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The Issue In Depth, March 2004

Editor's Note
Brian Gillooly

Ghosts From The Past

Contributors
The finest minds in business technology are right here.

Openers
A digest of reports, research, Web sites, and books that help make sense of new business-technology concepts

Fast Forward
Emerging Tech + Business Innovation

Letters

Executive Briefing
The Human Factor
An interview with Kim Vicente, professor of engineering and author of a new book on how people live with technology

Research: Gap Analysis
Financial-Sector Jitters
While financial-industry CIOs are optimistic about growth in 2004, their companies are keeping a tight rein on IT spending

Square Off
Is It Better To Buy Or Build Financial Systems?
By Nicholas Voutsakis and David Kalt
Buy. We buy our IT offerings from trusted partners so we can focus on our core business and operate cost-effectively.
Build. The only way for our company to innovate and compete was to build our own back-office systems from low-cost, standard components.

Bottom Line
The Chief Process Officer?
By Michael Hammer
Natural business evolution may spawn a new executive role—and changes for the CIO.

Business Leadership
The Adaptive Edge
By Corey Ferengul
By leveraging technology, people, and processes to drive business, companies can build in flexibility and a competitive advantage.

Business Management
Stretching For Growth
By Graeme K. Deans and C. Robert Anderson
Sustained growth is always possible if a company first focuses on the basics and then risks trying something new.

Corporate Culture
Recombining Resources
By Eric Abrahamson
Creative recombination assumes that companies frequently have in-house all the elements they need to bring about change—saving time, money, and pain.

Customer Relationships
Banking On Customer Care
By Timothy Shack
An adaptable infrastructure helps The PNC Financial Services Group respond to a fast-changing market.

Financial Management
Grinding Out The Fat
By Erik Keller
Even with "less is more" management styles and approaches to technology, companies can still remove more empty IT calories and make the most of their resources.

Strategic Innovation
Best Practices: VW Revs Its B2B Engine
By Martin Hofmann
A massive B2B project at Volkswagen digitizes supply-chain business processes and revamps the purchasing work flow.