Description
Book SynopsisEssential reading for IT professionals with aspirations toward the top IT spot, and for sitting CIOs looking to refine their mobile, social and cloud strategies and knowledge The definitive work on how to achieve leadership success in IT, Straight to the Top, Second Edition reveals how the role of the CIO is changing due to major trends associated with consumer and enterprise products and technologies driving new mobile solutions in today''s organizations; cloud computing and the move away from controlled / internally managed data centers to pay as you use and elastic cloud infrastructure and application services; and the impact social media is having on today''s complex organizations.
Author Gregory S. Smith expertly coaches existing and aspiring CIOs on building the requisite skills through his observations and experience as a veteran CIO with more than twenty-five years of experience leading IT teams and delivering complex technical solutions in the informat
Table of Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
Part One—Key Change Drivers and Trends Impacting the CIO Role Today 1
Chapter 1 Why the Role of the CIO Continues to Change 3
The State of the CIO 6
How Important Are Core Technology Skills? 9
What Did I Do to Prepare? 17
Recommendations 19
Notes 20
Chapter 2 Technologies and Trends Driving Today’s IT Innovation 21
Follow the Money 21
The Major Technology Trends Driving Change 25
Predictions for the Future 33
What Did I Do to Prepare? 34
Recommendations 35
Notes 37
Chapter 3 IT Standards and Governance and the Impact of Consumer Devices 39
IT Governance and Its Benefits 39
How IT Trends Affect IT Governance 41
Portfolio Management of IT 51
The IT Strategic Plan 54
What Did I Do to Prepare? 56
Recommendations 58
Notes 60
Chapter 4 Service Level Agreements: A Key to Improved Customer Expectations and Better Contracts 61
Service in the Age of the Customer 61
Service Level Agreements 66
Annual Staff and Customer Surveys 73
Vendor Scorecarding 76
What Did I Do to Prepare? 81
Recommendations 82
Notes 83
Chapter 5 Today’s CIO: The Teacher to the C-Suite 85
Gaps in Expectations between CIOs and CEOs and other C-Level Executives 86
Educating the C-Suite 87
Creating a High-Performing IT Team through Education 88
What Did I Do to Prepare? 97
Recommendations 99
Notes 100
Part Two—The Modern-Day CIO 101
Chapter 6 What Executive Recruiters Are Looking for, from Consulting Experience to Leadership Skills 103
How to Get Noticed 103
Leading Generation Y and Mentoring 106
Tomorrow’s Leadership Skills 120
What Did I Do to Prepare? 121
Recommendations 122
Notes 123
Chapter 7 Cloud Computing Strategies and Risks 125
A Cloud Computing Overview 125
Growth Trends and Costs 135
The Security and Risks of Cloud Computing 140
Integrating with the Cloud 145
What Did I Do to Prepare? 150
Recommendations 150
Notes 152
Chapter 8 The Consumerization of IT 155
Consumer Devices Permeate the Corporate World 155
Growth Trends for Mobile Computing 160
Increasing Costs and Security 163
Mobile Device Management 164
What Did I Do to Prepare? 168
Recommendations 169
Notes 170
Chapter 9 Social Media Changes Everything 173
Social Media Categories 173
Social Media Titans 175
Social Media Are the World’s Reporters 177
Businesses Using Social Media 179
The Risks of Social Media 182
Facebook Fatigue? 184
What’s Next in Social Media 185
What Did I Do to Prepare? 189
Recommendations 189
Notes 191
Chapter 10 What’s after the CIO Role? 193
Career Next Steps 193
What Did I Do to Prepare? 198
Recommendations 198
Conclusion 199
Notes 200
About the Author 201
Index 203
