WiseTechGuy

It has been a long winter for many of us in the US . Many horror stories were common, spanning from the humorous to the downright tragic. I am not sure if homeowners or business were harder hit this year, I just know that everywhere I went it seemed that I saw damaged property, especially roofs and people with assorted winter related injuries --- many from too much snow removal. Focusing on the business side, my impression was that most commercial buildings suffered leaks at one point or another. Flat roofs tend to precipitate that outcome, particularly in a year with more than 2x the average snowfall as we have had here in the greater Boston area. More troubling, as Murphy would have it, the leaks make their way into conduits and/or data centers in some cases. I had a recent conversation with an associate who thought they had made it through the winter unscathed until some of the ice recently started thawing. At that point, water started flowing into a wiring room. For t

I recently had the occasion to hear George Westerman speak on this issue and his book (see below) recently at a Boston SIM meeting. I must admit that the subject matter, something familiar to Chief Information Officers (CIOs) or other seasoned IT professionals, did not exactly get my pulse racing. However, as I am always open to get a fresh perspective, I was rewarded with a warm and polished speaker who clearly related this information. George’s unique contribution in my view, both in his presentation and even more so in the book, is to focus on the communication aspect of value. Specifically on identifying how IT is affecting the overall business; both in positive and negative ways. One of the key points is to lead such conversations away from technical talk and towards business objectives; thereby having something that is clearly related to the organization. The book is filled with practical examples to help drive this point home. From budget requests to project updates, this p