More recently, Rimnac has become a strong advocate of disciplined methods and very thorough testing. He talked recently with Computerworld's Gary H. Anthes.

What's your biggest challenge in IT right now? We are trying to provide a consistent, highly integrated set of services across all our different sales channels. We want customers to get the same prices, the same information, the same set of services and so on. It's been a real challenge because we've had to build some tightly integrated systems to do that.

That creates a very complex environment that requires a substantial amount of testing and care to make sure you don't break something while trying to extend a capability somewhere else.

So how do you balance those things? We are still trying to puzzle through it. We are focusing on consistent process around development and testing, and we are doing as much as we can to automate those processes so we can execute them quickly.

And we are making sure there are a few key members of the management team who are directly responsible for this integration, people who can think broadly and see the big picture. It's a combination of IT people and some from the business.