The term platform is frequently cited in tech circles but often misunderstood. Google, Facebook and Amazon are the platform giants of the 21st century but what exactly is a platform, and should your company be building one? Like most questions, the answer is, “It depends” but if you are looking to expand your user base,…
Several weeks ago, I got to visit a Global 50 manufacturer. This organization had a very complex supply chain and manufacturing locations and vendor relationships across the world. It needed to govern the data that flowed between suppliers, customers, and even internal organizations. And it was not appropriate for everyone to see everything. In the…
James Swanson’s deep belief in analytics began with a sensor in the back of a truck that was moving seeds from the farm to the processing plant. The idea was simple: Use the data from the sensor to prevent seed loss. “It was a sensor with a GPS location on it,” says Swanson, CIO and…
Public cloud services are a strategic weapon for CIOs. More than a way to cease operating data centers, the public cloud offers CIOs the ability to focus on strategic projects aimed at boosting the bottom line. “As organizations pursue new IT architectures and operating philosophies, they put in place a foundation for new opportunities in…
What if everything you knew about innovation was wrong? The fear of digital disruption and the boundless opportunities that are arising as we enter the digital era are making innovation a critical topic for CIOs and their C-suite counterparts. As a result, enterprises are launching innovation-focused initiatives at every turn. But what if creating innovative…
From user symposiums to vendor-neutral events, there’s no shortage of tech conferences to sign up for. Each offers unique upside, whether it’s strategic insights into how another company implemented a new technology or simply an opportunity to grow your network. But with the need to learn almost everything in a fast-paced profession, and the time…
As 2019 unfolds, CIOs continue to shoulder greater responsibility for digital transformation initiatives and strategic business tasks, including those related to data science and analytics and security and risk management. With that greater responsibility, though, comes operational challenges — not the least of which is recruiting and hiring talent with the skills necessary to advance…
Nowadays, we have more computing power, abundant data and greater potential empowerment of the knowledge workforce than ever. Technology is pervasive and information is permeating into almost every corner of the business. Business initiatives today nearly always involve some form of technology implementation and information refinement. IT organizational digital maturity is the measure of IT…
Software developers created the idea of an “antipattern” to warn others what not to do. Think of the “Dragons Be Here” label on old maps. Whatever you do, don’t sail your ship here. Years of hard-won experience are boiled down to a concise description of how not to structure your code, how not to imagine…
When disaster strikes, data can help organizations keep a pulse on the fallout. But without an effective analytics strategy and platform, all the data in the world won’t help facilitate difficult decisions when they matter most. In 2017, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria spread destruction through Florida, Puerto Rico, Texas and the U.S. Virgin Islands.…