How to build an agile startup, and other tips from CIOs

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Rachel Lebeaux

Is your IT organization stuck in the same-old same-old and looking to break out of that mold? Then running your IT department like an agile startup might be the solution for you!

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In the February issue of CIO Decisions e-zine, we shared the success stories of enterprise CIOs who re-envisioned their technology operations with an innovation slant. Given the influx of new tools and services available, why should the IT organizations -- even those couched in century-old companies -- be so stodgy? Read what some of these entrepreneurial-minded CIOs had to say about the shift, as well as some of our other favorite quotes from this month's issue.

Gary Hoberman

"The theory we have: Who are our competitors? It's unknown at this point. But we do know if we build relationships now with customers, they're three times more likely to purchase a product from MetLife in the future."
-- Gary Hoberman, CIO, regional application development, MetLife Inc.

LEARN ABOUT THE BUILT-IN-HOUSE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM THAT WILL HELP

Jonathan Reichental

"You can't sit on your idea or money for too long because, first, it runs out and people lose patience and [second,] there's a lot of competition. So you have to act fast and move quickly through the process of developing your prototype and your product."
-- Jonathan Reichental, CIO, City of Palo Alto

HOW DID REICHENTAL ASSUAGE SKEPTICISM ABOUT A LEAN STARTUP PROCESS?

Harvey Koeppel

"Enterprises have learned that, when used in the right context, crowdsourcing represents an extremely attractive alternative to using either internal or traditionally outsourced resources for important business purposes -- and the results can be dramatic."
-- Harvey Koeppel, president, Pictographics Inc. and a former CIO

LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW BUSINESS PROCESSES ARE EVOLVING

Laura Patterson

"Our logic was that we could provide the cloud service without making an infrastructure investment. Our decision to adopt Box.com for personal storage, collaboration and file sharing was driven by a business need to provide a storage [service] quickly, not by cost savings."
-- Laura Patterson, CIO, University of Michigan

FIND OUT HOW OTHER ORGANIZATIONS ARE USING CLOUD THIS YEAR

Eugene Spafford

"Where is the thought given to what happens when these smart devices on our belts or our wrists are broken, or lost, or stolen, and all the information on them is either gone or in somebody else's hands? Those kinds of issues don't seem to be addressed by the vendors of those items or in the press coverage of their introduction. And that's a problem for the end consumer."
-- Eugene Spafford, executive director, Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security

READ MORE FROM SPAFFORD ON SECURITY FLAWS LURKING ONLINE

"I have no attachment to a given system, and I know a lot of IT people who do get very attached to a given technology. I have no problem switching out a system in six months if market or business factors change and something that better serves business needs comes along to improve the way things are done."
-- Mark Landes, director of IT at a global manufacturer

WHAT SYSTEMS AND STRATEGIES WILL DOMINATE ENTERPRISE IT THIS YEAR?

"They are looking for meaning in their work. I had a college grad tell me he didn't want to program for big banks who take money from people. He left to become a preacher. That's an extreme case, but money doesn't seem to be as big a motivator for many of them as meaningful work does."
-- Jim Cole, IT director at a technology services provider