Stories by Diane Frank

Innovative CIOs Show How to Make Money With IT

A select few CIOs are generating cold hard cash through innovation and collaboration. We rounded up examples of CIOs who generate revenue with IT, either by boosting sales or developing a product or service sold externally.

Written by Diane Frank30 Nov. 12 14:01

How CIOs build bridges with other C-level execs

Technology runs the world these days, but CIOs don't. More often than not when a business's mission is on the line, CIOs instead encounter the type of reaction Toyota Motor Sales USA VP and CIO Zack Hicks got from one fellow executive during the height of the company's vehicle recalls in 2010: Our hair's on fire; we don't have time for an IT project.

Written by Diane Frank03 Nov. 11 06:04

Candid talk trumps the blame game

Relationships between the CIO and business executives will inevitably become strained, with broken promises and eroding trust. So how do you keep them from going completely off the rails?

Written by Diane Frank03 Nov. 11 05:30

Three opportunities for CIOs to prove their business smarts

When CIOs join a new organisation, or their current company changes direction, they have an opportunity to establish themselves as strategic leaders. It doesn't matter if their companies aren't large or if they work in industries that adopt new technologies slowly.

Written by Diane Frank04 Nov. 10 03:22

What’s next for the CIO role

Lori Beer can talk technology as well as any IT staffer. While rising through the ranks to executive vice president and CIO at insurance giant WellPoint, she could dive into any discussion about software development or hardware standards. But her job demands more than technical savvy. Accordingly, she has moulded her skills and those of her top team to help WellPoint achieve its business strategy—redefining how the company interacts with hospitals, doctors and patients in the new era of healthcare.

Written by Diane Frank04 Nov. 10 03:44

Career Turning Points: Take Calculated Risks to Advance

The old adage "no risk, no reward" speaks closely to Larry Pickett's career path to becoming CIO at Purdue Pharma. Moving out of Glaxo (GSK) , and leaving behind years at a top company in his field, was the chance he had to take to become the leader he wanted to be.

Written by Diane Frank21 April 10 06:35

Career Turning Points: Zero in on Business Impact

Within five years of moving into IT management, Jay Kerley found his purpose: working with the business to affect business outcomes and results. And he set his sights on the CIO role when it became clear that the best way to create change and effect a business impact on as wide a scale as possible is to have that executive-level, strategic role. "With a CIO's cross-division view of processes, you are in the position to shift and turn the company," says Kerley, who was promoted to the position of deputy CIO at Applied Materials in 2009.

Written by Diane Frank17 March 10 06:18

Career Turning Point: CIOs Can't be Just One of the Guys

All it took for Michael Whitmer to know that IT was the place he wanted to be was a visit to IBM (IBM) in eighth grade. Surrounded by green-screen terminals and row upon row of tapes, he was hooked. Being fortunate enough in 1978 to attend the only high school in his county to offer computer classes solidified the calling. "It's the immediate satisfaction that you get from technology," he says. "You know when you write a program whether it works or not, and that's a fundamental driving force." Through high school, he pushed and prodded to find opportunities, then majored in computer science in college and found a co-op opportunity with AT&T that enabled him to work in the field while still in school. But having that passion for technology didn't fully prepare him for being a CIO.

Written by Diane Frank30 Jan. 10 07:57

So You've Inherited a Crummy Outsourcing Contract...

Outsourcing boomed over the last decade. So it's not surprising that a lot of incoming CIOs are inheriting some crummy outsourcing contracts. These deals are potential hornet's nests if not handled quickly and carefully. CIO Executive Council members who have dealt with this issue point to renewed governance and realigned expectations as the key to turning around these situations. They offer the following solutions.

Written by Diane Frank13 Oct. 08 14:08

After You, Who?

CIOs know how to manage their own careers - few reach such lofty heights without mapping out some kind of a campaign. But what about succession planning? How many CIOs think about how their own career plans affect the prospects of those around them and the future of their companies?

Written by Diane Frank03 July 08 16:38

Plan for Succession

After you, who? To create a culture of succession in your shop use this checklist to lay the foundation

Written by Diane Frank23 May 08 11:43
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