CIO Sessions

Welcome to ZDNet's CIO Sessions: Vision Series

CIO Sessions video series features insightful discussions with many of today’s top CIOs and information technology strategists. Covering a range of technology topics, these interviews tease out the challenges — and rewards — of aligning IT with real-world business needs. Bookmark this page and come back often, as we’re continually adding timely, relevant programs to our lineup.

Drew Martin, CIO, Sony Electronics

Designing the next killer product

Drew Martin, CIO of Sony Electronics, speaks to ZDNet Editor in Chief, Larry Dignan about how IT is facilitating product development at the consumer electronics giant. Martin also shares his views on what the company is doing to get an edge on the likes of Nintendo and Apple in the competitive electronics space.

8 minutes 5 seconds | April 21st, 2009
Gerri Martin-Flickinger, CIO, Adobe

Developing new ways to collaborate

Gerri Martin-Flickinger, CIO of Adobe, speaks to ZDNet Editor in Chief, Larry Dignan about her top priorities at the graphics software maker. Martin-Flickinger shares her views on new ways the company is collaborating internally and the future of Rich Internet Applications for businesses.

9 minutes 24 seconds | March 24th, 2009
Dan Darling, CIO, Turner Broadcasting System

Turner’s global reach

Dan Darling, CIO of Turner Broadcasting System, talks to ZDNet Editor in Chief Larry Dignan about overseeing IT operations for many different brands across a global organization. Darling also discusses how the company is getting results while reducing costs, from new a telepresence implementation, to going green inside the data center.

6 minutes 48 seconds | February 24th, 2009
Ken Silva, CTO, Verisign

Aligning security and innovation

Ken Silva, CTO of Verisign, speaks to ZDNet Editor in Chief, Larry Dignan about the biggest security threats facing companies in 2009, and what Verisign is doing to out-innovate the hackers. Silva also discusses the company’s strategy to expand domain name capacity, secure mobile devices, and his philosophy on the intersection of security and innovation.

13 minutes | February 10th, 2009
Special Olympics CIO: Andre Mendes

Building custom IT for the Special Olympics

Andre Mendes, CIO of the Special Olympics, talks to CNET’s Dan Farber about managing technology operations for a non-profit that currently has more than 2.8 million athletes participating in its summer and winter games. Mendes discusses capturing the event online for family and friends and the unique experience of running IT for an organization dedicated to helping disabled people take part in competitive sports.

11 minutes 31 seconds | January 6th, 2009
PARC VP, hardware systems laboratory: Scott Elrod

Staying on the edge of innovation

Scott Elrod, vice president of the hardware systems laboratory at the Palo Alto Research Center, talks to CNET’s Dan Farber about researching and supporting innovation at one of Silicon Valley’s most storied tech institutions. He discusses new advancements in erasable ink, clean tech and what it takes to stay on the edge of innovation.

12 minutes 38 seconds | December 2nd, 2008
State of California CIO: Teri Takai

Standardizing California’s IT

Teri Takai, the State of California’s CIO, talks to CNET’s Dan Farber about overseeing an IT organization with more than 130 CIOs and 10,000 technology workers. She also discusses California’s e-government initiatives from going green to managing costs during tough economic times.

10 minutes 28 seconds | November 24th, 2008
Mozilla CTO: Brendan Eich

Re-inventing the browser

Brendan Eich, CTO of Mozilla, talks to CNET News’ Dan Farber about why the company now commands 20 percent of the browser market and what they’re doing to grow. He also discusses the company’s mobile browser strategy, making Firefox faster than the competition, and taking chances with the company’s core brand.

10 minutes 38 seconds | November 18th, 2008
Netflix Chief Product Officer: Neil Hunt

New technologies for transforming movie rentals

Neil Hunt, Chief Product Officer of Netflix talks to ZDNet correspondent Sumi Das about transforming the company’s movie rental service from DVDs by mail to online delivery. He also discusses how the company is using digital rights management solutions, developing new delivery platforms and bringing its movies to Mac users.

11 minutes 25 seconds | November 11th, 2008
Technorati VP of engineering: Dorion Carroll

Indexing millions of blogs in real time

Dorion Carroll, vice president of engineering for Technorati, talks to ZDNet correspondent Sumi Das about the challenges with scaling operations as the blogosphere continues to grow. He also discusses how they’re able to index millions of blog posts in near real time, surviving the economic downturn and what differentiates the company from its biggest competitor, Google.

