Metis Strategy

In this interview, Nick Colisto discusses World Class IT Principle One, People, and Principle Four, IT-Business Partnerships, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include: His priorities around integrating the business suite of applications across the company The four layers of K. Hovnanian’s business suite: master data, best of breed business apps, system integration, and business intelligence The importance of framing business colleagues not as “customers”, but rather as partners, in order to stress that IT be seen as peers K. Hovnanian’s use of technology to enhance the customer experience through the implementation of a buyer’s portal and electronic payment process The company’s approach to dynamically solicit customer feedback His team's approach to talent management, focusing on: performance objectives, conducting a skill inventory, standardizing job descriptions, providing comprehensive training classes, and encouraging job rotations and career development Eye on the trends: mobile computing enabling the workforce on the go, enabling enterprise systems and BI for the smart phone, and taking advantage of competition in the cloud computing market to reap cost savings

In this interview, Ken Piddington discusses World Class IT Principle Four, IT-Business Partnerships, and Principle Five, External Partnerships, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include: Global Partners IT’s transformation from an order taker to a strategic partner The importance of communication in establishing credibility for IT and improving operations The way in which IT is focusing on analytics in order to provide the company with a competitive advantage The necessity to not only hold vendors to SLAs and manage them effectively in order to ensure you get what you pay for, but also the necessity to share the strategic vision with vendors so that they can more effectively operate on your behalf How Global Partners IT engages external clients to build relationships IT’s future role in mergers and acuquisition Eye on the trends: The pros and cons of the hot trends of cloud computing, social media, and iPad in the enterprise

In this interview, Richard Hunter and George Westerman discuss their book "The Real Business of IT" with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include: The "Value Path" of establishing sound communication between CIOs and the business The importance of explaining how technology can deliver value to the business, as opposed to just explaining the technology itself, when CIOs are communicated with business partners “Value Traps”, and how subtle missteps in communicating with the business can send the wrong message The relevance of a CIO being a technologist or not, and the advantages of a new CIO coming from outside of IT The IT “Virtuous Cycle”, and how focusing on addressing needs identification, transparent oversight, process and organization change, and application development solution delivery should be top priorities for CIOs The authors' thoughts on emerging trends in IT

This interview is the fifth in a special series of five eSeminars covering the Five Principles of World Class IT. The five interviews have been broadcast in sequential weeks, and in this conversation on principle five –External Partnerships, Bob Willett discusses the following ideas: The lessons learned from having been a provider of outsourced services to the time when he was a user of them The rationale and benefits of outsourcing the majority of the IT department The benefits he sought and gained through outsourcing, and why reducing cost was not the number one priority How Best Buy’s “Business Information Officers” served to translate business requirements to vendors How best to evaluate external partners beyond just measuring SLAs

This interview is the fourth in a special series of five eSeminars covering the Five Principles of World Class IT. The five interviews will be broadcast in sequential weeks, and in this conversation on P5-IT and Business Partnerships, John Boushy discusses the following ideas: His advice for CIOs who wish to establish stronger ties with the business, and potentially follow in his footsteps to become the CEO of a major corporation His thoughts on the vicissitudes of the CIO role in an era where business leaders are becoming more IT savvy Changing the culture of the IT department to deliver value and calculate that value using business terms (ROI, NPV, IRR, etc.), as well as pushing for total cost of ownership (TCO) evaluations for all projects John’s thoughts about whether we will see more CIOs emerging from the business rather that growing up through IT

This interview is the third in a special series of five eSeminars covering the Five Principles of World Class IT. The five interviews will be broadcast in sequential weeks, and in this conversation on P3-Project & Portfolio Management, Randy Spratt discusses the following ideas: The governance improvements that he undertook upon ascending to be the head of technology for the world’s largest healthcare company The councils that he has assembled to vet and prioritize work across IT related to the many massive business units that his team supports The methods he has used to develop process standards where relevant and appropriate across IT The processes that he and his team use to find ideas in one part of the organization that have broader implications for McKesson as a whole, as well as the means by which he spreads them The methods Randy uses to communicate the efficacy of his portfolio of projects both internally (within IT) and externally (with his colleagues outside of IT)

