Your successful digital transformation must be driven by a compelling Why. In this article, we drill into the creation of a Great Stock, looking at Total Shareholder Return as the guiding metric. (Part of a series of articles about Enterprise Value Creation for Digital Business.)
This story dates back to my college days, and I use it to illustrate the idea that IT people are not entirely comfortable with other functional areas of the business - and the "shades of grey" that mysteriously guide the thinking and actions of Sales & Marketing, Strategic Planning, and Upper Management (especially when those IT folks are fresh out of school). Ok, quick aside - it's been a few years since my undergraduate days, so if I get any…
As the new year approaches, debates over the "value" of IT and business projects intensify; it's not holiday stress, but the excitement of the approaching New [fiscal] Year. Lately, I'm hearing more about the struggle to quantify business value, especially when selecting those few projects that will "make the cut". We will definitely iterate on our scoring framework, adding a cost / benefit template to facilitate more apples-to-apples comparisons between projects (yes, don't scoff - it is possible - more…
This morning, I caught myself looking back at the last week of meetings, e-mails, and conference calls, and I experienced a minor epiphany. If I published a detailed diary of the ebb & flow of proposals, debates, and commitments from the past few days, I could successfully deflate the management aspirations of 80-90% of the technical folks I know. Contrary to what many might think, there's not much IT in IT Management. Ok, that's a bit of an overstatement; I…
When talking about "innovation" in a non-digital firm, don't force-fit the trendy stuff - focus on the innovative stuff you've done with your traditional environment, like ERP and Data Analytics. Tie this to what creates value for the enterprise, and you have something meaningful.