Mark your calendars for the 2011 Great Lakes Software Excellence Conference in Grand Rapids, MI on Saturday 2011-APR-16. (www.GLSEC.org)!
I invite you and your colleagues to the 2011 GLSEC. This year’s conference focuses on Competitive Innovation. Come learn from top business and IT thought-leaders from all over the Midwest as they address critical aspects for attaining software excellence, from business strategy and enterprise architecture, and from hiring practices to test-driven development and embedded engineering.
Noted consultants and authors Johanna Rothman and Rex Black are the keynote speakers:
Johanna Rothman is a management consultant for software managers and leaders. She helps clients identify and solve the problems that prevent them from releasing systems, hiring the right people, or even deciding which project to work on next. She takes a pragmatic approach and customizes a solution that will work best for you and your organization. Her keynote is titled “Thriving in a Competitive Marketplace”.
Rex Black has over a quarter-century of software and systems engineering experience. He is the president and principal consultant of RBCS, Inc and is a leader in software, hardware, and systems testing. His popular book, “Managing the Testing Process”, has sold over 40,000 copies around the world, including Japanese, Chinese, and Indian releases. His keynote is titled “The Future of Test Management”.
I will present “Attaining Business-Oriented Software Excellence”:
ABSTRACT:
Software excellence goes beyond mere technical ideals and measures. Software, as with all information technology (IT), must serve and enable the business, and must do so cost effectively. This establishes the context, boundaries, and rationale for any meaningful definition and measure of software excellence. But how do companies attain such business-oriented software excellence?
Framed in the context of global change, market forces, and technology advance, this presentation explores our understanding and misconceptions regarding the role of software in enabling and automating business. It examines case study successes and failures in creating software solutions.
This presentation describes how enterprise architecture aligns IT with the business strategy and optimizes IT investments; translating and demarcating the context, rationale, and boundaries for software excellence. It explains the essential enterprise architecture mechanisms for achieving alignment, and attaining business-oriented software excellence. The provided checklist allows you to gauge how well your company utilizes enterprise architecture, and recommends specific action steps you can take to help your company attain business-oriented software excellence.
Conference Details:
2011 Great Lakes Software Excellence Conference
Saturday, April 16, 2011 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM (Eastern Time)
Prince Conference Center at Calvin College
1800 E. Beltline SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA
www.GLSEC.org
Finally, I invite you to share this message with your colleagues and contacts; especially those business professionals who are directors, executives, managers, and supervisors. This conference will help them get more business value from their IT investments and software portfolios.
I look forward to seeing you at the 2011 Great Lakes Software Excellence Conference.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Finding Value in Cloud Computing – Part 9: Green Initiatives
Customers and communities are pressing companies to be more environmentally friendly. Their demands range from reducing energy consumption, reducing carbon footprints, using less water, and minimizing landfill waste. Many companies have responded favorably. They made their operations more environmentally friendly; obtaining ‘Green’ certifications, winning awards, and even incorporating their accomplishments in advertising.
Physical constraints within existing infrastructure are playing a part in the move to ‘Green IT.’ Faced with power density, utility company feed, cooling capacity, and floor-space and rack-space constraints, companies have relocated to new ‘Green’ data centers and have moved to the Cloud.
Economic pressures are also playing a part in the move to ‘Green IT.’ Energy consumption will continue to be a concern for business and IT executives. Increasing energy use in developing countries including China and India will place demand-side pressure on energy prices world-wide. The growing computational workloads and the growing number of computing devices of all types around the world will add further demand-side pressure. “And the other thing we’re finding is that in terms of energy consumption, that the trajectory, it’s a one-way street where we continue to consume more and more energy, and these data centers tend to be energy hogs, and we need to find a fundamentally different strategy as we think about bending this curve as far as data center growth is concerned.” __ Vivek Kundra, ‘The Economic Gains of Cloud Computing’, An Address, The Brookings Institution, 2010-APR-07, (http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/0407_cloud_computing.aspx )
The Cloud Computing paradigm helps companies bend the curve to achieve their ‘Green IT’ objectives: reducing energy consumption, reducing carbon footprints, using less water, and minimizing landfill waste. It is naturally greener than building and operating one’s own data center. “There are a lot of data centers that are not highly utilized. If they utilize their assets at 20%, they're doing well. What we can do is aggregate a lot of demand across a lot of different time zones and use cases.” __Forbes, “Amazon's Golden Cloud”, 2009-JUN-29, (http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/26/amazon-cloud-computing-technology-cio-network-outsourcing.html )
Cloud computing allows us to aggregate demand across use cases, business processes, business capabilities, business units, time zones, and even companies. The Public Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, and Private Cloud options allow companies to achieve balance between their specific business and security requirements and their financial and environmental objectives.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
Physical constraints within existing infrastructure are playing a part in the move to ‘Green IT.’ Faced with power density, utility company feed, cooling capacity, and floor-space and rack-space constraints, companies have relocated to new ‘Green’ data centers and have moved to the Cloud.
Economic pressures are also playing a part in the move to ‘Green IT.’ Energy consumption will continue to be a concern for business and IT executives. Increasing energy use in developing countries including China and India will place demand-side pressure on energy prices world-wide. The growing computational workloads and the growing number of computing devices of all types around the world will add further demand-side pressure. “And the other thing we’re finding is that in terms of energy consumption, that the trajectory, it’s a one-way street where we continue to consume more and more energy, and these data centers tend to be energy hogs, and we need to find a fundamentally different strategy as we think about bending this curve as far as data center growth is concerned.” __ Vivek Kundra, ‘The Economic Gains of Cloud Computing’, An Address, The Brookings Institution, 2010-APR-07, (http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/0407_cloud_computing.aspx )
The Cloud Computing paradigm helps companies bend the curve to achieve their ‘Green IT’ objectives: reducing energy consumption, reducing carbon footprints, using less water, and minimizing landfill waste. It is naturally greener than building and operating one’s own data center. “There are a lot of data centers that are not highly utilized. If they utilize their assets at 20%, they're doing well. What we can do is aggregate a lot of demand across a lot of different time zones and use cases.” __Forbes, “Amazon's Golden Cloud”, 2009-JUN-29, (http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/26/amazon-cloud-computing-technology-cio-network-outsourcing.html )
Cloud computing allows us to aggregate demand across use cases, business processes, business capabilities, business units, time zones, and even companies. The Public Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, and Private Cloud options allow companies to achieve balance between their specific business and security requirements and their financial and environmental objectives.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Finding Value in Cloud Computing – Part 8: OpEx Management
Organizations have learned that acquisition and implementation costs are only a small part of their total cost of ownership (TCO). To reduce and contain OpEx, prudent organizations are seeking to reduce management costs. The Cloud Computing paradigm reduces the physical IT estate, integrates service management tools, and enhances service management effectiveness. These reduce service management efforts and costs, and contribute to reducing and containing OpEx.
