Silicon Halton and Singapore

I found this interview of Eduardo Saverin, cofounder of Facebook, very interesting especially when he talked about how Singapore is on the cutting edge of technology and innovation. Eduardo has been living in Singapore for over 4 years and plans to stay there. Eduardo moved to Singapore to be immersed in the culture and to see how Asia is using technology, social networks etc. The adoption of technology is much more rapid and advanced.

The question I wonder is whether Halton, Ontario and Canada have the guts, gumption, entrepreneurs and interest to be on the cutting edge of innovation, technology creation and adoption.

SAP HANA Launch

SAP HANA Launch

sap logoWondering about the implications of SAP Business Suite on HANA?

The following video from SAP’s Global Press Event may answer some of your questions. Presenters included SAP co-founder and chairman Prof. Dr. Hasso Plattner and executive board member for Technology and Innovation Dr Vishal Sikka.

Timeline

[00:17] Are there now two releases of SAP Business Suite – one for HANA and 1 for traditional businesses? Thanks to the use of SQL, they generally run on the same code. Although some procedures have to be coded, all customers can use the latest release which runs on HANA.

[02: 34] How do current or prospective SAP Business Suite users know whether SAP Suite on HANA is the right product for them? They can get the support of design thinking engineers within the organization within 24 hours.

[03: 24] How enthusiastic are non-bleeding edge customers about HANA and where could you improve communication, roadmaps and clarity for them? Customers are already using HANA and are enthusiastic about it. The roadmap is already ahead of normal and there will be a clear indication for when ERPs, CRMs, supply chain and other pieces will become part of the platform. Most of this is already available.

[05:08] What are you doing to prepare customers for running database operations for their business on a HANA application? Existing applications will change radically without disruption. We will have the best global platform for customers’ mission critical systems and we are training partners and consultants to facilitate the process. We have also spent time on backup and recovery integration. Administrators can innovate on HANA as many of the previous processing requirements are not needed. Most operations are point and click.

[11:35] How will SAP’s relationship with database vendors change over time? With more than 40,000 customers running on DB2, Oracle and Microsoft, we work professionally with those providers.

[13:29] How will SAP work with customers to help them make the disruptive changes to business and technology they will need to get value from their investment? We will provide resources to bring customers’ code to the quality level of standard code. We have run an online curriculum for in memory database technology which ran for 15,000 students on the initial delivery. In addition, traditional code can be optimized for HANA without endangering business processes, especially with the power of design thinking. As part of that, we work with customers to rethink end-user interaction: all systems have to be more user-focused.

[19:32] What will you do to help customers understand and absorb what the technology will do? Education is the key. As well as the class, there are hundreds of videos on the HANA Academy and we have worked with developers. Technically, the on-ramp is small – 160 startups are already running efficiently with very little support.

[22:50] Does working with SAP students give insight into how people can think disruptively about HANA? Bringing people from different departments together for brainstorming sessions results in unbelievable creativity, even from older people, and the average performance of team members improves.

[26:10] Is the RAS for Business Suite and HANA for database migration or new installs? For both, though it is especially valuable for new customers of Business Suite on HANA customers. Data load into a HANA system from a non-SAP source (usually the most painful part of a project start) is now at least 20 times faster.

[28:47] What other incentives are there to help customers make the shift to HANA in terms of moving the ERP systems? Business value and convenience are the main drivers of adoption. We can bring one of 3,000 trained design thinkers into a business to help start the discussion. There is also a HANA charter program which will include special support and insight.

Building an ICT Community in Peel Region

Building an ICT Community in Peel Region

Mi6 Agency has been retained by the RIC Centre for the purpose of developing a roadmap and helping launch a grassroots ICT community for the Region of Peel. 

The vision and desired outcome is to build a community that is similar to what’s been done with Silicon Halton, which I co-founded with Rick Stomphorst. We recognize and expect that the needs of ICT professionals, entrepreneurs, leaders and organizations will differ from those in Halton Region. The community will be designed around those unique needs with the members for the members.

