CIOs Are Cost-Aware

January 22, 2001 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - In the article "Licensing Showdown Looming" [Page One, Jan. 1], Carlyle Ring asserts that he is "doubtful about that [$20 million increased expense] estimate being attributable to anything in UCITA." While his comment is predictable given his role in authoring the proposed act, it's worth noting that, to my knowledge, Ring hasn't spent any time as the CIO of a large corporation.

Those of us who are CIOs know our businesses, our infrastructures, our cost requirements and the detailed interplay among all of those much better than Ring does, just as he undoubtedly understands lawyering better than I. All of us in a CIO capacity have a professional obligation to judiciously and appropriately hold operating costs down. We strive to construct and manage infrastructures that can absorb or be flexible in adapting to business change without associated appreciable cost increases. The estimates that have been given to date aren't cavalier reactions, but rather the results of careful analyses where the participants were hoping that no increases would be required. That's just not how it turns out.

Bruce C. Barnes
Vice president, technology strategy and planning
Nationwide Insurance Cos.
Columbus, Ohio

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