Lean IT
1. Lean IT Definition in Wiki
2. Origin of the Lean Concept
3. IT Beginning
4. Breakthrough
5. Extension of Lean to IT
6. Types of Waste in Lean IT
7. Lean IT Principles
8. Implementation of Lean IT
9. Trends toward Lean IT
10. Challenges for Lean IT
11. Deployment and Commercial Support
12. Complementary Methodologies
Lean IT
• Lean IT is the extension of lean principles to the development and
management of information technology (IT) products and services. Its
central concern, applied in the context of IT, is the elimination of waste,
where waste is work that adds no value to a product or service.
• Although lean principles are generally well established and have broad
applicability, their extension from manufacturing (where such principles were
first systematically implemented) to IT is only just emerging.
• Indeed, Lean IT poses significant challenges for practitioners while raising
the promise of no less significant benefits. And whereas Lean IT initiatives
can be limited in scope and deliver results quickly, implementing Lean IT is a
continuing and long-term process that may take years before lean principles
become intrinsic to an organization‘s culture
– Origin of the Lean Concept
– Extension of Lean to IT
– Types of Waste in Lean IT
– Lean IT Principles
– Implementation of Lean IT
– Trends toward Lean IT
– Challenges for Lean IT
– Deployment and Commercial Support
– Complementary Methodologies
http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,55390,00.html?src=Alert
Lean: The New Business Technology
Imperative
• Everyone wants to be lean these days, whether when stepping
off a scale in the morning or reviewing the cost of running a
successful business. But just how do you define "Lean" —
especially in the context of business and technology?
– Do you think of Lean as a way to drive down costs for technology
solutions?
– Or does Lean conjure visions of streamlined business processes that
deliver ever-higher levels of productivity and quality?
– Or does Lean mean creating a Lean business that delivers more
customer value and innovation to compete in today's Lean economy?
• We assembled some of our top analysts on this subject and put
them to the test in a no-holds-barred roundtable discussion.
• The truth is that you must embrace Lean from all
perspectives — people, process, and technology — and focus
as much on adding value as on eliminating waste.
Lean: The New Business Technology
Imperative
• Everyone wants to be Lean these days, whether it’s when
stepping off a scale in the morning or when reviewing the cost
of running a successful business. Lean IT is a business and
technology imperative for increasing value and reducing waste
in the delivery of business processes and systems. But how can
you become Lean in a myriad of existing complex system
portfolios, processes, and sourcing models?
• The truth is, you must embrace Lean from three
perspectives — people, process, and technology — and put
everything in the context of your business and systems
environment. Lean is a way of thinking and working that
enables application development and delivery professionals,
business process experts, and information and knowledge
managers to work closely with the business to more rapidly
assemble solutions that deliver, just in time, the needed
capabilities, information, and insights. It’s the right way to
deliver Agile, fit-to-purpose, efficient solutions, and it’s a big
change from how the business and IT typically work together
Lean: The New Business Technology
Imperative
• Today‘s reality is forcing these issues:
• Business innovation is hard to enable. To survive is to innovate, but
building environments that foster innovation requires radical changes to
traditional business and engineering structures — moving from traditional
approaches that focus on efficiency and throughput to ones that encourage
collaboration and partnership.
• Bloatware reigns. Whether it‘s excessive weight and complexity in
applications, processes, or information management, the bloated solutions
that we use today often hinder business results. Most enterprises suffer from
overweight application and information infrastructure and overly complex
processes that are hard to change and only loosely linked to today‘s top
business concerns.
• Fit-to-purpose is the new mantra. Becoming Lean is the antidote to the
bloatware problem, but Lean is more than a software development or
process improvement methodology. The trend toward Lean has been
building for years, but a global recession has accelerated that momentum.
Lean: The New Business Technology
Imperative
• By embracing Lean now, you‘ll be well-positioned to tap into technology
solutions that propel the business forward when the economy rebounds. In
fact, embracing Lean is a critical imperative for helping your organization
move toward business technology — where business and IT work
seamlessly together to drive the business to new levels of competitiveness.
Whether you‘re focused on Lean/Agile business process management,
sustainability, just-in-time information, collaboration and Social Computing,
the use of lighter-weight programming models and runtime environments,
innovative uses of open source or SaaS, or Agile development, you need to
be prepared.
• Lean thinking and Lean practices must affect the choices you make as a
business technology leader, and help determine the best tools for your
people, and help implement Agile processes streamlined to best run your
business. Forrester‘s Business Technology Forum 2009 will help you
weather today‘s economic storm more effectively and, more importantly, be
positioned for success when the economy turns around.
Lean: The New Business Technology
Imperative
• Lean Thinking Is About Adding Value As Well
As Reducing Waste
• Lean Means Information Technology (IT)
Becomes Business Technology (BT)
• Lean Thinking Transforms Application
Development And Delivery
• Lean Thinking Reshapes Your Solution
Provisioning Strategy
Lean Means Information Technology (IT)
Becomes Business Technology (BT)
• For the past four years, Forrester Research CEO George F.
Colony has been preaching the gospel of converting information
technologists into businesspeople. The number of converts has
been lower than we hoped, but a generational change in IT and
business leadership is beginning to force the issue.
– George calls this concept "moving from information technology to
business technology — or IT to BT."
• At its heart, the message is for IT to measure itself using
business metrics that matter to the COO, CEO, and board of
directors, instead of assessing its success with a technology
yardstick, such as network availability or server uptime. But the
IT-to-BT message goes beyond the need for action by CIOs.
CEOs and corporate directors, too, can no longer ignore IT
issues by relegating them to the CIO. Connie Moore, a research
director serving business process professionals, caught up with
George while they were both preparing for Forrester's Business
Technology Forum 2009. His message is nothing less than a
clarion call for IT and business execs to start thinking and
acting in a profoundly different way.
Lean Means Information Technology (IT)
Becomes Business Technology (BT)
• At its core, I define BT as measuring your usage of technology with business
metrics instead of technology metrics. The message is for IT to measure
itself using business metrics that matter to the COO, CEO, and board of
directors, instead of assessing its success with a technology yardstick, such
as network availability or server uptime.
• It‘s not the mean time between failure or server response times that matter.
If you change that one word from information technology to business
technology, you begin to change the way IT people work and the way they
think about their jobs.
• Although this mental shift is happening slower than I figured, a generational
change in IT and business leadership is beginning to force the issue. Now
we‘re seeing the older baby boomer generation beginning to retire, and for
the first time, we‘re getting CEOs of Fortune 500 companies who had an
Apple II when they were 12. So now you have CEOs and presidents who are
far more technology-focused. We‘re no longer seeing so many people who
are getting emails printed out — instead, these top execs actually read them.
You know, business leaders actually use these IT devices today — maybe
an iPhone or BlackBerry or Kindle —and now you have technologists who
had an Apple II as a kid. Both groups of execs understand the evolution of
technology out to people — technology populism, if you will — that we all
have high-tech devices, and there‘s now this new way of thinking and
working.
Lean Means Information Technology (IT)
Becomes Business Technology (BT)
• Since the last technology recession from 2001 to 2003, CFOs have been
looking more closely at IT spending, which accelerates the shift to BT. The
overspend on technology in 2000 was so large — it was about $60 billion in
the US — and that was the death knell of runaway technology expenditures.
At that moment, CFOs and CEOs said, ―We‘re never doing that again. We‘re
going to have tight linkage here, higher return there.‖
• We‘ll look back at this decade as a series of learning moments, and the real
turning point from IT to BT is the two recessions, the customer moving
clearly to the center stage because of the Internet, and the generational
change in senior execs.
• I‘ll talk more about this at Forrester‘s Business Technology Forum in a
couple of weeks, but there are three questions companies should ask
themselves before transitioning from IT to BT.
Lean Means Information Technology (IT)
Becomes Business Technology (BT)
• First, you need to ask, ―do we have the right CIO?‖ The CEO has to look in
the eyes of the CIO and make the judgment ―Is this person good enough to
understand the business?‖
• Second, you should ask, ―do we govern in the right way?‖ If the decision-
making goes from the CEO to the CFO, or maybe to the COO and then to
the CIO, I don‘t think you‘re ever going to get this IT-to-BT change to happen
because the CIO is too far removed.
• Third, you need to ask, ―do we have the right business executives?‖ The
onus is not just on the CIO; we need higher IQ in technology across all of the
business executive levels.
• If you answer ―yes‖ to those three questions, then you have to ask, ―how do
we get there?‖ There‘s no technology god that says you‘ve got to be BT. The
CEO and CIO have to go have a drink someplace, and they‘ve got to say,
―We‘re not doing this right; let‘s change our focus and make IT about the
business.‖
Lean Software Is Agile, Fit-To-Purpose,
And Efficient
• Bloat kills. Whether it's excessive complexity in the application,
its underlying platform or architecture, or the process used to
deliver it, overloaded platform software and heavy processes
impede delivery of the solutions the business demands. Yet
most enterprises are awash in application suites, development
tools, processes, and platforms that have grown so large they
no longer resemble the clean and clear vision of their original
purpose.
• Lean software is emerging as the antidote to bloatware,
enabling architects and developers to rapidly assemble business
solutions that deliver "just in time" the software capabilities the
business requires both today and tomorrow. The trend toward
lean software has been building for years, but the worldwide
recession is accelerating it. All application development
professionals should know why and how to incorporate lean
software into their software strategies for the future.
