CIO Journal

After launching iPads, social software and new training initiatives at the burger chain over the last eight years, CIO Chris Laping prepares to nourish his entrepreneurial spirit.

Shortly after clothing retailer Saks launched a discount website, its outlet stores showed increased sales for items promoted online. “When customers use digital first, conversion in stores increases,” said Michael Burgess, president of HBC Digital, the digital technology unit of Hudson’s Bay Co.

You cannot transform a large complex organization through business-as-usual objectives, CIO Journal Irving Wladawsky-Berger writes. A more entrepreneurial management style open to continuous experimentation is essential for any serious chance of success.

Carnival Corp. is analyzing vacation behavior data for ways to get passengers to spend more aboard ship. Even $1 per day per customer would mean millions.

The new Chrome security tool prompts Google account users to reset their passwords, which security expert Bruce Schneier calls a “clever idea.”

IT staff at Insight Enterprises Inc. are required to listen to quarterly earnings calls and follow up with business leaders about what they learned. It’s led to a fundamental shift in how IT functions within the company, says CIO Mike Guggemos.

The database software that serves flight information to the iPad app had created a duplicate chart for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, forcing the iPad app to shut down, delaying some flights on Tuesday.

IBM CIO Jeff Smith says that running a global IT group of 20,000 people raises certain challenges of operating at scale. He found that the solution logically led to local decision making by small, self-directed teams. “The challenge in a big company like this is that I have to abstract myself a bit more. I home in on leadership and culture and let them go solve the problems,” Mr. Smith said.

Companies are recognizing competitive advantages in reducing application deployment times.“There is no appetite anywhere… in the world to survive in a methodology that says ‘Hang on, I’ll get that to you in 24 months,” said Houghton Mifflin Harcourt CIO Brook Colangelo.