It’s probably easy for resourceful CIOs to think big thoughts and to generate ideas about how social media, cloud service models and collaboration will change the enterprise and its partnerships. Much more arduous is actually executing on these goals; the daily efforts needed to lead change, drive growth, and see results on business efficiency and competitive advantage.
       That’s why Smart Enterprise Exchange strives to bring you both strategic thinking and tactical advice. This month, contributor Bob Violino writes about an unexpected and perhaps a pivotal impact of cloud computing: It is redefining how global supply chains operate. “More specifically,” he writes, “it is transforming how IT interacts within the organization and with external business partners.”
        Jeffrey Kaplan, Managing Director at THINKStrategies Inc., a Wellesley, Mass., consulting firm, describes it this way: “The cloud and SaaS [software as a service] are basically fulfilling the promise of extranets of the dot-com era.” The most obvious example, he says, involves “supply chains, because of the fundamental capabilities that cloud providers offer in terms of the ubiquitous access.”
       But how can CIOs carry out this promise in their own businesses? We offer several examples. For OfficeMax Inc.’s Executive Vice President, Supply Chain, Reuben Slone, the cloud is used in a transportation portal that lets global suppliers better track product shipments and share information about orders and deliveries.
       And MEDecision Inc., a Wayne, Pa., provider of collaborative healthcare management solutions, uses cloud services so that member providers can perform real-time interactions with health-plan administrators.
       Last month, David Buckholtz, Vice President and Division CIO for Enterprise and Corporate Technology at Sony Pictures Entertainment in Culver City, Calif., discussed his gradual efforts at using platform as a service.
       As these examples illustrate, implementing emerging technology takes planning and small steps, but the results can be transformational to the business. Do you agree? Add your comments to the articles or start a new discussion.
       We — and our sister publication, Smart Enterprise magazine —  will offer further case studies and analysis of this topic in the next several months, in addition to global thought leadership and professional development advice.
       Building a strong community of IT executives has been the main goal of this website since we began three years ago, and your participation in helping us to do that is invaluable. You may have noticed our new home page design when you logged on. And beginning this month, selected content across the Smart Enterprise Exchange site will become accessible to nonmembers. The broader reach should allow for more access to a wider range of IT resources for all while still providing exclusive access to new articles, the member directory, blogs, discussions and groups.
       We hope you continue to benefit from the community associations and from the experiences of your peers. Please let us know your challenges and successes with emerging technology execution, too.
      
       Paula Klein
       Editor and Community Manager