In this podcast, Sam Coursen talks about the steps he has taken to ensure that his company continues to derive business impact from IT. He also provides the three things CIOs should do it they want to ensure that IT initiatives result in business impact, and the takeaways CIOs can use for working with their CFOs on capital IT investment decisions.

In 2005, Freescale Semiconductor, the $5.7 billion global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors, began rolling out an integrated manufacturing system. The company, however, acknowledged a lack of progress automating some of the key semiconductor manufacturing steps involving IT systems, such as process control. That year, Sam Coursen, the former CIO of NCR Corporation, stepped into the CIO role at Freescale Semiconductor. Armed with experience transforming NCR's IT organization, Coursen immediately launched a strategic program with manufacturing management. The business impact of IT for this program returned about $38 million to shareholders.

He says, "We began a multi-year program to close those gaps, and to become equal to or better than the best-in-class practice for each of those manufacturing processes. That resulted in substantial savings."

Bio
Sam Coursen is the vice president and chief information officer for Freescale Semiconductor in Austin, Texas. Before joining Freescale Semiconductor, he was vice president and CIO at NCR Corporation, where he held the position from 1998 to 2005. He also held other IT leadership positions at NCR. In 2007, the Austin chapter of the Association of Information Professionals named Sam Coursen as IT Executive of the Year. Computerworld named him to its list of Premier 100 IT Leaders for 2009.

Resources
IT Leaders Who Shatter the Mold - InfoWorld
CIO Values - InformationWeek
Freescale's CIO Builds on IT Foundation - Computerworld

Production Credits
Elizabeth Ferrarini, Executive Producer
Tom Parish, Host and Audio Producer
Audio Editing by Doug Marcis

Fortune magazine has called the 40-year-old Society for Information Management or SIM the IT field's top professional group. In fact, Robert Keefe, CIO of the $1.8 billion dollar Mueller Water Products, attributes his successful career in IT to his involvement with SIM. Keefe is SIM's current president.

Membership in SIM is open to qualified senior IT professionals, academics, and consultants. SIM currently has about 3,600 members in 36 U.S. chapters. (Yes, each SIM chapter does due diligence on each prospective member.) SIM's offerings fall into several categories: information exchange through chapter meetings, educational programs, and chapter-sponsored venues, such as the MIT Sloan School CIO Symposium. SIM also holds an annual conference called the SIMposium.

About 16 years ago, Keefe went through SIM's year-long Leadership Forum. He says, "At the time I took the course I wasn't a CIO. I quickly landed a CIO position and then had my company join SIM's Advanced Practices Council."  Each year about 300 professionals attend monthly Leadership Forum classes in 10 major cities. Keefe says, "These people have good IT skills and business acumen, but this program helps them to think outside of the box."  The course curriculum blends about 40 different pieces of media, mostly books ranging from The Old Man in the Sea to The Innovator's Dilemma.

The Advanced Practices Council, another SIM educational program, consists of about 40 member companies that contract with academics to do IT research. The research can range from a look at new, emerging technologies to different segments of IT leadership. Recently, Boston University delivered a paper about the competitive levers for leading innovation in the 20th century. Keefe says, "It's not all about technology but how business models are changing. For example, google.com gives away a search engine, but charges for it through advertising. How do compelling changes in the marketplace like this one translate into decisions that a CIO must make?"

Keefe says that SIM is a great environment for senior IT professionals to share ideas. He says, "You can network with people at the meetings or you can contact anyone in the directory. As you get to know more and more people, you'll find someone who has done what you're asking about.  We have a growing virtual community as well."

Each year SIM surveys its members about the top 10 concerns on their minds. For the 2007 survey, the three top concerns included: attracting and retaining good IT professionals, making sure IT professionals develop good business skills that enable them to understand the business strategy, and properly aligning the needs of the business with services IT can effectively provide.

In addition to speaking about SIM in this podcast, Robert Keefe also gives his perspective on key IT management issues.

Bio
Since 2008, Bob Keefe has been senior vice president and CIO for Mueller Water Products. Before Mueller, he was vice president and CIO at Russell Corporation. He also has held senior IT positions at ConAgra Refrigerated Foods, Kraft Foods, and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Keefe begin his career as a scientific researcher with Brookhaven National Laboratories. He earned his MBA, with distinction, from Pace University and holds a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Oswego. He is active with Atlanta’s technology community assisting with United Way's Tech Initiative, Women in Technology's outreach program, and TechBridge's non-profit advocacy.

Resources
CIO Values - Information Week
Incoming SIM President Says IT Faces Woes at All Levels - Computerworld
CIOs Leverage Job Skills, Earn Big Bonus - SearchCIO.com

Production Credits
Elizabeth Ferrarini, Executive Producer
Tom Parish, Host and Audio Producer
AlarmMusic.com Production Music Library for Broadcast, Film, Video & Post Production

Ace is the place, especially if you're looking for home hardware in the U.S. or in Saudi Arabia. And no one knows this better than Paul Ingevaldson. After a 25-year with Ace Hardware, Ingevaldson retired as CIO and senior vice president of international and technology for the $3 billion dollar global hardware wholesaler. Its more than 5,000 retail hardware stores do $12 billion in annual sales. Ingevaldson was responsible for Ace's IT needs for the entire corporation, including the retail stores in more than 70 countries. Of his many accomplishments, Ingevaldson is most proud of having become an officer of the company, heavily automating all aspects of the retail operation, and having the full corporation of executive management to align IT with the business. He attributes much of his success in these areas to a stint where he moved out of IT and handled distribution for Ace Hardware. He says, "The experience enabled me to see IT from the user's perspective. I realized that we had to spend more time training people how to interact with IT."

Since his retirement, Ingevaldson has written a variety of tutorial IT management articles for both CIO and Computerworld. His topics have covered everything from improving governance to delegating authority. He also has cranked out many articles about how CIOs should report to CEOs. In fact, his article, IT Cheat Sheet for CEOs, helps a CIO to explain the mechanics of IT to a new CEO.

Ingevaldson says that there are many reasons why it's important for CIOs to report directly to CEOs, than CFOs, and to be on the executive leadership team as a peer with CFOs. He says, "When it comes to corporate funds, CFOs take a risk adverse position. If you want to move the company forward through automation, then IT has to assume certain risks. If IT isn't willing to take a chance, then it will be a follower. If you work for a CFO, you have to go into much detail about every aspect of IT. Most of all, you aren't a peer with the rest of the leadership team. I'd never take a CIO position reporting to a CFO."

In this podcast, Ingevaldson talks more about why it's important for CIOs to sit at the corporate leadership table, and how they can maintain their place at this table.

Bio

In 1979, Paul Ingevaldson began his 25-year career at Ace Hardware as director of management information systems. He moved up the ranks to become Ace Hardware's chief information officer and senior vice president of international and technology. In 2004, he retired from the $3 billion corporation, but he didn't retire from IT. Ingevaldson writes IT management articles for both Computerworld and CIO magazine.

Resources

Computerworld  - IT Survival Guide

CIO  - How Do You Know You Delegate Enough?

CIO  - Five Things I Learned After I Retired

Production Credits
Elizabeth Ferrarini, Executive  Producer
Tom Parish, Host and Audio  Producer
Doug Marcis - Audio Editing