Skep's Pick: ITIL 101 for software vendors This link is here because...(hover)

McKinsey on IT Strategy; a combination of insight and gibberish

Blog entry submitted by skeptic on Sun, 2007-06-24 04:01. [nid:261]
in

Most analysts produce a combination of insight and gibberish, none more so than McKinsey.

A recent pronouncement from them had this to say

CIOs must be more attuned to the way technology is being applied throughout their industry and related markets if their companies are to use innovation to create a competitive edge. In addition, IT executives should take advantage of their vendors’ investment in innovation, looking for early opportunities to add more value by incorporating innovative products and services into their strategies faster and better than competitors do.

This shift to the next level of IT strategy will require changes in management and budget priorities, as well as multiyear planning,

...which I thought was quite good. It certainly highlights the importance of ITIL V3's Service Strategy book.

But what is it about analysts' inability to understand basic statistics?
"only 34 percent say that they are more effective at introducing new technologies than their competitors are" is like saying "only 34% are tall". Well, duh! It's a bit sad when supposed business gurus can't grasp the concept of a bell curve.

Bookmark this post with:
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • Google
  • StumbleUpon
  • Yahoo
  • Reddit
  • folkd
  • Facebook
  • Propeller
  • Magnoliacom
  • Newsvine
  • Furl
  • Rojo
  • Technorati
  • Icerocket

Trackback URL for this post:

http://www.itskeptic.org/trackback/261

Comments

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

McKinsey

Submitted by Alan Nance (not verified) on Wed, 2007-06-27 10:06.

Brilliant observation. I wouldn't just knock Mckinsey even though they are the most expensive of the talking heads, most of what Gartner and Forrester write about service management is at the same level of pre-school psychology.
"As ITIL gains strength, IT executives should review the opportunities to apply best practice to improve their service to the business. We caution against over-zealous application of ITIL without understanding the exact benefits."

Who are the managers that need to pay for this golden advice? Shouldn't we be weeding out these folks rather than pay the piper to plague us with rats?

some other posts about analysts for your enjoyment

Submitted by skeptic on Wed, 2007-06-27 10:19.

If you haven't seen these blog entries, you might enjoy them in this context:
Debasement of concepts by IT vendors and analysts
The software analyst industry needs a code of practice.
ITIL reduces costs by up to 48% - another crap factoid to beware of
What a load of .... Computerworld: How Much Is 'Just Enough' for a CMDB?

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Other things the IT Skeptic is up to

It may be egotistical to think anybody cares, but for those of you visiting this site while at work, here are some links for your idle curiousity: