Roanne Vista’s Writing Portfolio

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Hi!

Thanks for taking some time to peruse my writing portfolio.

Before you scroll down and review my past writing gigs, here is some info

about myself.

You can also skip this page and proceed to the next page to view some of my

writing samples.

My name is Ro-Ann Mae Vista, a Manila-born Filipino currently based in

Bangkok, Thailand. You can call me “Roanne” for short. I have been writing

professionally since I was in college. Presently, I am working as a Digital

Marketing Professional in Vervata Co., Ltd. – a next generation mobile

security development company.

My first assignments were usually features and a bit of legal and technical

writing. To boot, I was the editor-in-chief of my college publication.

There came a time when I was hooked into blogging, chronicling bits and

pieces of my life as well as opining on some interesting topics on my

personal blog. I also opened a niche blog, All The Vanity, which mainly

talks about beauty and fashion. I was one of the top beauty bloggers back in

Manila during my heydays. I did professional blogging on the side for now-

defunct Startupreporter.com.

Apart from that, I wrote press releases for Fly Corporate Magazine, and

feature articles for Clusterofthoughts.com. Others were more of ghost

writing and online copy writing for several websites. I am the current news

and editorial contributor for Toptenwholesale.com.

Please follow this link for my CV via Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/roannevista

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From Samui Tonggad Resort

http://www.samuitonggadresort.com/blog/

Garden & Poolside

Garden

Samui Tonggad Resort boasts its beautiful landscape laden with its tropical trees and

luscious botanical gardens. Feel free to take a tour and see what this resort has to offer.

Appreciate nature at its finest with its colourful fauna and foliage. You can learn a thing or

two about them to boot!

Poolside

The resort offers its in-house swimming pool, situated between Uncle Rang Restaurant and

The Coral House (1 bedroom villa). Be captivated by the resort’s gorgeous landscapes as well

as its majestic beachfront whilst staying at the poolside and swimming!

--

Getting Here

Looking for a perfect haven to stay in Koh Samui? Samui Tonggad Resort is the right place

for you! Nestled between the peaceful shores and clear waters of Lamai Beach, Samui

Tonggad Resort offers you the best tropical experience there is with its majestic rooms and

villas, hospitable staff, and in-house restaurant – all wonderfully packaged for your utmost

pleasure and satisfaction without the hefty price tag!

The resort is only 10 minutes from Lamai Shopping Area, 30 minutes from Chaweng Beach

and 35 minutes from Koh Samui International Airport.

From Chaweng, take the main road going south until you pass by the IT Complex building,

turn left to the road where Family Mart is. If you’re coming from somewhere south of

Lamai, take the main road going north until you pass by Buddy Resort. As you approach

Family Mart, turn right.

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Samui Tonggad Resort is situated between The Renaissance Hotel and Banyan Tree Resort.

You’ll get to pass by The Renaissance Hotel first until you reach the sign that takes you to

Uncle Rang Restaurant (from the right) and to the Samui Tonggad Resort (from the left).

For your convenience, the resort offers hotel service transfers to and from the airport, pier

or city area, either by private car or van. You can also inquire for tour packages and

motorbike rentals should you wish to go around the island and explore the rest of Koh

Samui.

Samui Tonggad Resort Address:

99 Moo 4, Lamai, Koh Samui, Surat Thani 84310 Thailand

Contact numbers:

Telephone: (+66) 077 231051

Fax: (+66) 077 458557

E-mail:

samuitonggad@hotmail.com

--

Uncle Rang Restaurant

One of the multitudes of fun and interesting activities to do in this island is, well, food-

tripping! There are a lot of restaurants in Koh Samui, but finding a nice one may be quite

challenging.

Here’s one place you can visit that will please your insatiable appetites and make your

stomachs happy: Uncle Rang Restaurant.

