by Mark P. McDonald | March 18, 2013 | 2 Comments
We have been living with cost control strategies for so long that it is easy to lose sight that there are other strategies beyond doing ‘more with less.’ Recently I have been in a number of meetings with executive team’s where despite their best intentions, they are leading their company via cost rather than strategy, [...]
Category: 2013 budgets Management Signs of weak management Tags: 2013 Planning, Economy, IT budgets
by Mark P. McDonald | March 1, 2013 | 1 Comment
Today starts sequestration; the term for the ‘draconian’ budget cuts in the U.S. The 6% across the board cuts to social programs and 8% cut for defense programs has been the subject of discussion, hyperbole, blame storming on all sides. CIOs are familiar with the idea of having to manage in an environment of broad [...]
Category: budgets CFO CIO Tags: 2013 Planning, CFO, IT and Business, Leadership, personal musing, Strategy and Planning
by Mark P. McDonald | September 7, 2012 | 20 Comments
In a prior post — When Frugality Fails — the topic was what do you do when just cutting costs is not enough to define success. This topic looks at what a decade of flat IT budget investments really means. IT budgets have been essentially flat according to the results of the Gartner Executive Programs [...]
Category: 2013 Amplifying the Enterprise budgets Re-imagine IT Strategic planning Tags: 2013 Planning, Finance, Future of IT, IT budgets, Strategy and Planning, symposium
by Mark P. McDonald | July 11, 2012 | Submit a Comment
If John Stuart can take a hiatus, why can’t I. Please enjoy this prior post on the best metric for IT. The issue of demonstrating the business value of IT is at the top of mind for both CIO’s and other executives as they look to allocate cash and other resources across the enterprise. The [...]
Category: budgets IT Governance Leadership Tags: IT organization, IT Value, Metrics, Value of IT
by Mark P. McDonald | July 2, 2012 | 4 Comments
While Europe finance ministers deal with national debt crisis, CIO’s and CFO’s are ignoring their organizational geek debt crisis. Measure your organization’s geek debt by the degree to which existing systems, operations, and capabilities limit future potential. We often think and call our existing systems in more noble terms – legacy. But in reality it [...]
Category: budgets Distortion Re-imagine IT Technology Tags: CFO, cost cutting, IT budgets, Technology Leadership
by Mark P. McDonald | January 9, 2012 | 1 Comment
In times of economic adversity, conventional wisdom calls for conserving cash and capital. Firms have amassed record amounts of cash as governments face deep cuts in the fourth year of five-year plans. Leaders know that the future requires re-imaging the enterprise rather than repeated waves of belt tightening. Nowhere is this more evident than in [...]
Category: 2012 budgets Economy Strategic planning Strategy Tags: 2012 planning, amplify, CFO, CIO strategy, CIO-Forum-NA, cost cutting, Economic conditions, Strategy and Planning
by Mark P. McDonald | October 12, 2011 | 4 Comments
Throughout this year we have been talking about the need to re-imagine IT in the face of changing business priorities, technology innovation and IT performance. Re-imagination involves finding new answers to new questions and that involves hearing from you. Gartner Executive Programs runs an annual survey of CIOs that seeks to understand CIO priorities, plans [...]
Category: 2012 budgets CIO Leadership Management Strategic planning Tags: 2012 planning, IT and Business, IT Leadership, Reimagine IT, Strategy and Planning
by Mark P. McDonald | June 23, 2011 | 2 Comments
Benefits realization is rapidly becoming the critical business process for CIOs and IT as organizations call the value of IT into question. Traditionally, benefits realization has been assumed to be the responsibility of the business. IT built systems and the business deployed these systems to create business value. That approach makes sense given the division [...]
Category: budgets Economy Leadership Management Re-imagine IT Tags: Business Leadership, Business Management, Change leadership, Change Management, Management, RE-imagine IT
by Mark P. McDonald | June 1, 2011 | Submit a Comment
It’s the logical midpoint of 2011 – at least from a business cycle. It’s a good time to check the progress on the resolutions and plans. While plans and priorities can change, the 2011 CIO Resolutions originally posted at the start of the year provide a basis for judging your success so far. A note, [...]
Category: 2011 budgets IT Governance Leadership Management Re-imagine IT Strategic planning Tags: 2011 Planning, Business Strategy, CIO strategy, RE-imagine IT, Strategy and Planning
by Mark P. McDonald | April 13, 2011 | 2 Comments
It is time to replace the traditional IT business case with a Business Investment Plans. Why? For the simple reason that they do not work, at least they do not work from the perspective of helping an organization realize benefits from IT investments and projects. Part of re-imagining IT is taking a hard look at [...]
Category: budgets CFO Economy IT Governance Re-imagine IT Tools Tags: Business, Business Management, Business Strategy, CFO, RE-imagine IT, Tools
