WebProNews » CIOs

54% of Businesses Prohibit Employee Social Media Use

Chris Crum — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:02:43 +0000

New research from Robert Half Technology indicates that over half of chief information officers (CIOs) do not allow employees to visit social networking sites for any reason while they’re at work. This information comes from a survey of 1,400 CIOs from companies around the US with 100 or more employees.

CIOs were asked in the survey: Which of the following most closely describes your company’s policy on visiting social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, while at work?" Here is how they responded:

Prohibited completely – 54%
Permitted for business purposes only – 19%
Permitted for limited personal use – 16%
Permitted for any type of personal use – 10%
Don’t know/no answer – 1%

"Using social networking sites may divert employees’ attention away from more pressing priorities, so it’s understandable that some companies limit access," said Dave Willmer, executive director of Robert Half Technology. "For some professions, however, these sites can be leveraged as effective business tools, which may be why about one in five companies allows their use for work-related purposes."

Employees potentially damaging a company’s reputation (not to mention their own) is still a big concern. "Professionals should let common sense prevail when using Facebook and similar sites — even outside of business hours," said Willmer. "Regrettable posts can be a career liability."

Granted, the information presented by Robert Half is only representative of 1,400 companies, but the percentage of those businesses who prohibit social network use completely is likely to decrease in my opinion. There may be an increase in those who only allow it for business use, but as more companies figure out ways they can measure ROI with social media, they’re going to want to get employees involved. I would expect more of a balance between those who prohibit it, and those who limit it to business use.

Do you want your employees using social media? Discuss here.

IT Departments Cut First Quarter Budgets

Mike Sachoff — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:36:21 +0000

In the first quarter of 2009, 42 percent of CIOs decreased their IT budgets with an average cut of 4.7 percent, according to a new survey by Gartner.

CIOs were expecting a minor budget increase of 0.16 percent in the first quarter, but due to the economy were forced to cut costs. More than 90 percent of firms changing their budgets made a reduction in the first quarter, with the average being 7.2 percent. Forty-four percent of respondents reported no change in their IT budgets, with just 4 percent reporting an increase in their IT budget.

Mark McDonald

"CIOs reported that renegotiating vendor contracts and head count reductions were the primary focus areas for accommodating budget reductions," said Mark McDonald, group vice president and head of research for Gartner EXP. "CIOs report shifting more work to in-house resources and delaying capital expenditures more than reducing IT project investments."

The report is based on a survey of 900 CIOs from around the world, comprising $77 billion in IT spending. The survey was carried out in March and April and compared to a similar survey of 1,500 CIOs conducted from September to December.

First quarter 2009 IT budget reductions were reported across the board based on both size and geography of the organization. CIOs in the healthcare industry reported an average budget increase of 2.2 percent, but CIOs in all other major industries reported a decline. The largest decline was in professional services at -10 percent, followed by telecommunications and high tech at -10 percent, manufacturing at -8 percent, utilities and financial services both at -4 percent.

Many CIOs say further cuts in 2009 are unlikely and they expect the economy to recover between the first and third quarter of 2010.

"Executives making plans in the fourth quarter of 2008 faced an uncertain future as the global financial crisis unfolded," Mr. McDonald said.

"Based on CIO contingency plans, they are now better prepared for future economic challenges. However, most CIOs do not see immediately implementing those plans. This supports a position that the first quarter budget adjustments reflect firm plans for the remainder of 2009."

Another Thing CIOs Should Know About Requirements

James Taylor — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:32:02 +0000

I saw this article on CIO magazine – Five Things CIOs Should Know About Software Requirements. It seems to me that there is one more thing (at least) that they need to know about requirements:

Business rules are NOT requirements

After all, business rules are about how your business takes decisions, not about how a system works. Trying to capture business rules the way you capture any other kind of requirement is not going to work – simply trying to write better requirements will not get it done, I think system requirements, use cases and business rules are great complements to each other (as noted in Use Cases: Requirements in context) and, fortunately, you can find rules the same way as you find requirements

Here are the five things CIO magazine listed, with comments

The Inconvenient Checkbox: Understand the Role of Requirements
As this section says "Many development projects are handicapped from the start. The requirements are vague and subject to interpretation, require intimate knowledge of the business to interpret correctly, and aren’t prioritized" and that’s certainly true. It is also true, however, that part of the problem is mixing of business rules with requirements.

Don’t Throw It Over The Wall: The Right People Should Define the Requirements
Indeed business users should maintain rules but there are some secrets about getting them to do so. IT departments and business people have fundamentally different perspectives and separating out business rules can really help resolve this.

