Keller, Goedman, Rangan, Redshaw

Wapiti, Shell, Wallmart, Motorola

CIO Panel
40 minutes, 18.5mb, recorded 2006-04-05
Rangan, Goedman, Redshaw, Keller

How are large multinational corporations dealing with changes in the software industry? Chief Information Officers of several large organizations discuss how their IT departments are dealing with budgets and vendor relations in a constantly changing environment in this Software 2006 Keynote panel.

In the constant search for the best bang for the corporate buck, departments have to deal with tight budgets and rapid changes in the vendor market. While contracts still fetch hundreds of millions, IT departments are finding they can do more with the same money they had a decade ago. For many businesses the critical infrastructures have been built, meaning that spending on the basics is no longer skyrocketing.

The major challenge today, however, is effectively supporting the company's users and matching IT projects to what users need to get the job done. While Shell's Con Goedman places emphasis on the need to be critical of what software projects need to achieve in the long term, Motorola's Toby Redshaw stresses the need to make the most of vendors and getting the best deals possible.

The panel of CIOs discusses licensing models as they apply to large businesses, how vendor acquisitions affect their daily operation and how a quicker return on investment is crucial in keeping users properly equipped.


Erik Keller has been a participant in the information technology industry for over 20 years in a variety of roles and formed Wapiti LLC in January 1999. Keller currently consults with venture-capital firms, works with a variety of enterprise software companies on both a project and retainer basis, and key buyers of technology products. In the past he has authored columns for Manufacturing Systems, Managing Automation and other trade magazines. He is currently a columnist for MSI magazine. In the spring of 2004 his book, Technology Paradise Lost, which predicts the future of IT spending in corporations was published.

Ashwin Rangan joined the walmart.com team as Chief Information Officer in April 2005. He served as senior vice president and chief information officer of Conexant in Newport Beach, CA. Rangan was a member of the founding team that spun-out Rockwell Semiconductor Systems (in January 1999) and created Conexant. Prior to joining Rockwell Semiconductor Systems in 1995, Rangan served as senior manager of Demand Management Systems at AST Computer in Irvine, CA, until AST was acquired by Samsung Electronics.

Toby Redshaw is Corporate Vice President of Information Technology Strategy, eBusiness and Business Development for Motorola. He oversees the company’s enterprise-wide IT blueprint, including the integration of IT solutions across Motorola’s various business sectors, anticipating IT industry future directions, and establishing the IT architecture and standards across the organization. He co-chairs the enterprise-wide eBusiness efforts.

Con Goedman is currently Head Business Information with Shell International Exploration and Production, New Business Development. He has over twenty five years of experience in the petroleum industry, primarily in the upstream petroleum technology area. Throughout his career he has held varied supervisory and management positions in areas of application development, technical services management, strategic planning, operational management, eBusiness development and Business Information.

Resources:

This free podcast is from our Software Conference series.

For The Conversations Network: