Forrester Blogs » Category: Organizational Structure

New Research: Organizational Challenges

Posted by Andrew Rose on the Security & Risk Professionals Blog on January 27, 2012

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I was reading an article recently which outlined the different agencies employed within the United Kingdom to protect against cyber-threats.  Not including the armed forces, who would have specialist roles to play in any particular cyber-threat scenario, it transpires that there are 18(!) different players covering this space, each with overlapping strategies, policies and expenditure.  The formal report, from the UK Government’s Intelligence & Security Committee, was wonderfully understated, speaking of "confusion and duplication of effort".

Such difficulties bring to mind the challenges we face in our global organizations, which are often made up from different corporate entities.  Similar issues can happen to our security management functions - we overlap, overspend and contradict – all to the detriment of the enterprise as a whole. Managing a global information security function in an optimal manner is no easy task; it takes careful planning, an understanding of essential roles & responsibilities and the ability to manage some elements remotely.

I’ve recently published two papers relating to these very topics. If you are considering a reorganization, or just interested in what top performing security organizations look like right now, check out these links:

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Welcome To The “New Brand Experience Lab”

Posted by Christopher Stutzman on the CMO & Marketing Leadership Professionals Blog on August 5, 2010

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Christopher Stutzman

Once a consultant, always a consultant.

Having spent my entire 15-year career in the “advice giving” industry, between management consulting and advertising, I have found that the best advice is pragmatic, forward-thinking, grounded in research, and relevant to your needs. Relevance being the most important ingredient.

And the best way for me to provide relevant advice is to listen to your needs. 

So the purpose of my blog will be as much about understanding the issues and concerns of CMOs and Marketing Leaders as it will be about providing advice.

Coverage areas and topics I’m interested in.

Speaking of relevance, here are the topics that are relevant to me:

  • I’ll be primarily focused on helping CMOs and Marketing Leadership Professionals create the new brand experience. In order to create the new brand experience, I will be challenging the standard assumptions about brand strategy, positioning, and integrated marketing strategy. That means I will be taking a broad look across the entire marketing mix to create new synergies between the Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. In particular, I will focus on helping marketers leverage emerging digital trends, capabilities, and technologies to enable the new brand experience.
  • Secondarily, I will be focusing on helping marketers optimize their agency relationships to create the new brand experience – whether through brainstorming, benchmarking, digital thought leadership, consumer insights, digital strategies, or even agency selection.
  • Finally, I will be focusing on helping marketers adapt their organization so they can deliver the new brand experience.

What you can expect from my blog.

It’s a place where we will:

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eBusiness In Financial Services Serves Two Masters

Posted by Brad Strothkamp on the eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals Blog on July 28, 2010

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Brad Strothkamp

These days one of the top questions we get here at Forrester is around how best to organize for eBusiness. Should the group report to marketing? Should it report to IT? Should it be centralized, or should it be decentralized? Tons of industry brainpower has been spent thinking about these questions.

The answer reminds me of the old SNL skit for Shimmer where the husband and wife argue about whether Shimmer is a floor wax or a dessert topping, and in the end the announcer tells them emphatically, "New Shimmer is both a floor wax and a dessert topping!" The right eBusiness organizational structure is one that reports to both marketing and IT. Why? Because eBusiness has two masters: eBusiness is both a channel and an enterprise function.

Let me explain. Nobody would argue that the ATM is a servicing channel and not an enterprise function like corporate marketing. On the flip side, nobody would consider corporate marketing a channel versus an enterprise function, which it is, but eBusiness fills both roles in most financial service companies. It is a servicing channel for existing customers looking to servicing their accounts, but it also has a marketing and sales enterprise function along the lines of corporate marketing.

I have recently published a document on the Forrester Web site where I explore the implications of this dilemma in organizing for eBusiness. I welcome any feedback on my approach, and look forward to any more blog posts where I can reference SNL.

Brad

 

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Excuse Me, But Do You Know Where I Can Find A Job?

Posted by Robert Whiteley on the Infrastructure & Operations Professionals Blog on June 2, 2010

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Robert Whiteley

That's how one of my client meetings started at last week's IT Forum in Las Vegas. Now, normally this would concern me. It could be a sign that jobs are scarce, unemployment is up, or that Infrastructure & Operations professionals are being let go. But that's certainly not the case. This was actually someone proactively seeking a new job. His company — a large US manufacturing firm — was merging with another firm and he felt it was time to move on.

This led to the first of three interesting observations at last week's Forum. Here are my top three I&O takeaways in no particular order:

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