Lean IT
1. Lean IT Definition in Wiki
2. Origin of the Lean Concept
3. IT Beginning
4. Breakthrough
5. Extension of Lean to IT
6. Types of Waste in Lean IT
7. Lean IT Principles
8. Implementation of Lean IT
9. Trends toward Lean IT
10. Challenges for Lean IT
11. Deployment and Commercial Support
12. Complementary Methodologies
Lean IT: Origin of the Lean Concept (1/2a)
• Lean in reference to the optimal use of
labor, materials, and other resources for
the production and consumption of goods
and services is a primitive concept.
Associated with the very survival of our
species as in ―survival of the fittest‖,
leanness, parsimony, thrift, and efficiency
have also been long celebrated as moral
virtues.
• For example, among extended works on
the subject is Thrift by Scottish author and
reformer Samuel Smiles, first published in
1892. Even earlier, the yearly pamphlet
Poor Richard's Almanack, published by
American inventor and statesman
Benjamin Franklin between 1732 and 1758,
counseled readers
– ―He that idly loses 5 s. worth of time, loses
5 s. & might as prudently throw 5 s. in the
River.‖[4] And in the same vein,
– ―A Penny sav‗d is Twopence clear, A Pin a
day is a Groat a Year. Save & have. Every
little makes a mickle.‖
Lean IT: Origin of the Lean Concept (1/2b)
• He that idly loses 5 Grouts'worth of time, loses 5 Grouts. and
might as prudently throw 5 Grouts. in the River.
– 一個遊手好閒而損失了價值五先令時間的人，就是失去了五個先令，他還
不如把五先令扔進河裏的好。
• A Penny saved is Twopence clear, A Pin a Day is a Grout a Year.
– 省下的一便士是不折不扣的兩便士，每天節約一丁點兒一年就是一大筆。
• One of the pioneers in the application of lean principles to
manufacturing is American inventor and industrialist Eli Whitney
whose combined use of power machinery, interchangeable
parts,[5] and division of labor would underlie America’s
subsequent industrial revolution.
• A century or so later, Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor
Company, applied other lean principles in the development of
the assembly line. Prior to Ford’s innovation, an automobile’s
components had to be fitted by a skilled engineer at the point
of use so they would connect properly. By enforcing very strict
specifications on component manufacture, Ford eliminated this
work almost entirely, reducing manufacturing effort by between
60-90%.
Lean IT: Origin of the Lean Concept (2/2)
• A more scientific and systematic approach to lean began to emerge in the
early twentieth century through the work of Frederick Winslow Taylor, an
American mechanical engineer and now regarded as the father of scientific
management. Taylor‘s work notably featured time-and-motion studies — a
business efficiency technique combining his own time study work with the
motion study work of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth.
• But perhaps the single greatest contribution to the advancement of lean
principles, at least during the twentieth century, was the development and
application of the Toyota Production System (TPS) between 1948 and 1975.
(The term lean was not used until 1988.[7]) An integrated system that
comprises both management philosophy and practices,[8] the TPS
organized the manufacturing and logistics for the automobile production,
including interaction with suppliers and customers.
• A key distinction from Ford‘s conception of workers as mere muscle, the
TPS encourages workers to contribute ideas that reduce waste or otherwise
add value. Lean initiatives are much more democratic and much less
hierarchical.
• In a further and more recent development of lean manufacturing, computer
company Dell pioneered the ―build-to-order‖ approach in the 1980s,
delivering individual PCs configured to customer specifications. By contrast,
most PC manufacturers at that time were delivering large orders of
preconfigured machines to intermediaries on a quarterly basis.
http://www.gembutsu.com/articles/leanmanufacturingprinciples.html
http://www.simtel.net/free/Business/Strategies-to-Run-a-Lean-Supply-Chain-How-Princip
Lean IT
1. Lean IT Definition in Wiki
2. Origin of the Lean Concept
3. IT Beginning
4. Breakthrough
5. Extension of Lean to IT
6. Types of Waste in Lean IT
7. Lean IT Principles
8. Implementation of Lean IT
9. Trends toward Lean IT
10. Challenges for Lean IT
11. Deployment and Commercial Support
12. Complementary Methodologies
Lean IT: The Beginning (1/2)
• Three decades ago a revolution began. A radical new approach to the
management of business processes started to gain traction, first within the
manufacturing world and later, much later, across all business types. That
revolution has had several acronyms and names, but is now generally
referred to simply as "lean"
• The fundamental realization that set this movement in motion was that
activity, of itself, is not necessarily a good thing. Up until this moment,
business performance measurement systems were all built on the principle
that keeping everyone busy at all times was the route to success and
profitability. In the manufacturing world, this meant maximising the output
of each producing unit hour by hour and gave rise to concepts such as
economic batch sizes which sought to balance changeover times against lost
production minutes by that unit.
• What the manufacturing world learnt was that it is the performance of the
process overall that matters - not the business or otherwise of individual
contributors within the process. With this realisation, the emphasis switched
to linking the components of the chain ever more closely so that once a
process was started, it flowed through the chain smoothly until completed -
rather like knocking over a chain of dominoes - no breaks, no accumulations
of work in progress.
Lean IT: The Beginning (2/2)
• The advantages were obvious and dramatic. Huge reductions in work in
progress released large amounts of cash. Locating and eliminating defects
was made much easier since if A made a component for B and then waited
for the signal to produce another, B could withhold the signal if the part was
defective and A and B could get together and sort the problem then and
there. Overall productivity soared and defect levels plummeted.
• The machining and assembly activities within manufacturing learnt these
lessons well and quickly. The administration areas were much, much slower
on the uptake. Although pilesof work in progress were seen as wasteful and
a sign of problems, In-trays full of paper and desks covered in files were still
the norm and seen as a sign of business. A completely empty in tray on a
desk with only one item being worked on was viewed with suspicion.
• Gradually, the world has began to realise that paper fuelled processes were
no different to those involving chunks of metal - the same dynamics applied
- piles of paper equate to piles of WIP inventory - they signal wasted effort,
long process completion times, high error rates and expense. The lean
message has, at long last even reached the public sector and many councils
and government departments are initiating lean projects.
Lean IT: The Problem with IT
• Lean projects are centred on the concept of continuous improvement. The people
involved in a process are encouraged to get together regularly and divine ways to
eliminate waste and improve the process. This is easy to do with manufacturing
processes and it's not too difficult with purely paper-based processes. The problems
start when the process involves computer systems and IT. The manufacturing world
circumvented this problem by leaving IT out altogether and developing physical
ways manage the process - telling the next operator when to make another
component was often accomplished using a KanBan (Japanese for card but generally
accepted to mean any physical method of communicating between work stations).
People were very inventive. If the next workstation was in another building or on
another floor they would link them by drainpipes and roll golf balls down as the
request for another component to be made.
• Computer systems did not lend themselves to the new way of thinking. These
systems were carefully crafted over many man months or years - changing them at
all was difficult and the idea that you could change them incrementally within a fast
moving continuous improvement program simply laughable. The IT industry tried
hard to overcome these limitations. Big-ticket systems providers such as ERP
vendors made their systems ever more configurable. The desire to speed up the
writing of bespoke systems gave rise to a swathe of Rapid application Development
systems. Microsoft developed .Net and visual studio - designed to significantly speed
up time it takes developers to create new applications. None of these developments
came anywhere near the requirement to enable continuous improvement of IT
systems.
Lean IT
1. Lean IT Definition in Wiki
2. Origin of the Lean Concept
3. IT Beginning
4. Breakthrough
5. Extension of Lean to IT
6. Types of Waste in Lean IT
7. Lean IT Principles
8. Implementation of Lean IT
9. Trends toward Lean IT
10. Challenges for Lean IT
11. Deployment and Commercial Support
12. Complementary Methodologies
Lean IT: The Breakthrough (1/4)
• All this changed with two completely new developments in the IT world. The first of
these is called Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) This is a beautifully simple
concept that, in simple terms, proposes that systems should be made up of many
independent re-usable pieces called services. Each re-useable piece, or service,
should use the same standard communication method to talk to other services.
• A good example of a re-useable service is Google Maps which will provide computer
systems with latitude and longitude coordinates on request if presented with a
postcode. Companies wishing to create a system for allocating work to mobile
engineers need the latitude and longitude of customers addresses in order to
schedule work. Instead of having to write a program to do this, they simply send a
request using the agreed communication standard to the relevant Google service and
it returns the necessary coordinates.
• With systems being made up of re-useable services, in theory the way a process
works can be changed by simply altering the order in which services operate,
replacing individual services or adding new ones or any combination of the three.
• Good though this development is, it still is not good enough. Services are still
programs and have to be written. To have solved our problem, we need to eliminate
the need to write services. The answer to this seemingly intractable problem has
been staring us in the face all the time. If it is possible to create business systems
on the macro scale from re-useable services, then it is also possible to create
individual services from even smaller re-useable services. I will call the components
used to build such as service codelessly a micro service.
Lean IT: The Breakthrough (1/4)
• Composite services perform recognisable user oriented functions like the
Google example. Micro services undertake tasks that a programmer would
normally have to define and write - tasks such as "get me data from a table
within a database" or 'Display the contents of this field in a given position on
a screen" At Datadialogs, we soon realised that any service, however
complicated, can be built up from a relatively few such micro services.
