Abstract
The shift from transformation activities to interactions represents a broad shift in the
nature of economic activity. Enterprises looking to succeed in today’s rapid-paced new
economy must be agile, innovative and rapidly responsive to changes in their business
environment.
The number of employees doing interactive and cognitive work is increasing rapidly.
Supporting knowledge workers becomes of vital importance for the ability of enterprises
to survive in a networked knowledge economy. By regarding knowledge as a production
factor and by supporting knowledge workers, enterprises can achieve great breakthroughs
in quality, productivity and impact. The emphasis in this vision is placed on “being able
to use knowledge” instead of “having knowledge”.
Traditional capabilities and enablers are not sufficient to meet the challenges of an
enterprise environment that isshifting from push driven to pull driven. It requires inter
alia an agile infrastructure. To support the business transformation there is need for
Enterprise architecture that deals not only with technical capabilities, but also with
information and knowledge, organizational and process capabilities. Knowledge
‘architecture’ is the most forgotten discipline within enterprise architecture. Today we
model and design everything (data, processes,organizations etc.) but not knowledge. To
combat the shrinking half-life of knowledge, organizations are forced to develop new
methods of establishing and managing knowledgeprocesses, authentic sources and their
owners. This transformation should be embedded in a Business agility program. An
enterprise agility value center acts as the nucleus for the business driven action
NETWORK ECONOMY AND THE IMPACT TO BUSINESS MODELRiri Satria
my presentation titled "NETWORK ECONOMY AND THE IMPACT TO BUSINESS MODEL", presented to Indonesian Knowledge Forum 2012 at Ritz Carlton - Jakarta, 29-28 September 2012 ...
This document summarizes three book summaries provided by Xenial for busy IT leaders.
The first summary is of the book "Infonomics" by Douglas B. Laney. The summary outlines how the book provides a framework for businesses to value, manage, and leverage data as a strategic asset. It discusses methods for monetizing data through analytics and establishing an information product management function.
The second summary is of "The Cloud Adoption Playbook" by multiple authors. The summary notes the book provides guidance on developing a cloud adoption strategy and overcoming barriers to adoption. It discusses assessing organizational readiness and selecting appropriate workloads to migrate.
The third summary is of "The Stress Solution" by Arthur P
Creating a sustainable competitive advantage in the age of convergenceMatt Mayberry
Organizational agility and material sustainability will be critical strategic capabilities for companies to avoid being sidelined in today's converging world of business, technology, and sustainability. Simulations can promote the development of these capabilities by creating a safe environment for accelerated learning and practice of skills like collaboration, change leadership, and agile execution. Carefully designed simulation programs that are integrated with talent development can drive financial performance by translating accelerated learning in virtual environments to real-world competitive advantages.
Continuous Cloud Infrastructure: The First Business-Defined IT Architecture W...Hitachi Vantara
This document introduces Hitachi's Continuous Cloud Infrastructure, which provides a cohesive framework of advanced technologies to help enterprises adapt to constant changes. It enables always agile, always available, and always automated infrastructure. Key benefits include improved productivity, faster time to market, and lower costs through better utilization of resources and automation. Real-world use cases demonstrate benefits across storage, compute, private cloud, public cloud, and other areas.
Sourcing Lecture 4 Shared Services Collaboration And CrowdsourcingFrank Willems
This is lecture 4 from 5 about three types of sourcing; shared services, collaboration and crowdsourcing. Specially the crowsourcing will be an revolutionair way of sourcing.
This document provides an introduction and background to a master's thesis project that examines the motivational factors affecting adoption or non-adoption of e-commerce by small to medium enterprises (SMEs). The purpose is to determine what motivates rural SMEs' decisions to adopt or not adopt e-commerce. A secondary purpose is to evaluate how business and owner characteristics influence adoption. The researcher conducted a survey of SME chamber of commerce members and interviews with business owners to understand their motivations. The results could help organizations support greater SME involvement in e-commerce.
This document discusses how business intelligence and cloud computing can help increase agility for nascent businesses. It begins with an abstract that defines agility and discusses how the changing business environment requires agility. It then provides definitions for key terms like agility, cloud computing, and business intelligence. The document analyzes requirements for nascent businesses, including dealing with new diverse data sources and the increasing importance of analytics. It discusses how cloud computing and business intelligence can help address these needs and enable agility. Survey results show agility is important for business outcomes and that extremely agile companies outperform others. The document concludes that cloud computing directly links to business agility by enabling IT agility.
- The document analyzes research comparing the technology economics of mainframe vs distributed server computing environments.
- The research found that organizations with higher mainframe usage ("mainframe heavy") exhibited lower overall IT costs, lower IT cost of goods, and more scalability to support revenue growth compared to distributed server-heavy organizations.
- Across many industries, the cost savings from a mainframe-heavy approach could amount to billions of dollars annually and have significant impacts on profitability.
NETWORK ECONOMY AND THE IMPACT TO BUSINESS MODELRiri Satria
my presentation titled "NETWORK ECONOMY AND THE IMPACT TO BUSINESS MODEL", presented to Indonesian Knowledge Forum 2012 at Ritz Carlton - Jakarta, 29-28 September 2012 ...
This document summarizes three book summaries provided by Xenial for busy IT leaders.
The first summary is of the book "Infonomics" by Douglas B. Laney. The summary outlines how the book provides a framework for businesses to value, manage, and leverage data as a strategic asset. It discusses methods for monetizing data through analytics and establishing an information product management function.
The second summary is of "The Cloud Adoption Playbook" by multiple authors. The summary notes the book provides guidance on developing a cloud adoption strategy and overcoming barriers to adoption. It discusses assessing organizational readiness and selecting appropriate workloads to migrate.
The third summary is of "The Stress Solution" by Arthur P
Creating a sustainable competitive advantage in the age of convergenceMatt Mayberry
Organizational agility and material sustainability will be critical strategic capabilities for companies to avoid being sidelined in today's converging world of business, technology, and sustainability. Simulations can promote the development of these capabilities by creating a safe environment for accelerated learning and practice of skills like collaboration, change leadership, and agile execution. Carefully designed simulation programs that are integrated with talent development can drive financial performance by translating accelerated learning in virtual environments to real-world competitive advantages.
Continuous Cloud Infrastructure: The First Business-Defined IT Architecture W...Hitachi Vantara
This document introduces Hitachi's Continuous Cloud Infrastructure, which provides a cohesive framework of advanced technologies to help enterprises adapt to constant changes. It enables always agile, always available, and always automated infrastructure. Key benefits include improved productivity, faster time to market, and lower costs through better utilization of resources and automation. Real-world use cases demonstrate benefits across storage, compute, private cloud, public cloud, and other areas.
Sourcing Lecture 4 Shared Services Collaboration And CrowdsourcingFrank Willems
This is lecture 4 from 5 about three types of sourcing; shared services, collaboration and crowdsourcing. Specially the crowsourcing will be an revolutionair way of sourcing.
This document provides an introduction and background to a master's thesis project that examines the motivational factors affecting adoption or non-adoption of e-commerce by small to medium enterprises (SMEs). The purpose is to determine what motivates rural SMEs' decisions to adopt or not adopt e-commerce. A secondary purpose is to evaluate how business and owner characteristics influence adoption. The researcher conducted a survey of SME chamber of commerce members and interviews with business owners to understand their motivations. The results could help organizations support greater SME involvement in e-commerce.
This document discusses how business intelligence and cloud computing can help increase agility for nascent businesses. It begins with an abstract that defines agility and discusses how the changing business environment requires agility. It then provides definitions for key terms like agility, cloud computing, and business intelligence. The document analyzes requirements for nascent businesses, including dealing with new diverse data sources and the increasing importance of analytics. It discusses how cloud computing and business intelligence can help address these needs and enable agility. Survey results show agility is important for business outcomes and that extremely agile companies outperform others. The document concludes that cloud computing directly links to business agility by enabling IT agility.
- The document analyzes research comparing the technology economics of mainframe vs distributed server computing environments.
- The research found that organizations with higher mainframe usage ("mainframe heavy") exhibited lower overall IT costs, lower IT cost of goods, and more scalability to support revenue growth compared to distributed server-heavy organizations.
- Across many industries, the cost savings from a mainframe-heavy approach could amount to billions of dollars annually and have significant impacts on profitability.
T-Shaped: The New Breed of IT ProfessionalHaluk Demirkan
T-shaped development is especially important for IT professionals in a converging world because:
- The accelerating rate at which new IT knowledge is being created means that IT professionals must be more adaptive, with “boundary-spanning” abilities.
- The nature of IT project work today often requires IT professionals to work on multidisciplinary, multisector, and multicultural teams.
- The changing role of IT in the enterprise will require IT professionals with business and organizational knowledge in addition to technology expertise.
- Increasingly, IT innovation means providing an expanded role for customers and partners to co-create value on platforms, so Open Services Innovation initiatives are on the rise.
The role of information systems by Emanuel BaisireEmanuel Baisire
Firms are constantly investing in information technology infrastructure to maintain a competitive edge and survive in a dynamic business environment. The paper focuses on the role played by information system’s components like organization’s strategy, technology and management to improve a firm’s competitive advantage . In this case, Information systems are referred to as those elements capturing data and process it into valuable information for decision-makers.
The motivation for this topic is based on the dominant role played by information systems in shaping new industry structures and increasing the rate of first-mover advantage. It is also important to note that firms investing in new or advanced information technology and ignore organizational changes in other complementary assets are not likely to rip the maximum benefits of information systems. Firms integrating technology with organization changes yield more returns in terms of high productivity and innovation than those without an expanded view of information systems.
The role of information system is also important because it enables organizations to identify and deploy new strategies and cost reduction techniques in a timely manner than competitors (Loudon, 2007). Firms need to integrate their business processes in order to gain a competitive advantage. For instance there is a need for technology within different departments like human resource, sales and marketing, production and research to complement each other to yield a competitive advantage.
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: The Cash-to-Cash Cycle 30 NOV 2012Lora Cecere
When it comes to supply chain, no two industries are the same; but, improving Cash-to-Cash cycle (C2C) metrics matters across all industries. With over a decade of investment in technology and process improvements, we can now assess progress. In this report, we examine the financial data in three time frames:
2000-2003 Dawn of Business-to-Business (B2B) commerce and Global Connectivity
2004-2007 Pre-recession
2008-2011 Post-recession
The health of the supply chain can be quickly assessed through the analysis of the C2C metric. It is a composite metric that combines decisions on receivables, payables and inventory management. Overall, while supply chain leaders have focused on the reduction of C2C cycles, little progress has been made. For most, despite a decade of investments in channel connectivity and supply chain optimization, there is limited progress on receivables and inventory. Instead, we find that the most mature companies have turned to increasing Days of Payables in an effort to reduce C2C. This can be detrimental to the overall health of the supply chain.
