As we settle into a new year, here are three rules I think IT should be following:
1. Find ways to manage the speed of change.
Change is happening at a much more accelerated rate. There always has been change in IT, but today you see companies who have changed from two to three years between product cycles to two to three weeks. For our HR system, Covanta went from an in-house solution that hadn’t changed for many years to Workday, which has three major upgrades a year. It’s just the reality of the world that we’re in. And theoretically, frequent, smaller changes are easier to deal with both from an IT and a user perspective, than fewer, big-bang changes.
2. Never lose sight of operations.
If IT executives are pushing business intelligence, for example, and you’re having trouble keeping email working, nobody’s going to want to talk about business intelligence. So whether it’s in-house or outsource or cloud, you have to keep basic operations running as flawlessly as possible in order to be having the conversations that those in IT want to have.
3. Track your risk tolerance.
By 'risk' here I don’t mean the word 'security.' With all the change going on and all the things that can be done and all the innovative things that CIOs and leaders will choose to implement based on a risk they took, you have to balance that operation against the potential security risk to operations. This is different for every company. But you have to figure it out early on.
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To read more about how CIOs are managing security, read Curt Carver's article, "Good old-fashioned leadership can help reduce IT security incidents."
Stuart Kippelman is the Corporate Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Covanta, a world leader in waste-to-energy and renewable energy projects. He is responsible for the global vision, strategy and operations of Covanta's IT organization. As a valued member of executive management, Stuart is responsible for the global vision, strategy and operations of Covanta's IT organization. Stuart is a dynamic business and technology executive who has spearheaded the creation of new product applications and breakthrough initiatives focused on improving revenue generation, business efficiencies and employee productivity. He has been on the forefront of technology innovation, successfully leveraging technology to solve some of the company's toughest businesses challenges.