Tucked in the tranquil, rustic area of Lamai beach, this Koh Samui restaurant offers the

finest ingredients — its high-grade steak meat imported from Australia, freshly caught and

carefully culled seafood directly from the clear waters of the island, fresh and crisp

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vegetables, and exotic spices, to name a few – beautifully and delectably blended and

combined altogether creating a culinary masterpiece.

If you’re new to the exotic world of Thai cuisine, then this restaurant is the ideal place for

you. The local dishes will surely conquer your hearts and heighten your gastronomic senses,

as Uncle Rang Restaurant serve them right with a signature, satisfying taste. You can also

opt for Western dishes which are equally mouth-watering and delicious.

Feel free to choose from our menu which includes a wide range of Thai and Western meals,

and the restaurant staff will be happy to accommodate you. Since Thai dishes are known for

its overt spiciness, you can simply request to tone down the spice and the restaurant chef

will be glad to do it for you!

Best of all, Uncle Rang Restaurant has made all of its scrumptious meals affordable for

everyone to try! Eating a grand meal in Koh Samui has never been so pocket-friendly.

Start your food-venture in Koh Samui by visiting Uncle Rang Restaurant today!

--

Picks from the West: Chef Salad & T-bone Steak

Ah, life in the tropical nirvana is never complete without relishing a delicious, heavenly

meal. Good news for you honeymooners and holiday settlers, as Uncle Rang Restaurant

offers a wide array of hearty meals to choose from — some coming from the Western side

of the world.

The mighty chef of Uncle Rang recommends a bevy of scrumptious dishes that will definitely

eat your heart out (pun not intended)! Presenting you are two picks from the West: Chef

Salad and Australian T-Bone steak.

Chef Salad

Salads are perfectly healthy entrees before jumping into the succulent (often calorie-laden)

main course. Chef salad is a combination of mixed greens topped with ham, chicken, cheese

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and egg. Salivate with the freshest ingredients the restaurant has to offer. I bet you’d ask for

another platter of this irresistibly yummy foliage, dairy and meat combo.

Australian T-bone Steak

Craving for a slab of perfectly done steak? Uncle Rang has something in store for you! This

T-bone steak is made of 100% Australian beef, freshly imported from the outbacks of the

land down under. Savour the mouth-watering goodness of this juicy steak swimming in

pepper sauce with the perfect doneness you prefer. This sumptuous main course meal is

served with mashed or baked potatoes or french fries, mixed veggies and greens on the side

to fully satisfy your big appetite! :)

Feeling hungry? Visit the restaurant today!

--

Savory Seafood Feast: Baked Mussels & Tiger Prawns with Tamarind Sauce

Feasting on seafood should be on the top of your to-do list whilst spending a gastronomic

getaway here in this exotic island of Koh Samui,Thailand. Start your tropical holiday right by

indulging on a lavish platter of mussels, oysters, crustaceans or fishes.

One momentous evening, I myself resolved to order a plateful of Baked Oysters and Tiger

Prawns with Tamarind Sauce for dinner.

Baked Oysters

This delicious platter of baked mussels is rich in decadent flavors and spices such as red and

green bell pepper, white onion, pineapple and sweet basil sauteed altogether. After which,

they sit atop of the fresh mussels coming from the shores of New Zealand prior to baking.

The impeccable mixture of various ingredients gives this one-of-a-kind seafood treat a

signature taste. Indeed, it’s not your ordinary baked mussels, and certainly a must-try!

Tiger Prawns with Tamarind Sauce

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I felt like winning the grand prize when I got these 3 gigantic pieces of tiger prawns doused

with tamarind sauce. ‘Twas absolutely delicious! I love the sweet and sour blend of the

flavorful sauce, not to mention the oh-so-softy and meaty feel of the tiger prawns. It surely

whetted my appetite upon looking at the food presentation, and satisfied my fastidious

taste buds after.

