Tuesday, November 1, 2016

The Spotlight on Digital CIOs Nov. 2016

CIOs need to change IT DNA from 'static" with change inertia to "dynamic" with change as a new normal.

Modern CIOs have many personas and face great challenges. It is not sufficient to only keep the light on. Regardless of which industry or the nature of organization you are in, being a digital leader will need to master the art of creating unique, differentiating value from piles of commoditized technologies, but more specifically, what are the digital-savvy CIOs doing to run IT as a value creator and innovation engine? Here is the monthly spotlight of the CIO.       

 The Spotlight of Digital CIOs  Nov. 2016


  • The Digital CIO’s Five Priorities in Daily Grinding: Being a contemporary CIO is a tough job facing unprecedented complexity and numerous dilemmas, due to change nature of technology and exponential growth of information, CIOs seem to be always in the hot seat, with the pressure to reinvent IT to adapt to changes with rapidly increasing speed. Since so many CIOs have been perceived as tactical IT managers, rather than visionary business leaders,  and businesses still think IT as a service desk, rather than a strategic partner. The forward-looking CIOs have to build their credibility as trusted business adviser via setting the right priority in the key areas which need daily focus and manage the time and resource effectively. Here are five priorities in CIOs' daily grinding.  
  • CIO as Chief Improvement Officer -How to Run a “Future-Proof” IT ? Technology becomes pervasive in modern enterprises today, on one hand, CIOs play one of the most significant business leadership roles, to manage one of the most valuable business assets -information in digital organizations; on the other side, the rapidly changing business climate also makes CIOs feel like to live in the tropical jungle, facing many attacks, in the danger of getting dismissed as techies without business savvy by their executive peers. With emergent IT consumerization trends, businesses sometimes bypass the internal IT to purchase on-demand services with potential risk compromising. At the dawn of Digital Era, with an abundance of information and lightweight technologies, how can CIOs act as Chief Improvement Officers in the organization, continue improving services and solutions, craft a set of unique capabilities and run a “future-proof” IT organization for achieving operational excellence and high-level agility and maturity?



  • Are you an “Atypical CIO” or a “Stereotypical CIO”? Traditional IT organizations have been perceived as technical support centers and help desks, and traditional CIOs have been portrayed as technology geeks to keep the lights on. Nowadays, businesses are on the journey of digital transformation, and IT is also on the way to transform from a cost center to a value creator. CIOs as digital leaders today, what’s your self-reflection? Are you an “Atypical CIO” or a “Stereotypical CIO”? Are you a transformational leader or a transactional manager? What’s your leadership strength and how to lead IT as a changing organization of the business?


  • Practice CIO Plus Leadership to Run IT with “Enlightenment: IT is moving up its maturity level from functioning to firm to delight. IT is neither luxury nor commodity, it's a competitive differentiator. With the new and disruptive technologies, CIOs need to change IT DNA from 'static" with change inertia to "dynamic" with change as a new normal; from a controller to an enabler, from "inside-out" operation driven to "outside-in" customer-centric. No more dictating technology solutions, but having a better understanding of the business and transforming IT to a business partner for providing business and customer driven solutions?


  • Mastering the Complexity of the Digital CIO Role: Due to the abundance of information and omnipresence of technologies, IT plays a pivotal role in the business’s digital transformation journey. Therefore, digital CIOs have to wear multiple hats and play different roles in the information-abundant organizations today. Nowadays, the CIO is not just managing IT to keep the lights on, but managing information to ensure the right people getting the right information at the right time to make the right decisions; and take visionary leadership in orchestrating digital transformation journey smoothly.

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