Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders
Leadership and teaming skills are front and center in times of rapid change. Meet today’s constant disruption head on with expert guidance in leadership, business strategy, transformation, and innovation. Whether the disruption du jour is a digitally-driven upending of traditional business models, the pandemic-driven end to business as usual, or the change-driven challenge of staffing that meets your transformation plans—you’ll be prepared with cutting edge techniques and expert knowledge that enable strategic leadership.
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Cognitive computing is among the major trends in computing today and seems destined to change how business people think about the ways in which computers can be used in business environments. “Cognitive computing” is a vague term used in a myriad of ways. Given the confusion in the market as to the nature of cognitive computing, this Executive Summary and its accompanying Executive Report describe what we mean by cognitive computing by exploring five different perspectives on the topic: (1) rules-based expert systems, (2) big data and data mining, (3) neural networks, (4) IBM’s Watson, and (5) Google’s AlphaGo.
Cognitive computing will revolutionize how organizations use computers. In this Executive Report, we consider the nature of cognitive computing. We look at the topic from five different perspectives, including: (1) rules-based expert systems, (2) big data and data mining, (3) neural networks, (4) IBM’s Watson, and (5) Google’s AlphaGo. We conclude that cognitive computing isn’t a specific new technology, but rather a variety of different technologies and complex architectures used to solve complicated and challenging problems.
Software has been a crucible of management practice. Developing software requires a wide mix of types of work from mostly routine to highly innovative. For that reason, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to software development. While Agile does not fully solve the development management problem and is still evolving, there are important lessons we can learn from Agile principles for a wide range of business practices.
A digital transformation isn't just launching a brand on social media, hosting an electronic storefront, or connecting the enterprise workforce. Nor is it activating big data or analytics to synthesize new differentiators. A digital transformation requires escape from the routine mindset of business strategy to discover adjacent opportunities and strategies that create an asymmetric competitive advantage (i.e., a powerful advantage that denies competitors the use of similar strategies and tactics).
Over the past few years, the professional prestige of IT departments has declined while the use of IT keeps growing. Soon, practically all smartphones and smart TVs worldwide will connect to the Internet, and while billions of these devices and the systems that power them will go online and increase the demand for IT, my professional practice and the data from the MMVM project indicate that the influence of CIOs and IT teams is decreasing, while the frustration of organizations and clients with the IT organization is increasing. The high failure rate of IT projects persists, while obsolete systems and cybersecurity risks are on the rise. That’s why it’s indispensable to start moving IT management in a different direction — the professional and deliberate management of trust, along with continuous growth in the soft management capabilities of IT professionals that have become the new core competences of the technical professional.
Leadership is absolutely critical for high-performance outsourcing. In this realm, however, it differs from the typical management narrative of a single individual who inspires and influences others. The key difference is that high-performance outsourcing requires effective leadership pairings, not a sole leadership figure. And leadership pairings between parties is not just at the top; it needs to cascade through the formal biparty hierarchy and include opinion leaders as well. This Executive Update explains leadership pairing and how it saved a contract in default.
In this on-demand webinar with Roger Evernden you'll learn what is required of architecture professionals in managing architectural evolution. Will the field naturally emerge, or will it require the intervention of architects?
Several companies have tried to enter the payment market and failed. When developing new disruptive innovations, success is about entering the market at the right time with the right product. Danske Bank launched a mobile payment application, which gained market dominance by following a disruptive "up market" path, from a simple application to a now-advanced payment platform, competing in several payment markets.