Organizations are recognizing the need to rethink the systems and processes that run their businesses and evaluate new ways to empower the people who support them. Doing so can release a wave of creativity, productivity and problem solving that generates tangible results.
The Alliance for Paired Donation has reduced the time it takes to match an organ donor with a recipient from weeks to seconds using sophisticated software, with the long-term potential of saving more than $1 billion in healthcare costs. Similarly, the State of Missouri Office of Homeland Security dramatically increased disaster preparedness by revising its business processes and portal to manage diverse information systems, while SAT-Mexico, the country's taxation agency, cut paperwork by 93 percent by improving workflow between human and automated processes. In addition, U.S. Bank, supported by smart collaboration, is embarking on a growth strategy to develop new product insights and enable the sharing of innovative ideas among employees through social software from IBM, while Delaware County Bank and Trust is managing projects in real time and delivering on-the-spot services to customers by deploying IBM collaboration and information sharing technologies.
Despite these and other client successes, an average of 5.3 hours per employee per week is wasted because of inefficient business processes, while two-thirds of employees believe there are colleagues who can help them do their jobs better, but don't know how to find them.
In a new survey of 176 business and IT leaders, IBM uncovered key findings about ways to overcome barriers to driving better results. According to the survey, empowering line of business users to make changes to business processes is the single most important priority. Furthermore, companies that are the most adaptive and responsive to change leverage mobile and wireless technologies for enhanced collaboration, make rapid changes to business processes in response to changing market conditions, and are efficient at locating the right information to make better decisions. The IBM survey also showed that 70 percent of CIOs say optimizing processes is a top priority, while nearly three-quarters cite customer and partner collaboration as key.
IBM will conduct a Smart Work "Jam" September 16-18 to externalize the dialogue and share ideas about Smart Work for a Smarter Planet. The Jam will include participation by James Surowiecki, business strategist and author of the bestseller, "The Wisdom of the Crowds." Business leaders, technologists, researchers and visionaries are invited to participate.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
There are many network courses that can address your present job's priorities and help you gain the needed skills to keep pace with industry changes and new technologies.