Superficially Complete: Define Requirements With "Enough" Detail
While I agree with the comment "They should have information that states more of what the requirement is to do (the What) and the way it is to do it (the How)", I think this means making sure testers can see the rules as well as the requirements as otherwise you run the risk that the how of the business will get mixed in with the how of the system.

Working from Ignorance: Recognize that Requirements Change
Much of the change in "requirements" really come from changing business rules and separating them out can dramatically reduce the change in the requirements themselves. However, most systems spend most of their life changing not being specified, so you do need to build systems where the rules can keep changing over time.

Carpet Yanking: Pay Attention to the People on the Front Line
One example of this is the necessity of making sure that the policies and regulations you think you are implementing are really being used.

One last thing, rules can and should be used with agile methods. If you are interested in more on rules, Barb von Halle and others (including me) published a book recently on the Business Rules Revolution.

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CIOs, Is Your Career Over?

WebProNews Staff — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:44:02 +0000

The long-standing joke about the acronym for chief information officers actually standing for “career is over” may have a real punchline now, one that hits those C-level executives right in their employment status.

Rather than being innovators challenging the status quo of computing and driving their companies to greater rewards through technology, company CIOs have the weight of budgets weighing them down and a hefty paycheck that could be endangered by dramatic changes that go wrong.

“The Long Tail” author and Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson paints a picture of the standard CIO as a Dilbertian lump of pointy hair in a suit, clinging to a slippery rock while a rushing river of technology threatens to sweep the CIO away and drown him, unmourned and swiftly forgotten.

Anderson’s tail of speaking to a room of what he thought would be “technology innovators” instead proved to be a meeting of the Dead Weight Club. They obstruct employees from working more effectively using resources available from a number of providers online.

The users know these types well, Anderson related how these CIOs block connections to services like Skype or Second Life. People probably are more familiar with not being able to reach web-based email services, even at companies where Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for maintaining information integrity do not apply.

Instant messaging has been another bugaboo for CIO types. They see AIM or Yahoo Messenger or Meebo and their first thought is of hundreds of employees chatting away with people and not getting their work done.

They don’t see a customer service rep with a good contact via IM at a manufacturer getting a customer’s question answered in a fraction of the time it takes to navigate a menu on a relatively expensive long-distance call.

Control and trust are the big issues CIOs have. Anyone who has had the displeasure of working with or around some of the more glacial-moving throwbacks of the CIO species understand that paranoia, rather than efficiency, rules his office.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Companies can implement usage policies that permit more freedom in using technology while safeguarding corporate information. If a worker fulfills projects on time and as expected, but spends a lot of time on the big, bad Internet while doing so, has the company suffered any actual harm?

Probably not. Yet all over the U.S., workers will try to use something new, something different, and hit the firewall like a bug into an 18-wheeler’s windshield. The truth is, CIOs who stand in the way of their more innovative employees cost the company a lot more than the numbers on their fat paychecks.

They may be costing their employers a business edge, too.

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CIOs Tackle Data Storage

Doug Caverly — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 15:56:00 +0000

Data storage is becoming a problematic issue for many CIOs. The cost and complexity of storage, along with the sheer amount of information that must taken care of, can make for “a data retention nightmare.” There are ways to deal with the matter, however.

Brad Wood, the senior director of enterprise technology at Corrections Corporation of America, identified a problem. “There are people out there who haven’t put in any kind of storage resource management [SRM] and they are drowning in complexity,” he told Kate Evans-Correia of ComputerWeekly.com.

Wood was apparently able to bring his company up to speed, but his next comment underlined the importance of staying on top of things. “I should have looked at SRM sooner,” he said. “[Doing it] late in the game was a bit painful.”

Charles Brown, the CIO of Fire Materials Group, made an understanding remark. “There’s so much information out there. The suppliers, the technology out there . . . the din and clutter could scare the heck out of anybody.”

One expert in the field phrased it in a somewhat less sympathetic manner. “Most midmarket CIOs don’t have the resources or expertise to dedicate to figuring out a solution,” stated Greg Schulz, the founder and a senior analyst at The StorageIO Group. “Suppliers need to help them navigate the waters,” he concluded.

Potential customers shouldn’t let cost scare them away. The longer they ignore the situation, the worse it will get. “The cost of storage can be directly related to the lack of [business continuity] planning,” according to Josh Howard, a data storage specialist at CDW.

Dealing with data storage can be troublesome, but it’s a “the sooner, the better” situation.

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Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.

The Market for Executives

David Tittle — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:43:32 +0000

Despite increased demand for high-caliber leadership in all segments of the technology community, it wasn’t until fairly recently that we saw the migration of top information technology executives between the federal and corporate sectors.

Hank Philcox went from the Internal Revenue Service to become chief information officer at DynCorp, and Renny DiPentima moved from the Social Security Administration to SRA International Inc., where he became president of SRA Federal. It has quickly become clear that federal IT leadership experience laid the foundation for their success.