• Just as with our Google example, all that is needed is to supply the specific
parameters every time the service is needed. Google responds with a
different lat and long for every postcode. A micro service designed to
receive data from a database will return the relevant data once resented
with the identity of the database to be queried, the table name or names
the data is in and any qualifying information such as "all records with the
surname Smith".
• Next we need a way to define a complete application. An application will be
made up of a number of individual services, some of which will already exist,
either internally of in the public domain and are being re-used, and many of
which will be entirely new and have to be constructed specifically for this
application. Each new service required will be constructed from a number of
micro services and these all already exist within the Eden server.
Lean IT: The Breakthrough (3/4)
• To allow the Micro service orchestration layer to arrange instances of the micro
services into the grouping required to create a given service, some sort of
instructions set is required. We have solved this problem by developing a simple
drag and drop, orchestration environment which allows solution providers to define
the way a new service or set of services should operate.
• At execution time, Eden interprets the orchestration and organises instances of the
micro services into a matrix. The micro-service instances are sequenced within the
matrix as follows; In the first column of the matrix are placed all instances that are
not dependent on any prior micro-service execution. In the second column are all
instances of the micro-service that are now able to execute as a result of the
resolution of the first column and so on. Once the matrix is in place, the server
applies the parameters defined in the model to create a steady state result.
• Services are designed to communicate with one another via an agreed
communication standard. The most common standard in use is Web services.
Essentially, Web services are XML documents wrapped in a security and transport
wrapper. A service will publish the format it needs requests to be presented in WSDL
document (Web Service Definition Language). Anyone wishing to make use of the
service within an application reads this document and then formats the request
accordingly.
• You can see from this that services are designed to communicate electronically with
one another. We also need a service to be able to communicate with a human, and
so another requirement is for a service to be able to present itself visually. The
Datadialogs Eden SOA development has responded to this by adding the ability to
attach a re-useable presentation layer to Eden services.
Lean IT: The Breakthrough (4/4)
• Just as it is vital that new services can be created interactively with users,
so it is vital that presentation layers can be designed, extended or amended
"on the fly" so to speak. So just like the Eden service Composer, Eden's
presentation designer is an entirely drag and drop, codeless tool.
• The output from the presentation designer is a JAVA applet. Just as with the
rest of the Eden SOA solution, it is not a new applet each time a new
presentation is designed - it is the same applet every time. Each time the
applet is called, it requests the display parameters from the Eden SOA
server which tell it what it needs to display this time and where. The applet
can be configured to display as an applet, within a web page, or in a portal.
• This provides the final key. Write a complete set of micros services and
wrap them in an orchestrator that can organise them into services, provide
a codeless means of defining the rules and parameters needed, add a
codeless presentation layer designer and you have an IT system that can
support a continuous improvement program.
• Using this technology, new business solutions can be created, amended,
updated and extended interactively with users on demand. What would
have taken days using even the best development technologies now takes
hours, thus allowing IT to be fully integrated into the business improvement
process.
Lean IT
1. Lean IT Definition in Wiki
2. Origin of the Lean Concept
3. IT Beginning
4. Breakthrough
5. Extension of Lean to IT
6. Types of Waste in Lean IT
7. Lean IT Principles
8. Implementation of Lean IT
9. Trends toward Lean IT
10. Challenges for Lean IT
11. Deployment and Commercial Support
12. Complementary Methodologies
Lean IT: Extension of Lean to IT
• As lean manufacturing has become more widely implemented, the extension of lean
principles is beginning to spread to IT (and other service industries).[11] Industry
analysts have identified many similarities or analogues between IT and
manufacturing. For example, whereas the manufacturing function manufactures
goods of value to customers, the IT function ―manufactures‖ business services of
value to the parent organization and its customers. Similar to manufacturing, the
development of business services entails resource management, demand
management, quality control, security issues, and so on.
• Moreover, the migration by businesses across virtually every industry sector towards
greater use of online or e-business services suggests a likely intensified interest in
Lean IT as the IT function becomes intrinsic to businesses‘ primary activities of
delivering value to their customers. Already, even today, IT‘s role in business is
substantial, often providing services that enable customers to discover, order,
pay, and receive support. IT also provides enhanced employee productivity
through software and communications technologies and allows suppliers to
collaborate, deliver, and receive payment.
• Consultants and evangelists for Lean IT identify an abundance of waste across the
business service ―production line‖, including legacy infrastructure and fractured
processes. By reducing waste through application of lean Enterprise IT Management
(EITM) strategies, CIOs and CTOs in companies such as Tesco, Fujitsu Services,
and TransUnion are driving IT from the confines of a back-office support function to a
central role in delivering customer value.
Lean IT
1. Lean IT Definition in Wiki
2. Origin of the Lean Concept
3. IT Beginning
4. Breakthrough
5. Extension of Lean to IT
6. Types of Waste in Lean IT
7. Lean IT Principles
8. Implementation of Lean IT
9. Trends toward Lean IT
10. Challenges for Lean IT
11. Deployment and Commercial Support
12. Complementary Methodologies
Table 1 – Targets of Waste in Lean IT
Waste Element Examples Business Outcome
Defects • Unauthorized system and application changes. Poor customer service,
• Substandard project execution. increased costs.
Overproduction • Unnecessary delivery of low-value Business and IT misalignment,
Increased costs and overheads: energy,
(Overprovisioning) applications and services. data center space, maintenance.
Waiting • Slow application response times. Lost revenue, poor customer
• Manual service escalation procedures. service, reduced productivity.
Non-Value Added • Reporting technology metrics to business Miscommunication.
Processing managers
Transportation • On-site visits to resolve hardware and software issues. Higher capital and
• Physical software, security and compliance audits. operational expenses.
Inventory (Excess) • Server sprawl, underutilized hardware. Increased costs: data center,
• Multiple repositories to handle risks and control. energy; lost productivity.
• Benched application development teams.
Motion (Excess) • Fire-fighting repeat problems within the Lost productivity.
IT infrastructure.
Employee • Failing to capture ideas/innovation. Talent leakage, low job
Knowledge • Knowledge and experience retention issues. satisfaction, increased
(Unused) • Employees spend time on repetitive or support and
mundane tasks. maintenance costs.
Lean IT: Types of Waste in Lean IT
• Lean IT promises to identify and eradicate waste that otherwise contributes
to poor customer service, lost business, higher than necessary business
costs, and lost employee productivity. To these ends, Lean IT targets eight
elements within IT operations that add no value to the finished product or
service or to the parent organization (see Table 1).
• Table 1 – Targets of Waste in Lean IT
• Whereas each element in the table can be a significant source of waste in
itself, linkages between elements sometimes create a cascade of waste (the
so-called domino effect). For example,
– a faulty load balancer (waste element: Defects) that increases web server
response time may cause a lengthy wait
– for users of a web application (waste element: Waiting),
– resulting in excessive demand on the customer support call center (waste
element: Excess Motion) and, potentially,
– subsequent visits by account representatives to key customers‘ sites to quell
concerns about the service availability (waste element: Transportation).
• In the meantime, the company‘s most likely responses to this problem — for
example,
– introducing additional server capacity and/or redundant load balancing software,
– and hiring extra customer support agents —
may contribute yet more waste elements (Overprovisioning and Excess Inventory).
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/How-to-Shrink-Your-Waste-with-Lean-IT/
How to Shrink Your Waste with Lean IT
• While lean principles and practices have
been widely adopted in manufacturing over
the years, their use in IT has just recently
gained popularity.
• Lean IT is a revised way of thinking whose
ultimate goal is the elimination of wasted IT
resources, thereby increasing business
efficiency and profits.
• Knowledge Center contributor Sunny Gupta
explains the six steps organizations should
follow to obtain Lean IT operations.
How to Shrink Your Waste with Lean IT
Step #1: Understand the Unit Cost Drivers of IT
Products and Services
Step #2: Determine Utilization and Performance
Metrics of IT Products and Services
Step #3: Develop a Demand Management
Process
Step #4: Eliminate Waste
Step #5: Improve Flexibility
Step #6: Continually Improve (持續改善)
http://www.datadialogs.com/Eden_Overview.html
Lean IT
1. Lean IT Definition in Wiki
2. Origin of the Lean Concept
3. IT Beginning
4. Breakthrough
5. Extension of Lean to IT
6. Types of Waste in Lean IT
7. Lean IT Principles
8. Implementation of Lean IT
9. Trends toward Lean IT
10. Challenges for Lean IT
11. Deployment and Commercial Support
12. Complementary Methodologies
Lean IT: Lean IT Principles
1. Value Streams
2. Value-Stream Mapping
3. Flow
4. Pull/Demand System
5. Sustainable improvement
Lean IT: Lean IT Principles Value Streams
• In IT, value streams are the services provided by the IT function
to the parent organization for use by customers, suppliers,
employees, investors, regulators, the media, and any other
stakeholders. These services may be further differentiated into:
– Business services (primary value streams) Examples: point-of-sale
transaction processing, ecommerce, and supply chain optimization
– IT services (secondary value streams) Examples: application
performance management, data backup, and service catalog
• The distinction between primary and secondary value streams
is meaningful. Given Lean IT‘s objective of reducing waste,
where waste is work that adds no value to a product or service,
IT services are secondary (i.e. subordinate or supportive) to
business services.