11 minutes 50 seconds | October 28th, 2008
Qwest CTO: Pieter Poll

New innovations in communications

Pieter Poll, CTO of Qwest, talks to ZDNet correspondent Sumi Das about choosing the innovative technologies to run one of the leading communication companies in the U.S. They also discuss the company’s role as the network infrastructure provider at the 2008 DNC and RNC conventions, and where the company stands on the important issues on the Web, from Net neutrality to putting bandwidth caps on customers.

11 minutes 50 seconds | October 21st, 2008
Visa CIO: Michael Dreyer

Implementing mobile solutions on a global scale

Michael Dreyer, CIO of Visa talks to ZDNet correspondent Sumi Das about developing transaction technologies for its financial payment network including new wallet-less and contact-less payment solutions. Dreyer also discusses what it takes to process and handle more than 300 million transactions on a daily basis, and the company’s response to the recent credit crisis rippling through the global economy.

11 minutes 30 seconds | October 7th, 2008
Cisco CIO: Rebecca Jacoby

Deploying collaboration to the enterprise

Rebecca Jacoby, CIO of Cisco talks to ZDNet correspondent Sumi Das about adding new collaboration tools such as TelePresence and Unified Communications inside the enterprise. She also shares her views on managing IT for more than 50,000 employees worldwide, and why she’s been called one of the most extroverted CIOs in Silicon Valley.

12 minutes 35 seconds | September 16th, 2008
Slide CTO: Jeremiah Robison

Inside social networking apps

Jeremiah Robison, CTO of Slide, makers of popular social networking apps, SuperPoke, TopFriends and SlideShow talks with CNET News’ Dan Farber about what it takes to develop a technology infrastructure to support applications across a host of social network sites. Miller also discusses the company’s unique relationship with Facebook as both competitor and partner in the area of application development.

11 minutes 20 seconds | September 9th, 2008
Linden Lab VP, platforms & technology: Joe Miller

Second Life enters the realm of the enterprise

Joe Miller, VP of platforms and technology development at Linden Lab talks to CNET’s Dan Farber about the challenges in developing dynamic and reliable backend operations for the 3D virtual world of Second Life. Miller also discusses how they’re incorporating new hi-tech conferencing tools for business users such as VoIP solutions and video streaming technologies.

11 minutes 23 seconds | September 2nd, 2008
CareerBuilder CTO: Eric Presley

Innovations in job search optimization

Eric Presley, CTO of CareerBuilder talks to CNET News’ Dan Farber about how the online recruitment site is building new search engine tools to provide more targeted job recommendations. He also discusses technologies to aid the job hunting experience for its users from creating new social networking tools to developing new mobile software for the iPhone.

7 minutes 21 seconds | August 26th, 2008
The Weather Channel CIO: Brian Shield

The Weather Channel's IT forecast

Brian Shield, CIO of The Weather Channel talks to CNET News’ Dan Farber about delivering the weather on multiple platforms in a timely manner for its 120 million users. He also discusses new innovations, including a new LEED certified HD studio and how they are using open-source software to power their backend operations.

10 minutes 34 seconds | August 19th, 2008
Facebook VP of technical operations: Jonathan Heiliger

Scaling growth at hyper-speed

Jonathan Heiliger, vice president of technical operations at Facebook speaks to CNET News.com’s Dan Farber about the balancing act between innovating quickly and building a stable infrastructure at a company moving at breakneck-speed. Heiliger also discusses what he’s doing to scale data center operations and support the addition of more than 250,000 customers on a daily basis.

11 minutes 45 seconds | June 27th, 2008
E-Loan CIO: Jay Shah

IT innovation amidst a housing meltdown

Jay Shah, CIO of internet financial services provider E-Loan, talks to CNET News.com’s Dan Farber about surviving a housing downturn by creating new compliant and certified mortgage products for its customers. He also discusses how the company is able to shorten the typical software cycle and develop financial solutions more quickly using Web 2.0 collaboration tools.

