A Smart Time for Smart Enterprise

By Peter Krass
Winter 2007

In response to a question about his plans for the then-upcoming 1961 season, legendary baseball manager Casey Stengel replied, “Well, I’ve made up my mind, but I made it up both ways.” It’s safe to assume that Stengel, who led some of the most successful teams in baseball history—including the Yankees for a record-breaking five consecutive World Series and later, the Amazin’ Mets— didn’t know much about IT. But the “Old Perfessor” certainly knew there are at least two sides to every tough question—and that winning managers familiarize themselves with both sides before making a decision.

That’s not a bad philosophy for a new magazine like Smart Enterprise , whose purpose is to help CIOs grapple with some of the toughest questions in business today. Take complexity, an issue with which most CIOs are all too familiar. IT complexity is the result of some 30 years of computing innovation. To be sure, each successive wave of new technology— first mainframes, then midrange systems, PCs and today’s Internet-connected devices—brought about significant productivity increases. But this collection of technologies and architectures has also created a situation in which the goal of transforming the enterprise through IT is challenging at best, impossible at worst.

Without shirking these challenges, we at Smart Enterprise believe that today’s environment presents CIOs with a unique opportunity to transform their enterprises. CIOs today can become transformational leaders, navigating through and translating today’s critical technologies for their business-side colleagues. They can become strategic advisers for automating business processes. They can also transform the management of IT itself. In fact, for the CIO, this is often a logical step toward taking on a true strategic business role.

This is why we have launched Smart Enterprise magazine now. This new magazine, the result of a unique alliance between CMP Technology and CA, is dedicated to helping CIOs and other business-technology executives become transformational figures in their organizations. To do so, we have assembled a group of some of the IT industry’s finest journalists, analysts and experts. They have pitched in to provide today’s CIOs with the latest thought-leading reporting, insights and perspectives.

Smart Enterprise aims to be nothing less than an essential resource for the 21st century CIO. A resource that helps you strike the right balance between business innovation and keeping the lights on; a resource that supports your most important IT initiatives with world-class insights and perspectives. Or, as Stengel himself once observed, “Without losers, where would the winners be?” We’re here to help you find out. P.S. I welcome your comments and questions via e-mail. I also invite you to visit the Smart Enterprise Web site at smartenterprisemag.com