Over the last fifteen years, the only industry that has shown dramatic and continuous improvement in reducing C2C cycles is high-tech and electronics. While there are slight improvements in consumer packaged goods (CPG) and chemical supply chains, the results in pharmaceutical and automotive are much worse. While many supply chain professionals may claim that the changes in the supply chain—offshoring of manufacturing, cost of capital, increasing product complexity and decreasing product life cycle—are reasons that there was not more progress, the interesting fact is that the industry that had the greatest obstacles made the most progress. The reason? We believe it mattered more in the high-tech industry. With short life cycles and declining margins over the course of the product life cycle, it is just too expensive for a high-tech company to neglect inventory management. As a result, the high-tech and electronics industry has developed better and more comprehensive planning processes overall.
In this report, we share insights on the trends in five industries: automotive, high-tech and electronics, chemical, CPG and pharmaceutical. The data supports three facts:
This document discusses the emergence of FinTech platforms and their potential impact on the financial services industry. It defines FinTech platforms as technology-enabled business models that facilitate transactions and the delivery of financial products and services. The document provides a taxonomy of FinTech platforms and analyzes the strategies available to incumbents, innovators, and large tech companies. It argues that platforms allow for easy participation, network effects, and vast data collection, and some platforms may disrupt existing industry structures by making processes more efficient and accessible.
Best Hadoop Institutes : kelly tecnologies is the best Hadoop training Institute in Bangalore.Providing hadoop courses by realtime faculty in Bangalore.
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: A Closer Look at the Cash-To-Cash Cycle (20...Lora Cecere
Executive Overview
When it comes to metrics that matter, the cash-to-cash cycle is one of the top metrics cited by supply chain professionals. It is among the best financial metrics to provide a comprehensive picture of a company’s supply chain and the management of working capital.
The supply chain is a complex system. Successful management requires both orchestration and balance. To drive supply chain excellence, companies are required to balance four competing priorities: growth, profitability, cycle management and complexity. Several popular metrics, including the cash-to-cash cycle, for a variety of industries are presented in table 1.
The document discusses the rise of the internal outsourcer model for IT organizations. As technology commoditizes and outsourcing alternatives increase, IT must shift from maintaining technology to creating business value. To adapt, IT will take on characteristics of an internal service provider like focusing on value over costs, simplifying infrastructure, making strategic sourcing decisions, and developing capabilities to deliver services. Internal outsourcers act as brokers managing both internal and external services across the enterprise's value network.
International Transfer Pricing 2015/16, now in its 15th edition is an easy to use reference guide covering a range of transfer pricing issues in nearly 100 territories worldwide. It explains why it is vital for every company to have a coherent transfer pricing policy which is responsive to the rapidly changing markets in which they operate. The book not only shows why sound transfer pricing policies should be developed, but also why such policies need to be re-evaluated regularly. It offers practical advice on a subject where the right amount of effort can produce huge benefits in the form of a competitive and sustainable tax rate, and leave the company well positioned to defend against aggressive tax audits.
This document discusses how a big box retailer utilized big data to improve its business. It outlines the steps the retailer took:
1) It identified where big data could create advantages, such as predictive analytics to forecast sales declines. This would allow the retailer to be more proactive.
2) It built future capability scenarios to determine how to leverage big data, such as using social media data to predict problems.
3) It defined the benefits and roadmap for implementing big data, including investing millions over 5 years for a positive return. Benefits would include more consistent, faster information and insights.
The document provides details on how the retailer methodically planned and aligned its big data strategy to its business needs
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: Third Party Logistics Providers-10 DEC 2013Lora Cecere
Executive Overview
Third party logistics (3PL) providers fill a critical role in today’s global supply chains. With the rise in e-commerce, the growth of global markets, and the reshaping of the retail market, dependency on 3PLs is rising. It is an industry with fierce competition. Despite the promises of technology-driven differentiation, as of yet, no 3PL has successfully been able to differentiate and create significant brand loyalty. This is the market opportunity moving forward.
Today, companies on average send 30% of goods through third party logistics (3PL) providers. The 3PL market is now $148 billion in size with single-digit annual growth. Hit hard by the Great Recession, the industry is still in recovery. The 3PL industry has matured over the last 50 years; but it operates at a low margin, struggling to balance what we term The Effective Frontier.
The ongoing inability to drive resiliency on The Effective Frontier by managing tradeoffs of growth, profitability, cycle and complexity should be a concern for those working in, or working with, the 3PL industry. Comparable results from ten industries are shown in Table 1, ranked by average operating margin. 3PLs not only occupy the second lowest ranking, they have also seen the most significant drop in operating margin as a percentage since 2000. In this report, we look more closely at the current state of the industry.
The use of new forms of data is not an evolution. Instead, powering big data supply chains, and innovating through new forms of analytics, is a step change.
New forms of data do not fit traditional architectures. Traditional supply chains were architected to use structured data with software using relational databases. The big data era will make many of the investments from the last decade obsolete.
Big data offers the opportunity to redefine supply chain processes from the outside-in (from the channel back) and define the customer-centric supply chain. This is in stark contrast to the inflexible IT investments installed over the last decade to respond inside-out based on order shipments. These traditional investments in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Advanced Planning Systems (APS) and traditional Business Intelligence (BI) for reporting, improved the supply chain response, but did not allow the organization to sense, shape or orchestrate outside-in. New forms of data (e.g., images, social data, sensor transmission, input from global positioning systems (GPS), the Internet of Things, and unstructured text from email, blogs and ratings and reviews) offer new opportunities. They also require new techniques and technologies.
Big data offers new opportunities for the corporation to listen, test and learn, and respond faster. In this study, companies see the greatest opportunity to use big data for “demand” (to better know the customer and improve the response); however, actual investments are in “supply” not “demand.” Respondents view supply-centric projects like product traceability (involving product serialization and traceability), supply chain visibility and temperature controlled handling as important.
Is big data a problem or a new market opportunity? Like the respondents of this survey, we believe that big data represents an opportunity for all. In the study, one-fourth of respondents currently have a big data initiative. However, interest is growing. Sixty-five percent have or plan to have a big data initiative in the future. Despite the hype, and the intensity of marketing rhetoric in the market, in our year-over-year studies on big data we see very little change in activity.
Despite the fact that the IT group is more likely to see big data as a problem, 49% of those with a big data initiative report that it is headed by an IT leader.
Big data represents a new opportunity, but seizing it requires a new form of leadership. It can ignite new business models and drive channel opportunities. However, it cannot be big data for big data itself. Instead, the initiatives need to be aligned to business objectives with a focus on small and iterative projects. It requires innovation. To move forward, companies need to embrace new technologies and redesign processes. It is not the case of stuffing new forms of data into old processes.
The rise of the digital supply network - IIOT Industry40 distribution Ian Beckett
The document discusses the rise of digital supply networks (DSNs) enabled by Industry 4.0 technologies. Key points include:
- Industry 4.0 technologies like IoT, analytics, automation and 3D printing are enabling the transformation of traditional linear supply chains into interconnected DSNs.
- DSNs integrate information from many sources in real-time to provide end-to-end transparency, intelligent optimization, and holistic decision making across the supply network.
- Characteristics like always-on agility and a connected community allow DSNs to minimize latency and inefficiencies compared to traditional supply chains.
- The gig economy as currently defined will not last long term, as tasks like ridesharing and delivery are likely to be automated. However, skilled professionals using platforms like Thumbtack to find clients will persist and proliferate.
- Technology is empowering skilled tradespeople by allowing them to connect directly with customers and run their businesses more efficiently without traditional employers. Skilled professionals are less reliant on college degrees and are building middle-class lifestyles through online skills marketplaces.
- Policymakers should support independent workers through policies that provide safety nets and make it easier for skilled professionals to succeed without full-time employment.
This white paper discusses how cloud computing and analytics can help organizations gain competitive advantages. It argues that cloud-based analytics can help organizations overcome barriers to adopting analytics by providing flexibility, scalability, and simplifying complex analytic systems. The paper outlines how organizations can use cloud-based analytics to improve customer retention, operational efficiency, financial processes, and risk management. It promotes IBM's cloud and analytics solutions for helping organizations transform their businesses through data-driven insights.
Inventory Optimization in a Market-Driven World - 27 APR 2015Lora Cecere
This document discusses inventory optimization in market-driven supply chains. It defines what it means for a supply chain to be market-driven and explains that market-driven supply chains require a holistic approach to inventory management that focuses on both inventory levels and the form and function of inventory across multiple tiers. The role of inventory has increased in importance for market-driven supply chains due to factors like increasing demand latency, organizational tensions around inventory reduction, the long tail of demand, and the bullwhip effect of global operations. A multi-tier inventory optimization approach is needed to manage inventory in these complex, market-driven supply network contexts.
China's economy is facing significant challenges as its industrial base needs upgrading. While consumption is growing, continued overreliance on investment and infrastructure has led to overcapacity in key industries like steel. To avoid getting trapped in the middle-income trap, China needs to further develop its services sector, remove constraints on private businesses to redirect investment, and reform inefficient state-owned enterprises through measures like consolidation and improved management incentives. Upgrading China's industrial base from low-cost manufacturing to more advanced, technology-driven industries and services will be difficult but is critical for sustained economic growth.
This seminar introduces the concepts, application, practice and strategies involved in determining the urgent need for business to operate through sustainable practices. In addition, it addresses ethical issues in a way that upholds and enhances the triple bottom line of a company: People, Planet, and Profit.
Addition, this seminar introduces the students to concepts in business ethics and how it influences the topic of sustainability. The seminar teaches practical solutions on how to embed sustainability within the business operations. Students will come away from the course understanding what embedded sustainability is and how to drive proactive solutions that bring social innovation to the forefront of the business as a key strategy for future business success.
Today only one in three business leaders are satisfied with their supply chain. One of the issues is the lack of agility. In this report, we share case studies on how to improve supply chain agility. This report first defines supply chain agility and then shares case studies of agility techniques that work to improve the ability to deliver the same cost, quality and customer service given the rising levels of demand and supply volatility. Each case study is supported by the Supply Chains to Admire financial analysis.
