If only IT leaders had road maps to guide them. No such luck. Instead, the problems they face are typically as unique as their organizations. What's more, they are often under huge pressure not only to succeed, but to do so quickly. Frequently unheralded, these IT leaders are an integral part of the corporate race to stave off competition and respond to customers.
This year's Best in Class winners met those challenges. With the backing of their organizations, they combined ingenuity and hard work with a talent for anticipating future needs.
The nature of Humana's high-volume health claims business, for example, ruled out using commercial tools to meet its goal of more accurately predicting rates. Instead, led by Chief Technology Officer Brian LeClaire, the IT team built its own set of predictive models that are driving down costs for customers. Consider, too, Marriott's revenue management system, which was so tightly tied to its reservation system that Howard Melnick, senior vice president of information resources application services, chose to build an integrated system in-house. So far, IT support costs have been cut by a third.
Now in its fourth year, Computerworld's Premier 100 Best in Class awards honor leaders like these. They are a select subset of the 2005 Premier 100 honorees who are being recognized for creating business value through innovative technology projects. To choose this year's 12 winners, a panel of judges and Computerworld editors evaluated many worthy candidates. We focused on projects that had measurable payback, strategic importance to business, substantive customer impact, and new revenue or costs savings.
Not every organization can chart new territory or overcome unforeseen problems. These 12 award-winners succeeded in doing so, however, and we hope their stories inspire you to do the same. Go to the special report.
Best In Class IT Leaders 2005
Stories in this report:
- Ahead Of The Curve: Best In Class IT Leaders 2005
- The Judges
- Reinsurance Group Simplifies on Global Scale With Administration System
- BP Pioneers Large-Scale Use of Wireless Sensor Networks
- Marriott Links Two Data Streams With Revenue Management System
- Kansas City International Creates Secure Data Flow With Converged Network
- Southern California Edison speeds meter service with asset management system
- UPS Leverages Real-Time Data With Package-Flow Application
- Aflac speeds policy processing with re-engineered legacy code
- Ogilvy Harnesses the Web for Its File Transfer System
- Delphi Strengthens Suppliers With Standardized Portal
- Unicef Connects Relief Workers With VSAT Satellite System
- Humana Digs Deep Into Its Data With Predictive Modeling
- Nasdaq Pools Daily Trade Data With Electronic Auction System