• In this way, IT services are tributaries that feed and nourish the
primary business service value streams. If an IT service is not
contributing value to a business service, it is a source of waste.
Such waste is typically exposed by value-stream mapping.
Lean IT: Lean IT Principles
Value-Stream Mapping
Lean IT, like its lean manufacturing counterpart,
involves a methodology of value-stream
mapping
– diagramming and analyzing services (value streams)
into their component process steps and
– eliminating any steps (or even entire value streams)
that don‘t deliver value.
Lean IT: Lean IT Principles Flow
• Flow relates to one of the fundamental concepts of Lean as
formulated within the Toyota Production System — namely,
mura. A Japanese word that translates as ―unevenness,‖ mura
is eliminated through just-in-time systems that are tightly
integrated. For example, a server provisioning process may
carry little or no inventory (a waste element in Table 1 above)
with labor and materials flowing smoothly into and through the
value stream.
• A focus on mura reduction and flow may bring benefits that
would be otherwise missed by focus on muda (the Japanese
word for waste) alone. The former necessitates a system-wide
approach whereas the latter may produce suboptimal results
and unintended consequences. For example, a software
development team may produce code in a language familiar to
its members and which is optimal for the team (zero muda).
• But if that language lacks an API standard by which business
partners may access the code, a focus on mura will expose this
otherwise hidden source of waste.
Lean IT: Lean IT Principles
Pull/Demand System
• Pull (also known as demand) systems are themselves closely
related to the aforementioned flow concept. They contrast with
push or supply systems. In a pull system, a pull is a service
request. The initial request is from the customer or consumer of
the product or service.
– For example, a customer initiates an online purchase. That initial request
in turn triggers a subsequent request (for example, a query to a database
to confirm product availability), which in turn triggers additional requests
– (input of the customer‘s credit card information, credit verification,
processing of the order by the accounts department, issuance of a
shipping request, replenishment through the supply-chain management
system, and so on).
• Push systems differ markedly. Unlike the ―bottom-up,‖ demand-
driven, pull systems, they are ―top-down,‖ supply-driven
systems whereby the supplier plans or estimates demand.
• Push systems typically accumulate large inventory stockpiles in
anticipation of customer need. In IT, push systems often
introduce waste through an over-abundance of ―just-in-case‖
inventory, incorrect product or service configuration, version
Lean IT
1. Lean IT Definition in Wiki
2. Origin of the Lean Concept
3. IT Beginning
4. Breakthrough
5. Extension of Lean to IT
6. Types of Waste in Lean IT
7. Lean IT Principles
8. Implementation of Lean IT
9. Trends toward Lean IT
10. Challenges for Lean IT
11. Deployment and Commercial Support
12. Complementary Methodologies
Lean IT: Implementation of Lean IT(1/3)
• Implementation begins with identification and
description of one or more IT value streams
• For example, aided by use of interviews and
questionnaires, the value stream for a primary
value stream such as a point-of-sale business
service may be described as shown in Table 2.
• Table 2 – Example: Description of a Point-of-
Sale Value Stream
Table 2 – Example: Description of a
Point-of-Sale Value Stream
Value Metrics Demand Pulls SLAs
―Owner‖ EVP of • CAPEX • Budget • Transaction
of Store • OPEX reviews speed
Business Operations • Labor • Strategic • Service
Result efficiency reviews continuity
• Ease of use • Store • Implementat
• Check-out redesign ion speed
speed • Store
openings
End Cashiers • Check-out • Transactions • Transaction
Customer speed • Log ons speed
• Ease of use • Service
continuity
End Shoppers • Payment types • Transactions • Transaction
Customer • Check-out speed
speed • Service
• Ease of use continuity
Lean IT: Implementation of Lean IT(2/3)
• Table 2 suggests that the Executive Vice President (EVP) of Store
Operations is ultimately responsible for the point-of-sale business service,
and he/she assesses the value of this service using metrics such as
CAPEX(資本支出), OPEX(營運支出 ), and check-out speed. The demand
pulls or purposes for which the EVP may seek these metrics might be to
conduct a budget review or undertake a store redesign. Formal service-level
agreements (SLAs) for provision of the business service may monitor
transaction speed, service continuity, and implementation speed. The table
further illustrates how other users of the point-of-sale service — notably,
cashiers and shoppers — may be concerned with other value metrics,
demand pulls, and SLAs.
• Having identified and described a value stream, implementation usually
proceeds with construction of a value stream map — a pictorial
representation of the flow of information, beginning with an initial demand
request or pull and progressing up the value stream. Although value streams
are not as readily visualizable as their counterparts in lean manufacturing,
where the flow of materials is more tangible, systems engineers and IT
consultants are practiced in the construction of schematics to represent
information flow through an IT service.[13] To this end, they may use
productivity software such as Microsoft Visio and computer-aided design
(CAD) tools. However, alternatives to these off-the-shelf applications may be
more efficient (and less wasteful) in the mapping process.
Lean IT: Implementation of Lean IT(3/3)
• One alternative is use of a configuration management database (CMDB),[21]
which describes the authorized configuration of the significant components
of an IT environment. Workload automation software, which helps IT
organizations optimize real-time performance of complex business
workloads across diverse IT infrastructures, and other application
dependency mapping tools can be an additional help in value stream
mapping.[22]
• After mapping one or more value streams, engineers and consultants
analyze the stream(s) for sources of waste. The analysis may adapt and
apply traditional efficiency techniques such as time-and-motion studies as
well as more recent lean techniques developed for the Toyota Production
System and its derivatives. Among likely outcomes are methods such as
process redesign, the establishment of ―load-balanced‖ workgroups (for
example, cross-training of software developers to work on diverse projects
according to changing business needs), and the development of
performance management ―dashboards‖ to track project and business
performance and highlight trouble spots.[2]
Lean IT
1. Lean IT Definition in Wiki
2. Origin of the Lean Concept
3. IT Beginning
4. Breakthrough
5. Extension of Lean to IT
6. Types of Waste in Lean IT
7. Lean IT Principles
8. Implementation of Lean IT
9. Trends toward Lean IT
10. Challenges for Lean IT
11. Deployment and Commercial Support
12. Complementary Methodologies
Lean IT: Trends towards Lean IT (1/3)
1. Recessionary((經濟)衰退(期)的) Pressure to Reduce Costs
– The onset of economic recession in December 2007 was marked by a
decrease in individuals‘ willingness to pay for goods and services—
especially in face of uncertainty about their own economic futures.
Meanwhile, tighter business and consumer credit,[25] a steep decline
in the housing market,[26] higher taxes,[27] massive lay-offs,[28] and
diminished returns in the money and bond markets[29] have further
limited demand for goods and services.
– When an economy is strong, most business leaders focus on revenue
growth. During periods of weakness, when demand for good and
services is curbed, the focus shifts to cost-cutting. In-keeping with this
tendency, recessions initially provoke aggressive (and somes panic-
ridden) actions such as deep discounting, fire sales of excess
inventory, wage freezes, short-time working, and abandonment of
former supplier relationships in favor of less costly supplies. Although
such actions may be necessary and prudent, their impact may be
short-lived.[24] Lean IT can expect to garner support during economic
downturns as business leaders seek initiatives that deliver more
enduring value than is achievable through reactive and generalized
cost-cutting.[30]
2. Proliferation of Online Transactions
3. Green IT
Lean IT: Trends towards Lean IT (2/3)
1. Recessionary Pressure to Reduce Costs
2. Proliferation of Online Transactions
– IT has traditionally been a mere support function of business,
in common with other support functions such as shipping
and accounting. More recently, however, companies have
moved many mission-critical business functions to the
Web.[31] This migration is likely to accelerate still further as
companies seek to leverage investments in service-oriented
architectures, decrease costs, improve efficiency, and
increase access to customers, partners, and employees.[32]
– The prevalence of web-based transactions is driving a
convergence of IT and business.[33] In other words, IT
services are increasingly central to the mission of providing
value to customers. Lean IT initiatives are accordingly
becoming less of a peripheral interest and more of an
interest that is intrinsic to the core business.
3. Green IT
Lean IT: Trends towards Lean IT (3/3)
1. Recessionary Pressure to Reduce Costs
2. Proliferation of Online Transactions
3. Green IT
– Though not born of the same motivations, Lean IT initiatives are
congruent with a broad movement towards conservation and waste
reduction, often characterized as green policies and practices. Green IT
is one part of this broad movement.[34]
– Waste reduction directly correlates with reduced energy consumption
and carbon generation. Indeed, IBM asserts that IT and energy costs can
account for up to 60% of an organization's capital expenditures and 75%
of operational expenditures.[35] In this way, identification and
streamlining of IT value streams supports the measurement and
improvement of carbon footprints and other green metrics.[36] For
instance, implementation of Lean IT initiatives is likely to save energy
through adoption of virtualization technology and data center
consolidation.[37][38]
Lean IT
1. Lean IT Definition in Wiki
2. Origin of the Lean Concept
3. IT Beginning
4. Breakthrough
5. Extension of Lean to IT
6. Types of Waste in Lean IT
7. Lean IT Principles
8. Implementation of Lean IT
9. Trends toward Lean IT
10. Challenges for Lean IT
11. Deployment and Commercial Support
12. Complementary Methodologies
Lean IT: Challenges for Lean IT (1/5)
1. Value-Stream Visualization
– Unlike lean manufacturing, from which the principles and
methods of Lean IT derive, Lean IT depends upon value
streams that are digital and intangible rather than physical
and tangible. This renders difficult the visualization of IT
value streams and hence the application of Lean IT.
