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            <title>X-Engineering Redux</title>
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            <description>&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;by &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=5&amp;amp;Itemid=21#Jim"&gt;Jim Champy&lt;/a&gt; - Vice Chairman, Stryve Advisors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;In 2002, I wrote &lt;em&gt;X-Engineering the Corporation&lt;/em&gt;, one of several follow-on’s to the original Reengineering book, published by Mike Hammer and me ten years earlier. That first book focused heavily on processes inside a company. The idea behind X-Engineering is that there is as much, if not more, to be gained by collaboratively reengineering the business processes that cross organizational boundaries – processes that engage suppliers, customers, regulators, business partners. The “X” stood for crossing boundaries.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;I defined X-Engineering as “the art and science of using technology-enabled processes to connect businesses with other businesses and companies with their customers to achieve dramatic improvements in efficiency and create value for everyone involved.” What had changed between 1992 and 2002 was the ubiquity of information technology. Technology would now allow companies and customers to operate in fundamentally new ways. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Although the X-Engineering book offered several examples of how companies could more productively engage their customers and employees, I must admit that, in 2002, the benefits most companies were seeing came from X-Engineering their supply chains.  If I were to rewrite the X-Engineering book today, it would focus much more on the relationship between companies and their customers. The ubiquity of information technology, the proliferation of customer choice, and the rise of social media now conspire to change that relationship.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;But the construct of that book, what I called “the Three Ps” – process, proposition, and participation – still applies, with even more force.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Process.&lt;/strong&gt; Prior to the introduction of reengineering thinking, companies were considered to be made up of people, structure, and strategy. Reengineering added processes, how work is performed. Today, the processes that face customers – sales, marketing, order-fulfillment, service – are no longer just owned by a company. They are shared with customers and customers expect to have a say on their design. The internet shoe retailer, Zappos, is a good example of a company that – in spite of its gigantic scale – responds to individual customer wants and needs. When a service representative answers a customer call, they do what the customer wants. Processes are in place to meet the customer need at the moment of engagement. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proposition.&lt;/strong&gt; In the end, customers buy a product or service – and return to buy more – because they see value, the “proposition” that a company offers. But what’s valued differs from customer to customer. You could offer a proposition that is based just on price, but today’s intense competition requires a proposition that adds one or more of the following: quality, service, speed, variety, customization, or innovation. A company must be clear on the value proposition its customers demand and put in place the operational processes to deliver that value.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;A retailer like Target aspires to deliver on several value points: a variety of quality, innovative products at a competitive price, combined with a pleasant shopping experience. It takes a lot of focus on process to deliver on multiple propositions.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Participation.&lt;/strong&gt; This is where the world continues to change. Customers just want and expect more say in how business is done. Their voice – what they like and dislike – is amplified by social media. Increasingly they choose to shop on-line for reasons of convenience, choice, and price. But they also want to participate in a company’s on-line presence – not just buy, but customize what they want, customize how they interact with your site, and then tell you what they think. I think differently about the publications that I have on my Kindle than I do about the books on my shelves – variety, price, length – and I can tell the author what I think about what she wrote.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;The change in the character of the “the Three Ps” requires one other change in corporate behavior – an increase in transparency. If you really want to engage customers in a beneficial way in your operations, you have to be prepared to give customers the information they want and need. If this makes your company uncomfortable, begin by facing the truth – there are no longer any corporate secrets. The Internet sees to that.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.istryve.com/mailto:jim@istryve.com?subject=POV Comment: X-Engineering Redux"&gt;Email the Author&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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            <author> deformer@ukr.net (Administrator)</author>
            <pubDate>Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>Time to Act on Mobile</title>
            <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~3/RIUgdJtXyPA/index.php</link>
            <description>&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;by &lt;strong&gt;Kevin Hall - Senior Manager, Stryve Advisors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;The value that the future workforce puts on technology choice and social media freedom is astonishing. A recent Cisco study of college students and young professionals shows that 56% will not accept a job from a company that bans social media or they will circumvent the policy, while 41% of employees say their employers marketed a flexible device and social media policy to recruit them. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Today’s workforce understands the demands that are placed on them to produce while “on” and “off” the clock. – the need to work from any location and at any time. Employees want the freedom to choose the devices they will be working from and will circumvent the policies to get their way.  Employers must meet them half way with secure solutions that will meet employee needs while safeguarding corporate interests.