Strategic advice to leverage new technologies

Like you, I try to keep up with what's going on in the industry by reading magazines, articles, and so on. Perhaps it's the economy, or just coincidence, but in the past few months, there seem to have been more than enough articles about the impotence of IT.

The option of using on-demand and cloud-based BI and data warehousing (DW) solutions is causing some end-user organizations to forego or reconsider renewing some of their existing BI/DW software licenses. At this time, however, this trend is limited.

While organizations seem intent on adopting methodologies, the diversity in the tools they choose to apply to support them is virtually limitless.

Recently, we've written about some core strategies that help ensure the success of enterprise architecture, such as developing key EA capabilities (see "Six Key Capabilities on Road to EA Success," 18 March 2009) and employing an iterative and incremental approach to EA programs (see "Take Iterative Steps: Start Small, Empower Team Via Vision, Value," 29 April 2009).

What do you know about Ada Lovelace? You might know that she was the only child of the poet Lord Byron -- actually, her biography says the only legitimate child (apparently, the lord was quite a philanderer). You might also know that Ada Lovelace was the very first software programmer.

I've been thinking a lot about the possibilities offered by adding a "social layer" to an organization's BI environment. I'm talking about combining social computing concepts (blogs, wikis, and social networking) with BI capabilities (query, reporting, dashboards, and analysis).

Design notations, such as UML, and long-lived design documents have at least one advantage: if you're overseeing the work of a software team, they are tangible, auditable deliverables that allow you to assess the team's design practices. You may, however, find this assessment more difficult to make if you're dealing with an agile team. For one thing, there is a widespread perception that agile approaches frown on documentation and prefer direct communication -- which leaves no written trace.

In recent Advisors, I have talked about data security and perimeter security (see "Are You at the Controls? Do You Know Where Your Data Is?" 10 June 2009 and "Is Your Perimeter Secure?" 17 June 2009).