Three studies uncover opportunities for companies to make improvements in management of innovation process --
Innovation is a top priority for companies seeking to grow in the wake of the economic downturn, but flaws in managing innovation may hinder their progress, according to three studies released today by Accenture (NYSE:ACN).
In one study of more than 630 U.S. and U.K. executives, almost half (48 percent) of those surveyed said their companies had increased funding for innovation in the preceding six months, while one-third (33 percent) said their innovation funding remained the same.
Additionally, nearly nine out of 10 respondents (89 percent) said that innovation is as important, if not more important, than cost reduction to their company’s ability to achieve future growth.
However, the studies found several flaws in the corporate management of innovation, including:
· failure to learn from mistakes;
· widespread risk aversion;
· the need for more collaboration; and
· too much emphasis on making incremental improvements.
These are among the key findings that emerged from three studies conducted by Accenture in the first half of 2009. The U.S.-U.K. study queried executives across several industries, including automotive, banking, capital markets, consumer goods and services, electronics and high-tech, insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and medical products, and retail. The second study focused on innovation in the consumer technology industry in North America, Europe and Asia. The third focused on the communications industry across the U.S. and Europe.
“Companies can’t afford to avoid risk; they must learn from their mistakes and make the bold moves required to grow their company and position it for the economic upturn,” said Mark Foster, Accenture’s group chief executive, Global Markets and Management Consulting. “Unfortunately, many companies don’t have the processes that would enable them to conduct the risk-benefit analysis required to comfortably make the decisions associated with pursuing big bets, which is why innovation oftentimes doesn’t deliver the silver bullet companies seek.”
“Managers must lead by example, collaborate across departments, communicate the business strategy down the line and inspire their teams to engineer the next category-defining product,” Foster said. “Companies that fail to do so may lose significant ground to competitors who understand the value of innovation and manage it well.”
In the most recent study, 50 percent of respondents in the U.S. and the U.K. reported that their most successful innovation has been development of a new product or service. Yet, 74 percent of the respondents said their companies pursue incremental improvements, such as line extensions, and two-thirds (66 percent) said their organizations have made short-term financial results a priority over long-term investments.
Additionally, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of U.S. respondents and nearly one-third (30 percent) of U.K. respondents said their organizations failed to learn from their mistakes.
Among the reasons respondents from both countries cited most frequently for new product or service launch failures were their inability to meet customer needs (57 percent), being late to market (54 percent) and incorrect pricing (52 percent). They also cited the lack of a new or unique customer-perceived value proposition (50 percent), supply chain issues (44 percent) and incorrect forecasting (43 percent).
One-third of the respondents (33 percent) also cited their inability to leverage new technology as a hurdle to innovation.
Consumer technology and communications, media and high-tech studies reveal similar findings
Many of the innovation-related challenges uncovered in the cross-industry study are similar to those Accenture found when it surveyed executives in the consumer technology and communications provider industries.
For the consumer technology study, Accenture interviewed executives who work for companies that generate nearly two-thirds of the industry’s annual global revenues. Typical of the results found in all three surveys, one executive said that about 60 percent of his company’s innovation pipeline was focused on incremental rather than breakthrough innovation. The study also revealed that business units typically work in silos, lack communications across departments and pursue innovation projects that impede collaboration. It also showed that employees are unwilling to collaborate because they fear the risk of someone else taking credit for their ideas.
One executive described the situation this way: “If companies are doing something truly innovative, they are probably going against existing business practices. Opposing forces will likely counteract them. Among some consumer technology firms there is the belief that if it’s innovative, everyone will embrace it, but often just the opposite happens.”
Meanwhile, communications, media and high-tech executives in the U.S. and Europe participating in the third of the three studies said their companies want to decrease the time required to launch new products and reduce development costs. In fact, 58 percent of the respondents said their companies’ new-product development budgets are plagued by cost overruns. And, 70 percent of the respondents said that as the economic downturn evolved, the development of at least some services and products was stopped – a decision that also reflected budget cuts and a shortage of people with the expertise to generate innovations or manage new-product development . The study also found that communications, high-tech and media firms in Europe will lead the way in new-product and service launches in the coming year.
