by Mark P. McDonald | April 17, 2013 | 1 Comment
The relationship between business and technology is complex and confusing for both executives and their IT peers. I believe that much of the reason behind this has to do with the very nature of technology and how business makes sense of that nature. Beware this is more of a thought piece than a set of [...]
Category: Digitalization Personal Observation Technology Tags: Digitalization, personal musing, Technology
by Mark P. McDonald | January 25, 2013 | 5 Comments
It is time for the annual IT kickoff and presentation of the 2013 IT strategy. The kickoff meeting offers a unique opportunity to assess IT, its role in the enterprise, its goals for the coming year, etc. These sessions provide insight into how isolated IT is from the rest of the enterprise. Here are ten [...]
Category: 2013 Strategic planning Tags: 2013 Planning, IT strategy, Strategy and Planning, Technology
by Mark P. McDonald | January 23, 2013 | 8 Comments
As more and more attention turns to digital technology (mobile, big data, social, cloud) the greater the temptation to invest in a ‘digital’ strategy. The idea sounds clear, simple and intuitive. Digital technology is complex both in terms of the technology itself and the relationships between the business and technology. That complexity and the relative [...]
Category: Digital Edge Digitalization Strategic planning Strategy Technology Tags: Digital Edge, Digitalization, Strategy, Strategy and Planning, Technology, Technology Leadership
by Mark P. McDonald | January 11, 2013 | 1 Comment
Computing power has been the measure and the model for how we think about technology. The model was that greater the MIPS, Feeds, Speeds, Capacity etc. the more powerful the technology. With CES going on right now, its interesting to see that the buzz is not about technology as computing power so much as it [...]
Category: Digital Edge Digitalization Innovation Re-imagine IT Strategy Technology Tags: 2013 Planning, Digitalization, digitization, IT strategy, Technology
by Mark P. McDonald | December 31, 2012 | Submit a Comment
This December the blog has asked a number of questions about the future of IT. The approach seeks to avoid didactic statements about the future of IT – answers without questions. To date the three questions have generated good discussion and its time for the final question: Where do we, as technology professionals, need to [...]
Category: 2013 Economy IT Epic Journey Leadership Tough Questions Tags: Technology, Technology Leadership
by Mark P. McDonald | December 21, 2012 | 2 Comments
This is the third question in the December Friday question series. The two prior questions looked at “Is the IT organization, as we currently know it, worth saving?” on December 7th and “What are the reasons we need IT in the future?” on December 14th. So far there is some great discussion and comments so [...]
Category: 2013 Economy IT Epic Journey Leadership Tough Questions Tags: Technology, Technology Leadership
by Mark P. McDonald | December 14, 2012 | 3 Comments
Today is the second friday in December and time for another question in the discussion series about asking the right questions about IT. Last week’s question “Is the IT organization, as we currently know it, worth saving?” yielded some interesting points. This week the question is: What are the reasons we need IT in the future? Notice [...]
Category: 2013 Economy Innovation IT Epic Journey Leadership Tough Questions Tags: Technology, Technology Leadership
by Mark P. McDonald | December 12, 2012 | 1 Comment
Last month I had the opportunity to catch up with Todd Jackson the CIO at the City of Westerville Ohio and received an update on Westerville Ohio’s Community Data Center. If you recall from a prior post, the City of Westerville, located outside Columbus Ohio, decided to build a community data center providing services for [...]
Category: Economy Innovation Leadership Technology Tags: Technology, Technology Leadership
by Mark P. McDonald | November 7, 2012 | 5 Comments
In the Bible Joseph’s interpretation of Pharoh’s dream predicted that Egypt would see seven years of fat, good harvests and plentiful food followed by 7 years of lean times, poor harvests and starvation. The prediction encouraged Pharaoh to save in good times to compensate for bad times. The exact opposite has happened to IT. IT [...]
Category: 2013 Amplifying the Enterprise Digitalization Innovation Strategic planning Strategy Technology Tags: 2013 Planning, amplify, Innovation, Strategy and Planning, symposium, Technology, Technology Leadership
by Mark P. McDonald | October 22, 2012 | 1 Comment
Every organization has an edge – a reason behind their future success. Having an edge is great, but customer expectations, competition and technology dull every edge. Sharpening these edges becomes increasingly difficult over time as technology makes it easier for competitors to copy, mimic, reverse engineer your edge. Executives need an edge that is self-sharpening, [...]
Category: 2013 Amplifying the Enterprise Digitalization Innovation Technology Tags: Digital Edge, Digitalization, digitization, Strategy, Strategy and Planning, symposium, Technology, Technology Leadership