12 minutes 51 seconds | June 24th, 2008
Del Monte Foods CIO: Marc Brown

Streamlined tracking through the food chain

Marc Brown, CIO of Del Monte Foods, talks with CNET News.com’s Dan Farber about how technology is helping the iconic food maker understand its business better — from fruits and vegetables, to canned tuna to its popular line of pet food products. Brown explains how IT helps manage a complex supply chain — from production to point of purchase — and talks about innovation and transformation inside a company that’s been around since the Gold Rush.

11 minutes 52 seconds | June 10th, 2008
Tasty Baking CIO: Brendan O’Malley

Delivering "just in time" baked goods

Brendan O’Malley, CIO of Tasty Baking talks to CNET News.com’s Dan Farber about the IT challenges in making more than 5 million cakes, cookies and other desserts every day for fresh delivery. He also discusses streamlining the company’s 90 year old business operations, developing inventory management solutions and how the company is going green inside its new manufacturing plant.

9 minutes 10 seconds | May 13th, 2008
Blue Nile SVP, marketing & technology: Darrell Cavens

Blue Nile's IT sparkles with new innovations

Darrell Cavens, senior vice president of marketing and technology at Blue Nile talks to CNET News.com’s Dan Farber about helping anxious shoppers find the perfect diamond for popping the question. He also discusses using data to analyze customer behavior and new Web 2.0 technologies that are putting a shine on the company’s web site.

11 minutes 45 seconds | April 29th, 2008
Centrelink CIO: John Wadeson

Making IT work for welfare

John Wadeson, CIO of Centrelink recently spoke to ZDNet Australia about the challenges running Australia’s welfare payment business. He also discusses how the company manages the millions of transactions and billions of dollars flowing through the organization every week.

11 minutes 13 seconds | April 22nd, 2008
Zappos.com director of development: Brent Cromley

Hi-tech shoe shopping

Brent Cromley, director of development at e-tailer Zappos.com, speaks with CNET News.com’s Dan Farber about building a reliable inventory management for a supply chain of more than 4 million products. He also discusses building a Web 2.0 style community for their loyal shoe shoppers and the company’s move into cookware and electronics.

10 minutes 11 seconds | April 15th, 2008
Australian Tax Office CIO: Bill Gibson

New collaboration tools for tax time

Bill Gibson, CIO of the Australian Tax Office, talks to ZDNet Australia about why he doesn’t completely trust open source software; how the ATO handles security and why competing vendors will have to learn to work together. He also discusses new collaboration technologies he’s exploring within his organization, such as instant messaging and video conferencing.

15 minutes 55 seconds | March 24th, 2008
Zillow CTO: David Beitel

Appraising new real estate technologies

David Beitel, CTO of Zillow.com talks about changing the real estate game by applying property values to more than 80 million homes online. Beitel speaks with CNET News.com’s Dan Farber about creating a targeted advertising system that will help the company get better information about its customers and using data analysis to make the house hunting experience more user friendly.

13 minutes 13 seconds | March 11th, 2008
Goodwill Industries CIO: Steve Bergman

Goodwill's panoply of web services

Steve Bergman, CIO of Goodwill Industries talks to ZDNet Editor in Chief Dan Farber about innovating technology for the non-profit. From an open source web portal to geo-spatial mapping tools for the organizations retail site. Bergman also shares his business approach to inventory management, and the company’s plan for going green.

12 minutes 2 seconds | March 3rd, 2008
Discover Financial Services CIO: Diane Offereins

Going high-tech with credit card transactions

Diane Offereins, CIO at Discover Financial Services speaks to ZDNet Editor in Chief Dan Farber about the company’s underdog role in the financial services industry. She also talks about deploying new technologies that will help spur growth and gain efficiencies, such as virtualization, web services, and mobile payments.

11 minutes 21 seconds | February 5th, 2008
Avis-Budget VP of Technology: John Turato

Shifting gears with new software services

John Turato, Vice President of Technology for Avis-Budget Group talks to ZDNet Editor in Chief Dan Farber about managing technical operations for a rental fleet of more than 400,000 vehicles worldwide. Turato also discusses transformation at the rental car operator, and his other role, Chairman of the OpenTravel Alliance, a group of companies developing web 2.0 standards for the online travel industry.

