Al Passori

META Group research indicates that CIOs who embrace IT portfolio management (PfM) have exemplary records of continuous IT efficiency improvement, with some enterprises able to reduce costs by up to 30%, while improving effectiveness with enterprisewide asset deployment and management. IT PfM enables the CIO to categorize, evaluate, prioritize, purchase, and manage technology assets, human capital, and projects. However, there are minefields along the pathway to implementing continuous PfM processes; CIOs are cautioned to understand the lessons learned prior to adopting and deploying the IT PfM program.

In this report, The Meta Group argues that the key to CIO survival is calculating an incoming CEO's understanding and commitment to IT, and having a "state of the union" script ready for the CEO to forge a credible and lasting partnership.

For federal government CIOs, IT security can be a mixed bag. It is a topic repeatedly cited by federal CIOs as one of their most important issues, yet recent U.S. General Accounting Office studies and audits suggest that non-IT colleagues simply do not share the CIO's sense of urgency.