IT matters

Over the last couple of weeks I had two people urge me to go and read Groundswell. So I did. If you haven't already, I would recommend it.

In summary, it's probably the closest thing to a road map for implementing Enterprise 2.0 in companies (although to their credit, they don't call it that).

It's chock full of data (some of which will surprise you) and case studies. It also makes concrete recommendations how to evaluate what's the best strategy for a company (should we do a blog, an open forum or a video on You Tube). And best of all, the language the use (for the most part) is clear (focussed on business value not technology) and practical (always refreshing).

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Posted by Akash Bhatia at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Mckinsey has highlighted eight interesting business/technology trends to watch.  (You may need to register). The abstracts are really short and give only a passing introduction to the subjects, although they do have some neat examples that I had not seen before. To their credit, however, they do provide pointers for further reading. The article got me thinking on how an IT organization could profit from them.

Continue reading "Eight business / technology trends from Mckinsey" »

Posted by Akash Bhatia at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Few leadership roles in business have been transformed as extensively as that of the CIO over the years.  The explosion of new technology and its business impact necessitated that those piloting the IT helm continue to develop new and enhance existing skills simply to keep pace with technology’s potential and the ever-growing opportunities. 

Continue reading "The Evolving Role of the CIO" »

Posted by Michael Taylor at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I first heard about Don Tapscott in 2000 when his book - Digital Capital - was made mandatory reading at my previous company. This was the time when the hype around web services was accelerating and the mantra of the day was 'business webs'. His new book - Wikinomics - is (again) a fairly accurate snapshot of the current business milieu (the Web 2.0 era) and how it affects companies.

If you're already familiar with collaborative software development (e.g. Linux), collaborative editing (e.g. Wikipedia), tagging (e.g. del.icio.us, flickr) and the general Web 2.0 buzz, a lot of this book will be feel like old material. What's was new (and interesting) to me was the application of the principles of openness and collaboration by established companies (e.g. P&G). In fact, the first chapter describes how a struggling mining company (you can't get more old economy than that) turned the tide by using the intellectual power of people outside the company. Don's premise is simple: use the power of your customers, partners, suppliers to co-design, create, market etc. In short, he urges companies to follow an open kimono policy.

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Posted by Akash Bhatia at 3:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)