Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

Beyond all doubt, the trend to outsource functions developed inside an enterprise or a government agency is at its peak. This phenomenon is not limited to IT; it's under consideration in several areas of an organization. Although outsourcing is a very appealing concept, it is essential for a company to be properly prepared for this kind of change.

Before there was the principle of open source to manage innovation, there was the open market to achieve the same innovation and agility objectives. Open source innovation attracts the bulk of the attention today, which is why open market innovation deserves another look. The IT organization should join in because of the role it can play in enabling this approach to innovation.

Looking at a software catalog, we see hundreds or even thousands of software titles. There are accounting systems, HR systems, manufacturing systems, personal productivity systems -- you name it. With so many systems out there, we would expect that it would be difficult to categorize all of them. However, from the point of view of a for-profit organization, the categorization is very straightforward. There are four.

Humans have, for many years, used IT and IS to enhance their environment and to learn about their surroundings. We have invented such information technologies as printing and such information systems as publishing to disseminate knowledge. In the process, we have created practices that in the long run and on a large scale damage this same environment (e.g., converting trees to paper).

Back in the 1980s, and even recently, some have claimed that investments in IT haven't paid off [1, 2]. Fortunately, much research in the past decade has started to explain the complex relationship between IT and advantage and has shown, rather compellingly, that investments in IT do matter [3].

IT executives are continuing to keep an eye on the US and world economies and are looking for ways to cut expenses to meet reduced spending goals. One option is to consider establishing an offshore development team or outsource to an offshore vendor. India, Eastern Europe, and now China are all viable locations with skilled labor and many outsourcing options.

"We really like your proposal, but this idea to take the whole team into a one-day workshop every month -- 'retrospective' was what you called it? -- and have a three-day workshop each quarter is by far too expensive!" If I had a hit list of discussions I have had with managers over the last five years, this would probably be number one.