--

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From Startupreporter.com

http://web.archive.org/web/20070910130616/http://www.startupreporter.com/

Socialbib cuts the cost of costly book expense

College students can now be free from expensive textbook buying with Socialbib’s book

swapping service. It’s a social network specially made for tertiary students alone that gives

them an opportunity to swap books and get what they really need sans shelling out

unusually huge moolahs in return. The only thing that would cost you is the shipping fee (if

you’re the book owner-slash-shipper). To be a part of this service, you should have a valid

.edu email address, and then you can begin searching books you need which are also listed

by other student-members themselves. Socialbib’s rating system will guide you along the

way to find trustworthy or fraudulent users.

Socialbib’s goal is to help students save money. You can see the counter located at the

upper-right hand corner of the site that displays the amount of money saved using this

service. As of writing this post, it has already reached $2 million dollars, a hefty amount

when it comes to savings. Socialbib is working on a proximity search to help you find your

schoolmates in order to further nix the shipping expense.

--

Find users with Zooomr’s new People Search feature

Photo-sharing site Zooomr has just upgraded its service by including People Search feature.

This makes searching for other users a whole lot easier, such as peeking at your friend’s

public photos and profile. Simply click on the People Search tab (located just right after the

Photo Search tab) to begin your search. You have an option to type in either the user name

or the e-mail address of the person you’re looking for, and then hit the search button. After

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which, a page will appear displaying a list of results which includes the user name, the user’s

image thumbnail, and links to his/her images and profile.

The interface reminds me of Friendster though, except that results (in Zooomr) are

displayed in rows.

--

SayNow keeps celebrity-fan bonding more alive

SayNow is a new startup that keeps celebrities and their fans in touch. You may wonder

what sets it apart from the rest of the social networking and social marketing troop in form

of MySpace profiles, personal websites, blogs and the like that celebrities use to reach their

audience online. However, SayNow adds another form of communication–voice messaging.

The medium may sound ancient, but most fans prefer their idols’ voices to be heard.

With this service, users can use their phones, not just their computers.

This is how SayNow works: Celebrities get a local phone number, text-in code and flash

badge for their personal website to reach new subscribers, wherever they are, in no time.

Voice messages are disseminated by recording through phone, uploading an MP3, or linking

to an audio RSS feed. They can also reach their fans via text messaging using the computer.

There’s also an available feature where they can reply to selected individuals.

SayNow also helps celebrities in creating a mobile channel that lets fans listen and record

messages, participate in polls and buy mobile content directly from their phone. It also

provides full, detailed reporting which includes the number of fans/subscribers, frequency

of message being played, landline and mobile usage, etc.

It will officially launch next month and available only in the US.

--

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Dump nasty comments in the Douche Bag

It is common for us to read optimistic and uplifting comments or testimonials anywhere on

the Web. But, what’s more interesting and at the same time appalling are these caustic and

destructive criticisms sprouting here and there for the purpose of loathing, humiliating or

making fiendish fun at someone else’s profile, blog or web site. While you don’t usually

catch these people in real life, many of them who don’t have a single gall to have their face

shown tend to hide under the guise of anonymity, spreading the flame of their love hatred.

Younggogetter comes to the picture by launching its first official Wordpress plugin called

douchebag. It’s a fun and simple way of getting even at mean comments thrown by

douchebags themselves. It works by putting a paper bag icon with the word “Douche Bag”

on it at the right side of the comment as a form of mockery (see image below). To do this,

simply edit the comment and put the douche bag tag before the statement. Instructions for

installation can be found on YGG’s website.

I personally find the plugin intriguing, although it doesn’t generally have much sense. It’s

typically absurd for a formal, corporate blog to insert douche bags on negative comments. I

notice the absence of douche tag button on the formatting toolbar. Unlike the more tag,

there’s a need to type the douche tag (denoted as <–!douche–>) manually on each

comments. Why not resort to delete these comments instead of labeling them one by one?