– Whereas practitioners of lean manufacturing can apply
visual management systems such as the kanban cards
used in the Toyota Production System, practitioners of Lean
IT must use Enterprise IT Management tools to help
visualize and analyze the more abstract context of IT value
streams.[39]
2. Reference Implementations
3. Resistance to Change
4. Fragmented IT Departments
5. Integration of Lean Production and Lean
Consumption
Lean IT: Challenges for Lean IT (2/5)
1. Value-Stream Visualization
2. Reference Implementations
– As an emerging area in IT management (see Deployment and
Commercial Support), Lean IT has relatively few reference
implementations. Moreover, whereas much of the supporting theory and
methodology is grounded in the more established field of lean
manufacturing, adaptation of such theory and methodology to the digital
service-oriented process of IT is likewise only just beginning. This lack
makes implementation challenging, as evidenced by the problems
experienced with the March 2008 opening of London Heathrow Airport‘s
Terminal 5. British airports authority BAA and airline British Airways
(BA), which has exclusive use of the new terminal, used process
methodologies adapted from the motor industry to speed development
and achieve cost savings in developing and integrating systems at the
new terminal.[40] However, the opening was marred by baggage
handling backlogs, staff parking problems, and cancelled flights.[41]
3. Resistance to Change
4. Fragmented IT Departments
5. Integration of Lean Production and Lean Consumption
Lean IT: Challenges for Lean IT (3/5)
1. Value-Stream Visualization
2. Reference Implementations
3. Resistance to Change
– The conclusions or recommendations of Lean IT initiatives are likely to
demand organizational, operational, and/or behavioral changes that
may meet with resistance from workers, managers, and even senior
executives. Whether driven by a fear of job losses, a belief that existing
work practices are superior, or some other concern, such changes may
encounter resistance. For example, a Lean IT recommendation to
introduce flexible staffing whereby application development and
maintenance managers share personnel is often met with resistance by
individual managers who may have relied on certain people for many
years. Also, existing incentives and metrics may not align with the
proposed staff sharing.[2][42]
4. Fragmented IT Departments
5. Integration of Lean Production and Lean Consumption
Lean IT: Challenges for Lean IT (4/5)
1. Value-Stream Visualization
2. Reference Implementations
3. Resistance to Change
4. Fragmented IT Departments
– Even though business services and the ensuing flow of
information may span multiple departments, IT
organizations are commonly structured in a series of
operational or technology-centric silos, each with its own
management tools and methods to address perhaps just
one particular aspect of waste.
– Unfortunately, fragmented efforts at Lean IT contribute little
benefit because they lack the integration necessary to
manage cumulative waste across the value chain.[13]
5. Integration of Lean Production and Lean
Consumption
Lean IT: Challenges for Lean IT (5/5)
1. Value-Stream Visualization
2. Reference Implementations
3. Resistance to Change
4. Fragmented IT Departments
5. Integration of Lean Production and Lean
Consumption
– Related to the aforementioned issue of fragmented IT
departments is the lack of integration across the entire
supply chain, including not only all business partners but
also consumers. To this end, Lean IT consultants have
recently proposed so-called lean consumption of products
and services as a complement to lean production.[43]
– In this regard, the processes of provision and consumption
are tightly integrated and streamlined to minimize total cost
and waste and to create new sources of value.
Lean IT
1. Lean IT Definition in Wiki
2. Origin of the Lean Concept
3. IT Beginning
4. Breakthrough
5. Extension of Lean to IT
6. Types of Waste in Lean IT
7. Lean IT Principles
8. Implementation of Lean IT
9. Trends toward Lean IT
10. Challenges for Lean IT
11. Deployment and Commercial Support
12. Complementary Methodologies
Lean IT: Deployment and Commercial Support (1/2)
• Deployment of Lean IT has been predominantly limited to application
development and maintenance (ADM). This focus reflects the cost of
ADM.[13] Despite a trend towards increased ADM outsourcing to lower-
wage economies,[44] the cost of developing and maintaining applications
can still consume more than half of the total IT budget.[2] In this light, the
potential of Lean IT to increase productivity by as much as 40% while
improving the quality and speed of execution[2] makes ADM a primary
target (the ―low-hanging fruit,‖ so to speak) within the IT department.
• Opportunity to apply Lean IT exists in multiple other areas of IT besides
ADM. For example, service catalog management is a Lean IT approach to
provisioning IT services. When, say, a new employee joins a company, the
employee‘s manager can log into a web-based catalog and select the
services needed. This particular employee may need a CAD workstation as
well as standard office productivity software and limited access to the
company‘s extranet. On submitting this request, provisioning of all
hardware and software requirements would then be automatic through a
lean value stream.
Lean IT: Deployment and Commercial Support (2/2)
• In another example, a Lean IT approach to application performance
monitoring would automatically detect performance issues at the customer
experience level as well as triage, notify support personnel, and collect data
to assist in root-cause analysis.[13] Research suggests that IT departments
may achieve sizable returns from investing in these and other areas of the
IT function.[45]
• Among notable corporate examples of Lean IT adopters is UK-based
grocer Tesco,[46] which has entered into strategic partnerships with many
of its suppliers, including Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Coca-Cola,
eventually succeeding in replacing weekly shipments with continuous
deliveries throughout the day. By moving to eliminate stock from either the
back of the store or in high-bay storage, Tesco has gotten markedly closer
to a just-in-time pull system (see Pull/Demand System).[47][48][14] Lean IT
is also attracting public-sector interest, in-keeping with the waste-reduction
aims of the Lean Government movement. One example is the City of Cape
Coral, Florida, where several departments have deployed Lean IT.[49] The
city‘s police records department, for instance, reviewed its processing of
some 20,000 traffic tickets written by police officers each year, halving the
time for an officer to write a ticket and saving $2 million. Comparable
benefits have been achieved in other departments such as public works,
finance, fire, and parks and recreation.[50][51]
Lean IT
1. Lean IT Definition in Wiki
2. Origin of the Lean Concept
3. IT Beginning
4. Breakthrough
5. Extension of Lean to IT
6. Types of Waste in Lean IT
7. Lean IT Principles
8. Implementation of Lean IT
9. Trends toward Lean IT
10. Challenges for Lean IT
11. Deployment and Commercial Support
12. Complementary Methodologies
Lean IT: Complementary Methodologies(1/4)
Although Lean IT typically entails particular principles and methods such as
value streams and value-stream mapping, Lean IT is, on a higher level, a
philosophy rather than a prescribed metric or process methodology. In this
way, Lean IT is pragmatic and agnostic. It seeks incremental waste
reduction and value enhancement, but it does not require a grand overhaul
of an existing process, and is complementary rather than alternative to
other methodologies.
1. Six Sigma
– Whereas Lean IT focuses on customer satisfaction and reducing waste, Six
Sigma focuses on removing the causes of defects (errors) and the variation
(inconsistency) in manufacturing and business processes using quality
management and, especially, statistical methods.[52] Six Sigma also differs
from Lean methods by introducing a special infrastructure of personnel (e.g. so-
called ―Green Belts‖ and ― Black Belts‖) in the organization. Six Sigma is more
oriented around two particular methods (see DMAIC and DMADV), whereas
Lean IT employs a portfolio of tools and methods. These differences
notwithstanding, Lean IT may be readily combined with Six Sigma such that the
latter brings statistical rigor to measurement of the former’s outcomes.[53]
2. Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
3. Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
4. COBIT
Lean IT: Complementary Methodologies(2/4)
Although Lean IT typically entails particular principles and methods such as
value streams and value-stream mapping, Lean IT is, on a higher level, a
philosophy rather than a prescribed metric or process methodology. In this
way, Lean IT is pragmatic and agnostic. It seeks incremental waste
reduction and value enhancement, but it does not require a grand overhaul
of an existing process, and is complementary rather than alternative to
other methodologies.
1. Six Sigma
2. Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
– The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) from the Software
Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is
a process improvement approach applicable to a single project, a division, or an
entire organization. It helps integrate traditionally separate organizational
functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for
quality processes, and provide a benchmark or point of reference for assessing
current processes.[54] However, unlike Lean IT, CMMI (and other process
models) doesn’t directly address sources of waste such as a lack of alignment
between business units and the IT function or unnecessary architectural
complexity within a software application.[2]
3. Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
4. COBIT
Lean IT: Complementary Methodologies(3/4)
Although Lean IT typically entails particular principles and
methods such as value streams and value-stream mapping,
Lean IT is, on a higher level, a philosophy rather than a
prescribed metric or process methodology. In this way, Lean
IT is pragmatic and agnostic. It seeks incremental waste
reduction and value enhancement, but it does not require a
grand overhaul of an existing process, and is complementary
rather than alternative to other methodologies.
1. Six Sigma
2. Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
3. Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
– The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) — a series of
books published by the United Kingdom’s Office of Government
Commerce — contains concepts, policies, and recommended practices
on a broad range of IT management topics. These are again entirely
compatible with the objectives and methods of Lean IT. Indeed, as
another best-practice framework, ITIL may be considered alongside the
CMMI for process improvement and COBIT for IT governance.
