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Managing Productivity and Costs in a Turbulent Economy - There have been unprecedented events in
the global markets that will have a profound impact on enterprises of all types.
Enterprises need to take proactive measures to mitigate the risk of coming under
severe financial pressure themselves.
Is traditional "cost
cutting"really the answer? Cost reduction is a promising solution to sustain
profitability for nearly all organizations. However, the key to success is
finding creative ways to prevent costs.
Metrics are the way we see
it. Metrics based solutions allow enterprises to improve their
understanding of the key drivers of profitability and enable them to develop a
cost redistribution program that will ensure long-term financial viability. It
is critical to identify the areas where cost can be eliminated or reduced
and to create and implement a formal cost review process.
Enterprises of all types are feeling the pressure
as customers' disposable income decreases while trying to keep up with higher
costs of living. Over the last several years, cost management strategies have
become the focus of executive management due to global economic challenges.
These external drivers of cost management include:
- Marketplace Competition -
competitors providing similar products at lower prices
- Recession Fears - less
cash flow in the marketplace
- Rising Production Costs -
increasing cost of energy and material
- Inflation - declining value of
currency and/or rising prices of goods and services
Increased
- Investors and Boards of Directors
Pressures - missed revenue targets, mergers and
acquisitions
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ITSM Metrics - IT Service Management Metrics are defined in the ITSM Template.
IT Service Management is possible only with client
and IT agreement that service is being delivered. The ITSM SOA
Template is the perfect
solution.
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Setting Priorities With Tight Budgets - Meet with each user groups executives and ask them
if they could get only one project done, what it would be. The rule for the
discussion: They describe their projects in terms of business change, not in
terms of software requirements ("We need to improve productivity in the
warehouse by picking items more efficiently," not "We need an inventory picking
system enhancement.")
Next,
call a meeting with your business analysts. Walk them through the full list,
then parcel out the requests based on each analyst's expertise and ability to
get along with the various execs. In this discussion, let them know you're
looking for quick solutions that are good enough, not elegant solutions that
will withstand the test of time. Their job is to figure out how to get each exec
most of the improvement they're looking for and quickly, not all of the
improvements they'd like done the "right way."
This means that if a twice-a-day batch extract
into Excel file works, there is no need to create a real-time
SOA-driven interface. It means that a once-a-night dump-and-load into Excel
might be a better answer than enhancing the data warehouse and its business
intelligence interface.
It might mean nothing more than teaching their
staff how to assign tasks to each other using plain-vanilla existing software,
instead of deploying a full-blown, enterprise-scale integrated project
management solution.
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CIO Need to Hire and Develop IT Staff - 
Successful CIOs are utilizing
sophisticated, aggressive hiring
tactics to acquire the most desirable personnel wherever they may be, while
at the same time putting extensive emphasis on retaining and developing internal
talent.
This
is not easy given the current economic situation. Developing an adequate in-house talent
pool demands more than a simple training program for employees' development.
Establishing a strong, predictable internal talent pipeline requires:
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Clarity of role and expected performance
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Management of employees at every level
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Guided training, education, and career planning
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Assignment of eligible staff to the most exciting projects to
motivate them and ensure a satisfying work
experience
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IT Metrics Key to Success in Troubled Times - You cannot
manage what you do not measure. In addition, once
you measure you modify behavior. Yet many organizations do a very poor job (or
no job at all) of measuring the business value of their IT investments; but
maximizing the business value of IT investments is the primary objective of good
IT governance. A number of formal measurement methodologies exist for measuring
the business value of IT. Simple ROI or other financial metrics are not good
enough. By employing a consistent, repeatable, credible methodology, that both
the business users and IT are held accountable for and that measures projected
business value as well as the actual value delivered, organizations can
significantly improve their IT investment returns.
Many IT
organizations are under increasing pressure from the board of directors,
executive management, and business unit managers to demonstrate and improve the business value
of their IT investments. However, IT organizations still struggle to measure
business value. Many of the attempts to do so have been focused on ROI measures
at the front end as part of developing a business case for the IT portfolioÂ’s
proposed investments - but these are only estimates of expected business value.
Actual delivered business value can only be measured by taking a life-cycle
approach, working with the business to measure actual benefits after the project
is complete.
