Symposiums

January 31, 2008
8:30am – 10:30am

Social networking at the most basic level is about making and using connections among people. The technologies related to social computing and networking such as MySpace, Facebook, Digg, collaborative wikis, interactive blogs, and even Second Life are now an established part of the consumer consciousness. Concepts such as flatness, openness, peer recommendation, interactive, global integration, and innovation enablement are linked to social networking by many observers. Yet, the business value and impact of these concepts and associated technologies is unclear. Does it really make sense to change a well managed traditional organization by replacing hierarchical controls with flat, open, interactive technologies? Or do traditional organizations already operate through an informal social network and the question is more about how you further leverage and enable. Do you as a manager really want every employee to interact with you and know everything about you and everybody else in the firm? Will innovation really result from these concepts or will it lead to a cacophony of discordant voices? Should you change your marketing strategy so that the future focus for example is placing viral videos on MySpace or YouTube? Should you conduct your next recruiting fair in Second Life? Will your new hires think, interact, and function in totally different ways? Are there new markets and opportunities that are enabled and accessed by these concepts and technologies? In this panel discussion we will explore the current state of social networking and discuss its business implications.

Panelists

• Dominic Boffa, VP and CIO, Aramark Higher Education
• Joan Morris DiMicco, Research Scientist, IBM
• Annie Heckenberger, Social Media Director, Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation
• Chris Kearns, Manager, Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Services
• Colleen McMahon, Director, GlaxoSmithKline

Moderator

• Munir Mandviwalla, Executive Director, Institute for Business and Information Technology

 

April 18, 2007
2:00 to 4:30 PM

The theme is global integration in 2010 and the participants will consider the challenges of operating and managing across organizational, geographic, and technical boundaries. The symposium will identify key managerial and technical issues that will shape practice and academic research.

Panelists

• Daniel T. Garrett, PriceWaterhouseCoopers
• Munir Mandviwalla, Associate Professor, Temple University
• Frank R. Sanchez, President – Enterprise Solutions, Fidelity National Information Services, Inc.
• David Schuff, Assistant Professor, Temple University
• Doreen A. Wright, Senior Vice President and CIO, Campbell Soup Company
• Youngjin Yoo, Associate Professor, Temple University

Moderator

• Paul Weinberg, Professor and Executive in Residence, Temple University

February 27, 2007
8:00 to 10:30 AM
Room 222
1515 Market Street
Temple University Center City Campus

It is now more important than ever for the IT executive to ensure that IT is delivering business value to the organization. Business value goes beyond simply assuring delivery of standardized IT services or equipment such as networks, computers, phones, and other technologies. Delivering business value includes revenue generation and cost reductions through rigorous process improvements by applying practices such as six/lean sigma. Business value generation initiatives will directly improve the bottom-line profitability, avoid costs, and improve employee productivity. Organizations need processes in place to evaluate projects in terms of business value and measures to track and communicate the benefits. IT organizations also need to learn to say ‘no’ to investments that won’t payback and aggressively identify opportunities that will increase revenue, reduce costs and/or improve cycle time. In this panel discussion we will explore the current state of the art of assessing and delivering business value of IT.

Panelists

• Arjun Bedi, Partner, Accenture
• Eric Dzwonczyk, Senior I.T. Director: Global R&D and New Product Development, Campbell Soup Company
• Andy Lay, Senior Manager and Systems Engineer – Corporate Process Improvement, Lockheed Martin
• Jazz Tobaccowalla, VP of Research & Development IS, Wyeth

Moderator

• Milan Kunz, Vice President, Process & Systems Improvement Information Technology, GlaxoSmithKline

April 20, 2006
7:30 to 10:00 AM
Fox/Gittis Foyer
Liacouras Center
Temple University Main Campus

Wireless network applications are now being deployed at an ever increasing pace. The vision is that these applications can provide the basis for new kinds ofcorporate and consumer applications.   The panel discussed some of the endless opportunities that are being pursued today, and, the ‘art of the possible’ to pursue tomorrow.  With wireless networks appearing almost everywhere, and the variety of access methods increasing from computers, to PDA’s, to cell phones, we discussed the benefits and the concerns of this rapidly evolving environment.  The benefits of the anytime-anywhere connectivity will greatly increase a consumer’s ability to find, inquire, map, order and pay for almost anything whenever and wherever they are.

Philadelphia’s investment in wireless networks will make it very affordable for almost anyone to get onto the wireless superhighway.  One of the first in the country, Philadelphia’s investment in wireless is being reviewed by many other major cities for replication.  In the consumer markets, cell phones can be used to remind people what they need purchase when they walk passed a store.  Vacations can now be spent with the capability of video conferencing back home to ensure the family is well.  The panel confirmed that the list of opportunities is endless.  The panel also confirmed that standards need to converge, frequencies can interfere with each other, and security MUST be imbedded into the applications and the connectivity.  While thinking out-of-the-box on opportunities, thorough testing is more important than ever.

Panelists

• Thomas M. Borger, Vice President, Global Consumer Healthcare IT, GlaxoSmithKline
• George D. Chizmar, Vice President – Information Technology, Apple Vacations
• Derek N. Pew, Interim CEO, Wireless Philadelphia
• Clifton Roscoe, General Manager, EarthLink Municipal Networks
• Elena Malykhina, Associate Editor, InformationWeek

Moderator

• David Kaufman, Senior VP and CIO, Aramark

February 21, 2006

For any corporation, and thus for the CIO, there will always be a need to strike a balance between the need to protect the privacy of their clients’ (or employees) data and the need to use those data for legitimate business purposes. In order to manage this process effectively, the CIO and technology organization needs to understand all the stakeholders and their competing interests. Personal data is used by commercial, governmental, and non-profit organizations for a variety of institutional and societal benefits: to evaluate and manage risk, to evaluate and pursue market opportunities, and to enhance our general social welfare. We discussed the fact that much of what is considered personal information may, in fact, be public information, but in combination with other sensitive information such as medical or financial data becomes highly risky information and needs to be private and secured. We also discussed that the legal and regulatory approach to the issue worldwide is to a) secure the data and b) emphasize consumers rights to notice of an institutions practice, a consumers choice on how information is collected, and consumers access to view information’s accuracy. For the technology community then, the challenge is primarily one of determining what data must they protect and secure, what controls do they put in place to secure it, how do they test to insure those controls are working properly, and how do they prove they have tested those controls. A further challenge is present in having to monitor the plethora of regulatory requirements that are issued at the global, federal and state level since there is no uniform framework for data privacy protection. We discussed some ways that Technology organizations work with their counterparts in Legal and Compliance organizations to work effectively to track the changing policy landscape. But the basics of information security management, as represented in many of the frameworks such as COBIT, are the starting points for creating a control infrastructure.

Panelists

• Craig Conway, Senior Vice President, First Data Prepaid Services
• Partha Bhattacharya, Director of Security Engineering, Cisco Systems
• Eric Hudson, Senior Vice President and CIO, Foamex International, Inc
• James Koenig, Practice Co-Leader, Privacy Strategy & Compliance, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Moderator

• Judith E. Tschirgi, Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President, SEI