别拿首席信息官不当高管

    很少有人将首席信息官视为执掌公司大权的高管。毕竟，所谓首席信息官尽管名头显赫，实际上只是些科技怪胎，负责采购服务器和软件，保证计算机系统正常运行即可，除此以外，其他的事情轮不到他们说话。既然如此，何必郑重其事。

    原因如下：在目前的经济形势下，技术日益成为推动生产力的主要因素，许多公司逐渐认识到，选择一个思路开阔、同时具有商业头脑的人选负责购买最适合的设备能给公司带来战略优势，而且还不止如此。星巴克公司（Starbucks）首席信息官史蒂夫•吉列如是说：“首席信息官的职责是不断挑战和整合员工的能力和才干。”

    吉列的决策就是一个恰当的例子。他从2008年起担任星巴克的IT总监。此外，他还负责星巴克公司的数字网络项目。他率先决定在星巴克所有门店提供免费无线上网服务。此外，消费者还可通过星巴克门户网站免费访问付费内容，如《华尔街日报》（the Wall Street Journal）。

    吉列非常关注消费者使用技术的趋势，从而引导星巴克向更亲民的方向发展，同时创造新的商机。吉列说：“我们在可控的范围内不断尝试，并逐渐掌握这些趋势。”这番话让他看来更像一个业务发展高管，而不仅仅是个技术人员。

    不仅如此，就连首席信息官的传统职责——购买设备——也在不断发生变化。聪明的最高管理层深知，一个深谙资本和技术的首席信息官能够通过购买技术来削减成本，激励创新，并提高效率。吉列表示，在金融危机期间，公司的发展速度放缓，没有了开新店的压力，便借机重新设计其专属支付系统，从而降低了成本，提升了为客户服务的速度。

    有鉴于此，《财富》杂志（Fortune）在甄选高管梦之队成员——即企业全明星阵容——的时候，将搜寻从战略角度利用技术的首席信息官：细想联邦快递（FedEx）如何在首席信息官罗博•卡特的带领下，利用无线技术，通过公司庞大的网络运送包裹，从而成为业界领袖。再如，思科（Cisco）的IT总监丽贝卡•雅各比通过要求员工使用自己的笔记本电脑，降低了成本，增加了员工的责任感。担任首席信息官也许从来不是成为通向企业最高管理层的最佳途径，但是，过不了多久，IT总监将进入高管第二梯队。

    （翻译 乔树静）

    Chief information officers wouldn't make anyone's short list of the most important executives running a company. After all, why single out the top purchaser of servers and software, a glorified geek if ever there was one, as anything other than a role player whose job it is to keep things running and otherwise stay mum?

    Here's why: As technology increasingly has become the driver of productivity gains in the economy, corporations have come to recognize the strategic advantage of putting a big thinker with business chops in charge of picking the right gizmos -- and more. Or, in the words of Starbucks CIO Stephen Gillett, "The role of the CIO is to really challenge and harness the talent and capabilities of the people you lead."

    Gillett's decision-making is a case in point. The coffee purveyor's IT chief since 2008, Gillett also runs digital initiatives for Starbucks (SBUX). He spearheaded its move to free Wi-Fi in all its stores coupled with a portal that includes free access to normally paid content, like the Wall Street Journal.

    By paying attention to how consumers were already using technology, Gillett was able to steer Starbucks in a customer-friendly direction that comes with fresh revenue opportunities. "We become a controlled window for trial and awareness for these properties," says Gillett, sounding more like a business-development exec than a bits-and-bytes man.

    Even the traditional role of the CIO -- buying equipment -- has evolved. Smart chief executives know that a CIO who understands money and technology can use tech purchases to cut costs, stimulate innovation, and improve efficiency. Gillett says Starbucks used the financial downturn -- a time when the company's slowing growth took the pressure off opening new stores -- to redesign its proprietary point-of-sale payment system from top to bottom, cutting costs and improving customer service speed in the process.

    And so as Fortune selects the executives who will make up our Executive Dream Team -- our equivalent of corporate all-stars -- we'll be looking for CIOs who have deployed technology in strategically savvy ways: Consider how FedEx (FDX), under CIO Rob Carter, has been a pioneer at utilizing wireless technology to move parcels through the company's massive network. Or how Cisco (CSCO) IT chief Rebecca Jacoby has lowered costs and increased employee accountability by letting employees choose their own laptops. Being CIO may never be the most obvious path to a corporation's top job. But no longer will the IT chief be relegated to the second string of folks in charge.