Sunday | 12 October, 2008
Full Throttle Innovation
Motivated by business needs and the conviction that technology-enabled change can create new value, CIOs are embracing IT innovation as a tool for transformation
Related Topics
Related Features
- +
Process Trip 04 February, 2008 13:07:03
Why Maritz Travel revamped key business processes — and how business and IT came together to make it workWhen Rich Phillips became COO OF Maritz Travel about two and-a-half years ago, he sat down and took a hard look at the big industry picture - +
Ticked Off at Tick the Box Mentality 04 February, 2008 13:01:15
Does your executive search firm know the difference between an MIS manager and a CIO, and if it does, can it explain that difference to its corporate clients?Does your executive search firm know its MIS managers from its elbow? Does it even know the difference between an MIS manager and a CIO, and if it does, can it explain that difference to its corporate clients? - +
How to Get Real About Strategic Planning 04 February, 2008 12:50:59
Everyone agrees that having a strategic plan for IT is a good thing but most CIOs approach the process with fear and loathing. In fact, the majority of CIOs (and the enterprises they work for) are faking it when it comes to strategic planning. Isn't it time we all got real?Oh, it must be nice to be the CIO of a FedEx or a GE or a Credit Suisse. Places where IT and the business are so tightly aligned you can barely tell the two apart. Where corporate leaders understand that IT is a strategic asset and support it as such - +
Toxic Mix or Bit of a Mixed Blessing? 31 December, 2007 10:36:30
“Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog . . . ” The inter-generational office brew of Boomer, Gen X and Gen Y may not be quite as odious as that of the three witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, but even so it makes “for a charm of powerful trouble”"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog . . . " The inter-generational office brew of Boomer, Gen X and Gen Y may not be quite as odious as that of the three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth, but even so it makes "for a charm of powerful trouble" - +
Strategies for Dealing With IT Complexity 24 December, 2007 10:30:47
Every innovation, every business process improvement, comes with an IT complexity tax that must be paid by CIOs in time, money and sweat. Here are strategies to mitigate the increasing complexity of IT as it enables new business.Every innovation, every business process improvement, comes with an IT complexity tax that must be paid by CIOs in time, money and sweat. Here are strategies to mitigate the increasing complexity of IT as it enables new business.
Related Stories
- +
Bill Gates: A New Approach to Capitalism in the 21st Century 28 January, 2008 07:12:19
Transcript of Gates speech, and a Q&A at World Economic Forum in Davos, SwitzerlandAs you all may know, in July I'll make a big career change. I'm not worried; I believe I'm still marketable. I'm a self-starter, I'm proficient in Microsoft Office. I guess that's it. Also I'm learning how to give money away.
Additional Resources
Executive Guides
Whitepapers
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Optimized Back-up and Recovery for VMWare for VMWare Infrastructure with EMC Avamar
The Secrets of C-Suite Success
Why Security SaaS Makes Sense Today
Email Archiving 101—Customer Case Study
Web Security SaaS: The Next Generation of Web Security
Strategies for Eliminating .PST Files
Radicati Market Quadrant 2008 on Corporate Web Security
Solve Exchange Mailbox Storage Issues Once and for All
Newsletter Subscription
RSS Feeds
Although Cesare Tizi's perspective on innovation has matured mightily during the course of a long and successful career, he says that is only to be expected. Tizi, who over his 30-year career has headed up IT at such diverse organizations as Motorola, Australian Wool Association, Transurban and most recently AGL, believes most CIOs go through a similar progression as their views on the role of IT in advancing innovation mature, as their stature within their business grows, and especially if and when the business itself finally ripens into recognition that the most fundamental tool of its trade in the 21st century is IT.
"Early in your career you are about good IT; it's about doing things well and being innovative within a technological space — that very traditional type of approach," Tizi says. "As you go forward you say: 'Gee, why did the business make that decision? It could be made better if they understood that they could have done this or they could have done that from a technological point of view.' And then you begin to realize what's happening is that from a business point of view their fundamental tool of trade isn't the brochure any more, or the marketing stand, it is IT. Their call centre runs on IT. Their whole distribution network runs on IT. Their supply chain systems are all IT. Now, IT is becoming the biggest significant tool of trade of the business."
