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Leadership and strategic planning

• project scope

  Project scope is the part of project planning that involves determining and documenting a list of specific project goals, deliverables, tasks, costs and deadlines. Continue Reading

• strategic management

  Strategic management is the ongoing planning, monitoring, analysis and assessment of all necessities an organization needs to meet its goals and objectives. Continue Reading

• How to negotiate a good software subscription agreement

  A big mistake IT execs make in negotiating software subscription deals is overbuying. Here are seven steps from ClearEdge Partners' Rachel Annello that will lead to a better deal. Continue Reading

• The rise of RPA bots and the role of C-level decision makers

  According to new research, there will be 3 million RPA bots running in the enterprise in 2020. As RPA bots proliferate, C-level decision makers must take steps to ensure their RPA programs deliver tactical and strategic benefits. Check out this ... Continue Reading

• business process outsourcing (BPO)

  Business process outsourcing, or BPO, is a business practice in which one organization hires another company to perform a process task that the hiring organization requires for its own business to operate successfully. Continue Reading

• Definitions to Get Started

  • project scope
  • strategic management
  • business process outsourcing (BPO)
  • CIO (Chief Information Officer)

  • digital transformation
  • Chief Digital Officer (CDO)
  • SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis)
  • soft skills

  View All Definitions

• The CIO role, from IT operator to business strategist

  The CIO position has changed dramatically since its inception 40 years ago. This in-depth review traces the job's evolution and explains what is required of the CIO role today.Continue Reading

• CIO (Chief Information Officer)

  A chief information officer (CIO) is the corporate executive in charge of information technology (IT) strategy and implementation.Continue Reading

• digital transformation

  Digital transformation (DX) is the adoption of new technologies to improve an organization's processes, products and services. According to a recent survey, digital transformation and the ability to compete against born-digital organizations is the ...Continue Reading

• Championing IT operational excellence: The strategic CIO's first day

  CIOs may be tempted to roll out their strategic initiatives to C-suite peers on day one, but savvy CIOs know IT operational excellence is step No. 1.Continue Reading

• Chief Digital Officer (CDO)

  A chief digital officer (CDO) is an executive enlisted to help businesses transform traditional IT policies and business processes to accommodate digital sectors such as mobile technology and applications and Web-based information management and ...Continue Reading

• SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis)

  SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis) is a framework for identifying and analyzing the internal and external factors that can have an impact on the viability of a project, product, place or person.Continue Reading

• 6 free IT strategic planning templates for CIOs

  As technology has become a business differentiator, IT strategy is more crucial than ever. These IT strategic planning templates help CIOs make IT a business driver.Continue Reading

• soft skills

  A soft skill is a personal attribute that supports situational awareness and enhances an individual's ability to get a job done. The term soft skills is often used as a synonym for people skills or emotional intelligence.Continue Reading

• Andrew Ng's AI playbook for the enterprise: 6 must-dos

  AI legend and online education pioneer Andrew Ng has developed an AI playbook for businesses. Here are six must-dos.Continue Reading

• Free IT mission statement examples for CIOs

  These free IT mission statement examples and how-tos can help CIOs and their IT departments identify and refine their organizational goals.Continue Reading

• value proposition

  A value proposition is a statement that clearly identifies the benefits a company's products and services will deliver to its customers.Continue Reading

• project management

  Project management is the discipline of using established principles, procedures and policies to successfully guide a project from conception through completion.Continue Reading

• Chief Strategy Officer (CSO)

  A chief strategy officer (CSO), or chief strategist, is an executive charged with helping formulate, facilitate and communicate the overarching strategy of an organization, usually a large corporation.Continue Reading

• How can companies build a strategy for monetizing data?

