Office on the iPad?

Within the last 72 hours I’ve read two conflicting reports about Microsoft Office on the iPad:

1.            Techchrunch reports The Daily has captured an image of MS Office running on the iPad

2.            Forbes had a post stating “Office on the iPad – don’t hold your breath” quoting Nomura Research analyst Rick Sherlund who says this is not going to happen.

So what will Steve Ballmer do? This is the multi-billion dollar answer to the enterprise tablet war that is looming.

On one hand, Office is the second largest source of revenue for Microsoft. Ignoring the iPad represents significant licensing opportunity cost for Microsoft and invites one of two things: 1) a tablet office productivity suite to rival Microsoft, or 2) the mass conversion of legacy files (knowledge) to iPad compatible file formats.

On the other hand, Windows is the largest source of revenue for Microsoft. With an upcoming release, Windows 8, an Office for iPad release could jeopardize potential OS licenses for the eventual Microsoft tablet computers expected around the end of the year.

We’ve been debating this internally for the last several days – arguing the benefits of the tactics versus the strategies. When one looks at the OSI seven layer model, applications are at the top of the stack and that is where the maximum value is (for both the producer and the user).

I believe it makes perfect strategic sense for Ballmer to override the objections of the Windows team and release Office on the iPad. This will firmly entrench Office as the applications suite for the enterprise, will lend credence to 3-screen interoperability (smartphone, tablet, desktop/laptop), and will ultimately “commoditize” tablet computers, putting price pressure on Apple. Because Microsoft is not in the device business (yet), commoditization works in their favor — the Microsoft ecosystem will ultimately have the advantage.

It’s the right thing to do; the only question is: “will he or won’t he?”

The Spice of Life

I was honored to share a meal with two Life Sciences luminaries recently – one is the retired Chairman of a big Pharma company, the other the Chief Medical Officer and a very visible face and voice of her employer.

Both have “Southern” roots; so, when their meals arrived I was amused to learn they both carry their own supply of Tabasco with them. Out came the bottles to garnish their meals for as she said: “…it just makes everything better.” The right spice, in the right amount, at the right time, enhances any meal.

I recall this as dinner included a very lively discussion of the challenges facing big pharma: declining revenues because of patent expirations, diminishing access to health care providers, healthcare reform and cost containment, shrinking sales forces, the need for Pharma to regain public trust, and the role of technology in addressing these changes.

The most salient take-away was her comment: “You cannot affect quality by focusing on cost; however, you can affect cost by focusing on quality.” Her point is that BIG DATA offers the health care and life sciences industry unprecedented opportunity to affect change by providing very personalized healthcare. Her vision includes pharma becoming the trusted source of insight for how to diagnose and treat a patient based on pattern recognition and inferences to support healthcare providers, drawing from extensive outcome analysis with countless patients across varying demographic populations.

She believes mobility is a key enabler of this evolution and that using evidence-based outcomes, at the point-of-patient interaction to direct prescriptive treatment protocols (quality focus) will ultimately provide us healthier people and lower costs.

To paraphrase: like Tabasco, BIG DATA becoming VERY SMALL DATA “just makes everyone better.”

We Are Honored

This week is pretty special as two of our own are being honored for their contributions to the business community and for their personal achievements.

Kirby Dyess, Prolifiq Board Chair, was selected by Tech America as the first female recipient of their Lifetime Achievement Award. Kirby is being honored for her 23 years helping build Intel Corporation and for her work in the Oregon entrepreneurial and venture-backed start-up community.

On Thursday, many of the team are taking a break to join his family as Hemingway Huynh, Prolifiq founder and CTO, is honored by the Portland Business Journal as one of Oregon’s “40 under 40″. This award recognizes those who have significant business impact within Oregon and who have not yet crossed the age of 40.

It is a pleasure to be “in the trenches” with Hem on a daily basis, and anyone who works with him knows he lives the company motto: “work hard; play hard; get your sh_t done.” Congratulations Hem!

I report Directly to Kirby and serve with her in a governance capacity as a Board member of Prolifiq. She combines great governance, high expectations, tough love and compassion and knows how to “push” a company to achievement. Kirby, you helped build a company that transformed how we all live; thank you for brining your learnings to Prolifiq. Congratulations on this recognition!

I speak for all Prolifiq employees and shareholders when I say: “We’re honored to serve with you.”

Insight from ePharma Summit

600+ of the pharmaceutical digerati convened in NYC this week to learn and collaborate. Keyword tags for the event include: mobility, collaboration, apps, multi-channel marketing, regulatory compliance, customers, social media, personalized experience, and content. All very good stuff.

I spoke during a track session and shared some experiential insights on deploying mobility solutions within an enterprise. About half my audience had developed a mobile app; the rest were contemplating doing so. Many were seeking ways to help their organization create a comprehensive mobility strategy. Some were hesitant to involve their IT department. Say what?

The most cogent thing I heard during the summit was from Charlotte McKines, VP Global Marketing Communications Merck. During her keynote session McKines stated (and I paraphrase) that it was high time the CMO and the CIO align their missions, objectives and budgets.

My questions for marketers: when was the last time you sat down with your IT counterparts to discuss your vision, strategy and tactics? When do you bring IT into the decision process? How have you involved IT in becoming part of the solution rather than viewing them as the problem? How can you expect to be a “digital” marketer when you don’t involve the “digital” people?

My questions for IT: are you known more for saying no than for seeking ways to say yes? Have you clearly identified, in simple lay-person terms, what concerns you?  What have you done to affect the performance of the business in terms of revenue or cost? Would your co-workers say you stimulate, serve or stifle the team?

In this age of “collaboration”, I hope all who attended realize they cannot do it alone, and they come to work on Monday seeking ways to better align with the business.

We Are The Champions

The team and I are in NYC attending the 11th Annual ePharma Summit. The biggest takeaway from the summit is a comment made by Charlotte McKines, VP Global Marketing, Merck, where she stated “…the sales rep is the ‘quarterback’ of your multi-channel marketing strategy.”

We couldn’t agree more; and as Eli Manning proved, this is the difference between winning and losing.

Today’s question: what are you doing to allow your reps to “call the plays”?