The new CIO Manifesto
Old manifesto has IT as a supporting function In organizations - often a cost centre. The new manifesto sees IT as a business differentiator. This will most likely see a clearer division between CIO and CTO. IT is increasing seen as a key lever for growth and productivity. Most CEOs surveyed (~80%) see revenues growing in the next 3 years and IT is one of the key enablers of this growth.
Business transformation (digitalization) is being enabled by technology growth and in response to key business drivers. IT really needs focus on enabling capabilities rather than running software and hardware. Externalization and joint innovation with the business is key.
Cross industry collaboration is starting to gain momentum. Different market sector participants are working together to build end user solutions without reinventing the wheel. Apple is a good example - it didn’t really invent anything, it joined some dots.
Enterprise architectures seem to be moving from tier models to aggregation, network models. Something to think about - this new manifesto may challenge the traditional EA models & practices. Security will be really impacted by the new manifesto.
It also affects data centers - no longer fortresses but managed swiss cheeses. The security perimeter is no longer a clearly visible circular boundary.
IT needs to talk in terms of economic & financial measures and business risks to build the relationships to support the new CIO manifesto.
Starbucks was offered up as an example that on the surface just sells coffee but actually federates with a bunch of organizations (wall street journal, apple, magazine publishers etc. ) to deliver a customer experience in their stores.
The views of CEOs and CIOs, in terms of what they want, are aligning more than they have before. The focus is on business results and not technology. That being said, ICT budgets are projected to stay flat so we need to continue to challenge how we invest ICT dollars.
CIO turnover is still high - 20 - 30 % - which is a result of the ‘steady as she goes’ approach which doesn’t align with senior business leader expectations. CIO reporting lines are unlikely to change too much. It comes down to results over structure. That being said, reporting to the CFO usually makes the work a bit harder because of the cost focus.
Overall I think we have recognized a bunch of the signals which are part of the new manifesto but we’ve got some gaps we need to close down around breaking down silos further, focussing away from IT & overhead processes and building better relationships with stakeholders.
We need to focus on building measurable and audit-able financial benefits for the organization in partnership with the business stakeholders. We also need to actively rebalance our spending towards business enablement, away from just keeping the lights on (which we can source in more optimal & cost effective ways).