Nope, I haven't abandoned this blog.  It may seem like it but actually I've been busy with client work lately.  So instead of writing about being a CIO or consulting to a CIO or other C-type, I'm actually working on the doing side of things.

I do have some ideas I've tried to capture along the way and will in fact write about them....just as soon as I slow down!

Who's the customer? Rebuttal to "Whom Do We Serve? « The Effective CIO"

Anyone who's ever worked with me as CIO or in some of my other IT leadership roles has heard my position on this- many times. "There are no customers inside the company. The customers are "out there"!

Chuck's post is quite thoughtful and has some very useful points to include in your operating style. The point that the customer for IT is the business is mistaken. In fact, one of the things that consistently gets CIO's shown the door is a failure to be focused on the customer, on driving revenue. That doesn't mean you aren't focused as well on suppliers, employees and other stakeholders but it's all in the context of a partnership with the business.

As an aside for those who've asked about the new role I've taken on with BTM Corporation, I am going to be even more focused on working with CxO's, including the CIO, to help take this business/IT partnership to a new level- to move from aligning the business and technology to converging business and technology. We move from "Information Technology" to "Business Technology". That's a topic for another post.

I completely agree with Chuck's point that customers and revenue are not solely the CIO's role and responsibility. Instead the CIO works in tandem with the business to focus every effort squarely on the customer. The failure to do so is a prime reason why CIO's struggle for the mythical "seat at the table". In fact, in many cases a CIO vacancy (i.e. "left to explore other opportunities") is the result of a lack of vision and drive to help create and retain customers.

In my mind, even projects to fix the plumbing are there to better serve customers and should be expressed that way. If you can't define a project in business impact, then you aren't ready to ask for the resources to accomplish it.

Whom Do We Serve? « The Effective CIO: ""

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The tipping point: iPhone users turn against AT&T | Wireless News - Betanews

More to my previous post about AT&T Wireless. It's as if they are hoping the rising level of "vocal" frustration will just die down. "If we don't acknowledge problems there aren't any." Fascinating to watch.

Is this going to end up as a Harvard Business Review case study on how not to manage negative publicity? And I have to wonder where the CIO is inside AT&T? Not a negative comment at all but just wondering how this is playing out. Is this a place where the savvy CIO should be collecting data, working with the CMO to effectively sense and respond?

As a customer I hope this prompts AT&T to finally react and begin to fix the problems. As a consultant, I can't help but wonder who's providing advice.

The tipping point: iPhone users turn against AT&T | Wireless News - Betanews: "Betanews

The tipping point: iPhone users turn against AT&T
By Tim Conneally | Published July 21, 2009, 3:24 PM
Print ArticleE-mail Article8 Comments
The iPhone crowd has turned into an anti-AT&T mob. Spend 30 seconds on Twitter or perform even the most basic search for iPhone and AT&T information and you're sure to run into some serious rancor from disgusted iPhone users across the country. While the exclusive partnership between Cupertino and the Dallas teleco has never been perfect, user hostility has lately been at a fevered pitch.
In February of this year, prominent blogger Om Malik announced he was 'breaking up' with his iPhone. 'I love my iPhone -- but AT&T's network has failed me. Apparently I'm not alone. If you follow me on Twitter, then you know how often I complain about it; my complaints always result in me receiving sim"

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The iPhone's Visual Voicemail Is Broken For Many, How Is It For You? [At&t]

I've griped as much as anyone about AT&T's service. I switched from Verizon with full knowledge of AT&T's spotty coverage, having used the 30 day trial period on the iPhone to get a feel for things. Yes, in the past 6 months it has gotten worse. But I bought into it and I still use my iPhone 3GS to do much more than I ever did with my Blackberries and Treo and WM phones.

What surprises me is the persistent way that AT&T seems to completely disregard the negative PR generated due to network problems. It's as if they're either a) oblivious or b) just don't care. Either way if I was a shareholder I'd be very concerned. No business can operate with this degree of arrogance and/or disregard for customer opinion. Without customer loyalty, you have no business over time.

The iPhone's Visual Voicemail Is Broken For Many, How Is It For You? [At&t]: "

If you own an iPhone, you've probably noticed lately that voicemails randomly show up a few days after they should have. The Visual Voicemail system is basically broken for people, and it's AT&T's fault. Why aren't they acknowledging it?

At this point, the problem is more than just a few scattered instances. Literally every single person I know that has an iPhone has complained about this problem. They'll just be sitting there and suddenly four voicemails will appear on their phone, some from as long as two weeks ago. It works for some people (commenters, some of us at Giz), but it's basically hosed for many others.

This has been happening for weeks now, yet AT&T has yet to acknowledge the problem. How is this happening? How can a major advertised feature of a carrier's flagship phone be completely broken and nothing be being done about it?

