Which Cloud are you on?

Do you use Cloud computing to virtually expand your technology capabilities?  Read all about the rage that is Cloud computing in a recent New York Times feature -

http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_002570DE00740E180025742400363509.html?ref

Whether you view a narrow wisp of Cloud computing or take a global view where you include anything outside “your” network find out who the key players are, and how they can get you to your Cloud!

 

Generation Gap … embracing and bridging the gap

Do you have a strategy to embrace and bridge the generation gap we are witnessing in the IT workforce?  Read what CIO INSIGHT has to offer as 5 tips to manage the generation gap - http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Slideshows/5-Ways-to-Manage-Across-the-Generations/?kc=COQFTEMNL050108STR5

How do you balance the energy and enthusiasm of your “younger” workforce with the structure and stability that your organization may have built and sustained over the years?  Is this a culture clash or just another wave of assimilation that requires time and effort to work?  Let the discussion continue on the CIO Corner…

Focus on mid-market CIOs

CIO INSIGHT recently published an intriguing article focused on mid-market CIOs.  Here are a few findings that stood out for us -

1. Mid-market CIOs typically play a more hands-on role at mid-market corporations than their counterparts at larger corporations.

2. Mid-market CIOs tend to be less ‘business-focused’ - with a majority of them growing up from the IT architecture domain.  To quote “business skills appear less important”.

3. Only a quarter of them have MBAs

4. Their salaries tend to be lower than for their counterparts in larger corporations

5. And finally, their core focus is on “making technology work” vs. “being an enabler of technology” - bringing a fundamental difference in focus and priorities for the CIO

What do you think?  Read more and let us know - http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Mid-Market-Research/Fundamentally-Essential/?kc=COQFTEMNL050108STR1

 

Is your IT green?

Green is indeed the new ‘e’.  From LEAD certified buildings to even Barbie dolls (yes, it’s true - check out the latest dolls dressed in fabric bits that qualify these dolls to be eco-friendly!) almost everywhere you look the question seems to be “are you green enough?”.  Data centers are at the center of the new green focus in the IT world.  So, are data centers green enough?  A recent study has found that in spite of much talk about the move to ‘green’ data centers the reality is different.   Also according to the study, ‘Energy expenditures and requirements have doubled in the last five years, due to the explosion in digital data and more power-hungry storage hardware, according to Stanford University and Greenpeace researchers.’

Read more at: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Infrastructure/IT-Failing-at-Being-Green/?kc=EWWHNEMNL050108STR1

So, how green are your data centers?  How are you making a difference to the environment through green initiatives in your data center?

From Morgan to Google …

Hot off the Press…

Google announced today that Benjamin Fried, a managing director in Morgan Stanley’s technology department will be their new CIO. 

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207401996

Wikinnovation - Unleash the human potential

Are you using Wikis to unleash the power of collaboration within your enterprise?  Find out how some CIOs are leading the way by empowering their associates to generate, share and discuss ideas through an open forum.  Something about this seems fundamentally human to us?  What do you think?  Can Wikis take water-cooler innovation to the next level?  Tell us how you are leading the way with Wikis and other human collaboration technologies…

http://www.smartenterprisemag.com/articles/2008winter/emergingtech.jhtml

Disruptive Tecnologies … are you ready?

Gartner analysts gazed into the crystal ball and identified the top 10 disruptive technologies.  If Augmented Reality, Context-Aware, Mashups and Enterprise Social Software with it’s characteristic chaotic co-production are not part of lexicon, get ready.  The next wave of disruptive technologies span the gamut from pure tech to changing how we humans fundamentally may interact (nay “be one”) with technology.

Read more at: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/10-Most-Disruptive-Technologies/?kc=EWKNLEDP041408A

Where do you stand today?  Do you see any of these technologies on your horizon?  Or are some of these changes already real?  Let us know how you are facing and faring … let the dialogue continue on MIT Sloan CIO Corner…

 

Where in the room is the CIO?

Here is another recent finding that talks about the apparent ‘downsizing’ in the influence of the Chief Information Officer.

http://www.networkworld.com/research/2008/040708-cios.html?netht=rn_040708&nladname=040708

• How do you see the pendulum swinging? 
• Where do you find CIO’s getting ‘placed’ in the executive pack? 
• How are you building the necessary competencies within your CIO team to be on par with partners in Finance (aka CFO), Operations (the COO) etc? 
• What can you do to get back in the room if you are looking outside-in? 

Let us know what you think … let the discussion continue!

The B Word - Should Facebook be b****** @ work?

Facebook has taken ‘Generation Next’ by storm.  Is Corporate America ready for the Facebook Generation?  eWeek explores this question in an interesting article at http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/Should-Facebook-Be-Banned-from-Work/?kc=EWKNLEDP041108A

What do you think?  Should Facebook be banned in the workplace?  Even the experts are divided … read on.   Read what some of us think but most importantly let us know what you think.   Do you think corporate America is ready for the Facebook generation?  What is your company doing to be best positioned to leverage the opportunity and balance the risk?  What are the real leaders in this space upto?

Perception is reality - but what about the other way around?

While researching a new talk, I came across a study on the role the brain plays in adjusting reality to better fit our perceptions. Think about that for a second. In support we have long believed that perceptions become a customer’s reality. But this research shows that even realities like touch and taste can be altered by our perceptions.

Expectations have long been studied by psychologists. What we expect plays a big role in determining how effective certain medications are, for example. Now there is additional research showing the brain does even more active ‘adjusting’ of our senses than previously thought. Consider the following experiment done on volunteers by scientists from Caltech and Stanford.Volunteers were asked to take a sip of wine, swish it in their mouths for six seconds, swallow it and then rate it. Before they tasted each wine, they were told what the wine cost (between $5 and $90 a bottle). The catch? The wine prices were random and arbitrary. But you can probably guess the results. When rating how much they liked the wine, they gave the more “expensive” wines higher scores.