IT Foresight Archive
| 5-13-13 The Digital Government: Leveraging Technology to Gain Efficiency Digitization is enabling governments to transform how they provide essential technology-based services to their private citizens and businesses alike. To do so, they must move away from a model in which each agency develops and delivers its own services to one in which technology capabilities are aggregated across agency boundaries. This broker model will enable governments to orchestrate the right collection of cost-effective systems and processes to meet the needs of all their constituents. read more > |
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| 5-13-13 Digitization for Economic Growth and Job Creation: Regional and Industry Perspectives Despite the weak economic climate around the world, the benefits of digitization have been significant, providing US$193 billion in added economic output and creating 6 million jobs globally in 2011. But the effects of digitization vary considerably across countries and industries. Policymakers seeking to reap the maximum benefits from digitization need to develop overarching ICT ecosystems to promote the use of digital technologies, while working with individual sectors to encourage the development of the necessary capabilities. read more > |
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| 3-27-13 The Death of Traditional IT: And the Rise of the New Partnership Model To succeed in the age of digitization, companies need more and better information, tighter connections to customers, and the ability to get products to market faster. Individual business and functional units are demanding more control over the differentiating technologies they need to succeed. This transition will require determining whether each unit is prepared to take on this task, and deciding on the role of corporate IT in enabling the transition. read more > |
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| 3-27-13 “This Is for Everyone”: The Case for Universal Digitisation The economic benefits of universal digitization are well understood, but achieving these benefits isn’t easy. This report, co-sponsored by Go ON UK, a British charity devoted to increasing digital opportunities for people and businesses alike, offers insights into how every country can boost Internet usage. Making the right choices will enable individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, charities, and governments to reap the many advantages of digitization. read more > |
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| 2-04-13 ERP in the Cloud: Is It Ready? Are You? The hype surrounding cloud computing has settled down, and many corporate IT departments have made the cloud a part of their everyday operations. ERP systems, however, have largely been excluded. This Perspective argues that cloud-based ERP has become mature enough for companies to consider it seriously. We analyze the pros and cons of moving ERP services to the cloud and present a framework that CIOs can use to evaluate the viability of cloud-based ERP systems for their organizations. read more > |
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| 2-04-13 Industry Perspectives for 2013 At year-end, each Booz & Company industry practice analyzes the events and trends that shaped the past 12 months, and predicts how those trends will play out during the next 12 months. Among the industries discussed: automotive, chemicals, commercial aerospace, defense, industrials, life sciences, oil and gas, retail banking, and telecommunications. IT specialists in every industry can benefit from the insights gathered here. read more > |
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| 12-04-12 The New Functional Agenda: How Corporate Functions Can Add Value in a New Strategic Era As the business environment grows more uncertain and more competitive, functional leaders must find ways to make their organizations more strategic, even as they maintain operational excellence and increase efficiency. The effort will require that these leaders—in human resources, information technology, finance, marketing, and other areas—stop trying to become “best in class.” In addition, they must focus their activities on helping their companies build the distinctive capabilities needed to grow, and learn how to measure the ways in which their efforts add real business value. download (243kb, PDF) > |
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| 12-04-12 The New IT Agenda: How to Define and Deliver a Capabilities-Driven Approach More and more CIOs are looking to make their IT organizations “fit for purpose,” delivering the capabilities their companies need most if they are to create the greatest possible business value. Doing so requires a three-step process: analyze the value IT currently provides; understand the company’s strategic imperatives and the contribution IT must make to the capabilities needed to ensure success; and develop the functional agenda best suited to the department’s existing strengths that will enable those capabilities. download (442kb, PDF) > |
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| 10-30-12 Making Ideas Work: The 2012 Global Innovation 1000 Our eighth annual study of the world’s 1,000 largest corporate spenders on R&D focuses on the “fuzzy front end” of the innovation process—the tools, mechanisms, and networks that companies use to generate ideas and assess their commercial viability. Although almost half of the nearly 700 R&D executives we surveyed conceded that their early-stage innovation efforts are simply not very effective, the study confirms the importance of tried-and-true sources of ideas such as direct customer observation, idea workout sessions, and technology road-mapping. As in the past, we also conducted an analysis of global R&D spending, which rose a healthy 9.6 percent in 2011. read more > |
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| 10-30-12 The Well-Structured Program Management Office: Keys to Managing IT Demand IT departments are facing increasing pressure to cut costs and deliver on their promised business value, and the failure of large-scale programs is no longer an option. In this environment, a smoothly operating IT program management office (PMO) is critical. Successful PMOs operate in the light of a strategy dependent on the demand that the business places on IT and incorporate a governing model that gives it sufficient authority to deliver the greatest possible value to the business. download (305kb, PDF) > |
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| 9-27-12 Getting Results from Big Data: A Capabilities-Driven Approach to the Strategic Use of Unstructured Information Companies that take a capabilities-driven approach to overall strategy have a real advantage in the effort to implement a big data program. That’s because they understand how the capabilities they already have in place drive business value. Starting from there, the key is to determine how a big data program can augment those capabilities, and then to ensure that you have access to the right data. Only then should companies decide on the tools and technologies needed to collect, analyze, and make use of all this data. download (351kb, PDF) > |
