CIO Worries: Security, Talent & (Sadly) 'Alignment' - InformationWeek

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Comments
CIO Worries: Security, Talent & (Sadly) 'Alignment'
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Gigi3
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Gigi3,
 User Rank: Ninja
9/13/2014 | 5:08:22 AM
Re: CIO Worries
"Pleasantly surprised to see spending on education and training on the rise. It's an easy area to skimp on, but training people in new skills who already understand your customers and business and culture pays off."

Chris, like development knowledge dissemination is also important.
MichaelP455
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50%
MichaelP455,
 User Rank: Apprentice
9/12/2014 | 3:07:33 PM
CIO Worries and Change
It is interesting that no's 4,7 and 9 are about speed / change. One might argue that constant, continuous, disruptive change has been the 'new normal' since the 1990's and emergence of the Internet and instant, 7 by 24 connectivity. Unfortunately, as Dr. of Psychology Heidi Grant Halvorsonpointed out in 2011,"The bottom line is, unconsciously we all believe that longevity = goodness. People have a very reliable and tangible preference for things that have been around longer. " That flies in the face of techno-change. 

Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Stanford, Cal Berkeley have been minting techno-capable MBAs for over 50 years. That may have partially solved the 'CIO with business skills ' problem, but what about specifically 'managing change' ? A quick googling tells us that Harvard, Michigan State and NYU's Stern school do indeed offer chane management courses ( hmmm.. but can someone teach it who has never lived it, jsut studied it ? ).

The other bottom line: I think business schools AND techno / engineering schools need to change and offer techie / IT types the business skills and advanced degrees they now need ( and possibly vice versa ), and they need to change faster. It is time for Moore's Law to light a fire under academia.
ChrisMurphy
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ChrisMurphy,
 User Rank: Author
9/12/2014 | 9:32:07 AM
Re: CIO Worries
Pleasantly surprised to see spending on education and training on the rise. It's an easy area to skimp on, but training people in new skills who already understand your customers and business and culture pays off. 
Gigi3
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0%
Gigi3,
 User Rank: Ninja
9/11/2014 | 1:11:46 AM
CIO Worries
"No. 1 priority/worry is securing their enterprises against attacks and leaks -- no surprise given the rash of breaches at Target, eBay, Michaels, Home Depot, Montana Department of Public Health, and other organizations. CIO priority No. 2 is finding and hiring talented people, followed by the age old "aligning" IT with "the business.""

Rob, there is no doubt that these two are major worries with most of the companies. Safeguarding their data is not an issue if it's residing in their own premise, but it's a concern when moving out of the campus or to cloud. Manpower is not a major issue, but when it comes to talent and requires skills its big issue.
Laurianne
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Laurianne,
 User Rank: Author
9/10/2014 | 4:39:08 PM
More on "alignment"
Here's another article on why "alignment" doesn't cut it anymore for CIOs: http://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/digital-business/cio-of-the-future-in-one-word-fast/a/d-id/1307006
batye
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batye,
 User Rank: Ninja
9/10/2014 | 1:23:42 PM
Re: InformationWeek Elite 100 winners don't think us-vs.-them
it depends on the point of view or the way solution get presented to the customers...
batye
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50%
batye,
 User Rank: Ninja
9/10/2014 | 1:22:44 PM
Re: Good article!
could not agree more interesting and educational... many thanks
ElenaTruckLogics
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ElenaTruckLogics,
 User Rank: Apprentice
9/10/2014 | 1:11:30 PM
Good article!
You bring up some interesting numbers here. I think that it is a good trend. If you are in business serving, selling to or working with people you should invest in people inside and outside the organization.
Doug Henschen
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Doug Henschen,
 User Rank: Moderator
9/10/2014 | 11:52:20 AM
InformationWeek Elite 100 winners don't think us-vs.-them
As I think back on all the profiles I've written about InformationWeek 500 and (now known as) InformationWeek Elite 100 winners, I can't think of any that viewed the business as "the customer." Don't think "we're helping the business solve X problem." Your mantra should be "we are the business," and any business challenge is challenge for everybody in the organization.


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