Observations and insights into the role of CIO after my first year on the job

Welcome again, Sun Inner Circle readers. Last month, I invited my colleague Leslie Lambert, Sun IT's vice president and chief information security officer, to share her expertise on the role identity plays in keeping information assets secure. This month, I plan to indulge in a little identity management myself after recently celebrating my one-year anniversary on the job.

I must confess I've learned a lot about the job and myself in the past year. A few months ago, I spotted an article that really resonated with me — "Nine Things CIOs Wished You Knew About Their Jobs." It made me start to think about some insights I'd like to share with you.

Manage the Budget Without Stifling Creativity

One of the biggest challenges I've faced in the past year is managing budgets, financial planning, and forecasts without stifling the creativity and technical capacity of the organization. Many seem to think that the two are mutually exclusive. However, a successful organization must include both sound budgeting and technical creativity. The problem is that if you don't manage your budgets carefully, you start to lose the confidence of those who fund theprograms in IT. But if you demonstrate sound fiduciary practices, confidence improves and you'll be in a much better position to present requests for additional funding, which leads to more opportunity for the technical staff to do the things they like to do.