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The article profiles Cathy Bessant, global technology and operations executive of banking company Bank of America Corp. (BofA). It highlights the strategy of Bessant as the bank scraps back from financial and regulatory disaster. The development of a data center architecture as the kind of highly technical strategy decision responding to the changing needs in BofA in a volatile business environment is tackled.

The author discusses the solution to load balance internal service points on Windows Azure Worker Roles where the endpoints required cannot be published. Strategies he considered are static assignment, centralized control and cooperative control. He explores the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy. Disclaimers in his development of the prototype, a step-by-step description of how the demonstration ran and solutions developed by David Browne are described. He concludes by suggesting the use of code solution to resolve the matter.

The article discusses the aspects of unified communications on the company. It cites the InformationWeek Analytics 2010 Unified Communications Survey of 406 business technology professionals and enterprise-wide UC programs which shows that there is a problem in the experience and poor user adoption. Furthermore, it suggests to collect business intelligence and make a strategic plan for the effectiveness of UC to the communications.

The article focuses on the responsibilities and efforts of U.S. first federal chief information officer (CIO) Vivek Kundra in promoting change within the government's information technology (IT) operations. It cites that Kundra's official responsibilities include directing policy and strategic planning for federal IT and ensuring IT security and privacy across government. It notes that Kundra leads government efforts, such as IT Dashboard and Data.gov, as well as cloud computing adoption.

The article discusses on the interest of chief informant officers (CIOs) in alternative information technology (IT) models as alternative strategies for businesses. CIO Bill Louv of GlaxoSmithKline moved its 115,000 employees to save 30 percent on total cost of ownership compared to comparable licensed software. Brent Hoag, senior director of global IT at JohnsonDiversey Inc. added that as an IT organization, their interest in alternative IT models aims to their internal business and customers.

The article suggests the advantages of integrating data center virtualization into business enterprises in the U.S. It is evident that companies are in need for the most innovative approach that could help them protect their business from the threatening impact of the global economic recessions and financial crisis. It is strongly recommended that virtualization of data centers offers new and more flexible approach across various industries. INSET: New Tools For Private Clouds.

The article presents strategies of several businesses technology companies in addressing the impact of economic crisis in the U.S. Unum Group had established information technology teams that will create quick-hit projects including new document management system. Hologic Inc., a medical equipment company, has expanded its enterprise application and invest on consultant and customer relationship management platform. It presents effective strategies including improving outsourcing partnership.

The article discusses the use of online voting tools and prediction markets by companies for business innovation. It cites the move of General Electric Co. Research, wherein only the stocks are product ideas which leads the company to have an option to develop. Dell Computer Corp., which had used Salesforce.com's Ideas and launching Dell IdeaStorm, where anyone can submit and vote on new features from Dell products. Other companies which had deployed the decision-making technologies are offered.

The article focuses on the risk and benefit of outsourcing core security or a managed service security provider (MSSP). It highlights the result of a survey regarding the perspective of business technology professionals outsourcing security. It discusses the devised strategies of MSSPs to address the issue on the resistance of information technology (IT) sector to outsourcing. It presents schemes on how to manage outsourcing risk and cites its importance in the development of a business.

The article discusses Smartphone security. It mentions that Smartphones are able to handle Web browsing, synchronize with enterprise messaging systems, support multiple Virtual Private Networks (VPN) methods and run a wide range of business applications. It recounts that it may become a compelling business opportunity or a potential for a data leakage. It presents "InformationWeek's" Rolling Review which focuses on managing and securing smartphones.

The article reports on the survey regarding business process outsourcing (BPO) projects in the U.S. It states that seven out of 10 companies are forming ahead of BPO initiatives and it has been seen as a cost cutting tool but as a way to push strategic agendas such as transforming processes or increasing revenues. Moreover, it shows that three-fourths of companies say they will use an outsourcer in the next 12 months, thirty percent say they will increase their use, while 7% will cut back.

