Eliminating the divide between IT and the rest of the business
remains one of the top priorities for any CIO. Delivering what you
promise, on budget and on time, is the quickest way to win the
trust of your colleagues, writes John Handby
One of the major challenges that chief information officers have
wrestled with over the years is getting the relationship between
business and technology right. In other words, engaging the
business in the opportunities presented by the rapidly changing
technology scene and ensuring carefully considered investment in
this area.
The divide that has existed in some companies has been a
long-standing subject for discussion. Given the visibility and
profile that technology now has, the problem is reducing, but for
some it remains a real issue.
Part of the difficulty is that for too many business colleagues IT
remains something of a "black art". And, what is worse, one that
soaks up huge amounts of money for a return that is not always
obvious.
Added to this is the constant hype coming from the industry as it
seeks to meet its annual sales targets. Is it any wonder that after
the dotcom bubble there is a great deal of cynicism out there?
Corporate leaders were told that if they did not invest in the
Internet in a big way somebody else was going to eat their lunch.
But that was last year. What about this year?
The CIO has to be the bridge between the two worlds, helping the
business to understand what is relevant among all the noise coming
from the technology sector. To do this the CIO must win the respect
of his colleagues in delivering - both in terms of operations and
projects - within timescales and budget. This is fundamental. Who
is going to discuss
 | | "Faced with explaining to the
chief executive why we have to change all the desktops again after
only three years, I have found it best to resort to the truth" | | | | | |
| | John Handby | | |
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strategic opportunities with someone who cannot deliver on the
basics?
Often it takes a lot of hard work to reach this position. Many of
us are called into companies at a time of great change or when
things are not going smoothly. We all know that you cannot wave a
magic wand and put things right in a few weeks. It takes time:
changing the culture, bringing in new people, getting operations
under control, reviewing and putting projects back on track.
Some years ago I joined a household name company as CIO and found
it impossible to develop the right relationship with the board
member responsible for running the largest part of the business. It
became obvious that he had no time for the IT department as he had
repeatedly been promised delivery of a major system on which his
operations were dependent and had been let down on each occasion.
Once I had sorted out what was going on and delivered the system to
a new timetable and budget agreed with him, everything changed. He
and I were then able to work closely on further opportunities and
approaches.
Working with a diverse group of colleagues in the business is
always challenging, and some things we just have to accept. For
example, marketing specialists will always want instant solutions
and will fail to grasp the disciplines of planning ahead, finance
staff will always question the cost and doubt the benefits and
engineers will always think they can (over) design and project
manage anything.
We will also have to continue to live with an IT industry that
promises too much and delivers too little, constantly repackaging
what it has to fit the latest sales mantra. When faced with
explaining to the chief executive why we have to change all the
desktops again after only three years - when most of the
organisation only needs efficient e-mail, a bit of word processing
and a few spreadsheets - I have found it best to resort to the
truth.
This requires explaining how the industry works, what obsolescence
means and how the major players protect their revenue streams.
Better to deal in reality than pretend otherwise.
But while it is our key task to bring the worlds of business and
technology together in a meaningful way, it is high time a better
understanding of technology issues became a requirement for anyone
reaching the boardroom.
There are still too many senior business executives out there
making a virtue of their ignorance. That is very dangerous for the
future of any company.
John Handby is chief executiveof CIO Connect, the
UK forum for senior IT executives. He has held a host of CIO
positions for major organisations including Glaxo Wellcome,
National Power and Consignia (formerly the Post Office). He has
also held posts in central government.