Society for Information Management’s SIMposium 2010 Conference Draws 735 IT Professionals

October 12, 2010

Tools

Focus is on Mobility, Cloud Computing and Innovation at Largest Gathering of CIOs in North America

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The SIMposium 2010 Conference was held by the Society for Information Management in Atlanta on Oct. 3-5, with 735 attendees focusing on how corporate IT departments are dealing with mobility, cloud computing, and innovation in today’s enterprise IT organization. The theme of this year’s event was “The Charm of IT: Bringing People, Process & Technology Together.”

SIMposium, the largest gathering of CIOs in North America, is held annually to bring IT professionals together to discuss, learn and engage on their current business issues, identify industry best practices and lay the foundation for developing business alliances. Here are some of the key issues addressed during SIMposium 2010 by business IT thought leaders from leading global companies and the annual SIM survey:

Premier Thought Leadership Sessions

SIMposium attendees this year attended several premier thought leadership sessions covering some of the hottest topics in Enterprise IT today. Opening CIO Forum panelists included: Dave Barnes, SVP & CIO of UPS, Tom Conophy, CIO of IHG-Intercontinental Hotels Group, Ajay Waghray, CIO of Verizon Wireless and Ed Steinike, VP & CIO of The Coca Cola Company. The session was moderated by Jim Knight, EVP Global CIO Chubb Corporation and SIM Board Director. Lively discussions on mobile technology, cloud computing, innovation and their views on the future of IT in 5 -10 years were discussed with Q&A from the attendees.

2010 IT Trends Survey Results Announced

SIM conducted a survey of CIOs, CTOs and senior IT executives from 172 U.S. companies in 2010 to review the current state of the IT industry. In-depth results of the survey were announced by Jerry Luftman, Ph.D. from Stevens Institute of Technology and former SIM Board Director who has conducted this research for the past decade.

The top three concerns listed in SIM’s annual survey:

1. Business productivity and cost reduction

2. Business agility and speed to market

3. IT and business alignment

State of the CIO

According to respondents, the average CIO has held their position for 5.1 years, up from 4.6 in 2009. Over half (52%) of the respondents said their CIOs have been there for more than three years. Along with increasing tenure, the study confirms that CIOs are spending about 75% of their time on non-technical-related issues and play a larger role in business decisions.

The top five ways CIOs (both old and new) spend their time include:

1. Relationship management with business

2. Strategy

3. Operations

4. Relationship management with IT staff

5. Non-IT tasks

Technology/Business Alignment

The survey also provides positive indicators that organizations are continuing to align IT and business units and view IT as strategic assets -- 44% of respondents report to the CEO and 31% report to the CFO.

Industry Investments and Budget Allocation

The top three application and technology investments:

1. Business intelligence

2. Virtualization

3. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems

Additionally, 71.65% report that their 2010 staff turnover rate was less than 5%.

Visit www.simposiumconf.com for more information about SIMposium 2010, the largest gathering of CIOs in North America. Premier Event Management (PEM) handled the event organization.

About Society for Information Management (SIM)

Established in 1968, the Society for Information Management (SIM) is the premier network for IT leaders comprised of more than 3,600 members including CIOs, senior IT executives, prominent academicians, consultants, and other IT leaders. SIM is a community of thought leaders who share experiences and apply rich intellectual capital, and who explore future IT direction. Through its 31 chapters, SIM provides resources and programs inspired by IT leaders for IT leaders that enable CIOs to further develop the leadership capabilities of themselves and the key and emerging leaders in their organizations. SIM provides the collective voice to advocate policy and legislation on behalf of the IT profession across industries.