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Decision-Making Archives - Joe Barkai

Jul 28
The Treasure Trove (Anthonie Palamedesz)

SAP: How to Turn the Monkey on Your Back into an Asset

By Business Strategy, IT Strategy No Comments

SAP’s Enterprise Legacy

Software giant SAP boasts a rich portfolio of monolithic ERP applications that cover a broad range of enterprise business processes and policies. Over nearly half a century of continued growth, both organically and through acquisitions, SAP has established a strong presence across industries and business functions, and forged strong relationships with corporate top brass, especially in the CIO and CFO organizations.

But emerging technologies and changing business strategies are challenging the “Big ERP” market of yore. Enterprise digitalization, cloud computing, and Internet of Things-based business solutions are changing the way enterprises build IT systems and consume services. Traditional monolithic on-premise enterprise software is being replaced by cloud-based connected applications and mobile user interfaces.

In the era of lean and agile cloud-based applications threatening to displace worn-out on-premise systems, SAP needs to exploit new technologies and support cloud-based architectures and emerging business constructs. And in the eyes of some, it still needs to shake off the image of a provider of old-architecture software and stodgy mainframe-style user interfaces.  At the same time, SAP continues to support a very large installed base of more businesses and accompany them on the journey to adopt new technologies and business constructs.

This is a significant undertaking. Commenting on this, one SAP executive said: “our legacy is a great asset, but, at the same time, it can become a monkey on our back.”

How can SAP turn this monkey into a strategic asset? Read More

Oct 23
Soft Watch at the Moment of First Explosion by Salvador Dali c. 1954

Procrastination and the Internet of Things

By Internet of Things (IoT), IT Strategy One Comment

Time Value of Information

Fans of Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink will surely agree: In many situations, it makes sense to act promptly and decisively upon arrival of information indicating a problem.

You can clearly apply this logic in industrial manufacturing setting. For instance, if a machine on the manufacturing line has drifted out of spec and starts spewing bad parts, it should be shut down immediately in order to reduce the number of bad parts it produces. Then, the machine needs to be repaired equally expeditiously in order to restore production as soon as possible. In this example, the impact, or the business value, of the decision is the highest when a quick and decisive action is taken. The longer we wait to shut down production, the more bad parts are going to be produced and scrapped.

As Lee Iacocca remarked: “Even a correct decision is wrong when it was taken too late.”

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Jul 15
Section perpendiculaire du moulin des Verdiers (Jean-Jacque Lequeu, 1778)

IoT: Build or Buy?

By Internet of Things (IoT), IT Strategy No Comments

Should You Build Your IoT Solution or Buy it?

Heard recently on the web: Should you build your own Internet of Things (IoT) or buy it?

As you might expect, the question (and the answer), sponsored by an IoT platform vendor, were self-serving.

Earlier today, I received a note about a research that maintains that more than a 100 new IoT “platforms” have entered the marketplace in the past 12 months alone, fueling fast growth that will exceed $1.5 billion by 2021.

Which makes no sense whatsoever.
Read More

Mar 18
Metamorphosis of Narcissus (Salvador Dali, 1937)

Digital Transformation and the Internet of Things

By Internet of Things (IoT), IT Strategy, PLM No Comments

The Internet of Things Enables Digital Transformation

I recently returned from a trip to Munich, Germany where I spoke at the Product Innovation Congress. In additional to the usual product innovation, PDM and PLM topics, this year’s Congress highlighted technologies, business strategies and use cases that use the Internet of Things (IoT) as a means to create a digital thread of product information to support product creation and service strategies.

As you might expect, a discussion on IoT and, in fact, any technology to drive enterprise digital transformation can generate a frustratingly wide range of definitions and, consequently, vague characterization of its benefits and economic justification.

During a panel discussion, I suggested that digital transformation isn’t simply a matter of establishing a new IoT-centric enterprise architecture. Rather, I maintain that we should look at the impact of the information and the digital thread enabled by the IoT in the context of organizational operations and decision making processes. Here is the approach I propose. You can use this to identify opportunities and assess potential value in a way akin to a maturity model. Read More