Have you all had a chance to visit the website for "The Practical CIO" ? I recommend it highly!

Welcome to Cumulus Blog. I've been ghosting blogs for several of my clients, and I realized that it was kind of silly that I didn't have my own. I'm hoping this blog will become a sort of nexus for the thoughts generated -- or accumulated -- in conversations with many sources from a variety of industries and backgrounds.

One of the things I've noticed in my conversations with CIOs is that they tend to fall into two categories:

1. CIOs who "get it" and work closely with the business to deliver tangible value. In return they are valued by the organization.

2. CIOs who don't "get it" and devolve into highly paid techno-flunkies reporting to multiple VPs. This bunch seems to spend a lot of time on the phone with headhunters and friendly vendors.

Another trend I've noticed is that many of the really innovative IT strategies -- and the ones most closely aligned with pressing business objectives -- seem to be coming from markets in Latin America and China. I think it's fair to say that these emerging/developing markets are rewriting the IT rulebook. The CIOs and CEOs in these hypercompetitive markets are thinking, "how can I get this done fast, with mimimal support and no infrastructure?"

So if you're looking for exciting, inspirational stories about IT, you're more likely to find them in places like China, Brazil, Russia and Australia.