In this week’s news roundup for IT leaders, advice on unlocking the secrets to IT happiness, building bridges between tech and marketing, and more.
1. Happy IT departments and how CIOs can help [Datamation]: Citing a recent survey of 1,300 IT practitioners by Spiceworks, Pedro Hernandez writes, “The top driver of IT pro happiness in the workplace is coworker relationships (61 percent), Spiceworks discovered. Annual pay and stress levels followed, each with 53 percent. Work hours and vacation time round out the top five.” Peter Tsai, IT analyst at Spiceworks, told Datamation, “As much as possible, CIOs should encourage more [one-on-one] time with managers and social events with other departments. This will enable IT pros to elevate their recommendations to management, build a good rapport with their users, and ultimately, enjoy coming to work every day."
2. Can tech and marketing ever work together? Four ways to build vital bridges [ZDNet]: Mark Samuels gathered insights from CIO and CMO experts on how to create better relationships between tech and marketing. Weighing in on the issue, CIO consultant Andrew Abboud said, “Success is ultimately about strong working relationships across the C-suite. Those partnerships are based on mutual respect and shared objectives."
3. Preparing for the 15-year future [ComputerWorld]: “We are transiting a moment of massive uncertainty,” writes futurist Thornton May in ComputerWorld this week. He goes on, “For IT executives, accelerating change will require them to constantly ask themselves, ‘What is the right problem to be working on today?’ If the answer is not what they were working on yesterday, so be it; they must adjust and move on.”
4. 10 ways to kill (or coronate) your CIO [Forbes]: “Many CIOs, especially the long-tenured ones, are understandably products of their education, training, and experience. But times have changed, and what were once technology acquisition, deployment, and support ‘best practices’ are irrelevant to the trajectories of today’s world. Some executives react to changes; very few proactively embrace – or create – them.” Steve Andriole offers up 10 tips to help CIOs “ascend to the digital throne.”
