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David Ritter is a member of Boston Consulting Group’s Technology Advantage; Technology, Media & Telecommunications; and Marketing, Sales & Pricing practices. He advises clients on using technology for competitive advantage, developing effective IT and data strategy, and optimizing IT infrastructure.

Since rejoining BCG in 2012, David has served as an expert technical advisor on a major back-office transformation for a top global financial-services firm and has worked with a number of clients on data strategy and in shaping and building data and analytics capabilities, particularly in terms of technology and people decisions.

In his previous stint at BCG, David worked with numerous Fortune 50 companies on IT strategy, operations, and infrastructure. This included devising a transformational approach to IT infrastructure for a major automotive company and leading the IT infrastructure component of a large postmerger integration in the biotech industry.

Before rejoining BCG, David was chief technology officer at InnoCentive, where he headed design and development of products that enable enterprises to practice collaborative and open innovation. David previously served as CTO for VerticalNet, vice president of engineering for Firefly Creative Company, and director of engineering for Oracle Corporation’s OLAP products division.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

EDUCATION

  • Computer science and theater, Georgia Institute of Technology

Publications and Videos

The Agile Upside to an Uncertain World Hero Rectangle

The Agile Upside to an Uncertain World

Implementing agile ways of working and fractal organization principles can help companies build the resilience to succeed in uncertain times.
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When the Ground Shifts, It Pays to Be Agile

Agility at scale can move the needle on cost, speed, and resilience simultaneously.
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Practicalities of Scaling Agile: Measuring Delivery Productivity in Agile

In collaboration with his colleagues, Andrew Jennings writes about delivery productivity and how to finally tackle this holy grail (and painful) question through a basket of measures that reflects the underlying value drivers of agile.
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Practicalities of Scaling Agile: Scrum or Kanban Needn’t Be a Choice; Think of It as a Continuum

Read the article on LinkedIn.
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The Agile Upside in a Downturn

Agile boosts companies’ flexibility, adaptability, and ability to deal with change—all qualities they need in a downturn.
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Why Agile Works

Getting optimal results from agile requires a commitment to strategic clarity that is critical yet uncommon.
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Agile Works—but Are You Measuring the Impact?

Companies are investing tens of millions of dollars in agile transformations, but efforts to assess the results can go astray. Some companies have cracked the code—with astonishing results.
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Who Will Win the IoT Platform Wars?

More than 400 companies claim to offer an IoT platform today, but most offer partial solutions. In such a crowded market, how can companies select the right IoT platform?
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Are You Set Up to Achieve Your Big Data Vision?

Many companies have high hopes for big data but are developing initiatives and capabilities ad hoc. A new approach can sharpen a big data vision—and help make it a reality.
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Agile Development’s Biggest Failure Point—and How to Fix It

If agile is failing to deliver results, look to your product owners. More often than not, they are the weak link when agile development stagnates.
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Directing Digital Innovation at PepsiCo

To ensure that their digital-innovation efforts deliver maximum value, companies must target the areas of greatest impact and business priority.
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When to Act on a Correlation, and When Not To

Correlations spill out of big data, but they’re not always ironclad. In a blog published on HBR.org, David Ritter explains why causality still matters.