For many AT&T customers, this has got them at the end of their ropes. We've put up with terrible coverage, spotty 3G speeds and delayed rollout of super-basic features like MMS and tethering, but when we're missing potentially important messages, it begins getting downright unacceptable. We rely on voicemail to let us know when a family member or coworker or friend has left us a message, and whoever has left that message assumes we got it. Having it flat-out not work puts relationships and reputations on the line.

Apple has created a product that is, by most standards, amazing. Yet having it trapped on AT&T is ruining the experience for millions of people. Either AT&T needs to get its shit together, and fast, or Apple needs to get this phone on a more reliable carrier. Otherwise, people are going to start switching phones. Because no matter how awesome the iPhone is, it's just not worth it when it's not working.

(Via Gizmodo.)

5 Characteristics of a CIO Dashboard - Part 1 in a Series — CIO Dashboard

This series of posts from Chris Curran of Diamond Partners caught my eye. It's an excellent summary on the subject of CIO Dashboards.

It's vital that a CIO have a way of measuring progress. Two keys in my mind beyond what's in Chris' articles:
be clear how what you are measuring ties to the business' goals and make sure the rest of the executive team including the Board understand your metrics. Sure you'll have internal goals that are too technical for the rest of the executive team to understand but be certain they tie to something they do understand.

Additionally, there should be two or three metrics that your boss knows and can articulate. In each of my CIO assignments, I've been successful in creating the Key 3 that the Board and the CEO "get" and track. For a recent client, one of those key's was an innovation ratio we created. It was an easily calculated measure that at a summary level gave an indication of course and speed. In other words, in one summary measure we could tell if we were going faster or slower. Easier said than done but worth the effort.

Anyways, Chris' series is so good I've captured it for future reference on my Del.icio.us tag cloud. Good stuff!

5 Characteristics of a CIO Dashboard - Part 1 in a Series — CIO Dashboard: ""

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I love my iPhone it's my network I can live without.

I received my new iPhone 3GS on Friday (pre-ordered on the 16th via AT&T's website for those tracking shipments). Much to like about especially the speed (Shock!) but the signal strength has been a concern. As I'm in Sunriver, OR this weekend I'm roaming on an EDGE network to begin with. Add a huge influx of people (4000+ athletes) here for the Pacific Crest Sports Weekend and it may be that the cell towers are maxed out. Things like Visual Voice Mail won't work reliably, email won't connect consistently. Thank God for the ability to use WiFi. Will be interesting to see what my experience is when I get back to the Seattle area. Anyone else experiencing these kinds of problems?

Bugs & Fixes: iPhone 3GS signal strength oddities | Phones | Mac 911 | Macworld: "
The Apple, Mac, iPod, and iPhone Experts

Macworld » iPhone » Phones
Jun 26, 2009 7:07 am
Bugs & Fixes: iPhone 3GS signal strength oddities
by Ted Landau, Macworld.com

I warn you at the outset. This is not going to be one of those Bugs & Fixes with a neatly defined set of symptoms and a iron-clad solution. This one’s a bit messy. Here’s the deal:

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The Dizzying Economics of Cloud Computing « ARCHIMEDIUS

Had a few minutes today to catch up on some reading from across the blogosphere (surely there's a better word than that isn't there?). Thus a double-posting day to this blog. Nothing like reading to stimulate thinking.

Greg's one of the few writers on the topic of technology infrastructures that always makes sense to me. Thus his blog, Archimedius, is in my Newsgator feed and always gets read sooner or later. As a CIO, particularly a consulting CIO, it's vital to get some help looking over the horizon for input to an evergreen IT strategy.

The thing that really resonated with me in this particular post was his point that "Those enterprises (and regions) stuck with manual labor tech empires will lose." I've been working with clients and as an "inside" CIO to prepare for the transition to cloud-based architectures for some time. Greg's point that "that enterprises should begin planning for the coming shift by automating their network infrastructure and reducing the manual labor and delays inherent in keeping a typical network available and secure." is a great one and should be extended from the network to compute and storage parts of the infrastructure as well.

A good and thought-provoking read.

The Dizzying Economics of Cloud Computing « ARCHIMEDIUS: "ARCHIMEDIUS
 
About
Posted by: gregness | May 8, 2009
The Dizzying Economics of Cloud Computing
 
The billowing state of cloud computing -from expansive, hazy definitions to product proclamations establishing a new level of irony for the term ‘vaporware’- has clouded some potentially interesting debates about technology and business and the increasingly strategic importance of the network.

I was on a call recently with some networking executives from Cisco, F5 Networks, Infoblox and VMware preparing for the May 21 Fire panel on infrastructure 2.0 (or dynamic infrastructure) when one of the panelists coined the term ‘just in time IT services’.  There was a pregnant pause as soon as the term crossed the telephone wires."

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IT Departments Cope with Dumped Products - BusinessWeek

Interesting article on a problem that happens more often than it should. Besides the recommendations in the article, I'd add one of my own-

Negotiate the divorce settlement before you tie the knot. Technology agreements should read like a celebrity pre-nup. Let's face it, before you give the vendor any money is the time when you hold the leverage. The incentive on their side is enormous and will never again be as strongly in your favor. Use it. The contract is filled with legal mumbo jumbo that rarely gets invoked and is often, particularly in the case of small and medium size businesses, written by the vendor. Think about the risks to your company if the vendor discontinues the product and write in terms that protect you. And then stick to them throughout the negotiations.


Here's the deal- you have the money; they want the money. Make them earn it and the never-ending maintenance revenue stream by negotiating for terms that protect you and your investment in case of product termination for any reason. The job you save just might be your own!

IT Departments Cope with Dumped Products - BusinessWeek: "

IT Departments Cope with Dumped Products
Amid mergers and a rough economy, vendors are cutting out less-used products, leaving some customers in the cold, ComputerWorld reports.

TECHNOLOGY"

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Why Enterprises Are Moving to Google Apps, Gmail - CIO.com - Business Technology Leadership

In today's economy, with CIO's continuing to be pushed to lower costs, I think there'll be more companies looking at basic infrastructure elements like email and light-weight office apps from Google and others. Given the costs outlined in this article, the benefits may be moving from attractive to compelling.

Anyone else making the switch from on-site, hosted to cloud-based email, etc? Google Apps and GMail or Microsoft's hosted Exchange?

Why Enterprises Are Moving to Google Apps, Gmail - CIO.com - Business Technology Leadership: ""

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Global CIO: Avnet Tears Up The B2B E-Commerce Playbook -- Global CIO -- InformationWeek

Global CIO: Avnet Tears Up The B2B E-Commerce Playbook -- Global CIO -- InformationWeek

Loved this article and how Avnet Sr. VPs, Steve Phillips and Beth Ely, rethought how the company handled online customers. In the end, isn't every B2B company really in the B2C space? Yes, you may be selling to another company often in a wholesale-type environment. However, unless it's bulk transactions using EDI and the like, there's a person on the other end of the transaction. If you make it a challenge for that person- consumer- to do business with you, they just might opt out of the relationship at any time.

Look what the folks at Avnet put in:

Easy/no registration required to search
Smarter search and result set handling
Simplified shipping cost to more easily determine what it would cos
Online chat when needed
Other customer-centered features.

Nothing revolutionary here to be sure but innovative nonetheless. For CIO's who struggle to be seen as innovators and as strategic thinkers the lesson is clear- It's the customer, stupid!

George F. Colony's Blog: The Counterintuitive CEO: CIOs to CEOs: "Stay out of tech."

This caught my eye the other day going through the post Forrester IT Forum material. I'd followed the event on Twitter (#FITF09) which was much easier than getting on an airplane but not as fun as being there..but I digress.

This stunned me. More CIO's than I can remember in some time are saying that they are struggling to be seen as "strategic", "on a par with line of business execs" and "unable to get/keep a seat at the table". If you think that the CEO or any other peer exec needs to "stay out of tech" then you've got a problem.

I want CxO's to be engaged in understanding what technology can do for and to them. An informed consumer is a better partner in delivering the benefits of technology. Telling the CEO to stay out of technology is 20 plus year old thinking and that's just not going to cut it. An informed CEO/CFO/CMO will willingly spend more on technology, understand better that risky IT doesn't always works as planned, and expect that it's not just information technology it's business technology that matters.

If you want to be seen as a business partner and strategic ally in your business, check your attitude- it may be showing.

George F. Colony's Blog: The Counterintuitive CEO: CIOs to CEOs: "Stay out of tech.": "

JUNE 05, 2009
CIOs to CEOs: 'Stay out of tech.'

Quickly: Some CIOs are still ambivalent about having the CEO involved in tech.

Content:  At the Forrester IT Forum in Las Vegas two weeks ago, I held a private dinner for 15 Chief Information Officers. We worked on the question: 'How do you raise the tech IQ of your CEO?' 

I've always thought a CEO who knew tech would be welcomed by the CIO. But most of the CIOs at my dinner didn't agree. Here are some comments:

1) 'The CEO should trust IT to get it right.'

2) 'CEOs are about making the company successful -- not on the minutiae of tech.'

3) 'The CEO is about results, not tech.'

Now I had a great time at the dinner, but I must respectfully disagree with my guests. The CEO doesn't have to program, but he/she cannot be ignorant when it comes to IT/business technology. I'm a big believer that the CEO must connect the outside w"

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