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How Lawyers Can Be the CIO`s Best Friend

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:07:08 -0500

When negotiating with vendors, CIOs need lawyers with sharp IT understanding. Here's how to get the legal team up to speed.

- One of the difficulties that CIOs and indeed any member of IT management faces is having their lawyers provide the true value that IT needs. Wait, you say. How do lawyers provide value to IT other than the obvious review of terms and conditions in contracts? Lawyers can provide real value ...

When the Vendor Knows Too Much

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 13:20:00 -0500

Want a good deal and a happy relationship with your vendor? It's easier said than done. - A number of years ago I gave a presentation to IT procurement pros that got some surprising reactions. The session was intended to be humorous. It was designed to let the attendees laugh at the sometimes-difficult situations they found themselves in when a vendor possessed far too much informatio...

CIOs Still Need to Fear Government Spying

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:20:00 -0500

Restoring judicial oversight of e-surveillance should be a CIO priority. - Congress and the Bush administration have been wrangling since 9/11 about expanding the executive branch's wiretapping powers, including the search and seizure of data traffic. The fights aren't over whether to give the government more power, but rather how much. Can the FBI, for example, compel...

5 Challenges to Integrating IT and Business

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:34:00 -0500

Meeting business expectations is no easy task for IT. First, they need to overcome various obstacles. - Managing the demands of the business can keep any CIO up at night. While several well established processes can help IT executives meet the challenge, it's equally important to recognize the obstacles that stand in their way. Here are five of the biggest challenges: No clean slate. IT organizatio...

Tracking IT Assets Poses Challenges

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:07:00 -0500

Keeping tabs on your technology is essential to assure constant availability of crucial systems. But it's no picnic. - Keeping track of every version of each piece of hardware and software in your production infrastructure is key to ensuring that everything is working properly. So when something goes wrong and you must rebuild a system fast and accurately, such controls become a crucial part of recovery. But the ...

The Looming Economic Slump

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:38:00 -0500

Will the repercussions of an economic fall be the same a six years ago? Likely not. - Today's turbulent economy leads CIOs to ask, Is it gloom and doom for IT? A look at the last economic downturn a half-dozen years ago may provide answers to what's in store for IT in the coming year. Eerie similarities exist between the run-up to the last recession and today. Both periods showed ...

Age Determines Technology's Value

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 11:00:00 -0500

Not only do younger generations perceive technology differently from their elders, but they use it differently, too. - Look at a PC and what do you see? Many baby boomers and older members of Generation X are conscious of the technology and infrastructure that make PCs work; then they see content. Generation Y and the Millennials see just content. Younger generations rarely notice the technology in the devices th...

Pressures Mount on CIOs to Deliver All the Time

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:20:00 -0500

Keeping systems up 99.999% is possible, but it's not easy. - It's not a good feeling when the first voicemail you get on a Monday morning is from your CEO; he can't get into his e-mail. The fix is simple, but it takes 20 minutes to get the support resources organized to troubleshoot the problem, do the repairs and report back. Your CEO is relieved and s...

Just Because It's Legal Doesn't Make It Right

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:51:00 -0500

SOX and other laws and regulations couldn't prevent the latest financial crisis but that doesn't mean they're pointless. - If you needed proof that the regulations put in place under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are no guarantee against financial chicanery and the madness of crowds, the wreckage of the U.S. housing industry and the resulting distress in credit markets around the world should provide a reality check. SO...

Is IT's Future in the Hands of Parents?

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

IT pros mull their responsibilities to society, their profession and their children. - The No. 1 concern of CIOs since 1994 has been IT-business alignment. No more. Edging out alignment as the top concern among CIOs is attracting, developing and retaining business-technology professionals, according to the 2007 membership survey by the Society for Information Management. Don't be...

Multiple Roles Eyed for CIOs

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

What is the essence of the CIO's role? It's an important question because the definition of the CIO is morphing and fracturing. - What is the essence of the CIO's role? It's an important question because the definition of the CIO is morphing and fracturing. Our surveys say fewer than half of CIOs report to CEOs while more report to CFOs. Does that mean the CIO role has been downgraded, or that Sarbanes-Oxley is changing ...

Pushing Technology to the Limit

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Utilization rates for key technologies may soon approach their theoretical limits. Here's what you should do to keep your IT running. - The hardware and software platforms on which we run our businesses are remarkably reliable, and we take that reliability for granted. Few of us consider just how this level of reliability is achieved. Historically, we haven't stressed the platforms all that hard; we've used only a fraction of the th...

A Different Kind of Culture War

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The outcome of Election 2008 could come down to the way each campaign uses technology.
Story: Election 2008: The Internet Campaign - No sooner had the Republican National Committee struck Internet gold than it traded the bling for lead. This was not a good sign for the GOP heading into the 2008 presidential campaign; getting the culture wrong is no way to win an election. Michael Turk, former Internet director of the RNC, ...

IT's Bad Reputation

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The inconvenient truth for some IT executives is that they must change their ways of managing if they want to be leaders in the rapidly changing enterprise of the 21st Century. In the future talent, not title, matters. - When it comes to the efficient flow of business, many IT organizations are seen as part of the problem instead of part of the solution. None other than Gary Hamel, arguably the world's preeminent authority of management strategy, cautions against turning to the IT department for help on some ini...

Early Adoption: Worth the Risk?

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:47:00 -0400

Most emerging tech projects fail. If you brave it, pay close attention, and be prepared to pull the plug. - I've been an early adopter of consumer technology for decades #8212;in fact, I built my first computer way back in 1965. Friends and neighbors regularly check to see if I have any cool high-tech discards, because I'm constantly replacing products they consider good as new. When it comes to bu...