The Laszlo Letter

Three Developments to Watch

Welcome to my leap-year post!

Although our industry is notoriously slow to adopt new technologies, it is also true that eventually we wake up and attempt to catch up with the rest of the world. With this in mind, here are three developments worth watching:

Google dives into content management and collaboration

Read this to get a feel for the direction Google is taking to take on Microsoft SharePoint on the enterprise collaboration and content management front. Yes, it's a "dumbed down" attempt at the moment but not one to be ignored. While you're at it, check out a currently more serious competitive product from Alfresco.

Adobe Air to unite the Internet with PC applications

Here is a novel thought: Get access to your PC-based applications via the Internet no matter where you may be and even if you don't have your PC with you. Adobe Air plans to enable that but will require an army of developers to make it happen. Read this article to learn more and perhaps check out some already existing applications that use Air. You'll find links to them in the article. As with everything else in life, there is competition. So, don't forget to check out what Microsoft, OpenLaszlo (no relation) and XCerion are doing on this front.

EMC sticks toe in cloud computing waters

Paraphrasing its Wikipedia description, "cloud computing is a massive network of computer servers interconnected as if in a grid running in parallel to maximize computing power per server." While this concept and practice has been around for quite a while under the name of "grid computing" it has taken on new meaning due to the huge investment put behind it by Google to power its own worldwide infrastructure. Since cloud computing has tremendous implications for data storage, it is easy to see why EMC has now purchased Pi Corporation to seed its new Cloud Infrastructure and Services Division. So, check out what's going on here starting with this article. And yes, while EMC also owns the Documentum brand, don't expect this new development to have much impact there in the near future. The big bucks will come from elsewhere. In our own industry, think about "omics" as the most likely place where cloud computing can have a big role.

IBM buys into Complex Event Processing (CEP)

I have been following the progress of a small company called AptSoft for about two years. AptSoft markets a solution for Complex Event Processing (CEP), a niche capability that is a close cousin of Business Process Management (BPM).

As I have reported here not long ago, I have been struck by the great emphasis our industry has put on process reengineering while almost ignoring the important role that BPM tools could play to make such reengineering easier and more effective. So, I have been reluctant to add CEP into the mix under the assumption that our industry was just not ready for it.

Now comes the important news that IBM has purchased AptSoft and will make it part of its WebSphere business. This move by IBM will give greater legitimacy to CEP even if it only becomes a part of a larger set of middleware and SOA offerings.

The move also means that the biopharma industry should take a closer look at the way that CEP could be used througout the business. But just what are these application areas?

Well, I don't have a nice compact list to share with you. Suffice it to say that CEP can help in circumstances where the potential consequence of a sequence of events are not known. In other words, you can use BPM when you know for sure what effects a certain action can have. You can use CEP if you don't know any or all of the effects that may transpire. Donald Rumsfeld would call these the unknown unknowns. And, as an added bonus, CEP would let you figure out how to handle these unknowns as they happen.

OK, I'll give you one example: Supply chain management in case of a pandemic of unknown size and location.

Random Thoughts: Women in Leadership Positions

and why we need more of them in this industry.

I have always been amazed that when my wife and I meet another married couple, she is able to find out everything about their families from the wife in roughly 20 minutes. I, on the other hand, may become the best friend of the husband and fail to know, perhaps even after two years, that he has two brothers and a sister. And therein lies a great difference between men and women. Women are simply better at communicating.

So, why does this lead me to conclude that we need more women in leadership positions in our industry? There are probably many reasons but only one that led me to writing this post. It's about an incident fairly recently wherein a very large pharma company forbade one of their employees from giving me a copy of his presentation at a very public meeting and also (politely) asked me not to write anything about the talk.

While I was not surprised by this incident, I still managed to get pretty upset about it. And that's when I realized that this was male testosterone (theirs, not mine) at work. Inexplicable, irrational, illogical and infuriating. Yes, I know I'm getting emotional about this but only because such behavior has consequences. This crazy focus on secrecy (read: lack of transparency) inhibits progress. We need to learn from each others triumphs and failures so the entire industry can grow.

This is why we need more women in leadership roles. They know much better how to communicate and collaborate. Wrapped in all that is a greater degree of openness that values discussing the bad as well as the good.

Now please excuse me, I have to go work a bit on my feminine side.

Random Thoughts: Sub-prime Leadership

The following is the first entry under this new category of Random Thoughts. These are meant to be short and sweet and hopefully trigger some reaction in your own brain.

I just learned that E. Stanley O’Neal, Chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch is leaving that firm following the need to write down $8.4 billion related to the real estate subprime mess. Now, $8.4 billion is a lot of money and someone does need to take responsibility for allowing a debacle of that scale to develop. When the loss is that great, it's appropriate that the top guy turns into the fall guy.

So let's reflect on this but with the perspective turned toward our own Biopharma industry. The nearest example I can think of is the ouster of Peter Dolan as CEO of BMS back in September 2006. Mind you, Mr. Dolan was not exactly volunteering to take responsibilty for his management of the company. Perhaps we would all be better served if some other members of top management recognized their own weaknesses and/or bad leadership and volunteered for the exit rather than being shown the door.