Accenture Outlook Journal February 2011Darian Pruitt
The document is the first issue of Accenture's journal of high-performance business for 2011. It includes articles on harnessing social media, sustaining long-term performance, attracting and retaining talent, and whether outsourcing is obsolete in the age of cloud computing. The editor's introduction discusses how collaboration is essential for growth in today's complex global markets. An article by the CEO discusses how innovation transforms companies and Accenture's role in showcasing clients' use of new technologies.
If the CIO is to be valued as a strategic actor, how can he bring .docxsheronlewthwaite
If the CIO is to be valued as a strategic actor, how can he bring to the table the ethos ofalignment, bound to the demands of process strategic planning to move IT to the forefront of theorganization's future?Alignment refers to linkages within the business model that connect disparate parts of
the organization together through information technologies. There are two aspects to consider:
affordability and scale. Executing an enterprise-wide information system, generally through
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) process, is a significant capital investment. Not all units will
be mature enough to embrace ERP; the market may not have global solutions. Consequently,
alignment needs to be scalable (increase investment as demand increases), and agile (ready to
embrace quickly). What follows is an analysis of each of the readings available for this
discussion. After these critical reviews, I will provide a snapshot and invite you to tackle the
problem and the assessment of these reviews.
A. Bradley, J., J. Loucks, J. Macaulay, A. Noronha, & M. Wade. (2015, July). Disruptor and
Disrupted -- Strategy in the Digital Vortex. Global Center for Digital Business
Transformation. Retrieved from https://www.imd.org/dbt/whitepapers/disruptor-disrupted.
Citation: (Bradley et al., 2015: p#)
1. Major theme of the essay: To survive, companies need to recognize market forces
(disruptors) that threaten the corporation’s share of market value (disrupted). The ideas
examine the tensions between internal and external environments. The corporation must
be smart and ready to move quickly as threats emerge.
2. Arguments used to support this theme Value is created through cost, experience,
and platform (delivery). Intrusions into the market here referred to as digital disruptions or
the digital vortex, are “value vampires”. They succeed at the expense of others. Vampires
see opportunities in the digital vortex known as value vacancies. These opportunities are
short-lived and hard won. Disruptors join forces in the market to supply value. This is
known as combinational disruption. It is met by digital business agility. When a threat
emerges, dominant market forces exhibit digital agility: accessing information processing
systems that monitor the internal and external environments. Visualized, the system is an
iterative flow of data between the internal business environment (employees, operations,
information system assets) and the external business environment (customers, partners,
macroeconomics). Decisions are filtered by hyperawareness, informed decision making,
and fast execution (Nicolay, figure 1, p. 17). Hyperawareness simply means knowing
your market, emerging technologies, and shifts in consumer behavior.
Hyperawareness and informed decision making demand good data and big data
analysis that create actionable linkages. Informed decision making leads to poor
decisions when decision makers cannot surrender their own strategic biases. Biases are
defeated by listen ...
T-Shaped: The New Breed of IT ProfessionalHaluk Demirkan
T-shaped development is especially important for IT professionals in a converging world because:
- The accelerating rate at which new IT knowledge is being created means that IT professionals must be more adaptive, with “boundary-spanning” abilities.
- The nature of IT project work today often requires IT professionals to work on multidisciplinary, multisector, and multicultural teams.
- The changing role of IT in the enterprise will require IT professionals with business and organizational knowledge in addition to technology expertise.
- Increasingly, IT innovation means providing an expanded role for customers and partners to co-create value on platforms, so Open Services Innovation initiatives are on the rise.
The role of information systems by Emanuel BaisireEmanuel Baisire
Firms are constantly investing in information technology infrastructure to maintain a competitive edge and survive in a dynamic business environment. The paper focuses on the role played by information system’s components like organization’s strategy, technology and management to improve a firm’s competitive advantage . In this case, Information systems are referred to as those elements capturing data and process it into valuable information for decision-makers.
The motivation for this topic is based on the dominant role played by information systems in shaping new industry structures and increasing the rate of first-mover advantage. It is also important to note that firms investing in new or advanced information technology and ignore organizational changes in other complementary assets are not likely to rip the maximum benefits of information systems. Firms integrating technology with organization changes yield more returns in terms of high productivity and innovation than those without an expanded view of information systems.
The role of information system is also important because it enables organizations to identify and deploy new strategies and cost reduction techniques in a timely manner than competitors (Loudon, 2007). Firms need to integrate their business processes in order to gain a competitive advantage. For instance there is a need for technology within different departments like human resource, sales and marketing, production and research to complement each other to yield a competitive advantage.
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: The Cash-to-Cash Cycle 30 NOV 2012Lora Cecere
When it comes to supply chain, no two industries are the same; but, improving Cash-to-Cash cycle (C2C) metrics matters across all industries. With over a decade of investment in technology and process improvements, we can now assess progress. In this report, we examine the financial data in three time frames:
2000-2003 Dawn of Business-to-Business (B2B) commerce and Global Connectivity
2004-2007 Pre-recession
2008-2011 Post-recession
The health of the supply chain can be quickly assessed through the analysis of the C2C metric. It is a composite metric that combines decisions on receivables, payables and inventory management. Overall, while supply chain leaders have focused on the reduction of C2C cycles, little progress has been made. For most, despite a decade of investments in channel connectivity and supply chain optimization, there is limited progress on receivables and inventory. Instead, we find that the most mature companies have turned to increasing Days of Payables in an effort to reduce C2C. This can be detrimental to the overall health of the supply chain.
Over the last fifteen years, the only industry that has shown dramatic and continuous improvement in reducing C2C cycles is high-tech and electronics. While there are slight improvements in consumer packaged goods (CPG) and chemical supply chains, the results in pharmaceutical and automotive are much worse. While many supply chain professionals may claim that the changes in the supply chain—offshoring of manufacturing, cost of capital, increasing product complexity and decreasing product life cycle—are reasons that there was not more progress, the interesting fact is that the industry that had the greatest obstacles made the most progress. The reason? We believe it mattered more in the high-tech industry. With short life cycles and declining margins over the course of the product life cycle, it is just too expensive for a high-tech company to neglect inventory management. As a result, the high-tech and electronics industry has developed better and more comprehensive planning processes overall.
In this report, we share insights on the trends in five industries: automotive, high-tech and electronics, chemical, CPG and pharmaceutical. The data supports three facts:
This document discusses the emergence of FinTech platforms and their potential impact on the financial services industry. It defines FinTech platforms as technology-enabled business models that facilitate transactions and the delivery of financial products and services. The document provides a taxonomy of FinTech platforms and analyzes the strategies available to incumbents, innovators, and large tech companies. It argues that platforms allow for easy participation, network effects, and vast data collection, and some platforms may disrupt existing industry structures by making processes more efficient and accessible.
Best Hadoop Institutes : kelly tecnologies is the best Hadoop training Institute in Bangalore.Providing hadoop courses by realtime faculty in Bangalore.
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: A Closer Look at the Cash-To-Cash Cycle (20...Lora Cecere
Executive Overview
When it comes to metrics that matter, the cash-to-cash cycle is one of the top metrics cited by supply chain professionals. It is among the best financial metrics to provide a comprehensive picture of a company’s supply chain and the management of working capital.
The supply chain is a complex system. Successful management requires both orchestration and balance. To drive supply chain excellence, companies are required to balance four competing priorities: growth, profitability, cycle management and complexity. Several popular metrics, including the cash-to-cash cycle, for a variety of industries are presented in table 1.
The document discusses the rise of the internal outsourcer model for IT organizations. As technology commoditizes and outsourcing alternatives increase, IT must shift from maintaining technology to creating business value. To adapt, IT will take on characteristics of an internal service provider like focusing on value over costs, simplifying infrastructure, making strategic sourcing decisions, and developing capabilities to deliver services. Internal outsourcers act as brokers managing both internal and external services across the enterprise's value network.
International Transfer Pricing 2015/16, now in its 15th edition is an easy to use reference guide covering a range of transfer pricing issues in nearly 100 territories worldwide. It explains why it is vital for every company to have a coherent transfer pricing policy which is responsive to the rapidly changing markets in which they operate. The book not only shows why sound transfer pricing policies should be developed, but also why such policies need to be re-evaluated regularly. It offers practical advice on a subject where the right amount of effort can produce huge benefits in the form of a competitive and sustainable tax rate, and leave the company well positioned to defend against aggressive tax audits.
This document discusses how a big box retailer utilized big data to improve its business. It outlines the steps the retailer took:
1) It identified where big data could create advantages, such as predictive analytics to forecast sales declines. This would allow the retailer to be more proactive.
2) It built future capability scenarios to determine how to leverage big data, such as using social media data to predict problems.
3) It defined the benefits and roadmap for implementing big data, including investing millions over 5 years for a positive return. Benefits would include more consistent, faster information and insights.
The document provides details on how the retailer methodically planned and aligned its big data strategy to its business needs
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: Third Party Logistics Providers-10 DEC 2013Lora Cecere
Executive Overview
Third party logistics (3PL) providers fill a critical role in today’s global supply chains. With the rise in e-commerce, the growth of global markets, and the reshaping of the retail market, dependency on 3PLs is rising. It is an industry with fierce competition. Despite the promises of technology-driven differentiation, as of yet, no 3PL has successfully been able to differentiate and create significant brand loyalty. This is the market opportunity moving forward.
Today, companies on average send 30% of goods through third party logistics (3PL) providers. The 3PL market is now $148 billion in size with single-digit annual growth. Hit hard by the Great Recession, the industry is still in recovery. The 3PL industry has matured over the last 50 years; but it operates at a low margin, struggling to balance what we term The Effective Frontier.
The ongoing inability to drive resiliency on The Effective Frontier by managing tradeoffs of growth, profitability, cycle and complexity should be a concern for those working in, or working with, the 3PL industry. Comparable results from ten industries are shown in Table 1, ranked by average operating margin. 3PLs not only occupy the second lowest ranking, they have also seen the most significant drop in operating margin as a percentage since 2000. In this report, we look more closely at the current state of the industry.
The use of new forms of data is not an evolution. Instead, powering big data supply chains, and innovating through new forms of analytics, is a step change.
New forms of data do not fit traditional architectures. Traditional supply chains were architected to use structured data with software using relational databases. The big data era will make many of the investments from the last decade obsolete.