I’m impressed with the fact that the RIC Centre sees a grassroots community as a means to develop a more connected network of professionals and companies that the RIC Centre along with the community members can leverage in order to better understand the ICT landscape in Peel and over time help local professionals and companies grow.

In the coming months I’ll provide a running account of how this new ICT community is developing, what we’re learning as it grows and where there are opportunities for Silicon Halton members to contribute and participate and vica versa.

Introducing Silicon Peel

Our strategy, in collaboration with key leaders within Peel, is to leverage the things we’ve done with Silicon Halton that are working and apply them (with a twist) for and with people in Peel.

We’re starting with prefixing the community with the word Silicon, having monthly meetups, using a private LinkedIn group and using Open Space collaborate group think activities like we’ve done in the past.

We will also be exploring with Silicon Halton and Silicon Peel members as to how both communities can be catalysts for each others growth and benefit.

So What’s Happened so Far?

In October the RIC Centre hosted the inaugural Startup Weekend Peel.

ric--centre-1

Hosted at Sheridan College Hazel McCallion Campus, this event was well attended, a lot of fun and was a signal to me that there could be potential for a technology community. To read more about what it was like, check out these posts: “Peel’s First Startup Weekend”  and “54 Hours Heads-Down

In November, Startup Weekend Peel participants and members of Silicon Halton got together at a “ReConnections Event”. This idea was inspired by a couple of Startup Weekend Peel participants and local tech leaders in Peel. They felt that it was important to get as many of the Startup Week Peel folks back together to reconnect and chat about what’s happened since then.

 ric--centre-2

We listened and talked about how some of the Startup Weekend leaders were progressing, what successes they had experienced one is meeting with a large wireless communications company to discuss product partnership and another won the the Startup Weekend World Championships! They used their winning entry from Startup Weekend Toronto.

ric--centre-3
Rick and I and more importantly at least ten Silicon Halton members that attended shared our Silicon Halton stories with our Peel neighbours. We wanted them to get to know what Silicon Halton is about and what it has meant to us and how we’re helping each other. The goal was to begin getting us all to think about what a Silicon Peel could look like by listening to the stories from the Startup Weekend and from SH members.

As is typical of many SH events we just had to be able to “socially network”. This event was no different! We headed over to Failte’s Irish Pub  where we talked more about building an ICT community and it was decided to set up a Silicon Halton LinkedIn group 

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I have to say that I had no idea if the event would be well attended or not. These are the risks you take when asking people to commit to things like this. This combined with LinkedIn shutting down LinkedIn events resulted in our scrambling to find, setup and use an alternative event registration service.

But, as has been the case with most Silicon Halton events and initiatives, we all were pleasently surprised with how many attended (about 50), the level of engagement and interest! The future looks bright for a second Startup Weekend Peel and Silicon Peel.

And, there’s been a bit of Tweet chatter about Silicon Peel and the event too!

Met some awesome people at #SiliconHalton. Looking forward to #SiliconPeel 🙂 Attend if you’re from Peel Region.
— Lainey, Mississauga(@whatsinthehood) November 14, 2012

Founders of @siliconhalton kicking off new #siliconPEEL network @ Sheridan in mississauga / good things growing locally twitter.com/clickryan/stat…
— Ryan Gamble (@clickryan) November 30, 2012

Great turnout at #StartupPeel ReConnections event last night @sheridancollege ow.ly/i/1bKNp #startup
— Rick Stomphorst (@StompR) November 30, 2012

What’s Next?

On January 24th and February 28th we will be holding two meetups. One in Mississauga and one in Brampton. These will be visioning meetups using an Open Space approach where we will brainstorm on what Silicon Peel should look like and aspire to become in the short and longer term. Rick and I will be leading this meetup with a couple of leaders from Peel region and the desired outcome is a platform from which the Silicon Peel community will and can be built.

We’ll use a similar approach that we used during meetup #3 in 2010 

The primary group of people that we need there, are technology professionals, entrepreneurs and people that support technology professionals who live and/or work in Peel region. We need them to attend because their voice matters and collective voices, interest and passion in tech will drive the direction and vision of Silicon Peel. If there are any Silicon Halton members that want to participate just let Rick or I know.

About the Author

ChrisHerbert

Chris Herbert is the founder of Mi6 Agency. Mi6 Agency creates B2B social networks & communities that build reputations, generate results and make markets. He is the founder of ProductCamp Toronto and the Hi-tech community Silicon Halton. He tweets under the handle @B2Bspecialist.

 

Education and Creativity: Do They Mix?

A very funny Ted talk, from 2006, by Sir Ken Robinson on education, creativity and kids. Parents, students and educators can benefit from Ken’s advice and observations about making mistakes, about arts and culture and how our education systems may be failing us. One chilling quote: “degrees are worth nothing”. If this is true, then why are companies now asking for new graduates to have dual degrees and/or MBAs? He introduces the concept of academic inflation. I imagine this should make us all think and dream about what we should be trying to create for our kids…and enable them to create too.

The story he tells about “Gillian” gave me goosebumps and while he is critical of our approach to educating kids it’s really a video that can inspire us all.

Chris Herbert, founder of Mi6 and co-founder of Silicon Halton, is a B2B specialist with over 20 years experience in developing programs focused around customer, network and community development & retention.

Mi6 creates B2B social networks & communities that build reputations, generate results and make markets for technology companies. Mi6 provides consulting and programs that establish organizations as thought leaders and valuable contributors in their respective markets. Silicon Halton is a technology community with over 700 members and 250 organizations. Silicon Halton will be a featured case study in the upcoming book “8 Mandates for Social Media Marketing Success”.

Is Microsoft’s Investment in Barne’s and Noble an Opportunity for Halton Businesses?

Enquiring Minds Want to Know!

Microsoft has purchased 17% of Barne’s and Noble’s Nook Business for $300M. This allows them to “get into” the tablet and digital content business at the same time and now have a route to market for their next generation operating systems.

In my conversations with developers I’ve been told that Microsoft sees the consumer market as critical to the long term success of their company. I would argue that Microsoft actually sees the consumerization of IT (CoIT) as the future and they must be positioned in such a way that their software and hardware products are used interchangeably in enterprises, small/mid size companies, in schools and in our homes.

What I’d like to do with the SH community is explore ways that our members are and can create business opportunities, jobs and maybe new companies around Microsoft. This post will start begin this exploration and depending on the interest and uptake by our members and maybe even Microsoft will determine the effort and direction we take with this experiment.

Below is a quick video summary about Microsoft’s investment in the Nook.

Next Steps?

You can discuss if you think there are opportunities for Halton businesses here (for SH members only), leave a comment below and discuss/debate it at one of our events.

Chris Herbert, is the co-founder of Silicon Halton. Contact Chris to discuss the history and future of Silicon Halton. He’s also interested in how Silicon Halton can evolve as a social hi-tech community that benefits it’s members and Halton Region.

2011 Technology Trends, a Retrospective

Here’s a great interactive infographic on the trends in technology that made the news in 2011. Personally, I’d like to see something like this for Canada..or at the very least Silicon Halton!

Chris Herbert, is the co-founder of Silicon Halton. Contact Chris to discuss the history and future of Silicon Halton. He’s interested in how Silicon Halton can evolve as a social hi-tech community that benefits it’s members and Halton Region. He is also the CMO and founder of Mi6. Mi6 creates B2B social networks & communities that build reputations, generate results and make markets. He tweets under the handle @B2Bspecialist.

HTML5 vs. Native Mobile Apps. What Say You?

Recently, Paul Choi from the Toronto Star wrote an article that for all intents and purposes proclaimed the end of the mobile app as we know it. The premise is that HTML5 will replace Native Apps (the ones you download from the Apple, Android and BlackBerry App Stores/Exchanges for example.

