Abstract: Business strategy, a road map telling us how the
business plans to be successful, does not guarantee success.
Strategy execution requires
business processes that do what the
strategy calls for--and do it well. In today's automated world, these
business processes rely on
business systems. Therefore, a direct link exists between the success of
business strategy and
business systems. Poor systems are a frequent reason for the failure of a
business strategy.
PubDate: 7/31/2004
Abstract: It’s not enough to develop a strategy for your enterprise; real success comes from effective execution of that strategy. Prioritization, improvement, and control are the key steps involved in enterprise strategy execution. But before leaping right into deployment, you might need a few more details. Learn how planning your objectives and fixing performance gaps gives you control of improvement gains—now and in the future.
Abstract: Software development best practices can save you money and make your team more productive. When software development teams don’t invest in a solid development platform, it makes their work harder and often ends up costing them more money over time. A hosted platform, however, provides a level of convenience and savings that makes it the obvious choice for today’s IT development, management, and consulting organizations.
Abstract: Because products ultimately define a manufacturing company’s success, product development is mission-critical by definition. It’s also expensive—in most manufacturing sectors, companies annually reinvest between 3 and 8 percent of their total revenues back into product development. Find out how to leverage global product development to gain a dramatic increase in productivity within your product development operation.
Abstract: For companies that seek to align their workforces with business objectives and turn human capital into a competitive advantage, learning and development will be a critical enabler. Best-in-class companies are more than twice as likely as laggard companies to have a learning and development strategy that’s integrated with overall strategy. Find out how you can avoid lagging and become more like the best-in-class companies.
Abstract: Software company Terra Technology’s development team often worked remotely, without a centralized development system. Managing documents manually was quickly becoming an unproductive use of the team s time—and increased its chances of making errors. Since using ProjectLocker’s document management system, Terra Technology has saved valuable time and money, and can now focus on its core competency—supply chain software.
Abstract: Custom application development is a trusted, tested strategy to ensure effective application of resources for business advancement and continuity, with minimal risk and solid return on investment (ROI). What’s that, you say? High cost? Low dependability? Long timelines? The custom application development model is plagued by myths. Find out why they’re all wrong.
Abstract: One of the most formidable IT challenges that companies must solve is the extreme cost of the development process. Don’t let your data warehouse development project become part of the 50 percent that’s abandoned—and don’t lose time and money. Learn how to optimize your development process and improve the performance of your database management systems through a complete examination and debugging of your database schema.
Abstract: The divide between strategy development and strategy execution can be overcome by creating balanced scorecards. Prioritize your objectives to determine which are most critical. Then cascade objectives and metrics down and across the organization, creating linked and related—but not identical—scorecards for each critical area. These and five other tips for scorecarding success will move you in the right direction.
Abstract: Life cycle development can be a complicated and intimidating process for many organizations. Are you struggling to adapt the development process successfully to your own projects? Do you want to use various formal life cycle processes such as Agile, Incremental, Spiral, and Waterfall, or various informal processes, such as extreme programming (XP) and others? Are you burdened by the development process? This paper will explain how you can simply and easily adopt any life cycle process.
Abstract: Oracle's vision of a complete collaborative e-Business solution requires a database strategy, an application server strategy, and an e-business strategy. Will users buy into this vision?
Abstract: SSA Global's Client Forum has reinforced our impression that the vendor's product strategy is an effective strategy that addresses the realities of today's market. However, the execution is not without challenges. Although we found confusion on the part of a few, customers appeared supportive of the SSA strategy.
Abstract: For years, Catalyst International was a leading public WMS/SCE vendor before missteps by its previous management team caused serious problems in strategy and execution. Over the past few years Catalyst's turnaround strategy has returned it to growth and profitability. As a result, it has recently been acquired by ComVest, a wealthy, private investment firm. This development may indicate private equity investors' renewed interest in this market and might validate the company's turnaround strategy that began in late 2001. Still, the question remains whether the anticipated infusion of capital from ComVest will enable Catalyst to become a consolidator and rejoin its mightier direct competitors in the industry's upper echelon.
Abstract: Since our research-driven beginnings, Johnson & Johnson Advanced Sterilization Products (ASP) has continually improved the new product development (NPD) process. Detailed process mapping has revealed three tiers of business metrics, starting with drivers and moving up through execution metrics to business performance metrics. When driver metrics improves, so does business performance. Six Sigma tools helps identify specific metrics at all tiers and the causality linkages among them. Each NPD process step at ASP results in a deliverable, and each deliverable relates to a trade-off triangle (cost-time-resources) and, ultimately, to investment dollars. To track performance, ASP calculates how actual NPD decisions and what-if scenarios affect deliverables, alter investment triangles, and thereby influence business results. ASP uses similar process and tools, including the investment triangles and Six Sigma QFD, to make idea management decisions. The IDweb real-time software environment enables both the NPD and idea management processes at ASP. By deploying the strategic planning, idea management, portfolio and pipeline management, process management, and resource management modules of IDweb, ASP has increased throughput by 20 percent and reduced cycle time by 40 percent.
Abstract: As marketing budgets shrink and companies in the corporate services industry aim to leverage their Web sites as less expensive alternatives to traditional marketing tools, Web-site strategy is becoming more important. Web-site strategy must focus on enhancing credibility, strengthening existing relationships, generating leads, and more. Get tips on how to create a Web-site strategy that will help you achieve these goals.
Abstract: In this article we describe author's experience with the distributed development of multi-lingual three-tier Java/ CORBA/database Internet applications. We believe that the described tips and tricks of trade may be of great use to readers who are involved with Java applications development.
Abstract: Microsoft development tools will help developers and independent Microsoft software vendors integrate Microsoft Dynamics GP with existing applications. This accounting and business management system includes many features and benefits, as well as guidelines to help developers choose the right tools for various development tasks and create custom applications that integrate with Microsoft Dynamics GP.
Abstract: Development and problem solving happens too often at the testing stage, once product prototypes have been built. This can be costly, both in terms of the time and the resources expended. Computer-aided design (CAD) and exercises (CAE) can address your concerns about product safety and performance, as well as augment your return on investment (ROI). Shift your product development paradigm with digital engineering tools.
Abstract: Application security is an important emerging requirement in software development. This article introduces CLASP, an application security process and plug-in to IBM 's Rational Unified Process environment. It was developed by Secure Software, and gives organizations a structured way to address security concerns during the software development lifecycle.