The latter is less arduous, IMO. I also expected the douche bag icon appear just how a

douche bag really should, rather than a piece of tacky brown paper bag. Funny thing is, even

commenters can freely use the tag and label themselves as a douchebag. Silly, eh?

This may be perfect for those who happen to own a personal Wordpress blog and wish to

make nasty comments look like a silly bluff, although it may not promise such comments to

cease and desist.

--

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From Honey Glaze Cakes

http://www.honeyglazecakes.com.ph

About the Chef

Honey Glaze Cakes provides freshly baked customized cakes for weddings, birthdays, and

other special occasions. Owner, cake artist and pastry chef Aileen Torres-Conde believes

that a cake should not only capture the essence of the celebration, it should also taste as

sumptuous as it looks. “We only use the finest ingredients. Our cakes should taste

delectable to the last crumb.” She is best known for her premium signature cakes, the

Belgian Chocolate Cake with Dark Ganache Filling and the Moist and Rich Carrot Walnut

Cake.

Aileen’s passion for baking started in childhood. “I was inspired by my grandmother who

also loved to bake,” she recalls. This passion has meant seeking training in the best culinary

schools in the Philippines and abroad. She recently took advanced courses in cake

decorating at the iconic Wilton School of Cake Decorating & Confectionary Art in Illinois,

U.S.A. and at the International Sugar Art Collection under celebrity pastry Chef Nicholas

Lodge in Georgia, U.S.A.

“We invite everyone interested in making their dream cake a reality to sit down with us. We

strive to create cakes that make life’s precious moments even more memorable and that

taste luscious to the last bite,” Aileen says.

--

Contact Us

We’d love to hear from you! For orders and inquiries, you may reach us at the following

numbers:

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Telephone:

+632 703-2414 +632 346-7336

Mobile:

+63922 8279848 + 63920 9525166

E-mail us at:

honeyglazecakes@yahoo.com

Or visit us at:

114 Ocampo St., Don Jose heights commonwealth avenue, QC

For actual orders, please allow 3 days for small cakes and 2 weeks for large cakes prior to

the delivery date, as the duration may vary depending upon the quantity and complexity of

the cake.

--

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Premium Flavors

Belgian Chocolate

Nothing beats the good ol’ chocolate as the cult favourite when it comes to cake flavours. A

trip to Brussels won’t be complete sans taking a bite of the world’s best—the famous

Belgian Chocolate.

This is why our Belgian Chocolate cake never fails to be the top-selling cake flavour! It’s

made of deliciously rich Belgian chocolate fudge thickly covered with Belgian chocolate

ganache.

Carrot Walnut

There’s something about Carrot Walnut Cakes that is there to love, given that it’s also our

top-selling flavour.

This lightweight, subtly flavoured cake has been a choice of many who are easily intimidated

over saccharine sweet tastes.

Take a bite of our moist Carrot Walnut cake covered with rich frosted icing; both of which

spell “delicious”.

--

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From Fly-Corporate.com (MachMedia)

FlightSafety to Offer King Air 350 Training in Australia

FlightSafety International will offer Beechcraft King Air 350 training in Australia. The Full

Flight Simulator is scheduled to be installed at the Ansett Aviation Training Facility in

Melbourne, Australia by the end of 2011.

“We are pleased to support Hawker Beechcraft and our mutual Customers in Australia and

the surrounding region by providing local access to King Air training programs,” said Eric

Hinson, Executive Vice President of FlightSafety International.

Moreover, the King Air 350 simulator will feature the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 Integrated

Avionics System, and will be available to King Air 200 aircraft operators for differences

training. It will also be equipped with FlightSafety’s VITAL Visual System and electric motion

and control loading technology.

--

UTair Aviation Signs Contract with Eurocopter Vostok

Russian-based UTair Aviation will acquire 20 AS350/AS355 light helicopters in a contractual

agreement with Eurocopter.

The acquisition contract was signed by UTair Director Andrey Martirosov and Eurocopter

Vostok CEO Laurence Rigolini, in the presence of Christian Gras, Eurocopter’s Executive Vice

President - Customers. It covers the deliveries of 20 single-engine AS350 B3 and twin-engine

AS355 NP versions of Eurocopter’s Ecureuil lightweight helicopter family beginning in the

summer of 2011 and continuing through the spring of 2013.

UTair has been operating Eurocopter helicopters since 2006. Its fleet currently includes the

following Eurocopter types—AS350B3, AS355N and BO105—which are flown in a wide

variety of missions, ranging from VIP services and oil/gas industry support to medical

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missions. The company also is a launch customer for Eurocopter’s EC175, with the intention

to order 15 of these medium-weight twin-engine helicopters, plus 15 options.

--

LBAS Opens New Line Maintenance Station in Riga

Berlin-based Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services has opened a line maintenance station

in Riga, Latvia. The station is officially approved and ready to serve customer aircraft after a

two-day audit by the German Airworthiness Authority acting on behalf of the European Air

Safety Agency (EASA).

Together with its local partner, Baltic Business Aviation Centre/FBO Riga, LBAS now offers

comprehensive line maintenance support for corporate aircraft. This includes Bombardier

Learjet 40, Learjet 45 and Learjet 60, Challenger 601, Challenger 604 and Challenger 605, as

well as Global 5000 and Global Express XRS business jets.

The first contract was signed by the Austrian company International Jet Management (IJM)

to support a Global Express jet home based in Riga, as soon as the approval for the line

station was given.

The addition of the Challenger 850 jet capability to the existing services offered at the line

maintenance station in Riga is scheduled for later this year. Warranty work on the approved

aircraft type is also scheduled to be offered at a later date.

Services for Boeing Business Jets and Airbus Corporate Jets will also be provided in

collaboration with Lufthansa Technik.

--

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NBAA 2010 to Honour Business Aviation Community to Haiti Relief

The National Business Aviation’s 2010 Annual Meeting and Convention will include an event

to recognise the business aviation community for its laudable response to Haiti earthquake.

"The business aviation community's response to the Haiti crisis represents the best in all of

us," said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. "As the world began to understand the

magnitude of the tragedy, our industry mobilised. Almost immediately, airplanes and

aviation expertise were volunteered, supplies were donated, ramp and hangar space was

made available, fuel discounts were offered, and charts were provided. As a result of this

remarkable outpouring of time, expertise and resources, countless lives were not only

touched but in many cases saved. We want to recognise this historic airlift with our event."

The tribute to those involved in the Haiti relief effort will take place as part of a first-ever

general session on the convention's second day, 20th of October 2010 at 11 o’clock in the

morning (ET). Both the new second-day session and the convention's traditional opening

general session will take place on the event's exhibit floor. The Haiti tribute will include a

video telling the story of the industry's response to the Haiti crisis, as told through the first-

hand perspectives of several individuals who were directly involved in the effort.

The industry's response to the Haiti crisis was recognised earlier this year in a joint House-

Senate resolution that noted "business aircraft alone conducted more than 700 flights,

transporting 3,500 passengers, and over 1,000,000 pounds of cargo and supplies."

"NBAA is enormously grateful to everyone in business aviation who was willing to help in

the relief effort, and we look forward to expressing our gratitude in a very meaningful way

directly from the floor of the convention," Bolen concluded.

--

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DC Aviation’s CFO Michael Kuhn Promoted to CEO

Former CFO Michael Kuhn will assume the post of Chief Executive Officer and head of

operations for DC Aviation, a provider of business jets based in Germany. Kuhn has been in

charge of the company’s commercial operations since April 2009.

After two years of successful leadership, previous CEO Steffen Fries and the company have

mutually agreed to part ways. “The engagement showed by Steffen Fries allowed us to

successfully steer the company through two years that were especially turbulent

economically for the business aviation branch,” says Dr. Lutz Helmig, owner of DC Aviation.

