CIO Insight Staff

Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web By David Weinberger Perseus Publishing, April 2002 240 pages, $25 The foremost problem with books about technology is that they are deadly dull. Not this one; Weinberger, a coauthor of the overhyped Cluetrain Manifesto, provides an entertaining interpretation of the true effect of the Web. […]

Having spent half of her career in Chrysler Corp.’s finance department, DC CIO Susan Unger recalls being “one of the most vocal critics of IT.” But in 1990, thanks in part to her innovative use of technology to cut costs, Unger became the chief of IS and, five years later, CIO of DaimlerChrysler. Writer Paul […]

After James Cates joined Brocade Communications Systems Inc., a storage technology company, as vice president of information technology and CIO in February 2000, he spent six months planning an IT architecture. Then, at a two-hour executive meeting, he made his multimillion-dollar pitch and sat down. “OK, Jim, we’re convinced—let’s go,” said Chairman and CEO Greg […]

The Phoenix Effect: 9 Revitalizing Strategies No Business Can Do Without By Carter Pate and Harlan Platt John Wiley and Sons Inc., February 2002 256 pages, $27.95 The key word in this book’s title is not “phoenix,” but “revitalizing.” But while it is true that the nine strategies could help a company rise from the […]

Peer architectures shatter the static computing roles used in approaches such as client/server. Devices in peer networks are called nodes. Some nodes provide services, and other nodes use those services. But the rules for which nodes perform which services vary depending on which scheme is being used. Think of the various tasks workers in a […]

What is it? Wireless, Web-capable phones and other devices that enable users to access the Net while on the move. Tsutaya Online, the online arm of the Tsutaya video store chain, uses NTT DoCoMo Inc.’s i-Mode service—always-on, wireless data transfer technology—to shrink Web pages onto mobile phones with screens the size of credit cards. I-Mode […]

Having a huge customer database doesn’t guarantee extra sales, and interacting with customers on the go using wireless is an even tougher bet. But Tsutaya, a chain of Japanese video stores, is doing both—and is showing how, against tough odds, mobile Internet commerce can boost the bottom line of the company. Tokyo-based writer Alexandra Harney […]

In a perfect world, every computer, application, system and network would communicate with one another, easily exchanging data files, automatically translating foreign data and effortlessly performing complex transactions. Companies could use technology to support new projects aimed at boosting profits, find the right business partners faster, and create new, more information-rich relationships with customers and […]

Anytime, Anywhere: How the Best Bricks-and-Clicks Businesses Deliver Seamless Service to Their Customers By Robert Spector Perseus Publishing, February 2002 288 pages, $27 You know the answer without even asking the question: If you ask customers if they want excellent service on the phone, in person or via e-mail, they will answer “yes” every time. […]

Expert Voices: Beyond Reengineering By James Champy James Champy, the coauthor of the influential Reengineering the Corporation and author of the forthcoming X-Engineering the Corporation, argues for the need to restructure your business processes inside and outside the corporation. The CIO, says Champy, plays a critical role in successfully redesigning the ways a company deals […]

Strategy is Destiny: How Strategy-Making Shapes a Company’s Future By Robert A. Burgelman Free Press, February 2002 464 pages, $32.50 Most strategy books look at numerous companies and trends and then try to distill what has been learned into a general approach. Stanford Business School Professor Burgelman takes the opposite tack: Given unprecedented access to […]

Last month, the confidence meter recorded its best results ever; this month, confidence levels have settled back somewhat. CIOs gave the chances that the overall economy would recover in the next 90 days a 5.5 on a scale of 1 to 10, four tenths of a point lower than last month’s all-time high of 5.9. […]