The IT hat trick. (Editor's Prologue).When is a successful chief information technologist more than an information technologist? Today, tomorrow and probably from now on. Two developments in the past few years have significantly changed how many businesses, including insurance companies, view their IT professionals. "The first thing that happened was e-business (Electronic-BUSINESS) Doing business online. The term is often used synonymously with e-commerce, but e-business is more of an umbrella term for having a presence on the Web. ," said Gil Irwin IRWIN are a collective of Slovene artists, primarily painters, part of Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK). They describe their own work as "retro-principle" or "retro-avant-garde".[1] The group is emphatic about their work being collective rather than individual. , managing partner of the U.S. Information Technology Practice at Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., referred to as Booz Allen is one of the oldest strategy consulting firms in the world.[1] The firm formerly had two consulting divisions: WCB (Worldwide Commercial Business, also known as “The Commercial Side”) and WTB , New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . "Despite the fact that much of e-business failed, it was the first time CEOs recognized that technology made a difference to their business." The second was the cost and necessity of technology. "CEOs realized they were spending tens and hundreds of millions of dollars on technology systems," Irwin said. It also made a difference when a business unit said they couldn't could·n't Contraction of could not. couldn't could not move a project forward because IT wasn't was·n't Contraction of was not. wasn't was not wasn't be there yet, he said. The result is an opportunity for information technologists to become full partners in the management of the business. Chief IT professionals now sit on executive management councils, which means they have to compete for resources, just like the other business units, Irwin said. Their IT projects will be compared with new products, new distribution lines and other proposals. To build and maintain credibility, the technologists have to put on their "business hats," Irwin said. "They have to take the point of view of the business, not the technology." For our cover story this month, we brought together chief information technologists from five insurance companies to talk about how they're building credibility for themselves and their departments, including the steps they're taking in such areas as e-commerce e-commerce, commerce conducted over the Internet, most often via the World Wide Web. E-commerce can apply to purchases made through the Web or to business-to-business activities such as inventory transfers. , project management, measuring information technology success and forming business relationships. Their strategies often differed, but each described IT as evolving into a full business partner, and their definitions and solutions for common problems created lively discussion ("Building Credibility," page 21). As members of the IT avant-garde, our roundtable participants and their colleagues have their work cut out for them. But they also have the potential to create "more technology projects that honestly move the business forward," Irwin said. Sally Whitney is editor. You may reach her at (908) 439-2200, Ext. 5340, by writing to A.M. Best Co., Ambest Road, Oldwick, NJ 08858, or by e-mail at sally.whitney@ambest.com. The e-mail address See Internet address. e-mail address - electronic mail address for Best's Review is bestreview@ambest.com. |
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