Some of the most innovative ideas come from existing employees. They just struggle to make it through the organizational pipeline. Business managers regularly pitch product concepts, but most remain on the drawing board, with actual launch and implementation being the exception rather than the norm. Managing the development of new digital products and applications internally, means upskilling existing staff from multiple lines of business to become better Product Managers. This…

The role of Procurement, similar to the role of IT, is taking a much more strategic role in driving the success of the business. Purchasing decisions made primarily on cost and scheduling are transforming into decisions that incorporate the overall company vision, which means buying based on outcome. “Agile” is a project management method that was originally associated with software development, but, similar to Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing, this process is rapidly being…

While Agile is “leaderless”, CEO’s still need to provide overarching direction as change agents, to maintain business velocity. Agile is often associated with a “leaderless” approach, particularly given its core principles of self organizing. …

Going fast to reduce risk sounds counter intuitive. But speed is just table stakes when it comes to digital transformation. In the digital economy, customer demand is the main driver of growth. In order to keep up, most firms are investing in building more digital products and services, and they’re using better software and more efficient software engineering practices to get there faster. Software isn’t just an afterthought or a…

Getting the most out of Agile methodology is closely related to how the organization views risk. With each new technological or media revolution, companies are often told, “firms who don’t do x will get left behind”, which can be true, but not for all firms. …

Everyone is under increasing pressure to buy effective technology to support digital transformation. How can non technical staff adapt? Buying enterprise software for centralized or non-specialized procurement teams can be difficult. What sort of budgets should you be looking at to start with? What’s lacking in your existing IT team? Why is outsourcing rather than hiring more staff a better cost strategy in the long run? Finally — how…