Monthly Archives: December 2007

December 31, 2007 Posted in Business, Strategy, Web x.0 9 Comments

Tying the loose ends together…

By Ben Kepes

I’ve posted extensively at my displeasure at how backwards banking systems invariably seem to be, I’ve also commented at length about my belief that 2008 will be the year that we see social networking sites becoming truly value adding. Put the two together and you have a pretty strong case

December 29, 2007 Posted in New Zealand, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Summer holiday R&R…

By Ben Kepes

The other day was our 11th wedding anniversary (gee, that long already!) and, as parents were visiting from Wellington, we took the rare opportunity to catch a movie. We saw Gloomy Sunday which I can highly recommend (so much so that it’s now on my Facebook favorite movie list. The

December 28, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, IT, Society, Web x.0 Leave a comment

Self actualization in a web context…

By Ben Kepes

Over on the VortexDNA blog, Kaila came up with her take on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Kaila is a smart lady who has a large reading list (both printed and bit-based) so when she speaks (or writes), one tends to listen. Kaila’s internet hierarchy of needs looked like this; It’s

December 27, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, IT, SaaS, Strategy Leave a comment

Marketing SaaS as STRC

By Ben Kepes

An interesting editorial on the IT business edge site discusses the recent Netsuite IPO. Of course there is the expected discussion on whether or not SaaS has come of age, and the arguments for or against Netsuite being a potential SMB product, but what really got my attention was this

December 25, 2007 Posted in Business, New Zealand, Strategy Leave a comment

Not another bubble bursting…

By Ben Kepes

Lance posted about this NY Time article describing the chaos post property bubble burst in Florida. I’ve always been a little sceptical about th apartment developments sprouting up in Auckland and Wellington – the minimal returns (generally well below the rate of interest on borrowing), they hyped up valuations and

December 25, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized Leave a comment

If only the Waipara vineyards joined in….

By Ben Kepes

With a hat tip to Zoli (cerebos!), check out this cool vid. Now that’s truly 2.0….

December 24, 2007 Posted in Business, New Zealand, Society Leave a comment

The world is crazy…..

By Ben Kepes

New Zealand is a society built on volunteerism – I’m involved in a number of voluntary organisations, as a fire fighter, a paramedic, a board member and an advisor. All of this I do primarily for altruistic reasons. Altruism however is different from charity and I tend to shy away

December 23, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, IT, SaaS, Society, Strategy, Web x.0 Leave a comment

2008 social network shakeout?

By Ben Kepes

Peter Griffin gave his perspective on the hot trends of 2008 in the technology space. Rod has already commented on the mobile data issue so I’ll not add to that debate. Rod commented in the past on his doubts arond social netowrking (or facebook anyway) so I’m sure he’ll be

December 21, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, IT, SaaS, Strategy Leave a comment

SuccessFactors using a successful sales model…

By Ben Kepes

I’ve been talking a bit lately with Nina Villamar, AsiaPac sales manager for SuccessFactors. SF, for those not accustomed to it, is a talent and performance management SaaS product that has been deployed through small, medium and enterprise customers. It allows for goal and compensation management as well as performance

December 21, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, Economic Development, Efficiency, IT, New Zealand Leave a comment

Cabinetisation – a balanced viewpoint…

By Ben Kepes

When Telecom New Zealand announced its plans for cabinetisation, there was outrage from some members of the Telco brigade who claimed it was an anti-competitive move and proof that TNZ should be further regulated. Still others claimed that TNZ had been planning (and publicly at that) the move for years

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.