Recently a mobile app developer told me that he believes CIOs will default to HTML5 over native apps. So, we’re out on a fact finding mission or a battle of the bands (apps) mission! If you are a developer we want to hear from you. Tell us what are the pros and cons of HTML5. What are the pros and cons of native apps? Fill out the form below and we’ll share with you the results of this informal survey. Remember to press the “submit” button once you’ve provided your input.

Silicon Halton Hits 500!

Silicon Halton Hits 500!

Rick Chris

From this location in Oakville, we decided to build a grassroots hi tech community. In less than two years, over 500 people joined us on this amazing journey and have become members of Silicon Halton..

We’ve held 22 meetups with over 800 attendees, launched 4 peer-to-peer groups, created a vibrant LinkedIn community, established multiple online outposts, received lots of press coverage, and created a platform for Halton high tech professionals and companies to connect and get known.

Thank you to so many amazing people for helping us grow – and without any formal funding.  We know you believe in Silicon Halton as much as we do.

Your contributions and participation have helped create close ties throughout our membership. Every day, we’re seeing companies being created, people leveraging each others’ talents, people finding talent, and people finding new ways to work together. Silicon Halton will always be about helping each other succeed.

We love technology, we love Halton region, and we love the thought of a vibrant high-tech community.  We look forward to continuing this journey with you. 

Silicon Halton. Technology. Community. Growth.

Exporting is the Key to Growth … But Very Few Are Doing It.

Exporting is the Key to Growth … But Very Few Are Doing It.

Profit magazine recently published their Profit 200 which is a list of the fastest growing companies in Canada. I find lists like this and the Hot 50, very interesting for various reasons, including:

    • Canadian: The companies are from “Our Home and Native Land”
    • Comparison: They provide you with the opportunity to compare your company to others in your industry. You can benchmark yourself against peers in your industry for example.
    • Challenge: You can set of goal of making one of these lists
    • Publicity: If you make it on the list you’ll get some PR which you can leverage
    • Opportunity: They may need your goods and services so these companies are potential customers
    • Education: You can learn what they are doing to be successful

Profit outlines the five winning strategies for these high growth companies here. Number one on the list is exporting. PROFIT 200 companies grew their exports more than twice as fast as their domestic revenue from 2005 to 2010. So, is exporting the key to growth? For these companies clearly it has been.

A couple of observations that make this very interesting to me:

    • According to BDC’s 2010 Canadian Entrepreneurship Study very few companies are exporting. Close to 70% of Canadian business owners are not exporting. If they want to grow than exporting could help them do so. (see graph below)

Growth Series

    • Silicon Halton members can leverage the Silcon Halton community to build their export business. You can start by checking out the Meetup #14 Report: Hi-Tech Entry in to the US Market.
If members of the Silicon Halton community see exporting as a key strategy for the growth of their companies let’s work together to come up with something to help them. So here’s what we’re doing about it:

    • We’ve started a private discussion about this post in our members only Linkedin group to explore this topic further.
    • You can leave a comment below sharing your thoughts and ideas on this topic.
    • We can explore whether Silicon Halton, through a volunteer member(s), can/should develop a sustainable export focused program for our members.

About the Author
ChrisHerbertChris Herbert is the cofounder of Silicon Halton and founder and CMO of Mi6 a marketing and business development agency.  You can contact him via Linkedin, or Twitter.

 

Why Halton? Reason #1: Sound of Music Festival

Why Halton? Reason #1: Sound of Music Festival

There are many reasons why Halton is a great place to live and work and the “Reasons Why Series” of blog posts will share some with you. There is an amazing amount of talented people that work and live in Halton who are in hi-tech and who support the industry. Silicon Halton’s focus is on helping these people and their companies grow. But we have to have fun right?

Sound-of-Music-Festival

Reason #1: The Sound of Music Festival, Burlington  Voted one of the Top 100 Festivals in Ontario (11th year in a row), Burlington’s Sound of Music Festivalis one of the summer’s most sought after shows. Thank you Burlington for voting the Festival the top tourist attraction in the 2011 Reader’s Choice Awards. And congratulations to the Eco Team for taking top prize in the FEO “Best Greening” category, as well as the Gold award from the Recycling Council of Ontario.

