CIO’s have to raise their game

By admin | November 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment

CIO’s have felt for some time that their roles as part of the larger organisation have been changing, generally to be more “business focused” and moving them away from the “custodian of technology” role of the past. As we start to exit recession and businesses adapt to the new order of things (more economic uncertainty, tighter credit, more governance and so on) it seems to me that the CIO will have to raise their game in a very real and sustained way.

Here are a few of the areas where I see the CIO having to focus during the next 24 months in order to be seen as a valuable “head of business” :

1. They will have to promote (in a tangible way) much greater alignment between the IT organization and the business that it serves.

2. They will have to stop cost cutting “on the periphery” and make fundamental changes to the way in which IT is paid for, is consumed and delivers its services

3. They will have to consider new partnerships and delivery methods for each discrete IT service (considering “Cloud” and other service delivery methods) moving away from a “one size fits all” approach to delivery

4. They will have to work with the business to adopt new disruptive innovations that bring true completive advantage, through technology. A “continue as is” philosophy, in my view, will see the typical CIO being called-out and replaced as businesses fight their way out of recession and into the new commercial world.

Darren Thomson

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