Stories by Stephanie Overby

Hurricane Katrina proves why it most definitely pays to have a disaster recovery plan in place

Too many business leaders have little faith in IT's ability to deliver value. To save themselves - and their businesses - CIOs must change that negative perception into a positive belief in IT as a strategic partner

The crash of a critical legacy system at Comair is a classic risk management mistake that cost the airline $US20 million and badly damaged its reputation.

You've got 15 minutes to make a presentation to the board. Here's how

The successful transfer of knowledge to an offshore vendor - everything from programming expertise to what users expect from a system - can make or break a project. Here's what you need to know to do it right.

Evolving from a cost centre, IT is taking on the character, rigour and practices of a business within a business. It won't be easy, but for CIOs it's a matter of survival

It's commonly believed that the more time we devote to a project, the better the results. Not so. Wharton professor Maurice Schweitzer tells Stephanie Overby how CIOs can correct "input bias" and stop confusing quantity with quality

IT and business units at Novartis weren’t talking to one another — until they started speaking a common language of leadership

Moving jobs overseas can be a much more expensive proposition than you may think.

Outsourcing to India can provide a huge payback - if you're willing to work at it. Two offshore veterans share their hard-earned lessons to help you determine if Indian outsourcing is right for your company.

With outsourcing on the rise, CIOs are at the centre of a morale crisis. They see many of their workers battling stress on the job. The best leaders learn to help employees now - and keep them in the future

Faced with tighter budgets, CIOs are scrutinising everything - including outsourcing. A number of them have taken the keys back to their shops, saving heaps of cash. Here's how you can do it too.

Nearly half of all CIOs use offshore providers today, and two-thirds plan to send work overseas next year, according to US-based Forrester Research. India is still the leader, but as more companies seek to source globally, more countries are emerging to benefit from that demand - each with its own particular strengths and weaknesses.

In the race to develop new pharmaceuticals more quickly, companies are introducing new IT tools. But the tools can't do it alone. CIOs need to change the way people do their work.

Almost every CIO can tell horror stories about her toughest users. Health-care CIOs would say that doctors are the most difficult users, while IT execs in the tech industry might argue that their techno-savvy employees are the most demanding. One truism emerges: the ability to handle tough users has become a vital skill for all CIOs, if only because the success of expensive enterprisewide IT projects ultimately hinges on user adoption.