CIO —

The rigorous process for choosing this year’s Enterprise Value Awards honorees took nearly a year, beginning when we solicited nominations in each vertical industry. Once the applications were in, teams of CIO editors, along with a review board of independent consultants and academics in the IT field, reviewed 70 applications, examining the cost, return and most importantly the strategic impact of each system. The teams read the companies’ annual reports, visited their websites and conducted independent research on each applicant and its system. Review board members interviewed representatives of each organization, as well as external parties familiar with each system and its impact on the company and its industry. When this research was completed, the teams presented their findings to a panel of editors, consultants and CIOs, which chose the winner in each industry.

With the first round of judging completed, the process began for choosing the first among equals—the Grand Enterprise Value Award winner. To prepare for the next round, review board members visited the industry honorees or conducted additional phone interviews, gathering more information for a final mid-October presentation to a panel of judges comprising veteran CIOs.

The criteria for selecting both the industry honorees and the Grand winner have evolved to encompass the strategic, financial, customer, operational and social impact of the system in question. While each of the industry honorees is considered to be deserving of the Grand award, judges had to debate the relative merits of each. They quickly honed in on GM’s OnStar as the system they believed delivered on every dimension of enterprise value, including the way it transforms the carmaker’s view of its vehicles, the revenue it generates, the service it provides to customers and the contribution it has made to saving lives. And although every Enterprise Value Award given to industry honorees and the Grand winner is based on demonstrable achievements, the judges this year noted that in OnStar’s case, there was also a trove of value yet to be extracted by both the company and providers of emergency services. In other words, it represents not only the cutting edge of enterprise value today but also points the way to the future.

It is, concludes judge Rebecca Rhoads, CIO with Raytheon, "an indicator of how enterprise value will continue to be defined."