10 minutes 5 seconds | January 8th, 2008
LinkedIn VP of Technical Operations: Lloyd Taylor

Connecting business professionals

Lloyd Taylor, Vice President of Technical Operations at LinkedIn talks to ZDNet Editor in Chief Dan Farber about facilitating online communications between its 17 million business professionals. He also discusses his past experience building and scaling data centers at Google and how it differs from his new role, managing a high value and less trafficked network at LinkedIn.

12 minutes 40 seconds | December 18th, 2007
PG&E CIO: Pat Lawicki

PG&E powers up with emerging technologies

In a CIO Vision Series interview, Pat Lawicki CIO of PG&E talks to ZDNet Editor in Chief Dan Farber about energizing one of the United States’ largest utilities with new technologies, such as tagging utility poles with RFID, smart meters that will quickly measure customer energy usage and intelligent grids that will allow for better maintenance and service.

14 minutes 30 seconds | December 11th, 2007
Kaiser Permanente CIO: Phil Fasano

Kaiser's IT cure for health care challenges

In a CIO Vision Series interview, Phil Fasano CIO of Kaiser Permanente talks to ZDNet’s editor-in-chief Dan Farber about transforming the United States’ ailing health care system by making information more accessible online to its 9 millions members. He also discusses new technology innovations the company is developing to improve patient care in the areas of Web 2.0, analytics and RFID.

13 minutes 6 seconds | December 4th, 2007
AGL Energy CIO: Cesare Tizi

Leading AGL Energy through change

Cesar Tizi, CIO AGL Energy speaks to ZDNet about his role at Australia’s largest energy supplier where he’s been focused on integrating and simplifying the company’s billing and accounting systems. He also shares his thoughts on recent IT trends, such as virtualization, green datacenters, and RFID.

12 minutes 5 seconds | November 16th, 2007
Office Depot CIO: Tim Toews

Selling office supplies, from retail to e-tail

Tim Toews, CIO of Office Depot talks to ZDNet editor-in-chief, Dan Farber about selling office supplies across its retail and e-tail network. He also discusses new technologies the company is deploying to edge out the competition such as virtualization, wireless and new search services.

11 minutes 6 seconds | November 13th, 2007
Realestate.com.au CIO: Chris Vulovic

Finding a dream home with Web 2.0 technologies

In a CIO Sessions interview, Chris Vulovic, CIO of Realestate.com.au speaks to ZDNet Austraila about creating a more interactive user experience for the company’s property related web sites–Realestate.com.au and Property.com.au. She also discusses how they are using new Web 2.0 technologies on their sites, such as map-based searching, RSS feeds, and AJAX.

8 minutes 40 seconds | November 8th, 2007
PricewaterhouseCoopers CIO: Graham Andrews

PwC building systems while minimizing risk

In a CIO Sessions interview, Graham Andrews, CIO of PricewaterhouseCoopers speaks to ZDNet Australia about new wireless technologies the company is deploying at the professional services firm. He also shares his vision for the changing IT landscape and how developments in virtualization and green are adding value to his organization.

14 minutes 3 seconds | November 6th, 2007
BT Design CIO: JP Rangaswami

BT's business transformation

In a CIO Sessions interview, JP Rangaswami, managing director of BT Design talks to ZDNet editor-in-chief, Dan Farber about transformation and convergence at one of the world’s largest telecommunication companies. He also discusses his visionary thoughts on enabling new technologies inside the enterprise such as social networking, SaaS and open-source.

15 minutes 13 seconds | October 30th, 2007
Commonwealth Bank CIO: Michael Harte

Commonwealth Bank concentrates on customer support

In a CIO Sessions interview, Michael Harte, CIO of Commonwealth Bank, speaks to ZDNet Australia about new customer support technologies his company is investing in and deploying inside the financial management organization, and shares his views on the latest IT trends including, security, open-source
software and out-sourcing.

21 minutes 13 seconds | October 30th, 2007
Autodesk CIO: Billy Hinners

Autodesk’s blueprint for IT

In a CIO Sessions interview, Billy Hinners, CIO of Autodesk speaks to ZDNet Editor-in-chief Dan Farber about creating design software for its 8 million customers in the construction, media and manufacturing industries. He also talks about the company’s green strategy, his 20 years in product development and transitioning to his new role as CIO.

