CIO CORNER

Understanding Tomorrow’s CIO

By annie shum | July 1, 2009

The next generation of top tech execs will be a different breed. Here’s what sets “Insightful CIOs” apart and what software vendors need to know to connect with these key customers.

By Ashwin Rangan, MarketShare Partners

The headwinds of a struggling economy are still blowing. CIOs at companies around the world are struggling to cut costs and continue to leverage technology as a competitive advantage. The lingering sense of uncertainty surrounding today’s business environment will change CIOs behavior profoundly for the long term. Tomorrow’s CIOs will be more than just technology evangelists and visionaries. The new world of globalized business demands that the CIO be a business driver who uses IT to make the business more competitive in the rapidly changing business environment.

No longer will the CIO wait to be told what needs to be done. More often, the CIO will see the way forward and choose the correct technology path to get there. Software companies must revise their game plan in order to sell to Tomorrow’s CIO.

What’s Different about Tomorrow’s CIOs

The line between technology and business is rapidly becoming indistinguishable. The new role of the CIO reflects this dramatic merger. Here are three key ways in which tomorrow’s leaders will differ from those of the past.

1) Business value-driven goals -Software solutions that are brought into the company must be value-driven. No longer will CIOs simply check the “___” box with a brand name solution. There needs to be a hard-boiled estimate of how a particular solution will grow revenue, improve productivity or cut costs – or better yet, do all three.

2) Business background – Historically, CIOs were the most tech savvy executives in the company. Today, CIOs often come from the business side of the company. The “superior technology” pitch will no longer play in the CIO’s office. These CIOs ask “why” instead of “how”?

3) Open mindedness – The rapid emergence of the “consumer enterprise” means that all business users are well aware of the potential for new models such as SaaS, mashups, applets and mobile computing. Insightful CIOs will embrace the potential of these technologies to advance the business rather than resist their advances wholesale.

The old-fashioned CIOs will be regarded as naysayers who stand in the way of progress. Many companies know that their investments in sound, established on-premise enterprise software solutions have not come to bear fruit – even hundreds of millions of dollars later.

A New World View

At the highest level, Tomorrow’s CIO is an Insightful CIO. These execs are alert to changes in the IT space, aware of changes in the business they serve, and vigilant in ensuring that IT’s relevance to the business is never compromised. Given the role of the CIO and the nature of this individual’s contributions, the question that is often asked is, “Should the CIO be a business person with IT knowledge, or a technical person with business understanding?” The answer to this question has changed over time.

In the early 1970s, the answer might have been, “A technical person with business understanding.” In those early days of computing, when the focus was on technology, it was relatively a novelty in businesses, poorly understood by the vast majority, and too expensive for all but large enterprises. Today, the pendulum has swung to where an increasingly larger number of companies will likely answer, “A business person with IT knowledge.” So what is the difference between these two kinds of people?

The difference is their world-view: a business person is comfortable dealing with shades of grey, while a technical person will force-fit the world into zones of black and white. Business people tend to be comfortable with rough generalities-concepts and ideas move such a person. Technical people tend to be more comfortable with details-concepts and ideas are great; but how do we get them implemented? A businessman focuses on the “why” and the “what,” whereas a technical person quickly starts to worry about the “how,” “who,” and “when.” Today’s great CIOs tend to be excellent at dealing with shades of grey and complexity.

The Nine Unique Attributes of the Insightful CIO

In my new book, Tomorrow’s CIO: Strategic Conversations that Align IT with the Boardroom., I chronicle some common traits amongst my peer CIOs who have excelled. They all seemed to share in a subset of nine unique attributes. The awesome ones have mastered all nine.

1. The Insightful CIO is a Visionary. He (or she) has the ability to envision dreams that bridge the needs of the business with the capabilities of technology, either now or quickly accessible just over the horizon.

