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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? - +
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. - +
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 - +
Doing Your Sums on . . . Build, Buy or Rent 05 November, 2007 13:32:30
You’re trying to build a world-class IT team, but everyone’s going after the same talent pool. What mix works best? Should you grow your own, draft your players or barter your way to the line-up you want to field?CIOs should never forget that while new technologies have a maturity cycle, the maturity cycle for human beings in IT is even longer - +
What Price Innovation? 05 November, 2007 13:44:31
CIOs say they want more than the traditional “your mess for less” relationship with their outsourcing providers. And the providers want to market themselves as partners in innovation. So why isn’t it happening?CIOs say they want more than the traditional "your mess for less" relationship with their outsourcing providers. And the providers want to market themselves as partners in innovation. So why isn't it happening?
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Adobe launches hosted services, adds Flash to Acrobat 03 June, 2008 09:02:44
Adobe to launch Web site offering users free hosted services for document creation, sharing and storageAdobe this week is set to unveil the next version of its Adobe Acrobat software, which adds support for the company's Flash multimedia technology. The company also plans to launch a new Web site offering users free hosted services for document creation, sharing and storage.
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Newsletter Subscription
In June, Coles Chief Executive John Fletcher went to bat for his CIO and the company's IT team via a letter to the editor after a comment piece appeared in The Australian Financial Review, which mooted that due diligence briefings had revealed "allegations of IT cost overruns and implementation delays which are said to be threatening the transformation of Coles' supply chain . . ." In a timely interview, Fletcher talks with CIO magazine's Beverley Head about the company's IT and his take on the controversy that arose during the takeover.
Coles is an iconic Australian company and one that's always under scrutiny, so media commentary, positive or otherwise, comes with the territory
CIO: There have been press reports that Coles's IT systems upgrades are behind schedule and over budget. Can you comment?
John Fletcher:I think those reports have been a bit mischievous. We've made no secret of the fact that we have brought forward some of our transformation initiatives and pushed back others. These have been conscious business decisions based on what was best for Coles Group. It wasn't because some transformation initiatives weren't ready to roll, or because we were struggling with implementation. And it certainly wasn't because of any failure of IT to deliver their part of transformation — far from it.
Your letter to the editor in response suggested a very close link between IT and the business. There appears to be no culture of blame at Coles — rather a tightly integrated team approach to developing information systems. How has this been arrived at?
Coles is an iconic Australian company and one that's always under scrutiny, so media commentary, positive or otherwise, comes with the territory. However, with the specific story you mention [The Australian Financial Review, "Investors shudder at Coles IT bungles" June 7] I did feel it was important to correct on the record what I felt was inaccurate and unfair reporting about our IT team's performance.
How would you describe your information systems at present?
When I came to Coles we were dealing with a maze of disparate systems, which was mostly a legacy of the way the company had grown over time through mergers and acquisitions. Since then we've massively reengineered our IT platforms and are ready to reap substantial business benefits as a result.
To what extent does IT influence Coles's business strategy — to what extent is IT an enabler of change?
IT enables the business strategy. We are fortunate to have a team that is focused on how to support the business in achieving the strategy. This is possible because IT has a seat at the table — [CIO] Peter [Mahler] is on the executive team and reports directly to me.
How does a fast moving enterprise cope with the nexus that exists between developing new applications for current strategy, while maintaining sufficient agility to be able to cope with any changes that are required by rapidly shifting business conditions?
There's no denying that we embarked on a massive transformation program, and I think such programs are always tweaked and refined as the business requires. Over the course of our transformation program, we have brought some initiatives forward, and pushed other initiatives back where it made business sense to do so. This does require a degree of flexible thinking by a management team, and I think it's been a feature of our team that we've been able to focus on what's best for the business when these sort of calls are made.
Related stories:
"Beneath the Coles Kimono: The Spotlight on IT Transformation"
"Coles CIO: The Greatest Challenges Aren't Technical"
"CEO Fletcher and CIO Mahler: Two Takes on Coles IT"
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- How SOA is helping leading companies to become more agile
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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.
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Corporate security and the climate crisis 03 October, 2008 11:21:00
How to adapt security and risk management policies - including IT security - to deal with climate change.US military strategists, CIA analysts, international agency officials and Nobel Prize winning economists concur with the consensus of the world's scientific community: the Climate Crisis is a planetary security issue, as well as a national security issue for each of the one hundred ninety two countries that belong to the United Nations. But the Climate Crisis is also, by extension, a corporate security issue, as well as, yes, a cyber security issue. - +
Companies own up to virtual security blind spot 02 October, 2008 11:05:00
VMWorld attendees reveal vast majority of companies have little or no security in place for their virtual systems.The vast majority of companies have little or no security in place for their virtual systems. That is a scary statistic revealed in a survey of attendees at the recent VMWorld 2008 conference in Las Vegas. - +
How to minimize the impact of a data breach 01 October, 2008 08:54:00
ID Experts' Rick Kam describes a customer-centric action planThirty-one percent of customers--nearly one-third of a company's client base and revenue source--are terminating their relationship with organizations following a data breach, according to a recent study by the Ponemon Institute. - +
Five mistakes security pros would make again 30 September, 2008 10:18:00
Whether it's getting fired for standing up for what's right or making a network configuration mistake that leads to better security, there are some mistakes worth making. Five security pros offer personal examples.Ten years ago, Michael Riva was network administrator for a top-five American consultancy. Employees were downloading graphic pictures and videos onto the network. Riva told his boss a proxy server with content filtering might be in order; his boss laughed and suggested they put in a bigger file server instead. - +
What does the financial meltdown mean for security? 29 September, 2008 10:25:00
Bill Brenner wonders if it's irrational or appropriate to make connections between the current financial crisis and the state of securityAt first, this was going to be a column about the PR machine's hyperbolic efforts to connect the state of IT and security with the current financial crisis. Indeed, some have shamelessly sent me story pitches that try to get some bang out of the Wall Street meltdown.
Multimedia Technology & EVERKI sign exclusive distribution agreement. 06 October, 2008 14:34:00
ONCE A YEAR OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK TO THE VENDORS! 06 October, 2008 13:48:00
New IBM Cognos Analytic Application Enables Quick, Actionable Insights Into Financial Performance 03 October, 2008 14:41:00
Verizon Business Data-Breach Report Examines Industry-Specific Challenges 03 October, 2008 12:24:00
IBM Launches Cognos 8 v4 - New Business-Driven Performance Management Software 02 October, 2008 12:02:00
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Strategies for Eliminating .PST Files
Join industry expert Martin Tuip to discover best practice strategy for the archival and removal of .PST files using email archiving. Learn how to ensure long-term email records are there when needed, and reduce the risk to your business and clients.
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