IT management

Too many executives use data to confirm what they already think.

A company’s software is becoming a critical source of competitive advantage and competitive risk. Yet few managers can agree on the key variables for judging its quality. Here’s a new framework for doing just that.

Now that the experiences of many companies with advanced data processing (DP) systems can be analyzed, fresh and important observations can be made for the guidance of policy-making executives. For one thing, we can see the outlines of both the past and future, with six stages of DP growth standing out. Although no companies have […]

Scams and attacks have become more frequent and sophisticated as the crisis unfolds.

What happens when employees rate customers.

The Internet promises a radical new world of business. But for many companies, it has yet to deliver. Although doing business in cyberspace may be novel...

He could have been the president of any one of a number of successful and growing medium-sized companies in the electronics industry. He had spent the previous day working to salt away the acquisition of a small company that fitted an important position in the product line strategy he had evolved for his organization. Most […]

Looking to make your organization more responsive and efficient? You needn’t break down the walls between your units. Instead, manage your information so that every customer sees a united front.

Only 5% of big-data investments are in human resources.

It will become the problem and the solution.

It’s unfortunate — but true — that it’s easier to think shallowly about a big problem than deeply about small ones. In the last post, a business leader and an IT leader appealed to you for help in defining how to deliver a large initiative using a fast-cycle, iterative approach. To force deep thinking, it […]

Too many products. Too many ads. The daily torrent of data has made customer information systems more important than ever.

Because technology now develops faster than before, in the future managers will be able to choose the kind of organization they want. New structures,...

In 2019, California showed us how costly a sustained power outage can be.

Combat complexity with modularity.

Why does management behavior often diverge from “broadly accepted” theory or best practice? This question hit me over the head (once again) during a conversation with a talented, young CIO about a big project that was significantly late and over budget. Ask anyone experienced in the world of IT or change management, and they will […]

A CEO weighs the growth benefits of AI against the downsides of impersonal decision making.

Patients are becoming more demanding consumers. But the medical industry isn’t just another business.

My last blog discussed how to promote innovation by dismantling the mistrust that exists between IT and the rest of the business. A seasoned IT vet responded with a self-described “dumb question” that’s far from dumb: “I graduated in 1978 from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a BBA in what is now […]

The SolarWinds hack highlights the importance of vetting your vendors.