OrgIntelligence Presentation at Open Group Conference, May 10th

Notes for Enterprise Architects
Richard Veryard, Open Group Conference London May2011
Organizational Intelligence

Abstract
Twitter tag #orgintelligence
Organizational intelligence is a critical measure of the management capacity of an organization in a demanding competitive environment.
Organizational intelligence depends on many things, including
appropriate organization structure and culture
appropriate management practices
good use of appropriate technologies
coordinated action and innovation
Critical contribution from enterprise architecture

Requirements for Org Intelligence
Management practices
People
Organization structures
Business
Technology adoption and use
Platform architectures
Software & Services
Knowledge base
Org Intelligence
Enterprise Architecture

Towards greater Org Intelligence
Edge-driven organization
Knowledge-based strategy
Self-organizing teams
Continuous experimentation, innovation and learning
Real-time business intelligence
Event-driven architectures
Social networking / Enterprise 2.0
Distributed decision-support
Network-centric systems
Org and management
Technologies

What is organizational intelligence?
Ignore important signals from the environment
Cannot discriminate between the important and the trivial
Respond incoherently to crisis
Oscillate wildly between extremes
Fail to learn from mistakes
Innovate slowly and painfully
Detect and interpret weak signals of possible significance
Mobilize coherent response to complex opportunity
Rational approach to risk and uncertainty
High-quality decision-making throughout the organization
Collective learning and innovation
5
Stupid Organizations …
Intelligent Organizations …

Org intelligence as whole-system property
Very clever people, who don’t talk to each other
Very sophisticated technology, poorly wired together
Patterns of interference
(2+2=3)
Good people, who work well together
Good technology, used well
Patterns of collaboration
(2+2=5)
6
Stupid organizations may contain
Intelligent orgs may contain

Org intelligence as sociotechnical property
How do we know what is going on?
How do we understand what is going on?
How do we act upon what is going on?
How do we remember things?
How do we communicate things?
How do we learn from experience?
All of these capabilities are both technical (dependent upon an array of devices) and social (dependent on other people).

Enron and the Myth of Talent

9
“Perhaps you have already seen memos from me or others here about the importance of the Internet. I have gone through several stages of increasing my view of its importance.”
“Exponential improvements in communications networks … the Internet is at the forefront of this”
“Now I assign the Internet the highest level of importance.”
Microsoft Example
Bill Gates “Tidal Wave” May 1995

Microsoft Example
Review of history
Weak signals becoming stronger
Gradual shift of opinion
Pivotal shift in direction
Evolving strategies
Collective responsibility
Any large organization faces a huge number of challenges, both large and small.
Success of organization depends on achieving a good enough response to a good number of these.
Key Points
General Implications

Some organizations don’t need much intelligence
Too much intelligence may be “overkill” or “overhead”
Organizations can survive by following simple predictable patterns
Simple predictable patterns create vulnerability
Intelligence is vital to survival
11
In simple stable environment …
In complex dynamic environment …

How much intelligence do we need?
Multi-Sided Markets
Demand Volatility
Globalization
Falling rate of profit (?)
“Fly-By-Wire” Business
“Requisite Variety”
Business Complexity
Management Capability

13
Information
Gathering
Decision
& Policy
WIGO
(what is going on)
Learning& Development
Knowledge& Memory
Simple intelligence loop

Information
Gathering
Decision
& Policy
WIGO
(what is going on)
Learning& Development
Knowledge& Memory
Complex intelligence loop
14
Sense-Making
Communication & Collaboration

Organizational intelligence requires six sociotechnical capabilities
Information Gathering
How well does the organization collect and process information about itself and its environment?
Sense-Making
How well does the organization interpret and understand itself and its environment?
Decision-Making & Policy
How effective are the (collective) processes of thinking, decisions, policy and action?
Knowledge & Memory
How does the organization retain experience in a useful and accessible form?
Learning & Development
How does the organization develop and improve its knowledge, capabilities and processes?
Communication & Collaboration
How do people and groups exchange information and knowledge? How do they share ideas and meanings?
15

Intelligence manifests itself in operational differentiation
16
Degrees of Differentiation
Retail Example
Customer Management
Zero variation.
No differentiation between customers. One size fits all.
Fixed segmentation.
The retailer identifies a number of (fixed ) market segments, and assigns each customer to the appropriate segment.
Dynamic deconstruction .
Differentiation based on the detailed actions and inferred intentions and context of customers.
Customer
Purchase
Segment
Context

Progressive Differentiation
Anonymous Customer
Customer Identified at Checkout (Loyalty Card)
Customer Behaviour Tracked Inside Store (RFID)
?
Retail Example
Your Industry
17

Capability Intelligence
Focus on the most relevant differentiators.
Sufficient range of responses to differentiators.
Coordination between variety of perceived differentiation and variety of response.
Feedback loops to improve relevance and accuracy of differentiation.
Feedback loops to refine responses.
Progressive elimination of unnecessary or irrelevant complication, along with exploration of new opportunities
Success Factors of Effective Differentiation
Customer Management
18
customer
intelligence
attenuation
amplification
customer operation

CapabilityCoordination
intelligence coordination
19
customer
intelligence
product
intelligence
store
intelligence
staffing
intelligence
amplification
amplification
amplification
amplification
attenuation
attenuation
attenuation
attenuation
customer operation
product operation
store operation
staffing operation
operation coordination

Enterprise Architecture as Strategy
1
2
?
Low differentiation
High differentiation

Two Contrasting Agendas for EA
Business is simple
Systems are complicated and inflexible
Software applications
Human activity systems
Therefore simplify and unify the systems to align with the business
Business is complex
Systems are complicated and inflexible
Therefore differentiate and integrate systems to help manage complexity.
Simplify and Unify
Differentiate and Integrate

Business Information Requirements
How information supports business objectives
How the organization uses information for decision-making, policy-making and organizational learning.
Could improved information improve business outcomes?
Could improved feedback loops help to refine key processes and policies?
Is the organization able to gather and use relevant information effectively?

IT = information AND technology
Advanced technologies, tools and platforms for information processing and communication
Effective use of information and communication across enterprise systems
Not Only
But Also

Are your enterprise models complete?

… and more
One-Day EA Workshop May 29th (Unicom)
One-Day Org Intelligence Workshop (Unicom)
OrgIntelligence.BlogSpot.com
Future Events
Other Material and Links

http://orgintelligence.blogspot.com	11
http://veryard.wikispaces.com	4
http://orgintelligence.blogspot.co.uk	2
http://lenscraft.wikispaces.com	1
http://rvsoapbox.blogspot.com.au	1
http://rvsoapbox.blogspot.co.uk	1

OrgIntelligence Presentation at Open Group Conference, May 10th

by Richard Veryard on May 11, 2011

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OrgIntelligence Presentation at Open Group Conference, May 10th — Presentation Transcript