Archive for March, 2010

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CIOs Ask The Question: Is Twitter A Friend Or A Foe?

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
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Twitter Seems To Be A Tool That Comes With No Instructions

Twitter Seems To Be A Tool That Comes With No Instructions

When you become CIO you will have a number of tools available to you that CIOs never had in the past. #1 on this list is, of course, Twitter. However, wait a minute, is this a good thing or a bad thing? Sounds like you need to figure this out before you become CIO and make a mistake…

What Does Twitter Mean To A CIO?

Ultimately everything that a CIO does needs to be about finding ways to create more business for the company. That brings up the interesting question about Twitter: is this a good place for the company to be looking for customers?

While that question may currently have no clear answer, the one thing that nobody can argue with is the simple fact that Twitter is currently growing like a weed. Although different people come up with different numbers, everyone agrees that Twitter currently has between 18 – 23 million users. No matter how you slice it, that’s a lot of your potential customers!

So why are people using this service that restricts you to sending short 140 character bursts of text messages? A recent survey of Twitter users revealed that 42% of Twitter users use it to communicate (“tweet”) in order to connect with friends. 14% do it in order to have more interaction and access to their favorite companies, and 13% are doing it in order to be able to connect with service providers.

While this all sounds wonderful, it turns out that most of the companies that are already using Twitter really have no idea how to make the most of this new resource. It’s almost like when the Internet first showed up – everyone is once again going through a learning process.

Ways That A CIO Can Use Twitter

As a CIO, just saying “we’re going to use Twitter” is not enough, you need to come up with a concrete plan for how your firm can use Twitter in order to have a direct impact on developing more sales leads or even generating revenue. The good news here is that as you develop a Twitter plan for your company, you can be using Twitter because as many companies have found out there is very little risk to using this tool.

The computer company Dell is a clear leader in the field of companies that have found a way to maximize the value of Twitter. They have generated $3M from their Twitter activities since 2007. What Dell has been doing is using Twitter to post coupons and spread the word about new Dell products.

Other firms that are using Twitter view it as being an amplifier for their other marketing activities. This allows them to extend their reach and get more bang for their marketing buck.

There appears to be two different paths for a company to follow when they are using Twitter. One is to use it as another way to communicate what the corporate voice is saying. The other is to use it as a means to create a personal bond with their potential customers. Both ways work, you just need to make up your mind, pick one, and stick with it.

What All This Means For You

CIOs will always be facing the challenge of evaluating and deciding if a new tool should be used by the company. The sudden arrival and the overnight popularity of Twitter is a clear example of such a CIO opportunity.

Twitter has been adopted by a huge number of users who probably include both your existing and potential customers. It’s clear that the real question isn’t IF you should use Twitter, but rather HOW you should use it going forward.

Coming up with a clear Twitter strategy should be your first step: are you simply going to amplify what you are already telling your customers or are you going to try to connect with them on a deeper level? Once you’ve made this decision, you’ll have to devote the IT resources to making it happen on a consistent basis. Nobody ever said that being CIO was going to be easy, but maybe this will give you something to tweet about…

Do you thing that CIOs should use Twitter as part of a company’s communication program or should they stay away from it?

Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Successful CIO Blog is updated.

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

When you become CIO things are going to be different aren’t they? You’ll be one of those CIOs that has the respect of both their peers in the company and in their industry, right?

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Posted in technologies | 1 Comment »

What CIOs Need To Know About Doing Offshoring In 2010

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
Image Credit Offshoring Decisions Are A Lot More Complicated These Days…

Offshoring Decisions Are A Lot More Complicated These Days…

The Way That It Used To Be

Remember when using offshored resources as a part of an IT department was such a big deal? These days it’s hard to find an IT department that doesn’t have at least some portion of its work done off shore. When you become CIO, offshoring is something that you’re going to have to deal with. It turns out that things aren’t as simple as they used to be…

When IT departments first started using offshoring there was really only one reason why they were doing it: it provided staffing cost reductions of 40% or more. It all seemed to be so easy: an IT department could move lots of low-value IT work to low-cost locations such as India and the Philippines. Let’s be honest about this: outsourcing was really cost cutting by a different name.

When you become CIO you’re going to be inheriting a different world. The favorite site of IT outsourcing has been India; however, India is changing. One of the biggest changes is that salaries have been going up rapidly. In India, annual raises of 15% have become common. On top of this, in the last year India has suffered from currency fluctuations, terrorist attacks, and financial fraud. When you become CIO you are going to have to be looking beyond India for locations to house your outsourcing.

The New World Of Outsourcing

You’re going to have to do some serious thinking when it comes time to determine how best to use outsourcing with your IT department. Just before the recent global recession the #1 reason that IT departments were using offshored resources was to accomplish cost cutting objectives.

The global recession is going to be your friend in the short term when it comes to offshoring. Over at the consulting firm Gartner, they are predicting that outsourcing prices will drop an average of 10% this upcoming year. However, as CIO you are going to need to be careful here.

It turns out that agreeing to specific IT cost cutting goals isn’t the hard part, maintaining them is. What many IT departments have discovered is that low hourly rates won’t save much money if the total hours needed to accomplish a given task are higher than you estimate.

