Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview

I watched “Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview” on Netflix.  It is an interview done in 1995 but not released until 2012 as it was apparently lost.  The interview is very good and insightful to the IT industry and specifically Steve Jobs thoughts at that time.  I found one statement particularly interesting.  Steve Jobs talked about the difference between average and the best in most industries is 20%, 30% or maybe 50% better.  As an example, the best taxi in New York vs average he explains is maybe 30% better.   Steve Jobs believes that the difference between an average IT professional and the best is 50 times greater.  Getting the absolute best technical professionals was significant in the creation of the Mac.  Steve Jobs also points out that top professionals working with other very top professionals creates an interesting dynamic where the team excels even more.  These experts may not have had the opportunity to work with the best in the past.  They really enjoy it and take themselves to the next level.  In the systems integration business, I do not think that the difference between the best and average is 50 times but it would be 2 to 3 times or more and this creates a significant advantage to an organization that is able to attract these top professionals. 

2013 IT Spending Growth

 IDC is projecting U.S. IT spending to grow by 6% and Forrester is projecting 6.5%.  Forrester reduced their projection from 7.5% because of the sequester.  This is modest growth but it is greater than the overall GDP growth and considering the focus on reducing costs this is encouraging for the IT industry.  The priorities of the spending according to a Protiviti survey are:

1.      Mobile Commerce

2.      Management and Classification of Data

3.      Social Media

4.      Business Continuity

5.      Risk Management

6.      IT Infrastructure Planning

7.      IT Asset Management

Mobility is clearly a priority for everyone as mobile devices become so much more powerful.  The cloud is not listed but is often the technology utilized to support these IT priorities.  This is the way it must be as it does not make sense to move to the cloud because it is a trend it needs to be done as a compelling method to deliver business continuity, risk management, mobile commerce etc.

Source:  “IDC says tech spending will grow by 6% this year, the same rate as 2012”  by By Patrick Thibodeau, COMPUTERWORLD UK    http://tinyurl.com/aoce2ds

Source: Protiviti 2013 IT Priorities Survey  http://www.protiviti.com/itsurvey