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 of BPI is to consolidate and simplify discrete productivity...

"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 this refers to is the agility challenge. This is...

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 believed that their company's IT spending was highly...

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 zone", "IT-enabled growth"...

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 it tastes a lot better when you eat it all together...

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 and Enterprise Content Management with one application...

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: "If there's a lesson in the newest dollar slump, it...

"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." This builds on the Software Consumerization ...