Smart Enterprise Exchange: Editor's Notes : Tags : live

Editor's Notes

2 Posts tagged with the live_exchange tag

October 2009 in Editor's Notes

Posted by Paula Klein Oct 8, 2009

What business wouldn’t want to start over with a clean slate? In a perfect world where finances aren’t a concern, there are no physical limits to growth and no legacy of old ways or systems, every business could act like a startup — freely focused on innovation, sustainability, growth and customer needs.

However, most CIOs will tell you they don’t live in a fantasy world of unbridled innovation. The challenging economic climate, stringent regulatory regime and mounting security threats preclude the type of lofty thinking (remember transformation, disruption and reengineering?) popular in previous decades. These are times for practical management.

Nevertheless, the most successful CIOs don’t stand still and wait for turnarounds or macroeconomic shifts to lead them along. At our recent Live Exchange in Boston, State Street Executive Vice President and CIO Christopher Perretta claimed that an organization is “broken” if it doesn’t carry out its goals and keep innovating. He is leading his Boston financial services firm into the future by eliminating organizational roadblocks to IT implementation. Among his latest efforts are virtual PCs and accelerated time-to-market services.

So perhaps there is an important role for innovation even in tough times — innovation that solves real problems and meets real business needs. We call that “Practical Innovation,” and for the next several months, we’ll look at how these efforts are making a difference in organizations today. Innovative CIOs like Perretta are always thinking of ways for IT to reshape the business. He views innovation as an organizational responsibility, not one that IT can address in a silo. Perretta advises CIOs to work with their business peers to determine what a service-driven company will look like in terms of staffing, organization and infrastructure, for example. They should ask what new business models and corporate culture need to be in place, and how IT can make the business more agile and green. And then they need to make it happen.

At our Live Exchange events in the U.S. and in Europe recently, CIOs did express frustration with limited resources — the imperfect world they inhabit. But they also discussed incremental process changes, Web-based technologies and revamped operations that are taking the business forward with more gain than pain. (For more details on the Boston event, read my blog and download these slides.)

Also note that Dave Willmer, Executive Director of Robert Half Technology, led a Professional Development virtual discussion on October 13 during which members got advice about their careers and staffing issues. We hope you took advantage of this unique opportunity and joined the discussion without leaving your desk! Please let me know what other topics you’d like to discuss in the future.

Paula Klein
Editor and Community Manager
Smart Enterprise Exchange

414 Views 0 Comments 0 References Permalink Tags: practical_innovation, christopher_perretta, live_exchange, editor's_note, boston, dave_willmer, robert_half, careers

September 2009 in Editor's Notes

Posted by Paula Klein Sep 13, 2009

From Bangalore to London to Boston, Smart Enterprise Exchange members are discussing the need for leaner business practices.

When I first learned that IT departments were following in the footsteps of their manufacturing peers, the idea made sense: Streamlining operations, focusing on customer value and eliminating waste will help save time and money while improving the customer experience It seemed straightforward.

What I didn’t consider — but our global members seem to know — is that the concept of Lean IT varies widely by industry and geography. And while guidelines such as ITIL® and Six Sigma may be used, Lean practices can be broadly applied to business and management with strategic implications.

So, when Orange Business Services’ CIO Vincent Kelly told attendees at our London event in June that Lean IT practices served as a foundation upon which the telecommunications company was revamped three years ago, I was intrigued. He described ways to incorporate Lean thinking to improve customer relations, make better offshoring decisions, demonstrate better TCO, and even get buy-in for green IT efforts.

As our reports from the event indicate, British CIOs “seem to hold some very diverse views of what constitutes the role of the CIO in the application of Lean thinking, and how to achieve a Lean organization.” You can catch up on other global Live Exchanges that you may have missed and read our reports from Rome and Canada.

Even while internal business processes are being optimized, CIOs must turn their attention to one of the most difficult challenges their organizations face: innovation. Smart Enterprise Exchange is hosting Live Exchanges in the U.S. on the topic of Practical Innovation, and we will be examining the theme in depth beginning in October. For some background and thought leadership on the subject, you may want to pick up a copy of Scott Anthony’s recent book, The Silver Lining (Harvard Business Press, 2009). As described in our new Smart Books feature in this month’s Business Technology Strategy track, Anthony challenges CIOs to think beyond spending cuts to view innovation as the way to “stop ineffective initiatives, change key business processes, and start more productive behaviors.” And that sounds quite a lot like the goals of Lean IT.

Finally, I invite you to join the conversation and post your own comments here on the Smart Enterprise Exchange. Do you find our new video on the Collaborative CIO valuable? If you attended one of our Live Events, share your experiences in your own blog. If you weren’t able to attend in person, begin a virtual discussion with your peers who were there. Ask a question of our experts or offer advice. Participation allows you to optimize the value of this community, so please connect with us.

Paula Klein
Editor and Community Manager
Smart Enterprise Exchange
editor@smartenterpriseexchange.com

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