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Current Recession - very real example of Chaotic Change |
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NEWSFLASH: Have you considered using a professional Interim Manager to help you take advantage of the recession upturn and growth opportunities?
There are now significant signs that the global economy is recovering as more and more businesses look for professional specialist Interim Managers with extensive experience to help deliver major change or to just get back on track again.
Chaos causes organizations to retreat . . . but not always.
These iconic companies were all founded during periods of economic recession!
Professional Interim Managers deliver quickly because they come up with suggestions and then carry them through to execution ... so they hit the road running!
Contact Robert Toogood NOW on +44 (0)1983 617241 or via email at robert_toogood@chaoticchange.com for an initial, no-obligation and confidential discussion about how he can help you and your business at this challenging and exciting time.
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The Absolute Final Word on Top Ten Trends for 2010 2009 was a year of wait and hold as many organizations tried to determine which strategic initiatives to undertake and how much risk to assume with so much uncertainty. As we neared the end of 2009 we began to see a certain level of pent up demand - many companies had completed any necessary downsizing, finished key projects and programs which still needed to get done and looked for other ways to survive the effects of the recession with minimal downside risk.
http://www.projecttimes.com/articles/the-absolute-final-word-on-top-ten-trends-for-2010.html
Innovation for the Recovery This new CMI study explores the views of 850 senior managers to detail the changing role of innovation in the recession. Developed from managers’ day-to-day experiences, the report encouragingly shows managerial commitment to innovation yet warns of distinct challenges ahead.
Strategy in an uncertain world It’s a commonplace that when a recession hits, strategy goes on the back-burner. Or rather, everyone adopts the same strategy, which is to batten down the hatches, conserve cash and do your best to survive. But as time goes on, is this enough? Or is it time to start looking for new opportunities? http://www.the-business-consultant.co.uk/content.php?id=123
CIOs need vision and pragmatism to help build the right company How well CIOs balance three pairs of contradictory roles has profound effects on the performance on their employer firms, says the first CIO study by the IBM Institute for Business Value.
Twelve global brands that beat recession Some of the world's biggest brands started in a downturn period. Ironically, these unstable periods can be a great time to launch a business. While established players are distracted with legacy problems, bold new operators can exploit the opportunities presented. Here's a sample of today's top global brands that corroborate Darwin's 'Survival of the Fittest' theory. They adapted and emerged with global market shares.
Thriving in a Challenging Economy How can organizations facing a challenging environment emerge even stronger? Hear more on this topic through the audio files below. Listen now or download the audio files to listen or watch later.
How the Right Choices Today Can Prepare Companies for a Rebound What divides the winners from the losers in a recession? For many companies operational excellence is the key.
Savvy Firms Can Find Opportunities. In the Current Economic Crisis The current economic crisis is changing the business landscape. Many companies won’t survive, and others will be forced to reinvent themselves. Some, however, will take advantage of unique opportunities to significantly outperform their competitors. http://nstore.accenture.com/acn_com/PDF/Accenture_us_mar09.pdf
Recession Causes Rising IT Project Failure Rates The Standish Group's latest CHAOS report on IT project success and failure provides empirical evidence of something that all project and IT managers suspect: layoffs and budget cuts equal more project failures. http://www.cio.com/article/495306/Recession_Causes_Rising_IT_Project_Failure_Rates_
How a new breed of IT leaders are powering their companies through the economic crisis In an independent global survey of mid-to-large enterprises, Savvis discovers how a new breed of forward-thinking IT leaders are emerging during challenging economic times. These executives reveal why it's important to have a long-term view towards IT strategy and how many of their companies are doing "well" or "very well" through the downturn. The economy will rebound and IT must be prepared for that recovery. Through a 10-point guide to success in the recession this report shares how these leaders will be ready for the upturn. http://go.savvis.net/?elqPURLPage=356
IT Advantage: Putting Information Technology at the Core of Business Aimed primarily at chief information officers and other C-level executives, this report from the Boston Consulting Group is a collection of articles centered on the topic of how the IT organization can maximize its contribution to the company--and how the company can optimally leverage IT’s capabilities. The articles represent a mix of news, viewpoints, conversations, and hard data about best practices. However, of particular interest is the article entitled "Demonstrating Leadership: How the Chief Information Officer Can help Beat the Downturn". http://www.bcg.com/publications/files/IT_Advantage_Feb_2009.pdf
Programmed for recovery Smart CIOs realise that there's a lot more to surviving a downturn than cutting costs and waiting for the storm to pass. A bold IT strategy can boost productivity today as well as laying the foundations for growth when the upturn comes. Paul Fisher explains how. http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/search/article/883391/programmed-recovery/
CIOs can play key role in tackling downturn, says Boston Consulting The chief information officer is in a prime position to help their firm beat the downturn, says the Boston Consulting Group. In 2009, Boston expects global growth in IT spending to be "1% at best", down from more than 5% in 2008. "But many companies will cut their IT budgets, and available discretionary spending will shrink significantly", Boston said. Boston said, "For all the gloom, we think that the downturn presents a significant opportunity for CIOs and the IT function. Technology is at the heart of many industries and has become a key driver of business transformation. The CIO and the IT leadership team can, and should be encouraged to, play an instrumental role in navigating the business through the downturn." It said IT can be a key driver of change and can even help the company emerge from the recession stronger than before.