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| 6-27-12 The Global ICT 50: The Supply Side of Digitization For the top 50 companies providing IT and telecom hardware, software, and services, the world is changing dramatically. How these suppliers respond will transform the world for the rest of us. Based on an analysis of the four factors determining success for digital providers, this article shows why the four different supplier categories—hardware and infrastructure companies, software and Internet companies, IT service providers, and telecom operators—have different growth trajectories and competitive prospects. download (624kb, PDF) > |
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| 6-27-12 Digital Customer Centricity Profiler In 10 minutes, this short survey will help you kick-start the process of assessing whether your company is prioritizing the right digital capabilities for customer centricity and where you’ll need to invest further in talent and skills development to enhance them. read more > |
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| 5-29-12 Maximizing the Impact of Digitization Digitization is quickly becoming a critical factor in supporting worldwide economic growth, contributing even more to the GDP of countries at every stage of development than broadband does. As its importance grows, every country must ensure that their economies, societies and public sectors get the greatest possible benefit from this transformation. In light of this ongoing transformation, all major companies must learn how they too can benefit, and which markets offer the greatest opportunities. download (1.4mb, PDF) > |
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| 5-29-12 CEO Succession 2011: The New CEO’s First Year Booz & Company’s 12th annual study of worldwide CEO succession patterns shows that as the global economy began to recover last year, 14.2 percent of CEOs at the world’s largest companies were replaced, up considerably from 11.6 percent in the prior year. How best can this large class of new chief executives navigate their first year in office? The seasoned CEOs we interviewed for the study recommend quickly putting in place a top management team, being selective in taking advice from others, and maintaining a reasonable work-life balance. read more > |
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| 4-30-12 Standardizing the Cloud: A Call to Action Cloud computing has the potential to transform how companies large and small purchase and deliver their IT services. Yet a study conducted recently by Booz & Company makes clear that the effort to create the standards needed to guide its development and use has been highly fragmented. Successfully codifying standards for the cloud will require the combined efforts of both cloud service providers and business customers; only then will the full potential of cloud computing be realized. download (1.1mb, PDF) > |
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| 4-30-12 How Many Direct Reports? This article in Harvard Business Review helps CEOs and other senior executives answer a perennial question: How much should they take on? The authors analyze how the CEO’s span of control logically evolves and offer advice for managers as they progress through their careers. download (600kb, PDF) > |
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| 4-03-12 A Catalyst for IT Success: How Proficiency in Change Management Can Make IT Transformations Pay Off Creating a strong change management proficiency can have a real impact in reducing the high failure rate of large IT transformation projects. If change management is to succeed, however, it must be more than an afterthought. Instead, it must be an integral part of the project planning process, and a key responsibility of all the project team members, including those from other parts of the business—all of whom must be thoroughly educated in the principles of the discipline.download (352kb, PDF) > |
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| 4-03-12 The Thought Leader Interview: Bob Carrigan In this exclusive interview, Bob Carrigan, CEO of IDG Communications and chairman of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, argues that new media—the intersection of broadband, social media, online advertising, the mobile Internet, cloud computing, online lead generation, and e-commerce—is rapidly transforming the overall economy. To benefit, however, companies of all stripes need to reassess how they deliver content and advertising and connect with their prospects.read more > |
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| 2-29-12 Getting to Good Governance: From Policing to Orchestrating Traditional project management offices (PMOs) are typically engaged too late in the project lifecycle to prevent risks that may stem from earlier phases of the project. Instead, they often simply react to problems as they arise, relegating their role to damage control. In contrast, the strategic implementation office (SIO) would extend the scope of the PMO to the strategy and design phases of projects, identifying risks before they become problems, and then ensuring that all project stakeholders are engaged in the delivery stage.download (295kb, PDF) > |
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| 2-27-12 A Better Way to Battle Malware How bad is the malware problem? More than 40 new types of malware, including viruses, worms, and Trojans, are created every minute, and more than 1.5 trillion spam emails are sent daily. This fascinating article offers a new way to counter the security risks and lost productivity that malware causes—by turning to the techniques of the manufacturing quality movement of the 1990s to manage risk and reduce the cost of network security.read more > |
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| 1-25-12 Measuring Industry Digitization: Leaders and Laggards in the Digital Economy As the pace of digitization speeds up, companies in every industry are looking to capture their fair share of the value being created. Our Industry Digitization Index indicates which industries are forging ahead (financial services and computers and electronics) and which are lagging (real estate, construction, and consumer goods). All companies can benefit by understanding where their industry stands in this critical effort, and where it needs to improve.download (600kb, PDF) > |
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| 1-25-12 The Next Wave of Digitization: Setting Your Direction, Building Your Capabilities We are entering a new age of digitization, driven by consumer and business demand and by a host of new technologies, such as ubiquitous broadband, powerful data-crunching technology, and the “Internet of Things.” Every industry will be affected—indeed, transformed—and it is up to all CEOs to steer their companies through the coming transition. This Perspective provides a guide to the impact that digitization will have on various industries, and how quickly it will happen.download (1.4mb, PDF) > |
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| 1-25-12 Visit the Booz & Company Lounge at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2012
