It used to be that hiring IT staff was merely hard. Finding (and landing) that complex array of technical skills remains a tall ask. But as technology becomes further entwined with the business and IT has become more customer-centric, IT positions demand not only technical know-how but also emotional intelligence, creativity, persuasiveness, adaptability, a communicative…
How IT operates is changing constantly and rapidly. As more tech departments lead digital transformation initiatives, finding the right, new way for IT work to get done is a core, though often overlooked issue. Such forces, combined with conventional drivers such as mergers and acquisitions and cost-cutting exercises, have many CIOs restructuring their teams while…
Enterprise CIOs today have a double-edged opportunity at the boardroom table. One side of that opportunity is the classic role CIOs currently play as senior executives on the CEO’s team. The other side is more aspirational — but increasingly attainable — as one of the corporate directors on the board itself. For CIOs interested in…
PCs that take eight minutes to boot and make people late for conference calls. Expense reporting systems based on spreadsheets so tedious and convoluted that employees put off doing their expenses for months at a time. Internet connectivity so slow that it’s quicker for staff to look something up on their phone. Passwords that have…
Before BMC rolls out software to its customers, it rigorously tests it on the front lines — in its own IT department. That approach to hammering out the kinks in its software through in-house use is part of a company strategy that CIO Scott Crowder calls “customer zero.” “We’re looking at these issues customers have…
Diversity is critical in tech, as it enables companies to create better and safer products that take everyone into consideration, not just one section of society. A report from McKinsey found that diverse companies perform better, hire better talent, have more engaged employees and retain workers better than companies that do not focus on diversity…
IT leaders get many opportunities to test their mettle, but perhaps no way is more challenging than the stretch assignment: that ambitious project that forces IT leaders to expand beyond their comfort zone and prove their leadership skills. Stretch assignments include anything from taking on Herculean projects to tacking on additional roles in adjacent areas…
The future is closer than you think. You can never predict what weather will occur from year to year, but for decades climate change models have foretold more, and more intense, wildfires as heat and dryness increase. Just 14 months ago, California’s Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed nearly 19,000 structures – the worst…
The IT world is one of flux. New tools and strategies arise continually to challenge the status quo. Sometimes a clear winner leaves vanquished approaches to the dustbin of computing history. Other times, change is more like a pendulum that swings one way before swinging back. Infrastructure and developer operations see their share of change,…
When Avnet moved from just distributing hardware to providing IoT services, the IT organization had to transform as well. How do you move from an on-prem focused team with an SAP-heavy infrastructure to a business-focused team with a microservices architecture? Max Chan, who became CIO after six years with the company, says that mission statements,…