A New Computing Platform is emerging. Where is the killer app?
I clearly see the emergence of a brand new computing platform.
Although a whole variety of new mobile devices (e.g., Kindle, iPhone, netbooks, and Apple's iPad) are all pointing towards the emergence of this new platform, it is not here yet.
Apple's iPad has the right form factor, bigger screen size, longer battery life, multi-tasking, and lighter weight than other devices, however, it does not come with a new killer app.
A new platform does not achieve mass adoption till a software company develops a killer app that gives people a compelling reason to buy the device.
One or more killer-apps are absolutely necessary for any new platform to achieve faster adoption rates by the masses and making it an ubiquitous and a successful platform.
Examples of some killer apps in the past include: VisiCalc for Apple II, and Aldus PageMaker & Adobe PostScript for Apple Macintosh.
Other killer applications (e.g., WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, and PowerPoint) helped in establishing personal computers as a distinct platform after it was introduced more than 30 years ago.
Is there a killer app in the wings for this new platform?
One possible killer app could be an application that provides better methods to the end-users for entering, organizing, processing, sharing their structured data, and connecting with other users without needing any programming help.
This horizontal front office application has the potential to become the killer app for the new platform.
This killer app for use in the front office gives each end-user total control of his/her personal application, user interface, and data without worrying about the backend.
The concept being championed is very similar to the need for using a light bulb without worrying about how to generate and distribute electricity.
Industry has yet to produce a killer application for this emerging platform.
Healthcare is a big market !
U.S. spends over 16% of its GDP on healthcare - More than $2.2 trillion every year.
It is a big messy market BTW!
Despite outspending all other nations in national health spending per person, U.S. is a laggard (37th out of 191 countries) in key measures used for benchmarking health care on a global basis as per World Health Organization.
The reason for this is pretty simple. There is not a single health care plan for everybody that could be called as a universal health coverage plan.
Each health insurance plan is a system by itself with its own rules for charging premiums and co-payments, documentation & reporting requirements for the care providers, and compensating care providers for their services.
US has as many health care systems in it as the number of health care plans provided by the private insurance companies, and Federal/State agencies.
Health IT is even a bigger mess ...
It is difficult to find qualified professionals who are not only good in information technologies but also who happen to have proper health care education combined with the experience of working in healthcare settings.
With so many health plans with different documentation, reporting, and billing requirements, it is almost impossible to come up with a single system that can be easily used by the physicians, nurses, and office staff.
Current state of the art in user interfaces and data input technologies slows down clinicians' workflow. It discourage them from using computers for maintaining electronic health records (EHRs) and connecting with other clinicians for exchanging patients' health care data for improving quality of care for their patients.
Read my comments about this topic here.
Excellence in Business Execution while keeping a Strategic Focus
Like all other high-tech executives, I am interested in good roles that leverage my experience and expertise in putting a company on a faster growth path.
In particular, I love a role that offer me an opportunity to work with customers, develop a strategy, build new business models, innovate new products, manage product life cycles, implement marketing programs, and execute on company's business plans.
What do you do after you start a new company or join an existing company?
First of all, I find company's core strengths, understand its business model, analyze its competitors, talk to company's customers, and discover new opportunities for the company to expand its business.
Now I can start thinking about a possible strategy and start developing a plan for execution. It will be easier for me to convince the management/board to fund the new initiative if I have done my homework.
Companies generally have a well-defined problem to solve rather quickly and they like your business and technical expertise in a specific area.
Roles evolves over time. Typically, you'll see a company confronted with a new challenge. You propose a solution in response to the challenge. Management/Board deliberates on your proposal, approves it, and allocates necessary resources.
As a result, you end up with a mandate to implement the new initiative.
I love this situation because it gives me an opportunity to demonstrate my execution capabilities, train and motivate people at all levels, build the necessary infrastructure, and generate new streams of revenues for the company.
About me
I have worked for a number of startups including a mobile phone advertising startup (Graffiti Mobile) and a health information technologies startup (Accelicare).
I have also worked for some of the best public companies in the industry in a variety of roles, e.g., strategic marketing (Network Appliance), product management (Novell, Borland), program management (Sun), sales (IBM), project management and and programming (Tandem).
I have also successfully run a software product development and consulting company in the Silicon Valley (Skylight Software, Inc.) with customers including Hitachi, 3COM, and Charles Schwab.
For a more detailed profile, click here.