Whenever we deal with challenges of gargantuan proportions, we break them down. This decomposition enables us to understand, manage, and ameliorate the challenges.

If social media is unimportant to a company, the company must consider that it is enormously important to its prospects and customers. But a company cannot simply tack it on and expect it to foster satisfied customers and a more innovative enterprise.

Early this year, fellow Cutter Consultants Mitch Ummel, Mike Rosen, and I wrote an Executive Report on the Smart Grid (see "

In a global economy that is hesitantly emerging from recession, organizations continue to strive to respond to the financial difficulties while delivering excellence for their customers. In this climate, core/context business strategy takes center stage.

The most recent major acquisition taking place in the BI and data warehousing market has IBM buying Netezza Corporation, a data warehousing appliance pioneer, for about US $1.7 billion. This deal is significant for several reasons. First, the market for data warehousing and BI appliances is hot, and Netezza's products are well established.

I recently watched a talk by a self-appointed agile "expert" who tried to explain the key elements of Scrum.

A little less than two weeks ago, the international banking community in the form of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (which is part of the Bank for International Supervision) came together to finalize the Basel III agreement on the minimum capital banks will now need to have.

A little less than two weeks ago, the international banking community in the form of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (which is part of the Bank for International Supervision) came together to finalize the Basel III agreement on the minimum capital banks will now need to have.

Today mobile phones are used mainly for communication purposes -- making phone calls or sending SMS messages. But new, high-end phones are already introducing new mobile services that allow mobile phones to be used not only for communication, but also as information processing, storage, distribution, and sometimes even local computing devices.

Today mobile phones are used mainly for communication purposes -- making phone calls or sending SMS messages. But new, high-end phones are already introducing new mobile services that allow mobile phones to be used not only for communication, but also as information processing, storage, distribution, and sometimes even local computing devices.

In my previous Executive Updates -- "Relating Business Analysis to Enterprise Architecture"1 and "Business Analysis in the Information Age: Mapping to an SFIA Skill Set"2 -- I extended and described two important

Here at University of a Kentucky (Lexington, Kentucky, USA), we are deep into the early stages of IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) adoption. As it is at any point in time and with nearly any IT team, these sorts of things become equated with process control, with metrics, with improvement, with thickness, with complexity, with rigor, and then usually with rigor mortis.

I've noticed a few blogs and articles recently that talk about the convergence of service-oriented architecture (SOA) and enterprise architecture (EA), even going so far as to predict that there will no longer be a difference between them; they will be merged into one and the same.

According to Webster's Dictionary, the word "profession" means business, calling, career, employment, job, line of work, occupation, office, position, sphere, walk of life, and so on. This is also the foundation of the word "professional," which we think of as the person who is employed on the said work or occupation. According to Webster's, professional means adept, competent, skilled, efficient, experienced, masterly, polished, practiced, proficient, qualified, slick, trained, and so on.

There are numerous reasons why outsourcing could be detrimental to innovation. Perhaps one of the most self-evident is that outsourcing firms are unlikely to innovate, as their work is confined by stringent, unbending contracts. Suppliers find it difficult to justify innovation unless it directly helps their ability to meet their contractual obligations and internal revenue/profitability targets. Clients commonly assume that innovation during an outsourcing engagement will naturally come about.

There are numerous reasons why outsourcing could be detrimental to innovation. Perhaps one of the most self-evident is that outsourcing firms are unlikely to innovate, as their work is confined by stringent, unbending contracts. Suppliers find it difficult to justify innovation unless it directly helps their ability to meet their contractual obligations and internal revenue/profitability targets. Clients commonly assume that innovation during an outsourcing engagement will naturally come about.

Do you think data mining and predictive analytics are too complex to deliver via the cloud? Better think again, because that's what Predixion Software is now doing. Moreover, what Predixion has done with its Predixion Insight offering is not simply host some complex data-mining workbench in the cloud.

Do you think data mining and predictive analytics are too complex to deliver via the cloud? Better think again, because that's what Predixion Software is now doing. Moreover, what Predixion has done with its Predixion Insight offering is not simply host some complex data-mining workbench in the cloud.

This Executive Update provides an abridged section from my upcoming book, Supply Chain Management: The Real WOW Factor, covering the critical business planning process. It delves into the key steps of planning to transform how MIS, supply chain, sales, and product line executives work together to win with customers and consumers while improving top- and bottom-line results.

This Executive Update provides an abridged section from my upcoming book, Supply Chain Management: The Real WOW Factor, covering the critical business planning process. It delves into the key steps of planning to transform how MIS, supply chain, sales, and product line executives work together to win with customers and consumers while improving top- and bottom-line results.

Consider for a moment what impressed you most about Apple's new iPad. Was it some fancy feature? Its compact design? Or perhaps a cool application? I must confess that I was most fascinated by none of these. What most impressed me was what the iPad did not have.

In a recent Cutter Business Technology Council Opinion ("Managing Differences: The Critical 21st Century Management Skill," Vol. 10, No.

In a recent Cutter Business Technology Council Opinion ("Managing Differences: The Critical 21st Century Management Skill," Vol. 10, No.

The confluence of cloud computing, smart mobile devices, and social networks is usually discussed in terms of its transformative effect. The cloud enables offering products and platforms as services. Smart mobile devices consume those services and contribute to them in an "always-on" mode.

The confluence of cloud computing, smart mobile devices, and social networks is usually discussed in terms of its transformative effect. The cloud enables offering products and platforms as services. Smart mobile devices consume those services and contribute to them in an "always-on" mode.