Organizations can achieve further OpEx reduction and containment through the service-orientation and SLA-driven aspects of the Cloud Computing paradigm. Composing applications from discrete loosely-coupled services reduces development, enhancement, and maintenance costs. Automating the dynamic management of fluctuating workloads and changing priorities reduces service management demands on costly professional resources. Service orientation and service level delivery leverage automation, process improvement, resource sharing, virtualization, economy of scale to reduce and contain IT OpEx.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
Organizations can achieve further OpEx reduction and containment through the service-orientation and SLA-driven aspects of the Cloud Computing paradigm. Composing applications from discrete loosely-coupled services reduces development, enhancement, and maintenance costs. Automating the dynamic management of fluctuating workloads and changing priorities reduces service management demands on costly professional resources. Service orientation and service level delivery leverage automation, process improvement, resource sharing, virtualization, economy of scale to reduce and contain IT OpEx.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
Monday, February 7, 2011
Finding Value in Cloud Computing – Part 7: CapEx Management
Cost reduction and containment are significant drivers behind Cloud computing adoption. IT departments are seeking ways to reduce new IT spending and to extract more value from their existing IT environments. Many find that they have IT assets that are significantly under-utilized. The federal government faced this problem and opportunity with its thousands of data centers and hundreds of thousands of servers around the world. The Federal CTO assessed the situation, “Now, when you think about these data centers, one of the most troubling aspects about the data centers is that in a lot of these cases, we’re finding that server utilization is actually around seven percent, that’s unacceptable when you think about all the resources that we’ve invested.” __ Vivek Kundra, ‘The Economic Gains of Cloud Computing’, An Address, The Brookings Institution, 2010-APR-07, ( http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/0407_cloud_computing.aspx )
The Cloud Computing paradigm intentionally minimizes IT asset ownership to translate capital expenditures into operational expenditures resulting in reduced CapEx. The IT assets are shared; improving workload densities and resource utilizations. Virtualization further improves resource utilizations while containing capital expenditures. “When we think about information technology and the potential of cloud computing to lower the cost of government operations, drive innovation, and fundamentally change the way we deliver technology services across the board, we recognize that this is an amazing time in the very early days of cloud computing.” __ Vivek Kundra, ‘The Economic Gains of Cloud Computing’, An Address, The Brookings Institution, 2010-APR-07, ( http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/0407_cloud_computing.aspx )
Organizations can leverage the multi-tenancy capabilities of the Cloud Computing paradigm to allow multiple business units to share infrastructure (IaaS), platforms (Paas), and applications and services (SaaS). They can also leverage Cloud computing’s virtualization capabilities to run multiple applications and/or services on a physical platform or run a large application across several physical platforms. Resource sharing and virtualization increase utilization and improve return on investment (ROI).
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
The Cloud Computing paradigm intentionally minimizes IT asset ownership to translate capital expenditures into operational expenditures resulting in reduced CapEx. The IT assets are shared; improving workload densities and resource utilizations. Virtualization further improves resource utilizations while containing capital expenditures. “When we think about information technology and the potential of cloud computing to lower the cost of government operations, drive innovation, and fundamentally change the way we deliver technology services across the board, we recognize that this is an amazing time in the very early days of cloud computing.” __ Vivek Kundra, ‘The Economic Gains of Cloud Computing’, An Address, The Brookings Institution, 2010-APR-07, ( http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/0407_cloud_computing.aspx )
Organizations can leverage the multi-tenancy capabilities of the Cloud Computing paradigm to allow multiple business units to share infrastructure (IaaS), platforms (Paas), and applications and services (SaaS). They can also leverage Cloud computing’s virtualization capabilities to run multiple applications and/or services on a physical platform or run a large application across several physical platforms. Resource sharing and virtualization increase utilization and improve return on investment (ROI).
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
Friday, February 4, 2011
Finding Value in Cloud Computing – Part 6: Elastic Capacity
A highly elastic, scalable, and flexible IT environment is critical to organizations seeking to remain competitive or enhance their competitive position. The Cloud Computing paradigm provides elasticity to support changing workloads and business priorities. Applications, services, and infrastructure can be scaled up or down as needed. “Elasticity is a trait of shared pools of resources. … Elasticity is associated with not only scale but also an economic model that enables scaling in both directions in an automated fashion. This means that services scale on demand to add or remove resources as needed.” __Gartner, Press Release, 2009-JUN-23, ( http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1035013 )
Organizations can leverage the elastic capabilities of Cloud computing to serve varying workloads; from small departmental applications to large enterprise applications, and from routine transactions associated with daily operations to large transaction spikes from special promotions. Enterprises can also leverage the service-oriented capabilities of Cloud computing to evolve transaction processing as business requirements change, to improve resource utilization, and to manage costs as well as allocate costs by allow business units to pay only for capacity that is actually used.
The relevant question is how to begin transforming the IT estate so that applications and workloads can effectively and efficiently benefit from Cloud computing to better support the business. Organizations seeking to leverage their IT environments for competitive advantage are beginning to transform their data centers to enable and automate their ‘Core’ and ‘Differentiating’ business capabilities and processes cost effectively using the Cloud Computing paradigm.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
Organizations can leverage the elastic capabilities of Cloud computing to serve varying workloads; from small departmental applications to large enterprise applications, and from routine transactions associated with daily operations to large transaction spikes from special promotions. Enterprises can also leverage the service-oriented capabilities of Cloud computing to evolve transaction processing as business requirements change, to improve resource utilization, and to manage costs as well as allocate costs by allow business units to pay only for capacity that is actually used.
The relevant question is how to begin transforming the IT estate so that applications and workloads can effectively and efficiently benefit from Cloud computing to better support the business. Organizations seeking to leverage their IT environments for competitive advantage are beginning to transform their data centers to enable and automate their ‘Core’ and ‘Differentiating’ business capabilities and processes cost effectively using the Cloud Computing paradigm.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Finding Value in Cloud Computing – Part 5: Time to Market
It is not surprising that Cloud computing has captured the attention of IT departments. Promising higher resource utilization and decreased demands on data center power, cooling, and footprint, Cloud computing is attractive to those seeking cost reduction and containment.
Facing greater market and competitive pressures, IT departments are also looking to Cloud computing to improve time-to-market for new and enhanced applications. Given the Cloud computing maturity level, Gartner recommends that organizations “…focus on opportunistic solutions — quick-hit, tactical opportunities where time to market and developer productivity outweigh long-term technical viability…” __Gartner, Press Release, 2009-FEB-02, ( http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=871113 )
However, IT-driven time-to-market initiatives are mostly tactical and often miss strategic business time-to-market opportunities. Such strategic opportunities extend well outside the IT department boundaries. Organizations can utilize the Cloud Computing paradigm to accelerate time-to-market for new products and services. When coupled with Business Intelligence capabilities, the Cloud allows companies to learn from and respond to customer needs, wants, inquiries, and complaints. Amazon has modeled the way, “Even more interesting are the experiments using cloud computing to accelerate learning from customers, speeding up both time-to-market and customer feedback. For instance, Amazon uses its own cloud-based Relational Database Service to much more quickly and cheaply manipulate the tremendous amount of data it generates from simulations of its 98 million active customers.” __Forbes, ‘Learning From The Cloud’, 2010-OCT-20, ( http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/20/microsoft-amazon-varian-technology-cloud.html )
Organizations can further enhance the time-to-market value proposition by coupling the Business Intelligence capabilities with enterprise sense-&-respond and social media capabilities. The organization achieves integrated market-awareness, marketing and sales, product and service development and delivery, and customer service with near-real-time responsiveness. “A dramatically higher level of experimentation and learning--and therefore talent development--is the real potential of cloud computing. Those who understand and harness these forces can develop a significant advantage relative to those who continue to view the cloud as just another form of low-cost IT outsourcing.” __Forbes, ‘Learning From The Cloud’, 2010-OCT-20, ( http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/20/microsoft-amazon-varian-technology-cloud.html )
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood )
Facing greater market and competitive pressures, IT departments are also looking to Cloud computing to improve time-to-market for new and enhanced applications. Given the Cloud computing maturity level, Gartner recommends that organizations “…focus on opportunistic solutions — quick-hit, tactical opportunities where time to market and developer productivity outweigh long-term technical viability…” __Gartner, Press Release, 2009-FEB-02, ( http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=871113 )
However, IT-driven time-to-market initiatives are mostly tactical and often miss strategic business time-to-market opportunities. Such strategic opportunities extend well outside the IT department boundaries. Organizations can utilize the Cloud Computing paradigm to accelerate time-to-market for new products and services. When coupled with Business Intelligence capabilities, the Cloud allows companies to learn from and respond to customer needs, wants, inquiries, and complaints. Amazon has modeled the way, “Even more interesting are the experiments using cloud computing to accelerate learning from customers, speeding up both time-to-market and customer feedback. For instance, Amazon uses its own cloud-based Relational Database Service to much more quickly and cheaply manipulate the tremendous amount of data it generates from simulations of its 98 million active customers.” __Forbes, ‘Learning From The Cloud’, 2010-OCT-20, ( http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/20/microsoft-amazon-varian-technology-cloud.html )
Organizations can further enhance the time-to-market value proposition by coupling the Business Intelligence capabilities with enterprise sense-&-respond and social media capabilities. The organization achieves integrated market-awareness, marketing and sales, product and service development and delivery, and customer service with near-real-time responsiveness. “A dramatically higher level of experimentation and learning--and therefore talent development--is the real potential of cloud computing. Those who understand and harness these forces can develop a significant advantage relative to those who continue to view the cloud as just another form of low-cost IT outsourcing.” __Forbes, ‘Learning From The Cloud’, 2010-OCT-20, ( http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/20/microsoft-amazon-varian-technology-cloud.html )
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood )
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Finding Value in Cloud Computing – Part 4: Resource Leverage
People and organizations have formed alliances and partnerships with others for centuries. The strengths and advantages of each member in the value chain facilitate creating and delivering products and services to customers at competitive prices.
