Blog - Page 25 of 40

Feb 15

Can Self-Driving Cars Make Ethical Decisions?

By Joe Barkai Automotive, Telematics 2 Comments

Picture this. You are in your brand new 2022 self-driving automobile when a large piece of cargo falls off the truck in front of you. The car is not going to be able to stop in time to avoid colliding with the heavy object and hurting you. But the car can swerve to the right, crashing into an open-air sidewalk café and injuring some patrons, including a family with young children, enjoying the afternoon sun. Or, the car can decide to turn the other way, switching lanes quickly, and hitting a motorcyclist.

What should the car do?

Self-Driving Cars Are Here

Feb 14

Show Me The Money!

By Joe Barkai Business Strategy, Internet of Things (IoT) One Comment

The famous “Show me the money” catchphrase from the movie Jerry McGuire today is more than a clever quip. Thanks to regulations and increasingly vigilant executive management and boards of directors, corporate management is no longer satisfied with vague promises. It wants to see the actual economic return on their investment.

A client recently said to me: ”if the ROI of a new IT project is longer than 13 months it’s most likely going to be rejected.” It’s unclear where the 13-month figure came from, but the a detailed—and frequently unrealistic—return on investment (ROI) model is a prerequisite for almost any significant investment in IT project.

Generating an accurate and, at the same time, credible, ROI analysis is often difficult. If the ROI period is too conservative, management will not consider not attractive enough. If it is viewed as too rosy, it will not be believable and you will be sent back to the drawing board, or, if approved, you are running the risk of not meeting your plan.

The ROI Dilemma

Jan 30

The Internet of Things: A Lifeline for Indian IT Services Companies?

By Joe Barkai Internet of Things (IoT) 4 Comments

Life hasn’t been easy lately for Indian IT services companies. At least for some.

To begin with, the long reigning hegemony of India’s three largest software firms: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro is being challenged. As reported by the International Business Times Cognizant Technology Solutions did more business in calendar year 2015 than all three put together.

If you read carefully the financial reports of Indian IT services and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, you notice that while the general revenue trend is still pointing upwards, the growth pace has been gradually slowing down for a number of years. And while some sectors, most notably financial services, are still strong, the growth in other IT and BPO segments is showing signs they may no longer be the cash cows of yesteryears.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve been voicing my concern to some of my Indian friends that the immensely successful business model of the past may not last forever.

In a way, it is the companies own doing. Read More

Jan 23

Augmented Reality and the Righty-Tighty, Lefty-Loosey Demo

By Joe Barkai Augmented / Virtual Reality 4 Comments

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) technology seems like a natural fit for personnel performing intricate assembly, maintenance and repair jobs. AR technology is used to annotate physical objects by superimposing physical objects, in real-time, with virtual information from documents, databases and sensors to assist technicians in performing complex tasks. For example, the AR annotation layer could highlight a part to be replaced, identify special tools needed for the task, prescribe detailed work instructions, and display warnings about potentially hazardous materials and activities.

Unlike virtual reality, which replaces the physical world, AR adds information that augments and enhances the real-world experience.

Work on using augmented reality in industrial settings dates back to the 1990s. The renewed interest in applying AR in service and maintenance tasks stems from two converging trends. Read More

Jan 12

Three Industrial Internet of Things Questions

By Joe Barkai Internet of Things (IoT), Manufacturing 3 Comments

Three Industrial Internet of Things Questions for 2016

Q: The Industrial IoT. Are we finally past the hype?

Not even close. Still too much talk about billions of connected devices, although it’s not always clear what they are connected to and for what purpose. Certainly interesting IIoT implementation stories will continue to make headlines, but when scrutinized closely, most will be one-off M2M implementations: single-purpose applications that take effort to build and are difficult to scale and reuse.