  To extract value from data, most companies will face people, process and technology challenges. Matt Maccaux explains the ins and outs of monetizing data.Continue Reading

• organizational goals

  Organizational goals are strategic objectives that a company's management establishes to outline expected outcomes and guide employees' efforts.Continue Reading

• IT transformation

  IT transformation is a complete reassessment and overhaul of an organization's information technology (IT) systems in order to improve the efficiency and delivery in a digital economy.Continue Reading

• rainmaker (business)

  A rainmaker is an individual who generates an unusually high amount of revenue for an organization by bringing new clients and new business to the company.Continue Reading

• Improve your digital transformation plan: 3 tips from EY's Jeff Wong

  EY's chief innovation officer believes a successful digital transformation plan rests on building an ecosystem of internal champions and outside experts who don't think alike.Continue Reading

• authentic leadership

  Authentic leadership is a type of management style in which people act in a real, genuine and sincere way that is true to who they are as individuals.Continue Reading

• servant leadership

  Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy built on the belief that the most effective leaders strive to serve others, rather than accrue power or take control.Continue Reading

• thought leader (thought leadership)

  A thought leader is a person who or organization that is widely recognized as an expert in a given field and whose opinions are in high demand. Thought leaders use their influence to change their fields, to make money and to add value to the people ...Continue Reading

• When running IT like a business, consider the bagel shop

  Ciena Corp. CIO Craig Williams expounds on the importance of running IT like a business and how to identify the type of IT people who can execute on that strategy.Continue Reading

• CEO (Chief Executive Officer)

  The CEO, or chief executive officer, is the top position in an organization. CEOs are responsible for executing existing plans and policies, overseeing business management and setting future strategy.Continue Reading

• SkunkWorks project (Skunk Works)

  A SkunkWorks project (also known as Skunk Works) is an innovative undertaking, involving a small group of people, that is outside the normal research and development channels within an organization.Continue Reading

• mind-brain identity theory

  Mind-brain identity theory is a philosophy that purports the mind and brain are the same.Continue Reading

• knowledge-based systems (KBS)

  A knowledge-based system (KBS) is a form of artificial intelligence (AI) that aims to capture the knowledge of human experts to support decision-making.Continue Reading

• business process management (BPM)

  Business process management (BPM) is the discipline of improving a business process from end to end by analyzing it, modelling how it works in different scenarios, executing improvements, monitoring the improved process and continually optimizing it.Continue Reading

• change agent (agent of change)

  A change agent, or agent of change, is someone who promotes and enables change to happen within any group or organization.Continue Reading

• How to create the best RPA architecture

  Enterprises are embracing robotic process automation to automate rules-based, repetitive tasks in a cost-efficient manner. ROI depends on having the right RPA architecture.Continue Reading

• business process reengineering (BPR)

  Business process reengineering (BPR) is an approach to change management in which the related tasks required to obtain a specific business outcome are radically redesigned. An important goal of BPR is to analyze workflows within and between ...Continue Reading

• strategic leadership

  Strategic leadership is a practice in which executives, using different styles of management, develop a vision for their organization that enables it to adapt to or remain competitive in a changing economic and technological climate.Continue Reading

• competitive advantage

  Competitive advantage is the favorable position an organization seeks in order to be more profitable than its rivals.Continue Reading

• CIOs set the stage for an AI initiative, but they don't own it

  At AI World in Boston, analyst Zeus Kerravala said CIOs don't necessarily own an AI initiative, but they certainly play a key role.Continue Reading

• In digital era, CEO's job is to score with tech

  Lisa Pearson, chief exec at data analytics company Umbel, discusses the CEO's job -- ever-slanting toward tech -- in a time of the "superpower consumer."Continue Reading

• CMO (chief marketing officer)

  A CMO (chief marketing officer) is a C-level corporate executive responsible for activities in an organization that have to do with creating, communicating and delivering offerings that have value for customers, clients or business partners.Continue Reading

• SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud)

  SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) is the concept that the convergence of four technologies is currently driving business innovation.Continue Reading

