IT risks present in Corporate America today

Corporate America has a wide range of IT risks today because most of business models have a dependency on IT. Depends on two strategic dimensions of how much the company relies on cost-effective, uninterrupted, secure, smoothly operating technology systems (referred as "defensive" IT), and how much the company relies on the IT for its competitive edge through systems that provide new value-added services and products or high responsiveness to customers ("offensive" IT), and also on the role of IT, and IT governance in the company, following risk factors can be identified.


• Proper security of IT networks within and outside the company.

• Service outage because of the power failure or natural disaster.

• Inadequate disaster recovery or business continuity measures.

• IT-related surprises coming from lax or ineffective project management. The larger IT projects - the higher the risk.

• Problems with IT-related activities outsourced to 3rd party vendors.

• Legacy systems can present surprises of incompatibility with newer systems or the way of the processing the information.

• Legal problems can arise around the intellectual property issues related to IT.

• Missing the fresh threads and opportunity of using leading-edge technology applications that competitors switch to.

• Risk that IT investments don't create a business value for the organization.

• Aligning of IT assets with the concurrent needs of multiple regulations. Example: data retention, information protection.

• Insufficient number of IT staff.

• IT staff with inadequate skills.

• Lack of agility/development problems.

• Problems with document content and knowledge management.

• Electronic archiving or storage problems.

• Privacy incidents.

• IT infrastructure is inadequate to meet the current and future needs of business in a cost-effective and timely manner.

The Global business faces probably the majority of all possible IT risks. Establishing the adequate IT governance can help to mitigate or eliminate most of risks.

Resource:

Applegate, L.M., Austin, R.D., Soule, D.L. (2009). Corporate information strategy and management: McGraw-Hill.

IT Impact on Organizations

Many organizations are struggling to understand the reality of an economic transition from the industrial economy to a global network economy. In this new reality organizations must become much more agile, innovative, and entrepreneurial and not loosing the efficiency, power, and reach. Choosing the right business model become very challenging. How to build the capabilities that would align the organization with the environment and the chosen strategy to quickly and effectively respond to opportunities and threads. Most executives confront problems that they do not wish to sacrifice efficiency for speed; neither can they abandon authority and control as they empower others. It can be characterized by wish: "we want to be global and local, big and small, and radically decentralized with centralized reporting and control."

Many researches suggests that IT was seen as a key enabler of controlling operations while also providing real-time information analytical tools. In 1950s and 1960s some of the hybrid organizational solution model, matrix,emerged. Companies that adopted these approach had the same drive as we have now days: need to be adoptive, information-intensive, team-based, collaborative, and empowered.  But companies that adopted the hybrid design of the 1960s through 1980s soon learned that the new structures and systems bred conflict, confusion, information overload, and costly duplication of resources. Over past decades, strategic thinking has outdistances organizational capabilities. One of the "lessons learned" why matrix organizations didn't succeed in the past was understating about organization's inability to provide and manage timely information. All pressure of handling complexity was put on managers directly. They would have dazzling array of conflicting information. 
Only the now days IT can provide the capabilities of meeting the information challenge and making the matrix organizational structure successful.
Some other important "lessons learned" from the past:

• Speed counts, but not at the expense of control.The faster the pace, the greater the need to monitor business operations and clearly define and enforce the rules of the road.
• Empowerment is not anarchy. The isolated efforts to empower employees can lead to disaster when not accompanied by more comprehensive redefinition of authority and control through organization.
• Transforming an organization requires more than just changing the structure.

For the success there should be a comprehensive approach to organization design that includes analysis and realignment of capabilities within four key areas of business model design: processes and infrastructure, people and partners, organization and culture, and leadership and governance. Improved access to information and high-capacity networked communication systems are core elements of redesign in all four areas.

Resource: Applegate, L. Corporate Information Strategy and Management. 2009.

Lean Six Sigma: a foundation for innovation

Lean approaches focus on reducing cost through process optimization. Six Sigma is about meeting customer requirements and stakeholder expectations, and improving quality by measuring and eliminating defects.

However, Lean Six Sigma’s goal is growth, not just cost-cutting. Its aim is effectiveness, not just efficiency. In this way, a Lean Six Sigma approach drives organizations not just to do things better but to do better things.
Here are several questions:

• Do you have a clear vision of where you want your company to be in two years? In
five years? In ten years?
• How closely tied is this vision to the needs of your current and target customers? And is your understanding of these needs based on actual assessments or assumed information?
• Will this vision require innovations in your business model? In your products or services? In your markets?
• What will you need to do at the operational level to enable and drive these innovations?
• To support innovation, what changes will be required to your management approach, organizational structures, metrics and skills?
• How are you making innovation happen more systematically? Are you establishing
the right environment?

Resources: http://www-935.ibm.com/services/at/bcs/pdf/br-stragchan-driving-inno.pdf

Project Management: Implementation and Best Practices at Sitecore.net - Dreamcore Europe 2011, London

I made a presentation at Sitecore developer's and customer's conference "Dreamcore Europe 2011" in June 2011, in London, about project management experience on sitecore.net. Link to the presentation video