Introduction to Microsoft Azure Governance: The purpose of this guide is to document Cloud Governance concepts, recommendations, and how-to guides to implement recommended strategies and policies. Each area of Cloud resource management is a continuous succession over the lifespan of a resource. This resource life-cycle starts with the initial deployment/configuration, through continued operation, upgrades, backups, […]
I have been involved in consulting for about 20 years now, and I think one of the biggest challenges (in the long term) for consulting firms is building a sense of ownership and fairness within the company. One of the biggest problems with people, in general, is that they overvalue what they do and undervalue […]
Calgary, Alberta is among the cities worst hit by the plummeting oil prices. “Home prices are down, unemployment is up, food bank usage is climbing, and no one knows when things might turn around with oil below $35 (U.S.) a barrel on Thursday, from highs of well over $100 less than two years ago”, reports […]
Companies are increasingly trying to get the most out of their information technology dollars. Project managers can strategically support their companies by acquainting yourself with the various aspects of offshoring. This will prepare you for what to expect and help you be more effective in your interactions with an offshore team. 1. Assess competence First, […]
This is the second post in our IT Vendor Management Series. The first was “3 Step Guide to Selecting B2B IT Vendors“. Once selected, the next step is to shortlist the vendors with whom you will want to set up a lasting relationship for acquiring development, maintenance, and support services. Stick to the following four steps […]
According to Gartner’s research published in April 2014, the worldwide ITO (Information technology Outsourcing) will consistently expand resulting in 5.9% compound annual growth rate from 2013 through 2018. Naturally, CIOs and ITPMs become the most important stakeholder in the decision to outsource their firm’s IT function. During the process of ITO, ITPMs prioritize their buying […]
The IT consulting space (and in professional services in general) companies rely heavily on the consultants that represent them with a particular client. You are only as good as your consultant is on that given day. One key requirement in that is having the consultant take ownership of work. This means owning the client’s problems […]
CIOs or organizations and owners of small consulting firms are usually people of the same age group (education, interests etc.). Yet a comparison between them reveals some interesting patterns which in turn explain some of the conflicts that arise between them. In a corporate culture that extensively promotes outsourcing of IT to consulting firms both […]
Most people in the IT Services Sales industry are not intimately aware of the value of their work to their consulting firms. Its no surprise then that most are under-compensated or sell themselves short. Here are a few things that they won’t normally tell you (or things they do tell that aren’t entirely true) 1. […]
There is something happening in the CIO world. The changes in roles & responsibilities that took supply chain managers, operations managers, and marketing managers by storm, have come to the shores of IT managers and CIOs. The old criteria of CIO performance used to be SLA enforcement & server up-time. The same is not true anymore. Here on, […]