CIO Talk Radio

Guest: John Engates Title: CTO of Rackspace Guest: Thomas Struan Title: Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Army Aviation Center Federal Credit Union Guest: Thomas Trappler Title: Director of Software Licensing, UCLA; Instructor, Contracting for Cloud Computing Services, UCLA Extension Cloud’s obvious advantages make it seem like a no-brainer. But what are the “gotchas?” How can CIO’s ensure they get the best contract deals? And how do they mitigate excessive risk? What are the new/changing trends in Cloud Pricing models, contracting, and SLAs? What are the hidden costs and key risks in Cloud contracts, and more importantly, how can CIO’s avoid them and protect their organizations?

Guest: Dr. Sasi Kumar Pillay Title: Chief Technology Officer of IT at National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) Guest: James P. Knight Title: Global Chief Information Officer, Chubb; Chair, SIM Board of Directors Guest: June E. Drewry Title: former Global Chief Information Officer, the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies; Executive Coach Today’s uncertain times, with so much complexity and change, have been tough on our IT leaders. But these challenges show no signs of easing in the years to come. So how do we prepare the next generation of IT leaders? Will there be enough time, funds, or capacity to properly prepare and train them? What abilities will be expected of them? What are organizations doing to prepare the path this new breed of leader must tread? What external resources, tools, or programs are being developed for this task?

Guest: Ross E. Wescott, CISA, CIA, CCP Title: Chief IT auditor, Portland General Electric Company (PGE) Guest: Walter Weir Title: CIO, The University of Nebraska Good intentions aside, IT leaders often end up delivering what they think they know best. Where they have gaps in their experience it’s not unreasonable to invite consultants. The real issue is when executive management or stakeholders attempt to solicit 3rd party opinions about how IT is doing and perhaps call for an audit. When this happens, CIO’s along with their direct reports can become defensive and territorial. Why is that? Why do so few organizations request voluntary external IT audits? Is it a bad idea to occasionally hold a mirror up to the CIO and the IT organization? Why couldn’t this be used as a tool to get better at creating value? Aren’t we still just following old auditing ways that focused on operational efficiency or are we ready to develop newer frameworks that help IT to focus on top line growth with better alignment to the business?

Guest: Allison Cerra Title: Chief Marketing Officer at Alcatel-Lucent Guest: Mike Relich Title: EVP & CIO at Guess? As the economy improves, companies are jockeying for competitive positions and investing in top line growth initiatives, but business paradigms have changed. Are the old traditional marketing approaches up to the job of supporting these activities given the new paradigms? How do marketing activities need to change? Where can IT lead the way and support Marketing strategies effectively? How should IT realign itself to accomplish these goals?

Guest: Jerry Horton Title: CIO US Agency for International Development (AID) Guest: Michael Clark Title: USAID Contracting Officer Division Chief Guest: Nick Nayak, Title: Chief Procurement Officer, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Acquisitions instructor, Strayer University There has always been a lot of debate over how well the government uses the public’s tax dollars to provide security, deliver services, etc. How accountable has the government been in its procurement and contract management practices? Have the procurement and services that were paid for, been worth the dollars spent? What challenges does the government face in improving its procurement and contract practices or improving its accountability on spending? How can IT help make its procurement and contract management more effective while providing more transparency on its spending and the value received?

Guest: Claire Bailey Title: Director of the Arkansas Department of Information Systems (DIS), Arkansas Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Guest: Gwynne Kostin Title: Director Mobile, Office of Citizen Services & Innovative Technologies, U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Enterprises have whole heartedly embraced mobility and are reaping the rewards, even while still working to mitigate the remaining risks. How is government viewing its transition to mobility? What risks and rewards are expected from making government more mobile? What is the roadmap to achieving wide-spread adoption of this successful paradigm while avoiding undue risk?

Guest: Todd Thibbodeaux Title: President & CEO, CompTIA Business models, computing paradigms, delivery expectations, customer satisfaction, and profitability are all in flux. The ability of IT talent at all organizational levels to understand business as it stands and how it will morph in the future while maintaining and improving service delivery is no small feat. Can we prepare our IT people proactively or is it going to be a catchup game? Will our efforts to manage the skills gap even be adequate? What are organizations doing or should be doing to manage the IT skills gap and sustain delivery for now and in the future? If you have trouble hearing live stream please click here

Guest: Drue Reeves Title: VP Distinguished Analyst, Gartner PaaS (Platform as a Service) promises a faster, more cost-effective model for application development and delivery, because you can build and run applications in the cloud. Is this something we need or is it a solution looking for a problem? What does solution actually buy us? Who is it best for? Are application development groups ready to embrace it?