• In IT, 'suitcase words' carry baggage

  Marvin Minsky used the term 'suitcase words' for the broad concepts we use to denote the brain's complex machinery. CIOs use buzzwords in a similar -- and perhaps dangerous -- way.Continue Reading

• leadership

  Leadership is the ability of an individual or a group of individuals to influence and guide followers or other members of an organization.Continue Reading

• IT strategy (information technology strategy)

  IT strategy (information technology strategy) is a comprehensive plan that outlines how technology should be used to meet IT and business goals.Continue Reading

• hackathon

  A hackathon, also known as a codefest, is a social coding event that brings computer programmers and other interested people together to improve upon or build a new software program.Continue Reading

• What is IT service automation? Exceeding user expectations

  In this second tip in a series on IT service automation, the global CIO calls an urgent meeting of his executive team then gives the summer intern the floor.Continue Reading

• Effective drone plan must overcome the 'burden of adoption'

  Anil Nanduri, VP at Intel's drone group, discusses the way drones use is disrupting digital business processes and the CIO's role in developing an organization's drone plan.Continue Reading

• disruptive innovation

  Disruptive innovation is the introduction of a product or service into an established industry that performs better and, generally, at a lower cost than existing offerings, thereby displacing the market leaders in that particular market space and ...Continue Reading

• bimodal IT (bimodal information technology)

  Bimodal IT is a two-tiered IT operations model that allows for the creation of IT systems and processes that are stable and predictable as well as agile and fast.Continue Reading

• How to build a team that works: Focus on these three factors

  Collaboration doesn't just happen. CIOs need to understand how to build a team that performs at a high level. Three ingredients are key, explains Agile expert Joseph Flahiff.Continue Reading

• CIOs play role of provocateurs, enablers in platform shift

  Sam Ramji from the Google Cloud Platform explains why a successful platform shift requires a business-conscious CIO who turns to peers -- and the CEO -- for help.Continue Reading

• business innovation

  Business innovation is an organization's process for introducing new ideas, workflows, methodologies, services or products.Continue Reading

• 'Heavy lifting' ahead for mobile digital transformation: Forrester

  Forrester analysts interviewed 40 digital business leaders about their paths to mobile digital transformation. The verdict: It's not an easy road.Continue Reading

• startup company

  A startup company is a newly formed business with particular momentum behind it based on perceived demand for its product or service.Continue Reading

• transactional leadership

  Transactional leadership is a leadership style where the executive relies on rewards and punishments to achieve optimal job performance from his or her subordinates.Continue Reading

• Running Agile at scale: Three challenges

  CEB: To implement Agile at scale, CIOs will need to educate product managers, seek nontraditional sources of funding and become Agile ambassadors.Continue Reading

• An IT security strategy guide for CIOs

  In this Essential Guide, learn how to deal with increasing cyberthreats and discover best practices for developing a successful IT security strategy.Continue Reading

• How to create an enterprise transformation roadmap

  The rapidly evolving techno-society is increasing competition for all kinds of businesses and forcing them to create a plan for enterprise transformation. Here's advice to help.Continue Reading

• Tech matchmakers: VCs and consultants link IT startups with CIOs

  Venture capital firms and IT consultancies are helping CIOs filter through the multitude of tech startups to find matches and catch a glimpse of the future.Continue Reading

• The new products development process and IT innovation

  Most people don't know what their company's business objectives are. But for IT to contribute to a successful new products development process, your team needs to know.Continue Reading

• CIOs seek R&D partnerships with early-stage companies

  CIOs are forming alliances with technology startup companies to harness their research and development capabilities, agility and cultural advantages.Continue Reading

• OpenStack platform deployments: Not every app is a candidate

  In deployments of OpenStack in the enterprise, CIOs need to choose which applications will make the cut. Experts offer advice.Continue Reading

• Break the bottleneck with this new IT/business engagement model

  CIO teams need to interact more directly with business stakeholders -- from the digital sophisticates to the digital naïfs. Here are five elements of a new business engagement model.Continue Reading