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-1"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #d1232d;"&gt;Winds of Change&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Mobility is a dominant social and technological phenomenon shaping the way that we interact with each other. There are three main forces driving the change and the ever increasing demand for mobility: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mobile Technology&lt;/strong&gt; – Every big box electronics store now offers slicker, more affordable technology than major hardware vendors entrenched in the corporate market.  The capabilities of this technology match or exceed products offered by enterprise vendors with a cleaner look, improved usability and a better price.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mobile Workplace &lt;/strong&gt;– The shift to the “mobile worker” continues to accelerate.  This is not only because telecommuting is more common, but because the workforce is being asked to do more with less.  They are in search of ways to maintain a quality work-life balance, and they can get their job done just as easily with their personal mobile device as their company-issued computer.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mobile Customers&lt;/strong&gt; – The mobile device provides a new channel for accessing customers.  Many organizations have already identified mobile applications as table stakes for competition. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Consumers have embraced the advances in mobile technology, have found ways to make their lives easier because of it, and are bringing it in to the workplace.  Chances are that employees with mobile devices are already circumventing your controls despite your best efforts.  The time has come to develop a comprehensive mobile strategy that is proactive and engaging.  The mobility movement has opened an opportunity to prove the value of technology to the organization.  Embrace the opportunity!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-1"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #d1232d;"&gt;Changing Role of the &lt;em&gt;Gatekeeper&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;IT has traditionally tried to control all technology that enters the Enterprise.  When new technology emerged, Corporate IT was tasked with running it through the wringer to make sure it was enterprise ready.  With the pace of today’s technology development and the proliferation of devices, keeping pace has become a never-ending cycle and most are not succeeding. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;We have all heard the stories about how the iPad appeared in the Enterprise – a C-Level executive bought one over the weekend and demanded that corporate IT configure it to receive e-mail.  One or two exceptions became twenty, and a pilot was started, but the solution was still not standard.  This approach cannot be maintained as a long-term strategy. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;IT must acknowledge that the business requires a comprehensive strategy for meeting the changing needs of the business and allowing end users to choose the best tool for their jobs, while still protecting corporate information assets. Whether the approach is oriented toward control or enablement, the strategy must define the policies and processes for mobile access with clear communication to the end user.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-1"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #d1232d;"&gt;Factors to Consider&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;There are five key factors to consider when defining your mobile strategy.  These factors must be addressed now and reviewed regularly. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Control&lt;/strong&gt; – What is the right level of IT control for your business? Is the functionality built into the phone and back end sufficient to meet your company’s policy, or is there a need for added control through third party apps? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Liability&lt;/strong&gt; – When can we safely move to a Bring Your own Device (BYOD) approach? Some employees can handle the responsibility now, but will all your employees be ready to bring their own tools to the table in the future? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Profiles&lt;/strong&gt; – Who is the right audience for these solutions?  Determining the right target group for the pilot was easy, but can a more targeted, role-based approach be enacted to enhance reliability of the solution?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Choice&lt;/strong&gt; – When can we support any device? Supporting the two major smartphone platforms is pretty easy today, but why not expand that to any phone or computer to minimize acquisition and support costs?&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Experience&lt;/strong&gt; – How do we preserve the native experience?  Preserving the native experience of the employee-chosen platform is key to adoption of the solution. Has the solution chosen to secure the company data robbed the end user of the experience they are used to and risked the adoption?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt; The development of an organization’s mobile strategy is not easy.  There are a significant number of variables to consider.  With the right mobile strategy implemented, an organization can address the concerns of information security while meeting the needs of the mobile workforce in a 24/7-access world. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.istryve.com/mailto:kevin@istryve.com?subject=POV Comment: Time to Act on Mobile"&gt;Email the Author&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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            <author> deformer@ukr.net (Administrator)</author>
            <pubDate>Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=102:timetoacxtonmobile&amp;catid=4:points-of-view&amp;Itemid=41</guid>
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        <item>
            <title>Culture to Advance Innovation</title>
            <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~3/MDHW7C-fdtc/index.php</link>