Big data offers the opportunity to redefine supply chain processes from the outside-in (from the channel back) and define the customer-centric supply chain. This is in stark contrast to the inflexible IT investments installed over the last decade to respond inside-out based on order shipments. These traditional investments in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Advanced Planning Systems (APS) and traditional Business Intelligence (BI) for reporting, improved the supply chain response, but did not allow the organization to sense, shape or orchestrate outside-in. New forms of data (e.g., images, social data, sensor transmission, input from global positioning systems (GPS), the Internet of Things, and unstructured text from email, blogs and ratings and reviews) offer new opportunities. They also require new techniques and technologies.
Big data offers new opportunities for the corporation to listen, test and learn, and respond faster. In this study, companies see the greatest opportunity to use big data for “demand” (to better know the customer and improve the response); however, actual investments are in “supply” not “demand.” Respondents view supply-centric projects like product traceability (involving product serialization and traceability), supply chain visibility and temperature controlled handling as important.
Is big data a problem or a new market opportunity? Like the respondents of this survey, we believe that big data represents an opportunity for all. In the study, one-fourth of respondents currently have a big data initiative. However, interest is growing. Sixty-five percent have or plan to have a big data initiative in the future. Despite the hype, and the intensity of marketing rhetoric in the market, in our year-over-year studies on big data we see very little change in activity.
Despite the fact that the IT group is more likely to see big data as a problem, 49% of those with a big data initiative report that it is headed by an IT leader.
Big data represents a new opportunity, but seizing it requires a new form of leadership. It can ignite new business models and drive channel opportunities. However, it cannot be big data for big data itself. Instead, the initiatives need to be aligned to business objectives with a focus on small and iterative projects. It requires innovation. To move forward, companies need to embrace new technologies and redesign processes. It is not the case of stuffing new forms of data into old processes.
The rise of the digital supply network - IIOT Industry40 distribution Ian Beckett
The document discusses the rise of digital supply networks (DSNs) enabled by Industry 4.0 technologies. Key points include:
- Industry 4.0 technologies like IoT, analytics, automation and 3D printing are enabling the transformation of traditional linear supply chains into interconnected DSNs.
- DSNs integrate information from many sources in real-time to provide end-to-end transparency, intelligent optimization, and holistic decision making across the supply network.
- Characteristics like always-on agility and a connected community allow DSNs to minimize latency and inefficiencies compared to traditional supply chains.
- The gig economy as currently defined will not last long term, as tasks like ridesharing and delivery are likely to be automated. However, skilled professionals using platforms like Thumbtack to find clients will persist and proliferate.
- Technology is empowering skilled tradespeople by allowing them to connect directly with customers and run their businesses more efficiently without traditional employers. Skilled professionals are less reliant on college degrees and are building middle-class lifestyles through online skills marketplaces.
- Policymakers should support independent workers through policies that provide safety nets and make it easier for skilled professionals to succeed without full-time employment.
This white paper discusses how cloud computing and analytics can help organizations gain competitive advantages. It argues that cloud-based analytics can help organizations overcome barriers to adopting analytics by providing flexibility, scalability, and simplifying complex analytic systems. The paper outlines how organizations can use cloud-based analytics to improve customer retention, operational efficiency, financial processes, and risk management. It promotes IBM's cloud and analytics solutions for helping organizations transform their businesses through data-driven insights.
Inventory Optimization in a Market-Driven World - 27 APR 2015Lora Cecere
This document discusses inventory optimization in market-driven supply chains. It defines what it means for a supply chain to be market-driven and explains that market-driven supply chains require a holistic approach to inventory management that focuses on both inventory levels and the form and function of inventory across multiple tiers. The role of inventory has increased in importance for market-driven supply chains due to factors like increasing demand latency, organizational tensions around inventory reduction, the long tail of demand, and the bullwhip effect of global operations. A multi-tier inventory optimization approach is needed to manage inventory in these complex, market-driven supply network contexts.
China's economy is facing significant challenges as its industrial base needs upgrading. While consumption is growing, continued overreliance on investment and infrastructure has led to overcapacity in key industries like steel. To avoid getting trapped in the middle-income trap, China needs to further develop its services sector, remove constraints on private businesses to redirect investment, and reform inefficient state-owned enterprises through measures like consolidation and improved management incentives. Upgrading China's industrial base from low-cost manufacturing to more advanced, technology-driven industries and services will be difficult but is critical for sustained economic growth.
This seminar introduces the concepts, application, practice and strategies involved in determining the urgent need for business to operate through sustainable practices. In addition, it addresses ethical issues in a way that upholds and enhances the triple bottom line of a company: People, Planet, and Profit.
Addition, this seminar introduces the students to concepts in business ethics and how it influences the topic of sustainability. The seminar teaches practical solutions on how to embed sustainability within the business operations. Students will come away from the course understanding what embedded sustainability is and how to drive proactive solutions that bring social innovation to the forefront of the business as a key strategy for future business success.
Today only one in three business leaders are satisfied with their supply chain. One of the issues is the lack of agility. In this report, we share case studies on how to improve supply chain agility. This report first defines supply chain agility and then shares case studies of agility techniques that work to improve the ability to deliver the same cost, quality and customer service given the rising levels of demand and supply volatility. Each case study is supported by the Supply Chains to Admire financial analysis.
Accenture Outlook Journal February 2011Darian Pruitt
The document is the first issue of Accenture's journal of high-performance business for 2011. It includes articles on harnessing social media, sustaining long-term performance, attracting and retaining talent, and whether outsourcing is obsolete in the age of cloud computing. The editor's introduction discusses how collaboration is essential for growth in today's complex global markets. An article by the CEO discusses how innovation transforms companies and Accenture's role in showcasing clients' use of new technologies.
If the CIO is to be valued as a strategic actor, how can he bring .docxsheronlewthwaite
If the CIO is to be valued as a strategic actor, how can he bring to the table the ethos ofalignment, bound to the demands of process strategic planning to move IT to the forefront of theorganization's future?Alignment refers to linkages within the business model that connect disparate parts of
the organization together through information technologies. There are two aspects to consider:
affordability and scale. Executing an enterprise-wide information system, generally through
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) process, is a significant capital investment. Not all units will
be mature enough to embrace ERP; the market may not have global solutions. Consequently,
alignment needs to be scalable (increase investment as demand increases), and agile (ready to
embrace quickly). What follows is an analysis of each of the readings available for this
discussion. After these critical reviews, I will provide a snapshot and invite you to tackle the
problem and the assessment of these reviews.
A. Bradley, J., J. Loucks, J. Macaulay, A. Noronha, & M. Wade. (2015, July). Disruptor and
Disrupted -- Strategy in the Digital Vortex. Global Center for Digital Business
Transformation. Retrieved from https://www.imd.org/dbt/whitepapers/disruptor-disrupted.
Citation: (Bradley et al., 2015: p#)
1. Major theme of the essay: To survive, companies need to recognize market forces
(disruptors) that threaten the corporation’s share of market value (disrupted). The ideas
examine the tensions between internal and external environments. The corporation must
be smart and ready to move quickly as threats emerge.
2. Arguments used to support this theme Value is created through cost, experience,
and platform (delivery). Intrusions into the market here referred to as digital disruptions or
the digital vortex, are “value vampires”. They succeed at the expense of others. Vampires
see opportunities in the digital vortex known as value vacancies. These opportunities are
short-lived and hard won. Disruptors join forces in the market to supply value. This is
known as combinational disruption. It is met by digital business agility. When a threat
emerges, dominant market forces exhibit digital agility: accessing information processing
systems that monitor the internal and external environments. Visualized, the system is an
iterative flow of data between the internal business environment (employees, operations,
information system assets) and the external business environment (customers, partners,
macroeconomics). Decisions are filtered by hyperawareness, informed decision making,
and fast execution (Nicolay, figure 1, p. 17). Hyperawareness simply means knowing
your market, emerging technologies, and shifts in consumer behavior.
Hyperawareness and informed decision making demand good data and big data
analysis that create actionable linkages. Informed decision making leads to poor
decisions when decision makers cannot surrender their own strategic biases. Biases are
defeated by listen ...
Digital disruptors - Models of digital operationsEricsson
As markets transform, businesses have to adapt to keep up and stay ahead. Strategies may vary, but the latest Networked Society Lab report, Models of Digital Operations, has identified successful practices that are already changing business logistics.
The document discusses how new technologies are enabling the rise of ecosystems where organizations collaborate beyond traditional boundaries. Ecosystems involve complex webs of relationships across industries and sectors to create value. To succeed in this new environment, organizations will need to shift from focusing solely on themselves to taking an ecosystem-centric view that emphasizes openness, collaboration, and tapping analytics to provide seamless customer experiences. The rapid pace of technological change is increasing customer expectations around simplicity, personalization, and integration across channels. Companies that can harness data and forge new partnership models will be best positioned to meet these demands.
This document provides course material on marketing information products and services. It covers several key topics:
- Information is a valuable resource that contributes to social and economic development. It can be a commodity, service, product, or public/private good.
- The economics of information has shifted from industry-based to information-based. Information issues involve debates around marketers' rights vs. consumers' rights regarding privacy and use of personal data.
- Marketers use a variety of techniques to provide information to consumers, from salespeople to advertising. Advertising has evolved from purely factual to more emotional appeals. The large volume of advertising fuels debates around its informativeness and impact on market efficiency.
This audit report summarizes the key knowledge management practices (KMPs) of scientific instrument companies in Ambala Cantt, India. It discusses how these companies utilize KMPs related to information management, human resource management, research and development, strategy, and intellectual property management. The report provides an analysis of Porter's 5 forces in the scientific instruments industry and details the audit conducted, which involved interviews with 5 local scientific instrument companies. Overall findings and conclusions from the audit are presented along with limitations of the study.
1) Creating a smart supply chain through increased data collection, analysis, and optimization can help organizations deliver services to customers more holistically and withstand disruptions.
2) A smart supply chain is one that is flexibly monitored and precisely understands needs to enhance operational efficiency and optimize costs and profits through optimal resource utilization.
3) Improving supply chain visibility, connectivity, and collaboration through information sharing can help address top concerns around visibility while overcoming challenges of getting organizations and individuals to work together effectively.
