As I outlined in my previous Advisor ("Getting a Grip -- Demand Management, Part I: Basic Concepts," 15 September 2010), demand management means handling business demand for IT in such a way that it reaches a harmonious and beneficial relationship wi

I've written lately about movements in the architecture community toward certification and toward EA as an official profession. A related movement is the emergence of EA in academia. Currently, the list of EA programs offered by universities is rather small, but it is growing.

I've been checking out the new BI search1, 2 platform from Endeca Technologies: Endeca Latitude. Latitude is based on a hybrid search/analytical database designed to provide nontechnical end users with self-service BI exploration capabilities.

This is the first in a series of three Executive Updates that examines enterprise architecture (EA), its organization and programs, practices used, and the effectiveness of EA, all based on a recent Cutter Consortium survey.

Everyone wants to innovate. But most companies are terrible at invention, innovation, and entrepreneurialism. Many companies talk a good game -- "we're an innovation culture" -- but in fact they're pitifully staid and innovate mostly in the past; that is, toward business models, processes, and technologies that are anchored solidly in the 20th century.

Everyone wants to innovate. But most companies are terrible at invention, innovation, and entrepreneurialism. Many companies talk a good game -- "we're an innovation culture" -- but in fact they're pitifully staid and innovate mostly in the past; that is, toward business models, processes, and technologies that are anchored solidly in the 20th century.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) has become well established in recent years, and the areas it encompasses continue to grow. Beginning with call centers and IT (via facilities management), BPO has expanded to include financial transactions, HR, and a wide range of industry processes. Today, there are moves to bring outsourced processes together in a manner somewhat like IT facilities management but applied to such areas as finance and HR.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) has become well established in recent years, and the areas it encompasses continue to grow. Beginning with call centers and IT (via facilities management), BPO has expanded to include financial transactions, HR, and a wide range of industry processes. Today, there are moves to bring outsourced processes together in a manner somewhat like IT facilities management but applied to such areas as finance and HR.

What do you think about variability? Let's say you get a new job offer and the organization you would lead continually deals with variability. Would you take the job?

"This is a deeply challenging time for BP. The Macondo (aka, Deepwater Horizon) incident was a tragedy that claimed the lives of 11 people, caused injury to many others, and had a widespread environmental impact. Our response to the incident needs to go beyond deepwater drilling.

"This is a deeply challenging time for BP. The Macondo (aka, Deepwater Horizon) incident was a tragedy that claimed the lives of 11 people, caused injury to many others, and had a widespread environmental impact. Our response to the incident needs to go beyond deepwater drilling.

"Every IT leadership institute I have ever been to has drilled into me that we serve the business." So said a CIO to me recently with a both mildly defiant yet puzzled look. She was not quite appreciating my advice to be bold and dare to lead, yes, the business. Why not take the perspective of the CEO? Or the majority shareholder?

"Every IT leadership institute I have ever been to has drilled into me that we serve the business." So said a CIO to me recently with a both mildly defiant yet puzzled look. She was not quite appreciating my advice to be bold and dare to lead, yes, the business. Why not take the perspective of the CEO? Or the majority shareholder?

My son loves to play hockey.

A few years ago, when applications started exploding into collections of services -- in the service-oriented architecture (SOA) sense -- a challenge that soon appeared was the number of new skills that an IT architect needed to succeed in this new world. With Web-based collaboration platforms, such as the one just described, we will face the same issue.

Some people label it as Enterprise 2.0; others see it just as a new faster pace in ongoing business transformation. Whatever you call it, there’s a seismic shift underway. Process is at the heart of it, and CIOs have a critical role in enabling the enterprise to ride this incoming tide.

The enterprise of the near future will be different in three important ways:

Offshoring in IT is, arguably, the most significant phenomenon to occur in recent decades.

-- David Avison and Gholamreza Torkzadeh

It's no secret that corporate use of social media as a valuable source for better understanding and engaging customers is still fairly limited at this time. Likewise, current usage of data acquired from social media sites to bolster corporate BI efforts is also quite limited.

It's no secret that corporate use of social media as a valuable source for better understanding and engaging customers is still fairly limited at this time. Likewise, current usage of data acquired from social media sites to bolster corporate BI efforts is also quite limited.

A customer-centric business is an approach to business operations for sustainable profitability through customer loyalty due to the actions of an empowered workforce. In addition to business benefits, a customer-centric approach provides an overall framework for the design, development, operation, and management of IT. This Executive Report by Keith Sherringham and Bhuvan Unhelkar addresses the implementation and operation of a customer-centric business for aligning business and IT.

A customer-centric business is an approach to business operations for sustainable profitability through customer loyalty due to the actions of an empowered workforce. In addition to business benefits, a customer-centric approach provides an overall framework for the design, development, operation, and management of IT. This Executive Report by Keith Sherringham and Bhuvan Unhelkar addresses the implementation and operation of a customer-centric business for aligning business and IT.

In this issue of Cutter Benchmark Review, we turn our attention to a topic that has been increasingly in the public eye: social media. What was originally only an interesting diversion for a small population of techies and college students has quickly and rather explosively become a major social phenomenon — one with cultural, practical, and business implications that become more far-reaching in scope every day. So what does this all mean for us in the IT shop? How do we manage in this environment where so many of the contributing factors are not within our control? And how do we use the information we can gather from social media monitoring (SMM) to set ourselves up for success? Whether or not you have already jumped onto the social media bandwagon, you will find this installment of CBR helpful as you attempt to get a broad overall view of the potential benefits and pitfalls social media represents for your organization.

In this issue of Cutter Benchmark Review, we turn our attention to a topic that has been increasingly in the public eye: social media. What was originally only an interesting diversion for a small population of techies and college students has quickly and rather explosively become a major social phenomenon — one with cultural, practical, and business implications that become more far-reaching in scope every day. So what does this all mean for us in the IT shop? How do we manage in this environment where so many of the contributing factors are not within our control? And how do we use the information we can gather from social media monitoring (SMM) to set ourselves up for success? Whether or not you have already jumped onto the social media bandwagon, you will find this installment of CBR helpful as you attempt to get a broad overall view of the potential benefits and pitfalls social media represents for your organization.