            <description>&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;by &lt;a href="http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=85&amp;amp;Itemid=22#Rachel" target="_blank"&gt;Rachel Bryan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;- Partner, Stryve Advisors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-1"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #d1232d;"&gt;How Do We Define Innovation?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt; “Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time.”  – Bill Gates &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Who isn’t a fan of innovation?  It is the primary driver of increased performance, growth, and profitability. But what exactly is innovation?  Andrew Hargadon, Professor of Technology Management at the University of California, Graduate School of Management, said, "I’ve never met anyone who was against innovation. Why is that? My hunch is because we are too lax with our words”.  In other words, there appears to be some disagreement about what innovation actually involves. At Stryve, we define innovation in the following way:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Innovation mixes creativity, imagination, invention, and entrepreneurship within the context of solving complex problems and developing new ideas and technologies to create value and advantage for both businesses and consumers. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Ideas are cheap — it’s the business execution that allows us to truly innovate and reap the rewards.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Innovation requires a transformative way of thinking.  Think about the following questions:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt; Who is injecting innovative ideas into your IT group?  Into your business?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; What innovations are on the horizon that you should know about?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; Are you able to keep up with the innovation demands and expectations of the business? &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; How much time do you allocate to innovation discovery and education?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; Does your IT group focus on operational and transactional business applications at the expense of more forward-looking solutions?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt; How does your IT group recruit and retain the best talent?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Your answers to these questions can provide a benchmark to measure against as you begin or continue your journey toward effective and successful innovation so that in the future, your answers are unequivocally aligned with and in support of your organization’s goals.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-1"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #d1232d;"&gt;What are the Components of Successful Innovation?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” – Steve Jobs &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;What makes Silicon Valley so successful?  It isn’t one thing that’s easily reproduced, but rather a collection of attitudes and strategies that embody what we call innovation, including:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;culture of risk takers&lt;/strong&gt; that embraces the commercialization of technology&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;An &lt;strong&gt;ecosystem that supports innovation&lt;/strong&gt; through good ideas (incubation), human talent, financial support, and the competencies required to execute on an idea&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;A &lt;strong&gt;tolerance for failure&lt;/strong&gt; without “black marks” or a stigma attached - with the ability to pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and try again&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Constant reinvention&lt;/strong&gt; – after the dot-com bust, Silicon Valley reinvented itself through gaming (World of Warcraft, Happy Farm), social media (Facebook, Twitter), and effective online commerce (Zappos, Amazon, eBay)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Right people, right reward&lt;/strong&gt; – innovation requires talent.  For example, the most creative Apple designers are compensated at 2 to 3 times that of their counterparts.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Strong Leadership&lt;/strong&gt; –  with champions at the executive level that prioritize innovation, provide direction and focus, and apply customer needs and market nuances.  Leadership must inject energy and passion behind innovation initiatives.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Because culture is the most important element of the equation, building that culture &lt;em&gt;throughout the organization&lt;/em&gt; is a fundamental component for staying successful, staying relevant, sustaining competitive advantage, and maintaining healthy profitability. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Should there be a culture of innovation throughout the organization? Yes. Should everyone have the opportunity to innovate? Yes, individually, on teams, and as part of the wisdom of the crowd. Is everyone going to be an innovator? Not necessarily, and not to equal degrees. Some people are more prolific at innovation, and they should be recognized for that contribution. The traditional problem with innovation is the simple fact that innovation efforts and units have been compartmentalized (i.e., R&amp;amp;D does innovation for us) that restrict the rest of the organization from contributing. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Everyone has ideas – many of them ingenious - and the collective wisdom of the organization can be harnessed to establish new service offerings and new products, but only if your employees have the opportunity to share these ideas.  This a significant incentive that keeps employees feeling valued.  The reverse situation, where these opportunities are made available only to a small, elite group, can be devastating and demoralizing.  Many of the best ideas may come from IT developers, architects, infrastructure teams – those nerds in the corner that don’t typically interact directly with your customers or your business.  But, as Bill Gates said, “Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one”.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;A leader doesn’t provide all of the best ideas, but rather becomes the champion for innovation by prioritizing and providing focus.  Let the entire organization explore creative ideas, and then leadership can rationalize and prioritize those ideas in ways that provide value to the business through a filter of customer and market needs.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-1"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #d1232d;"&gt;What are the Benefits of Innovating?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Most companies are driven by “the market”.  Due to the pressures of shareholders, investors, market valuation, credit ratings, and speculators, companies often focus on short-term results such as profit, sales, and performance at the expense of longer-term results.  As a result, R&amp;amp;D is often ignored, with the company’s focus going to short-term measures and the support of existing and often inadequate systems and technology.  This focus is driven by flawed logic, based on the idea that new projects cost money and existing operations do not. And often the return on investment for new initiatives can be difficult to quantify, making it even harder to justify the expense of innovation.  So instead, they market what exists because it is perceived to be cheaper. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;For many companies to survive and prosper, they must differentiate themselves from the pack using measures such as product quality and operational efficiency.  And to differentiate, they must innovate and change.  Otherwise, they run a significant risk of losing their luster, and thus their customers, and inevitably their market share.  And for those that are not as pressured to differentiate due to locked-in markets or those measured by price that may require minimal innovation, it may still be a very important practice to embrace “soft” benefits such as boosting morale, retaining employees, cultivating trust, and improving organizational communication.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-1"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #d1232d;"&gt;Conclusion &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Trendsetters don’t let roadblocks get in the way of creativity; rather, they embrace these challenges and turn them into opportunities.  They capitalize on their ideas by intimately knowing their customers and markets – and then they strive for perfection so that they can realize the positive outcomes from their ideas, creativity, and imagination. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;When companies give their entire organization opportunities to grow through collective creativity, they can successfully implement these ideas - and ultimately position their organization to achieve their desired goal and outcomes.  By building a constructive process that fuels innovation, companies will yield countless benefits.  Who doesn't want that? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.istryve.com/mailto:rachel@istryve.com?subject=POV Comment: Culture to Advance Innovation"&gt;Email the Author&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=MDHW7C-fdtc:mx7gIQSgajI:63t7Ie-LG7Y"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=MDHW7C-fdtc:mx7gIQSgajI:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=MDHW7C-fdtc:mx7gIQSgajI:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=MDHW7C-fdtc:mx7gIQSgajI:V_sGLiPBpWU"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?i=MDHW7C-fdtc:mx7gIQSgajI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~4/MDHW7C-fdtc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
            <author> deformer@ukr.net (Administrator)</author>
            <pubDate>Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=99:culturetoadvanceinnovation&amp;catid=4:points-of-view&amp;Itemid=41</guid>
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        <item>
            <title>Making Collaboration Work</title>
            <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~3/dqBmccn49hU/index.php</link>
            <description>&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;by &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=85&amp;amp;Itemid=22#Bob"&gt;Bob Morison&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;- Research Director, Stryve Advisors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;We hear a lot of talk about collaboration these days, and organizations regularly pledge allegiance to its importance. Yet few are purposeful in how they enable and encourage collaboration, and so few really capitalize on how collaboration can help their businesses.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;The growing role and importance of collaboration are pretty obvious. Global and round-the-clock operations, networked business models relying extensively on outside partners, activist customers who want control over products, services, and the process of purchase and consumption – to thrive under these conditions, businesses need to collaborate extensively and effectively both inside the organization and out in the marketplace. Collaboration can be key to efficient operations, responsive service, rapid innovation, and better decision-making in a complex enterprise.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Information technology, of course, makes this complexity possible by giving us the tools to manage it. And the recent wave of Web 2.0 tools has dramatically increased our ability to locate, connect with, learn from, and collaborate with others. But the popularity of tools, starting with Facebook and Twitter, has also fed some misconceptions regarding collaboration, especially in a business context. We often say “collaborate” when all we’re really doing is connecting and sharing basic information. And we sometimes assume that, because the tools are simple to use, collaboration is easy, and it will expand virally.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Armed with that second assumption, many companies have taken the “if you build it, they will come” approach. Install some technology for collaboration, and good things will happen. More often than not, they find adoption slow, results sporadic, and the value of the investment questioned. Technology enables collaboration but doesn’t cause it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Business collaboration is not easy (and in some corporate structures and cultures it may be downright difficult). It may require changes to skills, attitudes, incentives, and business methods to unleash the power and value of collaboration. The company that wants to capitalize on collaboration must be purposeful about it. Start with a clear view of what collaboration is and isn’t. We’re talking about getting work done, not just connecting and communicating in general.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2" style="padding-left: 30px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Business collaboration&lt;/strong&gt; is working together to achieve a level of performance, or to create something new, that is superior to what any individual entity could do alone.