IT strategies are no way to do business

CAMBRDIGE, Mass. -- Of all the things said at this week's MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, this dictum keeps rising to the top: There are no such things as IT strategies; there is only business strategy with an IT roadmap to achieve it. The philosophy comes from Georgia Papathomas, vice president and CIO of Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals. A featured speaker on the symposium's CIO keynote panel, Papathomas knows her business. Before CIO stints at J&J and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals (where she was also the corporate innovation officer), she was a chief technology officer. Before that, she was a vice president of global service management and global professional services. Her advice to CIOs? Spend some time in your career working in --not just "with"-- the business. Think of it as professional development, she said, because that's exactly what it is.

A good example of melding IT strategies with business strategy can be found in this week's lead Searchlight item. Blogger and mobility evangelist Brian Katz shows how IT leaders are going at things backwards when it comes to things mobile. It's not about the devices, he said, but about making workers more flexible and agile so they can be more productive and efficient. Coming at it from a technology/device-first approach neglects the actual needs of the users. If you don't know what they do, how can you know what devices they need? There is no IT strategy, just business strategy.

Also this week: Forget about virtual servers -- put on your hardhat and see what a blast it can be to build a data center; plus what porn sites can teach your users about safe Web searches, big time big data Tweeters and more.

• So, how did you come up with your mobility plan? If you're asking, "What plan?" maybe give this blog a read.
• If you like your information about big data in small bites, here are 20 of the best (peer-judged) Tweeters on the topic.
• Dear Yahoo, I guess there's a chance you won't "screw up" this Tumblr thing, but pardon my skepticism when I get my third random "scheduled" email maintenance notice of the day.
• Why porn sites are less dangerous to browse than some mainstream content, and other safe Web search information to share with your end users. OK, maybe that's not the best example.
• As a CIO, you certainly know how to build a data center, but do you know how to build a data center? This guy does.
• Besides bringing it closer to global domination, here's what FedRAMP certification means for Amazon.