February 2009

An acute problem confronting you as a Senior Executive of a leading financial or insurance firm is how do you continue to innovate under uncertain, chaotic economic conditions? The relentless pace of globalization and change demands innovation—new strategies, new initiatives and new applications of information technology to achieve business breakthroughs – but the current economic downturn is putting pressure on IT budgets and resources. The simple reality is that most IT organizations still expend 80 percent of their resources maintaining day-to-day operations, leaving only 20 percent available for new initiatives.

You are invited to participate in and join InformationWeek, Insurance & Technology and Smart Enterprise magazine for an informative discussion of these issues. This Smart Enterprise Exchange—held exclusively for the benefit of CIOs and Senior IT Executives from enterprise-level financial and insurance organizations—will examine current economic trends, their likely impact on IT strategy and how IT can remain on an innovative footing.

Among the topics we will explore:

• What is the business outlook for the next 12 to 18 months and what is the likely impact on the IT budget?
• In the current business climate, how should IT prioritize? How do you strike the optimal balance between operational support and new application deployment?
• Given the above, how can IT maintain or improve on current service levels while freeing up resources for new projects and initiatives?
• When growth slows and budgets tighten, does innovation have to fall by the wayside? Can IT continue to foster a culture of innovation, even in the face of business pressures and cutbacks?

 

Alan Beaulieu Senior Economist Institute for Trend Research

Brian Gillooly Editor-in-Chief, Events, InformationWeek and Smart Enterprise

Carole Woodward Vice President of Application Development, FedEx Office