Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Time is flying...

Time is flying........

I should create a repeating task in my Outlook Calendar, as reminder to update my blog on regular time.

Time is flying.....

As you known we try to focus more on the business focus of projects instead of the pure technology. Step by step we are making progress in the never ending story. It even seems that Microsoft is going for the business solution track............ On their last seminar in Belgium they talked for the first time about solving business solutions! And not about selling product x or y! (Finally in the end you will probably need product to solve the problem or to reach a solution; but more and more people are seeing the difference in this approach)

The last months I worked on different Portal and Collaboration projects, some in corporation with the business and others with native IT people. At the end of a hectically work day it's always funny to look back and see the difference in the project approach and the results you reached.

I have to admit.........IT people...........they are funny............ (Sometimes they even forget that they support their internal clients! the business!)

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Workflow modelling

Finally i found some great books related to proven techniques for identifying, modelling and redesign business processes. This time not the 24th description of ITIL or Prince2 methodoly, but a really pragmatic, no-nonsens and to-the-point description.
'Workflow modeling' written by Alec Sharp and Patrick McDermott is infact a book which should be read by every project manager, and functional analyst.It brings the two disciplines of management and ICT together, with a clear view and description to understand both worlds.
The book isn't about technology, but it deals with adaption of new methods and approaches for solving business problems. The different steps are very well explained and documented with practical samples.
So go to the Amazon website, and do yourself a favor !

Sunday, January 16, 2005

ICT vs. Business

It’s always a surprise if you have a meeting with an ICT-guy around business topics. Going from ‘to the point’ to... how can I force my idea and protect my job.
I believe it’s the only department inside a company, which thinks they are more then example the bookkeeping or production department.

From what I know there are not much technology bubbles who create real business, inside a traditional company. Take a look on music stores, photo labs who are still struggling to survive today, despite the availability of all this technology.

We can do better from both sides… ICT should try to understand the business processes and the challenges of today, and use technology as support platform for the business. On the other side business should try to understand that’s it’s not always install and run.

Let’s pull all at the same side of the string !

Monday, January 03, 2005

Welcome to my first blog posting.

The meaning of this blog is to share my findings from both business and technology point of view, related to the integration of both worlds. Both worlds? Well despite the huge advantage technology brings, I'm still surprised about the complexity and difficulty we have to use the technology as an advantage to our business. (not only my business ….. but overall).I hope I can share some experience with this weblog and get some positive feedback, so we can all pull the same string………… having a better integration of business and technology…….. and this can not be reached by better software alone.