Business Process Management

Although Business Process Management (BPM) solutions were already beginning to gain a great deal of traction in the market, the global economic climate of the past year has created an even greater interest as organisations look to the products to help streamline their processes. Although this has mainly been by ... read more..

We hear a great deal about the efficiencies of mobile working, as well as the environmental benefits. Sadly, we also hear a great deal about the vulnerabilities of mobile technologies, especially in terms of data protection. Too often and once is already too often as far as the people ... read more..

A decade into a new millennium, much of our IT infrastructure is fit for digital landfill and we are continuing to pour money into it at an alarming rate. The current approach to IT is to custom-build systems and incrementally change them as required. As the degree of change ... read more..

Change management Marc Humphries of Atos Consulting considers the effect that the changing demographics in the workplace will have upon UK businesses. Those of us of a certain age will remember the original 1970s Saturday night TV show with Bruce Forsyth and his glamorous assistant Anthea give us a ... read more..

A new Standard and an Accreditation scheme from the National Computing CentreFirst successful IT Departments receive their ITDA awards at the NCC Annual Conference 2009.IT departments are never short of challenges: delivering upon ever-evolving business requirements; deciding when and how to adopt new technologies; managing internal and outsourced relationships; ensuring ... read more..

AccreditUKMichael Dean looks at how the Accredit UK ICT Supplier Standard underpins NCCs IT Department Accreditation.Michael Dean looks at how the Accredit UK ICT Supplier Standard underpins NCCs IT Department Accreditation.Elsewhere in this edition of ITadviser we celebrate the first organisations to be accredited to the National Computing Centres new ... read more..

Not too long ago, the only people who cared about metadata were geeks like me. IT and business users didnt think about how data was organised, where it was located, or how pieces of information were related; they simply wanted reports. And for that, information analysts were the go-to people ... read more..

Sam Jackson discusses a few key strategies to make business processes more robust and agile in the fashion retail supply chain.All over againFashion businesses have unique complications built into their business models that reflect directly on the supply chain. Trends must be identified quickly, products designed, samples created and then ... read more..

Health sector case studyBenenden Healthcare Society is a mutual not-for-profit healthcare provider run solely for the benefit of its members. It offers discretionary, non-acute clinical care and tertiary healthcare services primarily to people who work in the public sector. The multi-award winning Benenden Hospital in Kent is an independent hospital ... read more..

This independent survey conducted by the National Computing Centre and sponsored by IBM, found that most organisations now recognise the importance of good data governance. However, few are actually implementing policies, and when policies are implemented, it is the IT department who is responsible for delivery. The report looks at: ... read more..

The Erudine Behaviour Engine is an innovative technology for the generation and management of complex business rules. This paper examines how the unique benefits the engine can bring to projects requiring business data workflow management, and specifically Business Process Management (BPM) and Business Process Automation (BPA) systems.Unique Improvements to Business ... read more..

The problems and issues around requirements capture and management are well documented within the IT industry. It is the defects in the requirements definition process that very often lead to failure in the successful implementation of major IT projects. We would all contend that truly successful development can only take ... read more..

Programmes and projects are significant investments and key mechanisms by which business change is achieved. Yet many otherwise successful organisations fail to reap full value from this investment by not learning the lessons from this experience.Profiting from Experience ... read more..

Information lies at the heart of effective management. Not only are business executives accountable for the information published to the market, but effective strategic and operational decisions rely on intelligence derived from available data. Organisations need to have access to the 'right' data to improve competitiveness, grow market share, meet ... read more..

Given the significant costs and strategic value of IT, measuring its performance is at least as important as measuring the performance of any other key business function. Yet many organisations find IT performance measurement challenging, so they settle for measuring what they can - rather than what they want or ... read more..

Achieving successful alignment of IT with the business starts with reaching an understanding and agreement between business and IT about IT's role and business contribution. This will get senior management in both IT and the business, involved and accountable for IT governance, and support the board in setting direction. True ... read more..

Organisations recognise the need for risk management, and many purport to have it in place. Further investigation often reveals inconsistent and superficial processes for risk identification and management, and even inconsistent approaches to risk categorisation. Management is reassured by the belief that risk management is in place, as evidenced by ... read more..

For some companies, IT budgeting can seem like a mystical art fit only for specialist accountants; for others, it's a money pit that yields few measurable benefits. The complex issues at play include visible and invisible spend, varying views on approaches such as total cost of ownership (TCO), expected lifespan ... read more..

Increasingly, organisations are handing responsibility for significant parts of their business, including IT, to third parties, often offshore. Attracted by the potential for a known cost base and greater efficiencies, working with third party vendors also carries substantial risks. The appetite for outsourcing to third parties has not decreased, despite ... read more..

Standards for many aspects of business - IT included - have been available for many years. Fully embraced by some, ignored by others on the grounds that attaining and maintaining compliance is too onerous, while others choose a middle path of following the principles without certification or independent verification. Standards ... read more..

IT governance as a critical enabler to Transformational GovernmentThere is no doubt that the pace of business change has increased and will continue to do so. It is also true that opportunities for significant incremental business benefit are diminishing and that, increasingly, organisations are depending on technology to achieve the ... read more..

With falling technology costs, human resources increasingly comprise the largest component of IT expenditure. As IT governance is concerned with achieving value for IT expenditure, it must focus on these human resources, as well as on the technological and financial resources. The constantly changing IT world presents particular challenges for ... read more..

Whilst the business demand and opportunities to leverage IT for competitive advantage have grown enormously, many organisations are enmeshed in IT for the 'run-the-business'. Indeed research shows that on average over 70% of IT spend goes on run-the-business and this proportion has actually grown in recent years!Accordingly, TCS has evolved ... read more..

This document describes the perils, pitfalls, best practices and business benefits of data center migration.Data Centre Migration: ... read more..

Change has changed. In today's economy, change is everywhere, it is happening faster than at anytime in history and it is not showing any signs of slowing down. How are you and your organisation coping? The 'What?' of a major change programme is the easy part. It is when we ... read more..

A DIRECTORS GUIDE: MAKING THE BUSINESS CASE FOR SOFTWARE CHANGE Access Group, 2009. Recognising when your system is no longer fit for purpose Is your current software holding your company back? If you recognise any of the issues below, then your organisation has probably reached or even surpassed the limits of your current ... read more..

Gone are the days of a year or so ago where businesses were frivolously splashing the cash on anything from office parties to new offices and bonuses. Even IT was making the most of the spending game, pouring a considerable amount of money into servers, storage and other infrastructure without ... read more..

Business Intelligence (BI) implementations can provide great insight and bring enormous benefits to companies during harsh economic conditions. However, most organisations are only focused on finding solutions to help them get through the immediate business pain rather than working towards the future. Organisations are so ... read more..

Press Release from The National Computing Centre, Manchester UK. Issued 11th June 2009 Nearly a third of organisations feel that their financial systems have failed to meet all their original business objectives. This is according to new research commissioned by the Evaluation Centre (www.evaluationcentre.com), an interactive online service guiding IT buyers in ... read more..

A valuable reference source and the foundation for guidance material supporting the TickIT scheme for ISO 9000 certification in information technology. For more information about STARTS or to order a copy please email Daniel Dresner or ring 0161 242 2352. About STARTS Launched in 1982, the STARTS Initiative was originally aimed at ... read more..