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| 1-25-12 IT Consumerization Study – Win an iPad The IT Foresight team invites you to take part in our long-standing study of consumerization in corporate IT by filling out a brief online survey. Participants may also enter our random drawing for a free iPad.start the survey > |
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| 12-13-11 Anatomy of an E-Health Ecosystem Most e-health initiatives have yet to deliver on the benefits so often claimed for them. That’s because e-health isn’t just about putting in place the necessary technology infrastructure. Rather, it needs to be seen as an ecosystem that incorporates not just technology but also all stakeholders, the services involved, an adequate financing model, and the necessary governance policies and regulations. And it must be customized to reflect local conditions.download (1.1mb, PDF) > |
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| 12-13-11 The Faster New World of Healthcare Thanks to regulatory reform and advances in information technology, the pace of change in the healthcare industry is increasing rapidly. If insurers are to keep up with agile, technology-driven competitors now entering the field, they must search for effective business models from outside their own industry, and build new capabilities that support rapid product development, a consumer product mind-set, and expansion into adjacent markets.read more > |
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| 12-13-11 At the Forefront of Healthcare IT: An Interview with Dr. Martin Harris, the CIO of the Cleveland Clinic In this exclusive video interview with Booz & Company Partner Ramez Shehadi and Principal Walid Tohme, Dr. Harris discusses how new technologies, from electronic medical records to social media, are empowering patients and ensuring better medical outcomes. "We are delivering care in ways that we’ve never thought about before."watch the video > |
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| 12-13-11 2012 Technology Industry Perspective Digitization is the new name of the game in the technology industry, and 2012 appears to be the year when many of the trends that form the backbone of digitization—cloud computing, connectivity, and big data analytics, among others—will begin bearing fruit. If technology companies are to become active partners of industry verticals as they embark on their respective digital transformations, they must build the capabilities needed to better understand how different verticals operate and where the value streams can be found, and build solutions that can scale to entire industries. |
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| 11-29-11 Business Process Empowerment: Powerful New Capabilities for Front-Office Staff Companies have struggled to get real value out of business process management in automating front-office sales and customer services operations. Business process empowerment, or BPE, offers a new customer-focused, strategically driven approach that provides real gains in process architecture and governance combined with a continuous improvement culture to increase sales, aid in cross- and up-selling, and encourage customer retention. Companies implementing BPE have seen double-digit returns on their investment in the effort.download (553kb, PDF) > |
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| 11-29-11 Why Culture is Key: The 2011 Global Innovation 1000 Our seventh annual study of the world’s 1,000 largest corporate R&D spenders focuses on the ways strategic alignment and corporate culture facilitate innovation. We show that companies whose innovation strategy is tightly aligned with overall corporate strategy, and whose culture supports innovation, have better innovation results and stronger financial performance. As in years past, we also conducted a comprehensive trend analysis of global R&D spending: spending rose 9.3 percent in 2010, returning to its long-term trajectory after 2009’s recession-induced decline.read more > |
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| 10-26-11 Buying Right the First Time: IT Sourcing Simplified Ensuring successful relationships with IT outsourcers depends greatly on choosing the right vendor for the job at hand. CIOs looking to increase the odds of smooth relations with their outsourcers must answer three critical questions right up front: What is the goal of the project involved? Who can deliver on that goal? And how should that partner be selected? Only by defining a sourcing strategy early in the process can CIOs expect to achieve the results they are looking for.download (296kb, PDF) > |
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| 10-26-11 World-Class IT Vendor Management: An Essential Capability for Maximizing Outsourcing Value Large IT departments are working with more outsourcers than ever before, and the task of managing all those vendors is becoming increasingly complex. As a result, vendor management has become a foundational capability for every IT department. Building that capability requires making sure five key elements are in place: a culture of collaboration with vendors and other stakeholders; the right policies, processes, and procedures; a workable organizational model; talented people with the right attitude; and the necessary support systems.download (397kb, PDF) > |
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| 10-04-11 Fast, Lean, and Agile: How GCC Governments Can Make the Most of ICT Investments The governments in the Gulf Cooperation Council have made real progress in promoting the development of information and communications technology within the region. But there is still much work to be done. The region’s governments need to develop comprehensive, well-funded, multiyear programs that address two critical dimensions of ICT development: environment and readiness. By doing so, they will greatly improve the quality and effectiveness of the services they offer their constituents.download (344kb, PDF) > |
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| 10-04-11 Stimulating Innovation: Building the Digital Advantage for MENA Countries If countries in the Middle East and North Africa are to become producers of information and communications technology, and not just consumers, they must strengthen their ICT sectors and foster innovation. Doing so requires that regional governments move forward on five critical fronts: identifying key focus areas, establishing innovation-friendly policies and regulations, making funding more widely available, improving ICT infrastructure, and developing the local talent pool.download (216kb, PDF) > |
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| 10-04-11 Next-Generation ICT Parks: Bridging the GCC Technology Gap The proper role of information and communications technology parks in GCC countries is twofold: to achieve commercial success and to promote the development of local talent. If ICT parks in the region are to succeed at both, they must build stronger links between government, education, and industry. That will allow them to operate along the full ICT value chain, and position them to help fulfill the expanding economic missions of the GCC.download (482kb, PDF) > |
