The COVID-19 pandemic has led to sizable disruptions in international economic activity, impacting all industries, although at different magnitudes. It is now time for decision makers to expand their focus beyond immediate crisis management to actions that will strengthen their competitive play in the medium and long term. Here in Part II of this Advisor series, we take a look at telecom, equipment vendors, and Internet services, in particular.

We buy fire insurance for our homes not because we expect a great return on the investment, but because the modest fee is a hedge against catastrophic loss. In light of the risk lessons learned thus far in 2020, increased investment in risk management going forward seems prudent.

Value stream mapping (VSM) is a Lean manufacturing method used to analyze and manage the flow of materials/information/product to be able to bring a product to a customer. This Advisor proposes an eight-step VSM exercise to help team members all get on the same page.

The promise of the big and complicated framework, method, or architecture is our safety. Conformance to norms leads to acceptability in our modern techno-geocentricity: we are the center, we hold the center, nothing else matters, we know all that needs to be known. But are we at an inflection point? On the one hand, we have a world dominated by increasingly complicated frameworks detailing each and every aspect of a “transformation,” be it agile, digital, or other, along with associated architectures. On the other hand, we can contrast this framework approach with alternatives emerging from complex adaptive systems and complexity science. Unfortunately, those alternatives come with the cognitive load associated with uncertainty and ambiguity, and it is this friction that maintains the status quo.

Discover why shifting to IT development production lines, managed in the same way as the vehicle production processes, can improve software delivery in your organization.

You might think that a pandemic such as COVID-19 would offer an ideal opportunity to prove the value of data-driven decision making; you would be mistaken.

You might think that a pandemic such as COVID-19 would offer an ideal opportunity to prove the value of data-driven decision making; you would be mistaken.

In 2-hours/day for 2-days, decision makers, strategists, technologists and program implementers will gain a deep understanding of the most urgent digital disruption threats and the ways of thinking and transforming essential to success in this era of disruption. Glean new strategic perspectives your team can incorporate into future plans and actions, and discuss and share ideas and experiences with both your team and colleagues from other participating organizations.

In this on-demand webinar, Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Barry M. O’Reilly introduces a new way to model systems in complex environments — residuality theory. You'll explore how residue can be used as an alternative building block when producing systems, enabling designers to consider complex interdependencies without slowing down the design process.

In this Executive Update, we look at how product intelligence helps address challenges to achieving product leadership, as well as the general business improvements that improved product data and insight can drive.

In this Executive Update, we look at how product intelligence helps address challenges to achieving product leadership, as well as the general business improvements that improved product data and insight can drive.

There are very few success stories of traditional analog-native companies becoming digitally mature enough to compete with the digital-native players. This drives an urgent need for the analog-native companies to adapt strategies, business models, organizational structures, and capabilities to remain competitive in the short term and relevant in the long term. Moreover, to build lasting differentiation and competitive advantage, this adaptation needs to be carried out while simultaneously preserving, enhancing, and expanding the core business.

There are very few success stories of traditional analog-native companies becoming digitally mature enough to compete with the digital-native players. This drives an urgent need for the analog-native companies to adapt strategies, business models, organizational structures, and capabilities to remain competitive in the short term and relevant in the long term. Moreover, to build lasting differentiation and competitive advantage, this adaptation needs to be carried out while simultaneously preserving, enhancing, and expanding the core business.

In a recent webinar, Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Gustav Toppenberg and Stefan Henningsson discussed the problem of growth by acquisition and how advances in enterprise architecture practices not only overcome obstacles but also enable value creation. In this Advisor, we share some questions asked at the end of the webinar that may help you to use EA to unlock the value potential of your own acquisitions. 

In a recent webinar, Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Gustav Toppenberg and Stefan Henningsson discussed the problem of growth by acquisition and how advances in enterprise architecture practices not only overcome obstacles but also enable value creation. In this Advisor, we share some questions asked at the end of the webinar that may help you to use EA to unlock the value potential of your own acquisitions. 

This week's edition of The Cutter Edge takes a look at why agile adoption fails, why digitization in healthcare is an imperative, how the automotive industry can amplify its competitive advantage, and more!

Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, automation was deemed an important element of business survival and digital transformation strategies. Now we are constantly informed by vendors, the media, and IT advisory firms that business process automation is more necessary today than ever.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, automation was deemed an important element of business survival and digital transformation strategies. Now we are constantly informed by vendors, the media, and IT advisory firms that business process automation is more necessary today than ever.

After doing some mini design thinking interviews at all levels of an organization to uncover hidden issues, the authors propose an 8-step value stream mapping exercise to help team members all get on the same page.

As IS executives, you negotiate constantly — whether it be externally with vendors, contractors, or other partners, or internally with different managers, departments, your project teams, or your direct reports. Some of these negotiations are formal, but most are informal, involving day-to-day interactions at work. These negotiations are consequential, determining your budgets, deliverables, schedules, availability of equipment or services, and other factors that influence your success. Unfortunately, many IS professionals never get exposed to negotiation skills and strategies as part of their education and training.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to sizable disruptions in international economic activity, impacting all industries, although at different magnitudes. It is now time for decision makers to expand their focus beyond immediate crisis management to actions that will strengthen their competitive play in the medium and long term. In this Advisor series, we take a look at the telecom, media, and technology sectors, in particular, which show relatively strong resilience to the adverse impact of COVID-19. Here in Part I, we begin with the COVID-19 impact to the consumer electronics and media world.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to sizable disruptions in international economic activity, impacting all industries, although at different magnitudes. It is now time for decision makers to expand their focus beyond immediate crisis management to actions that will strengthen their competitive play in the medium and long term. In this Advisor series, we take a look at the telecom, media, and technology sectors, in particular, which show relatively strong resilience to the adverse impact of COVID-19. Here in Part I, we begin with the COVID-19 impact to the consumer electronics and media world.

I’ve always hoped to make risk-adjusted project schedule commit­ments while having teams buy in to working toward more aggressive target schedules. And I wanted to do so in support of the notion that great organizations must continuously strive to do more with less. This might sound contradictory, but it does not need to be — not if an organization also practices (and assimilates the results of) proactive risk management with the use of schedule risk analysis modeling and simulation tools and techniques.

An architecture is designed collaboratively. Architects are also, sometimes, part of the collaborative process. Yes, “also, sometimes, part of.” The collaborative nature of architecture in enterprises is what makes it so challenging, intriguing, and even vexing to those who are entangled in what is a very multidimensional process.