It always excites me when I hear of all the different ways CIOs are using technology either to innovate or to reshape their businesses. Save a couple million, make a couple million—that’s what you tell me almost on a daily basis. All of these efforts should be applauded, and it’s our job at CIO to report on your successes and failures as you do the heavy lifting of business transformation. But, I have to be honest with you: Nothing compares to what I learned a few weeks ago on a visit to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. CHOP is one of the preeminent pediatric hospitals in the nation. Its business is helping sick children get well, and it’s impossible to assign ROI and TCO metrics to that kind of value proposition. I was there because I had heard of a program in which CHOP installed thin-client computers in every room in the oncology ward. Tim Conners, manager of desktop engineering; John Donohue, health system director of technology solutions; Ellen M. Tracy, director of oncology and radiology nursing; and Charlie Enicks, senior VP and CIO, made the decision. And it was based on care, not cost. When a kid is stuck in a room fighting for his life, there’s only so much TV he can watch and so many books he can read. But a computer can help him explore the world, study his disease, communicate with friends, play games, do homework, connect with society. Can you determine the ROI of enabling these sick children to dream and to escape the daily grind of battling cancer? It’s big. That’s enough analysis. It’s easy to get caught up in numbers. Bits, bytes, speeds, feeds, ROI, TCO, balanced budgets. It’s your job as CIOs to understand these metrics. But on that day at CHOP, it was refreshing to forget the numbers and see sick children smiling—all because of a computer. To me, that’s truly transformational. Michael Friedenberg is CIO’s President and CEO mfriedenberg@cio.com Related content BrandPost The future of trust—no more playing catch up Broadcom: 2023 Tech Trends That Transform IT By Eric Chien, Director of Security Response, Symantec Enterprise Division, Broadcom Mar 31, 2023 5 mins Security BrandPost TCS gives Blackhawk Network an edge with Microsoft Cloud In this case study, Blackhawk Network’s Cara Renfroe joins Tata Consultancy Services’ Rakesh Kumar and Microsoft’s Nilendu Pattanaik to explain how TCS transformed the gift card company’s customer engagement and global operati By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 1 min Financial Services Industry Cloud Computing IT Leadership BrandPost How TCS pioneered the ‘borderless workspace’ with Microsoft 365 Microsoft’s modern workplace solution proved a perfect fit for improving productivity and collaboration, while maintaining security of systems and data. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 1 min Financial Services Industry Microsoft Cloud Computing BrandPost Supply chain decarbonization: The missing link to net zero By improving the quality of global supply chain data, enterprises can better measure their true carbon footprint and make progress toward a net-zero business ecosystem. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 2 mins Retail Industry Supply Chain Green IT 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