Editor's Note

Amid all the sobering headlines and economic news we see daily, it's refreshing for a business leader to offer some optimism — especially when it's backed up with concrete solutions. Judy Estrin is far from naïve about world events or the challenges facing the IT industry. In fact, her long tenure as a Silicon Valley executive — experiencing its highs and its lows — has given her a lucid and long-term perspective.

I had the chance to speak to Judy recently on the subject of IT economics for the Smart Insights Q&A we feature this month. I asked her to expand on some of the topics in her recent book, Closing the Innovation Gap (McGraw-Hill, 2008), by advising CIOs on how they can become better innovators and more creative leaders — even in a downturn.

It won't be easy, but as she says: "CIOs can facilitate communication, put processes in place, seed small projects and enable ideas to happen. Executives can use the current climate as motivation to move and change the corporate structure; to collaborate better." More than sound advice, her ideas provide a framework for keeping your IT operations moving forward this year.

From a technology perspective, many CIOs are strategically adapting their IT infrastructure and data centers to boost corporate efficiency, save money and streamline operations. Among those we profile this month for our Smart Practices report are: Martin Marietta Materials, Arrow Electronics, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Nationwide Services Co., where executives are using virtualization and asset management to show bottom-line results.

At Nationwide, with 1,500 virtual servers already at its main Columbus, Ohio, data center and 800 more planned, the company expects to save $16,000 per month on electricity costs alone this year. And at a time when some question whether green it initiatives can survive financial scrutiny, Scott Miggo, Vice President of Infrastructure Engineering, says: "This project is enabling us to reduce utility costs and become greener by reducing our carbon footprint."

Why is infrastructure agility so important to the business? For Jeff Keisling, Vice President, Corporate Information Services and CIO at Wyeth, it's a way for IT to stay ahead of business changes. When a global business evolves quickly, business leaders expect IT services to do the same, he says. Can your IT department fulfill that mission?

Let me know what innovative projects you'll be seeding in 2009...

Paula Klein
Editor
Smart Enterprise Exchange
editor@smartenterpriseexchange.com