15 Aug DEMOfall – A return to simplicity
At my age I shouldn’t be pulling all-nighters, but it happens every year – twice, in fact, as I put the DEMO conference program to bed. And last night was no exception.
After four months of interviewing more than 200 companies, I faced a 9 a.m. deadline this morning to turn the raw ingredients of the selected companies into a cohesive program for 500-plus of DEMO’s closest friends – the investors and business development execs who come to the event each year.
I don’t go into the DEMO process with a pre-conceived notion of what the market will bear. Instead, DEMO is a bit like a shopping spree at a farmer’s market. I select the freshest, brightest, most intriguing ingredients for the mix — then, when all the ingredients are laid out, I put the program together. And last night – at 3:46 a.m. –- it all came together.
Of course, we don’t reveal the companies that have been selected until the conference begins, but given the sleep deprivation, my guard is down enough to spill the beans on some of the program segments that represent these fine companies.
If there is a big theme for DEMOfall, it is a move toward simplicity, whether we’re talking about consumer Web services or enterprise applications and IT management, the coming wave of innovation is all about making our lives easier. We see it in new approaches to hardware and software interfaces. It’s evident in aggregated services that deliver the information we need when we want it, where we want it. Enterprise applications focus on streamlining business processes, without laying a heavy burden on IT managers.
There is a self-service element in much of the new applications we’ll see at DEMOfall, applications that empower users to communicate effectively with customers, fine-tune business processes and manage complex organizations. Most of these applications demonstrate that we have firmly arrived into the era of service-based computing, where business managers can drive the adoption of the tools they need to be more effective in their work.
Even as we look to emerging markets such as embedded networks, new platforms ease the adoption of these technologies. As applications of sense networks move from prototype to production, new tools facilitate the development and deployment of new applications.
Our lives outside of work are getting easier, too, thanks to the ubiquity of mobile phones and the dozens of applications that turn your phone into a remote control for your life.
Of course, there are the “producer’s prerogatives,” products that are major breakthroughs, tremendous innovations, or just unbelievably cool. The conference will open with a look at a dozen of those standouts.
We’ll cover all these demonstrations here during the conference … but isn’t better to see them live? You can still register for DEMOfall at this site.
This column was reprinted with permission of Network World Inc. All registered trademarks are owned by IDG. More information can be found at http://www.idgef.com.
© IDG. All rights Reserved
The opinions expressed herein or statements made in the above column are solely those of the author, & do not necessarily reflect the views of The Wisconsin Technology Network, LLC. (WTN). WTN, LLC accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed herein.