The Cloud Computing paradigm provides another platform for establishing alliances and partnerships and building value chains. Its service-orientation makes it flexible to changing demands and new opportunities. Membership within the value chain can change quickly to incorporate new members and leverage their strengths and advantages.
Organizations can use the Cloud computing paradigm to build and evolve value chains in which they focus on enabling and automating their ‘Core’ and ‘Differentiating’ business capabilities and processes. These organizations invite partners to participate in those functions where the partners bring strengths. The partner organizations deliver, what is for them, ‘Core’ and ‘Differentiating’.
This allows each organization to more sharply focus its professional and technical resources on creating and delivering products and services, serving customers, and generating revenue.
__ Joseph Starwood ( www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood )
The Cloud Computing paradigm provides another platform for establishing alliances and partnerships and building value chains. Its service-orientation makes it flexible to changing demands and new opportunities. Membership within the value chain can change quickly to incorporate new members and leverage their strengths and advantages.
Organizations can use the Cloud computing paradigm to build and evolve value chains in which they focus on enabling and automating their ‘Core’ and ‘Differentiating’ business capabilities and processes. These organizations invite partners to participate in those functions where the partners bring strengths. The partner organizations deliver, what is for them, ‘Core’ and ‘Differentiating’.
This allows each organization to more sharply focus its professional and technical resources on creating and delivering products and services, serving customers, and generating revenue.
__ Joseph Starwood ( www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood )
Monday, January 31, 2011
Finding Value in Cloud Computing – Part 3: Business Focus
Most business and IT executives would rather invest in those business capabilities and processes that are essential to serving their customers and that differentiate them from the competition. They are focused on enabling and automating their ‘Core’ and ‘Differentiating’ business capabilities and processes.
The Cloud Computing paradigm allows organizations to focus their professional and technical resources on building and delivering functionality that provides business value. This minimizes investment in business capabilities and processes that are not ‘Core’ or ‘Differentiating’.
Whether in the form of a Public Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, or Private Cloud, organizations can leverage the service-orientation within the Cloud computing paradigm to focus IT investments on solving business problems and enabling business capabilities rather than technical details.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
The Cloud Computing paradigm allows organizations to focus their professional and technical resources on building and delivering functionality that provides business value. This minimizes investment in business capabilities and processes that are not ‘Core’ or ‘Differentiating’.
Whether in the form of a Public Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, or Private Cloud, organizations can leverage the service-orientation within the Cloud computing paradigm to focus IT investments on solving business problems and enabling business capabilities rather than technical details.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
Friday, January 28, 2011
Finding Value in Cloud Computing – Part 2: Business-IT Alignment
Increasingly, business are insisting that the information technology (IT) function lead innovation of business practices and contribute to increased revenue generation. “If IT still thinks of itself as something that keeps the lights on, it is limiting its potential. Today, business wants IT to lead the way and show how to: Acquire more customers, enhance customer experience and keep employees happy.” __CIO.com, ‘2011 Non-tech Prediction: Business-IT Alignment’, 2011_JAN-19, (http://www.cio.in/article/2011-non-tech-prediction-business-it-alignment)
The Cloud computing paradigm can help organizations transform the role of the IT function and ensure that it meets these goals. Many organizations are using Cloud computing to deliver services to their customer in ways not previously practical. Additionally, the Cloud computing paradigm is enabling organizations to offer new services and improved pricing to their customers. General Electric (GE), for example, leveraged Cloud computing to greatly improve its global supply chain and e-procurement capabilities. __CIO.com, ‘GE CIO Gets His Head in the Cloud for New SaaS Supply Chain App’, 2009-JAN-22, (http://www.cio.com/article/477499/GE_CIO_Gets_His_Head_in_the_Cloud_for_New_SaaS_Supply_Chain_App)
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
The Cloud computing paradigm can help organizations transform the role of the IT function and ensure that it meets these goals. Many organizations are using Cloud computing to deliver services to their customer in ways not previously practical. Additionally, the Cloud computing paradigm is enabling organizations to offer new services and improved pricing to their customers. General Electric (GE), for example, leveraged Cloud computing to greatly improve its global supply chain and e-procurement capabilities. __CIO.com, ‘GE CIO Gets His Head in the Cloud for New SaaS Supply Chain App’, 2009-JAN-22, (http://www.cio.com/article/477499/GE_CIO_Gets_His_Head_in_the_Cloud_for_New_SaaS_Supply_Chain_App)
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Finding Value in Cloud Computing – Part 1: Introduction
Businesses, under increasing market and competitive pressures, are seeking new ways to improve business operations, enhance value propositions, meet variable demands, reduce costs, and manage risks. Cloud computing presents a viable option for many organizations.
Interest in Cloud computing has grown over the past few years. Today, it is the investment option most on the minds of these executives. “A report just published claims to show that cloud computing has shot up to the top of the agenda in most corporates, as the number one investment priority in the IT stakes for the year ahead.” __InfoSecurity.com (UK), ‘Cloud computing is top investment priority for 2011’,2011-JAN-27, (http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/15480/cloud-computing-is-top-investment-priority-for-2011/)
Cloud computing has captured the attention of Business and IT executives around the world; especially those in emerging market economies. “Don't be surprised if the growth rates of cloud computing in emerging economies far outstrips that in more developed nations.” __CIO.com, ‘Cloud Computing: 2011 Predictions’2010-DEC-09, (http://www.cio.com/article/645763/Cloud_Computing_2011_Predictions?page=2&taxonomyId=3112)
An Enterprise may obtain several benefits from the Cloud computing paradigm. These include:
Interest in Cloud computing has grown over the past few years. Today, it is the investment option most on the minds of these executives. “A report just published claims to show that cloud computing has shot up to the top of the agenda in most corporates, as the number one investment priority in the IT stakes for the year ahead.” __InfoSecurity.com (UK), ‘Cloud computing is top investment priority for 2011’,2011-JAN-27, (http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/15480/cloud-computing-is-top-investment-priority-for-2011/)
Cloud computing has captured the attention of Business and IT executives around the world; especially those in emerging market economies. “Don't be surprised if the growth rates of cloud computing in emerging economies far outstrips that in more developed nations.” __CIO.com, ‘Cloud Computing: 2011 Predictions’2010-DEC-09, (http://www.cio.com/article/645763/Cloud_Computing_2011_Predictions?page=2&taxonomyId=3112)
An Enterprise may obtain several benefits from the Cloud computing paradigm. These include:
- Business-IT Alignment
- Business Focus
- Resource Leverage
- Time-To-Market
- Elastic Capacity
- CapEx Management
- OpEx Management
- Green Initiatives
This is the first in a series of articles in which we will explore the benefits of Cloud Computing.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
Monday, January 10, 2011
Executive Seminar – Enabling IT Value Through EA – Prof. Jeanne Ross
Executive Seminar – Enabling IT Value Through EA – Prof. Jeanne Ross
Location: Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Peter B. Lewis Building Room 201, 11119 Bellflower Road, Cleveland OH 44106
Date: 2011-02-18 / Time: 12 Noon
Price: Free
Spaces Available: Limited Space Remaining
Description
This premier half-day seminar is brought to Northeast Ohio collaboratively by the Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management, the Northeast Ohio IT and Enterprise Architects (NEO-ITEA), and the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Society for Information Management (SIM). It provides an opportunity to engage with recognized experts and local IT executives to identify the roadblocks standing in the way of realizing the full value of IT investments. Discover how enterprise architecture can overcome roadblocks, enabling corporate strategies and turning IT from a liability to a strategic asset.