Research Methodology
Study of U.S. and U.K. executives
Accenture commissioned an online survey in May 2009 of more than 630 vice presidents, directors and managers at large U.S. and U.K. companies across a broad range of industries, including automotive, banking, capital markets, consumer goods and services, electronics and high-tech, insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and medical products, and retail. The purpose of the study was to gain further insights about management perceptions of innovation processes.
Study of consumer technology company executives
Accenture conducted in-depth, one-on-one interviews with executives at the director level and above from 28 of the world’s largest consumer technology companies worldwide to better understand the status of innovation across this industry sector. To qualify for inclusion in the study, respondents had to be a final decision-maker, highly involved in or part of a team that works on new product and service launches; part of the company that develops and sells technology to the consumer market; or in the corporate division involved with computer PC development, mobile handset development, or consumer electronics development, such as audio, video and gaming.
Study of communications, media and high-tech company executives
Accenture commissioned an online survey of 277 communications, media and high-tech executives in France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. to identify the challenges these industries face related to new product innovation. Nearly two-thirds of those who responded (63 percent) work in telecommunications, 26 percent work in the high-tech sector, and 11 percent work in the media industry. The online survey explored the correlation between companies that meet or exceed their new-product launch plans and those committed to open innovation. The findings are contained in a February 2009 report.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Innovation Requires Canadian Leadership
Innovation in Canada is being impacted and threatening Canada's future as we are sending far fewer of our young people to university than almost all of our international rivals.
The statistics are shocking:
1.) The latest OECD numbers for 2007 suggest that when it comes to "tertiary type A" graduation rates (most commonly universities), Canada ranked 20th of 24 countries, ahead of only Hungary, Austria, Germany and Greece. Countries such as Poland, Portugal and the Slovak Republic left Canada far in their wake.
The OECD numbers also suggest that Canada's relative position has slipped badly over time -- we ranked fourth in the number of 55-64-yearolds with a university education, but 12th in the 25-34-year-old age bracket.
2.) Perhaps most worryingly, in advanced research programs, Canada is being lapped by the competition -- Portugal has nearly four times as many PhD or equivalent students; Finland has three times as many; while the U.K. and Australia have double the number.
3.) Alex Himelfarb, who was clerk of the privy council during the Martin government and is now director of the School of Public and International Affairs at York University's Glendon College, acknowledges that governments of all shades have been "constitutionally timid" when it comes to leading dialogue on the future of higher education. "We can fully respect the primacy of provinces -- Ottawa wouldn't regulate education or pretend it knows how to deliver it. But that doesn't mean it couldn't facilitate a dialogue."
3.) Ottawa is already involved in higher education through Human Resources and Skills Development Canada's Learning Branch, which administers the Canada Student Loans program, and Industry Canada. In recent years, Ottawa has broadened its involvement in higher education -- under the Liberals, through the Canada Research Chairs program, which is designed to attract and retain research professors; more recently, under the Conservatives, in the form of the $50,000-a-year Vanier Scholarships, which seek to draw world-class doctoral students.
4.) Canada's performance in this area, when compared to English language competitors such as Australia and the U.K., has been in the words of one recent report "only slightly better than abject."
5.) While Canada has attracted 2,600 students from India, Australia and the U.K. have attracted 10 times that many. The British spent $50-million in the past two years on promoting its Education U.K. brand while Canada's effort -- the new Edu-Canada brand -- has stuttered out of the gate.
The Educational Policy Institute's examination of the likely effects of recession on post-secondary education said that Canada's universities have thrown away inherent advantages -- such as quality of life and proximity to the United States -- because they don't seem to understand the value of a national brand in education and have chosen not to co-operate with one another in recruitment efforts.