13 minutes 20 seconds | October 23rd, 2007
Avaya CIO: Lorie Buckingham

Avaya's connected world

In a CIO Vision series interview Lorie Buckingham, CIO of telecom solutions provider, Avaya talks about the promise of unified communications for its more than 1 million business customers around the world. She also discusses with ZDNet Editor-in-Chief, Dan Farber her passion for technology and strategy for integrating innovative communication technologies.

13 minutes | October 16th, 2007
1-800 Flowers CIO: Steve Bozzo

1-800 Flowers blossoms with new technologies

In a CIO Vision Series interview, Steve Bozzo, CIO of 1-800 Flowers talks about the e-tailer’s blooming flower business, and what it takes to run the company’s daily IT operations, across a network of more than 9,000 florists. Bozzo speaks with ZDNet Editor-in-Chief, Dan Farber and shares his views on managing the business of flowers with an arrangement of innovative technologies including Web 2.0, 1-click, and wireless shopping.

12 minutes 52 seconds | October 3rd, 2007
San Francisco International Airport CIO: John Payne

Managing IT inside San Francisco International Airport

In a CIO Vision Series interview, John Payne, CIO of San Francisco International Airport talks to ZDNet editor-in-chief, Dan Farber about the day to day security challenges he faces running IT for the airport. He also discusses the airport’s green strategy, deploying SOA and the tech innovations SFO is developing to improve the traveler’s experience.

14 minutes 38 seconds | August 21st, 2007
CIO Agenda: Churchill Club

CIO Agenda: Driving the enterprise 2.0

At the Churchill Club’s CIO Agenda in San Francisco, Calif., moderator Dave Margulius talks to panelists Douglas Merrill, vice president of engineering at Google, and CIOs David Bergen of Levi Strauss, Doug Schwinn of Hasbro and Randall Spratt of McKesson. The executives share their views on managing IT in a global scale. They also discuss the benefits and challenges behind implementing SaaS, RFID and the iPhone within their organizations.

20 minutes 53 seconds | August 7th, 2007
Travelocity CTO: Barry Vandevier

Travelocity flies into the Web 2.0 era

Barry Vandevier, CTO of online travel site Travelocity and CIO of the company’s parent Sabre Holdings talks to ZDNet editor-in-chief, Dan Farber about his company’s efforts to deploy Web 2.0 technologies, such as Ajax and mashups, for the next generation of online travel. He also discusses Travelocity’s green strategy–a program that allows users to purchase “carbon offsets” when booking travel.

14 minutes | July 24th, 2007
Webcor Builders CIO: Gregg Davis

Webcor Builders cements its future with 3D virtual software

In a CIO Vision Series interview, Gregg Davis, CIO of Webcor Builders, talks about constructing high profile landmarks using 3D modeling software, collaborative networking tools and the latest “green” technologies. He also discusses the importance of safety on construction sites where workers use PDAs and cell phones to communicate.

17 minutes 26 seconds | July 17th, 2007
UC Berkeley CIO: Shelton Waggener

Technology challenges in academia

In this wide-ranging interview, Shelton Waggener, the CIO of the University of California at Berkeley, talks about meeting the digital demands of its tech-savvy student population, the challenges of protecting data in an open institution, and innovative technologies being developed on campus.

16 minutes 27 seconds | June 19th, 2007
Air Force Reserve CIO: Colonel John Hayes

Citizen warriors assist Air Force with technology know-how

In a CIO sessions interview, Colonel John Hayes, Chief Information Office of the Air Force Reserve command talks about tapping into the technology expertise of its recruits for the development of innovative ideas, like the military’s new ‘Emergency Notification’ system.

15 minutes 34 seconds | June 5th, 2007
CIO Panel: Software 2007

CIOs speak out at Software 2007

At Software 2007 in Santa Clara, Calif., panel chair, Ernie von Simson talks to CIOs Neil Cameron of Unilever, Rob Carter of FedEx, Patricia Morrison of Motorola and Tony Scott of Disney. The CIOs share their “biggest gripe” with enterprise software companies. They also discuss the challenges behind implementing SaaS, and Web 2.0 technologies within an organization.

14 minutes 30 seconds | May 30th, 2007
SF Giants CIO: Bill Schlough

The SF Giants' new hi-tech ballpark

SF Giants CIO Bill Schlough discusses new technology upgrades at AT&T Park and outlines his dual role– managing technology operations at the backend while using hi-tech to improve player performance on the field.

Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.

16 minutes 24 seconds | May 15th, 2007
Qualcomm CIO: Norm Fjeldheim

Qualcomm sees success with self-funding IT

In a CIO sessions interview, Norm Fjeldheim, Chief Information Officer of Qualcomm talks about his “do or die” approach to supporting new technologies within his organization and funding new ideas by rolling back cost savings into IT.

16 minutes 63 seconds | May 8th, 2007
Hilton Hotels CIO: Tim Harvey

Hilton’s hi-tech hotel

In a CIO sessions interview, Tim Harvey, CIO of Hilton Hotels, talks about the company’s business intelligence software OnQ and his vision for the hotel of the future, including online check-ins, self service kiosks and personalized RFID cards.

15 minutes 48 seconds | May 1st, 2007
Wotif CIO: Paul Young

There is a lot of open source software out there but there is not a lot of good open source software

Wotif is one of the most popular online marketplaces for last-minute hotel accommodation in Australia and New Zealand. In this interview, the company’s CIO Paul Young talks about some of the important technical and business decisions he has made in order to successfully manage the infrastructure of a rapidly growing Web 2.0 company.

15 minutes 8 seconds | April 10th, 2007
SurfControl CIO: Max Rayner

Open source has a healthy effect on security

As chief information officer of a security company, Max Rayner is under even more pressure than others to practise what his company preaches. In this CIO Vision Series interview, he tells Munir Kotadia how his role as CIO and head of product development delivers efficiency in the supply chain.

12 minutes 31 seconds | April 10th, 2007
BAE Systems CIO: Robert Fecteau

Government defense contractor moves to in-sourcing solution

Robert Fecteau, CIO of the world’s fourth largest military services provider, BAE Systems, talks about transitioning his company’s technology operations by streamlining workforce operations. The interview took place during the CIO Impacts Forum held at UCLA Engineering.

12 minutes 50 seconds | March 27th, 2007
San Francisco CIO: Chris Vein

Improving citizen tech in the city by the bay

CIO Chris Vein shares his plan to upgrade e-government and bridge the digital divide with new computers and free Internet access. The interview took place during the CIO Impacts Forum held at UCLA Engineering.

19 minutes 12 seconds | March 20th, 2007
Alcatel-Lucent AVP: Ray Gilbert

Taking generation “Y"? mobile

In a CIO Sessions interview, Ray Gilbert, Assistant Vice President for IT Enterprise Collaboration at Alcatel Lucent - discusses how the telecom services provider is addressing mobility needs and convergence challenges for the next generation of devices. The interview took place during the CIO Impacts Forum held at UCLA Engineering.

16 minutes 26 seconds | March 12th, 2007
Boeing Information Technology CTO: Vaho Rebassoo

Boeing flies into the future with new technologies

At the CIO Impacts Forum in Los Angeles, California, Vaho Rebassoo, CTO at Boeing Information Technology, talks about new innovation strategies at the world‚s largest aircraft manufacturer. Rebasso shares his vision for re-tooling the factory floor with mobile devices that will provide its workforce with better access to information. The interview took place during the CIO Impacts Forum held at UCLA Engineering.

12 minutes 35 seconds | March 5th, 2007
Harrah's Entertainment CIO: Tim Stanley

Gambling on hi-tech

Harrah’s Entertainment CIO, Tim Stanley talks about his hi-tech vision for attracting customers to the world’s most popular casino destinations, from implementing business intelligence software to deploying wireless gadgets.

15 minutes 26 seconds | February 27th, 2007
Churchill Downs CIO: Jay Rollins

Harnessing wireless wagering at the Kentucky Derby

CIO Jay Rollins, talks about turning around the venerable race track Churchill Downs—with 21st century technology. Rollins shares his insights on how technology plays a role in the organization’s biggest event of the year–the Kentucky Derby.

13 minutes 14 seconds | February 20th, 2007
Vanguard CIO: Paul Heller

Simplifying the mutual fund maze with technology

Paul Heller, CIO of The Vanguard Group – one of the world’s largest investment management companies, talks with ZDNet Editor-in-Chief Dan Farber in a vision series interview about the complex challenges facing his business, and how technology will play a key role in delivering lower costs and a better service to Vanguard’s financial investors.

