Data science is essential in extracting value from big data but it is not sufficient. It makes use of technical, management, and business analysis skills. Data science also deals with the enterprise architecture (EA) of the organization. Astute leadership is essential and an imperative for value extraction from big data.

Business is poised for an unprecedented wave of innovation. Digital transformation is upon us with myriad technological advances such as augmented reality, virtual reality, cognitive assistants, 3D/4D printing, personalization, conversational interfaces, drones, deep learning, predictive analytics, the Internet of Things, blockchain, new payment systems, and affective computing — all playing major roles in enabling the next wave of innovation. 

It is now possible to search on the Web for “IoT use cases in [industrial sector __ ]” and find links to hundreds of case studies and white papers. Of course, these should sometimes be taken with a grain of salt. In general, however, published case studies (especially when an end-user company is named) present some good evidence of an area in which the IIoT shows solid potential.

Businesses hoping for increased customer engagement must fully consider customer experience management (CEM), or be left lagging behind their competition.

This Advisor provides a hands-on list of five Agile planning activities for executives who are actively involved in large-scale software deliveries in their companies.

The adoption of business architecture has continued to increase globally — and at a faster pace than ever — demonstrating that the discipline is here to stay. This Advisor provides a brief reflection on the state of business architecture to date and a glimpse into the future.

Telemedicine services save healthcare providers costs, too, and the ability to leverage telehealth technology and enable virtual visits improves access to critical health services and is believed to help lead to better patient outcomes. Consequently, it’s not surprising that telemedicine is increasing in popularity, and the practice is expanding through healthcare providers and even pharmacies.

Governments worldwide are seeking to apply blockchain to a range of applications and domains to streamline and secure information systems and to better serve their citizens.

Agile is all about learning. But do Agile leaders know how and what to teach?

To meet the challenge of insurtechs, incumbent companies need to develop a clear strategy to guide the following aspects of engagement with them: a holistic approach, an insurtech evaluation framework, and an engagement model between the insurtech and the incumbent. This Advisor describes these three aspects in greater detail.

In the heat of practicing architecture within organizations, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that “architecture” is not a real thing. It is a paradigm: a metaphor transplanted from other fields in which the idea of architecture was firmly and usefully established.

Modeling the models is difficult work. The challenge is to bring the wisdom of experience together with the possibilities of theory, molding them into precious archetypes in the fiery forge of a specific enterprise. The resulting model would be the standard model of architecture for that organization. This kind of meta-architecture work is what we can refer to as “quarkitecture”; it is similar to the quest in particle physics for the fundamental particles.

As with other data-intensive technologies, collecting and analyzing data from Internet of Things (IoT) deployments requires sound data management strategies and tactics. Col­lecting and analyzing this data can be generalized to include three distinct processes: (1) data collection and storage, (2) data integration, and (3) data analysis (see Figure 1). In this Advisor, we examine each of these processes.

Extracting business agility from a big data strategy requires an all-encompassing, holistic approach to the technology, the analytics, and all other aspects of an organization.

Effective CIOs must demonstrate both operational and strategic leadership. Although it is unclear how and when CIOs make the transition from operational to strategic leadership, we argue that the transition depends on the accumulation of transitional capital. Timing and sequencing of CIO actions are critical to the accumulation of this transitional capital. Thus, strategic CIO leadership is earned and is contingent upon actions of the CIO in building operational excellence and social capital, sequencing and kairotic timing of these actions to accumulate transitional capital, and achieving acceptance by the top management team.

What is the role of a Major Incident Manager (MIM)? Should he or she be technically skilled or business savvy or process oriented? This Advisor suggests some core competencies for MIMs. 

A remarkable variety of process models for design thinking exists, with differences in the amount of phases, visual representations of the process, and terminology used. The various institutions and consultants that use and teach the method each have their own way of presenting it. Furthermore, many companies that implement design thinking devise their own process to fit their specific situation. Despite their apparent differences, most of the process models are very similar when it comes to their activities and tools.

Based on budgeting plans revealed in our survey that asked 103 organizations about their efforts to utilize blockchain technology, 2018 could prove a breakout year for organizations getting their blockchain initiatives underway.

Insurtechs are not going away, so it is essential for incumbents to strategize and leverage the insurtechs to address those areas considered important by customers and where the insurtechs add significant value (e.g., advanced analytics, enhanced customer experience). At the same time, it is critical that small and medium-sized insurance companies ensure that any investments made will deliver expected results and de-risk themselves to the desired extent. To achieve these goals, the incumbents need to develop a clear strategy to guide their engagement with insurtechs, beginning with a holistic approach.

Though innovation and disruptive technologies are mentioned as key themes for most organizations, many times the focus seems to divert to incremental improvements rather than preparing for major breakthroughs that could disrupt and add value to the market, economy, customers, and industry.

The emergence of CX design as a key discipline practiced by many organizations has opened up some questions about how it relates to business architecture.

Enterprise architecture aligns technology architecture capabilities with business architecture processes and services. Historically, this alignment embraced monolithic structures, including operational systems and data warehouses supported by relational databases and flat files. With today’s Internet of Things (IoT) and all the connected devices it involves, solution design offers new opportunities, even though designs can be more challenging.

Connected insurance (from wearables usage to mobile health appli­cations) presents great potential for both the insurer and the insured. Such potential should be harnessed in a profitable way by targeting less risky clients and presenting them with an improved, better-priced value proposition. For this to happen, insurance companies will have to seek partners from both the technological innovation sphere and the medical field, keeping in mind that insurance’s role in the health system is changing from payer to player.

Many long-standing problems like technical debt owe their longevity to two factors — not dealing effectively with their causes and not dealing effectively with their resilience. Because what limits our ability to deal with technical debt might not be technical, it is useful to explore possible psychological and political sources of the longevity of the technical debt problem. This Advisor takes a close look at five problem areas and suggests the ­outlines of a program for managing technical debt.

In this Advisor, we present the approach taken to set a roadmap for the journey of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE), the incumbent telecom operator in Greece, toward digital transformation.