This document discusses embracing complexity in the public, finance, and healthcare sectors. It begins by outlining the challenges of operating in today's interaction economy, where change is constant and complexity arises from social, dynamic, and emerging factors. It advocates embracing complexity by taking a "blank canvas" approach to redesign processes and systems in a model-driven way focused on dynamic case management rather than rigid processes. The document then provides examples of how this approach could empower users in each sector by streamlining services, increasing efficiency and responsiveness to changing needs.
The integration between innovation and business is a key factor in competitiveness between organizations. That is, innovation applied to a business makes no sense if not considered as an integral tool for the processes of the organization. Companies should therefore adopt a policy where innovation plays a strategic role in the design of business models to become lean, effective and competitive entities (Moraleda, 2004). The objective of this paper is to show the importance of innovation within companies, identifying the concept, the various models that different entities might adopt in order to develop better processes of innovation, as well as indicators that represent innovation at global and national levels in order to develop strategies that lead to an increase in competitiveness. For this work the method used was a bibliographical review of relevant articles from a range of authors was conducted.
This document discusses how cloud computing enables business agility. It defines key terms like agility, business agility, IT agility, and cloud computing. The main points are:
1) Cloud computing allows businesses to access resources on demand, enabling greater flexibility, responsiveness, and cost efficiency.
2) Business agility refers to the ability to rapidly adapt operations, innovate new capabilities, and scale up or down quickly in response to changes.
3) Cloud computing addresses the traditional IT cost-agility equation by providing resources in a flexible, on-demand manner that drives business agility through rapid access, analysis, deployment, and scaling of operations.
Technological innovation is reshaping markets and creating new opportunities for businesses at a faster rate than at any other time in living memory. But to realise the promise of greater economic growth, incumbent businesses, challengers and the policymakers who regulate them need to find a balance that encourages fairness without either stifling entrepreneurialism or compromising the public interest.
Finding this balance has proven difficult for businesses and industry regulators alike.
In order to build greater understanding of the trade-offs at play in ensuring a level playing field, this report explores the specific challenges that regulators face when it comes to disruptors, and explores workable models for increased collaboration between the public and private sectors.
Supply chain management (SCM) involves coordinating all the activities involved in delivering a product from suppliers to customers. SCM aims to create fast, low-cost networks of businesses to get products from concept to market. The Internet is making SCM more efficient by enabling activities like electronic data interchange between businesses. However, companies sometimes fail to implement efficient SCM due to inaccurate demand forecasting during the planning process.
Managing innovation within firms-Chapter 4 (Paul Trott).pptxAartiPandey63
1. The document discusses the tension within organizations between the need for stability and efficiency versus the need for creativity and innovation. It notes that companies must balance these competing demands to be successful both today and in the future.
2. It explores the "innovation dilemma" where pursuing innovation too far can lead to failure, but pursuing it too little can also lead to company failure. Finding the right balance is difficult.
3. Several tools and factors that can help facilitate innovation within organizations are discussed, including having a growth orientation, accepting risks, cross-functional cooperation, and providing space for creativity. Formal structures, centralized decision-making, and size can impact innovation as well.
The Importance Of A Strategic Management And PlanningAmanda Burkett
The document discusses Hyundai, a South Korean motor company, as a case study of innovation. It provides a brief history of Hyundai as context and then discusses the company's policies and procedures around innovation, which were implemented to improve performance and operations in new ways. The top management at Hyundai is responsible for driving quality through innovation rather than just quantity of production. Academic studies of the company show it has been highly successful in becoming a global leader through its focus on continuous innovation.
Smart Business Design In The Age of The Internet of ThingsHarbor Research
This document discusses the need for a new approach to developing ventures for the Internet of Things (IoT). Existing models used by corporations, venture capitalists, and private equity firms are not well-suited for early stage IoT opportunities. Large organizations also tend to have disconnected functions that inhibit collaboration needed to realize new smart systems opportunities. The document advocates for an integrated approach that leverages all available skills, relationships, experiences and assets to conceive, design, and develop smart systems and services.
Unleashing Potential in the Age of Digital Transformation for Thriving Organi...Mohamed Bouanane
In the age of AI and today's fast-paced interconnected world and rapidly evolving business landscape, digital transformation is no longer a choice but a strategic imperative for organizations seeking to stay ahead of the competition.
Indeed, organizations face increasing pressure to adapt and harness the power of data, analytics, and digital transformation to be the most effective. With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), the potential for enhancing operational efficiency, boosting productivity, and delighting customers and citizens has never been greater. Yet, many business and public leaders grapple with understanding where to start and how to measure the impact of these cutting-edge technologies.
Our comprehensive article, "Unleashing Potential: Levelling-up, Data Governance and Generative AI" combines five essential themes to provide a complete guide for organizations seeking to tap into their latent potential and excel in the age of data and AI.
This article explores the alchemy between digital transformation, data governance and intelligence, and the adoption of AI to reinvent organizations, deliver innovative services and create value for all, understanding the subtleties of these converging forces.
In a time described by quick mechanical progressions and steady advancement, the capacity to adjust and flourish amid computerized change has turned into a basic for people and associations the same. The capacity to rapidly respond to, invent, and thrive in the face of constantly shifting digital landscapes is summed up in the term “digital agility.”
This present reality is seeing an extraordinary speed increase in the reception of computerized advances across enterprises. From computerized reasoning and robotization to large information investigation and the Web of Things (IoT), these heads are reshaping customary ideal models and testing existing standards.
In this unique climate, the capacity to tackle the force of these advances while staying versatile to continuous changes has arisen as an essential upper hand. It is not enough to simply keep up with the latest fashions to thrive through digital agility; a mentality supports constant learning, versatility, and a proactive way to deal with utilizing computerized devices and procedures. It includes an eagerness to embrace development, try different things with groundbreaking thoughts, and turn quickly in light of moving business sector requests or mechanical disturbances. Digital agility also includes more than just technological prowess. It incorporates improving a culture that cultivates joint effort, imagination, and receptiveness to change.
It requires engaging people inside an association to embrace a development mentality, empowering them to adjust, learn, and contribute definitively in a steadily developing computerized scene. All through this investigation, we’ll dive into the vital standards and practices that support flourishing through computerized nimbleness. This excursion expects to give people and associations the bits of knowledge important to flourish in a world driven by computerized innovation, from understanding the meaning of computerized change to recognizing techniques for developing a culture of advancement and flexibility. Take a transformative journey with us as we embrace digital agility, where resilience, innovation, and adaptability combine to open up new opportunities and propel us toward long-term success in the digital age
Volkswagen experiments with supply chain management by assigning space for major suppliers in its plant. Suppliers provide their own components, supplies, and workers to build trucks on the assembly line while Volkswagen personnel inspect. This tight integration aims to reduce costs, which exceed 60% of sales in the auto industry. Outsourcing transfers traditional internal activities to outside vendors, allowing the firm to focus on core competencies while vendors specialize. Supply chain strategies include negotiating with many suppliers, developing long-term partner relationships, vertical integration through acquisition, or a hybrid of partners and integration called a keiretsu.
Knowledge management (KM) has become an effective way of managing organization‟s intellectual capital or, in other words, organization‟s full experience, skills and knowledge that is relevant for more effective performance in future. The paper proposes a knowledge management to achieve a competitive control of the machining systems. Then an application of Knowledge Management in engineering has been attempted to explain. The model can be used by the manager for the choosing of competitive orders.
Report on strategic rules of Information System for changing the bases of com...Md. Khukan Miah
Achieving advantages requires broad IS management and user dialogue plus imagination. The process is complicated by the fact that many IS products are strategic though the potential benefits are very subjective and not easily verified. Often a strict ROI focus by senior management may turn attention toward narrow, well-defined targets as opposed to broader strategic opportunities that are harder to analyze.
Similar to Geurts supporting the-agile-enterprise (20)
Een eigen wereld - A world of their ownThei Geurts
A selection of pictures from a book about garden of Our Lady's Abbey in Oosterhout. The book itself guides the reader throughout the history of the garden en contains more than 300 pictures.
Thei Geurts is an experienced multidisciplinary manager and consultant with a passion for knowledge transfer and information technology innovation. Over his career, he has held roles such as librarian, library director, and information manager. He offers vast experience in areas like strategy, product innovation, knowledge management, and business development. Thei is known for his domain expertise, amiable nature, drive for quality, and ability to achieve outstanding results under pressure.
This presentation contains an outline for the creation of a new type of legal information service: a Themisplaza Marketplace. A Marketplace for legal content, added value apps and personalized legal services.
It is based on the premise that actors in the legal information field and developers are prepared to collaborate in an endeavor that is beneficial for them and their clients.
Interoperability, a cost effective way to deal with heterogeneityThei Geurts
A presentation about content integration based on an enterprise interoperability layer. This is a mediation layer between:the user and his content processes, within the settings of a dynamic organizational and market environment andthe factual heterogeneityin systems, structure, syntax and semantics in the content environment.
The presentation was created in 2004 for a company called Be Value..
M3 integration space and contextual intelligenceThei Geurts
Bringing together in a dynamic and adaptive way Man - Method - Means, by using contextual intelligence, in order to achieve viable customer centricity.
The concept of systems of denial was introduced in a paper by Andrew Hill and Stephen Gerras about strategic resistance to military innovation. They explored how successful organizations focus organizational energy and attention on refining their dominant theories of competition, often resulting in dysfunctional organizational responses, or systems of denial, to strategic anomalies - inconvenient information - that contradict assumptions.
The behavior patterns of these systems apply not only to successful armies, but also to e.g. IT-departments, businesses and the public sector.
It may be obvious that smarter ways of creating and executing policies will be prime targets for systems of denial. Organizations that want to innovate by implementing systems based on contextual intelligence, cognitive computing, robotic process automation (RPA) and similar smart systems for various types of knowledge workers, must be extremely alert to spot resistance symptoms.
When implementing a new business application, most organizations feel they need to choose between “build” versus “buy”. Building your own application means everything is possible, but building complex applications is a risky venture. Buying a standard application provides all the advantages of pre-configuration, but has limited flexibility. Although most organizations prefer standard applications, they end up adapting them, leading to high cost of ownership, and long change cycles.
However, a third approach has emerged, reconciling the differences between build and buy. Model-driven applications come with an out-of-the-box configuration, as would be expected of a packaged business application, yet it can be adapted without development effort.
The main characteristic of a model-based application is that the business rules and business logic are not stored within the application, but are defined, stored and maintained in a user-accessible repository. Making changes in that repository then automatically leads to changes in the application.
