COMM 205 Unit 1 Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is business technology (BT)?
Business Technology (BT) is the application of IT (Information Technology) to deliver a BUSINESS CAPABILITY or automate a BUSINESS OPERATION. Business Technology can be thought of as the result of configuring, implementing, applying, and using IT to produce a BUSINESS RESULT
What is BTM?
Business Technology Management (BTM) is a set of PROCESSES AND SERVICES that unite an enterprise’s business technology (BT) and business management (BM) strategies to extract total BT solution value potential.
Why study BTM?
Technology is at the HEART OF EVERYTHING that happens and employers need people who understand how to harness technology to meet the CHANGING NEEDS OF THIS FAST-PACED WORLD.
BTM is not just business. It’s not just technology. It’s BUSINESS + TECHNOLOGY + MANAGEMENT.
Common Traits of the Best Digital Leaders
Leaders must develop NEW SKILLS to effectively guide their organizations into the uncertain future of the DIGITAL AGE.
- Direction: Providing vision and purpose
* 2. Innovation: Creating the conditions for people to experiment - Execution: Empowering people to think differently
Why New Leaders Need to Understand Technology?
All types of companies LACK QUALIFIED LEADERS TO EFFECTIVELY LEAD THEIR COMPANIES amid digital disruption, but maturing companies are far more likely to do something about it and actively develop those leaders.
How is Digital Business Different?
Digital business requires companies to act and RESPOND FASTER than they ever have before.
“It’s the speed at which the landscape is CHANGING THROUGH DIGITAL, allowing new competitors to play, that makes it really transformative.”
Challenges of Competing in a Digital Environment
The need for EXPERIMENTATION is something established companies struggle with, because they are often driven by a fear of failure.
“Many early-stage companies overestimate the technological component of digital maturity while more maturing companies regard the challenges in ORGANIZATIONAL terms.
Critical Dimensions of BTM
- Business Processes
- Organizations
- Data and
Information - Technology
Definition: Business Processes
To effectively implement BTM requires that processes be evaluated to ensure the following:
EFFICIENCY - Doing things right (quickly with little
redundancy)
EFFECTIVENESS - Doing the right things
Definition: Organizational Structures
Management processes are more likely to succeed when they are supported by appropriate organizational structures based on clear understanding of ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND DECISION RIGHTS Such organizational structures generally include the following:
Participative bodies - involve senior-level business and technology participants on a part-time but routine basis
Centralized bodies - require specialized, dedicated technology staff
Needs-based bodies - involve rotational assignments, created to deal with particular efforts
Definition: Data and Information
VALID, TIMELY information is a prerequisite for effective decision making. This information must be delivered in a way that is comprehensible to non-specialists and, at the same time, actionable in terms of informing choices that matter.
Useful information does not just happen. It depends on the interaction of two related elements: data and metrics.
Data must be AVAILABLE, RELEVANT, ACCURATE, AND RELIABLE.
Metrics distill raw data into useful information. Thus, metrics need to be appropriate and valid for strategic and operational objectives.
Definition: Technology
Effective technology can help connect all the other dimensions.
Appropriate technology helps make processes EASIER to execute, facilitates TIMELY information sharing, and enables CONSISTENT coordination between elements and layers of the organization. It does this through the following:
Automation of manual tasks
Reporting
Analytics for decision making
Integration between management systems
BTM Maturity Model
The EFFECTIVENESS OF BTM CAPABILITIES is recorded by the BTM Maturity Model.
The right way to approach BTM implementation is iteratively. Fundamentally, an enterprise must DETERMINE WHERE IT IS in order to get focused on specific priorities, design and implement specific capabilities against those priorities, and then execute and continuously improve.
Connecting Innovation with Digital Maturity
Digitally maturing enterprises are far more likely to ENCOURAGE INNOVATION by forming vital digital partnerships with external partners and supporting the internal development of cross-functional teams.
The digitally maturing companies are not only innovating more, they’re INNOVATING DIFFERENTLY.
Conclusion
“If you’re an executive leading a company looking at the technologies, you need to LEAD THE TECHNOLOGY — don’t let it lead you.”
“You want to think about, how is your company going to be different because this is here? And then, put in a FRAMEWORK, so you’re NOT JUST BUYING TECHNOLOGY, you’re actually pushing your company forward in a different way, because the technology is there.”
