Achieving Visibility, Accountability and Control
Consider the following statistic: “More than 64 percent of C-level executives from 250 midsized to large companies in the US and EU have said that being able to execute, to react quickly to changing business opportunities and technologies, is critical to their success. Yet nearly 80 percent of them said that it is nearly impossible to achieve.” - Business Execution Blues – Ralph Welborn 6/19/06.
In the June 2006 edition of CFO Magazine there is an article called ‘by the numbers’ which includes a graph on CFO’s feelings about data quality. The concern is the outcome when using unrealistic or irrelevant information for the planning and budgeting processes.
Today’s best practices call for a balanced approach in the quality of the design and the ability for the organization to advance their key initiatives. Companies with progressive Leaders are successfully optimizing their performance by enabling solutions that provide increased visibility, accountability and control (VAC).
Some of the key cornerstones to achieving VAC include:
- Implementing a closed loop management system to ensure accountability and control.
- Employing an integrated tool suite to facilitate changes and augment skill sets.
- Creating real-time visibility into all activities to promote a sense of urgency.
- Utilizing availability on demand to increase flexibility and lower cost.
- Driving an exception based reporting approach to focus management’s efforts.
Managing current functions and innovating for the future is a delicate and demanding balancing act. Having the skills and tools to increase the ability to adopt and advance change is a clear competitive advantage for every leader. This may require you to team with others to acquire the tools and knowledge to accelerate change and performance. Building a network of providers will create new opportunities and choices for customers, as well as increasing your ability to solve for complex business problems.
In summary, enabling VAC within an organization will enhance its leader’s ability to influence and implement change. Instead of getting tied up in daily routines of chasing information and other tactical activities, free up valuable time to focus on driving the future. Are you harnessing your potential to provide your company a competitive advantage?
contributed by Warren White
Dealing with Risk
In the preceding article we talked about Visibility, Accountability and Control. Without these in place there may be a greater level of risk that can impact the success of your business. As with any risk associated to your business, you have options on address and resolve each risk. The table below from Gartner identifies five actions that are available to you.
| Action | Description |
| Accept the risk | When the risk is so unlikely or its impact so low that it warrants no further action, the company can decide to simply bear the cost of recovery if the need arises. |
| Avoid the risk | When the cost and likelihood of the risk are large, it may no longer be feasible to continue operation in the area of activity that incurs the risk. |
| Transfer or share the risk | When the risk is part of the business, but the cost is predicable, the company may share or transfer risk through insurance, contracts and warranties, and joint-venture agreements. The cost of those penalties belongs entirely to the delivery service. |
| Reduce or mitigate the risk | Often, risk must be borne for a core function of the business; however, systems and controls will be needed to mitigate or reduce the likelihood or the impact of the risk. |
| Ignore the risk | It is very dangerous for executives to do nothing-neither consciously accepting the risk nor mitigating it. |
Source: Gartner – June 2006
Understanding risk and what to do about it is a never ending task. Most companies complete a major risk evaluation and assessment either once or twice a year. During these sessions, they identify the major risks that exist, determine their importance and likelihood of occurrence and then the outcome will be the level of action to taken for each risk. This could include changing processes, people, software, hardware, providers, etc. Any number of possibilities can occur to reduce or mitigate risk.
A fundamental activity for success is to identify, assess and monitor risks. There are many tools which can help you complete this task. Some organizations use spreadsheets, presentations and e-mail as tools to accomplish tracking. Others employ an integrated software solution that has the tools that assist in risk mitigation. In either case, of key importance is not to allow any of these risks to fall through the cracks. Make sure that whatever process or system that you employ provides you with Visibility, Accountability and Controlled.
contributed by Michael Vigil
Spotlight: Changing role of CIOs
Today's CIOs are inclined to operate much more outside the boundaries that have traditionally defined an IT organization. They are required to engage all parts of the business to be successful. They also have a tendency to be moving targets with an agenda that isn't always appealing to all parties.
In the June 2006 edition of Optimize magazine there is an interesting chart regarding CIOs 'falling short'. The article states that the greatest stumbling block faced by CIOs across the board is their inability to build relationships with peers and subordinates. This challenge not only kills key initiatives, but also their careers.
Why is this important? Because the title is Chief INFORMATION Officer, and if you lack the ability to play nice in the sandbox, then the likelihood is that you will not win the trust of those you support. Trust and information are like air and water. Both are needed to survive and succeed. Building relationships establishes a basis for trust. When trust is in place, information will flow and the ability to execute on objectives will accelerate. How is your CIO doing?
contributed by Pete Pazmany
Industry Trends
IT Projects for 2006 – Where are the dollars going?
Baseline, a publication for IT executives and business managers, surveyed about 1,400 of its readers to find out what critical areas IT projects are being lead for 2006. The three largest areas of spend are related to modernizing or upgrading of their IT infrastructure centering around IP telephony, Outsourcing and Data networking. The balance, nearly 50% of the anticipated $48 M in spend, focuses on business-oriented applications such Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management and Tracking Compliance.
Chart: Top 10 Projects in 2006
The Baseline Top 10 Projects are major technology initiatives ranked by expected spending for the year, based on a survey of 1,440 readers.
Project |
Avg Spend |
1. Voice-over-IP |
$11,112,000 |
2. Outsourcing |
$ 8,216,000 |
3. Data networking |
$ 5,569,000 |
4. Customer relationship management |
$ 5,177,000 |
5. Collaboration |
$ 4,255,000 |
6. Supply chain management |
$ 3,310,000 |
7. Desktop upgrades |
$ 3,212,000 |
8. Application performance management |
$ 2,975,000 |
9. Business analytics |
$ 2,629,000 |
10. Compliance tracking |
$ 2,479,000 |
* Planned spending of respondents indicating the technology is critical to their organizations. Average spending is the mean average (the total of all responses divided by number of respondents). Median spending is the median average (the midpoint value of all responses).
Link to the entire article -http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/232.asp
by Deborah LeBaker |
Management 
