20 Influential Chief Information Officers

20 Influential Chief Information Officers from Michael Krigsman

As the Chief Information Officer role become increasingly prominent, it is important to recognize CIOs who actively stake a claim as innovators and communicators.

At CXOTALK, we bring together leaders who embody the qualities of leadership, innovation, and positive disruption.

To develop this list of 20 Influential Chief Information Officers, we relied on Little Bird, a marketing platform that uses social network analysis to identify top influencers among their peers. At the time of selection, every person in this group was active as CIO for a respected organization.

 

 

Getting Back to Basics

As a CIO, I rarely if ever do basic technology troubleshooting. Not because I don’t want too, but my staff usually discourages me from touching things these days. 

Yesterday was an unusually slow day for me. So I decided to catch up on some personal housekeeping and organizing. So I decided to move my computer and to relocate to a new jack which was not lit.

Since it was a slow day and my techs were busy, I took it upon myself to patch my own jack. Something I haven’t done in a very long time. I saw it as an opportunity to get back to my roots.

In the data center I discovered a nest of cables and miss labels. Poor cable management to say the least. I wasn’t happy but after 2 hours I was able to trace my cable and patch to the new jack.

Afterwards, I had a short conversation with my network manager about this situation.

Needless to say, I should have been more attentive to such details instead of relying on staff.

In the future, I’ll be making more unannounced visits to the datacenter and maybe elsewhere.

The Universe of The Chief Information Officer

4 Ways to Overcome Obstacles and Rethink the CIO Role

4 Ways to Overcome Obstacles and Rethink the CIO Role – See more at: http://visual.ly/4-ways-overcome-obstacles-and-rethink-cio-role#sthash.sPKvjtrD.dpuf

Explore more visuals like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

The Next Inflection Point in Business Analytics By: Gili Keshet-Aspitz, Verix

Big Data is the latest tech jargon to cause grief in the industry. As CIOs we are often charged with explaining it and implementing it. Far too often Big Data is baffling and often misused in business.

Gili Keshet-Aspitz has over 20 years of experience providing counsel to various startups and high tech leaders in marketing, strategic planning and management.  She has written a wonderful article on business analytics. Please see below.

The Next Inflection Point in Business Analytics

By: Gili Keshet-Aspitz, Verix

Big Data is a big name, all too often baffling and misused, yet we can not ignore the fact that in recent years, business users are flooded with available data – more varied and more complex than ever before. This data incorporates a wealth of valuable business information, some obvious and some hidden in various inter-dependencies. Traditional analytical tools, from Data Mining, to Data Visualization, slice and dice this data to provide all sorts of reports. However, as fast and graphically appealing these reports have become, we see a growing chasm between the needs of business users, and the value delivered by these tools.

As a result of this ever-widening gap, only a fraction of potential business intelligence users in the enterprise, actually utilize BI solutions. Whether regarded too complex to use, or too vain to trust, the majority of would-be consumers for valuable business information, opt to stay away and leave it to “the experts”, the analysts. This dependency on analysts creates a taxing bottleneck that raises a key question in today’s business intelligence market: How could we connect more business users to the information cycle in a cost effective manner? In other words, how can we allow business users to benefit from valuable available data, by making it more accessible to the masses?

So what’s missing in today’s analytical tools?

Traditional BI tools provide a broad, high level view of the business. The better ones, allow all sorts of drilling-in to create an impressive set of reports, presented graphically with colorful charts, tables, and maps. Alas, what these tools are missing, is focus. Many users can’t see the forest for the trees and definitely cannot tell where are the highest priority issues, relevant for every user in the organization.

A new wave of narrowly focused tools, tried to address this excess of irrelevant information. These tools provide a restricted view, focusing on a single area of interest. Concentrating on a specific field, insights generated by these tools are more actionable, though lack context and perspective as they view only a narrow sliver of the business.

Both approaches require professional analysts to compile the information into operational insights before they can actually serve business decision makers in any useful manner. With traditional BI tools, analysts ought to provide the focus. With the narrowly focused tools, analysts ought to provide the context. On their own, both approaches create too vague a picture to rely upon. This dependency on analysts creates that troubling bottleneck I mentioned above, and leads to that notoriously low utilization of business intelligence.

The solution lies in looking differently at the way business data is being analyzed. Instead of starting with all available data and slicing and dicing through it to provide a wide variety of views – by timeline, geography, sales, etc., a new method starts with common business processes and addresses typical questions in managing these processes. From the business process’ point of view, relevant information is being gathered and presented in an operational manner – focused and relevant, answering specific business questions and providing all needed context to understand the situation and immediately act upon it.

The novelty of this approach is the amalgamation of business logic with all available data, to automatically narrow it down on a case by case basis and hone in on insights that are relevant for each specific process and every constituent involved in that process.