As far back as the late 1970s, there were some non-political appointments into federal IT leadership roles. And in the late 1980s, Janet Barnes moved from MCI to become the first designated federal CIO at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. In recent years, more high-profile federal positions have been filled from outside government, with candidates coming from such companies as Oracle Corp. and FedEx Corp. Although critics complain that the average tenure of these federal appointees is only two years, the reality is that the tenure of private-sector CIOs is no different.

Federal agencies now commonly utilize executive search firms to recruit key IT talent. My firm, Paul-Tittle Search Group, has effectively recruited CIO-level executives, program managers and senior technologists from outside government. Our clients, particularly at the major defense/intelligence agencies, are interested in hiring candidates with strong business acumen and competitive, market-driven experience. Although some candidates decline these opportunities because of compensation, we have been able to fill positions with strong candidates with exceptional private-sector experience.

In the current soft market for IT executives, agencies have an opportunity to attract outstanding candidates. Opportunity, challenge and relative stability are as important as compensation. If an influx of talent from the commercial world is brought in, we can expect to see continuing changes to the federal IT marketplace.

The most notable change that will eventually accrue is bridging the perception gap between the two communities. As more experienced private-sector executives flow through the federal community, there will be an increasing number of examples to follow. Eventually, at least in the Washington, D.C., area, there may well be a much-improved respect for federal executives and significantly increased flow of executives in both directions.

The downturn in the dot-com and telecommunications sectors in the local marketplace means the greatest hiring needs for IT executives are with federal systems integrators. Those firms should more aggressively seek out federal IT leaders who already understand that business from the “client” side. The strategic technology leadership role of the senior IT executive today is very similar in the private and federal sectors.

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David Tittle, a veteran of over three decades in the executive search industry, is a co-founder of Paul-Tittle Search Group, an executive search firm. He leads searches for senior executives within the federal government and professional services communities. Dave has a BS in psychology from Duke University and has done extensive postgraduate work in industrial psychology.

Motorola Launches Software Suite For CIOs

WebProNews Staff — Mon, 15 May 2006 18:20:45 +0000

Motorola unveiled its MOTOPRO Mobility Suite, a software package designed to make it easier for enterprise CIOs to secure and manage business operations, and improve mobile worker productivity.

The company says the integrated software framework enables rapid development and deployment of enterprise-wide mobile applications, with full integration to existing information systems.

“Enterprise CIOs need an integrated approach to securing and managing the rapidly growing population of mobile devices accessing corporate information systems,” said Motorola’s John DeFeo, corporate vice president, Enterprise Products. “They also want the ability to leverage existing tools and technology to help achieve a rapid return on investment.”

MOTOPRO offers device-level intrusion protection, user authentication and authorization, data encryption and secure network access control. Comprehensive management of mobile devices is enabled through the platform, with key features including device provisioning, configuration management, backup and restore, and diagnostics.

The Mobility Suite takes a web services-based approach to integrating and mobilizing business applications such as Customer Relationship Management, Sales Force Automation and Executive Information Systems, supporting both online and offline processing modes.

“With the introduction of the Mobility Suite, Motorola is taking enterprise mobility from opportunistic, point-based solutions to an architected approach that delivers flexible, scalable and integrated enterprise mobility,” said DeFeo.

The Mobility Suite will be commercially available this summer. At nearly the same time, Motorola has added the HC700-G to its series of MOTOPRO handheld computers, designed to work seamlessly with the Mobility Suite.

“The HC700-G provides mobile workers with real-time access to enterprise applications, increasing their productivity and performance at the point of activity,” said Julie Johnson, director of ruggedized computing solutions, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions.

“Coupled with the Mobility Suite platform and integrated real-time collaboration capabilities, the HC700 series devices become powerful mobile communications tools for enterprise field users across all industries and job functions,” said Johnson.

Where CIOs Can Make the Biggest Impact?

S. Maurer — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 16:12:20 +0000

What is the aspect of the role where CIOs can make the biggest impact? What can we do to make that impact?

In Change Management, you have to identify a compelling need to change. Do you have an organization that will support you? Do you have the skills? Do you have the relationships? Whats your mission?

The door between the Chief Information Officer CIO and CFO offices is opening wider, and the executives are building a path to regular interaction that allows the Information Technology IT function to excel in meeting the business’ needs, not simply to comply with regulatory mandates or budgetary strictures.

The most time-absorbing activity is ensuring that Information Tecnology IT systems are efficient across an organisation, through careful delegation, “You wont get into the chief executives office if his PC is down!”

