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 »
Social Responsibility's Strategic Benefits
December 15, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Ed Granger-Happ, CIO of Save the Children, for a discussion of how creating an organization that is socially responsible improves staffing, retention, leadership development and overall corporate health.
Working With and Communicating to Your Board of Directors
January 13, 2009, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM US/Eastern (GMT-5)
CIO panelists who will share tips and experiences working with their boards: Twila Day of SYSCO; Jeff O'Hare, West Corp.; Marc West, formerly with H&R Block.
IT's Role in Growing Mid-Market Companies
January 14, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM ET (GMT-5)
Mid-market Council members will share their companies' stories and challenges in driving or coping with growth. Panelists represent Veterinary Pet Insurance, Medicis Pharmaceutical, and Intrax Cultural Exchange.
Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »Apply today for a FREE subscription to CIO Magazine!
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It's also important to realize that not everything you try will be successful. That's the hard part. People assume that if they're investing money, then everything will work out.
When I started at Groupe Danone, we spent a lot of time getting the leadership to understand the change we were going to go through. Now everything from I&I goes through incremental pilots before being expanded out, and we're trying to take a more Agile approach. We try to provide some quick wins, solving some of the initial needs and problems that made us look at a new technology while keeping an end state in mind. But we don't know what that end state totally looks like until we work our way through.
The realization you must have, and that you must convey to your company's executives and your IS/IT staff, is that investing with new technologies is not enough. The key to innovation is solving business solutions. We like technology, and it's real cool when you get to go play with the newest, latest videocam, but your goal is to make the business more efficient.
So, start small and convince your executives that starting innovation somewhere can benefit everywhere. Specific initiatives for one business unit can expand to others.
Once we delivered practical solutions, the business offered additional funding because they saw the benefits. They realized what our focus on innovation brings to the table and how it will enable them to continue to grow.
Jeff Hutchinson is the CIO - North America for Groupe Danone, and a member of the CIO Executive Council.
© 2008 CXO Media Inc.
Just the basics, please. Sometimes we all need a refresher or we need to make sure our team and our colleagues are all on the same page.
Over 25 tutorials on everything from business intelligence to virtualization.