Tim Herbert Posts

“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.

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 ...

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 ...

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Karen Mills, discussed the importance of international markets and the types of hurdles small and medium size businesses (SMBs) face when exporting products or services.The export topic gets some “ink” periodically, but relative to other SMB topics, not much. Somewhat puzzling considering: 76 percent of global economic activity occurs outside of the United States. Granted, the U.S. economy is still ...

If it’s January, it must be time to talk predictions, trends and, let’s face it, guesstimates. Professionals and armchair prognosticators alike will share their outlook for the upcoming year, covering just about every topic under the sun. Top ten trends lists abound. From the Super Bowl to the Oscars and the S&P 500 to the next snowmageddon, people love to make and read about predictions.The tech space is especially fun for predictions, but also challenging due to the rapid pace of innovatio ...

I recently sat down with CompTIA president and CEO Todd Thibodeaux to chat about hot tech gifts this holiday season. We’re both longtime gadget guys and tech tinkerers so it’s always fun to compare notes on product trends. Since many of the tech products that find their way under the tree also find their way into the workplace, it’s worth taking a look at the drivers behind the gift lists and the implications for the IT industry.This year will again be defined by incremental improvements and new ...

Just about every water cooler discussion I’ve ever been a part of on the future of technology inevitably leads to mention of flying cars and/or robots. People can’t seem to resist criticizing the state of technology for not providing certain innovations that were “promised” years ago, or dreaming about a futuristic world where helper robots free us from the doldrums of work and flying cars free us from the annoyances of traffic. It wasn’t long ago when a discussion of the “future” would mean a d ...