cto - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Words of wisdom from a serial outsourcer

  Focus on risk and reward. In some cases, using two partners in tandem can create positive competitive tension.

• EROAD: Driving through clouds

  Jarred Clayton, engineering manager, explains why the road services and charging company uses as much cloud as possible.

• Making the CIO-CTO Connection

  Jeff Owens, CTO at Delphi, works with IT and engineers to deliver a digital lifestyle to the automobile.

• More CIO and CTO roles in Christchurch

  Post-quake rebuild and growth of technology firms account for new executive roles, with wage rise of 10 per cent in the sector, reports IT recruiter Candle.

• Doing business with Kieron Lawson

  The Auckland-based CTO for cloud applications at LiveOps talks about an important step that is often overlooked as one moves from being an ‘individual contributor’ to team-leader.

• Big answers trump Big Data

  The CTO for Obama's re-election campaign, Harper Reed, explains why he is no fan of the 'Big Data' buzzword.

• The new start ups

  It is called “the garage effect” and it is a nod to the humble origins of some of the giant companies in Silicon Valley.
  David Hunter, chief technology officer, platform security at VMware, predicts the rise of the ‘garage effect’ for people working in today’s cloud and virtualised environments.

• YOURasp CTO gives top cloud tips

  Being flexible and looking at a variety of options is important for CIOs looking to move their data to the cloud.

• Striving for innovation

  ICT companies should be alert for innovation and new business opportunities, but they must beware of spreading themselves too thinly, says Guido Jouret, chief technical officer of Cisco’s emerging technology group.
  Jouret describes the unit he heads as an “international incubator”, specifically tasked with spotting major new areas of business worthy of investment. It acts as far as possible like a private venture-capital organisation, he says, applying strict criteria of relevance, viability and likely return on investment to any new territory before it recommends investment of Cisco’s capital.

• Competition heats up in the collaboration space

  A number of New Zealand enterprises block their staff from accessing social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube.
  But it is the features that make these websites so popular that Cisco has incorporated into its Enterprise Collaboration Platform.

• How CIOs can stay tech-savvy

  As you assumed the role of CIO, your workdays became more business-focused. You've probably spent more time in meetings with business execs talking budgets and strategy than with technologists talking Ruby on Rails. As a result, your core tech skills - the ones you cultivated and mastered early in your career - are getting rusty. Revisiting those skills is exceedingly important, though, and can help you build stronger relationships within your department.
  "In the last 20 years or so, we've been putting a great emphasis on business knowledge," says Susan Cramm, founder and president of Valuedance, an executive coaching firm. "What we're seeing now is a pendulum effect. We're hearing more about not having enough technical IT leaders." But finding time to brush up on these skills can be challenging, Cramm notes. The key is to make it part of your day, not another task on your to-do list.