Posted by kevin kern
I recently read an article in “Midmarket CIO” entitled “Business technology is the challenging next step in IT Transformation.” The article challenges CIO’s to take IT and Business Alignment to the next level. It challenges CIO’s to get beyond simply complying with business needs and challenges IT leaders to have an opinion and a willingness to stand with non-IT leaders.
Makes sense to me. I’ll bet every CIO wants to be a trusted advisor to the business leaders in their organization, to be able to challenge them on business strategy and direction. Most CIO’s are very smart and strategic and can help bring innovative ideas to their business counterparts to further growth, efficiency, and innovation.
To me, though, a price of entry for having these conversations is that CIO’s need to demonstrate that they have their own “house in order” before they can start telling business leaders how to be more innovative. Most IT organizations are held together with chewing gum and bailing wire, utilizing spreadsheets and home-grown tools for managing projects, operations, resources, and budgets. And this causes CIO’s to constantly be in reactionary mode, struggling to give the business information on why projects are constantly late and why IT can’t get to all the pent-up enhancement requests. This is what I call “managing through the rearview mirror.” When IT organizations don’t have an integrated system for managing projects, operations, resources, and budgets, they are constantly going to be looking in the rearview mirror for something that might be coming at them from behind.
A strong IT Governance process and A strong IT Governance process and tool can help CIO’s get out of the business of “managing through the rearview mirror” and into the business of looking forward and being proactive.
Posted by Tim Madewell
The Center for Collective Intelligence (http://cci.mit.edu) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is established around the basic research question: "How can people and computers be connected so that-collectively-they act more intelligently than any individuals, groups, or computers have ever done before?"
I think this is a fantastic opening question to any software (or services) company looking to establish a solid value proposition. Or to take the position of any IT executive, how will the software connect with my organization, both people and processes, to allow my business to act more intelligently?
While the research and purpose of this Center is much larger and more impactful than a specific software application, it does generate a number of tactical questions and observations relevant to the current state of software today... web 2.0, the Cloud, Software-as-a-Service, On Demand...
Where have the services gone?
The increase of business and enterprise-class software moving to a software as a service (SaaS) or On- Demand model has influenced more than just shifting the infrastructure and models used to host and run the software, cloud based computing has also shifted the cost and service model for corporate software. The services involved with implementing SaaS applications have come under intense price pressure and are demanded to be "in-line" with a model of no up-front costs, recurring license subscription, and in many cases a free trial in some form. On a side note, Lincoln Murphy, Managing Director at Sixteen Ventures recently published a good paper titled, "The Reality of Freemium in SaaS" (http://sixteenventures.com). In many cases implementation services in today's SaaS world means customer self-service or a nominal service charge for a limited configuration and training. Many thanks to the advances in technology and user interface design. So who is responsible for the success of a SaaS implementation and what is success in the SaaS world? In other words, who is responsible for connecting the people and computers?
In the past, the vendor or large system integrators would include the program and project management, communications, change management ...with the scope of work. This was accepted and "in-line" with a model of multi-million dollar software license purchases, hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital expenditure, and million dollar plus implementation service contracts. Successes and failures aside, in essence the vendor or system integrator signed up to partner with the customer to manage the process integration and change management that goes with the software. Today the project war room is gone, and the "Change Agent" is not included with a SaaS or "Freemium" model!
There is a new partnership model emerging that brings a fresh approach to providing services. The ultimate measure of success for a SaaS business is renewals. Interestingly, this brings the customer and the vendor closer together on the measure of success, adoption and value realization. The exit criteria has not changed...the exit criteria is gone!
What has not changed is the need for strong sponsorship and leadership to change the business and systems so they may collectively act more intelligently. Critical to the success of any initiative and not to be taken lightly even though the upfront commitment in $$$ may be gone. Who will step up in your organization to deliver the leadership and drive change management needed for success? Who will connect the people and the computers?
Posted by Keith Carlson
Welcome to our new 21st Century CIO Blog, where we will contemplate the topics and issues affecting today's CIO including Technology Innovation, IT Governance Best Practices, Partnering with the Business, and the Business of IT.
The experiences shared in this blog will be extremely practical, drawn upon from our shared experiences. My posts will be based on my experience running technology organizations and delivering hundreds of technology projects over the course of 25 years, but perhaps the most interesting stories I have to share will come as a result of the meetings I have with CIO's around the country and the world. One of the greatest benefits of my job is that I have the privilege of meeting with CIO's, listening to their experiences, and understanding the challenges they face daily.
In looking at the challenges facing today's CIO, I'm struck by the recent IBM study of 2,500 CIOs entitled, "The New Voice of the CIO." This groundbreaking study interviewed (in-person, mind you) 2,500 CIOs in 78 countries and 19 industries and discussed their challenges, changing demands, and strategies. One of the most striking statistics is that an impressive 55 percent of their time is spent on activities that spur innovation and 45 percent of their time is spent on more traditional CIO tasks related to "managing the ongoing technology environment." How does this statistic compare to what I commonly hear from CIO's:
- "We spend 25% of our time on strategic activities and 75% of our time on KTLO (Keep The Lights On) activities." CIO, large media and entertainment company
- "IT has a poor reputation for delivery ... the business can't rely on IT." CIO, Major University
- "IT needs to be more fact and data-driven, rather than gut-feel." CIO, Health Care Organization
These are the most common quotes I hear from CIOs. Are these at odds with the results of the IBM study? I don't think so. I think the IBM study is actually a leading indicator of where CIOs are going: they're spending most of their time helping the business, but realize they also need to help themselves.
This is a classic case of the cobbler's children having no shoes. I'm struck by the fact that over $3.4T is spend annually on IT, but most IT organizations currently manage themselves on a cobbled-together system of spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations!
I believe that the most innovative CIO's are working hard to align the strategic objectives of the business with the activities being done in the IT organization. And they're doing it with facts and data. You can't align the business with IT, unless you know the priorities of the business ... and you can't align IT with the business without knowing where IT spends its time. It's all about facts and data.