This event is essential for business and IT executives and leaders, enterprise and IT architects, and others with a stake in enabling IT value and driving business–IT alignment.
Registration is free and does not require NEO-ITEA membership.
About Prof. Jeanne Ross
Dr Jeanne W. Ross, Director and Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Sloan School’s Center for Information Systems Research is our keynote speaker. Dr Ross is a nationally recognized authority on leveraging Enterprise Architecture to enable business strategies and corporate operating models, and is the co-author of several widely read books: 1) Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution; 2) IT Savvy: What Top Executives Must Know to Go from Pain to Gain; and, 3) IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT Decision Rights for Superior Results.
Special Features
In addition to Dr. Ross’ keynote, Case Western Reserve University will present their research on the impact of enterprise architecture on the performance of Federal Government Agencies, IBM will present on the impact of enterprise architecture on financial companies, and there will be a Panel discussion with Dr Ross, corporate IT executives and IBM speaker on opportunities and challenges in leveraging Enterprise Architecture to gain IT value.
Space is limited. Register now! http://www.neoitea.com/ea-seminar/
__ Joseph Starwood, NEO-ITEA Co-Founder & Past-Secretary (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
Location: Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Peter B. Lewis Building Room 201, 11119 Bellflower Road, Cleveland OH 44106
Date: 2011-02-18 / Time: 12 Noon
Price: Free
Spaces Available: Limited Space Remaining
Description
This premier half-day seminar is brought to Northeast Ohio collaboratively by the Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management, the Northeast Ohio IT and Enterprise Architects (NEO-ITEA), and the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Society for Information Management (SIM). It provides an opportunity to engage with recognized experts and local IT executives to identify the roadblocks standing in the way of realizing the full value of IT investments. Discover how enterprise architecture can overcome roadblocks, enabling corporate strategies and turning IT from a liability to a strategic asset.
This event is essential for business and IT executives and leaders, enterprise and IT architects, and others with a stake in enabling IT value and driving business–IT alignment.
Registration is free and does not require NEO-ITEA membership.
About Prof. Jeanne Ross
Dr Jeanne W. Ross, Director and Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Sloan School’s Center for Information Systems Research is our keynote speaker. Dr Ross is a nationally recognized authority on leveraging Enterprise Architecture to enable business strategies and corporate operating models, and is the co-author of several widely read books: 1) Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution; 2) IT Savvy: What Top Executives Must Know to Go from Pain to Gain; and, 3) IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT Decision Rights for Superior Results.
Special Features
In addition to Dr. Ross’ keynote, Case Western Reserve University will present their research on the impact of enterprise architecture on the performance of Federal Government Agencies, IBM will present on the impact of enterprise architecture on financial companies, and there will be a Panel discussion with Dr Ross, corporate IT executives and IBM speaker on opportunities and challenges in leveraging Enterprise Architecture to gain IT value.
Space is limited. Register now! http://www.neoitea.com/ea-seminar/
__ Joseph Starwood, NEO-ITEA Co-Founder & Past-Secretary (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Does your company need an IT Department? Really?
What if your company built its factories and offices the way they build IT solutions?
Say that your company needs a new factory or office. It would form several subsidiary companies and a department to oversee them. One subsidiary would provide architectural services, one would serve as general contractor, and others would provide concrete, electrical, plumbing, and carpentry services. Still others would be formed to provide interior design services, and equip the offices and cubicles. Through these subsidiaries, your company would hire architects, managers, engineers, concrete workers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, bricklayers, interior designers, and other laborers. None of these actually make the products or provide the services your company sells to its customers!
These subsidiaries would then create their respective processes and standards. These would differ from industry accepted processes and standards because ‘your company does things differently’. Finalizing the architecture and designs for the new factory or office would be a real challenge. The carpenters would have one set of requirements, while the managers would have another set; and so on across the subsidiaries. After reworking the requirements, the managers would solve the problem by creating a new role, the ‘Relationship Manager’. The Relationship Managers would be the points-of-contact for gathering the requirements from your business executives and managers. When a requirement appears too difficult, it is the Relationship Manager’s job to tell the business why the factory or office can’t have the required feature; such a double door or an escalator. Finally your company’s new factory or office would be delivered – late and over budget; assuming that the project did not fail – an all too frequent outcome!
When the factory or office was complete, your company would form another subsidiary company to run the facility. The workers in this ‘Operations’ subsidiary would spend most of their time compensating for and patching significant building defects just to keep the building running. Disasters would be common. After such disasters, the workers would restore the electricity following an ‘Uninterruptible Power Supply’ (UPS) failure, brace walls and floors when they ‘Went Down’, rebuild the elevator system following a ‘Crash’, or spray large quantities of toxic chemicals for ‘Bug’ infestations. Security breaches would be common as well. Intruders would enter the factory or building; some brought in as guests by careless employees. They would install viruses, worms, and Trojan horses to spy on your company, steal its secrets, and damage its ability to conduct business. Workers in both the ‘Security’ and ‘Operations’ subsidiaries would apply still more patches to prevent intrusion as well as detect and neutralize the viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. None of which actually make the products or provide the services your company sells to its customers!
Finally, your company would seek to make changes to the factory or office, or even build more factories and offices. This is necessary to keep the workers in the various subsidiaries busy. Remember, your company just made a large investment creating these subsidiaries!
So how do companies really get their factories and offices?
In the real world, there are two common approaches.
In the first case, your company would recognize the need for a new factory or office. It would engage an architectural firm specializing in the type of factory or office required. The architectural firm would present a few options that meet the business requirements. After some revisions, the selected option would be placed out to general contractors for bid. These general contactors likewise specialize in the type of factory or office required. The general contactor with the winning bid would then engage subcontractors for the concrete, plumbing, electrical, and so on. Your company would also engage a firm to design the interior, and layout the production lines, offices, cubicles, and other equipment. As planned, the new factory would be delivered ready for move-in. Your company would have contracts in place for janitorial services, and other routine maintenance. In this case, your company owns the facility but not the means to create it. In IT, this is referred to as ‘Out-Sourcing’.
In the second case, your company would lease the capability and capacity from a provider. If a factory is needed, a contract manufacturer is engaged. If an office is needed, a commercial space is leased. In this case, your company owns neither the facility nor the means to create it. In IT, this is referred to as the ‘Cloud’.
Does your company need its own IT Department?
Your company already trusts architects, contractors, and providers for the factories that produce millions, even billions, of dollars in products each year; or, for offices that safely support your workers and encourage their productivity. So why does your company insist on owning the computing as well as the means of creating it? Unless your company actually sells IT products and/or services, the IT is not a core business capability.
It’s time to bring in the professionals!
__Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
Say that your company needs a new factory or office. It would form several subsidiary companies and a department to oversee them. One subsidiary would provide architectural services, one would serve as general contractor, and others would provide concrete, electrical, plumbing, and carpentry services. Still others would be formed to provide interior design services, and equip the offices and cubicles. Through these subsidiaries, your company would hire architects, managers, engineers, concrete workers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, bricklayers, interior designers, and other laborers. None of these actually make the products or provide the services your company sells to its customers!
These subsidiaries would then create their respective processes and standards. These would differ from industry accepted processes and standards because ‘your company does things differently’. Finalizing the architecture and designs for the new factory or office would be a real challenge. The carpenters would have one set of requirements, while the managers would have another set; and so on across the subsidiaries. After reworking the requirements, the managers would solve the problem by creating a new role, the ‘Relationship Manager’. The Relationship Managers would be the points-of-contact for gathering the requirements from your business executives and managers. When a requirement appears too difficult, it is the Relationship Manager’s job to tell the business why the factory or office can’t have the required feature; such a double door or an escalator. Finally your company’s new factory or office would be delivered – late and over budget; assuming that the project did not fail – an all too frequent outcome!