The next inflection point in business analytics, brings vendors with deep domain expertise and knowledge of a market, to provide process-oriented analytical applications. Applications that on one hand, see” every bit of data that might affect their process, and on the other hand, show business users a narrow view that focuses them on relevant insights for their job and their role in the organization.

The beauty of this approach is the independence it gives business users, to self serve their basic analytical needs. Analysts love this method, as it frees them to focus on complex, unstructured, and innovative tasks, which they rarely had time for when occupied with mundane, repetitive tasks of serving all business users. A win-win situation that significantly boosts performance in organizations.

BIO

Gili Keshet-Aspitz,

Sr. Director of Strategic Marketing

Gili Keshet-Aspitz has more than 20 years of experience providing counsel to various startups and high tech leaders in marketing, strategic planning and management. She has a strong technical background in engineering management, bringing products from concept to market. Gili has spent the last 4 years as the Sr. Director of Strategic Marketing for Verix, the leading business analytics solution for Pharma Commercial Operations.

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Barbarians At The Datacenter

As I continue to look for my new CIO role. I am coming across some organizations that are looking outside their respect industry for talent. I recently interviewed with a publishing company who said flat out they want someone not from the publishing world. “Why?” I asked.  They felt that publishing expertise is lagging behind other industries in their use of technology.  I have seen other firms looking for these barbarians to manage their data. It is a refreshing thought.

This is a great opportunity for an organization to bring onboard an innovative disruptor to shake things up. As I have said in the past, change to some extent is good for any organization. As technology marches forward can any CIO say they are an expert in all areas?  Will a CIO have the experience to try new things? To take chances in order to make progress? These are fundamental questions for any CEO or CIO to contemplate.

I strongly believe that a CIO’s developed skills in one industry can be transferred successfully to another industry. Who’s to say that a medical CIO’s experience cannot be used in publishing? Granted there will be a learning curve, but there will be a learning curve for anyone taking on a new leadership role.

It might be scary for some who find comfort in knowing their respective industry inside and out. Myself- I believe that I am that barbarian that looks for new challenges. Working in different industries allows me to increase my marketability and continue to add to my toolbox.

8 hours vs 8 hours Plus – When Is Enough Enough?

How much is enough? Are you productive during your 8 hours? Some organizations expect you to put in more than 8 hours. Not really for anything else but to show your dedication to working 12 plus hours each day.

While there are times when one might put in such long days (i.e. after hours maintenance or systems upgrades), I subscribe to the philosophy that if you cannot complete your task or make progress to complete your task then you are doing something wrong. If you are just putting in hours to show your face and not really accomplishing much then you are not efficient and fully maximizing your day.

Why not be efficient and accomplish your tasks in 8 hours or under? It leads to prioritizing work efficiently and the end result is a better quality of life.

Mid-Year Staff Performance Reviews

July is our mid-year review. It is an important time to make sure employees are tracking their goals. I am reviewing my staff in 4 areas.

1. Corporate Goals:
Are they meeting the mission of the organization?

2. Departmental Goals:
Are we meeting the goals of the IT departments- KPIs, uptimes, service?

3. Functional Goals 2013:
Areas of individual responsibility. For example – is my helpdesk manager meeting time to resolution or my server manager meeting server uptime? All of which are quantifiable via various metrics.

4. Personal Goals:
This area is general development and fall into the following areas:

Communication
1. Communicates openly & confidently
2. Influences and convinces others in a way that results in acceptance and agreement
3. Shapes Conversations to ensure focus & understanding
4. Speaks frankly, debates at the table, not afterwards
5. Engages in Constructive Confrontation
6. Is a supportive listener
7. Provides clear directions to give desired results

Team Work
1. Works to coordinate efforts/resources within and across teams to deliver on goals
2. Recognizes the importance of teamwork to achieve objectives
3. Brings in ideas, information, suggestions and expertise from others outside the immediate team
4. Proactively supports colleagues and collaborates with the, to help achieve targets
5. Involves the right people (colleagues, vendors, subcontractors,…)to ensure the best decisions are made in a timely manner.
6. Goes out of the way to support other efforts when they notice a gap.

Leadership
1. Carries out systematic and rational analysis to identify the root cause of problems.
2. Provides feedback, input and support to the other parts of the organization for overall organizational improvement
3. Seeks continuous improvement by considering solutions that make novel use of existing ideas, approaches technologies or products.
4. Is able to effectively enlist others in accomplishing a common goal because they want to not because they were told.

Performance review
1. Actively participates in midyear and annual performance reviews with supervisor in a timely manner
2. Ensure development plans are completed as required
3. Identify development needs and take advantage of the training made available
4. Identify processes that could be improved or implemented and head up its development and deployment
5. Actively participate in mentoring of peers outside of core work group

A Project Score Card

We have started the process of looking at a variety of ERP systems that

will fit our business. In evaluating the functionality of each system we ran into the problem that for the most part each system under review performed a similar function.