Companies are increasingly handing CIOs the role of change agent. Theyre getting that responsibility because of their unique position at the nexus of multiple trends. And computing resources are pooled and tailored for simpler management and better utilisation.

Finance and Information Technology IT can lead the way in setting standards and developing platforms to support collaboration inside the company and in the extended enterprise – for instance, customers, distribution channels, and suppliers.

S. Maurer is a 53-year old college graduated IT professional, with 30 years of experience in the computer & technology business. Now is the Correspondence Courses Director of http://mba-open-university.net and http://distance-learning-mba-online-mba-program-executive-jobs.net.

Biggest Boost in IT Hiring Since 2002

Chris Crum — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 13:32:58 +0000

Robert Half Technology conducted a study among 1,400 CIOs and found that 16% of them plan to hire full-time IT staffs in the fourth quarter, while 4% plan to reduce their staffs.

This is good news for IT people looking for jobs. This is the biggest increase in hiring since the third quarter of 2002 according to Robert Half Technology. Marianne Kolbasuk McGee of InformationWeek reports:

The strongest hiring is planned by CIOs in the Pacific states, with 21% of CIOs there saying they’ll increase IT staff and only 3% planning to eliminate jobs. CIOs in mid-Atlantic states are running a strong second in hiring plans–20% say they’ll increase staff, and 4% say they’ll decrease it in the quarter.

Of CIOs who are building up staffing levels, 36% say corporate expansion is the main driver. Increased customer- and user-support needs were identified by 21% of the CIOs as the key factor for additional IT staff hiring.

“Microsoft Windows administration is among the most demanded expertise, and that’s due to business growth,” said Robert Half Technology division director Jeff Markham. “Companies are adding more users, so they need IT staff to support this.”

I would guess that security is a strong factor in the IT hiring boost as well. With threats growing in numbers all the time, it never hurts to have more protection.

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

IT leadership is not just for CIOs anymore

Byron Glick — Mon, 25 Oct 2004 15:33:42 +0000

We live in interesting times. Not so long ago, we IT practitioners may as well have dressed in capes and pointy hats with stars and moons on them. What we did was a mystery to the rest of the company and had a whiff of magic. Then like a magic trick gone bad, there was a huge puff of smoke on Wall Street and voila! We were standing in our underwear for all the world to see.

Somewhere in all of that, most companies acquired chief information officers or vice presidents of IT who were charged to make IT work for the business. That brought on a period of almost parental supervision with business cases wrapped around every IT project like a 9:00 curfew and cost effectiveness shadowing every IT shop like your Aunt Gladys keeping order at school dances. What makes for interesting times is the frequency with which the guy in the tattered moon and stars cape and Aunt Gladys seem to be wrestling for control of IT.

No CIO with any sense is going to get between those two without some help. Part of the hue and cry around strategic IT is just an attempt to get that help before climbing into the ring as referee. Whether IT is strategic or just really, really important to operations is not as interesting as the impact IT has on businesses every day. You’ve heard it. I’ve heard it. Part of the reason the returning economy hasn’t been matched by returning jobs is increasing productivity, built on technology foundations. That only makes Tattered Cape Guy and Aunt Gladys more obsessed with gaining the upper hand.

CIOs have to send Cape Guy and Aunt Gladys to their respective corners, or even better yet, get them working together to a common end. To achieve that end, the CIOs of the world will have to follow their IT into business and recruit the assistance of everyone they find at the point of impact. For their part, other executives have to be willing to get more involved in technology decisions, committing sufficient attention and understanding to ensure desirable outcomes for technology efforts.

Whether it’s strategic or operational, technology has too much financial, business process, and cultural impact to be left to a single executive. CIOs have to lead, but the rest of the executive team can’t just stand by and watch.

We’ve seen significant recent investments in teaching IT the ways of Business. That was a necessary beginning, but that’s all it was, just a beginning. It laid the foundation, the language for an on-going discussion at all levels of the organization. Another necessary step is for the various parts of the business to take more ownership of the impacts technology will have on their work. That means getting smarter about the technology, but also sharing more broadly the deep smarts that each of us has about how we work.

Those conversations can’t be all Cape Guy or Aunt Gladys. All leaders, not just the CIO have to get better at pulling Cape Guy into business value discussions and Aunt Gladys into the technology capability and constraints conversations. Leadership will have to establish the climate that expects a little less moon and stars from Cape Guy and a little more imagination and flexibility from Aunt Gladys. Then and only then will technology begin achieving it’s full potential.

Byron Glick is a principal at Prairie
Star Consulting,
specializing in the organizational impacts of technology. Prairie Star
Consulting is on
the web at www.prairiestarconsulting.com.”

This column was previously published on the Wisconsin Technology Network. (www.wistechnology.com)”