When the factory or office was complete, your company would form another subsidiary company to run the facility. The workers in this ‘Operations’ subsidiary would spend most of their time compensating for and patching significant building defects just to keep the building running. Disasters would be common. After such disasters, the workers would restore the electricity following an ‘Uninterruptible Power Supply’ (UPS) failure, brace walls and floors when they ‘Went Down’, rebuild the elevator system following a ‘Crash’, or spray large quantities of toxic chemicals for ‘Bug’ infestations. Security breaches would be common as well. Intruders would enter the factory or building; some brought in as guests by careless employees. They would install viruses, worms, and Trojan horses to spy on your company, steal its secrets, and damage its ability to conduct business. Workers in both the ‘Security’ and ‘Operations’ subsidiaries would apply still more patches to prevent intrusion as well as detect and neutralize the viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. None of which actually make the products or provide the services your company sells to its customers!
Finally, your company would seek to make changes to the factory or office, or even build more factories and offices. This is necessary to keep the workers in the various subsidiaries busy. Remember, your company just made a large investment creating these subsidiaries!
So how do companies really get their factories and offices?
In the real world, there are two common approaches.
In the first case, your company would recognize the need for a new factory or office. It would engage an architectural firm specializing in the type of factory or office required. The architectural firm would present a few options that meet the business requirements. After some revisions, the selected option would be placed out to general contractors for bid. These general contactors likewise specialize in the type of factory or office required. The general contactor with the winning bid would then engage subcontractors for the concrete, plumbing, electrical, and so on. Your company would also engage a firm to design the interior, and layout the production lines, offices, cubicles, and other equipment. As planned, the new factory would be delivered ready for move-in. Your company would have contracts in place for janitorial services, and other routine maintenance. In this case, your company owns the facility but not the means to create it. In IT, this is referred to as ‘Out-Sourcing’.
In the second case, your company would lease the capability and capacity from a provider. If a factory is needed, a contract manufacturer is engaged. If an office is needed, a commercial space is leased. In this case, your company owns neither the facility nor the means to create it. In IT, this is referred to as the ‘Cloud’.
Does your company need its own IT Department?
Your company already trusts architects, contractors, and providers for the factories that produce millions, even billions, of dollars in products each year; or, for offices that safely support your workers and encourage their productivity. So why does your company insist on owning the computing as well as the means of creating it? Unless your company actually sells IT products and/or services, the IT is not a core business capability.
It’s time to bring in the professionals!
__Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Enterprise Architecture Roadmaps & Milestones
The Enterprise Architecture defines essential business and IT capabilities. The Enterprise Architecture Roadmap specifies the dependency-order among these capabilities. Realizing the Enterprise Architecture Roadmap requires that each milestone be implemented as changes to the IT Environment through IT Portfolio Projects and/or IT Asset Initiatives.
Whether separate or combined, most organizations perform IT Portfolio Planning and IT Asset Planning. This planning involves developing a business case and estimates to support prioritization and investment.
Enterprise Architecture provides the Technical Approach for each IT Portfolio Project and IT Asset Initiative. The Technical Approach, a directional document, identifies describes the Enterprise Architecture Roadmap milestone associated with the project or initiative. The description includes the general technical direction, risks, assumptions, dependencies, and benefits. The Technical Approach establishes a rational basis for prioritizing and estimating the project or initiative.
As each IT Portfolio Project or IT Asset Initiative begins, Enterprise Architecture provisions a Project Start Architecture [Cutter Consortium, 2010], also referred to as a Target Architecture [TOGAF Version 9, 2009]. The Project Start Architecture conforms to the established Technical Approach, and may add new Enterprise Architecture requirements or constraints defined since the planning stage. It presents the Conceptual Architecture for the intended IT solution, and may also include Logical and Physical Architecture aspects when providing specific direction to the project or initiative.
Architecture Governance is applied consistently. Milestone reviews (a.k.a.: Gate reviews) are conducted for the Technical Approach and the Project Start Architecture as well as the subsequent Software Architecture Document (SAD). When Architecture Issues arise, the Architecture Review Board (ARB) engages with the project or initiative to provide a resolution. In some cases, the ARB grants an Architecture Exception (Exemption) that may specify a future remedy.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
Whether separate or combined, most organizations perform IT Portfolio Planning and IT Asset Planning. This planning involves developing a business case and estimates to support prioritization and investment.
Enterprise Architecture provides the Technical Approach for each IT Portfolio Project and IT Asset Initiative. The Technical Approach, a directional document, identifies describes the Enterprise Architecture Roadmap milestone associated with the project or initiative. The description includes the general technical direction, risks, assumptions, dependencies, and benefits. The Technical Approach establishes a rational basis for prioritizing and estimating the project or initiative.
As each IT Portfolio Project or IT Asset Initiative begins, Enterprise Architecture provisions a Project Start Architecture [Cutter Consortium, 2010], also referred to as a Target Architecture [TOGAF Version 9, 2009]. The Project Start Architecture conforms to the established Technical Approach, and may add new Enterprise Architecture requirements or constraints defined since the planning stage. It presents the Conceptual Architecture for the intended IT solution, and may also include Logical and Physical Architecture aspects when providing specific direction to the project or initiative.
Architecture Governance is applied consistently. Milestone reviews (a.k.a.: Gate reviews) are conducted for the Technical Approach and the Project Start Architecture as well as the subsequent Software Architecture Document (SAD). When Architecture Issues arise, the Architecture Review Board (ARB) engages with the project or initiative to provide a resolution. In some cases, the ARB grants an Architecture Exception (Exemption) that may specify a future remedy.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
Organizational Change & Business-IT Alignment
Organizational change is never easy. It is also unavoidable. Organizations face an ever increasing rate of change. New business opportunities and threats emerge daily. Global competition impacts nearly every industry. Technology advances at a blistering pace. It even changes customer expectations about the products and services an organization provides and how it interacts with its customers.
Enterprise Architecture and Roadmaps can ease the pain of change. With these tools, an organization can navigate forward; avoiding pitfalls and delays. Even with these tools, people remain both the key resource for, as well as greatest challenge to, implementing organizational change.
Aligning groups and individuals throughout the organization builds synergy. This alignment must be architected ‘Top-Down’, and must address structure, roles, responsibilities, and objectives. The structure must reflect the scope of work to be preformed by a group as well as its interfaces with other groups. Roles and responsibilities must be defined so as to accomplish the scope of work and collaborate with other groups. The group and individual objectives must be aligned with the business and IT strategies and plans according to their function and level. This last item is perhaps the most overlooked aspect for many companies.
Aligning groups and individuals can be approached along three lines of reasoning: 1) Business-IT Alignment; 2) Financial-Execution Alignment; and, 3) Governance Alignment. Think of these as ‘Three Pillars’ extending from the Business through Enterprise Architecture to IT. When groups and individuals are aligned so as to support the Business-IT Alignment, changes to the vision become measurable results –IT solutions. IT investment becomes more focused as groups and individuals work within the Financial—Execution Alignment. Increasing synergy across the organization is apparent when groups and individuals engage in the Governance Alignment.
Metrics can be aligned using the ‘Three Pillars’ approach. Some organizations experience difficulty defining metrics that roll-up to meaningful business and IT KPIs. The ‘Three Pillars’ pose questions: 1) How well are business and IT aligned?; 2) How well are business and IT performing?; and, 3) Did we obtain the results we expected? The latter supports metrics that verify we conducted processes as we intended, and that validate what we intended is actually correct.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
Enterprise Architecture and Roadmaps can ease the pain of change. With these tools, an organization can navigate forward; avoiding pitfalls and delays. Even with these tools, people remain both the key resource for, as well as greatest challenge to, implementing organizational change.
Aligning groups and individuals throughout the organization builds synergy. This alignment must be architected ‘Top-Down’, and must address structure, roles, responsibilities, and objectives. The structure must reflect the scope of work to be preformed by a group as well as its interfaces with other groups. Roles and responsibilities must be defined so as to accomplish the scope of work and collaborate with other groups. The group and individual objectives must be aligned with the business and IT strategies and plans according to their function and level. This last item is perhaps the most overlooked aspect for many companies.
Aligning groups and individuals can be approached along three lines of reasoning: 1) Business-IT Alignment; 2) Financial-Execution Alignment; and, 3) Governance Alignment. Think of these as ‘Three Pillars’ extending from the Business through Enterprise Architecture to IT. When groups and individuals are aligned so as to support the Business-IT Alignment, changes to the vision become measurable results –IT solutions. IT investment becomes more focused as groups and individuals work within the Financial—Execution Alignment. Increasing synergy across the organization is apparent when groups and individuals engage in the Governance Alignment.
Metrics can be aligned using the ‘Three Pillars’ approach. Some organizations experience difficulty defining metrics that roll-up to meaningful business and IT KPIs. The ‘Three Pillars’ pose questions: 1) How well are business and IT aligned?; 2) How well are business and IT performing?; and, 3) Did we obtain the results we expected? The latter supports metrics that verify we conducted processes as we intended, and that validate what we intended is actually correct.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
Goverance and Enterprise Architecture Roadmaps
Many organizations struggle to establish and mature their Enterprise Architecture Roadmaps. The challenges they face are numerous: organizational change, cultural change, skills development, process change, technology adoption, etc. Enterprise Architecture Roadmaps improve alignment between business objectives and IT investment, and enhance communication between business and IT stakeholders.
Some organizations are finding support from the “10-Step Roadmapping Process” from the Enterprise Architecture Executive Council (EAEC; https://www.eaec.executiveboard.com/Public/Default.aspx). This process provides a customizable set of frameworks that embody the ‘Best Practices’ for building and maintaining sound roadmaps.
EAEC’s “10-Step Roadmapping Process” integrates Governance. Two aspects are emphasized: 1) Determine Ownership; and, 2) Establish Metrics.
Roles and responsibilities, especially around decision rights, are incorporated within the Determine Ownership aspect. To achieve Business-IT alignment the organizational structure and the group and individual performance objectives must also be considered and brought into alignment. The Determine Ownership aspect also sets the cadence for activities. This is critical to ensuring that progress meets key business deadlines while avoiding ‘quick shortcuts’ that jeopardize long-term business objectives.
Metrics are essential for establishing an objective and quantitative measure of success. EAEC’s “10-Step Roadmapping Process” emphasizes the success of Enterprise Architecture Roadmaps. However, metrics are also essential to measuring Business-IT Alignment, Financial-Execution Alignment, and Governance Alignment.
Just as Business-IT Alignment is architected ‘Top-Down’ from Business to IT, so to must Ownership and Metrics be architected ‘Top-Down’. This facilitates arriving at the minimum number of well-aligned roles and metrics necessary to achieve success.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
Some organizations are finding support from the “10-Step Roadmapping Process” from the Enterprise Architecture Executive Council (EAEC; https://www.eaec.executiveboard.com/Public/Default.aspx). This process provides a customizable set of frameworks that embody the ‘Best Practices’ for building and maintaining sound roadmaps.
EAEC’s “10-Step Roadmapping Process” integrates Governance. Two aspects are emphasized: 1) Determine Ownership; and, 2) Establish Metrics.
Roles and responsibilities, especially around decision rights, are incorporated within the Determine Ownership aspect. To achieve Business-IT alignment the organizational structure and the group and individual performance objectives must also be considered and brought into alignment. The Determine Ownership aspect also sets the cadence for activities. This is critical to ensuring that progress meets key business deadlines while avoiding ‘quick shortcuts’ that jeopardize long-term business objectives.
Metrics are essential for establishing an objective and quantitative measure of success. EAEC’s “10-Step Roadmapping Process” emphasizes the success of Enterprise Architecture Roadmaps. However, metrics are also essential to measuring Business-IT Alignment, Financial-Execution Alignment, and Governance Alignment.
Just as Business-IT Alignment is architected ‘Top-Down’ from Business to IT, so to must Ownership and Metrics be architected ‘Top-Down’. This facilitates arriving at the minimum number of well-aligned roles and metrics necessary to achieve success.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
An Approach to Business-IT Alignment
There are many methods and models for establishing and maturing Business-IT alignment as well as unifying IT disciplines – at least as many as consulting companies offering business and IT products and services!
Unfortunately, theses methods and models have limitations. Some are more applicable to one industry or another. Some are more applicable at the strategic level. Most emphasize the tactical level where IT products and services can be sold.
There is an opportunity to bridge the gaps between Business and IT, between strategy and tactics, and between development and operation of IT solutions. This opportunity and its challenges can be approached along three lines of reasoning: 1) Business-IT Alignment; 2) Financial-Execution Alignment; and, 3) Governance Alignment. Think of these as ‘Three Pillars’ extending from the Business through Enterprise Architecture to IT.
Enterprise Architecture bridges the Business Operating Model to the IT Operating Model. It establishes Business-IT alignment. IT Management and its many supporting IT disciplines bridge business objectives to IT automation and controls. These establish Financial-Execution alignment. Architecture Governance bridges Corporate Governance to IT Governance. It establishes Governance alignment. (Many organization place Enterprise Architecture team within the IT department. This may contribute to viewing Architecture Governance as a subset of IT Governance. However, Enterprise Architecture is primarily a strategic business discipline at the nexus of business and technology.)
There is good reason to utilize a ‘Three Pillar’ view. Some organizations are moving their Chief Architecture Officer (CAO) or Chief Enterprise Architect (CEA) under the COO in their executive structures. This is being done to ensure alignment between the Business Operating Model and the IT Operating Model. Some organizations are moving their CIO or CTO under the CFO in their executive structures. The CIO or CTO reports on matters of IT cost, risk, and performance. Recently, many organizations added a Chief Governance Officer (CGO) role to their executive structures in response to new regulatory requirements. The CGO reports to the CEO on matters of corporate governance and regulatory compliance.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
Unfortunately, theses methods and models have limitations. Some are more applicable to one industry or another. Some are more applicable at the strategic level. Most emphasize the tactical level where IT products and services can be sold.
There is an opportunity to bridge the gaps between Business and IT, between strategy and tactics, and between development and operation of IT solutions. This opportunity and its challenges can be approached along three lines of reasoning: 1) Business-IT Alignment; 2) Financial-Execution Alignment; and, 3) Governance Alignment. Think of these as ‘Three Pillars’ extending from the Business through Enterprise Architecture to IT.
Enterprise Architecture bridges the Business Operating Model to the IT Operating Model. It establishes Business-IT alignment. IT Management and its many supporting IT disciplines bridge business objectives to IT automation and controls. These establish Financial-Execution alignment. Architecture Governance bridges Corporate Governance to IT Governance. It establishes Governance alignment. (Many organization place Enterprise Architecture team within the IT department. This may contribute to viewing Architecture Governance as a subset of IT Governance. However, Enterprise Architecture is primarily a strategic business discipline at the nexus of business and technology.)
There is good reason to utilize a ‘Three Pillar’ view. Some organizations are moving their Chief Architecture Officer (CAO) or Chief Enterprise Architect (CEA) under the COO in their executive structures. This is being done to ensure alignment between the Business Operating Model and the IT Operating Model. Some organizations are moving their CIO or CTO under the CFO in their executive structures. The CIO or CTO reports on matters of IT cost, risk, and performance. Recently, many organizations added a Chief Governance Officer (CGO) role to their executive structures in response to new regulatory requirements. The CGO reports to the CEO on matters of corporate governance and regulatory compliance.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
Governance & Business-IT Alignment
Many organizations struggle to build synergy across their IT departments. They turn to consultants for expertise on unifying IT; obtaining assessments of their current IT alignment and maturity as well as recommendations for improvements. The organizations apply some of the recommendations, and adopt various methods and standards as a basis for aligning IT disciplines. Yet, in the end, they must ask themselves, “Did we get the results we expected?”
Governance is essential to establishing and maturing the interfaces between IT disciplines; thereby reducing and eliminating ‘IT Silos’. Governance verifies that we conduct each discipline and exchange information across each inter-discipline interface as we intended. It also validates that what we intended is actually correct. Governance provides management of IT disciplines during their normal operation. It also provides control for these disciplines when issues are encountered and exceptions (exemptions) are required.
