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ERP III – Is the Integration of Collaboration the Future of Enterprise Applications
ERP III – Is the Integration of Collaboration the Future of Enterprise Applications

ERP III – Is the Integration of Collaboration the Future of Enterprise Applications

By Bill Wood|February 11th, 2010|

When I was at Grant Thornton in the late 1990's, and then later when the management consulting organization was sold to Hitachi, I worked on a comprehensive knowledge management model (which I will refer to later in this article). The model can be applied to integrating collaboration tools into any enterprise application. Carefully structured and planned integration of collaboration tools can produce great results. However, integration is a challenge. Many social media types aim to tie collabor [...]

What Is the Proper Relationship for the CIO, CEO, and CFO?
What Is the Proper Relationship for the CIO, CEO, and CFO?

What Is the Proper Relationship for the CIO, CEO, and CFO?

By Bill Wood|February 8th, 2010|

The CIO role in business has been changing almost as quickly as technology itself. In the past focusing on business processes and automation was enough to satisfy the business needs for operational excellence. As long as they did so successfully, the CIO received carte blanche, often having large budgets and significant latitude in applying them. However, those days are quickly fading. Today, many IT departments and IT organizations are becoming internal vendors to internal customers with “char [...]

Business and IT Alignment – Integrating Technology and IT Spend with Business
Business and IT Alignment – Integrating Technology and IT Spend with Business

Business and IT Alignment – Integrating Technology and IT Spend with Business

By Bill Wood|February 5th, 2010|

Aligning technology to business requirements is based on a few underlying assumptions that are often lacking from SAP projects. Those assumptions are 1) the business actually knows what their requirements are, 2) the project scope includes those requirements, 3) the right management and internal employees are committed and engaged, and 4) the system integrator you select has consultants with the required experience. Often, I see businesses fail to look beyond operational excellence areas of the [...]

Business Strategy and IT Strategy to Reproduce Apple Innovation
Business Strategy and IT Strategy to Reproduce Apple Innovation

Business Strategy and IT Strategy to Reproduce Apple Innovation

By Bill Wood|December 2nd, 2009|

What are the Apple Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs? Steve Jobs focused Apple innovation on competitive pressures and value propositions. He relentlessly focused organizational energy on customer-centered innovation and customer experience. In a nutshell, his innovation secret (if it can be called that) was the relentless pursuit of improving customer experience. As early as 2002, Steve Jobs told the world about his competitive strategy. During his statement, you can tell he was carefully evalu [...]

Competitive Pressures and Value Propositions, Is Lean the Answer?
Competitive Pressures and Value Propositions, Is Lean the Answer?

Competitive Pressures and Value Propositions, Is Lean the Answer?

By Bill Wood|November 10th, 2009|

Modern technology allows international outsourcing, greater agility, quicker product design to market, and specialized focus on niche markets, lowering the barrier to entry for new competitors and causing more market specialization. On the flip side, customers have a wide variety of information from sellers and the Internet about products, design, services, options, pricing, and availability. Business is more dynamic than ever. Because of the pace of change, focusing on internal process improve [...]

The Real Reason Executive Participation Creates IT Project Success
The Real Reason Executive Participation Creates IT Project Success

The Real Reason Executive Participation Creates IT Project Success

By Bill Wood|October 10th, 2009|

Since I started in the SAP and ERP arena in 1994, I have heard experts passionately declare that a key criteria for IT project success is executive participation. That mandate applies to any large scale project, whether through ERP, CRM, APO, SOA, BI, or other solutions. Many implementation companies wrongly believe that executive participation is only important because the executive brings authority and visibility to the project. However, a more overlooked yet crucial reason is the senior exec [...]