Filipino CIOs learn from each other

As the global economic crisis slowly unravels, local chief information officers (CIOs) continue to look for strategies that will ensure business continuity and prepare them for the eventual upturn.

However, not all strategies could work and some CIOs still lack the maturity to implement strategies either because they are not familiar with effective industry practices or even with simple yet novel ideas.

“The best way to learn new techniques is to bring them together and share experiences so CIOs know what works and how these can be implemented in their organizations,” according to Accenture Philippines country managing director Beth Lui.

Speaking before a CIO workshop conducted by Accenture, Lui said CIOs are inclined to learn more from others’ experiences to enable their own companies to effectively maintain business continuity.

She said CIOs are able to exchange ideas and ask relevant questions pertaining to business operations, citing that as the economy turns, these companies would want to deliver faster and better services without breaking their budgets.

“The general consensus is that companies have smaller budgets, especially for information technology but they still expect to deliver their services better. They’ll learn if they find out how others did it,” Lui said.

Accenture has been conducting CIO workshops in other countries bringing together executives from different industries specifically to showcase key findings on how companies leverage in IT for specific business requirements.

The Philippine CIO workshop would be the first the company is conducting locally. About 40 are expected to attend.

Accenture CIO Organization Executive Director Kenneth Corless said the event will highlight different usage models for new technologies.

Among the topics include network security, data consolidation, return on IT investments, strategic IT cost reduction, and even new technologies such as virtualization and “green” technologies.

In the workshop, Accenture will be used as one of the models of a large company that successfully managed their IT needs while reducing costs.

“What’s important here is that they have a venue for peer collaboration and to share these experiences. A large company may learn new things from a small company that is using new ways to operate efficiently. People are hungry for new ideas,” Corless said.