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The Issue In Depth, August 2004

Editor's Note
Brian Gillooly

Business Never Sleeps

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

Executive Report
Business Acumen: Mandatory

Letters

Executive Briefing
Global Optimism Remains Robust
Interview with Lenny Mendonca, director at McKinsey, on the results of McKinsey's latest survey of 5500 business executives around the world, and with World Wide Technology chairman David L. Steward on the culture of ethics.

Research: Gap Analysis
Real Time Means Real Change
More companies are striving to be round-the-clock, round-the-globe businesses that support their customers, suppliers, and employees with real-time data.

Square Off
Should Business Expand Its Use Of IM?
By Nicole Minnick vs. Michael Assante
Using instant messaging shouldn't be a question of whether, but when and how to use it, says Nicole Minnick, CIO of the Shaw Pittman law firm. It's a corporate-security risk of the worst kind, argues Michael Assante, CISO of American Electric Power Co. Join the Square Off and judge for yourself.

Closing Arguments
The New Always-On Thinking
By Ralph Szygenda
GM's CIO says when you move to a real-time, 24-hour environment, you often have to be less analystical and make decisions based on your best information and gut instinct.

Business Leadership
The Narrow Path To Leadership

In anticipation of the September 2004 SIMposium conference in Chicago, which looks at the changing role of the CIO, Optimize presents a preview of two of the keynote speakers' remarks: author Jim Collins ("Good To Great"), and psychiatrist Carl Hammerschlag.

Business Management
Real-Time Information Blows In
By Kenneth G. McGee
If technology's promise is to be realized, CIOs need a framework for detecting and reporting critical events in real time. They can help find the strategic advantage that comes from the proper use and application of real-time information.

Customer Relationships
MasterCard 24/7: Priceless
By Michael Manchisi
and Randall Till
MasterCard International wants to keep its payment cards in the front of consumers' wallets. In return, it promises that the cards will work anywhere, any time, and every time. But it's that every-time commitment that keeps more than 900 technical personnel and business-continuity planners on call around the clock.

Emerging Technology
Talking Convergence
By Elizabeth Ussher
Maturing voice-over-IP standards and technology are making the concept of deploying converged infrastructure much more viable. But as CIOs investigate the ins and outs of converged infrastructures, they're learning that much more than technology is at stake.

Strategic Innovation
Forging Innovation From Disruption
By Scott Anthony with Clayton Christensen
Disruptive theory offers relatively simple, straightforward technological solutions to trump powerful incumbents. The trick is separating the true, conceptual gems from the merely different ideas.