The statistics are shocking:
1.) The latest OECD numbers for 2007 suggest that when it comes to "tertiary type A" graduation rates (most commonly universities), Canada ranked 20th of 24 countries, ahead of only Hungary, Austria, Germany and Greece. Countries such as Poland, Portugal and the Slovak Republic left Canada far in their wake.
The OECD numbers also suggest that Canada's relative position has slipped badly over time -- we ranked fourth in the number of 55-64-yearolds with a university education, but 12th in the 25-34-year-old age bracket.
2.) Perhaps most worryingly, in advanced research programs, Canada is being lapped by the competition -- Portugal has nearly four times as many PhD or equivalent students; Finland has three times as many; while the U.K. and Australia have double the number.
3.) Alex Himelfarb, who was clerk of the privy council during the Martin government and is now director of the School of Public and International Affairs at York University's Glendon College, acknowledges that governments of all shades have been "constitutionally timid" when it comes to leading dialogue on the future of higher education. "We can fully respect the primacy of provinces -- Ottawa wouldn't regulate education or pretend it knows how to deliver it. But that doesn't mean it couldn't facilitate a dialogue."
3.) Ottawa is already involved in higher education through Human Resources and Skills Development Canada's Learning Branch, which administers the Canada Student Loans program, and Industry Canada. In recent years, Ottawa has broadened its involvement in higher education -- under the Liberals, through the Canada Research Chairs program, which is designed to attract and retain research professors; more recently, under the Conservatives, in the form of the $50,000-a-year Vanier Scholarships, which seek to draw world-class doctoral students.
4.) Canada's performance in this area, when compared to English language competitors such as Australia and the U.K., has been in the words of one recent report "only slightly better than abject."
5.) While Canada has attracted 2,600 students from India, Australia and the U.K. have attracted 10 times that many. The British spent $50-million in the past two years on promoting its Education U.K. brand while Canada's effort -- the new Edu-Canada brand -- has stuttered out of the gate.
The Educational Policy Institute's examination of the likely effects of recession on post-secondary education said that Canada's universities have thrown away inherent advantages -- such as quality of life and proximity to the United States -- because they don't seem to understand the value of a national brand in education and have chosen not to co-operate with one another in recruitment efforts.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Innovation and Consumer Trends
A recent report completed by BBDO and Proximity Canada trendspotters believe consumers will focus on affordable self-improvement in 2010. Their 10 key predictions are summarized below:
* Smart is cool: Intelligence will beat popularity or attractivness
* Frugalista power: Comparison shopping and hunting for deals will become a sport among consumers
* Less is more: Consumers will seek out products with longevity.
* IMBY (In my Backyard): Local products, and for national brands local marketing strategies, will be critical.
* Consumerpreneurs: Consumers will participate in the economy by making money from what they currently possess or create.
* The new eco-no-me: Brands could once get by simply by being "green." Now consumers will look for products with immediate personal benefit that just happen to do so good.
* My Digital Brand: personal videos, pictures, gaming scores, opinions, and outbursts have spawned "digital fame." BRand status will go to those most viewed, followed or talked about.
*Hyper "On:" Marketers who want to engage the consumer will need to ensure someone can respond to him or her right away.
* "A Pro-Am World" Professional-grade products such as power tools will continue to gain traction.
*Word of Mouse" More consumers will research a purchase or seek an opinion online before buying."
* Smart is cool: Intelligence will beat popularity or attractivness
* Frugalista power: Comparison shopping and hunting for deals will become a sport among consumers
* Less is more: Consumers will seek out products with longevity.
* IMBY (In my Backyard): Local products, and for national brands local marketing strategies, will be critical.
* Consumerpreneurs: Consumers will participate in the economy by making money from what they currently possess or create.
* The new eco-no-me: Brands could once get by simply by being "green." Now consumers will look for products with immediate personal benefit that just happen to do so good.
* My Digital Brand: personal videos, pictures, gaming scores, opinions, and outbursts have spawned "digital fame." BRand status will go to those most viewed, followed or talked about.
*Hyper "On:" Marketers who want to engage the consumer will need to ensure someone can respond to him or her right away.
