Transform Your Enterprise with Digital Business

By |January 25th, 2019|

Research shows that "need seeker" business cultures are high on the innovation scale. By focusing on customer needs, or solving their problems, you create an innovation culture. Need Seekers and Innovation A Need Seeker is a term that PwC's Strategy& uses in their innovation research. Need Seeker organizations gain deep insight through direct customer engagement. They develop new products and services through that end-user need awareness. Of the customers evaluated for the study referenc [...]

People and Technology Collaboration and Integration

By |January 23rd, 2019|

Technology integration can take you a long way, but you need people integration for long-term success. Challenging the Status Quo with New Business Models and Technology Integration X-as-a-Service models are the future. Whether you are a manufacturer, service provider, content provider, or any other type of business, recurring revenue models are here to stay. As noted by Harvard Business Review (HBR): Today many industrial companies are beginning to offer their products as services—a move th [...]

What is IT Strategy?

By |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 [...]

SAP & IT Outsourcing – RESULTS MATTER!

By |June 24th, 2014|

  Business today is looking for a way to provide shareholder value. Outsourcing has become a popular method to boost stock values because shareholders believe it will reduce costs. While your share price may increase in the short term, you may not see the cost savings, and your share price will suffer later as your cost basis increases. Unfortunately, the cost saving "dream" presented during all those sales pitches often become a "nightmare" of spiraling costs and management headaches. I [...]

Dear SAP — IT’s Past HANA TIME

By |June 16th, 2014|

In-Memory DB Recently there has been a lot of activity around in-memory database processing.  Oracle announced in-memory which it is positioning as a direct competitor to HANA [Fn1]; IBM, Microsoft, and others are getting on the "in-memory" bandwagon as well [FN2].  A quick check of Wikipedia indicates there are numerous companies claiming "in-memory" database processing as well [FN3]. Then there is the huge performance difference between Solid State Drives (SSD) and physic [...]

SAP and IT Outsourcing – Vendor Management Considerations

By |May 7th, 2014|

  A common trend in IT is outsourcing. The allure of smooth sailing, fewer headaches, and lower cost generally capture senior leadership's attention. The sales pitches about all of the success stories are often compelling. However, just like calm (but murky) waters on a mild day hide the rocks under the surface, so do many of the outsourcing vendor claims. With some background understanding (and a lot of due diligence), you can avoid most of those rocks and navigate the waters. However, [...]