CIO Leadership Analysis: Back to basics - IT strategy in turbulent times With the current economic backdrop, many CIOs are currently re-evaluating their IT strategy. Successful strategy implementation is about a few best practices. At a first glance the goals of delivering operational efficiency (providing the services that the business runs on) and business enablement (helping them discover and leverage new ways to advance business strategy with technology) seem to be orthogonal. However, successful CIOs know how to optimise their resources and pursue both goals in parallel. Winning organisations consistently outperform their peers regardless of the economic conditions by employing a few best practices. http://www.cio.co.uk/concern/alignment/features/index.cfm?articleid=807
Gartner advises businesses on how to cut costs in recession Analyst Gartner has identified four discrete levels at which IT organisations can help their businesses optimise business costs in the face of the recession. The analyst recommends that IT managers and the business draw up frameworks to measure business optimisation and the effects on the overall organisation.
Project management offices grow more essential during recession Project management offices (PMOs) are becoming more critical to the midmarket during the recession, as they offer important IT governance in making sure all IT projects are aligned with corporate goals while also cutting out waste. Though often created during booming economic times to focus resources and priorities on the most strategic projects, PMOs are no luxury in tight economic times, interviews with midmarket CIOs indicate. Today, project management offices are uniquely positioned to cut projects that have spiraled out of control and identify those critical to meeting changing business needs and increasing business efficiency. They have even staved off IT layoffs. http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid183_gci1346045,00.html
CIO Leadership Analysis: Toward the business governance of IT Improving business - IT alignment and demonstrating the value of IT are top priorities for CIOs, with many of them playing catch-up to business expectations and struggling to justify IT costs. Part of the problem is the lack of clarity about the ownership of the IT governance process. This sounds like it's the responsibility of IT. In too many cases, business executives make the mistake of delegating their responsibilities to IT, leaving it up to IT to determine which projects to work on and in what order. The lack of business leadership triggers a so called vicious circle of alignment leading to IT’s gradual marginalisation http://www.cio.co.uk/concern/alignment/features/index.cfm?articleid=781
Gartner's 10 CIO resolutions to survive 2009 Gartner has tabled its "10 CIO resolutions for 2009" to help CIOs excel and deliver better personal and team outcomes beyond their core IT agenda. "The unfolding economic crisis of late 2008 has created a more challenging situation than many businesses and most CIOs have ever experienced," said Mark Raskino, an analyst at Gartner. "They face a daunting and uncertain year ahead. Many CIOs have already been instructed to operate with lower budgets and many more expect such instructions. Chief executives need to cut short-term costs very quickly to cope with volatile market sentiment in many industries and countries, but without damaging recovery growth prospects," Mark Raskino said.