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| 7-26-11 Retail Banking in the Age of Apponomics If the retail banking industry is to reduce the complexity, uncertainty, and stress many of its customers feel in the wake of the recent financial crisis, it must take advantage of the many changes taking place in the age of apponomics. Digitization is the key to providing customers with the best possible banking experience, one in which they are fully engaged with their financial institutions, allowing them to “co-create” value together with their bankers.download (510kb, PDF) > |
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| 7-26-11 Web 2.0 Banking: Fresh Thinking for a New Decade The rise of Web 2.0 technologies such as social networking, mobile apps, blogs, and wikis has revolutionized how people use the Web, transforming the way they connect, communicate, collaborate, and create. Now it’s time for the retail banking industry to take advantage of these technologies to attract younger consumers; develop new products, services, and channels; and devise new marketing strategies. Doing so requires a deep understanding of the new options available, a carefully considered strategy, and a clear execution plan.download (369kb, PDF) > |
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| 7-26-11 Leaving Cash Behind: The Rise of Electronic Payments in the MENA Region Most economies in the Middle East and North Africa have long been dependent on cash to make payments of all kinds. Now, more and more are turning to e-payment systems to better manage working capital and operate more efficiently. It’s a critical transition in the effort to modernize, but doing it successfully requires the backing of all the stakeholders, including service providers, financial intermediaries, government agencies, and consumers.download (896kb, PDF) > |
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| 6-29-11 Designing the Transcendent Web: The Power of Web 3.0 Over the next several years, a number of new technologies will come together to create the next phase of the Internet. Called Web 3.0, it will generate a great leap forward in the degree of connectivity and communications, and in the amount of information available about customers and their attitudes and preferences. The benefits for business will be enormous, as the new Web provides a much greater flow of data on which to base everything from product development to marketing and sales to daily operations. Will your company be ready?download (939kb, PDF) > |
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| 6-29-11 Cloud Computing: An Information Security Perspective Executives contemplating moving critical data to the cloud continue to worry about the security of their data and the reliability of the technology. Yet the inherent attractiveness of the technology remains strong. The risks of maintaining data in the cloud can be mitigated, we believe, by systematically analyzing the risks involved in moving different kinds of data into the cloud, and then matching the data with the cloud technology best suited to the data’s security requirements.download (335kb, PDF) > |
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| 6-29-11 The 2011 Global Innovation 1000 survey Wanted: executives interested in the relationship between organization, culture, and innovation. We are seeking your insights for Booz & Company’s annual Global Innovation 1000 study. Please click here to participate in our 15-minute survey. Everyone who takes the survey will receive a free one-year subscription to the digital edition of strategy+business and a copy of this year’s Global Innovation 1000 study before its release to the public.begin survey > |
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| 5-31-11 Seeing Through the Clouds: Navigating the Evolving Technology Ecosystem Cloud computing is quickly increasing in popularity, and it will disrupt the traditional technology distribution ecosystem. As a result, traditional players like ISVs, systems integrators, VARs, distributors, and retailers must prepare to realign their roles, even as new players like cloud masters, telecom companies, and app aggregators move to capture the new market. The new ecosystem will provide players many opportunities to win new value. To succeed, operators must begin now to envision the ecosystem’s evolution, position themselves quickly, and execute carefully. Those that don’t are likely to struggle.download (345kb, PDF) > |
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| 5-31-11 Standing Up a Cloud-Enabled Marketing Capability CMOs are about to be confronted by the massive power of cloud computing, coupled with the coming explosion of connected devices and advanced applications. Together, these two forces will open up the promise of continuous marketing as never before. Campaigns will be run continuously, with each iteration arising out of the information captured and processed by cloud-enabled “big data” analytic engines, and CMOs will be able to extend the Internet marketing model across their entire organization. Every marketer must begin now to think through the capabilities needed to succeed in this connected, cloud-enabled world.download (319kb, PDF) > |
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| 5-31-11 Sunshine Behind the Cloud: The Cloud Opportunity for Telecom Operators The advent of cloud computing presents telecom operators with a huge opportunity to capture higher-value revenues in a market that has yet to be fully occupied. But too few of them are exploiting the chance. To play successfully, operators need to realize that they have the assets needed to win in the cloud ecosystem—including a connection to virtually every home and business and the sales channels needed to monetize those connections—and then devise appropriate consumer- and business-oriented strategies for taking advantage of those assets.download (382kb, PDF) > |
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| 5-31-11 CEO Succession 2010: The Four Types of CEOs Every year, Booz & Company takes a long and penetrating look at CEO succession among the world’s top 2,500 public companies. This year, we looked at the role of the CEO and its effect on tenure and turnover. How hands-on are the CEO and his or her senior team? How do they engage themselves with the businesses they lead? We found that these factors have a noticeable effect. The more involved headquarters is in operational decision making in any given company, the more tenuous the CEO’s tenure is likely to be.read more > |
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| 4-26-11 Social CRM: How Companies Can Link into the Social Web of Consumers The advent of the “social consumer”—always in contact with millions of other consumers through reviews, opinions, “likes,” and other social media techniques—has transformed the relationship between companies and their customers. That in turn has changed how companies must manage that relationship. The traditional tools of CRM are no longer enough; companies today must develop new product, channel, and customer strategies. The goal now is not just to generate a credible presence on the social Web, but to use the social Web to increase sales.download (437kb, PDF) > |
