Top IT Trends in STRATEGY Drive Projects: Slow Downs, E-Services, and M-Commerce
CIO Insight took a shot at the Top IT Trends in 2008 recently. They separated the trends into four categories: STRATEGY, MANAGEMENT, SECURITY and TECHNOLOGY. I am dealing with the trends in STRATEGY and MANAGEMENT in my next few posts. Here’s CIO Insight’s view of the initial STRATEGY trends followed by my reactions:
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CIO Insight: Companies slip into slow-down mode- spending on services, projects with poor return on investment will be hit first, followed by staff at larger companies.
PM411: Why not cut projects that don’t fit with strategies first? If return on investment is applied to individual projects, without alignment with strategies and other projects, then predicted staff hits will be in the wrong areas resulting in severe staff shortages where you need resources most.
CIO Insight: IT focuses on E-Service- expect to see IT organizations put more time and effort into using the web for customer service.
PM411: Yes, but these can be some of the most complicated and demanding projects because of heavy communication, analysis and change requirements of customers.
CIO Insight: …and prepares for M-Commerce- ubiquitous smart phones in the hands of time-pressed customers are too big an opportunity to ignore.
PM411: This again is extremely complicated and demanding. The degree of change in these areas guarantees that projects must be tightly monitored for satisfaction and quickly declining use of old technologies and processes.
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How are we doing so far? What do you think of these STRATEGY trends? Are my reactions in line with your thinking? Why or why not?
More CIO Insight STRATEGY trends, and my reactions, in my next post.
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POSTED IN: Solutions and Trends Requiring Projects
11 opinions for Top IT Trends in STRATEGY Drive Projects: Slow Downs, E-Services, and M-Commerce
Jason Rakowski
Feb 3, 2008 at 11:05 am
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Jason Rakowski
Miki
Feb 3, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Bob, I can’t believe that someone as savvy as you is still looking for rational, strategic thought from CEOs facing a slow down and terrified of what some Wall Street analyst is going to say.
Bob
Feb 4, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Miki- not quite sure what you mean. My experience with business cycles is that they affect segments differently- some boom, some don’t-and there are always opportunities, especially for those who spend time looking for innovations. I’m analyzing what others have said, not “looking for rational, strategic thought”- i.e., I’m very critical of “financial only” analysis, especially in a “slowdown”, and would rather have companies “tighten/improve” there processes- e.g., review projects from a strategy alignment point of view rather than simply a financial point of view.
Miki
Feb 4, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I’m wasn’t commenting on your ideas nor do I disagree that they should “review projects from a strategy alignment point of view rather than simply a financial point of view.” I’m just saying that expecting reasonable, intelligent, well-thought out STRATEGIC plans when Wall Street is screaming to “cut, cut, cut” is unlikely.
One needs to remember that “long term” is three months on Wall Street.
Bob
Feb 4, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Miki- totally agree on short term thinking problem on Wall Street. The business media is even worse telling us when the magical dow changes 20-30 times a day. I don’t listen to anybody anymore in regard to stocks because of personal experience buying and selling stock options a few years ago. Fortunately I bought/sold “same day” as options vested. It turned out that nobody had any idea where the stock would go- from industry experts to management. A lot of people lost a lot of money holding the options because the run up was only about 6 months- then it crashed violently.
Miki
Feb 4, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Heads of companies listen because it’s often Wall Street pressure for quick results that’s responsible for them being dumped (average CEO tenure is 44 MONTHS).
Fast strategy is an oxymoron—accent on the moron:)
Bob
Feb 4, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Miki- yes, “Wall Street pressure”, is unfortunate. One of the top three applications software companies (close to 2B now) is currently not public; they are owned by a private equity fund group. As such, they enjoy pursuing their strategies unfettered by “outside” commenting and they are not looking forward to the day they may go public because of the disruption to strategies that can occur. I always found that “wall street” misunderstood the software business completely.
Bob
Feb 4, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Jason- appreciate your comment and hope to see more of you. I checked out your blog- interesting stuff on the brand management in restaurants. Sounds like excellent advice for anyone selling anything.
Miki
Feb 4, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Bob, A recent article said that because of the sub prime mess and tightening credit private equity was no longer patient equity, so it might not be all that great there. I don’t think that software has anything to do with it. Wall Street doesn’t understand and probably can’t even spell strategic or long term regardless os industry.
Bob
Feb 5, 2008 at 11:57 am
Miki- please share the “sub prime/private equity” article in a comment. My software example was meant to be something that I know about that proved to me that the “market” misunderstood most stocks. Thanks for your thought provoking comments!
Miki
Feb 5, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Bob, I wasn’t disagreeing with your example, I just didn’t want to leave an impression that Wall Street’s short-term focus was a tech function.
One of the articles I’ve seen is at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_06/b4070030761134.htm?chan=search, I think another may have been in the NYTimes. (try Google using sub prime private equity tight credit).
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