Are IT firms excited about the promise of Green Button? Are they helping their clients see the benefits?
Feb 16, 2015
Dec 10, 2014
I will be free...password free
Looks like it will soon be a reality:
Fast Identity Online finalizing standards:
http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/09/fido-alliance-publishes-specs/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000604
https://fidoalliance.org/news/item/fido-1.0-specifications-published-and-final1
Fast Identity Online finalizing standards:
http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/09/fido-alliance-publishes-specs/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000604
https://fidoalliance.org/news/item/fido-1.0-specifications-published-and-final1
Dec 4, 2014
Oct 27, 2014
So, whats new for 2015?
Its that time of the year when the soothsayers, astrologers, and Gartner look deep into the crystal ball and let us know what we short sighted commoners can't see. The predictions for 2015 are not largely different from the list for 2014 - may be they have just revised the stats around them. We have heard most of them before in a different wrapper - IoT/smart machines, 3D printing, cloud, analytics, contextualization.
Risk based security and self-protection is a complex sounding entity in the list. I have heard a similar sounding term thrown at me by my investment adviser. I am waiting for 2015 to reveal what this is all about!
Risk based security and self-protection is a complex sounding entity in the list. I have heard a similar sounding term thrown at me by my investment adviser. I am waiting for 2015 to reveal what this is all about!
Oct 15, 2014
Commoditized IT
In the Spring 2005 issue of the MIT Sloan Management Review, Nicholas Carr suggested in his article “The End of Corporate Computing” that the commoditization of information technology would signal the end of corporation owned and operated IT in favor of a centralized set of utility-style providers. In other words - outsourcing will be the way forward for greater profitability and efiiciency.
But somewhere between then and now, things started to change slowly in unexpected ways. Yes, IT has indeed become a commodity. Absorbing the following definiton of Commoditization, we can see how well it applies to IT.
But, companies are far from letting go of their hold on IT, and are giving charge of formerly outsourced activities to their own in-house IT departments.
IT, like many other commodities, is governed by the resource dependency theory: When a resource becomes so ubiquitous that it becomes essential to survival, the risks imposed by its absence outweigh the burdens of maintaining its availability. IT processes are fully integrated in nearly all business practices, from simple e-mails and data storage to more complicated core practices such as forecasting and audit procedures. IT has become so ubiquitous, in fact, that it is taking on another common attribute of commodities — the need for government oversight and regulation.
A similar situation is occurring with IT. For example, U.S. government regulations requiring 911 emergency service across broadband and digital phone providers. Information technology controls that specifically address financial risks may be within the scope of a SOX 404 assessment. IT control objectives relate to the confidentiality, integrity, and reliability of data and the overall management of the IT function of the business enterprise. Thus companies now feel less secure outsourcing these controls, especially because the penalty for failing to meet these standards does not fall on the outsourcing partner but on the reporting company.
A key finding was that outsourcing generates new risks and made compliance regulation
complex. Upon canceling the deal with IBM global Services , Austin Adams,
JPMorgan CIO, said: “The decision to cancel the outsourcing deal wasn’t driven entirely by cost savings. It was about our belief that we wanted to be more involved in every aspect of our business, and technology is a significant part.” Kurt Potter,
research director at Gartner Inc.,says "....Declining asset lifecycles, constant business changes, cost, innovation, and cultural/business fit are affecting the contract length in the life of an outsourcing relationship.”
The answer lies in the same resource dependency model that created the situation in
the first place. One way companies can avoid or mitigate external dependencies
is to shift dependency to another resource. Executives can choose to create internal dependencies over which they do have control to counterbalance external dependencies, and this action can result in a competitive advantage.
And this brings into focus the need fro better IT-Business alignment. IT should be separated into discrete tasks
based on process instead of technology, and each
task must have a specific purpose in the strategic
framework. In other words, executives need to
approach IT as a people and process issue, not a
technology issue.
But somewhere between then and now, things started to change slowly in unexpected ways. Yes, IT has indeed become a commodity. Absorbing the following definiton of Commoditization, we can see how well it applies to IT.
"Commoditization occurs as a goods or services market loses differentiation across its supply base, often by the diffusion of the intellectual capital necessary to acquire or produce it efficiently. As such, goods that formerly carried premium margins for market participants have become commodities....."
