A digital company uses digitalization to increase its value. Achieving this requires a holistic approach, which covers the business model, processes and organization, digital enablers (e.g., data and technology), and employee skills and company culture. Finding out which initiatives add value and contribute to company goals is key to finding the digital equilibrium.

A digital company uses digitalization to increase its value. Achieving this requires a holistic approach, which covers the business model, processes and organization, digital enablers (e.g., data and technology), and employee skills and company culture. Finding out which initiatives add value and contribute to company goals is key to finding the digital equilibrium.

As we fight through current issues and eventually come out on the other side to whatever will be the “new normal,” a word has increasingly made its way into the daily discourse of business and technology leaders, as well as of politicians (at least those who know how to spell it): trustworthiness. Some things are noticed only when we miss them; trustworthiness is one of those. It is interesting to delve into how we got to this situation; the role that information technology has been playing in the erosion of trustworthiness; and how it, like many double-edged tools, might help solve the very problems it has helped create.

In this Advisor, we consider two scenarios — investment planning and digital transformation — where using a capability model as a foundation for delivering information can be valuable.

The “new normal” for the automotive industry will look very different from that of the last decade. Players — manufacturers, dealers, distributors, OEMs, and the full supply chain — will need to make bold decisions right now to be ready. In this webinar on demand, Andreas Schlosser, Alan Martinovich, and Philipp Seidel divulge the actions carmakers should take now to set themselves up for the new normal and win in the post-corona era.

In this last article of the data lakehouse series, the author polishes his crystal ball and shares his opinions on the likely direction of the data architecture considerations around warehouses, lakes, and any other forthcoming popular memes.

Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant and frequent contributor Paul Clermont uses his well-known “straight talking” style to paint a clear picture of the “broad scope of threats” we are facing. He uses anthropological analogies to explain the “circles of trust” we use in deciding what to believe. Clermont doesn’t shy from the potential conflicts among information transparency, privacy, and intellectual property. He then looks at the proper role of governments in creating the frameworks and standards that can help improve trustworthiness.

Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant and frequent contributor Paul Clermont uses his well-known “straight talking” style to paint a clear picture of the “broad scope of threats” we are facing. He uses anthropological analogies to explain the “circles of trust” we use in deciding what to believe. Clermont doesn’t shy from the potential conflicts among information transparency, privacy, and intellectual property. He then looks at the proper role of governments in creating the frameworks and standards that can help improve trustworthiness.

David Tayouri brings us the perspective of the Israeli defense environment, justly famous for its leadership in cybersecurity. For Tayouri, the combination of biometrics, asymmetric cryptography (think “PKI”), and blockchain can help construct a strong authentication and authorization environment, which is crucial to, in his words, “reconstruct virtual trust.”

David Tayouri brings us the perspective of the Israeli defense environment, justly famous for its leadership in cybersecurity. For Tayouri, the combination of biometrics, asymmetric cryptography (think “PKI”), and blockchain can help construct a strong authentication and authorization environment, which is crucial to, in his words, “reconstruct virtual trust.”

Philippe Flichy tells us that there are three complementary facets we need to consider when it comes to trustworthiness, particu­larly in an industrial environment: trusting the data, a challenge made more difficult by the emergence of IoT, digital transformation, and cyberattacks; trusting the tools, for example, the machine learning algorithms whose innards are, almost by design, largely inscrutable; and trusting the people, given the pandemic-era new work practices.

Philippe Flichy tells us that there are three complementary facets we need to consider when it comes to trustworthiness, particu­larly in an industrial environment: trusting the data, a challenge made more difficult by the emergence of IoT, digital transformation, and cyberattacks; trusting the tools, for example, the machine learning algorithms whose innards are, almost by design, largely inscrutable; and trusting the people, given the pandemic-era new work practices.

Using the “technology as the solution” line of thought but with the added twist of putting a human in the loop, a team of eight coauthors led by Greek academic Panagiotis Monachelis proposes to combine peer-to-peer decentralized networks and blockchain technology to address the challenge of misinformation in social media. The authors provide a detailed description of an architecture, embodied in their research project called EUNOMIA, that allows end users to review posts and feed a secure voting system.

Using the “technology as the solution” line of thought but with the added twist of putting a human in the loop, a team of eight coauthors led by Greek academic Panagiotis Monachelis proposes to combine peer-to-peer decentralized networks and blockchain technology to address the challenge of misinformation in social media. The authors provide a detailed description of an architecture, embodied in their research project called EUNOMIA, that allows end users to review posts and feed a secure voting system.

Robert A. Martin addresses the complete ecosystem involved in the procurement of products and services. What does it mean to trust that what you buy, and the organizations that sell to you, meet all the conditions required to merit your trust? Martin describes the elements of a system of trust for supply chain security that is currently under development and is based on collecting information from a wide community of procurement departments and standards organizations.

Robert A. Martin addresses the complete ecosystem involved in the procurement of products and services. What does it mean to trust that what you buy, and the organizations that sell to you, meet all the conditions required to merit your trust? Martin describes the elements of a system of trust for supply chain security that is currently under development and is based on collecting information from a wide community of procurement departments and standards organizations.

This issue’s contributors have addressed the question of trustworthiness from a variety of angles. Each article offers a significant contribution to the challenge of restoring and maintaining trust.

This issue’s contributors have addressed the question of trustworthiness from a variety of angles. Each article offers a significant contribution to the challenge of restoring and maintaining trust.

Although organizations at the forefront of digital transformation have successfully deployed the combi­nation of design thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile methods and immensely benefitted from them, most technology organizations and their leaders still do not appreciate how the three complement each other.

Looking at the current news, we can see VUCA — volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity — unfolding in real time. Amid this chaos and uncertainty, people are suffering from ambiguity and are having a hard time making judgments about the truthfulness of information, especially whom to believe. This Advisor provides some insight into our VUCA world and some of the skills and abilities people have at their disposal.

Unleashing the numerous benefits of customer excellence and achieving tangible improvements require an end-to-end, eight-step approach that addresses multiple dimensions across the customer journey.

Defining, designing, implementing, and managing cross-organization collaborations and ecosystems requires a new mindset, solid architecture, and effective end-to-end execution of business direction. Business architecture and business architects are perfectly suited to help with all three.

In this edition of The Cutter Edge, you'll explore three practices to improve employee engagement, strategies for post-pandemic auto industry recovery, and more.

When the world changes overnight, the problem of focusing on short-term struggles at the expense of long-term strategy becomes even more profound. Cutter Consortium can help you reset your strategic and planning process for a post-COVID world.

Here in Part XII, the final installment of this Update series, we describe three perspectives on project management to discuss its future directions and especially the future for SPM.