For Vendor Strategy Professionals

What Vendor Strategists Need To Know About Lean — The Hot Topic For CIOs Right Now

by Thomas Mendel, Ph.D., Alexander Peters, Ph.D., October 29, 2009

As smart executives delve into the core of Lean Thinking, the role of technology in Lean-based performance improvements becomes abundantly clear. Senior executives expect their chief information officers (CIOs) to drive improvements in the effectiveness . . .

For CIOs

What CIOs Should Know About Lean

Case Studies Illustrate How CIOs Can Use Lean Inside And Outside IT

by Alexander Peters, Ph.D., October 27, 2009

As smart executives delve into the core of Lean Thinking, the role of technology in Lean-based performance improvements becomes abundantly clear. Senior executives expect their CIOs to drive improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency of technology . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Lean: The New Business Technology Imperative

Lean Thinking Is Central To The Shift From IT To BT

by Connie Moore, Clay Richardson, John R. Rymer, Ted Schadler, Dave West, September 29, 2009

Everyone wants to be lean these days, whether when stepping off a scale in the morning or reviewing the cost of running a successful business. But just how do you define "Lean" — especially in the context of business and technology? Do you think of Lean . . .

For CIOs

The Lean Foundation For Business Service Portfolio Management

by Alexander Peters, Ph.D., December 24, 2008

In a time when resources are scarce and expensive, the portfolio of business services constitutes a powerful framework for maximizing the business value of IT capabilities. This portfolio must display a holistic but sharp picture of how IT's capabilities . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

IT To BT — An Opportunity For Vendors

by Thomas Mendel, Ph.D., November 13, 2008

Forrester has argued that a fundamental shift from information technology (IT) to business technology (BT) is occurring. Vendor strategists need to realign their value proposition to take into account the different needs IT executives will develop when . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Enabling Business Technology

Five Essential Best Practices For The IT-To-BT Transformation

by Robert Whiteley, August 15, 2008

As technology becomes increasingly integral to firms' offerings, strategy, and organization, the traditional model of IT as an independent and monolithic entity within the larger business is outmoded. Business technology (BT) will replace IT's technology . . .

For CIOs

Five Essential Best Practices For The IT-To-BT Transformation

CIOs Must Prepare IT For Its Future Role As BT Enabler

by Alexander Peters, Ph.D., May 13, 2008

Each wave of technology change challenges IT's management practices. Two forces coming together will frame IT's next set of challenges: ubiquitous computing and business technology (BT). Each will affect the CIO's organization differently, but the end . . .

For CIOs

Applying Lean Thinking To IT

CIOs Must Change IT's Workaround Culture To Stimulate Innovation

by Alexander Peters, Ph.D., January 4, 2008

Lean thinking is a powerful methodology that can help IT maximize the real value from technology spending. Lean is both a process improvement tool and a means to transition an IT culture from one of workaround and ambiguity to one of continuous improvement, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Making The Marriage Work: Lean, Six Sigma, And The Business Process Maturity Model

by Andy Salunga, November 21, 2007

Traditionally, Lean and Six Sigma have been viewed and utilized as distinctly separate methodologies to analyze and improve processes. Rather than employing them separately, many process gurus now advocate a marriage of the two for more dramatic process . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Experience-Based Differentiation

How To Build Loyalty With Every Interaction

by Bruce D. Temkin, January 2, 2007

With more access to information, more sensitivity to price, and less sensitivity to advertising, customers are getting harder to win and keep. Organizations try to woo these empowered consumers with mediocre customer experiences — but it won't work. Firms . . .

Voice Of The Customer: Five Levels Of Insight

by Bruce D. Temkin, December 1, 2006

Our research uncovered five levels of voice of the customer activities: relationship tracking, interaction monitoring, continuous listening, project infusion, and periodic immersion. Companies should create formalized programs that address these different . . .

iGrafx: The Business Process Modeling Tool For Manufacturing Companies

The Forrester Wave™: Vendor Summary, Q3 2006

by Henry Peyret, Colin Teubner, Daniel Krauss, September 29, 2006

With its strong simulation and life-cycle management capabilities and dedicated versions for quality improvement, iGrafx fits particularly well for manufacturing companies. The vendor's large indirect sales approach (which reaches beyond the common reseller . . .

Stabilizing IT With Process Methodologies

by Bobby Cameron, May 31, 2005

As CEOs ask their CIOs to run IT more efficiently — more like manufacturing plants or item-processing centers — CIOs are seeking to stabilize technologies and IT operations through process methodologies: standards and increased consistency in IT operations. . . .