The article focuses on the strategic planning initiated by several security vendors in order to support their vision of holistic threat management. Check Point, Cisco, McAfee, and Symantec have invested in data leak prevention (DLP) in an effort to integrate technology into their threat management portfolios. They also see DLP as compliance-friendly, and must be part of an information life-cycle management system. Aside from DLP, they have also been spending money on encrypting local drives.

The article focuses on a research conducted by Optimize Inc. concerning the responsibilities and credibility of chief information officers (CIO). The research shows that CIO are learning recognition as indispensable business visionaries. It has noted that their role in shaping business strategy marks a notable shift in responsibilities that is redefining what a CIO is.

The article discusses the changing role of chief information officers (CIOs) in shaping business strategy. According to the article, CIOs are increasingly being counted on to assist business leaders make their companies more agile and customer-centric. Everything in information technology (IT) is inextricably linked with the center of business, said Tony Scott, CIO at The Walt Disney Co. It is noted that as more CIOs directly impact some of the most important business operations, their roles are expanding away from the focus on managing technology.

The article discusses the role of information technology (IT) in providing a flexible infrastructure which supports strategic innovation. The need for closer partnership between IT and business is hindered by legacy IT infrastructure and divergent goals. According to the article that while service-oriented architecture (SOA) and components-based frameworks allow companies to take the first obstacle, there is no clear-cut solution for the second obstacle. Yet SOA and Web services enable companies to create interoperable business processes that promote the evolution of business models. Synchronization of IT and business strategies though SOA is further advanced by having a proper governance framework.

The article deals with chief information officer (CIO) effectiveness. Standard metrics like rate of return and on-time/on-budget evaluations have been used to measure CIO effectiveness. In areas like supporting companywide business strategy and delivering business value to the company, CIO scored well across the board. Research showed that CIO have a much higher perception of their effectiveness than the executive, staffers and internal business customers. CIO are opened up to overevaluation, criticism and about every move they make because of their high profile.

The article provides various tips from several companies on how to assess the impact of information technology on business goals. Accordingly, failed customer interactions and those at risk of failure had represented a key opportunity for companies to improve processes. Companies have the need to take on high-impact projects to improve their business strategies. Pacific Blue Cross has measured the value of a system that its dentists submit claims electronically without human intervention.

The article discusses key factors in a successful outsourcing management. Outsourcing is like any other business initiative. It can be implemented well or painfully ruined. Avoiding the pitfalls that can be seen in some of the most recent high-profile failures such as with Sprint Nextel Corp. and Diebold Inc. are the key to successful outsourcing management. Companies should know how to plan for management transitions, have the ability to manage a team of vendors and others.

The article focuses on the software-as-a-service movement of computer software company Salesforce.com Inc. For the company's chief executive officer Marc Benioff, the focuses if getting more subscribers. The strategy is AppExchange, a online marketplace for complementary software. The software includes over 200 applications from its partners that the company does not make.

The article discusses the importance for plastics processors in the U.S. to change business strategies to address changes in domestic and overseas market. To accomplish this, some companies are targeting niche markers or shifting production toward higher-end products that require greater sophistication.

The article discusses the need for chief information officers(CIO) to stop seeking alignment but instead focus on innovation, exploitation and business partnering in ways that achieve competitive advantage in an environment of operational crisis. The risk in alignment is that it uses dated, backward-looking requests to predict business needs and success. Risk-taking should be a strategic competency for the CIO. A CIO must develop a clear point of view as to how key strategic targets must be met before contemplating on any strategic planning. He can use the Wall Street analyst report in obtaining an extensive assessment of the company's competitive position.

This article discusses the potential benefits of the adoption by heirarchical companies of business-web models in value creation and management of intellectual property. It defines a taxonomy and new lexicon of four primary types of innovation-webs which are ideagoras, aggregations, peer-production communities and value chains. In the shift to collaborative innovation chief information officers and chief technology officers can lead the organization. They can start planning the process with a comprehensive map of the innovation ecosystem which will cover relevant disciplines that intersect with their strategies.

