Blog

This blog includes our thoughts about best practices in the strategic management of IT in any organization. Writers are VIE consultants who have been acting in the CIO role for over 25 years and share their best practices.

Five Ways to Fail at ERP

Business software implementations are notoriously prone to failures, particularly Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Many studies over the years indicate that 20-30% of such projects fail outright, […]

Building and Maintaining Strong Relationships – The Key to Business Success

It has almost become cliché to say that success in business is directly related to people skills. In particular, I’m referring to people skills related to building and […]

IT Managed Service Providers Contract Essentials

As more companies look to outside vendors for providing technology support, they are entering into contracts with Managed Service Providers (MSPs). There are some essential elements of an […]

Three Key Actions to a Successful Acquisition

Integrating two companies is a project with many complexities that must be done right the first time. It is easily one of an organization’s top stressors and disruptors. […]

Cybersecurity Begins with People

WannaCry – Petya – Ransomware – Phishing – DDOS. Unfortunately, these terms have entered the lexicon of the modern boardroom. Experts predict global annual cybercrime costs will grow […]

Networking – The Why and How for Professionals

A lot of professional business people tell me that that they would like to get out and network more, but they never seem to find the time. When […]

Choosing a New ERP System – How to Work With Vendors Effectively

Making the decision to replace an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a major undertaking for any organization. The first step is to determine the desired features, budget, and […]

3 Variables for Managing your Business Technology Portfolio

The formula for running and growing any business is fairly simple. There are 3 variables that you need to define to get the right answer for your business […]

IT is a Discipline, Not a Department

As management consultants, we hear how a lot of organizations feel about their information systems. Familiar complaints about the IT department include: “The department of NO” “Where good […]

A VIE CIO is a True CIO, and Speaks Your Language

A True CIO and vCIO are fundamentally different. Increasingly, mid-size businesses are outsourcing their IT support functions such as help desk, server and network management to an IT […]

Why Govern IT?

Business executives intuitively understand the importance of governance for organizational assets such as human capital, financial assets and physical assets. Still, many don\’t necessarily appreciate the need to […]

Does Your IT Director Add Business Value?

Many of our mid-sized clients struggle with realizing true value from their IT investments, including their investment in the IT Director role. For a good description of the […]