The 5 Key Reasons Why Initiatives Fail

Someone on Twitter recently asked me, “What are the 5 main reasons IT Service Management projects fail.” I really didn’t have to give it much thought. After 30 years practicing ITSM the reasons are pretty much top of mind. So I quickly rattled off the following: No plan Unrealistic expectations Skepticism Poor requirements Not doing…

CEOs and Tech: An Executive-Level Digital Divide

It’s hard to argue digital technology’s transformative effects. Yet according to a report from MIT Sloan Management Review and IT services and consultancy firm Capgemini, businesses are struggling to capitalize on technology trends like mobility, social media and analytics. And the problem starts at the top. A mere 38 percent of the 1,559 executives and…

Who Knows More About Tech?

Small business, big profits If they are technically innovative, the small business will likely see a huge payout either in a dramatic jump in profits or in an outright buyout. Indeed, small business CIOs and CTOs have proven themselves savvier in more than a handful of cases than they big firm brethren. One need only…

Who Knows More About Tech?

It seems like such an easy question: Who needs more hands-on tech skill and experience — the CIO of a small business, a medium sized company, or a huge enterprise? But alas, like all things tech, the answer is as clear as the bottle of Pepto that all CIOs end up gulping at some point…

Improvement Starts with Your Darkest Hours

by Jason Druebert of AT&T Professional Services When an IT folks look to improve they most often take the approach of “Let’s do a project to fix this list of items.” The assumption of course being it will result in a big one-time improvement gain. As a consultant this type of work is my bread…

Trusting the Business to Drive Technology?

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…

Taming BIG Data: Taking Back Control, Part 3 – Retention

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…

Taming BIG Data: Taking Back Control, Part 3 – Retention

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…

Missed Deadlines & Failed Strategies

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…

How Restaurateurs are Making Money when You Aren’t

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…