Strategic advice to leverage new technologies

Last January, I discussed the respective pros and cons associated with the BYOD and enterprise-supplied device strategies for adopting mobile capabilities in the enterprise.

I regularly receive emails like this from procurement departments of large companies or public authorities: "We ask you to offer your proposal for the development of system XYZ that is specified in the 700 pages attached. Please provide your proposal by Friday next week, 0:00 UTC." I have stopped answering these requests.

There has been a lot of discussion surrounding what's better for mobile development: building native apps designed to run specifically on select mobile platforms and OSs (e.g., Apple iOS, Android-based devices, BlackBerry, Windows 8) or using dynamic Web-based technologies (e.g., HTML5, JavaScript, mobile Web frameworks) to bu

I sometimes describe architecture as fundamentally about managing complexity and change. Change comes from several different places at the same time. Technology is always evolving and, let's hope, we're used to managing this type of change with architecture.

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him.

Today's data production occurs at a faster and faster rate. The volume of data available within an enterprise -- and externally to it -- is phenomenal. As a consequence, the role of information architecture is changing, from the passive structuring and managing of data to a smarter, more active role of information effectiveness.

At the risk of gross simplification, when it comes to dealing with too much data, architecture needs to address two concerns:

Today's data production occurs at a faster and faster rate. The volume of data available within an enterprise -- and externally to it -- is phenomenal.