Stories by Mary K. Pratt

Mobile mania spurs demand for unified communications

In the space of just the past few years, Art Johnston has gone from thinking of unified communications as optional to viewing it as "a strategy that we need to implement to be competitive."

Written by Mary K. Pratt01 Dec. 11 02:09

The Grill: Joseph Spagnoletti

Campbell Soup senior vice president and CIO Joseph Spagnoletti is all business. He talks about business objectives and transformation, and he looks at technology as a way to achieve those goals. It's an outlook that helped earn him the Fox IT Leader Award from Temple University's Fox School of Business and Management earlier this year.

Written by Mary K. Pratt22 Nov. 11 03:42

The grill: Ken Murdoch

Ken Murdoch's colleagues at the Save the Children Federation venture where few corporate workers go: war-torn countries, poverty-stricken regions and areas devastated by natural disasters. Yet this CIO's 30-member IT team must provide the same technologies that businesspeople in posh office buildings expect.

Written by Mary K. Pratt12 Oct. 11 06:23

The grill: Daniel Brusilovsky

Daniel Brusilovsky has an impressive resume: CEO, entrepreneur, speaker and strategist. Those are strong credentials for anyone, but they're particularly remarkable for someone as young as Brusilovsky. The 18-year-old California college student has spent several years building businesses and his career, and he's now passing on his experience and insight through Teens in Tech Labs, a Mountain View, Calif., company he founded in 2008 that's dedicated to providing tools and resources to young entrepreneurs. Supported by funding from corporate sponsors, it has four employees and two interns.

Written by Mary K. Pratt27 Sept. 11 00:10

The grill: Clifford Gronauer

Soon after Clifford Gronauer took the CIO post at the Missouri State Highway Patrol in 2001, he realized the agency needed a major technology overhaul to better support the 10,000 workers using its various applications. So he and his team decided to replace all five of the organization's major systems, which are used for computer-aided dispatch, mobile client needs, records management, the statewide message switch and managing criminal history information.

Written by Mary K. Pratt13 Sept. 11 06:24

Sorry, tablets. Laptops still dominate the enterprise.

Bruce Smith is feeling some tablet pressure. As director of computing services for Cummins Inc., Smith helps the company's 40,000 employees get the right computers for their jobs.

Written by Mary K. Pratt08 Sept. 11 02:24

The grill: Marco Orellana

Every year the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium recognizes IT leaders who pursue innovative uses of technology to further business objectives. This year's Award for Innovation Leadership went to Marco Antonio Orellana Silva, CIO and executive manager of information, communication and automation technology at Codelco. Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (which translates to the National Copper Corporation of Chile) is the world's largest copper producer.

Written by Mary K. Pratt23 Aug. 11 04:11

The grill: Andy Pratt

Andy Pratt, director of technology at The Lowell Whiteman School, has to support some unusual schedules. Many of the students at this college-prep boarding and day school in Steamboat Springs, Colo., are competitive skiers and snowboarders who travel the world for training and competitions. Teachers and students had relied on paper-based assignments and occasional phone calls and, later, a patched-together recording system. But this year, Pratt implemented a videoconferencing system to create a much richer academic experience for students while they're away.

Written by Mary K. Pratt24 May 11 04:04

Universities that get security right

Professor Corey Schou was working in his school's library when he realized his computer was picking up a particularly strong Wi-Fi signal.

Written by Mary K. Pratt11 May 11 06:15

The grill: Ingo Elfering

Ingo Elfering talks a lot about opportunities. That's not surprising, considering he has built his career on developing transformative uses for IT. In 1987 he founded his own company, MedicalData Service, which developed software for the medical community. SmithKline Beecham bought Elfering's company in 1997 and hired him as part of the deal. A native of Germany, he came to the U.S. with his wife in 2000 when a merger created GlaxoSmithKline. Last November, Elfering became vice president of business transformation for the company's Core Business Services. He now holds dual American and German citizenship and was named one of Computerworld's 2010 Premier 100 IT Leaders.

Written by Mary K. Pratt19 April 11 05:31

The grill: Charles E. Christian

Charles E. Christian got his start in healthcare in the clinical arena, working in radiology before moving into IT. Today he's CIO of Good Samaritan Hospital, a 232-bed community facility in Vincennes, Ind., with 1,600 employees. Christian, 57, has become a leader in healthcare through his work at Good Samaritan for the past 22 years and through his service on various policy and advocacy committees. In January, he was recognized as the 2010 John E. Gall Jr. CIO of the Year by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, which jointly bestow the award on healthcare IT executives who make significant contributions to their organizations and demonstrate innovative leadership through effective use of technology.

Written by Mary K. Pratt05 April 11 00:40

What CFOs want from IT

You can't run a company without technology, but you can't invest in technology without the blessings of the finance department. And thanks to the stagnant economy, the pendulum of power between Finance and IT is swinging decidedly toward the chief financial officer's door these days.

Written by Mary K. Pratt28 Feb. 11 13:19
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