Tuesday | 7 October, 2008
CIO
From Start to Finish
CIOs are being asked to put more of their resources into obtaining cost reductions, but good companies are not shorting systems organisations
Elana Varon 05 February, 2003 14:43:04

Related Features
  • +

    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
Related Stories
  • +

    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 storage
    Adobe 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.
Additional Resources
Executive Guides
Whitepapers

Newsletter Subscription

Sign up for our CIO newsletters!
Weekly coverage of the issues that impact corporate and government information
RSS Feeds

Three questions for Larry Bossidy, co-author of Execution: the Discipline of Getting Things Done

Larry Bossidy, co-author of Execution: the Discipline of Getting Things Done, earned a reputation as an executive who got results. The former vice chairman of General Electric became CEO of AlliedSignal in 1991 and saw revenue double and the stock price soar during the next nine years. Now retired, Bossidy shared blunt advice about corporate discipline in an interview with CIO.

CIO: What do you tell CIOs who want to be better at executing their plans?

Bossidy: Be specific about what is going to be accomplished in the year ahead. Look at the track record of those people to whom you've assigned [tasks] so you can get a handle on who is likely to execute and those who are likely to struggle. Have a process that you're going to revisit with some frequency to make sure you're on target for reaching your goals.

CIO: IS spending has slowed, yet information systems are still critical to achieving business goals. Is there a disconnect between how the CFO or CEO views IS and its contribution, and the effective execution of corporate strategy?

Bossidy: CIOs are being asked to put more of their resources into obtaining cost reductions, but good companies are not shorting systems organisations. The right thing to do is continue to fund systems but take more of the program money and devote it to productivity projects than you might do in a dynamic economic environment. CIOs [must] be aware of corporate strategy so they can be an equal partner on the team of the CEO and not just technical grunts.

CIO: You write in your book that execution requires integrating three aspects of your operations - personnel, strategy and the operating plan. Where do CIOs have the most influence?

Bossidy: I would say with people. There needs to be more discipline in software development, not only in terms of [ensuring] its effectiveness but also for the time it takes to do it. This takes people who have as one of their primary interests getting things done - as opposed to designing the most sophisticated system in the history of the world. Developers have always had an interest in whether systems work. They've often not had an interest in what they cost.

Market Place
 

Smart SOA World Tour

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.
  • +

    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 plan
    Thirty-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 security
    At 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.
CIO Webcast Innovation #8 - What are the biggest roadblocks to IT's involvement in innovation at your company?
Watch the latest latest edition of CIO Innovation which is now available for download.
Watch the webcast
Sign up to the CIO Innovation update email


CIO Live Podcast #79: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires Part II
Listen to the latest edition of CIO Live which is now available for download.
Listen to the podcast
Sign up to the CIO Live email
Whitepaper

Understanding Email Marketing: A Guide for SMBs

Email marketing is often viewed as a marketers silver bullet. If used effectively, email campaigns will provide strong results for a limited spend each and every time. Download this white paper to discover how email marketing can work for you and your business.

Sponsored Links