Taking the Strategic Perspective, It’s A Two Way Street

A recent article in CIO Magazine entitled “What CEO’s Expect” and sub-titled “Chief Executives want CIO’s who look outside the company walls to find new business opportunities” is certainly a move in the right direction but unfortunately not a perspective shared by many CEO’s. Here is an example from my own experience as the CIO of a major mid-western publisher.

Back in the late ‘90’s, the Internet was just beginning to evolve as a major new medium for publishers. The general wisdom was magazines need to have a web site but they shouldn’t consider electronic publishing of the magazine. For purely business reasons this never made sense to me for several reasons.

First and foremost, there was the clear opportunity to substantially change the cost model for publishing a magazine. Production cost for printing paper and ink and distribution cost including postage and single copy sales discounts would be totally eliminated. Added to these measurable cost savings:

· Lower costs can be translated into lower subscription and single copy prices presenting an opportunity to boost circulation which also translates to greater advertising revenues,
· Electronic publishing over the Internet opens up a global market also increasing circulation and advertising revenue opportunities,
· Editors can embed links to additional background materials increasing the value of the editorial content,
· Advertisers can embed links in their adds and offer readers incentives to click and buy, and
· Readers can be electronically notified of new editions through e-mail and can store editions electronically.

Are these substantial opportunities to increase revenues, expand markets and lower operating cost strategic? I certainly think so but alas there were no takers. Even today, with the notable exception of CIO Magazine which now offers a complete electronic edition of the magazine, there are few, if any, magazines embracing an electronic publishing strategy.

The only objection I ever heard to even exploring the idea of electronic publishing was that the readers wouldn’t be interested in an electronic version of the magazine. I don’t know if this is true but it would be interesting to learn how many readers of CIO Magazine have converted, since we can presume they are a technology savvy audience. Moreover the marketplace is clearly evolving in these directions with new devices like iPad, Nook and Kindle. I have read the Harvard Business Review on Nook but the design was so bad I dropped my subscription. They should check out CIO Magazine’s electronic version, which is top notch.

The point here is simply while the CIO needs to provide thought leadership on how technology can be applied to the business, the business leaders need be more open and less skeptical of these new ideas. It turns out that change is challenging to everyone, including the CEO.

The Laundry List

Executive Search firms are, I think unwittingly, defining the CIO’s role in largely tactical terms in the position descriptions that they develop. In a recent description for a CIO position I noted that 18 separate responsibilities were identified in what I refer to as the “Laundry List”. Essentially, this Laundry List is equivalent to defining the CEO’s role by listing in detail every functional activity of the organization over which he presides. Moreover, I am not sure any single individual’s performance can be evaluated against 18 separate areas of responsibility.

The solution is for recruiters to define the CIO’s role from a strategic, senior executive perspective as they would any other executive position. Here are some ideas they should consider:

Responsibilities:

• Provide strategic oversight and thought leadership on the use of technology to assure maximum effectiveness, efficiency, flexibility and productivity of the organization is achieved.
• Participate as a member of the executive team on all strategic initiatives to assure that appropriate applications of technology are being applied.
• Serve on the organizations capital budgeting team to assure that appropriate technology investments are being funded and that desired returns are achieved.
• Periodically brief the Board of Directors on all aspects of the organizations IT strategy and investments. (Note: Board access is critical to positioning the CIO as a senior executive leader within the organization.)
• Assure an effective management structure is in place to oversee the efficient and effective delivery of IT services and support. (Note: This assumes that day-to-day management of IT will be delegated to assure the CIO has time to focus on the strategic application of technology to the organization.)

These are 5 and not 18 specific functions that a CIO can and should be focused on performing. There is no need to describe the elements of an IT organization in a position description or to list every issue/area within the scope of the IT function.

I would appreciate your thoughts on this topic and if you agree with my premise, encourage you to pass this along to the executive recruiters you know.

Bill

William A. Crowell
wcrowell@asuret.com
twitter: billcio
LinkedIn: Bill Crowell
My Blog: http://bcrowell.wordpress.com/

Why is being a CIO such a tough job?

It’s an interesting question – and after a 30+ year career with over half serving in the CIO role – I believe it is critical to answer this question to help us understand what we need to do as a profession to become true trusted partners with our executive peers and business colleagues. In this blog I’m going to be covering some of the pitfalls that CIO faces in achieving this objective.

Taking a page from history, the most senior financial executive used to be the controller, who was seen principally as a “numbers person”. The bean counter added up the numbers to explain past performance. The role was not considered strategic since the controller was usually an introvert who didn’t really understand sales, marketing, customers or even production. Few business executives perceived the controller as a business partner but instead a role that they needed to endure.

The CIO faces a similar set of issues when the role is defined as the “head techie”. Keep the computers and applications up and running; support the vast array of desktops, lap tops and more recently mobile devices; keep IT enabled projects on schedule, under budget and delivering the expected outcomes; etc… In this context, the CIO’s role is to mitigate risks and deal with disasters if and when they occur. It’s purely a tactical role and not strategic.

So how did controllers become CFO’s and what do head techie’s need to do to become CIO’s?

Role definition is critical. CFO’s perform much more strategic roles. They explain the numbers and their impact on the future. They finance the business and communicate business results to the Board and to external analysts. Most importantly, they are active participants in almost every strategic aspect of the business including planning and budgeting.

CIO’s should take a page from the CFO’s book. First, delegate day to day IT operations to a competent IT executive and get the CEO to support your assuming a more strategic role in championing the use of technology to enhance the performance and productivity of the organization. You need to be part of the governance process for all strategic initiatives to assure the CEO and the Board that optimum use of technology is being applied to the business. If there is a capital budgeting process for the organization, you definitely need to be part of the executive team making capital allocation decisions. The CIO should be part of presenting the capital budget to the Board.

There are a number of other interesting problems for the CIO. For example, what other executive position provides services to every other aspect of the business and what’s the implication of this unique role? What are the drawbacks of the change agent role and being seen as principally having a project focus vs. a business focus? How can your expertise in ROI analysis be exploited within the organization? Does renewed focus on risk management provide an opportunity for the CIO? I’ll be discussing these and other topics in future posts.

What the Center for CIO Leadership and I need from you is to become engaged. Provide a brief comment on this blog, provide your insights, and let me know other topics you would like for us to explore and comment upon. Send a tweet with a link to this blog. If we’re going to address the issues we all face, we need to be engaged, collaborate and stimulate an active discussion of the issues. I encourage your comments.

Bill

William A. Crowell
wcrowell@asuret.com
twitter: billcio
LinkedIn: Bill Crowell
My Blog: http://bcrowell.wordpress.com/