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Then be specific about where collaboration can be most important to the business – what people, doing what activities, pursuing what objectives? For example, collaboration can be leveraged where the work entails innovation, people and tasks are dispersed, and people haven’t worked together before. You may well provide a basic collaboration toolkit to all employees, but focus your efforts to encourage collaboration where the objectives are important and measurable.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Recognize that collaboration takes different forms, and that collaborations can in fact be designed and managed. Consider these four dimensions:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Type&lt;/strong&gt; – For example, are similar activities being coordinated across business units, or different activities being linked in a value chain? To what extent do the people collaborating “speak the same language” to begin with?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scale/Scope&lt;/strong&gt; – How many entities are involved, and how much of the business and marketplace do they span? Does the addition of each new collaborator leverage the “network effect” – or make things more complicated? What ambition is reasonable?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Intensity&lt;/strong&gt; – At one extreme, do people simply share knowledge that improves each other’s work? At the other, are they altering and integrating their work to form a new and more collaborative business process?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Duration &lt;/strong&gt;– Short-term collaborations, such as temporary teams addressing specific business problems, are relatively simple to shape and motivate. Long-term collaborations need much more attention to the “rules of engagement.”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;With those factors in mind, you can anticipate how a collaboration should play out, you can equip it with technology that fits the tasks and workflow, and you can provide training and incentives to collaborate well. The enemies to overcome are organizational silos, the not-invented-here syndrome, and localized rewards. Collaboration must be recognized, measured, and rewarded – and failure to collaborate where needed must carry consequences. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;As you close this collaboration loop, you can really put collaboration to work:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.istryve.com/images/stories/POV/makingcollaborationwork.png" width="555" height="406" alt="makingcollaborationwork" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt; For more detailed coverage of these ideas and recommendations, Stryve Members can view the “Business Collaboration Basics” section of the Stryve Outcome Project,  Analytics and Collaboration, research report. To discuss further, please contact &lt;a href="http://www.istryve.com/mailto:bob.morison@istryve.com?subject=POV Comment: Making Collaboration Work"&gt;bob.morison@istryve.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=dqBmccn49hU:YN0K3Bqa-yY:63t7Ie-LG7Y"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=dqBmccn49hU:YN0K3Bqa-yY:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=dqBmccn49hU:YN0K3Bqa-yY:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=dqBmccn49hU:YN0K3Bqa-yY:V_sGLiPBpWU"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?i=dqBmccn49hU:YN0K3Bqa-yY:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~4/dqBmccn49hU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
            <author> deformer@ukr.net (Administrator)</author>
            <pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:52:34 GMT</pubDate>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=97:makingcollabwork&amp;catid=4:points-of-view&amp;Itemid=41</guid>
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            <title>Rejuvenating the Core</title>
            <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~3/E_BrRtZj-no/index.php</link>
            <description>&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;by &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=5&amp;amp;Itemid=21#Colby"&gt;Colby Thames&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;- Managing Partner, Stryve Advisors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Over the past few years, we have witnessed an unprecedented flood of information technology innovation. The confluence of social media, mobility, cloud computing, collaborative platforms, software as a service, and other technologies is radically redefining the way that information technology drives and supports enterprises in almost every industry.  However, in the face of these disruptive technologies and rapidly increasing demand by business users, most IT executives are finding that their current environment – evolved over years in support of their core business activities – is not well suited for innovation and the new wave of enabling technologies that is upon them.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;As this generation of emerging technologies proliferates, organizations must assess the value of these tools and what they can do for core operations. A useful prism for viewing this issue is the core/edge dynamic and what it means for the way organizations innovate, deploy new information technology, and govern their IT assets.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;By &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Core&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, we mean the existing operations, processes, systems, technologies, governance model, and mindset that run the enterprise. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;By &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edge &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;we mean any new process, tool, technology, or system that brings beneficial change or innovation into a company’s operations.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;It’s extremely difficult to introduce  the benefits of innovation within the single, core-centric governance model that most organizations employ today. The prevailing model is characterized by a fervent protection of the Core because of the need to manage scale, drive efficiencies, and ultimately lower the cost of both technology and business operations. This core-oriented governance approach will always have a bias toward inertia, which is highly appropriate for large, scaled operations that must focus on managing the downside of risk.  