Why are internal systems so outdated?

I can't tell you how astounded I am that so many programmers and coders ignore the potential for updated internal systems for small business/brokerage firms. Nearly every internal management system for insurance and real estate companies looks like it was written in the 1980's and performs accordingly.

With so much going on in the world of software, if one skilled company started putting out internal management systems for insurance/real estate firms they could make A KILLING. I know we would buy it in a heart beat. An IMS with the look and feel of modern day widgets and social software would boost moral, productivity, and user interoperability within the office space. There are tens of thousands of brokerage houses across the nation (only talking domestically) which can all use the same system because they all source the same major carriers. Not to mention, the basic forms (Accords apps, title forms, mortgage forms, etc...) are all universal and set by the regulators so a skeleton would simply need to be built that incorporated these forms electronically into a cool, streamlined, user friendly platform that would be customizable by the client.

Not to mention, with the low cost of development today as compared to years ago, there is not doubt in my mind such an application could be sold at a discount to the current competition. Additionally, it could be written to work with windows 7, live mesh, Max OS 10, and other platforms that allow you to work across multiple computers/mobile devices.

Having to come to the office every day just to access your database is RIDICULOUS. There is a great deal of value in developing for commercial users, someone needs to identify this opportunity in more detail, step away from the general consumer software development space, and pursue this idea. Especially since consumer software development (i.e. The App Store) is such a saturate market.

Evernote

There is something to be said about data/image/text cataloging

Evernote is a fabulous application. It is an amazing application that allows you to catalog data/information/images you interact with on a number of various formats. Similar to a bookmark; however, you are not limited to what you find on the internet. You can catalog mobile images, jpgs, uploaded videos, etc... all sorted and capable of being search for using evernote's advanced search technology.

Check it out. EVERNOTE

Problems with endless aid and entrepreneurial solutions

There has been quite a bit of writing recently on African aid and the implications of continued aid to developing countries. There are two arguments and I am of the belief that continuing aid (without a termination date or exit strategy) hinders economic development, contrary to the popular belief that aid is beneficial to the country receiving it.

Now, before I put my foot in my mouth, let me say that I am not discrediting the value of helping others, especially those who are suffering. However, I think the approach to helping those people needs to be changed and viewed with the goal of creating change from within rather than sustainability from the outside.

If you give a child an allowance of 100,000 dollars a month they wont work a day in their life until they need more than 100,000 dollars a month, a day that for most will never come. The same can be said for aid to developing countries. The belief that constantly and continuously providing to developing will spur economic growth is an oxy moron. The saying that giving a man a fish is not as valuable as teaching him to fish (sorry I'm not one for famous cliches) could not apply more.

I believe that the correct approach is to teach the entrepreneurs within the target country to make their own change. Providing them with capital and/or the resources to do so is acceptable as long as such aid has a set limit or maximum amount as well as a terminal date beyond which the entrepreneur must be sellf sustainable. Almost like seed funding or angel investing seen domestically, when you fund a new idea, concept, or change, it must have a cap on the funding you give it. Issuing a blank check does no good to anyone because of the moral delima associated with doing so.

African economist, Dambisa Moyo, agrees with my thoughts and has made some interesting remarks regarding aid to Africa. Although Africa is not the focus of my thought stream necessarily, teachings from Africa can be applied to aid anywhere in the world.

Dambisa also wrote the book Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa, an expanded thought process of this topic and a great read.

Open Thought Stream on Paperless Books

I think there is a major opportunity in the educational industry in shifting textbooks to a paperless format. We have already seen thousands of consumers adapt the kindle platform and even smaller applications of the same technology such as Kindle for the iPhone. There is no doubt that paperless books are an efficient and long term cost saving way of exposing oneself to the same content found in traditional books.

There a few reasons why I think that paperless books would be successful in education:

1. Students rarely highlight and annotate books the way the used to because they desire to sell the books back at the end of the summer to redeem some of the money they spent on the books. Keep in mind, this payback is often less than 10% of the original purchase price.
   
2. Plain and simple, text books are expensive, averaging the mid 100's and often times more than 300 dollars.
   
3. Electronic Text Books or Text Book for that matter, would require a single purchase or at most one initial purchase followed by a series of very small purchases in order to download and update content each semester.
   

I imagine this application as a "Kindle-Like" platform, perhaps slightly larger because most student will carry it in a backpack. The interface should allow for viewing, reading, and interacting with the text. I would also imagine that students would benefit from the technology incorporating some kind of word processing applications and/or allow for a way for users to highlight pertinent information; perhaps in the same way Evernote allows PC and Mac users to catalog and store information they deem important when interacting with the web, word documents, and other electronic files (not to mention the mobile device capabilities, but that is a whole post in intself)

Anyways, I don't plan on pursuing the design of such an application for now but I really believe there is a huge amount of opportunity. Imagine the introduction of a cheap version of the technology in developing countries. The ability to make one purcahse, or recieve one donation*** which would allow for constant and continous content update could create educational opporutinies for 1000's of underprivledged students without the need for continued aid (the very subject of my next post)

A Short for All You Entrepreneurs