Architecture Governance plays a key role in establishing IT alignment with the business. This is critical to validating that what IT intended is actually the correct thing to do for the business. It ensures that the Enterprise Architecture and Roadmaps conform to the business strategy and plans. The strategic alignment establishes a solid foundation for unifying IT.
Architecture Governance further contributes to IT unity through its integrations with other IT disciplines. It ensures that each Target Architecture, a milestone along the Enterprise Architecture Roadmap, furthers the strategic alignment while balancing short-term and long-term objectives. The resulting models and documents provide direction for the subsequent IT disciplines that develop and operate IT solutions.
Through Architecture Governance, professionals executing the IT disciplines are assured that their efforts are focused on doing the right things for the right reasons.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
Governance is essential to establishing and maturing the interfaces between IT disciplines; thereby reducing and eliminating ‘IT Silos’. Governance verifies that we conduct each discipline and exchange information across each inter-discipline interface as we intended. It also validates that what we intended is actually correct. Governance provides management of IT disciplines during their normal operation. It also provides control for these disciplines when issues are encountered and exceptions (exemptions) are required.
Architecture Governance plays a key role in establishing IT alignment with the business. This is critical to validating that what IT intended is actually the correct thing to do for the business. It ensures that the Enterprise Architecture and Roadmaps conform to the business strategy and plans. The strategic alignment establishes a solid foundation for unifying IT.
Architecture Governance further contributes to IT unity through its integrations with other IT disciplines. It ensures that each Target Architecture, a milestone along the Enterprise Architecture Roadmap, furthers the strategic alignment while balancing short-term and long-term objectives. The resulting models and documents provide direction for the subsequent IT disciplines that develop and operate IT solutions.
Through Architecture Governance, professionals executing the IT disciplines are assured that their efforts are focused on doing the right things for the right reasons.
__ Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
The Times They Are a-Changin' __ Bob Dylan
Are you an ‘IT professional’? Are you sure about that?
In We’re Not in IT Anymore, an executive survey results analysis, the Corporate Executive Board “…predicts that three out of every four IT roles will either migrate to business services, evolve into business roles, or will be externalized by 2015.” (http://www.executiveboard.com/it/pdf/The_Future_of_Corporate_IT.pdf)
Those who have followed my postings know my position: professionals in the IT department are business professionals who know and apply information technology for the benefit of the business! So the results from this survey come as no surprise.
However, the implications are profound. The pace of change will be rapid and far-reaching. According to the Corporate Executive Board “…we are embarking on one of the most significant changes to corporate IT in years.” Some challenges are predictable. Organizational change will place great stress on change management functions and maturity, on Human Resource services, and on individual professionals in existing IT departments.
The Enterprise Architectures within these changing organizations will also be under great stress; testing the robustness, flexibility, and maturity. As Enterprise Architects, we must aid our executives in preparing for this significant change. Our efforts to achieve Business-IT Alignment, between the Business Operating Model and the IT Operating Model (IT Vision), will support a smoother transition.
At “Integrate 2010: Uniting the World of IT”, a two-day conference in Cleveland, Benku Thomas, Nour Laaroubi, and I will present a model for establishing Business-IT Alignment through Enterprise Architecture. (http://gcle.itsmfusa.org/?q=content/integrate-2010) We also show how to bridge the chasm between strategic and tactical; that is between the Enterprise Architecture and the IT initiatives (Portfolio projects and Asset enhancements).
__ Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
In We’re Not in IT Anymore, an executive survey results analysis, the Corporate Executive Board “…predicts that three out of every four IT roles will either migrate to business services, evolve into business roles, or will be externalized by 2015.” (http://www.executiveboard.com/it/pdf/The_Future_of_Corporate_IT.pdf)
Those who have followed my postings know my position: professionals in the IT department are business professionals who know and apply information technology for the benefit of the business! So the results from this survey come as no surprise.
However, the implications are profound. The pace of change will be rapid and far-reaching. According to the Corporate Executive Board “…we are embarking on one of the most significant changes to corporate IT in years.” Some challenges are predictable. Organizational change will place great stress on change management functions and maturity, on Human Resource services, and on individual professionals in existing IT departments.
The Enterprise Architectures within these changing organizations will also be under great stress; testing the robustness, flexibility, and maturity. As Enterprise Architects, we must aid our executives in preparing for this significant change. Our efforts to achieve Business-IT Alignment, between the Business Operating Model and the IT Operating Model (IT Vision), will support a smoother transition.
At “Integrate 2010: Uniting the World of IT”, a two-day conference in Cleveland, Benku Thomas, Nour Laaroubi, and I will present a model for establishing Business-IT Alignment through Enterprise Architecture. (http://gcle.itsmfusa.org/?q=content/integrate-2010) We also show how to bridge the chasm between strategic and tactical; that is between the Enterprise Architecture and the IT initiatives (Portfolio projects and Asset enhancements).
__ Joseph Starwood (www.JosephStarwood.com)
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Enterprise Architecture Implications of Social Media Influence on Corporate Brand
This morning, I met Brian Butvin for breakfast at Yours Truly Restaurant on Chagrin Boulevard in Beachwood, OH. He is a good friend who I’ve known for 20 years. Brian has remarkable wit and insight. It is always a pleasure to discuss nearly any topic with him.
I as drove to this breakfast meeting, I was intrigued by a radio program, “Living on Earth”, broadcast on WKSU. This episode, “BP’s Image Problem”, discussed whether BP's image can survive the oil spill disaster. Naturally, I discussed the program’s content with Brian.
The program’s host, Jeff Young, interviewed John Carroll, a media analyst, about the crisis facing BP’s brand and its sunburst logo. Though social media was not explicitly mentioned, the interview covered Twitter, YouTube, and Google in addition to traditional advertising.
Mr. Carroll observed that, “… BP finds itself in this situation where A) nobody believes a word they say, B) reality trumps PR every time, and C) they can't control their message even if the first two weren't in effect, because there are too many competing voices out there.” In comparing BP’s oil spill crisis to the Tylenol’s product tampering crisis, he also observed that, “Advertising used to be this one-way street, now it's a two way street, it's a conversation. You don't create your brand anymore. You collaborate with consumers to create your brand.”
It is these observations that are of interest to Enterprise Architects. Social media impacts each organization in good circumstances and in bad. It does not matter whether an organization engages in or refrains from social media. Enterprise Architects are investment advisors to the organization’s executives on matters of information technology. They are concerned with costs and risks; including risks arising from social media.
Social media presents new challenges to the Enterprise Architect. Social media extends the enterprise boundaries beyond the organization’s walls. This includes information exchanges and IT assets not under the organization’s control. Social media requires additional attention to exception conditions; especially those associated with moments of corporate crisis. Such conditions may be real or perceived, and may arise from cause, as in BP’s oil spill case, or from criminal activity, as in Tylenol’s product tampering case.
Enterprise Architects must guide their executives toward establishing a Social Media Strategy. This strategy must be aligned with the business strategy and plan as well as the marketing strategy and plan. It must address traditional outbound communications as well as inbound communications. Uniquely, it must also address communications about the organization and its brand that are neither outbound nor inbound. This strategy must cover normal and exception (crisis) conditions, and must address social media’s many forms including text, image, and video.
The Enterprise Architect counsels the organization’s executives on social media’s benefits and risks. The executives must come to understand that avoiding social media or applying reactive policies will not protect the organization. The Enterprise Architect mitigates social media risk by applying information technology to enable the organization to respond quickly and effectively in moments of crisis.
Prudent executives would do well to heed the advice from their Enterprise Architects who can best prepare their organizations to weather the social media storm in times of crisis.
REFERENCE: “BP’s Image Problem”, Living on Earth and World Media Foundation, Broadcast on WKSU, 2010-JUN-12, http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00024&segmentID=6
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
I as drove to this breakfast meeting, I was intrigued by a radio program, “Living on Earth”, broadcast on WKSU. This episode, “BP’s Image Problem”, discussed whether BP's image can survive the oil spill disaster. Naturally, I discussed the program’s content with Brian.
