Leaving a legacy: Rockwell Automation transforms to a single ERP system

By Jonh Rondy
http://wistechnology.com/fusioncio/article/5789/
When Mike Jackson claimed the position as CIO with Rockwell Automation in 2003, he is facing 700 different legacy systems over 80 countries. He decided to integrate the global business under single SAP. His key strategies are firm determination to change, establishing governance and project priority settingand building a scalable process. The project began in May 2006 and have invested multimillion dollar, now it has gone through 80% of the venture. The corporation has save $100 million annually and is looking forward more.
What a big challenge to replace 700 legacy systems! it's a live or die decision. The cultural and time zone differences etc. place barriers to the effort.
Beside the strategies above, the support of the CEO Keith Nosbusch is a key reason of success.
What supprises me in the case is that ERP can be applied globally!

Transforming IT from cost center to business driver

An interview to Ajei Gopal, executive vice president for the Products and Technology Group, CA, Inc. by WTN media.
http://wistechnology.com/articles/5697/
One of viewpoints in the interview is that IT is becoming an integral part of business. As the interviewee points out: Today, in many instances, IT is the business. Alignment is a weak word in that the coordination between the CIO and the others is a very strong chord. The stuff of IT is the stuff of business. This is certainly the case in the financial services industry. So you look at Google or Amazon - they went from being an online store to an online shopping mall, to an online company for cloud computing technology. That is, it's all about IT and business being locked together.
I strongly agree that in today's business and IT situation and in some industries. IT strategy has to be considered with business strategy together. The two strategies are becoming equally important, thus the Alignment theory is becoming weak.

Recession Causes Rising IT Project Failure Rates

By Meridith Levinson, June 23, 2009
http://www.cio.com/article/495306/Recession_Causes_Rising_IT_Project_Failure_Rates_

According to the resource provided by the article, The Boston, Mass.-based IT project management research and consulting firm surveyed 400 organizations and found a decrease in IT project success rates and an increase in IT project failure rates during the past two years. Specifically, 32 percent of IT projects were considered successful, having been completed on time, on budget and with the required features and functions. Nearly one-in-four (24 percent) IT projects were considered failures, having been cancelled before they were completed, or having been delivered but never used. The rest (44 percent) were considered challenged: They were finished late, over budget, or with fewer than the required features and functions.
The article points out that the high IT project failure rate attribute to inadequate funding and layoff caused by recession.
The article reminds me that the timing selection of IT project is vital for IT project's success. Before IT get started, not only internal dominant elements , but also external dominant external element, especially macro-economic, should be evaluated. An IT project often takes a couple years, CEO and CIO should have a long term view of macro-economic to plan an IT project.

A CEO And CIO Compare Their Priority Lists

A Blog post by Chris Murphy on Mar 5, 2009

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/03/a_ceo_and_cio_c.html;jsessionid=LC1SABOOBZ1NOQSNDLPCKHSCJUNN2JVNThe Blogger claims that If an IT project has to map to a specific CEO priority . The post reviews on of the relationship between CEO and CIO.
I agree that CIO is not a independent job. What should CIO do and how well CIO performance highly depend on CEO.

Project to improve health care quality, safety and bring in millions of federal dollars

A news.
http://wistechnology.com/articles/6212/


Obama administration is planning and designing a statewide infrastructure and services for Health Information Exchange. The ultimate goal of the health information technology provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is for every individual in the U.S. to have an electronic medical record by 2014. “With electronic health records, physicians and patients have access to more reliable information to make important decisions about what treatment is best and safest while protecting a patient’s privacy,” said Secretary Karen Timberlake.
This is a gigantic project spending $36 billion. The planning, design, and implementation of the statewide HIE architecture and infrastructure is assigned to Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Not to said the benefits are huge, so are the risks. I wonder whether the Obama administration will outsource the project management to a third party. Who will monitor and evaluate the project? What development method should be applied? These are vital question for the project.
I hope my country can invest in projects like HIE rather than spend scarce resource to develop space technologies which America have done in 1960's. Its political significance big than scientific significance. What we need are investment in education, heath care, and social welfare.

