Today, when everybody wants to disrupt their own or somebody else’s business, and new technologies that let them do it seem to appear almost daily, people with the “capacity to lead” are critical, and nowhere more than in the exploitation of IT. Obvious though this is, recognizing, empowering, and sustaining good IT leaders has been a challenge. People who can think strategically about what, why, and how to deploy technology but have trouble delivering it — and the reverse — fall short as IT leaders. Both skills are needed, and this edition of Cutter Business Technology Journal covers them in great depth.

Transitioning to a digital world is front-of-mind for many business executives, yet finding the right path is an ongoing challenge. So we asked Cutter’s team of experts for their insights on some of the technologies, trends, and strategies that will be relevant in 2017 and beyond. In typical Cutter Business Technology Journal fashion, our call produced a wide range of opinions and reflections worthy of consideration as you chart your business technology journey for the new year.

This fintech special issue of Cutter Business Technology Journal (CBTJ) will assist managers in gaining an understanding of the emerging business opportunities and technologies in the financial services domain.

This issue of Cutter Business Technology Journal (CBTJ) is focused on cognitive computing, a term that is similar to, but currently more popular than, artificial intelligence (AI). It refers to all those innovations in computing that are being driven by various types of AI research. Cognitive computing applications can provide superior interfaces that allow computer systems to interact with customers or employees, with the Internet or massive databases, or with computer chips embedded in almost any item you might want to track. The applications, once trained, can talk with people using ordinary language, ask questions, and then provide answers or recommendations.

This August/September 2016 double-issue of Cutter Business Technology Journal is about change. We don’t need to read more statistics or stories about digital transformation to convince us that it is real, poses both an opportunity and a threat for our organizations, and requires us to take action now. Digital transformation is more than just a bullet point in a strategy session or the current buzzword. The visions we cast and execute upon today will likely dictate our organizations’ successes and survival in the future and collectively shape the world in which we live.