Jenny Thomas
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Four Hundred Monitor, November 17
November 17, 2021 Jenny Thomas
While those of us in the Jungle are looking forward to the Thanksgiving break next week here in the U.S., which brings some much-needed downtime to recharge before the race to the end of the year, the folks at IBM are charging forward in the week following its formal separation from Kyndryl. Much of the news this week is focused on the aftermath and what we can expect from IBM now that it can redirect its all of its energies toward itself once again. Hopefully this refocus will result in good news for our little slice in the week and …
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Four Hundred Monitor, November 10
November 10, 2021 Jenny Thomas
“Parting is such sweet sorrow” is an oxymoron Juliet cries to her lover, Romeo, when he departs for the evening. It might also appropriately describe IBM’s separation from Kyndryl, which was finalized last week and now allows the two companies to begin focusing on their own priorities while looking forward to a time when they might be reunited in the domination of their chosen space. For IBM, it’s back to full attention on AI and the hybrid cloud. And as we see from the news this week, Big Blue is wasting no time in refocusing its efforts and we hope …
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Four Hundred Monitor, November 3
November 3, 2021 Jenny Thomas
Fast foodies might have caught the recent news the IBM is working with McDonald’s to help automate the drive-thru window. It’s hard to ignore that this development will eliminate jobs, but artificial intelligence makes for interesting reading for our audience so we figured it was worth mentioning. Turns out, McDonald’s has already piloted an AI drive-thru system in 10 stores in Chicago. Those restaurants saw 85 percent order accuracy, with only one-fifth of orders needing a human to intervene and help. It’s rage inducing to leave a drive-thru without everything you ordered, so those numbers are not super impressive, but …
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Four Hundred Monitor, October 27
October 27, 2021 Jenny Thomas
The year isn’t quite over yet, but already businesses are starting to look back and take stock of how successful – or not – 2021 was for all aspects of their organization. With Big Blue heading into its Big Separation with its spin-off Kyndryl next month, the road may get a little more rough before everyone settles in to IBM’s new normal. This is probably why we see a lot of news and commentary focusing on IBM right now as we all watch and wait to see what happens next. Keep checking back here for more developments, and to find …
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Four Hundred Monitor, October 20
October 20, 2021 Jenny Thomas
We’re not out of the 2021 woods yet, but companies are already looking forward to the new year and how to best prepare for a return to business. According to a recent report from Gartner, AI and cloud will continue to be among the top IT priorities in 2022, all while dealing with the new reality of hybrid working that is here to stay. This week in Monitor, we catch up on some headlines from all around the computing world, and bring you some resources and events from our IBM i ecosystem that we hope you will find helpful.
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Four Hundred Monitor, October 13
October 13, 2021 Jenny Thomas
Next week is your last opportunity to attend the final RPG & DB2 Summit. The live online Summit features training on RPG, SQL, ILE, RDi, and ACS, to name just a few topics. IBM’s Steve Will, chief architect of the IBM i, kicks off the festivities today with a discussion on next gen apps for our favorite platform. Will’s opening session is open to the entire IBM i ecosystem, and you can find out more about how to listen in, and get more info on the Summit, in the “Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings” section below. We hope …
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Four Hundred Monitor, October 6
October 6, 2021 Jenny Thomas
October is a busy time for our IBM i ecosystem, with COMMON’s POWERUp conference wrapping up this week, and the final RPG & DB2 Summit coming up later this month, which you can find more details about in the Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings section. Of course, conference season has changed in the 18 months or so, but there are still opportunities to be had for online learning, although we look forward to the day when we can get back on the ground with all of you. Until then, read on for the news of the week.
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Four Hundred Monitor, September 29
September 29, 2021 Jenny Thomas
You know what they say about the best laid plans, and so does COMMON when its plans for POWERUp recently went awry. Despite the best efforts, as reported by IT Jungle’s Alex Woodie last week, COMMON made the decision to remove the in-person option and go totally virtual for the conference that begins next week on October 4. The good news is this isn’t COMMON’s first virtual rodeo so it can rely on past experience to switch smoothly into online mode. You can still register to attend, read on to find more details on POWERUp and the news of the …
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Four Hundred Monitor, September 22
September 22, 2021 Jenny Thomas
I was having a conversation with our fearless leader, IT Jungle president and editor-in-chief Tim Prickett Morgan, recently and we were lamenting the fact that it seems like fewer people want to talk on the phone. The exchange of phone numbers in email signature tags isn’t standard operating procedure for everyone these days, as people seem to prefer electronic communication that they can control when it is convenient rather than dealing with the interruption of a phone call. Having come up in the days where everything was done by phone (and fax, for those of us who remember), the adjustment …
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Four Hundred Monitor, September 15
September 15, 2021 Jenny Thomas
Does any conversation happen anymore without some reflection on life before the pandemic and how the world has changed since? Not to belabor the point, but it is hard to get around the fact that our workplaces have drastically changed. Zoom quickly became everyone’s go-to for business, and just to get to see the faces of family and friends. Even now, many companies prefer to continue remote work and we are all rapidly adapting to the idea that travel is as necessary as we once thought to exchange ideas (although it is certainly less fun). Our Top Story this week …
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