4. COBIT
Lean IT: Complementary Methodologies(4/4)
Although Lean IT typically entails particular principles and methods such as
value streams and value-stream mapping, Lean IT is, on a higher level, a
philosophy rather than a prescribed metric or process methodology. In this
way, Lean IT is pragmatic and agnostic. It seeks incremental waste
reduction and value enhancement, but it does not require a grand overhaul
of an existing process, and is complementary rather than alternative to
other methodologies.
1. Six Sigma
2. Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
3. Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
4. COBIT
– Control Objectives for Information and related Technology — better
known as COBIT — is a framework or set of best practices for IT
management created by the Information Systems Audit and Control
Association (ISACA), and the IT Governance Institute (ITGI)
– It provides managers, auditors, and IT users a set of metrics, processes,
and best practices to assist in maximizing the benefits derived through
the use of IT, achieving compliance with regulations such as Sarbanes-
Oxley, and aligning IT investments with business objectives. COBIT also
aims to unify global IT standards, including ITIL, CMMI, and ISO 17799.
[56]
Enterprise risk management
solutions for CIOs
• Enterprise risk management is the process of planning, leading
and controlling the activities of an organization in order to
minimize the effects of risk on an organization's capital and
earnings. In recent years, external factors have fueled a
heightened interest by organizations in enterprise risk
management. Industry and government regulatory bodies, as
well as investors, have begun to scrutinize companies' risk
management policies and procedures for compliance. In an
increasing number of industries, boards of directors are
required to review and report on the adequacy of risk
management processes in their organizations.
• In this package, learn how organizations and their CIOs can
practice enterprise risk management holistically, including
implementing the proper risk management methodology, data
protection solutions, network access control, cloud computing
Enterprise risk management
solutions for CIOs
• How can I get started with a risk management
methodology?
• What data protection solutions can I employ?
• How can I practice network access control?
• How can I ensure cloud computing security?
• What do I need to know about compliance risk
management?
How can I get started with a risk
management methodology?
• According to the Balanced Scorecard framework, in addition to
marketing or sales budgets and overall revenue and profits,
enterprises should measure intangible assets such as customer
relationships, excellence in process operations, employee skills,
data and information systems and even the corporate culture.
• "If you can't measure, you can't manage and you can't improve
upon your corporate success," explained Balanced Scorecard
co-developer Robert Kaplan during a presentation at the recent
Gartner Business Intelligence Summit in National Harbor, Md.
• And today, organizations need to include risk management
among the key performance indicators that they measure.
• "Financial performance is a lag indicator," Kaplan said. "Now
we're seeing the consequences of not making risk management
a strategic part of strategy," such as the riskiness of corporate
How can I get started with a risk
management methodology?
Learn more in "Balanced Scorecard founder: In recession, think
risk management." Also:
• Risk assessment frameworks easy to employ (SearchCIO-
Midmarket.com)
– You can't protect what you don't know you have. Employing a risk
assessment framework should be a priority for midmarket organizations.
• Unearthing the potential paybacks of enterprise risk
management (SearchCIO.com)
– In this tip, we delve into the guts of enterprise risk management, discuss
challenges and potential paybacks and provide some best practices for
making it work.
• Gartner: Future IT security jobs to focus on risk management
strategy (SearchCIO.com)
– Gartner predicts that by 2016, maturing technologies will supplant many
security experts. The jobs that survive will be all about risk management.
What data protection solutions can I
employ?
• Enterprise data protection requires a holistic program that
encompasses people, process and technology. Too often, the
emphasis is placed on technology when all employees in a
company must play their parts, such as following good
password guidelines, for the program to be effective. The
following are some examples of best practices for adhering to a
data protection policy:
• Implement a data classification program that focuses on
customer, financial and intellectual property information with
designated owners of the information. Data protection
categories should include confidential, internal use and public,
and it's important to put the appropriate controls in place to
protect this information. For example, public data should be
reviewed to ensure that sensitive information such as future
product plans are not released outside the company.
What data protection solutions can I
employ?
Find out more in "Seven tips to improving enterprise data
protection." Also:
• Database security: Who should have access? (SearchCIO-
Midmarket.com)
• The only users who should be allowed full access to any data
store should be your system administrators. What about
everybody else?
• Data protection trumps threat pursuit in SMBs' 2009 security
spending (SearchCIO-Midmarket.com)
• Security strategy is growing up fast at small and medium-sized
businesses, says a new report from Forrester Research Inc.
Smaller firms will spend more as they approach computer
security more like the enterprise.
How can I practice network access
control?
• Forrester Research, predicting a blockbuster year for network
access control (NAC), says this watchdog technology is fast
becoming "a critical component in making many security
initiatives efficient and a seamless part of the network
infrastructure." Nearly 25% of all enterprises have already
adopted NAC and an additional 15% will do so by the end of
2009, according to the Cambridge, Mass-based firm.
• Meantime, Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn., has spent the past
three years encouraging enterprises to look at NAC as an
important piece of network hygiene, said research director
Lawrence Orans. "This is such a valuable defense that you can
add to your network. Our advice is start doing NAC now," he
said.
How can I practice network access
control?
Learn more in "Network access control evaluation tips: NAC
systems insights for CIOs." Also:
• CIO turns to identity and access management to solve business
problem (SearchCIO.com)
Growth and turnover made user provisioning a huge task for
business owners and IT at one organization, before a major
effort to classify users and deploy an identity and access
management system.
• For network access control, this shop chose Microsoft NAP;
here's why (SearchCIO.com)
Learn why one security architect chose a software-based
approach to NAC. Hint: Cost and standards were factors.
• Employee layoffs pose security risk if systems access not
disabled (SearchCIO.com)
How can I ensure cloud computing
security?
• Companies looking to use cloud computing infrastructure for data backup
and storage need to factor in the compliance requirements before contracts
are signed.
• In some cases, the cloud provider will be able to satisfy compliance
requirements -- but often at a price, according to two market experts. Even
before price negotiations begin, CIOs must understand that data backup and
storage in the cloud does not remove a company's responsibility for the legal,
regulatory and audit obligations attached to that information.
• CIOs should be ready with a list of compliance questions for cloud vendors.
But don't expect their answers to suffice. Indeed, Gartner recently published
a report stating that security, privacy and compliance will prevent adoption of
cloud computing in regulated industries and global companies through 2012.
• Get more information in "Addressing compliance requirements in cloud
computing contracts." Also:
• Cloud computing providers debate compliance, security and transparency
(SearchCompliance.com)
Enterprises seeking to enter the cloud and remain both secure and
What do I need to know about
compliance risk management?
• As states look forward to the federal stimulus funds from the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the National Association of State
Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) recently warned CIOs and chief
security officers to pay close heed to security standards and their security
programs. The infusion of funds will likely come with a call for stricter
controls. At the same time, the pressure on states to put this bolus of money
into action will almost certainly create security risks, NASCIO said.
• "The infusion of federal dollars coming as a consequence of the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act puts significant new pressures on state IT
programs to support recovery programs and services. It also increases the
likelihood that the federal government will impose stricter security controls
as part of broader concerns about transparency and accountability in the use
of recovery monies," said Colorado CIO Mike Locatis, co-chair for the
NASCIO Security and Privacy Committee, in a statement. "This heightens
the need for states to understand existing and new IT security standards to
ensure that their programs employ and integrate these as necessary."
What do I need to know about
compliance risk management?
• Learn more in "Security standards to help manage compliance for those federal funds." Also:
• Strategic risk management includes risk-based approach to compliance
(SearchCompliance.com)
Using a risk-based approach to address regulatory mandates is all the rage in compliance
circles, but it's not for beginners. Here's how it works.
• Locking down security in the move to electronic medical records (SearchCIO-Midmarket.com)
An IT pro shares security and project success tips gleaned from his two-year odyssey to move
a group medical practice to electronic health records.
• SEC commish, FINRA head: Reform financial services regulations (SearchCompliance.com)
A climate for change has led Luis Aguilar, a Securities and Exchange Commission
commissioner, and Rick Ketchum, head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc., to
call for the reform of financial services regulations.
• Financial crimes resulting in increased compliance enforcement (SearchCompliance.com)
Financial crimes are on the rise, according to the current and former U.S. deputy attorneys
general, who say the public should expect to see aggressive enforcement of the laws.
• Avoiding gotchas of security tools and global data privacy laws (SearchCIO.com)
Building a global privacy program is no picnic because of the plethora of laws. IT security tools
can help -- or hurt, if implemented without knowledge of the law.
• Log management tool, SIM boxes combine to form security architecture (SearchCIO.com)
A new CISO builds an information security architecture to analyze log files and create metrics
for business discussions on compliance and security.
Protect your brand, protect
your supply chain
1. The goal: Protect your supply chain,
protect your brand
2. The advantage: Automate your
supply chain. Protect your patients.
3. The benefits: Beyond compliance
Protect your brand, protect
your supply chain
1. The goal: Protect your supply chain, protect your
brand
– From manufacture to point of sale, products in the pharmaceutical supply
chain can change hands up to ten times—with each transaction prone to
risk or diversion. Loss of product to theft and fraud, replacement costs for
product recalls and supply chain inefficiencies can erode profits and
brand value.
– The Pharmaceutical Track and Trace solution from IBM helps companies
reduce these risks and improve patient safety and operational
performance.
2. The adventage: Automate your supply chain. Protect
your patients.
