Tag Archives: CIO

Cloud computing: Top CIO tips for dealing with the next stage

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On-demand technology continues to rise in popularity. Here’s a feature for silicon.com, where I talk to IT leaders about what’s coming next in cloud computing and how to deal with the changes.

Utility computing has switched quickly from hype to reality, with increasing numbers of organisations moving infrastructures, platforms and even applications to the cloud.

What will be some of the next frontiers for on-demand technology and how can IT leaders prepare for the inevitable shift to cloud computing? Here, IT leaders discuss the future shape of the cloud and present their top tips for dealing with the next generation of on-demand IT.

Tip 1. Niche providers will fill the gaps - easyJet CIO Trevor Didcock is already making use of the cloud. He expects relationships with third parties to develop in the future, particularly with specialist providers that will help CIOs safely make the most of on-demand computing.

To read the rest of the feature, please click here.

Information, not technology – the CIO as a top table executive

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Read the media, or speak to any number of so-called industry experts, and you will still hear the same line: the CIO needs to be more aligned with the needs of the business.

Now is the time for the use of such clichés to stop. If a CIO really isn’t engaged with the business, what on earth is the executive responsible for technology doing on a daily basis?

The answer is quite a lot, actually. What becomes clear is that CIOs do not spend hours talking of the need to spend more time with other functions because such connectedness is a given.

The context to this new level of interaction is change. Perceptions of technology within the business have altered rapidly over the past decade or so, shifting from being seen as a dark art that is best left to the geeks in the basement, to an essential backbone of business success that must be widely understood in order to create competitive advantage.

Such perceptions continue to alter on an almost daily basis, with the business forced to confront challenges across multiple technology fronts. These battlegrounds include cloud computing, social media and consumer technology.

But across all fronts, the CIO has to be in charge of one crucial component: information. Now, more than ever before, the executive responsible for business IT truly is the chief information officer.

For far too long, CIOs have been forced to justify the relevance of technology to the business. Brought into board level debates on an ad-hoc basis, IT leaders have then been asked to explain why spending on hardware and software is important.

More fool the business that still takes that closed approach. In comparison to other c-level executives, the CIO is the individual with the broadest view across all business functions. That great view across the enterprise should, in itself, be enough to guarantee the CIO’s regular seat at the top table.

But there is more. CIOs have long recognised what the rest of the business has only just started to comprehend; your success or failure as a modern organisation relies on your ability to understand data.

From structured data stored in stove pipes to unstructured data floating round on social media, successful businesses will be able to take data and create useful information that can help improve decision making and boost customer engagement.

The CIO, as the guardian of this information, is the person who will ensure data becomes useful knowledge that provides a business advantage. Now, then, really is your time.

The above editorial introduced the recently released summer edition of CIO Connect magazine

World of hurt if CIOs fail to think globally

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My latest feature for silicon.com shows how major economic growth projected for regions such as Southeast Asia will reshape the technology models companies adopt and transform the role of CIO itself:

Economic recovery usually leads to an upsurge in investment in Western economies as businesses aim to start growing again. This time it is different, says esure head of IT and operations Mark Foulsham.

Two years after the UK recession of 2009, Foulsham believes the recovery is much slower than might have originally been expected. Proof comes in the form of economic indicators, with the Office of Budget Responsibility downgrading UK growth projections for 2011 on three occasions from a high of 2.6 per cent to a current expectation of 1.7 per cent.

The slower rate of growth leads Foulsham to suggest that CIOs need to think differently about the mix between new investments and existing resources. But he believes there are big opportunities for technology leaders who can think about intelligent ways to grow the business through smart IT.

To read the rest of the feature, please click here.

Summer 2011 edition of CIO Connect magazine

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The summer edition of CIO Connect magazine should now be making its way to the desks of IT leaders. The edition profiles some of the great work being undertaken by CIO Connect’s Hong Kong network, including profile pieces of Jockey Club CIO Sunny Lee and internet guru Vint Cerf.

Other CIOs featured in the magazine include Malcolm Simpkin, UK CIO of general insurance at Aviva, and Jim Slack, business leader of IT operations and development at Co-operative Financial Services. As ever, thanks to all participants and contributors:

  • Sunny Lee, executive director of IT at the Hong Kong Jockey Club
  • Vint Cerf, chief internet evangelist at Google
  • Malcolm Simpkin, UK CIO of general insurance at Aviva
  • Jim Slack, business leader of IT operations and development at Co-operative Financial Services
  • Trevor Didcock, CIO at easyJet
  • Sean Whetstone, head of IT services at Reed
  • Pat Kolek, chief operating officer at eBay Classifieds Group
  • Cris Beswick, managing director at Let’s Think Beyond
  • Rebecca Jacoby, CIO at Cisco
  • Derek Drury, CIO at University of Salford
  • Jo Stanford, group IT director at De Vere
  • Dan Morgan, IT director at General Healthcare Group
  • Jeff Smith, CIO at Torus Insurance
  • Glyn Evans, director of business change and ICT chief at Birmingham City Council
  • Paul Green, head of IT at Prism DM
  • Mike Harris, entrepreneur and founder of Egg, First Direct and Garlik
  • David Head, director at La Fosse Associates
  • Raj Samani, CTO at McAfee
  • David Longson, CTO at IBM
  • Nathaniel Borenstein, chief scientist at Mimecast
  • Francesco Violante, chief executive of SITA
  • Jane Kimberlin, former CIO and head of Creaton Consultants
  • Dominic Batchelor, partner at Ashurst LLP
  • Inbali Iserles, professional development lawyer at Ashurst LLP
  • Danièle Tyler, solicitor at Ashurst LLP

Are CIOs up to scratch as communicators?

