Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

An organizational capability, much like an end-to-end process, requires that different departments work together to create value for customers.

So you're the new CIO? Congratulations or condolences, which should it be? A bit of both. Nobody ever said it would be easy to be a tech-savvy plus business-savvy strategist who focuses on important IT initiatives and innovations while simultaneously managing hiccup-free daily operations and delivering complex initiatives predictably, on schedule, and within budget.

But that's your job.

The recent announcement that NATO and the US Pentagon were retracting a statement reporting that Taliban attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan had declined (in 2012) is a good reminder of just how important training and data quality are when it comes to analytics and decision making.

Business Value

A company's data has value, but to date, data assets have not been shown directly on companies' books, although it is sometimes there as goodwill, and sometimes it is partially reflected in the price of the stock. We need to make the value of data more apparent. For example, airlines and travel websites such as Expedia capture travel-related data.

Businesses are increasingly entrusting their IT enterprise to service providers that specialize in delivering IT services and managing customer environments. The customer's IT owners periodically review the service provider's performance in what are called "governance review meetings." This Executive Update discusses ideas and opportunities for presenting value additions in a manner that will be appreciated by the client-side stakeholders.

While the term "Big Data" continues to encroach on the common vernacular, it's important to understand the drivers of the phenomenon, its possible value, and also its potential for misuse. Many of the "misuse" examples come from areas of privacy and ethics, but there is also the potential for misuse that is just bad business.