No Time to Think

By David Levy Ph.D.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHGcvj3JiGA
David Levy earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science at Stanford University in 1979 and a Diploma in Calligraphy and Bookbinding from the Roehampton Institute (London) in 1983. He has been investigating how to restore contemplative balance to a world marked by information overload, fragmented attention, extreme busyness, and the acceleration of everyday life. This video is his lecture in Google campus on March 5, 2008
In this video, David Levy points out that the Web and other digital technologies may be the best tools that have ever been created for ratio, for “searching and researching, abstracting, refining and concluding”, but what about intellectus ? When we are googling, do we have time to think? Information technologies mark the world by information overload, fragmented attention, extreme busyness, and acceleration of everyday life. He also points out that thinking is a slow-time activity! Its more creative aspects can’t be truncated and rushed; thinking is routine and repetitive, mature and creative, ratio and intellectus. When fast time and slow time meet, fast time wins. We tend to do urgent things first and leave non-urgent things behind. Thinking takes time and slow, therefore, we are facing today’s information environmental crisis.
David asks that what our solution for avoiding the dangers of information overload and media saturation of ruminative and “mindless” thinking is? How can we satisfy our need for silence and sanctuary for creative reflection and engagement? He claims that creative thought can’t be rushed since it is a slow-time activity, but it can be nurtured; the mind can be trained to be quieter and more receptive through concentrative and contemplative practices and mind chatter can be reduced; we can’t make creative thought happen, but we can prepare the ground for it. He provides four directions for resolving today’s information environment crisis: become more aware of the nature and extent of the problem; design contemplative physical environments; design contemplative virtual environments and design contemplative information practice.
David has organized four conferences to bring scholars, researcher, artists, and religious leaders together to look at the nature of this problem: conference on information, silence & sanctuary (May 2004), workshop on mindful work & technology (March 2006), course on information &contemplation (spring 2006) and conference on No Time to Think (June 2008)

The role of incubators in the technology innovation strategies of the U.S., Taiwan and China

By Marting Grossman.
http://plato.bridgew.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_9012_1%26url%3D

This paper provides a comparison of the high-tech incubation systems in the United States, Taiwan and China, highlighting the unique characteristics of each country’s approach to innovation. The interrelationships between industry, government and academia are contrasted in each of these environments, and the implications for policy decision-making discussed. (Martin Grossman)
I am interested in the discussion of China's incubation system. This paper concludes that even though China is making significant progress in high tech industry, but a lack of managerial talent, insufficient venture capital, a risk-averse mindset, and preference for guanxi versus normal market channels and weak intellectual property rights pose some difficult challenges as China moves towards a knowledge-based economy.
I think China have to do more to fulfill its "catch up" goal.
1, heavily invest in education. This is a vital step to a country's sustainable development. Japan's raise in 19th century and rapid development after WW II mainly due to its heavily invest in education.
2, separation of the executive, legislative and judicial powers. Chinese government is doing all these jobs. A good judicial system relies on separation of powers.
3, political reform. Democracy and market economy are the twin brothers for the development of economy. China solely adopts market economy but rejects democracy.

American Chinese Business Networks and the Economic Growth of China

http://plato.bridgew.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_9012_1%26url%3D

I have never read a research paper regarding oversea Chinese business networks. Professor Grossman's

“American Chinese Business Networks and the Economic Growth of China” (2009) gives me a brand new knowledge of Chinese oversea business networks. I am not qualified to comment on the paper (this is one of Chinese cultures, humbleness), I just want to give some opinions based on my knowledge and observation, rather than on research. 

The one of the reasons that Chinese people are commercially successful in Southeast Asian is that Chinese people always hold the value that education is the most valuable. Every Chinese people remembers Confucius’ guide that “all things are valueless, only education is priceless.” Observing Chinese migrants, if the first generations are labors, often the second will be not. Chinese people will do their best to send their kids to college. They believe that only education can change their life. Chinese people are also laborious, sparing. These are why Chinese sojourners can dominate some Southeast Asian countries’ economy.