3. The benefits: Beyond compliance
Protect your brand, protect
your supply chain
1. The goal: Protect your supply chain, protect your brand
2. The advantage: Automate your supply chain. Protect your
patients.
– Manual pedigree and other supply chain tracking procedures are time-consuming,
prone to human error and often have no interface to your management reporting
systems or your trading partners‘ business support systems. Enter the
Pharmaceutical Track and Trace solution from IBM.
– Sensor-based technologies such as 2D barcodes or radio frequency identification
(RFID) tags attached to products at the unit, case or pallet level enable the
capture, tracking and tracing of custodial information of products between the
manufacturer, wholesaler and the retail pharmacy or hospital. Both 2D barcodes
and RFID tags can be linked back to far more descriptive product information
such as NDC number, dosage and strength information, lot number, manufacture
and expiration dates. Sensor-based technology can also record transaction-
based information such as identification of commercial purchasers, invoice data,
transfers between packaging facilities and authenticated release to approved
product distributors. Improved and immediate visibility of your products helps you
make informed decisions quickly and cost-efficiently.
Protect your brand, protect
your supply chain
1. The goal: Protect your supply chain, protect your brand
2. The advantage:Automate your supply chain. Protect your patients.
3. The benefits: Beyond compliance
– Regulatory agencies are increasingly recommending or even mandating compliance with
supply chain monitoring and security. The use of sensor-based technologies such as 2D
barcodes and RFID are key components of a secure end-to-end drug authentication or
electronic pedigree program. In addition, an automated supply chain can help you build
sales volume by controlling inventory shrinkage and improving product forecasting.
Operating costs are reduced when automated supply chains improve inventory accuracy
and management, streamline pick and pack operations and alert logistics teams to returns
due to expiration dates.
– Most importantly, the Pharmaceutical Track and Trace solution from IBM is a robust,
extensible platform for data capture and delivery from a broad set of devices and provides
a complex event processing rules engine to turn the data into actionable events and
insights. The platform capabilities also include reporting, analytics alerts and notifications
as well as business dashboards that act on product movement information to help
companies transform business processes. It can be integrated with other operational
systems to help protect and improve market share by reducing product diversion, improving
the effectiveness of product recall management, enhancing patient safety and increasing
consumer confidence in your products.
– Asset tracking features can improve utilization and availability of manufacturing equipment
FAQ: Lean thinking for IT
• Lean principles, traditionally used by manufacturing
companies to help improve the production process and
provide value to the customer, are now being implemented in
more service-oriented domains such as health care, financial
services and even IT. In a time when most companies are
still doing more with less, Lean thinking allows them to
eliminate waste and improve productivity.
• Yet Lean is not just about cost cutting and doing more with
less. Learn more about how this continuous improvement
methodology allows companies and organizations to create
sustainable change that benefits the customer.
• What are the Lean principles?
• What does Lean thinking mean?
• Who is using Lean?
• How can Lean thinking benefit IT?
• What type of Lean tools are available to enterprise CIOs?
What are the Lean principles?
• Lean principles are all about the reduction of waste or
doing more with less. They focus on adding value for the
end customer, whether that customer is internal or
external.
• The process improvement methodology originated in the
manufacturing industry with Ford in 1913. At the
automobile manufacturing plant, Ford created the first
flow production to improve the assembly line process.
"Before Lean, companies like Ford and Toyota would
push a set amount of parts onto the shop floor every day
in hopes they would all be used," said David Hurwitz,
Lean IT expert and vice president at CA Inc. "Now with
Lean, companies can pull parts onto the floor only when
they need them."
Since then, other major manufacturing companies, like
Toyota, have adopted Lean principles to improve the
What does Lean thinking mean?
• Lean thinking is the process of incorporating Lean
principles into an enterprise. Coined as a term by James
Womack and Daniel Jones in their 1996 book of the
same name, Lean thinking incorporates five basic
processes that define a company as Lean. Such
companies:
1. Specify value from the standpoint of the end customer.
2. Identify and map value streams.
3. Establish steps so products will flow more smoothly for the
customer.
4. Let customers show pull value from their activities.
5. Pursue perfection through continuous improvement.
• Companies that use Lean principles or Lean thinking do
so with the ultimate goals of eliminating waste in
processes and procedures, maximizing the value they're
delivering to customers and minimizing risk.
Who is using Lean?
• Lean originated in manufacturing, but it's now applied to various domains,
including IT, health care and financial services. Lean is rapidly maturing in
today's economy for a number of reasons, including how easy the concept is
to grasp. "When you tell someone that you want to implement a
methodology to eliminate waste, they usually respond, 'Why wouldn't I do
that?'," said Chris Lindstrom, managing partner at Ceptara Corp., a
management consulting and training firm that employs Lean and Six Sigma
experts and project managers.
• Lean is now expanding into the service industries. What these types of
companies have in common is that they are all customer oriented and
looking for ways to optimize their business processes. IT can become
involved in either through projects to support Lean in the business, such as
business process management or system integration, or by adopting Lean
principles to improve IT services (more on this below).
• "All in all, Lean can drive efficiency, but the implementation of Lean should
not be primarily motivated by cash savings and personnel reductions," said
Alexander Peters, a principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc. "Firms
applying it should, rather, target sustainable benefits such as culture change
to focus on customer requirements and interactions, focus on prevention
rather than firefighting and process changes to improve service quality and
reduce customers' hassle."
How can Lean thinking benefit IT?
• "Lean IT is the application of Lean thinking for IT," Hurwitz said. Lean tools are being
used in IT organizations to reduce development times for applications and IT
solutions, improve service performance and do more with fewer staff members.
• In a recent Forrester research article titled "Applying Lean Thinking to IT," the
authors suggested "by making the elimination of waste in all its forms a top priority
for their staff, organizations create a culture of continuous improvement and
innovation."
• One example of how IT organizations are using Lean thinking is with the help desk
process. Companies are using value stream mapping to get rid of activities and
processes that don't add value, such as repeated duplicate information requests,
escalations, duplicate data entry and insufficient resolution. By doing so, the help
desk improves response time and customer service.
• According to Peters, Lean Thinking principles:
– Define IT in terms of the services/products it's expected to deliver.
– Streamline IT capabilities by service/product.
– Ensure that processes and information flow.
– Help the business pull value from IT.
– Monitor and measure IT's delivery for continuous improvement.
What type of Lean tools are
available to enterprise CIOs?
What Lean tools are available to
CIOs?
• Lean is an umbrella term meaning to eliminate waste, and
companies use a number of Lean tools to reach this goal. One
of the most popular is Kaizen. This is a Japanese term meaning
continuous improvement. Many companies use "Kaizen blitzes"
for fast improvements and quick wins. A Kaizen blitz is basically
a shorter version of a full-blown Kaizen tool and can
demonstrate results in an average of two weeks.
• Kaizen is a method for constantly achieving small, incremental
changes in processes in order to improve quality and efficiency.
The method is broken into three steps -- preparation, execution
and learning -- all with the goal of identifying potential problems,
throwing away those that don't add value and institutionalizing
the improved processes.
• Other Lean tools include value stream mapping, Kanban,
Appling Lean Thinking To IT
• Lean thinking is a powerful methodology that
can help IT maximize the real value from
technology spending. Lean is both a process
improvement tool and a means to transition an
IT culture from one of workaround and
ambiguity to one of continuous improvement,
leading to disciplined innovation.