Guest: Gus Crosetto, Ed.D Title: Chief Learning Officer, US GAO (Government Accountability Office) Guest: Linda Argote Title: The David M. and Barbara A. Kirr Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory, Carnegie Mellon, Tepper School Ongoing improvement in enterprise performance requires learning at the individual, department, and organizational level. Although we traditionally invest in these areas, how well is that investment paying off? Have enterprises been able to track and plan for upcoming learning needs, make that learning happen, preserve it and make it accessible? Have they been able to measure the impact on individuals by groups and departments over the organization as a whole? Has enterprise learning changed over the years? If it is changing, what will it be like in the future?

Guest: Jeanne Bliss Title: Author, President, CustomerBliss Guest: William Swislow Title: Senior Vice President, Product & Chief Information Officer, Cars.com The free flow of information has given today’s consumer more choices about purchasing and the power to respond quickly and effectively about what they like or don’t like. Companies have little control over this vast flow of information that affects everything from dealing with what and how much is sold where and for how much, to dealing with customer satisfaction or dis-satisfaction snowballing over social media channels. The clock cannot be turned back on this revolution, so what can companies do to re-take control of information or change their business strategies, and how can IT help?

Guest: James M. Spitze Title: Executive Director, Fisher CIO Leadership Program Institute for Business Innovation, Haas Business School, University of California Guest: William G. Halnon Title: Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Republic Services Inc. An M&A situation can be a strategic opportunity for an IT leader to build a new IT organization. While some people will end up leaving, a new IT leader will emerge, either from one of the companies involved or from outside. How does this CIO of the new combined company go about putting together his new "cabinet" of advisors and right hand men?

Guest: Allan Hackney Title: SVP & Chief Information Officer, John Hancock Financial Services Guest: Tim Cook Title: Co-lead Information Officers Practice in the UK,Russell Reynolds If there are maturity models for the technology paradigms IT leaders adopt, wouldn’t it be possible to develop a maturity model for IT Leadership as well? That is, an IT Leadership maturity model that would help CIOs and their lieutenants to measure their current state and chart a path forward for them to improve and become more successful and effective. What would such a maturity model look like? How realistic is it to expect humans to follow a structured path like a maturity model, in order to acquire the competencies and experience suggested by such models? Could a “one size fits all” standard maturity model be created?

Guest: Alan Levine Title: Global CISO, Alcoa Inc. Guest: Dan Blum Title: VP and Distinguished Analyst, Gartner Guest: Robert S. Allen Title: VP and CISO, CNA Today, organizations are outsourcing more and more of their IT applications, systems, and infrastructure, and moving to the cloud. But can their IT leaders depend solely on the vendors’ promises and contract agreements about delivering these services securely? It’s one thing to articulate security concerns but another to live with risks, including job loss, which could arise while someone external has control of these services. How can IT leaders secure these extensions to their IT departments? What has been tried? What has worked or not worked?

Guest: Charles Costa Title: head of Global Technology and Operations and Chief Information Officer, J.P. Morgan Asset Management Guest: Dr. Michael Chui Title: Senior Fellow with the McKinsey Global Institute While Bi and Analytics are not relatively new concepts for financial services organizations, based on rapidly changing business models, shifting regulatory reforms, the expansion into new markets, and continaully morphing risk management needs, would using just “traditional” BI cut it? Is Big Data a good answer? Is there a compelling business case to escalate from traditional BI to Big Data? What have financial organizations tried with respect to BI transformation and Big Data adoption, in order to meet the new needs of clients?

Guest: Edward W. Marx Title: Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Texas Health Resources Guest: Jim Murry Title: Chief Information Officer, Health Affairs Information Services, and Associate Dean of IT & Informatics, School of Medicine, UC Irvine Mobility presumably offers advantages in delivering healthcare, and so investments have been made to improve it. What has been the result? Have the investments returned a significant ROI? What specific innovations have driven down cost, increased access, and improved the quality of healthcare? How has the consumerization of IT been leveraged to increase the overall adoption of mobility in healthcare while still managing related challenges?