Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications

    CIOs Move to Boardroom

    By
    Anne Chen
    -
    October 27, 2003
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      It will take a combination of business savvy and technology to ensure the alignment of business with technology. That message, heard increasingly in computer rooms across the country, was loud and clear at the Society of Information Managements SIMposium conference, held recently in New York. Top-level IT executives at the conference, as elsewhere, were looking for answers to questions that will enable them to prove the strategic position of IT in their organizations.

      The questions are deceptively simple. How can a CIO guarantee that technology leads—and doesnt follow—a company through tough economic times? How do you ensure the technology a company chooses promotes the enterprises success, not failure? And how should IT heads move from the computer room to the boardroom, to maintain ITs place at the table?

      However, a survey from Computer Economics Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., shows the answers are anything but simple. Twenty percent of the high-level IT managers polled by Computer Economics said IT and business strategies were not effectively aligned at their organizations.

      IT managers are working to close the gap, though. In a SIM-sponsored survey of 300 senior IT leaders that was released at the conference, the successful alignment of business and IT was the top management concern. IT planning ranked as the second-most-important concern in the survey, while security and privacy issues ranked third.

      Among priorities, business intelligence topped the list of what respondents deemed to be the most important new applications and technologies. (For eWEEK Labs in-depth look at several business intelligence packages, go to www.eWEEK.com/labslinks.) Enterprise application integration ranked third among must-have applications in the SIM survey.

      Put another way, the ability to extract usable information from the raw data being generated by earlier technology investments is key to ITs ability to move from the computer room to the boardroom. However, this capability is still eluding a significant number of organizations.

      Despite obstacles, CIOs are already in place in some companies boardrooms, and theyve gotten there by combining technology and business savvy. Organizations such as FedEx Corp., in Memphis, Tenn.; Mellon Bank Corp., in Pittsburgh; and AMP Ltd., of Sydney, Australia, have IT oversight committees in place. At FedEx, for example, the board of directors has four committees: audit, compensation, nomination and governance, and IT oversight.

      The point of such a structure is for CIOs to engage in conversation with senior managers and the board of directors.

      “Its a fait accompli, and its time for IT leadership to stop falling between the cracks,” said Richard Nolan, a professor of technology management at Harvard Business School, in Cambridge, Mass., speaking at the SIM conference. “Exploiting information technology resources is the best game in town.”

      Nolan challenged CIOs, senior management and boards of directors to collaborate to successfully align IT with business and to develop effective and efficient uses of technology. Although most CEOs believe IT is strategic, he said, few will admit they know how to exploit technology to streamline their businesses.

      One way CIOs can ensure they meet business needs is by adding to the corporate boards of directors an IT oversight committee that oversees major IT-related projects and technology decisions.

      “CEOs can no longer say I leave IT to my geeks or to my technical guy because thats a dangerous situation,” Nolan said. “As the organization moves from hard boundaries to permeable ones, emerging concepts are enabled by technology. CEOs and boards need to be accountable to ensure the proper mechanisms are in place to transform companies as we go forward in the next 40 years.”

      CIOs attending SIMposium agreed with Nolan. Mitchell Habib, CIO of GE Medical Systems, a unit of General Electric Co., said he consistently challenges his colleagues to think outside of the computer room.

      “We work in the computer room and in the boardroom because we get paid to make the right decisions,” said Habib, of Waukesha, Wis. “Getting there is not the destination; its only the beginning.”

      The SIMposium conference serves as a forum for high-level technologists to discuss business issues related to IT management and to identify industry best practices. SIM, founded by CIOs, has 30 chapters in the United States and more than 3,000 members.

      Senior Writer Anne Chen can be reached at [email protected]

      Avatar
      Anne Chen
      As a senior writer for eWEEK Labs, Anne writes articles pertaining to IT professionals and the best practices for technology implementation. Anne covers the deployment issues and the business drivers related to technologies including databases, wireless, security and network operating systems. Anne joined eWeek in 1999 as a writer for eWeek's eBiz Strategies section before moving over to Labs in 2001. Prior to eWeek, she covered business and technology at the San Jose Mercury News and at the Contra Costa Times.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×