* "A Pro-Am World" Professional-grade products such as power tools will continue to gain traction.
*Word of Mouse" More consumers will research a purchase or seek an opinion online before buying."
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Innovation Behaviorial Challenges
In most companies, the nurturing of innovation, especially disruptive innovations that leads to major changes in the marketplace and within the business is more often a weakness of organizational culture vs a strength.
Some of the behaviors that I have experienced or observed in leading companies (Citicorp, Xerox, Nortel Networks, Bell Canada) that I have grown up in have consulted to has some of these key behaviorial challenges.
Indifference
Innovation is one of the top mantras of CEO and senior executives. However, when one digs into the depth of innovation capabilities more often one finds that more company's pay lip service to innovation, than really have substantive programs. It would be politically incorrect not to embrace innovation—but they do little beyond that.
A few questions to probe into your organization:
1.) Does your organization have a unifed clear definition of innovation (one sentence) and everyone knows it?
2.)Does your organization have an innovation governance process and sustainability model?
3.) Does your culture have innovation as a core value, and it is systemically measured?
Unfortunately leadership at the top of the house have typically achieved these positions because of their consistency in achieving operational results, meeting sales objectives, improving products and services to keep up with competitors, supporting existing customers and acquiring new ones, managing mergers and acquisitions, achieving the required financial results quarter after quarter, etc.
Unfortunately as executives rise up in the organization, they transition from being a manager to being a leader.
Management is about business results and processes. Leadership is about people.
The key quality you need in good leadership is passion—the urgency to explore, tackle with tenacity and solve the complex problems that allorganizations face.
To do so, you need to be surrounded by talented people, and you need to find a way to transfer your passion to them, so they will buy into your vision, perform at the high and empowering levels, and come up with innovative ideas to solve the challenges of achieving the vision. Developing a culture of barrier busters creates incredible energy excitement and empowering dynamics.
Typically managers are very very good at executing tactical, incremental strategies to help achieve operating excellence. However, their skills are typically not looking in all directions all one once, they are typically highly focused vs curious and exploratory. They like to set a course and focus on the course, and often missed complex disruptive signals. Unfortunately high performing leaders are often not typically resilient or innovative leaders.
Operating managers who do not actively encourage new ideas and innovations in their organizations do so because of indifference. They will typically listen politely to your new idea, provide some encouragement, and offer good advice. If they are being honest, they will tell you they barely have the time, energy, and budget to help much beyond a pat on the back now and then.
In other cultures they nod like it is a good idea, smile and take no action, or work to deflate the value of your ideas. At Xerox, they call this "grin f..king" - and it is part of the cultural folklore that has impacted their ability to harness their innovations successfully. Many of Xerox's inventions were the first innovations - but their own cultures could not embrace and bring these capabilities to market successfully.
Unfortunately often reliability managers that like to keep the ship on course often reactive very negatitive to new ideas, especially if the idea comes from someone outside their own organization.
Some of them also exhibit characteristics that many of us would associate with being a bully.
Organizational Silo Isolation
Isolating people in organizational silos is one of the biggest obstacles to innovation. Companies that are serious about innovation do everything possible to break down silos and encourage communication and collaboration across the organization and beyond.
Fostering innovation is very hard, especially if the innovation is disruptive in nature.
A spirit of innovation and collaboration does not come naturally to an organization.
For such a spirit to take hold, it must become an integral part of the company's culture. None of this is easy, but it is what a company must do if it truly wants to create a healthy culture in which innovation can successfully flourish.
Some of the behaviors that I have experienced or observed in leading companies (Citicorp, Xerox, Nortel Networks, Bell Canada) that I have grown up in have consulted to has some of these key behaviorial challenges.
Indifference
Innovation is one of the top mantras of CEO and senior executives. However, when one digs into the depth of innovation capabilities more often one finds that more company's pay lip service to innovation, than really have substantive programs. It would be politically incorrect not to embrace innovation—but they do little beyond that.
