Managing Change with I- Ching
This is a series of articles that teaches us how to apply the wisdom of the Chinese Classic of Classics, I-Ching, the Book of Change to our life and business. It is using the unchanging principles to get out of dangerous situations or to create new situations for our growth. Go the Learning from I Ching Index Page.
BVITS Overview
BVITS (Business Value Innovative Thinking Symbols) is a systematic thinking methods for creative and breakthrough ideas on demand. By following BVITS, users can come out with break through ideas quickly. Even though BVITS is easy to learn, it is extensible to suit the domain of your problem or business and making BVITS very powerful.
BVITS (Business Value Innovative Thinking Symbols) is an integration of many creative and innovative thinking methods, visual and mind mapping, axiomatic design, system thinking and others for breakthrough innovative thinking. It is useful for generating new innovative ideas, problem solving, process re-engineering, new products and services, and even Business Strategies and policies. read more…
Innovate out of Recession
In times of recession, what can companies do to not just only survive but to grow? The answer is simple – innovation. It is about how you can do more with less. We cover a systematic innovative thinking method and suggest ways to innovate out of recession. read more ….
Innovation Math & BVITS Tips
BVITS operators symbols are essentially mathematics operators. So BVITS can also be known as Innovation Math. For details and other tips … read more…
Have You Asked the Right Question
Do you know how much you spend on information technology each year? Giving some allowances for the debates and uncertainties in the classification of what constitute information technology expenditures, the answer is easily derived. But what does this figure mean? “Is it enough for my business?” or “Have I overspent on IT?”. Over the years, I am frequently asked by CEOs, CFOs and CIOs, “What is right amount of expenditure for information technology?” “What is the right percentage of IT expenditure over revenues?”. Management wants to spend enough on IT to ensure competitiveness. A typical consultant answer, especially from the quality management people, will be bench-marking Everyone wants to follow the leaders, so average spending is not the answer. They want to know what the successful companies spend on IT? The answer is a range 0.5%-10%. That is too broad. What about only the leaders in their sector of business. The answer is also a range, albeit a narrower range. Over the years, academics have been trying hard to find a correlation between IT expenditure and the profitability of business. Despite various ways of classifying expenditures and valuation of businesses, there do not seem to be a definitive pattern. Some losers spend much more than the leaders on IT expenditures (percentage wise). I think we have asked the wrong question and hence get never get the right answer. read more…..
Why IT Doesn’t Matter Anymore
June 9, 2003 by Nicholas G. Carr
This is the most provocative article on IT in 2003. It resulted in lots of responses and altogether contribute greatly to better understanding in the use and management of IT for business.
“The New Rule of IT Management becomes Spend less; Follow, don’t lead; Focus on vulnerabilities, not opportunities.”
Why IT Does Matter
August 25, 2003 by F. Warren McFarlan and Richard L. Nolan
HBS professors F. Warren McFarlan and Richard L. Nolan respond to the much-discussed assertion by Nicholas Carr that company investments in IT are less and less likely to produce competitive advantage. “
IT can change rules and assumptions about competition, knock down limitations”
“Often, only the senior management team’s imagination limits new IT-based opportunities.”
“IT-enabled competitive applications, like many competitive advantages, don’t endure”
Why IT Really Does Matter
Michael Schrage Making IT Work CIO Magazine
the quality of IT management matters even more as the IT commodity becomes ubiquitous.”
“Why not IT as the “flexible information factory” instead of the ubiquitous information utility? ”
“Comparing IT to a factory instead of a utility would undermine Carr’s thesis.”
“What Carr fails to recognize is that IT can profoundly transform the economics of innovation, segmentation and differentiation for most businesses.”
It is how you use IT for business value that makes the difference.
Back to the Basics: Accounting for IT in Business Performance Knowledge@Wharton and Microsoft Collaboration
They are learning that IT purchases tied to a company’s business strategy have the most clear-cut business value, as expressed in traditional financial terms like Net Present Value (NPV) and payback. Moreover, when IT solutions and business strategy are woven together, companies are finding that business benefits are often broader and deeper than expected.”
Some new ways are evaluating the business value includes Microsoft’s Rapid Economic Justification program, revenue distance of Wharton, and an user simpler classification of regulatory must have, strategic , and profitability (based on ROI).