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IT's Diving in with Too Much Custom Code and Too Little Planning >> By NextNext >>>> Next THE BUSINESS VALUE OF TECHNOLOGY FEB. 6, 2012 PLUS How to write a SAN RFI >> SAP’s database, cloud push >> New spec aims to stop phishing >> IT pros lament RIM’s demise >> InterContinental CIO’s big regret >> Bully bosses end up losers >> Table of contents >> IT’s diving in with too much custom code and too little planning >> By Michael Healey Six Flags and Yelp show what works >> By Charles Babcock informationweek.com Previous Next COTHE BUSINESS VALUENTENTS OF TECHNOLOGY Feb. 6, 2012 Issue 1,323 This all-digital issue of InformationWeek is part of our 10-year strategy to reduce the publication’s carbon footprint 23 Write A SAN RFI COVER STORY A properly crafted RFI will get 12 Leap Of Cloud Faith vendors to address your needs IT’s jumping into cloud services on your terms with too little planning, our annual survey finds 3 Research And Connect InformationWeek in-depth reports, events, and more 19 Success Stories How Six Flags and Yelp make the 4 CIO Profiles public cloud work for them InterContinental Hotels’ CIO regrets not venturing out on his own 5 Global CIO When it comes to bosses, bullies lose out QUICKTAKES 8 Phishing Fight 11 Number Crunching 6 Practical Analysis Email providers to promote A closer look at Apple’s A new CEO won’t stop RIM’s bleeding, IT pros say DMARC authentication spec record first quarter 9 SAP’s Next Moves Vendor takes aim at Oracle and Salesforce CONTACTS 9 28 Editorial Contacts 29 Business Contacts informationweek.com Feb. 6, 2012 2 Previous Next Table of Contents Links Resources to Research, Connect, Comment INFORMATIONWEEK REPORTS Biometrics FOLLOW US ON TWITTER AND FACEBOOK Before You Sign That Cloud SLA ... Best Bets Follow our four-step process to ensure Biometrics can cloud app providers live up to their be used to @informationweek fb.com/informationweek service-level agreements. provide strong informationweek.com/reports/cloudslas access control, MORE INFORMATIONWEEK but you must weigh added complexity Be Part Of The InformationWeek 500 Protect Your Sensitive Data and costs against assurance that users Nominate your company for the 2012 InformationWeek Concern that users could expose or steal are who they say they are. 500, our annual ranking of the best business technology a company’s sensitive data has spurred informationweek.com/reports/biobest innovators. Deadline is April 27. debate over the best way to protect it. informationweek.com/500/preregister informationweek.com/reports/insider Keep Up With Emerging Threats It’s not if you get hacked, but when. Dark Clouds, Outsourcing, And Security Services Compliance From The Inside Out Reading takes a look at ways to measure In this all-day virtual event, experts will offer insight on Defend against internal incidents while your security and the challenges that lie how to keep your data safe when working with third satisfying industry mandates. ahead with emerging threats. parties. It happens Feb. 15. informationweek.com/reports/insideout informationweek.com/reports/logs informationweek.com/1324/event NEVER MISS A REPORT GET INFORMATIONWEEK HEALTHCARE How To Write An Effective SAN RFI Just released Healthcare providers must What you need to know. Now. Buyer’s Guide: Tablets Just released collect all sorts of perform - Strike A Security/Usability Balance Just released ance data to meet emerging Download Our Free iPad App 2012 Enterprise Project Management Just released standards. The new issue of State Of Database Technology Just released InformationWeek Healthcare Data Center Networking Just released delves into the task ahead. informationweek.com/gogreen/ Get our 800-plus reports at reports.informationweek.com 013012hc informationweek.com Feb. 6, 2012 3 Previous Next Table of Contents CIOprofiles TOM CONOPHY to be particular about the challenges I took on ing down. We need to listen to our consumers, Executive VP and CIO, and bold in delivering on them. and make sense of that information, then use InterContinental Hotels it to drive our business. Decision I wish I could do over: I regret not Leisure activities: venturing out on my own when I had industry- One thing I’m looking to do better: Skateboarding, travel, moving ideas. Technology should be simple and virtually history invisible to our users with real-time data at ON THE JOB their fingertips, regardless of device type. Favorite pro team Size of IT team: More than 1,000 globally coach: Vince Lombardi Lesson learned from the recession: Keep Top initiatives: pushing to make technology investments even Tech vendor CEO I >> Creating a new global reservation system in down times. Innovate, innovate, innovate! respect the most: CAREER TRACK to support business needs for 15 to 20 years. Scott McNealy of Sun