CIO Journal

Philosophers, scientists and certain Japanese filmmakers understand reality's contradictions. Now more organizations are applying that learning to make better decisions and predictions within the very messy world of data science and complex systems, CIO Journal Columnist Irving Wladawsky-Berger writes.

Technology is moving ahead at a much faster pace than the typical corporate board, but a handful of companies, including Morgan Stanley, have started board-level technology committees. "At its core, an investment bank is run on information and the technology to deploy it,” says Tom Glocer, chairman of the Morgan Stanley board’s tech committee.

Yaacov Cohen says social media provides the information that informs decision-making, but when the time comes to make a decision, he finds that email is the tool of choice. “Email is our task manager. It is how we get things done,” he says.

Only a small minority of corporate boards have technology committees, despite the fact that many companies rely on business models built on data analytics, algorithms and software tools.

The move by Michael Gorriz comes as the emerging market-focused bank works to overcome a rough 2014. The bank said it plans to sell businesses, cut some low-return clients and cut gross annual costs by about $1.8 billion over the next three years.

A survey of more than 1,000 CIOs, IT VPs and IT directors, conducted over the past 90 days, found virtualization to be the top priority for 2015, followed by data breach laws and enterprise architecture.

Jack Clare will play a more integral role in helping the company turn doughnuts into dollars. Along with leading the company’s IT department, he will now oversee the company’s long-term strategic planning process. He will also join the firm’s Leadership Team, a combination of line-of-business and functional leaders who directly advise the CEO.

"Overall, it's been pretty successful, but it doesn't mean that there aren't opportunities for improvement," Mr. Hurd said Wednesday, about the company's customer relationships.

A move to a larger vendor from a smaller vendor can be a disruptive experience for CIOs, especially if they enjoyed a modicum of control and more communication on new software features and functionality.