• The power of positive four-letter words to unlock employee potential

  Four-letter words like can't and don't crush an employee's potential and quash creativity. Have the courage to use positive four-letter words and watch what happens.Continue Reading

• stakeholder

  A stakeholder is a person or group who has an interest -- vested or otherwise -- in an enterprise and whose support is required in order for an enterprise to be successful.Continue Reading

• CIOs take advantage of the digital opportunity

  Phil Weinzimer has noticed a trend that will no doubt resonate with CIOs: These days, there are a lot more senior IT leaders out there. As companies realize technology is a core part of the ...Continue Reading

• 2017 tech events calendar for CIOs, senior IT leaders

  When making 2017 travel plans, refer to our tech events calendar of face-to-face conferences in the United States and Canada for CIOs and other senior IT leaders.Continue Reading

• programmable economy

  The programmable economy is a term created by research firm Gartner Inc. in 2014 to describe the revolutionary changes happening in the global economy due to technology innovations.Continue Reading

• Is your potential hire emotionally mature? Use these tactics to find out

  One of the key attributes Curt Carver, vice president and CIO at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, looks for in a candidate is emotional maturity. But for some leaders, determining which ...Continue Reading

• balanced scorecard

  The balanced scorecard is a management system aimed at translating an organization's strategic goals into a set of performance objectives that, in turn, are measured, monitored and changed if necessary to ensure that the organization's strategic ...Continue Reading

• Key IT metrics: A CIO guide

  As technology and the business evolve, so do IT metrics. In this Essential Guide, learn how to navigate KPIs, IT investment and cloud cost optimization techniques.Continue Reading

• Is the CIO next in line to become the chief digital technology officer?

  Talk of the demise of the chief digital officer role -- an executive position designed to help companies drive digital strategy -- is surfacing. And not just in media reports. Ask chief digital ...Continue Reading

• Emerging tech trends point to new era of digital business

  Talking SMAC, an acronym for social, mobile, analytics and cloud, is so yesterday. Instead, if CIOs want to be fashion forward -- technologically speaking -- they should start talking artificial ...Continue Reading

• Building a layered enterprise mobile security strategy

  As enterprises expand their mobile footprint, the security risks to their data multiply: an unattended tablet, unsecured Wi-Fi network or malware from a third-party app is all it takes for data loss or a security breach to occur. Protecting just one...Continue Reading

• strategic planning

  Strategic planning is the process executives undertake in order to make thoughtful decisions about their organization’s mission, values and goals, and properly allocate resources to fulfill those directives.Continue Reading

• strategic innovation

  Strategic innovation is a company's process of reinventing its corporate strategy to encourage growth, create value for the company and its customers, and gain competitive differentiation.Continue Reading

• Blockchain use cases and how to get going

  Blockchain observers talk a lot about the widespread impact the technology will have on various industries, but pinpointing use cases and putting them into action isn't so easy. In July's CIO Decisions, dive into potential blockchain use ...Continue Reading

• The key steps to launching blockchain implementations

  Bill Caraher, CIO and director of operations for a Wisconsin law firm, is one believer in the huge impact blockchain technology -- a peer-to-peer distributed network used to validate transactions and other records -- can have on legal services. ...Continue Reading

• Cloud computing in healthcare: Creative Solutions goes end to end

  Shawn Wiora, CIO at Creative Solutions in Healthcare, pursued an end-to-end cloud strategy, which resulted in improved security, better performance and IT cultural transformation.Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged infrastructures: Game changer or vendor push?

