Wanted: Masochistic, Painfully Honest CIO, to Deliver Business Value from IT.

A common gripe amongst CIOs is that they are under-valued and under-rewarded. IT is still not well understood at board level beyond the pound signs attached to it, and the CEO still doesn’t consult IT on business planning. Boardroom mandates typically demand IT departments ‘do things cheaper’ rather than ‘do things better’, perpetuating the central problem where IT is viewed as a cost center rather than a business driver.

We’ve heard it all before and the ‘it’s somebody else’s problem’ mentality just won’t wash any longer. CIOs need to stop complaining and start acting. If IT doesn’t get the recognition and role it deserves within the business, it’s in the CIO’s hands to change it. But change can’t happen overnight and CIOs need the tenacity to stick around long enough to make a difference.

Enter the line of fire

Too many IT heads aspire to hold down the job for a couple of years before moving on. With this as a backdrop, the CIO’s focus is on not making conspicuous mistakes, to introduce some shiny new kit to slice minutes off e-mail server management, and to keep IT delivering what’s generally asked of it without rocking the boat too much.

Securing the prominence IT and the CIO role deserves will involve shaking things up. It will require commitment and some brave decision-making. It will require the CIO to challenge the role of IT in front of the CEO and the board to thoroughly interrogate what value IT delivers right now for the business. This won’t be an easy ride for any CIO; after all, being ‘misunderstood’ has benefits too. While other parts of the business are regularly quizzed to the finest detail by the board, IT gets away with limited scrutiny and a dictate to lower costs. The root of the problem here is part lack of understanding and part history. After 10 years running an IT organization, board members are understandably reluctant to reveal a lack of knowledge or insight into IT and hence focus on cost, a metric they do understand. A history of IT autonomy compounds the problem. The CIO has the potential to meet this challenge head on and educate the board to the level where they can grill him on key IT decisions.

For the CIO, breaking the cycle of slippery IT deliverables means putting himself in the line of fire – but ultimately, it’s the only way that IT will get taken seriously. No CEO will put the CIO’s hopes and dreams high up on the agenda. The CIO must insist that IT is evaluated like any other business function. For example, the CEO would not invest in supply chain or retail strategy on the basis that ‘we need it’ without understanding exactly how and what the investment will return to the business. Orchestrating this cultural shift can lead to plentiful rewards and a two-way dynamic for IT to become proactive rather than reactive, giving CIOs the chance to take a full and active role in business planning and thereby earn recognition and financial returns.

Educating the boss

So where should this colossal journey begin? The CIO needs to ‘manage upwards’ and do all he can to help the CEO scrutinize what value IT delivers. The CIO can explain how IT can be measured; this doesn’t mean techie figures on equipment performance, but literally an assessment of IT’s success or failure to support business objectives.

CIOs need to hand the CEO the awkward questions, proactively suggesting how to question IT plans, how to check up on results delivered. For many businesses, it won’t make comfortable reading. Legacy IT systems can be unwieldy and under-utilized, but at the same time capable of delivering far greater benefits without the need for far greater investment.

It would be wise to team the approach with a proposal for long-term IT strategy to turn around the situation – no CEO wants a plate full of problems without a lot of good solutions. At the same time, be under no illusion as to personal commitment required to see this through and ensure that IT is aligned to perform effectively for the business.

Speaking business with the CEO

Getting IT to deliver against business objectives is a two-way street. The CIO needs honest, open dialogue with the CEO and board to make anything happen. It’s critical for the CIO to know exactly which functions, systems and strategies are most critical to the business, in order for to prioritize provision of IT systems to match. The CIO is aiming for a collaborative relationship with the CEO, where business plans are shared and discussed, and IT plans to support these are presented by the CIO and interrogated by the CEO. Building such an understanding will require an ongoing proactive approach by CIO, including an ability to question IT himself and offer to prove business benefit.

All this sounds like a mountain climb for the CIO, but aligning IT with business objectives is not quite the Holy Grail; it’s the role technology was always designed to have – to facilitate, enable and speed up the organization’s ability to meet business objectives. Once IT is allowed to perform at its full potential as a business enabler, the CIO who has promoted and led this change will be in a far more credible position to aspire to the top job.