On the third of October 2022, the "Microsoft Partner Network" was replaced and switched to the new "Microsoft Cloud Partner Program" (MCPP). In future, IT companies will be able to demonstrate their expertise in six areas of competence. Three different "Partner Capability Scores" are available for this, in which companies must prove themselves: Performance, qualification and customer success.

Objectives and Key Results (OKR) are among the much discussed leadership and management methods worldwide. The idea behind them is to steer companies through ambitious goals and measurable measures and to strengthen results, motivation and togetherness through maximum transparency. At Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, the "IT & Digital" department began structuring its work with OKRs a year ago. With the support of the management consultancy noventum consulting, representatives from different IT teams have now reviewed their previous approach in several workshops and set new standards for future work.

Around 2,500 employees and approx. 100,000 patients p.a. ensure a very high volume of data at Osnabrück Hospital. Data integrity and availability are particularly important in everyday hospital life. In particular, SharePoint's high adaptability and good connection to other Microsoft components tipped the scales in favor of the software. SharePoint experts from the Münster-based IT management consultancy noventum implemented the important project together with the KosIT specialists.

Pandemic and lockdown have presented many PMI projects with unexpected challenges. Communication structures had to be reorganized, the cooperation with some suppliers was put to the test and last but not least the collective exodus into the home offices turned out to be a paradigm shift for the project organization. The PMI consultants of noventum consulting have accompanied such a project in the early Corona period and have gained some surprising insights.

Digital transformation - i.e. the realignment of a company in terms of strategy, business model and the resources and processes used through the use of digital technologies - is relevant for all companies. The transformation process should be carefully prepared in order to identify unnecessary sources of error and convert them into success factors. Experienced consultants can help.

nc360°-Titelbild zum Artikel »Testmanagement in agilen Softwareprojekten«

In traditional software development, final tests are planned in advance. During the test period, test and troubleshooting phases alternate until the finished product is finally ready for installation and use. Agile software projects run differently and challenge this step-by-step approach. Combining classical (software) test management with the requirements of an agile organisation is a methodical challenge, but also holds many opportunities.

There are many collaboration platforms, and depending on the company's technical history, these may be from one of the large manufacturers or they may be small special applications, often with very individual options, suitable for the respective company's everyday life. What they have in common is that they are intended to ensure collaboration within the company or are also used with a corresponding interface in customer communication.

IT teams are currently under pressure from two sides: the business demands new and complex solutions that drive the digital transformation process, while at the same time the existing infrastructure must be kept up-to-date and operated smoothly. The lack of IT specialists is blocking staff growth, and outsourcing alone is not always the way out. In addition, the pressure in IT departments is increasing and employees are as dissatisfied as the longer queues of customers at the door.

The EU has developed a new privacy / data protection law, the “EU General Data Protection Regulation”. It has been in full force since May 2018 and there is still uncertainty among a lot of companies and their data protection officers as to what is actually required by the new regulations and what kind of impact they will specifically have on their data processing processes. Especially in the big data and business intelligence environment, fundamental conflicts of interest arise and widely spread paradigms regarding data retention and analysis will potentially have to be put into question. 

The following article provides an overview regarding the fundamental requirements of the GDPR and the obligations arising for companies and for the data protection officers, and outlines a possible approach to comply with these requirements. In addition, the impacts of the regulation are discussed in the business intelligence context and it is shown, based on the example of the Microsoft SQL Server platform, how the requirements of the new EU Directive can be covered by features of modern database management systems. 

Over the past few years, more and more IT service providers have relocated services to countries with lower wage levels, especially India. The aim of this offshoring is to meet the increased competitive and cost pressure of the markets. However, many companies had to realize after outsourcing that the expected savings potentials can only be partially realized. As great as the business incentives are, as high are the demands on the provider management of these offshore projects. Due to intercultural differences, serious inefficiencies can occur in such projects. In addition to purely organisational challenges, it is especially the large cultural differences that have a decisive influence on the success of an offshore project.

Even still today, IT is merely a means to an end at a lot of companies. The history of in-house IT is long and twisted, the basic technical facts are confusing, and only comprehensible to „old hands“ at the company. IT serves merely as a tool for the core business and does therefore not receive the attention of a strategic factor in the planning that is decisive for success. At the same time, IT costs a lot of money and has to prove that it has an up-to-date cost/benefit ratio. This is the moment for a paradigm shift: the end of reaction and the beginning of strategy and planning. Hartmut Ossowitzki, management consultant at noventum consulting, has been working as an IT specialist for more than 20 years and advises heads of IT regarding the setup of a strategic EAM (Enterprise Architecture Management).

The IT infrastructures of companies of different industries - in particular of those in the financial sector - must adhere to an increasing number of internal and external requirements. Among them are requirements from statutory rules and regulations (Sarbanes-Oxley Act), standards (PCI DSS, COBIT), norms (ISO/IEC 27001), and internal requirements. These must be taken into consideration on the strategic level as part of IT governance and have to be implemented via corresponding processes, resources, and guidelines on the operational level.

