In a recent WIRED article introducing Chrome Frame, it's mentioned that IE is the only approved browser at Morgan Stanley. Ben Fried, CIO at Google, says it's time for the rearguard of IT to step up the pace. Cloud computing and personal technologies are pulling at enterprise IT from both ends. Security remains the most critical issue for IT. But the opportunities are better than ever if IT can adapt.

Ben Fried discusses being CIO of Google and the challenges for CIOs today. One is the fact that personal technology has been outpacing enterprise technology in both usership and functionality. Another is, with the rise of consumer internet services, CIOs have to begin to consider economies of scale in planning operations and data centers.

What the development of personal technology means for the CIO is: Employees coming to the workplace have methods and preferences for use that IT should take into consideration. Fried says IT shouldn't infantalize and tyrannize employees by disallowing the methods they have for getting things done. However, it makes data security that much more important.

So, too, security is a critical issue with cloud internet services. Finally, the top CIO today needs to be on top of logistics and operations, and able to concentrate on competitive differentiation.