How long at InterContinental: Six years Kids and technology: My wife, Jody, and I >> Focusing on security, including the integrity have three daughters. We didn’t directly steer Business pet peeve: Career accomplishment I’m most proud of: of our environment and protection of data. them toward tech careers, but they’re naturally Lack of timely decision I’ve had the opportunity to be part of several gravitating that way by immersion—technol- making large-scale system implementations; one that Metrics used to measure success: We meas- ogy is everywhere. One of my daughters won’t stands out is my first job, with an insurance ure success against shareholder value, based eat in a restaurant without first checking out If I weren’t a CIO, I’d company in Seattle, where I built an auto- on the Dow Jones World Hotels Index as well the Yelp ratings. They’re up to speed—at times be ... a pilot, computer mated billing system on my own that’s still in as a set of key performance indicators. ahead of me—in regard to mobile technology science teacher, or pro place. My initials are still watermarked into and are examples of our next-generation hotel baseball player the system! VISION guests and owners, so I’d better pay attention. The next big thing for my industry will be ... Biggest career influencer: Brad Boston, of variations of mobile computing. It’s how peo- Ranked No. 25 in the 2011 Cisco, a fantastic mentor. Brad encouraged me ple manage their lives already and isn’t slow- informationweek.com Feb. 6, 2012 4 Previous Next Table of Contents globalCIO Why Bully Bosses End Up Losers JONATHAN FELDMAN When dealing with human resources man- Leaders make the mistake of treating groups So if the research shows that kindness, con- agement, it’s important to have academic of people as if there is a group. There isn’t. There sideration, warmth, empathy, and optimism backup. That’s because often you’ll get pres- are just individual people who come together to create a competitive advantage, why are there sured by short-term, bottom-line thinkers who make a group. The distinction is important. still pockets of IT that don’t believe this? Could dismiss anything but scorched-earth personnel Groups don’t have complaints about work-life it be that we’re hiring the wrong people? management tactics as soft, weak, or a waste of balance; people who make up the group do. ”Attitude, rather than technical skill, is what’s money. Nothing could be further from the We generally consider someone “nice” when most important in a prospective employee,” truth. IT is a service business, and being a “nice” he takes our feelings into account when tak- says Micah Solomon, author of the forthcoming boss is the only way to create excellent service. ing actions. We still think a boss is “nice” when book, High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Ser vice. Tony Schwartz at Harvard Business Review re- someone else gets the promotion, as long as Employees can have all the technical skills in cently blogged that using old-fashioned positive we understand that there was a rational basis the world, but unless they’re focused on the hu- feedback builds higher-performing teams. “Sure, for the selection, and as long as we aren’t hu- man element, you’re never going to get the if you have the time, but we have real work to miliated. So that’s what “nice” is: the ability to level of customer engagement needed to be do,” might be what a scorched-earth manager include others, be mindful of others’ feelings, successful,the book says. would say. But Schwartz pulls out the academic be considerate. But, guess what? In Manns’ Scorched-earth thinkers may say you’re research, showing that higher-performing teams model, this is also good change management. weak, but it’s really the reverse. As they chase have a significantly higher ratio of positive-to- Manns’ research shows that participation— people away with horrible management and negative feedback than lower-performing ones. even just a little bit—in decision-making pro - leadership tactics, they’re wasting one of the Of course they do, but, with research to back it ces sesis a key way to avoid project failure. It’s most precious resources: talented, capable up, this assertion becomes more powerful. not much of a stretch to apply this to daily people. And that’s not an academic problem. Mary Lynn Manns, a professor, researcher, and tech work. Leaders who use the hammer to author of Fearless Change, a handbook on or- get people to comply will be subject to am- Jonathan Feldman is director of IT services for a rapidly ganizational change, goes further, saying that bushes, passive-aggressive behavior, and growing city in North Carolina. Share a digital version of this how people are treated can determine the suc- other issues, Manns says.
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