Bring Your Own Device is still among the most discussed trends in the IT industry. What‘s making BYOD interesting for companies? Or is BYOD just an acronym for „Bring Your Own Disaster“?

In the financial industry, digital customer communications were the domain of the direct banks for a long time. With the Electronic Mailbox, the IT service provider of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe savings and loan bank finance group is contributing to making the digital customer relations dialogue an essential customer care component of the regionally active savings and loan banks (Sparkassen).

Aside of the day-to-day and line business, projects are what is intended to effect any major change in the business processes. Heterogeneous working groups gather around the new task, at times staffed only internally, and at times also jointly with suppliers or consultants. The managers bearing these responsibilities must ask themselves who should be working on the project, which expertise and experience should the prospective team members bring to the table. Project management as skill, as best practice, as framework – which approach is the right one? Wolfgang Plemper who, as Director at noventum consulting is responsible for the project management training portfolio, is on the road with this topic at universities and companies knows different means: Prince2®, IPMA and other approaches.

The CHAOS Report of the Standish Group has been telling us for 20 years already that IT projects in a clear majority of cases do not achieve their objectives. Be it 16 % achievement of objectives in 1994 or 39 % in 2012, IT projects are not a safe bet and whether the increase by 23 percentage points of the last 20 years is actually the result of a stronger focus on objectives can definitely be doubted.

 

How often do you hear the familiar saying "Only that which can be measured can also be managed"? Managing includes three central tasks: setting objectives, determining paths, and achieving objectives.

IT is the backbone of the modern enterprise, not just another function within it. For businesses to continue to succeed in an increasingly technology-dependent world, CIOs must assume a strategic leadership role and drive change throughout the enterprise. Driving business strategy is not an entirely new role, but it is an added responsibility to the traditional CIO job function. While many CIOs possess the skills and ambition to impact business strategy, existing IT operational models and an aging infrastructure are holding them back. CIOs who have been successful in bridging the divide between IT and the business did it by first accelerating IT transformation.

The customer care card of the Münster municipal works is becoming electronic and features new opportunities for the future. The change is powered by a conceptionally and technically sophisticated IT system.

It has been on the market since 1998 and counts roughly 60,000 customers at this point – the PlusCard, the Münster municipal works’ customer care card. Since spring 2013, the company has been equpping its PlusCard with a chip, rendering the card electronic. The new, intelligent PlusCard supplies its customers with new offers and services with genuine additional benefits. As a first electronic service, the Münster municipal works have introduced the electronic bus ticket (eTicket). It constitutes the basis for several transportation products which allow for a flexible use. The first eTicket product made available by the Münster municipal works is the 90 minute ticket, which has been on offer since March 2013. Its use is especially flexible, since it automatically determines the best price depending on the number of rides already used spontaneously and there is no basic fee attached. A further flexible ticket is in the works for release come autumn 2013. This ticket is aimed at subscribers and automatically calculates the fees according to time of use. 

Not all IT providers are alike. The customer structure and hence the portfolio make up part of the distinction, as well as the actual position in the technical upgrading cycle which all IT providers are more or less subject to. The consultants at noventum consulting have been working in the IT banking environment since the mid-1990s. In an editorial interview, noventum Management Consultant Markus Ristau and Stefan Wolters put together key data for a situation analysis dedicated to this special kind of IT Provider.

For several years now, COBIT has been received and accepted as the framework for IT governance, both in an international context and in Germany. And like every framework, COBIT, too, is regularly being revised and adjusted to changing needs. In April 2012, now, COBIT 5 was published and is replacing version 4.1. Here, this article introduces you to the innovations in COBIT 5.

Interview: Dr. Matthias Rensing and Marco Nielinger (noventum consulting) with Prof. Dr. Gottfried Vossen (WWU)

Companies have to establish a clear vision of the future if they want to know how to assure long-term success. With the help of an IT roadmap, business strategy, IT strategy and current IT trends are systematically put in relation to the IT services offered. Furthermore, very specific parameters such as hardware and software cycles, as well as pending expansions, are introduced to the IT roadmap.

 

Companies have to establish a clear vision of the future if they want to know how to assure long-term success. With the help of an IT roadmap, business strategy, IT strategy and current IT trends are systematically put in relation with the IT services offered. In an interview, Wieland Schäfer, head of the LWL.IT department, explains his motives for creating an IT roadmap for the Landschaftsverband regional council.

There is no question: the cloud is here to stay. What it is, what use it has and whether it should be welcomed or feared is being discussed everywhere. Cloud computing will be a fundamental component of the future of IT. Sceptical voices are becoming quieter and we are discovering that processes, technologies and organisations can work together with the changes brought about by cloud computing and the discussion is generally taking place at a procedural or technological level.

Increasing internationalisation, constantly growing IT requirements and increased cost pressure force companies to review their IT strategy with respect to integrating cloud computing. In addition, cloud computing promises high agility, flexibility, reliability, security, availability and efficiency.