Coca Cola and IT - The Real Thing

One company that seems to have got the message is Coca Cola. I was directed to an Information Week magazine video where the Coca Cola CIO -- Jean-Michel Ares -- details his approach to being more business-centric. His focus is business value.

Specifically he has:

• Repositioned IT as a partner to the business in creating value from senior management right through the organisation
• Created an IT strategy that is totally business centric rather than IT-centric
• Focused on growing and developing the IT talent
• Kept the technology architecture simple
• Refined the IT processes for greater efficiency.

He warns that in a down turn, CIOs need to focus on :

• Demand management
• Productivity and efficiency.

Again simplifying the environment is mentioned as is virtualisation.

Leaders on both sides of the business-IT fence would do well to track Coca Cola and its use of IT.