IT is successful when the business has those early strategic meetings and the head of the business unit says: 'We'd better invite the CIO because without him, we can't progress this meeting'
IT is successful when the business has those early strategic meetings and the head of the business unit says: 'We'd better invite the CIO because without him, we can't progress this meeting'
Yet as the State of the CIO 2007 survey makes clear, many Australian organizations have still to truly internalize that reality, seriously limiting their prospects of achieving innovative solutions to stubborn problems. Underlying the research findings seems to be a level of frustration among Australian CIOs at the many roadblocks their organizations keep putting in the way — intentionally or unintentionally — of IT's involvement in innovation. Lack of resources. Lack of time. Lack of understanding by the senior management team of IT possibilities and benefits. Not being privy to executive strategic planning. Getting buy-in from regional offices. Old processes. The list goes on in a similar vein.
Market Place
Discover how SOA can create smarter outcomes for your business.
Attend and learn:
- How SOA is helping leading companies to become more agile
- Where you should be applying SOA processes in your company
- The top SOA implementation mistakes to avoid
Click here for more information.
- +
CIO Live Podcast #79: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires Part II 05 October, 2007 06:00:00
For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders. - +
CIO Live Podcast #78: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires 28 September, 2007 17:34:25
For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders. - +
CIO Live Podcast #77: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part III 21 September, 2007 07:00:00
Part three in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance. - +
CIO Live Podcast #76: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part II 14 September, 2007 07:00:00
Part two in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance. - +
CIO Live Podcast #75: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part I 07 September, 2007 07:00:05
Part one in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance.
- +
Data-center security tools to not overlook 10 October, 2008 11:37:00
With the rise of security suites, it's time to consider some emerging security tools and rethink othersProtecting a corporate data center is like trying to keep an elephant safe from a swarm of flies. Despite your best efforts, bites happen. As the staples of security -- such as firewalls, antivirus software, spam and spyware filters -- come together in suites of products that allow for sophisticated management, there are other security tools either emerging or worth a rethink. - +
IBM, Secret Service, others study identity/cybercrime issues 09 October, 2008 10:09:00
Center for Applied Identity Management Research organization teams experts in criminal justice, financial crime, biometrics, cybercrime and cyberdefense, data protection, homeland security and national defense.IBM, LexisNexis and the Secret Service are among a group of corporations, government agencies and academic institutions that has formed to study and help solve identity management challenges around cybercrime, terrorism and narcotics trafficking. - +
Strange account management at Amazon 09 October, 2008 09:51:00
A careless login led to the discovery of some strange ccount management practices at one of the Internet's largest retailers.Via the RISKS mailing list comes an interesting tale of poor online account management at a major online retailer. According to Graham Bennett, accounts with Amazon display an odd behaviour that doesn't seem to have attracted much attention in the past. - +
Cambridge lab sets quantum key world record 09 October, 2008 07:51:00
Researchers can now shift encryption keys around at speeds of 1Mbps.The hugely promising security technology of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) has moved an important step closer to commercialization with the announcement by UK-based researchers that they can now shift encryption keys around at speeds of 1Mbps. - +
Palin hacking charge flawed, lawyers say 09 October, 2008 07:28:00
Case considered a misdemeanor offence not a felony.David Kernell is facing five years in prison for allegedly hacking into Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail account, but lawyers watching the case say that the felony charge against him is a bit of a stretch.
F-Secure achieves excellent results in Internet security suite comparison 10 October, 2008 14:37:00
Lock It Up With Maxtor BlackArmour, Hardware Encrypted Storage Provides Government Grade Security For Consumers 10 October, 2008 09:04:00
Pitney Bowes MapInfo Launches New Version of AnySite 10 October, 2008 05:58:00
IOGEAR Gears Up in Australia 09 October, 2008 20:18:00
Internet Service Providers offer new unlimited Online Backup from F-Secure 09 October, 2008 19:42:00
|
||
|
||
|
|
||
|
Whitepaper
Choices in Storage Architecture for Oracle Environments
Database systems have always been at the core of the IT landscape. Not only is storage an increasingly large cost component of database investments, but storage architecture can significantly and directly impact the performance, availability, and recovery of data. Read on to explore the interaction between Oracle databases and EMC and Network Appliance storage architectures.
Subscribe to CIO
Critical. Authoritative. Strategic. CIO magazine addresses the issues vital to the success of IT and business executives. Solutions-oriented editorial provides a greater understanding of the role IT plays in achieving corporate goals. Subscribe to the print edition today.