Organizations that try to inject innovation (either process innovation or new enabling technologies) into the core find it highly frustrating because of the weight of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) requirements, and the glacial pace of change associated with it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Increasingly, it’s not enough for organizations to manage toward operational excellence.  Business users know that innovative technologies can help drive product development, growth, market access, and other expansive outcomes.  They are increasingly tasking their IT executives with leveraging IT to expand growth alongside reducing costs and mitigating risk.  These seemingly contradictory outcomes are not possible without the introduction of Edge activity into Core operations.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Unless organizations have a well-defined innovation development process, Edge activity tends to arise as “rogue.” Change-minded employees, frustrated by lack of flexibility, circumvent the Core by deploying their own process or technology because they can’t get what they need from an enterprise’s core operations. This results in underground Edge activities that cannot scale, and creates an environment of one-off, siloed solutions.  Organizations experiencing this type of Edge activity need a way to sanction these efforts, repatriate them into the Core, and integrate them such that they can scale up and create enterprise value.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;What is required to integrate the Core and Edge into the same operating environment? In addition to the development of an innovation-oriented mindset, the key enabler is a dual governance model based specifically on the Core/Edge dynamic. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Core governance has a well-defined set of management processes that emphasize stability, efficiency, risk management, security, and scale. Edge governance should be set up around a set of management principles that emphasize experimentation, innovation, value seeking, and management of change. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;A dual governance model is necessary to manage these diverse activities.   Even more importantly,  it is crucial for defining how Edge activities interact with, draw resources from, and ultimately migrate to and rejuvenate the Core.  When an Edge activity or technology demonstrates that it can deliver valuable business outcomes like reduced cost, reduced cycle time, product differentiation, or increased market access, it should rapidly be assimilated into Core operations and into the Core governance structure.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Organizations must figure out how to break the innovation gridlock that their current operating models impose. The Core must be conditioned for change in the form of process or technology innovations that demonstrate value. Otherwise, innovation will continually hit a brick wall and the business community will continue to have difficulty with the complexity and flexibility of the Core. Core/Edge governance is not the driver of innovation, but it is a necessary companion.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.istryve.com/mailto:colby@istryve.com?subject=POV Comment: Rejuvenating the Core"&gt;Email the Author&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=E_BrRtZj-no:K2PI2N1S5YI:63t7Ie-LG7Y"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=E_BrRtZj-no:K2PI2N1S5YI:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=E_BrRtZj-no:K2PI2N1S5YI:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=E_BrRtZj-no:K2PI2N1S5YI:V_sGLiPBpWU"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?i=E_BrRtZj-no:K2PI2N1S5YI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~4/E_BrRtZj-no" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
            <author> deformer@ukr.net (Administrator)</author>
            <pubDate>Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=93:rejuvenatingthecore&amp;catid=4:points-of-view&amp;Itemid=41</guid>
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            <title>Growing in Challenging Times</title>
            <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~3/KdJ8Qv0zrxY/index.php</link>
            <description>&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;by &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=5&amp;amp;Itemid=21#Jim"&gt;Jim Champy&lt;/a&gt; - Vice Chairman, Stryve Advisors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Each day, I pass by two large vacant storefronts on my walk to work here in Boston. Both spaces had been occupied by national retailers whose recent bankruptcy made business headlines. Were these enterprises just the victims of an extended recession? Not really. Both businesses failed because of management’s unwillingness to make hard decisions and take quick actions. Most companies aren’t forced to failure by recession.&amp;nbsp; Something else is usually in the mix. In fact, it’s even possible to grow a business during challenging economic times. As anecdotal proof of that assertion, across from those vacant store fronts is a national retailer whose business is booming.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;A company today – having lived through the challenges of the three years since 2008 – should no longer focus just on survival.&amp;nbsp; It’s time to turn attention to growth. Shareholders are always looking for growth and more profits. But growth also creates the space for new ideas and better products. Growth is the fuel that can renew an older business. Growth provides opportunity for a company’s people. And a company that doesn’t grow often slips into ill health.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;But growth today won’t come as easily as it did in pre-2008 times. Most economies won’t grow more than a couple of percentage points for a while, and some markets are predicted to shrink. I learned a few recessions ago that growth for a company only comes if it performs better than its competitors. Here’s some prescription for how to do that in challenging times.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Focus on what you do well.&lt;/i&gt; When profits come easily, a company can make dumb decisions on what to do with its free cash flow. A company will drift into markets that it knows nothing about. I have always been amused by Google’s inclination to change the world in every market. It’s a company that has great resources and deep pockets – but what it really knows well is the business of search. It’s OK to move into adjacent markets, but a company should never move into markets that it knows little about. It is best served to stay focused on what it does know.