The seductive beauty of owning your own house is that you can put up a fence, plant your garden, and paint your deck the way you want to, not the way your neighbors want you to, unless you moved into one of those subdivisions that control all of that. Ownership is synonymous with individual control and is instinctually attractive.

We are seeing significant developments involving the incorporation of social computing techniques with enterprise software. This new breed of enterprise collaboration tools blends the social networking models made popular by the consumer Web (i.e., Web 2.0) with enterprise content management techniques.

One question people keep asking is: where are organizations using on-demand -- software as as service (SaaS) -- and cloud-based BI and date warehousing solutions? A survey we conducted last July that asked 79 end-user organizations about their various BI and data warehousing efforts helps provide some insight into this question.

Recientemente dí una presentación a una audiencia de alrededor de 70 personas en un banco grande. El nivel de experiencia varió de entre 1 y 20 o mas años, y me atrevo a decir que el promedio debe haber sido de por lo menos 10 años.

I gave a presentation recently to an audience of about 70 people at a large bank. Experience varied between one and 20-plus years, and I would say the average might have been no fewer than 10 years. To demonstrate how low the success rate in projects is, I asked those who had been in at least one project that finished on time and on budget to raise their hands.

Last week, the insurance company Lloyd's of London released a new report in its "emerging risk series" of publications. The Lloyd's series examines in depth an issue that is perceived to be potentially significant but which may not be fully understood or allowed for in insurance terms and conditions, pricing, reserving, or capital setting.

Last week, the insurance company Lloyd's of London released a new report in its "emerging risk series" of publications. The Lloyd's series examines in depth an issue that is perceived to be potentially significant but which may not be fully understood or allowed for in insurance terms and conditions, pricing, reserving, or capital setting.

I was reading a book about systems design recently, in which I found the following offhand quote: "Software is not is not a science, therefore...." I was immediately taken aback, since I've been studying systems (software) design for a rather long time, and I have always taken the position that software design and development is (or ought to be) a science -- a place where there are postulat

I was reading a book about systems design recently, in which I found the following offhand quote: "Software is not is not a science, therefore...." I was immediately taken aback, since I've been studying systems (software) design for a rather long time, and I have always taken the position that software design and development is (or ought to be) a science -- a place where there are postulat

Shortly after any new idea, the inevitable query, "how long will this take?" is sure to follow. We hope that this question sparks an analytical estimate of the work involved and the effort required, but for some of you, this question may only rekindle images of your last project's death march, where an unrealistic deadline was foisted on you. In this Advisor, we look at the estimation process and some approaches for mitigating a few of its inherent challenges.

Whether or not you think it has anything to do with global climate change, you have to admit that the weather this winter has been different and dramatic.

While many organizations that embark on outsourcing initiatives spend significant resources on defining the scope of the providers' responsibilities for tendering and contractual purposes, the same level of effort is seldom put into defining the responsibilities of the information and communications technology (ICT) organization that will remain (known as the retained organization).

While many organizations that embark on outsourcing initiatives spend significant resources on defining the scope of the providers' responsibilities for tendering and contractual purposes, the same level of effort is seldom put into defining the responsibilities of the information and communications technology (ICT) organization that will remain (known as the retained organization).

Most talk pertaining to on-demand and cloud-based BI and analytics has focused on commercial providers offering such services. Last year, however, we saw the introduction of the concept of the private analytics cloud located behind the end-user organization's firewall.

Most talk pertaining to on-demand and cloud-based BI and analytics has focused on commercial providers offering such services. Last year, however, we saw the introduction of the concept of the private analytics cloud located behind the end-user organization's firewall.

Things are changing -- again. But this time the changes are more profound and definitely more permanent. We're entering a new era of partnership between technology and business. These two camps are inseparable now, and business models and processes cannot be implemented without operational and strategic technology.

Everything I never knew I always wanted.

-- From the movie Fools Rush In

Now why didn't I think of that?

-- Everybody

Everything I never knew I always wanted.

-- From the movie Fools Rush In

Now why didn't I think of that?

-- Everybody

One of the leadership tasks in an agile organization is to develop a framework for value determination and use.

On the surface, business process in any of its various guises appears to be a simple, even natural, activity, but it is not. Business process change -- significant business process change -- in the real world is a very difficult thing to pull off. This is because business processes occur in one organizational dimension and "management" occurs in another.

On the surface, business process in any of its various guises appears to be a simple, even natural, activity, but it is not. Business process change -- significant business process change -- in the real world is a very difficult thing to pull off. This is because business processes occur in one organizational dimension and "management" occurs in another.

When Zhou Enlai, China's first communist prime minister, was asked his impression of the French Revolution of 1789, he is purported to have replied: "It's too early to say." His point, of course, was that to properly appreciate momentous events, you need to view them with sufficient historical perspective.

For many years, we have been recommending that IT organizations think of themselves as a service business, with five fundamental service portfolios (you can refer to my previous Business-IT Strategies Advisors and Executive Reports for further discussion of these portfolios):

Having been in the computer business for quite a while, I've seen a number of shifts in the underlying architecture of hardware and communications. First, there were mainframes, then minis, then PCs, then local area networks, client-server, and, most recently, the Internet. Now we are faced with a combination hardware/communication/software leap onto "the cloud."

Corporate survival and growth depend on innovation to provide new products and new ways of doing business. Innovation cannot exist without risk, yet organizations must be risk-averse to survive in difficult times. This creates a paradox, as a key risk is the inability to innovate. The relationship between risk and opportunity is a difficult one. Risk presents both challenges and new possibilities.