B-Corporations (Benefit Corporations)

B-Corporations: The concept of providing a structure that requires directors and officers of a corporation to consider the beneficial social and environmental impacts of their decisions in conjunction with financial performance can be a simple and powerful approach to business. 

This relatively recent construct can provide benefits along with associated risks, some of which are discussed in the recent San Francisco Chronicle article,"Plum Organics’ quest to do good poses legal risk to Campbell Soup".

B-Corporations go far beyond marketing concepts, by providing a corporate framework where lack of delivery can be challenged. With an intent to ensure that B-Corporations deliver real value, third party standards for certification and audit (voluntary) will continue to evolve as market demands and legal challenges by shareholders grow and mature.

The pros and cons of B-Corporations are a topic of debate: can they be successful, are they practical and sustainable, can they be widely implemented. 

Time will tell whether B-Corporations can meet the joint challenge of fiscal performance alongside social and environmental benefits.

What do you think?

Cloud: The journey to simplicity...

Cloud, a frequent topic of discussion in today's world of technology, is often presented as an end goal, rather than a valuable tool that can be used to run one's business. At times, the Cloud discussion appears to present a binary choice: Public or Private.

In a recent post Jared Wray addresses the broad focus on Public cloud, making a case for an integrated platform of public and private cloud (Is Private Cloud Dead?).

For years, in customer conversations, my perspective has been to leverage both public and private cloud in an integrated fashion. In order for hybrid cloud to be realistic and practical, the end result must be a seamless integrations of applications, data, analytic and operational capabilities with a flexible, agile and secure infrastructure that provides that meet or exceed the required availability needs.

In those conversations, the most frequent question was "How do we decide what to put in public vs private cloud?". Addressing that question requires exploring the broad implications (benefits, challenges, complexities, costs, etc...) associated with these choices.

The plethora of architectures, technologies and products available, makes it extremely difficult for companies to envision an end-state goal, let alone determine an appropriate strategy / roadmap to get there.

Understanding a company's short and long term needs, creating a vision for the future, defining a roadmap / strategy to get there, and then doing to work to implement the solutions that make those goals a reality is exciting, challenging, fascinating and immensely satisfying.

While the world of technology is constantly changing, many of the approaches, methodologies and thought processes remain constant.

Services that provide business and architectural "direction / guidance" are starting to show up more frequently. Services to "simplify"  the implementation and day to day operation of these potentially complex systems are in high demand, and growing in numbers, with widely varying scope and capabilities.

While in the short to mid-term, reducing complexity is possible, the ultimate goal should target simplicity, where technology is a tool that invisibly (or nearly invisibly) enables a business to focus on, and deliver the products and services that are the reason for their existence.

Such services and solutions provide tremendous business value, enabling top line revenue growth along side cost reductions.