Those companies that get IT alignment right experience significantly larger business growth than their peers. They also see their IT costs go down. On the hand, many companies fall prey to the IT alignment trap by over aligning and, in turn, introducing more complexity into the organization. These are the findings of a study done by C.R. (Rudy) Puryear and his colleagues at Bain & Co. In early 2007, they surveyed 500 major organizations in North American and in Europe to understand the relationship between getting IT right, and to determine the affect IT alignment has on business growth and performance. The Bain team also did in-depth interviews with about 30 of these organizations.

Drawing from the research findings, Puryear, in this podcast, explains why   organizations have become victims of the IT alignment trap and how they can avoid it. He says, "IT really matters. If you get IT right, it can be a critical enabler of business performance, profitability, and growth.  On the hand, many organizations find IT to be more of a barrier, than an enabler of business performance and growth. These organizations still haven't reached the right balance of alignment and of effectiveness. If they over align, they most likely will fall into the alignment trap. Instead, they need to step back, understand where they are, to begin to focus on effectiveness, and then to consider alignment.

Bio

C. R. (Rudy) Puryear is the leader of Bain & Company's Global IT Practice, as well as a Bain partner in Chicago. He has more than 25 years of experience advising senior executives about leveraging technology to enable strategic change. Prior to Bain, he was president and CEO of Lante Corporation, a leading eCommerce consulting company, where he managed a successful IPO in February 2000.  He also served as Andersen Consulting's (Accenture) global managing partner for eCommerce, and prior to that, was responsible for building and leading the firm's IT strategy practice. Puryear did his undergraduate and graduate studies in computer science at North Carolina State University.

Resources

Perspectives:  Rudy Puryear, Bain Consulting

Capability Sourcing at  7-Eleven

Complex  IT Will Kill Your Business

Production Credits
Elizabeth M. Ferrarini, Executive Producer

Music by 5AlarmMusic.com

During his 40 year career in information technology, Tom Trainer, the former corporate CIO of PepsiCo, has seen it evolve from the back office shop to the critical cornerstone of most organizations, regardless of their size. At PepsiCo, he was responsible for all technology decisions and IT operations. His well-honed leadership skills enabled him to work in close collaboration with the company's division leaders to leverage IT as a driver of business growth and competitive advantage.

Transforming IT organizations in Fortune 1000 companies has played a major role in shaping Trainer’s career as a corporate CIO. While he was CIO of Seagram, he successfully enabled a major business process transformation, which included a new manufacturing system and a new supply-chain system. He also carried out a similar set of business process transformation initiatives for Reebok Worldwide and for Eli Lilly.

Now retired, Trainer's consulting and research work for BTM Corporation focuses on aligning business and technology in global organizations with the goal of creating sustainable innovation. In this podcast, Tom Trainer draws from his CIO career to discuss quality practices, transformation, governance, business and technology alignment, and innovation. He also provides some advice for CIOs who face a pending company merger or a changing or the guard in executive leadership.

Bio

Tom Trainer is a well-recognized and awarded leader in the business technology field. He has served on the BTM Corporation's board of directors in various capacities from its inception. As executive chairman of BTM Global 2000, Mr. Trainer focuses on executing the company’s growth plan in the area of Global 2000 customer expansion, industry alliances, and strategic partnerships. He is a contributing author for The Alignment Effect and  a co-author of Winning The 3- Legged Race.

Most recently as PepsiCo's senior vice president and chief information officer, he led the company's 2,300-member information technology organization, PepsiCo Business Solutions Group (PBSG), where he had an annual operating budget of more than $1.4B. He was responsible for all technology decisions and operations, and worked in collaboration with PepsiCo's division leaders to drive business growth and competitive advantage by leveraging information technology across the company.

Resources

Wedded  Bliss

Getting  Drugs to Market Fast

Pepsi's  Tom Trainer Talks of CIO Stress

Production Credits

Tom Parish, Host and Audio  Producer

Music by 5AlarmMusic.com

From her early days as a doctoral student in organizational change at Tufts University to her post as VP of strategy and business development at Compaq Services, Dr. Ellen Kitzis has come to understand the ebb and flow of technology's impact on business organizations. She has consulted, spoken, written, opined, and advised corporations in every industry and of all sizes. And ,since 2000, she has headed up Gartner, Inc.'s Executive Programs, a membership-only program for more than 2,000 CIOs around the world.

Now, she, along with her colleague Marianne Broadbent, think they know what it takes for CIOs in Global Fortune 2500 companies to succeed, and they've written a book about it: The New CIO Leader -- Setting the Agenda and Delivering Results, published by Harvard Business School Press. Kitzis and Broadbent have searched all corners of the world for CIOs who carried out effective strategies or spearhead corporate innovation. Anecdotes in the book range from British Airlines to a $5 billion Australian platinum extractor called Anglo Platinum. She says, "The book doesn't assume that CIOs in the U.S. get it right." And will reading the book help CIOs "get it right," and become the leaders that IT needs today? Tune in to this podcast interview, and decide ... is this book the toolbox you'll need to take your career to the next level?

Bio

Dr. Ellen Kitzis is a group vice president at Gartner, Inc., a major computer industry analyst firm. Since 2000, she has been part of the global leadership team of Gartner’s CIO Executive Programs (EXP), which services more than 2,000 CIO members. She currently leads the EXP Americas team. She is the co-author of The New CIO Leader -- Setting the Agenda and Delivering Results, published by Harvard Business School Press.

Prior to returning to Gartner, Dr. Kitzis held the position of vice president of strategy and business development for Compaq Services and was the worldwide head of Gartner’s Dataquest IT Services Group. She has held previous positions at the Ledgeway Group and Consulting Statistician, a Crowntek company. She holds an undergraduate degree from Boston University and a doctorate in organizational change from Tufts University.

Resources

Welcome to the Crossroads

Speed of Innovation is Key, says Gartner

Tom Parish, Host and Audio Producer

Music by 5AlarmMusic.com