  Hyper-converged infrastructures, which combine computing, storage, networking and virtualization in the same box, promise hardware cost savings and IT efficiency. Or at least that's what hyper-convergence product vendors tout. But does the ...Continue Reading

• CIO Leadership Award winner practices three types of innovation

  Creativity doesn't come in one flavor at CDM Smith. CIO David Neitz talks about the three types of innovation that keep this engineering firm moving forward.Continue Reading

• Enterprise DevOps and the CIO perspective

  Many IT and business professionals believe that enterprise DevOps -- the practice of putting developers and the IT operations people together so that building, testing and releasing software can happen more rapidly, frequently and reliably -- is the...Continue Reading

• Business and IT alignment gets physical at Avnet

  Business and IT alignment at Avnet is not an abstract term, says CIO Steve Phillips. The business and IT actually sit together.Continue Reading

• For CIOs, joining corporate boards introduces new challenges

  Corporate boards are increasingly turning to CIOs to serve as technology experts. Before saying yes, here are three tips from media maven Larry Kramer.Continue Reading

• 'Beach toweling' brings cruise ship policy to IT department

  Citrix introduces its offices to 'beach toweling,' a workplace redesign policy it borrowed from the hospitality industry.Continue Reading

• Next-generation enterprise security architecture to combat cyber weaponry

  In the first part of this webcast, Nemertes Research CEO Johna Till Johnson encourages CIOs not to ignore new, sophisticated threats and to plan for next-generation security.Continue Reading

• innovation process management (IPM)

  Innovation process management (IPM) a systematic approach to nurturing the creative capabilities of employees and creating a workplace environment that encourages new ideas for workflows, methodologies, services or products.Continue Reading

• paternalistic leadership

  Paternalistic leadership is a managerial approach that involves a dominant authority figure who acts as a patriarch or matriarch and treats employees and partners as though they members of a large, extended family. Employees are listened to, but the...Continue Reading

• CIO guide to business networking: It's not about you

  Looking to win friends and make connections in high places? The most important networking rule to remember is also a pretty simple one: It's not about you. That's according to Todd Cohen, author of ...Continue Reading

• innovation manager

  An innovation manager fosters the development of new products, services and processes. Innovation managers are skilled in unleashing individual and collective creativity and in implementing structures that help shepherd an innovation from idea stage...Continue Reading

• transformational leadership

  Transformational leadership describes the ability of an organization's management to foster significant change, often by leveraging new technology.Continue Reading

• Enterprise 3D printing tutorial: CIO challenges and advice

  This CIO guide to enterprise 3D printing is the perfect tool for CIOs approaching the old -- but, still immature -- technology. Discover the challenges and payoffs.Continue Reading

• Dow Jones' innovation projects: Idea generation, execution

  Dow Jones' chief innovation officer, Edward Roussel, talks about the idea solicitation process and how his team works with the company's IT department.Continue Reading

• Dow Jones' business innovation process: Set goals, measure success

  Dow Jones takes a two-pronged approach to managing business innovation: First, set clear goals to solve business problems and second, don't be afraid to experiment with new tech.Continue Reading

• A crash course in 3D thinking for the enterprise

  The 3D printing market may be nascent, but CIOs should start to prepare the enterprise for the emerging technology. According to Shawn DuBravac, chief economist and director of research at Consumer ...Continue Reading

• 3D printing prepares to grow beyond rapid prototyping

  Three-dimensional printers aren't exactly a new technology. "It's 30 years old," said Pete Basiliere, a Gartner analyst who's covered the 3D printing market for years. The most widespread and ...Continue Reading

• chief trust officer

  A chief trust officer in the IT industry is an executive job title given to the person responsible for building confidence around the use of customer information and how it is protected.Continue Reading

• How to do an advanced data analytics project on the cheap

  Delivering an advanced data analytics project to the business can cost a fortune. But with some imagination, CIOs can do it for pennies on the dollar. Niel Nickolaisen explains how.Continue Reading

• Blockchain technology to disrupt financial, legal fields

  Technology policy expert Alec Ross predicts blockchain technology will remove 'enormous amount of friction' from legal processes within the next five years.Continue Reading

• Creating a private cloud: Start with why

  Creating a private cloud is a big endeavor. Organizations need to assess whether they have the resources to pull it off -- or find another way to achieve cloud benefits.Continue Reading