What are the top challenges facing CEOs in 2005? Well, 30 percent of them directly involve IT. At least according to the December issue of Chief Executive magazine, whose top ten CEO challenges include beating the cyber threat, adopting open source technology, and rethinking outsourcing. Each challenge is accompanied by a story. The tagline for the article Beating the Cyber Threat says, “CEOs must invest in a new generation of IT.” Hurray! But you can pretty much stop reading there, because the article just goes on to list some down-the-road needs for enhanced security (like new infrastructure), and recommends consortia of academics, industry experts and policy makers to handle the R&D and rule-making. The author explains the current patchy nature of security and calls for a more holistic approach. He says, “Security is often considered just ’overhead,’ but if one were able to quantify the economic impact and the ROI for information technology, there would be a lot more justification for building in security in products, services and systems from the very beginning, rather than adding them in later.” (For more on the need to measure the value of security, see sister publication CSO magazine’s articles Value Proposition and How Do You Communicate the Value of Security?.) The CEO of Novell, Jack Messman, wrote Adopting Open-Source Software. Make of that what you will, because Novell has introduced some open source based services, but he says 2005 will be the year open source comes into its own, because “viable open-source software based on Linux is now becoming widely available to corporate users, both at the server and the desktop level. Choice is returning to information technology. CEOs need to understand this so they can free their chief information officers from Microsoft’s grip.” (See our Analyst Report Is Open Source Appropriate for Your IT Strategy?) As for Rethinking Outsourcing, it’s not a matter of yes or no, but coming up with new strategies. “Managed competition” is seen as the wave of the future. It sounds rather like the “bestshoring” that Gunjan Bagla writes about in CIO’s current Weigh In column. That is, the best practice is to “match the right type of work to the right provider, select providers that have the strongest track record for execution and focus on outputs versus unit cost inputs,” as Sapient co-CEO Jerry A. Greenberg puts it in Chief Executive. By the way, the non-IT things on the list include securing America and the world, improving third world health, keeping stability in Korea. . . and other things that make adopting open source software look like a much more do-able item on a to-do list. Related content feature 10 most popular IT certifications for 2023 Certifications are a great way to show employers you have the right IT skills and specializations for the job. These 10 certs are the ones IT pros are most likely to pursue, according to data from Dice. By Sarah K. White May 26, 2023 8 mins Certifications Careers interview Stepping up to the challenge of a global conglomerate CIO role Dr. Amrut Urkude became CIO of Reliance Polyester after his company was acquired by Reliance Industries. He discusses challenges IT leaders face while transitioning from a small company to a large multinational enterprise, and how to overcome them. By Yashvendra Singh May 26, 2023 7 mins Digital Transformation Careers brandpost With the new financial year looming, now is a good time to review your Microsoft 365 licenses By Veronica Lew May 25, 2023 5 mins Lenovo news Alteryx works in generative AI for speedy analytics results OpenAI integration and AI wizardry for report generation are aimed at making Alteryx’s analytics products more accessible. By Jon Gold May 25, 2023 3 mins Analytics Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe