Mastering the Three Worlds of Information

"Mastering the Three Worlds of Information" artigo de Andrew McAfee publicado na revista Harvard Business Review de Novembro de 2006.

Este interessante artigo discute o papel dos executivos das empresas na gestão das Tecnologias de Informação.

"[...] executives have three roles to play in managing IT: They must help select technologies, nurture their adoption, and ensure their exploitation. However, managers needn’t do all those things each time they buy a new technology. Different types of IT result in different kinds of organizational change when they are implemented, so executives must tailor their roles to the technologies they’re using. What’s critical, though, is that executives stop looking at IT projects as technology installations and start looking at them as periods of organizational change that they have a responsibility to manage.
[...]
An insightful CIO once told me, 'I can make a project fail, but I can’t make it succeed. For that, I need my [non-IT] business colleagues.'"

Divide as TIs em 3 categorias:

"Executives often talk about the revolution that computers have brought about in
companies, but, as the IT model I’ve described illustrates, that’s an oversimplification. IT sets off several kinds of revolutions in organizations because technologies fall into three distinct categories.
Function IT. (FIT) includes technologies that make the execution of stand-alone tasks more efficient. Word processors and spreadsheets are the most common examples of this IT category. Design engineers, accountants, doctors, graphic artists, and a host of other specialists and knowledge workers use FIT all the time. People can get the most value from these technologies when their complements are in place but can also use FIT without all of the complements.[...]
Network IT. (NIT) provides a means by which people can communicate with one another. Network technologies include e-mail, instant messaging, blogs, and groupware like Lotus Notes. NIT allows people to interact, but it doesn’t define how they should interact. It gives people freedom to experiment instead of telling them what they must do. Unlike FIT, network IT brings complements with it but allows users to implement and modify them over time.[...]
Enterprise IT. (EIT) is the type of IT application that companies adopt to restructure interactions among groups of employees or with business partners. Applications that define entire business processes, such as CRM and SCM—as well as technologies, such as electronic data interchange, that automate communications between companies—fall into this category. Unlike network technologies, which percolate from the bottom, enterprise technologies are very much top-down; they are purchased and imposed on organizations by senior management. Companies can’t adopt EIT without introducing new interdependencies, processes, and decision rights. Moreover, companies can’t slowly create the complements to EIT; changes become necessary as soon as the new systems go live."

Aborda ainda as temáticas da selecção, adopção e exploração de soluções de TI.

Selecção:
"An inside-out approach puts the spotlight squarely on the business before evaluating the technology landscape; it focuses on the capabilities that IT can provide rather than on the technologies themselves. A discussion among executives about capabilities will highlight what the business most wants to be good at—and it will show whether there’s agreement about what the business needs to be good at. Once the company’s business needs are clear, the technologies it requires will come into focus. Typically, FIT delivers productivity and optimization, NIT increases collaboration, and EIT helps standardize and monitor work. Thus, when executives decide what capabilities they need, they will know what kind of IT to buy and the nature of the initiatives they must manage."

Adopção:
"After IT selection, executives’ attention turns to adoption: the hard work of
putting the technologies they’ve invested in to productive use.[...]
IT adoption. After IT selection, executives’ attention turns to adoption: the hard work of putting the technologies they’ve invested in to productive use.[...]
In fact, the biggest mistake business leaders make is to underestimate resistance when they impose changes in the ways people work.[...]
Leaders who successfully implement EIT try to build consensus in the organization, but they’re also willing to push ahead without having everyone on board every step of the way."

Exploração:
"A business leader’s third IT-related responsibility is to extract the maximum benefit from technologies once they are in place."

Service-Oriented Architecture SOA Strategy, Methodology, and Technology

"Aggressively being adopted by organizations in all markets, service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a framework enabling business process improvement for gaining competitive advantage. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Strategy, Methodology, and Technology guides you through the challenges of deploying SOA. It demonstrates conclusively that strategy and methodology are the keys to implementing SOA and provides the methodology needed for SOA success. The book examines the role of both non-agile and agile project management techniques for deploying SOA. Its methodology applies frameworks of governance, communications, product realization, project management, architecture, data management, service management, human resource management and post implementation processes. Filled with case studies, the book shows the methodology in action. This reference benefits business managers, business analysts, and technology project managers who are serious about adopting SOA as a long-term strategy. It is also benefits those new to business process management, enterprise architecture, and information systems and need to understand SOA, its business drivers, and its methodology."

** (de * a *****)

Este é um livro de James P. Lawler e H. Howell-Barber editado pela Auerbach Publications. Baseado em case-studies, achei-o desinteresante mas, no entanto, uma fonte útil de artigos sobre SOA.

ISBN:978-1-4200-4500-0

Referências Bibliográficas sobre SOA

Procuro boas referências bibliográficas sobre SOA. Todos os contributos são muito bem vindos.

Small SOA Projects Can Show Immediate ROI

Noting that an SOA is "fundamentally about aligning with the business," deVadoss said that "the challenge with the big-bang approach is tends to diverge from the business very rapidly. There is a lot of risk that gets built up."

Este é um artigo sobre o retorno de investimento de SOA, originalmente publicado na edição ameicana da revista ComputerWorld - "Small SOA Projects Can Show Immediate ROI".