... key to greater corporate acceptance. “The CIO role is a very unique role, in that everyone in the organization knows and looks at us [when there is a problem] that we or our technology caused,” says Skanska’s Stockley. “But we [in the CIO’s office] have done a pretty good job of building relationships and really developing transparency in our group. It doesn’t give the feeling or appearance that change is being driven by IT. We try to support the goals of the organization. We try never to have initiatives, ever.”

But HNTB’s Wolgemuth insists that pushing marketing responsibilities on the IT function “has created a bad reputation for us.” He contends that CIOs “ought to be listening and not selling. To the extent that we have sold without understanding problems, then we’ve earned the reputation that says we don’t connect.”

Marrying technology with business goals is key. “I don’t have an IT department because I didn’t want technology to drive what we were doing,” says Dean Kershaw, president of Titan Facilities Inc., the Niceville, Fla.-based E&C unit of Titan Corp., a technology and defense conglomerate. “I wanted it to be the other leg of the stool, along with people and process.”

While CIOs are at the forefront of efforts to expand collaboration among employees and between firms and their peers or clients, some worry about how to meet new demands for information security and privacy.

“I have a few thousand people sitting on my network that are not our employees,” says Bechtel’s Ramleth. “We started a year ago writing a new e-mail policy, and we are still writing it because the environment is changing so fast that you don’t know what to put in. It started out to be a nice two-page document; now it’s 23 pages. It’s a very complicated environment.

Shaw Group’s Thompson says that the security of his firm’s industry collaborations is built on relationships and the “trust factor.” But he also admits that “a lot of times you get trust through contractual means.”

EMCOR’s Puglisi points to new responsibilities in managing corporate information under new federal rules, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley law that stiffens public company accounting. “The law shines a spotlight on the integrity of the security around systems,” he says.

Panelists predict that they eventually may have to introduce tighter controls or more exclusivity in e-mail and other IT systems. But such steps may be unaffordable for some firms, CIOs say.

The role of CIOs and IT management in fostering corporate culture development and an entrepreneurial spirit generated much debate among panelists.
CIOs predictably see information systems as a first line of defense against unsuccessful mergers and acquisitions. Puglisi contends that EMCOR’s corporate communications network was instrumental in more quickly acclimating employees of firms it purchased. “You talk about the cultural impact. This was becoming a part of EMCOR,” he says.

“We found that some very similar acquisitions leave organizations cultureless,” says Skanska’s Stockley. “Any time there is that much change, all organizations have to re-sort themselves. The system plays an amazing role in giving organizations a way to communicate and to talk, but ultimately, people have to re-establish culture.”

Panelists also worry about how to instill technology cost-effectiveness without harming the company’s entrepreneurial spark. “There certainly are economies of scale or efficiency to be gained by centralizing, standardizing and consolidating in many instances,” says Puglisi. “But we would never want to lose or even compromise the entrepreneurial spirit and connectivity to the local marketplace.”
KPF’s Brogan contends that it’s harder for firms to balance growing technological sophistication with risk, particularly among new hires. “We are constantly trying to push things that may or may not work,” he says.

Adds Wolgemuth: “While you want to feed the entrepreneurial spirit, you get the sense that you’re feeding the black hole. We need to [stop] throwing money into something that’s way too broadly defined to actually impact the business.”

Panelists offered an array of responses to questions about what keeps them up at night. Titan’s Kershaw focused on the overall challenge of being a technology manager because “right now, IT is the future of our business.” Bechtel’s Ramleth worries about how changing technology and demographics will affect staffing. “Will we have the people available and ready to do the job that will be required in the future?” he asks.

Skanska’s Stockley points to challenges in creating what he calls the “virtual organization.” He defines this as “an environment that allows for...any employee to do the job for the customer with the support of the whole organization.” Creating support systems to foster that is the tough part, Stockley says.

Shaw Group’s Thompson is challenged by the number of new responsibilities being added to his job, such as facilities and risk management. “That diversity is stretching me pretty far,” he says.

Authelet’s sleeplessness stems from the CIO’s continuing identity crisis. “You have to make sure people understand what we are doing and why,” he says. “It’s a constant question.” Puglisi is concerned that the construction industry hasn’t adopted new technology fast or far enough, “and in the next five or 10 years, it still won’t have changed very much.”

MWH’s Gulas worries about how to spread technology and new ideas solidly across an organization. “How do you create a process so that an idea imbeds?” he asks. He also warns of too much focus on costs. “At the end of five years, if all I had to show for working in this area was that I reduced costs, I’d be pretty upset with myself,” says Gulas. “You can’t optimize out innovation.”