Strategies and Trends for Information Technology Leaders
CIOs must get the balance right between utility and innovation in order to secure influence in the future, according to new research from PA Consulting Group and Harvey Nash, a global professional recruitment consultancy and IT outsourcing service provider. The 2011 survey of over 2,500 CIOs and IT leaders reveals that CIOs are playing an…
It’s not exactly a news flash that computer and electronics retailers face extraordinarily tough challenges. Their margins are typically thin, their overhead is high, and they face tough competition from online stores and outlets such as Amazon. Over the years, we’ve seen a long list of electronics superstores open and shutter, including Circuit City, CompUSA,…
By Samuel Greengard CIOs can boost their odds of success by considering these five approaches: View resistance as an opportunity.By now, it’s clear that consumer technology has turned IT upside down. It’s tempting to bemoan the loss of control and complain about the growing challenge of dealing withshadow ITand ageneral defianceto abide by polices. But…
by Tom Adams, managing director, Americas Region, HP Financial Services Cloud computing has the potential to dramatically change the IT and business landscape. However, the journey to the cloud is not an overnight trip. For most large organizations, the move to cloud will be an evolutionary process not a revolutionary phenomenon. This evolutionary journey requires…
In 2004, Symantec, a powerhouse in the security software market, merged with Veritas, a leader in enterprise storage management software. The $13.5 billion deal (the largest in the IT industry to date) promised to unify data security with data storage, creating a series of holistic products that ensured the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data…
by Brian Duckering of Symantec Throughout the modern history of business, there have been countless technological innovations that have improved the way companies work. However, a few stand out from the rest in their capacity to disrupt the status quo. Perhaps the most obvious recent examples of such technological advances are the PC and the…
Look to the future and the past When developing measures and improvement plans, it can be easy to focus solely on results. However, the organizations studied by APQC emphasize predictive factors as well as outcomes when developing measures. The organizations look both at leading indicators that provide a foundation for performance (such as employee training…
by Becky Partida of APQC In Part 1 of this series, we looked at five best practices that contribute to new product and service innovation. These practices included expanding idea sources beyond areas traditionally associated with innovation (including looking outside the enterprise for innovative ideas) and acknowledging that different types of innovation require different terminologies…
Distinguish among different types of innovation The three best-practice organizations recognize that not all innovations are the same. These organizations consider the reach and potential gains associated with each innovation to develop tailored strategies. Unique processes, resources, and vocabularies may be applied to specific innovations and innovation types. For example, Kennametal groups its innovations into…
by Becky Partida of APQC Organizations are facing mounting pressure to innovate in order to spur growth and increase the bottom line. Despite belief to the contrary, the invention of new products and services does not occur spontaneously. There is a process involved, and organizations can take practical steps to ensure that their innovation processes…