Why it’s good for CIOs to talk

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OK, catch-up time. I’ve had a few more articles published on silicon.com and it’s time to update my personal database (in other words, my web site). I’ll spread the joy, rather than publishing the pieces in a long list.

The first was published before Christmas and includes comment from a series of CIOs who suggest why it is crucial to communicate the benefits of IT in terms the business can understand:

CIOs know that you are going to get left behind if you are simply an IT director who’s good with technology. Technology chiefs who make a real and lasting contribution at the executive level are able to communicate the benefits of IT in terms the business can understand. The successful CIO is now, more than ever before, the communicative CIO.

“I network with a lot of CIOs and I see that the successful IT leaders are socially adept and communicative,” says John Adey, chief operating officer and CIO at Star Technology Services.

“The best IT leaders have business influence because of their soft skills – if you can influence people, your technical skills won’t matter. A lot of IT people come up through a technical background but the successful CIOs are business-savvy; they talk about benefits not technology.”

To read the rest of the feature, click here.

Winter 2010 edition of CIO Connect magazine

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Happy New Year. The new edition of CIO Connect magazine came out over the festive period. The winter edition includes a cover interview with governance specialist Tom Herbich and in-depth profiles of Visa Europe CIO Steve Chambers and M&S IT director Darrell Stein.

As ever, thanks to all interviewees and contributors. A full list of featured CIOs and business leaders is provided below:
  • Tom Herbich, director of business applications and information governance at Deutsche Bank
  • Steve Chambers, CIO at Visa Europe
  • Darrell Stein, director of IT and logistics at Marks & Spencer
  • Paul Forester, IT director at fashion retailer Monsoon Accessorize
  • David Southern, head of IT at conservation charity WWF UK
  • Mark Ruttley, head of IT at Midlands Co-Op
  • Mike Newman, CIO at Towergate
  • Stephen Dunn, head of technology strategy at Guardian News and Media
  • Rob Pritchard, group director of IT at Britvic
  • George Chappelle, chief operating officer at Solo Cup
  • Helen Pitcher, chairman of IDDAS
  • Sarah Leslie, group IT director at Birds Eye Iglo
  • Neil Pamment, IT director at SNR Denton UK LLP
  • David Doherty, CIO at Easynet
  • John Adey, CIO at Star Technology Services
  • Steve Dover, corporate director of major programmes for the Department of Work and Pensions
  • Jeni Mundy, CTO at Vodafone
  • Nathaniel Borenstein, chief scientist at MIME
  • Joe Baguley, CTO at Quest Software
  • Mike Day, at senior vice president of ecommerce at Tommy Hilfiger
  • Mark Templeton, CEO at Citrix
  • Tim Cook, runs the CIO practice for Russell Reynolds Associates
  • Martin Butler, founder of Martin Butler Research
  • Dominic Batchelor, partner at Ashurst LLP
  • Inbali Iserles, professional development lawyer at Ashurst LLP
  • Danièle Tyler, solicitor at Ashurst LLP

Can mobile working set new standards of security?

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Some CIOs curse mobile working because of the security implications, but could flexible working actually be a route to better, rather than slacker, security? Here’s my latest feature for silicon.com:

“CIOs simply must get the business used to working remotely because employees increasingly live and work in a mobile environment,” says Vodafone CTO Jeni Mundy, an IT leader who speaks as someone who has created and implemented strategies to increase flexibility.

It’s a call to action that reflects the mobile nature of modern business – but is it realistic, especially given the continued security concerns that surround flexible working? After all, as many as 38 per cent of CIOs still view improved security as a business priority for 2010, according to research by Opinion Matters on behalf of Vodafone.

And while improved workflow, employee engagement and staff retention are identified by the research as the major benefits of flexible working, potential improvements to security do not figure in the list of top achievements.

To read the rest of the feature, click here.

Autumn 2010 edition of CIO Connect magazine

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The autumn edition of CIO Connect magazine has been out for a couple of weeks now and we’ve been receiving some great feedback from members and non-members.

