
#CXOTALK: Workday CEO explains his top priorities
Workday is one of the few pure software-as-a-service vendors operating at large enterprise scale. The company’s products fall into two broad categories: human capital management and financials. Both HCM and financials are backbone applications used by every large organization, and Workday’s customers are among the biggest companies in the world. During a conversation with Workday’s […]

Research: Why CIOs fail and how to fix it
Digital transformation has placed CIOs under tremendous pressure. As expectations of IT increase, CIOs must adapt to a business environment where innovation, speed, and solution precision are essential. Unfortunately, the historical relationship between IT and the business has been fraught with difficulty. With IT failure rates estimated between 30- and 70-percent, CIOs have significant […]

Data science at Dun & Bradstreet
Although data and analytics are core parts of modern computing, the underlying data science is often a black box. To shed light on this topic, I conducted a CXOTALK conversation with Anthony Scriffignano, Chief Data Scientist at Dun & Bradstreet. Dun & Bradstreet uses data to help its customers reduce risk, market products, and increase […]

NetSuite CEO on professional services, customer satisfaction, and recurring revenue
During a CXOTALK conversation with NetSuite CEO, Zach Nelson we discussed many topics, including two core issues: the role of professional services at NetSuite and how the company thinks about customer retention and subscription sales. The discussion with Nelson took place on-stage at the SaaStr Annual, a conference bringing together 5,000 software-as-a-service entrepreneurs. Here […]

20 influential chief information officers
The CIO role has come under considerable scrutiny because enterprise technology is now more strategic than ever before. The shift toward strategic IT has happened with the growth of business models that rely on technology platforms. In summary, digital transformation has accelerated change in the CIO role from infrastructure provider to innovator. 20 Influential Chief […]

CMO report: Gaining adoption and measuring ROI at Arrow Electronics
For many Chief Marketing Officers, gaining internal support and measuring the ROI of marketing and branding efforts are key goals. As with any other corporate function, driving transformation in marketing requires an executive mandate, bolstered by an organizational consensus that change is a Good Thing. Likewise, although measurement in the digital age is a holy […]

Five steps to build digital business networks
Digital transformation is one of the top buzzwords of our time. However, looking carefully, a significant part of the meaning involves technology and platforms that harness value from networks of digital relationships. Digital business networks are one of the critical assets of any organization, although most companies do not have systematic methods for using those […]

New Relic CEO: User experience and business outcomes
As part of the CXOTalk series of conversations with innovators, I sat down with Lew Cirne, the CEO of New Relic . His company is a web-based provider of application performance management software, which means they help customers measure issues such as response time from applications. Along with measurement, New Relic aggregates data across its […]

CXOTalk: Upcoming conversations with 13 enterprise leaders
The first episode of CXOTalk was presented on March 8, 2013, with Guy Kawasaki as guest number one. When Guy accepted the invitation without hesitation, I knew CXOTalk was onto something big. Fast forward a few years and we’ve now done over 150 long-form interviews with more recorded every week. Today, I am thrilled to […]

Palo Alto CIO: What are smart cities?
The Internet of Things (IoT) is among the promising and interesting parts of digital transformation. The application of sensors, cloud and mobile devices to improve life in urban areas is often called smart cities. Palo Alto, California, located in the heart of Silicon Valley has taken a lead in developing smart city services. For this […]

Is 2016 (finally) the year of IT disruption?
We all know the business environment is changing rapidly, it’s a cliché to say so. And yet, the impact of digital has had a profound influence on IT and the CIO. The massive popularity of the buzzword phrase digital transformation attests to this. This impact is significant to the point where questions about CIO relevance […]

Enterprise graph snark and ‘research’ gone wild
Research is important and I enjoy reviewing the many reports, surveys, and other forms of data that cross my desk. Some of that research is excellent, and I try to share the best in blog posts. Unfortunately, many so-called “research” reports are thinly veiled marketing campaigns offering little substance or meaning. This problem has reached […]

Xerox PARC: Glimpse the future of Internet of Things (IoT)
[embedded content] The Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, which most people refer to as Xerox PARC, is one of the most fabled institutions in Silicon Valley. Founded in 1970, Xerox PARC is the birthplace of innovations such as (from Wikipedia): Laser printers Computer-generated bitmap graphics The graphical user interface, featuring windows and icons, operated with […]

What do business people think of their CIO?
Digital transformation is changing the relationship between the CIO and other parts of the enterprise. The proliferation of technology among business people, coupled with specialized requirements in areas such as marketing and finance, have led to significant growth of technology budgets outside the control of IT. As a result, CIOs are in a race to […]

Digital impact: Marketing, CRM, and customer experience
The ongoing shift to digital as a predominant means for consumers to interact with sellers has significant implications for marketing, product design, customer service and other corporate functions. In this environment, providing a great experience for customers requires organizations to think holistically about every touchpoint and interaction with customers. However, using customer experience as a […]