The role of the CIO from the CIO perspective

Throughout this study, it has been suggested on several occasions that the role of the CIO combines both a strategic element and a tactical, operational element. It appears that conversations with participants corroborate this statement. As noted by interviewee R, the CIO role despite being in essence a strategic role still contains a strong element of operations management which the CIO ought not to neglect.

It appears that operational excellence is considered by CIOs as a key requirement to establishing trust and gaining the credibility required to play a more holistic role within their organisation.

Interviewee N suggests that to gain credibility and to establish a certain amount of trust, the CIO ought to find the business priorities that are the most pressing on the key individuals’ agenda and deliver a series of ‘quick wins’. The involvement of the CIO in strategy related activities depends on a combination of various external and internal factors. Interviewee W remarks that the CIO will not be invited to take part in strategy

discussions if they are failing to provide reliable IT operations. Interviewee C goes as far as to say that when CIOs are involved in activities outside of IT, a failure to provide reliable IT operations can result in the CIO no longer being invited to take part in more strategic activities.

When your core business systems go down, people stop discussing strategy with you. While you’re not delivering to your service levels, people will stop discussing strategy with you.

Interviewee C

This point is particularly well articulated by Interviewee F who highlights the importance of providing a number of basic technology services in order to be invited to participate into these broader discussions. Interviewee B refers to earning a license to operate when discussing the importance of providing reliable IT operations.

I would say that the role of the CIO is to orchestrate a number of technology services to provide some basic commodity based services, and then earns the right to have broader business change and business enabling conversations about what role technology can play in that particular organisation moving forward.

Interviewee F

As discussed later in this chapter, it appears that there is still an expectation gap between IT and other parts of the organisation. Interviewee N points out that failing IT operations will not only fail to provide the required credibility to the CIO, but will also provide a platform for further discords.

Interviewee U highlights the dual aspects of the CIO role, and argues here that CIOs ought to perform their role in the best interest of their organisation.

If the organisation has a number of old systems which are in dire need of technical refresh, I cannot just say, ‘Okay, let me draw up a strategic plan, let me understand what the business objectives for the next five years are and let us work that way to come up with new systems and then leave the operation suffering from the poor quality of the information systems that the organisation might have.

Interviewee K points out that it seems only a few years ago that IT and the CIO have started to be considered as key contributors and to be perceived as having the potential to give a competitive edge to organisations. Interviewee K notes;

It’s an interesting up and down maturity evolution that we’re seeing. Initially, 20 years ago, for a period of ten or 15 years IT was, I think, pigeonholed into more of a purely operational, functional role. And ten years ago, people started to become much more sensitised to the strategic role of IT enabling business capability.

Interviewee K

Interviewee X argues that the CIO role is somehow a newly created position that should be considered as an indication of a major shift in the perceptions of the role of IT today. Interviewee N when reflecting upon the role of the CIO makes a point to distinguish the CIO role to the role of an IT director. According to Interviewee N, both positions require a different set of capabilities.

The thing that typifies the CIO of today is they’ve got this capacious desire to know what’s going on and have this ability to maybe juggle lots and lots of plates, but they’ve got to be able to know which ones to let drop. That, to me, differs from the role of an IT director, because the IT directors usually are doing a portfolio role where there is a plan to the year and it’s relatively fixed, and things get executed in a reasonably sequential fashion Interviewee N

The CIO as trusted advisor

Interviewees A and V both perceive their role in terms of being senior advisors or trusted brokers with the ultimate goal on delivering whatever the business objectives of the organisations may be.

This notion of trusted advisor can be translated into different specific roles depending on the needs of the organisation. Interviewee N suggests that in his experience CIOs are often used as sounding boards when the viability of a project is being assessed.

According to Interviewee N, CIOs are recognised as having relevant experience in running and managing large and complex programmes.

I think what they’re doing frequently is acting as, I use this expression of the “fly or die” business case sounding point for certain initiatives, because I think what I’m increasingly getting involved in is these short but focused discussions about whether or not a project or a programme is viable. I think they look at the CIOs because of their background and experience of running complex programmes

Interviewee N

Interviewee H argues that the role of the CIO should be about helping and advising on how to position the organisation to be the most effective in a particular market. Interviewee U agrees with this view and argues that ultimately, the CIO role is about identifying what the organisation needs, what the organisation would benefit from and how technology can help to deliver the strategic objectives.

As noted by Interviewee I, playing the role of trusted advisor can also help CIOs to develop strong relationships with potent stakeholders, a critical success factor in the CIO role.

Our role is more of a negotiator or a go between the different units to make sure they get what they need out of it, if it’s a valid need. And I think that goes a long way to creating links or bonds in the business so that you get support when you need it.

Interviewee I

Mitigating risks and identifying opportunities

A close link to the notion of trusted advisor is the notion of risks mitigation and that of opportunity spotting. Interviewee I believes that CIOs have a role in preventing risks associated with using certain technologies.

The CIO definitely has a role to play in the sense that the CIO’s role is going to be to advise and to warn people of some of the possible issues that could come out of using these new technologies because our users are not very technical.

Interviewee I

Other participants identify that CIOs play a key role in pinpointing new technological opportunities which will improve the overall performance of the organisation. Interviewee Q suggests that technologies provide a wealth of opportunities, and it is the responsibility of the CIO to identify and select the most appropriate technologies and make these available to key individuals within the organisation.

It’s definitely the role of the CIO to ensure that, as far as technology is concerned and the opportunities that technology brings along, these are identified or made available to those individuals within the organisation who could benefit the most from them.

Interviewee Q

Interviewee L argues that CIOs more than anyone else in the organisation are positioned in a way that they get both a strategic and detailed view of the various parts of the organisation, which translates into the ability to spot opportunities for potential business improvements.

I think the CIO probably more than anyone else has an insight at both a strategic level, but very often also, at a detailed level as to where the opportunities are, where the obstacles that we need to overcome are, and where the things that are not working are that we need to fix.

Interviewee L

Interviewee D articulates this point particularly well and suggests that spotting opportunities is an area where CIOs can bring a significant amount of value to their organisation, whether this is through identifying potential risks or efficiency opportunities.

What the role becomes is very much spotting opportunities, learning lessons, transferring lessons across the business, opportunities not just for efficiency but also for effectiveness, are you doing the business better?

Interviewee D

Integration of IT with the rest of the organisation

Finally, CIOs see their role as a bridge between the IT and the business world. CIOs emphasised that one of their key responsibilities is around leveraging information technology to fit with the purpose and strategic goal of the organisation. In essence, CIOs perceive their role as bringing IT into the business.

As pointed out by Interviewee B, this requires a change of mindset not only from individuals outside the IT organisation, but also inside the IT organisation.

It’s about managing and leading people and getting the experts who are technologists to understand and integrate with what the business is trying to drive to.

Interviewee B

This notion of IT/ business alignment is particularly well articulated by Interviewee U who notes that CIOs must have a deep understanding of the business issues if they are to be successful in bridging this gap.

I see the role of the CIO focussing on understanding the business, the business objectives, the benefits to be achieved and coming up with solutions at a high level, technological solutions, how technology can be applied to address those business needs.

Interviewee U