I had the pleasure of attending one of Nick's classes several years ago. I was quite young and impressionable at the time and much of what he said has stayed with me since and I've found it all very valuable. Much of what we discuss with productivity...

One of the great things about Microsoft Office is its extensibility. Part of what makes it a great choice for Business Productivity Infrastructure is the capability to run it as an application platform also. Office Labs showcases some of the tools developed...

I've always found our BI webcasts to be incredibly valuable and so I thoroughly recommend signing up for the upcoming set: THE BI Blog : PerformancePoint: Implementation web cast series

The essential concept of the alignment trap is that a poorly performing or excessively complex IT organization won't accomplish the desired business outcomes regardless of how well aligned IT is to those outcomes. I would also argue that the concept...

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Its not often that Leonardo da Vinci is quoted in a business journal, but its probably also rare that these words carry such relevance. Investing in Effectiveness is one of the tips in the article. What...

Uncovering the "Alignment Trap". Heavily referenced in the article are Schwab. According to the data, Schwab found itself spending 18% of its revenue on IT compared to an average of 13%. However it's not alone. "Only 18% of respondents...

Great article in the Fall 2007 edition of the MITSloan Management Review . So good in fact, it warrants a multi-part response. What is the "alignment trap"? This is articulated by a quadrant where alignment trap is measured against "maintenance...

Much is made of this discussion. Many argue that the ubiquity of IT diminishes its capacity to deliver a competitive advantage. There is some basis for this. Does e-mail provide competitive advantage? Possibly not. But what about information overload...

Microsoft talks a lot about the "People Ready Business". I think the message behind this is a very strong one, but sometimes gets diluted as just a marketing campaign. Seth does a great job in underlining the importance of each and every individual...

Culinary metaphors and analogy seem to be flavor of the month round here. But this one is particularly pertinent. If Lawrence can liken SharePoint to the butter and Office to the bread then I would liken BPI to the whole sandwich. Needless to say...

Straight forward advice from InformationWeek. Downsize your applications. In other words, what are your opportunities to rationalize? Where are the opportunities for convergence and consolidation of functionality? Can you achieve Collaboration, Search...

EUR/USD 1.57332 GBP/USD 1.99362 USD/JPY 101.93681 That's what the dollar looks like today. Where was it a year ago? For a European exporter, not happy reading. In a recent BusinessWeek article we find the following useful advice: ...

"SharePoint often grows in a viral capacity, as many business people take the lead in standing up systems without an appreciation for corporate standards. Get a governance policy to manage the provisioning process, as otherwise it can backfire."...

Many of the greatest IT innovations of recent years have come from the consumer world. From the PC to Facebook innovation has been incubated at home (or the garage) before the office. The challenge for the IT department is managing the influx of this...