Managing IT Infrastructure vs. Platforms

I was in an interesting discussion with one of my consulting clients recently.  I was with a group of IT managers responsible for their firm’s shared IT assets.  This is a large, global enterprise that has been on an aggressive journey over the last 5 years to transform business-IT maturity.  By any measure, they have been [...]

Surfing and IT Innovation

Thanks to a colleague for pointing me to a remarkable post by John Hagel entitled Innovating on the Edge of Big Waves.   Hagel explores the evolution of ‘big wave’ surfing - both from a perspective of the technology innovations (e.g., fibreglass, foam core, changeable stabilizing fins) and techniques (e.g., tow-in surfing, insights borrowed from wind [...]

ITIL: Necessary, but not sufficient!

 
I posted yesterday on the distinctions between IT Product Management and IT Service Management.  Rich Lemieux commented and pointed us to his helpful and informative DITY Newsletter and to his article on the 5 domains of ITIL V3 suggesting that IT organizations organize themselves around these domains as the “five new silos of IT.”
A couple of [...]

New Year’s Resolutions for Reaching Level 3

 
Some suggestions for IT leaders who are determined to drive up the business value and impact of Information Technology during 2008:

I resolve to be more effective in raising awareness of the potential for information technology to drive business growth.  I will bring ‘marketing thinking’ to my IT organization, and focus on improving our business communications.  [...]

Reflections on 2007 - En Route to 2017

It seems like a good time of the year to reflect on significant milestones or events that somehow mark 2007 on the journey to 2017 for IT organizations.  Ten years from now, when students of IT organizational evolution look back on 2007, what might the year be remembered for?  I’ll split this into a couple [...]

CIO vs. CTO - What’s The Difference?

One of the blogs I’ve been monitoring lately has the intriguing subtitle “Organizations Get the IT They Deserve” - a one-liner I’ve used from time to time (and something I truly believe!)  The latest post “Starting a High Tech Business: You Need a CTO” is, per its title, oriented towards high-tech start-ups.  However, it’s a good discussion of [...]

When IT is Your business - Not Just a Support Function

I’ve acknowledged previously that companies where IT essentially isthe business (think Amazon, Google, et al) mature very differently than do IT organizations that are essentially supportfunctions (think most traditional businesses, even most financial services companies that are highly information intensive).  We’ve seen this in our SOA research - and this was a pattern I saw in my [...]

Idris Mootee on Creativity, Social Networking and Experience Design

A light post today, as I want to point to some excellent thinking on topics related to IT maturity and evolution.  Occasionally, I’ve referred to the connection between increasing business-IT maturity and Next Generation Enterprises (Enterprise 2.0).  A key characteristic of Next Generation Enterprises is their leveraging of Web 2.0 technologies, including Social Networking.
As I’ve [...]

Organizational Change Part 1

In my first post, I mentioned my trepidation at entering the blogosphere.  What I am calling “trepidation” others might refer to as “resistance to change.”  Is change resistance real?  Normal? Inevitable?  How does it play out in climbing the IT maturity and value curve?
Organizational change management is perhaps the slipperiest of subjects.  It’s been heavily [...]

Business-IT Maturity and the Portfolio Lens

I was with a client recently as their CIO was leading one of their regular “town hall” meetings (live meeting for those in HQ, videoconference for those elsewhere).  He was talking (eloquently!) about Next Generation Enterprises, Web 2.0 technologies and the implications for their company and for their IT / shared services organization.
A question from the [...]