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'Business technology changes evolutionary, not revolutionary'

Business leaders will have to pay attention to plenty of issues in 2003. The competition from China and growing AIDS epidemic have become global issues and over capacity and impact on energy supply chains from a potential war between the United States and Iraq are considered as industry-specific.

The analytics, channel dilution, mergers and acquisitions, alignment and outsourcing are five key issues, the business leaders have to focus on in 2003, said Gartner and Gartner GZ analysts in its recent report.

Technological change will come on many fronts, from consolidation of IT suppliers to advances in analytics to stagnation in segments of the wireless space. Increased capabilities and economic pressure will cause many businesses to pursue offshore outsourcing services. Security issues, both real and perceived, could cause nationalist reactions.

There are no Y2K, Internet or other significant IT disruptions looming in 2003. The vast majority of the technological changes forecast are evolutionary in nature. Vendor consolidation, the power of analytics, greater ease of integration both within and between companies, growing security requirements and the increasing importance of intellectual property management are some of the focal points.

Through 2003, technology will change and grow, but in increments rather than leaps and bounds. Some of the technology shifts will seem subtle and, at first appearance, portend minimal impact on business. Savvy business leaders will recognise that despite the evolutionary nature of technological change forecast for 2003, there are real opportunities for business growth. Failure to consider the impact of technology in the coming year could put your business in an untenable position in 2004 and beyond.

In 2003, advances in analytic tools and their incorporation into IT applications will help business leaders make better and more informed decisions. These analytical software tools will help businesses verify ROI because their cost is lower and implementation time shorter than traditional IT projects.

Improved analytic capabilities will show up in both best-of-breed and application suite-type packages.

With a continued focus on customers in 2003, customer relationship management applications are one area where analytics will surface. Other application areas that will benefit from the advances in analytics are supplier relationship management, pricing and promotion, supply chain management and overall corporate performance management These analytical tools to help businesses conduct detailed segmentation of customer habits, optimise pricing and promotion strategies, identify sales trends and spot critical support issues.

Web services and wireless technologies in the next 12 months will continue to drive consumers and businesses to the Web. No single technology breakthrough will radically shift the landscape, nor will a disruptive technology currently in development suddenly mature in 2003. In fact, some technologies such as wireless may stumble next year, but the convergence of technological factors means that the pace of channel disruption will remain steady.

Lankan ICT industry to be promoted at CeBIT 2003

A consortium of leading IT organisations will represent the Sri Lanka ICT industry at the CeBIT exhibition and trade fair in Hannover - Germany, in March 2003.

Under the auspices of the Sri Lanka Software Exporters Association (SEA) and the Export Development Board, the delegation will host a Sri Lanka Pavilion to promote the ICT industry of Sri Lanka.

This is the third time a Sri Lanka delegation is participating at CeBIT. The Sri Lanka Pavilion at CeBIT 2002 was a complete success with positive reaction from visitors, leading to many business corporations. CeBIT has become an invaluable source of direct exposure to a broad spectrum of opinion leaders comprising top management personnel, scientists, diplomats, politicians and journalists.

Sri Lanka Pavilion, The Pavilion design will portray a unique and vibrant Sri Lanka, with a clear message to position the country as the preferred destination for quality and innovative product. The Export Development Board in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Embassy in Germany and the Foreign Ministry will promote the event with a view to attract targeted visitors, and to maximise the traffic through the pavilion.

CeBIT known ICT trade fair worldwide is also famous trade events. Vast number of visitors, qualified professional attend this event every year. Some 150,000 of the 700,000 visitors (21 %) come from outside Germany.

CeBIT is considered as a gateway to the global market as users from more than 120 countries participate in the event to learn about the latest developments in hardware, software and services in the entire information and telecommunications sector. CeBIT also opens new market opportunities for manufacturers and suppliers world-wide, especially for those interested in the developing markets of Eastern Europe or Central and South America.

Key decisions are also expected to be made at this trade fair on major investments by users from throughout industry, the skilled trades, commerce, banking and the services industry, public administration and the scientific community.

All the exhibiting companies are represented by top management personnel to ensure that CeBIT continues to promote future business co-operation and influence technological trends. Information on CeBIT 2003 are available on http://www.cebit.de  or contact Export Development Board.

Three new viruses on loose

The virus writers have detected three new worm threats recently.

'Lirva A' lures its victims with Canadian teen skate punk singer Avril Lavigne as the bait. The worm arrives as a .exe attachment in an e-mail claiming to offer special access to the singer's website. In some cases the attachment also claims to be a Microsoft IIS security patch.

Once activated the worm copies itself into the system folder and searches for antivirus software and shuts it down. It then leaves copies of itself on the hard drive, and on Kazaa file sharing software if present. Lirva A then e-mails itself to all addresses in the Windows address book using its own SMTP engine. It is also capable of sending itself to ICQ users and spreading via mIRC.

The payload opens a web page to Avril Lavigne's website every 7th, 11th and 24th of the month. It displays a pattern of ellipses on the PC screen, and the message (AVRIL_LAVIGNE_LET_GO - MY_MUSE:) 2002 (c) Otto von Gutenberg' is displayed in the top left corner. It also emails passwords to an overseas account.

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