Another issue for a CIO to consider will be how long your contract with the offshoring firm should last for. The first generation of outsourcing contacts tended to be last for lengthy time periods: 10 years was common. This was being done in order to “lock-in” the cost savings. However, the need to have the ability to adjust to changing market conditions has changed this – CIOs now want shorter-term contracts.

Of course, nothing is ever that simple. It turns out that for certain IT professional services that require a higher percentage of highly skilled workers, the offshore staffing providers will insist on longer-term contacts because the suppliers say that they can’t attract the workers that they need unless you are willing to sign contracts that cover longer time periods.

On the positive side, although with a bit more complexity, you will now have more options for where you can do your offshore work. Some of the most popular outsourcing destinations in a recent survey of firms that were considering it included: United States (22%), China (16%), India (13%). Also on their list was the Philippines, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Jamaica.

What All Of This Means For You

When you become CIO, you will be offshoring some of your IT work. What used to be a relatively simple decision to send some of your low-value IT grunt work over to India has become much more complicated.

India is still an attractive destination for a number of reasons. However, it has become less attractive than it once was and a number of competitive alternatives have now shown up.

It will take time and effort on your part in order to properly evaluate your options and decide what is correct for your IT department. You can’t go wrong with the decision to offshore some of your IT workload, it’s just making the right decisions on where the do the work that will require all of your CIO skills…

What country do you think would be the best place for a firm to offshore it’s IT work today?

Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Successful CIO Blog is updated.

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

When you become CIO you will have a number of tools available to you that CIOs never had in the past. #1 on this list is, of course, Twitter. However, wait a minute, is this a good thing or a bad thing? Sounds like you need to figure this out before you become CIO and make a mistake…

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Posted in outsource | 2 Comments »

Just Exactly What Did The Big CIOs Do Last Year?

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
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What A CIO Can Accomplish In A Year Just Might Surprise You…

What A CIO Can Accomplish In A Year Just Might Surprise You…

It Was A Tough Year

To say that last year was a rough year, might be the understatement of the decade. Every business seemed to be taking it on the nose and anytime you opened the paper or turned on the TV, it just seemed as though the bad news kept on coming. What’s interesting for all of you who dream of someday becoming a CIO, is that the best CIOs didn’t allow all of the bad news to discourage them – they still made progress…

Yes, I believe that we all know what the right thing to do is. However, sticking to our guns when it seems like the rest of the world is falling apart all around us is what separates the good CIOs from the not-so-good ones. What does it take to keep moving forward? Most of the best CIOs all agree that even in bad times an IT department should be an externally directed force that is focused on growth, customers, and creating market-facing leadership

The Best CIOs Still Made Progress

Amazingly enough, a global recession can be good for business. It shakes out the weaker companies and primes customers to start buying again once things pick up again. Bob Evans has been talking with some of the CIOs for the biggest global firms and he’s found out that they’ve been quite busy, despite the global recession. Here are some examples:

  • Liu Zhixuan, CIO of China’s Shenzhen Airlines: Liu has been working on what he calls a “service-chain integration” project for the airline. Once it’s in place, this IT solution will offer an end-to-end view of not just the airline’s business processes but it will also allow customers to be segmented. As an additional value to the airline, this project will automatically reset the outcomes of some of business processes based on a customer’s status.
  • Kim Tac Keuk, CIO of LG Electronics: : Since my current cell phone is made by LG, I’m always interested in what they are up to. During the past year Kim has lead their efforts to implement a global single-instance Oracle ERP system. Anyone who has been involved in one of these projects knows what a bear they can be even when they aren’t global in nature. This project started off by requiring an 18-month effort to map, integrate, and optimize 440 business processes across LG’s 83 subsidiaries. What I liked best about this accomplishment is that it gave the IT department intimate knowledge about how the company does business. Kim believes that it is important also because he says that in his company IT teams must be masters of all processes across the enterprise.
  • Tania Nossa head of IT for Alcoa Brazil: : Making Aluminum requires a lot of raw material and energy. Trying to create a successful company to do this is difficult enough even when you aren’t in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Tania spent last year working to extend and upgrading the company’s connectivity. This might not seem like such a big deal, until you consider that it means running LAN cables down into mines in the Amazon rainforest – then you start to appreciate what he’s been able to accomplish.
  • Alan Matula, CIO of Royal Dutch Shell: : One of the things that many want-to-be CIOs forget is that very little of what a CIO does has anything to do with technology. For example, Alan spent part of his time last year signing over $4B in outsourcing contracts. Clearly he’s going to have a big job in the upcoming year managing and keeping track of each of those contacts. Oh, and during the same year he implemented one of the world’s largest unified communications solutions. That makes for a full year!

What All Of This Means For You

It’s all too easy to get distracted by what we read in the newspaper and see on TV. This past year was an excellent example of how bad news can flood our minds and distract us from what we really should be doing.

As Bob’s research has shown, the best CIOs didn’t allow a global recession to stop them from moving forward. Sure it may have impacted their budgets and slowed their projects down, but they still made progress.

