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.
Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »Apply today for a FREE subscription to CIO Magazine!
February 01, 2006 — CIO —
It takes two to tango, two to speak truth (said Thoreau) and two to get one in trouble (said Mae West). Here’s another thing two people can do: run the IT operations for a company with more than 300 employees, revenue of about $65 million, and a 175,000-square-foot warehouse that runs three shifts seven days a week and ships more than 20,000 cases of snack food per day to stores such as Wal-Mart and Target.
Snak King’s IT director, Brad McClave, who is one of those two people, uses time-tested technologies such as Web-based EDI applications, firewall and antivirus software, and warehouse management systems to get his company’s products onto the shelves of much larger, extremely demanding customers. In conjunction with judiciously chosen IT service providers, these basic technologies have enabled the company to quickly grow to the largest snack food manufacturer on the West Coast—without all of the traditional IT overhead. When it comes to a big staff and expensive systems, McClave says, "I don’t have the time and money to do that."
Small companies, and even many midsize companies, can’t afford gargantuan ERP, CRM and supply chain management systems that take large IT staffs many months to install and cost millions. Yet the established behemoths demand electronic data transfer, purchase orders and invoices, as well as other digital shipping requirements. To do business with the big boys, the deal is simple and clear: "If you don’t cut it, the next person is in. You’re out," McClave says.
But the opportunity is too good to pass up; a small company can quickly become a big one by working with industry giants. If you want to get in the game with the likes of Wal-Mart, Travelocity and Nordstrom, it can be done—with tried-and-true technologies and some help from outside IT services providers.
Just ask Emily Harrow, who started a cosmetics company two years ago in her parents’ home and now sells her Mixed Emotions line of bath and beauty products on the Home Shopping Network and in several large retailers. She has no IT staff whatsoever and uses a Web-based EDI product to transact with the giant retailers.
"It would not have been possible to work with these larger companies without [EDI]," Harrow says. As for the technology’s ease of use: "It doesn’t take a brain surgeon," she says.
EDI, for one, certainly isn’t leading-edge technology, "but it’s low-cost, low-tech, stable and not going anywhere," says Ken Vollmer, a principal analyst at Forrester Research. As a result, EDI transaction volumes have been increasing by 5 percent to 10 percent every year, Vollmer says, driven in part by smaller companies such as Snak King and Mixed Emotions that are turning their big dreams into realities.