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ITxpo to find out Real Time Enterprise concept

Bryan Glick

Gartner's annual get-together of European IT directors in Cannes has its good side and its bad side.

The good side is that it provides an enormous amount of information in one go.

The bad side is that it provides an enormous amount of information in one go.

For the 3,500 delegates, Gartner's Symposium/ITxpo can be four days of overload - there's so much valuable research that sometimes it's difficult to see the wood for the swaying palms along the French Riviera promenade.

But Cannes was the analyst's opportunity to present its most important theme for 2003 - the Real Time Enterprise (RTE). It's a concept the company believes will be vital for chief information officers (CIOs) preparing for the economic recovery, whenever that maybe (late 2003, says Gartner).

The term 'real-time enterprise' is a bit of misnomer - it doesn't mean building a company that executes its business processes simultaneously. But it is about time: how to make the most of it, and how to remove any waste of it. Gartner says the firms that achieve competitive advantage will be those that have cut the time taken in their critical business processes to a minimum. Take easyjet. The successful low-cost airline reduced its booking process to a few minutes on the web and its cash collection to a few seconds after purchase.

Computing talked exclusively to Gartner's European General Manager, Helen Mumford about what RTE means to chief information officers. After all, improving and speeding up business processes is hardly a new idea.

'It has to be a time for process innovation because there is no product or technology that is going to come along and give any organisation competitive advantage', she said.

The concept has been around but hasn't been meaningful, Customers are hungrier, their appetite for dissatisfaction and their promiscuity is higher, competition is higher, and globalisation is hitting of all that. Now is the time for it'.

Mumford says the difference with RTE is the focus on time, an aspect of business that has been overlooked.

'Nobody has lain awake at night thinking: "my scarcest asset is elapsed time lost in processes", she said. Over the last 10 years, if you'd asked CIOs which resource is constraining business, they'd have said one of three things: people, money, and management attention'.

Mumford believes those three problems have gone. The skills crisis is over, good staff are available at the right price. Money is no longer just an IT issue, it's an issue for all the business. And Gartner reesearch suggests that half of all chief information officers now report to the chief executive, with 80 per cent expected to be on the board by 2005.

But how often do you turn to a colleague and complain about how long it takes to get anything done in your company? Pretty often, according to Gartner, and it's that situation that RTE is trying to change. 'RTE is about recognising that time is now the scarcest asset and that reducing time is the biggest opportunity an organisation has for stealing customers from competitors', said Mumford.

Chief information officers should use RTE to plan for the post-downturn recovery now, she says. It is a chance to prove their worth.

Web Portal for ICT Companies soon

Globally, the demand for services over the internet is rapidly increasing with the advent of low cost Broadband Data communication Services. The Government with the e- Sri Lanka launch clearly stated its Vision to use the internet as a medium to conduct its business. One of the prime requirements in such an effort would be to create a Web market space (Portal or a Hub) for Software and ITES services.

The Sri Lanka Association for Software Industry (SLASI) has already developed an Outline Requirement Specification for this project and would be calling for Tenders/Quotations within the next few weeks. They intend to obtain the active participation, of ICT companies, ICT Professional bodies and Trade Associations to ensure the project is a success.

The objective of this project is to "Create a Fair Playing field" for Software and ITES Industry, Share Resources and Knowledge, Create opportunities for Software and ITES service providers and set-up a foundation for improving National Productivity, competitiveness and thereby Improving Quality of Life. The highlights of the project presented to the initiators executive committee Includes.

* Giving access to Local and Foreign ICT/ITES Vendors, ICT Corporate and other Users, ICT Professionals, Government Institutions, Financing Institutions, Audit Institutions, Professional and trade associations.

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