Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

In the first two parts of this Executive Update series on Cutter's annual survey of innovation practices, we described the enterprise innovation chain (value innovation, management innovation, business model innovation, and invention) and identified key findings of the research. 1 Here in Part III, we present additional detailed characteristics of organizations that assess themselves as successful innovators, efficiently managing their innovation processes.

Cloud computing is a prominent concept in the IT technology world. Cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) promise fast return on investment, agility, improved scalability, availability, and more.

Part I of this two-part Executive Update series took you through the core competencies of the first phase of the outsourcing lifecycle: the architect phase. 1 The architect phase is where the deal is put together in a strategic sense, cumulating in the detailed contract, the

New Year's resolutions are annoying. Most of us make them and break them almost immediately. Is it easier to make professional New Year's resolutions, or will they, like all the personal ones we make every year, fall victim to the same forces that derail our best intentions?

In 2002, the most common remedy for schedule problems was overtime. Now, six years later, a Cutter Consortium survey has revealed some interesting news: when projects run into scheduling problems, the two most common remedies are extending the schedule and reducing functionality, with overtime relegated to third place, followed by adding staff. This represents a distinct change from 2002, when Cutter conducted an identical survey. Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant E.M. Bennatan spearheaded both surveys.

Innovation can be orchestrated in many ways, such as by:

• Using an internal process alone

• Engaging customers and experts

• Partnering with key suppliers

• Creating a teaming arrangement with other companies including competitors

• Using the new distributed cocreation approach1

I spent quite a bit of time studying martial arts in the past. While I wouldn't say that this made me more capable of coming out of a bar fight unscathed, the effort kept me (relatively) physically fit, introduced me to my future wife, and taught me some valuable lessons. Two lessons that translate quite nicely to the workplace are (1) the notion that you don't become agile overnight, and (2) true agility transcends such traits as flexibility.

IT is sort of caught in the middle of a debate. In one corner stands a group of researchers and enthusiasts who look at the marvels of how the human mind can make quick, accurate judgments and decisions. This group tends to look optimistically at the capabilities of the human mind to work effectively in the environment.