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Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Reading Question: Business Models, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
John,
One could argue you have multiple customer whom your team services, internal university customers, the neighborhoods around Temple, the PA tax payers who subsidize Temple, the students, and the city of Philadelphia. I agree its difficult to narrowly define the customer segment as public institutions like Temple serve many masters beyond…[Read more] -
Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Reading Question: IT Investments, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
Nicole,
That is suprising to hear as it in the financial service industry technology is an enabler to speeding execution which in turns generates greater value and more profits. From my experience most financial service firms are risk averse in adopting new technology however they invest a considerable portion of the operating capital on…[Read more] -
Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Reading Question: IT Investments, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
I have been fortunate to work for companies in my career which have uninvested and over-invested in technology. The key for investment is tying the investment to transforming your business by improving in some way. Companies which have under invested do not see IT as a strategic investment and see it as a necessary evil to keep the lights running.…[Read more]
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Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Reading Question: IT Investments, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
Chris
The key to IT investment is investing in the key items which drive your business forward and is not a commoditized process. As your example proves search has been a commoditized very quickly just like building data centers with Amazon AWS. Investing in strategic and competitive advantages is the key to sucess and often aligning that to…[Read more] -
Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Case Question: Volkswagen – Critical Unfunded Project, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
The critical project, Global Supply Chain project, did not get funded as its does not align to the business priorities facing VWoA. VWoA has clearly business goals, deliverables and objectives with cost savings, revenue goals and other key business KPI it must delivers. The project savings from the global supply chain project while significant…[Read more]
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Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Case Question: Volkswagen – Advice for Matulovic, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
Rich, Rachel,
I echo your comments there is clearly more demand for IT projects than supply and 60 million dollar is a drop in the bucket for a large division like VWoA. IT is seen as cost center and a necessary evil in VWoA and not as a true strategic partner helping deliver key business objectives and priorities. As you have pointed out its…[Read more] -
Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Case Question: Volkswagen – Advice for Matulovic, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
I believe Matulovic should not respond to the pressure from his peers for special treatment outside the new defined project priority management system which was developed with input from all of the respective stakeholders. Demand & Supply management is a classic problem in IT where there is always more demand than supply to deliver projects and…[Read more]
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Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Case Question: When Hackers Turn to Blackmail, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
Joshua,
I get emails like this all the time saying my computer has a virus which will infect my pc and will destroy my computer unless I purchase some software. I am in the technology field so I ignore so its easy to understand why the CEO may not have realized it was a legitimate blackmail request. People often get emails about money they have…[Read more] -
Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Reading Question: Can you trust Yelp ratings?, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
How would you explain the controversy regarding Yelp’s reviews — to a 5 year old
Having been a restaurant owner in center city, I understand the benefits and the downsides of Yelp and in explaining the reviews to a 5 year old is simple as stating always be truthful and honest in what you say. Do not tell a lie. Yelp’s whole model is based on…[Read more]
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Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Weekly Question #7: Complete by March 27, 2017, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
John,
Great comment and sounds like a great experience with that one driver. Is that Uber’s great customer service or just the driver. Uber while it does have service standards for its drivers in terms of vehicles, driver appearance, etc I doubt they would go the extra mile like this driver did. I have seen similar stories from taxi drivers…[Read more] -
Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Reading Question: Platform Culture, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
Joshua,
I too have experienced the dreaded surge pricing and as I pointed out in my comment while the service is good, the surge pricing can be down right predatory in my view. Having Lyft enter the center city market is going to be good for consumers and hopefully give Uber some competition. I know in center city also there are a few cab…[Read more] -
Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Reading Question: Platform Culture, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
Have you used Airbnb or Uber before? Do you have a positive or a negative view of them as companies? Does your view of them as a company impact your likelihood to use their service?
I have used Uber and while its a useful service I think their customer engagement model can be abrasive at times. Uber can extremely helpful in areas that it is…[Read more]
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Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Weekly Question #7: Complete by March 27, 2017, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
Joshua,
Its hard to know which email is spam or just an idle threat.I am sure you get a lot of spam and which do you take seriously. The CEO probably just assume this was spam so not responding or reacting is understandable in my view. When does one sound the alarm and when does a boy cry wolf, its difficult to determine. I think the CEO made…[Read more] -
Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Weekly Question #7: Complete by March 27, 2017, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
Great point Nicholas. Contacting Law enforcement like the FBI would be the logical course of action especially when patient safety in question and people’s lives are at risk. The FBI and other agencies are very capable at advising on how to deal with these corporate blackmail situations. In additional cybersecurity experts at niche consulting…[Read more]
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Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Case Question: When Hackers Turn to Blackmail, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
What do you think Sunnylake should do now? Would you make the same recommendation to your manager if all of your office was locked out of its computer systems?
Sunnylake needs to focus on getting their systems back online like they have been attempting to. Sunnylake should bring in experts who are skilled at securing a network and…[Read more]
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Nirav Mehta commented on the post, Case Question: Airbnb — "EJ" Incident, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
Is there anything Airbnb could have done in advance to avoid the “EJ” incident?
I believe in new transformational business models like Airbnb its very difficult to predict what the outcomes, issues and roadblocks will be along the journey. AirBnB essentially disrupted the traditional hospitality business model with its innovative approach and…[Read more]
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Nirav Mehta commented on the post, These are a few of my favorite things…, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
John, I have a morphie and love it, only complaint is the size of the device which adds to the phone. I have seen new battery packs coming out using new fuel cell technology which reduce the size of the pack so the phone does not become bulky. Also the battery life on the Iphone 6 is signifcantlt better than the Iphone 5 so there is less times…[Read more]
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Nirav Mehta commented on the post, These are a few of my favorite things…, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
Adam,
I also like my pebble however an eagerly awaiting the arrival of the apple watch. I think that is going to give the Pebble and other wearables a good run for its money with the integration with the iphone etc. Pebble has a nice UI but apple will be hard to beat. -
Nirav Mehta's profile was updated 9 years, 7 months ago
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Nirav Mehta commented on the post, These are a few of my favorite things…, on the site 9 years, 7 months ago
My favorite app is imessages in the Apple ecosystems. Imessages an invention of Apple follows me across the multitude of devices from my Macbook Air, Ipad and multiple iphone devices. Also imessages are completelty integrated within the Apple IOS so I am not forced to login to another app like Viber, whatsapp etc. The other benefit is the savings…[Read more]