Cutter Consortium: Innovation

Responsiveness or Efficiency -- Pick One, But Agile Works Better with the Former

22 Oct 2009 22:52:51 GMT

Highsmith, Jim | E-Mail Advisors | 22 October 2009 | Agile Project Management; Business-IT Strategies; Business Intelligence; Innovation

In his book Business Agility: Sustainable Prosperity in a Relentlessly Competitive World, Michael Hugos, who is also a columnist for CIO magazine, talks about two fundamental business strategies: responsiveness and efficiency. While a company or business unit surely tries to be both responsive and efficient, one strategy tends to dominate; for example, no one does efficiency better than Wal-mart.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2009/apm091022.html

Cloud-Based, On-Demand Test Platform

22 Oct 2009 22:50:54 GMT

Deb, Brijesh; Tiwari, Nidhi | Executive Updates | 22 October 2009 | Innovation

Cloud computing promises myriad benefits -- including operational excellence through reducing capital and operating expenses, faster processing of Internet-scale data, and increased business agility to respond to changes faster. There are a number of business use cases wherein enterprises can accrue these benefits. One case involves the testing environment, which is a high-priority area for IT management. Any fault in end solutions or products not only has an adverse impact on the balance sheet but also leads to loss in customer confidence and brand value. In this Executive Update, we explore how cloud computing features, such as scalability, automated provisioning, and pay-per-use, can be leveraged for an on-demand testing platform.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/updates/2009/ieau0909.html

Surviving the War: Deciding What Not to Do Well

15 Oct 2009 22:40:10 GMT

Austin, Robert D.; Ellyn, Lynne | E-Mail Advisors | 15 October 2009 | Innovation

The first priority in all wars is to live to fight another day. The economic war faced by most companies will be replete with reminders that survival is the near-term, full-time agenda. This is true for the IT department and for IT professionals, too. Being part of the survival plan requires a laserlike focus on eliminating any waste, frivolous activities, and all of the "nice-to-haves." Start by getting rid of the toys and hip trophies (e.g., BlackBerrys, iPhones, pagers). Only those individuals with a true business need for 24/7 communications should keep the always-on communication devices. Rotate a single device among the after-hours support crowd. While these savings will be minor, at least initially, they set the tone for the IT staff. Encourage your business partners to do the same. Not only will this get people's attention; it may boost productivity since there will be fewer trivial interruptions, allowing people to focus on the difficult task ahead.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea091015.html

Extracting Business Value from the Semantic Web

2 Oct 2009 00:44:12 GMT

Unhelkar, Bhuvan; Murugesan, San | E-Mail Advisors | 01 October 2009 | Innovation

A business can gain significant value from the Semantic Web by drawing on its capability to combine and interoperate with several technologies and services, encompassing data warehouses, disparate operating systems, and myriad types of messaging. The resulting "cohesive" technological platform allows in-depth user participation and collaboration that also reveals new and meaningful relationships among information silos and applications that may not be obvious to the business. By deploying a Semantic Web-based enterprise information platform, a business can launch new systems and applications that enhance enterprise agility and create synergy among networks, services, open technologies, and security measures, resulting in interoperability among data, applications, business processes, and services.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea091001.html

What the Early 21st Century (in Ruins) Is Telling Us About Technology Delivery

22 Sep 2009 01:34:46 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | Executive Updates | 21 September 2009 | Business-IT Strategies; Innovation; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

"Everything's negotiable" is a phrase we hear a lot these days. It applies to buying a car, a home, or even a vacation. It especially applies to technology services.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2009/srcu0909.html

Stay Strategically Nimble Despite the Recession

18 Sep 2009 01:33:41 GMT

Adams, Dennis A. | E-Mail Advisors | 17 September 2009 | Innovation

We've never seen the effects of a recession during a time when so many customers and businesses depend on IT. Companies are responding very naturally by cutting projects and cutting investments in IT. The budgeting process focuses on cost control and on attempting to create value during difficult times by managing costs and attempting to grow market share in a shrinking economy. Managers understand that assets, human and otherwise, lost during the recession will be very difficult to replace when the economy gets going again. Consequently, organizations have begun looking very carefully at what to cut and what not to cut.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090917.html

Vision Spurs Innovation More Than Funding Does

3 Sep 2009 19:42:05 GMT

Orr, Ken | E-Mail Advisors | 03 September 2009 | Innovation

I'm not sure that I agree with the notion that innovation (creativity) is going to collapse in these hard times just because of a lack of money (see "Code Blue for IT Innovation," Cutter Business Technology Trends Council Opinion, Vol. 9, No. 12). For one thing, I'm not convinced that innovation is directly the result of funding and/or corporate support. Certain innovative periods in history have occurred at times one would not have expected creativity. Indeed, my own reading of history suggests that innovation often occurs precisely when society is faced with its most significant challenges (e.g., times of war, times of oppression/censorship, and periods of economic panic).

