As I sit next to my fellow travellers on the train into London, I compare this summer against the last two - wetter, greyer and infinitely busier. Normally at CIO Connect, we use the summer lull to re-plan the second half of the year, think about next year and catch up on backlog. Not this year. We are involved in four game changing programs of advisory work with our members. Not huge but incredibly important to them.

Based on our direct experience - ourselves and the majority of our members, business is growing 'very nicely thank you'. Those of us who have emerged from the recession, are stronger, leaner and more focused. Our government cousins are still seeing cutbacks, and we are sharing the experience of a leaner and more focused way of delivering IT services to their organizations. We are all seeing increasing demands from our organisations for more - and that more is being defined as activities that takes the organisation forward. We predicted this in the CIO Agenda for 2011 that was developed from last year's conference.  It will be interesting to see what comes from this year's conference on the 4th and 5th October when we pull together the collective wisdom of about 200 senior IT Leaders influenced by this year's them 'Power to the People'. http://www.cioconnectconference.com/

So, what do I conclude on my journey about the remainder of this year. Our biggest danger is lack of confidence in ourselves and our abilities. Be aware of your organisations strengths and play to them. Understand your markets and identify and take advantage of opportunities. Plan and execute. Meet colleagues and share 'real world' experience. And turn of that depressing news - otherwise its easy to think there is nothing we can do. Summer has ended, its time to harvest and enjoy the produce.