Our viewpoints
Keeping on the front foot, where it mattersYou’re on the board of a serious company and you’re aware that among the many IT initiatives that run every year maybe three or four would have a critical business impact on the firm, for better or worse. You’ve got your best people running them, so why the niggling worry?
You may be thinking about getting your internal audit folk to give these programmes a once over. You’re aware though that they have no more experience of big complex programmes than the people you have running them. You’re also aware that by the time a problem becomes self-evident it may be too late.
If getting it right is the only option, timely objective insight could keep you on the front foot.
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Enterprise Portals – they're easy, aren’t they?
The propagation of portals continues apace. Often viewed as a panacea, portals are seen as a simple way to transform an organisation, providing much needed freedom of access, and helping to improve compliance processes.
It is possible to offer an almost instantaneous intranet, with built in functions such as collaborative working, document, content and knowledge management, straight out of the box.
The road ahead may look clear and straight but how can you be sure you’re not going to be led down a blind alley?
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Moments of truth in IT programme management - 1
IT programmes have a reputation for write-offs, cost overruns, missed deadlines and wide gaps between the promise and the payoff. There can be many reasons such programmes don’t live up to their expectations, and they’re not always obvious.
Every programme faces moments of truth – make or break points. Recognising the moments of truth and avoiding them can avert disaster. We’ve a long list; we’ll pull out a few over the next couple of months for a closer look. This time, your IT supplier fails to deliver.
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Moments of truth in IT programme management - 2
It's the moment of celebration for the IT team, successful delivery of their latest project.
They’ve built a system (or configured a package) and put in place a brand new architecture. They’ve tested it all to destruction from both a functional and operational perspective.
It goes live in production with no technical issues.
But as with so many celebrations there is a morning after – the business has a headache.
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Moments of truth in IT programme management - 3
The greatest risk to any programme or project is at the very start. Getting things wrong at the beginning leads to a much higher risk of failure – it’s very tough to recover from a bad start.
Big programmes are fraught with risk. The Standish group recently reviewed a series of business critical programmes and only 28% were completed on time and budget.
So what can programme managers and sponsors do to ensure they get off to a good start? It’s all about mobilisation, conditioning for success at the outset.
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Where’s Einstein when you need him?
Creating an IT architecture that supports the business, and adds real value, means understanding the difference between ‘breadth and depth’; accepting one person can’t know it all and ensuring you bring the right team together and organise them effectively.
Achieving the right architecture is often made out to be much more complicated than it actually is. It’s really very simple. So why do so many architects find it tough to get it right?
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CIOs face major transformation
Over the last 40 years, IT and deployment have gone through several discontinuous eras. Each forced changes to the business model and IT leadership. The next era requires a dramatically different approach and total rethink.
Will businesses and IT be prepared, and able, to rise to the challenge of this major transformation? What’s changing and why?
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Will IFAs take the Wrap?
There are those in the Financial Services field believing the terms IFA and multi-tie will cease to exist in the next few years. The Wraps phenomenon in the UK Financial Services market will have huge potential for some and catastrophic consequences for others.
IT and service delivery architecture are the key to its success, or failure.
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Management in IT - CIOs should go fishing
You're an outstanding CIO in a quality firm, running the business of IT. You have a lot of good people in your organisation. So why are you still getting it in the neck from the board? Why do they keep telling you that IT isn't delivering? Why isn't IT as good as they would expect for such a quality firm?
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Outsourcing gone wrong
We've seen horror stories where outsourcing goes wrong. It seems a sound idea in theory, but how well do organisations think it through in advance? Are they clear on motivation? Is it to reduce costs, improve their technology base, or service delivery? Some things are easier to outsource but with a thorough approach it doesn't have to end in tears.
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MI vs BI - the 'truth repository'
Management Information (MI) is used to guide a business, answering the questions “are we on course to meet our marketing and financial objectives?”
Business Intelligence (BI), or decision support, typically addresses the more detailed, more complex issues of strategy development, market analysis and business planning. We’re increasingly seeing that using separate approaches, systems and tools, can cause major dilemmas, and expense, and critically for decision makers, the information often conflicts. It’s time to bring these disciplines together, but how best to achieve this in an already complex environment?
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IT Architecture in a disjointed world
Is designing a successful IT architecture really a black art? Why do so many firms get it wrong?
Should you be letting IT drive and what are the likely consequences if they do? Where are the barriers that impede success? What steps should you take to achieve the right answer? There are so many perspectives for a CIO to consider; business, application, infrastructure and information. Whilst you’ll never get a perfect answer you can get very close and ensure you don’t end up in a blind alley, squandering vital funds. There are big benefits to be had but where do you start?
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