The article discusses risk management strategy in information technology organizations. To synchronize, coordinate and integrate an enterprisewide strategy, most organizations are establishing interdisciplinary risk-management councils designed to put in place governance, operational-planning and crisis management structures that support risk management. They are responsible for directing rational strategies in response to technical, operational and legal threats that could disrupt business continuity and cause economic damage to both the organization and its key supply-chain partners. Lawyers, chief information officers and line-of-business managers should work together in the implementation of risk management strategies.

The article discusses how chief information officers (CIO) can give their companies the leading edge through a sound strategy that is built within the framework of innovation, efficiency and information access. Innovation is emerging as the new business priority, and it means the emergence of a new opportunity for chief information officers. The CIO must be the champion of a process for establishing innovation where information is the key to successful development. A clear requirement for any small company that strives to succeed is an innovation mind-set.

The article relates how the author, as chief information officer at Fireman's Fund, has managed to create and execute a model of growth through innovation that has helped enhanced the company's position. The author has managed to transform the IT department by developing a service-oriented architecture, lowering maintenance costs, redefining IT jobs, and building a compelling ROI.

This article focuses on the business strategy of Capital One Financial Corp. For Capital One, the business value more than justifies the cost. What distinguishes Capital One from the rest of the formidable pack is its information-based strategy, which joins all areas of its business--marketing, credit, risk, operations, and business technology--into a single, flexible decision-making structure. In an intensively competitive market, Capital One has managed to post impressive financial results. Net income after taxes in the company's second quarter was $531 million, up 30% from $407 million a year earlier. INSETS: Capital One's Vendor Equation;Focus On What Really Matters.

This article presents the author's observation on the global information technology (IT)-management strategy adopted by ChevronTexaco. The merger made us the fourth-largest energy company in the world, and the second-largest in the U.S. in terms of oil and gas reserves. IT has a played a pivotal role in connecting what is, in essence, a group of global organizations. For example, our NetReady initiative has allowed us to rearchitect ChevronTexaco's global desktop, network and server infrastructure. In addition, the global system lets employees access their desktop and files from any computer connected to the Internet. The common IT infrastructure has strengthened employee bonds across the globe. Our global-standardization initiatives have taught us how to distinguish between providing useful access to common resources and micromanaging. ChevronTexaco employs 3,000 IT employees globally, and roughly 1,000 of those belong to the central IT organization, of which I am in charge. The CIO council meets weekly to focus on the important global issues. Another aggressive initiative in our global IT-management strategy is one we call Everest. This a business-focused IT program that builds processes to ensure that our IT priorities are aligned with corporate priorities and key business strategies.

Reports on the strategies implemented by software company Siebel Systems Inc. CEO Michael Lawrie to improve customer service in the U.S. Development of services to enhance product quality; reorganization of the company to give managers more authority and accountability; Emphasis on the need for the product-development team to react more quickly to customer input.

Focuses on the technology strategy of Southwest Airlines Co. for 2005. Budget allocated for information technology; Profile on the firms chief information officer Tom Nealson; Emphasis on the company's IT deployment in its core operations; Expansion of the firm's self-service kiosks. INSET: THE UPSHOT..

Reports on low-cost PC maker Dell Computer Corp.'s expectation of becoming a major business-technology provider. Chief executive officer Kevin Rollins' technology strategy and vision for the company; Positioning of Dell as a central force in business technology as a result of several years of cost cutting, standardization and optimization; Other business conditions favoring Dell, including the trend among firms to continually refresh their desktop PCs; Comments of chief information officer Randy Mott.

