Kathy Harris

I’m at Gartner’s  U.S. CRM conference in Phoenix this week and our attendees will hear research on a broad range of strategies and issues. In fact, by noon on Monday (just in the first four hours of the conference), they will have heard about which CRM strategies to cut and which to keep; Web-centric customer relationships; [...]

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Gartner categorizes organizations into one of three segments depending on how early and aggressively they adopt new technologies. Segment type A are the most aggressive companies – they will adopt more technologies earlier and take more risk in anticipation of gaining more market share or brand value if they succeed.  Segment type B organizations are moderate [...]

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Many organizations are anticipating some improvement in economic conditions during the next 12-18 months. Executives and leaders are beginning to strategize and plan for how to move the businesses forward. They are considering whether they should continue to focus on cost optimization, turn their full attention to innovation and growth, or opt for some balance of the [...]

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I just completed new research on jobs that are emerging from consumerization and the deep adoption of consumer technology and the Web by individuals.  This same consumer technology is also being adopted for corporate use and is driving a growing demand for skills in advanced customer or employee services and in technology-enabling these human interactions. In fact, the current and emerging [...]

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I’m conducting a free Webinar on Wednesday, July 8 – the title is “Balancing Cost, Growth, Innovation and Risk”.  I’ll focus on these four big topics and provide some tools, etc. to attack the balancing act we all go through. Here are the hyperlinks to register for the Webinar – it will run two times: at 9:00 [...]

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A few months ago, I attended a small but powerful panel discussion on what to expect in IT given the scary state of the world economy.  The insight shared in this discussion was particularly relevant as the economic downturn was just beginning; it is even more relevant as we weather the throes of the recession.  
Everyone in the audience was prepared for dire predictions [...]

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In 2009, most organizations are consumed with economic issues and the imperative to reduce the cost of doing business. These organizations need innovations with transformative potential and low capital outlay. Under these constraints, the focus must be on current assets – projects, people, methods, capabilities and culture – as the sources of innovation. 
There is another [...]

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A lot of my discussions with Gartner clients focus on the obstacles in launching an innovation program. I sometimes find myself in point – counterpoint conversations on their big obstacles around funding, people, processes, etc. You know the story – “We tried that, but…” 
If you really care about innovation and you really believe it’s critical [...]

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I recently listened to some engineer friends who work together debate the definition of a “temporary modification”. One person posed the question and the others had an answer which they vigorously defended. Turns out, there is no specific definition under any applicable regulations or standard engineering practices; however, people in their organization have created a standard and everyone follows it. Consequently, procedures have been built around it, reports track exceptions, and as [...]

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