Chief information officers could face 90% cuts in their budgets by
2005, analyst group Gartner has warned at its spring symposium in
Florence.
John Mahoney, vice-president and research director at Gartner,
offered a guide to CIOS and IT directors faced with growing
outsourcing of IT operations and business processes.
"The CIO is facing a real prospect of becoming a 'zero budget CIO',
Mahoney said. To survive they must define and deliver a sustainable
value proposition from the IT organisation to the enterprise.
Speaking to CW360.com, Charles Chang, vice-president, Gartner
Executive Programs, said that it was important for the CIO to show
leadership. "They need to combine vision, a mission and buy-in
[from their department] with a need to lead the business forward."
He suggested that CIOs should start "managing from behind" by
seeding ideas that the business can then adopt.
While Chang conceded ideas could be stolen, he said: "Business will
recognise the idea came from the CIO and as such, he will have more
control of the project."
This, he observed, would help the CIO regain a reputation for
making sound business decisions. Too often in the past, Chang
noted, CIOs were left out of important business changes such as
outsourcing. Boards had shown a preference to take the advice of
consultants and analysts instead.
Chang also highlighted the growing importance of vendor management
for the CIO.
Success criteria for the modern day CIO
Lead: CIOs are traditionally good managers but not good
leaders. This needs to change. CIOs have a unique perspective
across the enterprise and need to exploit this through networking
with the right people within the organisation. Starting to lead
from the back can earn the right to a place at the executive table
and achieve true IS leadership for the business.
Shape demand: CIOs need to be more proactive in engaging
with the key players in the organisation to understand the business
and to ensure they have real input into shaping demand from the
executives.
Set expectations: Project failures are often down to
unrealistically high expectations. CIOs need to ensure that they
know what can realistically be achieved and become proficient at
negotiating effectively with the board and propose alternative
solutions without souring relationships. CIOs are not always good
at this.
Deliver: CIOs need to address changing business needs and
create appropriate partnerships, be they internal or external, to
achieve this. They should focus more on creating architectures to
drive the way IS organisations deliver results.
Source: Gartner