2. The Insightful CIO is a Communicator. He can paint his dreams on the canvas of his audiences’ minds, with brushes made of powerful words. His talk is in easily-understood, non-technical terms for the business community; and simultaneously, in easily-understood business terms for the IT community. He is a storyteller who can get people excited to commit to a journey that will lead the collective to a “better” place.

3. The Insightful CIO is a Strategist. He has the ability to balance a variety of dynamic business and technical variables, while bearing the end-goal always and clearly in mind. The CIO is open to new information and ideas; and has the strength of character to change course and commitments if warranted by changing circumstances, while manifesting the fortitude to commit resources all along the way.

4. The Insightful CIO is a Change-agent. He assists the leadership team to discover the most pressing changes that the business has to undertake. As both the steward of sources of information and the creator of conduits for information, the CIO has a unique vantage point. Given a change initiative, he knows the various aspects of the business that will be touched by the proposed change. The CIO is one of the few executives on the leadership team who is continually undertaking change initiatives. By virtue of this capability, the CIO develops a perspective on how to successfully chart a course to change. The Insightful CIO is the business’ chosen partner, when it comes to change initiatives.

5. The Insightful CIO is a Director. He thinks like a mountain-climber. The CIO knows that every step involves the expenditure of scarce resources, and tries to make sure that each step is upwards, and edges the organization closer to the goal at the pinnacle of the mountain. If the current situation prevents this progression onward and upward, the CIO directs the activity to take a step sideways, so that ground is never lost in the process.

6. The Insightful CIO is a Planner. He is careful in committing resources. The CIO is constantly balancing three balls in the air while planning-Scope, Time and Money. He knows that money can be translated into resources, but that money cannot buy time or change the scope of activity.

7. The Insightful CIO is a Thinker. The CIO’s domain is the commissioning and management of inanimate assets, where people breathe life into activities that, in turn, breathe life into these assets. Asset performance is a proxy for people performance in the CIO domain. He is constantly aware of the inter-play between people on the CIO team.

8. The Insightful CIO is a Doer. He has a bias for action. Technologies move and morph even while business needs are changing constantly. As a result, the zone of interaction between these two-the CIO’s domain-changes rapidly. As changes in the two feeder environments occur only faster every day, the CIO has to address acceleration as a central element of his “reality.”

9. The Insightful CIO is a Human. He surrounds himself with competent, trust-worthy and reliable professionals. Colleagues share his passion, understand his vision and help him lead the IT organization so that IT really works for the business. The CIO becomes the ring-master. He is thoughtful, considerate, and compassionate. The CIO brings a sense of balance and humor to his interactions with his team. He maintains perspective-being an agent of change when things are calm; and a calming influence in chaos.

Connecting with the Insightful CIO

Software vendors need to switch tactics to properly market solutions to the Insightful CIO. Here are a few tips to improve sales success:

Help the CIO be a Change Agent – The tech leader of tomorrow is the person who is willing to experiment, weight the outcome of the experiments on their business benefits and governance. Help these CIOs show that they are willing to change and open to new, value-driven alternatives by delivering hard data and case studies about the business impact of a particular solution.

Understand the Business Needs – For years, software vendors have been trying to become consultants rather than salespeople. More work is needed. For example, a CIO might be willing to try a SaaS solution but is concerned about data privacy. Helping that executive solve the privacy challenge rather than throwing out the SaaS model altogether is the right approach.

Make the CIO Look Good -Like any member of the senior executive team, today’s CIOs want to maintain a polished image with their peer group and boss. They need ideas and solutions that make them look smart and engaged.

Business changes constantly. So does information technology. The trick is for CIOs to help the business make sense of these changes. Good CIOs help their business partners understand how technology is changing. Insightful CIOs internalize both business changes and technology changes. They help their business partners to take advantage of business opportunities while leveraging changing-and more capable-technologies.

Software companies have an opportunity to help Tomorrow’s CIO meet their business goals. The most important thing for established vendors to recognize is that even longstanding solutions will be reevaluated by new eyes – and it is imperative that all partnerships look as good to Tomorrow’s CIO as they did to today’s.

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