This interview is the second in a special series of five eSeminars covering the Five Principles of World Class IT. The five interviews will be broadcast in sequential weeks, and in this conversation on P2-Infrastructure, Mark Settle discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy The emergence of Enterprise Architecture and Vendor Management Offices as major trends in Infrastructure With each of the new opportunities that he has pursued, the steps Mark has taken to get his mind around the challenges that each infrastructure environment has entailed The kinds of organizations that are more or less ripe for outsourcing infrastructure including the factors that CIOs should consider when weighing this option The methods Mark has used to express the needs and activities related to Infrastructure to his business colleagues Mark’s thoughts related to Cloud Computing and Virtualization

This interview is the first in a special series of five eSeminars covering the Five Principles of World Class IT. The five interviews will be broadcast in sequential weeks, and in this conversation on P1-People, Gregor Bailar discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy How Gregor and his colleagues at Capital One turned the traditional thought process on office space and the working environment on its head in order to facilitate collaboration and innovation among other benefits Gregor’s approach to workforce planning, succession planning, and grooming the leaders of the future, especially as several of his former lieutenants are now IT executives The process Gregor has used to facilitate cultural change in the organizations that he has led Gregor’s thoughts on how the so-called millennials’ innate comfort with and knowledge of technology impact IT departments and corporations more generally speaking Other people-centric trends that he believes will be critical for current CIOs and IT executives to be mindful of

In this interview, Dave Zeppieri discusses principle two and principle four of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include The evolution of IT’s role at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation The benefits and challenges of leading an IT shop for a smaller government agency, after years of experience at larger agencies How best to engage business partners and the importance of building relationships The significant impact Cloud Computing has had on OPIC’s ability to improve its operations The importance of documenting repeatable processes in order to maintain a secure environment The balance of risk and expectations with social media

In this interview, Naresh Shanker discusses principle three and principle four of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include His priorities for the foreseeable future around operational excellence, a successful merger with Hewlett-Packard, and the preparation for a launch of a new product portfolio How consumer electronics have impacted commercial technologies, and the implications for the future IT’s role in innovation at Palm The benefits and challenges of being headquartered in Silicon Valley, with so many other IT executives to tap as resources How IT can avoid being a bottleneck to project delivery and time-to-market through efficient processes

In this interview, Phil Fasano discusses principle four of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include How IT supports Kaiser Permanente's multiple healthcare arms The importance of IT in providing better information faster to physicians and healthcare decision makers Kaiser Permanente’s use of the electronic medical record, and the benefits garnered IT’s role in responding to healthcare reform Kaiser Permanente’s IT innovation process and how listening to the needs of end-users can be the genesis of new ideas The promising future role of mobile technologies in enhancing healthcare

In this interview, Rob Webb discusses two principles of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include How Hilton has worked through dramatic change in the past three years The benefits of leveraging strategic sourcing partners in non-competitive areas such as infrastructure Hilton’s approach to innovation How to balance utilizing economies of scale while allowing different brands to operate independently Exciting new technologies for the hospitality industry

In this interview, Dave Smoley discusses two principles of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include Using technology to enable people to work better and to make smarter and faster decisions How cost-cutting needs to become part of IT's culture in order to be effective Standardizing core tools to drive low costs How mature IT organizations eventually move toward a lean model The value of having business unit IT leads with domain expertise

In this interview, Ramón Baez discusses three principles of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include Using lean methodologies to simplify and improve internal IT processes Providing high-potential employees with the same type of leadership development training that management receives The advantages of embedding IT employees in the business to help with alignment Creating a digital center of excellence that partners technology and marketing teams The importance of frequently conducting management reviews, executive reviews, and operational reviews

In this interview, Karl Salnoske discusses three principles of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include The increasing importance of domain knowledge among IT employees The importance of governance in any transformation program Building a core competency around project management The importance of closely managing outsourcing The increasing usage of cloud computing and social media in business