Strategies and Trends for Information Technology Leaders
The M&A volume is expected to rise by 30 percent or more in 2011, and may increase even more in 2012 as the financial and lending environment returns to something resembling its pre-downturn state. This “merger mania” is fueled in part by a heady combination of available capital and a target rich environment comprised of…
Identify opportunities – Next, CIOs should generate a list of potential projects and improvements, including innovative game-changing ideas that deliver the values defined with executives during alignment building sessions. It’s also important to recognize that in many cases IT solutions must be coupled with process improvements to achieve a desired outcome. For example, implementing demand…
The cloud has changed the role of IT, of that there is no doubt. But fears that the CIO will become extinct because of it are overblown. Instead, the role will likely be redefined. “The traditional CIO must shift his or her focus from cost efficient delivery of infrastructure to strategic utilization of infrastructure,” explained…
In an industry that has seen thousands of jobs leave for foreign shores and cheaper labor, it is understandable there is much wringing of the hands over how many more IT jobs might be lost to the cloud. “I have an acquaintance that calls it the ‘Corp Tech Pocalypse,’” laughed Steven Savage, a technical project…
Technology executives forecast continued IT hiring in the second quarter of 2011, according to the just-released Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report. In the latest quarterly survey, 9 percent of CIOs said they plan to expand their IT departments, and just 2 percent expect cutbacks, for a net 7 percent increase in…
Pretend for a moment that you are a CEO, and you learn that an asset that costs your company a cool quarter of a million dollars a year is chronically underutilized. Wouldn’t you want to do something about it? Well, with the average CIO commanding $250,000 or more annually in salary and benefits, it would…
In the last column, I introduced the first of the seven habits which was rapport. Now we will move to the second habit of highly effective presenters which is authority. Authority is the audience’s perception that the presenter is knowledgeable on the subject matter. Knowledge leads to credibility and gives the impression that the presenter…
In response to asomewhat recent LinkedIn post asking for a single word or phrase to characterize people’s leadership style 1500 LinkedIn professionals offered up a steady stream of “courageous, passionate, compassionate, sincerity, charisma” and other warm and fuzzy epithets. Not surprisingly, there were no posts indicating harsher forms of rule. This, of course, begs the…
You work hard to attract and secure the best talent, but do you invest the same amount of effort into integrating those recent hires into your team? If you’re short-staffed and busier than ever, new employee orientation might get little attention. At some firms, the welcome is merely a stack of paperwork and instructions to…
In the past several columns I have discussed the art of listening, which is mastering the inflow of communication. Now, I will shift to the art of delivering your communication, which is mastering outflow. There are seven characteristics of a highly effective presenter and I will use the acronym RAPSORE to help you remember each…