Michael Müller believes that managing change is essential for a digital business initiative. This position emerges from his experience with BI projects where “Babylonian confusion” reigns, as business and IT lack a common vocabulary and an ability to communicate clearly about data needs and structures. Müller posits that digital business shares these same characteristics, but at a much larger scale because of the nature of big data.

Michael Müller believes that managing change is essential for a digital business initiative. This position emerges from his experience with BI projects where “Babylonian confusion” reigns, as business and IT lack a common vocabulary and an ability to communicate clearly about data needs and structures. Müller posits that digital business shares these same characteristics, but at a much larger scale because of the nature of big data.

Martijn ten Napel explores the challenge that has confronted him throughout his career: why do so many BI projects fail? His conclusion is that the struggle to achieve coherence between people, process, information, and technology has caused the complexity of the data landscape to grow out of control. His answer to the problem is the connected architecture — a framework and thought process for the organization of DW and BI projects. He believes it applies equally to digital business.

Martijn ten Napel explores the challenge that has confronted him throughout his career: why do so many BI projects fail? His conclusion is that the struggle to achieve coherence between people, process, information, and technology has caused the complexity of the data landscape to grow out of control. His answer to the problem is the connected architecture — a framework and thought process for the organization of DW and BI projects. He believes it applies equally to digital business.

Adapting to the changing business environment of a digital business is about much more than implementing new technologies like analytics, the IoT, and so on. Rather, business managers from the boardroom down must drive the adoption and skilled use of data-based decision making. Ultimately, middle managers are critical to digital business — making data-based decisions and selecting tasks that provide the necessary capabilities to deliver on a digital transformation vision and strategy.

Adapting to the changing business environment of a digital business is about much more than implementing new technologies like analytics, the IoT, and so on. Rather, business managers from the boardroom down must drive the adoption and skilled use of data-based decision making. Ultimately, middle managers are critical to digital business — making data-based decisions and selecting tasks that provide the necessary capabilities to deliver on a digital transformation vision and strategy.

Starting from a data warehouse just makes sense. Of course, the architectural thinking and technology offer valuable intellectual capital to IT. But the real value comes from the decades of experience in information/data governance and management, as well as the interpersonal and organizational skills that DW imple­menters have gathered. As you will see from the articles in this issue, the contributors are on the same path.

Starting from a data warehouse just makes sense. Of course, the architectural thinking and technology offer valuable intellectual capital to IT. But the real value comes from the decades of experience in information/data governance and management, as well as the interpersonal and organizational skills that DW imple­menters have gathered. As you will see from the articles in this issue, the contributors are on the same path.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is moving into public sector agencies — at both the state and federal levels — for use in such general applications as compliance, records management, community development, and finance, among others. Governments are also applying, or researching the use of, AI for other applications, including optimizing access to services and analyzing and predicting the likelihood of environmental disasters. This Advisor provides some examples of some of the many government research efforts underway that are intended to advance AI’s capabilities beyond its current limitations.

In this, the final Advisor in a four-part series, we explore the third lens of organizational behavior — capability: We “have the ability” to do it. We also examine the importance of language and its impact on culture in the digital transformation transformation.

Compared to software, industrial delivery takes longer, is more complex, and requires a broader set of skills. This series on industrial Agile opens with an overview of a framework for industrial agility, and considers these questions:

What is new in industry when Agile principles are applied?

How do the different frameworks of Lean, Agile, Scrum, and Six Sigma fit together?

In this Advisor, the authors explore how two fundamentally different paradigms — Agile architecture and architectural agility — can reinforce one another. Based on a real-world case study from a US technology company, the authors describe how one organization has combined architecture with Agile thinking and methods to break through the anti-patterns and improve its results.

An awareness of granularity and context in analytics is vital for creating value to the business. In this Advisor, I focus on understanding the degree of granularity of analysis and how organizations can incorporate granularity in their analytical solutions.

Cutter Consortium is conducting a survey on how organizations are adopting, or planning to adopt, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. We also seek to identify important issues and other considerations they are encountering or foresee encountering in their efforts. In addition to gathering and analyzing survey data, I have been interviewing leaders and practitioners from different organizations implementing or working to implement AI appli­cations. Here, in Part VI, we jump right into where we left off and continue examining industries that AI is expected to disrupt.

Cutter Consortium is conducting a survey on how organizations are adopting, or planning to adopt, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. We also seek to identify important issues and other considerations they are encountering or foresee encountering in their efforts. In addition to gathering and analyzing survey data, I have been interviewing leaders and practitioners from different organizations implementing or working to implement AI appli­cations. Here, in Part VI, we jump right into where we left off and continue examining industries that AI is expected to disrupt.

In this Advisor, we examine the organizational behavior lens called pathway: We know “how” we need to do it. We also explore the importance of applying Agile to manage day-to-day activities, and transition states to manage the longer term and ensure delivery of the broader transformation objective.

There are more people who work on improving organizational agility than people who know why this should be required. How can you work on something when you do not know why you should do it? So, before working on transforming our organizations to become more agile, maybe we should discuss the business environment and make sure everybody in the organization sees the same one. Then we should look at our internal organizational environment and make sure everyone has the same expectations and the same perceptions of it.

In this Advisor, we propose that by architecting for antifragility, businesses can gain real agility and deliver systems with a higher level of quality.

Companies are turning to machine learning, computer vision, robotics, and other AI technologies to revitalize the retail shopping experience and boost customer experience and business benefits — both online and offline. But it is the new, cutting-edge, AI-driven applications under development that are most interesting — holding the promise of opening up new business models and possibly disrupting the retail sector.

This Executive Update attempts to clarify the disconnect between the “no project” Agile camp and project managers by exploring seven areas of software development. In addition, two case studies highlight the unique differences.

In this on-demand webinar, Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Whynde Kuehn reveals how, through the combination of business architecture and CX design, organizations can gain more insight into where and how to align and transform their business models so they can focus on the ongoing needs of their customers while driving organizational efficiencies.

The difference between an organization that survives and thrives following an incident versus one that flounders can be summed up in one word: preparation. In this Executive Update, we outline a multipronged approach for best practice organizations that focuses on continuous process improvement.

In this webinar, you'll discover how the Breakthrough Incubator approach can overcome barriers to breakthrough innovation and unlock new business opportunities for your enterprise.

In the first Advisor in this series, we explored enablers that we have found to be critical in driving successful digital transformation efforts. We believe these enablers can be unified into a powerful toolkit to facilitate successful transformation when assessed against three specific personas and observed through three distinct lenses. In this Advisor, we introduce these personas and lenses, offering additional insight into the human side of digital transformation.

If there is one measure that can drive an organization toward agility, it is the shift to deadline-driven smaller projects. Simply put, we recommend defining smaller projects (that can relate to each other to build a bigger project) and focusing on the deadline — not just on the results. This is part of the skill of project management with a drive to flexibility. The key idea: it is better to have 90% ready this month, on time, than 100% ready next month, which is too late.