompTIA’s IT Industry ...

As the name suggests, unified communications (UC) refers to the convergence or unification of communication streams or systems. While many of the elements of UC have been around for some time, it’s only recently the pieces have fallen into place to make UC a viable option for businesses.CompTIA’s recent study of 900 end users and IT firms points to robust growth of this market, a sentiment echoed by forecasts from IDC, Gartner and Forrester.Because the UC space is about to get a lot more crowded ...

Over the past decade, the U.S. government steadily has increased its reliance on IT to become more efficient, reduce costs and add new capabilities. In the aggregate (federal + state + local), government entities are expected to invest more than $133 billion in IT this year. Even with intense budgetary pressures, the government market represents one of the largest verticals for IT products and services.Like any market vertical, the government space has its own unique needs, requirements and nuan ...