mharden - "We are not going to let the application dictate how we run this company!"

But it's also important to unnecessarily reinvent business processes that have already been solved. Payroll and accounts-payable already works, so businesses shouldn't go to the trouble and expense of building their own. 

Wait, @Mitch -- why is the importance of social media listening on the bad cliché list for 2013?

I'm sorry to say that as long as brands and businesses don't get it, it still needs to be repeated.  I know we've pretty much well said all that can be said about it, but it's still important.

"but I'm tired of the videoification of everything". Me too.

May be you can say I am biased because naturally if I had a choice, I would rather choose to read a book than to watch a movie based on that same book. I really don't know on what statistics they are basing their axiom that people would rather watch a video than reading text. 

As you rightly noted, not many of us have the same strong internet connection to be able to watch videos with ease. I have been in places where it is almost impossible to watch Youtube videos. Even the Vlogs here at Internet evolution, I have not been able to access them for sometime now. 

"The reality is that the cloud brings its own problems. IT needs to be sure that the data in the cloud is secure and available to users when they need it. The cloud really does have many benefits; it's great to have a highly elastic infrastructure, to be able to easily scale to meet business needs, and to have specialists overseeing data and applications. But cloud brings problems, too, and requires specialized IT skills. It even requires insurance."

The Cloud just like our many imperfect systems on which our lives are run, provides the best computing proposition for enterprises. As you rightly noted in the above statement, the cloud has its own problems but I think the economies of scale the cloud provides far outweighs the problems you've mentioned. Iam with the belief that as our understanding of the cloud grows, we should be in a very strong position to provide appropiate mitigation measures to all of these problems. 

The Cloud to me represents the future of computing!

Hi Nathan,

Compliment of the Season! Wishing you a great 2013. Do you styill believe there are stillcompanies out there that are refusing social media? Or can we still better described them as compnies that have in the past tried social media, have failed and just refused to give it another try?

I just can't imagine  that with the popularity of these social sites that there are still companies out there that are too timid totry social media. We know there are risks and that even the best of social media policy can't provide 100% mitigation against all of these risks. 

So what advise do you have for companies who are still holding out against social media?

" Companies that still don't understand the value of participating in those conversations deserve the financial disasters that await them."

I don't know if the writer of the blog is suggesting that there are companies still out there that don't get it when it comes to the use of social networking sites lioke Facebook and Twitter. While that may be true, I think the greater truth is that most companies are still struggling to find to a suitable and appropiate social media strategy. Many have tried these social sites but have run armocked. There are somany risks laden into these social media outlets. Whilst a few have cracked the puzzle, many are still struggling big time.

"The vision: Just let our employees bring in their own personal smartphones and tablets to work. IT doesn't have to pay for or support the devices. High fives for everybody!"

I don't think that necessarily defines what we know BYOD to mean now. Early days we can say the above statement is true but with the wdiespread adoption of BYOD, we've seen IT providing support to such devices. There is even a model wherein both the employee and employer share the cost of these devices. 

I also give a standing ovation and clap. It's absolutely right. Those who are refusing social media now and are failing because of it had better wake up.