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| 4-26-11 Shoppers on the Go: Winning Strategies in Mobile Commerce With smartphones rapidly penetrating markets in Europe and North America, and gaining ground in the rest of the world, their influence on the shopping experience is already significant. A recent Booz & Company study demonstrates just how critical m-commerce is becoming in helping companies understand the way consumers behave in real time as they shop, and how they can influence that behavior to boost sales. With m-commerce sales in the U.S. alone expected to more than triple by 2014, to upward of $7 billion, no company can afford to miss this opportunity.download (384kb, PDF) > |
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| 4-26-11 A Global Perspective on Tablet Early Adoption and Usage Recently, Booz & Company surveyed more than 330 owners of tablet computers to better understand how these early adopters are using them. The results suggest that tablets will play a rapidly increasing role in how digital entertainment and media are consumed. More than 30 percent of our respondents, for instance, see their tablets as substitutes for PCs and laptops. And though the average user has downloaded 30 game apps, news apps get the most usage. Providers of paid content will be pleased to learn that users have downloaded an average of seven paid apps onto their tablets, and 30 percent say they pay for some kind of magazine or news app subscription.download (267kb, PDF) > |
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| 3-28-11 Owning Innovation: Risk Management in IT-Enabled Transformation Projects The difficulties involved in managing large, high-risk IT projects are well known, and the outcomes of these projects can be very uncertain, especially when the technology being implemented is still being developed, often by a small, highly innovative software “boutique.” Given the risks, a company needs to exert as much control over this kind of project as possible, perhaps even going so far as to take a direct stake in the development firm. That way, the company can more closely oversee the project’s progress and ensure that it gets the customized software it needs.download (296kb, PDF) > |
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| 3-28-11 Navigating Turmoil in the Global Technology-Services Sector India’s Wipro has quickly grown into one of the largest IT services organizations in the world. But the financial crisis and subsequent downturn affected it deeply, as companies cut back and some large clients disappeared entirely. In this exclusive interview, Girish Paranjpe, until recently a co–chief executive of Wipro along with Suresh Vaswani, reflects on the effects of the global recession on the IT services business; increased competition, especially from China; and how future trends will affect his company.read more > |
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| 2-27-11 Mutual Accountability: An Interview with Meg McCarthy, head of IT at Aetna Aetna Inc. has had a great deal of success in making well-planned and carefully carried-out investments in technology. Meg McCarthy, Aetna’s executive vice president for innovation, technology, and service operations, attributes much of that success to the company’s use of detailed road maps for matching technology investment decisions with the needs of the business. In this exclusive interview, she describes the origins of the process, how it is governed, and how the business units and the IT organization interact to build the critical capabilities the company depends on for its success.watch the video > |
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| 2-27-11 Turning “Like” to “Buy”: Social Media Emerges as a Commerce Channel The stunning popularity of social networking is opening up enormous opportunities for new forms of e-commerce, and companies are only now learning how to take advantage of them. Lots of companies have already set up brand and product pages on sites such as Facebook. Now the challenge is to convert users into actual buyers who use social media to get recommendations, choose products, and make purchases without leaving these sites. The key is to learn how to use social media to create awareness, persuade customers to buy, and then keep them coming back.download (315kb, PDF) > |
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| 1-26-11 A Path to Success for CIOs: Powerful Position, Clear Mandate CIOs have a difficult job—setting business technology strategy while making IT operations run smoothly—and it’s gotten harder, as budgets are cut and large portions of IT become commoditized. The results of Booz & Company’s IT Org DNA Profiler® study suggest that CIOs’ business mandate and their position within the company can significantly strengthen their positions, and thus improve the performance of IT overall.download (315kb, PDF) > |
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| 1-26-11 The Role of IT in Successful Merger Integration M&A activity is heating up again, and IT’s role in ensuring an efficient and effective integration has only become more critical. Successfully integrating two or more organizations requires making sure both companies’ IT operations remain up to speed, combining their IT departments without disruption, and supporting the integration of every business unit—all while mapping out the combined company’s future IT architecture. Starting early and creating a strong IT–business governance structure are critical for success.download (360kb, PDF) > |
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| 12-20-10 In-Memory Analytics: Strategies for Real-Time CRM A powerful new database technology, called “in-memory analytics,” is enabling companies to do away with the separation of operational and analytical databases by integrating them into a single datamart that can respond in real time to customer and business intelligence requests, both in the office and on the road. The result: greater ease of use, more powerful analytical reports, better decision making, and lower costs. The added value these systems can bring to the business is real, but it will be up to CIOs to make a strong case for the technology to business users.download (454kb, PDF) > |
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| 12-20-10 Beyond the Dashboard: Unleashing the True Value of Business Intelligence It is no longer sufficient to view business intelligence as simply a means of keeping track of a few key performance indicators. Rather, it must be conceived of as a means to determine strategy, drive results, and create a company-wide culture built on performance. This effort requires a set of metrics that are carefully chosen to demonstrate progress toward specific strategic goals, and a governance process that lays out responsibility for guiding the effort and helps manage the profound changes a BI-driven approach will require.download (459kb, PDF) > |
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| 12-20-10 The Essential Advantage: How to Win with a Capabilities-Driven Strategy In their search for growth, too many companies play in too many markets, pursuing multiple strategies that undermine each other. As a result, they forgo the right to win in any market. Winners, however, develop a clear idea of what their companies do best and how it creates value for customers, and then hone a distinctive system of capabilities that will deliver lasting competitive advantage. In The Essential Advantage: How to Win with a Capabilities-Driven Strategy, Booz & Company’s Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi argue that adopting a capabilities-driven strategy that starts inside the company, with what it already does best, can lead to a measurable performance premium.read more > |