A few questions to probe into your organization:
1.) Does your organization have a unifed clear definition of innovation (one sentence) and everyone knows it?
2.)Does your organization have an innovation governance process and sustainability model?
3.) Does your culture have innovation as a core value, and it is systemically measured?
Unfortunately leadership at the top of the house have typically achieved these positions because of their consistency in achieving operational results, meeting sales objectives, improving products and services to keep up with competitors, supporting existing customers and acquiring new ones, managing mergers and acquisitions, achieving the required financial results quarter after quarter, etc.
Unfortunately as executives rise up in the organization, they transition from being a manager to being a leader.
Management is about business results and processes. Leadership is about people.
The key quality you need in good leadership is passion—the urgency to explore, tackle with tenacity and solve the complex problems that allorganizations face.
To do so, you need to be surrounded by talented people, and you need to find a way to transfer your passion to them, so they will buy into your vision, perform at the high and empowering levels, and come up with innovative ideas to solve the challenges of achieving the vision. Developing a culture of barrier busters creates incredible energy excitement and empowering dynamics.
Typically managers are very very good at executing tactical, incremental strategies to help achieve operating excellence. However, their skills are typically not looking in all directions all one once, they are typically highly focused vs curious and exploratory. They like to set a course and focus on the course, and often missed complex disruptive signals. Unfortunately high performing leaders are often not typically resilient or innovative leaders.
Operating managers who do not actively encourage new ideas and innovations in their organizations do so because of indifference. They will typically listen politely to your new idea, provide some encouragement, and offer good advice. If they are being honest, they will tell you they barely have the time, energy, and budget to help much beyond a pat on the back now and then.
In other cultures they nod like it is a good idea, smile and take no action, or work to deflate the value of your ideas. At Xerox, they call this "grin f..king" - and it is part of the cultural folklore that has impacted their ability to harness their innovations successfully. Many of Xerox's inventions were the first innovations - but their own cultures could not embrace and bring these capabilities to market successfully.
Unfortunately often reliability managers that like to keep the ship on course often reactive very negatitive to new ideas, especially if the idea comes from someone outside their own organization.
Some of them also exhibit characteristics that many of us would associate with being a bully.
Organizational Silo Isolation
Isolating people in organizational silos is one of the biggest obstacles to innovation. Companies that are serious about innovation do everything possible to break down silos and encourage communication and collaboration across the organization and beyond.
Fostering innovation is very hard, especially if the innovation is disruptive in nature.
A spirit of innovation and collaboration does not come naturally to an organization.
For such a spirit to take hold, it must become an integral part of the company's culture. None of this is easy, but it is what a company must do if it truly wants to create a healthy culture in which innovation can successfully flourish.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Canadians Love the Web but Online advertizing lags Canada's adoption: Why?
Canada has had one of the highest broadband penetration rates in the world.
More than half of the adult population is on Facebook in Canada. Nearly 70% of Canadians watch videos online, while the average Internet user in Canada spends about 60 hours online a month.
In fact, English speaking Canadians aged 18-34 spend more than a third of their time online, more than they spend listening to radio, watching television, or reading newspapers according to Interactive Advertizing Bureau of Canada (IAB).
Across all groups Canadians are spending an increasing amount of time online. But the advertising dollars are not following them.
Although online advertising revenue has quadrupled over the past 5 years to move than $1.6B in 2009, spending on digitial advertizing accounted for only 11% of the overall marketing budgets of Canadian companies. Other studies have projected lower penetration numbers.
In the USA, markets spend as much as 14% of their overall budgets on online marketing, while the number is closer to 20% in Australia and as high as 23% in the UK.
Canada has world class internet penetration. It is in the leading markets in the world. What is fascinating is that Canada is not as competitive a business market, which basically suggests that there is not as many businesses online because they are not competing for share against each other, or there are not enough businesses competing in certain areas.
What is clear is that the online adoption of businesss is not on part with the online adoption of consumers, which is a challenge for Canda in the long term.
Why is this?
