The Amtower B2G Market Report

The Amtower B2G Market Report
Volume 3, #39, October 11, 2004

This newsletter is only sent to those who request it. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.FederalDirect.net and if you like this newsletter, please pass it along to your colleagues. To unsubscribe, see directions below. The newsletter is posted each Monday at www.FederalDirect.net, and the latest “Off-Center Observations” is on the home page. All back issues available at http://www.federaldirect.net/newsletterarchives.html)

In this issue…
1) Amtower Off-Center Observations
2) The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: FY 2005 and Congress
3) Events Worth Attending
4) Credit Card Update

AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS

Item: There is one month to go until the 3rd annual B2G Catalog Summit in Chicago. If direct mail is a primary means of marketing for your organization, you should be there. See “Events”, below.

Item: It was worth noting that Amit Yoran left DHS as head of the Federal cyber security effort on 9/30/04. I met Mr Yoran at a Gartner IT security event a few years ago when he was still running Riptech, which he sold to Symantec. At that time I was running www.GovernmentComputerSecurity.com (among other efforts, but that site is no longer up), and Mr Yoran became our first interview (interviewed by Karen Schwartz) for our web site and enewsletter. Shortly after that, he went to DHS. We wish him well and know that wherever he lands, he will make valuable contributions. In case you are wondering, no I did not pay to attend the Gartner event. I got a press pass.

Item: Google, demonstrating the strength of its moral convictions, will deploy a less than robust site in China, at the “request” of the Chinese government. I understand that China is a fast growing economy, but seller beware, if you think the Chinese government cannot and will not change direction to undermine the U.S. economy, think again.

Item: Stephen Wildstrom (Business Week 10/11/04) rates the iMac G5 very highly. He is not the only tech reviewer to cite the technical superiority of the iMac, and I cede all tech reviews to people who understand those things better than me. I will make note, though, that when Mr Jobs was at Apple the first time, they maintained a low marketshare because he wouldn’t allow clones. After he left, cloners, led by Power PC, started helping increase the Apple/Mac marketshare. When Mr Jobs returned, he cancelled all such agreements. Technical superiority, probably. Marketing superiority and genius? Not a chance. Anyone remember Sony’s Beta, which was vastly superior to VHS?

Item: Track the senior federal executives in your database carefully over the next 12 months. After the election, there will be migration, regardless of the outcome. And if Senator Kerry wins, I predict over 30% migration in the senior federal IT community before December 2005.

Item: I am tempted to directly address the latest abuses of Rep Tom Delay, but every time I use the phrase “House Ethics committee”, I get incensed or start laughing uncontrollably. The House Majority leader does seem to abuse his position, but to think that he is alone in this is ridiculous. The ability of the House or Senate to self-regulate, especially in the ethics arena, is non-existent. Witness the McCain-Feingold campaign reform bill. By the time it had gone through House and Senate committees, it was a toothless old three-legged dog. Now many (especially screaming television pundits) are blaming that on McCain and Feingold, not themselves, not the ultimate in self-serving, pork-politicians who seem to care little for the phrase “preserve, protect and defend.”

Not that I have an opinion.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: FY2005 AND CONGRESS

Welcome to yet another FY greeted by a continuing resolution. When the Senate is referred to as the “greatest deliberative body” in the world, I tend to come up with different metaphors. Clare Boothe Luce’s proclamation of “politics as the refuge for second class minds” is among them, as is Dr Johnson’s “Politics is the refuge of scoundrels.” I have developed a few that are somewhat more colorful.

But what can we in the contractor community do?

Make a point to contact your Representative and Senators and ask them to move faster in approving the budgets necessary. The more people who bother to express concern over continuing resolutions, the more likely it is something might get done. Make certain your representatives understand the depth of your concern.

Political rants get me every four years. You may already have noticed. Do not ask me who I am voting for, as I rarely discuss politics or religion publicly. Suffice it to say that I remain unconvinced that either party has put up its “best and brightest” in my lifetime, with perhaps one exception. Don’t email me. I won’t tell you.

EVENTS WORTH ATTENDING

Beware of the schlock vendors, producing “black hole” events, events that eat your money with no significant return!

If you want Government Marketing Best Practices in your city in the spring of 2005, vote at www.FederalDirect.net

October 12-13 Cafritz Conference Center, GW University, Washington, DC (Foggy Bottom Metro Stop) Citizen Services: How to Develop and Integrated Approach to Service Citizens Better
www.digitalgovernment.com

October 21, Input’s FedFocus 2005, Reagan Center, Washington DC,
http://www.fedfocus.input.com

October 26-28: Federal Information Assurance Conference (FIAC) 2004, University of Maryland University College Inn and Conference Center, Adelphi, MD. Keynote is Karen Evans, Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government and Information Technology (IT) www.fbcinc.com/fiac

November 11, THIRD ANNUAL B2G CATALOG SUMMIT, Doubletree O’Hare (Chicago).
www.FederalDirect.net. Our speakers include web diva Amy Africa on the latest web innovations, Richard Mackey on GSA, Mark Del Franco of Catalog Age leading a town hall style session with three catalog veterans, and Bill Singleton of Singleton Marketing on profitably mining your data. I will be doing the keynote and the wrap-up session, which will provide catalog “best B2G practices”. For those who use direct mail, especially catalogs, as a primary marketing tool, the third annual B2G Catalog Summit is a “must attend”. It is a one-day event filled with ideas you can take back to the office for immediate use. The event is in a hotel less than 10 minutes from O’Hare, and there will be limited seating (maximum of 75 attenders), so sign up now at www.FederalDirect.net/b2gsummit.html.

2 NSA events coming up in early December, on site at NSA. www.fbcinc.com

INTELCON National Intelligence Conference and Exposition, February 8-10, 2005 Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Alexandria, VA. www.fbcinc.com

CREDIT CARD UPDATE

SmartPay (small purchase) credit card spending through the first three quarters of FY 2004 was $12,152,689,492.51

According to GSA statistics, the top five agencies reporting in the same period were:

Department of Veterans Prime Ven ($2.665 billion)
US Army ($2.325 billion)
Veteran’s Administration ($1.488 billion)
US Navy ($1.238 billion)
US Air Force ($1.148 billion)

VA spends lots of money on drugs for patients with the SmartPay card.

**

As always, your comments, questions and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks
Mark Amtower

The Amtower B2G Market Report is published by Amtower & Company, and is written for companies
targeting the government marketplace. The opinions expressed are those of Mark Amtower unless otherwise noted. Contact us at Amtower & Company, PO Box 314, Highland, MD 20777-0314 (301-924-0058). This material is copyrighted and may not be duplicated, reprinted or otherwise replicated without written permission of the publisher. Email subscriptions are free by request: sign up at www.FederalDirect.net


Site maintained by Dragonfly Design