NEWSLETTERS
 

CIO.com updates, insights and advice on technology, management and your career.

 CIO BlackBerry News and Tips
 CIO Research and Analysis
 CIO Microsoft
 CIO Insider
 
 
 
SUBSCRIBE TO CIO
 
Are you involved in setting the direction for your company's IT budget or strategy?

Apply today for a FREE subscription to CIO Magazine!

 


Thu, May 24, 2007 4:32 EDT

Diary of a Tired CTO

Topic: IT Organization Management

Current Rating: 5 Comments: 6

Dear Diary

I did the following things this month.

Met fourteen different IT vendors who gave an impressive high impact presentation on how their products and services can guarantee cost effective, cutting edge, optimized, and seamless, business value in tune with our strategic goals.

Rejected three vendors as their presentations were not in line with strategic customer oriented initiatives to suit next generation business clients.

Had a detailed discussion (for the 636th time) with all business stakeholders on how our latest strategic initiatives can totally align IT to suit business needs and deliver increasing business value with constant innovation in our journey to the Promised Land.

Attended sixteen best practice security seminars on how to accurately protect my company data from viruses, spyware, hackers, worms, phishers, trojans, malware, spammers, data center disasters, database errors, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, data corruption, bomb attacks, snipers, power failures, wars, alien attacks, corporate frauds, information theft, lawsuits, bird flu, mad cow disease, political turmoil, human mistakes, computer errors, and a few other threats.

Some day I must organize all my 13945 best practice white papers by industry experts on how exactly to align my IT department to cut across traditional business lines, reduce TCO and elegantly simplify our business processes.

Renamed my slave sized technical support department to Strategic Enterprise Customer Orientation Services in order to strengthen brand equity, increase shareholder value, and improve customer satisfaction to progress towards a coherent service oriented organization.

Sent an umpteenth reminder to my team members to clearly define, document, organize and prepare accurate processes of their jobs and tasks to make it easy for outsourcing. Wonder why my team is not co-operating even when I am communicating so well.

Declined an invite to fifteen seminars on the strategic benefits of early adoption of new emerging technologies. Thought I would wait till they fully emerge from wherever they are emerging.

Added one new business jargon sentence "Key transition leader and catalyst for enhancing customer centric business landscapes" to make my resume look good.

Must stop pulling my hair for every network glitch and computer error. Wife and kids not happy with balding, short-tempered daddy.

------------
Thejendra BS is an IT manager & consultant for a software development firm in Bangalore, India. Starting as a field engineer in the previous century, he has more than 17 years experience in a wide range of roles in IT areas like Support, Helpdesk, DRP-BCP, Asset Management, IT Security, etc., and worked in

You do not have flash or javascript support.
Average (11 votes)
5
 
 
Thu, May 24, 2007 12:10 EDT
Posted by: Meridith Levinson
Rating:

Hilarious post! Great job!  Thanks for contributing!

 
Thu, May 24, 2007 15:44 EDT
Posted by: mtruxaw
Rating:

Hilarious for you, it wasn't your month...or maybe it was similar enough.

:-)

 
Thu, May 24, 2007 15:47 EDT
Posted by: Ravi Chitturi
Rating:

A bit of a humor indeed; albeit echos certain bits of sadness which we all can relate at times - Especially regarding our productivity in dealing 637th time with all business stakeholders on how our IT adds business value. Although the ball is in motion, I can't wait to live the times wherein IT will be viewed not just a cost center across the board.

Ravi Chitturi

 
Tue, May 29, 2007 20:03 EDT
Anonymous user
Posted by: r2d2
Rating:

Great Posting. It goes to show that CTO's and CIO's are universally an abused bunch, no matter what continent is your home base.

On the other hand, let us not forget that as you approach the "Promised Land" you may find out that one department's "Promised Land" is another's depiction of hell on earth! Remember that a promise should be misconstrued as a whim or passing fancy from a past or present executive...

You forgot the one or two weekly attempts by vendors to go around you by visiting the line of busness execs, CFO, COO and CEO. Don't forget your consultants, who keep whispering more projects for more services revenue to your line of business colleagues, your senior execs and your reports.

Make sure there are vendors you don't select and then there are vendors you ban from the property every week until they behave.

Everybody wants your time, your attention, your enthusiasm yet no one wants to give you anything in return save the trinkets and "Best Practices" books.

CIO....the Rodney Dangerfield executive position of modern business!

 
Thu, Jun 7, 2007 6:04 EDT
Anonymous user
Posted by: Abhilash
Rating:

A article which throws a clear picture of what a CTO / CIO is undergoing in his department.
Its like you need to select one solutions from N numbers with all sorts of constrains. rightly said....

Post new comment

* Subject:
* Username:
* E-mail:
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Homepage:
* Body:
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <blockquote> <strike> <p> <br>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
More information about formatting options

* Denotes required field.

