Approaches to Shadow IT Governance
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- Written by Dave Carey
Shadow IT used to be one of those things that CIOs tried to eradicate or at least keep in check, like some pernicious garden weed. Yes, that still happens, but now shadow IT has reached the point of acceptance in quite a few organizations and in many it is not only tolerated but encouraged.
In a recent blog (Help for CIOs in Coming Out of the IT Shadows), I wrote about the inexorable growth of shadow IT and the fact that some CIOs are embracing it as a means of helping enable business users while taking some of the pressure off the IT department. That’s a ‘good news’ story and it’s happening quite a bit these days. But where a lot of work still needs to be done is in the area of governance.
Help for CIOs in Coming Out of the IT Shadows
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- Written by Dave Carey
With the advent of Cloud computing, shadow IT has become an ever more painful thorn in the side of the IT organization. And the problem isn’t going away; it’s getting worse.
According to a recent survey of CIOs, CFOs and business decision makers in the US and Europe, conducted by Cloud services provider Canopy, spending on shadow IT will grow 20 percent this year. Half the business decision makers polled have already made a strong commitment to shadow IT, spending 5 to 15 percent of their budget on outside IT products and service providers. On average, this amounts to almost $12 million annually per firm.
Many of Canada’s leading CIOs have delved into key issues around Cloud and shadow IT at roundtables held across the country by The IT Media Group. We’ve been surprised to find that a number of CIOs are growing more comfortable with shadow IT and even using it as a means of taking some of the pressure off an already busy IT department.
CIOs as marketers? Why it’s now more critical than ever
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- Written by Dave Carey
While doing research for The IT Media Group’s Strategic Insights Report, Marketing IT to the Business: Successful CIOs Share Best Practices, I spoke to many IT executives about their approach to gaining trust, confidence and buy-in of IT initiatives and practices from the executive team and users.
There’s an even more pressing need for CIOs to successfully ‘market’ their IT organizations now than there was two years ago, when I wrote the report. Why? Two key reasons:
1. Shadow IT continues to grow at a rapid clip, bringing with it poorly integrated systems, lack of due diligence, security issues, hidden costs, long-term sustainability issues, incompatibility with IT strategy, the creation of siloed departments, and the list goes on.
Five Security Insights from our CIO Breakfast Series
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- Written by Dave Carey
Over the past 14 months, The IT Media Group has hosted a series of roundtables and Strategic Insights sessions focussed on IT security. These sessions produced a wealth of information and ideas, provided by the many CIOs, CISOs and security experts who took part.
Here are five examples of that collected wisdom:
Gaining User Buy-in: Organizations are facing multiple challenges when it comes to gaining user buy-in for good security practices. Security measures need to be as invisible as possible to end users; if workflow is impeded, users will often fail to comply with proper security procedures. Whenever possible, security should be built in at the beginning of application development, rather than being ‘bolted on’ later, resulting in extra steps on the part of users. [see video Supporting Users]
CIOs Need Alternatives
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- Written by Paul Lewis
During a pressure-packed situation aboard the retrofitted USS Enterprise in Star Trek: the Motion Picture, Commander Decker explained to Admiral Kirk, “It's my duty to point out alternatives.” Allow me to do the same with you.
Sure, it’s pretty easy to maintain the status quo when you hold all the cards, when you can make all the decisions. If I were in your shoes, I would focus on command and control too – house all my applications and workloads in a data centre that I maintain personally, mostly in a traditional row by row, discipline by discipline architecture while dipping my toe in workload-specific private Clouds. I might even try appliance or converged deployments, as long as I could touch and feel them.
Three Resolutions for the Pragmatic CIO
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- Written by Dave Carey
It’s still early enough in the new year to make some resolutions, if you haven’t already done so. Your personal resolutions are your own business, so I’m not going to encourage you to go on a butt-reduction regime – either ciggies or posterior.
As I’ve been closely connected to the CIO community for two decades, I can, however, advise on your workplace resolutions. Here are a few that are guaranteed to make your life as a CIO happier, healthier, or a little less onerous.
Resolution 1: Make Succession Planning a Priority
You know in your heart of hearts that there’s no one inside or outside of the company that can do the job of CIO as well as you. Still, you owe it to the company to prepare it for your departure. Of course, how you prepare it depends on how they’ve treated you over the years.
Key Conversations for IT Executives
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- Written by Dave Carey
2014 was a great year for The IT Media Group – our best ever – and that means it was also a banner year for Canadian IT executives when it came to sharing best practices, expanding personal networks and gaining insights from world-class experts in their field.