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| 11-29-10 Capabilities and Coherence: Delivering Business Value Through IT As companies learn to focus on their critical capabilities in order to compete successfully, IT’s role in creating business value is more important than ever before. CIOs must work both to help define those capabilities and to ensure that their own business technology efforts are aligned with them. This will require rethinking what the business can expect of IT, how IT will deliver on those expectations, and the governance structures needed to ensure the coherent fulfillment of those expectations.download (268kb, PDF) > |
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| 11-29-10 Road Map to Relevance A successful capabilities-driven strategy demands that IT work closely with the business to focus technology investment on the few distinctive capabilities that provide the company with a true competitive advantage. CIOs should view this as a four-step process: helping to determine what those capabilities are and how IT can improve them; choosing IT projects to support them; devising a workable investment road map for funding those projects; and making the changes in culture and governance needed to put this IT strategy into practice.download (218kb, PDF) > |
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| 11-29-10 The Global Innovation 1000: How the Top Innovators Keep Winning Succeeding at innovation requires two key elements: a focused set of innovation capabilities that is carefully tuned to a company’s innovation strategy, and the ability to align the innovation strategy with overall corporate strategy. This year’s Global Innovation 1000 reveals the capabilities best suited for companies pursuing each of three innovation strategies, whether they are need seekers, market readers, or technology drivers. Companies that achieve this focus, and then succeed in aligning their R&D efforts with overall strategy, we found, outperform their industry peers in terms of both profit margins and market capitalization growth.read more > |
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| 10-27-10 Lead Now or Get out of the Way: IT’s Role in a Web 2.0 World IT departments are losing control over the process by which new consumer-oriented Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, social networks, and wikis are entering the enterprise. As a result, maintenance headaches are rising, as is the threat of security breaches and loss of intellectual property. CIOs must regain control over these technologies, by leading their companies in a concerted effort to find the business value in them, by empowering users to make productive use of them, and by encouraging their companies in developing a systematic competency in their use.download (319kb, PDF) > |
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| 10-27-10 Think Big, Act Smart: Reducing Uncertainty in Transformational Change Thanks to unacceptable costs, time, and risks, the era of the truly large-scale strategic transformation is over. Instead, companies must find more flexible and agile approaches to transformation that enable them to continue to “think big” while “acting smart” by breaking these projects up into individual steps that can be reviewed regularly. Success requires that every step in the transformation process be guided by a strong and complete business case, and that a governance body be formed with the authority to make go/no-go decisions at every step in the process.download (672kb, PDF) > |
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| 9-28-10 The Velocity of Change: An Interview with Pfizer CIO Jeffrey Keisling Following the merger of Pfizer and Wyeth, Jeffrey Keisling, Wyeth's highly regarded CIO, took the same position at Pfizer. In this exclusive interview with Booz & Company partner Anu Gupta, Keisling discusses his goals for creating IT synergies through the merger, the need for transparency in all of IT’s dealings with Pfizer’s many business units, and Pfizer’s plans to make greater use of technologies such as cloud computing, mobile computing, and social media to achieve its business goals. Keisling believes that IT's role in Pfizer’s pursuit of business value becomes more important by the day: "We need to move very, very quickly in finding the opportunities in our growth markets around the world," he says, "and to find ways that we can provide better information and better delivery of medicine to all our customers." watch the video > |
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| 9-28-10 Healthy Links: Bringing Interoperability to Healthcare Delivery To date, the creation of fully functional electronic healthcare systems that include both electronic medical records and hospital information systems has been hindered by the lack of an integrated solution to storing and sharing critical patient data. That’s why a fully interoperable enterprise integration solution (EIS) is needed to address this challenge by ensuring that the data can be seamlessly exchanged across different systems and applications, making it available to the right individual in the right place and at the right time. Healthcare organizations must comprehensively document their needs and thoroughly vet EIS vendors and available solutions if they are to make the most of their considerable investments.download (432kb, PDF) > |
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| 8-31-10 Multi-Channel Customer Management: Delighting Consumers, Driving Efficiency The rise of new marketing and sales channels has forced companies in every industry to reconsider their customer strategies and to develop a deeper approach to managing the entire customer experience, in every channel. Doing this requires a reassessment not just of strategy but also of the organizational structures, operational processes, and technological tools needed to back up that strategy. Thus, every company must develop both integrated customer models that can deliver real customer value and implement powerful IT architectures that can support true customer life-cycle management.download (299kb, PDF) > |
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| 8-31-10 Online Customers, Digital Marketing: The CMO-CIO Connection Even as consumers of media spend more and more of their dollars online, companies continue to struggle to promote their offerings on this critical channel. Marketing is key to generating value online, but it demands a strong combination of marketing smarts and technological skill. Marketing and IT executives must combine forces to build the systems needed to understand how consumers behave online, aid in the decision-making process, and automate such activities as customer interaction, content management, and publishing processes.download (322kb, PDF) > |
