§ June 19th, 2007 § Filed under ROI § 2 Comments
From The Social Norm of Leaving the Toilet Seat Down: A Game Theoretic Analysis by Hammad Siddiqi:
If a female finds the toilet seat in a wrong position then she will most probably yell at the male involved. This yelling inflicts a cost on the male. Based on this omission, women may argue that the analysis in [prior] papers is suspect.
In this paper, we internalize the cost of yelling and model the conflict as a non-cooperative game between two species, males and females.We find that the social norm of leaving the toilet seat down is inefficient. However, to our dismay, we also find that the social norm of always leaving the toilet seat down after use is not only a Nash equilibrium in pure strategies but is also trembling-hand perfect. So, we can complain all we like, but this norm is not likely to go away.
Bummer.
(h/t Andrew Sullivan)
§ November 15th, 2005 § Filed under Open Source, ROI Comments Off
From Computerworld:
Linux’s total cost of operation (TCO) is typically 40% lower than Windows, according to an IBM-sponsored report from Robert Frances Group, publicized by IBM this week.
[...]
Linux still may be cheaper than Solaris or Windows, but the study agreed with Unilever that the price difference is not what it once was. This is partly because Linux buyers are now treating the platform like any other commercial product, and are buying the same support offerings, management tools and other facilities as they would for another operating system, Robert Frances said. The other factor is that competitors have responded to pressure from Linux by lowering their prices, according to the study.
Originally posted at The Indifference Curve.
§ September 7th, 2005 § Filed under ROI Comments Off
From Computerworld:
IT organizations that keep a lid on complexity spend 15% less than their peers and operate with 36% fewer staffers while bringing in projects on time and under budget 25% more often, Hackett found. With data like this, Hebert says, CIOs will be able to educate business managers so they can make informed decisions about whether there’s really a strong business case for deviating from the corporate standard.
Originally posted at The Indifference Curve.
§ May 27th, 2005 § Filed under ROI Comments Off
Over the years, analysts have embraced ROI as a key topic for IT. While this emphasis on quantitative business cases for IT investments is definitely a good thing, it has also led to the spread of misinformation and bad advice.
The mechanics of evaluating the business value of a proposed capital project have been fairly well settled for quite a few years. Any Finance 101 course covers the basics of corporate finance, including capital budgeting and project valuation. Among the standard textbooks on the topic are McKinsey & Co’s Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, or Eugene Brigham’s Fundamentals of Financial Management. These textbooks may differ in the way the material is presented, but they all agree on the appropriate metrics for project valuation.
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§ May 23rd, 2005 § Filed under Open Source, ROI Comments Off
eGov Monitor reports on a study on open source TCO in UK schools:
UK schools should “seriously consider” switching from proprietary software to open source alternatives because of the “obvious” cost savings on offer, says the Government’s lead agency for ICT in schools.
Research published by Becta on 13 May concludes that in nearly all cases, schools moving to open source software reduced the total cost of ownership per PC significantly.
The highly-anticipated report, based on a study of 15 schools, shows that by using OSS, primary schools halved their costs. The relative cost per PC at secondary school level was 20 per cent less than that of schools running commercial software.
Also, support costs in schools using open source were on average 50 to 60 per cent of those of their non-OSS counterparts.
…
“This report underlines the massive opportunity that exists for all schools to get the best value for money from their IT budgets. The advent of Open Source Software solutions in education opens up the whole UK Education market for the first time in a decade to competitive choice, removing the inevitability of lock-in.” Mike Banahan, Director of OpenForum Europe
I find this particularly interesting since, at least in the US, schools get software at a significant discount (software vendors, like tobacco companies, want to get future consumers hooked early.) Open source still comes out with a lower TCO. This is not surprising…we’ve seen similar interest in the K-12 market in the US for the same reasons.
(Hat tip to Martin Reilly.)
Originally posted at The Indifference Curve.