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Why E-business?
Business and technology are now
inextricably linked. Today, e-business is just business, a real business.
There are no technology decisions that are not business decisions, and there
are no business decisions today that don't involve technology, according to
Jim Cassidy, IBM's Director Asia-Pacific.
Business
processes must not only incorporate timely company information – for
improved customer relationship management,
supply chain management, and beyond,
they must also be kept up-to-date with fast-changing business needs.
E-business facilitating these processes is the way most business soon will
be transacted. Whether or not you ever plan to sell products or services
over the Web, your most important customer or supplier may one day insist
upon using Web for all transaction.
The
fastest growing companies are
moving aggressively to bring e-business into all their operations. They
align their systems with their fast-changing business priorities and use
these systems strategically, for growth. In addition, successful businesses
are employing information technology to gather and interpret data about
their ultimate customers, including demographics, trends, and buying
behavior.
The Internet Power
The Internet changes the fundamental nature of
doing business and competition. As new ways of building and delivering products
and services online emerge,
your competition goes beyond established competitors to include new
companies, in addition to new
innovations,
ideas or ways of improving existing processes or products...
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Business
Process Management System (BPMS)
The BPMS is a new category of management
software that opens a new era for IT-powered business infrastructure. It
"enables companies to model, deploy and manage mission-critical business
processes, that span multiple enterprise applications, corporate
departments, and
business partners – behinds the firewall and over the Internet."7...
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Enterprise-wide Business
Process Management
Design business so that
it takes e-business into account and the technology provides an
opportunity for
business
model
innovation
IT is increasingly
required to align with business objectives.
Start thinking
transactions with business application integration, along with
e-commerce,
CRM, SEM, or an e-marketplace.
End-to-end
performance of the total e-business ecosystem is essential. Managing the Web
server "storefront" is useless unless you manage end-to-end application
performance.
Today, the
market is seeing the emergence of more flexible management approaches, in
contrast to monolithic framework approaches that are intolerant of
third-party products and traditional best-of-breed management products that
don't let you manage the total ecosystem...
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Bridging the IT/Business Divide: Aligning Goals to Achieve Performance
Ensuring IT alignment with the business has
traditionally been viewed as the
CIO's job. However, successful IT/business
alignment entails more than executive level communication and
strategy translation. CIOs who achieve
alignment typically do so by establishing a set of well-planned process
improvement programs that systematically address obstacles and go beyond
executive level conversation to permeate the entire IT organization and its
culture.3...
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What IT Leadership Look
Like?
To succeed as an IT leader, you need to develop
the business management skills...
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Apply 80/20 Principle
The return on investment usually follows the
80/20 rule:
80% of the benefits will be found in the simplest 20% of the system. Most
software spends 80% of its time executing only 20% of the available
instructions...
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Articulating
ROI
"Companies have to articulate ROI, calculate
business value and make the case of any investment the company is
considering, whether it’s the next factory or the next product. It is
important for companies to create optimal conditions for making the right
decisions at the right time," writes Stacy Smith,6 CIO of Intel
Corp. "One of the best practices for a company is to view IT as a business;
one that can measure, manage and deliver business value. Companies should
use consistent and repeatable methodology to predict and track project value
before, during and post-implementation. This includes measurement and
management of total IT costs to make people, processes and technology
visible and quantifiable.
By measuring the
business value of IT, companies can optimize resource allocation and remain
focused on continuous improvement while
getting a clear picture of IT contributions to the companies’ bottom line.
"
2
Basic Business Growth Strategies
The Rise of the
IT Architect
IT architects are in growing demand. They
are
cross-functionally excellent people who can "tie several silos of
expertise together," relate to business problems as well as technology, and
then sell their ideas upward and downward in the corporate hierarchy. The
position of IT architect has become increasingly important to the
ever-changing IT industry, and is one that established corporations and
start-ups are seeking.
"As IT positions become more specialized and
include increasingly detailed responsibilities, there's a need for someone
who can tie several silos of expertise together," says Al Volvano, a product
manager for Microsoft's Learning Group. "Enterprise architects aren't just
technology experts; they are leaders with broad IT knowledge, the savvy to
apply it to business problems and the
communication skills
necessary to coordinate the people who will put their plans into action,"
says Bill Liguori, senior vice president and co-founder of the placement
firm Leadership Capital Group. 5
Best e-Business Practices...
A Connected
Enterprise...
Service-Oriented
Architecture (SOA)...
Three Stages to E-Business
Implementation...
Four Key Areas of
IT/Business Alignment Improvement...
Start with an
Agreed-upon Plan...
Planning Process...
Enterprise
Application Integration (EAI)...
Case in Point
Intel
Corp...
Case in Point
Ford
Motor Company...
Case in Point
Fun4Biz...
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