Dear Reader,

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Taos Trusted Advisor. In keeping with IT lingo, we're referring to the "new" Taos newsletter as an upgrade, or version 2.0, if you will. The intent is to keep you abreast of the things that are important to you in this fast-paced, changing-every-30-days industry.  We've re-launched this time with more intentionality around connecting our communities of IT executives, IT line management and consultants to the wealth of information and experiences we've gained and been exposed to via our extensive engagements within the Bay Area. Our newsletter consolidates what we're hearing and learning in the field and offers it to you in the context of counsel on how to make your organization more profitable and more successful. We hope you enjoy the newsletter and encourage you to forward it to others who may also be interested in reading it.

Warmest regards,
The Executive Leadership Team at Taos

Success Story

CFO Finds Value in Taos'
Relationship-oriented Approach
By Erin Boyd, Staff Writer

"I've come to really place a lot of confidence in Taos' judgment and I really like Ric Urrutia's leadership style.  He's very relationship-oriented and conveys that he is interested in investing over the long-term in relationships and that means making the best decisions for the customers, which is a great approach.  It isn't always the near-term maximizing approach for Taos, but it's resulted in me coming back again and again because I feel when push comes to shove, Ric and his team are going to help me look smart and solve problems that really are in the best interests of my company and my situation."
- Charlie Webster, CFO, Calera Corporation (formerly Tessera)

Read more ...

"A Recession is a Terrible
Thing to Waste"
By Ric Urrutia, Co-Founder & CEO, Taos

In January of last year, I predicted that while a serious and large recession was in store for the United States, the impact on Silicon Valley would be significantly less severe due to our global footprint, in terms of both our client and employee base. While it's true that it's been less painful here in the Bay Area, the recession has been global; deeper and broader than anyone could have anticipated. The subsequent meltdown of financial markets rocked the confidence of both enterprises and individual investors.  Read more...

Delivering IT Value
Through Leadership
By Mark Johnson, VP of Strategy & Customer Solutions, Taos

The Spring 2008 IT Directions event marked a turning point for our invitation-only, direction-setting and networking event.  This turn of events was the result of a maturing of investments we've made in our flagship IT Management Consulting Group - Office of the CIO (OCIO). After more than two years of listening to and working with IT leadership teams at nameplate clients across the greater Bay Area, we uncovered a challenge common to many - IT's struggle to deliver increased value. IT value delivery is often constrained by the capability and capacity of the IT leadership team to envision and lead the transformations necessary to get to where they want to be.  Read more...