>>“Rock ’n’ roll is my golf.”
—BRIAN KILCOURSE
and application virtualization vendor.
About 20 architecture specialists,
programmers and project managers
followed Bishop into Adaptivity, a consultancy he founded. The initial customer leads came from the reference
calls, conferences and customer visits
he made on behalf of vendors.
“A lot of CIOs are looking for extra
help,” Bishop says. “They know that
because you’ve done it [as a CIO or IT
manager], you can help others do it. We
talk to them about architecting the next
generation of systems, overall strategy,
sunsetting other platforms, running
architecture programs and project lists
like a portfolio, and focusing on how to
get the best return.”
Helping CIOs is also what consultant Kilcourse does these days. He says
that working with smart people, using
cutting-edge technology and teaching
based on his own hard-earned experience is fun and relatively low stress.
“Retiring to just a full-time job” as a
consultant (after a 24/7 CIO spot) has
given Kilcourse more time to spend on a
rock ’n’ roll addiction going back to the
’70s. “Rock ’n’ roll is my golf,” he says.
“It’s loud, pointless and cathartic.”
When he was a CIO, Kilcourse
performed under the stage name Slim
Chance, of Slim Chance and The Guilty
CHANGING DIRECTION
Major changes in direction can enhance
and extend the careers of CIOs by
increasing their experience in business disciplines and different markets,
according to Susan Cramm, who was a
CIO at Taco Bell and a CFO at a smaller
PepsiCo restaurant chain in the 1990s.
As the head of Valudance, which provides coaching, training and advice to IT
executives, she now coaches other CIOs
on career development and strategy.
“When I realized the CIO of a restaurant company didn’t have as much
influence as I wanted, I re-evaluated,”
Cramm says. “As CIO, I was responsible
for change, but I didn’t have responsibility for any of the three Ps: people,
process, and profit and loss.
“PepsiCo does finance really well, and
I had enough financial background to be
able to do the job,” Cramm says of her
switch to Chevy’s Mexican Restaurant,
where she was CFO from 1994 to 1998. “I
believe innovation comes from the intersection of two related disciplines.”
Saints. Since retiring, he has released
three CDs of original music.
Cramm doesn’t find it surprising that
many CIOs are interested in a career
switch. “CIO tenure has stabilized at
four-and-a-half or five years, according
to Gartner and an IBM survey,” she says.
“I did a survey at a large client, and only
15 percent of the people in IT aspired to
the CIO role. It’s surprising how many
people think it’s a job with a lot of headaches, so they’re not interested.”
That’s a problem for large companies. In fact, 60 percent of them search
outside their own staff for replacement
CIOs, according to Cramm. “What that
means in terms of succession is that we’re
not developing the talent we’re going
to need,” she says. “Since 50 percent of
external hires of C-level executives don’t
work out, that’s a huge risk.”
“We need to find a way to make the
CIO job more attractive, so we can have
good candidates in the pipeline.” 3
Is your company using IT to support business change? Let us know, and
send comments on this story to editors@baselinemag.com.
COMING SOON: THE NEW, IMPROVED BASELINE/BTM 500
Baseline and BTM Corp. partner to produce enhanced ranking of the most technology-savvy U.S. corporations.
EVERYONE SAYS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ADDS VALUE
to enterprise operations. Analysts and practitioners alike expound the
benefits technology brings by creating greater efficiencies, lowering
costs and enhancing productivity. But how does technology relate to
an organization’s revenue and profit performance?
That’s the question we asked when reviewing the methodology
for this year’s Baseline 500. Our conclusion: It’s not enough to
measure IT productivity in the abstract. The ultimate measure of any
enterprise activity is how it affects the top and bottom lines.
That’s why Baseline is teaming up with BTM Corp. to create the
new Baseline/BTM 500. (BTM is a management solutions provider
that innovates new business models, enhances financial performance
and improves operational efficiency.)
“Enterprises on all levels are looking at technology beyond
creating efficiencies and cost reductions,” says Lawrence M.
Walsh, project manager for the Baseline/BTM 500. “Technology,
when incorporated into business visions and goals, can become
an enabler of revenue and profit growth. With the partnership with
BTM, Baseline will provide a new measure of IT effectiveness in
building stronger businesses.”
The Baseline/BTM 500, scheduled for publication in October, will
quantify how the largest U.S. companies are managing technology.
The partnership represents a significant improvement to former
Baseline 500 methodologies and results. Previous iterations used a
complex model based on IT productivity measured over a three-year
span. The new methodology, developed exclusively by BTM, will
measure business-technology maturity levels to provide a snapshot
of how well a business is using technology and how well it makes
technology decisions.
“Over the past decade, we’ve witnessed an increase in the number of organizations that realize the need for and value in managing
business and technology together,” says Faisal Hoque, BTM founder
and CEO. “The Baseline/BTM 500 provides an opportunity to rank
those companies whose management maturity is at a level where
they have experienced the financial benefits of business-technology convergence.”
The data collection and analysis for the Baseline/BTM 500 is currently under way. Baseline will publish progress reports on the project over the course of the summer, with the full analysis appearing in
the October issue of Baseline and online at www.baselinemag.com.
BASELINE JUNE 2008
