IT Executive Roundtable

The March IT Executive Roundtable Dinner was held in Orange County at Karl Strauss Brewery near South Coast Plaza. With 11 attendees the group was the perfect size for the conversational setting we strive for. Several first time attendees joined us, as well as a few treasured regulars of the roundtable.

We started off the evening going around the table and sharing who we are, as well as one thing we are passionate about. A refreshing deviation from the standard "Hi, my name is..." we all know so well. As you may have guessed, it wasn't uncommon in this group for one's passion to be their work. IT people love their IT.

 The chosen topic of discussion according a show of hands was End-Point Confusion; how do we attempt to manage this with the massive explosion of iPhone's, Androids, tablets, etc. And where does it stop?

February's IT Executive Roundtable  Dinner at McCormick & Schmick's had a great turn out. Lots of new faces and some great topics up for discussion made the night a success. On the board for topics were a mix of Cloud Computing (security, budget, reliability, performanct), CIO Strategy (value, alignment and budget), End-Point Confusion (PC, MAC, iPhone, Tablet,etc), and Getting IT done (hire, outsource, train, re-vamp). All were suggestions from this evening's attendees.

By the time we finished mingling and made it around the table with introductions, we hardly had time to cover the list of topics. Instead, with a quick format change-up, we centered our discussion on listening to each individuals particular stand-out concern (with regard to the topics metioned), throwing in tid-bits of insight along the way and welcoming stories of IT blunders from those willing to share.

Attendees Included:

Registered Attendees Included:

• Brian Keller-Heikkila, MMOABC.COM
• Gary Kho, Liquid Thought
• Gregory Keyes, Affant Communication
• Jim Fitzgerald, OvernightPrints.com
• Michael Hanken, Multiquip
• Ricky Monteilh, Affant Communication
• Roberto Maltez, Mission Beverage Co.
• Ron Prykanowski, SAIC 
• Stephen Laughlin, Academy of Television Arts 

Last night’s ITER Round Table dinner at McCormick & Schmick's in Los Angeles had engaging conversation about the future of IT security from industry thought leaders.

 As one of our attendees, pointed out, the people who attend these dinners are the ones looking to broaden their knowledge and decision-making capacity for their own benefit as well as their professional colleagues.

In our ITER dinner in San Diego last week, we bounced this “Cloud Computing” thing around this way: “It’s three years from now, and like so many other past trends that we geniuses pooh-poohed, it is real. Everything is going that way and our beloved “servers” and so many other things are going away. What’s our job about then? What’s the top priority? How is that different than now? What do we need to do to be prepared?” It could happen…

“IT staff are supposed to experience an average increase in wages this year. Clearly, any specific pay increases will not be found by presenting the statistics to the powers-that-be. The “no excuses” article is a good “don’t go there” reminder.”

 

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=31279&tag=nl.e539

I see this in my current staff, they're pretty excited about what they do at work. It's good to see in IT that job satisfaction remains strong. http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/Careers/Job-Satisfaction-Plummets-But-Some-IT-Jobs-Remain-in-High-Demand-655158/?kc=CITCIEMNL01062010STR1

 

Wow. That's a startling title and number. The article is short and the math is... well... even if the number is half that, it's still pretty startling.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures/?p=7627&tag=nl.e539

Virtualizaton continues to be on the top of the list:  

http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/Virtualization/Desktop-Virtualization-Ready-for-Prime-Time-or-Still-Hype-198408/?kc=CITCIEMNL12042009STR1

To succeed as an IT manager, and to advance your career into the executive sphere, you need some very specific traits--11 to be exact. From needs assessment to team building, these are the skills you need to be at the top of your game.

Read more at TechRepublic »

Virtualization seems to be the topic of choice at most IT Executive Roundtable Dinner forums.  What other topics would you like discussed at the Roundtable or on this Q&A Section?