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 »
Public Council Teleconference: Application Rationalization — Hidden Costs and Smart Decisions
November 17 at 11:00 am US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Honorio Padrón, of The Hackett Group, who will share the drivers for companies to tackle application rationalization and the results of research that define the hidden cost of complexity. Additionally, we will discuss key decision milestones—to start or not, holding the course steady and fulfilling expectations.
Virtual Desktop Cost-Benefit Analysis — Michael Jacobs, Catlin Group
The analysis contained in this presentation measures the cost of everything from the machines and licenses to the infrastructure for virtual vs. traditional desktop environments.
Honor your best senior team members - Apply for the CIO Ones to Watch Award
Get well-earned public recognition for your top up-and-coming team members, your IT organization and your enterprise. Award winners will be announced, publicized and feted in May 2010, great timing to help attract new IT recruits to your company.
Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »July 06, 2007 — CIO —
Dennis Wisnosky is chief technical officer of the Department of Defense (DoD) Business Mission Area within the office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Business Transformation (OUSD (BT)). He is recognized as a creator of the Integrated Definition language, the standard for modeling and analysis in management and business improvement efforts. Wisnosky holds a bachelors degree in physics and mathematics from California University of Pennsylvania, a masters in management science from the University of Dayton, and a masters in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Writer Ben Bradley recently spoke with Wisnosky about his role and the process of moving the worlds largest business from "as-is" to a "to-be" state.
Ben Bradley: What is your role?
Dennis Wisnosky: I have two roles. As chief technical officer my job is to look over the horizon at transformational technologies. As chief architect, my role is oversight of the business enterprise architecture (BEA) and the netcentric architectures to which it federates within the Business Mission Area (BMA). These architectures define the corporate systems, processes, business infrastructure services, laws, rules, polices and data standards common to the DoD and related agencies.
How did you get here?
I worked for the Air Force on manufacturing architectures in the late 1970s, so I am familiar with what goes on here. After that, I went into the private sector and started my own company and wrote books about automation, business process reeingineering (BPR) and simplifying IT investments by improving architectures.
A few years ago, I sent some ideas to Donald Rumsfeld. That letter was forwarded to Paul Brinkley [Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Business Transformation]. We met and agreed immediately on all the things that needed to be done and could be done. I joined as a contractor and about a year later, they made it official and asked if I would join the Department.
In the private sector, Paul Brinkley led one of the largest business transformation efforts in the technology industry sector. What approach is he using to staff the Business Transformation Agency (BTA)?
Before he was appointed to Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Business Transformation, Brinkley transformed JDS Uniphase by migrating 40 acquired companies with nearly 30,000 worldwide employees onto common enterprisewide processes and technologies in less than two years. Now the task is even bigger. Were teaching the worlds largest employer (1.6 million active duty personnel and 1 million reservists and 900,000 civilians) to manage and embrace a technology refresh every 18 months.