But, companies are far from letting go of their hold on IT, and are giving charge of formerly outsourced activities to their own in-house IT departments.
IT, like many other commodities, is governed by the resource dependency theory: When a resource becomes so ubiquitous that it becomes essential to survival, the risks imposed by its absence outweigh the burdens of maintaining its availability. IT processes are fully integrated in nearly all business practices, from simple e-mails and data storage to more complicated core practices such as forecasting and audit procedures. IT has become so ubiquitous, in fact, that it is taking on another common attribute of commodities — the need for government oversight and regulation.
A similar situation is occurring with IT. For example, U.S. government regulations requiring 911 emergency service across broadband and digital phone providers. Information technology controls that specifically address financial risks may be within the scope of a SOX 404 assessment. IT control objectives relate to the confidentiality, integrity, and reliability of data and the overall management of the IT function of the business enterprise. Thus companies now feel less secure outsourcing these controls, especially because the penalty for failing to meet these standards does not fall on the outsourcing partner but on the reporting company.
A key finding was that outsourcing generates new risks and made compliance regulation
complex. Upon canceling the deal with IBM global Services , Austin Adams,
JPMorgan CIO, said: “The decision to cancel the outsourcing deal wasn’t driven entirely by cost savings. It was about our belief that we wanted to be more involved in every aspect of our business, and technology is a significant part.” Kurt Potter,
research director at Gartner Inc.,says "....Declining asset lifecycles, constant business changes, cost, innovation, and cultural/business fit are affecting the contract length in the life of an outsourcing relationship.”
The answer lies in the same resource dependency model that created the situation in
the first place. One way companies can avoid or mitigate external dependencies
is to shift dependency to another resource. Executives can choose to create internal dependencies over which they do have control to counterbalance external dependencies, and this action can result in a competitive advantage.
And this brings into focus the need fro better IT-Business alignment. IT should be separated into discrete tasks
based on process instead of technology, and each
task must have a specific purpose in the strategic
framework. In other words, executives need to
approach IT as a people and process issue, not a
technology issue.
Utilities IT Predictions 2014
As my line of work is now completely dealing with the Utility Industry of the US market, the following got me thinking. More on each of these in a while.
The IDC Energy Insights Top 10 Predictions for 2014 are:
The IDC Energy Insights Top 10 Predictions for 2014 are:
- Utilities will hunt for flexibility and innovation in their operations and business models.
- At high impact, microgrids will force business model change. At minimum, service opportunities will require it and distribution adaptation.
- CIOs will devote more time and attention to working closely with line of business executives on cybersecurity, enlarging their scope of action.
- Utility CIOs' role will evolve, driven by IT and operational technologies convergence.
- Eroding utility revenues and the increase of capital and operating costs will force utilities to develop analytics strategies.
- Adaptive utilities will embrace dynamic resiliency to survive the ecosystem changes.
- Utilities will need to seek new paths for data management to propel smart grid innovation.
- Utilities' multi-channel customer management will call for platform and architecture investments.
- Gamification will gain traction in utilities to create consumer engagement, loyalty, and trust.
- Global utilities IT spending will surpass $59 billion in 2014.
Oct 24, 2013
BPM KPIs
For many years now, I have been doing various rounds of BPM. But most recently when there is a mandate to implement a commercial product (ERP/SRP) to support the process, i am wondering about the efficacy of KPIs in this scenario.
Whenever we did ground-up development, we defined KPI's. By and large we had it at the process level rather than at the form level, where we added rules governing deadlines, escalations, and
scheduling (expected wait times, expected working time, planned completion
time) that act as KPIs for measuring efficiencies (cycle time) and
effectiveness. While ours was not a procurement centric organization, and more of a solutions delivery firm, we looked ways in BPM applications to measure utilization, rejections rates,
cycle times, availability, retention, attrition, and growth.
Our measurement effort helped us to:
§ Improve
timeline
§ Compare
our process over time
§ Set
target, See if
changes to processes have had the wished effect
§ Discover
when action is needed
I believe, this measurement from the
process level will be connected to the balanced scorecard – > the following
way:
1. Strategic
Business Objective [SBO]
2. Business
Planning Goal [BPO]
3. Critical
Success Factors [CSF]
4. Key
Performance Indicator [KPI]
5. Process
Performance Indicator [PPI]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)