IT spending directly affects your productivity: Get the facts.

According to a recent report from the London School of Economics, studying the productivity of US-multinational companies, and non-US multinationals, there is robust evidence that it is IT capital that has contributed the most to US-multinational gains.

This is even the case comparing US firms in the UK who consistently got more productivity out of their IT than other comparable firms in the UK.

And, this finding holds in the cross section when including fixed effects and even when examining a sample of companies taken over by US businesses. The data remains consistent. So what does this mean for your business?

Read the abstract and and conclusion of this paper»

Read the full academic paper»

B2B Mashup: New (and better) ways to pull together business data

One hurdle often mentioned by frustrated executives and IT managers alike is the problem of pulling together various data resources, particularly when it means including data from smaller "mom and pop" systems into a working database. Here are two ways to overcome this:

1) Create applications that simultaneously pull data from multiple data sources together side-by-side simultaneously in one dashboard view or portal.

2) Create BI applications that can analyze data from various databases behind the scenes, and present it in one report.

Many companies manage problems rather than solve them. How does yours stack up?

I read the most fascinating comment recently on System i News in response to one of their articles: “In many companies, managers want to manage problems, not solve them. It makes them look more important if they have many issues before them.”

Do you feel that that is the case in your organization? Are your managers encouraging problem-solving, or do they look to simply manage the problems that are there? What are the challenges you face? Share your experience here and see what some of your peers and colleagues are facing.

(Just sign in as Marcy/Marcy if you wish to remain anonymous.)

7 steps to a highly effective mobile strategy

In a recent interview on wireless in the enterprise, a number of CIOs said securing the data on wireless devices was the biggest challenge. "Nothing can get on [wireless devices] unless we put it on," said one executive. "We lock it all down and keep it inside the enterprise and decide what goes out."

Of course, this puts a limit on the whole notion of the freedom wireless provides. And what happens if you lose the device with all that crucial data on it? Or it's stolen?

Here are 7 steps to a highly effective mobile strategy.

And here's Emhart Glass's Alan Batchelor's practical and effective solution he achieved with m-Power.

Widget Explosion--Gadget Flurry

A widget is a tiny software program that allows for collaborative information sharing, and can be as useful as photo data-sharing and as silly as throwing a sheep at someone on Facebook.

But, if you think these techniques are flashes in the pan...think again. Here's a great article on the widget boom. According to this article "corporations are viewing widgets less as frivolous gadgets, and more as business tools to boost traffic and ad revenue on their sites."

And here's an article on quickly making your applications into gadgets to work in a B2B setting.

Gartner predicts Top IT Technology in 2008

Note the "real world web" entry as well as Web applications on the list:

'Real world Web' uses the comparison between printing out directions from a Web site and going on a trip, and using a GPS device. The printed out directions can't change based on construction or traffic. The GPS device is live, and therefore can. The same applies to your business.

Being able to access your data, as it changes and evolves, and provide snapshots of that data to your employees, is crucial. And, providing these types of solutions using your current system is not as difficult as you might think. Let us know what your ideal application is and we'll show you how to build it.

How to get your creative juices flowing. What haven't you thought of yet?

You know you have to modernize. That isn’t the question. The question is, where do you start?

We may be able to help you find the path that makes sense to you. Just fill out this form and tell us some areas where things need to change, but you're not sure where to begin.

And, if you’d like to get your creative juices going, see what you can build here»

The gods must be Web Crazy: See all the cool new stuff that you can do.

There are so many new benefits to data-driven Web applications now that we built a whole new Crazybikes Web site to demonstrate what you can create with m-Power. Check out the applications you can build. (Roll your mouse over icons, click to drill down, play around.)

Interested in seeing how to apply these capabilities to your business? We can create these same features over your files in minutes for no obligation. Let us know here which ones you might like to see.

What kind of ship never sinks?

mrc is kicking off 2008 with new partnership initiatives and incentives:

Are you a consultant?
Are you an software vendor or re-seller?
Are you in marketing or sales and want to expand your leads?

For a $500 set up, this distributor made $100,000 in one month...and learned Java as he built.

This customer wanted to create a secure online order system for business partners that was written in Java. Only they didn't know Java.

See how they were able to bypass their language limitations, begin learning Java, and create this lucrative ($100,000 in online sales in its first month alone) Linux-hosted B2B Web site in a matter of weeks.

Northwestern Wildcats tame 'old school' facility scheduling.

Keeping Northwestern University's athletics program on track with scheduling facilities for changing game and practice times is no easy task. And, their paper-based system was slowing them down. So, the 'Cats built a centralized Web-based scheduling system where:

• Users maintain their own accounts.
  
• Facility managers are notified via email with any changes for their individual facility.
  
• System administrator assigns authorization to determine which menus and facilities are shown to individual users, so users only access the functions they have clearance to use.

Here's Northwestern's Java and Web-based Facility Scheduler application. (Roll over menu items for more information.)

If you'd like to build one of your own, fill out this form»

Wrestling with tech demands of younger workers: Why you need to take notice.

Young people entering the workforce today have an entirely different way of using technology, so it's crucial to provide more and more collaborative Web 2.0 applications.

But collaboration doesn't stop there. The intellectual property and tried-and-true business experience of the older members of the workforce, coupled with the techno-savvy new generation, can give your business the edge if you harness it properly.

Younger users are often surprised to find systems and technologies they have never encountered (like the AS/400) have a stronghold in the long-term. And older workers may be surprised when such younger workers can help them erase age-old Business Intelligence problems using solutions like m-Power to rapidly create Web 2.0 applications.

Participate in 2008, and still keep your anonymity.

If you have questions, or comments, that you would like to ask...but wish to remain anonymous, there's an easy way to do that in the mrc forum.

Just sign in as "Marcy". So, simply go to the forum and sign in as User ID: Marcy, Password: Marcy. (NOTE: Both the Password and ID are case sensitive.)

Then, click on the 'New Topic' link at the top, and let us know your question!