It’s a bumper edition, which features profiles of London Olympics CIO Gerry Pennell and BBC CIO Tiffany Hall. There’s also exclusive content from CIO Connect’s recently held annual conference, ‘Business as Unusual’, and the first part of our annual Horizons research, which explores the future of the CIO role. As ever, thanks to all interviewees and contributors. A full list of featured CIOs and business leaders is provided below:

  • Gerry Pennell, CIO at London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games
  • Mark Foulsham, head of IT at esure
  • Tiffany Hall, CIO at BBC
  • Rajiv Hingoo, chief operating officer at CLSA
  • Jon Curry, director of HR and ICT at The Eden Project
  • Poornima Kirloskar-Saini, head of IT at Women Like Us 
  • Neil Brooks, CTO at Business Monitor International
  • Bill Brindle, CIO at Hogg Robinson
  • Toby Clarke, group IT director at Abbey Protection Group
  • Tim Fillingham, chief operating officer at Torus Insurance group
  • Neil Pamment, IT director at Denton Wilde Sapte LLP
  • Chris Miller, CIO at Avanade
  • David Felstead, CIO at the Forestry Commission
  • Vincent Kelly, CIO at Orange Business Services
  • Stuart Curley, chief technology architect at the Royal Mail
  • Mark Quartermaine, managing director of BT Global Services in the UK
  • David Bradshaw, research manager at IDC
  • Barry Jennings, solicitor in the commercial department at Bird & Bird LLP
  • Ganesh Ayyar, chief executive at MphasiS
  • Srikrishna Ramakarthikeyan, vice president at HCL
  • Vin Murria, chief executive at ACS
  • Nathan Marke. CTO at e2e
  • Dominic Batchelor, partner at Ashurst LLP
  • Inbali Iserles, professional development lawyer at Ashurst LLP
  • Danièle Tyler, solicitor at Ashurst LLP
  • Nick Kirkland, chief executive at CIO Connect
  • Nisha Pillai, BBC World News anchor
  • René Carayol, leadership guru
  • Chris Hadfield, executive coach
  • Ellis Watson, chief executive of Syco Entertainment
  • Roger Camrass, general manager for Europe at Wipro Consulting
  • David Smith, economy editor at The Sunday Times
  • Trae Chancellor, vice president of enterprise strategy at Salesforce.com
  • Jeremy Vincent, CIO at Jaguar Land Rover
  • Tom Herbich, director of business applications and information governance at Deutsche Bank
  • Margot Katz, executive coach
  • Nigel Moulton, director of product and solutions marketing for EMEA at Avaya
  • Chris Barrow, EMEA solutions marketing executive at Avaya
  • John Lawler, deputy director of information systems services at Trinity College Dublin
  • David Valentine, general manager for UK and Ireland at Micro Focus

Is the CTO the new CIO?

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Here’s another article I’ve produced for silicon.com – this time it’s about whether an entirely new type of leader is starting to emerge. With all the emphasis on understanding the business, is there a danger that IT leaders are losing their focus on technology itself?

Much is made of the suggestion that IT leaders must understand the needs of the business. It’s a reasonable suggestion – any technology chief knows success is dependent on engagement with the demands of senior executives. But in this push to comprehend the requirements of the business, have we started to ignore the importance of technology?

It’s a pertinent question, given that most commentators recognise that IT is now the key building block for organisational success. From on-demand computing to social media and mobile technology, IT chiefs will be expected to give quick answers to crucial investment questions.

While such answers will depend on the requirements of the business, the board will first call on an IT chief for their understanding of technology rather than other operational considerations.

For the full feature, click here.

Dark side of the cloud

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A quick update to my article list for silicon.com – an article explaining why the shift to cloud computing may take longer than CIOs think. Along with the familiar barriers to cloud adoption, such as security and vendor lock-in, there are a number of less obvious challenges giving some CIOs pause for thought:

Listen to the vendors and on-demand computing is presented as an unstoppable force that is set to change technology provision quickly and irrevocably.

Check the research and that representation certainly appears credible, with analyst house IDC estimating that companies spend £10.7bn a year on cloud IT services worldwide and that the market will be worth £27bn by 2013. But while the numbers might sound impressive, IT leaders wishing to transfer services to the cloud face significant challenges.

