Is Epic Systems to Madison what Dell was to Austin?

Inside Wisconsin/Tom Still: The numbers behind the rise of Epic Systems, a pioneer-turned-leader in the digital health records business, may surprise even those who are familiar with the story. The success of Epic Systems, born in 1979 with an $80,000 computer loan and a rented basement office on University Avenue, is a classic example of disruptive technology.

Remember to ask, “What business are we in?”

Business Model Innovation/Kay Plantes: If, as a company leader, you did not lose a heartbeat over the bankruptcy filing of Kodak, Barnes and Noble, Blockbuster and AMR Corporation (American Airline’s parent) or Google’s pending purchase of Motorola phones, you should have. When previously solid businesses run out of cash, there are lessons to be learned. In particular, never forget the vital strategic question, “What business are we in?”

Press releases and other news

• Chief technology officer leaving the White House
  Source: Washington Post

Note to Tom Friedman: Technology creates, not destroys, jobs

Guest Column/Rob Atkinson: I should just get a macro for my computer so that when I type "Control T" it writes "Tom Friedman is wrong because" since he so often is, as I pointed out here. But in Today's New York Times Op-Ed he does it again, only maybe even worse; blaming technology for joblessness.

How a collaboration technology gets adopted

Guest Column/Craig Roth: Adoption, adoption, adoption. Sometimes it seems like that’s all anyone wants to hear about when it comes to collaborative technologies such as social networking, SharePoint, Jive, or intranets. I’m on record as being a bit of a curmudgeon about adoption since I’ve seen it abused so frequently (particularly in the SharePoint space) by IT folks that don’t want to actually talk to the business about what they need and co-own the solution.

Market domination via name identity

Name Bank/Naseem Javed: Global corporate nomenclature is making history, right now, as ICANN gTLD platform opens with full swing, the established and largest name brands of the world are now pitted against the newest, recently incubated, globally poised but relatively unknown name brands. The global image shifts are at play. The coming years will define the new landscape of image and brand name superiority and spell out a new language defining market domination via name identity.

Landmark Supreme Court ruling on technology and the fourth amendment

Guest Column/Paul Larkin: On Monday, the Supreme Court issued an important ruling on the subject of surveillance in light of today’s technologies. Its opinion in United States v. Jones makes the rules for surveillance much less clear, which perhaps is not surprising given the rapid technological change and the need for further legislative and judicial action to address these complex new issues.

Press releases and other news

• FAQ: Google’s new privacy policy
  Source: Washington Post
• Symantec: Users should disable pcAnywhere now
  Source: InformationWeek
• Online voting comes of age (but don't expect to use it anytime soon)
  Source: ReadWriteWeb

Kaiser goes mobile with 9 million strong

Nine million Kaiser Permanente patients can now access their own medical information anywhere in the world on mobile devices through a mobile-optimized website, Kaiser executives announced today. Kaiser’s electronic health records system, KP HealthConnect, is based primary on software from Epic.

Big data predictions for 2012

Over the last several years, the desire to understand the surging rivers of digital data forming all around us has led inexorably towards something more meaningful than simple analysis. The rise of consumer analytics, and by that I mean analytics tools that literally anybody could and would use, could be arguably said to have begun with the introduction of Web analytics. After all, practically everyone — and every business, large or small — now has a Web presence.

Epic executive wows tech industry leaders

A top official of Epic Systems Corp. dazzled his tech industry colleagues on Tuesday with figures of the Verona company's rapid growth. Epic, which develops and installs electronic health record systems, started in the basement of a building on old University Avenue in 1979. Now, the company owns 811 acres in Verona.

Press releases and other news

• After $35 tablet computer, are inexpensive pacemakers next?
  Source: Huffington Post
• The Russian computer that ran on water
  Source: Gizmodo

Higher ed getting nimble to meet industry needs

Inside Wisconsin/Tom Still: When the leaders of the biotechnology program at Madison College saw an industry need for laboratory technicians who could work with all types of stem cells, they hustled to come up with a plan. After discussing the idea with college administrators and board members, the biotech faculty forged ahead with a proposal that attracted National Science Foundation support as well as backing from private companies.

iPad, iPhone app promises to secure confidential documents

The BYOD popularity of iPads and iPhones can put at risk confidential documents stored or accessed from those consumer devices. The WatchDox iOS app is designed to let enterprise users in financial services, manufacturing and other industries securely view documents on Apple's mobile devices.

Is personalized medicine in your future?

The teaser at the top of a recent Wall Street Journal article proclaimed, "What does the future of medicine hold? Tiny health monitors, tailored therapies--and the end of illness." Whoa! IT-enhanced personalized medical therapy holds great promise, but we won't be eliminating disease from the face of the earth any time soon. Nature is much too smart to let that happen.

Press releases and other news

• Not quite smart enough
  Source: New York Times
• Add another log to the fire: HP employees grumble about loss of stock grants
  Source: All Things Digital

When frugality fails

CIO Executive Edge/Mark McDonald: For the past 10 years, cost has been the mantra facing CIOs and IT organizations. Cost benefits are a factor in just about every major technology wave in the past 10 years. Cloud, the current theme, is presented as a cost play so is sourcing, services, virtualization, open source — if I did not know better I would think that getting IT costs down is the only thing that matters. The lead story is cost with the good business reasons for technology a secondary concern.

Press releases and other news

• Hacker releases 100,000 Facebook log-in credentials
  Source: InfoWorld
• Stupid user tricks 6: IT idiocy loves company
  Source: InfoWorld
• Can Apple’s new textbook initiative save U.S. education?
  Source: Washington Post

Thinking about dilution

Guest Column/Paul A. Jones: For most entrepreneurs, dilution is an ugly word. Being diluted, after all, is about giving someone else a piece of your business. All other things being equal, that’s not a good thing. That said, for entrepreneurs that need third party risk capital to fund their business dilution is inevitable. And (the silver lining in the dilution cloud) not always as bad as it might seem.

With less shine, what will happen to Apple’s performance?

Business Model Innovation/Kay Plantes: How will loyal Apple customers react to Apple’s first public supplier performance report card? Recent news about abuse of labor hours and environmental standards by some of Apple’s Asian supply chain partners might lead the loyal and merely satisfied to shop elsewhere. After all, loyalty, past satisfaction with purchases and implicit expectations about corporate behavior are woven together in a rope that can propel or, in Apple’s case, choke off future growth.

Wisconsin venture investing slides 40% in 2011

Wisconsin companies raised $72 million in venture capital in 2011, a 40% drop from a year earlier, according to figures released Friday. The decline contrasted with venture investing nationally, which rose 22% to $28.4 billion, according to the MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the National Venture Capital Association.

Press releases and other news

• Thanks to iPads and Kindles, e-book lending at libraries explodes
  Source: ReadWriteWeb
• For online privacy, click here
  Source: New York Times