BARCELONA, Spain — If there's one thing mobile executives like to talk about at the annual Mobile World Congress love fest here, it's the vertical disruption mobile technology is causing. And this year (MWC: Mobile Technology Madness), as in every year, executives have a few key disruptions they highlight. In the past there was a…
BARCELONA, Spain — An estimated 70,000 people — mobile executives, analysts, app developers, tech geeks, and industry watchers — have descended again on Mobile World Congress here to Barcelona for a few days to talk shop and wheel-and-deal. They're also trying to figure out — in this very noisy environment — what it all means.…
Supply-chain resiliency is something companies in the high-tech sector and other industries have been talking about for years. Even with all the talk, it still remains a relatively vague concept mentioned in the same dreamy way people discuss supply-chain flexibility and agility. As elusive and ever-changing as resilience may be (mostly because changing world circumstances…
The US may be home to mammoth technology brands like Apple, Amazon, Intel, and Google, but when it comes to adopting new media technology, it's running behind other countries. In fact, the US doesn't even make the top 10 countries in ZenithOptimedia's recently released New Media Forecasts study of 19 advanced markets and new media…
When you think about supply chain risks, what's often mentioned is not something related to the physical supply chain. Rather, it's the growing number of IT-related cyberthreats that could do serious damage. A recent report from the Georgia Institute of Technology on emerging cyberthreats, for instance, includes information around exactly this theme. Give the report…
It's a given in the high-tech world — prices fall. They might fall slower or faster depending on the device, the components, and the product segment, but they generally drop as the devices move into the “commodity” category. As industry watchers, we all know this trend, and any number of companies forecast this trend every…
Supply-chain professionals deal with all kinds of risks every day, from managing routine shipping delays to second-sourcing products when a natural disaster hits a key supplier. But there are a number of other global issues that should compel supply chain experts and corporate senior management teams to rethink their risks and their potential impact. One…
Maybe it's still early enough in the new year to think about starting fresh. Or maybe companies are seriously considering which operational areas work best and which don't. Or maybe they are launching in or expanding in other product segments to shake off the economic malaise from the last few years. Whatever the reason, it…
With much of the Western world still dealing with soft economic conditions, it's not surprising that controlling costs will remain a top priority for many companies this year. Not surprisingly either, it's likely that many of those cost-control directives will fall to the supply chain and procurement teams. Commonly, the finance department believes improved sourcing…
This time of year, we're inundated with predictions. Some of them you look at and forget. Others stick with you and get your problem-solving wheels spinning. The second scenario happened to me the other day when I was browsing sites and looking up enterprise IT trends. Three of the executive predictions cited on the Business…