1.) Are we not innovating fast enough in internet web based models?
2.) Are we just too conservative?
My perspective is that our consumer purchasing base is ready but our business executives are not moving their advertising spending dollars to the web rapidly enough - this is partially generational leadership web know-how, but also the risk adversity that Canadians often personify.
These are some of the innovation challenges for increased knowledge and simply internalizing the dominant form of advertizing reach is web - centric..... What would happen if you moved 80% of all your precious advertizing dollars to the web......?
Who is up for this challenge?
More than half of the adult population is on Facebook in Canada. Nearly 70% of Canadians watch videos online, while the average Internet user in Canada spends about 60 hours online a month.
In fact, English speaking Canadians aged 18-34 spend more than a third of their time online, more than they spend listening to radio, watching television, or reading newspapers according to Interactive Advertizing Bureau of Canada (IAB).
Across all groups Canadians are spending an increasing amount of time online. But the advertising dollars are not following them.
Although online advertising revenue has quadrupled over the past 5 years to move than $1.6B in 2009, spending on digitial advertizing accounted for only 11% of the overall marketing budgets of Canadian companies. Other studies have projected lower penetration numbers.
In the USA, markets spend as much as 14% of their overall budgets on online marketing, while the number is closer to 20% in Australia and as high as 23% in the UK.
Canada has world class internet penetration. It is in the leading markets in the world. What is fascinating is that Canada is not as competitive a business market, which basically suggests that there is not as many businesses online because they are not competing for share against each other, or there are not enough businesses competing in certain areas.
What is clear is that the online adoption of businesss is not on part with the online adoption of consumers, which is a challenge for Canda in the long term.
Why is this?
1.) Are we not innovating fast enough in internet web based models?
2.) Are we just too conservative?
My perspective is that our consumer purchasing base is ready but our business executives are not moving their advertising spending dollars to the web rapidly enough - this is partially generational leadership web know-how, but also the risk adversity that Canadians often personify.
These are some of the innovation challenges for increased knowledge and simply internalizing the dominant form of advertizing reach is web - centric..... What would happen if you moved 80% of all your precious advertizing dollars to the web......?
Who is up for this challenge?
Saturday, September 19, 2009
CIO and Business Leadership: IBM Posts New Report Results
IBM's New CIO Study Results
IBM released its global 2009 CIO Results recently. The results determined that CIO’s in high growth companies focus on three primary goals, each of which has a pair of roles that the CIO successfully blends together.
See the executive results at: http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/cio/ciostudy.
Study Highlights
•IBM conducted more than 2,500 face-to-face interviews with CIOs in 78 countries and 19 industries. The CIOs were from organizations of all sizes. 90 percent of the CIOs believe IT will undergo moderate to significant change of the next few years due to changes in business models, budgets, and the economy. CIOs are currently spending 55 percent of the time addressing new business and technology initiatives, innovation, and non-technology business issues. CIOs in high growth companies feel they manage change successfully 50 percent more often than those in low growth companies. The high growth CIOs focus on making innovation real, raising the return on investment (ROI) in IT, and expanding business impact.
• CIOs that make innovation real are those that are insightful visionaries and able pragmatists while those that raise ROI are both savvy value creators and relentless cost cutters. Those CIOs that expand the business impact show the traits of collaborative business leaders and inspiring IT managers. The below spider chart shows the difference between high growth CIO characteristics (in green) and low growth CIO characteristics (in orange).
• Other findings were that many high growth CIOs had COOs in their organizations and more of them reported higher up in the organization. Visionary CIOs are twice as likely to be deeply involved in the business while other CIOs view themselves more as core technology providers. The top 10 visionary plan elements are business intelligence and analytics, virtualization, risk management and compliance, mobility solutions, customer and partner collaboration, self-service portals, application harmonization, business process management, SOA/Web services, and unified communications. High growth CIOs more readily recognize the strategic value of data and seek new ways to integrate, made available and deliver reliable, secure information to users. Nine of the 60 or so hours of the work week are spent cutting costs. By a 70 percent margin high growth CIOs over low growth ones create IT centers of excellence to help realize business and technology innovation.
