AKIBIA'S PRACTICAL GUIDE TO ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY
Thursday, April 09, 2009
CIOs Need to Manage Up, Broadcast Successes
This post in InformationWeek by Bob Evans struck a chord, "Global CIO: What CIOs Must Do To Survive The Recession." The article focuses on the downturn and anecdotal, but still scary, evidence that some companies are choosing not to hire CIOs during the recession—taking cost savings (salary) from an organization they view as a cost center.
The CIOs we talk to are focused on reducing costs, of course, as is every leader of every business unit today. But no CIO thinks their organization is simply a cost center. Increasing efficiency and managing risk are the CIOs other two top goals, and both can result in improved business processes that lead to more cost savings, but also- importantly- improve sales.
Are CIOs and CFOs really so disconnected or are CIOs just doing a poor job of articulating how their businesses positively impact the bottom line?
In his IT Manifesto Evans makes a good point that CIOs should focus on reducing maintenance costs from 80 percent of the current IT budget to 70 percent and then 60 percent. The CIOs we speak to are already in the process of streamlining support contracts with a single vendor to save money.
The CIOs who invest those savings in services that improve business processes and enable the organization to work more efficiently, carry less risk and be more successful in general need to do a better job of broadcasting their successes to the rest of the company. In a recent study done by Jack Cooper and Associates less than 10% of a CIOs time is spent managing UP, when this number should be closer to 30%.
As a CIO you can do this through regular communication from your group to the company. Report on metrics, as Evans notes, and get involved in cross-functional business meetings. Also suggest ways the current IT infrastructure can be leveraged to solve new business challenges.
What are some other ways you've shown IT isn’t just a cost center?
