Last month I wrote about the rise of mobile computing platforms and the need for enterprises to adopt them within the next three years just to stay in line with the grow of mobile traffic for business. Today, Michael V. Copeland, Senior Editor of Fortune/CNN Money, published a segment on five potential iPad competitors. I took a look at these–from the perspective of a current enterprise provider and former enterprise buyer–to see which of them had the potential to win at the enterprise level.

The Target: The iPad Itself

Apple iPad (from the Apple Store)

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Often when I am in meeting where the topic of risk arises, I will hear some one say something like, “We need to determine how we are going to mitigate [these risks].” For some reason, people often jump to the word “mitigation” when they are speaking about managing risk. (Perhaps the word “mitigation” sounds impressive.) However, mitigation is just one of four techniques to manage risk. (Ironically, in reality, it is one of the least used forms of risk management).

The Four Techniques to Manage Risk

A risk is a possible situation that could materially affect your operation (if it occurs). The size of a risk (and the required level of your response is driven by two factors: the likelihood of its occurrence and the size of the impact if it occurs. The four generally accepted techniques employ different strategies to address these two factors:

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It is very easy to get so caught up in analysis paralysis that you never get around to actually responding to your identified risks. Estimating them instead provides a quick, low-cost way to figure out how big each of your risks are relative to each other. Risk estimation is easy when you remember that risk consists of two components: impact and probability—each of which has a simple proxy for quick estimation.

Avoid the Trap of Analysis Paralysis

Many organizations that make the conscious decision to actively manage risk often hit the brick wall of analysis paralysis. They get so paralyzed spending time and energy trying to figure out exactly how big risks are that they don’t get around to responding to most important (i.e., the largest) risks early (when it is easier to address them).

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We all know that use of mobile has been exploding. What many of us may not realize is exactly how much it is exploding. Cisco’s Virtual Network Index (VNI) is a great tool to explore the growth of  network traffic and get the answer to some basic questions…

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Over the course of the past month, I have had to opportunity to reconnect with several mentors and colleagues from across my career. All of these professionals started their careers as technical experts (in their respective domains) before moving on to becoming celebrated industry speakers and organizational leaders. As we recounted our activities across the past few years we got into a discussion on what enabled us to move from individual contributors to technology leaders. We came up with three key essential skills for technology leadership:

Communication

Communication is the means by which you share and obtain knowledge and information. It enables you to elicit support from investors. It enables you to understand what you customers want. It is required to enable your staff to understand you strategy, goals and plans.

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Too many technology products are built for technologists. This raises their total cost of ownership and makes generally unsatisfying to use. When companies focus on whom their customers are (and what will make their work and lives easier) they create winning products that make work and life easier and more satisfying.

A Funny (Albeit Sad and True) Joke

I once heard the following joke:

Only two industries in the world call their customers “users.” One is the illegal drug trade; the other is the IT (software and computer) industry.

(I wish I could attribute this joke; I apologize to the comedian who made it up).

This joke is funny precisely because so many software and computer customers do not feel like customers. They have to learn terminology that does not fit with their everyday work and life. Their user experiences (UX) are often non-intuitive. The routinely have to perform technical setup and maintenance activities far more complicated than those they have to do for other high-end products they buy and use.

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In my last post, I discussed the importance of employing Active Risk Management (ARM) in today’s business and economic environment. Before organizations can systematically implement ARM, they need to commit to making a cultural change that encourages a free and open focus on discussing and escalating risks and the actions need to manage them.

The First Step Is a Change in Culture

The very first step down the path becoming an organization that used risk-based approaches to program and initiative execution is purely a change management one:

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Today is the first day of the new year. Traditionally, this is a time of refreshed energy in pursuit of new goals and initiatives. However, this year is different, as (with luck) it will mark our rise out of a global recession.

Because of this, our hopes are larger than average (while our margins for error are smaller.) As a result, we are presented with large risks—both positive and negative. The better we actively manage these risks, the more successful we will be in 2010 and beyond.

What does it take to actively manage risk?

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In response to the explosion of use of social media and collaboration tools over the past 12 months, many organization leaders (e.g., CIOs, CPOs, etc.) are developing formal Social Media Polices to guide their staff in approved use of these tools inside the enterprise. Their challenge is to ensure staff use social media in ways that comply with both the enterprise’s mission and general policies—without overly inhibiting the benefits of open collaboration. By starting from bottom-up design principles, leaders can create Social Media Policies that productively encourage creativity—without risking their enterprise’s mission and reputation.

Enterprises Routinely Start with a Top-Down Approach

Enterprises traditionally employ top-down approaches when defining standards, policies and procedures. This is natural and unsurprising as the majority of enterprises are hierarchical entities.

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