Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant and frequent contributor Paul Clermont uses his well-known “straight talking” style to paint a clear picture of the “broad scope of threats” we are facing. He uses anthropological analogies to explain the “circles of trust” we use in deciding what to believe. Clermont doesn’t shy from the potential conflicts among information transparency, privacy, and intellectual property. He then looks at the proper role of governments in creating the frameworks and standards that can help improve trustworthiness.

David Tayouri brings us the perspective of the Israeli defense environment, justly famous for its leadership in cybersecurity. For Tayouri, the combination of biometrics, asymmetric cryptography (think “PKI”), and blockchain can help construct a strong authentication and authorization environment, which is crucial to, in his words, “reconstruct virtual trust.”

David Tayouri brings us the perspective of the Israeli defense environment, justly famous for its leadership in cybersecurity. For Tayouri, the combination of biometrics, asymmetric cryptography (think “PKI”), and blockchain can help construct a strong authentication and authorization environment, which is crucial to, in his words, “reconstruct virtual trust.”

Philippe Flichy tells us that there are three complementary facets we need to consider when it comes to trustworthiness, particu­larly in an industrial environment: trusting the data, a challenge made more difficult by the emergence of IoT, digital transformation, and cyberattacks; trusting the tools, for example, the machine learning algorithms whose innards are, almost by design, largely inscrutable; and trusting the people, given the pandemic-era new work practices.

Philippe Flichy tells us that there are three complementary facets we need to consider when it comes to trustworthiness, particu­larly in an industrial environment: trusting the data, a challenge made more difficult by the emergence of IoT, digital transformation, and cyberattacks; trusting the tools, for example, the machine learning algorithms whose innards are, almost by design, largely inscrutable; and trusting the people, given the pandemic-era new work practices.

Using the “technology as the solution” line of thought but with the added twist of putting a human in the loop, a team of eight coauthors led by Greek academic Panagiotis Monachelis proposes to combine peer-to-peer decentralized networks and blockchain technology to address the challenge of misinformation in social media. The authors provide a detailed description of an architecture, embodied in their research project called EUNOMIA, that allows end users to review posts and feed a secure voting system.

Using the “technology as the solution” line of thought but with the added twist of putting a human in the loop, a team of eight coauthors led by Greek academic Panagiotis Monachelis proposes to combine peer-to-peer decentralized networks and blockchain technology to address the challenge of misinformation in social media. The authors provide a detailed description of an architecture, embodied in their research project called EUNOMIA, that allows end users to review posts and feed a secure voting system.

Robert A. Martin addresses the complete ecosystem involved in the procurement of products and services. What does it mean to trust that what you buy, and the organizations that sell to you, meet all the conditions required to merit your trust? Martin describes the elements of a system of trust for supply chain security that is currently under development and is based on collecting information from a wide community of procurement departments and standards organizations.

Robert A. Martin addresses the complete ecosystem involved in the procurement of products and services. What does it mean to trust that what you buy, and the organizations that sell to you, meet all the conditions required to merit your trust? Martin describes the elements of a system of trust for supply chain security that is currently under development and is based on collecting information from a wide community of procurement departments and standards organizations.

This issue’s contributors have addressed the question of trustworthiness from a variety of angles. Each article offers a significant contribution to the challenge of restoring and maintaining trust.

This issue’s contributors have addressed the question of trustworthiness from a variety of angles. Each article offers a significant contribution to the challenge of restoring and maintaining trust.

Although organizations at the forefront of digital transformation have successfully deployed the combi­nation of design thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile methods and immensely benefitted from them, most technology organizations and their leaders still do not appreciate how the three complement each other.

Looking at the current news, we can see VUCA — volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity — unfolding in real time. Amid this chaos and uncertainty, people are suffering from ambiguity and are having a hard time making judgments about the truthfulness of information, especially whom to believe. This Advisor provides some insight into our VUCA world and some of the skills and abilities people have at their disposal.

Unleashing the numerous benefits of customer excellence and achieving tangible improvements require an end-to-end, eight-step approach that addresses multiple dimensions across the customer journey.

Defining, designing, implementing, and managing cross-organization collaborations and ecosystems requires a new mindset, solid architecture, and effective end-to-end execution of business direction. Business architecture and business architects are perfectly suited to help with all three.

In this edition of The Cutter Edge, you'll explore three practices to improve employee engagement, strategies for post-pandemic auto industry recovery, and more.

When the world changes overnight, the problem of focusing on short-term struggles at the expense of long-term strategy becomes even more profound. Cutter Consortium can help you reset your strategic and planning process for a post-COVID world.

Here in Part XII, the final installment of this Update series, we describe three perspectives on project management to discuss its future directions and especially the future for SPM.

In this Advisor, I provide an update on the various types of IT solutions that are currently available for monitoring and enforcing social distancing practices in the workplace, and for helping companies conduct automated contact tracing of employees. These tools provide social distancing and contact tracing for companies seeking to reopen for business post quarantine for COVID-19.

In this Advisor, I provide an update on the various types of IT solutions that are currently available for monitoring and enforcing social distancing practices in the workplace, and for helping companies conduct automated contact tracing of employees. These tools provide social distancing and contact tracing for companies seeking to reopen for business post quarantine for COVID-19.

There are two data challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) collecting the data and (2) building models using the data. In this Executive Update, we discuss the existing approaches and techniques employed to address these challenges.

There are two data challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) collecting the data and (2) building models using the data. In this Executive Update, we discuss the existing approaches and techniques employed to address these challenges.

To remain successful and to disrupt instead of being disrupted, best-in-class B2B organizations are recognizing the increasing importance of “the customer experience” to maximize value. Consequently, they have initiated profound transformations to develop customer preference and maximize margins.

A critical factor for the past failure of many Agile initiatives is that leaders are disengaged from their strategies. They’re not taking responsibility for the deep learning, mindset shift, personal role shift, and cultural shifts required of them in a transformation of this magnitude. The failure is not specifically about Agile. Indeed, any signi­ficant change initiative needs this sort of leadership engagement, where the leaders must go first in leading, or showing the way.

In this webinar, Rodolfo Guzman and Daniel Monzon offer tips into digital strategies and technologies that support oil & gas industry transformations, identify possible scenarios for the industry in the post-COVID-19 world, and offer insight into two key areas companies need to focus on for the best chance to weather the COVID-19 storm.