Bob Evans and Chris Murphy explore cutting-edge business, strategy, and management issues of impacting today's CIOs, with keen insight and provocative opinion.
(Back To The Newsletter Sign-Up Page)
:: THE LATEST FROM GLOBAL CIO ::
Global CIO: CIO As Chief Cost Cutter: It's Not Enough
When the upturn arrives, will your customers be satisfied with the capabilities your company had before it went into lockdown mode or will they be looking for growth strategies? read more
WEB 2.0 EXPO: March 31 - April 3, 2009, San Francisco
Web 2.0 Expo features the most innovative and successful Internet industry figures and companies providing attendees with examples of business models, development paradigms, and design strategies that enable mainstream businesses and new arrivals to the Web 2.0 world to take advantage of this new generation of services and opportunities.
Honda Logistics Adds SaaS Link To Supply Chain
This success story highlights one of the reasons why CIOs in this rotten economy can't close their eyes to forward-looking innovation: a Honda warehousing unit says that a SaaS application from a small vendor called SmartTurn has exceeded all of its expectations and is leading to "a whole new change in how this type of business is done." read more
IBM Tops Indian Firms As Leading Outsourcer In India
In the highly fragmented Indian market for IT services, IBM grabbed the biggest market share for the second straight year as Indian CIOs are requiring outsourcing partners to offer end-to-end services and deep domain expertise and are putting less emphasis on low prices. read more
Stimulus Package Will Spur New Tech Jobs
Compared with other job sectors, the IT labor force has been holding up relatively well during the recession. And now there's an extra boost -- the government's economic stimulus programs should fuel demand for new tech talent in several key areas. read more
Microsoft Offers Rare Look At Its Global Oil-Industry Plan
Who knew Microsoft is pushing oil field-exploration and related energy initiatives in more than 70 countries? That it's helping Chevron deploy SOA and BI projects in the North Sea to extract more oil? And that Microsoft calls energy security the "uber-challenge"? Here's a unique look inside this little-known side of Microsoft via video, text, and -- of course -- PowerPoint. read more
Sounding Board: Readers Weigh In
"Everybody knows that crafting an efficient process and the supporting system is only half the battle; the other half is selling the idea to employees and executives and actually getting them to use it. The first half is technical while the second is political."
-- Posted By WillN
Is SaaS Cheaper? Depends On How Long You Have It
Gartner published a report this week on the "five most-common SaaS assumptions." I agree with all of them, but must throw in my own two cents on the first assumption: SaaS is less expensive than on-premises software. read more
How Uncle Sam Is Already Saving Money With IT
The sweeping $787 billion economic stimulus bill signed yesterday by President Obama contains billions of dollars in tech-related spending. With this bill, and plans by the Obama administration to soon name "the first" federal CTO, one has to wonder how the federal government has been doing in its own use of IT till now. read more
The Case For A U.S. Innovation Officer
A recent BusinessWeek column hits on a theme -- the need for a federal position to champion innovation -- that tech leaders such as Sybase CEO John Chen raise in our own coverage of what the federal CTO's agenda should be. read more
This CIO Does Get Respect -- Maybe Even Too Much?
A logistics and transportation company has just named a new CIO with hands-on industry experience as well as theoretical expertise from the academic world: it certainly sounds like a good choice and worthy of that respect thing some CIOs are not getting these days. But in a press release, the new hire's boss says the incoming CIO "has driven hundreds of millions of dollars to the bottom line [for] all of those he has worked with." With the bar set that high, I have to ask: can CIOs get too much respect? read more
The 'Un-Demise' Of Publishing
I've been having interesting conversations about content and content management of late with consultant Russ Edelman, an enterprise content management veteran and recent first-time author. I found his thoughts on the recent O'Reilly Tools of Change Publishing conference worth sharing. read more
CIOs need to find a strategic balance these days between exerting enormous efforts to conserve vital cash via sweeping cost-cutting efforts and also keeping alive ideas and processes geared toward creating innovative approaches that are the key to future growth. While CIOs, along with all other top-level executives, have to commit almost-unprecedented resources these days to stripping out nonessential costs, they've also got to weigh carefully the extent to which those lock-down efforts are stifling much-needed innovation. As noted in this week's Global CIO column, today is the perfect time for CIOs to put together a strategic plan for how you'll keep some market-facing innovation alive, and to share that plan with your C-level peers and LOB heads.
This week's issue also takes a couple of looks at the roiling SaaS marketplace, with Mary Hayes Weier's analysis of whether the SaaS approach is really cheaper, and our look at how a SaaS warehouse-management system has turned this Honda operations director into the world's happiest IT customer. We also explore two recent moves by IT powerhouses IBM, which has become the dominant IT services provider in India, and Microsoft, which offers a rare look at its vertical-market strategy for the oil and gas industry.
Plus, in the public-sector side of the business, Marianne Kolbasuk McGee offers an unexpected view into the government's use of IT with her blog post, "How Uncle Sam Is Already Saving Money With IT," and Chris Murphy makes a compelling case for a "U.S. Innovation Officer."
JOIN THE GLOBAL CIO THINK TANK
What should be on the agenda for the country's first federal CTO? We've created an exclusive collaborative forum to enable CIOs from across the United States to offer suggestions, debate proposals, evaluate alternative ideas, and work together to create the most-valuable input possible for the incoming federal CTO.
Identity Management Poll InformationWeek Analytics is conducting a survey on the challenges and progress around identity management. The results of this survey, which runs until March 11, will appear in an upcoming issue of InformationWeek as well as an in-depth report. The survey takes approximately 5 minutes to finish, and upon completion you'll be eligible to enter a drawing to receive one Apple 16-GB iPod Touch valued at $299. We Appreciate Your Participation
Now in its 21st year, the InformationWeek 500 tracks the technology, strategies, investments, and administrative practices of America's best-known companies. Each year, the nation's 500 most innovative users of business technology are identified and honored through this prestigious listing. Get connected to the best practices and research from the InformationWeek 500.
SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION Innovation Leaders
GM, U.S. Steel, the American Red Cross, and other members of the InformationWeek 500 put their IT systems to the test -- in factories, coal mines, laboratories, steel mills, construction sites, and even in the wake of natural disasters. See how IT gets the job done under tough conditions.
DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that 91% of 2008 InformationWeek 500 energy and utilities companies have deployed mobile enterprise applications-either on a limited or widespread basis?
:: BECOME A CANDIDATE FOR 2009 ::
Get your business technology organization the recognition it deserves. Companies with $250 million or more in revenue are invited to apply for the 2009 InformationWeek 500. Apply Now!
Don't let future editions of Global CIO go missing.
Take a moment to add the newsletter's address to your anti-spam white list:
email@techwebnewsletters.com
If you're not sure how to do that, ask your administrator or ISP.
Or check your anti-spam utility's documentation.
This newsletter uses dynamic URLs. For more information please refer to our privacy policy.