Kuhn has been an expert on mobility and transport issues for more than 20 years. Prior to

his stint at the company, he held management positions for several years within the

Goodyear corporate group. He’s also an MBA graduate, with previous experience as a

marketing manager in the automobile industry. “I am confident that Michael Kuhn, with his

knowledge of the company and proven management experience in leadership positions, will

successfully develop and lead DC Aviation,” continues Dr. Helmig.

--

Legacy Executive Jets Win IDEA/Brasil 2010 Design Award

Two of Embrarer’s jets won the IDEA/Brasil design award for this year.

The new executive jets, the mid-light Legacy 450 and the midsize Legacy 500 took the

award, following the Phenom 100, Phenom 300 and Lineage 1000 jets which won in 2008.

The IDEA (International Design Excellence Awards) programme is the premier international

competition honouring design excellence in products, eco-design, interaction design,

packaging, strategy, research and concepts.

“The importance of design to executive aviation must never be underestimated, and for this

reason we, at Embraer, are especially honoured by the IDEA/Brasil award and the

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accompanying recognition by the design industry,” said Humberto Pereira, Embraer Vice

President, Engineering – Executive Jets.

The IDEA/Brasil is the stage that comes before the US edition of the IDEA Award, and is

regarded as one of the important design competitions in the world. Thus, this competition is

considered to be the gateway of Brazilian design to the international market. The North

American award was created in 1980 by the Industrial Designers Society of Ameica (IDSA) to

recognise and award the best products, packaging and industrial concepts created by

students and professionals.

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From EMC Cluster of Thoughts website (Across Technology)

Defining New Realities of IT Investment

With the recession hitting the economy at present, the rules of IT investment have

dramatically changed. In the recent Gartner Symposium IT Expo, Barbara Gomolski

discussed the “New Realities of Investment”, which focuses on how leaders, particularly the

top management, should focus on and adopt these “changes” or “adjustments” in terms of

Information Technology in their business.

Gartner’s 2010 CIO survey showed that, “in absolute dollars, most organizations spend less

today than they did in 2008.” Such investments are mostly funded from cost savings, as

Gartner predicted that “through 2015, a recession-era mentally among CEOs will ensure a

policy of paying for future investments from the cost savings obtained from existing IT

operations.”

IT is a fast-paced and an ever-changing world. For instance, today’s focus is more on social.

Innovation requires IT leaders to change the way they think from time to time. That’s why, it

is important to coincide business growth with progressive change in order to meet the goals

of the organization. However, Gomolski pointed out that “innovation must address not just

growth but also transformational change in how organizations drive productivity, reduce

costs and spend differently.”

Enterprises will be weighing the risk more than the return of investment (ROI) as they

develop a balanced portfolio of IT investments. On the other hand, expect business leaders

to demand more transparency in terms of business risks associated. Gomolski suggested

that “IT leaders should work with business leaders to better understand IT and business

risks, as well as the risks of doing nothing.”

Divestment matters as much as investment. Expect bloated application portfolios, aging

assets and disparate data sources as a result of poor divestment planning.

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Enterprises that do not divest wisely will be left behind by their competitors who divest

well.

It is now the high time for everyone within the organization to effectively communicate risks

and returns in terms of business outcome and business performance. When assessing risks,

Gomolski said that “a deeper and common understanding of how risk events affect business

performance is needed, so that risks may be appropriately weighed in the context of

investment and divestment decisions.”

Most business leaders, say the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for example, may be oblivious

in terms of how the whole IT organization works in detail. This calls for the “Chief

Information Officer (CIO) to provide the COOs with credible insight as to how and where IT

budgets are spent”, as pointed out by Gomolski. “IT leaders must decide on the structure of

the financial framework they wish to use to track and manage IT costs.”

Business leaders also lack the awareness of the real impact that IT performance has.