Firms that
strive for best practice in IT portfolio management need to apply a credible
standard methodology across the enterprise to measure the business value of
investments, both when proposed and when delivered. The good news is that a
number of IT value methodologies have emerged that can be employed in the
portfolio management process. The key is to adopt one and begin using
it.
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IT Strategy is Based on a Grounded Infrastructure - If
companies are going to grow into entities that are truly greater than the sum of
their parts, they need to respond faster and smarter to market challenges with
better decision-making capabilities. One vital concern, which is often
overlooked in discussions of information visibility, is the need for stringent
alignment of departmental objectives with corporate strategy.
Business
activity alignment is the ability to take your theories and put them into
practice - in essence, taking the strategic plan and translating it into
tactical steps. This results in more clearly defined executive roles, as well as
an enhanced ability to leverage technology towards growth.
Additional
business benefits include achieving a balance of cost and investment towards
organizational goals; a balance between internal limits and external growth;
enhanced collaboration for better decisions and departmental alignment; and a
360-degree view of customers for better customer experiences as well as
marketing and sales efforts.
To ensure
alignment, management should focus on the development of a common set of metrics
within the organization, which naturally requires a common set of definitions.
Typically, different parts of the organization develop metrics specific to
themselves and their purposes - resulting in a lack of consistency in reporting
and an inability to aggregate information to senior management. According to a
2007 report 57 percent of companies do not have a common set of metrics to work
with.
The
challenges become apparent when management tries to aggregate departmental
information to make enterprise decisions. A lack of consistent definitions and
metrics makes it particularly difficult for management to determine which way
alignment needs to tilt, if at all. One caveat: small and midsize companies must
strike a balance between letting groups identify and define the best metrics for
themselves versus defining metrics in the best interests of the organization as
a whole.
The result
of strict alignment of activities with corporate strategy is that individual
departments are no longer paying lip service to the business plan; instead, it
serves as a coherent action plan, with all cogs working toward the same
objective instead of grinding the machine to a halt.
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Secuitiy Audit Starting Points - When
conducting a security audit there are some common areas that should be
reviewed. Included are:
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Computer and network passwords. Is there a log
of all people with passwords (and what type). How secure is this ACL list, and
how strong are the passwords currently in use?
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Emails. Are spam filters in place? Do employees
need to be educated on how to spot potential spam and phishing emails? Is
there a company policy that outgoing emails to clients not have certain types
of hyperlinks in them?
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Physical
assets. Can computers or laptops be picked up and removed from the
premises by visitors or even employees?
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Records of physical assets. Do they exist? Are
they backed up?
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Data backups. What backups of virtual assets
exist, how are they backed up, where are the backups kept, and who conducts
the backups?
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Logging of data access. Each time someone
accesses some data, is this logged, along with who, what, when, where,
etc.?
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Access to sensitive customer data, e.g., credit
card info. Who has access? How can access be controlled? Can this information
be accessed from outside the company premises?
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Access to client lists. Does the website allow
backdoor access into the client database? Can it be hacked?
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Long-distance calling. Are long-distance calls
restricted, or is it a free-for-all? Should it be
restricted?
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Government Computers Hit by Virus Attack - WASHINGTON (AP) - Law enforcement computers were
struck by a Mystery computer
virus, forcing the FBI and the U.S. Marshals to shut down part of their
networks as a precaution.
The U.S. Marshals confirmed it disconnected from the Justice
Department's computers as a protective measure after being hit by the virus; an
FBI official said only that that agency was experiencing similar issues and was
working on the problem.
"We too are evaluating a network issue on our
external, unclassified network that's affecting several government agencies,"
said FBI spokesman Mike Kortan. He did not elaborate or identify the other
agencies.
Marshals spokeswoman Nikki Credic said the agency's
computer problem began Thursday morning. The FBI began experiencing similar
problems earlier.
"At no time was data compromised," said Credic. The
type of virus and its origin were not determined.
In addition to their external networks, most
federal law enforcement agencies have an internal-only network to prevent
cyber-snoopers from sensitive data.
In this incident, the Marshals Service shut down
its Internet access and some e-mail while staff worked on the
problem.
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