A wealth of content came out of our many events across Canada, much of which is available on the ITMG web site in written form in our Events section and video form in our Video section. I highly recommend spending some time in both of these sections, where you will find peer-generated content on a wide variety of topics including: Cloud, Big Data, innovation, security, mobility, governance, BYOD, social media, working with the business, and the list goes on.
As we close the year, allow me to point you to a few conversations from our 2014 events that particularly resonated with us and with the IT executives who attended these sessions. They should give you plenty of food for thought for the coming year.
The Greatest CIO Interview of All Time
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- Written by Dave Carey
He fixed a catastrophic mainframe failure with the pointy end of a rat-tail comb.
He refereed an arm-wrestling contest between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
He was a moustache double for Tom Selleck during season four of Magnum PI.
He correctly texted the Declaration of Independence while running with the bulls at Pamplona.
He is… “The Most Interesting CIO in the World”.
It is doubtful that there is anyone in IT today who is not familiar with the exploits, accomplishments, intrigues and affaires of The Most Interesting CIO in the World. His brash – some would say swashbuckling – approach to IT management, as technology head of three of the world’s leading organizations, is the stuff of legend.
Important CIO conversations for 2014
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- Written by Dave Carey
As changes to enterprise IT tend to be more evolutionary than revolutionary, we don’t expect 2014 to be radically different than last year for CIOs. But there are some areas that we believe will garner more attention, and that CIOs should pay close attention to. Here’s our take on some important CIO conversations for 2014:
The security conversation. The data breach at Target, the U.S.’s third largest retailer, in late November/early December of 2013, resulting in the exposure of up to 40 million customer credit and debit card numbers, will be a wake-up call for C-suite executives across North America and around the world.To date, this is the most visible data breach we’ve seen, and its impact was immediate, resulting in a drop of three to four percent in the number of transactions at Target on the final weekend before Christmas, according to Bloomberg. As well, Target shares fell three percent in the weeks following the breach. And at time of writing, there was talk of a customer class-action suit being launched against Target as well.
Not another poke in the ‘I’ for the CIO
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- Written by John Pickett
There’s an epidemic of proposals for a change in the CIO title that’s driving me nuts. Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Integration Officer, Chief Interaction Officer and others, all intended to place a different emphasis on the mandate of IT leadership.
I understand that in using different meanings of the ‘I’ in CIO, pundits are using it to make their point that CIOs should now focus on Innovation or Interaction or whatever bandwagon they’ve jumped on. Indeed, there are legitimate arguments to be made for each, but they are all so narrowly focused that they ignore a broad range of IT leadership responsibilities of equal importance.
Message to management: stop snubbing your CIO
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- Written by Dave Carey
I’ve come to know a great many CIOs over the 20-odd years that I’ve been writing content for the IT executive community in Canada. And quite often when I’m on a company’s web site I’ll check the management team section to find out who the CIO is and whether or not it’s someone I know.
And it’s a source of continual amazement to me how often CIOs are left off the management team list. Doesn’t seem to matter what type of business it is – all industries are more or less equal offenders when it comes to snubbing their CIOs. Try doing a straw poll of company web sites yourself and see what I mean. You’ll probably find that around half the companies you visit have an invisible CIO.
Stop poking the CIO in the I
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- Written by Dave Carey
Pity the poor CIO. Seems like every time you turn around, somebody’s trying to poke his or her ‘I’ out.
The once venerable title Chief Information Officer is now passé – no longer suitable, according to the pundits. These days it’s all about innovation; it must be Chief Innovation Officer. Or it’s all about intelligence; it must be Chief Intelligence Officer. I’ve even heard Chief Imagination Officer, which should only be allowed if you work for The Walt Disney Company.
My Concise Oxford Dictionary has 46 pages of I’s, so this could go on forever.
In order to save us a little time, allow me to cut to the chase and offer up the best new titles for CIO that are likely to emerge over the next decade or so. That way we can play with them now, quickly grow tired of them, and get back to good old Chief Information Officer.
For fun, see which of the following titles fits you best.
The lottery plan for IT organizations
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- Written by Paul Lewis
If I won the lottery, I would move my entire family to Disney World, permanently. My plan is simple: give away and sell all my worldly possessions, from my socks to my house, and recreate a new life in the happiest place on earth.
