Author: David Phelps

The Hidden Cost of 'Good Enough': A CFO’s Guide to the ROI of Migrating Legacy ERP to the Cloud
Technology in Business

The Hidden Cost of ‘Good Enough’: A CFO’s Guide to the ROI of Migrating Legacy ERP to the Cloud

- by David Phelps

For many Chief Financial Officers, the legacy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system sitting in the server room—or a co-located data center—is a familiar “comfort” in a volatile market. It is paid for, the team knows its quirks, and it “works.” When the IT department suggests a migration to the cloud, the instinctive CFO response is often: “If it isn’t broken, why spend millions to fix it?”

However, in 2025, the phrase “it works” has become a dangerous trap. What appears to be a stable, low-cost asset is often a “leaking bucket” of hidden expenses, missed opportunities, and escalating risks. In the modern fiscal landscape, “good enough” is the most expensive strategy a company can employ.

To move from defensive accounting to strategic value creation, CFOs must look beyond the initial implementation costs and analyze the true Return on Investment (ROI) of a cloud migration.

1. The “Iceberg” of Maintenance Costs

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The Death of the Perimeter: Why Zero Trust is the Only Way to Secure Your Global Remote Team in 2025
Technology in Business

The Death of the Perimeter: Why Zero Trust is the Only Way to Secure Your Global Remote Team in 2025

- by David Phelps

For decades, cybersecurity was built on a simple, physical metaphor: the medieval castle. You built high walls (firewalls), dug deep moats (VPNs), and once someone was inside the gates, they were considered “trusted.” As long as the “bad guys” stayed outside and the “good guys” stayed inside the office building, the data was safe.

But as we navigate the landscape of 2025, the castle has crumbled. The office is no longer a single building in Chicago or London; it is a collection of thousands of endpoints—laptops in Balinese cafes, tablets in home offices in Lisbon, and smartphones on trains in Tokyo. In this hyper-distributed reality, the “perimeter” isn’t just broken; it’s dead.

Enter Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA). It is no longer just a buzzword for IT departments; it is the only viable strategy for securing a global remote team. In a world where identity is the new perimeter, the …

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Stop Counting, Start Scaling: How AI-Powered Inventory Tools are Saving Small Businesses 20+ Hours a Week
Technology in Business

Stop Counting, Start Scaling: How AI-Powered Inventory Tools are Saving Small Businesses 20+ Hours a Week

- by David Phelps

For the modern small business owner, the “dream” of entrepreneurship often collides with a gritty, spreadsheet-heavy reality. You started your business to design sustainable fashion, roast artisanal coffee, or curate vintage home goods. Instead, you find yourself at 11:00 PM on a Tuesday, hunched over a clipboard, manually counting units of stock and praying the math adds up.

This is the “Inventory Trap”—a cycle of manual tracking that consumes roughly 20 to 30% of a small business owner’s time. But a quiet revolution is happening. Artificial Intelligence (AI), once the exclusive playground of Fortune 500 giants like Amazon and Walmart, has become accessible, affordable, and essential for the “little guy.”

By moving from manual counting to AI-powered scaling, small businesses aren’t just saving time; they are reclaiming their competitive edge. Here is how AI-driven inventory tools are transforming the landscape and saving founders more than 20 hours every single …

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Technology as the First Line of Defense Against Future Pandemics
Technology

Technology as the First Line of Defense Against Future Pandemics

- by David Phelps

Pandemics remind the world that speed matters. The earlier a threat is detected, the greater the chance of containing it before it spreads widely. Joe Kiani, Masimo and Willow Laboratories founder, has underscored the importance of technology as a safeguard in healthcare, where timely detection can mean the difference between preparedness and panic. Predictive modeling and digital infrastructure offer the possibility of turning early warning into a global defense system. This shift would transform health security from an afterthought into a standing guardrail woven into daily life.

Traditional surveillance systems often lag reality, detecting outbreaks only after they have spread significantly. By contrast, technology allows signals, from unusual hospital admissions to changes in online search patterns, to be identified in near real time. These signals provide health authorities with a head start, allowing interventions such as contact tracing, targeted restrictions, or vaccine deployment to begin earlier. The goal is to …

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Materials Genome Strategy: AI Meets Materials Discovery
Business

Materials Genome Strategy: AI Meets Materials Discovery

- by David Phelps

Every breakthrough in semiconductors has been built on the foundation of materials science. From silicon wafers to high-k dielectrics and from copper interconnects to EUV photoresists, progress in computing has always depended on discovering and integrating new materials. As chips push toward atomic scales, the search for novel materials has become both more urgent and more difficult. The Materials Genome Initiative (MGI), launched to accelerate discovery through computation, data, and experimentation, offers a framework for addressing this challenge. Now, with AI as a force multiplier, the Materials Genome Strategy promises to deliver atom-precise innovations at unprecedented speed. Erik Hosler, a strategist in semiconductor materials innovation, recognizes that progress in chips will depend as much on materials discovery as on circuit design. His perspective captures how materials breakthroughs will define the future of compute.

The promise of AI-accelerated discovery is transformative. Instead of years of trial and error in …

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