The European Union plans to make some digital service providers pay tax in the countries where they do business. The move that will affect not just Google and Facebook but major European companies too — and perhaps make it easier for startups to enter the market. There are two parts to the proposal: A quick fix,…
Oh, TOGAF, you nearly 700-page behemoth of controversial architecture framework text. Why are you both so loved and loathed in the enterprise architecture world? I like The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), but I do not view it as the be-all-end-all tome of EA. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to those who…
SAP has quietly settled its $600 million software licensing dispute with Anheuser-Busch, the U.S. subsidiary of beverage conglomerate AB InBev. “The parties settled the dispute on 30 June 2017 and the matter is now closed,” AB InBev said in its 2017 Annual Report, published Tuesday. [ Comparison shopping? See “The best ERP systems:10 enterprise resource…
In most cases, CIOs rightly focus on aligning IT strategy with the overall strategy for the business, and they attempt to meet those objectives in the most efficient manner possible. However, management’s short-term financial targets (eg. quarterly earnings) often force IT leaders to look for quick solutions to meet specific problems, as opposed to building…
What is CMMI? The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a process and behavioral model that helps organizations streamline process improvement and encourage productive, efficient behaviors that decrease risks in software, product and service development. The CMMI was developed by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University as a process improvement tool for projects,…
The rate of technology change and voracious competition for market share are producing cloud organisations that are seriously overburdened, and it’s going to get worse if Kevin Casey’s “5 cloud computing trends for 2018” materialize. Trends such as multiple hybrid cloud models require multivendor management, in addition to the integration of the technologies. This all…
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…