Ethics (or the lack of it) in corporate America has become a daily drumbeat in the news. Financial giants such as Citigroup and Merrill Lynch are being investigated for helping Enron (and now Parmalat) assemble their pyramid schemes. Mutual fund companies are being investigated for market timing practices. Business journalists are increasingly alert to the relationships Wall Street analysts have with the companies they rate. But the quid pro quo of customer references, wherein technology vendors provide discounts and preferential treatment to CIOs in return for good reviews, remains a flourishing practice. Is this wise? Are there ways to get special consideration without crossing ethical boundaries?Robert Urwiler, CIO of software company Macromedia, maintains that customer reference arrangements can be beneficial to all parties as long as certain rules are followed. Jerry Gregoire, former CIO of Dell and PepsiCo, disagrees, arguing that there’s never a good reason to be a poster child in exchange for preferential treatment. Which argument do you buy? Related content brandpost Democratizing HPC with multicloud to accelerate engineering innovations Cloud for HPC is facilitating broader access to high performance computing and accelerating innovations and opportunities for all types of organizations. By Tanya O'Hara Jun 01, 2023 6 mins Multi Cloud brandpost Survey: Marketers embrace AI at expense of metaverse investments Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) has quickly rocked the world of marketing. Sitecore polled B2B marketers on their perceptions of GAI. Here’s what they said. By Dave O’Flanagan, Sitecore Jun 01, 2023 4 mins Artificial Intelligence news Zendesk to lay off another 8% of its staff, cites macroeconomic issues The new tranche of layoffs comes just six months after the company let go of 300 staffers and hired a new CEO in order to navigate its operations through macroeconomic distress. By Anirban Ghoshal Jun 01, 2023 3 mins CRM Systems IT Jobs feature 5 CxOs on leading change To be the agents of change that businesses require today, IT leaders must embrace a flexible mindset, prep their orgs for change, and recognize that intention and purpose are vital to empowering transformation. By Dan Roberts Jun 01, 2023 13 mins Digital Transformation Change Management IT Leadership 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