Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

A colleague and I started talking and writing about Energy Informatics about three years ago as a result of a request from the Advanced Practices Council (APC) of the Society for Information Management to make its members, typically CIOs, aware of developments in green IS. Our ideas were well received, and Energy Informatics emerged from the APC-funded research.

While we're all busy doing technology, it's essential we understand -- and communicate -- what we're doing. The need for education and communication has never been greater, especially from the uninitiated, cynical, and happily ignorant.

Just about every one of my clients wrestles with the problem of governing the software process. As the process often eludes us, the natural tendency is to add more and more performance measures in order to ensure "completeness" of the governance system. More often than not, the end result is a baroque system that is difficult to implement, use, and comprehend.

APOLOGIZE, v.i. To lay the foundation for a future offence.

-- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

Outsourcing is inevitable. In X years, all companies will be outsourced, primarily to SaaS applications. The only question is, "What is X?" And this isn't a conclusion I have come to lightly. Nor is it the position of an outsourcing zealot. In fact, I have some deep concerns about what might happen to companies in this "brave new world."

The accompanying Executive Report provides executives, government workers, and security professionals a fast track to gaining insight into cyber security. It covers executive liabilities and accountabilities, the top eight cyber security cases, situational awareness, and a multitude of need-to-know issues for immediate practical use.