What should CIOs know in order to stay ahead of the curve?
When companies decide to develop their business on a global scale, technology either becomes an enabler or an inhibitor in executing the expansion strategies. While his business peers pursue new territories, the CIO is expected to manage an effective IT function and also assume the role of business visionary.
What we call the “adaptive” CIO is someone with a clear vision of running technology in a borderless world. This new-style IT executive understands that global distribution channels and operations on different continents require an agile IT strategy. Combining business savvy with a holistic view is what differentiates an adaptive CIO from his less-fit peers.
Here is a five-step plan that will prepare the CIOs for taking their organization on this global journey
1. Develop an enterprise-wide IT strategy
CIOs need a clear view on their organization’s supply or value chain. A good global operating model requires IT to take a unified approach to Enterprise Architecture and provide the technological capabilities to support enterprise-wide processes. In a globalized context, the need for integrated and standardized business processes determines the need for IT decisions to be taken on a central level.
The enterprise IT strategy itself should center on a flexible, “plug- and-play” IT architecture that supports global processes and relies on shared services centers, the Cloud and virtualization. Today’s technology platforms must provide web-oriented features and offer the business an extended portfolio of collaboration, intelligence and mobile services that adhere to the “anywhere, anytime” credo.
2. Set up an intelligent governance framework
Sound governance balances the cost of running IT with productivity improvements and business continuity. It aligns the IT governance archetype with the current operating model. Successful CIOs understand that strategic IT investments have to be taken as a duopoly: a duopoly is a governance style where both business and IT executives are involved in the decision-making.
When cost reductions become the prevailing imperative, an intelligent approach to IT funding will safeguard the enterprise from making the wrong technology decisions. In other words, organizations must plan and monitor IT investments across the enterprise instead of managing silos. The focus of the adaptive CIO is on IT initiatives that streamline cross-border operations and facilitate the roll-out of web-oriented distribution models for e-banking, trading or logistics functions.
IT executives that want to set up an effective governance ecosystem for IT investments can resort to the VALIT 2.0 framework. They will benefit from a transparent RACI matrix that determines accountability of business and IT executives in the field of value governance, IT investments and the IT portfolio.
3. Develop and attract business competencies
Next-gen knowledge workers have the best of both worlds, and in the case of IT, they combine business competences with technology expertise. Running in hybrid mode means that the CIO attracts lateral thinkers, communicators, and people with a mixed business/IT background. They do not isolate themselves from the business crowd but rather have the ability to mix and mingle with non-IT peers. Similarly, IT leadership in 2012 assumes IT people to take up a liaison function with the demand side of the organization and play the role of relationship builder. The new IT leaders thrive in an environment of multi-sourcing and intensive vendor management, and they adapt swiftly to a new ecosystem. The next generation of IT employees will have to infuse the IT organization with business-related competencies, preparing it for a more strategic role and sustainable role.
4. Bring conversations into the organization
Product development, customer service and market expansion will become more effective when there are is Just-In-Time Intelligence - that is, access to accurate and timely data on demand. Social media is redefining the way consumers act and interact with the enterprise. Now, clever IT executives see the increasing importance of globally accessible information as a way to deploy a master information plan. This blueprint goes beyond the simple function of storing data; it sees the enterprise information architecture in terms of collective intelligence, co-creation, content sharing and activity streaming.
Enterprise content-management systems combined with Enterprise 2.0 collaboration technologies such as wikis, activity streams, unified communications or social networks, will prepare the organization for the looming challenges of the digital era. The corporate intranet assumes the role of a global knowledge hub and offers aggregation, localization and mobile features. In this model, employees can easily share, publish and comment upon information that goes around the enterprise. Collaboration platforms facilitate cross-border community-building and will let the enterprise manage collective data to improve customer intimacy and decision making. In the 2.0 ecosystem, the knowledge worker turns into a conversation manager thus improving the Return On Information by leveraging the implicit knowledge in the organization.
5. Be the fittest of the pack
While it’s clear that the role of the CIO is evolving from IT executive to business executive, making this quantum leap will require a holistic approach to managing IT in a global business landscape.
Adaptive IT executives take an enterprise view of IT governance. They streamline IT demand and supply and align them with global supply chains and value chains. Systems, tools and processes support intercontinental business units.
Nevertheless, even adaptive CIOs can’t achieve these goals in a vacuum. They have to respond quickly to market and industry changes and become forward thinking and opportunity-driven. The next-gen CIO understands that bringing in the cloud, virtualization technologies, multi-sourcing or data security are decisions that require executive commitment.
To achieve all this, aligning business and IT strategy requires more than the yearly budget round. It calls for integrated structures, processes and relational mechanisms where IT decisions are seen as investments and enablers of the business strategy. In that perspective, the year 2012 will definitely raise the bar for CIOs and IT executives.
If you want to learn how to cope with the challenges IT leaders are facing today and tomorrow, you can enroll yourself for this fall’s IT seminar on “Successfully aligning business and IT” on 24-25 November 2011.
During this two-day workshop you will learn more about the role of communications, governance and enterprise architecture as tools for better business/IT alignment. Interact with your peers and engage in conversations on the role of IT, innovation and technology investments in times of changing business priorities. The workshop is hosted by Jeroen Derynck, a seasoned speaker and expert in the field of Communications, IT Strategy, Program Management and Business Administration. To found out more about the seminar, download the agenda here.