Cloud: The New Normal or Not

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Cloud has been around for a couple of years now and it seems we are getting more accustomed to it. Especially software- and infrastructure-as-a-service are growing at a tremendous pace. Cloud offers organizations an agile infrastructure platform to respond to changes faster. “We used to want to sit on top of our servers. Today we’re a lot less attached to them and we outsource infrastructure management more easily. But even then, we may just as well have more control over our data than we used to have. Cloud specialists have processes and security in place to manage data with utmost care”, says Erwin Verstraelen, CIO at AVEVE and new CIOforum Board member. Is success of cloud equally big amongst our members? Difficult to say, because there are tons of different visions and definitions on cloud and there are still a lot of challenges to overcome. It seems cloud is not the new normal… yet.

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A Conceptual View On The Business Case

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Eighty-six percent of IT decision makers are convinced business cases are an important instrument to gain value out of investments. Hence they are often used to convince organisations to invest in IT projects. But, once the money is granted, there’s no feedback to the business. “Business cases should be a management instrument”, said UA’s Prof. dr. Steven De Haes at our latest CIO Speaker’s Café. “The more mature your business case process, the better your outcome. That’s why we need a process view on the business case: from development over maintenance to review. It is only by measuring results that you can know if your objectives have been realized, and the investment has been successful.”

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Listen, Innovate or Disappear

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In 2009, the French-speaking broadcaster RTBf decided to merge its broadcast (technical) and information technology teams: 320 staff in total. Consolidation was required: radio journalists sometimes had up to four work stations. Cécile Gonfroid, appointed as director for the new department, decided to rationalize IT through 15 COBIT 4.1 guidelines, focusing on service continuity. “We have to be able to broadcast news, whatever it takes”, says the CIO of the Year.

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Cost Management should fire a discussion on IT’s value creation

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Every budget needs proper management and our Boards request cost transparency from the IT department as well. So traditionally, we CIOs create numerous complex spreadsheets to detail our cost as much as possible. But does the business actually want a detailed cost? “We need to change the discussion on cost transparency into one on value creation”, said Ade McCormack at our latest master class. Every budget needs proper management and our Boards request cost transparency from the IT department as well. So traditionally, we CIOs create numerous complex spreadsheets to detail our cost as much as possible. But does the business actually want a detailed cost?

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