CIO Priority Resolutions in 2004

Anticipate external drivers of uncertainty and complexity

Many factors are accelerating business complexity, and because they all interact, that complexity is increased. Globalization and virtualization -- combined with the effects of the global economic downturn -- and the rise of regulatory regimes for business of all kinds have already had a profound effect.

The increase in strategic sourcing and the continuing role of traditional outsourcers brings yet another wave of restructuring. Frequently, this involves people, departments and functions moving between enterprises, not just within them.

Invest in mid-term opportunities and pull back from short-term expedients

Many CIOs have been approving only projects that promise a return on investment within six months. While this can accelerate progress temporarily, easy targets are quickly stripped from the portfolio. Now enterprises must return to the more substantial investments and decide which few to select. Often, these will give more substantial returns.

Migrate toward a real-time infrastructure

Smoothly scalable utility computing that is truly "self healing" and operating-system neutral is still a vendor advertising dream, and grid computing remains a curiosity for most. But real progress is being made in infrastructure management.

Ahead of the technical delivery, major vendors are innovating their service models and financial re-engineering options as a way to deliver value. For the remainder of this decade, the real-time infrastructure (RTI) will evolve to free corporate IS installations from much of the pain of scaling and tactical maintenance. To take advantage, plan now and link this opportunity to pre-Y2K server