We therefore looked at how the systems match each of our business processes. We documented each process in a variety of swim-lane diagrams that shows the major areas/systems the process touches and the end result. It was a worthwhile endeavor that gave tremendous insight into broken processes. We then developed a series of requirements and from there built a matrix with our “current state” and “target state”. Our target state being where we want to be with all the bells and whistles.

We took this information and built a matrix with Actions required and assigned a Value and Score. The score is internal this this project but can be changed accordingly. Below is a sample to give you an idea.

Action	Value	Score
Data Entry – New Item	Core System	10
Data Entry – New Item	Support system	5
Data Entry – New Item	Not Supported	0
Data Entry – Update	Core System	10
Data Entry – Update	Support system	5
Data Entry – Update	Not Supported	0
Information Look Up	Core System	10
Information Look Up	Support system	5
Information Look Up	Not Supported	0
Document Creation	Automated within Core System	15
Document Creation	Manual- within Core system	10
Document Creation	Manual – Support System	5
Document Creation	Not Supported	0
Document Attachment	Requirements fully supported	10
Document Attachment	Requirements partially supported	5
Document Attachment	Not supported	0
Workflow Configuration	Auto apply from rule book	10
Workflow Configuration	Set up work flow every time	5
Workflow Configuration	No workflow supported	0
Sequential Workflow	Requirements fully supported	10
Sequential Workflow	Requirements partially supported	5
Sequential Workflow	Not supported	0
Rule Based Workflow	Requirements fully supported	10
Rule Based Workflow	Requirements partially supported	5
Rule Based Workflow	Not supported	0

 

For CIOs, trying to compare systems, utilizing a score card approach give insight into what direction to take beyond using just cost and functionality information.

Systems Objective Scorecard

During the course of managing an IT department, it is important for IT management to understand areas of risks. There are standard best practices that can be engaged to score your department/organization. Below I have added some as a starting point. These are by no way complete.

 

Management and Planning

Objective 1

The staff responsibilities to information systems environment are assigned to specialized personnel.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to not knowing and/or too many responsibilities associated to information systems.

 

Objective 2

The strategies about information systems, development plans and budget are mapped according to the strategic goal and company business.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to the design, purchase/construction, development and system operations not responding to the company and business needs.

 

Objective 3

The selection of a service provider is based on company policies.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to unsuitable service and inaccurate generated information, vulnerable or lack of integrity.

 

Objective 4

The services levels given by the provider are consistent with the Management expectations.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to unsuitable service and inaccurate generated information, vulnerable or lack of integrity.

 

Objective 5

Users receive correct formation in use and handling the information systems.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead the incorrect use of information assets, which could cause generated information, were inaccurate, vulnerable or lacks of integrity.

 

Physical and Logical Security

Objective 1

Tools and security techniques are implemented and set up with the purpose of assuring a correct logical techniques level, narrowing the access to the programs, data and other information sources only for authorized persons.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to unauthorized access and possible exposure, theft, modification, damage or loss of information, due to absence of proper policies, the lack of implementation of these measures on information systems and ignorance on the part of users of safety standards.

 

Objective 2

Tools and security logical techniques are implemented to monitor and control actions on information systems.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to lack of control made actions on information systems, with possible impact in information confidentially, integrity and availability.

 

Objective 3

Information systems are correctly protected against external attacks and/or malicious codes.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to unauthorized access and possible exposure, theft, modification, damage or loss of information.

 

Objective 4

Tools and security are implemented to allow access to information systems only to authorized users.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to unauthorized access and possible exposure, theft, modification, damage or loss of information, due to an incorrect access profiles management.

 

Objective 5

All information resources are fixed by a correct security control, access to critical areas are restricted to authorized personnel.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to unauthorized access and possible exposure, theft, modification, damage or loss of information, as well as failures or incidences in information systems working and other disaster or extraordinary accidents.

 

Objective 6

All company information resources are identified and managed.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead the incorrect of fraudulent use of equipment and/or data they have, leading in a possible exposure, theft, modification, damage or loss of information.

 

Applications Development and Maintenance

Objective 1

Development or maintenance applications of projects are consistent with the management’s intention.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to the design, purchase/construction and systems development not responsive to the end users’ needs.

 

Objective 2

Migration process of replaced old applications is carried out accurately and completely.

Deficiencies in this objective could negatively impact information integrity and validity.

 

Infrastructures Operations and Maintenance

Objective 1

Infrastructure development or maintenance projects (database software, networks, equipment) are in consistent with the management’s intentions.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to changes not responsive to the users’ needs.

 

Objective 2

Technological infrastructure are correctly identified and supported.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to the changes not responses to the users’ needs, as well as a possible loss of knowledge in information assets.