Learning by example is how one can become a great CIO. Let what these CIOs accomplished this year serve as an example for you on how to keep your eye on the prize as you work towards become a great CIO.

Do you think these CIOs were correct in launching big projects during a global recession?

Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Successful CIO Blog is updated.

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Remember when using offshored resources as a part of an IT department was such a big deal? These days it’s hard to find an IT department that doesn’t have at least some portion of its work done off shore. When you become CIO, offshoring is something that you’re going to have to deal with. It turns out that things aren’t as simple as they used to be…

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Posted in CIO | 1 Comment »

Partner Or Vendor: You Make The Choice

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
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Working With Partners & Vendors Is Sorta Like Double Dating

Working With Partners & Vendors Is Sorta Like Double Dating

What’s The Difference Between A Vendor And A Partner?

When you become CIO, you’re going to be faced with the challenge of picking your friends. No, I’m not talking about being nice to the CEO and CFO – let’s hope that they are already your friends. What I’m talking about is the collection of outside firms that provide your IT department with goods and services. They can’t all be your best friend, so you’ve got some decisions to make…

The first thing that we should all agree on is that not all companies that you will be doing business with are created equal. What this means in practical terms is that the world is divided into two groups of businesses: vendors and partners.

A vendor is someone with whom you simply be doing business with. This is not to say that they aren’t important, it’s just that there’s not a lot of additional value to be found in the relationship. A case in point might be the firm that supplies your IT department with paper: it’s important, but it’s not really a part of IT’s long term strategy.

Things are different when you are working with a partner. In this case you are both always seeking a win-win solution because it’s going to be a long-term relationship and it turns out that you are both in a position to help each other out.

Why Worry About What A Partner Is Thinking?

When you are the CIO, you’re going to be busy. Worrying about your relationship with your partners is going to take some of your time. Why bother?

It turns out that it’ll be worth the effort. The IT department’s relationship with it’s partners is a long-term investment. This means that how you treat your partners today will end up being remembered for a very long time.

This is a relationship in which you always have to be thinking about what the next step needs to be. The key is to identify those steps that both companies can take together in order to add value to both firms.

It’s when things go bad in the marketplace that the real value of having created a partnership with some of your suppliers will benefit your IT department. Taking the time to sit down and work with your partner in order to find ways that both of you can remain whole during a market downturn will end up benefiting both firms in the end.

How To Make Life Better For A Partner During A Downturn?

One of the secrets to being a successful CIO is the ability to show creativity when it comes to dealing with partners. During a rough patch, cash is probably going to be tight. You’re going to have to come up with some innovative ideas if you are going to be able to help your IT department’s partners out. Here are a few suggestions:

  • Add an extra year to a contract at a lower rate: even though you may need to renegotiate a contract with your partner at a lower rate, help them out by extending the contract so that they know they have a guaranteed revenue stream.
  • Acting as a reference: although your partner may not be able to get more cash out of you, by acting as a reference for them you may help them to close business with other companies that they couldn’t get without your help.
  • Allow them to leverage your organization’s brand: something as simple as giving a partner permission to put your company’s logo on their web site in order to identify who they do business with can be of great value to them.
  • Get a testimonial from you: taking partner support to the next level, providing a partner with a testimonial that they can incorporate into their marketing material has a tangible value to them and will be appreciated.

What All Of This Means For You

In today’s global economy, an IT department no longer consists of only your employees. Instead, it’s a spread out entity that includes both internal staff as well as your partners.

By treating your partners well, you’ll actually be able to expand the impact of your IT department. An added benefit of doing this will be that when your partners come into contact with your customers, they will do a good job of positively representing both your firm and your IT department.

Just in case you’ve missed the final reason that cultivating a select group of partners is worth your while, remember that your CIO job may not last forever. When your time as CIO is up at your current company, it sure would be nice to have a collection of firms in your industry that thought favorably of you…

How many partner firms do you think that a CIO should work to develop?

Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Successful CIO Blog is updated.

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

To say that last year was a rough year, might be the understatement of the decade. Every business seemed to be taking it on the nose and anytime you opened the paper or turned on the TV, it just seemed as though the bad news kept on coming. What’s interesting for all of you who dream of someday becoming a CIO, is that the best CIOs didn’t allow all of the bad news to discourage them – they still made progress…

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Posted in vendors | 3 Comments »

AccSucCIO Life Just Got Better For iPhone/Andriod/BB Users

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

Loyal Readers,

It has been brought to my attention that the AccSuccCIO blog’s appearance on touch-based smart phones was, shall we say, poor at best.

I think that I may have found a way to solve this problem. I’ve installed some new software that should change the AccSuccCIO into an iPhone application “looking” site, complete with Ajax loading articles and effects, when viewed from an iPhone, iPod touch, Android or BlackBerry touch mobile device.

As with all great experiments, we’re going to have to see how this goes. If you’ve got one of these devices do me a favor and check the site out and then post a comment to let me know how it looks — you should be able to switch between the old (“mobile unfriendly”) look & feel and the new (“mobile friendly”) look & feel.

Thanks for all of you help in making the AccSuccCIO better!

- Dr. Jim Anderson

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Posted in Blog Info | No Comments »

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