Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »
June 17, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM U.S./ET (GMT-4)
Larry Bonfante, CIO of the U.S. Tennis Association, will discuss the skills and approaches that your rising IT leaders must learn to be effective in an executive capacity.
How to Handle Your New CEO: Managing Turnover at the Top
June 18, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM U.S./Eastern (GMT-4)
Turbulent times have increased turnover at the top. Find out what Council CIOs have done to "break in" new CEOs—build relationships, set expectations, educate on the role of IT.
Mid-Market CIO Panel: Tips and Techniques for Improving Vendor Relationships
July 15, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM U.S./Eastern (GMT-4)
We'll highlight relationship priorities and best practices identified in a Council study, and we'll interact with a CIO panel on the approaches they've used to improve strategic vendor partnerships.
Executive Competencies Assessment Tool
Assess Your Business Leadership Skills with the Council's new benchmarking tool. Rate yourself in change leadership, strategy, customer focus and more.
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September 01, 2005 — CIO —
The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)—a collection of best practices for IT operations—is gaining notice among CIOs because the guidelines it offers can improve their IT department’s quality of service, including increased system uptime, faster problem resolution and better security. (To learn how some CIOs are succeeding with ITIL, see "ITIL Power,")
But using ITIL isn’t easy, because it demands major changes in how IT organizations are run. Consultant Malcolm Fry offers some reasons why ITIL projects fail:
Lack of management commitment ITIL takes time and a lot of process change. Employees won’t commit to either without top-level support from both IT and the business.
Complexity IT staff will get overwhelmed if you break each ITIL process into 40 or 50 steps. Ideally, limit the number of steps to five or six.
Poor work instructions ITIL gives you guidance, but it doesn’t tell you how to actually do anything. You need to spend time figuring out how ITIL’s best practices apply to your organization.
Misdirected metrics You need to measure quality, not just performance. For instance, often the top metric for service desks is number of incidents resolved in the first call. Customers, however, will define success as not having to make the call in the first place.
Diminished momentum ITIL can be a five-year project, and long projects are hard to keep going. You need to develop achievable goals that keep this in mind.