In the second installment of their webinar series, “Using AI/Machine Learning to Manage Risk,” Cutter Senior Consultants Michael Eiden, Craig Wylie, and Tom Teixeira answered some questions about new risk models that utilize artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to understand and respond to the changing business landscape.

To tackle the high and unpredictable demand volatility, lean production is not enough. Instead, manufacturing companies must improve responsiveness or, in other words, become Agile. In this Advisor, we focus on the production unit.

Residuality theory is a new paradigm that views systems as stacks of interconnected residues - the remains of the system after it is impacted by a particular form of stress. Watch this on-demand webinar with Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Barry M. O'Reilly to find out how it can replace cumbersome architectural frameworks, address nonfunctional requirements early, and provide justifiable architecture decisions.

While the software industry is currently grappling with ideas of complexity and resilience, there has been very little in the way of concrete actions or activities that software engineers can use to actually design systems. Residuality theory answers this need and draws on complexity science and the history of software engineering to propose a new set of design techniques that make it possible to integrate these two fields.

Project schedule risk management using modeling and simulation tools and techniques is a tried and proven best practice in organizations and industries that strive to do more with less. However, there are some challenges associated with this methodology, and the intent of this Executive Update is to help those who strive for excellence in project management of complex projects to see how proactive risk management can be done successfully.

My studies of enterprise architecture (EA) practices in multiple diverse organizations have identified several consistent patterns describing the size and structure of architecture functions that companies tend to find optimal for their needs. We can use these empirically observed generalities to synthesize a simple, heuristic three-step approach for designing organization-specific architecture functions.

Intelligent automation applications are reaching the point where both organizations and governments must create policies regulating the use of and the liability associated with using smart technologies.

Intelligent automation applications are reaching the point where both organizations and governments must create policies regulating the use of and the liability associated with using smart technologies.

This Advisor looks at three of the challenges facing customer experience (CX) initiatives in the enterprise: problems providing seamless CX across all customer channels, a lack of CX professionals in the organization, and difficulty defining/mapping CX.

This Advisor looks at three of the challenges facing customer experience (CX) initiatives in the enterprise: problems providing seamless CX across all customer channels, a lack of CX professionals in the organization, and difficulty defining/mapping CX.

This Executive Update extends my system dynamics (SD) methodology proposed years ago to integrate the use of SD modeling within the PMBOK Guide’s risk management process. It provides a useful framework for effective management of project risk dynamics.

A primary motivation of decentralized social media is censorship resistance, often achieved through anonymity. But anonymity comes with a price. Checking the reliability and trustworthiness of information is much harder with anonymous information. In this Advisor, we present a brief overview of two main under­lying technologies that help in decentralization while still providing a degree of trust between networked entities: (1) P2P social networks and (2) blockchain technology.

Even those who recognize the advantages of a cloud-based remote access platform over a VPN might argue that the current WFH solution is a temporary anomaly. In that case, why not just muddle through with a VPN until things get back to normal?

We have typically found in the acquisition process that EA is primarily a technical capability and engaged in a constrained fashion. In most firms, the EA team does not possess the necessary critical business knowledge and, therefore, is not able to contribute to the acquisition process through direct engagement. At some pioneering firms, however, the reformation of EA has explicitly aimed to build a business strategy competence in the EA team by giving enterprise architect roles the responsibility for business and operations architectures.

We have typically found in the acquisition process that EA is primarily a technical capability and engaged in a constrained fashion. In most firms, the EA team does not possess the necessary critical business knowledge and, therefore, is not able to contribute to the acquisition process through direct engagement. At some pioneering firms, however, the reformation of EA has explicitly aimed to build a business strategy competence in the EA team by giving enterprise architect roles the responsibility for business and operations architectures.

This edition of The Cutter Edge examines business strategies necessary to prepare for crises, identifies the tactics to whole company transformation, explores the processes and practices that support business agility, and more.

This Executive Update investigates blockchain adoption in the transport industry; it also describes common challenges and provides practical recommendations for the future.

This Executive Update investigates blockchain adoption in the transport industry; it also describes common challenges and provides practical recommendations for the future.

An important trend is the development of emotion recognition technology for speech-based systems with the goal of optimized customer engagement while providing an enhanced customer experience.

An important trend is the development of emotion recognition technology for speech-based systems with the goal of optimized customer engagement while providing an enhanced customer experience.

A new wave of innovation within healthcare is driving the need for more advanced, robust, and scalable hospital information systems (HIS). Healthcare providers — hospitals, in particular — are starting to reorient their investments in core technologies and how technology vendors are adapting their solutions and services to meet these needs. Here in Part II of this two-part series of Advisors, we look at three challenges of digitalization as well as eight key trends changing the HIS solution space.

A new wave of innovation within healthcare is driving the need for more advanced, robust, and scalable hospital information systems (HIS). Healthcare providers — hospitals, in particular — are starting to reorient their investments in core technologies and how technology vendors are adapting their solutions and services to meet these needs. Here in Part II of this two-part series of Advisors, we look at three challenges of digitalization as well as eight key trends changing the HIS solution space.

Despite research limitations, the psychological basis for estimation biases is much clearer now than several decades ago, and these insights can have a positive impact on the practice of project management.

Leaders peering over the edge of the horizon of their own and adjacent industries might wonder, “What are companies that have achieved digital success doing differently?” We believe that at the heart of the ability to manage an ongoing and multilayered organizational transformation rests a sophisticated enterprise architecture capability with a specific charter to act as a transformation engine connecting strategic intent and execution excellence.

Enterprises are expanding their API programs to include the broader concerns of enterprise architecture. In this Advisor, we describe some next steps for evolving your API platform.