convincing the non technical stakeholders

[markg]

We are trying to get a new project off the ground and are having trouble getting through to a couple of the main stakeholders that have no technical experience nor appreciation. It is difficult to get their buy in to the big spend required. We have put together a solid business case but they are particulaly obstinant and feed off each other. I would like to hear stories form other members about how they have or would deal with similar situations.

[Steve Bennett]

have a look at the following article of predictions made in 2003.

I also attach it to this post fyi.

Reading the predictions from the 'great and good' of the vendor community shows just how much they don't know. Makes me feel good to know they are fallable.

[Jane B]

Perhaps a little off-topic but I'm new here and I just posted a question about metadata management that I think is related to this topic.

Read it here.

Jane

[JohnnyBgood]

Check out what Gartner says about BI strategies here.

[Doug Heywood]

Virtualization leads top 10 strategic technologies for 2009

Much of what's on this annual list, released at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo here, is familiar from last year.

Patrick Thibodeau (Computerworld) 16/10/2008

Gartner has ranked virtualization as the No. 1 strategic technology for next year, not for its "tremendously obvious" ability to virtualize servers, but for its increasing capability to virtualize just about everything else in a data center.

Much of what's on this annual list, released at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo here, is familiar from last year. But Gartner has tweaked the rankings as it looked at the progress of these technologies, and weighed its client and research feedback. The technologies on the list have the "potential to be disruptive to your environment or market in some way," said Gartner analyst David Cearley.

Here's Gartner's list for 2009:

1. Virtualization. (Ranked No. 5 last year.) In forecasting the impact of the economy on IT spending, Gartner put virtualization near the top of must-have technologies. But to make the strategic technology list, it had to have other characteristics as well, namely a Swiss Army Knife-like capability to be applied beyond servers.

Gartner analyst Carl Claunch said that in storage, for instance, virtualization allows users to "to combine different kinds and generations of storage technology." That gives them the freedom to mix and match storage technologies based on competitive bids, he said.

2. Cloud computing. (New to the list.) If there was a technology hype list, cloud computing would have been the top choice, said Cearley. He got some audience chuckles with this line: "You can't swing a dead cat without hitting somebody that's talking about cloud computing these days."

But Gartner sees cloud computing as having a massive game-changing role, not only as the platform for software as a service, but as a computing and storage infrastructure provider, as well as a platform for information and business processes.

3. Computing fabrics. (No. 8 last year.) Server technology is evolving to a point where you buy the physical resource you need, whether that is memory, I/O or processor, and fashion them together to create resource pools. A computing fabric "combines those [resources] as you need them," said Claunch. IT shops will, potentially, be able to dispense with their separate pools of small, medium and large servers under this model. Blade servers have some of this capability -- the ability to move memory and processor capability -- but it's limited to what's inside the chassis, he said.

4. Web-oriented architecture. (New but similar to "the Web platform" -- No. 7 last year.) Gartner talked last year about how the Web will be the model for services delivery. This year, it discussed in terms of an architectural approach, how Web models will influence service-oriented architectures. The architecture, as the name implies, uses Web standards, identifiers, formats and protocols.

5. Enterprise mashups. (No. 6 last year.) Mashups, a fun word, are becoming a serious enterprise tool, allowing users to use public APIs to combine various services and capabilities quickly. The content aggregation tools give business users the flexibility to combine data inside and outside the enterprise.

6. Specialized systems. (New to the list.) A Cisco router is an obvious example, but there are specialized appliances for Java, data warehousing and other processes. It's an approach that could lead to some cost savings, and "could be wide open" as an emerging trend, said Claunch.

7. Social software and social networking. (No. 10 last year.) The tools offer "the ability to work across the organization in dynamic fashion," said Claunch.

8. Unified communications. (No. 2 last year.) Gartner said that over the next five year, "the number of different communications vendors companies may be reduced by at least 50%," thanks to unified communications.

