Social Blunder

It's very humbling to know that even savvy guys like Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google, can get it wrong.

He cites not reacting to the amazing growth by companies like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as being 'His biggest regret'. So even Google underestimated the impact of social media. Even better, when asked why he missed all the tell tale signs, he responded simply, 'I was busy' (as told to the WSJ).

It's easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day running of your company and, perhaps, the belief that the exciting world of technology revolves solely around you. Heaven knows that IBM were guilty of that in the 80s and Microsoft has been a repeat offender. Now we see Nokia stumbling over its own self-importance and paying the price in the smartphone arena.

It's a harsh lesson and one I will focus on in the build up to the opportunities The Cloud presents as you can feel the inertia in the channel already.

There's nothing like a challenge to the status quo to flush out the tree-huggers.