• However, Lean thinking requires a formalized
approach to governance based on detailed,
specified, and synchronized processes and
resources and a culture stimulating
2009 全球供應鏈營運長調查研究
• 企業的運作成敗，取決於是否能將各部門優勢互相補強，以達到最佳綜效。
近來產銷規劃已倍受企業各界的關注，其有如是企業身體的營養平衡器，為
內外各單位對未來供需的不同看法加以整合，主動提供警訊，協助解決異常
狀況，減低企業內耗，以期改善銷售利潤與降低供應鏈成本，使企業達到最
佳獲利狀況。產銷規劃結合商業智慧的決策支援系統與模擬功能，最能有效
呈現各部門績效及問題所在，並協助主管們提出最適化決策，使企業各部門
可隨時因應快速的市場變動連動調整生產與採購計畫，讓企業短中期供需邁
向最佳化。
• IBM軟體事業處與協同商務領導廠商聯合通商電子商務將於8月19日遠東香格
里拉飯店共同舉辦『製造業與零售業平衡產銷衝突，開創獲利藍海』研討會，
會中將提出具體產銷解決方案及代表性案例分享，例如成功協助3C零售流通
客戶於三個月內降低35%庫存金額、電腦週邊製造業客戶產銷會議時間縮短
至兩小時以內、電子零組件製造業客戶提升預測精準度至80%，等等許多導
入成效剖析。透過深入、精闢、詳盡的簡報，將具體探討減低產銷之間長久
存在的衝突議題，幫助企業在商業景氣回春波段中以黑馬姿態領先復甦。
2009 全球供應鏈營運長調查研究
• 【訊息重點】
• IBM 首次發表【2009 全球供應鏈營運長調查研究】報告，指出企業在供應鏈
管理的五大挑戰為：成本抑制、供應鏈能見度、風險管理、客戶需求增加及
全球化。
• 台灣受訪企業認為五大挑戰對其影響的比例排序，分別為：供應鏈能見度、
成本抑制、風險管理、客戶需求增加及全球化；其中，台灣對供應鏈的能見
度與全球訪談結果一致，皆為首要挑戰，但台灣企業更著重於“成本抑制”
的管理，多過於“風險管理”。
• IBM 推出供應鏈網絡最佳化平台（SNOW）解決方案，希望藉由詳細的分析
供應鏈物流及提供改進方式，協助企業藉由綠色供應鏈，來實現降低成本與
提升獲利的營運目標。
2009 全球供應鏈營運長調查研究
• （2009年 3月 23日，台北訊）在綠色環保節能議題下，如何落實綠色供應鏈，
已成為企業關注焦點。有鑒於此，IBM 今日首次發表【2009全 球供應鏈營運
長調查研究】報告，這是IBM第一次針對全球近 400位供應鏈高階主管所進行
的深度訪談，其中亦包含 18位台灣受訪者。據調查顯示，企業在供應鏈管理
所面臨的五大挑戰，分別為：成本抑制、供應鏈能見度、風險管理、客戶需
求增加及全球化，而 IBM 對此亦提出供應鏈網絡最佳化平台（Supply Chain
Network Optimization Workbench；SNOW）解決方案，希望藉由詳細的分
析供應鏈物流及提供改進方式，協助企業以綠色供應鏈，來實現降低成本與
提升獲利的營運目標。
• 台灣 IBM 公司全球企業諮詢服務事業群供應鏈暨企業營運顧問服務協理吳雪
華表示，面對越來越複雜的供應鏈、及瞬息萬變的全球市場，企業如何建置
綠色供應鏈，以落實環保節能，並降低供應鏈風險，已成為重要議題。對此，
IBM 今日首度發表【2009 全球供應鏈營運長調查研究】報告，並提出企業在
供應鏈管理所面臨的五大挑戰：
2009 全球供應鏈營運長調查研究
• 一、成本抑制(Cost containment)：供應鏈高階主管將成本控制列為首要職責，
且重要性遠高於企業成長與產品及服務的創新。然而，整體成本變動的頻率
越來越高，供應鏈高階主管必須不斷因應隨時發生的成本問題，如燃料價格
的飆漲等。IBM 建議，企業應採用靈活彈性的供應鏈，回應瞬息萬變的市場
情況。
• 二、供應鏈能見度(Visibility)：供應鏈高階主管把能見度視為最大的管理挑戰，
因為資訊取得、決策支援相關的協同合作專案與行動，仍沒有受到相當的重
視。IBM建議，企業應重視供應鏈能見度的改善，積極的與供應商實施協同規
劃及管理庫存。
• 三、風險管理(Managing Risk)：因客戶需求與成本的日益增加，造成供應鏈
的風險不斷攀升，而風險管理也被供應鏈主管視為第二大挑戰。IBM 建議，
企業將風險管理納入法規遵循監控計劃當中，並運用資訊科技來監控例外事
件且採取行動。
• 四、客戶需求增加(Customer intimacy)：三分之二的企業表示必須努力辨識
客戶確實的需求，然而在供應鏈規劃實務中，企業仍多選擇與供應商、而非
與客戶直接合作。IBM 建議，企業應實施內部計畫與供應鏈夥伴的同步化，
並採納客戶的意見。
隱藏的危機: Roundabout 的心態
是否追根究底 找出問題
資訊和通訊科技基礎建設的浮現，對企業界人士產生各種不同的衝擊，例如：
• Ÿ如果你是高階經理人，你如何讓企業和ICT(資訊和通訊科技)的策略和目標結
盟，以提升企業的競爭優勢？你應該作成哪些與ICT相關的決策，而不會讓
ICT花費大筆的預算，卻達不到你想要的結果？
• Ÿ如果你是資訊長，你如何擬定ICT的策略和目標，與事業單位溝通，建立ICT
組織，扮演好ICT的角色，以提升企業的競爭優勢，而不會被批評為只是花錢
的單位，毫無貢獻？
• Ÿ如果你是資訊部門經理，你如何根據企業的ICT策略和目標，建立相關的流程
和組織，例如：服務中心、意外事件管理流程、異動管理流程、資訊安全管
理流程等等，並且據以實行，以達成ICT目標？
• Ÿ如果你是系統、網路、應用軟體管理、設計、開發、操作人員，你如何將自
己從技術人員提升到管理人員，對企業整體的ICT基礎建設及其管理有一個全
面的了解，從而提升自己在公司的地位？
• Ÿ如果你從事於資訊服務業，你如何管理本身和顧客的ICT基礎建設、如何擬定
合理的價格、如何與顧客談判服務水準並且擬定服務水準協定(SLA)？
隱藏的危機: Roundabout 的心態
是否追根究底 找出問題
• 煩惱一、每天我都收到一堆報表， 很多內容看貣來也是大同小異，但結論常又不太相
同，到底我該相信哪一份？為什麼沒法整理出一份既有整體視野又有架構的分析管報
提供我做參考呢？
– 缺乏整體規劃導致無法即時提供決策支援的分析
– 成功的競爭必須瞭解顧客的需要和行為，以便彈性地面對市場需求和競爭者的挑戰。然而大多數企業面臨
資訊重複加工、過量，甚至於被資訊淹沒。管理者面對儲存在不同資料庫且日益增加的資料，形成對『決
策的挑戰』
• 煩惱二、花錢建了一堆系統，結果開部門會議時，大家還是用Excel&Powerpoint 來做
簡報，到底怎麼回事？
• 煩惱三、外面世界變化的那麼快，競爭那麼激烈，到底該怎麼做才能提昇內部的執行
力，讓我的策略與計劃落實，提升競爭力？
隱藏的危機: Roundabout 的心態
是否追根究底 找出問題
• 煩惱一、每天我都收到一堆報表， 很多內容看
貣來也是大同小異，但結論常又不太相同，到
底我該相信哪一份？為什麼沒法整理出一份既
有整體視野又有架構的分析管報提供我做參考
呢？
• 煩惱二、花錢建了一堆系統，結果開部門會議
時，大家還是用Excel&Powerpoint 來做簡報，
到底怎麼回事？
– Excel & PPT 無法快速回應公司經營績效的問題
– 組織、產品之主檔架構變動造成 Excel 之 Lookup 失效
– 無法確定各預算詴算表上所用的假設與公式的一致性
– 非會計部門人員無法對管理需求上的預算和實際績效做差異分析
– 無法自動連接到其他詴算表或外部系統對明細做進一步分析了解
– Excel 無權限控管，容易洩密
– 花費大量時間做部門溝通
– 無法因管理階層不同的需求快速變更財務報表格式
– 維護複雜的成本分攤公式的成本過
• 煩惱三、外面世界變化的那麼快，競爭那麼激
烈，到底該怎麼做才能提昇內部的執行力，讓
我的策略與計劃落實，提升競爭力？
隱藏的危機: Roundabout 的心態
是否追根究底 找出問題
• 煩惱一、每天我都收到一堆報表， 很多內容看貣來也是大同小異，但結論常又不太相
同，到底我該相信哪一份？為什麼沒法整理出一份既有整體視野又有架構的分析管報
提供我做參考呢？
• 煩惱二、花錢建了一堆系統，結果開部門會議時，大家還是用Excel&Powerpoint 來做
簡報，到底怎麼回事？
• 煩惱三、外面世界變化的那麼快，競爭那麼激烈，到底該怎麼做才能提昇內部的執行
力，讓我的策略與計劃落實，提升競爭力？
– 內部管理的效率和方式無法因應外部環境的變化
– 面對愈來愈激烈的競爭,縱然有前瞻性的策略和市場規劃,但受制於內部傳統的觀念及管理技術,策略層與執
行層有落差,使得公司整體戰力無法提昇。
隱藏的危機: Roundabout 的心態
是否追根究底 找出問題
• 鑒於各單位對於品質及績效的要求，藉由標準化的運作管理，以尋求效益提昇並維持
競爭優勢，已是通行的做法。由資訊系統控制協會（Information Systems Audit and
Control Association，ISACA）制訂的COBIT（Control Objectives for Information and
Related Technology）框架，是目前公認達到法規規範的最佳實作（Best Practices）
，為IT的管理、安全與控制提供了一個一般適用的公認標準，以輔助公司決策層進行
IT治理。 COBIT 標準至今仍然持續的演進，以求達到「確保IT資源的運用能和組織的
經營目標相輔相成」、「IT提供的服務和資訊能符合品質要求」、「藉由被廣泛接受
的流程，來管理IT的活動」、「訂定監控和管理的目標」，及「平衡IT的風險及報酬」
等目標。
• 對於臺灣上市櫃公司而言，原本就有很多必須遵循的規範，就目前企業所需要的各種
框架而言，最上層的是「公司治理」的COSO框架，中層是「IT治理」的COBIT框架，
底層則是「IT管理」的各種標準與框架，例如 ITIL、ISO20000 及 ISO27001 等，皆
屬於IT管理的範疇。
• 從1996年推出的COBIT，已經於2007年推出最新的4.1版，訂定了34個流程，串聯210
個相關工作項目及其監控的架構，它的流程及監控的範圍，主要分成四大框架：「規
畫與組織（Plan and Organize，PO）」、「取得與建置（Acquire and Implement，AI
）」、「交付與支援（Deliver and Support，DS）」及「監控與評估（Monitor and
Evaluate，ME）」。