The paper focuses on strategy, organization and cultural aspects of managing model-driven business applications, such as Be Informed.
Synthesizing your thoughts in one imageThei Geurts
This document summarizes an image that synthesizes the author's core thoughts on accessible, assessable, and actionable knowledge. The image depicts circles representing crucial concepts in the knowledge economy, which can be discussed individually. It shows the relationship between values/norms, rules, context, decisions, actions, and outcomes. Events trigger conversations with a knowledge system to assess situations and determine actions. Additional images may provide more detail on topics like the virtuous spiral and integrated value chain. The goal is to create a shared knowledge network that supports contextual decision making and moving from insight to action.
De som der delen; wendbaarheid bij kennisgedreven interactiesThei Geurts
Organisaties opereren in steeds sneller veranderende omgevingen. Veranderingen in klantengedrag, wet- en regelgeving, technologie en marktomstandigheden maken hun omgeving steeds complexer en hebben een verlammend effect op de wendbaarheid. Organisaties moeten methoden vinden om weer wendbaar te worden en om te kunnen gaan met continue verandering.
Ten years ago, in 2006, I gave a presentation at the Online Conference in London about the topic of making knowledge usable and productive. The target group consisted of professional and corporate publishers and information managers.
In the presentation I gave an example of the Dutch Social Support Act (WMO) that would become active in 2007. Many municipalities were struggling with the challenges of the new task that were laid upon them by decentralization of authority.
This decentralization of authority and responsibility to municipalities has been extended even further in 2015. Many municipalities are struggling again with the uncertainty they face and are looking for the best way to implement the new transition of authority within a reduced budget space.
Perhaps this selection of sheets from that 2006 presentation provides some food for thought.
Instruction manuals, users guides, and other types of documentation have always been the way manufacturers distributed the how-to information about their products to customers, as well as sales and support staff and other employees. This kind of catch-all, one-size document forces every user to sift through irrelevant information, applying their own context to find solutions to their problems. Even when they are successful, users remember the experience as painful and tedious. There must be a better way. In 2008 Kees van Mansom and Thei Geurts developed the concept of Documentation 3.0. Using semantic technology, we can create the smart documentation that guides each customer through the actions, decisions, and choices they can take to maximize their user experience.
From regulatory rigidness to meaningful resilienceThei Geurts
Regulations are growing faster than the GDP. It becomes more and more clear that ‘business as usual’ is cancelled. Old recipes don’t work anymore. The business operating system is coming to a grinding halt.
Contextual intelligence deals with the practical application of knowledge and information to real-world situations, and can be defined as:“the capacity to exploit business moments and operational events in a way that enables to make informed decisions and take effective action in varied, changing and uncertain situations”.
The future business value will accrue to those who are able to lever contextual intelligence and build sustainable intelligent enterprises and ecosystems.
Synthesizing the regulatory management and profit chainThei Geurts
Presentation about the connection between the regulatory management chain and the profit chain. Implementation of the process of me (future of BPM) requires the implementation of a regulatory management chain.
Complexity cannot be reduced; it is a natural phenomenon. Consequently, instead of fighting complexity, organizations should embrace it.
Building on the Be Informed white paper “Embrace complexity, simplify your organization”, this white paper explains how organizations should embrace three important aspects of complexity: dynamic complexity, social complexity and emerging complexity. It also outlines what may happen with organizations that fail to do so. Co-authored by JW Ebbige and F. Buytendijk.
Transforming policy skepticism into policy co makershipThei Geurts
This document discusses the increasing complexity of society and government policies and regulations. It argues that the complexity has led to problems like citizens and businesses losing track of which rules apply to them, increased administrative burden, and difficulties for politicians developing effective policies. The document proposes that using technology to convert laws and regulations into formal models could help increase transparency and allow citizens, businesses, and government agencies to better understand how policies apply in specific situations. This may help reduce skepticism about government and engage citizens and businesses in policy development. Four research tracks are proposed to further explore using policy modeling.
De kenniseconomie: fictie of werkelijkheid?Thei Geurts
Article about the knowledge economy published in Jan. 2009.
We leven in een kenniseconomie, tenmiste dat is wat alom wordt beweerd. Maar hoe komt het dan dat wij daar niets van merken? Gewoonten uit de oude economie domineren nog steeds ons handelen. Machtsposities die gebaseerd zijn op informatie – of beter gezegd op het verhullen van informatie voor eindgebruikers – worden krampachtig in stand gehouden. Zelfs als dat tot rampen zoals de recente kredietcrisis leidt.
Gepubliceerd in Intellektueel Kapitaal, januari 2009.
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Cover Story - China's Investment Leader - Dr. Alyce SUmsthrill
In World Expo 2010 Shanghai – the most visited Expo in the World History
https://www.britannica.com/event/Expo-Shanghai-2010
China’s official organizer of the Expo, CCPIT (China Council for the Promotion of International Trade https://en.ccpit.org/) has chosen Dr. Alyce Su as the Cover Person with Cover Story, in the Expo’s official magazine distributed throughout the Expo, showcasing China’s New Generation of Leaders to the World.
Unlocking WhatsApp Marketing with HubSpot: Integrating Messaging into Your Ma...Niswey
50 million companies worldwide leverage WhatsApp as a key marketing channel. You may have considered adding it to your marketing mix, or probably already driving impressive conversions with WhatsApp.
But wait. What happens when you fully integrate your WhatsApp campaigns with HubSpot?
That's exactly what we explored in this session.
We take a look at everything that you need to know in order to deploy effective WhatsApp marketing strategies, and integrate it with your buyer journey in HubSpot. From technical requirements to innovative campaign strategies, to advanced campaign reporting - we discuss all that and more, to leverage WhatsApp for maximum impact. Check out more details about the event here https://events.hubspot.com/events/details/hubspot-new-delhi-presents-unlocking-whatsapp-marketing-with-hubspot-integrating-messaging-into-your-marketing-strategy/
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Adani Group's Active Interest In Increasing Its Presence in the Cement Manufa...Adani case
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Geurts supporting the-agile-enterprise
1. Supporting the agile enterprise
in a networked knowledge economy
By: Thei Geurts
October 12, 2006.
2. Table of Contents
Supporting the agile enterprise in a networked knowledge economy ................................ 3
Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction..................................................................................................................... 4
Part 1: The networked knowledge economy....................................................................... 4
Part 2: Supporting the knowledge worker .......................................................................... 6
Knowledge as a production factor .................................................................................. 6
Making knowledge usable and productive ..................................................................... 7
Knowledge as a service................................................................................................... 9
Part 3: Agility enablers ..................................................................................................... 10
Enterprise architecture .................................................................................................. 10
Information technology................................................................................................. 12
Be Informed .................................................................................................................. 14
Part 4: Agility program ..................................................................................................... 15
Agility Value Centre ..................................................................................................... 16
Benefits ......................................................................................................................... 17
Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 17
Page 2 of 18
3. Supporting the agile enterprise in a networked knowledge economy
Abstract
The shift from transformation activities to interactions represents a broad shift in the
nature of economic activity. Enterprises looking to succeed in today’s rapid-paced new
economy must be agile, innovative and rapidly responsive to changes in their business
environment.
The number of employees doing interactive and cognitive work is increasing rapidly.
Supporting knowledge workers becomes of vital importance for the ability of enterprises
to survive in a networked knowledge economy. By regarding knowledge as a production
factor and by supporting knowledge workers, enterprises can achieve great breakthroughs
in quality, productivity and impact. The emphasis in this vision is placed on “being able
to use knowledge” instead of “having knowledge”.
Traditional capabilities and enablers are not sufficient to meet the challenges of an
enterprise environment that is shifting from push driven to pull driven. It requires inter
alia an agile infrastructure. To support the business transformation there is need for
Enterprise architecture that deals not only with technical capabilities, but also with
information and knowledge, organizational and process capabilities. Knowledge
‘architecture’ is the most forgotten discipline within enterprise architecture. Today we
model and design everything (data, processes, organizations etc.) but not knowledge. To
combat the shrinking half-life of knowledge, organizations are forced to develop new
methods of establishing and managing knowledge processes, authentic sources and their
owners. This transformation should be embedded in a Business agility program. An
enterprise agility value center acts as the nucleus for the business driven action.
Page 3 of 18
4. Introduction
This is an overview article that explores means to enhance the business agility of
enterprises that operate in a networked knowledge economy.
In the first part we explore several facets of the networked knowledge economy. The
second part deals with the notion that knowledge should be treated as a primary
production factor. It argues that supporting knowledge workers by making knowledge
usable and productive helps enterprises to cope the ever accelerating pace of change. The
third part presents enablers that support enterprises to achieve in their transformation.
Part 4 describes how to organize this transformation.
Part 1: The networked knowledge economy
We are living in a knowledge economy. Labor, capita or base materials are no longer the
main means of production, but the application of knowledge is.
Whereas the economy one hundred years ago was primarily driven by transformational
activities, turning raw product into finished product, the highest-value activities in the
modern world are complex interactions between people and systems.. This shift from
transformation activities to interactions represents a broad shift in the nature of economic
activity. Economic success and most productivity gains in the future are going to be in
interactions.
Knowledge, imagination (creativity) and the ability to execute are becoming key
differentiators between success and failure, between the forehead of the knowledge
economy and the laggards.
Enterprises looking to succeed in today’s rapid-paced new economy must be agile,
innovative and responsive to changes in their business environment. These changes can
be competitive, market, regulatory and more and more customer attitude-driven.
Globalization, powered by a continuously expanding and accelerating information and
communication technology, has become a fact of life for every enterprise. There is no
scarcity of potential partners, competitors, suppliers or customers. They can be located in
every discipline in every corner of the world. In many cases there are not only new
players, but also the roles of established players change in the networked economy.
In this phase of the information age we are riding the inclining wave of distributed
intelligence (Norman Poiré)1. New and flexible forms of networking are required to
‘capitalize’ this intelligence. Value chains (a connected series of organizations, resources
and knowledge streams involved in the creation and delivery of value to end customers)2
will be redefined. This gives rise to new and different ways of specialization and
collaboration. Therefore a strategic rethought of core competences is required.
