Mark McDonald

A few weeks ago Gartner held it’s Americas Symposium in Orlando.  Tomorrow we welcome more than 3,000 CIOs and IT leaders to the event.   CIOs and IT executives around the world face the similar needs to generate revenue, incorporate new business and technology models, and continuously innovate.  However, each takes on these challenges in their own way.

We live in a multi-point world; I use the word multi-point rather than multi-polar for the simple reason that poles do little more than define opposites. Polar thinking is a zero sum game, where in order for one side to win another side must lose.  I believe the world we face is much more complex and compelling than simply assigning winners and losers.

We are all taking the turn at our own rate and in our own way.  CIOs across Europe understand this better than most as they face unique challenges in addition to requirements for IT efficiency and creating business value. National and regional economies are becoming multi-speed. National governments are implementing new policies in the face of structural changes in global markets.  Even nature played a role in 2010 with the ‘ash cloud’.  In each case and even today, European leaders are taking their own unique approaches and pursuing unique strategies. This creates the multiple points of view and paths forward that this year’s symposium is uniquely qualified to address.

The CIO experience at Symposium recognizes these challenges in many different ways.  Gartner Analyst presentations concentrate on addressing challenges related to leading in an environment requiring innovation, leadership and transition to new technology models.

In this environment CIOs are feeling the effectiveness of current practices slipping know that their current practices are losing their punch and they are looking for new practices to take on new challenges. The 2010 CIO experience concentrates on presentations, workshops and interactive sessions that concentrate on:

• Extending IT’s reach to the business edge
• Achieving leadership and solution imperatives
• Bringing integrity and transparency to measuring IT’s contribution
• Creating a lean and responsive IT organization
• What’s next on the horizon

The Executive Programs Lounge creates a unique meeting and networking place where you can be personally productive, even if that calls for taking a break or checking in with the office.  CIO workshops give you an opportunity to work with your peers and Gartner tools to explore and investigate your issues and alternatives. Taken together they offer an experience that respects your time and values your active participation.

CIOS and IT leaders throughout Europe are leading it times of their own transition facing economic, market and customer challenges.  This year’s symposium recognizes these multiple points providing hundreds of sessions, keynotes from industry leaders and opportunities to network with each other and Gartner analysts. This structure explicitly recognized that the best answer for you is an answer tailored to you.  The days of ‘meet one company and you have met them all’ are long gone.  We face a multi-point future where after meeting one company you have only met one company and you will meet another one company with your next meeting.

Welcome to this year’s European Symposium a unique opportunity to get the answers to your unique questions and issues so you can create value in your own way.

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Category: 2011 Cloud Leadership Strategic planning Strategy Technology     Tags: 2011 Planning, CIO Leadership, CIO strategy, Economic conditions, Innovation, IT strategy, Technology Leadership

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