When troubled IT organizations need help, then Transition Partners can provide the perfect solution. This IT consultancy specializes in turning around ineffective IT organizations by providing them with experienced IT leaders and established business processes. The company's client base includes Aramark, Bates Advertising, Hilton Hotels, and Ingersoll Rand.
 
Transition Partners specializes in handling the one problem most CIOs don't like to talk about -- dealing with the politics of IT.  Thomas L. Pettibone, Transition Partners' founder, has waded through a lot of political muck in his 18-year IT career.  In fact, after working as a CIO for several Fortune 50 companies, he concluded that he often found himself in a no-win position and that he'd be happier being on his own as part of an interim team, parting friends with the organization at the end of the day.
 
He says, "When it comes to allocating funds and delivering services, the CIO has to be the judge and the jury. The demand always exceeds the supply. The CIO often winds either saying No to the end-user executive or trying to deliver something on a shoestring. Either way, the CIO loses politically."
 
Pettibone and his Transition Partners staff have a good track record helping some wounded IT organizations, as well as wounded companies, achieve real business value from IT. In fact, the bankrupt TransWorld Airways, now part of American Airlines, was one of Transition Partners' first clients. Pettibone says, "TWA was a mess. Most of the top IT management had left. Things ran poorly. The company was close to signing a terrible outsourcing deal." The Transition Partner's team took over the IT department, and within 12 months had created a high-performance IT organization, delivering high reliability and good end-user satisfaction. Pettibone says, "IT was one of the bright spots when American Airlines acquired TWA."
 
Several years later, Transition Partners worked with Tsumura Consumer Products. He says, "The new CIO was being held hostage by several of his IT lieutenants. They wanted hefty bonuses or else they would disrupt operations. We parachuted in, fired the offenders, and took over the IT operational responsibility with no business interruption. Within six months, we rebuilt the IT organization. The parting comment from the CIO was great. He said that we took the gun away from his head."
 
People within an IT organization usually know what's going on. Computer systems don't breakdown by themselves. The problems that arise between IT and the business often relate to management issues. After signing on with a new client, the Transition Partners' team immediately sits down with the IT organization and lays out what it plans to do as turnaround people. Pettibone says, "We tell them that we seek their support with our processes and methods to correct the situation. We emphasize that within a year or shorter, we'll leave and they'll be the recipients of the benefits we can create together. Of course, someone has to be appointed to lead IT. It's a chance for someone to move up in the organization."
 
In this podcast, Pettibone talks about how CIOs can help their organizations cope with the economic downturn; how CIOs can improve the IT governance process; what challenges interim CIOs face stepping into the former CIOs' shoes; and how membership in an organization, such as the Society of Information Management, can better prepare CIOs to do their job.

Bio

Before starting Transition Partners based in Reston, Virginia, an IT management consultancy, Thomas L. Pettibone held corporate CIO positions at the following companies: Philip Morris, New York Life, Richardson Vicks (Procter & Gamble), Emery Airfreight, and BMW. He is the past chairman of the New York Chapter of the Society of Information Management, a former director of SIM, and an active member of the Fairfield-Westchester chapter of SIM. He is a contributing editor to Chief Executive magazine, a past member of The Research Board, and The Conference Board. He has an MBA from The Wharton Business School, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University.

Resources
ResourcesCIO Insight Inteview with Tom Pettibone
Hired Guns: Temporary CIOs - InformationWeek
IT Leaders are Made, Not Borns, Says Tech Veterans - Computerworld

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