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;In challenging times, it’s important to leverage your strengths. Experimenting with new products or services can be part of business development, but don’t let the experiment go beyond your trained sensibilities in your industry.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Find the resources for innovation&lt;/i&gt;. How to do that is simple to state, harder to implement: just stop doing the stuff that is not paying off and draining valuable resources. In my most recent book, &lt;i&gt;DELIVER!,&lt;/i&gt; I write about a company you may not have heard of, Jarden. But you most likely have heard about some of its brands and products: Coleman camping equipment, Crock Pot slow cookers, First Alert household alarms, K2 skis, Ball home canning jars, Rawlings sporting goods, and Mr. Coffee coffeemakers.&amp;nbsp; Jarden has grown by acquisition, but its formula for growth after acquiring a company is to eliminate non-value added work and invest the savings in innovation.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;I have always been struck by how companies with billion dollar budgets can’t find a nickel to put into something new. That’s because they avoid making hard decisions about programs and products that have taken on a life of their own. It’s not easy to stop doing something, but there can be exciting returns in directing resources to where they can make a real difference in growth.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Innovate processes&lt;/i&gt;. Innovating for growth may not require new products or services. Sometimes, just changing your customers’ experience may give you the advantage you need over competitors. And that experience can be changed by reinventing processes that engage your customers. Zappos, for example, did not invent shoes or direct retailing. But it did design a customer experience that’s unique in the retail shoe industry.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Innovating processes may not require much capital. I see a lot of process innovation – particularly IT or internet based innovation – that is not capital intensive. No new factories or warehouses are needed, just careful thought and design about how to better engage customers.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;During these times, I am often reminded of the economist, Paul Samuelson, who when asked about an impending monetary crisis, responded , “The sun will come up tomorrow and the bridges will continue to bear the traffic.” Today, the internet and the ubiquity of information technology already provide a bridge to and from customers. Now is the time to focus on using that bridge for growth.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.istryve.com/mailto:jim@istryve.com?subject=POV Comment: Growing in Challenging Times"&gt;Email the Author&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=KdJ8Qv0zrxY:gQsl3G0qVLM:63t7Ie-LG7Y"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=KdJ8Qv0zrxY:gQsl3G0qVLM:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=KdJ8Qv0zrxY:gQsl3G0qVLM:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=KdJ8Qv0zrxY:gQsl3G0qVLM:V_sGLiPBpWU"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?i=KdJ8Qv0zrxY:gQsl3G0qVLM:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~4/KdJ8Qv0zrxY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
            <author> deformer@ukr.net (Administrator)</author>
            <pubDate>Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=92:growinginchallengingtimes&amp;catid=4:points-of-view&amp;Itemid=41</guid>
        <feedburner:origLink>http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=92:growinginchallengingtimes&amp;catid=4:points-of-view&amp;Itemid=41</feedburner:origLink></item>
        <item>
            <title>New Models for the Next Generation of Shared Services</title>
            <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~3/cwGtwfPTqpA/index.php</link>
            <description>&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;In our last POV, we made the case that today’s Shared Services executive is under increased pressure to simultaneously increase service levels, drive more innovation, and reduce costs. However, to make this happen the forward-thinking SSO executive must examine SSO operations with a new lens to find innovative ways to meet diverse and seemingly incompatible objectives.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; In this POV, Stryve's Colby Thames examines new approaches that could drive an SSO to an optimal operational model that unlocks innovation while also reducing overall costs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;Click &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.istryve.com/images/stories/POV/Stryve_POV_Shared_Services-New_Models.pdf"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="content-text-style-2"&gt; to read. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=cwGtwfPTqpA:KDuAOHQJK38:63t7Ie-LG7Y"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=cwGtwfPTqpA:KDuAOHQJK38:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=cwGtwfPTqpA:KDuAOHQJK38:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=cwGtwfPTqpA:KDuAOHQJK38:V_sGLiPBpWU"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?i=cwGtwfPTqpA:KDuAOHQJK38:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~4/cwGtwfPTqpA" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
            <author> deformer@ukr.net (Administrator)</author>
            <pubDate>Tue, 31 May 2011 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=80:nextgensharedservicesnew-models&amp;catid=4:points-of-view&amp;Itemid=41</guid>
        <feedburner:origLink>http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=80:nextgensharedservicesnew-models&amp;catid=4:points-of-view&amp;Itemid=41</feedburner:origLink></item>
        <item>
            <title>What's Next for Shared Services</title>
            <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~3/Ya7QbDznFcs/index.php</link>
            <description>&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;At Stryve, it is our point of view that a playbook for the next generation of Shared Services organizations does not yet exist.  If this is true, what is the new mandate for today’s Shared Services executive?  Does today’s environment call for supporting the business with innovation, providing more of a service orientation to its internal customers, continuing to search for cost savings by driving even more significant efficiencies, or all of the above? The real challenge for Shared Services executives is that they must address this multi-imperative environment without a map: they are entering a new phase of analysis and investment where there isn’t a model, and they must move beyond the boundaries within which they currently operate.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;In this Point of View, Stryve Advisors' Colby Thames discusses the next generation for Shared Services in which organizations move beyond these boundaries.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;Click &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.istryve.com/images/stories/POV/Stryve_POV_-_Whats_Next_for_Shared_Services.pdf"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="content-text-style-2"&gt; to read. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=Ya7QbDznFcs:8zyE-WdTNmg:63t7Ie-LG7Y"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=Ya7QbDznFcs:8zyE-WdTNmg:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=Ya7QbDznFcs:8zyE-WdTNmg:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=Ya7QbDznFcs:8zyE-WdTNmg:V_sGLiPBpWU"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?i=Ya7QbDznFcs:8zyE-WdTNmg:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~4/Ya7QbDznFcs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
            <author> deformer@ukr.net (Administrator)</author>
            <pubDate>Wed, 18 May 2011 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=78:nextgensharedservices&amp;catid=4:points-of-view&amp;Itemid=41</guid>
        <feedburner:origLink>http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=78:nextgensharedservices&amp;catid=4:points-of-view&amp;Itemid=41</feedburner:origLink></item>
        <item>
            <title>Social Business Process Reengineering</title>
            <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~3/S5eg9GrcSxw/index.php</link>
            <description>&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;Business process reengineering (BPR) is the analysis and design of workflows and processes within an organization. Traditionally organizations have used BPR to optimize their existing applications (ERP, client server), but little has been done in the way of innovation through social media technologies.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;In this Point of View, Stryve Advisors' Colby Thames discusses Social BPR, an emerging practice that examines and maximizes your business processes through the integration of social media technologies.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;Click &lt;a href="http://www.istryve.com/images/stories/Stryve_Advisors-_Social_BPR.pdf" target="_blank"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="content-text-style-2"&gt; to read. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=S5eg9GrcSxw:ay9WNdNgSAw:63t7Ie-LG7Y"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=S5eg9GrcSxw:ay9WNdNgSAw:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=S5eg9GrcSxw:ay9WNdNgSAw:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=S5eg9GrcSxw:ay9WNdNgSAw:V_sGLiPBpWU"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?i=S5eg9GrcSxw:ay9WNdNgSAw:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~4/S5eg9GrcSxw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
            <author> deformer@ukr.net (Administrator)</author>
            <pubDate>Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:01:09 GMT</pubDate>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=75:social-bpr&amp;catid=4:points-of-view&amp;Itemid=41</guid>
        <feedburner:origLink>http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=75:social-bpr&amp;catid=4:points-of-view&amp;Itemid=41</feedburner:origLink></item>
        <item>
            <title>Finding Value in Social Tools for the Enterprise</title>
            <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~3/Do8borpWA20/index.php</link>
            <description>&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;Using social and collaborative tools within the enterprise is clearly of some value, but it’s been difficult to articulate, pinpoint, and quantify the specific value that an organization realizes from utilizing these tools. Organizations are beginning to ask questions such as:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Where is the real value in social tools? &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Can social tools enhance my core business processes or do they only provide another silo of information to consider?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Can social tools be integrated with existing tools to drive the most value? If so, how?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;In this Point of View, Stryve Advisors' Colby Thames continues to examine the &lt;em&gt;SocialPrise&lt;/em&gt;, the marriage of social media and enterprise processes and applications, and introduces the concept of Social Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), where we look at ways to integrate existing systems with social tools for new insights and a complete picture of business processes that have never been available before.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="content-text-style-2"&gt;Click &lt;a href="http://www.istryve.com/images/stories/Stryve_Advisors_-_Finding_Value_in_Social_Tools_for_the_Enterprise.pdf" target="_blank"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="content-text-style-2"&gt; to read. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=Do8borpWA20:JKwyWiEjmPM:63t7Ie-LG7Y"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=Do8borpWA20:JKwyWiEjmPM:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=Do8borpWA20:JKwyWiEjmPM:qj6IDK7rITs"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?a=Do8borpWA20:JKwyWiEjmPM:V_sGLiPBpWU"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/StryvePOVFeed?i=Do8borpWA20:JKwyWiEjmPM:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/StryvePOVFeed/~4/Do8borpWA20" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
            <author> deformer@ukr.net (Administrator)</author>
            <pubDate>Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:31:38 GMT</pubDate>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.istryve.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=71:findingvaluesocialtoolsenterprise&amp;catid=4:points-of-view&amp;Itemid=41</guid>
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