Sunday, July 29, 2018

CIOs as “Chief insight Officer” How to Unlock business Insight from Different Angles

Digital CIOs need to capture the full business insight and develop all necessary skills to catalyze business growth and continually manage business solution deliverable.

The world is becoming hyper-connected & interdependent every day, and as a consequence, every successful business is exploring the digital way to do things for making the leap forward. At the same time, the business dynamic is only becoming more complex, uncertain, and ambiguous. IT plays a significant role in leading change and orchestrating digital transformation. As a leadership role, rather than just an IT manager, CIOs need to become the business strategists to have a seat at the big table and become the “Chief Insight Officer,” to unlock and share business insight by thinking critically, creatively, and systematically.




Perceive the business as the “asset under construction”: In real terms, the role of the CIO is to carry forward the business by leveraging the emerging digital technology and managing the information lifecycle effectively to deliver customized business solutions. Insightful CIOs perceive the business as an “asset under construction.” That means they envision their role as the architect of the new business value and orchestrator of digital transformation. The modern digital CIOs are able to identify and blend the way that information and technology can assist and shape the business by linking all important business elements - people, process, and technology elements together to enforce the value creation and build differentiated business competency. IT understands deeply the value chain of business, the industry segment and the business ecosystem where it competes. The CIO needs to have business acumen and the knowledge of applying IT to business in order to reinvent IT as the real partner in driving the business growth and ensure that the business as a whole can achieve the high-performance business result.

Perceive the golden thread of the business growth woven by IT: Information is the gold when it has been used to make informed management decisions to develop the right products, explore a new market, exploit a new business channel, or have information to be able to conduct day to day operations which have an output value, etc. CIOs as the “Chief Insight Officer,” can make an objective evaluation of how IT can directly contribute to the strategic direction of the business. They should focus on information content and context, as well as how information can be tapped from the underlying data and be utilized to turn it into invaluable strategic insight; how information can be penetrated through the business and be actively used in optimizing business processes and building business competency. IT can become known as a revenue rainmaker by managing information effectively and associating its efforts directly with sources of income. Thus, IT asset either internally developed or externally acquired, must be linked to business solutions that enable business goals and measure IT contributions to revenue generation.


Perceive the holistic business picture, rather than IT picture only: Today, CIOs need to take the outside-in lens to run IT as the business. CIOs can build business competency, without IT, many businesses will plateau. There is a co-dependency that should be recognized in a highly mature digital organization. Thus, CIOs as the “Chief Insight Officer,” need to perceive the holistic business picture, not just the IT picture. There is always the tension between old and new ways to do things, the old and new business model; the process and innovation. The CIO should run IT as the change department of the company to ensure people have the right tools to execute and the business won’t miss the great opportunities to grow. It is about figuring out how fast organizations can ride the learning curve, foresee and apply emerging trends, that’s where you win the competitive business advantage. Digital CIOs need to capture the full business insight and develop all necessary skills to catalyze business growth and continually manage business solution deliverable.


The digital world is so technology-driven and information-intensive, IT needs will only expand, and most likely expand hyperbolically. Therefore, CIOs must become the insightful leaders, draw from the experience and expertise of those around them, craft and cast the vision for the ways in which tomorrow's business technologies can create sustainable business value, run IT as the strategic business partner and innovation hub of the business. Fundamentally, IT is the business.

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