Lowering the Center of Gravity around Enterprise IT

Abstract

In this chapter, we look at three key reasons why corporate development projects fail and how a technology and innovation management program can change a company’s approach to information technology. First, we briefly provide context to typical IT management issues, covering business-as-usual management with the role it plays as part of supporting the enterprise and the issues that arise because of it. We then review three common issues – solutions that are dead on arrival, dead by committee and dead by adoption. An introduction to IBM’s Technology Adoption Program describes one such innovation management discipline demonstrating through three brief case studies how to mitigate the common plagues of development projects. While the issues with technology and innovation management are obviously wide and varied, this chapter focuses on the need for a formal initiative to manage innovation. Similarly, fully understanding the workings of a program such as TAP is of considerable scope. The benefit to the reader is our focus on driving the decision making around technology to the users – the community – as a core part of making decisions.