Future cloud data centers are required to provide cloud services with a minimum carbon footprint and minimum heat release in the form of greenhouse gas emissions. So what are some of the concerning issues?

Clearly, if your bit of code must talk to a database over here and a Web server over there, then a bit of architecture goes a long way.

We have been confronted for nearly two decades with a dual data storage and processing landscape, supported by two very distinct scenes of tool vendors and products. Nowadays, we see a complete convergence of the operational and tactical/strategic data needs of the corresponding data integration tooling. This evolution poses interesting challenges to the landscape of data storage and data integration solutions.

The best teams we have worked with know their strength is not the Agile framework alone, but how the team sources ideas and plans and delivers its backlog. Strong team process requires strong team empathy that allows teams to embrace creative tension to uncover novel ways of producing value.

Technology does not reform or change humans. It accelerates and unleashes more of who we are, both good and bad.

Working with business leaders, we have developed a simple yet powerful framework to help them navigate the digital landscape. It is based on four business-focused questions that are at the core of effective governance of digital and that every business leader should have in his or her head. We call these questions the four “ares.” In this Advisor, we discuss two of the “ares.”

Considering that business architecture is a critical enabler both for enterprise-wide strategy execution and transformation as well as agility, the role is increasingly focused in two areas: strategic advantage and enablers of agility. This Advisor looks at these new areas of focus for next-generation business architects.

In an ongoing Cutter Consortium survey covering the adoption and application of AI technology, we asked organizations about their plans for using AI-as-a-Service platforms and services.

I’ve come to understand that trust is one of the most fundamental ways that leaders can give their teams space within an Agile transformation effort.

Things that are manufactured need to be handled in the supply chain all the way from basic components down to the finished product arriving at the customer’s doorsteps or shop shelves. But as those “things” become smarter, the physical value chains and information processes converge.

Transformation leaders need to balance the pressures of delivering incremental value in short sprints to the customer or consumer to demonstrate value with the need to ensure that they leverage the best possible enterprise resources and align with broader corporate goals and strategies.

Business agility is something that emerges over time through a lot of hard work. Excelling at it requires true agility across all of IT, not just software development, as well as a disciplined organization that can leverage the IT capability. And, because the environment in which your organization operates evolves over time, and your competitors and partners also evolve, business agility proves to be a moving target in practice.

Building AI systems is a huge undertaking. Therefore, most companies should focus on helping employees adjust to the new world of AI, curating the right data and leaving the mechanics of building AI systems to vendors.

Communication is difficult. It turns out that this approach of opening minds to the potential benefits of opposing ideas can be very valuable. Time and again we find that the best approach is at neither end of the scale, but instead at a “sweet spot” that balances the forces and harvests the best aspects of either end of the scale.

CIOs and their teams must make sure the business case for cloud migration is aligned with key business priorities, and that their migration plan addresses a few fundamental key success factors.

Agile leaders empower their workforce. Agile leaders enable teams to take ownership of their work and trust them to get their job done. What we typically find when teams are empowered to figure out how they will accomplish their goals is that they not only deliver, but they collaborate more and enjoy their work more. As a result, productivity rises. Agile leaders establish the vision, build awesome teams, support them, and get out of the way.

What are disruptors doing that we can learn from and shape the EA toward?

Whether AI eventually lives up to all the hype obviously remains to be seen; however, I expect that we are going to witness some innovative and disrupting applications in the not-too-distant future.

This Advisor explores the mechanics behind various decision-making models and examines the boundaries and use cases for each. It discusses the qualitative value that experience or intuition can add to data-driven quantitative analysis, thereby providing the best approach to decision making.

AI’s disruption has yet to be felt in the workplace, but there are waves of changes coming our way that will alter the way we work as well as the type of work we do.

Many EA efforts start with an exercise to create a vision and mission statement for enterprise architecture. These sessions often consume considerable time with a group of people thinking about the definition of EA and discussing details of frameworks and practices. The result is typically called an EA charter. While some of these efforts are useful, others are not. In this Advisor, we consider the value of the EA charter.

We believe that at the heart of the ability to manage an ongoing and multilayered organizational transformation rests a sophisticated enterprise architecture capability with a specific charter to act as a transformation engine connecting strategic intent and execution excellence.

Designing cognitive computing systems (CCSs) requires a strong case for the investment into those systems. Organizations must not only be able to justify the initial investment into developing a CCS, but also think through the investments that will be needed to ensure it can be refined and enhanced over time.

I’ve had the good fortune for decades to work with project managers in companies ranging across many industries. From these experiences, the best project managers I’ve worked with seem to have the following traits.

There is perhaps only one thing more crucial to secure than money: information. The heavy burdens associated with securing the authenticity and history of data are well-known to several sectors.