Seven IT tips for surviving the recession The global recession and how to cope with it will inevitably dictate the business and IT agendas during 2009. While the general consensus is that IT budgets are likely to remain relatively flat overall, circumstances will vary from industry to industry, with sectors such as financial services and travel being hardest hit. Government and utilities will see investment remain relatively buoyant. So what areas should IT directors and CIOs focus on? http://email.computerweekly.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/nBiEv0J8Bjm0v6X0FVqq0E1
Results from McKinsey Global Survey: How companies make good decisions This McKinsey survey highlights several process steps that are strongly associated with good financial and operational outcomes. In the survey, they asked executives from around the world about a specific capital or human-resources decision their companies made in the course of normal business. The results, highly relevant during a recession, highlight the hard business benefits, such as increased profits and rapid implementation, of several decision-making disciplines.
Why Project and Portfolio Management Matter More at Recession Time IT departments are scrapping projects in response to tightening budgets and the ever-deteriorating economy. But this is no time to cut back on project management or portfolio management, experts say.http://www.cio.com/article/print/461565
The Art of Running Lean and Mean During a Recession
What should PMs be doing right now, in the early
stages of a recession? Is it business as usual, or should they be doing things
differently? The answer to both questions is “yes”. They’ll be expected to
launch into new projects using the same methods they’ve always used; the big
difference is that they’ll be expected to reach their goals with fewer
resources. In the past, that meant smaller budgets, less equipment and
facilities, and smaller staffs. Under those constraints, getting things
done will be a lot harder and trickier than last year. But
slashing budgets is
not always the answer.
http://www.gantthead.com/articles/articlesPrint.cfm?ID=240978
IT and the recession: Focus on business strategy, smaller projects Whether the current recession proves shallow and short or deep and prolonged, many companies will look to lower their costs in the coming months. CIOs need to think about the downturn on two fronts, advised Forrester Research Inc. in an online seminar Monday. First, IT leaders should focus on projects that help their companies weather the downturn. Second, CIOs need to ensure that IT emerges from this downturn as an integral, not marginalized, player in their companies' business strategy.http://searchcio.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid182_gci1337795,00.html
Gartner symposium: How IT can survive the recession The "dire" outlook for the economy over the next 12 to 18 months means CIOs face tough choices in the short term, but also have an opportunity to help businesses emerge from the downturn in good shape, says market analyst firm Gartner.
Crunch time for the IT industry “The natural reaction of companies as you go in to a recession is to do whatever they need to in order to reduce expenses. And historically, one of the easiest things to attack from an expenses point of view is IT.” But those tempted to go down that route have clearly not fully grasped what has been happening to IT’s role within business over this decade, he suggests. The world has changed. IT has become a catalyst for productivity, a catalyst for driving costs down in other areas of the company, a catalyst for growth in terms of new product innovation. And I think this time companies really have to step back before they make the decision to cut their IT investment and understand how they are going to deal with that critical contribution.” The smart companies are going to deal with the short-term pain but continue a long-term approach to investment in IT, says Murphy, who currently boasts the title of ‘executive in residence’ at project management software company PlanView. “They are going to protect their IT spend and try to cut costs in other areas.”
Urgent and Precise Action Will Determine Winners and Losers in Today’s Economic Turmoil The violent market disruption brought on by the worldwide credit crisis to an already slowing global economy is the most serious in over 70 years. Most companies that have reported their third-quarter results have expressed concern about the severity and breadth of the demand decline in their outlook. Hackett believes this economic dislocation requires unprecedented speed to action. Companies that are proactive and take advantage of the volatile market conditions to improve their competitive position will be the clear winners. They will act quickly and decisively, accelerating activities that will yield short-term gains and position them well them for long-term success. On the other hand, companies that react slowly and/or make arbitrary, across-the-board cuts because they lack the insight required to make informed decisions about the type or extent of changes needed will severely impact their 2009 results and erode their balance sheets, which could reduce their ability to compete for several years to come. http://businessfinancemag.com/article/riding-recession-5-moves-make-now-1205
Surviving the economy Today’s financial crisis requires companies to be even more conservative with spending than they would be otherwise. Budget cuts may be mandatory, so how do you get the most of your available dollars? http://www.sbnonline.com/Local/Article/15620/68/167/Surviving_the_economy.aspx?Category=446
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If you need help with using any of these ideas, contact Robert Toogood on +44 (0)1983 617241 or via email at robert_toogood@chaoticchange.com.
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