3 Technology Predictions For 2021
SearchCIO, February 8th, 2021

As IT leaders prepare their organizations for the year ahead, we're offering insights into the technology trends we predict will have the biggest impact

"With 2020 behind us," opines Graig Paglieri in SearchCIO, "now is a good time to look back at the at the most impactful IT industry trends of the last 12 months, as well as forecast some of the top technology predictions for 2021. The following are three predictions that stand out the most.

1. IoT finally gets unleashed

In Randstad's report on the state of digital transformation today, 63% of technology leaders stated that COVID-19 pushed their organizations to embrace digital transformation sooner and faster than they had ever expected prior to the pandemic..."

Strategies CIOs Can Leverage To Avoid Cloud Cost Overrun
CIODIVE, February 9th, 2021

Four in every 10 organizations see their cloud budgets spill over. Governance structures and financial modeling can play a role in prevention

Roberto Torres writes in CIODIVE, "For the past five years, Sykes Enterprises has been on a push to migrate workloads onto the cloud. The objective was scale, especially for internally developed systems.

One of the first solutions it migrated was the oneTEAM platform, a proprietary workforce management system which supported a work-from-home business unit of about 5,000 customer service agents. Then the pandemic hit, and the platform stretched to 40,000 agents as everyone went home..."

4 CIOs On The Tools That Got Them Through 2020
CIODIVE, February 10th, 2021

Facing varied pandemic-era challenges, CIOs across sectors share which investments supported business continuity

"Business disruption was a theme sectors could unite under when the pandemic first hit last year," writes Katie Malone in CIODIVE.

"But IT departments faced very different problems to contend with in response to the change. Remote work, business continuity, shifting demand, supply chain reactions and other developments influenced how CIOs prioritized resources.

Four CIOs from sectors ranging from dairy to pharmaceuticals detailed the early pandemic ventures enabling business continuity and how their teams are preparing for future turmoil at BMC in Conversation on Tuesday..."

CIO Playbook: Building Better Relations With Boards
CIO, February 10th, 2021

Tech-savvy boards lead to better business outcomes. Here's how IT leaders can help ensure their boards are among IT's biggest supporters

Esther Shein writes in CIO, "Rich Temple has it pretty good. The vice president and CIO of Deborah Heart and Lung Center, in Browns Mills, N.J., has a close relationship with every member of the C-suite and says he is valued by the hospital's board.

'I feel very blessed that I don't have the issue of folks not understanding the value of technology,'' Temple says. 'I feel like a valued member of the team and am brought into a lot of strategic discussions.'

That wasn't always the case, he adds. Deborah is a small hospital and Temple is the first CIO. Before he arrived over five years ago, 'There was a director-level person running IT and there was a sense 'the board' wanted someone who could think more strategically about using technology in a way to positively impact the business,' he says.

The Most Important Cybersecurity Topics For Business Executives
CSO Online, February 10th, 2021

Data privacy, current cyberthreats, and cybersecurity culture and training top the list, but are these the right priorities?

"Industry rhetoric suggests that cybersecurity is an important topic in corporate boardrooms and C-suites," writes Jon Oltsik in CSO Online, "but according to a recent ESG survey, this is only partly true. While 58% of senior cybersecurity and business managers say that their organization's C-level executives' commitment and buy-in to cybersecurity is 'very good,' the remaining 42% say that their organization's C-level executives' commitment and buy-in to cybersecurity is 'adequate, fair, or poor.'

Not so good..."

Practical Information Governance Starts With IT
Network Computing, February 10th, 2021

This year, the landscape of corporate risk has become increasingly intense and complicated, making sound, practical IG more important than ever before

Louise Rains-Gomez, Melissa Cohen, Jon Ringler writes in Network Computing, "In corporate risk management, a lot is often lost in translation between IT and legal. These two groups sit at the heart of information governance (IG) and corporate risk management, but because many organizations continue to address legal, privacy, data, and security risks in silos, collaboration between IT and legal teams has become the exception rather than the rule.

The result of this lack of unity between key stakeholders is a myriad of unnecessary challenges, lack of requirement understanding, gaps in governance, and increased risk. Organizations looking to take a strong, practical approach to risk management must start by building bridges between legal and IT, ensuring that IT buy-in is established at the outset of a new IG initiative..."

IT Leadership: 5 Ways To Energize Teams In 2021
The Enterprisers Project, February 11th, 2021

Are you worried the momentum you felt at the start of the New Year is waning? Check out some ways to energize yourself and your team for the months ahead

"It seemed like everyone was excited for 2021 to arrive, as if the start of a new year would wash away the challenges we experienced last year," opines Ginny Hamilton in The Enterprisers Project.

"But here we are, almost two months in, and that New Year shine is starting fade. And while the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter, we still have to keep moving to get there.

We asked our community of IT leaders and experts to share ways CIOs and IT leaders can keep their teams focused and maintain momentum in the months to come. From streamlining your focus to creative writing, here are a few ways to help energize your teams for the months ahead..."