Strategies and Trends for Information Technology Leaders
Business technology executives have different notions about what comprises a technology strategy. Most of these notions are wrong. For some, it means high-level summary statements about the direction of technology. For others, it consists of a tactical set of plans around a major application suite, such as an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) application. These…
Tech group The technical workgroup members are responsible for: Assessing the direct and indirect cost of relevant solutions (e.g., storage, processing, resources, BCP, etc.); and Defining a data element cost model. The technical integrated workgroup members are responsible for understanding the cost of existing retention infrastructure and defining a cost model for changes to the…
CIOs and others responsible for corporate technology initiatives are challenged to gain control of the ever expanding amount of data available today. The Taming Big Data series focuses on a solution that builds a sustainable model to keep up with such changes. This solution is to formalize enterprise information management (EIM) programs, thus enabling a…
I am on a bit of a rampage lately about organizations not addressing missed deadlines. I see this a lot. The reason why so many organizations have so much trouble doing what they intend to do on time is because when they fail to meet a deadline … nothing happens. The dates come and go…
The quest for business agility became nearly universal as the U.S. was appearing to emerge from recession. The central idea is that organizations of all sizes need the speed and agility of a startup to respond rapidly to changing conditions. Now that the U.S. economy is sputtering again, demands for business agility are becoming even…
A recent Forbes article listed some of the most profitable businesses in America and, to my surprise, many of them were restaurants. In fact, two of restaurants noted had four year growth rates of over 120%. The four year growth rate is important, because it includes the recession, meaning that these restaurants are growing even…
Strategy is creative. Financial planning is operational.Strategic and financial planning require different skills, timelines, and different measures of success. You must separate the two streams of work if you want a real strategy. IT organizations are fairly expert and annual plans and budgets, but not so much at creative, strategic planning. So the money wins…
Regardless of its size, one of the keys components of strategic investment management in any organization is portfolio and program management (PPM). PPM provides enterprise-wide focus on defining, gathering, categorizing, analyzing, and monitoring information on corporate assets and activity as they relate to technology implementation and management. PPM offers top managers a centralized and balanced…
After 20 years helping global organizations plan and deliver training and development, especially around project management and business analysis, I have found that there are some common failure points in the design, execution and application of training. Furthermore ESI International conducted a Web based transfer of learning survey in March 2011. This global study, Applying…
Here’s a simple yet profound secret to achieving the success you want in your life and career: Change the future you envision and you will change what actions you take, which, in turn, will change your future. Have you ever thought about the legacy you will leave as CIO: what you want to achieve, what…