CIOs have Critical Role in Guiding Business Out of Recession (25/11/2009)

I would like to share an article with you, which highlights some thoughts I fully support.
"Chief information officers (CIOs) have a critical role to play in the next five years as businesses continue to feel the effects of the economic recession, says Chakib Bouhdary, chief value officer at SAP. Smart CIOs realize that business is unlikely to be the same as it was before the economic crisis and are planning for the future, he told the SAP UK and Ireland User Group Conference 2009. They are engaging with the business, reducing IT cost and complexity, tapping into business information, and building an IT infrastructure for new ways of working, he said. Without understanding where the business is trying to go, CIOs will be unable to assess whether they have the right infrastructure to achieve those goals into the future, said Bouhdary. The biggest enemy of the enterprise is the inefficiency and complexity created by having too many applications, he said. The most successful companies have three to five applications per $1bn revenue, but many businesses typically have 50 applications or more. By investing wisely in a few applications, most businesses can cut costs and improve efficiency, said Bouhdary."
cfr http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/11/24/239444/cios-have-critical-role-in-guiding-business-out-of-recession-says.htm for ffull article