I would prepay for decades of a complete vacation package in a Magic Kingdom view resort room, with a connected room for the kids. For transportation, WDW would provide busses, boats, and monorails to any location, all included. For food, the included deluxe dining plan would offer me three meals and two snacks per day in hundreds of locations in the 40+ square mile district. I think the entertainment is obvious, however I would likely get the platinum package with park hopper and waterparks to maximize the number options in any one day. For clothing, well, onsite merchandising is unprecedented.
CIO Careers: The power of personal connection
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- Written by Dave Carey
A couple of weeks ago, a CIO and long-time friend of mine sent me an email, letting me know that he’s looking to change jobs after 15 years with the same firm. He knew that I was well connected with the CIO community in Canada and hoped I might be able to help him with his job search.
Good call on his part. As it turned out, I did know of a couple of IT executives on the move and was able to broker a meeting between my friend and one of those departing CIOs. As for the other, his job had already been filled internally.
My friend just emailed to tell me the meeting went great and thanking me for putting him in touch with “an excellent resource and even better person”. Knowing my friend, I’m sure the meeting was mutually beneficial.
CIO Career Advice: Moving Up the Business Ladder
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- Written by Dave Carey
Over the past couple of decades I’ve met many CIOs with aspirations to move out of IT and up the corporate ladder. Some succeeded; many more did not.
Despite the advantage of being an executive with a view across the entire business, it’s simply not an easy task for the CIO to break out of IT. The reasons for this are many: the CIO is a relative newcomer to the executive suite; in many organizations there’s a lack of connectedness between the business and IT; many see IT as a cost centre rather than a strategic tool for innovation and revenue generation; IT has a long history of project failure and underperformance in the eyes of the business; and the list goes on.
CIO Career Advice: Underutilized IT Execs, Get Your Knowledge Working For You
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- Written by Dave Carey
In my recent blog, "CIO Careers: When you’re gone, make sure you’re not forgotten", I wrote about the various ways unemployed CIOs can keep from getting stale-dated and enhance their chances of finding a new and perhaps even better job.
The second blog in my “CIO Career Advice” series speaks not only to unemployed IT execs but also to those with some extra time on their hands (okay, I know they are rarae aves, but they’re out there). Those in either category can enhance their profile, better brand themselves by creating more visibility for their skills, knowledge and ambitions, and perhaps earn some good money in the process by packaging up their specialized knowledge and putting it into the marketplace. Here are a few ways to do this.
Getting started with Big Data (Video)
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- Written by Staff
Roger Moryoussef of Sun Life Financial talks about the company’s entry into the Big Data world and some of the strategies they undertook to help the business gain the greatest value from its data initiatives. Collaboration, clear business objectives, promotion and measurement are some of their key learnings. Sun Life Financial was one of several companies participating in The IT Media Group’s executive Roundtable, “the Economics of Big Data.”
CIO Careers: When you’re gone, make sure you’re not forgotten
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- Written by Dave Carey
Even though the Canadian IT executive community is small, it’s surprising how often CIOs who have been made to walk the plank – often through no fault of their own – sink out of sight with barely a ripple. They may let a few of their close associates know, but the broader IT executive community is none the wiser. By the time they hear about it, it’s several months after the fact.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of very capable ex-CIOs out there who want to continue their careers but who’ve spent too long on the sidelines. They’re now not only unemployed but also stale-dated. If they find a CIO job at all, it will likely be one of considerably less stature than their previous one.
Big Data and Social Media (Video)
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- Written by Staff
As consumers turn more and more to digital channels for purchasing, communicating and researching, savvy companies are finding ways to engage with them digitally through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, through public discussion forums, and through interactivity on their own web sites. But buried in the millions of conversations and comments are potential insights into trends and preferences that some companies are finding by applying Big Data techniques to their analysis.
While relatively few companies have seriously mined social media for such insights, some of the CIOs attending The IT Media Group CIO Roundtable exploring The Economics of Big Data shared some initial experiences that point to the intelligence value social media promises.
Strategic Insights Report: Marketing IT to the Business
- Details
- Written by Dave Carey
All CIOs face similar roadblocks throughout their careers: internal business partners who distrust IT and want as little to do with it as possible; end users who are resistant to new ways of doing things and frustrated at not being able to use their own devices and apps; and senior management who lack a good understanding of technology and are unwilling to invest in key elements of the IT strategy.
These roadblocks differ from one organization to the next, and every CIO has his or her own way of dealing with them. Improperly navigated, any one of them can send the CIO’s career into a skid, so it is imperative that all CIOs stay abreast of techniques that will help them overcome these obstacles.
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