Chinese people have the tradition of giving back to family and homeland, but we lack of enthusiasm of philanthropy in local society. Some Southeast Asian countries’ people are hostile to Chinese sojourners not only because they are not multicultural and pluralistic society, but also because the cheeseparing of Chinese sojourners. Also, Chinese people lack of enthusiasm in politic, even though they dominate the host countries’ economy, but they are not able to change their political status. In 1990’s, there were several riots against Chinese sojourners in Indonesia, killing a numbers of Chinese and burning their shops.

Another Chinese cultural character is Yiqi, which means that one can be stabbed in his ribs for friend. This is also a big part of business practice. For example, if one did a big favor to you before, you should return more. Guanxi and Yiqi play have bad impact on Chinese social development and legal mechanism.

There are other reasons of the low percentage of returning of Chinese oversea intellectuals. Throughout Chinese history, intellectuals often were oppressed. Historically, intellectuals’ status in China was low; China is still a nondemocratic country, while oversea Chinese intellectuals are enjoying freedom in the West; “Sea turtles” (pronounced the same as “returning from oversea” in Chinese) are not as popular as in 1980’s-1990’s, they are now call “sea weeds” (means not valuable). In my opinion, those who have decent job and family will not return. I know a lot of Chinese intellectuals in America don’t want to return because of above reasons. Intellectuals can remember history clearly and they can foresee the future.

Communist Chinese government wants to attract oversea Chinese intellectuals to promote Chine’s international competiveness, but it lacks of legislation and enforcement. Intellectuals are not confident with Chinese government’s ability to sustain the policy. They just do not trust its legal mechanism.

Making Information Technology Strategic

Making Information Technology Strategic
by By Victoria Griffith http://www.strategy-business.com/press/16635507/13243?tid=230&pg=all
This article suggests that if information technology is embraced as an integral part of strategy, rather than shoved aside as a back-office function, it can be a leading driver of corporate growth.
This article reflects the impotence of the concept of IS strategy triangle in the text book chapter 1. The concept states that business strategy is the overriding strategy and IS strategy has to support and integrate with it.
The article provides seven ways to wntegrate I.T. with business strategy:
1, Draw I.T. leaders into the company's elite decision-making circle.
2,Improve communications between C.I.O.'s and C.E.O.'s. C.I.O.'s should drop the jargon and talk about revenue-producing initiatives. C.E.O.'s must listen.
3, Consider appointing an I.T. head with a business background. Someone with engineering knowledge alone may not be able to think strategically.
4, Adopt a team approach to I.T. projects. Teams should consist largely of members from the business side.
5, Get the entire corporation behind the strategy. This can be done through demonstrations, videos and other internal public relations techniques.
6, Present I.T. as a corporate priority.
7, Measure I.T. success by profits, not cost. This requires viewing technology as revenue driver, rather than cost center.

Congressional Testimony: “The Internet in China: A Tool for Freedom or Suppression?”

I found this article is related to our text book chapter 9 Using technology ethically. Here is the link.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/krumholtz/02-15WrittenTestimony.mspx
     February 15, 2006, Jack Krumholtz, Associate General Counsel and Managing Director, Federal Government Affairs, Microsoft Corporation, testified before Congress to address the issues surrounding Internet-based services in China.
    Microsoft is facing an ethical dilemma that obeying Chinese government's restriction of content on personal web or "blog", or maintaining the value of  freedom of speech. This article addresses not only ethical but also political issues. Several elements are involved in this case: Microsoft, Chinese government, the U.S government, Chinese web users, human right, stockholders. This is a very complicate case that seems cannot find a solution in a foreseeable future.
    My opinion is that Microsoft's existence in China is very important for promoting free speech and compromise is necessary. Not existence, not opportunity.