CIO Insight Staff

Is this as good as it gets? Even though the economy grew at 4.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003, and consumer confidence improved in January, this month’s poll of IT executives shows confidence levels have stayed at the same levels as the previous two months. The only change at all from February is […]

After a six-month rise, IT executives’ confidence in the economic outlook appears to have peaked, at least temporarily. After rising rather steadily for half a year, confidence in the overall economy dropped a tenth of a point to 6.8, and in our respondents’ own company by two tenths of a point (also to 6.8). The […]

First In, Last Out: Leadership Lessons from the NY Fire Dept. By John Salka with Barret Neville Portfolio, March 2004 240 pages, $24.95 The firehouse jargon is confusing and ultimately annoying. Ignore it. Salka, a New York City Fire Department battalion chief, has written an excellent primer on how to lead. It begins with overarching […]

Strong Signals: Budget Blacks and Blues By John Parkinson The most obvious finding from research regularly conducted by columnist John Parkinson, the chief technologist for the Americas at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, is that almost no one expects to be spending more on technology in 2004 than they did in 2003. Much more intriguing, […]

Dan Blair, director of worldwide technical standards and systems for the Procter & Gamble Co., on how PLM saves money. What’s a specification, and how does the standards system fit into the PLM process at P&G? A specification is basically everything it takes to make a product, things like formula cards and process standards, even […]

The Corporation: The Pathological Pursiut of Profit and Power By Joel Bakan Free Press, March 2004 240 pages, $25 Bakan, a law professor at the University of British Columbia, thinks that companies are, by definition, antisocial, aggressive and amoral, and that they act without empathy or remorse. In other words, companies are inherently psychopathic. Perhaps […]

Financing Technology’s Frontier: Decision-Making Models for Investors and Advisors, 2nd Edition By Richard P. Shanley John Wiley & Sons Inc., December 2003 272 pages, $79.95 Even though both the economy and Wall Street are starting to look up, no one is arguing that the funding spigot for new technology companies will be turned wide open […]

Heavily hyped by vendors and consultants alike, PLM technology is no sure thing. To download fact sheet, click here. Strategy Product lifecycle management means different things to different people. In early 2003, Loewen, a Canadian specialty wood window manufacturer based in Steinbach, Manitoba, committed to an initiative to upgrade from a two- to a three-dimensional […]

2.2% the percentage IT budgets have increased over 2003 68% of IT executives expect to receive authority to go over budget 49% are making revenue generation a top IT spending priority 61% have plans to boost IT spending to comply with new regulations To download this month’s research results, click here. The IT spending freeze […]

How does technology fit into the business strategy at Walt Disney World? Technology is enormous for us. We’ve seen technology move from the engineers, up through the supply chain, and then to our front-line cast. Now we’re starting to ask how to push technology out to the guests themselves. In 1990, we began what we […]