Plugging Into Technology Is Just the Beginning. Managers Must Make the Data Matter Or Risk Irrelevance.
In a business climate where change is the only constant, the core function of a chief information officer (CIO) is dramatically evolving, too. Their success no longer hinges on how technology performs; IT results are now measured by tangible business outcomes.
So is your company’s CIO performing up to par?
As business intelligence drives opportunities and growth, here are several metrics that CIOs must prove, says René Aerdts, an HP Fellow and chief technologist of the Information Technology Outsourcing and Business Process Outsourcing service lines within the Chief Technology Office of HP Enterprise Services:
- Top and bottom–line objectives
- Greater speed and increased margins
- Risk mitigation, capital expenditures and revenue growth
Previously, the CIO was a technician who deployed technology to keep the business running while simultaneously reining in costs. Few resources were allocated to growing the enterprise’s capabilities.
That was then. Today’s successful CIO must not only sustain operations, but also help transform the entire organization by improving performance, expanding market opportunities and serving customers.
And that includes creative endeavors, too. Steven Peltzman, CIO of The Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA), isn’t just concerned with security and internal technology needs – he’s looking at the big picture. This year MoMA debuted a substantial Web site renovation, and last year he helped launch a Wi-Fi system intended to not only heighten visitors’ experience by allowing them to download museum tours and exhibit commentary on their handheld devices, but also to broaden the museum’s audience through podcasts, videos and enhanced social media.
“In the past, CIOs looked at problems from a technical perspective and their focus was the optimization of the acquisition, integration and application of information technology. Simple as that,” Aerdts says. “Now, the CIO’s role is expanding into the CEO’s role.”
The hyper-competitive business climate, says Aerdts, demands steady alignment of the CIO and the executive office; a relationship to drive business process optimization rather than technology optimization.
What does this alignment look like? Susan Cramm, founder of Valuedance, an executive coaching firm, says that IT is gradually morphing from an expense to be managed into an investment to be leveraged, with IT leaders working in tandem with senior-level executives to define strategies, manage investments, drive innovations and assess risks. Yet internal resistance can often derail this alignment.
“While it’s true that alignment has improved and IT is more business-smart, the majority of business leaders remain fixed in their view that there is business work and IT work,” she writes in her white paper Circa 2015: The CIO of the future. “Without a change in this mindset, the IT-smart digital natives that are starting to populate the business ranks will have little positive impact on the future of IT.”
Thus, forward-thinking executives who view IT as a growth engine of the corporation and a core component of the business will have a distinct competitive advantage.
This means the CIO must be a leader with a multidimensional focus that zeros in on context rather than just content: IT leaders must make data matter. “Don’t give me 100 facts, give me the five facts that are relevant to the problem that I’m working on,” Aerdts explains.
IT success must be measurable. In the past, the sole barometer assessing IT results was the cost associated with processing data. Now business leaders must understand and gauge their technology investments in terms of enterprise performance, innovation and business growth. What business value are you wringing from your IT investments?
“The current role of the CIO is completely different from what it was 15 years ago,” Aerdts concludes. “The CIO’s role in the future will be far different than it is today. If we peer into the crystal ball, we will see the CIO as more of a change agent, a big-picture strategist. Those who can efficiently generate relevant information and put it into proper business context will be the successful CIOs of the future.”