9. Business intelligence. (New.) This is hardly new to enterprises, but increases in computing power is giving companies the means to expand business intelligence capabilities, such as applying BI analytics directly into business processes.

10. Green IT. (No. 1 last year.) Already a strategic technology that will not melt away, Green IT has not diminished in importance. For IT, green is everything, and that includes anything that can help cut the energy bill and reduce fuel use.

One attendee, John Layok, vice president of applications for an insurance company he asked to not be named, said all 10 technologies in Gartner's list were "right on," especially business intelligence. It's both hard work and an easy concept, and moving analytics into a business process is "exactly where we need to go."

[Doug Heywood]

Here's an article that also lists Gartner's 2008 Top 10 ...

Top technologies for 2009

Thursday, 18 December 2008


By David Markus

Recently Gartner published its list of top 10 technologies for 2009. I have grabbed last year’s list and this year’s list and give you both for a comparison. I have then added a short comment on what each means to us in the SME arena.
Gartner's 2008 list

1. Green IT
2. Unified communications
3. Business process management
4. Metadata management
5. Virtualisation
6. Mashups
7. The web platform
8. Computing fabric
9. Real world web
10. Social software

Gartner's 2009 list

1. Virtualisation. This has leapt up the list as it is extending beyond just server virtualisation and offers the best solutions for cost reduction and hardware consolidation, thus reducing real estate requirements, power used and environmental impact. In 2009 virtualisation is hitting storage and desktops as well. For the SME marketplace there will be scaled down versions that help.
2. Cloud computing. Also rated the most hyped of the technologies on the list, this will begin to change rules as hardware is no longer needed to access software, changing business processes and making companies leaner and faster. Cloud computing is moving beyond SAAS into entire servers and storage in the cloud. I will be writing about this a lot in 2009. Send your questions in now.
3. Computing fabrics. This concept is for the big boys with very expensive computers where they can shift applications from processor to processor and select the memory and storage required dynamically on a super computer that is shared by multiple applications and platforms. We don’t need to give this one too much thought.
4. Web-oriented architecture. Good news for all of us that are not web developers is that this is a set of rules on how web stuff should be done and the rest of us can leave it to them as work with it. If you are a web developer, look it up.
5. Enterprise mashups. This is more a use of technology than a technology in its self. Mashups may have an impact for us if we are web savvy and want to use information on the web inside our business applications. The simplest example of a mashup is the programming of our CRM address book to open an on-line street directory showing the address.
6. Specialised systems. This is talking about purpose built boxes for storage or security or web filtering. A specialised system does just one thing – it may be programmable but its generally set and forget. We probably have one in our business but we may be adding more in 2009 as cost effective solutions for specific problems like spam filtering.
7. Social software and social networking. We may well see more use of tools like LinkedIn and Facebook for jobs such as recruiting, sales and marketing in 2009. Well worth thinking about for cost savings in communicating with a mass of people you do not know yet.
8. Unified communications. This has slipped for the enterprise list but I am confident that it is much higher up the list for SME companies who have not yet updated phone systems to take advantage of this technology.
9. Business intelligence. Only the larger SME companies will have the means to extend business intelligence by applying BI analytics into their business processes. Not one for most of us to worry about just yet, although I believe it will create great value for those that use it.
10. Green IT. In my opinion this one needs to be pushed back up the list to number one, as we face so many environmental issues with the way IT is run today. Refer to my previous articles on Ewaste and green house gas emissions.


David Markus is the founder of Melbourne’s IT services company Combo. His focus is on big picture thinking to create value in IT systems for the SME sector.