Page 4 of 18
5. Aggregators &
Reconstructors
Buyers
Potential
Entrants
IT-companies &
Peer producers
Threat of New
Entrants
Industry
Competitors
Bargaining
Power of
Buyers
Large accounts
& Intermediaries
Opinion leaders
& Consumers
Rivalry among
Rivalry among
Existing Firms
Existing Firms
Government
content for free
Self publishing
Suppliers
Substitutes
Bargaining
Power of
Suppliers
Threat of
Substitute
Products &
Services
Abundance of
free content
Intelligent
solutions
Increasing competitive environment of the publishing sector
Enterprises are beginning to realize that sources of strategic advantage shift during times
of rapid change. Strategic advantage becomes less focused on ownership of distinctive
stocks of knowledge. Increasingly, as Hagel and Brown argue in greater depth in “The
Only Sustainable Edge”3, advantage resides in the institutional capacity to get better
faster – it is not just about the pace of capability building but the relative pace and the
ability to accelerate this pace over time. This in turn depends upon privileged access to
the most promising flows of knowledge and rapid integration of knowledge acquired
from these flows.
In the knowledge economy there is no scarcity of information. There is a scarcity in time
to process information. This impacts enterprises and enterprise chains as well as their
customers equally. The abundance of stimuli and the shortage of time lead also to an
intensifying fight for attention.
Products, services and market parties that are perceived as delivering intuitive value will
become the top brands of the information age. They will attract the largest market share.
Pull models are emerging everywhere: from customer aggregation and publishing to
supply chain management. As customers gain access to a greater number of options and
more information about those options, they become more demanding on resource
providers, requiring resources to be made available on their terms, when and where they
want them, rather than when and where it is convenient for the resource providers to
deliver them.
At the extreme, customers are demanding and receiving tools to create their own products
and services, bypassing entire tiers of product and service vendors4. Sometimes this is
referred to as being a form of democratization. Examples of this trend can be found in
e.g. case based medicine networks and the open access movement.
These forms of Peer production enjoy very special economics. It is a new kind of scale
economy which enables massively distributed and ultra-specialized micro-production.
Page 5 of 18
6. Peer production affects the economics of value chains by migrating industry profitability
from the center of the chain towards both edges5.
An agile enterprise understands the impact of the shift from push to pull that is going on
and acts accordingly. Traditional push models are top down oriented and highly
procedure driven. They are designed for stable environments and have a hard time to
complying with evolving and ever changing trends and participants in a highly networked
knowledge economy. Push models cannot cope with the heterogeneity in participants,
activities, rules, systems, structure, syntax and semantics of this environment. At
maximum some form of suboptimal interoperability will be reached.
Part 2: Supporting the knowledge worker
Supporting knowledge workers becomes of vital importance for the ability of enterprises
to survive in a networked knowledge economy. In the past western enterprises could
realize productivity gains by automating routine based activities. Meanwhile the majority
of these activities has been automated. Other routine based activities are disappearing by
the already mentioned trend from push to pull (e.g. growth of self-service concepts).
Increasing productivity by automating routine based jobs is coming to an end.
Knowledge as a production factor
Since 1997, extensive McKinsey research on jobs in many industries has revealed that
globalization, specialization, and new technologies are making interactions far more
pervasive in developed economies. Currently, jobs that involve participating in
interactions rather than extracting raw materials or making finished goods account for
more than 80 percent of all employment in the United States. And jobs involving the
most complex type of interactions— those requiring employees to analyze information,
grapple with ambiguity, and solve problems—make up the fastest-growing segment.
Salaries reflect the value that companies place on these jobs, which pay 55 and 75 percent
more, respectively, than those of employees who undertake routine transactions and
transformations6.
Only a small part of the knowledge workers produces new knowledge (on universities or
in research). A much larger group of well educated specialists applies abstract knowledge
within their practices (e.g. doctors, lawyers and teachers). The largest and vastly
increasing group of knowledge workers does not work with such abstract knowledge at
all, but applies practical knowledge in their daily jobs.
Therefore the biggest challenge of the knowledge economy had become the creation of
value by effectively using knowledge in processes, products and services.
We define knowledge in this context as the ‘ability for effective action’. In this sense
knowledge in it self has no value; it is an ability that gets only value when it is used.
Page 6 of 18
7. 1
No knowledge
(just facts)
2
Limited knowledge
3
4
Creation of new
Profound knowledge knowledge (models)
High structure
No structure
Answers
Support for diagnosis
and reasoning
Access to relevant
knowledge & cases
Association &
simulation
Question trees
Wizards
Basket
Navigation
Question trees
Wizards
Basket
Navigation
Argumentationsupport
Search service
Studio
Text-mining
Advanced search
Knowledge work types and support types
The ‘ability for effective action’ needs to be seen as a primary production factor in our
view. The demand for knowledge workers and the high cost of employing them are a
clear call to arms. Enterprises need to make this part of the workforce more productive,
just as they have already raised the productivity of transactional and manufacturing labor.
Unproductive knowledge employees will be an increasingly costly disadvantage.
Making knowledge usable and productive
The next wave of productivity improvement will therefore be based on improving the
efficiency and effectiveness of non-routine based cognitive and interactive tasks. By
treating knowledge as a production factor and by supporting knowledge workers,
enterprises can achieve great breakthroughs in quality, productivity and impact.
In order to make knowledge usable and productive, the focus is bound to come on
demand driven and context sensitive knowledge supply. This requires in turn identifying
the relevant knowledge and organizing its development and provisioning process.
Relevance is becoming a competitive advantage in a pull driven environment. “Relevance
pulled response rates three times higher than just personalization”, according to Rab
Govil, president of the Print On-Demand Initiative7.
Relevance turns information into knowledge. Customers want to get access to true
relevant resources; to use information within the context of what they are doing. They
want to have access to the right information, but only when they need it. And they need to
be assured that the access is guaranteed, easy, fast and reliable, according to Susan
Feldman (IDC)8. It is probably not needed to emphasize that the same also applies to
enterprise (chain) employees
Page 7 of 18
8. Relevance
Need to know
How to?
My
case
Nice to know
One to Many
One to One
Personalization
Relevance combined with true personalization yields the best result
One of the most persuasive factors to manage the production factor in a continuous way
is the shrinking half-life of knowledge. The “half-life of knowledge” is the time span
from when knowledge is gained to when it becomes obsolete. Half of what is known
today was not known 10 years ago. The amount of knowledge in the world has doubled in
the past 10 years and is doubling every 18 months according to the American Society of
Training and Documentation (ASTD)9. What was relevant yesterday is today obsolete.
Agile enterprises cannot afford neglecting the consequences of constant change in the
production factor knowledge. Since knowledge is constantly changing the knowledge
process has to be organized and managed, authentic sources have to be created and
owners for these have to be appointed.
We make a distinction between four ways and types of applications to make knowledge
usable and productive:
1. Improving the interaction with customers: self-service applications for complex
situations, products and services as well as interaction support for e.g. call-centers
become possible by making complex rules usable by “laypeople”.
2. Supporting knowledge-intensive processes: less experienced and less highly
qualified employees are able to perform knowledge-intensive tasks and apply
knowledge if they are presented with the right knowledge, on time and tailormade within the context of the process.
3. Managing authentic sources of knowledge and rules: by structuring and managing
knowledge centrally by means of knowledge models it becomes possible to keep
authentic sources and the knowledge derived from them up-to-date.
4. Facilitating innovation in products and processes: by separating knowledge and
process and then integrating both in an application, it becomes possible to change
knowledge and process separately (“a new manager means new processes; a new
government means new rules”).
Page 8 of 18
10. means of a product comparison tool that makes use of that customer’s specific
characteristics.
Business
Process
Management
Case Management
Content Process
/ Process
Fusion
Content
Integration
Semantic
Layer
Application
Applicatie
Integration
Search
Infrastructure
Content & Process Fusion
Part 3: Agility enablers
Agility is often defined as the ability of a business enterprise to run profitably in a rapidly
changing fragmenting global market environment by producing quality, highperformance, and customer targeted goods and services.
An agile business is able to change its systems rapidly, allowing it to get new products
and services to the market fast. Ideally, an agile business can ensure that strategic
business changes impact operations directly and quickly while eliminating time and
accuracy lag between the business and IT.
What we see in practice however is that information systems often are the last thing to
adapt to change. Change is ultimately delayed and impaired by an infrastructure that
lacks behind and by processes ‘that are embedded in reinforced concrete’. Business
transformation becomes then a cumbersome process.
Is it therefore that we see a trend to enterprise architecture as the Holy Grail to overcome
the chasm between the leaden enterprise infrastructure and the new market demands?
Enterprise architecture
Enterprise architecture however has to cope with situations in which fragmentation and
incoherence is the natural state. Maybe that is one of the reasons why enterprise
architecture in the past has often restricted its activities to the technology domain and
more specific to the infrastructure and application domain. This isolated approach was
bound to fail. It has lead to a situation in which the word ‘enterprisey’ is been used with a
negative connotation for ‘sophisticated software architecture which is claimed to be good
enough (robust, flexible, etc.) for use in enterprise applications, but in fact is merely
excessively complex and baroque’10.
Page 10 of 18
11. Excellent companies on the contrary, are able to apply technology in a way that
establishes integration and cohesion between the technology and the context in which it
has to operate. They not only orchestrate the technology environment but also the whole
enterprise environment.
Enterprise architecture in our view surpasses the boundaries of the strict technology
angle. It deals not only with technical capabilities, but also with organizational and
process capabilities and last but not least with information and knowledge capabilities.
One could even argue that knowledge ‘architecture’ is the most forgotten discipline
within enterprise architecture. Today we model and design everything (data, processes,
organizations etc.) but not knowledge.
Using
Using
knowledge
knowledge
Information Service & Reference
Making
Making
knowledge
knowledge
applicable
applicable
Case Management
Tailor made information
Instrumental knowledge
External applications
External knowledge disclosure
Knowledge in models
Recording
Recording
knowledge
knowledge
Relevant information
Content integration
Managing
Managing
knowledge
knowledge
Editing sources
Knowledge models maintenance Collaboration
External sources
Knowledge modeling in context
The main responsibility of enterprise architecture is to conceive and guard the concepts,
principles, high level designs and guidelines, along which the enterprise can deal with
processes, systems and information in an integrated and coherent way within its own
environmental context.
Like the backbone in the human body this architecture provides the framework, muscles,
nerves and the isolation and connection layers that enable the body to move and adapt
smoothly to every situation. To paraphrase José Ortega y Gasset11, architecture helps to
Page 11 of 18
12. prevent that the enterprise becomes a ‘Compania invertebrada’ (company without
backbone).
