Cio Talk Network Podcast

Today's new competitive world of work is global, more connected, and alwayson! Unified communication (UC) is the newly proposed tool for bringing all communications together. Are these solutions ready to deliver as promised? Are organizations ready to embrace them? Guest 1: Joe Burton Title: Chief Technology Officer, CISCO-Unified Communications Guest 2: Stephen J. Pickett Title: Chief Information Officer, Penske Corporation Past President, SIM International For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/uc-as-simple-as-it-sounds

Business knows clients and generally tells IT what the client wants. IT is strategic, and understands how to make Innovation happen. Since innovation is what the customer really wants, shouldn't IT be invited to the table to work in tandem with business to better create the Innovation that business wants to deliver to the customer? Guest 1: Brian Simmermon Title: Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Subaru of America, Inc. Guest 2: James Markarian Title: Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Informatica For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/it-working-with-business-to-lead-customer-innovation

Some organizations have been nursing legacy IT systems and applications along for decades in the belief they are squeezing the maximum value out of them. At what point do you decide you've gotten your money's worth? When do you let go of obsolete technologies to utilize newer, better technologies? What's the least painful way to end them? Guest 1: Michael L. Capone Title: Corporate Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Automatic Data Processing, Inc. Guest 2: Bob Keefe Title: Past President (2008), SIM Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Mueller Water Products, Inc. For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/ending-legacy-apps-when-how

In order to remain globally competitive and develop a workforce of appropriate number and quality, the national leadership has made promises to provide support for the next US technology revolution. However, haven’t the budget allocations and endorsements for the required programs and initiatives been disappointing and inadequate?With the new incoming national leadership, can both corporate and ordinary Americans be hopeful about the future of the country and our families? Guest 1: Bob Gourley Title: Chief Technology Officer, Crucial Point Llc Former CTO, The Defense Intelligence Agency Guest 2: Vint Cerf Title: Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/next-technology-revolution-in-the-usa-beyond-promises

Should you assume that creating an IT PMO will automatically create business value? During an economic downturn anything that impacts IT costs has to be evaluated carefully. Bottom line: you need to be sure the number, complexity, and scale of IT projects will justify the effort and cost of creating a PMO and that the cost of the deliverables, including intangibles, will be justifiable to all stakeholders on up through management. How does an IT leader do this? Guest: Christopher Crowhurst Title: Vice President Architecture & Business Systems Infrastructure, Thomson Reuters For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/justifying-it-pmo-in-an-economic-downturn

Despite the global wide financial meltdown, businesses still need to keep running, and Data Centers are the very soul of most businesses. The need to accommodate continually accumulating data and ongoing computing growth doesn't stop, even during an economic slow down. Obvious strategies to handling things include virtualization or consolidation, but those are also expensive. Are there any other strategies that will streamline our Data Centers while keeping the corporate bean counters off our backs? Guest 1: Robert Rosen Title: Chief Information Officer, NIAMS (National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases), NIH Past President SHARE (IBM) Guest 2: Dr. Albert Esser Title: Vice President of Data Center Infrastructure, DELL For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/data-centers-belt-tightening-vs-strangulation

Indian enterprises ballooned rapidly and Indian IT leaders rushed to manage the growth by leveraging the latest technologies. Now the global economic crisis has abruptly put the breaks on IT initiatives worldwide. Suddenly everything IT has gone from boom to bust everywhere, including in India. How well has Indian IT handled this wild roller coaster ride? Guest 1: Partha Iyengar Title: Vice President distinguished analyst and regional research director, India, Gartner Guest 2: Arvind Tawde Title: Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/indian-cio-surviving-a-wild-ride-of-ups-downs

In the interest of achieving scalability, are we moving too quickly to cloud computing? What about data/email security issues? Once Cloud Computing becomes the de facto standard, there will be no turning back. Is our act together? Guest 1: Howard A. Schmidt Title: President & CEO, Professor of Practice, Former White House Cyber-Security AdvisorDistinguished Fellow, Professor of Research, The London based Information Security Forum (ISF), The Georgia Institute of Technology's GTISC, The Poneman Institute, Idaho Stat. For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/is-your-emaildata-secure-in-the-cloud

There is a huge opportunity cost, when IT resource needs cannot be met quickly and cost effectively. Some problems include: an IT that is unaware of budget constraints or corporate cultural criteria, or a non-technical HR that can become a bottleneck. How can HR and IT become a true marriage, where both parties work together? Guest 1: John P. Gillispie Title: Chief Operating Officer, Iowa's Information Technology Enterprise Office, CIO, State of Iowa, Former President of NASCIO Guest 2: Richard B. Thompson Title: Chief Information Officer, Maine State Government For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/a-troubled-marriage-hr-and-it

IT that merely maintains the status quo doesn't attract substantial funding. OTH, IT that helps the business innovate and operate more efficiently has the power to profoundly improve business processes, save money, and help the organization leap global competition in a single bound! How does IT become a value driver? Guest 1: Don Sharp Title: Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Navistar Guest 2: Gail Homberg Title: Chief Information Officer, Bally Total Fitness For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/a-quantum-leap-transforming-it-from-a-cost-center-to-a-value-driver

