Press Release - October 12, 2011

October 12, 2011 - New York, NY- JB Homer Associates' hosted its Fall CIO/CTO Breakfast Roundtable "Leveraging Your IT Resources to Support Your Top 10 Priorities for 2012" on October 12, 2011, and was moderated by Judy Homer, President.

JB Homer Associates was pleased to welcome a distinguished group of IT executives to our Fall 2011 CIO/CTO Breakfast Roundtable which we hosted on Wednesday, Oct. 12th. The theme for this session was "Leveraging Your IT Resources to Support Your Top 10 Priorities for 2012".

The purpose of these quarterly Roundtables is to offer some of the most distinguished executives in IT an intimate forum in which to network with their peers to share their solutions to common issues they are all dealing with regardless of the industry vertical they operate in.

Some of the executives who participated in the Roundtable came from companies that included: American Express, KKR, Gartner Group, Johnson & Johnson, The Reader's Digest, Standard & Poor's, TIAA-CREF, and TD Ameritrade.

Among the priorities that the participants deemed critical for their companies in 2012 were: data management - ensuring both the data's integrity and smooth flow through the enterprise; expansion of their portfolio of mobile applications to make their companies' products and services more accessible to their clients; and better workflow systems designed to improve the productivity of their organizations. A strong emphasis was placed by many of the participants on the decommissioning of their legacy environments in order to free up future funding to support their movement into newer more effective technology solutions that delivered greater functionality and client support.

In the opening segment of the session where the discussion centered on how priorities are being set in a dynamic environment the comments included: that a successful CIO or CTO needs to get up to speed rapidly when assuming that role either in a new company or through promotion in their current company. Their priorities have to include solutions viewed as "immediate wins" for the business because, as many agreed, there is no longer a honeymoon period for a CIO or CTO. Opinions were also expressed that an effective IT leader must act quickly to redeploy their resources to more effectively meet the changing needs of the business if they determine that a project is not working as originally planned or is no longer relevant to the business because the business or the market it operates in has shifted direction. There was also agreement that a key element of successfully leveraging IT resources is portfolio management -and that the existing portfolio of projects and applications should be continuously revisited and reassessed to ensure they maintain their relevancy and value to the business. Many of the participants cited their reliance on their Chief Architect as the person they look to in order to ensure that the IT strategic plan stays on track and within budget and to help them rationalize their applications portfolio.

A topic that inspired a lot of lively discussion centered on whether or not each of the participants would characterize themselves as either revolutionaries or stewards of the status quo. Everyone agreed that to be an outstanding IT leader you have to be a revolutionary able to transform or revolutionize the technology environment - but also agreed that in order to be a successful revolutionary you first have to enhance the environment operating within the status quo. You have to build confidence that you can revolutionize in a way that won't negatively impact the business's ability to continue to operate successfully as it undergoes the desired transformation.

Many of the participants commented favorably that they were pleased that the discussion focused not on specific technology solutions but on the approaches and strategies taken to deliver the desired technology solutions and support. Several participants mentioned that they believe that the most successful CIOs and CTOs are recognized by their business partners as having a deep understanding of their business and as innovators who have introduced the use of technology solutions that keep their business competitive. They believe those CIOs and CTOs are partners with their business counterparts in developing and executing against the strategic vision for the growth of their companies.

Additional comments noted that the path to heading IT in the future may come from following different career paths than those taken in the past. While the most traditional and prevalent path has been through applications development, others mentioned their success can be attributed to moving up through the business or through operations. All agreed that the foundation of their success, no matter what path they took to reach the top of the IT organization, was based on their deep understanding of their respective businesses and their ability to produce solutions that continuously promoted its growth. The best takeaway comments we received at the conclusion of the session centered on the importance of cultivating a network of peers to have a group of trusted advisors with whom to explore the value of the strategies and solutions that are being applied in other organizations to address the mutual problems they are all tasked with solving.

We thank the attendees who made this such an outstanding and informative discussion for their participation and insights.

If you are interested in participating in our Winter CIO/CTO Breakfast Roundtable to be held in the 1st quarter of 2012 or other future sessions please contact us at 212-697-3300 or via our online contact form.