This summer, Coca-Cola launches a new product. No, it’s not another new Coke to compete or cannibalize the Coke "Classic". It’s a Coke vending machine. It’s called the Freestyle.

So what’s exciting about that? According to Coca-Cola press release it’s the "next generation fountain beverage dispenser". What is remarkable is that it represents a rare [...]

 

 

 

Readers of this blog are now familiar with my stance on the Business-IT Alignment issue: that it would take an engagement from both sides and on a level-playing field. This is perhaps the biggest challenge facing the CIOs. Notwithstanding the constant struggle by the CIOs in the executive boardroom, the IT press coverage sometimes doesn’t help [...]

 

 

 

I was recently attracted to a discussion on LinkedIn’s CIO Network Forum started by Mark Chillingworth, Editor at IDG Communications. He referred to a CIO-UK article entitled "IT-business alignment is still on the CIO agenda", with the sub-title "Align with the IT, not the other way around" and the following teaser:
The debate is switching, the [...]

 

 

 

This is the third post in the recent series on Business-IT Alignment where the issue is examined from both sides of the coin so to speak. The objective is to demonstrate that Business-IT Alignment is possible if there is a level playing field where both Business and IT are accountable for their action, not just [...]

 

 

 

In a previous post, I asked the question: "What Business Would IT Align To?" to highlight the fact that Business is a generic term used indiscriminately for different entities in different contexts. So when a divisional head was not happy with the services provided by the central IT group, it could be called a Business-IT mis-alignment. [...]

 

 

 

This is a quote extracted from an interview by CIO Insight with Holly Morris, CIO at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans (a faith-based, non-profit insurance provider) in the May 2009 issue:
"It’s more a Zen state of mind that you have to constantly be changing and morphing along with the business."
I like this quote very much [...]

 

 

 

"The mass of IT Leaders lead a corporate life of quiet frustration." 
This was the thought that crossed my mind when I read recent press articles on the CIO crisis. This quote is a paraphrase of Henri David Thoreau who has said "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation" more than 150 years ago [...]

 

 

 

A fortnight ago, I submitted a post called "3 steps to a successful CIO" in which I surmised that his/her journey from the geek kingdom to the boardroom would follow a Darwinian evolution. This follow-up post will expand on that theme by suggesting that this journey cannot skip over any step but could be accelerated through [...]

 

 

 

More than any other corporate executives, the CIO is the one who constantly struggles with his/her identity. Nobody ever questions the roles of a CEO, a COO or a CFO (except when there is an internecine power play among them). Other Chief Officer types are more of a label of convenience than true members of [...]

 

 

 

If you look at the headline of The CIO Assistant’s Blog, you will see the new tag line “Helping IT Leaders Optimize, Align and Grow”. I will expand on this theme in upcoming posts. Suffice to say that I strongly believe that if you, as an IT Leader, put these 3 notions into action, you [...]