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The CIO’s job is, by definition, all about information. But on a personal level, just how good are IT leaders at communicating? My latest feature for silicon.com investigates:

The clue is in the job title - the CIO’s role is all about information. A great IT leader manages data to create useful intelligence for the business.

Such knowledge is the lifeblood of the organisation. Executives across different lines of business can use up-to-date information to make crucial decisions about internal projects and external customer-facing services.

Malcolm Simpkin, CIO of Aviva, agrees with the sentiment that the IT leader plays a crucial role in helping to create intelligence for the business. The information-aware CIO, he says, is more than simply a necessary executive evil.

To read the rest of the feature, please click here.

Co-op Financial Services’ Jim Slack discusses social media

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The finance sector is famously behind other industries in the use of social media. Co-operative Financial Services IT chief Jim Slack aims to change that situation, as my latest feature for silicon.com shows.

Financial services firms are probably not the first type of business you would think of when it comes to the adoption of social media. In fact, they might be the last.

silicon.com recently reported the suggestion that case law from 1924 prevents finance companies from publicly identifying an individual who has an account with them, which makes responding to customer queries via social media a potential legal minefield.

Other reports regularly suggest banking CIOs have been slow to adopt social media. But Jim Slack, the business leader of IT operations and development at Co-operative Financial Services (CFS), is encouraging his organisation to take a different stance.

To read the rest of the feature, please click here.

Should CIOs be worried about their next career move?

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Does the central role of information in every organisation make the CIO utterly indispensable or merely a spectator in the democratisation of data? Here’s my latest analysis for silicon.com:

It is one of the oldest gags in IT leadership. Rather than chief information officer, CIO actually stands for career is over. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The role of the CIO is actually very much alive. Successful IT leaders are eschewing the traditional management of IT operations and instead concentrating on the strategic use of information for the benefit of the business.

Such a strategic role is crucial because of the continued rise of collaborative systems, unstructured data and on-demand technology. Now, more than ever before, the CIO truly is the executive responsible for information – and information is the lifeblood of the successful business in this collaborative and on-demand world.

To read the rest of the feature, please click here.

CIOs share seven tips for social media strategy

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Here is another of my features for silicon.com, which presents advice from technology leaders on creating successful engagement through social technology:

Social networking has become a key medium for interacting with colleagues, contacts and customers. So why are some businesses still scared to let their employees engage?

As many as 48 per cent of companies still ban their staff from accessing social networks at work, according to research from HCL. The survey suggests many executives believe social tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, are too distracting from day-to-day activities.

That perception can be a challenge for modern CIOs who are charged with moderating communication channels, while ensuring the continual flow of information. Below, leading business executives provide seven tips for creating successful engagement through social technology.

To read the rest of the feature, please click here.

Consumerisation is the elephant in the room for CIOs

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I’m just putting the final touches to the summer edition of CIO Connect magazine. As usual, there’s a strong focus on IT leadership but there’s also a take on consumerisation, which will be the topic for CIO Connect’s annual conference later this year.

Entitled Power to the people?, the scene for the conference was set in the spring edition of the magazine, from which the following slice of the editorial is lifted:

Now people have access to better technology at home than in the office, it has become almost de rigueur to be able to show off a bunch of cool apps on your latest Steve Jobs device.

One CIO mentioned to me recently how his 10-strong board had been given iPads. It was, he believed, the epitome of forward thinking. Other companies have taken a similar strategy, giving devices to executives on the move.

Some IT leaders are honest enough to admit that the device is mainly used to keep their children happy playing ‘Angry Birds’. Others, however, are convinced the device provides the future of enterprise connectivity.

But there is an elephant in the room: consumerisation, which turns the traditional model of IT procurement inside out. Increasing number of users are buying their own devices and expecting the business to provide secure connectivity.

Another CIO mentioned to me recently how he was surprised that Apple seemed less concerned by enterprise than consumer concerns. But why should the technology giant’s focus be the enterprise?

A purchase order of 10 iPads for a single company looks diminutive next to global consumer tablet sales. Estimates suggest that by year-end 2010, Apple had sold somewhere near 15 million iPads.

It does not stop there. Analysts expect the technology giant to ship as many as 30 million units of its second-generation iPad during its first year of sales. In short, Apple and innovative technology peers such as Google are helping to break the traditional model of enterprise computing.

Rather than licences and devices being purchased internally, employers are picking their own technology and expecting to be able to plug and play. It is a development which creates new and rapidly emerging challenges for the CIO. Are you ready?

How CIOs are hiring and engaging with staff

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Whether blogging about their area of expertise or tweeting about business best practice, more CIOs are choosing to express their views through collaborative technology. Here’s my latest feature for silicon.com about the use of social media by IT leaders:

More senior IT leaders are beginning to dabble in social media and are finding new ways to help the business. So, where will social CIOs go next? Do IT leaders use social media to attract potential employees and do they use collaborative tools to keep new workers engaged?

Kcom Group started to use social media for recruitment in 2010, establishing a Twitter account for potential openings. Dean Branton, director of customer operations and group CIO at the telecoms specialist, said the organisation’s LinkedIn recruitment pages launched earlier this year and are focused on building a network of contacts.

“We have a full recruiter seat on LinkedIn, which allows us to proactively search for candidates, whose information can be imported into a PDF for hiring managers to review,” Branton said. The group’s Kcom recruitment page also provides links to relevant web sites and testimonials from current employees.

To read the rest of the feature, please click here.