Taking a page from biological systems, corporate partners form networks, or ecosystems, in which companies succeed or fail as a collective whole. The challenge is to manage assets a company doesn't directly own. To that end, information systems; and the executive who manages them, have become the linchpin connecting business strategy and execution. INSETS: A Tale of Two Ecosystems;The 90-DAY PLAN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on idea published in the book, Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant, which assessed the profitable-growth consequences of companies creating blue oceans, ideas that create their own demand by giving customers a product or service they value highly. Blue oceans are defined by untapped markets and the opportunity for highly profitable growth. Companies that create blue oceans, like Apple, strive to make the competition irrelevant by providing a leap in value for customers and the company. For technology to support the creation of blue oceans, chief information officers must test their ideas and initiative against a fundamentally different set of criteria. Technology officers can play two important roles. First, in designing products or services with a high-technology component, they can set aggressive cost targets for the technology staff. Second, they can enlighten the business heads in strategic discussions on how technology can dramatically lower their cost structures in actualizing blue ocean ideas. Even after a company has created a blue ocean, its work is not finished. For example, though Apple's iPod has successfully opened a blue ocean, the company needs to broaden and hold onto this edge in the future or it could be overtaken much the way Apple's home computers were. INSETS: Will Your Ideas Swim? Take This Test;The 90-DAY PLAN.

Focuses on business strategies of the International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) for technological innovation in the U.S. Development plans for autonomic computing systems; Impact of computing systems on business operation and performance; Analysis on IBM business-performance-transformation offering; Initiatives done to support its strategy. INSETS: THE UPSHOT;ACQUISITIONS WITH BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION IN MIND.

Discusses the importance of machinery sales data and a wealth of economic data available from the U.S. government and many industry associations for practical economic planning in plastic processing. Availability of these data in a very limited form in comparison to other markets; Importance of understanding the data and not just scan them; Practical advice on how machinery data can be utilized based on analysis of the economic meaning of machinery data for 2004.

This articles relates the experience of an effective creative manager, and how she selects various strategies to fit her changing situation. Managing a project involves spotting opportunities and problems, prioritizing them and deciding how to act in consequence. The creative project manager is always comparing strategies, even conflicting ones, to see which best suits the opportunity/catastrophe/priority mix. The standard project management wisdom is to put a team close together, allowing people to communicate quickly and cheaply. When people sit close enough to overhear each other, information flow in through background hearing, which is referred as osmotic communication. In Surviving OO Projects, the author described a number of project management strategies that seemed interlinked. There are three factors that apply to the management situation: osmotic communication, expert in earshot, and progress team/training team. The common thread running throughout these situations is the use of the Cone of Silence together with and in opposition to Osmotic Communication.

The article explores supply-chain management strategies. Supply-chain management has typically been based on the notion that demand is set in stone. The emerging area of intelligent, demand-based supply-chain management explores managing logistics, based on true customer needs. It is built on the principle that supply-chain management and demand management can be integrated to increase inventory efficiencies. But because of uncertainties in customer demand, supply chains face diminishing returns. When supply-chain partners are willing to collaborate, they can potentially coordinate product development, product introduction and replenishments using advanced scientific methods based on optimization techniques. Information sharing, such as Internet-based exchanges among logistics partners, is a foundational step in supply-chain integration. Longs Drug Stores Corp. is a company that is leveraging the intelligent supply chain. As data becomes more available as a result of information technology advances, it is important to make sure the intelligence is free of distortion due to external events, such as actions taken by supply-chain partners and other sources that could corrupt the information flow.

The article presents an interview of Robert DeRodes, executive vice president and chief information officer at Home Depot Inc. about technology transformation, business challenges and building leaders. In fact, the demand for new technology far outstrips our ability to deliver in the time frame the business would like. In the first year, we focused on building the leadership team, while telling the stores, which are our largest channel, that they would start feeling the effects of the digitization effort two or three years after that. What I look for in a team is a blend of solid retail experience and solid technology-transformation skills. Our information technology-management structures and processes needed an overhaul as well, because they were outstripped by the growth of the company. We developed our strategy around three key tenets: define, enhance and transform the customer's shopping experience and improve execution in the store--from the back end to the sales floor to the front end. With regard to the supply chain, we want to be able to see from the shelf back to the manufacturer. In 2004, we launched efforts to improve our receiving and in-store inventory management.

