A paradox increasingly confronts a number of researchers and analysts: to derive value from data, you need a lot of it. We now have the tools to analyze these large amounts, but few institutions, at least in the private sector, are willing to make it available to others.

If you are a CIO, project manager, or chief architect involved in or contemplating a very large system replacement, you owe it to yourself to read Jerome (Jack) Israel's article in IEEE Computer entitled, " Why Can't the FBI Build a Case Management System?" It is a

For those not familiar with the structure of subways, the third rail is the one that carries the power for the trains. Under no circumstances do you ever want to touch it.

There is often much confusion between processes, value streams, and capabilities. While each is intended to describe business operations in some way, each has a different purpose, focus, and use.

Big Data describes the evolutionary results of digitization, storage growth, and processing capability. It encompasses the growth of data in volume, variety, and velocity resulting from the increasing amounts of digitized material and data generated on the Internet.

As more traditional enterprises start to move their Hadoop projects into production, they are confronting the big question: How do we ensure data security and compliance in Big Data environments like Hadoop?

While recently raking together a large pile of freshly fallen leaves from the London Plane trees in my yard, it occurred to me that they had a strong connection to the ongoing pitcher risk-reward controversy involving the Washington Nationals baseball team.

I have heard so many CIOs say they just want to be able to walk into the offices of their internal customers -- business-unit VPs and other executives -- and show them exactly the real, fully loaded costs of the systems they are using and the financial consequences of some of the demands they push on IT without full knowledge of costs.

My "baptism" in programming was based on a discussion scratched on the back of my user's used-up cigarette case.

There have been significant advances in process modeling tools over the past decade. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that companies are getting good value from the time and effort they have invested in process modeling.

In my last Advisor (“ Big Data Analytics in a Socially Infused Healthcare Enterprise”), I shared an account of leveraging Big Data analytics in a large healthcare IT organization.

A process, in my honest opinion, is the product of its era. It reflects the needs, the constraints, and the predicaments of its time. As those change, the process needs to evolve in tandem. If it does not, it is likely to become obsolete.

As we all know, Abraham Lincoln was largely self-taught in the midst of meager means and living on the frontiers in the US states of Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois -- far from centers of learning and culture east of the Appalachian Mountains. For Lincoln, the book represented the path, and he sought them with great effort.

A process, in my honest opinion, is the product of its era. It reflects the needs, the constraints, and the predicaments of its time. As those change, the process needs to evolve in tandem. If it does not, it is likely to become obsolete.

Many of my long-time readers might remember that I live out in the woods in the US state of New Hampshire. Just recently, my 20-year-old garden tractor began to die. In looking at a replacement, I started to go over the options.

[From the Editor: This week's Cutter IT Advisor is from Cutter Senior Consultant Mitchell Ummel's introduction to the August 2012 issue of Cutter IT Journal, "Cloud Computing Standards" (Vol. 25, No. 8).

Back in January, when discussing trends for predictive analytics in 2012, I predicted that some of the issues holding organizations back from realizing their predictive analytics dreams would be offset by new options for implementation (see "The Year Ahead: Will 2012 Be a Breakout Year for Predictive Analyt

There's a critical moment in enterprise governance that ties to when we start taking decisive executive action. I like to think of it as the "lifeboat" moment. It's when we determine that the challenges we face are too great to overcome and that we need to start salvaging what we can before the entire organizational "ship" goes under.

I'm conflicted about this topic, so it's a good thing Cutter promotes debate. I'm having one with myself, and you can watch.

The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially "The Games of the XXX Olympiad" (I don't want the IOC branding police after me), have finally concluded, but the buzz about NBC's coverage in the US still goes on.

Back in late November 2009, I was conducting a group coaching session and the topic was how to keep staff motivated when, because the economy was so bad, the participants were unable to provide an elaborate party, gifts, or bonuses by end of year. After much brainstorming and discussion, one of the things that everyone agreed to do was to hand-write a thank you note to each of their direct reports.

Mobility is becoming increasingly important to business as the BYOD movement brings powerful tablets and smartphones to the enterprise. Mobile business intelligence has proven popular in recent years, principally by offering a means for busy executives and salespeople on-the-go to carry with them instant access to important indicators. Mobile BI capable of reaching back to analytics on the corporate server or in the cloud could be served up from dedicated apps on mobile platforms or accessed through mobile-friendly webpages.

Mobility is becoming increasingly important to business as the BYOD movement brings powerful tablets and smartphones to the enterprise. Mobile business intelligence has proven popular in recent years, principally by offering a means for busy executives and salespeople on-the-go to carry with them instant access to important indicators.

Do you want to lead an organization that's nimble and flexible so it thrives under conditions of change, complexity, and uncertainty? Of course you do. So first you'll want to distinguish change as a noun from change as a verb (stay with me here, you'll get value from this, I promise).

For more than a century, the business world has been conducting a huge, uncontrolled experiment in motivating people. In parallel, the world of academia has been scientifically researching the same subject.