by Mark P. McDonald | March 17, 2010 | Submit a Comment
Just want to close the loop on something. Back in February of last year I wrote a post about the implications of GE deciding to cut its dividend due in part to the yield the dividend paid on GE’s battered stock. The move by such a household name could have been a signal for others [...]
Category: Economy Tags: Business, Economic Recovery, Economy, Finance
by Mark P. McDonald | March 11, 2010 | 2 Comments
Economic development is a challenge facing every state and local government, as they need to attract and retain companies and their workforces. Economic development agencies have become parts of many state and local governments and concentrate on these issues. Often these groups provide fiscal incentives such as tax breaks or facilitate regulatory issues to achieve [...]
Category: CIO Economy Leadership Tags: Business, Business Leadership, Economic Recovery, Economy, Public Sector, Strategy
by Mark P. McDonald | February 9, 2010 | 2 Comments
A tongue-n-cheek look at something we all do every year. [Screen] The scene pans in from outside a nondescript office building through a tinted window and into a conference room filled with people sitting at round table. Please read the italics text as if being spoken by British Naturalist Richard Attenborough. “Each year between mid-January [...]
Category: Personal Observation Tags: 2010 planning, Business, Humor, Leadership, Management
by Mark P. McDonald | February 4, 2010 | 5 Comments
When asked CIOs estimate that 80% of their business processes are automated or supported by IT. The strength of this connection ties changing business processes and applications together. It also changes the scope and role of IT in the enterprise. Improving business processes has been one of the CIOs top expectations from the business for [...]
Category: CIO Strategy Tags: Business, Business Process, IT organization
by Mark P. McDonald | February 2, 2010 | 2 Comments
Establishing IT’s business contribution and communicating the business value of IT are the two most important initiatives CIOs have for the coming year. CIOs recognize that this task is complex because the connections between IT and business performance are complex. Note: Explaining a tool to address this complexity will make this post will be longer [...]
Category: Strategy Tools Tags: Business, Strategy, Tools, Value of IT
by Mark P. McDonald | December 14, 2009 | 1 Comment
It’s the end of the year and many will be coming out with lists of the “best of” for the coming year. Here one from me – good business books that came out in 2009 in alphabetical order by the authors last name — my 10th grade english teacher would be proud. This past year [...]
Category: Book Review Strategy Tools Tags: Book Review, Business, Economy, Innovation, Strategy and Planning
by Mark P. McDonald | November 18, 2009 | 4 Comments
An enterprise tells its story in documents ranging from formal strategies to shared values embedded in the company culture. One document in particular tells you much about a company – the organization chart. Take a look at your org chart and you can see not only how work gets done, but also gain insight into [...]
Category: Leadership Tools Tags: 2010 planning, Business, Business Leadership, IT organization, Tools
by Mark P. McDonald | September 28, 2009 | 1 Comment
The answer to the question: Is business is more complex, seems obvious. The real question is not is business complex but where does your business put that complexity to its advantage and performance? “Complexity? Where do I put it? I can tell you where I would like to put it!” For many enterprises the question [...]
Category: 2010 CIO Strategy Tags: Business, Business Process, IT Leadership
by Mark P. McDonald | May 3, 2009 | 1 Comment
Cloud computing is the subject of significant debate and discussion even on the Gartner Blog Network. Now I am not a cloud expert, I leave that to others such as Daryl Plumber or David Cearley – check out their blogs on this site. However in talking with Silicon Valley CEOs, Corporate CIOs and others there [...]
Category: Economy Personal Observation Tags: Business, cloud computing, Hypothesis, IT and Business, Technology Torts
by Mark P. McDonald | April 8, 2009 | 2 Comments
Overhearing executives talk about IT and it quickly becomes apparent that they believe that all IT is pretty much the same. Your IT is the same as my IT, should be funded the same, managed the same, thought of as the same. With one exception – the IT that they use or the IT that [...]
Category: 12 things business should know about IT CIO Leadership Strategy Tags: 12 things business should know about IT, Business, Business Leadership, Strategy
