Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

The use of social networking sites by activists covering the recent Iranian election protests is a vivid example of how Web 2.0 can upset even the staunchest government's attempts to stifle dissent and the spread of "non-official" (i.e., uncensored) information.

Ineffective risk management is a symptom of a disease that has been spreading throughout corporations over the last two to three decades, leaving tremendous devastation in its path. The disease has been difficult to detect and, in many cases, the symptoms are masked. However, over time, this disease has wreaked havoc on employees, business, and even entire industries.

Ever worry about stealing someone else's idea? Or worse still, stealing your own ideas while working from one client to the next? The ethical high road is a challenging one to take on an ongoing basis, when so many potential ethical lapses are the result of lapses, rather than intentional commitment of the act. Nowhere is this more true than in risk management.

The world of business technology is dramatically changing. Everything about it is changing, including what we acquire, deploy, support, the way we support it, and -- perhaps most important -- the way we manage it all.

Imagine you and I are building a house without drawings or specifications, instead relying on various tradespeople to use their experience to build what we have in mind. So the concreter lays the slab where he think is best, given his experience; the plumber puts the piping where she thinks it should go. The electrician wires the house as he deems it should be, and so on.

Personally identifiable information (PII) plays a key role and is involved within many business processes. PII is stored in an extremely large number of corporate systems and data storage repositories.

The idea of running IT as a business has gained much traction in recent years -- especially with the continued upsurge in all things IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

Business leaders have an obligation to make sure that all information within the organization is adequately protected. You cannot outsource your organization's responsibility and accountability for appropriately and diligently safeguarding information that you have entrusted to third parties.