Editor's Note: One Reward I Can Do WIthoutEditor's Note: One Reward I Can Do WIthout

It was one of those days. Traffic was awful (what's new?). It was cold and rainy (someone please tell Mother Nature that spring has started). I got stuck in a middle seat on the airplane, and the person in front of me giggled incessantly (didn't she know I was having a bad day?). And then there was the shrimp story that made me wonder what kind of reward business-technology managers deserve, when they've spent several years dealing with cost cutting, budget pressures, unbelievably complex architectures, business-process reengineering, compliance, legacy systems, and customer demands.

You see, it seems that there's a seafood restaurant chain that said earlier this year that if NASA's Mars project found evidence of an ocean on Mars, it would offer everyone in the United States one free shrimp (really--I read it in The Wall Street Journal). The restaurant will live up to that promise in May, but what I found more intriguing was the company's statement: "There's no better way to recognize their giant accomplishments than with free Giant Shrimp for America." Really? There's no better way?

That got me thinking about the rewards for business-technology managers who explore global boundaries and drive boundless innovation. Certainly, there are many rewards--new growth opportunities, higher productivity, more efficiencies, happier customers. For those of you attending the information Spring conference this week, I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on what separates the leaders from the laggards in the limitless world where business and technology are so deeply entwined. If you can't be there, we'll keep you informed on our Web site and in coming issues. Meanwhile, I'm going to check out the supply-chain systems behind this restaurant chain. I hope they're fully optimized!

Stephanie Stahl
Editor
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