Midmarket CIO Forum - I came away from this event with a better understanding of the needs of midmarket companies. Many of the major brands are redesigning products and services for this market segment, and the need to do so is very clear.

 The event was attended by eighty chief information officers from all around the US. Every vertical was represented and the attendees were more thoroughly screened than for any conference event I have ever attended. This was a very impressive collection of CIOs and they expressed high expectations when they arrived. Three days later they departed after giving high ratings to their experiences. They were most pleased with the overall quality of the event and the access they now have to each other.

Opportunities to catch up with Patrick Hiller (Co-Founder & CEO of Abacus Solutions) are always productive and informative. He spends a lot of his time interacting with his customers and that’s why I get the sense that he is always in touch with market trends.

“In some very real ways, we think of 2009 as the year of the front end and 2010 as the year of the back end,” explained Mike Child. “For the front end, we went with Ruby on Rails. As for how I might be a resource person for other CIOs and/or CTOs, I will say we are very committed to Agile development and to scrum. If any of my peers want to connect with me on that subject, then I’m happy to discuss it further. I am pretty deep in that development environment and I would be glad to share my experience.”

Few local corporations have experienced growth over the past couple of years, and the absence of growth tends to bring attention back to the basics of information technology. “Increase operating efficiencies and introduce ways to help create new revenue” seems to be the mantra of most IT departments of late. Well, that’s exactly how Kathy Lamb and her IT team have focused their efforts in recent months.

Simplified Technology Solutions, Inc (STS) is an IBM Business Partner specializing in Intel servers and Lotus collaboration products.  In addition to our technical skills, we also provide consulting on leveraging cloud solutions and social networking concepts in businesses.  Contact us at 678 638 6688 or http://www.simplified-tech.com

The Georgia CIO Leadership Association welcomes your participation in the 12^th annual CIO of the Year Awards. You may nominate any deserving CIO for consideration. Click here to nominate

It would not come as a surprise to you to hear me say that in recent conversations with CIOs and senior staff members, the most popular topics have been clouds, business intelligence and collaboration. Sliding more of the fundamental pieces out to be managed by others has become more common. This then allows IT staff members to be embedded within the functional business departments.  IT professionals are becoming more involved with the operational aspects of the business and reputedly that is working out well. It’s a practice that has long been discussed, but today there seems to be a commitment and more resulting value – by all parties.

 CIO of the Year Awards – don’t forget the nomination process is in full swing now and it only takes a couple of minutes to make a nomination. So come on and do the right thing. Go here to complete and submit the brief form.

Bill Wilkins is a busy fellow these days and when he pauses for a discussion about IT shop projects coming up in his future, his response is clear. “Unified communications is big with us right now. We are walking out near the edge with some of this, and it is going to turn out real good,” he said with a smile in his voice.

“My number one priority this year will be to manage my responsibilities to a very tight EBITDA budget. We will do this with a lot of continued emphasis on process improvements and efficiencies that make sense,” remarked Rob Ewing during the first minutes of our conversation.

When asked about the upcoming priorities this year at the Georgia Aquarium, Beach Clark was quick on the draw. “The Dolphin exhibit expansion is going to be big for us. It will be the biggest project for our facility this year and it will drive a lot of opportunities for us. This project will increase our IT network by 30-50 people and it will be the object of new online social media marketing campaigns.”