Start a Conversation
Click to post

Got something to say? We want to hear it! Click the Post button to get started. GO»

EXPERT ADVICE
See our roster of experts.

Advice & Opinion from more than 113 of IT's most insightful thinkers.

  PARTNERS       WEBCASTS    
 

Windows 7 Webcast Series

There's a lot of buzz about Windows 7 out there. Each month in our webcast series, listen to analysts and customers discuss how Windows 7 and the Windows Optimized Desktop is impacting large companies around the world. Learn how they evaluated Windows 7, including the cost of deployment, deployment strategies, and tangible benefits.

Sponsored by Microsoft  Listen to on-demand Recordings »

 

Service Level Management Best Practices Life Cycle Overview - Improve Service Levels

Best practices for Service Level Management (SLM) is a process for consistently meeting customer requirements and delivering on IT's promises. See the steps required to ensure high-quality SLM.

Sponsored by Compuware  Read this White Paper »

 

Keeping Your Members Safe from Online Scams and Predators

In order to keep fraudsters out, romance sites must deploy effective solutions that look at information independent of what is supplied by users. A device fingerprinting solution such as iovation ReputationManager™ provides unique insight into the computers being used to create multiple accounts and exposes hidden device-account relationships that identity-based fraud solutions often miss.

Sponsored by iovation  Read this White Paper »

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notifications by topic when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library.

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library. Don't just be up-to-date—be up to the minute with our new Resource Alerts.

Defend Against Blended Threats: What You Need to Know

Blended Web and email threats are becoming increasingly complex and represent a huge...  View Now »

 

Prescriptive Actions to Reduce Risk

In this Webcast, learn best practices for effective systems management in a heterogeneous environment and keep client systems cost under control.   View Now »

 

Webcast- Vantage 11: Redefining Application Performance Management

Compuware's latest release, Vantage 11, is a major advance in end-to-end application performance management--bringing together proactive issue identification, quantification of business impact and problem resolution into a single solution. Tune in to learn how Vantage 11's top-down approach helps you make better decisions and dramatically lower operations costs.  View Now »

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library. Don't just be up-to-date—be up to the minute with our new Resource Alerts.

 
NEWSLETTER

Sign-up for the Blogs & Discussion Newsletter

 
FEATURED SPONSORS
 
 
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

Return on Information: Google Enterprise Search pays you back. Get the facts.

VMware. The source for Business Infrastructure Virtualization.

ShoreTel tells businesses to untangle from competitors' complexity and turn to its brilliantly simple UC solution

See how AT&T can help protect your network.

Streamline IT Costs. Boost Performance with WAN Optimization.

Build your 1st app FREE with Force.com

TDWI checklist helps define data readiness for analytics. Download report.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

The rules of infrastructure management just changed.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Interactive Q&A helps you discover key ways to maximize IT assets.

Ready to virtualize tier one applications? Check your virtualization maturity.

Think you can't afford a Cisco Switch? Cisco Catalyst Switches are now more affordable.

Five minute business analytics assessment. Immediate results.

The Case for Investing in Business Analytics Technology. Read white paper.

Upgrading to VMware vSphere with vWire

Top 10 Lessons Learned for Corporate 3G Mobile Broadband Deployments

CRM Built for IT: The Executive Guide to Selecting CRM that Meets IT Needs

Return on Information: Google Enterprise Search pays you back

ROI of Application Delivery Controllers

Making Consumer Two-Factor Authentication Simple and Cost-Effective

Mining the Cloud to Ease the Enterprise Compliance Burden

Solve Five Key IT Security Challenges with Cloud-Based Authentication

White Paper: Right-Sizing Your Power Infrastructure

AT&T Synaptic Storage as a Service. Expand on demand

Trend Micro ranked #1 against real-world malware. Read more.

Webinar: Jump-start your in-house e-discovery with Ringtail QuickCull from FTI Technology

Top Five CIO Challenges

Read the RSA report: Security for Business Innovation

64-page prescriptive guide to security, compliance, and IT operations.

Increase UPS efficiency without sacrificing protection.

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

Reduce risk, gain agility. See how Progress can help your business.

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

World-class trading technology solutions from NYSE Technologies.

If You're Paying for Telecom, You're Paying Too Much. Contact Asentinel Today.

Trade-In your old printer and save up to $1,000 plus free recycling!

infoBOOM! - The Mid-Sized Company CIO's Exclusive Community

Live Webinar: Applying Business Analytics. Click here to learn more

Removing Barriers To Better Server Virtualization Efficiency

4G Revisited. The Continued Evolution of Wireless Mobility.

What's Next for Enterprise Resource Planning?

Maximizing website Return on Information with high-quality search

Gartner Magic Quadrant, Application Delivery Controllers 2009

Authentication as a Service by Forrester Research

Cloud-Based Authentication for Next-Generation Extranets

Cut Costs & Green Your IT Operations with PC Power Management

White Paper: 4 Customer Service Myths