Why CIOs aren't talking so much about technology

So even though open source is making waves in the public and numerous other sectors and mobile and wireless is becoming strategic for many organisations, it would seem even some of the most powerful CIOs in the UK would rather concentrate on getting the basics right.

At least that's one conclusion that could be drawn from a debate yesterday between the IT chiefs of British Airways, BSkyB and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) at the UK Technology Summit in London. LSE CIO David Lester said Linux has a "pretty minimal share" of the annual IT spend" where he is and spoke first and foremost about something fairly obvious for a trading platform - transaction certainty.

Later on some of the big bosses in mobile, from companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Symbian and Vodafone expressed disbelief that wireless also hadn't figured higher on CIOs' 'to do' lists.

However, wireless and open source are on agendas. It's just that when a CIO has to sit down and explain everything to a board, they have to first and foremost start with two important words: "Everything's working." That simply heads the list.

To stick with the LSE for a moment, Lester and his predecessors settled on four key providers: Accenture, HP, MCI and Microsoft. "Suppliers tend to give us pretty good service," he said, and it's not difficult to imagine why. With juicy contracts in their hands, these companies have to, in Lester's words, "share [the LSE's] concerns and understand the business issues".

Similarly Simon Post, group IT director and strategy BSkyB, said: "My CFO hammers me on delivery. He asks: "Are we getting more efficient?'."

Clearly the choice of technology, using wireless, for example, can help. But Paul Coby, BA CIO and some shaver of about a third off that airline's IT costs, explained today's situation further.

"Cost matters but delivery matters more," he said. "I set up a business transformation department [at BA]. Most of the time we found the technology works but the business change fails."

He added: "There are no IT projects, only business projects."

These men, at the top of the IT profession, are a timely reminder that technology is important, sure, but business always comes first.

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