Click here to read more Tech Strategy

[admin]

Abstracted from BRW

It is vital for companies to have effective business intelligence systems. Such systems consist of data storage units and software applications that enable companies to use the data in keeping track of their activities and in decision making. In 2008, Australian organisations, companies and government departments are expected to spend $A184 million on business intelligence projects. This figure is forecast to rise to $A251.5 million by 2011

Distributed by News Bites. © Lexis-Nexis

[admin]

GFC Dampens CIO IT Budget Optimism: Gartner

ANZ CIOs increasingly alinged with global colleagues, but with some exceptions

Tim Lohman 19 May, 2009 12:08:00

The global financial crisis is beginning to negatively impact the optimism of CIOs across Australia and New Zealand, according to new research from Gartner.

In its CIO Agenda survey, carried out in the fourth quarter of 2008 and measuring the budget expectations of 1526 CIOs worldwide -- including 85 from ANZ -- the research firm found that 59 percent of ANZ CIOs expect their IT budgets to grow in 2009, with an average increase of 1.67 percent.

Twenty-two percent expect to see their budgets to decrease and 19 percent expected it to remain flat, Gartner found. At the same time, results from CIOs in the rest of the world showed IT spending was expected to remain essentially flat with an increase of just 0.16 percent during 2009.

Andy Rowsell-Jones, vice president and research director in Gartner’s CIO research group, said the fourth quarter 2008 budget expectations for 2009 were optimistic, however, ANZ CIOs did appear to be responding more positively to the economic crisis than some of their peers in other regions.

“The survey results reflect the fact that in Australia and New Zealand, leading organisations recognise the seriousness of economic conditions, but they are not paralysed by them,” he said.

“These CIOs have confidence in their ability to use IT to achieve results in an uncertain economy. Rather than simply reacting by cutting IT costs, IT can be used to reduce business costs.”

The Agenda survey, which also looked at the top 10 business and technology priorities in 2009, found that business and technology priorities of CIOs in Australia and New Zealand were largely aligned with their global counterparts.

Of the business priorities, Business process improvement, Cutting enterprise costs, and Improving enterprise workforce effectiveness were named by both local and global CIOs as their respective top three priorities.

However, targeting customers and markets more effectively was ranked only eight globally and fourth by local CIOs. Increasing the use of information and analytics was mutually ranked fifth.

Of the technology priorities, Business intelligence applications and Enterprise applications (ERP, CRM and others) ranked mutually first and second. Legacy application modernisation, upgrade or enhancement was ranked third by local CIOs and fourth globally.

Servers and storage technologies (including virtualization) was ranked fourth locally and third globally. Networking, voice and data (including VoIP) was ranked fifth locally and sixth globally.

“In 2009, executives face challenging global economic conditions that have not existed for more than 50 years,” Rowswell-Jones said. “The survey results show that more than ever, 2009 is the year for CIOs to be decisive and resourceful in order to succeed.”

[admin]

Data quality news

CIOs identify business intelligence priority

- May 19 2009, 23:50 PM

The implementation or maintenance of business intelligence applications are the top priority in 2009 for chief information officers (CIOs) in Australia and New Zealand.

That is according to the results of a new poll conducted by Gartner Research, which revealed that the data analytical software remained at the top of the Agenda survey, CIO.com reported.

In addition, the study discovered that close to 60 per cent of the executives questioned expected to witness IT budgets increase this year, with the average figure suggested standing at 1.67 per cent.

Andy Rowsell-Jones, vice president of Gartner CIOs research group, suggested that these results reflect the fact that organisations in Australia and New Zealand are not "paralysed" by the recession.

He told the technology website: "Rather than simply reacting by cutting IT costs …. These CIOs have confidence in their ability to use IT to achieve results in an uncertain economy."

Last month, Gartner predicted that global enterprise software sales will increase to $22.6 billion (AU$32 billion) in 2009.

[admin]

Justifying Business Intelligence Applications 2008

A white paper exploring the Buy vs. Build argument for Oracle Business Intelligence Applications.

"This white paper explores the decision criteria used in a build vs. buy scenario when considering the Oracle BI Applications. The major benefits of the BI Applications will be discussed in the framework of an overall build vs. buy argument."

By Metricsphere.