13 minutes 44 seconds | February 13th, 2007
Yili Group CIO: Wang Xiaogang

"We must use IT to create efficiency to help management make decisions"

As the official sponsor of dairy products for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Yili Industrial Group in Inner Mongolia is one of the leading enterprises in China. In this Vision Series interview, IT head honcho Wang Xiaogang talks about technology challenges in a traditional environment and his vision for innovation.

29 minutes 37 seconds | December 20th, 2006
Vodafone CIO: Paul Wybrow

Innovation for innovation's sake, that's not interesting. Innovation to differentiate for our customers, that's what we do.

In this latest CIO Visions interview Wybrow explains how he fosters a culture of innovation against a backdrop of IT consolidation and outsourcing across Vodafone’s mobile communications empire and 4,000-strong IT workforce.

11 minutes | December 13th, 2006
First Group CIO: Darin Brumby

Most things were broken in terms of business process, people and just the general information flow in the company

In this latest CIO Visions interview Darin Brumby explains how he is transforming what was a failing IT department viewed as a poor-value cost centre by the rest of the business and how technology and innovation have a role to play in the future growth of the UK’s largest transport company.

9 minutes 29 seconds | December 13th, 2006
Millennium Hotels CIO: Eli Salant

Do your homework. Invariably, the people who make IT decisions are accountants

The Millennium & Copthorne Hotel chain has operations in Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Middle East and North Africa. In 2005, the group reported 595 million pounds in revenue. Millennium’s New Zealand-based vice president for IT, Eli Salant, tells ZDNet Australia managing editor Fran Foo how he’s convinced board members to spend on technology instead of refurbishments, achieving savings of nearly US$800,000 a year with Voice over IP.

11 minutes 21 seconds | December 13th, 2006
Virgin UK CIO: Gareth Lewis

You've got to look to some of the models, in terms of business models, that people like Google have brought to the table.

Virgin Group CIO Gareth Lewis gives an insight into the innovative culture at Sir Richard Branson’s company, explains the fine balance between standardisation and unique technology for the various business units and the benefits of offshore outsourcing in this latest CIO Visions interview.

13 minutes 6 seconds | December 13th, 2006
Charles Schwab CIO: Giddeon Sasson

At Schwab innovation is tied to understanding clients' needs.

Giddeon Sasson — the CIO of financial services giant Charles Schwab — talks openly about mistakes the company made during the dot-com bust. He says a lot has changed since then. The company is focused on clients’ needs and IT is more closely aligned with the business. Sasson shares his insight with ZDNet Editor-in-Chief Dan Farber in a CIO Vision Series interview.

15 minutes 37 seconds | December 7th, 2006
Harvard Medical School CIO: John Halamka

Innovating at the intersection of healthcare and IT

Dr John Halamka — the CIO of Harvard Medical School — is an early adopter of RFID technology. He’s got a chip implanted in his arm. These tags can keep track of personal medical records aswell as hospital equipment. Halamka talks with ZDNet editor in chief Dan Farber about recent advances in patient care, electronic prescriptions, and what it takes to set up a 2 million square foot wireless network.

14 minutes 43 seconds | November 28th, 2006
Motorola CIO: Patricia Morrison

Innovating to increase visibility into the supply chain and ease integration

Motorola CIO Patricia Morrison is focused on improving visibility of the supply chain as the company expands. This mission critical information is delivered on Motorola’s own technology, the Q. Morrison talks about this and more in a CIO Vision Series interview with ZDNET Editor-in-Chief, Dan Farber.

18 minutes 24 seconds | November 21st, 2006
McKesson CIO: Randall Spratt

How an $88 billion healthcare giant uses IT to stay nimble and competitive

Randall Spratt is the CIO of McKesson — America’s oldest and largest healthcare services company. He explains IT’s critical role across the organization. Spratt sits down with ZDNet Editor-in-Chief Dan Farber in a CIO vision series interview to discuss what drives innovation at McKesson, whose services and products touch virtually every aspect of health care.

