Stories by Kim S. Nash

Our exclusive research shows that boards of directors still don't understand the role that IT can play in driving business innovation. It's the CIO's job to change that.

The rental-car company rolls out a voice-response system with tailored menus that anticipate what the customer will want to do next

A leadership expert and former hostage negotiator says that business leaders who show that they care about employees will create a safe haven that fosters productivity and creativity.

While the political contributions from leading tech CEOs are a bit hard to decipher (see Tech Industry Leaders and Their Political Donations), the message from the hard-working employees at the biggest technology companies is clear. Judging from data from OpenSecrets.org at the Center for Responsive Politics, Barack Obama would win this fall's presidential election in a landslide.

As companies strive to regain the ground lost to the recession, CEOs are talking a lot about innovation. Some have decreed that a certain percentage of revenue must come from brand-new products and services each year. If CEOs want innovation, then CIOs ought to want patents. Not for internal IT operations inventions, but for unique business methods and other inventions made possible by new technology. The innovation mandate, and the convergence of social media, mobile technology and analytics, has companies running to the patent office, trying to lock in ownership of new ways to do business and interact with customers.

Sure, soup is good food, but sales ain't what they used to be. To freshen up its product line and serve up innovative new products ASAP, Campbell's IT is building new systems for improved collaboration.

In an effort to get closer to customers and improve sales, American Airlines is launching a new mobile strategy aimed at boosting customer loyalty by giving flight attendants tablets loaded with customer data.

A Dartmouth faculty member suggests that CIOs can get fresh ideas from emerging economies, but it requires a new way of thinking

Though both are critical, physical and information security remain separate entities at many organizations. However, you can get a better grip on overall risk by integrating the two. Austin Recovery, a drug and alcohol treatment center, successfully took on the integration challenge-- and what it learned can teach corporations valuable lessons.

Wayne Shurts has accomplished a lot since he joined Supervalu as CIO in April 2010: He embedded his IT staff in business departments, handed out iPads with real-time data to 1,100 supermarket managers, and implemented a promotion analytics system critical to the grocery company's business-transformation plan.

Gary Bateman, CIO of Iowa Workforce Development, was able to turn a budget desktop virtualization project into a hugely successful expansion of state services for the unemployed--and he lowered operating costs to boot.

CIO compensation may be based on whether the company hits its goals for return on assets or other financial metrics. Here's a look at what goes into the equation.

Among the 1,000 biggest public companies in the United States, 45 CIOs were rewarded highly enough last year to be included in the proxy statements required by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which explain how the top five company executives are paid.

CIOs who help create corporate strategy also find themselves responsible for the risks that come with it. These are not the traditional IT-centered aspects of risk management, such as disaster recovery and data security. Rather, CIOs must now manage fundamental corporate risks as serious as outdated business models that threaten to kill the company or faulty processes that could harm employees or customers.

Thermo Fisher Scientific overhauled its customer feedback system to allow it to be more responsive to current customers and to take advantage of emerging markets