Assumptions => Contingencies

Business continuity management (BCM) is no longer a luxury but an essential element of an organization's risk-management program. For an organization to have any hope of survival, the BCM process must embrace risk, emergency, and recovery planning in order to manage a "crisis" or "disaster" event. Undertaking any business continuity activity should form part of a wider planning structure; it is not an end in itself but a means to an end.

Business continuity management (BCM) is no longer a luxury but an essential element of an organization's risk-management program. For an organization to have any hope of survival, the BCM process must embrace risk, emergency, and recovery planning in order to manage a "crisis" or "disaster" event. Undertaking any business continuity activity should form part of a wider planning structure; it is not an end in itself but a means to an end.

IT project dashboards provide senior management with a top-down view of their organization -- allowing them to see a high-level, up-to-date status and drill down to the details that might concern them. Like any interface, the dashboard can obscure as much as it illuminates. Moreover, the assumptions used in its construction and maintenance will color the conclusions one draws from it and bear critically on its strategic utility.

The connection between IT investments and success with the customers who pay the firm money is often indirect, ambiguous, and difficult to establish.

Here's an interesting finding from a recent Cutter Consortium survey: approximately 20% of end-user organizations with business performance management initiatives are using so-called Web 2.0 technologies to support their performance management efforts.

Here's an interesting finding from a recent Cutter Consortium survey: approximately 20% of end-user organizations with business performance management initiatives are using so-called Web 2.0 technologies to support their performance management efforts.

The financial community recently seems to have added a new twist to the advice given in Shakespeare’s Henry VI (Part 2) with regard to lawyers in the wake of the US $130-billion-plus write-offs that are increasing daily due to the subprime mortgage debacle.

As more organizations face transitions to agile methods and these transitions involve larger segments of such organizations, the need for transition or transformation strategies increases.

It is often said that there are only two things you can be sure of in life: death and taxes. Well, in today's world, I think you have to add three more things to that list -- change, technology, and learning.

It is often said that there are only two things you can be sure of in life: death and taxes. Well, in today's world, I think you have to add three more things to that list -- change, technology, and learning.

collaboration = innovation

collaboration = innovation

During my years as an application architect, I always appreciated good project management. In fact, I tried my own hand at being a project manager but fortunately had the sense to recognize quickly that I wasn't very good at it.

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) methodology has much to say about the management of technical changes to an organization's IT portfolio and less about the business change introduced by those technical changes. However, given the amount of attention ITIL pays to the subject of change suggests that organizations that respect ITIL will develop this specific analytical capacity just by adopting the methodology.

Ah, the word "politics" sounds ugly. Yet IT managers always talk about the negative role of politics in making IT investment and prioritization decisions. It would seem that "politics" is something to be avoided, that somehow a more rational decision-making approach could avoid politics.

Actuate Corporation has launched a new on-demand business performance management service. "Actuate OnPerformance," as the software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering is called, is based on the Performancesoft Suite, which Actuate acquired when it bought Performancesoft Inc.

Actuate Corporation has launched a new on-demand business performance management service. "Actuate OnPerformance," as the software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering is called, is based on the Performancesoft Suite, which Actuate acquired when it bought Performancesoft Inc.

The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a best practices framework, and its most recent version introduces what can be described as strategic, operational, and technical process guidance with almost transformative power for organizations that adopt it. ITIL version 3 (ITIL V3) outlines how to achieve IT management process excellence by leveraging a lifecycle approach to service delivery.

At one time, the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) might have been considered staid. No more. ITIL's latest version 3 (ITIL V3) offers an eye-catching new approach for disciplined, effective IT management. It's attention-getting because the latest iteration of the framework is rooted in the idea that IT is a vehicle of value creation for business when the focus shifts from technologies the IT organization offers and toward business services that it can provision for its customers.

In the first Executive Update of this two-part series, I examined the need to be prepared for a looming crisis in the data center due to the lack of planning and execution in green IT. Here in Part II, I present a way to look at your data center energy efficiency in order to be prepared for such a crisis.

Consider the following three-week approach to establish a sound response.

In industries other than IT, an architect's skills and experience are often packaged and reused across multiple projects without the architect necessarily being involved.

In many industries, products and services fall into family groups. For example, in the automotive industry, automobiles, trucks, and buses each fall into a different family. Of course, some vehicles fall between an automobile and a truck. However, this does not affect the existence of identifiable kinds of products.

Given the complex and global nature of today's business world, organizations are looking for ways to deal with realities and turn them into advantages. As a result, a focus on innovation has become a key strategic differentiator, resulting in competitive, sustainable advantage and maximized stakeholder value.

Given the complex and global nature of today's business world, organizations are looking for ways to deal with realities and turn them into advantages. As a result, a focus on innovation has become a key strategic differentiator, resulting in competitive, sustainable advantage and maximized stakeholder value.