Message from SIM

v As we celebrate during the approaching holidays with loved ones and friends, we have much to be thankful for. The year 2004 has been outstanding for SIM and for MISQE. Our partnership has flourished, one example being the SIM white paper winners, which represent successful practitioner projects. In this edition of MISQE you will find the first place finisher, a paper titled " Innovation through Supply Chain Recon-figuration " submitted The second and third place papers will be published in future editions. Some other SIM highlights of note: • SIMposium 2004, hosted jointly by FEI (the professional organization of CFOs) and SIM, provided insightful, challenging messages to 700 senior executives. The Chicago SIM chapter planned the event and did an outstanding job! • We have a new speakers bureau, hosted by the New York SIM chapter, to help the chapters select speakers for their programs. • The Wisconsin and Portland SIM chapters are taking full advantage of the online events registration tool available on www.simnet.org. Several SIM chapters are also anticipating the use of our online payment capability for 2005 membership renewals. We are automating the SIM chapters' back office. • Once again this year, SIM surveyed its members on issues facing IT executives. By a large margin, the No. 1 issue is the alignment of IT with business. Other areas receiving a high numbers of votes were IT Employee Retention , Security & Privacy, IT Strategic Planning, and Speed & Agility. More details on this year's survey will be published shortly. See the June 2004 MISQE edition for an articled on the 2003 survey authored by SIM Atlanta chapter member Eph McLean and New Jersey's SIM chapter member Jerry Luftman. • SIM introduced and piloted a new program, Strategic Business Leadership, for chapters to help our members more closely align with business colleagues. • Seattle chapter member and Regional Learning Forum graduate Scott Macklin created a marvelous 5 minute video about SIM's accomplishments , which introduced the 2004 SIMposium conference. • We have developed relationships with an outstanding list of select and special partners in-and our Wisconsin Chapter is leading a SIM Special Interest Group on the topic of offshore outsourcing. Sub-topics include criteria for entrance, communications, and human resources. Kate also co-authored an article on this subject for the June 2004 edition of MISQE. • SIM is also aligning with FEI to address IT issues associated with …