The CIO 50 Weigh In On 2010 Budgets

Everything Channel recently named its first CIO 50, a group of end-user IT executives selected for their decision-making ability, willingness to partner with VARs and integrators and the size of their IT budgets this year. The group was honored at the recent Midsize Enterprise Summit West in Los Angeles. We plan to leverage their insights and their opinions going forward to help provide insight for VARs into the midsize market. For example, on average, most see flat IT budgets for 2010 while virtualization and business intelligence were popular solutions they were looking to deploy.



Here's a closer look at some of the individuals in the CIO 50 and what they expect to buy next year and what they want from solution providers.

Niel Nickolaisen
CIO of Headwaters



When Niel Nickolaisen isn't busy," TARGET="_blank">authoring a new book, he's busy planning on expanding South Jordan, Utah-based Headwaters' storage capabilities, streamlining its remote site backup and piloting mobile applications, and expanding its Sharepoint solution and business intelligence solutions. Headwaters expects a flat IT budget in 2010.



"We expect an upturn toward the middle of 2010 and are holding pat just in case the upturn does not come," Nickolaisen said.



The best channel partner, he said, is someone who "keeps their commitments, deals with me on my terms and on my schedule and does not treat our relationship as the path to a fast sales transaction. If so, we enjoy a long, win-win relationship."

Gary Allen
CTO, Amarillo Independent School District, Amarillo, Texas



The Amarillo Independent School District expects its IT budget to increase up to 15 percent, in part due to stimulus spending for education. Allen is looking at a SAN installation and software to allow secure network access for students and staff from remote locations. In addition, Amarillo will continue virtualizing its server farm and developing a pilot for a BI project rollout.



When choosing a channel partner, he wants "reliability when things don't go as planned, commitment to complete projects as promised."

Sergey Bushlyar
CIO and IT Director of Paul Capital Partners



A private equity firm, Paul Capital Partners looks to have a similar 2010 budget compared to this year, but finding ways to reduce expenses could make things a little more flexible, Bushylar said.





He's waiting for approval to begin virtualization and security projects and said he prefers to deal with channel partners that focus "on specific areas vs. having 20 lines of services."

Carl Gammon
Director of information systems, Minntech, Minneapolis



Minntech's IT budget is essentially flat, though Gammon's office now has office MFPs and copiers under his group, which has also started charging back some departments for telecommunications costs. The Minneapolis-based medical and water purification device manufacturer also is looking at server consolidation through virtualization and a SAN project. "Also, supply chain automation through wireless/RF throughout the warehouse and production areas. Other than those, most projects are maintenance or upgrades of existing technology," Gammon said.



Minntech first looks for channel partners with experience integrating to its existing ERP platform from a smaller vendor, Gammon said.



"Secondly, we look for a trust relationship we can develop with the company and its people," he said.

James Fielder
Vice president of information technology at Farm Credit Services of Illinois, Mahomet, Ill.



Like many of his peers, Fielder expects his 2010 IT budget to be flat compared to this year. His company is in the midst of creating a paperless office, which entails an enterprise content management solution with the supporting hardware and software.



"This will take the efforts of my server team, network team and business analysts. We will also work on rebuilding our Internet site. Microsoft SharePoint is the core application for both of these projects," Fielder said.





Farm Credit Services has happily used CDW as its channel partner for seven years. "We have built a relationship with them in that they know my environment. They have a presales process which allows me to conduct research without cost, and consequently, we have developed trust in their engineers and can go to them for various projects, and when we make our decision, they can fulfill my request," Fielder said.

Greg Katers
Director of IT and CIO at Green Bay Packaging



Not to be confused with the NFL team, Green Bay Packaging is a Wisconsin-based paperboard packaging company that is doing quite well. Katers expects his IT budget to be up 20 percent next year, with virtualization, VoIP, collaboration tools and dashboards on his agenda.



With regards to channel partners, he looks for "somebody that is willing to understand my business and how it works and works with our staff cohesively."

Chris Holda
Director of technology and information systems at Integrated Health Associates



Holda expects his budget to be flat or have a slight increase next year and he intends to focus on off-site data replication, data archiving and some varied security projects for the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company.



He lists three things that are important for VARs to have in order to do business with him, "Understands my business. Is easy to work with. Provides value," he said.

Michael W. Brown
Vice president of information systems, Peter Piper

Peter Piper, a Phoenix-based pizza restaurant chain, expects its IT budget to increase significantly from 2009. But that's because it fell significantly this year compared to 2008.



"In reality, I am just about flat to the longer trend line," Brown said. Peter Piper is implementing an online ordering system, a complete revamp of its Web site, a new telecom infrastructure and some BI initiatives for 2010.



Integrity is Brown's most sought-after trait regarding solution provider partners.



Also, "a track record of doing what was promised, providing feedback and counsel, and understanding my vertical domain," he said.

Rita Lazar-Tippe
IS Manager, Edmonton Journal



The Edmonton Journal, an Alberta, Canada, newspaper, expects its budget to be down 20 percent in 2010. Still, Rita Lazar-Tippe, IS manager, expects to forge ahead with server and desktop virtualization solutions, as well as VoIP and social media projects.



When it comes to partnering with a VAR, she looks for "reputation, share in the marketplace, support structure, pricing model, company vision and direction."

David Chin
Director of IT, Stanford Hotels

Stanford Hotels' 2010 IT budget is still "a work in progress," said Chin, but he's got several projects lined up for next year, including an ERP financial system upgrade, POS system upgrade, a CRM sales system upgrade and an e-mail archiving solution.



His top traits for a solution provider are honesty, "[be] truthful about what you can/cannot do; fair pricing, accurate time line estimates," knowledge and expertise; "[have] done project before with similar size company"; and good references.

Larry Frederick
CIO of the University of the Pacific, Stockton, Calif.



Frederick expects his IT budget to be flat next year, but he's looking at business intelligence and document management projects as well as collaboration tools centering on video.

He looks for VARs to have "relevant prior experience, affordable pricing, reliable and responsive, [and be] easy to do business with."