According to Gomolski , “The new realities of IT investment require IT leaders to draw a

clearer picture about the relationship between IT funding (and, ultimately, IT performance)

and business impact. Instead of reporting copious details on the amount of work done in IT

to executives, CIOs should focus on relating core IT services to business key performance

indicators, such as forecast accuracy, order fill rate, online delivery, etc.”

A strong partnership between IT leaders and Finance leaders leads to effectively driving

business value, particularly in creating an adequate and reasonable budget that the IT

organization needs. When it comes to creation of adaptive budgets and strategies, Gomolski

suggested that “static budgets must evolve into rolling forecasts, updated on an ongoing

basis, rather than quarterly or semiannually. These rolling forecasts are inherently more

accurate and require less time to update than a traditional budget or fixed forecast planning

model.”

In retrospect, business investment projects require the coordination and collaboration of all

business functions at the appropriate level of authority. “To be optimally successful, the

overall planning for these projects should be integrated across all the functional and process

oriented management and operational areas of the enterprise,” said Gomolski. “Reinforcing

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the fact that there are no IT projects, only business projects with a high dependence on IT —

by redefining "IT projects" as "business projects" —helps ensure that these initiatives are

viewed holistically.” It also requires a sense of transparency among them, particularly in

understanding the whole concept of such investment—its risks and its possible returns. It

should be based on how the business works in general and whether it is applicable or not to

the business.

--

Justifying Your Cloud Investment: Test and Development

We can say that infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals need to invest on

infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud computing, but justifying the financial and resource

commitments involved is a different story. Cloud computing can be justified by validating

the investment on grounds of business empowerment, cost savings, or opportunity cost

advantage. Since benefits from cloud computing are based on its application and use, a

positive ROI can’t be achieved merely as a blanket business case. Thus, the following

examines the case for testing and developing new applications for the cloud.

Cloud ROI depends on the use of the application. The only way to determine its cost-

effectiveness is by understanding what the application is all about, and how to make good

use of the cloud. Cloud services are metered, and the only way to derive significant savings

is through own proactive efforts to reduce or minimize consumption.

Applications vary in such a way that some may require a dedicated hardware (usually for

those that require a long-term period), while others may rather be virtualized if they do not

consume the full capacity of a hardware. If such application has a lifespan of less than 12

months and its nature is flexible, then that’s the best time to make use of cloud services.

This way, you can save money than pay more in order to have them waiting in reserve. For

applications with a life expectancy of 1-5 years, it is best to get them outsourced.

With the use of cloud services to your application, testing and developing is fundamentally

necessary. This is where test lab managers and developers come in the picture. Empower

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developers and testers by incorporating cloud labs into your test portfolio. Endorse the use

of cloud platforms yet with outmost caution, so that it is properly used without risking the

integrity of the business. Make policies and guidelines for your people to follow accordingly.

You may also select a small number of approved platforms, and nix those that are no longer

being used by your testers and developers. In sifting platforms that are being used, set up a

central resource request tool that automates the approval of platform requests should they

fit into the application’s needs.

Amid establishing cloud platforms to your application, make sure to adapt to the cloud. Do

not expect these platforms adapt to you, since they most likely have limited functions and

capabilities that your application requires. For instance, if you need OS monitoring, higher

degrees of network security, or storage services they don’t provide, you’ll have to bring

them to the deployment. Determine exactly what fits best in the cloud by testing

deployments that can be accommodated on a standard virtual environment as well as

environments that are standalone; and make sure that products have a lifespan of less than

a year, do not expose the company to compliance or regulatory risk, and have multi-VM

(virtual machine) applications that utilize Web services. As you evolve your cloud use policy

and deployment procedures, be sure to incorporate the adaptations your company requires

for secure, manageable use of the cloud.

Test-and-development use of cloud varies with the stage. The following are cases where

testing and development fits in the cloud:

Design and function validation testing. Developers need infrastructure resources to ensure

the accuracy and efficiency of the programs they make. Validating functions usually require

minimal resources for short periods of time.

Scalability testing. This is where cloud platforms deliver clear value add. These efforts can

lock up a significant number of test resources for long periods of time. Every time the test

fails, developers have to reserve resources again for another test run. And often, due to

capital constraints, only limited scalability testing can be performed in your environment.

While no cloud has infinite resources, nearly all are likely to have more caapcity than your

internal test lab.

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Quality assurance (QA) testing. As an application gets closer to production, its functions

should be tested in varying use circumstances to guarantee quality and accuracy.

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Ten Tech-Enabled Business Trends to Watch

Around a couple of years ago, McKinsey conducted a study on “Eight technology-enabled

business trends to watch”, and showed how the combined effects of emerging Internet

technologies, increased computing power, and fast, pervasive digital communications were

spawning new ways to manage talent ,assets and organizational structures.

The technology landscape has continued to evolve rapidly since then. With the fast-paced

change, the original 8 trends, which have continued to spread (much faster than

anticipated), has grown as McKinsey recently released the report—“Clouds, big data, and

smart assets: Ten tech-enabled business trends to watch.”

The ability to organize communities of Web participants to co-create products and services

has moved from the margins of business practice to the mainstream.

McKinsey noted in the earlier research that “the Web was starting to force open the

boundaries of organizations, allowing nonemployees to offer their expertise in novel ways.

We called this phenomenon ‘tapping into a world of talent’.” Today, many companies are

pushing beyond that starting point, as they build and manage flexible networks that extend

across internal and even external borders.

The number of people who undertake knowledge work has grown significantly. As a result,

this builds a higher demand for collaboration technologies that promise to improve these

workers’ efficiency and effectiveness. Since then, a number of companies have conducted

experiments on these. The rapid growth of video and Web conferencing was seen by

McKinsey, as it is “expected to top 20 percent annually during the next few years.”

With the development of the information system that is able to capture, compute,

communicate, and collaborate around information; sensors or actuators—anything with

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communication capabilities—will further be developed. This will soon be able to absorb and

transmit information on a massive scale and, in some cases, to adapt and react to changes

in the environment automatically.

“Data are flooding in at rates never seen before—doubling every 18 months—as a result of

greater access to customer data from public, proprietary, and purchased sources, as well as

new information gathered from Web communities and newly deployed smart assets,”

according to McKinsey. Utilizing such big data in terms of testing and experimentation

becomes crucial to companies. This guides them in decision-making, testing new products

and services as well as innovating customer experience.

“Companies are now taking the first steps to reduce the environmental impact of their IT.

For instance, businesses are adopting ‘green data center’ technologies to reduce sharply the

energy demand of the ever-multiplying numbers of servers needed to cope with data

generated by trends.”

Technology now enables companies to monitor, measure, customize and bill for asset use at

a much more detailed level than before. A number of companies are employing technology

to market services from business capabilities they first developed for their own purposes.

That’s a trend McKinsey previously described as ‘unbundled production’.

Advertising has also spread on the web with the use of online services such as search and e-

mail. It is now spreading to new markets like enterprise software. McKinsey states that “as

more people migrate to online activities, network effects can magnify the value of

multisided business models. The ‘freemium’ model is a case in point: a group of customers

gets free services supported by those who pay a premium for special use.”

Technology will also be an important factor in the creation of new types of public goods.

Take the challenges of the rising urbanization, for example. According to McKinsey, “about

half of the world’s people now live in urban areas, and that share is projected to rise to 70

percent by 2050.”

The pace of technology and business change will continue to accelerate. It may either be

advantageous for other companies, or challenging to some. The report’s broad message is

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that “organizations should incorporate an understanding of the trends into their strategic

thinking to help identify new market opportunities, invent new ways of doing business, and

compete with an ever-growing number of innovative rivals.”

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For references and other enquiries, please e-mail me at: roannevista@gmail.com or

imroanne@icloud.com. I look forward to hear from you soon!