About the Author

ChrisHerbertChris Herbert is the founder of Mi6. Mi6 is a B2B (Business to Business) marketing agency and network dedicated to helping companies build their brands and develop commercial relationships. He is the founder of ProductCamp Toronto and the new Hi-tech “unassociation” Silicon Halton. He tweets under the handle @B2Bspecialist

Over 500 Reasons To Join Silicon Halton

When prospective members apply to join Silicon Halton we ask them to fill out this application form. Currently to be a formal member you must live and/or work in Halton region and be in the hitech industry or serving it to the benefit of those in hitech. One of the questions we ask is: “What Can You Offer Silicon Halton Members?”. So far we have 500 responses to this question.  Here they are:

Since the membership application contains personal information we are not disclosing names. However, if something interests you in this list connect with Chris Herbert and he will introduce you to the member.

Member Spotlight: Robert Duvall of Robert Duvall Consulting

Member Spotlight: Robert Duvall of Robert Duvall Consulting

RobertDuvallRobert Duvall is the founder of Robert Duvall Consulting Ltd.  His firm provides IT consulting, implementation and support to small to midsize businesses.

Robert is a member of Silicon Halton

Here’s what we talked about in this 15 minute interview:

Tell us about your business
What’s it like having a business in Milton?
What value is Silicon Halton providing?
Can you tell us about key projects you’ve recently done?
What new solutions and technologies are you excited about that you’re helping customers implement?

If you are a member of Silicon Halton and would like your business spotlighted on Silicon Halton Talk Radio contact us today. If you’d like to sponsor Silicon Halton Talk Radio please contact Chris Herbert.

Member Spotlight: Tony Wallace from Heuristic Media

Member Spotlight: Tony Wallace from Heuristic Media

TonyWallace Tony Wallace is the founder of Heuristic Media. Tony is a talented application developer and a member of Silicon Halton. Here’s what we talked about in this 30 minute interview.

Tony and I talk about his experience working as a member of the Task Ave. team who won first place at Startup Weekend Toronto for their “geotask” iPhone application. It’s a really cool story worth listening to.

We close out the interview with a discussion about an iPhone/iPad app Tony developed (with is free by the way) for the musicians called Innerview and where there are opportunities for apps in the area of B2B sales and marketing.

Interview: Tony Wallace, Heuristic Media by B2Bspecialist

Introducing the What I/How I…..tweet series

Introducing the What I/How I…..tweet series

What We Are Learning From You

In the summer we introduced our member application. There is now a two step process to applying to join Silicon Halton. You fill out this application as well as requesting to join the Linkedin group. The application asks the typical information you would see in an application to join a group or association. But, it also asks two important things:

  • “How do you hope to benefit from being a member?” – This helps us understand what is important to our members so we can offer relevant programs and network building opportunities.
  • What can you offer Silicon Halton Members? – We recommend members think about how they can help other members. This mindset is important and a core value of Silicon Halton. If we think of others, help will find its way back to you!

This helps us understand where value can be delivered and needs to be created out of Silicon Halton.

Introducing the What I/How I……tweet series

What-I-How-I-tweets

As part of an ongoing communications plan we will be tweeting what members are telling us they need and what they are willing to offer. See screenshot below (can you spot the typo?

As we grow and put in place a board and operating plan this type of information I see being attached to a members profile. In the meantime, we will tweet this out and we will leave it to individual members to use the Linkedin group to communicate one one one what they are looking for and willing to help other members with.

About the Author

ChrisHerbertChris Herbert is the founder of Mi6. Mi6 is a B2B (Business to Business) marketing agency and network dedicated to helping companies build their brands and develop commercial relationships. He is the founder of ProductCamp Toronto and the new Hi-tech “unassociation” Silicon Halton. He tweets under the handle @B2Bspecialist

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