This Executive Update discusses the merits of developing a continuous deployment process for software by combining Agile methods and DevOps. After first looking at the salient characteristics of both techniques, we examine 12 areas of change within the use of Agile methods when developing a continuous delivery and deployment chain. Finally, we discuss why bringing together Agile and DevOps — and the resultant continuous delivery and deployment chain — is truly worthwhile. (Not a client? Download your complimentary copy.)

Here are the Business & Enterprise Architecture articles that garnered the most feedback from Cutter Members and clients in 2018. Look for these lists from each of our four practice areas, and rediscover Cutter's most intriguing articles of the year!

Here are the Data Analytics & Digital Technologies articles that garnered the most feedback from Cutter Members and clients in 2018. Look for these lists from each of our four practice areas, and rediscover Cutter's most intriguing articles of the year!

As part of an ongoing series, in this Executive Update we examine the biggest adoption challenges to organizations’ efforts to utilize artificial intelligence (AI). These impediments include a lack of skilled AI experts, a lack of understanding and identifying use cases, the fact that AI is still an emerging technology, and more.

As part of an ongoing series, in this Executive Update we examine the biggest adoption challenges to organizations’ efforts to utilize artificial intelligence (AI). These impediments include a lack of skilled AI experts, a lack of understanding and identifying use cases, the fact that AI is still an emerging technology, and more.

With twice the product in half the time™ being a generic goal for industry, what exactly is going wrong in today’s industrial environment? What stops or delays improvements in product delivery, despite embracing practices from Lean and Six Sigma? Why does it take years to get a new product out of the manufacturing plant? This Executive Update explores the “why” of these questions and deep-dives into the solution. 

Business architecture is valuable to all organizations, regardless of type or size. This Executive Update discusses how nonprofits and small organizations can leverage business architecture and articulates some considerations for architecting within these types of environments.

Many organizations embark upon the “Agile transformational journey” only to find that what looked simple in the planning process is far more complex in reality. The complexity is in the degree and magnitude of the change and the fact that there is no single prescribed solution that works for all situations. Despite what many traditional consultancies advertise, there is no set pattern to success for senior executives to follow. As the DNA of each organization is unique, the reasons for market success and the strategic vision are distinctive, so the means to alter these formulae must be unique as well.

Many organizations are now focusing on a hybrid cloud strategy: moving part of their IT capabilities to the cloud, while maintaining core elements in-house, hosted on-premises. The hybrid model enables organizations to optimally allocate their resources while keeping their current IT infrastructure operating at low risk. A hybrid cloud strategy not only prepares an organization for the future but also protects its investment today. In this Advisor, we describe hybrid cloud and look at its benefits, including security and compliance, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.

There’s a balance to strike in architecture, no matter what methodology you use to create your software. In Agile contexts, that balance is often lost. And it usually leans to less over more. I think the most important acknowledgement or statement that we should all agree to early on in any architectural discussion is that we don’t know. Out of this level of openness and honesty comes the need for prototyping, discovery, and learning. It’s hard to do that if we don’t look each other in the eyes and say, “We don’t know, let’s find out.”

AI is now being used in the legal field in such areas as research and document management, contract analysis, and e-discovery. Additionally, we are seeing significant developments with commercial AI applications in the form of cloud-based solutions specifically designed for handling such legal needs. These commercial applications, for the most part, are not intended to replace legal practitioners, but rather to assist them in performing various tasks associated with the legal process.

The main value of being increasingly agile is to allow the organization to realize its potential visions more quickly, with less investment, and with greater chances of success. To realize those visions, one must have abilities — both non-digital and digital. Digital abilities are information systems–enabling abil­ities that allow for agility. In this Advisor, we define digital abilities through a partial list of key abilities in the form of technologies, attitudes, and approaches we should adopt to become agile.

Despite general agreement among researchers and academics of the need for board-level involvement in IT governance, it appears that in practice this is more the exception than the rule. Given the prevalence of this issue, we have sought to answer the question, “What is the state of the art of the research domain of board-level IT governance?” In this Advisor, we share a few of our findings on the various determinants, theories, and outcomes surrounding board-level IT governance.

An architecture is often thought of as one uniform thing that underlies an enterprise. However, if an enterprise itself is not uniform, is it reasonable to think of its underpinnings as being consistent everywhere? Would we not expect an ideal architecture to mold itself around the curves and ragged edges of the real outlines of the enterprise, guiding it, and being guided by it? This Advisor suggests a three-dimensional framework intended to help in grasping the critical spatial dimensions of enterprises, and to assist in seeing the lines and jagged edges of a specific enterprise, along those dimensions. Architecture needs a ground to stand on – that ground is the enterprise architecture. It behooves architects to grasp what lies beneath their feet.

Much effort has gone into convincing various organizations within a government to start producing open data. However, the outcomes of such efforts have merely created a disparate landscape of a few leading — some following, some nonengaging — organizations. Hence, we cannot ignore the importance of the cultural and change management dimension when setting up an open data program.

In this Executive Update, we explore why organizations need data democratization and how they can achieve it.

In this Executive Update, we explore why organizations need data democratization and how they can achieve it.

In Part VII, we continue to illustrate the concept of “assurance” for ADF artifacts and how it might be implemented using verification and validation. We make reference to a set of example artifacts and propose a more detailed assurance layer, which implements the ADF assurance view and reflects the ADF perspectives and views discussed thus far in this series.

We hope the insight provided in this issue gives you an enlightened perspective on the current and future cloud computing market and the guidance required to make well-informed decisions on the strategies and technologies that will provide your organization a competitive edge.

We hope the insight provided in this issue gives you an enlightened perspective on the current and future cloud computing market and the guidance required to make well-informed decisions on the strategies and technologies that will provide your organization a competitive edge.

This article tries to take a very pragmatic viewpoint about cloud computing: what are the things we have learned? What do most reasonable analysts and users now agree on, as opposed to questions to which the jury is still out? What should you spend time worrying about, and what should you consider settled, for good or for bad? Finally, with various lessons learned, what should you educate your managers or clients about, so they don’t waste their time or yours?

This article tries to take a very pragmatic viewpoint about cloud computing: what are the things we have learned? What do most reasonable analysts and users now agree on, as opposed to questions to which the jury is still out? What should you spend time worrying about, and what should you consider settled, for good or for bad? Finally, with various lessons learned, what should you educate your managers or clients about, so they don’t waste their time or yours?

A truly successful digitization project will change a company to its core. Thus, product-to-service transformation is probably the best example of the pervasiveness of digital technologies.

A truly successful digitization project will change a company to its core. Thus, product-to-service transformation is probably the best example of the pervasiveness of digital technologies.

In this article, we draw attention to the benefits of including a mechanism for the wholesale trading of contracts in delivering cloud services to mirror that of delivering electricity. Plus, we argue that it is possible for the cloud market to avoid the plethora of mistakes experienced in the many deregulated wholesale electricity markets globally. We also detail features from certain electricity markets that have led to attractive market attributes, such as increased competition, price transparency, and increased resilience to external shocks. Moreover, we leverage the analogy to explain how we can replicate such features for a global IaaS cloud computing market.