How to assess a project's financial viability

Let’s suppose a cable & internet company wants to manufacture its own tablet PC. The company wants first to manufacture a WIFI only device to test the market, and then a 3G device. The company is not sure to undertake the project as it will not bring 3G revenue, so it first wants to figure out if the Wifi project is profitable.

Why every product manager should blog

In this article, I specifically talk about the B2B environment which I know well and implies few customers. Some of the ideas I mention though, should be transferable to the consumer business.

The traditional way of communicating product information to customers, prospects, partners, internal sales force, or journalists (in brief, all product stakeholders) is today quite complicating, not efficient and not rational.

How to write a business plan

(Click here to download the business plan).

In this post, I would like to share with you an example of business plan. The business plan is based on one company idea I had when I wrote my last post about paperless. Because of this paperless trend, I indeed think there is an opportunity to create a company that would gather all your paper statements (bank and insurance statements, utility bills, etc…) in one single website.

Toward a paperless world

It is now obvious that the printing industry has been seriously impacted by both the financial crisis and the rise of internet. Even though the economic situation is getting better, I fear the printing industry (to the exception of packaging) might not be able to recover because the web is more and more replacing printed communications.

Monetizing a blog

Having gained experience with blogs, I decided to create a new blog. I thought I could monetize this blog, as the topic might interest a large audience. Monetizing a blog means that ads are displayed on your blog, and generate revenue each time someone visits your blog.

Social network sites: a new way of doing marketing

In the recent years, social networks have revolutionized the way we communicate. Not only social networks have affected relations between individuals, but also it has changed the way companies do business and communicate with their customers.

Is iPad a Kindle killer?

More than ever, the book is at the heart of the debates with the release of the iPad. During the last Apple keynote, Steve Jobs notably demonstrated the iBook store, designed for the iPad. This store enables iPad users to buy e-books online in the open format EPUB.

Zeno’s paradox and race to mobility

Have you ever heard of Zeno’s paradoxes, Achilles and the tortoise? According to Wikipedia: “Achilles is in a footrace with the tortoise. Achilles allows the tortoise a head start of 100 metres. If we suppose that each racer starts running at some constant speed (one very fast and one very slow), then after some finite time, Achilles will have run 100 metres, bringing him to the tortoise's starting point.

The smartphone inside the tornado

It looks like Google is more than ever interested in becoming a major player in the phone market. After having launched Google Voice, and after having developed and equipped smartphones with its operating system “Android”, Google gave last week to its employees a new smartphone which is expected to be launched early next year, as the new Google Phone.

A new world order: “designed in California, assembled in China”

On November 9th 2009, Germany celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which also marked the end of communism in Europe.

Why commercial printers should invest in a Management Information System (MIS)

Contrary to many other industries where products are totally standardized, the printing industry is an industry where customers ask for made-to-measure products. What is indeed more different than a book? It is certainly another book! A book is defined by many parameters which make it unique: cover, paper stock,

Have you noticed that telecom companies now sell Netbooks?

I believe one of the hot topic in the high tech world for the next couple of years will be Netbooks. Netbooks are lighter and smaller than laptops (screen varies from 5” to 13”), and they are much cheaper than laptops (in general less than $400). Some uses a solid-state storage device instead of a regular hard drive, increasing battery life as there are no mechanical parts in movement.

How to improve sales with a solution selling methodology

In an electronic store, if you need information about a high tech device, never ask a sales rep: it is either you know more than him, or if you know nothing about the product, he will also certainly know nothing about it either.

Emails, je t’aime… moi non plus*

I have been using emails since 1995 and I have to admit this is very convenient, especially in business environments. Emails enable to instantly send messages to one or multiple persons, they avoid to pick up the phone, they can be read anytime and they avoid to disturb message’s recipients. They are also more accurate

Is Microsoft Office, the dominant application for ever?

Before its acquisition by Oracle, Sun often tried to position itself against Microsoft. We have to see in this competition the old battle between the Personal Computer invented by IBM and Microsoft, and the client-server approach where all applications are located on a main UNIX server, and accessed by a remote client.

Web 2.0, an uncensored media to bring people together and shrink the planet?

I am surprised to see how almost every media broadcasts the same information, with almost no difference. When you watch BBC and go to CNN, it is the same information. Now, you can listen to the radio, still the same information. Newspapers? Again the same information.

My view on leadership

In my last article, I spoke about leadership and why innovation requires leadership. I now would like to come back on this concept, as I see it as one of the key factors of success in the high tech entrepreneurial environment.

The Graphic User Interface Revolution and Innovation

I would like to come back to one of the most extraordinary innovation that happened in the Silicon Valley and revolutionized the computer industry: the story of Apple and Xerox, or how publishing needs paved the way for the graphic user interface revolution.

After cell phones, is it the turn of the TV to become "smart"?

Living in the US, I often miss French TV shows. Thankfully, we are in the internet era and TV channels now post catchup tv programs to watch almost all recent TV shows. News TV channels also stream live videos over the web, which is very convenient to get the news in real time.

Why printers should invest in web-to-print

Do you remember the old days when commercial printers received hundreds of Quark XPress files to print? How long did it take to prepare these files? i.e. load fonts (thanks Suitcase!), check fonts, check image resolution, check color space (RGB, CMYK), check image format (EPS, TIFF, JPEG,…), impose document, create PostScript file and eventually print… And start over if there was a mistake!