Brian P. Watson

When it comes to investing in emerging technologies, corporate IT departments could–and many say should–be like those “alpha consumers” so many businesses target. Alpha consumers are up on the latest gadgets. They buy early. And they become make-or-break test cases for new products. Sure, it’s a little more complicated for IT shops to act like […]

Web 2.0 has unquestionably opened new doors for advertisers to reach consumers. But it’s also unleashed a vicious enemy on business: customer feedback. Eric K. Clemons, a professor of operations, information management and management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and a fellow with the Cutter Consortium’s Innovation and Business-IT Strategies practices, has studied […]

Less than 40 percent of businesses have a formal CIO succession plan in place, according to a new survey. That lack of structured continuity shines a brighter light on the issue of recruiting and grooming future IT leaders. The survey, by IT products and services firm CDW, also found that businesses are far more likely […]

Corporate executives are paid to think big. CEOs and business-unit leaders charged with plotting the strategic direction of their business typically call on a massive toolbox of tactics to improve customer relations, boost operating efficiency and grow the bottom line. Ask those executives how they can do all three, and many will point to a […]

Corporate IT departments face a serious dilemma on the personnel front: CIOs point to recruiting, training and retaining staffers as their top priority this year, coinciding with a clear shortage of qualified workers in the available pool. But as the problem looms larger, few experts point to a panacea, a “best practice” for building and […]

Forrester Research principal analyst Bobby Cameron has written a number of reports around the CIO’s involvement (or lack thereof) in innovation. Besides focusing on tactical issues like process, staffing and technology, Cameron advises CIOs to follow these steps: 1 Establish an innovation pipeline process. Start by naming an innovation leader; then create a foundation for […]

Investing in emerging technologies has always presented IT executives with a quandary: When is the right time to jump in? How quickly will the new technologies deliver results? What will happen if they don’t? Last year, CIOs told us they faced an uphill battle in in their efforts to justify IT investments. If the technologies […]

Big companies are not the only ones that are moving increasingly to implement new Web technologies. Small and midsize businesses are rapidly deploying advanced tools like AJAX, Web 2.0 and rich Internet applications, according to CIO Insight‘s 2008 Emerging Technologies Survey. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. Just as in our past studies, a significant […]

To make the right decisions when choosing, deploying and maintaining enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, CIOs need to get answers from a variety of stakeholders. Here are some questions to get you started: Ask your CFO: How much funding do we have to experiment with software as a service (SaaS) or open-source ERP systems? Ask […]

Software as a service, a long-promised application delivery model, is finally being taken seriously in the enterprise. An April survey of 850 enterprise users by McKinsey & Co. and the Sandhill Group shows that SaaS has moved into the mainstream. Respondents identified SaaS as the most important technology trend influencing their companies, with 74 percent […]

This spring, new ideas and advice are anything but in short supply. Some of the most celebrated business professors and consultants are out with new works. We sifted through the recently and soon-to-be released books and picked 15 that will help IT workers–from CIOs on down–excel in leadership, management, strategy, technology and finance. Click to […]

CIOs can’t get any respect? Well, maybe not in the front office, but their paychecks tell a different story. Annual compensation for IT leaders has risen 27 percent in the past six years, according to CIO Insight‘s annual surveys. Total compensation–base salary plus bonuses–also rose steadily in those years, except between 2003 and 2004, where […]