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by Ronald Fink
CIOs continue to look to consolidate systems as they face budget constraints, according to a panel discussion held last night by CIOZone in New York City.
The technology officers told investors in the audience that their employers are still eager to standardize—and gain better control—over existing programs. The overriding goal? To keep a lid on costs.
While the panelists' said their employers might buy new technology to achieve those goals, the executives indicated that they are more likely to eliminate duplicative products, seek greater functionality from existing software, and outsource what they can to third-party providers. That suggests that a recovery in corporate tech spending is still a ways off.
MTV Networks, for example, is seeking a single content management system to replace the hundreds now used by its individual websites, said panelist Warren Habib, senior vice president for digital platform development.
"We have 400 plus websites doing their own thing," Habib , told the gathering, which was cosponsored by the investment firm of Monness Crespi Hardt. He added that MTV is "looking to pressure our vendors" by "playing them off each other," particularly when a vendor is dependent on its business with MTV.
Habib's observations were echoed by others on the panel. With an IT hiring freeze in place, Queens College in New York City is seeking to standardize systems and "centralize all investments," said Naveed Husain, chief information officer of the college, which is part of the City University of New York. Husain said that priority is shared throughout CUNY.
Yet Husain expressed some frustration with software programs that would help the college move to single platforms. In particular, he noted that those offered by Microsoft are easy to integrate but lack compatibility with Internet-based products, citing SharePoint, a project management system that he said is "easy to use but doesn't work with Java."
Forrester Construction of Rockville, Maryland, is also seeking to consolidate systems, though it's doing so by moving as many of its own to third parties. "I hate rebuilding servers in the morning," said Thomas Amrhein, CIO of Forrester. But Amrhein noted that he's freer than other IT officers to act on such hatred since he sits on Forrester's management committee, whereas many if not most CIOs report to their companies' CFOs.
The panelists' comments were echoed during informal discussions afterward. A consultant and former IT executive with a major pharmaceutical company noted that the drug-maker is struggling to find a software system that both captures and analyzes patient data from clinical drug trials.
The consultant said, for example, that the company was "pretty disappointed" by the result of Oracle's acquisition of CRM specialist Siebel Systems, from which he'd expected significant improvements. "I thought Oracle would be better with Siebel," said the consultant, noting that despite multiple conversations over the years in which Oracle assured the company "it's all coming," very little has materialized.
Meanwhile, he complained, Oracle's service charge recently rose from 22% to 24%, whereas Siebel charged only 17% before the acquisition.
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