What is outsourcing? Outsourcing is a business practice in which services or job functions are farmed out to a third party. In information technology, an outsourcing initiative with a technology provider can involve a range of operations, from the entirety of the IT function to discrete, easily defined components, such as disaster recovery, network services,…
I’ve interviewed many CIOs for their insights on the transformation of IT into a strategic asset. Many of their success stories appear in my book, “The Strategic CIO: Changing the Dynamics of the Business Enterprise” and in my CIO.com column, “Transforming IT for Business Success.” I’ve also been reading a number of books on digital…
In this lively hourlong discussion, Maryfran Johnson, executive director of CIO programs for CIO Events and the CIO Executive Council, talks with Bernie Gracy, Chief Digital Officer of Agero, the largest provider of roadside assistance services to car makers and insurance providers across North America. Johnson and Gracy talk about the sophisticated data analytics behind…
One of the habits from Stephen Covey’s bestselling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is to begin with the end in mind. Putting that in today’s business context, organizations need to figure out what digital transformation means for their business and what their goals are before they go throwing a bunch of new…
Enterprises realized value in IT shared services organizations for the past three decades. Over the past two years, I’ve delved into the nuances of capturing the promise of digital transformation. As I think about the impact of digital transformation on shared services, it becomes clear that shared services are in for substantial changes. I…
In the 2008 film, Zombie Apocalypse, college roommates Mark and Tom are forced to defend themselves against a town full of zombies. Fortunately, our heroes are prepared. According to Rotten Tomatoes, “Mark is handy with an axe, and medical student Tom has played enough video games to keep his cool in the chaos.” It’s not…
The concept of devops turns 10 in 2018. Despite that milestone of maturity, most organizations have yet to fully embrace this IT practice, which blends development, operations and testing personnel together into cross-functional teams aimed at improving the agility of IT service delivery. According to Forrester Research, only 13 percent of organizations have implemented devops,…