Sunday, May 01, 2005
About the Enterprise System Spectator
With so many new visitors lately, perhaps it's a good time to recap what this blog is all about.
First, briefly, about me. I am co-founder and Managing Partner of Strativa, a management consulting firm based in Southern California that focuses on business strategy, process improvement, and information technology. I am also the President of Computer Economics, an IT research and advisory firm. You can learn more about Computer Economics from this post I wrote shortly after my partner, Dan Husiak, and I acquired Computer Economics on April 1, 2005. You can read my bio on Strativa's management page.
I launched this weblog, The Enterprise System Spectator, in March 2002 to provide a forum for my observations on enterprise systems, the vendors that provide them, and the experiences of companies that implement them. What is an enterprise system? I define it broadly as a software application or suite of applications that are implemented across multiple business functions. Enterprise systems include applications that go by names such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management, customer relationship management (CRM), business intelligence, product lifecycle management, asset management, as well as many other emerging applications. Essentially, an enterprise system is a business application that serves users across multiple groups, departments, or business units.
I am particularly interested in how companies achieve benefits from information technology. Over the past decade, companies have made enormous investments in IT, often with limited results. What are the lessons learned, and what can executives do to improve their chances of success? Here are a few examples of posts on this subject:I've written on various trends in IT management, such as software on-demand, offshore outsourcing, and open source:
- Using Economic Value Added (EVA) to justify IT investments
- Marketing IT like a business
- IT: strategic investment or cost of doing business?
- High software maintenance fees and what to do about them
- IT decisions that are too important to leave to the IT department
- ERP implementation: putting processes and people first
- Four problems with ERP
- Solving the four problems with ERP
- Escaping the ROI trap
- Escaping the ROI Trap, Part 2
- Software on demand: attacking the cost structure of business systems
- Risks of offshore outsourcing
- Productivity risks in offshore outsourcing
- The supply-side argument for offshore software development
- Microsoft-sponsored study on Win2K vs. Linux is NOT all good news for Microsoft
- Buzzword alert: "open source"
And, of course, there are many posts on news and events related to specific software vendors, such as:
Because I've done quite a bit of work in the life sciences industries, I've also written a number of posts on FDA regulatory compliance related to software. For example:
- Lawson fires 100, blames Oracle
- PeopleSoft trying to shout above Oracle takeover "noise"
- SAP keeps on keepin' on
- First look at Microsoft's Axapta ERP system
- Microsoft Longhorn cutbacks threaten Project Green
- Big three vendors target small companies
- Microsoft: selling enterprise software is a "humbling experience"
- PeopleSoft breathes new life into JDE World product
- Ross Systems gets "Shanghai’ed"
- SSA delivers long awaited next generation version of Baan
- Latest from the IFS World conference
If you find this blog interesting, you can sign up for a free periodic e-mail of recent posts (sent out once a week or so). Just enter your e-mail address in the right hand column where indicated. Be assured that your e-mail address will not be shared with anyone else.
- Barriers to implementing electronic signatures
- Turning software validation into a meaningful exercise
- Buzzword alert: Part 11 compliance
- Oracle unveils new electronic signature functionality for FDA regulated manufacturers
If you have thoughts or contrary opinions that you would like to share, feel free to comment on any recent post. Or, if you have news, insights, or gossip that you think I'd be interested in, please drop me an e-mail. My address is in the right hand column.
Thanks for visiting!
Send tips, rumors, gossip, and feedback to Frank Scavo at
. I'm especially interested in hearing about best practices, lessons learned, horror stories, and case studies of success or failure.
