Conference Notebook

Small business IT strategy

• Google's John Solomon redefines the cloud worker for CIOs at MITCIO

  Who is a cloud worker? According to Google's John Solomon, CIOs are shortchanging their companies by not enabling virtually every worker today to use the cloud to do their jobs.  Continue Reading

• Succeed at implementing RPA: Top tips from execs at IBM Think

  Implementing RPA requires planning and coordination between multiple parts of the business to be effective. Execs at IBM Think share tips on how to craft a winning RPA strategy.  Continue Reading

• New Balance steps back from the cloud buzz

  An IT exec at a recent tech leader conference says cloud isn't always best for his company's ever-growing volumes of data -- stirring a different sort of cloud buzz.  Continue Reading

• Encrypting data in the cloud is no guarantee, analyst says

  Organizations look to encryption as a foolproof way of securing cloud information. But making the data unreadable to unauthorized users doesn't protect data from everything.  Continue Reading

• Macro trends HP is tracking: Urbanization, globalization, demographics

  HP Inc. CTO Shane Wall weighs in on three big macro trends that are shaping the company's long-horizon strategy.  Continue Reading

• Training, technology needed to fight cyberattacks today, panel says

  Cyberattacks today are a genuine threat -- and organizations need to take action, according to a quartet of cybersecurity experts.  Continue Reading

• Latest Gartner ranking: Who's winning the cloud wars

  AWS, Azure and Google score big in the latest Gartner ranking. But don't just go by good grades when choosing an IaaS cloud platform.  Continue Reading

• Look for cognitive systems in IT services marketplace

  The systems that will form the backbone of future business applications will be available in the cloud, says consultant Judith Hurwitz.  Continue Reading

• Think different: Cognitive computing systems will bring data-led change

  Today's programming models are things of the past, says consultant Judith Hurwitz. Cognitive computing systems use data to devise applications that reflect the world as we see it.  Continue Reading

• Pros, newbies seek new answers to cloud questions at Cloud Expo

  Consultants and job seekers joined practitioners at the Cloud Expo conference with cloud questions on topics ranging from container storage to the internet of things.  Continue Reading

• Falling into the tech skills gap? Try a new recruiting tack

  Organizations forging into the digital future often come up short in a search for talent. But there are novel ways to close the tech skills gap, say execs at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium.  Continue Reading

• BPO/ITO: AI applications in outsourcing limited now, but coming on fast

  In advance of the World BPO/ITO Forum on June 13 and 14 in New York, conference speaker R. Lee Coulter talks about the state of AI applications in IT and business process outsourcing.  Continue Reading

• Failing fast: A lesson in semantics

  Two digital officers weigh in on why the term "failing fast" doesn't work for their organizations.  Continue Reading

• How three digital leaders overcame resistance to change

  Digital leaders at CBS, IBM and SAP point to culture as one of the biggest digital transformation hurdles. Here's how they prevailed.  Continue Reading

• Net promoter score a useful IT tool for honing customer-centric design

  If customer service is a competitive differentiator, too much standardization can hurt IT departments and companies alike.  Continue Reading

• Security of IoT-enabled devices remains low priority for developers

  MIT Sloan cybersecurity expert Stuart Madnick talks about clear and present dangers in an IoT-enabled world.  Continue Reading

• Stuart Madnick: Dark Web hackers trump good guys in sharing information

  Organizations are getting better at defending against cyberattacks, says MIT Sloan's Stuart Madnick, but dark Web hackers maintain an edge. He explains why.  Continue Reading

• Guy Kawasaki on the art of innovation: Ten steps

  As the former 'chief evangelist' at Apple, Guy Kawasaki has had plenty of experience selling the next new thing. Here's his take on the art of innovation.  Continue Reading

• The on-demand economy and the future of work: Buckle up

  When companies get serious about understanding what it costs to get work done employment will change dramatically. Who's ready for the on-demand economy?  Continue Reading

• Sen. Warner: Gig economy chance to 'reimagine whole social contract'

  Fueled by technology and global in scope, the gig economy is underway. Making it work will require a new social contract.  Continue Reading

• Three key ingredients of any data lake implementation

  A data lake implementation can provide enormous flexibility for analyzing all types of external and internal data -- but not without these three requirements.  Continue Reading

• The CEO-CIO business partnership in action

  Two dynamic CEO-CIO relationships were on display at the SIM Boston Technology Leadership Summit, proving that reporting lines count for CIOs bent on shaping business goals.  Continue Reading

• How to foster an IT team culture that breeds success

  Team culture is hard to foster and difficult to maintain. CIOs Jack Wood and Paul Brady offered their tips to fellow CIOs at the recent SIM Boston Technology Leadership Summit.  Continue Reading

• How to build effective IT teams: Wayfair, Arbella CIOs sound off

  What does it take to build effective IT teams? At the recent SIM Boston Technology Leadership Summit, CIOs Jack Wood and Paul Brady offered tips on how to recruit, retrain, retain -- and entertain -- IT talent.  Continue Reading

