The Monthly “Change Agent CIO” Book Tuning: Inquiries to Reinvent IT as Business Partner Nov. 2020

The CIO's leadership penetration is about the depth of leadership insight and the breadth of enterprise knowledge upon understanding business as a whole. 

Change is inevitable, organizational change has become a practice within an organization, but too often changes are made as a reaction to outer impulses, crisis, and demands. This is the bureaucracy’s way of meeting the challenges. A digital transformation is achieved via dynamic Strategy-Execution-Change lifecycle management, though it is not all linear steps, but an iterative, ongoing and upgoing change continuum. What are digital CIO’s profiles and how to reboot IT to get digital ready and cultivate the culture of learning and innovating?

      

Inquiries to Reinvent IT as Business Partner

CIO as Chief Inquisitive Officer: A Set of Inquiries to Reinvent IT as a Trustful Business Partner Information Technology is the backbone of running a modern business. IT contribution to business value does not come from the technology itself, but from the change that IT both shapes and enables. To run a high performance IT organization, CIOs and top business leaders should ponder: What's the business perception of their IT organization? Is IT a competitive necessity or the differentiated advantage of the business? IT leaders will be welcomed to the executive table if executives hear the language they understand - the language which is the most beneficial to the company's future. Here is a set of CIO’s inquiries to help them clear the vision, make an objective assessment of current IT management maturity, and reinvent IT as a trustful business partner.

How to Keep IT “Fresh” and Get Digital Ready The majority of IT organizations are perceived as monolithic, isolated, and stereotypical support centers with heavyweight hardware boxes, focus on “keeping the business lights on.” IT running in an industrial mode as a business controller or a restraint no longer fits in the dynamic business circumstances or volatile digital new normal. Digital transformation represents a break from the past, with a high level of impact and complexity. To build IT reputation as the business partner, IT leaders should ask themselves on how to keep IT “Fresh,” and get digital ready.

Why Is so Hard for Running IT “Out of the Comfort Zone” Technology is pervasive, information is growing exponentially. Business transformation or change initiatives today nearly always involves some form of information and technology. All forward-thinking organizations across the industries claim they are in the information management business. To adapt to the increasing speed of changes, organizations have to be more nimble about updating technology and managing information effectively. Hence, IT organizations today can no longer get stuck at the lower level of maturity to keep the lights on only or get struggling to make an alignment with the business. Digital IT organization must get “out of the comfort zone,” to explore better ways of running IT as a trusted business partner, proactive change agent, and hyper-connected innovation hub.

Can CIOs Wear the New Thinking Hat to Run IT as the Business? Information is now permeating into every corner in the business, and technology is often the disruptive force of digitalization. The general expectation from IT has changed. Not only are they being seen as an enabler, but they are also now mandatorily required to give ROI for the investments. Forward-looking organizations also empower their CIOs to lead change and catalyze innovation. The CIO's leadership penetration is about the depth of leadership insight and the breadth of enterprise knowledge upon understanding business as a whole. CIOs need to update both their mindsets as well as leadership responsibilities to run IT as the business.

Is Digital CIO a Specialist or a Generalist Contemporary CIOs are top leadership roles, leadership is about future and changes, innovation and progression. Modern CIOs have many personas and face numerous challenges. It is not sufficient to only keep the lights on. The CIO leadership maturity is based on the art of persuasion and the science of disciplines, the power of knowledge and the profundity of multidisciplinary understanding. So, should digital CIOs be the technology specialists or the business generalists in order to lead effectively?

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