| | August 20168CIOReviewChampioning Efficient Application Lifecycle Management for Greater Business GainsBy Aaron Gette, CIO, The Bay Club CompanyWith most companies redefining their brand with software, whether it's delivering services or building products, how does an IT leader manage the ever-growing application lifecycle while keeping the needs of the business in focus? Is it best to build a team in house to drive both innovation and build consolidated effective applications or do you leverage the multitude of vendors and partners the world over to run it all? The best way to manage brand identity is likely somewhere in between, depending on your ability to attract the right talent and governance that keeps your business and data safe. In many organizations, an effective leader aligns with the business and executes strategies based on the team's capability to create and manage new applications.Innovation drives competition and having the competitive edge can come down to how your customers and your employees leverage the applications that differentiate your company. Custom applications play an essential role in providing this differentiation. The unique customer experience these applications can provideis the most important way that IT provides value. However these custom applications take a tremendous amount of effort and require the right players to bring them to life. Once they enter the world they need care and feeding from those not just keeping the lights on. The creation and operation of applications are done as part of the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) process. ALM is not always well understood at the senior Executive level and can be lost in the overall business strategy. As more Millennials become part of the work force and change the way technology is perceived, it's clear that organizations have to make a concerted effort to include ALM in the overall business strategy. No different from sales, marketing and operations, ALM plays a critical role in the long-term success of any business.Apple has built an empire on the idea to "think Different." Your business may do different things from your competitors by offering innovative products, entering unexplored markets, or just providing similar offerings but in a whole new avatar; the bottom line is to be cut above the rest in the market you serve by being different. Applications, to that end, have emerged as the enabler of creating unique customer experience that is unique that could just be the differentiator for many businesses. Competitive advantage is attributed to the organizations that can successfully create and deliver an experience that crosses devices, platforms and media. The ability to reinvent and stay ahead of the competition is difficult, and with new developers growing up in every household in the world, copycats aren't the form a flattery you're looking for.IN MY OPINION
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