Jibo Home Family Robot
by David Washburn • Uncategorized •
Jibo – http://www.myjibo.com
Jibo’s Eye
2010 Ted Talk
Cynthia Breazeal founded and directed the Personal Robots Group at MIT’s Media Lab. Her research focused on developing the principles and technologies for building personal robots that are socially intelligent — that interact and communicate with people in human-centric terms, work with humans as peers, and learn from people as an apprentice.
IT Planning-Austrailia Pharma Company
by David Washburn • Project, Projects, Uncategorized •
Business Problem
The Australian division of an international pharmaceutical company needed to evaluate its current IT portfolio and decide where to make new IT investments.
Solution
The CEO hired me to apply my IT planning process. In the course of a two-day session we:
- documented the most pressing business needs and determined how IT could help;
- created a portfolio of existing IT resources, and assessed their value and cost;
- identified gaps between urgent business needs and current IT solutions; and
- developed a plan to close the gaps.
The session revealed three surprising facts:
- Recently-deployed systems were actually reducing productivity, a problem that could be fixed through training and better support.
- The most critical information problems for the company were caused by a lack of data needed to link information from key applications. A small tactical project could quickly address this shortcoming, while a larger project would eventually integrate the applications.
- The division did not have to wait for headquarters to select an enterprise-wide customer relations tool; it could immediately begin to modify existing systems, thereby moving up their implementation plan by two years.
Outcomes:
- The senior staff was excited to discover that they could realize productivity gains quickly through training and better support instead of having to wait for the completion of additional IT projects.
- The human resources director was given the mandate to create training and organizational development programs that would realize the productivity potential of existing systems.
- The IT manager was thrilled because he was able to greatly enhance the value of existing applications with a small project.
- The CEO was satisfied because the planning session enabled him to address morale issues, focus on business needs, set priorities, and delegate tasks and responsibilities.
Hazardous Waste Tracking Application
by David Washburn • Project, Projects •
Business Problem
Client needed to track and manage 8,000 hazardous waste containers a year. The client, an aerospace company, had to comply with Federal and state regulations.
Solution
The solution was to develop a waste cradle to grave web-based application.
Outcome
Over the course of 5 generations never client never suffered a complain fine.
Application Design
by David Washburn • Services •
AIA develops business solutions. Work includes designing software, hardware and support.
Evaluation
by David Washburn • AIA, Services •
AiA helps evaluate the business uses of technology. The goal is to match technology to the specific needs of an organization, and to make sure that the organization is prepared to take advantage of the solution once it has been developed.