For the CIO

Good IT Governance is Career Enhancing

Quite regularly, particularly in US based press, one reads of CIOs having poor career prospects and short tenure expectations.  CIO's often struggle in their roles, not because they are incapable, but because the expectations under which they labour are unrealistic.

This problem stems, in our view, from the lack of real understanding of IT issues in broader management roles, and in the boardroom.  What this leads to is an expectation that the head of IT, or the CIO, is responsible for every aspect of IT - including how the organisation uses it.  Such expectation leads to business managers avoiding responsibility, and IT managers being held accountable for matters well outside their control.

How many well meaning CIOs have identified and championed strategic projects, right to the point of implementation, only to find that the business is not ready, and not intending to take advantage of the new capability.  How often does a senior executive with little comprehension of IT complexity fall to the seductive charms of a solution vendor, committing the organisation to an IT based adventure that costs a fortune, disrupts all that is critical, and has only a vague chance of delivering anything useful?

Smart CIOs avoid these problems by acting to improve corporate governance of IT.  They make sure that the executive and the board know just how fundamental IT is to the business, and how effectively it is being used.  They ensure that the essential processes are in place, and working properly, to control all stages of planning, delivery and operation, so that there are no wasted opportunities, no roadblocks to business and no blind alleys that could in the future create disruption.

Many of the resources we have identified for executives and boards are also entirely relevant to CIOs.  Our services help CIOs ensure that their roles are well understood, with proper and appropriate boundaries, and no unreasonable expectations.

Do CIOs matter?

In its report on SEARCC 2005, held recently in Sydney, Computerworld asked "Do CIOs matter?" The article repeats the view that CIO careers are often damaged by IT projects that fail to deliver expected return on investment, with the CIO having been too focused on technical issues and not giving enough attention to the non-technical.  It suggests that in future, CIOs will need to be much broader in their outlook, with strong business leadership, financial analysis and operational execution skills.

Infonomics agrees that this is the future for CIOs.  It raises an important management and governance issue:  Are we developing CIO skills appropriately?

In another article in Computerworld on 12 October, Australian Computer Society President Kumar Parakala said that CIOs still have a long way to go in becoming recognised as business leaders.  The article again reinforces the view that CIOs need to be boardroom savvy, able to position the entire portfolio of IT activity in the context of business need and priority.

Growing CIO Skills

A CIO Magazine article "The Road to CIO: How to Prepare yourself for the Top Spot" continues the theme and gives the aspiring CIO five steps to becoming more business oriented.  We particularly like point 5 - "Find a mentor".  Often, a limiting factor for people who have risen tot the top of the IT tree is the fact that they have precious little exposure to the business and boardroom culture and language.  It's pointless to exit somebody who understands your systems and technology intimately, simply because they have not had an opportunity to learn in a wider context.  In many cases, a good mentor, and perhaps a coach, can add breadth to an individual who already has more than enough depth.  

Taking this a little bit further, we sometimes encounter the self-defeating argument that "we can't take the CIO into the executive meetings and boardroom because we can't understand him or her".  Well, if we never put the CIO in that situation, he or she will never learn, and will never gain the insight they need to adjust the way they communicate.