Executives rapidly discover a dark side to the cloud, where concepts of on-demand technology are confused, trust is constrained and understanding is limited. “I find the whole debate about cloud as interesting as the debate about service-oriented architecture,” says Stuart Curley, chief technology architect at the Royal Mail. “It doesn’t keep me awake at night but it does send me to sleep.”

For the rest of the feature, click here.

Creative leadership is crucial for the modern CIO

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I’ve just finished putting together an eight-page special supplement on CIO Connect‘s annual conference. The supplement will be available in the next edition of CIO Connect magazine, which is out in a week-or-so.

The annual conference, ‘Business an Unusual‘, was a splendid mix of interaction, debate and networking. As many as 150 people attended the event, including 115 CIOs.

While putting the supplement together, I drew on automated polling results from IML that gauged the opinions of attendees across a range of areas. The following CIO poll results cover leadership:

  • 75% of CIOs work for organisations that encourage creativity
  • On a scale of one to four, the majority of CIOs (77%) rate themselves on the creative end of the spectrum
  • 77% of CIOs believe they receive recognition for the work they do from their company

The conclusion? Creative leadership is crucial for the modern IT leader – and most CIOs work for organisations that encourage, and then recognise, the significance of that creative leadership.

What CEOs expect to get from a top-performing CIO

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What type of skills does the CEO want from his or her CIO? My latest feature for silicon.com draws on the experiences of a group of senior executives to discuss the leadership traits that will make a CIO stand out from their peers:

The starting point, says Jardine Lloyd Thompson CIO Ian Cohen, is to understand your personal attributes or strengths and those of your team. Rather than worrying about potential weaknesses, an outstanding leader will focus on their strengths – and those within their teams – and look to exploit them.

“We spend way too much time trying to turn people into something they are not and fix their weaknesses,” he says. “It’s complete nonsense to think that fixing something bad will create something great. If you take ‘bad’ and just invert it – you get ‘not bad’, which is light years away from ‘great’. Find the activities that strengthen you personally, and the people you lead, and look to do those activities more often.”

When it comes to personal capabilities, Cohen is well aware of his own strengths. He says he happens to be good at technology because of the chronology of his career and an employment path that has included senior IT positions at media giants Associated Newspapers and the Financial Times.

To read the full article, please click here.

Dino, T-Rex, the barbecue and the dream

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I haven’t updated my blog for a while, so I thought I’d use readily available child labour and get my oldest daughter to pen a contribution. She is obsessed with dinosaurs; completely obsessed. So, we used this web site, where she could add words and automatically create a story. And here is big sister’s final work:

One day Dino decided to go for a walk. It was a sunny day and the earth was especially terrible.

Dino was really happy and was thinking about Pterodactyl. He noticed a T Rex in the volcano. Then he saw that the T Rex was heading for the bush. Dino got very scared when he saw the T Rex coming with a dead dinosaur.

So he went to a barbecue and he had no money. As Dino was walking his luck had turned. He was trembling with a Triceratops when he decided to go into the bushes. It was then that Dino saw a Parasaurolophus and the volcano. And he thought it’s time for lunch.

He found some treasure and he liked to play. For dessert he had pumpkin and squash. He then went outside and began to dream about a crocodile. Oh, Dino thought, another dream.

CISOs: Does your firm need a security tsar?

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Here’s another piece I’ve recently had published on silicon.com, this time about the importance of data security and the potential requirement for a chief information security officer:

Mike Newman is an IT leader who is one step ahead of some of his executive peers. The CIO of Towergate, Europe’s largest independently-owned insurance intermediary, appointed a full-time head of IT security 18 months ago as part of a higher-level strategy to prioritise the integrity of information.

“Data security simply has to be fundamental,” says Newman of the decision to hire a head of information security. “As a services-based organisation, the key asset is your customer – you have a real duty to look after your assets. We need smart security guys to stop the potential exposure of data and to make sure that the corporate use of information follows best practice.”

The good news is that, for the most part, technology workers recognise the importance of employing a dedicated security leader. As many as 62 per cent of IT professionals believe the most valuable governance measure an organisation can undertake with regards to data security is the appointment of a chief information security officer (CISO) or other high-level security leader, according to research from the Ponemon Institute.

To read the full article, please click here.