cio and ceo - News, Features, and Slideshows

But this will also create an opportunity for CIOs to step forward and lead, reports Forrester

What role is AI playing inside organisations today, particularly when it comes to providing a good experience for internal users and external customers across their wide area networks? Business technology and digital leaders share insights at a CIO roundtable discussion held in conjunction with Juniper Networks

“The outcome is a robust platform designed with 24x7 uptime and the ability to grow and adapt as the needs of the co-operative evolve,” says CEO Wayne McNee

Chris Quin outlines how the local grocery co-operative is tackling disruptors: from global brands to changing customer habits

“This new Dynamics 365 platform was driven by the vision of our group CEO, Liz Ward, to improve visibility to critical business information and make many of our older processes either redundant, or more efficient,” says Grant Taylor, chief digital officer at Gough Group.

A supply-chain executive walked the long hallway to his CEO’s office one afternoon, quickly marshalling the arguments he would use to advocate for a global sales and operations planning, or S&OP, process. The goal: Convince the CEO that S&OP is indispensable to creating a world-class global supply chain, which in turn would become a major competitive advantage for the company. It seemed a straightforward exercise and the supply-chain executive was prepared for any questions or challenges the CEO might throw at him. But as he neared the boss’s office, questions of his own leaped to mind: “Why do I have to sell this plan? Why is the CEO not demanding it from me? I ought to be explaining why we’re not moving faster, rather than justifying S&OP in the first place!”
The answer to the supply-chain executive’s question is a surprisingly common one: He was not being pushed to move faster because his CEO didn’t appreciate the business-critical nature of the supply-chain operation. This lack of awareness was almost incomprehensible to the executive — yet there it was. (Perhaps, he thought, it was a failing of his own skills as a leader and advocate.) He knew, of course, that many worthy priorities compete for the CEO’s attention and that not all of them manage to gain it. Still, in an industry where supply-chain excellence is decisively important for operational efficiency, working-capital management, and ultimately the bottom line, a CEO ought to be fully engaged in this part of the business. Naturally, in some industries, supply-chain excellence doesn’t matter nearly as much. “But this isn’t one of them,” the executive thought.