... going to see it in action. "The best credential that anything is going well is going and seeing it," he said.
However, no source should be taken at face value for CIOs, with some tech execs suggesting more effort should go into researching the sources of CIO information than the actual information itself. "You've got to be 100 percent sure you're getting advice from the correct place," Parakala said, adding that independence of any advice is crucial.
Can somebody help me?
CIOs can't possibly go to every conference on offer — giving the CIO's team a chance to come into its own, by helping gather information.
Staff can be helpful in filtering information, picking out the interesting tidbits, Peter Nevin, former CIO of engineering consultants Sinclair Knight Merz noted at the IDC Directions 08 event recently. "By 12:00 I've been told 10 new technologies," he said.
However, staff being used as an information hoover need guidance, according to Deloitte's Ryan, who says sending them out to big conferences without telling them specifically what they are to look for means "all they do is come back with sore heads". He suggests flagging three things for direct reports to look for at conferences.
Accenture's Barker says that CIOs will be able to delegate going to conferences only if they have chosen their employees for the way they can see the connection between technology and business. "Anyone can attend a conference but it's the ability to synthesise, to say I know how this affects business," he said.
Once the pieces are there, the jigsaw begins
When the information has been gathered, what do CIOs do with it? Sinclair Knight Merz's Nevin tries to see directions in the torrent.
"It's almost a bit of...