The program’s host, Jeff Young, interviewed John Carroll, a media analyst, about the crisis facing BP’s brand and its sunburst logo. Though social media was not explicitly mentioned, the interview covered Twitter, YouTube, and Google in addition to traditional advertising.
Mr. Carroll observed that, “… BP finds itself in this situation where A) nobody believes a word they say, B) reality trumps PR every time, and C) they can't control their message even if the first two weren't in effect, because there are too many competing voices out there.” In comparing BP’s oil spill crisis to the Tylenol’s product tampering crisis, he also observed that, “Advertising used to be this one-way street, now it's a two way street, it's a conversation. You don't create your brand anymore. You collaborate with consumers to create your brand.”
It is these observations that are of interest to Enterprise Architects. Social media impacts each organization in good circumstances and in bad. It does not matter whether an organization engages in or refrains from social media. Enterprise Architects are investment advisors to the organization’s executives on matters of information technology. They are concerned with costs and risks; including risks arising from social media.
Social media presents new challenges to the Enterprise Architect. Social media extends the enterprise boundaries beyond the organization’s walls. This includes information exchanges and IT assets not under the organization’s control. Social media requires additional attention to exception conditions; especially those associated with moments of corporate crisis. Such conditions may be real or perceived, and may arise from cause, as in BP’s oil spill case, or from criminal activity, as in Tylenol’s product tampering case.
Enterprise Architects must guide their executives toward establishing a Social Media Strategy. This strategy must be aligned with the business strategy and plan as well as the marketing strategy and plan. It must address traditional outbound communications as well as inbound communications. Uniquely, it must also address communications about the organization and its brand that are neither outbound nor inbound. This strategy must cover normal and exception (crisis) conditions, and must address social media’s many forms including text, image, and video.
The Enterprise Architect counsels the organization’s executives on social media’s benefits and risks. The executives must come to understand that avoiding social media or applying reactive policies will not protect the organization. The Enterprise Architect mitigates social media risk by applying information technology to enable the organization to respond quickly and effectively in moments of crisis.
Prudent executives would do well to heed the advice from their Enterprise Architects who can best prepare their organizations to weather the social media storm in times of crisis.
REFERENCE: “BP’s Image Problem”, Living on Earth and World Media Foundation, Broadcast on WKSU, 2010-JUN-12, http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00024&segmentID=6
__ Joseph Starwood (www.linkedin.com/in/JosephStarwood)
Monday, May 24, 2010
Integrate 2010: Uniting the World of IT
I am pleased to announce a very special joint event from NEO-IASA, itSMFusa, NOSQAA, NEO-SPIN, and HDI North Coast Ohio:
Integrate 2010: Uniting the World of IT
June 24-25, 2010 in Cleveland, OH
Keynote Speakers:
Abstract:
In spite of the unequivocal recognition of the need for Business - IT Alignment, the corporate IT departments continue to operate thru the silos of Enterprise Architecture, Application Development and Operations. In order to become a true business enabler, IT must not only deliver services fast but also ensure smooth and cost-effective operations. This requires a holistic approach to designing, delivering and managing IT services across the service lifecycle and mandates systematic integration of processes and tools across Enterprise Architecture, Application Development, and IT Operations.
Integrate 2010 aims to bring professionals from all silos of IT under one roof and draw attention to the critical yet often ignored area of integration of Enterprise Architecture (EA), Application Development (AD) and IT Service Management (ITSM).
An Essential Conference for Professionals in IT
Recent economic, regulatory, and technological events are creating new challenges and opportunities for Northeast Ohio business. Business and IT alignment is needed now more than ever to meet these challenges and capture new opportunities.
Integrate 2010: Uniting the World of IT brings the Enterprise Architecture, Application Development, and Operations disciplines together. Enterprise Architecture is essential to aligning IT with the business, and to establishing the direction for Application Development. This is an important conference for IT & Enterprise Architects as well as their stakeholders.
Scott Ambler has been and remains at the forefront of unifying IT disciplines. He is a thought-leader in Enterprise Unified Process (EUP), Enterprise Architecture, and Agile software development.
NEO-ITEA invites its members and friends to this important conference.
About Scott W. Ambler
Scott Ambler is a software engineer, consultant and author. Currently, he is the Practice Leader Agile Development at IBM Corporation in the IBM Methods group. He is the author of several books focused on the Unified process, Agile software development, the Unified Modeling Language, and CMM-based development. Notable books include: 1] Enterprise Unified Process: Extending the Rational Unified Process; and, 2] The Practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture (with James McGovern, Mike Stevens, James Linn, Vikas Sharan, and Elias Jo)
Event Highlights:
Websites:
http://gcle.itsmfusa.org/?q=content/integrate-2010
http://itsmfusa.org/
http://www.neoiasa.org/
REGISTER NOW!
This conference is an incredible value at only $49.oo!
http://itsmfusa.org/greater-cleveland-lig-integrate-2010-attendee
Contacts:
itSMFusa: Dhiraj Gupta, President
NEO-IASA: Joseph Starwood, Secretary
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Integrate 2010: Uniting the World of IT
June 24-25, 2010 in Cleveland, OH
Keynote Speakers:
- Scott Ambler. IBM
- David Cannon, HP
- George Spalding, Pink Elephant
- Bob Balassi, Maryville Technologies
Abstract:
In spite of the unequivocal recognition of the need for Business - IT Alignment, the corporate IT departments continue to operate thru the silos of Enterprise Architecture, Application Development and Operations. In order to become a true business enabler, IT must not only deliver services fast but also ensure smooth and cost-effective operations. This requires a holistic approach to designing, delivering and managing IT services across the service lifecycle and mandates systematic integration of processes and tools across Enterprise Architecture, Application Development, and IT Operations.
Integrate 2010 aims to bring professionals from all silos of IT under one roof and draw attention to the critical yet often ignored area of integration of Enterprise Architecture (EA), Application Development (AD) and IT Service Management (ITSM).
An Essential Conference for Professionals in IT
Recent economic, regulatory, and technological events are creating new challenges and opportunities for Northeast Ohio business. Business and IT alignment is needed now more than ever to meet these challenges and capture new opportunities.
Integrate 2010: Uniting the World of IT brings the Enterprise Architecture, Application Development, and Operations disciplines together. Enterprise Architecture is essential to aligning IT with the business, and to establishing the direction for Application Development. This is an important conference for IT & Enterprise Architects as well as their stakeholders.
Scott Ambler has been and remains at the forefront of unifying IT disciplines. He is a thought-leader in Enterprise Unified Process (EUP), Enterprise Architecture, and Agile software development.
NEO-ITEA invites its members and friends to this important conference.
About Scott W. Ambler
Scott Ambler is a software engineer, consultant and author. Currently, he is the Practice Leader Agile Development at IBM Corporation in the IBM Methods group. He is the author of several books focused on the Unified process, Agile software development, the Unified Modeling Language, and CMM-based development. Notable books include: 1] Enterprise Unified Process: Extending the Rational Unified Process; and, 2] The Practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture (with James McGovern, Mike Stevens, James Linn, Vikas Sharan, and Elias Jo)
Event Highlights:
- Two content-rich days packed with insightful sessions by industry experts in EA, AD and ITSM
- Four keynotes - One each in the area of EA, AD and ITSM and one dedicated to the integration of these three areas
- Four tracks (four sessions per track) - One each dedicated to EA, AD and ITSM and one dedicated to the integration of these three areas
- A joint communique / manifesto extolling the principles of integration of EA, AD and ITSM to be released by industry experts
- Exhibitor area for vendors
- To be held within the Greater Cleveland area with target audience from OH, Eastern Michigan, Indiana and Western Pennsylvania
Websites:
http://gcle.itsmfusa.org/?q=content/integrate-2010
http://itsmfusa.org/
http://www.neoiasa.org/
REGISTER NOW!
This conference is an incredible value at only $49.oo!
http://itsmfusa.org/greater-cleveland-lig-integrate-2010-attendee
Contacts:
itSMFusa: Dhiraj Gupta, President
NEO-IASA: Joseph Starwood, Secretary
* * *
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