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090903.html

Netbooks, 4G Networks to Spark IT's New Generation

3 Sep 2009 19:39:47 GMT

Orr, Ken | E-Mail Advisors | 03 September 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Innovation

There was a time in the early 1990s when a good laptop computer cost upwards of US $4,000. This was for a computer with a 10-inch screen, four or eight MB of memory, and a 100-MB disk. Communications for this computer were limited to a slow-speed, dial-up line. A decade later, the price for a 15-inch high-resolution with 100 MB of memory and two to four GB of hard disk and a network adapter was in the neighborhood of $2,500. Good old Moore's Law.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090903.html

An Ideal As a Tool for Innovation

20 Aug 2009 15:16:51 GMT

Devin, Lee | E-Mail Advisors | 20 August 2009 | Innovation

To make something new (a thing, a service, or an idea), you might adopt a goal: to make something new. We can call that an abstract goal: it’s perfectly particular, but allows for an infinite number of realizations. You can’t describe that goal in any detail, as you would an algorithm or a piece of music. The only way to describe it usefully is to repeat it. Nor can you make a conventional plan for achieving it; if you could make a plan that would result in it, how new would it be?

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090820.html

Getting Innovation via Outsourcing Contracts

13 Aug 2009 15:03:56 GMT

Cullen, Sara | Executive Updates | 13 August 2009 | Innovation

Most client organizations expect that their providers will continually innovate or carry out some form of value-adding when there is an outsourcing contract. I write "some form" because a typical outsourcing contract does not specify what innovation is expected, let alone when it is to occur (just at the start? continuously?), where it is to occur (technology? process? just within the scope or outside?), and how it is to occur (by osmosis? through proposals?).

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/updates/2009/ieau0908.html

Company Vision at Heart of IT's Strategic Leadership

6 Aug 2009 14:46:19 GMT

Cohen, Moshe | E-Mail Advisors | 06 August 2009 | Innovation

Strategic leadership involves the way you interact with the other members of the executive team, but to be effective, it must also be instilled within the IT organization. Once you become clear on the business needs of the company, it is important to convey these needs to the rest of your organization and to create a culture in which people can tie their day-to-day work goals into the vision of success for the company.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090806.html

Some Small Steps to Harness Open Innovation Potential

23 Jul 2009 16:33:30 GMT

Valente Pereira, Ana Paula | E-Mail Advisors | 23 July 2009 | Innovation

Open innovation does not have the solid brand recognition that Joe Feller and I were expecting to see from the vast majority of the respondents to a recent Cutter Benchmark Review survey (see "Open Innovation: The (Next) Last Big Thing," Cutter Benchmark Review, Vol. 7, No. 12). The responding organizations seem to be focused on the closed model for innovation or on the practices corresponding to the early stages of open innovation. However, taking a look at the planned levels of activity of these organizations, there seems to be an intent to become more open and move to practices related to the next stages in the open innovation adoption curve as shown in Figure 1.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090723.html

Code Blue for IT Innovation

21 Jul 2009 14:41:42 GMT

Austin, Rob; Ellyn, Lynne; The Cutter Business Technology Council | Executive Reports | 01 December 2008 | Innovation; Business Technology Trends & Impacts

Today's harsh economic realities threaten to drive the creative spirit from IT organizations, throttling back the flow of capital and new ideas; the innovation agenda in IT is on life support.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/reports/2008/12/index.html

Including Innovation in the Game of Survival

9 Jul 2009 14:14:15 GMT

Davis, Christine | E-Mail Advisors | 09 July 2009 | Innovation

I disagree with the premise that prosperity breeds innovation and scarcity kills it. People innovate when there is a need to find a new or better way to do something. The decline in our economy has created a tremendous need for everyone to find innovative ways to prosper with less. The ability to innovate is not directly proportional to the size of the budget in business or in our personal world. In fact, I propose that the two are indirectly proportional in many cases. If an IT organization were to adopt the attitude that it cannot innovate because the business is in trouble, there is little hope for its future and, more than likely, its company's future. I cannot imagine any corporate function going into a "treading water" state in times like these. Granted, the innovation game and the goals have changed during this past year; however, the innovation game is still being played in those companies that desire to survive.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2009/iea090709.html

Innovation on the Cheap: Moving Forward While Standing Still

7 Jul 2009 13:58:46 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | Executive Updates | 07 July 2009 | Innovation

It's no secret that these are tough times. Technology budgets are being slashed over and over again. CFOs are running wild, attacking every budget that cannot be justified logically, financially, and politically. If the ROI is not bulletproof, it's not real. CEOs are by and large in bunkers protecting their turf (not to mention their salaries, bonuses, stock options, and "separation packages," the golden parachutes that have all as angry as they can be -- though not quite as angry as the commandeering of corporate jets for family getaways to Paris, Cabo, and Dubai).

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/updates/2009/ieau0907.html

New Additions

21 Jul 2009 14:54:37 GMT

Social Networking and Organizational Change by Brian J. Dooley
Fiefdom Syndrome: Reconciling Global Initiatives with Local Circumstances by Van Goodwin
Ethics, Morality, Metrics, and Agility by Vince Kellen

http://www.cutter.com/innovation.html