The focus is on architecture that works between enterprises rather than architecture that
works within an enterprise. It starts from the outside and moves back into the enterprise.
This contrasts with the traditional approach; however it is a crucial viewpoint in a pull
driven environment.
Enterprise architecture acts not only as an enabler, but also as a signpost for disruptive
fractions in the equilibrium between business requirements and enterprise capabilities.
This can work two-ways: signposting suboptimal use of capabilities at the one hand and
shortcomings in the capabilities at the other hand.
This relates directly to the information orientation of the enterprise. Donald Marchand12
refers to maturity levels for the aspects:
Information behavior and values,
Information management practices
Information technology practices.
Upgrading e.g. the technology to a higher level while other aspects, like structuring
information, lag behind will not work, as many enterprises have found out meanwhile.
Information technology
Information technology is becoming an even more important enabler of strategic
differentiation, rather than diminishing in strategic importance. Success in the next five to
ten years will require a deep understanding of the power of interactive capacity in both
the own industry and the economy at large and of how technology can help to lever that
power..
In the past, IT may actually have been a barrier to more agile and collaborative business
architectures as executives made a Faustian bargain: seeking large operating expense
reduction at the expense of more flexibility and collaboration with other enterprises13.
Today’s investments in technology target network services, rich media, mobility and
knowledge technologies. This investment cycle will dwarf the previous ones in size and
scope; it will be three to five times larger than the dot-com investment boom that
followed the invention of the World Wide Web14.
The focus will be on pull based technology since under conditions of growing abundance
of resources, push models become untenable. Pull platforms tend to be much more
modular in design. Modules are created to help to make resources and activities more
accessible in flexible ways since the core assumption of pull platforms is that the needs of
participants cannot be well anticipated in advance. Pull platforms are designed from the
outset to handle exceptions, while push programs treat exceptions as indications of
failure.
Pull programs enable the enterprise to push the Customer Interaction Decoupling Point
further upstream in the supply chain, thereby dramatically increasing the customer
Page 12 of 18
13. responsiveness. The Customer Interaction Decoupling Point refers to the furthest point
upstream to which information on real final demand for products and services can
penetrate the supply chain. If this point lies further downstream and even outside the
enterprises’ borders, then the client has to make on his own the match between demand
and supply. The higher upstream this point lies the better the client can communicate his
functional demand with the enterprise. The enterprise is able to convert this demand in
products and services.
In contrast, the Knowledge Structuring Decoupling Point needs to be as far downstream
as possible. The Knowledge Structuring Decoupling Point refers to the furthest point
downstream to which knowledge products/services can be modularized or versionized
and still remain adaptable to customer specifications.
Customer Interaction Decoupling Point
<<< Upstream
Suppliers
Supply Chain Responsiveness
Customers
Downstream >>>
Knowledge Structuring Decoupling Point
Responsiveness of Knowledge supply chains
The responsiveness of supply chains increases the further decoupling points can be
extended apart15. By using the methods of knowledge modeling and authentic sources the
distance between these two decoupling points will be the greatest without damaging the
integration capability of the enterprise.
This enables the shift from push to pull, from product to process and even solution selling
on a large scale.
New generations of IT are coming together to support new management techniques:
Semantic technologies represent meanings separately from data, content, or
program code, using the open standards for the semantic web.
Service oriented architectures provide more flexible access to distributed
application and database resources.
Virtualization architectures provide more flexible access to distributed
computing, storage and networking resources.
Interaction tools including mobile access devices and social software help to
connect people together any time and anywhere in much richer collaboration
environments.
Page 13 of 18
15. Part 4: Agility program
As we have argued, enterprises need to transform in order to survive in the networked
knowledge economy. The question arises “How to achieve this transformation?”
In a complex and dynamic environment it makes no sense to jump in the waters without a
Business agility program that keeps the enterprise in mind and that is driven by business
initiatives. Such a program will run for several years and needs to evolve with the
environmental changes.
The program needs to be deployed in an incremental and pragmatic way. It should focus
on capability building and performance improvement where it counts and where it is
feasible. The grow path can differ per enterprise and sector.
Structure
(models)
forms, question trees,
calculators, wizards
Answers & Services
Answers & Services
tailor made
tailor made
Navigate & Search
Navigate & Search
based on context
based on context
Simple search
Simple search
theme's, life events, target groups, personal interaction portals
Context
(client data)
Grow path towards tailor made Government services and answers
The impact of such programs will be huge in time; however it will also allow achieving
quick wins in a short time span by selecting the appropriate improvement points that can
be tackled right away.
Priorities for supporting knowledge intensive and sensitive activities could be e.g.:
Reducing complexity in processes
o By using lean reusable reference processes.
o By separating knowledge from processes.
o By putting the variation points (the locations at which variation can occur)
outside the processes.
Reducing complexity in knowledge production
o By treating knowledge as a production asset.
Page 15 of 18
16.
o By making the process more robust and able to adjust to regulatory and
organizational change.
o By putting ‘smartness’ into the data in stead of into the applications.
o By embedding instruments into the process.
Enhancing transparency and prioritization in knowledge production
o By switching from a supply driven to a demand driven approach.
o By establishing authentic sources.
o By adding meaning to information sources.
Reducing costs
o By eliminating redundancy in processes and jobs
o By providing ‘just in time’ information.
o By enabling stakeholder specific self service.
o By reusability of the development solutions for other knowledge critical
processes.
Implementing transparency en compliance
o By logging and reporting who takes which decisions based on what as an
integrated part of the knowledge worker support proces.
Of course, the Business agility program roadmap has to be adjustable based upon newly
emerging business priorities and new enabling technologies.
Agility Value Centre
Since the agility program is driven by business initiatives, the business needs to have a
counterpart or nucleus within the enterprise that will help to materialize the agility
program. This counterpart is, like the business itself, accountable for its contribution to
the business agility.
Let’s call this nucleus the Agility Value Centre. The Agility Value Centre consists in my
view of a multidisciplinary team, in which disciplines like technology architecture
(infrastructure, systems and applications), process architecture and knowledge
architecture are represented.
The responsibility of the Agility Value Centre is the high level enterprise architecture as
described in a previous paragraph.
Since their main reason for existence is ‘to provide value to the enterprise, their natural
partners are enterprise managers like the New Business Manager, Domain Business
Managers, Chief Technology Office, Chief Knowledge and Information Officer and
probably also the Chief Compliance Officer and the Operations Manager(s).
In order to realize the full program potential, the Agility Value Centre’s multidisciplinary
team is supported by an inner circle of specific disciplines, like change management,
solution management and operational management. Their responsibility is to assure that
the specific action plans will be embedded within the enterprise or within the enterprise
chain.
Page 16 of 18
17. Disciplines:
• enterprise technical architecture
• enterprise process architecture
• enterprise knowledge architecture
Supply
Demand
Tools
Partners
Knowledge
Domain knowledge
QA &
Process expertise
Delivery Support
Best Practises
Key metrics
Credibility
Offerings
Services
Methods
Techniques
Models
Demand
AVC
Environment Business
Disciplines:
• change management
• solution management
• operational management
ICT
internal &
external
suppliers
Contact point for:
• Business (development) manager
• Knowledge manager
• ICT manager
• Operations manager
Be Value’s Delivery Model for an Agility Value Center
The Agility Value Centre can be supported by external parties who support its
transformation process. Such parties should also understand the importance of supporting
knowledge workers in a networked knowledge economy.
Benefits
This approach provides benefits in four basic categories: reducing integration expense,
increasing asset reuse, increasing business agility, and reduction of business risk. These
four core benefits actually offer return at many different levels and parts of the enterprise.
Conclusion
The sources of strategic advantage shift during times of rapid change in the networked
knowledge economy.
The next wave of productivity improvement must be based on improving the efficiency
and effectiveness of non-routine based cognitive and interactive tasks.
By treating knowledge as a production factor and by supporting knowledge workers,
enterprises can achieve great breakthroughs in quality, productivity and impact.
Enterprise architecture can help to create the infrastructure that is needed to support the
required business agility. An agility program and support need to be setup to put this
vision into reality.
About the author
Thei Geurts is a Principal Publishing Consultant of Be Value (www.be-value.nl), a
company specialised in supporting knowledge workers and agile enterprises.
Page 17 of 18
18. 1
Norman Poiré. A Crunch of Gears, Economist, Sept. 29, 2001.
Next-Wave Publishing Technologies, Part 2: Revolutions in Process. The Seybold report; Vol. 3, No. 20;
January 31, 2004.
3
John Hagel III and John Seely Brown. The Only Sustainable Edge: Why Business Strategy Depends on
Productive Friction and Dynamic Specialization. 2005.
4
John Hagel & John Seely Brown. From Push to Pull - Emerging Models for Mobilizing Resources.
Working Paper, October 2005.
5
Umair Haque. The Atomizing Hand; The strategy and economics of peer production.
http://www.bubblegeneration.com; Spring 2005.
6
Bradford C. Johnson, James M. Manyika, and Lareina A. Yee. The next revolution in interactions. The
McKinsey Quaterly, 2005 Number 4.
7
www.podi.org/pdf/resources/newsletter/PODi-Reports_2003-06.htm.
8
Susan Feldman. The high cost of not finding information. KMWorld-Volume 13, Issue 3, March 2004.
9
Gonzalez, C. The Role of Blended Learning in the World of Technology.
www.unt.edu/benchmarks/archives/2004/september04.
10
Wikipedia; 30-06-2006.
11
José Ortega y Gasset. España invertebrada. 1921.
12
Donald Marchand. Managing Information, People and IT to Drive Business Performance.
www.enterpriseiq.com.
13
Mills Davis, Dean Allemang & Robert Coyne. Evaluation and Market Report. A report on the evaluation
of WonderWeb technologies and an assessment of the potential market, including guidance as to directions
for further development in response to evolving industrial requirements. IST Project 2001-33052
WonderWeb: Ontology Infrastructure for the Semantic Web. 2004.
14
The Next-Wave Part 1: Revolution in Process and Content. The Seybold report; Vol. 3, No. 15;
November 17, 2003.
15
Niels Dechove. On the Responsiveness of Supply Chains. Sprouts: Working Papers on Information
Environments, Systems and Organizations, Volume 3, Issue 4 (Fall), pp 211-232.
http://sprouts.case.edu/2003/ 030411.pdf.
2
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