 

Objective 3

Information systems levels of service providers are consistent with the management’s expectations.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to the information systems not working correctly, resulting in potential risk to the availability of the information.

 

Objective 4

In disaster case, every essential business processes are recoverable in a defined time.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to the information integrity and availability, due to incomplete, inaccurate or no recoverable data.

 

Objective 5

The information is kept in accordance to company laws, regulations and politics, could be recoverable, in case.

Deficiencies in this objective could lead to the information integrity and availability, be incomplete, inaccurate or not recoverable data.

Struggles With The Cloud

A few years back we outsourced our server backups to a vendor’s private cloud. It made sense at the time and was cost efficient based on our current data growth. As time marched forward and business grew, so did our data growth. Adding more and more growth capacity to the cloud began to cost us more than if we were to perform our own backup internally via old fashion tape. Yes, I know what you are thinking; tape is archaic and a dying technology. Well it still works as expected in conjunction with our SAN/DR and we have full control.

As we began the process to move away from our cloud solution, we discovered we had a problem. The years of data that were backed up were irretrievable. The amount of data could not be downloaded over the internet without the connection failing and even if we were able to download we estimated two weeks of 24×7 downloads to try and retrieve our data. And the data will be in a jumble without rhyme or reason. What a dilemma! The vendor proved no help. As far as they were concerned if we wanted to move, it was up to us to get our data out. In essence our data was being held hostage.

Our plan (not ideal) was to keep our data in the cloud for the foreseeable future; no additional capacity will be purchased. As equipment begin to be decommissioned, the cloud backups will be deleted in accordance with our tape backup/data retention policies.  This will help us not have to download years and years of data.

Be cautious moving things into a cloud solution. Make sure you understand the risks involved not only in the short-term but also the long very long-term.

The CIO Paradox – A Book Review

I don’t often read books about IT leadership because I find that most try to fit business principles into technology and vice versa.  The square peg into a round hole dilemma.

So when Martha Heller approached me to read an advanced copy of her new book The CIO Paradox: Battling the Contradictions of IT Leadership it felt more like homework.  I am thought to myself here is yet another step‑by‑step guide. And that is where I was wrong – very wrong.

The CIO Paradox by Martha Heller

For those of you who are not familiar with Martha; for over a decade, she has established herself as a figure in IT leadership. She is President of Heller Search Associates, a Boston-based firm specializing in recruiting CIOs and other IT executives across multiple industries. She is probably best known as a Founder and Managing Director of CIO magazine’s CIO Executive Council, a professional organization for CIOs. It was here that she developed leadership programs for CIOs and directed the CIO Best Practice Exchange, a member-only network of CIOs from top-tier organizations. She continues to engage with CIO audiences through CIO Paradox column, as author of CIO.com’s Movers & Shakers blog, and author of You and Your CIO, a blog on CFO.com.

As a CIO for some time, I often read articles and books but never anything that truly captures the essence of what it means to be a CIO. Does this sound familiar:

• “Your many successes are invisible; your few mistakes are highly visible.”
• “You were hired to be strategic, but spend most of your time on operational issues.”
• “You are the steward of risk mitigation and cost containment, yet you are expected to innovate.”
• “IT can make or break a company, but CIOs rarely sit on corporate boards.”
• “You develop successors, yet the CEO almost always goes outside to find the next CIO.”
• “Technology is a long-term investment, but the company thinks in quarters.”

In the book, Martha posits the collection of CIO paradoxes into four larger categories addressing the multi-faceted influence CIOs have on a company. Below are some of the key paradoxes influencing companies today through the perspective of IT executives that Martha has talked with:

1. The CIO Role: You’re Damned If You Do, and You’re Damned If You Don’t

The mindset surrounding how the CIO should function is based on traditional approaches that limit true innovation. For example, our current era grants CIOs the opportunity to drive serious breakthroughs, but this prospect does not decrease the need for cost efficiencies.

2. The Stakeholders: Will the Business Ever Love IT?

As the business and employees get smarter about technology, the more they dislike IT. This is seen when CIOs are intimately involved in every facet of the business, yet they often don’t get a seat at the table.

3. The CIO’s Staff: They Just Don’t Make Them Like That

Recruiting and developing a core of well-rounded IT professionals is laden with structural obstacles and unrealistic expectations. When a rapidly developing field such as technology hasn’t evolved its recruitment process since the dot-com bust, you know there’s a problem.

4. The Future: What’s Next for the CIO?

The forecast of current and future CIOs is a multidimensional one that can negotiate assumptions for demand. A clear example of this is when the CIO role meets many of the specialties a corporate board values, yet CIOs are rarely appointed a seat.

The CIO Paradox is a book for the everyday CIO. The CIO who is in the trenches dealing with these paradoxes each and everyday. It is a good read with just the right amount of humor and wit to engage and captivate.  This is not average boring IT book….