CIO Wisdom

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Lessons learned from successful CIOs

by Phil Laplante and Tom Costello

  • Ethics – The Downward Slide or the Bottom?

    Posted Apr 05, 2009 - 09:04 pm

    Have ethics been dealt a deathblow by recent events? What impact is this having on businesses, non-profits, and governments? What is happening in your enterprise? What are you personally feeling about what you see and experience? What are today's college students learning from the current economic situation and ethics examples in the news – and what will you do when they show up in your company? Most importantly, what are you doing about it?

  • IT What If? Profession or Union?

    Posted Feb 20, 2009 - 11:23 pm

    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?

  • Stage Two of Open Source Evolution

    Posted Dec 06, 2008 - 09:50 am

    Though 85% of companies are already using Open Source and the remainder plan on implementing Open Source in the coming year, 69% also reported they have no Open Source policies. Let's chat about some ideas that improve the quality and impact of the Open Source evolution into your enterprise...

  • Cut Costs - Not Common Sense

    Posted Nov 13, 2008 - 03:06 pm

    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:

  • The Next HTTP Server?

    Posted Oct 20, 2008 - 09:02 am

    If you read one of our earlier posts on the Now/Next/Never list, you'll recall that we believe some early-stage technologies are worth watching if they show promise of future business use. Recently, attorney Frank Taney of Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney introduced me to 2 different groups that appear to be converging on a common technology. After a couple of events and discussions, I have an interest in monitoring the evolving work on virtual-world environments...

  • CIO-C?O = Expect Change

    Posted Oct 11, 2008 - 03:35 pm

    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...

  • Driving business value through IT during tough times

    Posted Oct 08, 2008 - 01:30 pm

    Economic times are tough. The pressure is on. How do you provide business value and foster innovation?

  • Not politics

    Posted Sep 15, 2008 - 08:13 am

    This is NOT political commentary for the CIO

  • What's in your Now/Next/Never List?

    Posted Sep 11, 2008 - 06:26 pm

    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.

  • Welcome to our new blog!

    Posted Sep 10, 2008 - 09:53 pm

    It might seem unusual for two people to share a blog, but we have collaborated on so many things. For example, we both had a hand in creating and sustaining a six-year old community of practice for CIOs and senior IT professionals in the Greater Philadelphia Metro area, the CIO Institute. We also co-authored/edited a book aptly titled CIO Wisdom II, along with several papers, and have worked on a number of projects together through Tom's company, UpStreme Inc. More importantly, we've been friends during all this time (and Tom's got a nice boat).

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