IT Strategy Archives - Innovate. Integrate. Transform. Run.

What is IT Strategy?
What is IT Strategy?

What is IT Strategy?

By Bill Wood|July 7th, 2014|

We hear it almost every day: IT Strategy, Business Strategy, strategic customer accounts, strategic widgets, etc. Strategy is applied to so many areas with so little understanding that the word has almost become meaningless. I decided to build my own research-based model around strategy because of all of the buzz and the lack of clarity or simplicity. I wanted to answer a key question: How do you determine if you are being strategic or just using tactics you are calling a strategy? Wha [...]

Will SAP HANA Lead to a Big Data Revolution?
Will SAP HANA Lead to a Big Data Revolution?

Will SAP HANA Lead to a Big Data Revolution?

By Bill Wood|December 17th, 2012|

Many people focus on HANA as a competitor to Oracle, and it is. Even if HANA adoption and sales were to completely devastate SAP's biggest competitor (Oracle), that would not be HANA's biggest impact. The HANA product has the potential to disrupt entire industries in the context of Big Data. Unlike Big Data, I have been skeptical about the benefits and use of social media in the enterprise, writing about it in Why Social Media Marketing Success Is Elusive for Business and Social Media Fads and [...]

SAP Third Party – Indirect Usage Licensing Part 2
SAP Third Party – Indirect Usage Licensing Part 2

SAP Third Party – Indirect Usage Licensing Part 2

By Bill Wood|December 3rd, 2012|

For those who may not be aware, SAP is not the first company to require user licenses for third party or “indirect usage.” This requirement is becoming more commonplace, and some companies are quite aggressive with it. This follow-up to my previous post on SAP Third Party – Indirect Usage Licensing Part 1 will address real opportunities here. Over the years, SAP has set itself apart by aggressively pursuing sales while generally maintaining good customer relations. SAP's strategy is a balancing [...]

SAP Third Party – Indirect Usage Licensing Part 1
SAP Third Party – Indirect Usage Licensing Part 1

SAP Third Party – Indirect Usage Licensing Part 1

By Bill Wood|November 26th, 2012|

Many SAP customer license contracts contain either a direct or an indirect reference to SAP’s third party usage licensing requirements. That requirement is referred to as “indirect usage” and carries a hefty potential financial penalty. The basic idea is that if you use any non-SAP system to access SAP data, the user of that external system must acquire an SAP Named User License. I understand SAP's argument that if you use portions of the SAP software (BAPIs, RFCs, Function Modules, etc.), you [...]

SAP Contract Requirements for a Center of Expertise
SAP Contract Requirements for a Center of Expertise

SAP Contract Requirements for a Center of Expertise

By Bill Wood|July 2nd, 2012|

Most, if not all, of new SAP contracts and agreements contain provisions that require customers to create a “Center of Expertise” (or CoE). This is a customer’s, and SAP’s, first line of maintenance support. The CoE terms and conditions define a great aspiration that your organization will support “efficient implementation, innovation, operation and quality of business processes and systems” based on the Phase 6 RUN SAP ASAP Methodology. Good luck with all that! Returning to realistic [...]

3 Development Phases for SAP Center of Excellence Maturity
3 Development Phases for SAP Center of Excellence Maturity

3 Development Phases for SAP Center of Excellence Maturity

By Bill Wood|May 14th, 2012|

Before we get into the substance of how to build a next-generation IT organization that is integrated with business, we need to take a quick review. Last week’s post on SAP Service Provider to Business Peer Through Center of Excellence Maturity proposed the direct maturity of the SAP IT organization. Here, we discussed the three stages of Organizational Change Management Inside the SAP IT Support Organization. These stages create clear distinctions between SAP Service Delivery versus Value Deli [...]