leadership

An expose of Microsoft's circular attempt at progress in the tablet market shows Steve Ballmer didn't make the bad call to kill Microsoft's tablet innovations; he asked Bill Gates and demonstrated himself to be short on both insight and independence.

Want to motivate your project team? Forego the stick... and maybe the carrot too.

Carol Kline, executive vice president and CIO at TeleTech Holdings, has developed a reputation in her organization as an IT leader who is willing to take on the challenges that can't be handled by just one function or unit alone. Her advice for becoming a strong CIO: Take on risky projects, be a change agent, and ask for help when you need it.

The experience of team start-ups is the gift that keeps on giving for any IT leader, and not just because they will employ the associated skills over and over again as they rise through the ranks.

The concept of virtualization needs to be clarified. On the one hand there is hardware virtualization. Hardware virtualization includes servers, desktops, storage, data centers, etcetera – the physical components of the network infrastructure. Virtualizing at the physical level is a tactical maneuver. It is not a competitive differentiator, nor does it provide a long term, sustainable competitive advantage. On the other hand there is process virtualization. Process virtualization is strategic to a company. Improved business processes offer companies a highly sustainable competitive advantage by allowing firms to improve quality and productivity, lowering costs and freeing up resources to focus on innovation and adding value. Business process virtualization (BPV) also unifies the focus of the firm, whether the focus is on creating profit, monitoring and fulfilling consumer needs, growing the business or all of these areas.

Determining and establishing performance measures prior to a project's planning process assists in defining if the project was successful. Measurements assess whether the IT initiatives align with business strategies, ensure that the funding allocated was appropriate based on organizational priorities, and demonstrate that your investment produced the positive results you expected. What should those performance metrics be measuring?

You are probably asking yourself: What is IT governance and what function does it perform in preparing a company for e-Business? The IT governance team is a subset of the overall leadership team. The governance team is a board or senior management responsibility, and IT governance is specifically related to IT. The team must carry the leadership strengths with it as it focuses on IT governance and aligning IT with business strategy. The IT governance team is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that IT initiatives and projects move the company incrementally closer to its goal of virtualization and e-Business Readiness.