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| 7-28-10 The Rise of Mobile Application Stores: Gateways to the World of Apps The explosive growth of mobile apps is heightening the competition among a variety of industry players to build app stores to capture their fair share of a market that by 2014 is expected to be worth $40 billion. While players such as Apple and Google remain in the lead, others, including OEMs, telecom operators, and e-tailers, are developing their own stores as well. Who wins and who loses will depend on who can create stores that offer consumers the best range of devices, platforms, and apps, especially when apps are extended beyond the mobile sphere to service a variety of different devices.download (1.4mb, PDF) > |
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| 7-28-10 Mobile App Stores for Telecom Operators: The Next Battlefield In the fast-growing world of mobile apps, telecom operators run the risk of becoming mere pipes for the ever more popular app stores. To avoid that fate, they must come up with strategies that take advantage of the very real assets they possess: powerful brands, a strong relationship with their subscribers, and the ability to monetize that relationship. Their success will depend on their ability to develop a strong apps offering that can help them increase average revenue per user, improve customer acquisition, and reduce churn.download (421kb, PDF) > |
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| 7-28-10 The Rise of Social Apponomics: How Social Media and Apps Are Transforming E-Commerce The rise of Web 2.0 technologies such as social media and mobile apps is transforming the world of e-commerce. As a result, we are entering a new age of “social apponomics,” in which value will be derived not from the direct monetization of traffic but from the successful management of the entire customer life cycle. By combining these new technologies with superior customer insight, companies are finally creating profitable customer value propositions that can be translated into lifetime value.download (905kb, PDF) > |
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| 6-28-10 Business Renewal through IT: An Interview with the CIO of JetBlue Joe Eng has served as the CIO of JetBlue Airways for just two years. Yet during that time, he has consolidated and rationalized the profitable airline's IT operations and developed new ways for IT to support the business. In this video interview, he discusses how he approached the process of transforming JetBlue’s IT function, the importance of buy-in from all levels of the company, and the need to work closely with every one of the company’s stakeholders. As Joe says, "We don't do IT projects at JetBlue. We do business projects."watch the video > |
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| 6-28-10 The Green Way: Technology-Enabled Sustainability Every organization is feeling the pressure to cut its carbon emissions and energy bills, thanks to tighter legislation and regulations, increasing energy costs, and customer demands for sustainability. IT departments have been a primary target of these efforts, but it simply is not enough to cut data center energy usage and reduce the number of PCs. CIOs should work with top management to develop a comprehensive green IT model that leverages technology to minimize the carbon footprint of the entire organization—while at the same time improving business operations, preserving the environment, enhancing productivity, and cutting costs.download (1.3mb, PDF) > |
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| 5-21-10 The Right Fight for IT: Transformation Through Creative Tension Fights within organizations are inevitable — even healthy — and IT departments are particularly susceptible to such fights. Internecine struggles between the infrastructure operations and the application development people are common, as are fights between IT and the business side. But executives need to pick their fights carefully. The fights fought by Charlie Feld to transform technology at railroad giant Burlington Northern and by LaVerne Council to centralize the IT function at Johnson & Johnson were fights that mattered. Both drew on organizational tensions that already existed, and both ultimately generated tremendous financial and strategic value.download (468kb, PDF) > |
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| 5-21-10 High-Performance IT: Achieving Sustainable Returns on IT Investment Too many IT cost-cutting programs target short-term budget items in the IT project portfolio, while IT operating expenses—the amount required to run data centers, purchase and install desktops and laptops, maintain applications, and support users—are left untouched. There is a better strategy for reducing IT operational costs that will not diminish a company’s ability to differentiate itself by the technology initiatives it embraces. Companies should take a holistic approach that carefully analyzes key aspects of supply and demand and how best to deliver IT hardware and software to satisfy the needs of the entire organization.download (774kb, PDF) > |
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| 4-26-10 Friendly Takeover: The Consumerization of Corporate IT Employees at corporations around the world are demanding the right to choose their own devices, to use those devices as they see fit, and to gain access to corporate networks from anywhere and anytime. This trend is forcing IT departments to make tough decisions on how to accommodate these demands while ensuring productivity and maintaining network security. CIOs’ approach to this growing challenge should be based on a careful assessment of their companies’ readiness for consumerization and a series of pilot programs to understand better the benefits and risks.download (1.05mb, PDF) > |
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| 3-24-10 Demystifying Green IT: Seeding Advantage Every corporation's IT function can make a real contribution to reducing its environmental footprint, in two ways. "Greening IT" involves the IT department's efforts to reduce the energy consumption of its computers, data centers and other infrastructure. "Going green through IT" offers even greater benefits, through the application of IT solutions to a wide variety of corporate functions, including buildings, logistics, energy, motors, teleconferencing, and e-services.download (1.38mb, PDF) > |
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| 3-24-10 ICT for a Low-Carbon World: Activism, Innovation, Cooperation The ICT industry has a significant role to play in the effort to lighten the corporate environmental footprint—a role that has the real potential to help the industry grow as well. To attain that goal, however, the industry has to work together to offer innovative, environmentally friendly products, while convincing both customers and governmental policy-makers of the benefits of sustainable practices and policies.download (442kb, PDF) > |
