As you implement digital transformation strategies, you need to plan for an explosion in traffic growth. Consequently, you need to build data centers using the same state-of-the-art principles the hyperscales have adopted: A leaf spine Clos design, which accommodates large amounts of east-west traffic, is essential to support today’s web applications A multi-hardware vendor strategy,…
While global enterprise businesses are perpetually challenged to grow revenues while improving their margins, the current generation is also wrestling with the threat of industry-wide disruption driven by new, “digital first” entrants. Consider how entire industry verticals – media, payments, shopping, travel, hospitality, to name but a few – have been up-ended by new entrants…
There are a number of reasons why IT outsourcing engagements fail — from unrealistic expectations and lack of governance to misaligned interests and poor communication. Sometimes the problems lie with the IT service provider; other times, the customer is at fault. In most cases, the two parties each share some of the blame. However, there…
In “What a CIO needs to know about initial coin offerings,” I discussed Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and how they can be a viable alternative to raising funds. ICOs allow businesses to launch their own cryptocurrency in exchange for capital from interested buyers. Beside ICOs, another topic of interest among startups and small businesses, especially…
Digital technologies present an immense opportunity for organizations to grow their revenues through innovative customer experiences and business models. However, the same opportunities are also available to competitors and digital disruption is now one of the biggest competitive threats that organizations should be prepared for. A recent study by MIT Sloan Management Review (SMR) determined…
The IT budget says a lot about its owners: whether executives have a roadmap for the future and whether they’re willing to pay for it, whether company leaders value innovation or whether they still see technology as only a behind-the-scenes function. So what then, does your budget say about you, your IT department and the…
To be “enterprising” is to be eager to undertake or to attempt. To show initiative and be resourceful. These are leadership traits, so to be enterprising is to lead. ‘Analytics’ is how we use data to inform decision making, in the context of achieving business objectives. These are management practices, so analytics is about management.…
The proliferation of consumer technologies is shifting the way CIOs are delivering technology services to their businesses. Nowhere is this more evident than at Wal-Mart Stores, where CIO Clay Johnson is delivering IT as products rather than as projects or systems. Wal-Mart’s culture change underscores how traditional companies are following in the footsteps of companies…
As IT outsourcing moves well into its third decade, IT decision makers have made great strides in maturity, managing to avoid some common and costly pitfalls of the practice. As clients enter into their next-generation outsourcing deals today, they’re doing a number of things right, says Randy Wiele, managing director with KPMG’s Shared Services and…
If you feel like the world is spinning faster, you are not alone. According to the 2018 State of the Services Economy report, 63% of executives believe that it has become harder to operate a services business in the last 12 months. Furthermore, the number of executives that said the conditions to operate a services…