Project Management Newsletter
 
NEWSLETTERS
 

CIO.com updates, insights and advice on technology, management and your career.

 
 
 
LEADERSHIP
 
CIO Executive Programs
The Leader in Face-to-Face Education for Senior Executives

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 »

 
CIO Executive Council
A Peer-Advisory Service and Professional Association for CIOs

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.

Secrets of Successful Vendor Contract Negotiations for the Mid-Market

Sept. 10, 2009, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM U.S./Eastern (GMT-4)

On this free public Council teleconference, Matthew A. Karlyn, attorney at Foley & Lardner in Boston, will share tips on negotiating tactics and new, creative contract terms to help mid-market CIOs make better deals.

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.

More / Register »

Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »



 
 
RESOURCE CENTER
 
 
 
SUBSCRIBE TO CIO
 
Are you involved in setting the direction for your company's IT budget or strategy?

Apply today for a FREE subscription to CIO Magazine!

 
 

Turnaround CIOs: Meet Mr.Fix-It

Definition Turnaround Artists are hired guns and risk takers who see themselves first and foremost as agents of change. They’ve ...

 

January 01, 2007CIO

Definition Turnaround Artists are hired guns and risk takers who see themselves first and foremost as agents of change. They’ve got deep experience in IT and have the ability to come into a chaotic situation, ascertain what the business needs most, recharge a beaten-down staff and start piling up the wins—quickly.

Completely messy, chronically dysfunctional and insanely challenging: That’s the IT situation in which Turnaround CIOs usually find themselves, though the company names and locales change. And they love it.

When Jay Rollins signed on as vice president of IT for Churchill Downs, owner of horse tracks and races including the Kentucky Derby, he found an IT infrastructure "more along the lines of something you’d see in the ’80s," he recalls, "and whether it was functional or not is up for debate." This was in 2004. What hurt even more: IT-enabled advances that were common in much

of the gaming industry—such as Internet, wireless and sophisticated customer-loyalty applications—were also missing. An example of this problem, Rollins says, would be on occasions when Churchill Downs would offer the same loyalty reward for its $125,000 bettor as it did for its $40 bettor: a bobblehead doll. "We were not treating the big customers any better than the small customers," he recalls.

Turnaround CIOs, as defined using "The State of the CIO" survey data, call change management skills their primary personal strength. They’ve got deep experience in IT, and they are hired to make tumultuous changes to the IT department—and make them ASAP. Sixty-eight percent of Turnaround CIOs said their top priority from the business side is to align IT and business goals; that’s the highest of any archetype.

These change gurus get an anxious initial greeting. "The CFO basically said IT was broken, and it needed fixing," Rollins says of his arrival—which, it turns out, is the typical welcome a Turnaround CIO receives.

Strengths

The Turnaround CIO’s ability to come into a chaotic situation, ascertain what the business needs most, recharge a beaten-down staff and start building successes is both an amazing feat and all part of the plan. "You know coming in what you’re going to do first, second, third," says Marc Smith, a veteran of three turnarounds who is now director of IT for Pabst Brewing.

That’s a good thing—because usually, there’s no description of IT or its services to be found, no centralized inventory of IT assets or vendor contracts, and no CliffsNotes for how IT should support business operations.

 
 
Loading...
 
WHITE PAPERS

Enterprise Performance Management

15 years after "The Performance Measurement Manifesto" was published by the Harvard Business Review, companies continue to redesign how they measure their business performance.
 

Management Excellence

In this white paper, read how Oracle's Strategy-to-Success management framework provides that critical framework context.
 

In Search of Management Excellence

Read about this exclusive survey of CIOs and CFOs to learn why both camps say Management Excellence is the key to competitive advantage.
 

The Convergence of IT and Facilities

If IT and Facilities could work collaboratively, organizations can operate more efficiently and effectively...
 

The Gartner Magic Quadrant for IT PPM Applications

This report evaluates 19 vendors on their ability to execute and completeness of vision.
 

Keep Your CMDB On Course

Learn how configuration drift can challenge configuration management database integrity.
 

WEBCASTS

Managing Client Systems in the Enterprise

Keeping client systems costs under control is just one of the many initiatives IT must address when trying to manag...
 

BMC Service Assurance Demo

What if you could predict disruptive IT events and automate their resolution -- all before they disrupt your busine...
 

BMC Service Automation Demo

BMC Service Automation automates repetitive, manual tasks (such as provisioning, patching and compliance) to reduce...
 

BMC Application Performance and Analytics: Predictive Intelligence in Action

See the highlights of BMC's Application Performance and Analytics; a predictive, resourceful and intelligent soluti...
 

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level

Listen to this conversation with Doug Mueller to learn how standards and processes have evolved to bring us the ser...
 

How to Reduce Eclipse BIRT Development Effort for Data Visualizations

Live Webcast: Wednesday July 15th 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT

Web applications can come with a long list of visualiz...
 

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notifications by topic when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library.

 
FEATURED SPONSORS
 
 
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level

Maximizing the Business Value of the PC Infrastructure

How Interactive Viewer Reduces the Effort to Meet Visualization Requirements

Top 10 Business and IT Drivers for the Wealth Management Sector

BPM Survey Results: The Real-World Analysis

BPM: Leveraging Competencies and Streamlining Processes to Achieve Operational Excellence

Achieving Pervasive Performance Management

Automating the Generation and Secure Distribution of Excel Reports

64-page prescriptive guide to security, compliance, and IT operations.

Get Google Enterprise Search for your business information.

Accenture IT Consulting: Enabling high performance. More...

Top Five CIO Challenges

Insight makes it easy to spend your Microsoft subsidy check.

Five minute business analytics assessment. Immediate results.

Dangerous Collaboration Practices: 5 Ways IT Can Minimize Risk

Accenture: Outsourcing for uncertain times. Click to learn more.

Keep online transactions fast with CA Wily APM

Get agile IT security with CA Security Management

Trade in your old laser printer and get up to $1000 back!

Revolutionizing Enterprise Application Deployment

Why Data Loss is Increasing--and What You Can Do About It

Learn how to managing client systems in the enterprise.

Build a High-Performance Open Web Platform

Mid-Sized Company CIO Community: infoBOOM!

Enterprise PBX Comparison Guide

Seven Ways ITIL Can Help You in an Economic Downturn

Communications and Collaboration Needs at Business Organizations

Top-line Performance that's Bottom-line Efficient

5 Steps to Automating Accounts Payable

BPM ROI calculator

Disciplined Autonomy: Resolving the Tension Between Flexibility and Control

Smart Decisions: The Role of Key Performance Indicators

Reduce risk, gain agility. See how Progress can help your business.

Improve ROI, lower TCO and reduce energy consumption.

Introducing the new HP ProLiant G6 server family

Accenture: Outsourcing for Competitive Advantage. More...

Better spam protection with Postini for just $1/user/mo

Introducing the new HP ProLiant G6 server family

infoBOOM! - The Mid-Sized Company CIO's Exclusive Community

Accenture IT Consulting: Logical meets technological. More . . .

The Fraudster Economy Model: Operating a Business in the Underground

Payback in 9 months with CA Spectrum solutions

The Case for Investing in Business Analytics Technology. Read white paper.

Live Webinar: Applying Business Analytics. Click here to learn more

Developing A Dynamic, Real-Time IT Infrastructure

Data Loss Prevention: A Better Way to Approach Security

Using Open Source to Deploy Web Applications

Cloud Computing: Read about VMware's compelling vision & set of products

Enterprise PBX Buyer's Guide

Secondary Market Primer: Your Network at Half Price