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| 2-24-10 Winning in Retail IT: IT Efficiency and Effectiveness Strategies for the Retail CIO The typical large retail IT environment is dauntingly complex. Stores are spread far and wide, IT infrastructures and application portfolios are often outdated, and multiple sales channels make integration difficult. To become more efficient and effective, retail IT departments must overcome their fear of outsourcing, create workable demand management solutions, and rationalize both their application portfolios and underlying infrastructure.download (511kb, PDF) > |
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| 1-27-10 PCs in the Enterprise: Reinvention or Demise? Manufacturers of PCs for the enterprise face an uncertain future. Prices are dropping dramatically, cloud computing and consumer-friendly devices will reduce the centrality of the client PC, and always-on mobility will become the default mode. Every player with a stake in the enterprise PC market—including PC makers, software vendors, providers of cloud services, telecom operators, and corporate CIOs—must be ready with a game plan for the future.download (289kb, PDF) > |
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| 12-07-09 E-Government in the Middle East: An Interview with the CIO of Abu Dhabi His Excellency Rashed Al Mansoori, the director general of the Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre (ADSIC) and CIO of the Abu Dhabi government, is leading the emirate’s efforts to develop cutting-edge e-government. In this special video interview, His Excellency discusses the challenges of driving technology-enabled change in a rapidly developing region, outlines some of the program’s major successes, and reflects on how CIOs can help lead major change management efforts.watch the video > |
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| 11-05-09 Does IT Structure Really Matter? The best way to boost your IT organization’s effectiveness and agility, our recent survey shows, is to improve the flow of information within the organization and to clarify decision rights. Making sure information flows freely throughout the IT department is especially helpful in improving the organization’s ability to react to changing circumstance, a critical capability in a fast-changing economic climate. Clarifying who has responsibility for which decisions matters most in ensuring that the organization can carry out its mission successfully. How well does your IT organization perform these critical functions?download (742kb, PDF) > |
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| 10-05-09 Not Your Typical Marketing Campaign: The Next Wave of Technology-Driven Marketing In a world overrun with marketing messages, the next wave of marketing technology will cut through the clutter, building automated marketing campaigns that address your customer’s wants and needs individually. The result: greater customer intimacy, improved loyalty, and higher revenues. Moving quickly will gain real competitive advantage for you, so start planning for the future now. Here is how.download (420kb, PDF) > |
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| 8-11-09 Flex IT Cost, and Drive Business Value: A Memo to the Chief Information Officer How can CIOs best respond to the current downturn and prepare for the coming recovery? The usual tactic—cutting discretionary spending—isn’t enough. Instead, CIOs must attack their fixed costs by transforming them into variable costs, while placing smart, affordable bets on projects that will produce real near-term results through improvements in both technology and processes.download (177kb, PDF) > |
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| 7-11-09 Keeping the Data Center Competitive: Six Levers for Boosting Performance, Reducing Costs, and Preparing for an On-Demand World Booz & Company’s data center experts suggest several specific areas in which data center operations can be improved, including better utilization of data center assets through a deeper understanding of how and when data center resources are consumed; restructuring the data center’s operating model for increased efficiency; development of a global sourcing strategy for data center services; and devising a demand-driven operational model that rationalizes both platforms and products.download (787kb, PDF) > |
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| 6-11-09 Building Value through Enterprise Architecture: A Global Study The economic crisis has taught organisations a critical lesson: Only by focusing on long-term value can they ensure their survival during difficult times—and be ready to change when the opportunity or the need arises.download (2mb, PDF) > |
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| 5-29-09 The Cloud is Ready for You: Are You Ready for the Cloud? This month, IT Foresight explores the heavily debated and mystified concept of cloud computing. We compare the pros and cons of the Cloud and how each organization should begin to view Cloud Computing. What makes a compelling cases for moving to the Cloud, and what must an organization watch out for when evaluating Cloud Computing? The Cloud should be on every CIO’s radar, but how should CIOs time their organization's move, given the Cloud's risks and benefits?download (344kb, PDF) > |
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| 4-15-09 Interview with Rob Carter, CIO of FedEx Rob Carter, Global CIO of FedEx, said his greatest challenge is using IT to maintain Fedex’s competitive advantage over its aggressive rivals. To that end, he discusses how FedEx has undertaken a major renewal of its technology architecture in hopes of reducing complexity and increasing connectivity.watch the video > |
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| 3-10-09 Quick-Hit Savings for IT in Tough Times The current recession is different from ordinary downturns, and it will change the operating landscape of many industries forever. In response, businesses are significantly altering both their operating models and their portfolios. IT organizations, and the CIOs who lead them, must take on a key role in pushing change and supporting the business through this transition.download (600kb, PDF) > |
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| 2-12-09 Trusting Your IT Outsourcer: What the CIO Must Know After Satyam Allegations of accounting fraud at Indian IT and business process outsourcer Satyam have raised serious concerns for CIOs who have outsourced large portions of their IT operations, both to Satyam and other firms. For those companies working with Satyam, the most pressing question is whether or not Satyam will survive. While its future status is unclear, the firm will certainly struggle to make the investments necessary to generate new client relationships and for R&D and staff development.download (316kb, PDF) > |
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| 1-28-09 About IT Foresight Booz & Company understands the importance of strategic thinking for IT decision makers. So we have created IT Foresight—a series of IT-related publications covering a range of industries, trends and solutions—to share our insights with you directly. IT Foresight is aimed at IT executives and their colleagues who lead all parts of the business, and who are looking for fresh, provocative thinking about the role of information technology in boosting efficiency, creating agility and fostering growth.read more > |
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