IT leaders must structure their organization to take full advantage of new and changing technologies. They must ensure that every team member contributes to the success of the business as IT grows and changes around them. Roles must change too, and so should the staffing levels and skills/experience mix. How do we handle this moving target to ensure that people are not the weakest link? Guest 1: Steve Phillips Title: Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer, Avnet, Inc. Guest 2: Dr. Jerry Luftman Title: Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer, Avnet, Inc. For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/it-workforce-mapping-finding-the-right-mix

While versatility may be the key to a successful IT career path, as a CIO, are you ready to put your job on the line by delegating tasks to team members that may not always be up to it? Guest 1: Kevin Walker Title: Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, American Electric Power Guest 2: Ken G. Fulmer Title: Chief Technology Officer, Sunoco, Inc. For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/versatilist-crew-will-it-get-done

Isn't IT supposed to be strategic? If so, can an IT leader do any special realigning of IT resources to help his/her company not only survive the downturn but be in a better position strategically once things improve, to ensure a quick return to robust topline growth? Guest 1: Patricia A. Coffey Title: Executive Board member, SIM Advanced Practices Council member, SIM Vice President, Distribution Marketing and Enterprise Applications, Allstate Insurance Company Guest 2: Leo Collins Title: VP of Advocacy and Communities of Interest, SIM. CIO, Lion's Gate Entertainment For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/realigning-it-in-a-downturn-to-get-an-upturn

In 2009, IT may be used as a driver and sandbox to deliver innovation and competitive advantage to businesses worldwide. At the same time, worldwide labor arbitrage, looming baby boomer exodus, and other economic imbalances may introduce fear uncertainty, and doubt (F.U.D.). How is 2009 expected to turn out for IT? Guest 1: Casey Coleman Title: Chief Information Officer, U.S. General Services Administration Guest 2: Christopher R. Barber Title: Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, WesCorp For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/2009-bright-or-f-u-d

While IT has allowed some industries to cut labor, paradoxically, IT is having problems finding skilled people! Two trends are responsible: the boomer generation of experienced technology workers is approaching retirement and some valuable IT resources are just scarce. So what about a new 20 hour-a-week free agent work force to meet future IT needs? Will this kind of work force be able to handle the job? Guest 1: Jeffrey P. Chasney Title: Executive Vice president, Strategic Planning, and Chief Information Officer., CKE Restaurants, Inc. Guest 2: Brian Prentice Title: Research Vice President, Gartner's Emerging Trends and Technologies Group For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/can-20-hrswk-people-satisfy-a-hungry-it

For some not so obvious reasons, the Quality Assurance function in IT is treated as a step child! While there are costs related to implementing quality in terms of appraisal and prevention, are these costs really exceeding that of failure? Implementing a successful IT QA function is in fact, a change management challenge. How well are we doing on this front? Guest 1: John Von Stein Title: Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO), The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) Guest 2: Ben Hope Title: Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Fox Networks Group For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/cost-of-it-quality-or-lack-thereof

At one time, VoIP was just a way to cut down on phone bills. With the convergence of audio and data streams, VoIP is now a serious communication tool millions of businesses depend on every day. But cheap phone service is only one aspect. What strategic advantages will VoIP offer in the future, as the technologies involved mature further? Guest 1: Phil Edholm Title: Enterprise Chief Technology Officer and Vice President  Network Architecture, Nortel Networks Guest 2: Zeus Kerravala Title: Senior Vice President, Yankee Group For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/once-merely-thrifty-voips-going-strategic

A CIO's job tenure is fraught with deadlines, RIF's, job changes, and other stress, and a tough job can take its toll. Is there a better way to do a much better job? ...perhaps by using positive thinking or changing our thoughts to affect outcomes? Can we change our outer world by getting "into the groove", internally? Guest 1: Larry S. Thomas Title: Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Landstar, Inc. Guest 2: Dan Mintz Title: Chief Information Officer, US Department of Transportation For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/getting-in-the-groove-as-a-cio

When it comes to hot new technologies that are still immature or just challengingly complex, how can an internal IT department develop the necessary criteria to avoid being taken for a ride by a vendor? How does IT Leadership keep a healthy skepticism about what a vendor is doing, when they themselves may have only a tenuous grip on the technology? Guest 1: Mark Katz Title: Vice President Global IT and Chief Information Officer, Esselte Corp Guest 2: Dr. Janis L. Gogan Title: Professor, Information & Process Management, Bentley College, Waltham, MA For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/trust-it-vendors-at-your-own-peril

While there are obvious incentives for an IT executive to opt for the title of CIO in a small firm, what about accepting a position in a much larger firm where he/she reports to another CIO? For the ultimate IT leader, a CIO, what are the career advantages? How easy is it to adapt to being second banana in a larger organization, after having been the top banana elsewhere? Guest 1: Shawn Banerji Title: CIO Practice, Russell Reynolds Associates, Inc. Guest 2: Robert W. Blair Title: Senior Vice President – Enterprise Delivery Services, SunTrust Banks, Inc. For more details and related content: https://www.ciotalknetwork.com/a-cio-as-a-second-banana