Technology
Issue No. 48 - August/September 2009
IBM sets course for Smarter Planet
Turbulence and changes in the global economy over the past year or so have made enterprises wake up to the complex, integrated global business and financial systems they operate in. IBM State Manager for South Australia, David Fergusson, describes IBM’s approach to enterprise-scale business as it will be done in years to come. IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative aims to stimulate thinking about how to improve business models and develop prudent strategies that align enterprises with market realities.
“A short time ago I invited Sara Watts, the IBM CFO for Australia and New Zealand to come to Adelaide. We met a group of CFOs from leading businesses in SA. It was clear businesses are changing what they are demanding from their systems investments,” David says.
“Visible, short-term paybacks are increasingly important, as is a focus on corporate governance. Smarter Planet thinking offers a way to maximise benefits and minimise cost by designing solutions that emphasize economy of scale through component reuse and tapping infrastructure, including external digital services, built with multiple uses in mind.”
Since almost anything can become digitally aware and interconnected, we can optimise almost anything.
“This is a new capability made possible because of the pervasiveness of sensors and their interconnection possibilities,” he says. “We can build smarter systems now. We need to take the opportunity.Congested roadways in the US cost $78 billion annually in wasted hours and fuel. Over one year in a small business district of Los Angeles, cars cruising for parking made the equivalent of 38 trips around the world, burning nearly 180,000 litres of petrol and producing over 660 tonnes of carbon dioxide. In contrast, Stockholm’s new smart toll system has resulted in 20% less traffic, a 12% drop in emissions and 40,000 more daily users of the public transport system.”
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