Summary
We know first hand from our experiences at Helix that CEO’s are heavily dependent upon CIO’s to achieve their strategic and tactical objectives, and how well CIO’s deliver upon those objectives will have a major impact on the top and bottom lines. For IT executives to become successful business leaders, they must focus on the broader business and external market forces such as economic, industry and legislative factors and view IT as simply a capability to achieve business goals.
CIO’s need to be active in the business and striving to communicate clearly the investments relevant to supporting the lines business goals. Planning practices need to be tighly integrated with lines of business plans so clear line of sight can be measured for effective value alignment.
IBM released its global 2009 CIO Results recently. The results determined that CIO’s in high growth companies focus on three primary goals, each of which has a pair of roles that the CIO successfully blends together.
See the executive results at: http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/cio/ciostudy.
Study Highlights
•IBM conducted more than 2,500 face-to-face interviews with CIOs in 78 countries and 19 industries. The CIOs were from organizations of all sizes. 90 percent of the CIOs believe IT will undergo moderate to significant change of the next few years due to changes in business models, budgets, and the economy. CIOs are currently spending 55 percent of the time addressing new business and technology initiatives, innovation, and non-technology business issues. CIOs in high growth companies feel they manage change successfully 50 percent more often than those in low growth companies. The high growth CIOs focus on making innovation real, raising the return on investment (ROI) in IT, and expanding business impact.
• CIOs that make innovation real are those that are insightful visionaries and able pragmatists while those that raise ROI are both savvy value creators and relentless cost cutters. Those CIOs that expand the business impact show the traits of collaborative business leaders and inspiring IT managers. The below spider chart shows the difference between high growth CIO characteristics (in green) and low growth CIO characteristics (in orange).
• Other findings were that many high growth CIOs had COOs in their organizations and more of them reported higher up in the organization. Visionary CIOs are twice as likely to be deeply involved in the business while other CIOs view themselves more as core technology providers. The top 10 visionary plan elements are business intelligence and analytics, virtualization, risk management and compliance, mobility solutions, customer and partner collaboration, self-service portals, application harmonization, business process management, SOA/Web services, and unified communications. High growth CIOs more readily recognize the strategic value of data and seek new ways to integrate, made available and deliver reliable, secure information to users. Nine of the 60 or so hours of the work week are spent cutting costs. By a 70 percent margin high growth CIOs over low growth ones create IT centers of excellence to help realize business and technology innovation.
Summary
We know first hand from our experiences at Helix that CEO’s are heavily dependent upon CIO’s to achieve their strategic and tactical objectives, and how well CIO’s deliver upon those objectives will have a major impact on the top and bottom lines. For IT executives to become successful business leaders, they must focus on the broader business and external market forces such as economic, industry and legislative factors and view IT as simply a capability to achieve business goals.
CIO’s need to be active in the business and striving to communicate clearly the investments relevant to supporting the lines business goals. Planning practices need to be tighly integrated with lines of business plans so clear line of sight can be measured for effective value alignment.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Girls Gain More Confidence and Interest in Technology After Participating in Computer Mania
Girls Gain More Confidence and Interest in Technology after Participating in Computer Mania Day, Study Finds
Baltimore, MD - Middle school girls who participated in Computer Mania Day for Girls (CMD) demonstrated improved attitudes about computers, had increased involvement with computers, had increased their consideration of technology-related careers, and had heightened self-confidence about their technical abilities according to the results of a study released today by the Multinational Development of Women in Technology (MDWIT).
The research team also included experts from the Center for Gender Equity based in Washington State and Loyola College in Maryland. The results indicate that boys’ confidence, attitude, and interest were also improved after attending the event.
The study results are based on an electronic survey of 2,720 children who attended Computer Mania Day between 2005 and 2008. The response rate was 11.2 percent. In addition to completing the survey, 26 respondents participated in phone interviews. A complete report on the study, including survey instruments and responses, can be found at www.mdwit.org .
