When we talk to our Enterprisers and Editorial Board, we ask them for practical and actionable advice for CIOs. Here are our most popular "how-to" articles this year. We hope that they contain enough detail for you and your team to use them to make a difference.
1. How do CIOs deal with agile and DevOps?
Aaron Stibel, executive vice president of technology at Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corporation, has lived through the transition. In this interview he explains not only how to deal with agile and DevOps, but also how to measure how that is producing revenue. Definitely worth a read.
2. How CIOs can turn IT employees into a team
In this interview with Michael Resuccia, vice president and chief information officer at Penn Medicine, we learn why Resuccia believes a team's foundation begins with consistent communication. He emphasizes the importance of hiring the right caliber employees that will ensure your success. Read the full article.
3. How to make the cloud work for you
Lee Congdon, chief information officer at Red Hat, says, "It’s pretty clear we’re all headed toward the cloud. So for firms that haven’t yet fully embraced the move, there are some basic steps you can begin taking so you can take advantage of emerging cloud technologies, allowing your IT organization to become more efficient and freeing up budget and resources to work on real business problems. Read about his three steps.
4. How to fight the IT talent war
Finding and keeping top technical talent is becoming one of the biggest challenges facing IT leaders today. It’s not enough to offer a competitive salary and solid benefits. These days, tech stars are shopping around for culture fit, office perks, flexible schedules, and whatever other benefits they can squeeze out of prospective employers. We reached out to several leading IT executives to ask them what they’re doing to fight the IT talent wars. These three IT leaders shared some of their personal strategies for recruiting and retaining top-tier technology workers. Read the full roundtable article.
5. How to overcome the culture of "no" in your IT department
These days many IT-driven organizations are working hard to overcome their "no police" reputation. Business-minded IT leaders in particular know that saying no all the time won’t earn them a seat at the table. Yet saying yes to every request isn’t necessarily the right answer. In this interview we ask Curt Carver, the Vice Chancellor and CIO for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, how he’s helping his IT department strike the right balance between yes and no. Read the full interview here.
6. How to put your cloud strategy on cloud nine
When you roll out cloud, never forget the human factor. People will be anxious, they need to know how their roles will change, says NetApp CIO Cynthia Stoddard. It's also important to define how to make decisions about cloud before you start making decisions. A cloud decision framework can save you big headaches down the road, she says. In this interview, Stoddard shares advice and best practices from NetApp's journey to the cloud.
7. How CIOs can spot innovative ideas
Innovation is sometimes difficult to control. For some organizations innovation is part of the overall culture, while in others, innovation needs to be specifically addressed and coaxed along in order to bring out the best. Bonitasoft’s CEO Miguel Valdés Faura provides his comments on the nature of innovation and how to bring out the best ideas from the entire enterprise. Read the full interview here.
8. How IT leaders are preparing for a mobile-first reality
Smartphones are becoming an extension of our brains. When we don’t immediately find what we want, we turn to our phone or tablet and look for an app or a service to help. We asked several leading IT executives what they’re doing to meet – and stay ahead of – customer expectations in their organizations. These three IT leaders shared some of their personal strategies for facing a new mobile-first reality. Read the full article here.
9. How to get started with DevOps
So you’ve been hearing more and more about the DevOps movement lately, but you aren’t sure if it’s right for your organization or even what all the fuss is all about. We asked Gene Kim, co-author of "The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win" and the upcoming "The DevOps Cookbook" to share some practical tips for learning more about DevOps and putting it to work in your organization. Here’s what he said.
10. How to reinvest your IT savings
"Never take a one-dimensional view of cutting costs in IT. You might be overlooking some significant revenue potential for your company," says Cynthia Stoddard, the senior vice president and CIO at NetApp. In this article Cynthia gives examples of several different paths to take with cost savings.