The article discusses IT blueprints and strategy maps as tools in strategic management. Strategy maps and process blueprints are fairly common business-management tools. However, these are still rare in CIO and IT circles. Until recently, most enterprises did not consider IT a strategic department in need of such tools. Much on the innovation in IT-executive management and reporting was in applying to the IT situation lessons learned in supply-chain management, process modeling, and customer-relationship management. The blueprints discussed in the article facilitate strategy implementations. They are not created in a vacuum nor should they create more work for managers. They combine IT-management functions, with actual IT work flows, such as application life cycles or IT infrastructure-library process diagrams. The result is a single picture that directly relates to a specific business strategy. Whether it is business-service management, securing enterprise-computing assets, compliance with government regulations, or ensuring business continuity, a visual IT blueprint offers a powerful, explicit visualization tool for displaying how various IT workers support the C-team's alignment strategies. INSET: THE 90-DAY PLAN.

Discusses the practice of lean manufacturing. Creation of a production environments driven by demands; Practices of lean manufacturing; Importance of lean manufacturing to automakers. INSETS: LOCKHEED: Lean cuts costs;DELPHI: Parts maker helps suppliers...;ARVINMERITOR: A lean culture;F.W. MURPHY: Success brings broader initiative

Discusses the expanded Strategy Map framework, an illustration of the alignment between intangible assets and business strategy that can help in setting priorities, and goals and assure that information technology and other resources are aligned to create value. Perspectives of the Balanced Scoreboard concept which the framework integrates; Assessment of the value of information capital; Approach to determine strategic readiness.

Describes how New York-based assigned-risk carrier AutoOne Insurance harnessed off-the-shelf technology and an agile business strategy to exceed its business-plan objectives in its first year of operation. Nature of the company; Projects embarked by the company; Details of the search of the company for products that would provide the technological foundation for the company's critical operations.

Focuses on the importance for chief information officers to put its company's resources in businesses with growth opportunities. Problems with the application of the internal-customer concept; Role of information technology in the success of Wal-Mart; Discussion of the disruptive innovations experienced by Sony Corp. between the mid-1950s and the late 1970s. INSETS: Disruption & IT Vendor Management;THE 90-DAY PLAN.

Reports on the strategic plans of computer products vendor Michael Dell in the U.S. Expansion of the product categories; Increase of market share; Customer services. INSET: THE UPSHOT.

Discusses the importance of business plans focusing on cost management, working-capital management and productivity, on the performance of a company. Information on business-process optimization; Difference between a company's capabilities and competencies; Reasons for implementing process optimization. INSETS: Research Methodology;Unwrapping Corporate Data;THE 90-DAY PLAN.

Reports on the knowledge management programs of technology companies in the U.S. Emphasis on deploying simplier tools and applications to achieve business goals; Advantage of reusing and sharing knowledge to enhance functionality of employees;Collaboration with business experts to improve operations. INSETS: STRATEGIC: Military works with what it knows;NEED SOFTWARE?: How the vendors' approaches differ;I.T. MANIFESTO: Know what people want.

Focuses on the strategies used by application service providers (ASP) enhance service and improve technology in the U.S. Development of tools to integrate services with other applications; Advantages of application outsourcing; Provision of customer relationship management and financial management software to clients.

Focuses on the capitalization of both near-shore and offshore delivery by companies devising an outsourcing strategy for applications maintenance and development. Attributes of a successful global delivery strategy; Factors which contribute to successful global sourcing; Challenges in global sourcing. INSET: Mexico Offers More Than A Cost Advantage.

Deals with the importance of corporate vision to the growth of a company. Reasons that more businesses do not leverage the power of the vision process; Themes that organizational vision must address.

Discusses issues on collaborative manufacturing. Benefits of the practice of business collaboration; Fundamental elements to consider in collaborative relationship. INSET: THE 90-DAY PLAN.

Discusses how to implement a real-time business-activity monitoring. Mobilization of management teams; Identification of emerging trends in real-time; Collaboration among executives in developing strategies. INSETS: Playing At Real Time;THE 90-DAY PLAN.