CIO Wisdom 
by Phil Laplante and Tom Costello
Lessons learned from successful CIOs
all posts
Cut Costs - Not Common Sense
As Voltaire once said; "Common sense is not so common". To that end, we're reminded of the actions of many firms in the downsizing of the 80's and again during the dot-com bust. And in our current economic climate, we're seeing lots of articles with advice that seems to mirror the mistakes of the past. So here are a couple of suggestions from our experiences:
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IT What If? Profession or Union?
Over the length of my career, the question of whether IT should become a profession (by the true and complete definition) or unionize has popped up a couple of times. I don't think unionization has really come up too often since the mid-late 80's when an entire army of students with strong work-ethic came onto the scene - willing to geek-out 24/7 for no extra pay. Turning IT into a true licensed profession never really seems to get traction, either. In the face of off-shoring, up-and-down economies, etc, we have still avoided moving down either path. The interesting question is, "What if" we had done one or the other 10 years ago. Where would we be right now?
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What's in your Now/Next/Never List?
I know every CIO has a different name for it, but as we're hitting full stride in IT budget season I find myself referring to my "Now/Next/Never" List. This is the list of items that I've worked with for the past year (and revisited quarterly) to rank the areas of focus in IT. While the list includes specific technologies as well as business axioms, it is fundamentally a useful tool for avoiding the danger of becoming too tactical in my job.
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CIO-C?O = Expect Change
As a follow-up to Phils previous post on keeping innovation alive in the current economic situation, to whom a CIO reports definitely has impacts on the organization, IT, innovation, focus, and more. CIO's should be aware that there is hard data (not just gut-check and anecdotal stories) that paints a picture of what lies ahead. For those who have never been through a down-cycle before, read on...
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