Ch-ch-ch-changes in our information-rich, data-driven, knowledge-producing workplaces requires new modes of thinking by, and support from, IT. Centralized, top-down planning and deployment now needs to morph into dispersed, bottoms-up, street-level support. Business cases and long-range budgets go out the window — or do they? Summary by Caron Carlson in FierceCIO; original by Andrew Horne in CEB Emphasis in red added …
Walking the Talk: USTA CIO Keeps it Real
I love this article because I love this philosophy. Simple, straightforward, results-oriented. Bing bang boom. Less is more. Summary article by Caron Carlson in FierceCIO, original post by Larry Bonfante (CIO of the USTA) in CIO Insight. Emphasis in red added by me. Brian Wood, VP Marketing ——— 4 budget management principles to get them eating out of your hand …
New Way to Structure Outsourcing Contracts
I like the ideas in the article below: progressive, mutual, results-based. It will certainly take time to get entrenched players to “trust” (but verify, of course), but I applaud the concept of always needing to show value and earn your next paycheck. Summary by Caron Carlson in FierceCIO; original by Stephanie Overby in CIO. Emphasis in red added by me. …
Small Mo Betta
Here’s a concept that resonates especially well with me: the advantage of small teams. Small drives prioritization, necessary tradeoffs, and clarity of objectives. It’s why I work for a small company and why I lead a small team. This “smallness” is often easier said than done for development projects, however, especially within large organizations where quantity (people, budget) has a …
Tech Needs More Women, IMO. Lean In?
As a “progressive” father of a bright tween daughter, I have a strong personal interest in the opportunities and stereotypes that exist for women in our society. The survey results below, summarized by Caron Carlson in FierceCIO and originally published by Kurt Wagner in Forbes, cast new light on our reality. What’s most interesting to me are the results where …
IT Strategy: Keeping it Real, Keeping it Relevant
“Where are we going?” “What are our priorities?” “Why aren’t we doing X?” “Why are we doing Y?” Summary post by Caron Carlson in FierceCIO and original article by Andrew Horne in the Corporate Executive Board. Emphasis in red added by me. Brian Wood, VP Marketing ———– How to make your IT strategy relevant For an IT strategy to remain …
IT Projects: Must They Always Go Wrong? (No!)
IT guys (and gals) are the lifeblood of our company and of our clients’ companies — which is why I pay attention to articles that pass along wisdom about the IT profession. Because IT pervades nearly everything we do in a networked economy, the nature of many IT projects is that they are big. And big is not necessarily beautiful …
IT Security: Do As IT Say, Not as IT Do
No matter how sophisticated the technology, the proverbial “man in the middle” is still often the weakest link when it comes to security. Below are sobering points about the importance of remembering the fundamentals: wash your hands, say you’re sorry, and change your password. By Caron Carlson in FierceCIO and original article by Nathan Eddy in eWeek. Emphasis in red …
The Right Stuff (to Be a Great CIO)
The post below summarizes what CIO magazine has found to be the essential ingredients of a great CIO. Summary piece by Caron Carlson in FierceCIO, original article by Rich Hein in CIO. Emphasis in red added by me. Brian Wood, VP Marketing ———- What winning CIOs are made of Essential traits of today’s successful CIO The role of the CIO …
Effort vs. Results: How CIOs Can (and Should) Be Thinking
Part of the value proposition of any data center and cloud service provider such as AIS comes from the “make vs. buy” discussion: Why build something yourself when you can get it more efficiently from someone else? The objective is the delivered outcome (results), not the process of how it’s made to happen (effort). Similarly, the post below discusses the …
