Digital Strategy, Operating Models & Technology Implementation Insight
Expert guidance in business technology strategy, leadership, and implementation in response to digitally-driven disruption of traditional business models. From emerging new operating models to strategies that put data at the heart of your business; overcoming cultural hurdles to what makes a digital leader; achieving enterprise agility to creating a culture that supports continuous experimentation — you’ll be on the cutting edge of the factors that are critical to successful digital transformation.
Recently Published
Explore the unintended consequences, such as erosion of human skills and the scope expansion that takes us from reconnecting with old friends online to channels that broadcast un-fact-checked news, that AI can bring. In this Advisor, Paul Clermont offers no-nonsense advice for dealing with these issues.
The pressure on telecom companies’ cash flow has never been so intense. Now more than ever, it has become imperative to unlock value through asset reconfiguration in order to finance growth and transformation via 5G and diversification.
As we explore in this Executive Update, there are tangible benefits to basing corporate purpose on sustainability drivers, and sustainable business models are gaining pace. Therefore, businesses should rethink their role in the context in which they operate and adapt their strategy, organization, resources, processes, and culture accordingly.
The demonstration of human resilience may end up being more noteworthy than the disruption experienced through the COVID-19 pandemic. Managers, mentors, coaches, and colleagues who are able to identify moments of low resilience can be of the greatest help to the individual employee and overall workplace morale and productivity.
Simon Schillebeeckx proposes a focus on regeneration as a way for small carbon footprint firms (e.g., consulting, financial services firms) to make a positive sustainability impact. He highlights that service industry firms can proactively contribute to the regeneration of common pool resources, such as forests and lakes, which often become neglected or overused. What makes regeneration different compared to more traditional donations to a conservation nonprofit is the use of digital technology that enables an organization to lay claim to the ecosystem benefits it generates through its support. The digitization of benefits claims provides a transparent accounting system for environmental benefits. Schillebeeckx explains how transparency and accountability can lay the foundation for firms to work together to preserve and restore common pool resources.
Rohit Nishant and Thompson S.H. Teo explore the environmental impact of AI and ML. Specifically, the applications where these technologies add the most value are those that require heterogenous data in complex settings (e.g., optimizing smart cities, modeling climate change). In the process of creating value, these large AI and ML models require energy-intensive computing, leaving a huge carbon footprint. To counteract these concerns, Nishant and Teo offer the “Align, Reduce, Measure” (ARM) framework for mitigating the environmental impact of AI and ML algorithms. The framework encompasses the organizational structure, addresses data heterogeneity, and measures results to create accountability.
Jacek Chmiel draws attention to the increasing energy consumption by the electronic devices integrated into our daily lives. In addition to the ubiquitous mobile devices we all carry around, there are billions of devices, not to mention back-end servers, all of which consume energy. Exacerbating this problem are ML and distributed ledger technologies, such as blockchain, that require intensive computing cycles, and use even more energy. The good news is that a greener software development strategy can have significant impact on energy usage of electronic devices. Chmiel explains the challenges to implementing this strategy and how organizations can overcome them.
Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Curt Hall presents intriguing examples of how corporations and governments use AI and compatible technologies to move us toward a more sustainable world. He explains how many companies are using AI to reduce the energy consumption of … AI(!) and other digital technologies. He illustrates innovative technology-based solutions being developed for tracking carbon emissions and presents a selection of companies targeting key infrastructure areas for carbon reduction initiatives (e.g., data centers, transportation, waste management).
Kudos
Today's demands on software to provide useful, usable, secure, and scalable services stress all aspects of systems development. Cutter provides comprehensive coverage for these crucial topics—through research reports and customized virtual training delivered globally—helping us to understand needs and solutions that span traditional silos.