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CIO Executive Council

A Peer-Advisory Service and Professional Association for CIOs

Webcast: In the Google Apps Cloud: How to Achieve Your Business Objectives

Dec 3rd, '09, 1 - 2 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)

Join Council member Brent Hoag, Director, Global IT, at JohnsonDiversey, as he discusses the adoption of Google Apps which has helped meet four corporate goals; sustainability, simplification, increased employee productivity and global collaboration.

Webcast: Collaboration Initiatives: Benchmarks & Best Practices

Dec 15th, '09, 4 - 5 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)

Join Council members Ruth Thorpe, VP & CIO at the U.S. Pharmaceutical Operations of Sanofi-Aventis, and Gary Kuyper, CIO at Bethany Christian Services, as they speak about their collaboration initiatives and experiences in how and why they chose the social networking and collaboration tools they are using and their business goals for collaboration, and facing culture change challenges.

Data Overview: Collaboration Initiatives Field Guide: Benchmarks & Best Practices

This appendix to the Council Field Guide provides an analysis which discusses benchmarks for collaboration IT implementation costs, adoption rates and payoffs. The overview identifies top IT and business goals and satisfaction rates for collaboration initiatives as well as best practices and lessons learned for implementing collaboration IT.

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News Feature

Three Best Practices for Outsourcing IT Work

Companies are expanding the range of IT services they outsource. Internal staff shortages and cost constraints are primary drivers of ...

Best Practices

Outsource and maintain quality. Jointly create outsourcing contracts that focus on delivery, ROI and pay-for-performance metrics, including penalties for services or savings that are not delivered. Clearly communicating the expectations with the service provider helps ensure alignment of vision for both of the organizations involved.

Outsource now and plan for the future. Business strategy can change dramatically in a five-year period, expanding globally or cutting time to market in half, but your outsourcing agreements can take this into consideration. Develop agreements that have the ability to change over the life of the contract and change with your business. For example, subject service prices to benchmark clauses and allow for adjustments. Outsourcing contracts should also allow for reviews of service-level agreements to meet new service expectations.

Outsource and maintain control. Many CIOs surveyed expressed concern over losing control of projects, of technology and of their company’s IT direction. Gartner recommends that companies assign a staff member to oversee the project and to manage the relationship with the outsourcing provider. That person should be the CIO of the company or a direct report to the CIO, who may be a director or vice president depending on the organization’s titles. "Best practice companies spend 3 percent to 12 percent of what they spend on the service provider to manage the sourcing relationship," says Gartner Measurement Research Director David Ackerman.