CIOS MUST
By Deborah MEAN BUSINESS business skills among Perelman their IT staff.
Cios are becom- “The notion is that
ing agents of you can’t wait for them
business, not to change to let you in
just facilitators, the door. You have to
but according to a recent study, “They get a lot of business resis- take a proactive step to show them what
this transition is still not enough to tance when they try to get in early,” you can bring to the table on the strategy
bridge the gap between business and Pohle said. “CEOs say that they think side,” Pohle said. “The organization’s
technology. that business and I T alignment is culture is not going to disappear because
The survey, conducted by IBM of important, yet they are not quite sure someone reads an article, but it might
more than 170 CIOs and released June how to integrate. Strategizing a project when CIOs demonstrate they can do
19, found most in the CIO role—84 might be one of the most business- something different.”
percent—said their job has evolved oriented discussions a company has, That said, another IBM study of 750
beyond technology infrastructure and and it has become the last bastion of CEOs found that whilemost chief execu-computing support to creating strategy holdout for CIOs to break into.” tives—80 percent—understand the need
and helping transform the business. However, CIOs do feel that they forgreaterintegrationoftechnologyand
But only 16 percent said their compa- have had more success integrating business, fewer than half believe that the
nies have done enough for the busi- business and technology on an opera- two have been integrated to any great
ness to take full advantage of IT. tional level. extent in their own businesses.
IBM STUDY FINDS THAT GAP BETWEEN IT AND
BUSINESS NEEDS TO BE NARROWED
IBM, of Armonk, N.Y., put the onus Not only is changing the way that IBM said that to help bridge that
on the CIO to step forward and bridge technology is integrated into core busi- gap, CEOs must be diligent in helping
this gap. ness considered valuable on both sides, CIOs and their IT departments become
“CIOs need to play a more active those that have done more integrating larger contributors to the business by
role in participating in business dis- were found to be growing revenue 5 giving the CIOs more opportunities to
cussion to take this notion of CIOs percent faster than their competitors, become more active in strategy deci-becoming business leaders and con- the report said. sions and giving them the necessary
sider what they could do to help their Furthermore, those that have better skills for their rapidly evolving jobs. ´
companies achieve that objective,” integrated the two
said George Pohle, vice president and areas report greater CEOs and CIOs
global leader for the institute for busi- customer satisfac-ness value at IBM. tion, speed and flexi- CEOs can make four changes to help their CIOs and IT departments
“It’s up to the CIO to be able to come bility than their less- make stronger contributions to their businesses:
to the table with good examples of what integrated peers.
they can do. They shouldn’t just ask to T h o u g h t h e Area Action
sit at the table and expect that they will C I O s s u r v e y e d Measurement Reward CIOs for contributing to the business’s
think of good ideas while they are there,” believe they could growth, innovation and worker productivity
Pohle said. “They need to be able to sug- address the gap by
Strategy Bring CIOs into the strategy process early; IT is a
gest additional strategies that will make a getting involved good indicator of what’s possible in a business
difference. If you can go to the business e a r l i e r i n t h e
executives with that kind of proactive s t r a t e g i c d e c i - Organization Help CIOs transform their processes and give
approach, you’ll have more success.” sion-making pro- them the mandate to create organizational readi-
Pohle said that CIOs are feeling the cess, the survey ness for IT
most shut out at the strategizing level of a encourages CIOs
Talent
GIve CIOs the opportunity to develop broad skills
and leadership capabilities; many have responsibilities beyond IT
business operation. Resistance to change to tr y to elevate
on the part of business executives was their role within
cited by CIOs as one of the things that the organization
made their roles the most difficult. and demand more Source: IBM