17 minutes 46 seconds | November 15th, 2006
Reuters CIO: David Lister

"We're actually precious about making sure that technology really delivers what the business needs"

Technology has been crucial in helping to transform the world-famous news agency Reuters into a more cost-effective global business running on simplified, standardised systems and open technology. In this latest CIO Visions interview Reuters CIO David Lister talks about the continuing consolidation of the IT infrastructure, virtualisation, smarter working and being a ‘paratrooper’…

16 minutes 27 seconds | October 30th, 2006
William Hill CIO: Victor Kemeny

"The internet has changed the dynamics of the game"

In this latest CIO Visions interview William Hill IT director Victor Kemeny talks about how the internet has revolutionised the betting industry, the constant security battles and how to get marketeers, technologists,
operations and finance people all working in a single team to deliver innovation…

08 minutes | October 30th, 2006
Campbell Arnott's CIO: Paul Williams

"Any time you don't have a product to ship, that's money coming straight off your bottom line"

Paul Williams, CIO of Campbell Arnott’s, is faced with the task of bringing the operations of one of Australia’s oldest and most popular food brands into the 21st century.

13 minutes 40 seconds | October 30th, 2006
Jetstar CIO: Stephen Tame

"It's a big balancing act"

Stephen Tame is chief information officer of Jetstar, the low-cost offshoot of national carrier Qantas. Now, with big plans to expand into a number of long-haul international destinations this November, Tame explains how IT fits into the equation.

22 minutes 01 second | October 30th, 2006
Oxfam GB CIO: Simon Jennings

Innovating to deliver humanitarian relief

CIO Simon Jennings explains how Oxfam GB runs the fifth largest retail business in the UK to support its humanitarian efforts, and describes the challenges of delivering application services and mobile solutions to remote, and often insecure, locations. Jennings sits down with ZDNet Editor-in-Chief Dan Farber in a CIO Vision Series interview.

17 minutes 45 seconds | October 24th, 2006
British Airways CIO: Paul Coby

How British Airways innovated to compete with "no frills" carriers.

In this latest Vision Series interview, BA CIO Paul Coby explains just how IT and innovation drove the airline’s recent turnaround. Hint: he didn’t go confusing IT with R&D.

9 minutes 50 seconds | October 16th, 2006
Virgin Entertainment Group CIO: Robert Fort

Innovating within a retail industry disrupted by the Web

CIO of Virgin Entertainment Group, Robert Fort says that risk-taking and innovation are at the heart of his company’s culture. Fort is responsible for the switch from analog CD listening stations to digital kiosks in Virgin Megastores where listeners can now browse the entire store inventory online. Fort talks with ZDNet Editor-in-Chief Dan Farber in a CIO Vision Series interview.

14 minutes 49 seconds | October 10th, 2006
American Red Cross: Steve Cooper

Fostering innovation in the midst of disasters

American Red Cross CIO Steve Cooper believes that innovation is much more challenging in large organizations. Cooper sits down with ZDNet Editor in Chief Dan Farber in a CIO Vision Series interview and talks about the “innovation center” that he created at the American Red Cross, and how this small team focuses on solving real business problems.

19 minutes 23 seconds | September 26th, 2006
Yahoo! CIO: Lars Rabbe

Innovating around social search

Yahoo’s chief information officer, Lars Rabbe, works in a competitive and rapidly-changing market where new ideas can affect millions of users. His current challenge: innovating around Web 2.0 and social networking. Rabbe speaks with ZDNet Editor-in-Chief Dan Farber in a CIO Vision Series interview and describes how his company promotes a culture of innovation.

21 minutes 53 seconds | September 8th, 2006
City of Philadelphia: Dianah Neff

Philadelphia's wireless war

Philadelphia is looking to be the first major city in the U.S. to provide citywide low-cost broadband access. CIO for the city, Dianah Neff, sits down with ZDNet Editor-in-Chief Dan Farber to explain the politics and technology behind the “Wireless Philadelphia” project.

18 minutes 16 seconds | September 6th, 2006
UNICEF: Andre Spatz

Technology plays key role in UNICEF relief efforts

In a Face to Face interview with ZDNet Editor-in-Chief Dan Farber, UNICEF Chief Information Officer Andre Spatz explains how field operations “scale up,” integrating themselves into the global framework through a satellite system equipped with a firewall, switches, wireless access and an IT back office that can be up and running in less than four hours.

24 minutes 48 seconds | September 6th, 2006

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