ABSTRACT
For Ron Kifer, CIO at Applied Materials, there are a number of contributing factors to the Operations versus Strategy Paradox but “the biggest is the fact that it is really tough to be strategic when your pants are on fire,” he says. “The majority of CIOs are pretty much facing the same situation: a legacy of years of underinvestment in IT and poorly integrated applications.” With approximately 80 percent of the IT budget going toward maintenance, “the bulk of their time, money, and talent are not focused on business-enabling change leadership,” says Kifer.
