Recently Published Work

Learning from Web 2.0

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 CST

Explosions of industrial creativity rarely follow the invention or discovery of a technology, but instead its commoditization – that is, it wasn't the discovery of electricity, but Edison's introduction of utility services for electricity that produced the creative boom that led to recorded music, modern movies, consumer electronics and even Silicon Valley. However, utility provision of electricity did more than just create a new world – it disrupted existing industries (both directly and through reduced barriers of entry). It also allowed for new practices and methods of working to emerge, and even resulted in new economic forms – such as Henry Ford's Fordism.

Learning from Web 2.0

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 CST

Socially Awkward - Preparing for the Co-evolution of Marketing and IT

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 CST

Socially Awkward – The Co-evolution of Marketing and IT

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 CST

The Next Generation of Digital Game-Changers

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 CST

The Next Generation of Digital Game-Changers

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 CST

2011 Study Tour Report: Mobility and the Onset of a Post-PC World

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 CST

The Next Generation of Digital Game-Changers

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 CST

Preparing for the Co-evolution of Marketing and IT

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 CST

The Global Economy Today, IT's Role and our Research Focus

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 CST

Is IT Making Unemployment Worse? The Debate Has Begun

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 CST

In America, the combination of high unemployment and the start of the presidential election process has sparked a great deal of debate about how jobs are created, and lost. Nothing new there. Similar academic and populist debates have been part of every modern recession, as society seeks both strategies – legislation, fiscal and monetary policies – and scapegoats – corporations, machines, trade, foreigners, etc.

Socially Awkward - The Evolving IT/Marketing Relationship

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 CST

Findings from the 2011 Study Tour - Mobility and the Onset of a Post-PC World

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 CST

Findings from the 2011 Study Tour - Mobility and the Onset of a Post-PC World

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 CST

Key Messages from our Recent Transparency Research – Conceal or Reveal? Transparency Strategies for Business Advantage

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 CST

Over the last twenty years, information technology – especially the internet – has dramatically increased the amount, accessibility and velocity of digital information. This is causing huge changes in how almost every company is organized and run. In a new LEF position paper, David Moschella and I examine one particularly important change: the growing pressure on companies to share more information and data about their business. We show how some companies are harnessing the power of transparency to become more productive and successful, to innovate more quickly, and to build trust among their customers, partners and investors.

Fusing the Austerity and Growth Agendas – 2012 LEF Research Outlook

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 CST

Keynes called it the paradox of thrift. During recessions, spending cutbacks by individuals, households and firms are to be expected. Yet, for society overall, this type of mass austerity tends to make the downturn worse. Keynes and his disciples have long argued that the only practical way to resolve this paradox is through substantial government spending. But boosting spending in today's debt-laden western economies requires a big and counter-intuitive bet: that even more debt today will lead to more prosperity tomorrow. Many of us are deeply sceptical, hence our vacillating national leaders.

Findings from the 2011 Study Tour - Mobility and the Onset of a Post-PC World

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 CST

Findings from the 2011 Study Tour - Mobility and the Onset of a Post-PC World

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 CST

Conceal or Reveal? Transparency Strategies for Business Advantage

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 CST

Ecosystem and Porter

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 CST

A common characteristic of Next generation organizations (as opposed to traditional), is their focus on provision of utility IT services through an online API and development of an ecosystem to consume those APIs.

The consumption of these API services may represent general use (solving an existing problem, such as providing infrastructure for a corporate web site), or even the genesis of novel and more creative activities. Examples of the latter include early provision of big data Hadoop systems on AWS. Since the genesis of any activity is uncertain (being chaotic) and likely to fail, then the use of utility services helps reduce the cost of failure for those pursuing more creative ventures. The larger the ecosystem, the more likely that creative models of consumption and the genesis of new activity will be occurring.

The Future of Retained IT – Repositioned at the Front of the Firm

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:00:00 CST

Learning to 'leak strategically' - Recommended reading on Transparency

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:00:00 CST

Over the last several months, I have been working on a project on how to create a transparency strategy for your organization. The report is due to be published in a few weeks’ time. The report explores the pressures that are forcing companies and governments to become more transparent – whether they want to be or not – and examines the benefits of sharing more information in eight different areas, ranging from personnel data to product plans to customer data. It also shows how developing an effective transparency strategy can help your organization overcome some of the barriers to information sharing – both inside and outside your firm.

Data rEvolution

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 CDT

Big Data Comes with Big Challenges

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 CDT

If you Google the term big data, you will get over 5 million hits. While this figure is nowhere near top-tier buzzwords such as social media (320 million), it is about the same as credit default swaps, and nearly five times that for predator drones. The potential value in analyzing large, and increasingly unstructured, data sets has clearly resonated with the business press, IT suppliers and a growing number of customer organizations.

The Future of Retained IT – Repositioned at the Front of the Firm

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:00:00 CDT

The Next Generation of Digital Game-Changers - There's Never Been a Better Time to be in IT

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 CDT

While these are troubled times for much of the global economy, in the world of IT, things have rarely been better. The combination of mobile, social, cloud and the whole as-a-service movement is revitalizing the IT sector, generating a new wave of success and enthusiasm, even a mini hi-tech bubble. While US unemployment is over 9%, IT unemployment is less than 4 percent, resulting in talent wars and rising salaries. The nerds are winning, again.

The Next Generation of Digital Game-Changers

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:00:00 CDT

What Can We Learn From Web 2.0 Companies?

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

One of the main themes I've been tackling at the LEF has been evolution, in particular how and why business activities evolve. Whilst there exists a common process of evolution, it is not exclusive to activities, but also impacts practices, strategies and even organizations. I discussed these concepts at a recent Strata Conference in NYC - watch the video here.

The Future of Retained IT – Repositioned at the Front of the Firm

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

The Future of Retained IT – Repositioned at the Front of the Firm

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

A Lifecycle Approach to Cloud Computing

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

A Lifecycle Approach to Cloud Computing

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

Real CIOs Don't Tweet – and other conference observations

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

At our recent Executive Forum in London, LEF researchers and prominent guest speakers – including the author, Clay Shirky; Unilever CIO, Willem Eelman; and Salesforce.com Chief Scientist, J.P. Rangaswami – said a great many important things about the future of Enterprise IT. Technology is clearly moving to the front of the firm, with mobility, social media, business intelligence, and increasingly empowered workforces creating all manner of new challenges and opportunities. While many cost and legacy pressures remain, it's a great time for our profession.

What Can We Learn From Web 2.0 Companies?

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

The Many Faces of Identity

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

Creating Your Transparency Strategy in the Age of Wikileaks

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

Revitalizing the Retained IT Function - The Train is Leaving the Station

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

The Impact of Consumerization and Cloud Computing - Preparing for the Post-PC World

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

Good Times, Bad Times - The Widening Gap Between IT and the Economy

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

Preparing for a Post-PC World

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

The Widening Gap Between the Economy and IT

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 CDT

So much for the traditional August summer slowdown. Crashing stock prices, soaring debts, rising unemployment, sovereign downgrades and now shocking civil unrest have been piled on top of already-fragile national economies and the ongoing instabilities and conflicts across the Middle East. Suddenly, the competition between the dollar and euro boils down to which is the less risky, as fears of a double-dip recession intensify. That emerging powers such as China, India and Brazil have been largely untouched by all the turmoil suggests an important global leadership shift.