• Enterprise innovation teams struggle to show what makes them special

  Innovation leaders at the recent FutureM conference make it clear that enterprise innovation teams are still a work in progress.  Continue Reading

• The benefits of a CIO-CMO partnership; rise of the CMT

  At the FutureM conference, CMOs talked up the value of a strong CIO-CMO alliance and discussed the emerging role of the chief marketing technologist.  Continue Reading

• The road to hybrid cloud architecture is paved with mistakes

  IT projects of any kind can be calamitous -- and organizations mixing public and private cloud services with traditional IT have had a lot go wrong, said experts at the Hybrid Cloud Summit.  Continue Reading

• No single path to building big data analytics platform

  Making IT an integral player in your company's big data analytics platform calls for out-of-the-box thinking about IT's role. Here's some advice on how to get there.  Continue Reading

• Cloud, mobile apps remain major tech issues for Gartner Catalyst-goers

  IT professionals gathered at Gartner Catalyst to bone up on bleeding-edge technology and apply what they learned to tech issues at home.  Continue Reading

• Seven big data failures to watch out for

  At this week's Gartner Catalyst conference, a session on big data failures drew a crowd of IT leaders eager to avoid the same mistakes.  Continue Reading

• Gartner Catalyst: Three personas of a successful 21st-century business

  Cloud, mobile and predictive technologies are required but aren't sufficient to compete today. Gartner Catalyst keynoter Paul DeBeasi says most organizations will need a personality makeover.  Continue Reading

• The platform business model: An introduction

  Airbnb does it; Uber does it. What about your organization? Sangeet Paul Choudary lays out the fundamentals of the platform business model.  Continue Reading

• Five 'platform dichotomies': Challenges of a platform strategy

  A successful platform strategy can make or break a company in today's digital era, said Accenture's CTO at the MIT Platform Strategy Summit. He listed the five big challenges companies face as they shift to a platform business model.  Continue Reading

• McCormick spices up food market with digital platform business

  Former McCormick CIO Jerry Wolfe talks about his role as CEO of the spice company's new tech spinoff and why a digital platform is so essential to reaching today's foodies.  Continue Reading

• Edge network key to IoT data collection and transmission

  IoT might be the next big thing, but the next big hurdle for CIOs will be figuring out ways to architect for it.  Continue Reading

• Digital disruption boosts board members' acclaim for the CIO role

  Board members who subscribe to the idea that 'every business is a technology business' put a spotlight on the CIO role.  Continue Reading

• Digital unleashes new competitive threats, forcing CIOs to take charge

  CIOs from State Street and DHL Express discuss how the competitive landscape has changed and how strategic partnerships are enabling innovation.  Continue Reading

• C-level relationships, engagement key to CIO success

  CIOs spend 40% of their time engaged with the CEO, CMO, COO and other non-IT peers, according to MIT research. C-level execs explain why that time is so important.  Continue Reading

• BPO/ITO expert: Robotic process automation offers 'tremendous value proposition'

  Andy Wasser of Carnegie Mellon says robotic process automation is not a big-bang technology, but its implications for BPO/ITO are huge.  Continue Reading

• Former GM CIO says BPO/ITO mega-deals wrong for current IT climate

  This year's World BPO/ITO Forum will focus on how the cloud is shaking up IT outsourcing. Conference chairman Jim Noble talks to SearchCIO about why mega-deals are a losing proposition for CIOs.  Continue Reading

• Demand shaping vs. demand management: Making IT count in the digital era

  MIT Sloan CIO Symposium: CIOs from Staples and Charles Schwab explain why CIOs should forget about managing IT demand and think instead about demand shaping.  Continue Reading

• Forbes digital media strategy monetizes content management system

  Digital Strategy Innovation Summit: Forbes is banking on its homegrown CMS tool to build new partnerships and bolster its digital media strategy.  Continue Reading

• Francis Ford Coppola muses on power of instinct in data-driven culture

  At the Gartner Business Intelligence and Analytics Summit, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola discussed the power of gut feel and why he thinks the movie business will soon be taken over by tech moguls.  Continue Reading

• How MGM Resorts serves the digital customer

  MGM Resorts uses customer analytics to dispel a long-standing myth on how to deliver good customer service to the digital customer.  Continue Reading

• Six signs your customer service strategy is broken

  Consultant Rick Davidson urges CIOs to take the lead on improving customer service in the digital age -- and spells out the signs of a customer service strategy gone wrong.  Continue Reading

• In combating cyberattacks, don't succumb to the 'squirrel effect'

  It can be tempting to stray from the roadmap security professionals have put in place when data breaches like the ones at Sony and Anthem are all over the news. But experts say it's crucial to stick to the security basics.  Continue Reading

• Philadelphia 76ers empower Millennials to drive innovation process

  At 150 employees, the Philadelphia 76ers organization doesn't have the manpower for a formal innovation process. Instead, this SMB is empowering its youthful workforce to create a real-time innovation culture to drive change.  Continue Reading