Results of a recent BusinessWeek-Boston Consulting Group survey show that 72% of the senior executives in the survey named innovation as one of their top three priorities [3]. But there is a big gap between wanting innovation and creating the environment in which innovation can flourish.

A key concept of agile project management is that everything has to be field-tested before it gets recommended as a workable technique. One technique I recently decided to put under the magnifying glass is that of keeping a project journal. According to participants on the NewGrange project management list,1 about half of the project managers (PMs) kept some form of journal and half didn't. Those who didn't keep a journal cited two primary reasons:

Attempting to quantify the economic value of security-related information technology is a lot like understanding the value of an insurance policy. Value stems less from what's delivered to the buyer and more from what costs and negative impacts the buyer avoids should a catastrophic event occur. Avoiding costs can be more powerful than saving or making money. The problem is that quantifying avoided costs is only truly possible after disaster strikes.

Attempting to quantify the economic value of security-related information technology is a lot like understanding the value of an insurance policy. Value stems less from what's delivered to the buyer and more from what costs and negative impacts the buyer avoids should a catastrophic event occur. Avoiding costs can be more powerful than saving or making money. The problem is that quantifying avoided costs is only truly possible after disaster strikes.

There are good reasons not to analyze the ROI of security-related technology. First, the value of security technology is reminiscent of an insurance policy since you experience its true value only when something bad happens. Consequently, its benefits are the costs avoided in not falling victim to the various security threats lurking in the ether -- benefits that can be difficult to quantify. Second, regulations and laws have a way of influencing investment behavior.

There are good reasons not to analyze the ROI of security-related technology. First, the value of security technology is reminiscent of an insurance policy since you experience its true value only when something bad happens. Consequently, its benefits are the costs avoided in not falling victim to the various security threats lurking in the ether -- benefits that can be difficult to quantify. Second, regulations and laws have a way of influencing investment behavior.

Data privacy issues impact virtually every type of business. There are literally hundreds of laws and regulations within the US and throughout the world that require data safeguards to be implemented to help ensure the privacy and security of personally identifiable information.

Data privacy issues impact virtually every type of business. There are literally hundreds of laws and regulations within the US and throughout the world that require data safeguards to be implemented to help ensure the privacy and security of personally identifiable information.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is inherently a collaborative activity between the vendor and the enterprise customer. As such, it involves close cooperation between two business entities to achieve a mutual goal. That goal should be the fulfillment of obligations for the optimal operation of client services. The client obtains essential services, such as human resources, IT, or financial business process operations, and the vendor gains financial remuneration.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is inherently a collaborative activity between the vendor and the enterprise customer. As such, it involves close cooperation between two business entities to achieve a mutual goal. That goal should be the fulfillment of obligations for the optimal operation of client services. The client obtains essential services, such as human resources, IT, or financial business process operations, and the vendor gains financial remuneration.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is inherently a collaborative activity in which the buyer and vendor are equally well served by creating a partnership rather than a rigid "utility modeled" relationship in which the only concerns are payment, measurement, and specific service.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is inherently a collaborative activity in which the buyer and vendor are equally well served by creating a partnership rather than a rigid "utility modeled" relationship in which the only concerns are payment, measurement, and specific service.

How do you measure your vendors' performance? On-time delivery? Reject rate? Lowest product cost? Quality of service? These are all important metrics; however, they may not provide you with sufficient information to determine the adequacy of your return on the investment you made with your vendors. Such metrics tend to focus on the tactical attributes of the relationship but don't necessarily help evaluate the broader strategic attributes.

How do you measure your vendors' performance? On-time delivery? Reject rate? Lowest product cost? Quality of service? These are all important metrics; however, they may not provide you with sufficient information to determine the adequacy of your return on the investment you made with your vendors. Such metrics tend to focus on the tactical attributes of the relationship but don't necessarily help evaluate the broader strategic attributes.

Innovation

The application of wikis will increasingly infiltrate forward-thinking, mainstream enterprises in the form of applications that will save these companies money and enable them to collaborate, and therefore innovate, in new ways.

As the monitoring and measuring capabilities initially designed for data mining literally move to the shop floor in business performance management, it is important to remember that human beings are at the core of any performance management process. While technology can be put into place to measure ongoing processes, determine where processes need to be improved, and observe shortfalls in the processes, at the end of the day, it is the changes in human behavior that make all the difference.

As the monitoring and measuring capabilities initially designed for data mining literally move to the shop floor in business performance management, it is important to remember that human beings are at the core of any performance management process. While technology can be put into place to measure ongoing processes, determine where processes need to be improved, and observe shortfalls in the processes, at the end of the day, it is the changes in human behavior that make all the difference.

As the monitoring and measuring capabilities initially designed for data mining literally move to the shop floor in business performance management, it is important to remember that human beings are at the core of any performance management process. While technology can be put into place to measure ongoing processes, determine where processes need to be improved, and observe shortfalls in the processes, at the end of the day, it is the changes in human behavior that make all the difference.

In the first half of this Advisor ("The Bane of the Automatic Stay in Bankruptcy," 10 May 2006), we took a look at careful contract wording as one way customers can protect their rights in the event that a software development vendor files bankruptcy.

In the first half of this Advisor ("The Bane of the Automatic Stay in Bankruptcy," 10 May 2006), we took a look at careful contract wording as one way customers can protect their rights in the event that a software development vendor files bankruptcy.

In the first half of this Advisor ("The Bane of the Automatic Stay in Bankruptcy," 10 May 2006), we took a look at careful contract wording as one way customers can protect their rights in the event that a software development vendor files bankruptcy.

We have recently encountered troubled CIOs and IT organizations with common symptoms. These symptoms characterize the uneasy relationship between IT and the rest of the business. As one CIO put it: "my business users do not understand what we do, and worse, do not value what we accomplish for them." As a result, the business users complain loudly about IT in general and about the high costs of IT in particular -- and this is never good.

IT organizations in trouble have the following symptoms in common:

Informatica Corporation is the latest software vendor to enter the software as a service (SaaS) market with a number of new announcements. First, Informatica detailed a bold new on-demand strategy. Second, it just introduced connectors for its PowerCenter data integration platform specifically tailored for Salesforce.com customers.

Informatica Corporation is the latest software vendor to enter the software as a service (SaaS) market with a number of new announcements. First, Informatica detailed a bold new on-demand strategy. Second, it just introduced connectors for its PowerCenter data integration platform specifically tailored for Salesforce.com customers.

The art of risk management is the art of clairvoyance. Risk management is the ability to both foretell the future and to do something about it. Risk management has long been analyzed in the context of business financials, organizational behavior, project breakdowns, and individual perspectives and attitudes. In each instance, it has largely been focused on the risks of a given point in time and a given set of circumstances based solely on today's knowledge.