CIO lessons from the Boston Celtics
Basketball is a big deal here in Beantown, so it was with great pleasure that I visited the Boston Celtics to meet with Vice President of Technology, Jay Wessel, and legendary player Jo Jo White. Of course, the Celtics is a professional sports team, which naturally influences how the organization thinks about both business and technology; perhaps needless to say, [...]
Pabst CIO: Sales advice for enterprise startups
During a conversation with Ben Haines, the CIO of Pabst Brewing Company, we focused on cloud transformation and the impact on IT. Ben believes cloud software can drive both efficiency and innovation, which his approach to buying and deploying technology reflects. The discussion is part the CxO Talk series that I conduct each week with co-host Vala [...]
CxO Talk guest Hinchcliffe proclaims, ‘IT is dead’
During the latest episode of CxO Talk, my weekly video talk show with co-host Vala Afshar, social business expert Dion Hinchcliffe made provocative assertions about IT. Dion is chief strategy officer of consulting firm, Dachis Group, an experienced enterprise architect, book author, and fellow ZDNet columnist so we should examine his comments carefully. In our discussion, Dion [...]
Intel CIO presents the path to #Rockstar IT
Most CIOs focus on buying technology and making it work in the enterprise. Although technology is the foundation of IT buying tools, delivering projects, and preventing system downtime do not create CIO greatness. More important than “feeds and speeds” is the CIO’s ability to drive strategic business goals such as increasing revenue, enabling innovation, and [...]
CxO Talk: Trust, engagement, and influence for the CIO
Every week, I host CxO Talk with friend and colleague Vala Afshar. Episode 8 is a conversation with author and entrepreneur, Mark Fidelman, who is an expert on how companies can use social media to boost relationships with buyers. The entire video conversation is embedded at the bottom of this post. The conversation got me [...]
Enterprise startups against the big guys: CxO Talk 7
On CxO Talk, episode 7, co-host Vala Afshar (absent this week due to travel) and I welcome venture capitalist Evangelos Simoudis. Evangelos is senior managing director at Trident Capital, where he invests in late stage and growth companies, with a focus on enterprise applications. Here is the entire video conversation: The conversation starts with the venture [...]
Gartner: CIOs and CMOs must ‘turn sparks into flame’
In the most recent episode of CxO Talk, Vala Afshar and I asked Gartner group vice president, Mark P. McDonald, to advise CIOs who face declining IT budgets despite higher overall technology spend in their organization. Mark’s comments shed light on reformulating IT strategy to reflect changing corporate needs and the evolving relationship between the CIO and [...]
CxO Talk: Gartner says ‘provide and pray’ collaboration won’t work
On CxO Talk this week (episode five), co-host Vala Afshar and I talk with Mark P. McDonald, who is group vice president and a Fellow at research firm, Gartner. The conversation ranges from merely fascinating to fully electric, so I urge you to the watch the entire video. CxO Talk episode five is a powerhouse of information [...]
CxO Talk: Can a CIO and CMO be friends?
In episode four of CxO Talk, co-host Vala Afshar and I talk with Steve Mann, chief marketing officer (CMO) at LexisNexis, and Phil Komarny, chief information officer (CIO) at Seton Hill University. The discussion includes an insider’s look at the CIO and CMO roles, along with advice for technology vendors selling to senior executives. Steve [...]
CxO Talk: Microsoft, salesforce.com, CRM, and the science of hugging
This week’s episode of CxO Talk, with my co-host Vala Afshar, features top CRM analyst, Paul Greenberg, as our guest. Paul is widely known as the “godfather of CRM” and is a contributor to ZDNet. Here are important topics from the discussion: On Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Microsoft held its annual Convergence conference in New Orleans [...]
CxO Talk episode two: Big data, analytics, and HR technology
In this episode of CxO Talk, co-host Vala Afshar and I talk with two brilliant experts who shine a spotlight on analytics, big data, HR, and enterprise software. The conversation is fun (look at the image below), but also brings out an extraordinary level of insight from the guests. CxO Talk is a weekly show that [...]
CxO Talk episode 1: Guy Kawasaki on influence for APEs
CxO Talk, my new talk show with co-host Vala Afshar, debuted with a conversation on marketing and influence with author and investor Guy Kawasaki. Guy’s most recent book, titled APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur, is a practical handbook for self-publishing a book and using social media to get the word out and sell copies. CxO Talk is [...]
Marketing and IT tensions: ‘CxO Talk’ debuts today
A new breed of chief marketing officer seeks data-driven answers to tough challenges, such as establishing clear links between marketing spend, activities, and specific business outcomes. To meet these goals, marketers have taken over an increasing slice of the overall budget that enterprises allocate to technology. Not surprisingly, this trend corresponds to the growth of [...]