According to National Science Foundation data, bachelor degree conferral in computer science for women has declined from 37% to 22% between 1985 to 2005. “If children, and particularly girls, are encouraged to consider exciting technical careers early in their education, they may well develop the positive self-efficacy needed for success,” said Claudia Morrell, CEO of MDWIT and a member of the research team.
Computer Mania Day for Girls is a one-day event that seeks to increase children’s awareness of and interest in career opportunities in information technology (IT) and engineering, and encourages them to take rigorous mathematics classes and elective technology classes. Participants, their parents, and teachers are provided with a host of technology-related activities, including both speaker-led and hands-on sessions that explore how to better engage girls and encourage their thinking in terms of technology, engineering, and mathematics.
“Computer Mania Day for Girls not only exposes students to new ideas, technologies and role models, but also addresses the peer pressure associated with technology education (as "not cool") by having an event with hundreds of other kids enjoying the same things,” says Greg Hodges, Corporate Director of Staffing at Northrop Grumman Corporation, a regular sponsor of the event and funder of the study.
The next CMD event will be held October 31, 2009 at Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale Campus.
The Multinational Development of Women in Technology (MDWIT) was founded as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization in 2007 to accelerate growth in the global knowledge economy. By combining women's latent potential with innovative ideas enabled through technology, all women, their families and communities prosper. The vision is operationalized through the promotion of girls’ interests in STEM and women's entry into and advancement in the technology workforce. The organization's leadership consists of a Board of Trustees composed of business professionals, education leaders, and high-tech entrepreneurs with more than 15 years of experience in achieving these goals.
Baltimore, MD - Middle school girls who participated in Computer Mania Day for Girls (CMD) demonstrated improved attitudes about computers, had increased involvement with computers, had increased their consideration of technology-related careers, and had heightened self-confidence about their technical abilities according to the results of a study released today by the Multinational Development of Women in Technology (MDWIT).
The research team also included experts from the Center for Gender Equity based in Washington State and Loyola College in Maryland. The results indicate that boys’ confidence, attitude, and interest were also improved after attending the event.
The study results are based on an electronic survey of 2,720 children who attended Computer Mania Day between 2005 and 2008. The response rate was 11.2 percent. In addition to completing the survey, 26 respondents participated in phone interviews. A complete report on the study, including survey instruments and responses, can be found at www.mdwit.org .
According to National Science Foundation data, bachelor degree conferral in computer science for women has declined from 37% to 22% between 1985 to 2005. “If children, and particularly girls, are encouraged to consider exciting technical careers early in their education, they may well develop the positive self-efficacy needed for success,” said Claudia Morrell, CEO of MDWIT and a member of the research team.
Computer Mania Day for Girls is a one-day event that seeks to increase children’s awareness of and interest in career opportunities in information technology (IT) and engineering, and encourages them to take rigorous mathematics classes and elective technology classes. Participants, their parents, and teachers are provided with a host of technology-related activities, including both speaker-led and hands-on sessions that explore how to better engage girls and encourage their thinking in terms of technology, engineering, and mathematics.
“Computer Mania Day for Girls not only exposes students to new ideas, technologies and role models, but also addresses the peer pressure associated with technology education (as "not cool") by having an event with hundreds of other kids enjoying the same things,” says Greg Hodges, Corporate Director of Staffing at Northrop Grumman Corporation, a regular sponsor of the event and funder of the study.
The next CMD event will be held October 31, 2009 at Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale Campus.
The Multinational Development of Women in Technology (MDWIT) was founded as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization in 2007 to accelerate growth in the global knowledge economy. By combining women's latent potential with innovative ideas enabled through technology, all women, their families and communities prosper. The vision is operationalized through the promotion of girls’ interests in STEM and women's entry into and advancement in the technology workforce. The organization's leadership consists of a Board of Trustees composed of business professionals, education leaders, and high-tech entrepreneurs with more than 15 years of experience in achieving these goals.
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